Tathenes, for to dwellen in prisoun
Perpetuelly, he wolde no raunceoun.
And this duk whan he hadde thus i-doon,
He took his host, and hom he ryt anoon
With laurer crowned as a conquerour;
And there he lyveth' in joye and in honour
Terme of his lyf; what wolle ye wordes moo?
And in a tour, in angwische and in woo,
This Palamon, and his felawe Arcite,
For evermo, ther may no gold bem quyte.
This passeth yeer by yeer, and day by day,
Till it fel oones in a morwe of May
That Emelie, that fairer was to seene
Than is the lilie on hire stalkes grene.

And fresscher than the May with floures newe-
For with the rose colour strof hire hewe,
I not which was the fyner of hem two-
Er it was day, as sche was wont to do,
Sche was arisen, and al redy dight;
For May wole have no sloggardye a night.
The sesoun priketh every gentil herte,
And maketh him out of his sleepe sterte,
And seith, Arys, and do thin observance.'
This maked Emelye han remembrance
To do honour to May,' and for to ryse.
I-clothed was sche fressh for to devyse.

1 He lyveth must be read as one foot; another instance of the rule so common in Latin and Greek metres, of considering two short unaccented syllables equivalent to one long.

2 The return of genial weather in May has invested this month, in the customs of all nations, with something of a festive character.-See Ovid's Fasti, lib. v. The Roman Catholic devotion to the blessed Virgin in May, and our own Whitsuntide holidays, are indications of the same feeling. It was, until very lately, the custom in remote places for youths and maidens to go into the fields before sunrise, and bring home in gay procession boughs of trees, with which they decorated the church and their houses. The May-pole is not yet quite abandoned. Stubbs, in the Anatomie of Abuses, 1585, p. 94, 8ays—' Against Maie, every parishe, towne, and village, assembled themselves together, bothe men, women, and children, olde and younge, even all indifferently, and either going all together, or devidyng themselves into companies, they goe, some to

Hire yolwe heer was browdid in a tresse,
Byhynde hire bak, a yerde long I gesse.
And in the gardyn at the sonne upriste
Sche walketh up and doun wher as hire liste.
Sche gadereth floures, partye whyte and reede,
To make a sotel' gerland for hire heede,
And as an aungel hevenly sche song.

3

The grete tour, that was so thikke and strong,
Which of the castel was the cheef dongeoun,'
(Ther as this knightes weren in prisoun,
Of which I tolde yow, and telle schal)
Was evene joynyng to the gardeyn wal,
Ther as this Emely hadde hire pleyyng.

Bright was the sonne, and cleer that morwenynge,
And Palamon, this woful prisoner,

As was his wone, by leve of his gayler
Was risen,' and romed in a chambre on heigh,
In which he al the noble cite seigh,

the woodes and groves, some to the hills and mountaines, some to one place, some to another, where they spend all the night in pastimes, and in the morninge they return, bringing with them birche bowes and branches of trees to deck their assemblie withalle.'-See also Midsummer Night's Dream, Act i., scene 1.

The Harl. MS. reads certem, which seems unmearing. Sotel is from Tyrwhitt, and signifies, of course, curiously or subtly braided. The twining of garlands of the young branches and flowers always formed a principal part of the May-day rites. In a ballad called

the Milkmaid's Life, printed about 1630, we are told,—

The dongeoun, sometimes called the donjon keep, from keep, which meant guard. It was the principal guard of the castle, in consequence of its strength. Beneath the keep were the vaults in which prisoners were confined, whence the modern acceptation of the word dungeon.

Was risen must be considered as one foot for the sake of the metre, and the final e in chambre must be elided before the succeeding

on

And eek the gardeyn, ful of braunches grene,
Ther as the fresshe Emelye the scheene'
Was in hire walk, and romed up and doun.
This sorweful prisoner, this Palamon,
Gooth in the chambre romyng to and fro,
And to himself compleynyng of his woo;
That he was born, ful ofte he seyd, alas!
And so byfel, by aventure or cas,

That thurgh a wyndow thikke and many a barre
Of iren greet and squar as eny sparre,
He cast his eyen upon Emelya,

And therwithal he bleynte and cryed, a!
As that he stongen were unto the herte.
And with that crye Arcite anon up sterte,
And seyde, Cosyn myn, what eyleth the,
That art so pale and deedly for to see?
Why crydestow?' who hath the doon offence?
For Goddes love, tak al in pacience
Oure prisoun, for it may non othir be;
Fortune hath geven us this adversité.
Som wikke aspect or disposicioun

Of Saturne, by sum constellacioun,

Hath geven us this, although we hadde it sworn; So stood the heven whan that we were born;

We moste endure it: this is the schort and pleyn.'

