1865 Ylke day that fourtyny3th To revele ho best my3th, With wyne and with ale; And one the fyftethe day, Thus in romaunce h[erd I] say, They toke here leve and [wen]t here way, Thys worthely to w...... CXVIII. Al thei maketh ther avaunt Cortays and avenaunt, Ladyes and knyзthus. He gaff stedus that stound Worth a thousand pound, 1870 1875 NOTES. SIR PERCEVAL OF GALLES. L. 1. Lef, lythes to me.— -A curious short poetical tale in MS. Porkington 10, commences with the same two lines. Lady C. Guest, in her abstract of this romance in the Mabinogion, p. 398, prints gef instead of lef, although there is a facsimile from the original MS. on the opposite page. L. 7. He dranke water of the welle.-Compare 1. 2208. Chaucer probably had these lines, or at all events an English translation of Perceval, in his mind, when in Sire Thopas he says, "Himself dronke watir of the well, As did the knight sir Persivell, So worthy undir wede."-ed. Urry, p. 146. the last line possibly alluding to the rough dress of young Perceval, but the phrase is common in the old romances. L. 11. Miche wirchippe he wane." And as for syr Percyvale, he was called that tyme of his tyme one of the best knyghtes of the world, and the best assured." Morte d'Arthur, ii. 89. L. 18. He was doughty of dede.—Compare Mr. Robson's Romances, p. 75, He is duzti of dede, A blithe burne on a stede. L. 21. Thare-fore kyng Arthoure.-Dr. Forman, in a curious paper on giants, gives the following minute account of King Arthur : "King Arthur was fifteen foote longe in the prime of his yers. His berd was somwhat flaxen, but gray in his age, and longe and very brod; his hair gray and longe, a brod full face, somwhat ruddy, a gren juell in his right eare; a thick body, well made, and a full breste; a ringe on the lyttel finger on his right hand set with rubies. He slue fifty knightes with his own handes that dai he was slaine. He had five thousand and more men in his last battell, and Murdred had four thousand, and all were slaine ner Glassenbury. And he was buried by Morgan le Fay in the valle of Avalen. He was buried fifteen foote depe." MS. Ashmole, 802, f. 56. To this we may add the annexed account of the pretended moving of the bones of Arthur and his queen. A similar narrative is given in Robinson's translation of Leland, 4to. Lond. 1582; and this may be taken from the last mentioned writer, or perhaps from Giraldus Cambrensis. "Memorandum quod anno Domini millesimo trecentesimo sexagesimo octavo, et regni regis Edwardi tertii post conquestum quadragesimo secundo, tempore reverendi in Christo patris dompni Walteri de Moncton, Dei gratia tunc abbatis monasterii beatæ Mariæ Glastoniæ, qui novum opus chori feliciter consummavit, nono Maii amotus fuit tumulus incliti regis Arthuri ab inferiore parte chori versus magnum altare, propter ampliationem chori et honorem regis ejusdem; in cujus tumulo inventæ fuerunt duæ cistæ, ossa regis ejusdem et Gwinaveræ uxoris suæ continentes, sigillis regis Edwardi, avi regis Edwardi tertii post conquestum, et Alienoris uxoris suæ, filiæ domini Ferandi regis Hispaniæ, consignatæ, cedula testimoniali supposita super cistam regis Arthuri, cujus tenor sequitur in hac forma; "Hæc sunt ossa nobilissimi regis Arthuri et Gwenaveræ reginæ uxoris ejusdem, quæ anno Incarnationis Dominicæ millesimo ducentesimo septuagesimo octavo, xiij. kalendis Maii, per dominum Edwardum regem Angliæ illustrem, hic fuerunt sic locata, præsentibus domina Alienora ejusdem domini regis consorte et filia domini Ferandi regis Hispaniæ, domino Amadeo comite Sabaudiæ, domino Henrico de Lacye comite Lincolnia, domino Willelmo de Midilton, Thoma Norwicensi electo, magistro Thoma Beck tunc archidiacono Dorsetiæ et prædicti regis thesaurario, et multis aliis magnatibus Angliæ." MS. Ashmole, 826, f. 107. L. 24. To have and to holde.-The same phrase still remains in our prayer-book, in the order for the Solemnization of Matrimony. L. 77. Thay gaffe syr Percyvelle the gree, Compare the following lines, which are spoken of Chaucer : Off poetes ever hase he the gree, For of alle moste worthy is hee. MS. Fairfax 16. L. 83. Knyghte.-In MS. kynghte, an irregular form for the Lincoln MS., but we find it frequently in Sir Degrevant, and later transcripts. L. 85. And therfore gyffes he a gyfte.-That is, makes a resolution. See 1. 163. So Gower, "My fader god, y zeve a zyffte, Alle ydelle was y never 3ytt, Ne never schalle wyle y may go." L. 249. By grete Godd.-The writer here forgets that Perceval was then ignorant of the very name of the Almighty, and could not consistently make such an oath. L. 261. One was Ewayne fytz Asoure.-See the note on 1. 264, and and Syr Gawayne, p. 312. It is not improbable that vytt in Syr Gawayne, p. 188, may be a corruption of fitz, rather than of wytt, somewhat boldly conjectured by Sir F. Madden. L. 262-3. Gawayne with honour, and Kay-The courtesy of the first of these knights, and the malice of the other, are frequently alluded to by the old romance writers, as we shall presently have occasion to notice more particularly. They are mentioned together in the prologue to the Cursor Mundi, which contains a curious and well-known enumeration of the old romances. In a fragment of a MS. of the 15th century in the Ashmolean Museum, these same lines, with several curious alterations and additions, are introduced; and the reader may not be displeased to have the opportunity of comparing the variations. The writer, however, does not extend his censure to the Gesta,-Non reprehendo eos qui Gesta Imperatorum. It is as follows: But alle meschef in this werld here |