Meraunt," all of whom had fallen by the sword of Tristrem. Thus prudent counsel, as will readily be believed, only excites the knight to pay Beliagog a speedy visit. 41. 42. 43. Tristrem follows his bounds into the territory of the giant, who immediately appears; and, learning the name of the bold intruder, resolves to avenge the death of his brethren. Tristrem bids him defiance, and avows his intention of appropriating to himself the whole forest. 44. 45 46-Beliagog hurls a dart at Tristrem, which passes betwixt his hauberk and side. Tristrem closes with the giant, and both fight manfully. The knight at length cuts off Beliagog's foot; and the giant begs mercy, promising to deliver up his treasure and lands to Tristrem. Tristrem spares his life, on condition be shall build a hall in honour of Ysonde and Brengwain, 47. 48. 49.-Beliagog conducts Tristrem to a castle, surrounded with a moat, or rather lake, the ancient stronghold of his forefathers he shows the knight a ford, by which he may enter to it at pleasure. Here the proposed structure is begun workmen are sent for from all quarters, to labour, under the direction of Belagog, in constructing a magnificent hall. 50.-In the hall is presented, in sculpture, the whole history of Tristrem: Ysonde, and Brengwain, Mark and Meriadok, Hodain and Peticrewe, with the combat of Tristrem and Beliagug, are all represented to the life. Stanzas 51 52 53. 54.-Duke Florentin of Brittany, attended by Tristrem and his wife, and by Ganhardin, his son, sets out for the town of St. Matthieus, to be present at the splendid nuptials of a baron, named Bonifas, and a lady of Lyons. On the road a sire observation of Ysonde betrays to Ganhardin Tristrem's Beglect of his sister's charms. 55. 56. 57.-Ganhardin, filled with extreme resentment at the slight put upon his family, expostuletes warmly with Tristrem on his extraordinary conduct towards his wife. Tristrem answers haughtily that, since she has betrayed this matrimonial secret, he renounces her for ever, and that he will return to his first love, a lady three times more beautiful than Ysunde of Brittany. 58.-This cavalier declaration, joined, perhaps to Tristrem's redoubted prowess, produces upon Ganhardin a very different effect from what might have been expected. His eariosity is strongly excited concerning the unknown beauty of whom. Tristrem had boasted, and, laying aside his resentment, be becomes the friend of our hero, and the trusty confidant of his amours. 39, 60.-Tristrem conducts Ganhardin towards his mar velous castle. The Breton prince, finding himself in the domarions of Beliagog, becomes apprehensive that Tristrem is leading him to death. Tristrem explains to him that the giant has become his vassal; accordingly, Belragog attends him at his call, leaning upon a crutch. 61. 62.-The giant, at Tristrem's com mand, ushers the knights into the splendid hall, which had been constructed in honour of the Queen of Cornwall. The beauty of Ysoode and Brengwain, as represented in sculpture, produces such an effect on Ganhardin, that, staggering backwards, he falls and breaks his head. 63. 64-When Garhardin recovers from his ecstacy, and again beholds the figures, especially that of Breng wain who is represented with the fatal cup in her hand, he frankby acknowledges, that the beauty of Y sonde is far superior to that of his sister; that Tristrem is perfectly justifiable in every point of his conduct; and that he himself is so deeply wounded by the beauty of Brengwain, that he must see her, or perish.

Steaza $5.-Tristrem and Ganhardin set out together for England, and the former promises the Breton his utmost interest to four his suit with Brengwain. 66. A new character is introduced This is Canados, constable to King Mark, and a lover of Ysonde; for that good monarch was very unfortunate in his choice of favourites. 67. 69.--Canados, hearing the Queen sing one of the lays which Tristrem had composed, discourteously intempts her, and assures her that she is wrong in doing so; first, because her notes resemble the cries of an owl, or the howling of a atorm; and, secondly, because Tristrem, to whose composi tion she is so partial, has proved false to her, and married the daughter of the Duke of Brittany. 69. 70.-Ysonde upbraids Ca tados as a slanderous coward, loads him with curses and reproaches, prays that he may thrive as ill in every future suit as with her, and drives him from her presence. 71. 72.-The Queen, daconsolate at the intelligence she has received, rides to the wood with Brenzwain, to soothe her melancholy. Tristrem, and his complaisant brother in law, Ganhardin, arrive in the same forest, and perceive the ladies. 73. 71. 75-Tristrem sends Ganhardin with the ring, is a token, to Ysonde. Meanwhile, the dog Peticewe recognises his former master, and fawns upon him. Ysonde, learning by Ganbardin's message, and by the token of the ring, that Tristrem is at hand, resolves to take up her abode in the forest for that night. 76.-The Queen, under pretence of indisposition, causes her train to pitch their tents in the wood. She is reconciled to Sir Tristrem, and Brengwain is betrothed to Sir Ganbardin.

