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Hys berd is growyne to the kne,
Hys body is clong as a tre !"
As the kyng went in the strete,
With hys stewerd he gane mete,
Aud fell on kneys with grete pyté,
And seyd, "Lord, fore charyté,
I ame an herpere of hethynes,
Helpe me now, lord, yn this destres."
The stewerd seyd, "Cum with me home,
Off my gode thou schall have some;

Fore

my lordes love, syr Orfeo,
All herpers be welcum me to."
The stewerd and the lordes alle,
Anone thei went into the halle ;
The stewerd wessch and went to mete,
The lordes all begane to sytte;

There wer herpers and trumpers,
And mynstrellus and grete renounys.
There was grete myrth in the halle,
Kyng Orfew sate among them alle,
And lystynd to thei wer styll,

And toke hys herpe and temperde schyll;

The meryest note he made ther,

That every mane my3t here with ere.

All thei lyked wele hys gle,

The rych stewe so dyd he.

The stewerd the harpe knew full suyth,

And seyd, "Mynstrell, so mote thou thryve, Where hades thou this herpe and how

Tell me now, fore thi prow."

"A! lord, in a mournyng tyde,

Thorow a wyld forest I 3ede;

A man with lyons was drawyne smale,
I fond hym lyзeng in a dale;

Etyne he was with tethe so scherpe,
By hym I fond this ryall herpe
Nyзhe x. wyntyre ago."

"Alas!" seyd the stewerd, "me is wo,
That was my lord syr Orfeo!"
Alas!" he seyd, “what schall I do?
And fore my lord that happyd so,
"Alas!" he seyd, "that me is wo,
That so evyll deth was merkyd,
And so herd grace hym be-happyd !"
On swone he fell in the halle,
The lordes come before hym alle,
And toke hym up sone anone,
And comforth hym everychone,
And told1 hym how this werld geth,
"There is no bote of manys deth."
The kyng beheld the stewerd than,
And seyd he was a trew mane,
And lovyd hym as he auzte to do,
And sterte up and seyd, "Lo!
Syre stuerd, lystyns now this thing,
3iff I were Orfeo the kyng;
Therefore, stewerd, lystyns to me,
Now thou may the kyng here se;
I have wonnyd x. wynter and more
In wyldernes with mekyll sore,
And have wonne my quene awey
Owte of the land off fary,

And have brou3t that lady hend

Here unto the tounnes ende,
And over in was ther i-nome;
And myselve to the courte come,
Thus in beger wede full styll,
For to asey thi gode wyll;

1 Told told, MS.

And fore I found the thus trewe,
Therefore thou schall never it rewe,
Fore be my lyve fore lufe or aye,
Thou schall be kyng after my dey;
And if thou have of my deth blyth,
Thow schuld be hangyd also swyth!"
All the lordes that there sette,

That was ther kyng thei underzete,
And with that word the stewerd hym knew,
And over the bord anone he threw,
And fell anone dounne to hys fete,
And so dyd all that ther sate;
And all thei seyd with a cryeng,
"Welcum ever Orfew the kyng!"
Off hys comyng thei wer blyth,
And broust hym to a chamber swyth,
And bathyd hym and schove hys berd,
And tyred hym as a kyng in wede e;
And sethin with grete processyone,
The broust the quene thorow the tounne;
Fore ther was myrth and melody
Off yche maner mynstralsy.
There he was crouned new i-wys,
So was the quene dame Meroudes,
And levyd long afterwerd,

And seth was kyng the trew stewerd.

Herpers of Bretayne' herd [beforne]
How this aventor was begone,
And made a ley of grete lykyng,

And callyd it after the kyng,

That Orfeo hy3ht, as mene wele wote,

Gode is the ley, suete is the note!

'That is, Bretaigne. This passage seems to show that the poem is a translation from the French. See also p. 37.

Thus endes here Orfeo the kyng,
God graunte us all hys blyssing!
And all that this wyll here or rede,
God foregyff them ther mysded,

To the blysse of hevyn that thei may come,
And ever more therin to wonne !

And that it may so be,

Prey we all fore charyté!

Explicet Orfew.

III. THOMAS AND THE FAIRY QUEEN.

The connexion between the purgatory and paradise of the monks, and the fairy-lands of the people, observes Mr. Wright, is perhaps nowhere so fully exhibited as in the following ballad, which is besides no unfavourable specimen of early poetry. There is something exceedingly graceful in the commencement of it, and a taste displayed which we vainly look for in most contemporary pieces of the kind; and the wild and fanciful tale on which the prophecies are engrafted impart interest to the whole composition. Thomas of Erceldoune, whose adventures with the fairy queen are here narrated, was a legendary character, to whom were ascribed several prophecies, which passed for a long time under his name, similar to those of Merlin. Sir W. Scott and others have endeavoured to prove that the English romance of Tristem was written by Thomas of Erceldoune; but the translator merely alludes to him at the commencement in a fanciful manner, and I think it, with Mr. Wright, most probable that, finding the name Thomas in the French original, and not understanding it, he was induced to take a character, then so famous, to add some popularity to the subject. The language both of Sir Tristem and the following

piece is certainly English; and, indeed, the whole of the Auchinleck MS. was doubtlessly written in England.

Five early MS. copies of the following ballad exist in our public libraries, and there are probably others. We have taken the earliest and best of these for our text, a MS. in the Public Library at Cambridge, marked Ff. v., 48, which has been previously printed by Jamieson, but in so very incorrect a manner as to render its republication necessary, even did it not constitute a very material piece in our series. This MS. was written in the early part of the fifteenth century. Mr. Wright, however, has endeavoured to prove from internal evidence that it was written in the reign of Edward II., although the mention of Black Agnes clearly proves the contrary; and his evidence goes no farther than to show that some of the pieces were composed in that reign, the general character of the writing showing that the MS. itself belongs to a much more recent period. A copy is also in the Thornton MS. (ff. 149-153,) in the library of Lincoln cathedral, but, unfortunately, imperfect, only half of f. 152 and a small fragment of f. 153 being left of the latter part of the poem. This was printed by Mr. Laing, in his "Early Popular Poetry of Scotland,” 4to., Edinb., 1822. The third transcript is in MS. Cott. Vitell. E. x. ff. 231-234, partially burnt, the commencement of which is printed in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," ed. 1810, iii. 181-186. The fourth is contained in MS. Lansd. 762, ff. 24-31, which concludes abruptly with 1. 445 of our text; and a fifth, a much later copy, is in MS. Sloane 2578, ff. 6-11, but unfortunately wanting the first fytte. The two last mentioned copies do not appear to have been hitherto noticed, and the Sloane MS. is not well described in Ayscough's catalogue. A later version of it is also found in MS. Rawl. C. 258. The Lincoln MS. contains the following preface, which is peculiar to that copy :—

66

66

Lystyns, lordynges, bothe grete and smale,

And takis gude tente what I wille saye,