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finable reveries which fill the youthful bosom in this delicious season. He wonders 56 what this love may be, of which he has so often read, and which thus seems breathed forth in the quickening breath of May, and melting all nature into ecstacy and song. If it really be so great a felicity, and if it be a boon thus generally dispensed to the most insignificant of beings, why is he alone cut off from its enjoyments?

Oft would I think, O Lord, what may this be,
That love is of such noble myght and kynde?
Loving his 57 folke, and such prosperitee
Is it of him, as we in books do find:

May he our hertes setten 58 and unbynd:
Hath he upon our hertes such maistrye?
Or is all this but feynit fantasye?

For giff he be of so grete excellence,

That he of every wight hath care and charge,
What have I gilt 59 to him, or done offense,

That I am thral'd, and birdis go at large?

In the midst of his musing, as he casts his eye downward, he beholds,,the fairest and the freshest young floure" that ever he had seen. It is the lovely Lady Jane walking in the garden to enjoy the beauty of that,,fresh May morrowe." Breaking thus suddenly upon his sight in the moment of loneliness and excited susceptibility, she at once captivates the fancy of the romantic prince, and becomes the object of his wandering wishes, the sovereign of his ideal world.

There is, in this charming scene, an evident resemblance to the early part of Chaucer's Knight's Tale; where Palamon and Arcite fall in love with Emilia, whom they see walking in the garden of their prison. Perhaps the similarity of the actual fact to the incident which he had read in Chaucer may have induced James to dwell on it in his poem. His description of the Lady Jane is given in the picturesque and minute manner of his master; and being doubtless taken from the life, may be considered as a perfect portrait of a beauty of that day. He dwells, with the fondness of a lover, on every article of her

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56) to wonder (vergl. das dtsch. Wunder) 1. surprise or admiration; 2. in der Umgangssprache curiosity neugierig sein, I wonder ich möchte wohl 57) his bezieht sich auf love.

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to be affected by to feel doubt and wissen.

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58) setten, incline (Note of W. Irving); myght
kind; prosperitee prosperity; hertes
feigned eingebildet; giff

kynde

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Herrschaft; feynit

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59) gilt, what injury have I done &c. (Note of W. Irving).

apparel, from the net of pearl, splendent with emeralds 6o and sapphires 61, that confined her golden hair, even to the goodly chaine of small orfeverye 62" about her neck, whereby there. hung a ruby in shape of a heart, that seemed, he says, like a spark of fire burning upon her white bosom. Her dress of white tissue was looped up to enable her to walk with more freedom. She was accompanied by two female attendants, and about her sported a little hound decorated with bells; probably the small Italian hound, of exquisite symmetry, which was a parlour favourite and pet among the fashionable dames of ancient times. James closes his description by a burst of general eulogium:

In her was youth, beauty, with humble port 63,
Bountee, richesse 64, and womanly feature;
God better knows than my pen can report,
Wisdom, largesse, estate, and cunning 65 sure,
In every point so guided her measure 66

In word, in deed, in shape, in countenance,
That nature might no more her child advance.

The departure of the Lady Jane from the garden puts an end to this transient 67 riot of the heart. With her departs the amorous illusion that had shed a temporary charm over the scene of his captivity, and he relapses into loneliness, now rendered tenfold more intolerable by this passing beam of unattainable beauty. Through the long and weary day he repines at his unhappy lot, and when evening approaches, and Phœbus, as he beautifully expresses it, had,,bad farewell to every leaf

60) émerald Smaragd, ital. smeraldo, fr. émeraude v. lat. smaragdus, gr. ouagaydos, indem g in 1 verwandelt ist. Das griech. Wort kommt nach Littré: „du sanscrit açmagarbha, mot à mot, cœur de pierre".

61) sapphire (spr. sáffer) Saphir aus lat. sapphirus, gr. σάлos, diese aus dem Oriente hebr. sappîr, arab. safîr zum verb. hebr. safar glätten.