Stanzos 77. 78.-After dwelling two days in the forest, they are rearly surprised by Canados, who, informed by a spy of what had happened, comes with the whole force of the country to make his rival prisoner. Tristrem and Ganhardin are apprized of their danger by the faithful Gouvernay! They are compelled, by the number of the assailants, to fly in different directions. 79.Yonde is carried back to court by Canados, who boasts that Tastrem durst not stand against him. The Queen and Brengwain upbraid him bitterly. 80. 81. 2.-Ganhardin having fled to Brittany, Tristrem remains alone in Cornwall, disguised as a beggar, with "cup and clapper." It would seem Brengwain disapproves of his conduct, and threatens to betray his interviews with Y sonde. Far, however, from doing so, Ysonde's faithful confidant points out to Mark the danger which he ran from the presumptuous love of Canados to his Queen. 83.-King Mark, earaged at the insolence of his constable, banishes him from his art; and the Queen, reconciled to her attendant, admires her dexterity in lying.

Senzas 94. 85.-In a conversation between Brengwain and Yonde, the Queen vindicates the courage of her lover, who See as to have sunk in Brengwain's opinion since the last advenin the forest. Brengwain is prevailed on to introduce him that recht to the Queen's chamber; in discharging this office, she

upbraids him for recreating precipitately with Ganhardin before their enemies. Tristrem replies, by desiring that a tournament might be proclaimed, in which his brother-in-law and he might vindicate their reputation. 86. 87.-The tournament being announced, Canados and Meriadok undertake the part of challengers. Ganhardin returns from Brittany to join Tristrem; they take, as may readily be guessed, the opposite side from Canados. When the encounter commences, Tristrem, remembering his old quarrel with the tale-bearing Meriadok, attacks and wounds him desperately. 88. 89. 90.-A sharp and dubious conflict takes place betwixt Canados and Ganhardin, till Tristrem, coming to the assistance of his brother-at-arms, unhorses and slays his antagonist. This bloody termination of the justs occasions a general commotion, of which Tristrem avails himself to take vengeance on his enemies. With the assistance of Ganhardin, he slays and routs all that withstand him, and the "courtly tale-carriers are shamefully worsted."

Stanzas 91 92 93.-Brengwain rejoices in the defeat of her enemies. Tristrem and Ganhardin retire to Brittany. Here Tristrem is accosted by a young knight, wearing no shoes, who had sought him for a long time. This young warrior, whose name is also Tristrem, throws himself at the feet of our hero, and beseeches his assistance in a perilous adventure. A knight has bereaved him of his lady. The ravisher, with his seven brethren, and seven other knights, are to escort their prize, upon that very day, to some place of security; the suppliant knight proposes to his namesake to assist him in her rescue. Tristrem readily as sents. 94. 95.-The two knights arm themselves, and prepare for battle; they attack the party of ravishers, on a "lee beside a forest." Tristrem, the younger, is soon slain; our hero avenges his death, and slays the fifteen knights. In this battle he receives an arrow in his old wound.

Here the Auchinleck MS. abruptly concludes; the remainder of the Romance being torn away.

I.

IN Wales* tho was a King,
That hight Triamour;
He hadde a doughter ying,
Was hoten Blaunche Flour;
Vrgant with gret wering,
Biseged him in his tour,
To winne that swete thing,
And bring hir to his bour,
With fight;
Tristrem with gret honour,
Bicom the Kinges knight.

II.

