Frankis spech is cald romance,1
Pers of Langtoft, a chanon

So sais clerkes and men of France.
Schaven in the houseof Bridlyngton.

On Frankis style this storie he wrote Of Inglis kinges, &c.2

As Langtoft had written his French poem in Alexandrines3, the translator, Robert de Brunne, has followed him, the Prologue excepted, in using the double distich for one line, after the manner of Robert of Gloucester. As in the first part he copied the metre of his author Wace. But I will exhibit a specimen from both parts. In the first, he gives us this dialogue between Merlin's mother and king Vortigern, from Master Wace.

Dame, said the kyng, welcom be thow:
Nedeli at the I mette witte how 4

Who than gate thi sone Merlyn And on what maner was he thin?
His moder stode a throwe and thought
Are scho to the kyng ansuerd ouht:
When scho had standen a litelle wight,
Scho said, by Jhesu in Mari light,

That I ne saugh hym never ne knewe
That this knave on me sewel0.

9

Ne I wist, ne I herd,
But this thing am I wole ograunt12,
One com to my bed I wist,
Als15 a man I him felte,

Als a man he spake to me.

What maner schap with me so ferd11
That I was of elde avenaunt13:
With force he me halsed11 and kist :
Als a man he me welte 16;

Bot what he was, myght I not se17.

The following, extracted from the same part, is the speech of the Romans to the Britons, after the former had built a wall against the Picts, and were leaving Britain.

We haf closed ther most nede was; And yf ye defend wele that pas With archers18 and with magnels19, And kepe wele the kyrnels;

1 The Latin tongue ceased to be spoken in France about the ninth century; and was succeeded by what was called the ROMANCE tongue. A mixture of Frankish and bad Latin. Hence the first poems in that language are called ROMANS or ROMANTS. Essay on POPE, p. 281. In the following passages of this Chronicle, where Robert de Brunne mentions RoMANCE, he sometimes means Langtoft's French book, from which he translated, viz. Chron. p. 205.

This that I have said it is Pers sawe

Als he in Romance laid thereafter gan I drawe.

Chauc. Rom. R. v. 2170. Balades, p. 554. v. 508. Urr. Crescembin. Istor. della Volg Poes. vol. i. L. v. p. 316. seq. 2 Hearne's edit. Pref. p. 106.

3 Some are printed by Hollingsh. Hist. iii. 469. Others by Hearne, Chron. Langt. Pref. P. 58. And in the margin of the pages of the Chronicle. 4'I must by all means know of you.' 8 White, while.

9 Child.

5 Begott.
10 Begott.
14 Embraced.

6 Awhile.

7 E'er she.

11 Lay.
15 Ás.

12 Assured. 16 Wielded, moved.

13 I was then young and beautiful.' 17 Apud Hearne's GI. Rob. Glouc. p. 711. 18 Not Bowmen, but apertures in the wall for shooting arrows. Viz. In the repairs of Taunton castle, 1266. Comp. J. Gerneys, Episc. Wint. 'TANTONIA. Expense domorum. In mercede "Cementarii pro muro erigendo juxta turrim ex parte orientali cum Kernellis et Archeriis faciendis, xvi. s. vi. d.' In Archív. Wolvef. apud Wint. Kenells mentioned here, and in the next verse, were much the same thing or perhaps battlements. In repairs of the great hall at Wolvesey-palace, I find, In kyrnillis emptis ad idem, xii. d.' Ibid. There is a patent granted to the monks of Abingdon, in Berkshire, in the reign of Edward III., 'Pro kernellatione monasterii.' Pat. an. 4. par. 1.

·

17 Cotgreve has interpreted this word, an old-fashioned sling. V. MANGONEAU. Viz. Rot,

50 ROUWEN, DAUGHTER OF HENGIST, THE SAXON ROSAMOND.

Ther may ye bothe schote and cast
Thinkes your faders wan franchise,
But frely lyf to your lyves end:

Waxes bold and fend you fast.
Be ye no more in other servise :
We fro you for ever wende1.

Vortigern king of the Britons, if thus described meeting the beautiful princess Rouwen, daughter of Hengist, the Rosamond of the Saxon ages, at a feast of wassaile. It is a curious picture of the gallantry of

the times.

