vanity-fair upon the ear of Bunyan's pilgrim. The broken and sketchy style, and the curious idiomatic turns, must, even at the time, have given the work a character of quaintness and oddity; and may have recommended it to many, who otherwise were little likely to pay attention to the lessons it read them. Want of space alone prevents me from extracting it. There are also alliterative poems, written in the common ballet-stave of eight verses. One of these, entitled "Little John Nobody,"* was composed as late as the year 1550. I have, in the course of this chapter, called Hugh the oldest English poet, born north of Tweed, whose works have reached us. Tyrwhitt, on the faith of a passage in Robert of Brunne, which he thought attributed the Gest of Tristrem to Erceldon and Kendale, gave these writers, or rather the first of them, the credit of its authorship; and Sir Walter Scott has supported the claim in an elaborate criticism. Were this criticism sound, Erceldon would precede Hugh by at least a century. I think, however, that the general opinion, both at home and abroad, is against it. To me it always seemed, that the first stave of the poem went far to exclude Erceldon from all share in composition. I was at Erceldoune With Tomas spak Y thare, And who was bold baroun As thair elders ware Bi yere Tomas tells in town This auentours as thai ware. *See Percy's Reliques. their incidents, the state of manners which they unfold, and their general moral tendencies. Our present inquiry relates only to the British cycle. The earliest names recorded, in connexion with the authorship of these tales, are those of three Englishmen,* Luke Gast, who is said to have lived near Salisbury; † Walter Mapes, the jovial, witty, and satirical Archdeacon of Oxford; and Robert Borron. The first of these is said. to have translated the Tristrem from Latin into Romance ; ‡ the second, to have written, in Latin, the Birth and Life of Arthur, the Launcelot, the Saint Graal, and the Death of Arthur, the last at the express suggestion of our Henry the Second; § and, by command of the same monarch, Robert Borron is said to have translated into Romance, from Walter Mapes's Latin, the Launcelot and the Saint Graal. There is still extant a copy of the Tristrem,¶ which cannot be later than the early half of the thirteenth century, and may be the version of Luke Gast; also a MS. of the Launcelot,** of the twelfth century, which, as far as it goes, agrees with the French printed copy,tt and is probably Robert Borron's translation above referred to; but the Latin versions of Walter Mapes seem utterly to have perished. * Two or three other persons are said to have assisted in the writing of these tales, all of whom appear to have been attached to the English court. † In the neighbourhood of this city was the royal palace of Clarendon, which may account for the importance given to it in some of these romances. Bibl. du Roi, Cod. 6776, and Cod. 6956. See Montfaucon. § Histoire du Roy Artus, &c. Rouen, A. D. 1488. || Bibl. du Roi, Cod. 6783, at the end. The Vatican MS. 1687, says he translated the Saint Graal from Latin into romance by order of holy Church. The Saint Graal, it may be observed, was the miraculous cup which received our Lord's blood, and the adventures undergone in search of it are the subject of the romance. There are some reasons for believingthat Luke Gast began this translation, and that Robert Borron merely finished it. Harl. 20. D. 2. ** Harl. 20. D. 3. †† The Histoire du Roy Artus, &c. (see n. §), contains the life of Launcelot, &c. Now the story of Tristrem (as we shall presently see) was variously told; and it was a common practice to solicit the confidence of the hearer by quoting some wellknown name as authority. The earlier "diseur" sheltered himself under the name of Breri; the Germans preferred the story of Thomas the Cornish Chronicler; and Kendale, it appears, followed Thomas of Erceldon. Whether Erceldon told the tale in English or Romance, in prose or verse, we have no means of ascertaining. From him the Westmerland poet learned the story, and this seems to be the extent of his obligations. Had the poem been a mere copy, we should doubtless have heard something of the original—of the "boc" or the "parchemin." The dispute as to the authorship of Tristrem involved another (and one of much greater interest), as to the origin of British romance. This cycle of fictitious narrative has exerted so powerful an influence on the early literature of Europe, that I shall probably be forgiven if I lay before the reader some speculations on the subject. The early romances, which relate to our race or country, may be divided into two classes-English stories,* such as the Fall of Fins-burgh, Beowulf, Byrthnoth, Horn, Havelok, &c.; and British, or such as treat of Arthur, and other knights of Wales, Cornwall, or Britany. The first class may be traced up to the fifth century, and perhaps to a period even more remote; but we have no specimen of the second, in our mother-tongue, till the latter half of the thirteenth century. These two cycles of romantic fiction exhibit a striking contrast, not only as to style, but also in * In this class I would range all the romances which the Engle appear to have brought with them from the Continent, though the merit of their invention may possibly belong to other Gothic races-such as the tales of Ætla, of Theodric, and perhaps of Weland. English romances on these subjects were certainly extant in the eleventh century, but it is now impossible to say how far they agreed with the tales on the same subjects, which are still extant in the Icelandic and the German. their incidents, the state of manners which they unfold, and their general moral tendencies. Our present inquiry relates only to the British cycle. The earliest names recorded, in connexion with the authorship of these tales, are those of three Englishmen,* Luke Gast, who is said to have lived near Salisbury; † Walter Mapes, the jovial, witty, and satirical Archdeacon of Oxford; and Robert Borron. The first of these is said to have translated the Tristrem from Latin into Romance; ‡ the second, to have written, in Latin, the Birth and Life of Arthur, the Launcelot, the Saint Graal, and the Death of Arthur, the last at the express suggestion of our Henry the Second; § and, by command of the same monarch, Robert Borron is said to have translated into Romance, from Walter Mapes's Latin, the Launcelot and the Saint Graal. There is still extant a copy of the Tristrem,¶ which cannot be later than the early half of the thirteenth century, and may be the version of Luke Gast; also a MS. of the Launcelot,** of the twelfth century, which, as far as it goes, agrees with the French printed copy,tt and is probably Robert Borron's translation above referred to; but the Latin versions of Walter Mapes seem utterly to have perished. * Two or three other persons are said to have assisted in the writing of these tales, all of whom appear to have been attached to the English court. In the neighbourhood of this city was the royal palace of Clarendon, which may account for the importance given to it in some of these romances. Bibl. du Roi, Cod. 6776, and Cod. 6956. See Montfaucon. § Histoire du Roy Artus, &c. Rouen, A. D. 1488. || Bibl. du Roi, Cod. 6783, at the end. The Vatican MS. 1687, says he translated the Saint Graal from Latin into romance by order of holy Church. The Saint Graal, it may be observed, was the miraculous cup which received our Lord's blood, and the adventures undergone in search of it are the subject of the romance. There are some reasons for believingthat Luke Gast began this translation, and that Robert Borron merely finished it. ¶ Harl. 20. D. 2. ** Harl. 20. D. 3. The Histoire du Roy Artus, &c. (see n. §), contains the life of Launcelot, &c. |