Vrgan gan Wales held,

With wrong, for sothe to say;
Oft and vnselde,

Of Triamour tok he pray:
Triamour to Tristrem teld,
Opon a somers day,
Wales he wald him yeld,
Yif he it winne may,
Right than;
Tristrem with outen nay,
With were, Wales wan.
III.
Tristrem mett Vrgan,
In that feld to fight
To him seyd he than,
As a douhti knight,

-"Thou slough mi brother Morgan
At the mete ful right;

As Y am douhti man,

His detn thou bist to-night,
Mi fo;"-
Tristrem seyd aplight,
"So [hope] Y the to slo."
IV.

Tvelue fete was the wand,

That Vrgan wald with play;
His strok may no man stand,
Ferly yif Tristrem may;
Tristrem vantage fand,
His clobbe fell oway;
And of the geauntes hand,
Tristrem smot, that day,
In lede:

*It has been observed in the Introduction, that Wales originally comprehended all the western parts of England, which long continued in the possession of the Gael or Aboriginal Celts. Triamour and Blaunche Floure are, however, names of Norman derivation.

I do not find this personage in the prose romance but he seems to be alluded to in the Fragments. See p. 324. In the MS. "kepic."

Tristrem, for sothe to say,
The geaunt gert he blede.
V.

Vrgan al in tene,

Faught with his left hand; Oghain Tristrem kene,

A stern stroke he fand, Opon his helme so schene, That to the grounde he wand Bot vp he stirt bidene, And heried Godes sand,* Almight;

Tristrem with his brand, Fast gan to fight.

VI.

The geaunt aroume he stode,
His hond he tint Y wis;
He fleighe as he wer wode,
The that the castel is;
Tristrem trad in the blod,

And fond the hond that was his;
Oway Sir Tristrem yode;
The geaunt com with this,
And sought,

To hele his honde that was his, Salues hadde he brought.

VII.

Vrgan the geaunt vnride
After Sir Tristrem wan;
The cuntre fer and wide,
Y-gadred was bi than;
Tristrem thought that tide,
-"Y take that me Gode an ;"-
On a brigge he gan abide;
Biheld ther mani a man;
Thai mett:

Vrgan to Tristrem ran,
And grimli there thai gret.
VIII.

Strokes of michel might,

Thai delten hem bitvene;
That thurch her brinies bright,
Her bother blode was scne;
Tristrem faught as a knight,
And Vrgan al in tene,
Yaf him a stroke vnlight;

His scheld he clef bitvene,
A-tvo

Tristrem with outen wene,
Nas neuer are so wo.

As explained by an ingenious friend, "Blessed God's son,' or rather perhaps, God's sent," i. e. "God's ambassador."

The colours of this marvellous hound are not more extraor dinary than those which decorated the person of Jourdain de Blaves, a champion of Romance. He was pied like a jay; one of his legs being whiter than snow, the other blacker than ebony; one arm rose-coloured, and the other of a yellow or citron hue: beside which he had a blood red crosslet imprinted on each shoulder. This childish taste for the marvellous marked the decay of romantic fiction. Peticrewe is the Cru of Mr. Douce's Fragment. Out of the slight mention of Blaunche Floure, the daughter of Triamour, and of his dog, the author of the prose folio seems to have weaved the tragical adventure of Belinda, Princess of France, who, desperately enamoured of Tristrem, slew herself upon his departure from the court of King Pharamond. On her deathbed she sent to the knight a fair "bratchet," and a letter, written with her own blood. Comme celui meurt aisi, qui de amours meurt, et ne peust de son amour trouver merci."-Tristan, ff. xxv.