Hengest that day did his might,

That alle were glad, king and knight,
And as thei were best in glading,
And2 wele cop schotin knight and king,
Of chambir Rouewen so gent,

Be fore the king in halle scho went.

A coupe with wyne sche had in hand,
And hir3 hatire was wele1 farand.

Be fore the king on kne sett,

And on hir langage scho him grett,

'Lauerid king, Wassaille,' seid sche. The king asked, what suld be.

Pip. An. 4. Hen. iii. [A.D. 1219.] NORDHANT. Et in expensis regis in obsidione castri de "Rockingham, 100l. per Br. Reg. Et custodibus ingeniorum [engines] regis ad ea carianda usque Bisham, ad castrum illud obsidendum, 135. 10d. per id. Br. Reg. Et pro duobus coriis, emptis apud Northampton ad fundas petrariarum et mangonellorum regis faciciendas, 55. 6d. per id. Br. Reg.'-Rot. Pip. ix. Hen. iii. [A.D. 1225.] SURR. Comp. de Cnarebure. 'Et pro vii. cablis emptis ad petrarías et mangonellos in eodem castro, 75. id.' Rot. Pip. 5 Hen. iii. [A.D. 1220.] DEVONS. Et in custo posito in 1. petraria et 11. mangonellis cariatis a Nottingham usque Bisham, et in eisdem reductis a Bisham usque Nottingham, 7. 45." 'MANGONEL also signified what was thrown from the machine so called. Thus Froissart.' Et avoient les 'Brabancons de tres grans engins devant la ville, qui gettoient pierres de faix et mangoneaux jusques en la ville." Liv. iii. c. 118. Borel, TRESOR. in V.

Onques pour une tor abatre,

Plus briement ne du ciel destendre
Chaucer mentions both Mangonels and Kyrnils, in
4195. 6279. Also archers, Le. archeria, v. 4191.
V. 3945.

Vous puissiez bien les Mangonneaulx,
Et aux archieres de la Tour

And in the old French OVIDE cited by

Ne oit on Mangoniaux descendre
Foudre pour abatre un clocher.

a castle in the Romaunt of the Rose, v.
So in the French Roman de la Rose,

Veoir la par-dessus les Creneaulx.
Sont arbalestres tout entour.

Archieres occur often in this poem. Chaucer, in translating the above passage, has introduced guns, which were not known when the original was written, v. 4191. The use of artillery, however, is proved by a curious passage in Petrarch, to be older than the period to which it has been commonly referred. The passage is in Petrarch's book de REMEDIIS UTRIUSQUE FORTUNA, undoubtedly written before the year 1334. G. Habeo machinas et balistas. R. Mirum, nisi et glandes ancas, quæ flammis injectis horrisono sonitu jaciuntur.-Erat hæc pestis nuper rara, ut cum ingenti miraculo cerneretur: nunc, ut rerum pessimarum dociles sunt animi, ita communis est, ut quodlibet genus armorum.' Lib. i. DIAL. 99. Muratori, ANTIQUITAT. Med. Ev. tom. ii. col. 514. Cannons are supposed to have been first used by the English at the battle of Cressy, in the year 1346. It is extraordinary that Froissart, who minutely describes that battle, and is fond of decorating his narrative with wonders, should have wholly omitted this circumstance. Musquets are recited as a weapon of the infantry so early as the year 1475. Quilibet peditum habeat balistam vel bombardam. LIT. Casimiri iii. an. 1475. LEG. POLON. tom. i. p. 228. These are generally assigned to the year 1520.

I am of opinion, that some of the great military battering engines, so frequently mentioned n the histories and other writers of the dark ages, were fetched from the crusades. See a pecies of the catapult, used by the Syrian army in the siege of Mecca, about the year 680. Mod. Univ. Hist. B. i. c. 2. tom. ii. p. 117. These expeditions into the cast undoubtedly uch improved the European art of war. Tasso's warlike machines, which seem to be the pet's invention, are formed on descriptions of such wonderful machines which he had read in he crusade historians, particularly Wilhelmus Tyrensis. 1 Gloss. Rob. Glouc. p. 654. 2 Sending about the cups apace. Carousing briskly. 3 Attire.

Very rich.

5 Lord.

Was not skilled.

