While we are speaking of the Verfifier of Henry the Third, it will not be foreign to add, that in the 36th year of the fame King, forty fhillings and one pipe of wine were given to Richard the King's harper, and one pipe of wine to Beatrice his wife. But why this gratuity of a pipe of wine fhould alfo be made to the wife, as well as to the husband, who from his profeffion was a genial character, appears problematical according to our prefent ideas.'

The first poet that appears in the reign of Edward the First, is Robert of Gloucefter, a monk of the Abbey of Gloucefter; a voluminous rhymer, of whom we fhall take no farther notice than that he wrote a dull history of England in verfe, from Brutus to the time of Edward the First, about the year 1280.

In the metrical chronicle of Robert de Brunne, written foon after the commencement of the fourteenth century, Vortigern King of the Britons, is thus defcribed meeting the beautiful Princess Rouwen, daughter of Hengift, the Rofamond of the Saxon ages, at a feast of waffail. It is a curious picture of the gallantry of the times :

Henges that day did his might,

I hat alle were glad, king and knight,
And as thei were beft in glading,
And wele cop schotin knight and king,
Of chambir Rouewen fo gent,
Be fore the king in halle fcho went.
A coupe with wyne fche had in hand,
And hir hatire was wele § farand,
Be fore the king on kne fett,
And on hir langage fcho him grett.

"Lauerid king, Waffaille," feid fhe.
The king afked, what fuld be.
On that langage the king ** ne couthe.
A knight ++ ther langage II lerid in youthe.
Breg hiht that knight born Bretoun,
That lerid the langage of
This Breg was the ¶ latimer.
What fcho faid told Vortager.

Seffoun.

"Sir,

Rot. Pip. an. 36. Henr. iii. "Et in uno doli vini empto et dato magistro Ricardo Cithariftæ regis, xl. fol. per Br, Reg. Et in uno dolio empto et dato Beatrici uxori ejufdem Ricardi."

* Was not skilled.

Saxons.

† Sending about the cups apace, Caroufing brifkly. Very rich, Lord. II Learned. $$ Was called ¶For Latiner, or Latinier, an Interpreter. Thus, in the Romance of King Richard, hereafter cited at large, Saladin's Latimer at the fiege of Babylon proclaims a truce to the Chriftian army from the walls of the city. Signat. M. i.

The LATEMER tho tourned his eye
To that other fyde of the toune,

And cryed trues with gret foune.

In which fenfe the French word occurs in the Roman de GARIN, MSS, Bibl. Reg. Parif. Num. 7542.

LATIMER fu fi fet parler Roman,

E 3

Englois, Gallois, et Breton, et Norman

Attire.

tt The

And

And again,

"Sir, Breg feid, Rowen yow gretis,
"And king callis and lord yow* letis.
"This es ther custom and ther geft,
"Whan thei are atte the ale or feft.
"Ilk man that louis quare him think,
"Salle fay Waffeille, and to him drink,
"He that bidis falle fay Waffaille,
"The tother falle fay again, Drinkhaille.
"That fais Woffeille drinkis of the cop,
"Kiffand his felaw he gives it up.
"Drinkheille, he fais, and drinke there of,
"Kiffand him in bourd and ‡ fkof."
The king faid, as the knight gan § ken,
Drinkheille, fmiland on Rouewen.
Rouwen drank as hire lift,
And gave the king, fine him kist.
There was the firft waffaille in dede,
And that first of fame ** gede.
Of that waffaille men told grete tale,
And waffaille whan thei were at ale.
And drinkheille to tham that drank,
Thus was waffalle ++ tane to thank.
Fele fithes that maiden §§ ying,
Waffailed and kift the king.
Of bodi fche was right
Of fair colour, with fwete
Hir 4 hatire fulle welle it feemed,
Mervelik the king fche † qumid.
Oute of meffure was he glad,
For of that maidin he wer alle mad.
Drunkenes the feend wrought,
Of that paen was al his thoght.

avenant,

femblaunt.

