Nervore le bastel en l'eaue, si que il fut, en peu d'heure, eslougne de Isle. Morhoult dist á Tristran, pourquoy il avoit ce fait ! Pour ce, deist il, se tu me occis, tu te mettras en ton bastel; et se je le occis, je te y mettray aussi, et te porteray en ton pays." This is an allusion to the armorial bearing of Sir Tristrem, which, according to all authorities, was a lion rampant, corres pording to the name of his country. Liones, and also to his own disposition. For, according to Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, "The yon is callet king of beastis, and, as Isodore sayes, in his buk of Bestiall, in all parellis he schawis him ryght glorious and ryght valiant; for, quhen he is pursewit with the hunter and the hands, he fleis not. nor hydis him not, bot sittes in the field, quhair he may be seine, and puttes him to ane defens. And his nature is, quhen he is hurt be ony person, throw all the leif he will ches lim, and revenge him, suld he de: and he is ane right sweit best, and luffand to theme that dois him gude: and, as Aristotle sayis, the banis of the lyon ar sa hard, that, quhen thai strike on theme, the fire fleis, as it does quhen thai strik on ane hard stane. And of himself is sa curtes, that quhen he hes tane his prey, he skarthe eittis it alane, bot callis company ta eit it, or leifes a part to thame. Therefor, thai that bure first the lion in their armes, and presently beires, suld be hardy, vaillant, stark, and assurit, and crations amang their compaignionis."-MS. on Heraldry,

Advocates' Library.

The dragon like the lion, had his typical signification in hemidry, derived from the supposed conditions of that fabulous animal. Dragone, serpent, or yvre, [wyvern,] has a lyk signification, and ar mekle beistis, ardante and scellouse, that skanthe may be fillit of watter; and, therefore, thai opin their mouthis to the wind, that thai may sloken their byrning. Quhairof men may say, be that bure them first, wes ryght desyrand to conquest, and wes ane man of grit vailliance, and desyrand to have grit domatioun; and it is convenient to be borne with men of grit valor-SIK DAVID LINDSAY'S MS. Later authorities differ from Thomas of Erceldoune, assigning to Moraunt of Ireland, instead of the dragon, a shield, thus blazoned by Richard Robison, eitizen of London, in his Booke of Armes and Archerie :

"In silver shield, on fesse of pee Ces five, throughout the same, He bare a lion rampant red

Togider tho thai yede,

And hewen on helmes bright, Saun fayl:

Tristrem as a knight,

Faught in that batayle.

XCVIII.

Moraunt of Yrland smot
Tristrem in the scheld,
That half fel fram his hond,
Ther adoun in the feld;
Tristrem ich understond,"
Anon the stroke him yeld;
With his gode brond
Moraunt neighe he queld,
That knight:
Marke the batayl biheld,
And wonderd of that fight.
XCIX.
Moraunt was vnfayn,

And faught with al his might,
That Tristrem were y-slayn,
He stird him as a knight:
Tristrem smot with mayn,
His swerd brak in the fight,
And in Morauntes brain,
Bileued a pece bright;
With care:

And in the haunche right,
Tristrem was wounded sare.
C.

A word that pended to pride,
Tristrem tho spac he,
-"Folk of Yrland side,
Your mirour ye may se,
Mo that hider wil ride,

Thus graythed schul ye be.' With sorwe, thai drough, that tide, Moraunt to the se,

And care:

as in the text.

The prose folio, which rarely improves the simple tale of Thomas of Erceldoune, makes Moraunt finally disgrace his knightly fame. Quand Morhoult se sent navré a mort, il gecte jus son escu et son espee, et soy retourne fuyant, et entre en son bastel."

The sword of Sir Tristrem was broken in the engagement. It

will be presently seen, that he continued to wear the same wea pon, and was recognised by it in the court of Ireland. Although, therefore, in imitation of David, in Scripture, he had hallowed, or offered it to the altar, it would seem he had redeemed it by an oblation of a more current nature. This was a usual compromise, suiting both the warrior and the clergy better than the actual deposit of a sword, of inestimable value to the former, to the latter a useless trophy. In the creation of Knights of the Bath, something of this kind make part of the ceremony.-STOWE'S Annals, p. 856. It would seem, from the following extract, that an ancient king of the Lombards had boasted the possession of Sir Tristrem's sword.

