Amenge the drybblett ons to sheene fulle bryghte; Syke sunnys wayne wyth amayl'd beames doe barr The blaunchie mone or estells to gev lyghte. Sprytes of the bleste, and evrich seyncte ydedde, Poure owte your pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde.

Distraughte affraie, wythe lockes of blodde-red die,
Terroure, emburled yn the thonders rage,
Deathe, lynked to dismaie, dothe ugsomme flie,
Enchafynge echone champyonne war to wage.
Spores* bevylet speres; swerdes upon swerdes en-
gage;

it

cerned in the Second Eclogue, yet not so far removed, but that there might have been persons living by whom they were seen. The memory of them could not have been soon effaced. Heace was natural for persons, who were treating of those times, to introduce those circumstances, which so particularly marked them. For the justice of these comparisons was very apparent in those days: which fitness and propriety is lost if they are introduced at a later season, and by another hand. It is from such remote and secret references, that I am induced to think that some of these poems are of a greater antiquity than has generally been attributed to them. As to the person who has attempted to explain them, it is manifest that he proceeded were ly by surmise and conjecture. He was not acquainted with he latent purport of these references; and the conclusion which necessarily follows, is, I think, very plain.

Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet clos'd,
To armour armour, lance to lance oppos'd.

Spears lean on spears, on targets targets throng,
Helms stuck to helms, and man drove man along.
Pope's Homer.

The idea of breaking, which is quite foreign from bevyle, might perhaps have been suggested by the following passage in Kersey: Bevile (in heraldry) broken or open, like a bevel, or carpenter's rule.' Tyrwhitt.

Armoure on armoure dynn, shielde upon shielde;
Ne dethe of thosandes can the warr assuage,
Botte falleynge nombers sable all the feelde,
Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seyncte ydedde,
Poure owte youre pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde.

The foemen fal arounde; the cross reles hye;
Steyned ynne goere, the harte of warre ys seen;
Kynge Rycharde, thorough everche trope doth flie,
And beereth meynte of Turkes onto the greene;
Bie hymm the floure of Asies menn is sleene;
The waylynge mone doth fade before hys sonne;
Bie hymm hys knyghtes bee formed to actions
deene,

Doeynge syke marvels, strongers be aston.

Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seyncte ydedde, Poure owte your pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde.

The fyghte is wonne; kynge Rycharde master is;
The Englonde bannerr kisseth the hie ayre;
Full of pure joie the armie is iwys,

And everych one haveth onne his bayre;

Agayne to Englonde comme, and worschepped there,

Twyghte into lovynge armes, and feasted eft;
In everych eyne aredynge nete of wyere,
Of all remembrance of past peyne berefte.
Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seyncte ydedde,
Syke pleasures powre upon mie fadres hedde,

Syke Nigel sed, whan from the bluie sea
The upswol sayle dyd daunce before his eyne;
Swefte as the wishe, hee toe the beeche dyd flee,
And founde his fadre steppeynge from the bryne.

Lette thyssen* menne, who haveth sprite of loove, Bethyncke untoe hemselves how mote the meetynge proove.

ECLOGUE THE THIRD.

MANNE.

WOMANNE. SIR ROGERRE.

WOULDST thou kenn Nature in her better parte?
Goe, serche the legges and bordelst of the hynde;
Giff theie have anie, itte ys roughe-made arte,
Inne hem you see the blakied‡ forme of kynde.
Haveth your mynde a lycheynge of a mynde?
Woulde it kenne everich thynge, as it mote bee?
Would ytte here phrase of vulgar from the hynde,
Withoute wiseegger wordes and knowlache free?
Gyf soe, rede thys, whyche iche dysportynge pende;
Gif nete besyde, yttes rhyme maie ytte commende.

MANNE.

Botte whether, fayre mayde, do ye goe?
O where do ye bende yer waie ?
I wille knowe whether you goe,
I wylle not bee asseled naie.

* Thyssen. This word is not to be found in any other writer: thisom or thisen, is used by the colliers about Bristol.

+ Bordel, in very old French, signifies a cottage, and bordelier, a cottager. Chaucer uses the first for a brothel, and the second for a keeper of such a house.

To explain this strange word, blake, as occurring Æ. 178. Whanne Autumpne blake and sonne-brente doe appere. And again 407.

Blake stondeth future doome, and joie doth mee alyse, is explained open, exposed; and blakied is made the participle from an imaginary verb, to blakie, signifying to open.

WOMANNE.

To Robin and Nell, all downe in the delle,
To hele hem at makeynge of haie.

MANNE.

Syr Rogerre, the parsone, have hyred mee there, Comme, comme lett us tryppe ytte awaie, We'lle wurke and we'lle synge, and weylle drenche of stronge beer

As longe as the merrie sommers daie.

WOMANNE.

How harde ys mie dome to wurch!
Moke is mie woe.

Dame Agnes, whoe lies ynne the chyrche
With birlette golde,

Wyth gelten aumeres stronge ontolde,
What was shee moe than me, to be soe?

MANNE.

I kenne syr Roger from afar
Tryppynge over the lea;
Ich ask whie the loverds son,

Is moe than mee.

SYR ROGERRE.

The sweltrie sonne dothe hie apace his wayne, From everich beme a seme of lyfe do falle; Swythyn scille oppe the haie upponne the playne; Methynckes the cockes begynneth to gre talle. Thys ys alyche oure doome; the great, the smalle, Moste withe and bee forwyned by deathis darte. VOL. XXIX.

N

See! the swote flourette hathe noe swote at alle : Itte wythe the ranke wede bereth evalle parte. The cravent, warrioure, and the wyse be blente, Alyche to drie awaie wythe those theie dyd be

mente.

MANNE.

All-a-boon,* syr priest, all-a-boon.

Bye yer preetschype nowe saye unto mee; Sir Gaufryd the knyghte, who lyvethe harde bie, Whie shoulde he than mee

Bee moe greate,

Inne honnoure, knyghtehoode and estate?

SYR ROGERRE.

Attourne thy eyne arounde thys haied mee,
Tentyflie loke arounde the chaper delle ;
An answere to thie barganette here see,
Thys welked flourette wylle a leson telle;
Arist it blew, itte florished, and dyd well,
Lokeynge ascaunce upon the naighboure greene;
Yet with the deigned greene yttes rennome felle,
Eftsoones ytte shronke upon the daie-brente playne,
Didde not yttes loke, whilest ytte there dyd stonde,
To croppe ytte in the bodde move somme dred
honde.

* Mr. Tyrwhitt says, 'the only passage, I believe, in which these eight letters are to be found together in the same order, is in Chaucer, C. Tales, v. 9492.

"And alderfirst he bade hem all a bone."

This the dean of Exeter considers as authority, arguing that the words in haucer should be connected: but all is there evidently an adjective connected with the pronoun hem.