An thar | his muth e an thar | his honde.
Hit is the betere in | to scot-lon|de.
To sech e hine is lihtlich thing.

:

:

:

heom | to redle.

Hwi nul leth hi nimlen
That he were: mid heom | ilome.
For theche heom of his | wisdom e.
An giule him rente: auale stede.
That he miste heom: ilome be nude.

Certes cwath the hulle: that | is soth.
Theos richle men] : wel muchle misdoth.
The let eth thane: gode mon.
The of so feole thingle con.
An giuleth rente: wel | misliche.
An of him let eth wel | lihtliche.
With heore cun❘ne: heo | beoth mildre.
And giveth rente: litle childre.
Swo heore wit hi demth | adwolje.

That euler abid : mais tre nichole.

As the thirteenth century advanced, many English poems were written in this metre. Unfortunately the manuscripts are for the most part of later date, and as our language began to change in the fourteenth century, few of them can be implicitly relied on, in any question relating to the rhythm. A Cambridge MS. of the thirteenth century contains a fragment of Flori; and Blancheflur, and also a poem on the Assumption of the Virgin.3 The

Among the lef dis: in | the stede.
God to ser vi he hire dude.

1 That is-his spoken judgments and his written works. Nichol seems to have presided in some ecclesiastical court.

2 University Libr. Gg. 4. 27.

3 There is another copy of this poem, but with considerable variations,

Why will they not take thought together
That he with them might often be,
For to teach them of his wisdom?
And give him the rent of some good place
That he to them might oft be useful?

Certes, quoth the Owl, that is true;
These rich men do much amiss;
They pass by the good man,

That knoweth of so many things;

And give rents with very different view,
And of him think very lightly;

To their kinsmen they be more indulgent,
And they give rents to little children!
So their wit they deem but little,

Whosoever wait for Master Nichole.

rhythm is much looser than in the Hule and Nyžtingale, often varying from the common to the triple measure ; and the number of accents is much more uncertain. The following extract, from the second of these poems, shows us the part, which the monks assigned to the Virgin, after the resurrection. St. John, we are told, took her to the temple, and when she came,

in one of the lately purchased MSS. of the Museum. The MS. is of the

14th century.

4 In the later MS. these ladies become Nuns.

Me miz te no3t: hire forberle.

With al hure mi3|te : the while heo was there.
Heo ser vede both e: las se and more.

Pourle and sikle: he dude god.

And ser vede hem to hond | and fot.

Poure and hongrie : wel faire he fed de .
And sikle heo bro3|te: in | here bed/de.
Nas | ther non: so hol | ne fer.
That to her: nad de mester].
Hi lou ede hurle alle with her e miz te.
For heo ser uede: hem | wel riz te.
He waklede more thane slep].

Hire son e to serui: was al | hire kep].

To him he cluplede : with murlie' stevene.
And hire he sen❘te: an angel fram hevlene.
To glad ie hire him self | he cam].

Crist | that fless : of hire nam] .

Seint Jon hire kepte &c.

2

Several poems were written in this metre during the thirteenth century, among which may be reckoned the romances of Ipomydon, Richard, Kyng Alisaunder, and Havelok; and in all probability that curious satire called the land of Cockaigne, and the Harrowing of Hell. I doubt, however, if there be a MS. of any of these poems,. which can date earlier than the year 1300. The rhythm

3

The meaning of this word murie has been fully discussed in the "Observations upon Mr. Fox's letter to Mr. Grey," a work, which was printed at Cambridge some twenty or thirty years back, for private circulation. In this truly elegant piece of criticism, it is shown, that the merry note, which Chaucer attributes to the nightingale, implied nothing more than sweetness of sound, and that it is, by no means, inconsistent with the plaintive character, which others of our great poets assign to the "nocturnal note." The arguments of the accomplished scholar who wrote it might receive (if

There liv'd she all her life,

Nor lov'd she either fight or strife;

They, that in the temple were,
Could not with her dispense.

With all her might the while she was there,
She served both humble and great;

To poor and sick she did good,

And serv'd them with hand and foot;
The poor and hungry right fairly she fed,
And the sick she brought unto their bed;
Was there none so whole or fair,
That need of her had not;

They lov'd her all, with all their might,
For she serv'd them right well;
She watch'd more than she slept;

Her son to serve was all her care;

To him she called with sweet voice,

And to her he sent an angel from heaven;

To pleasure her himself he came―

Christ! that of her took flesh !

Saint John maintained her, &c.

in all of them is loose, and remarkably so in the Alisaunder. The different fyttes in this poem are divided by a few lines, containing some general reflection or description, and for the most part ending with the same rhime. In these passages, the rhythm very generally inclines to the triple measure. The following is a specimen.

they needed any) strong confirmation from the text, for the word murie is actually replaced in the other MS. by rueful.

2 The three first of these poems were printed by Weber in his Metrical Romances, and the last edited by Sir F. Madden for the Roxburghe Club. 3 Hickes published this poem in his Thesaurus, from a MS. of his friend Tanner-the man, by all antiquaries, 66 summo cum honore nominandus.' There can be little doubt that this MS. is now the Harl. MS. 913; it opens with the satire.

4 Harl. 2253. The poem was published in the Archæologia.

Averil is meorly and long|ith the day
Ladies loven solļas and play]
Swaynes justes knygh|tis turnay]

Syng eth the nygh|tyngal|e : gred|eth theo jay|
The hotle sun ne chong eth the clay

As ye well yselen may

April is merry, and length'neth the day;

Ladies love solace and play;

Swains the jousts; knights the tournay;

Singeth the nightingale; screameth the jay;
The hot sun changeth the clay;

As ye well may see. - Alisaunder, 140.

The gradual change to the common measure is characteristic of the author's rhythm.

In this romance, the sectional rhime is common; and, as regards the final rhime, there is a peculiarity which deserves notice. When the verse is lengthened, the writer often contents himself with a rhime between the accented syllables; making carpith answer to harpe, 1. 5990, and deontis to tent, 1. 1848. This kind of rhime is occasionally found in other poems of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, among others in Havelok.

The Alisaunder was translated partly from the French, and partly from the Latin; the Richard appears to be a loose translation of an earlier Norman poem, and the same was the case with the Ipomydon; but there can

Hwan | he was hos[led and shriv|en

1 The Norman poem was written by Hugh of Rutland (Hue de Roteland). 2 Laud. 108. The lives of the saints, and the other poems which fill up the MS. are mostly written in the southern dialect.