"Eodem anno (sc. 1339) sub castro Seprii in monasterio de Torbeth, flante quodam vento terribili quædam magna arbor divinitus est evulsa radicitus, subque inventa fuit sepultura ex marmore multæ pulchritudinis. In hoc sepulcro jacebat Rex Galdanus de Turbet, Rex Longobardorum, in cujus capite erat corona ex auro, in qua erant tres lapides pretiosi, scilicit Carbunculus pretii II. miilia florenorum, et unus Achates pretii D. florenorum. In manu sinistra habebat unum pomum aureum, a latere erat unus ensis habens dentem in acie satis magnum, qui fuerat Tris

77, 78-Meriadok unfolds his suspicion to the King, who, by his advice, pretends a journey to the Holy Land, and demands of Ysonde to whose charge she would wish to be committed. The Queen at first names Sir Tristrem. 79. 80. 81.-By advice of the wily Brengwain, the Queen resumes the subject, and pretends a mortal hatred to Tristrem, which she ascribes to the scandal done to her on his account. The suspicions of the simple King of Comwall are thus lulled to sleep.

Stenza 82, 83-At the instigation of Meriadok, who promises to give the King demonstration of his dishonour, Sir Tristrem becomes again the object of Mark's jealousy. He is separated from Ysonde, and their mutual sorrow is described. 84. 85.-Ysonde residing in a bower, and Tristrem in the neighbouring city, he contrives to carry on a communication with her, by means of light leafy twigs thrown into the river which runs through her garden. By these signals she knew when to expect his stolen visits. 86. 87. (The 85th and 86th Stanza sem to be ransposed] The interviews of the lovers are discovered by a dwarf, concealed in a tree. Meriadok advises the King to prochum a great hunting match, and, instead of going to the forest, to conceal himself in the dwart's lurking place. 88. 89. 90-The cwarf is sent to Tristrem with a pretended message from Ysonde, appointing a rendezvous. Tristrem, suspecting the deceit, returns a toll answer. The dwarf tells Mark that Tristrem puts no confilence in his message, but that he is nevertheless certain he will Visit Ysonde that night.

Stancas 91, 92 93-Mark, having taken his station in the tree, the two lovers meet beneath it; but, being aware of the King's presence, by his shadow, they assume the tone of quarrel and recrmination. Tristrem charges Ysonde with having alienated frusu tam the affections of his uncle, so that he was nearly compelled to fly into Wales. Ysonde avows her hatred to Tristrem, alleging as the cause, her husband's unjust suspicions of their criminal intercourse. 94. 95. 96.-The dialogue is continued in the same strain; Tristrem beseeching Ysonde to procure him a disaissal from the court, and she engaging, on condition of his departure, to supplicate Mark to endow him with suitable means of support. The good natured monarch is overwhelmed with joy and tenderness at this supposed discovery of the innocence of his wife and nephew. Far from assenting to Tristrem's departure, be creates him his high constable; and the grateful knight carries on his intrigue with Ysonde, without farther suspicon, for the space of three years.

102.

Stanicas 97. 93. 99-Meriadok again excites the jealousy of King Mark, and persuades him to order the Queen and Tristrem to be let blood the same day: Meriadok also strews the floor of the King's chamber with flour, in order to detect the traces of footsteps upon it. 100, 101-Tristrem evades this last device, by springing a distance of thirty feet, over the part of the chamber tach was covered with the flour; but the wound of his vein pening with the exertion, his stolen visit is betrayed to the King by the traces of his blood. Tristrem flies from Cornwall. 11-Ysonde undertakes to prove her innocence, by undergoing the fiery ordeal. A court is appointed to be held at Westminster, where the Queen is to bear red hot iron in her hand. according to the ancient law of ordeal. Tristrem joins the retine, disguised as a peasant, in the most abject state of poverty. 104-When they are about to cross the Thames, the Queen ritches upon her disguised lover to bear her from the shore to the stip Tristrem designedly lets his fair burden fall upon the beach, in such a manner as to expose some part of her person. The attendants, scandalized at this indecent accident, caused by the awkwardness of the stranger, are about to drown him in the river; but are prevented by Ysonde, who imputes his fall to feeblecess, through want of nourishment, and orders him a reward. 106. 167, 103.-When the Queen is brought to her oath, she swears, that she is a guiltless woman," and that no one had ever famaliarity with her person, excepting the King, and the peasant who bore her to the vessel, whose indelicate awkwardness had been witnessed by the whole of her retinue. The hot iron is then presented to Yeonde; but the uxorious King of Cornwall, resting perfectly satisfied with the equivocal oath of his consort, refuses to permit her to hazard this dangerous confirmation of her faith. Yode is proclaimed innocent, in spite of the accusations of Manadok, and is completely reconciled to her husband. Tristrem, meanwhile, remains in Wales, occupying in military achievements the term of his separation from Ysonde.