1 In the conduct of the story of Sir Tristrem, the most striking circumstance is the extreme ingratitude and profligacy of the hero. That a preux chevalier, who is held forth as the model of perfection, should, year after year, persist in an incestuous commerce with the wife of his uncle, and of an uncle to whom he ewed his life and means of living, and by whose sword he was dubbed a knight, must appear monstrous to those who derive their notions of the romances of chivalry rather from theory than from perusing the originals. And certainly it forms an apology for those by whom such romances. often containing matters of great interest and curiosity, were consigned to oblivion, that the morality which they taught was so vague and flexible in its nature, as to draw a veil over the most abominable crimes. In later times, indeed, the romance-writers, who treated of Sir Tristrem, have endeavoured in some degree to palliate the enormity of his guilt, by painting his uncle Mark as a base, felonious, and treacherous bastard, for whom no ignominy could be too vile; in short, "le plus vil roy, et le plus imbecille recreu qui fut." In the French folio, he is accused of repeated attempts to murder Tristrem, because a certain dwarf had foretold that he should be dishonoured by him. He is stated to have murdered, by felony,

Les Faite et Prouesses de Jourdain de Blaves, Paris, 1330.

his own brother, and many other good knights; and, what was yet more unpardonable, although his subjects were cowardly to a proverb, the king was more cowardly than them all. The author, in short, has been so successful in conjuring up all the cir cumstances which can apologize for his heroine's frailty, that Monsieur de Tressan thinks the reader must be very rigorous who can blame her. But, without examining how far, in a moral view, the vices of the uncle apologize for the incest and adultery of the nephew, it is certain that the dark shades in the character of Mark can neither be found in the legend of Tomas of Erceldoune, nor in the metrical French romance, which afforded, in all probability, materials for the massive prose volume. In these ancient poems, the King of Cornwall is merely represented as a good-natured uxorious wittol, the most prominent feature of whose disposition seems to have been a blind attachment to a wife and nephew, by whom he was deceived and betrayed. Neither is the profligacy of Sir Tristrem peculiar to that cham pion, being an attribute of many of the Knights of the Round Table, against whom the learned Ascham thus inveighs: "In our forefathers' time, when papistrie, as a standing poole, covered and overflowed all England, few bookes were red in our toong, savying certayne bookes of chivalric, as they sayd, for pastime and pleasure, which, as some say, were made in monasteries by idle monkes or wanton chanons. As one, for example, Morte Arthure, the whole pleasure of whiche booke standeth in two specyall poyntes; in open mans slaughtre, and bolde bawdre: in which bookes those be counted the noblest knightes thate do kill most men without any quarrell, and commit fowlest aduoul teries by sutlest shifts; as Sir Lancelot with the wife of King Arthure, his maister: Sir Tristrem with the wife of King Mark, his uncle: Syr Lamerocke with the wife of King Lote, that was his own aunte. This is good stuffe for wise men to laughe at, or honest men to take pleasure at. Bible was banished the court, and Morte Arthure receaved into Yet I know when God's the prince's chamber. What toys the daily reading of such a booke may work in the will of a yong gentleman, or a yong maide, that liveth welthely and idlely, wise men can judge, and honest men doe pittie."-ASCHAM'S Schoole Mester.

eflects of the boire amoureuse; but many curious inferences The best apology in Sir Tristrem's case, may be the powerful might be drawn from such loose morality being a distinguishing feature of books of chivalry.

The prose folio is far from making the retreat of Tristrem and Ysonde the effect of banishment by King Mark. Andret, ac cording to that authority, had beset Tristrem with a body of men, as he returned unarmed, and, to say truth, almost naked, out of the Queen's apartment. The champion escaped into a chapel which overhung the sea, and was at length compelled to throw himself among the waves. With great difficulty he gained a small rock, or island. Meanwhile Mark commanded that Ysonde should be delivered up to the lepers as a worse punishment than that of burning, to which he had originally destined her. From these miserable and diseased outcasts the Queen is rescued by Governay, with a body of Tristrem's friends; for his valour and liberality had attached to him a strong party in Cornwall. The same assistance rescues the knight from perishing on the island. When Tristrem and Ysonde are thus reunited, they dismiss their followers, and plunge into the depths of the forest of Moroys, where they reside in the manner mentioned in the text, and in the Fragment, p. 336.

