RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY CONSISTING OF OLD HEROIC BALLADS, SONGS AND OTHER…

BY THOMAS PERCY, D.D. BISHOP OF DROMORE

EDITED, WITH A GENERAL INTRODUCTION, ADDITIONAL PREFACES, NOTES, GLOSSARY, ETC. BY HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.

IN THREE VOLUMES VOL. III

LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD. RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.1

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Printed by the Riverside Press Limited, Edinburgh Great Britain

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CONTENTS OF VOLUME THE THIRD

The Boy and the Mantle

[Pg viii] [Pg 1]

RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY, ETC.

SERIES THE THIRD.

BOOK I.

[Pg 2]

"An ordinary song or ballad, that is the delight of the common people, cannot fail to please all such readers, as are not unqualified for the entertainment by their affectation or their ignorance; and the reason is plain, because the same paintings of nature which recommend it to the most ordinary reader, will appear beautiful to the most refined."—Addison, in Spectator, No. 70.

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POEMS ON KING ARTHUR, etc.

The third volume being chiefly devoted to romantic subjects, may not be improperly introduced with a few slight strictures on the old metrical romances: a subject the more worthy attention, as it seems not to have been known to such as have written on the nature and origin of books of chivalry, that the first compositions of this kind were in verse, and usually sung to the harp.[1]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] [See Appendix.]

I. THE BOY AND THE MANTLE

Is printed verbatim from the old MS. described in the Preface.[2] The Editor believes it more ancient than it will appear to be at first sight; the transcriber of that manuscript having reduced the orthography and style in many instances to the standard of his own times.

The incidents of the Mantle and the Knife have not, that I can recollect, been borrowed from any other writer. The former of these evidently suggested to Spenser his conceit of Florimel's Girdle, b. iv. c. 5, st. 3.

[Pg 4]

So it happened to the false Florimel, st. 16, when

As for the trial of the Horne, it is not peculiar to our poet: it occurs in the old romance, intitled Morte Arthur, which was translated out of French in the time of K. Edw. IV., and first printed anno 1484. From that romance Ariosto is thought to have borrowed his tale of the Enchanted Cup, c. 42, &c. See Mr. Warton's Observations on the Faerie Queen, &c.

The story of the Horn in Morte Arthur varies a good deal from this of our poet, as the reader will judge from the following extract:—"By the way they met with a knight that was sent from Morgan la Faye to king Arthur, and this knight had a fair horne all garnished with gold, and the horne had such a virtue, that there might no ladye or gentlewoman drinke of that horne, but if she were true to her husband: and if shee were false she should spill all the drinke, and if shee were true unto her lorde, shee might drink peaceably: and because of queene Guenever and in despite of Sir Launcelot du Lake, this horne was sent unto king Arthur."[Pg 5] This horn is intercepted and brought unto another king named Marke, who is not a whit more fortunate than the British hero, for he makes "his qeene drinke thereof and an hundred ladies moe, and there were but foure ladies of all those that drank cleane," of which number the said queen proves not to be one (book ii. chap. 22, ed. 1632).

In other respects the two stories are so different, that we have just reason to suppose this ballad was written before that romance was translated into English.

As for queen Guenever, she is here represented no otherwise than in the old histories and romances. Holinshed observes, that "she was evil reported of, as noted of incontinence and breach of faith to hir husband" (vol. i. p. 93).

Such readers, as have no relish for pure antiquity, will find a more modern copy of this ballad at the end of the volume.

