for making salves, or distilling strong waters. But the diversions of the field were not thought inconsistent with the character of a religious lady of this eminent rank, who resembled an abbot in respect of exercising an extensive manorial jurisdiction; and who hawked and hunted in common with other ladies of distinction". This work, however, is here mentioned, because the second of these treatises is written in rhyme. is spoken in her own person; in which, being otherwise a woman of authority, she assumes the title of dame. I suspect the whole to be a translation from the French and Latine.

One of the a buck, another a doo,
The ffox, and the marteryn, and the
wilde roo:

And ye shall, my dere sones, other bestes
all,

Where so ye hem finde, rascall hem call,
In frith or in fell,

Or in fforrest, y yow tell.

And to speke of the hert, if ye wil hit
lere,

Ye shall call him a calfe at the first yere;
The second yere a broket, so shall he be,
The third yere a spayard, lerneth this at

It

Among Crynes's books [911. 4to. Bibl. Bodl.] there is a bl. lett. copy of this piece, "Imprynted at London in Paul's churchyarde by me Hary Tab." Again by William Copland without date, "The boke of hawkyng, hunting, and fishing, with all the properties and medecynes that are necessary to be kept." With wooden cuts. Here the tract on armory is omitted, which seems to have been first inserted, that the work might contain a complete course of education for a gentleman. The same title is in W. Powel's edit. 1550. The last edition is "The GENTLEMAN'S ACADEMY, or the book of saint Albans, concerning hawking, hunting, and armory." Lond. 1595. 4te.

At the magnificent marriage of the princess Margaret with James the Fourth, king of Scotland, in 1503, his majesty sends the new queen, "a grett tame hart, for to have a corse." "Leland. Coll. ArPEND. iii. 280. edit. 1770.

e This is the latter part of the colophon at the end of the saint Alban's edition. "And here now endith the boke of blasyng of armys, translatyt and compylyt togedyr at saynt Albons the yere from thyncarnacyon of oure lorde Jhesu Crist MCCCCLXXXVI." [This very scarce book, printed in various inks, was in the late Mr. West's library.] [A fac-simile of this edition was printed a few years ago; but as it has not found its way into our public libraries, I have not been able to refer to it.-EDIT.] This part is translated or abstracted from Upton's book De re militari, et factis illustribus, written

wood or field. 2 Sir Tristram. See OBSERVAT. SPENS. i. p. 21. "plain.

To this period I refer William of Nassyngton a proctor or advocate in the ecclesiastical court at York. He translated into English rhymes, as I conjecture, about the year 1480, a theðlogical tract, entitled A treatise on the Trinity and Unity with a declaration of God's Works and of the Passion of Jesus Christ, written by John of Waldenby, an Augustine frier of Yorkshire, a student in the Augustine convent at Oxford, the provincial of his order in England, and a strenuous champion against the doctrines of Wiccliffe. I once saw a manuscript of Nassyngton's translation in the library of Lincoln cathedral; and was tempted to transcribe the few following lines from the prologue, as they convey an idea of our poet's character, record the titles of some old popular romances, and discover antient modes of public amusement,

about the year 1441. See the fourth book De insignibus Anglorum nobilium. Edit. Biss. Lond. 1654. 4to. It begins with the following curious piece of sacred heraldry. "Of the offspring of the gentilman Jafeth, come Habraham, Moyses, Aron and the profettys, and also the kyng of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that gentilman Jhesus was borne, very god and man: after his manhode kynge of the land of Jude and of Jnes, gentilman by is moder Mary, prynce of Cote armure," &c. Nicholas Upton, above mentioned, was a fellow of New college Oxford, about the year 1430. He had many dignities in the church. He was patronised by Humphrey duke of Glocester, to whom he dedicates his book. This I ought to have remarked before. f Wood, Ant. Univ. Oxon. i. 117.

See also MSS. Reg. 17 C. viii. p. 2. [But the same lines occur in the Prologue to Hampole's Speculum Vitæ, or MIRROUR OF LIFE, as it has been called, written about the year 1350. [See MSS. BODL. 48. p. 47. a. Bibl. Bodl. And ibid. MSS. LANGB. 5. p. 64.] From which, that those who have leisure and opportunity may make a further comparison of the two Prologues, I will tran

scribe a few more dull lines. Latyn als, I trowe, canne nane

Bot thase that it of scole hane tane,

Some canne frankes and latyn
That hanes vsed covrte and dwelled
theryn,

And som canne o latyn a party
That canne frankes bot febely,
And som vnderstandes in inglys
That canne nother latyn ne frankys,
Bot lered and lewed alde and younge
All vnderstandes inglysche tounge:
Thare fore I halde it maste syker thon
To schew that langage that ilk a man
konne,

And for all lewed men namely
Thet can no maner of clergy,
To kenne thanne what ware maste nede,
Ffor clerkes canne bathe se and rede, &c.
This poem, consisting of many thousand
verses, begins with the spiritual advan-
tages of the Lord's Prayer, of its seven
petitions, their effects, &c. &c. And
their rewards. [See supr. vol. ii. p. 99.
ends with the seven Beatitudes, and
Note.] These are the two concluding
lines.

To whylk blysse he vs bryng
That on the crosse for vs all wolde hyng.
This is supposed to be a translation from
logne, 1536. fol. But it may be doubted,
a Latin tract, afterwards printed at Co-
whether Hampole was the translator. It
is, however, most probably of the four-
teenth century.-ADDITIONS.]

