whatever be their poetical merit, they may fairly be adduced as a proof that our language at this time acquired some estimation in the eyes of foreigners. sisting of Poems by the Duke of Orleans, affords three specimens of his attempts at English poetry; and, as they are very short, and never were printed, I shall here subjoin them all, in their original orthography. Helis is perhaps hele-less, i. e. unhealthy, diseased. 6 On. 7 Query, if a mistake of the transcriber, for beware? or, perhaps, for nay! 'ware. It has been observed, that King James is represented to have been a complete master of music. This art, indeed, was considered, perhaps from some indistinct notion of its effects in humanizing the savage inhabitants of the earth, as a part of education not only essential to the accomplished knight, but to the sovereign, legislator, and divine and as closely connected with every branch of learning, whether abstract or practical. In Pierce Ploughman, Study says of Scripture, : "Logic I learned her, and many other laws, And all the unisons in music I made her to know." (Pass. x.) Fordun, in his Scotichronicon, has employed a whole chapter in describing James's uncommon excellence in the art; and Mr. Tytler, combining this testimony with a very curious passage in the works of Alessandro Tassoni, has inferred that James I. was the "reformer, if not the That somtym with word of plesauns Desceyved you under covèrt. Thynke how the stroke of love com smert, Ne were my, &c. And 2 ye shall pryvely or appert, See her by me in love's dauns, With her fair femenyn contenauns Ye shall never fro her astert! Ne were my, &c. The MS. from which the foregoing extracts were made contains some illuminations of exquisite beauty. One of these represents a person of rank, probably the duke, in the white tower, writing, and attended by guards: at a distance is London bridge, with the houses and chapel built upon it; and the latter building is so minutely drawn, as to afford a very good idea of what it really was. The MS. was written for the use of Henry VII. 1 Mistrust. Fr. 2 An, if. inventor of the Scotish songs or vocal music." By this he means, not that the peculiar melody of Scotish airs took its rise in the fifteenth century, but that James I. adapted it to modern harmony, and introduced it into regular composition, by which means it became known to the musical professors of Italy and the rest of Europe. Mr. Pinkerton, on the contrary, is of opinion that the "Giacomo Re di Scozia," mentioned by Tassoni, is the sixth, and Mr. Ritson is of the same opinion. The reader must decide for himself. After the death of the Duke of Albany, the incapacity of his successor induced the Scotish nobility to enter into serious negotiation for the liberty of their captive sovereign; who, after agreeing to pay a heavy ransom for his freedom, was married, in 1424, to his beloved mistress, and at the same time restored to his kingdom. In 1437 he was assassinated at Perth, after a reign of twelve years, equally honourable to himself and beneficial to his people. 256 CHAPTER XIII. Reign of Henry VI. (1422 to 1471.) DIGRESSION ON THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE ENGLISH. THAT We may not be encumbered by the accumulation of our materials, it is obviously necessary to take some opportunity of reviewing those which we have collected ; of comparing them with such descriptions of national manners as are furnished by our professed historians; and of connecting them with such farther particulars as are to be gleaned from sources of incidental information. For this necessary digression, there is no period more convenient than that on which we are now entering; because the interval between the reigns of Henry V. and Henry VIII., which comprehends near a century, although uncommonly rich in Scotish poets of distinguished excellence, does not furnish us with a single name among the natives of England deserving of much notice. Our survey must, of course, be very rapid and rather desultory, but it will at least break the monotony of the narrative, and preclude for the future the necessity of introducing many detached observations, which, when our extracts become more amusing, would prove a disagreeable interruption to the reader. To begin with the lower classes of society: It is generally agreed, that before the Norman conquest, and for a long time after, nearly all the lands of the kingdom were cultivated by serfs, whose situation was, in many respects, scarcely distinguishable from absolute slavery. It may, however, be inferred from the very curious extract already quoted from Pierce Ploughman, that about the middle of the fourteenth century, and probably much earlier, the labouring poor, though still serfs with respect to their feudal lords, were perfectly free with respect to their immediate employers. The poet says― "Labourers that have no land to live on, but her hands, &c.But if he be HIGHLY HIRED else will he chide." (Pass. vi.) During a great part of the year, indeed, they were glad to work for a mere subsistence, but when provisions were plentiful, they could only be induced to work at all by the temptation of excessive wages. Against this indolence the author inveighs with great vehemence; but his remonstrances were probably ineffectual, because a stupid insensibility and a heedless profusion are the natural characteristics of an oppressed and degraded people. Besides, their conduct seems to have arisen in some measure from the imperfect state of agriculture. Animal food formed a considerable part of the support of the people; but as the whole of the manure was used on the arable lands, and it was impossible that large numbers of cattle could subsist during the cold season on the natural pastures, they were slaughtered and salted in autumn for a winter provision. This is a reason adduced by Sir John Fortescue for rejecting the gabelle or salt-tax, as a source of revenue for England. In France," says he, "the people salten but little meat, except their bacon, and therefore they would buy little salt; but yet they be artyd (compelled) to buy more salt than they would.— This rule and order would be sore abhorred in England, as well by the merchants, that be wonted to have their freedom in buying and selling of salt, as by the people, that usen much to salt their meats more than do the French men." (Fortescue on Monarchy, Cap. X.) VOL. I. S |