I.

THRE yer in care bed lay,

Tristrem the trewe he hight, That neuer no dought him day, For sorwe he hadde o night, For dwl, no man no may

Sen on him with sight;

105.

• The Carlioun of Tomas of Erceldoune was a seaport, and apparently the capital of Cornwall. It cannot, therefore, be the same with Caerleon upon Uske. From the etymology of the word (Cestrian Leonense) I apprehend that it must have been the chief town of the district of Leonais, or Leonesse, the native country of our hero, from which he derived his usual appellation, as well as the Lion, which he bore in his shield. I am more confident on this subject, because there has flourished in Cornwall, from time immemorial, a family called Carlyon of Tregrahan, a name not occurring out of that county, being therefore, in all probability, a local appellation, derived from the capital of Lion

Ich man, for sothe to say,
For soke tho that knight,
As thare;

Thai hadde don what he might, Thai no rought of his fare.

II.

Til it was on a day,

Till Mark he gan him mene; Shortliche, sothe to say,

This tale was hem bitvene; -"In sorwe ich haue ben ay, Seththen ich aliue haue ben;"Marke seyd-"Wayleway! That ich it schuld y sene,

Swiche thing."-
Tristrem with outen wene,
A schip asked the King.

III.
"Em,"-he seyd,-"Y spille,
Of lond kepe Y na mare,
A schip thou bring me tille,
Mine harp to play me thare,
Stouer ynough to wille,

To kepe me son yon yare ;"-
Thei Marke liked ille,
Tristrem to schip thai bare,
And brought;

Who wold with him fare?
Gouernayle no lete him nought.
IV.

Tristremes schip was yare;

He asked his benisoun; The hauen he gan out fare, It hight Carlioun :* Nighen woukes, and mare, He hobled vp and doun; A winde to wil him bare, To a stede there him was boun, Neighe hand; Deluelin hight the toun,

An hauen in Irland.

V.

A winde thider him gan driue,
Schipmen him seighe neighe hand;
In botes thai gun him stiue,
And drough him to the land;
A wounded man aliue,
In the schip thai fand;
He seyd-"Bisiden a riue,
Men wounded him and band,
Vn sounde."

No man might bi him stand,
For stinking of his wounde.

VI. Gouernail gan hem frain, What hight the se strand? Deuelin, thai seyd ogayn, The schipmen that him fand: Tho was Tristrem vnfain, And wele gan vnderstand, Hir brother hadde he slain, That Quen was of the land, In fight:

Tristrem he gan doun lain, And seyed Tramtris he hight.

The space between the Land's End and Isles of Scilley, being about thirty miles, to this day retaineth that name, in Cornish, Lethowsow, and carrieth continually an equal depth of forty or sixty fathom, (a thing not usual in the sea's proper dominion,) save that about midway there lieth a ridge, which, at low water, discovereth its head. They term it the Gulph, suiting thereby the other name of Scilla. Fishermen, also, casting their hooks thereabouts, have drawn up pieces of doors and windows. Moreover, the ancient name of St. Michael's mount was Caracloase in Cowse, in English, The Hoare Rocke in the Woode; which is now, at every flood, encompassed by the sea, and yet at low ebbe, roots of mighty trees are descried in the sands about it. The like overflowing has taken place at Plymouth Haven, and divers other places."-See, upon this subject, ELLIS's Notes to WAY's Fabliaux, vol. ii. p. 179.

In the French MS and prose folio, the abode of King Mark is fixed at the Castle of Tintagel, renowned in romance as the birthplace of King Arthur. See p. 322.

IX.

