Sweet Jesu! king of bliss Mine heart's love, mine heart's joy, Wo is him, that shall miss thee! Sweet Jesu! mine heart's light, Sweet Jesu! my Lord! My life; mine heart all is thine, Little know they, that professe amitie And lesse they know, who being free to use That friendship, which no change but love did chuse The affecting elegy, written by Charles, and preserved by Burnet, may furnish us with another specimen. Nature and law by thy divine decree The fiercest furies, that do daily tread Are those that owe my bountie for their bread, &c. But, sacred Saviour, with thy words I woo Thee to forgive, and not be bitter to Such as, thou knowst, do not know what they do! Augment my patience, nullify my hate, Preserve my issue, and inspire my mate, Yet, though we perish, bless this church and state! The compound staves which rhimed continuously were, for the most part, formed on a very simple plan. Certain verses, varying in number from four to eight, took the same final rhime, and a couplet furnished with a different rhime shut in the stave-iteration being em Chot aburde in a bour: ase beryl so bryht and ruby wel ryht yholden on hyht Ase diamaund the dere in day when he ys dyht : He y is coral —— -?: with cayser and kniht Hire rode is ase rose that red is on rys The primerole he passeth: the pereuenke of pris Coynte ase columbine such hire cunde ys : Glad under gore : in gro and in grys He is blosme opon bleo : brihtest under bis : He is papeiai in pin: that beteth me mi bale He is faucoun in friht: dernest in dale 1 "Under gore," "in gro and in gris," and "under bize," are common phrases in our old English poems, used for the purposes of generalization— just as the Anglo-Saxon used the phrases, under the heaven, under the welkin, on mold (that is, on earth), and others of the same kind. They show a more artificial state of society, inasmuch as they all refer to articles of ployed to bind the two parts together. The following song was written about the year 1300. It is curious as a store-house of amatory compliment, from which many a gallant seems afterwards to have drawn his commonplace. I wot a bride in a bower, as the beryl bright; As the gentle jasper, that gleameth with light; As the precious diamond (in the day when she's dight) As emerald in the morn this maiden hath might; The might of the margerite (pearl) hath this maid also; Her hew is as rose, that red is on branch ; The primrose she passeth, the pink of price, ; She's a blossom in colour, the brightest under baize', With celedony and sage, as thou thyself seest; He that looks upon that seemly one, to bless is he brought, He is the sunflow'r, that to the sun is drawn. She's popinjay that in pain: assuageth my sorrow, To trew turtle, in a tower, She is throstle, that singeth in hall; The wild lark and ? ? the wood-wele ; She is falcon, in frith, most secret in the dale, dress. The word gore is still well-known to the seamstress, and means the triangular piece of cloth, or linen, which is wanted to complete the fork, or interior angles of a vestment; gro and gris are different kinds of fur; and bize is a kind of cloth, I believe no other than our common baize. Hire nome is in a note of the nyhtengale The next stave likens the favourite lady to the various delicacies of the table; and the last to different heroes of romance, the song ending with the line, Gentle as Jonas, she joyeth with Jon. Hence it is clear the poet's name was John; and his lady's is just as clearly Annot, and not Joan, as Warton strangely surmises. It may also be well to inform the reader that all this alliterative jingle was not manufactured for the occasion, but consists, for the most part, of favourite correspondences, which long kept their place in our liter Skottes out of Berwik: and of Abirdene Thare slogh ze many sakles: als it was sene Rughfute riveling now kindels thi care. Fals wretche and forsworn: whider wilton fare Busk the unto brig: and abide thare Thare wretche salton won and wery the while Thi dwelling in Donde is done for thy gile. : Sometimes Minot gives eight verses to the stave—the six first, of course, taking the same rhime. In the song from which we have quoted, the second rhime remains unchanged throughout. As the strain upon the memory That is wisest from Wey-hill in Wiltshire to Wirral in Cheshire. The riveling was a brogue of untanned leather worn in Scotland during the fourteenth century. The term was given as a nick name to the Scotch From Wey she is wisest unto Wyrhale ;' ature. The "rightfulnesse of the rubie," "the might of the marguerite," &c. were common alliterations, and probably owed their rise to the superstitions of our ancestors. Both Anglo-Saxon and old English MSS. are still extant, which treat of the virtues of herbs, precious stones, &c. Minot, the northern poet, who sang the triumphs of our third Edward, often used these compound staves; but the transcriber of the MS. has, in some cases, written the sections as distinct verses. The following staves are part of one of his songs against the Scotch. Scots out of Berwick and of Aberdeen There slew ye many, without guilt, as t'was seen, Yet be ye ware of the Scots, for they are full of guile. 2 Roughfoot Riveling, now kindles thy sorrow! Bear-bag,3 with thy boast, thy dwelling is bare! is thus lessened, there is less necessity for the iteration to bind together the two portions of the stave; and, in the fifteenth century, it was generally omitted. Dunbar's expostulation with his patron, the fair-spoken and heart by the well-dressed Englishman, and afterwards (as civilization advanced) was applied by the "tame Scots" to the wild Highlander. 3 The Scotchman, in a foray, always carried with him a bag of oatmeal. |