62) wrought gold (Note of W, Irving). Das altengl. im Neuengl. nicht mehr vorkommende orfeverye beruht auf d. franz. orfévrerie art de l'orfévre; un chef d'œuvre d'orfévrerie; ouvrage fait par l'orfévre; zu orfévre Goldarbeiter v. lat. auri faber; goodly chaine of small or feverye schöne, kostbare Kette von feiner Goldarbeit. Haltung, Anstand; humble p.

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63) port

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bescheidenes Wesen.

64) richesse ist die altengl. Form (fr. richesse), aus der die neuengl. Form riches geworden ist, die dann wegen des End-s irrthümlich als Plural behandelt wurde.

65) estate, dignity; largesse, bounty; cunning, discretion (Note of W. Irving).

66) measure = (massvolles) Benehmen.

67) spr. tránshent.

and flower," he still lingers at the window, and, laying his head upon the cold stone, gives vent to a mingled flow of love and sorrow, until, gradually lulled by the mute melancholy of the twilight hour, he lapses,,half sleeping, half swoon 68," into a vision, which occupies the remainder of the poem, and in which is allegorically shadowed out 69 the history of his passion.

70

When he wakes from his trance 7o, he rises from his stony pillow, and, pacing his apartment, full of dreary reflections, questions his spirit whither it has been wandering; whether, indeed, all that has passed before his dreaming fancy has been conjured up by preceding circumstances; or whether it is a vision, intended to comfort and assure him in his despondency. If the latter, he prays that some token may be sent to confirm the promise of happier days, given him in his slumbers. Suddenly a turtle-dove, of the purest whiteness, comes flying in at the window, and alights upon his hand, bearing in her bill a branch of red gilliflower, on the leaves of which was written, in letters of gold, the following sentence:

Awake! awake! I bring, lover, I bring

The newis glad that blissful is, and sure

Of thy comfort; now laugh, and play, and sing,
For in the heaven decretit is thy cure.

He receives the branch with mingled hope and dread; reads it with rapture; and this, he says, was the first token of his succeeding happiness. Whether this is a mere poetic fiction, or whether the Lady Jane did actually send him a token of her favour in this romantic way, remains to be determined according to the faith or fancy of the reader. He concludes his poem, by intimating that the promise conveyed in the vision and by the flower is fulfilled, by his being restored to liberty, and made happy in the possession of the sovereign of his heart.

68) swoon adjectiv. ohnmächtig, besinnungslos, verzüekt; jetzt nur Substantiv a fainting fit, Ohnmacht.

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68) to shadow out to represent faintly or imperfectly; to adumbrate skizzieren; to body forth formen: hence to represent typically abbilden. Die Begriffsentwickelung ist folgende: to shade; to mark in shadows; to represent impérfectly or typically (Smart).

70) trance Entzückung, Verzückung; fr. transe Angst vor drohendem Unheil, span. trance, Todesstunde, entscheidender Augenblick,_it. transito Hintritt, lat. transitus Uebergang vom Leben zum Tode. Zur Begriffsentwickelung vergl. Smart: A state of which the notion is, that the soul has, for a time, passed out of the body, - an ecstasy; a state of insensibility or apparent death.

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Such is the poetical account given by James of his love adventures in Windsor Castle. How much of it is absolute fact, and how much the embellishment of fancy, it is fruitless to conjecture: do not, however, let us always consider whatever is romantic as incompatible with real life; but let us sometimes take a poet at his word. I have noticed merely such parts of the poem as were immediately connected with the tower, and have passed over a large part, which was in the allegorical vein 71 so much cultivated at that day. The language, of course, is quaint and antiquated, so that the beauty of many of its golden phrases will scarcely be perceived at the present day; but it is impossible not to be charmed with the genuine sentiment, the delightful artlessness and urbanity, which prevail throughout it. The descriptions of nature, too, with which it is embellished, are given with a truth, a discrimination 72, and a freshness, worthy of the most cultivated periods of the art.