To chastise the dog, is here metaphorically used for breaking him to the chase, which, as every sportsman knows, requires chastisement with no gentle hand. The prose folio, which mento the retreat of the lovers into the forest, in consequence of their fight from the jealousy of King Mark, adds, "Illecques apprint Tristran a Huden [the Hodain of Tomas] a chasser sans attir, pource qu'il ne fut guitté en aucun maniere." Poachers, believe, fully understand the importance of training dogs to chase, without giving tongue. Hodain's fidelity and attachment figure in every edition of the romance of Tristrem. He alone could recog se him, when disguised as a fool, (see p. 337;) he alone knew in his state of unaffected frenzy, (Tristan, fueil. cxix. ;) and when the bodies of Ysonde and Tristrem were brought to Comwall to be buried, Hodain left the wood, without turning aside to se any of the stags with which it abounded, and ran straight to the chapel, into which he was admitted by Pernus, the squire

Had wrought it with outen wought Ich night soth to sain,

Ther til thai bothe drough,
With might;

Vnder wode bough,

Thai knewen day and night.

XVIII.
In winter it was hate,
In somer it was cold;
Thai hadden a dern gat,
That thai no man told;
No hadde thai no wines wat,
No ale that was old,
No no gode mete thai at,
Thai hadden al that thai wold,
With wille;

For loue ich other bihalt,
Her non might of other fille.
XIX.
Tristrem on an hille stode,
As he biforn hadde mett;
He fond a wele ful gode,
Al white it was the grete,
Ther to Tristrem yode,

And hende Ysonde the swete;
That was al her fode,

And wilde flesche thai ete,
And gras;

Swiche ioie hadde thai neuer yete,
Tuelmoneth thre woukes las.

XXII.

The hunters wenten right,
And teld Mark bidene;
The leuedi and the knight,
Both Mark hath sene;
He knew hem wel bi sight,
The swerd lay hem bitvene;
A sonne bem ful bright,
Schon opon the Quene,
At a bore;

On her face so schene,
And Mark rewed ther fore.
XXIII.

His glone he put ther inne,

The sonne to were oway; Wrethe Mark gan winne,

Then seyd he-"Wel ay, Yif thai weren in sinne, Nought so thai no lay, Lo, hou thai liue atvinne;

Thai no hede nought of swiche play,* Y wis;"

The knightes seyden ay, -"For trewe loue it is.'

XXIV.

Tho waked Tristrem the trewe,
And swete Ysonde the schene;

The gloue oway thai drewe,
And seyden hem bitvene;
For Markes thai it knewe,
Thai wist he had ther bene;
Tho was her ioie al newe,
That he hem hadde y-sene,
With sight;

With that com knightes kene,
To feche tho to ful right.
XXV.

To court were comen tho to,
That in the forest were:
Mark kist Ysonde tho,

And Tristrem trewe fere.
Forgheuen hem was her wo,
No were thai neuer so dere;
Tristrem the bailif gan to,
Swiftly for to stere,

A stounde:

Of loue who wil lere, Listen now the grounde.

*It may appear supprising to some of my readers, that Mark should adopt a firm belief of the innocence of his wife and nephew, merely from finding them asleep with the naked sword laid betwixt them; but, in the middle ages, this circumstance was an acknowledged and formal emblem of the strictest continence betwixt persons, who, from whatever cause, were placed in circumstances otherwise suspicious. In Germany, when the marriage of the great was solemnized by proxy, it was deemed necessary, to prevent any cavil or chance of future repudiation, that a sort of emblematical consummation should also take place. The representative, therefore, of the royal bridegroom, was fairly bedded with the lady, whom he had married as his master's proxy. This ceremony of bett-sprung, as it was termed, took place when Louis, county palatine of Weldenz, as proxy for the Duke of Austria, was wedded to the fair Princess of Burgundy. The bride was laid in a stately bed, upon which the count, in presence of the ladies of the court, reclined himself, placing his right leg, lightly booted, under the cover. A naked sword, the emblem of continence, was placed betwixt the parties; and this particular circumstance announced to all the world the typical nature of the ceremony.*

The same custom is sometimes referred to in romances. In that of Amis and Amelion, already quoted, (see note on stanza 106, Fytte II.) we are informed, that while Amis occupied the place of his friend at his court, and was received by Amelion's lady as her husband,

"Whan it was comen to the night, Schir Amis and that leuedi bright, To bed thai can go;

When thai were togither y-layd,
Schir Amis his swerd out braid,
And layd betuix hem tuo."

