As well in Criftendom as in Hetheneffe,
And ever honoured for his worthineffe.

At Alifandre he was whan it was wonne :
Ful often time he hadde the bord begonne
Aboven alle nations in Prace:..

In Lettowe hadde he reyfed and in Ruce,

50

✯. 51. At Alifandre] Alexandria in Egypt was won (and im. mediately after abandoned) in 1365 by Pierre de Lufignan. King of Cyprus. The fame prince, foon after his acceffion to the throne in 1352, had taken Satalie, the ancient Attalia; and in another expedition, about 1 367, he made himself master of the town of Layas in Armenia. Compare11 Memoire fur les ouv rages de Guillaume de Machaut. Acad. des Inf. t. xx. p. 426, 432, and Memoire fur la vie de Philippe de Maizières, t. xvii. p. 493. Sec alfo Froiffart, v. iii. p. 21. Walfingham mentions the taking of Alexandria, Ep. 180,] and adds, Interfuerunt "autem huic captioni cum rege Cypriæ plures Anglici et A"quitanici, referentes tam in Angliam quam in Aquitaniam pannos aureos et holofericos, fplendorefque gemmarum ex"oticos, in teftimonium tantæ victoriæ."

..

. 52. he badde the bord begonne----in Pruce.] He had been placed at the head of the table, the ufual compliment to extraordinary merit, as the commentators very properly explain it. When our military men wanted employment it was usual for them to go and ferve in Prufe or Pruffia with the Knights of the Teutonick order, who were in a state of conftant warfare with their Heathen neighbours in Lettowe, (Lithuania) Rufe, (Ruffia) and elsewhere. A Pagan king of Lettowe is men. tioned by Walfingham, p. 180, 343.

V. 54. reyjed] This is properly a German word. Kilian in v. Reyfen, iterfacere---et Ger. militare, facere flipendium." The editions (except M.) and several mff. have changed it into ridden, which indeed feems to have been used by Chaucer in the fame fenfe ver. 48.

No Criften man so ofte of his degre:

In Gernade at the siege eke hadde he be
Of Algefir, and ridden in Belmarie:

At Leyes was he, and at Satalie,

Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete fee
At many a noble armee hadde he be.

55

60

. 56. In Gernade] The city of Algezir was taken from the Moorish King of Granada in 1344. Mariana, [1. xvi. c. 11,] among other perfons of diftinction who came to affift at the fiege in 1343, names particularly " de Inglaterra, con licentia del "Rey Eduardo, los Condes de Arbid, y de Soluzber," which I suppose we may fafely interpret to mean the Earls of Derby and Salisbury. Knighton fays that the Earl of Derby was there, X Script. 2583.

in

v. 57. in Belmarie:] I cannot find any country of this name any authentick geographical writer. Froiffart [V. iv. c. 23,] reckons it among the kingdoms of Africa; "Thunes, Bovgic, "Maroch, Bellemarine, Tremeffen;" and Chaucer [v. 1772,] speaks of it as producing lions. The battle of Benamarin, mentioned in Sir M. Gourney's epitaph, is faid by a late author of Viage de Efpanna, p. 73, n. 1, to have been so called "por ha "ber quedado vencido en ella Aibohacen, Rey de Marruecos, "del linage de Aben Marin," Perhaps, therefore, the dominions of that family in Africa might be called abufively Bena. marin, and by a further corruption Belmarie.

. 59. the Grete fee] This is generally understood to mean the Pontus Euxinus; but I doubt whether the name of Mare Maggiore was given to that fea by any other nation beside the Italians. Sir John Mandeville, p. 89, cails that part of the Mediterranean which wathes the coaft of Palefine "the Grete "fee," an appellation which it might poffibly have acquired there to distinguish it from the two inland feas (as they were improperly ftyled) the fea of Tiberias and the Dead fea.----In mf. T. it is the Grekish fee, a reading to which I thould have had no objection ifI had found it confirmed by any better mf. In the middle ages the Mediterranean fea from Sicily to Cyprus

At mortal batailles hadde he hen fiftene,
And foughten for our faith at Tramiffene
In liftes thries, and ay flain his fo.