Amorwe, when it was day,

The leuedi of heighe pris,
Com ther Tristrem lay,
And asked what he is?
-"Marchaund Ich haue ben ay,
Mi nam is Tramtris;
Robbers, for sothe to say,
Slough mine felawes, Y wis,
In the se;

Thai raft me fowe and griis,*
And thus wounded thai me."-

Fowe, from the French, fourure, signifies furs in general; Griis, a particular kind of fur, so called from its gray colour. The words occur repeatedly in the poem. Gris was in high estoem. The Monk of Chaucer had

his sleeves purfiled, at the hond, With gris, and that the finest of the lond." In the beautiful Lay of Launfal, the mantles of the fairy were of green felwet,

Ybordured with gold, ryght well ysete, Impelvered with grys and gro." 13 Froissart tells us, that Richard II. provided for the Irish Kings, who came to reside with him, robes of silk, furred with minever and gray. Certain German nobles, who had slain a bishop, were enjoined, amongst other acts of penance, ut varium, griseum, ermelinum, et pannos coloratos, non portent."-TRITHEMII Cron Hirs. ad annum 1202.

Gris appears, however, to have been inferior to ermine; for in a statute passed in 1455, for regulating the dress of the Scottish Lords of Parliament, the gowns of the Earls are appointed to be furred with ermine, while those of the other Lords are to be lined with "criestay gray, griece, or purray." According to Ducange, griseum is synonymous to vair, which appears to have been the skin of the Hungarian squirrel. They are, however, distinguished in stanza 24 of this fytte:

"A schip with grene and gray, With air, and eke with griis." The proper gris was perhaps equivalent to minever, (menu vair.) an inferior kind of vair, made from the skins of the small weazel and marten.

Furs were a valuable article of trade, and, as such, were parti cularly noticed in maritime regulations. Nullus mercator non debet dare fidem, ad exitum portæ, de rebus quas portat vel mercat, nisi de fourura et armatura ferri." Cart. apud DUCANGE. Hence Tristrem, in his assumed character of a merchant, describes himself as robbed of "fowe and griss." In the romance of Sir Gy, a merchant thus narrates his bill of lading:

"Fowe and griss anough lade we,

Gold and silver and riche stones,

That vertu boere mani for the nones;
Gude clothes of Sikelatown and Alexandriis,
Velour of Matre, and puper and biis."

In another passage of the same romance, we find

"Gy him schred in fou and gray."

The croud (Welsh crith) was a rude kind of violin: hence Butler's Crowdero, as the name of a fiddler. Tables was a favourite game during the middle ages. Two games of this nature are mentioned by Wace, the greater and the less.-ELLIS's Specimens, p. 39. The same amusement occurs in an old romance quoted by Cervantes :

"Jugando esta a las tablas Don Gayferos, Que ya de Melisandra esta oblivadó," It was, perhaps, analogous to backgammon, which is of Celtic derivation, as appears from its name: Back, parvum, and Cammon, prælium. This game is mentioned in an old Irish poem, called the Death of Cuchollin, where it is said, "the hours passed From a passage of Brompton we learn, that the skin of the wild-cat was use by the clergy. Bishop Wolfstan preferred lambskin, saying in exense, Crede mihi, nunquam audivi, in ecclesia, cantari catus Dei, sed agnus Dei; ideo calefieri agno volo," Decem. Scrip. p. 953.

↑ The badger is tenned a gray; but his skin seems greatly too coarse to answer the purpose of trimming.

An heye man he was like,
Thei he wer wounded sare;
His gles weren so sellike,

That wonder thought hem thare.
His harp, his croude was rike;
His tables, his ches he bare;
Thai swore, bi Seyn Patrike,
Swiche seighe thai neuer are,
Er than :

-"Yif he in hele ware, He were a miri man."

XI.

The leuedi of heighe kenne,

His woundes schewe he lete; To wite his wo vnwinne, So grimli he gan grete; His bon brast vnder skinne, His sorwe was vnsete; Thai brought him to an inne; A bath they made him sket, So lithe;

That Tristrem on his fet, Gon he might swithe.

XII.