As an amatory poem, it is edifying, in these days of coarser thinking, to notice the nature, refinement, and exquisite delicacy which pervade it, banishing every gross thought or immodest expression, and presenting female loveliness, clothed in all its chivalrous attributes of almost supernatural purity and grace.

James flourished nearly about the time of Chaucer and Gower 73, and was evidently an admirer and studier of their writings. Indeed, in one of his stanzas, he acknowledges them as his masters; and, in some parts of his poem, we find traces of similarity to their productions, more especially to those of Chaucer. There are always, however, general features of re

71) vein (lat. vena) Ader, dann anknüpfend an die Thatsache, dass durch die Adern das Blut durch den ganzen Körper (zum Herzen) geführt wird, im übertragenen Sinn: a train of valuable associations, thoughts, and the like; a current; a course und weiter, peculiar temper; tendency or turn of mind Anlage; vergl. dazu tenuis et angusti ingenii vena (Anlage), (Quintil.); benigna ingenii vena (Horat.); sodann strain, style, manner of speech or action Art, Stil, vergl. Shaksp., Henry V, Part I, II, 4: I will do it in King Cambyses' vein. 1. the act of discriminating Unterscheidung, 2. the quality of being discriminating; fáculty of nicely distinguishing; acute discernment richtige Beurtheilung, vergl. das bibl. diazqiõis лVενμάτшv. (Grieb und Thieme geben die 2. Bedeutung nicht an.)

12) discrimination

73) John Gower (circa 1325—1408) schrieb Speculum Meditantis (verloren) in französischer, Vox Clamantis in lateinischer und Confessio Amantis in englischer Sprache. In dem letzteren Gedicht wird Venus gebeten,,to greete well" Chaucer „As my disciple and my poete"; und Chaucer widmete s. Troilus and Cressida seinem Freunde als dem ,,Moral Gower".

semblance in the works of contemporary authors, which are not so much borrowed from each other as from the times. Writers, like bees, toll 73 their sweets in the wide world: they incorporate with their own conceptions the anecdotes and thoughts which are current in society; and thus each generation has some features in common, characteristic of the age in which it lived.

James, in fact, belongs to one of the most brilliant eras of our literary history, and establishes the claims of his country to a participation in its primitive honours. Whilst a small cluster of English writers are constantly cited as the fathers of our verse, the name of their great Scottish compeer is apt to be passed over in silence 74; but he is evidently worthy of being enrolled in that little constellation of remote but never-failing luminaries, who shine in the highest firmament of literature, and who, like morning stars, sang together at the bright dawning of British poesy.

75

Such of my readers as may not be familiar with Scottish history (though the manner in which it has of late been woven with captivating fiction has made it a universal study) 76 may be curious to learn something of the subsequent history of James, and the fortunes of his love. His passion for the Lady Jane, as it was the solace of his captivity, so it facilitated his release, it being imagined" by the court that a connexion with the blood royal of England would attach him to its own interests. He was ultimately restored to his liberty and crown, having previously espoused the Lady Jane, who accompanied him to Scotland, and made him a most tender and devoted wife.

He found his kingdom in great confusion, the feudal chieftains having taken advantage of the troubles and irregularities of a long interregnum to strengthen themselves in their possessions, and place themselves above the power of the laws.

73a) to toll (ndd. toll und ähnl. in allen german. Sprachen, entnommen aus mlat. telon, teloneum v. lat. gr. telonium, gr. Tεláviov Zollhaus, télos Abgabe, wobei indessen Einfluss des lat. Stammes tollere wegnehmen, erheben anzunehmen sein wird) Zoll erheben, fig. sammeln, einsammeln.

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74) to be apt auf Sachen bezügl. durch das Adverb leicht zu übersetzen. 75) Vergl. Hiob cap. 38, v. 7: (Where wast thou) when the morningstars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

76) Von Sir Walter Scott in seinen historischen Romanen, nach

dem ersten Waverley Novels genannt.

77) it being imagined: Absolutes Particip (the case absolute), aufzulösen durch einen Causalsatz: da der Hof annahm.

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