I warne you firste at the begynnynge,
That I will make no vayne carpynge,
Of dedes of armes, ne of amours,
As does MYNSTRELLIS and GESTOURS,
That maketh carpynge in many a place
Of OCTOVIANE and ISENBRACE*,

And of many other GESTES,

And namely when they come to festes;
Ne of the lyf of BEVYS OF HAMPTOUNE,
That was a knyght of grete renoune:
Ne of syr GYE OF WARWYKE, &c.

Our translator in these verses formally declares his intention of giving his reader no entertainment; and disavows all concern with secular vanities, especially those unedifying tales of love and arms, which were the customary themes of other poets, and the delight of an idle age. The romances of OCTAVIAN, sir BEVIS, and sir Guy, have already been discussed at large. That of sir ISEMBRAS was familiar in the time of Chaucer, and occurs in the RIME OF SIR THOPAS". In Mr. Garrick's curious library of chivalry, which his friends share in common with himself, there is an edition by Copland, extremely different from the manuscript copies preserved at Cambridge1, and in the Cotton collection. I believe it to be originally a French romance, yet not of very high antiquity. It is written in the stanza of Chaucer's sir THOPAS1. The incidents are for the most part those trite expedients, which almost constantly form the plan of these metrical narratives.

I take this opportunity of remarking, that the MINSTRELS, who in this prologue of Nassyngton are named separately from the GESTOURS, or tale-tellers, were sometimes distinguished from the harpers. In the year 1374, six Minstrels, accompanied with four Harpers, on the anniversary of Alwyne the bishop,

[Isembrase. King's MS.] h V. 6. See supr. vol. i. p. 127. Notes. [This romance has been reprinted in the "Select pieces of early

Popular Poetry."-EDIT.]

MSS. Caius Coll. Class. A. 9. (21); k CALIG. A. 12. f. 128.

1 Sec Percy's Ball. i. 306.

performed their minstrelsies, at dinner, in the hall of the convent of saint Swithin at Winchester; and during supper, sung the same GEST, or tale, in the great arched chamber of the prior: on which solemn occasion, the said chamber was hung with the arras, or tapestry, of THE THREE KINGS OF COLOGNE". These minstrels and harpers belonged, partly to the royal houshold in Winchester castle, and partly to the bishop of Winchester. There was an annual mass at the shrine or tomb of bishop Alwyne in the church, which was regularly followed by a feast in the convent. It is probable, that the GEST here specified was some poetical legend of the prelate, to whose memory this yearly festival was instituted, and who was a Saxon bishop of Winchester about the year 1040o. Although songs of chivalry were equally common, and I believe more welcome, to the monks, at these solemnities. In an accompt-roll of the priory of Bicester, in Oxfordshireo, I find a parallel instance, under the year 1432. It is in this entry. "Dat. sex Mini

m

Registr. Priorat. S. Swithini Winton. [ut supr. vol. i. p. 93.] "In festo Alwyni episcopi..... Et durante pietancia in aulâ conventûs, sex MINISTRALLI, cum quatuor CITHARISATORIBUS, faciebant ministralcias suas. Et post cenam, in magnâ camerâ arcuatâ dom. Prioris, cantabant idem GESTUM, in quâ camerâ suspendebatur, ut moris est, magnum dorsale Prioris, habens picturas trium regum Colein. Veniebant autem dicti joculatores a castello domini regis, et ex familiâ episcopi...." The rest is much obliterated, and the date is hardly discernible. Among the Harleian manuscripts, there is an antient song on the three kings of Cologne, in which the whole story of that favorite romance is resolved into alchemy. MSS. 2407. 13. fol. Wynkyn de Worde

printed this romance in quarto, 1526. It is in MSS. Harl. 1704. 11. fol. 49. b. Imperf. Coll. Trin. Dublin. V. 651. 14. [C. 16.] MSS. More, 37. And frequently in other places. Barclay, in his EGLOGES, mentions this subject, a part of the nativity, painted on the walls of a churche cathedrall. EGL. v. Signat. D. ii. ad calc. Ship of fooles, edit. 1570.

And the thre kinges, with all their com

pany,

Their crownes glistening bright and
oriently,

With their presentes and giftes misticall,
All this behelde I in picture on the wall.

In an Inventory of ornaments belonging to the church of Holbech in Lincolnshire, and sold in the year 1548, we find this article. "Item, for the COATS of the iii. kyngs of Coloyne, vs. iiiid." I suppose these coats were for dressing. persons who represented the three kings in some procession on the NATIVITY. Or perhaps for a MYSTERY on the subBut in the ject, plaid by the parish.

me Inventory we have, Item, for the apostylls [the apostles] coats, and for ley's ITIN. CURIOS. pag. 19. HAROD'S [Herod's] coate, &c. StukeIn old accompts of church-wardens for saint Helen's at Abingdon, Berks, for the year 1566, there is an entry For setting up ROBIN HOODES BOWER. I suppose for a parish interlude. ARCHEOL. vol. i. p. 16.

n He is buried in the north wall of the presbytery, with an inscription.

• In Thesaurario Coll. Trin. Oxon. [See supr. vol. i. p. 94.]

strallis de Bokyngham cantantibus in refectorio MARTYRIUM SEPTEM DORMIENTIUM in ffesto epiphanie, iv s." That is, the treasurer of the monastery gave four shillings to six minstrels from Buckingham, for singing in the refectory a legend called the MARTYRDOM of the Seven SLEEPERS", on the feast of the Epiphany. In the Cotton library, there is a Norman poem in Saxon characters on this subject; which was probably translated afterwards into English rhyme. The original is a Greek legend', never printed; but which, in the dark ages, went about