Salues hath he soft,

And drinkes that ar lithe :

Thai no rought hou dere it bought,
Bot held him al so swithe:

He made his play aloft,

His gammes he gan kithe;.
For thi was Tristrem oft,
To boure cleped fele sithe :
To sete;

Ich man was lef to lithe,
His mirthes were so swete.

away in drinking and lively discourse, in playing at backgammon, and listening to the soft strains of the harp."

1 The familiarity of Tristrem with the queen and princess, during his residence at the court of Dublin, is perfectly consistent with the manners of the age, but more especially with those of the Irish. When Richard II. endeavoured to reform the manners of that people, the knight, to whose tutelage he committed four of their petty kings, complained to Froissart, "they wolde cause their mynstrelles, their servauntes, and varlettes, to sytte with them, and to eate in their own dyshe, and to drinke of their cuppes. And they shewed me, that the usage of their countrie was good; for they sayd, in all thynges (except their beddes) they were and lyved in common."-BERNERS' Froissart. fo. eelvii. Much offended were these potentates with their knightly tutor, who insisted upon their disusing this liberal custom, as well as that of going without breeches, and other rude practices.

A picture of similar manners occurs in the ancient Irish poem, quoted in the last note. Cuchollin, according to evil presages, was to fall in battle, if he encountered an army of the Irish, commanded by the Queen of Connaught, before three inauspicious days had passed over. The wiles of the enchanters, by whose arts he fell, are, for two days, baffled by the skill of his attendant bards, through whose alluring music and sage counsel the hero is long withheld from the fated combat: during this occupation, the chief bard reclined upon the same bed with the chieffain. These are circumstances peculiar to Celtic manners. Although the Gothic minstrels were highly rewarded and honoured. they were not placed by their lords upon so familiar a footing. Glasgerion, whose story is preserved in Percy's Reliques of 4cient Poetry, was a Celtic bard, as appears from his high birth, and fatal intimacy with the daughter of a prince, as well as from the epithet of Chaucer, who terms him "the British Glaskerion.” A copy of his legend has been preserved in the remote parts of Scotland, by oral recitation. His musical powers are curiously described:

"Gleskerion was the best harper Harped ever on the string.

He could harp the fish out o' the sea, The water out o' the stane,

And milk out o' the maiden's breast, That bairn had never nane."

The accomplishments displayed by Sir Tristrem, while in Dublin, were those of a complete minstrel, who, besides the science of music, was generally master of every game known in the middle ages, and of all other amusements which could chase away the lingering hours of a martial nobility, delighting only in war and the chase. Juggling, and feats of legerdemain, were often added to these qualifications.

Indeed, it is hardly necessary to remark the prominent figure which is made by the harper and minstrel, in this and in all other romances. It was their privilege to find a free admittance to the courts of monarchs, and the castles of barons. In the fine old ro mance of Guerin de Montglalve, Gerard, Lord of Vienne, being porter, when the young man presents himself before the gates, to desirous to prove the spirit of his nephew Aimeri, commands the refuse him admittance, under pretence of mistaking him for a wandering minstrel. Aimeri breaks into a violent rage, forces his entry into the great hall, and upbraids his uncle for his churlish and inhospitable mode of housekeeping. "Vous ne val

XIII.

The King had a douhter dere,
That maiden Ysonde hight;
That gle was lef to here,

And romaunce to rede aright;*
Sir Tramtris hir gan lere,
Tho with al his might,
What alle pointes were,
To se the sothe in sight,

To say:
In Yrlond nas no knight,
With Ysonde durst play.
XIV.

Ysonde of heighe priis,

The maiden bright of hewe,
That wered fow and griis,

And scarlet that was newe,
In warld was non so wiis,
Of craft, that men knewe,
With outen Sir Tramtris,

That al games of grewe
On grounde.

Hom longeth Tramtris the trewe, For heled was his wounde.

XV.

Sir Tramtris in Irlond
Duelled al a yere;
So gode likeing he fand,

That hole he was and fere; The Quen to fot and hand,

He served dern and dere;
Ysonde he dede vnderstand
What alle playes were
In lay;

His leue he asked at here,
In schip to founde oway.
XVI.

The Quen, that michel can,
To Tramtris sche gan say,
"Who so fet vncouthe man,
He foundeth euer oway.
His hire thai yolden him than,
Gold and siluer Y say,

What he wold he wan,

Of Ysonde for his play

XVII.