This ilke worthy Knight hadde ben alfo
Sometime with the Lord of Palatie
Agen another Hethen in Turkie,

And evermore he hadde a sovereine pris,

65

And though that he was worthy he was wife,
And of his port as meke as is a mayde,

He never yet no vilanie ne fayde
In alle his lif unto no manere wight:
He was a veray parfit gentil knight.
But for to tellen you of his araie,

His hors was good, but he ne was not gaie.
Of fuftian he wered a gipon

Alle befmotred with his habergeon,
For he was late ycome fro his viage,

And wente for to don his pilgrimage.

70

75

was fometimes called Mare Græcum, Hoved. p. 709. So Bractonfpeaks of Effoigns," de ultra et de citra Marc Græcorum," 1. v. tr. 2, c. 3. The fee of Grece is ufed in the fame fenfe by Chaucer himself, ver. 4884..—And in Isumbras, fol. 130, b. 66 Tyl he come to the Grekes fee."

V. 60, noble armee] I have printed this as the most intelligible reading, though I am not quite fatisfied with it; the mff. have arme, aryve, and ryver.

V. 65. the Lord of Palatie] Palathia in Anatolia, Sp. The nature of his lordthip may be explained from Froiss, v. iii. c. 223 he gives an account there of feveral Hauts Baronsin those parts who kept poffeffion of their lands paying a tribute to the Turk; he names particularly le Sire de Sathalie, le Sire de la Palice, et le Sire de Haute-Loge.

With him ther was his fone, a yonge Squier,
A lover and a lufty bacheler,

With lockes crull as they were laide in presse;
Of twenty yere of age he was I geffe.

Of his ftature he was of even lengthe,
And wonderly deliver, and grete of strengthe;
And he hadde be fometime in chevachie
In Flaundres, in Artois, and in Picardie,
And borne him wel, as of fo litel space,
In hope to ftonden in his ladies grace.

Embrouded was he, as it were a mede
Alle full of fresshe floures white and rede:
Singing he was or floyting alle the day;
He was as fresfhe as is the moneth of May:
Short was his goune, with fleves long and wide;
Wel coude he fitte on hors, and fayre ride:

80

85

98.

. 84. deliver] Nimble; fo below, ver. 15422, deliverly, nimbly: the word is plainly formed from the Fr. libre. The Italians ufe fuelto or fciolto in the fame sense.

.85. in chevachie] Chevauchée, French. It moft properly means an expedition with a small party of cavalry, but is often nfed generally for any military expedition. Holiinthed calls it a rode.

.89. Embrouded] Embroidered, from the Fr. broder, ori❤ ginally border.

V. 91. foyting] Playing on the flute; fo in H. P. iii, 133, And many a floite and litlyng horne

And pipes made of grene corne

The first fyllable for a time retained the broad found of its o riginal. See Du Cange, Flauta. Kilian, Fluyte. In fome copies it js changed to forting.

He coude fonges make, and wel endite,

Jufte and eke dance, and wel pourtraie and write :
So hote he loved, that by nightertale

He flep no more than doth the nightingale :
Curteis he was, lowly and fervifable,

And carf before his fader at the table.

A Yeman hadde he, and fervantes no mo At that time, for him lufte to ride so,

95

100

.97. nightertale] Night-time, from the Sax. niktern dæl, no&urna portio. Lydgate ufes nightertyme. Traged. fol. 141, b. 156, b.

. 100. And carf before his fader] The practice of fquires (of the highest quality) carving at their fathers' tables has been fully illustrated by M. de Ste Palaye, Ac. des infc. t. xx. p. 604.

. 101. Areman hadde he] The late editions call this character the Squire's Yeman, but improperly; the pronoun be relates to the Knight. Chaucer would never have given the fon an attendant when the father had none.--Yeman, or yeoman, is an abbreviation of yeongeman, as youthe is of yeongthe. Young men being mott usually employed in service, fervants have, in many languages, been denominated from the fingle circumftance of age, as wais, puer, garcon, boy, grome. As a title of service or office Yoman is used in the ftat. 37 Edward III. c. 9 and 11, to denote a fervant of the next degree above a garfon or groom; and at this day in feveral departments of the royal houfehold the attendants are diftributed into three claffes of Serjeants or Squiers, Yeomen and Grooms. In the household of the Mayor of London fome officers of the rank of Yeoman are ftill, I believe, called Young Men. See Chamberlain's State of Gr. Brit.-In the ftatute 20 R. II. c. 2, Yoman and Vadletz are fynonymous terms. The Chanone's Yeman, who is introduced below, ver. 16030, is a common fervant. See also ver. 2770. The title of Yeoman was given, in a secondary sense, to people of middling rank not in service.