Fabliaux Or Tales, Abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries, Volume 2

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W. Bulmer and Company, sold by R. Faulder, 1796
 

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Page 260 - And thou were the kindest man that ever struck with sword. And thou were the goodliest person that ever came among press of knights. And thou was the meekest man and the gentlest that ever ate in hall among ladies. And thou were the sternest knight to thy mortal foe that ever put spear in the rest.
Page 252 - And in Piers Plowman's Crede, the author, describing the luxury of the monks, tells us of " An halle for an hygh kynge an houshold to holden, With brode bordes abouten, ybenched wel clene." Ellis remarks, that "from this usage our Court of King's Bench had its name.
Page 266 - Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment ? Sure something holy lodges in that breast, And with these raptures moves the vocal air To testify his hidden residence.
Page 260 - And thou were the truest friend to thy lover that ever bestrad horse. And thou were the truest lover of a sinful man that ever loved woman. And thou were the kindest man that ever struck with sword.
Page 46 - Till many a vow were past of mutual love ; These more would cherish, those would more deserve ; Cost, courtesy, and arms, and nothing swerve. ' O bitter change ! for master now we see • * 'A faitour villain carle of low. degree; • ' Foul gluttony employs his livelong day. Nor heeds nor hears he my melodious lay.
Page 212 - In none of these lays do we find the qualities attributed to that sort of composition by M. de la Ravaliere. According to these examples, we should rather define the lay to be a species of serious narrative poetry, of a moderate length, in a simple style, and light metre.
Page 43 - Foreknow ye then, by necromantick might Was rais'd this paradise of all delight ; A good knight own'd it first; he, bow'd with age, Died, and his son possess'd the heritage : But the lewd stripling, all to riot bent, (His chattels quickly wasted and forespent,) Was driven to see this patrimony sold To the base carle of whom I lately told.
Page 47 - In the clown's breast at his reproachful word : Bent was his wit alone by quaint device To snare, and sell him for a passing price. So well he wrought, so craftily he spread In the thick foliage green his slender thread, That when at eve the little songster sought His wonted spray, his heedless foot was caught. ' How have I harm'd you ?' straight he 'gan to cry, And wherefore would you do me thus to die ?' —
Page 266 - Hence, M. Le Grand conjectures, " that the crimson dye being, from its costliness, used only on cloths of the finest manufacture, the term crimson came at length to signify, not the colour, but the texture, of the stuff.
Page 45 - Stretch'd far and wide, in deathless verdure spread, Met with broad shade the summer's sultry gleam, And through the livelong year shut out the beam. Such was the scene : — yet still the place was...

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