Riche sail thai drewe, White and red so blod;† A winde to wil hem blewe, To Carlioun thai yode; Now hat he Tristrem trewe,t And fareth ouer the flod; The schip the cuntre knewe, It thought hem ful gode, As thare;

Of urake thai vnder stode, For on thai leten him fare.

XVIII. Thai tolden to the King, That the schip had sain; Neuer of no tiding,

Nas Mark the King so fain: To toun thai gun him bring, The King ros him ogayn; Blithe was her meteing, And fair he gan him frain, That stounde;

"Tristrem, nought to lain, Heled is thi wounde?"

Mark to Tristrem gan say, Mi lond bitake Y the,

To haue after mi day,

Thine owhen schal it be,

273

Ou il a gens de bone geste,

Li menestreils, qubant ils l'entendent
Qui outre chose ue demandent,
Vont la soit, amont soit aval,
L'un a pie, l'autre a cheval."

"The King the quhiles, meryly Red to thaim, that war hym by,

Romanya of worthi Ferambrace."-Barbour, Book ini. The night before the murder of James L. of Scotland, was spent by that accomplished prince "yn redyng of romans, yn syngyng, and pypynge, in harpynge, and in other honest solaces of grete pleasance and disport."-PINKERTON's History, Appendix to vol.

L. p. 457.

It is not, however, to be supposed, that what we now call metrical romances were always read. the romances bear internal evidence that they were occasionally On the contrary, several of chanted to the harp. The Creside of Chaucer, a long perform This has been doubted; but the conclusion of Orfeo and Herodis, in the Anchunlock MS., seems to prove that the lay was set to music:

Harpours in Bretaine after than,

Herd how this mervaile began,

And made herof a lay of gode lykeing,

And nem pred it after the King;

That lay Orfeo is yhote,

Gode is the lay, wete is the note."

French romances, and probably of the English also, could derive indeed, that the minstrels, who were certainly the authors of the no advantage from those compositions, unless by reciting or singing them. Some traces of this custom remained in Scotland till of late years. A satire on the Marquis of Argyle, published about the time of his death, is said to be composed to the tune of Graysteel, a noted romance, reprinted at Aberdeen so late as the beginning of the last century. Within the memory of man, an old person used to perambulate the streets of Edinburgh, singing, in in all the forms, a metrical romance of chivalry. a monotonous cadence, the tale of Rosewal and Lilian, which is,

+ Our forefathers decorated their vessels with useless and abEngland, (a sort of epidemic disease, which has frequently seized surd magnificence. The lords of France, when about to invade the rulers of that country, and generally spent its force in an eruptive expense of preparation,) "made baners, penons, standerdes of sylke, so goodlye, that it was marvayle to beholde them: also they paynted the mastes of theyr shippes fro the one end to the other, glytering with golde, and devyses, and armes: and spe cially it was shewed me, that the Lord Guy of Tremoyle garnyshed his shippe rychely; the paintyngs that were inade cost more than two thousande frankes."-BERNERS' Froissart, vol. ii iol. Ixi. In elder times, Earl Godwin is said to have given to Edward the Confessor a galley having a gilded prow, manned with eighty chosen warriors, armed in suitable splendour. Each wore bracelets of rold, a triple hauberk, a gilded helmet, and a sword with gilded hit a Danish axe, inlaid with gold and silver, was susboss, the right a lance, called in English tegar.-SIMEON of DUR pended at the back; the left hand held a buckler with a gilded HAM, apud an. 1010.

of the inverted appellation, Tramtris, which he had borne in Ireland. That is, now he is called by his proper name, Tristrem, instead The romancer represents the passion of Tristrem for Ysonde Mark, were those of dispassionate admiration, or, at most, of as arising solely from the drink of might, of which they unfortunately partook. gratitude. The prose folio does not entirely follow Tomas in The praises, therefore, which inflamed King this particular. Tristrem loves Ysolt from their first interview, and fights against Palamedes upon her account, during his resi dence in Dublin. It was, however, but a transient passion, being superseded by that which he afterwards entertained for the lady of Segurades, in whose affections, as afterwards in those of Ysonde, he successfully rivalled his uncle Mark. Ysonde perceived neither the passion of Tristrem nor Palamedes, nor their "Comme celle qui oncques n'avoit pensé à

21

amour."