[For Percy's further notes on this ballad see the modernized version (book iii. No. 18). Professor Child prints the ballad in his English and Scottish Ballads (vol. i. p. 1) with a full notice of the various forms of the story by way of introduction. He writes:—"No incident is more common in romantic fiction than the employment of some magical contrivance as a test of conjugal fidelity, or of constancy in love. In some romances of the Round Table, and tales founded upon them, this experiment is performed by means either of an enchanted horn, of such properties that no dishonoured husband or unfaithful wife can drink from it without spilling, or of a mantle which will fit none but chaste women. The earliest known instances of the use of these ordeals are afforded by the Lai du Corn, by Robert Bikez, a French minstrel of the twelfth or thirteenth century, and the Fabliau du Mantel Mautaillé, which, in the opinion of a competent critic, dates from the second half of the thirteenth century, and is only the older lay

worked up into a new shape (Wolf, Ueber die Lais, 327, sq., 342, sq.). We are not to suppose, however, that either of these pieces presents us with the primitive form of this humorous invention. Robert Bikez tells us that he learned his story from an abbot, and that 'noble ecclesiast' stood but one further back in a line of tradition which curiosity will never follow to its source."

Here follows a list of "the most remarkable cases of the use of these and similar talismans in imaginative literature." To these may be added the garland described in the curious old story of the Wright's Wife, which has been printed since the publication of Mr. Child's work.

The Wright's Chaste Wife (E. E. Text Soc. 1865, 1. 55-66).]

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FOOTNOTES:

[2] [Percy folio MS. ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. ii. pp. 301-311.]

[3] [knew.]

[4] Ver. 7. branches, MS.

[5] [ornamented.]

[6] [bid.]

[7] V. 18. heate, MS.

[8] [probably a pouch or bag, but there is no authority for the word.]

[9] Ver. 21. potewer, MS.

[10] V. 32. his wiffe, MS.

[11] V. 34. biled, MS.

[12] [red.]

[13] V. 41. gaule, MS.

[14] [light blue or woad coloured.]

[15] [colour.]

[16] [ruddy.]

[17] [began.]

[18] [fuller.]

[19] [Ver. 72. all above the buttockes, MS.]

[20] V. 75. lauged, MS.

[21] [began.]

[22] [draw close together, another form of crowd.]

[23] Ver. 134. wright, MS.

[24] V. 136. cleare, MS.

[25] [forthwith.]

[26] Ver. 140. by deene, MS.

[27] [V. 151. a little boy, MS.]

[28] [V. 152. looking over.]

[29] [V. 155-6. these two lines belong to the former stanza.]

[30] Ver. 170. them upon, MS.

[31] [carved.]

[32] V. 175. or birtled, MS.

[33] [shed.]

II. THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE

Is chiefly taken from the fragment of an old ballad in the Editor's MS., which he has reason to believe more ancient than the time of Chaucer, and what furnished that bard with his Wife of Bath's Tale. The original was so extremely mutilated, half of every leaf being torn away, that without large supplements, &c. it was deemed improper for this collection: these it has therefore received, such as they are. They are not here particularly pointed out, because the Fragment itself will now be found printed at the end of this volume.

[Sir Frederic Madden supposed this ballad to be founded upon the Weddynge of Syr Gawen and Dame Ragnell, which he printed from the Rawlinson MS. c. 86, fol. 128 b, in his Syr Gawaine.

Mr. Hales writes as follows respecting the various forms in which the story appears in literature. "The wonderful 'metamorphosis' on which this story turns is narrated in Gower's Confessio Amantis, as the story of Florent and the King of Sicily's Daughter, taken by him, as Tyrwhitt conjectures, from the Gesta Romanorum, or some such collection. It appears again, as the reader will remember, in Chaucer's Wyf of Bathes Tale. 'Worked over,' says Prof. Child, 'by some ballad-monger of the sixteenth century, and of course reduced to ditch-water, this tale has found its way into the Crown Garland of Golden Roses, part i. p. 68 (Percy Society, vol. vi.), 'Of a Knight and a Faire Virgin.' On a similar transformation depends the story of 'King Henrie' in Scott's Minstrelsy, edited from Mrs. Brown's MS., with corrections from a recited fragment, and modernized as 'Courteous King Jamie' in Lewis's Tales of Wonder. 'The prime original,' says Scott, 'is to be found in an Icelandic Saga.'"[34]

Mr. Child prints (English and Scottish Ballads, vol. viii. p. 139) two versions of a Scotch ballad entitled Kempy Kaye, which he supposes to be an extravagant parody of The Marriage of Sir Gawaine.]