On that langage the king' ne couthe.
A knight2 ther langage3 lerid in youthe.
Breg hiht that knight born Bretoun,
That lerid the langage of Sessoun.
This Breg was the latimer.
What scho said told Vortager.
'Sir, Breg seid, Rowen yow gretis,
'And king callis and lord yow? letis.
'This es ther custom and ther gest,
'Whan thei are atte the ale or fest.
'Ilk man that louis quare him think.
'Salle say Wosseille, and to him drink,
'He that bidis salle say, Wassaille.
'The tother salle say again, Drinkhaille.
'That sais Wosseille drinkis of the cop,
'Kissand his felaw he gives it up.
'Drinkheille, he sais, and drinke ther of,
'Kissand him in bourd and9 skof.'
The king said, as the knight gan1o ken,
Drinkheille, smiland on Rouewen.
Rouewen drank as hire list,

10

And gave the king," sine him kist.
There was the first wassaille in dede,
And that first of fame12 gede.

Of that wassaille men told grete tale,
And wassaille whan thei were at ale
And drinkheille to tham that drank,
Thus was wassaille13 tane to thank.
Fele1 sithes that maidin1 ying,
Wassailed and kist the king.
Of bodi sche was right16 avenant,

The

3 Learned.

4 Was called.

5 Saxons

For Latiner, or Latinier, an Interpreter. Thus, in the romance of KING RICHARD, hereafter cited at large, Saladin's Latimer at the siege of Babylon proclaims a truce to the christian army from the walls of the city. Signat. M. i.

The LATEMERE tho tourned his eye

To that other syde of the toune,
And crying trues with gret soune.

In which sense the French word occurs in the Roman de GARIN. MSS. Bibl. Reg. Paris.

Num 7542.

LATIMER fu si sot parler Roman,

And again,

Un LATIMER vieil ferant et henu

Englois, Gallois, et Breton, et Norman.

Molt sot de plet, et molt entresnie su

And in the MSS. Roman de Rou, which will again be mentioned.
L'archevesque Franches a Jumeges ala,

A Rou, et a sa gent par LATINIER parla.
We find it in Froissart, tom. iv. c. 87. And in other ancient French writers. In the old
Norman poem on the subject of the king Dermod's expulsion from his kingdom of Ireland, in
the Lambeth library, it seems more properly to signify, in a limited sense, the king's domestic
SECRETARY.

Par son demeine LATINIER

Que moi conta de luy l'histoire, &c.

Lord Lyttelton's Hist Hen. ii. vol. iv. App. p. 270. We might here render it literally his Latinist, an officer retained by the king to draw up the public instruments in Latin, as in DOMESDAI-BOOK. 'Godwinus accipitrarius, Hugo LATINARIUS, Milo portarius.' MS. Exc pt. penes me. But in both the last instances the word may bear its more general and extensive signification. Camden explains LATIMER by intrepréter. Rem. p. 158. See also p. 151. edit. 1674. 7 Esteems. 12 Went.

8 Kissing 9 Sport, joke.
10 To signity. 11 Since, afterwards.
14 Many times. 15 Young. 16 Handsome, gracefully shaped, &c.

13 Taken.

52

LONGTOFT-RICHARD'S ATTACK ON PAYRIM'S CASTLE.

Of fair colour, with swete semblaunt.
Hir2 hatire fulle wele it semed,
Mervelik3 the king sche1 quemid.
Oute of messure was he glad,
For of that maidin he wer alle mad.
Drunkenes the feend wroght,
Of that "paen was al his thoght.
A meschaunche that time him led,
He asked that paen for to wed.
Hengist wild not draw a lite,
Bot graunted him alle so tite.

And Hors his brother consentid sone.
Her frendis said, it were to done.
Thei asked the king to gife hir Kent,
In douary to take of rent.

O pon that maidin his hert so cast,
That thei askid the king made fast.
I wene the king toke her that day,
And wedded hire on paiens lay.
Of prest was ther no benison
No mes songen, no orison.

In seisine he had her that night.

Of Kent he gave Hengist the right.

The erelle that time, that Kent alle held,

Sir Goragon, that had the scheld,

Of that gift no thing 'ne wist

To 10he was cast outell with Hengist.12

In the second part, copied from Peter Langtoft, the attack of Richard I., on a castle held by the Saracens, is thus described.

