Sir Jorg the worthè Lovele With dyntes wear beaten dowene. For Wetharryngton my harte was wo, That ever he slayne shulde be; For when both his leggis wear hewyne in to, Yet he knyled and fought on hys kne. Ther was slayne with the dougheti Douglas Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry, Sir Charles a Murrè, in that place, So on the morrowe the mayde them byears Off byrch, and hasell so gray; Many wedous with wepying tears Came to fach ther makys a-way. Tivydale may carpet off care, Northombarlond may mayk grat mone, For towe such captayns, as slayne wear thear, On the march perti shall never be none. Wordeys commen to Edden-bur rowe, To Jamy the Skottishe kyng, That dougheti Duglas, leyff-tenant of the Merches, He lay slean Chyviot with-in. • Fetch. f Lament His handdes did he weal and wryng, He sayd, Alas, and woe ys me! Such another captyne Skotland within, He sayd, y-feth shud never be. Worde ys commyn to lovly Londone Till the fourth Harry our kyng, That lord Persè, leyff-tennante cf the Merchis, He lay slayne Chyviat within. God have merci on his soll, sayd kyng Harry, Good lord, yf thy will it be! I have a hondrith captayns in Ynglonde, As good as ever was hee But Persè, and I brook • lyffe, с Thy deth well quyte shall be my As our noble kyng made his a-vowe, Lyke a noble prince of renowen, For the deth of the lord Persè, He dyd the battel of Hombylldown: Wher syx and thritte Skottish knyghtes On a day wear beaten down: Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght, Over castill, towar, and town. This was the hontynge off the Cheviat; That tear begane this spurn: Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe, Call it the Battell of Otterburn. At Otterburn began this spurne Uppon a monnyn day : Ther was the dougghtè Doglas slean, The Persè never went away. Ther was never a tym on the march partes Sen the Doglas and the Persè met, But yt was marvele, and the redde blude ronne not, As the reane doys in the stret. Jhesue Christ our balys bete, And to the blys us brynge! Thus was the hountynge of the Chevyat: God send us good ending! 35. John Lydgate, 1375-1430? (Handbook, pars. 51, 64, 116.) A monk of Bury, and author of two hundred and fifty poems. His minor pieces are humorous and graphic. He is censured by Percy and Ellis, but praised by Gray and Coleridge. • Wail. b Enjoy. e Paid. God's Providence. God hath a thousand handés to chastise; A thousand dartés of punicïón' A thousand bowés made in divers wise, A thousand arlblasts bent in his dongéou. d Thirty. • Since. f Punishment. From WARTON's History, vol. i. 8 Arlblasts-arcus balista, a bow that throws arrows. Donjon, the keep that commands the castle. From The London Lackpenny. In this poem, so called probably from the fact that in a London visit the man who lacks money cannot get on,-the poet represents himself as having come to town in search of redress for some wrong, and as visiting the different courts in succession. Within the hall, neither rich nor yett poore C Fyne felt hattes, or spectacles to reede, Lay down your sylver, and here may you speede. Then to the Chepe I began me drawne 'Here is Parys thred and the fynest in the land '— And wantyng money I myght not spede. Two stanzas out of sixteen. A Selection of Minor Poems. 36. James I. of Scotland, 1394-1437. (Handbook, par. 53.) Imprisoned for many years in Windsor by Henry IV. His sufferings were soothed by his poetic temperament, and by his love for Lady Joan Beaufort, whom he afterwards married. His chief poem is the King's Quhair, or Book. Looking out of his prison he sees in the garden a lady of great beauty, whom he passionately loves. Hope carries him to the court of Venus, who sends him to Minerva. She first advises him wisely, and then sends him in search of Fortune. She teaches him so to climb her wheel, that he reaches at length the height of his desires. The poem is rich in reflection and description; while the versification is musical beyond the age. Christ's Kirk in the Green,' generally ascribed to James I., Aytoun thinks, belongs to a somewhat later time: it must have been written by a poet familiar from his youth with Scottish life. Washington Irving has given, in his Sketch Book, an interesting account of James 1. as a Royal Poet,' a Westminster. The great traders at that time. Chop, change. James first beholds the Lady Jane. Now there was made, fast by the tower's" wall An herberé green, with wandis long and small Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet And therewith cast I doun mine eye again The blood of all my body to my heart. The King's Quhair. Canto ii. stanzas 13, 21 37. William Caxton, 1412-1492. (Handbook, pars. 4, 17, 65.) From Caxton's Prologue. After that I had accomplysshed and fynysshed dyvers hystoryes, as well of contemplacyon as of other hystoryal and worldly actes of grete conquerours and prynces, and also certayn bookes of ensaumples and doctryne, many noble and dyvers gentylmen of thys royame of Englond camen and demaunded me many and oftymes wherfore that I have not do make and emprynte the noble hystorye of the Saynt Greal, and of the most renound Crysten kyng, fyrst and chyef of the thre best crysten and worthy, kyng Arthur, whyche ought moost to be remembred emonge us Englysshe men tofore al other crysten kynges. For it is notoyrly knowen thorugh the unyversal world that there been ix worthy and the best that ever were, that is to wete, thre paynyms, thre Jewes, and thre crysten men. As for the paynyms, they were tofore the incarnacyon of Cryst, which were named, the fyrst Hector of Troye, of whome hystorye is comen bothe in balade and in orose; the second Alysaunder the Grete; • In Windsor castle b Herbary, arbour • Living person. d At the place at which. To play or sometimes to mourn. f Blow. |