Un LATINIER vieil ferant et henu
Molt fot de plet, et molt entrefnie fa.

And in the manufcript Roman de Rou, which will again be mentioned.

L'archevefque Franches a Jumeges ala,

A Rou, et a fa gent par LATINIER parla.

We find it in Foffart, tom. iv. c. 87. And in other antient French writers. In the old Norman poem on the fubject of King Dermed's expulfion from his kingdom of Ireland, in the Lambeth library, it feems more properly to fignify, in a limited fenfe, the king's domeftic SECRETARY.

Par fone demeine LATINIER

Que moi cunta de luy l'hiftoire, &c.

See Lord Lyttelton's Hift. Hen. ii. vol. iv. App. p. 270. We might here render it literally his Latinit, an officer retained by the King to draw up the public inftruments in Latin. As in DOMESDAY-BOOK. "Godwinus accipitrarius, Hugo LATINARIUS, Milo portarius." MS. Excerpt. penes me. But in both the laft inftances the word may bear its more general and extenfive fignification. Camden explains LATIMER by interpreter. Rem. p. 158. See alío p. 151. edit. 1674.

• Esteems.

+

Sport, joke.

.. Went.

Kifling.
tt Taken.
Handfome, gracefully fhaped, &c.
Marvelloufly. + Pleafed.

Since, afterwards.
Young.
† Attire.

To fignify. Many times. Countenance. Pagan, heathen.

A mef

A mefchaunche that time him led.
He asked that paen for to wed.
Hengift wild not draw a lite,
Bot graunted him alle fo tite.
And Hors his brother confentid fone.
Her frendis faid, it were to done.
Thei asked the king to gife her Kent,
In douary to take of rent.
O pon that maidin his hert fo caft,
That thei afkid the king made fast.
I wene the king toke her that day,
And wedded hire † on paiens lay.
Of preft was ther no benifon
No mes fongen, no orifon.
In feifine he had her that night.
Of Kent he gave Hengift the right.
The erelle that time, that Kent alle held,
Sir Goragon, that had the fcheld,

Of that gift no thing § ne wift
To he was caft oute with Hengift ++.'

Our celebrated Richard, arming himself to fight in fingle combat with the Soldan, and the encounter, of which there is a picture in Clarendon-house, is a noble Gothic piece, highly entertaining.

'He lept on hors whan it was lyght;
Or he in his fadel did lepe
Of many thynges he toke kepe.-
His men brought hem that he bad,
A fquare tree of fourty fete,
Before his fadell anone he it fete
Faste that they should it brafe, &c.
Hymfelf was riohcly begone,
From the creste ryght to the tone f‡,
He was covered wonderfly wele
All with fplentes of good ftele,
And ther above an hauberke.
A fhafte he had of trufty werke,
Upon his fhoulders a fhelde of ftele,
With the lybardes §§ painted wele;
And helme he had of ryche entayle,
Trusty and trewe was his ventayle:
Upon his creste a dove whyte
Sygnyfycaune of the holy fprite,
Upon a cross the dove ftode
Of gold iwroght ryche and gode,

*

God hymfelf Mary and Johon
As he was done the rode upon †,
In fygnyfycaunce for whom he faught,
The fpere hed forgat he nauht,
Upon his fhaft he wolde it have
Goddis name thereon was grave,
Now herken what othe he fware,
Or thay to the battayle went there:
"Yf it were fo, that Rycharde myght
"Slee the fowdan in felde with fyght,
"At our wylle everychone
"He and his fhold gone
"In to the cyte of Babylone;
"And the kynge of Mafydoyne
"He fholde have under his honde!
"And if the fowdan of that londe
"Myght flee Rycharde in the felde
"With fwerde or fpere under fhelde,
"That Cryften men fholde go
"Out of that londe for ever mo,
"And the Sarafyns theyr wyll in wolde."
Quod kynge Rycharde, "Thereto I holde,
"Therto my glove, as I am knyght."
They be armyd and redy dyght:
Kynge Rycharde to his fadell dyde lepe,
Certes, who that wolde take kepe
To fe that fyght it were fayre;
Their stedes ranne with grete ayre ‡,
Al fo hard as thei myght dyre §,
After their fete sprange out fyre:
Tabours and trompettes gan blowe :
Ther men myght fe in a throwe
How kynge Rycharde that noble man
Encountered with the fowdan,
The chefe was tolde of Damas ||,
His trufte upon his mare was,
And tharfor, as the boke us telles
Hys crouper henge full of belles ††,

And

• Our Saviour.