The dikes were fulle wide that closed the castle about,
And depe on ilka side, with bankis hie without.
Was ther non entre that to the castelle gan ligge,13
Bot a streiht kauce14; at the end a drauht brigge.
With grete duble cheynes drauhen over the gate,
And fifti armed fueynes porters at that yate.

With slenges and magneles16 thei kast1 to kyng Rychard
Our cristen by parcelles kasted ageynward.18

Ten sergeauns of the best his targe gan him bere

That egre were and prest to covere him and to were.19
Himself as a geaunt the cheynes in tuo hew,

The targe was his warant,20 that non tille him threw.
Right unto the gate with the targe thei yede
Fightand on a gate, undir him the slouh his stede,
Therfor ne wild he sesse,21 alone into the castele

1 Countenance. 2 Attire.

Would not fly off a bit.

3 Marvellously. 4 Pleased. 5 Pagan, heathen. 7 In pagans law. According to the heathenish custom. 10 Till. 11 By. 12 Hearne's Gl. Rob. Glo. p. 695. 14 Causey, 15 Swains, young men, soldiers. 16 Mangonels, vid. supr.

8 Benediction, blessing. 9 Knew not.

13 Lying. 17 Cast.

19 Ward, defend.

18 In Langtoft's French,

'Dis seriauntz des plus feres e de melz vanez,
'Devaunt le cors le Reis sa targe ount portez."

20 Guard, defence.

21'He could not cease.'

Thorgh tham all wild presse on fote faught he fulle wele. And whan he was withinne, and fauht as a wilde leon, He fondred the Sarazins otuynne,1 and fauht as a dragon, Without the cristen gan crie, allas! Richard is taken, Tho Normans were sorie, of contenance gan blaken, To slo downe and to stroye never wild thei stint Thei left for dede no noye2, ne for no wound no dynt, That in went alle their pres, maugre the Sarazins alle, An fond Richard on des fightand, and wonne the halle3. From these passages it appears, that Robert of Brunne has scarcely more poetry than Robert of Glocester. He has however taken care to acquaint his readers, that he avoided high description, and that sort of phraseology which was then used by the minstrels and harpers : that he rather aimed to give information than pleasure, and that he was more studious of truth than ornament. As he intended his chronicle to be sung, at least by parts, at public festivals, he found it expedient to apologise for these deficiencies in the prologue; as he had partly done before in his prologue to the MANUAL OF SINS.

I mad noght for no disours1
Bot for the luf of symple men,

For many it ere

Ne for seggers no harpours,

That strange Inglis cannot ken": that strange Inglis

In rhyme wate7 never what it is.

I made it not for to be praysed,

Bot at the lewed men were aysed.

He next mentions several sorts of verse, or prosody; which were then fashionable among the minstrels, and have been long since unknown.

If it were made in rhyme couwee,

Or in strangere or enterlace, &c.

'The rhymes here called, by Robert de Brunne, Couwee, and Enterlace, were undoubtedly derived from the Latin rhymers of that age, who used versus caudati et interlaqueati. Brunne here professes to avoid these elegancies of composition, yet he has intermixed many passages in Rime Couwee. CHRONICLE, 266. 273. &c. And almost all the latter part of his work from the Conquest is written in rhyme enterlacee, each couplet rhyming in the middle, as well as the end. As thus, MSS. HARL. 1002.

Plausus Græcorum | lux cæcis et via claudis |
Incola cælorum | virgo dignissima laudis.

2 Annoy.

3 Chron. p. 182. 183.

1 He formed the Saracens into two 'parties.' 4 Tale-tellers, Narratores, Lat. Conteours, Fr. Seggers in the next line perhaps means the same thing, i. e. Sayers. The writers either of metrical or of prose romances. Antholog. Fran. p. 17. 1765. 8vo. Or Disours may signify Discourse, i. e. adventures in prose. We have the 'Devil's disours,' in P. Plowman, fol. xxxi. b. edit. 1550. Disour precisely signifies a tale-teller at a feast in Gower, Conf. Amant. Lib. vii. fol. 155. a edit. Berthel. 1554. He is speaking of the coronation festival of a Roman Emperor. When he was gladest as his mete, And every DISSOUR had saide Du Cange says, that Discurs were judges of It ere, There are.

Know.

And every minstrell had plaide
Which most was pleasaunt to his ere.
the tourney. Diss. Joinv. p. 179.
7 Knew.
8 Eased.