This Palamon answered, and seyde ageyn,

Cosyn, for sothe of this opynyoun

Thou hast a veyn ymaginacioun.

This prisoun caused me not for to crye.
But I was hurt right now thurgh myn yhe

In the orthography of the MS. from which the text is derived, sch, as in modern German, has the same force as sh.

Crydestow for criedst thou So seistow for sayest thou, slepistow for sleepest thou. It often happens that the difficulty of understanding old English depends entirely upon the orthography; when a passage therefore appears to be unintelligible, an excellent way, sometimes, of ascertaining the meaning is to read it aloud, and to be guided entirely by the sound, as in reading the Fonetic Nus.

Into myn herte, that wol my bane be.
The fairnesse of the lady that I see
Yonde in the gardyn rome to and fro,
Is cause of my cryying and my wo.

I not whethur sche be womman or godder;
But Venus is it, sothly as I gesse.'
And therwithal on knees adoun he fil,
And seyde: Venus, if it be youre wil
Yow in this gardyn thus to transfigure,
Biforn me sorwful wrecched creature,
Out of this prisoun help that we may scape.
And if so be oure destine be schape
By eterne word to deyen in prisoun,
Of oure lynage haveth sum compassioun,
That is so lowe y-brought by tyrannye."
And with that word Arcite gan espye
Wher as this lady romed to and fro.
And with that sight hire beaute hurt him ɛ0,
That if that Palamon was wounded sore,
Arcite is hurt as moche as he, or more.
And with a sigh he seyde pitously:
"The freissche beaute sleeth me sodeynly
Of hir that rometh yonder in the place;
And but I have hir mercy and hir grace,
That I may see hir atte leste weye,
I nam but deed; ther nys no more to seye.
This Palamon, whan he tho wordes herde,
Dispitously he loked, and answerde:
"Whether seistow in ernest or in pley?'
'Nay,' quoth Arcite, 'in ernest in good fey.
God helpe me so, me lust ful evele pleye.'
This Palamon gan knytte his browes tweye:
'It nere,' quod he, 'to the no gret honour,
For to be fals, ne for to be traytour
To me, that am thy cosyn and thy brother
I-swore' ful deepe, and ech of us to other,

Formal compacts for the purpose of mutual counsel and assist

That never for to deyen in the payne,'
Til that deeth departe schal us twayne,
Neyther of us in love to hynder other,
Ne in non other cas, my leeve brother;
But that thou schuldest trewly forther me
In every caas, and I schal forther the.
This was thyn othe, and myn eek certayn;
I wot right wel, thou darst it nat withsayn
Thus art thou of my counseil out of doute.
And now thou woldest falsly ben aboute
To love my lady, whom I love and serve,
And evere schal, unto myn herte sterve.
Now certes, fals Arcite, thou schal not so.
I loved hir first, and tolde the my woo
As to my counseil, and to brother sworn
To forther me, as I have told biforn.
For which thou art i-bounden as a knight
To helpe me, if it lay in thi might,
Or elles art thou fals, I dar wel sayn.'
This Arcite ful proudly spak agayn.

'Thou schalt,' quoth he, be rather fals than 1.
But thou art fals, I telle the uttirly.

ance in love and war were common to the heroic and chivalrous ages. Theseus and Peirithous, Achilles and Patroclus, Pylades and Orestes, Nysus and Euryalus, and, in the Thebais, Tydeus and Polynices, are instances familiar to every one, in the former period; in the latter, examples may be found in innumerable romances. Authentic history furnishes many similar cases, of which we have an interesting illustration in a book entitled Ancient Irish Histories, in which are narrated the adventures of Sir John de Courcy and Sir Armoric de St. Lawrence, Norman knights, and ancestors of the present Lords Kinsale and Howth, to whom Henry II. had granted districts in Ireland, and who, in virtue of a compact of this sort, rendered each other valuable assistance in their continual wars with the wild Irish or kerns.

A translation of a French expression. Froissart, quoted by Tyrwhitt, relates, that Edward III. declared he would not return 'jusques à tant qu'il auroit fin de guerre, ou paix à sa suffisance, cu à GOD grand honneur; ou il mourroit en la peine.'-See also Romance of the Rose, vol. iv. p. 116.

All that ye saine is but in vaine,
Me were lever die in the paine.'