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Part the First.

Part the Seconde.

⁂

FOOTNOTES:

[34] [Percy folio MS. ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 104.]

[35] [complexion.]

[36] [strong.]

[37] [abused.]

[38] Tearne-Wadling is the name of a small lake [in Inglewood Forest] near Hesketh in Cumberland, on the road from Penrith to Carlisle. There is a tradition, that an old castle once stood near the lake, the remains of which were not long since visible. Tarn, in the dialect of that country, signifies a small lake, and is still in use. ["Tarn-Wadling ... has been for the last ten years a wide meadow grazed by hundreds of sheep."—J. S. Glennie, in Macmillan's Mag. Dec. 1867, p. 167, col. 2.]

[39] churlish.

[40] faith.

[41] This was a common phrase in our old writers; so Chaucer, in his prologue to the Cant. Tales, says of the wife of Bath:—

[42] Sir F. Madden remarks that Sir Stephen does not appear in the Round Table Romances.

[43] [Perhaps intended for Bedver, the King's Constable, Tennyson's Bedivere, but more probably Ban of Benoyk, the brother of Bors.]

[44] [Bors de Gauves, or Gaunes.]

[45] [Gareth, or Gaheret, Sir Gawain's younger brother.]

[46] [neck.]

III. KING RYENCE'S CHALLENGE.

This song is more modern than many of those which follow it, but is placed here for the sake of the subject. It was sung before queene Elizabeth at the grand entertainment at Kenelworth-castle in 1575, and was probably composed for that occasion. In a letter describing those festivities, it is thus mentioned: "A Minstral came forth with a sollem song, warranted for story out of K. Arthur's acts, whereof I gat a copy, and is this:

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After the song the narrative proceeds: "At this the Minstrell made a pause and a curtezy for Primus Passus. More of the song is thear, but I gatt it not."

The story in Morte Arthur, whence it is taken, runs as follows: "Came a messenger hastely from king Ryence of North-Wales,—saying, that king Ryence had discomfited and overcomen eleaven kings, and everiche of them did him homage, and that was this: they gave him their beards cleane flayne off.—wherefore the messenger came for king Arthur's beard, for king Ryence had purfeled a mantell with kings beards, and there lacked for one a place of the mantell, wherefore he sent for his beard, or else he would enter into his lands, and brenn and slay, and never leave till he have thy head and thy beard. Well, said king Arthur, thou hast said thy message, which is the most villainous and lewdest message that ever man heard sent to a king. Also thou mayest see my beard is full young yet for to make a purfell of, but tell thou the king that—or it be long he shall do to me homage on both his knees, or else he shall leese his head." [B. i. c. 24. See also the same Romance, b. i. c. 92.]

The thought seems to be originally taken from Jeff. Monmouth's Hist. b. x. c. 3. which is alluded to by Drayton in his Poly-Olb. Song. 4 and by Spenser in Faer. Qu. 6. 1. 13. 15. See the Observations on Spenser, vol. ii. p. 223.

The following text is composed of the best readings selected from three different copies. The first in Enderbie's Cambria Triumphans, p. 197. The second in the Letter abovementioned. And the third inserted in MS. in a copy of Morte Arthur, 1632, in the Bodleian Library.

Stow tells us, that king Arthur kept his round table at "diverse places, but especially at Carlion, Winchester, and Camalet in Somersetshire." This Camalet, sometimes a famous towne or castle, is situate on a very high tor or hill, &c. (See an exact description in Stowe's Annals, ed. 1631, p. 55.)

†‡† Strada, in his Prolusions, has ridiculed the story of the Giant's Mantle, made of the Beards of Kings.

FOOTNOTES:

[47] [party-coloured coats.]

[48] Largesse, Largesse. The heralds resounded these words as oft as they received of the bounty of the knights. See Memoires de la Chevalerie, tom. i. p. 99.—The expression is still used in the form of installing knights of the garter.