"As he died upon the cross." So in an old fragment cited by Hearne, Gloff. Rob. Br. P. 634.

Pyned under Ponce Pilat,

Done on the rod after that.

Dare.

Ire.

I do not understand this. He feems to mean the Sultan of Damas, or Damascus. See Du Cange, Joinv. p. 87.

** The French romance.

tt Antiently no perfon feems to have been gallantly equipped on horseback, unlefs the horse's bridle, or fome other part of the furniture, were stuck full of small bells. Vincent of Beauvais, who wrote about 1264, cenfures this piece of pride in the knights templars. They have, fays he, bridles embroidered, or gilded, or adorned with filver, "Atque in pectoralibus CAMPANULAS INFIXAS MAGNUM emittentes TONITUM, ad gloriam corum et decorem," Hift. lib. xxx. cap. 85. Wicliffe, in

And his peytrell and hys arfowne +
Thre myle men myght here the fowne.
His mare nyghed, his belles dyd rynge,
For grete pryde, withoute lefynge,
A faucon brode in honde he bare,
For he thoght he wolde thare
Have flayne Rycharde with treafowne
Whan his colte fholde knele downe
As a colte fholde fouk his dame,
And he was ware of that shame,
His eres with waxe were stopped fafte,
Therefore Rycharde was not agafle,

He ftroke the ftede that under hym wente,
And gave the Sowdan his deth with a dente:
In his fhelde verament

Was paynted a ferpent,

Wyth the fpere that Rycharde helde
He bare hym thorugh under hys fhelde,
None of hys armure myght hym lafte,
Brydell and peytrell al to brate,
Hys gyrthes and hys fteropes alfo
Hys mare to grounde wente tho;
Maugre her heed, he made her feche
The grounde, withouté more fpeche,
Hys feete towarde the fyrmament,
Bihynde hym the fpere outwent
Ther he fell dede on the grene,
Rycharde fmote the fende with fpores | kene,
And yn the name of the holi goost
He dryveth ynto the hethen hooft,
And as fone as he was come,
Afonder he brake the sheltron
And al that ever afore hym ftode,
Hors and man to the grounde yode,
Twenti fote on either fyde, &c.

his TRILOGE, inveighs against the priests for their "fair hors, and jolly and gay fadels, and bridles ringing by the way, &c." Lewis's WICKLIFFE, p. 121. And hence Chaucer may be illuftrated, who thus describes the state of a monk on horseback. Pol. Cant. v. 170.

And when he rode, men might his bridell bere
GINGLING in a whistling wind as clere,
And eke as lowde, as doth the chapell bell.

That is, because his horfe's bridle or trappings were ftrung with bells.

The breaft-plate, or breaft-band of a horse. Poitral, Fr. Pectorale, Lat. Thus Chaucer of the Chanon YEMAN's horfe. Chan. Yon. Frol. v. 575. Urr.

About the PEYNTRELL ftood the fome ful hie.

The faddle-bow. "Arcenarium extencellatum cum argento," occurs in the wardrobe rolls, ab ann. 21 ad an, 23 Edw. iii. Membr. xi. This word is not in Du Cange or his fupplement. F. bird. Ears. || Spurs. ** Schiltron. I believe foldiers drawn up in a circle. Rob. de Brunne uses it in defcribing the battle of Fowkirke, Chron. p. 305.

Thar SCHILTRON fone was fhad with Inglis that wer gode, Sbad is Separated.

Whan