Upon Sir Amelion's return, he adopts, but with better reason, the conclusion, inferred by King Mark from a similar circum

stance:

"The lenedi as tite asked him tho,

Whi that he hadde farn so,

Al that fourten night,

Laid his swerd betuen hem to,

That sche no durst nought for wele ne wo,
Touche his bodi aright?

This extraordinary custom is ridiculed in the following passage of an old play: Meriel. Yes; and then Springlove, to make him madder, told him that he would be his proxy, and marry her for him, and lie with her the first night, with a nake i cudgel betwixt them, and make him a king of beggars"-Jovial Crew, Act V. Sc. II. First acted in 1611.

XXVI.

So bifel bidene,
Opon a somers day,
Tristrem and the Quen,
Stalked to her play,

The duerwe hem hath sene;
To Mark gan he say,
-"Sir King, with outen wene,
Thi wiif is now oway,

And thi knight;

Wende fast as thou may,
Of take hem yif thou might."
XXVII.
Mark King after ran;
That thai bothe y-se;
Tristrem seyd than,

Ysonde, schent er we;
For thoughtes that we can,
For hole no may it be;"
Nas neuer so sori man,
Tristrem than was he,f
That hende;
-"For dout of deth Y fle,
In sorwe and wo Y wende.
XXVIII.

"Y fle for dout of deth,
Y dar no leng abide;
In wo mi liif to lede,

Bi this forestes side;"-
A ring Ysonde him bede,
To tokening at that tide;
He fleighe forth in gret drede,
In wode him for to hide,
Bidene ;

To seken him fast thai ride;
Thai founden bot the Quen.
XXIX.
Tristrem is went oway,

As it nought hadde y-bene: For thi the knightes gan say, That wrong Markes had sen;t For her than prayd thai,

That Mark forghaf the Quene; Tristrem with Ysonde lay, That night with outen wene, And wok,

And plaiden ay bitvene, His leue of hir he tok.

Sir Amelion bethought him than

His brother was a true man,
That bad so done aplight."

A similar circumstance occurs in the Arabian Tales, where Aladdin having, by virtue of the magic lamp, introduced himself signify, that he did not intend to abuse that opportunity. In the into the bed of a princess, lays his naked sabre betwixt them, to folio Tristan this circumstance is omitted, perhaps because the evidence of innocence was thought too slight to carry conviction even to King Mark. That monarch finds the Queen alone during Tristrem's absence, and carries her away before his

return.

In the French folio, Tristrem, in his absence from his mistress, exhausts his grief in long lamentable poems. One of these, called the Lay of Death, contains some pretty and pathetic passa ges. Mons. de Tressan has given an imitation of the Lai Mortel, or Lay of Death, in the Corps d'Extraits, vol. i. p. 84. the fair sex. The folios inform us, that Morgain, the false enchan The barons of Cornwall were very indulgent to the frailties of tress, had constructed a drinking-horn, out of which no married woman could drink without spilling, unless she had been uniformly faithful to her husband. This touchstone of matrimonial fidelity she despatched, by a knight, to the court of King Arthar, racke de Galis met the messenger, and compelled him to go to hoping to dishonour the lovely Queen Guenever. But Sir Lamothe court of King Mark, whom he hated, and there to exhibit the enchanted horn. That fair Ysonde failed in the proof is not sur prising; but of all the ladies present at the cour pleniere, four only could drink without spilling the wine. Mark hercupon moved, in his parliament, that a large bonfire should be made for the reception of the ladies of his court in general, and Ysonde among others. But his liege-men withstood him manfully. "If he would or could," they said, he might burn his own wife; but as for theirs, they would not slay them for such a trifle." The King became yet more astonished and incensed at their opposi tion; but the barons were intractable, and voted unanimously. that the horn had been made by false witchery, and only to canse debate and strife among true lovers; and many knights made their vow, that if ever they caught Morgain the contriver, they would show her short courtesy. Mark at length succumbed, after the following gracious speech from the throne: "Fair sirs, if ye will not burn your wives, I will also acquit mine, and bold the trial of the horn as false witchcraft." This horn occurs in the tale of the Boy and the Mantle, in the Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. ii.