[49] [dais or upper table.]

[50] [voice.]

[51] [press.]

[52] [North Wales.]

[53] i.e. set round the border, as furs are now round the gowns of Magistrates.

[54] [corner.]

[55] [in spite of.]

[56] [that moment the tumult.]

[57] [decked.]

IV. KING ARTHUR'S DEATH.

A Fragment.

The subject of this ballad is evidently taken from the old romance Morte Arthur, but with some variations, especially in the concluding stanzas; in which the author seems rather to follow the traditions of the old Welsh Bards, who believed that King Arthur was not dead, "but conveied awaie by the Fairies into some pleasant place, where he should remaine for a time, and then returne againe and reign in as great [Pg 28]authority as ever." Holinshed, b. 5, c. 14, or as it is expressed in an old Chronicle printed at Antwerp 1493, by Ger. de Leew, "The Bretons supposen, that he [K. Arthur]—shall come yet and conquere all Bretaigne, for certes this is the prophicye of Merlyn: He sayd, that his deth shall be doubteous; and sayd soth, for men thereof yet have doubte, and shullen for ever more,—for men wyt not whether that he lyveth or is dede." See more ancient testimonies in Selden's Notes on Polyolbion, Song III.

This fragment being very incorrect and imperfect in the original MS. hath received some conjectural emendations, and even a supplement of three or four stanzas composed from the romance of Morte Arthur.

[The two ballads here entitled King Arthur's Death and The Legend of King Arthur are united in the Folio MS. (ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 497), but they are evidently two distinct songs. The first ballad forms part ii. of the MS. copy, which has fourteen verses at the end not printed here. The last four verses are printed at the end of the next ballad. Percy has taken great liberties with his original, and has not left a single line unaltered, as will be seen by comparing it with the original printed at the end. Additional lines are also interpolated which are now enclosed within brackets, and it will be seen that these unnecessary amplifications do not improve the effect of the poem. It will also be seen that in vv. 41-44 the father and son of the original are changed into uncle and nephew.

This last scene in the life of King Arthur is the most beautiful and touching portion of his history, and the romancers and minstrels were never tired of telling it in every form.

According to one tradition Arthur still sleeps under St. Michael's Mount ("the guarded Mount" of Milton's Lycidas), and according to another beneath Richmond Castle, Yorkshire.

Mr. Willmott, in his edition of the Reliques, writes, "according to popular superstition in Sicily, Arthur is preserved alive by his sister la Fata Morgana, whose fairy palace is occasionally seen from Reggio in the opposite sea of Messina."]

⁂

[The following forms Part II. of a ballad entitled King Arthur's Death, in the folio MS. ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 501.

ffins.]

FOOTNOTES:

[58] Sir Gawaine had been killed at Arthur's landing on his return from abroad. See the next ballad, ver. 73.

[59] [Ver. 41, 42, the folio MS. reads father ... sonne.]

[60] [serpent.]

[61] [pay for or expiate.]

[62] More commonly called, Caliburn. In the folio MS. Escallberd. [Percy notes in the MS. that "Caliburn was presented A.D. 1191 to Tancred, King of Sicily, by our King Richard I. See Rapin, vol. i."]

[63] [Cologne steel.]

[64] Ver. 178, see MS.

[65] Not unlike that passage in Virgil.

Ladies was the word our old English writers used for Nymphs: As in the following lines of an old song in the Editor's folio MS.

V. THE LEGEND OF KING ARTHUR.

We have here a short summary of K. Arthur's History as given by Jeff. of Monmouth and the old chronicles, with the addition of a few circumstances from the romance Morte Arthur.—The ancient chronicle of Ger. de Leew (quoted above in p. 28), seems to have been chiefly followed: upon the authority of which we have restored some of the names which were corrupted in the MS. and have transposed one stanza, which appeared to be misplaced, (viz. that beginning at ver. 49, which in the MS. followed ver. 36.)

