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And after rode the quene and Emelie,
And after that another compagnie
Of on and other after hir degree;

And thus they paffen thurghout the citee,
And to the liftes comen they be time:

It n'as not of the day yet fully prime.
Whan fet was Thefeus ful rich and hie,

2575

Ipolita the quene, and Emelie,

2580

And other ladies in degrees aboute,

Unto the fetes prefeth all the route.

And westward thurgh the gates under Mart

Arcite, and cke the hundred of his part,

With baner red, is entred right anon;
And in the felve moment Palamon

2585

Is, under Venus, eftward in the place,

With baner white, and hardy chere and face.
In all the world to feken up and doun,

So even without variatioun

2590

Ther n'ere fwiche compagnies never twey;
For ther was non fo wife that coude sey
That any hadde of other avantage
Of worthineffe, ne of eftat ne age,
So even were they chofen for to geffe:
And in two renges fayre they hem dreffe.

2595

Whan that hir names red were everich on,
That in her nombre gile were ther non,

Tho were the gates fhette, and cried was loude,

Do now your devoir, yonge knightes proude. 26co

The heraudes left hir priking up and doun.
Now ringen trompes loud and clarioun.
Ther is no more to fay, but eft and west
In gon the fperes fadly in the reft;
In goth the harpe fpore into the fide:

2605

2610

Ther fee men who can juste and who can ride :
Ther shiveren shaftes upon fheldes thicke;
He feleth thurgh the herte fpone the pricke:
Up fpringen fperes twenty foot on highte;
Our gon the fwerdes as the filver brighte:
The helmes they to-hewen and to-shrede;
Out breft the blod with fterne ftremes rede:
With mighty maces the bones they to-brefte;
He thurgh the thickest of the throng gan threste:
Ther ftomblen stedes ftrong, and doun goth all; 2615
He rolleth under foot as doth a ball:

He foineth on his foo with a tronchoun,

And he him hurtleth with his hors adoun:

V. 2608. the berte fpone] This part of the human body is not mentioned in any dictionary that I have fcen. The following paffage of Johnion [SadShepherd, A. i, S. vi,] would incline one to fufpect that it means the concave part of the breast, where the lower ribs unite with the cartilago enjiformis;

he that undoes bim, [the decr]

Doth cleave the brisket hone, upon the spoon.

Of which a little gristle grow

The gloff. fuppofes fone to be a participle, fignifying thruft, driven, putht, from the It. fpingere.

.2617. He foineth on his joo] I have ventured to substitute foo instead of foot or feet, the readings of the mill. Foot seems to have been originally introduced by a copii from the preceding line, and to have been afterwards altered to feet, in ors der to make fome fenfe.

He thurgh the body is hurt, and fith ytake

Maugre his hed, and brought unto the flake, 2620
As forword was, right ther he must abide;
Another lad is on that other fide:

And fomtime doth hem Thefeus to rest,
Hem to refresh and drinken if hem left.

Ful oft a day han thilke Thebanes two
Togeder met and wrought eche other wo:
Unhorfed hath eche other of hem twey.

2625

Ther n'as no tigre in the vale of Galaphey,
Whan that hire whelpe is stole whan it is lite,
So cruel on the hunt as is Arcite

2630

For jalous herte upon this Palamon;

Ne in Belmarie ther n'is fo fell leon

That hunted is, or for his hunger wood,
Ne of his prey defireth fo the blood,
As Palamon to fleen his foo Arcite :
The jalous ftrokes on hir helmes bite;

2635

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And made his fwerd depe in his flesh to bite;

V. 2628. the vale of Galapbey] This word is variously written, Colaphey, Galgaphey, Galapey. There was a town called Galapha in Mauritania Tingitana, upon the river Malva, [Cellar. Geog. Ant. v. ii. p. 935,] which perhaps may have given name to the vale here meant. For Belmarie, ver. 2632, see the note on ver. 57.

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And by the force of twenty is he take
Unyolden, and ydrawen to the stake:
And in the rescous of this Palamon
The ftronge King Licurge is borne adoun;
And King Emetrius for all his strengthe
Is borne out of his fadel a fwerdes lengthe,

So hitte him Palamon or he were take:

2645

But all for nought, he was brought to the stake: 2650
His hardy herte might him helpen naught;
He mofte abiden whan that he was caught
By force and eke by compofition.

Who forweth now but woful Palamon, That mofte no more gon again to fight? And whan that Thefeus had feen that fight Unto the folk that foughten thus eche on

2655

He cried, Ho! no more, for it is don.
I wol be trewe juge and not partie.

Arcite of Thebes fhal have Emelie,

2660

That by his fortune hath hire fayre yworne.

Anon ther is a noife of peple begoune

For joye of this fo loud and high withall

It femed that the liftes fhulden fall.

What can now fayre Venus done above?

2665

What faith fhe now? what doth this quene of Love

But wepeth fo for wanting of hire will

Til that hire teres in the liftes fill:

She fayde, I am afhamed doutelees.

Saturnus fayde, Daughter, hold thy pees:

2670

Mars hath his will, his knight hath all his bone,
And by min hed thou shalt ben efed fone.

The trompoures with the loude miaftrakcie,
The heraudes, that so loude yell and crie,
Ben in hir joye for wele of Dan Arcite.
But herkeneth me, and stenteth noife a lite,
Whiche a miracle ther befell anon.

This fierce Arcite hath of his helme ydon,
And on a courfer for to fhew his face
He priketh endelong the large place,
Loking upward upon this Emelie,

And the again him cast a frendlich eye,
(For women, as to speken in commune,
They folwen all the favour of Fortune)
And was all his in chere as his in herte.
Out of the ground a Fury infernal fterte,

2675

2680

2683

.2673. The trompoures] The trumpeters; so the best mil If the learned editor of Ancient Scottish Poems had found this word in this fenfe in his copy of Chaucer he would not, I apprehend, have looked any further for an explanation of it in The Dance, by Dunbar, st. ii. v. 10, p. 27.

V. 2577. Whiche a miracle] It is fcarce necessary to observe that which, in our ancient language, was often used for who and what. It is used for what here, and again, ver. 5621, 6875.

. 2685. And was all his in chere as his in berte] I have patched up this verse as well as I could out of the different copies. There is no authority, as I recollect, for the first in, except Ca. 2, but it feems abfolutely neceffary: and all the copies read-as in his herte-which I think is evidently wrong. ¥. 2686. a Fury] Moft of the copies have a fire, mf. A. reads a Fayr, from which I have made the prefent reading, as in The Thefeida it is Herinis, i. e. Erinnys, one of the Furies.

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