Printed from the Editor's ancient folio Manuscript.

[This ballad as previously stated is the first part of the poem in the MS. and precedes the one here printed before it. Percy made comparatively few alterations in this part and all of them are now noted at the foot of the page.]

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[Pg 44]

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Ver. 1. Bruite his, MS.

[67] [heathendom.]

[68] [born.]

[69] [V. 6. borne, MS.]

[70] V. 9. He began his reign A.D. 515, according to the Chronicles.

[71] [V. 16. sit, MS.]

[72] [V. 19. all nations, MS.]

[73] [pronounced "Tintadgell;" the remains of the castle still exist on the north coast of Cornwall.]

[74] V. 23. She is named Igerna in the old Chronicles.

[75] V. 24. his, MS.

[76] [Ver. 31-2.

[77] V. 39. Froland feild, MS. Froll, according to the Chronicles, was a Roman knight governor of Gaul.

[78] V. 41. Danibus, MS.

[79] [Pagans.]

[80] V. 49. of Pavye, MS.

[81] [V. 49-52. this stanza occurs after v. 36 in the MS.]

[82] [Ver. 69. and when at Sandwich I did land.]

[83] [V. 74. on that.]

[84] [V. 75. that Sir Lancelott.]

[85] [V. 80. he tooke. MS.]

[86] [Ver. 83. Wherby appointed.]

[87] [V. 84. was agreed.]

[88] [V. 85-6.

[89] [V. 92. upon.]

[90] V. 92. perhaps fates.

[91] [V. 96 is the end of the first part in the MS., the stanza

ends the second part, which is printed by Percy as King Arthur's death, see previous ballad.]

VI. A DYTTIE TO HEY DOWNE.

Copied from an old MS. in the Cotton Library [British Museum] (Vesp. A. xxv. fol. 170), intitled, "Divers things of Hen. viij's time."

FOOTNOTES:

[92] Ver. 4. causse, MS.

VII. GLASGERION.

An ingenious Friend thinks that the following old Ditty (which is printed from the Editor's folio MS.) may possibly have given birth to the Tragedy of the Orphan, in which Polidore intercepts Monimia's intended favours to Castalio.

See what is said concerning the hero of this song, (who is celebrated by Chaucer under the name of Glaskyrion) in the Essay affixed to vol. i. note H. pt. iv. (2).

[The hero of this ballad is the same as "gret Glascurion," placed by Chaucer in the House of Fame by the side of Orpheus, and also associated with Orpheus by Gawain Douglas in the Palice of Honour. Percy's note in the Folio MS. is "It was not necessary to correct this much for the press;" (ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 246). It will be seen, however, by the collations at the foot of the page that several corrections were made, not always for the better. Thus ver. 96, "who did his ladye grieve," is certainly weaker than the original,—

Jamieson (Popular Ballads, 1806, vol. i. p. 91) prints an inferior version under the name of Glenkindie. Mr. Hale points out, however, that "the Scotch version is more perfect in one point—in the test question put to the page before the assignation is disclosed to him:—

Some such question perhaps would give more force to vv. 85-88 of our version." He also very justly observes, "perhaps there is no ballad that represents more keenly the great gulf fixed between churl and noble—a profounder horror at the crossing over it."]

[Pg 46]

[Pg 50]

FOOTNOTES:

[93] [Ver. 4. where cappe and candle yoode, MS.]

[94] V. 6. wood, MS.

[95] [V. 8. sayd shee, MS.]

[96] [V. 9. saide, strike.]

[97] [cease.]

[98] [V. 11. over this.]

[99] [well may be thine.]

[100] [V. 13. you fall.]

[101] [V. 15. 7 yeere.]

[102] [V. 16. my hart I durst neere breake.]

[103] [V. 21. but whom then.]

[104] [V. 24. her love is granted mee.]

[105] [Ver. 29. but come you hither Master, quoth he.]

[106] [wicked.]

[107] [V. 34. and did on hose and shoone.]