Ne moe, ne moe, alass! I call you myne: I muste be gonne, botte whare I dare ne telle; seeme; For thee, O gould, I dyd the lawe ycrase; For thee, I gotten or bie wiles or breme; Ynn thee I all mie joie and good dyd place; Botte nowe to mee thie pleasaunce ys ne moe, I kenne notte botte for thee I to the quede must goe. Johne makes a jarre boute Lancaster and Yorke; Bee stille, gode manne, and learne to myade thie worke. THE GOULER'S REQUIEM. MIE boolie entes adieu! ne moe the syghte fyne; THE ACCOUNT OF W. CANYNGES FEAST. BY THE SAME. [This poem is taken from a fragment of vellum, which Chatterton gave to Mr. Barrett as an original. With respect to the three friends of Mr. Canynge, mentioned in the last line, the name of Rowley is sufficiently known from the preceding poems. Iscamm appears as an actor in the tragedy of Ælla, and in that of Goddwyn; and a poem, ascribed to him, entitled, The Merry Tricks of Laymington, is inserted in the Discorse of Bristow. Sir Theobald Gorges was a knight of an ancient family seated at Wraxhall, within a few miles of Bristol. (See Rot. Parl, 3 H. VI. n. 28. Leland's Itin. vol. VII. p. 98.) He has also appeared as an actor in both the tragedies, and as the author of one of the mynstrelles songes in Ella. His connection with Mr. Canynge is verified by a deed of the latter, dated 20th October, 1467, in which he gives to trustees, in part of a benefaction of 5001. to the church of St. Mary Redcliffe, "certain jewels of sir Theobald Gorges, knt." which had been pawned to him for 1601.] 1 Daitive, perhaps haitive, or haifliff, hasty, from the French haity, hasty.. THOROWE the halle the belle han sounde; Syke keene thie ate; the minstrels plaie, [seene. EPITAPH ON ROBERT CANYNGE. [This is one of the fragments of vellum, given by Chatterton to Mr. Barrett, as part of his original MSS.] THIS mornynge starre of Radcleves rysynge raie, THE STORIE OF WILLIAM CANYNGE. [The first 34 lines of this poem are extant upon another of the vellum fragments, given by Chatterton to Mr. Barrett. The remainder is printed from another copy, furnished by Mr. Catcott, with some corrections from another copy, made by Mr. Barrett from one in Chatterton's hand-writing. This poem makes part of a prose work, attributed to Rowley, giving an account of painters, carvellers, poets, and other eminent natives of Bristol, from the earliest times to his own. It may be proper just to remark here, that Mr. Canynge's brother, mentioned in ver. 129, who was lord mayor of London in 1456, is called Thomas, by Stowe, in his List of Mayors, &c. The transaction alluded to in the last stanza is related at large in some prose memoirs of Rowley. It is there said that Mr. Canynge went into orders, to avoid a marriage, proposed by king Edward, between him and a lady of the Widdevile family. It is certain, from the register of the bishop of Worcester, that Mr. Canynge was ordained Acolythe by bishop Carpenter on 19 September, 1467, and received the higher orders of subdeacon, deacon, and priest, on the 12th of March, 1467, O. S. the 2d and 16th of April, 1468, respectively.] ANENT a brooklette as I laie reclynd, Engarlanded wyth crownes of osyer weedes Wyth sweet semblate and an angel's grace These cynegears swythyn bringethe to my thowghte a Methoughte such doughtie menn must have sprighte 1 Unauthorized. Dean Milles says it is the old English word nete or nought, with the prefix; to which corresponds the old French verb aneantised (annihilated) used by Chaucer. But there is no proof, that the word nete has ever been used as a verb, even if it exists. Dote yn the armour brace that Mychael bore, And put hys broder ynto syke a trade, [made. He had a fader, (Jesus rest his soule!) But landes and castle tenures, golde and bighes, But soon hys broder and hys syre dyd die, Fyve Aves ande on Pater moste be sedde; Twayne songe, the on hys songe of Willowe Rue The odher one FRAGMENT, BY JOHN, SECOND ABBATTE OF SEYNCTE AUSTYNS MYNSTERRE. 66 [From Barrett's History of Bristol. It was sent by Chatterton to Horace Walpole, as a note to Rowleie's Historie of Peyneters. "This John," he says, was inducted abbot in the year 1186, and sat in the dies 29 years. He was the greatest poet of the age in which he lived; he understood the learned languages. Take a specimen of his poetry on King Richard 1st."] HARTE of lyone! shake thie sworde, Bare thie mortheynge steinede honde: Quace whole armies to the queede, Worke thie wylle yn burlie bronde. Barons here on bankers-browded, Fyghte yn furres gaynste the cale; Whilest thou ynne thonderynge armes Warriketh whole cyttes bale. Harte of lyon! sound the beme! Sounde ytte ynto inner londes, Freare flies sportine ynne the cleeme, Inne thie banner terror stondes. Or warres glumm pleasaunce doe I chaunte mie laie, [the lyne, Trouthe tips the poynctelle, wysdomme skemps Whylste hoare experiaunce telleth what toe saie, And forwyned hosbandrie wyth blearie eyne, Stondeth and woe bements; the trecklynge bryne Rounnynge adone hys cheekes which doeth shewe Lyke hys unfrutefulle fieldes, longe straungers to the ploughe. Saie, Glowster, whanne besprenged on evrich syde, The gentle hyndlette and the vylleyn felle; Whanne smetheynge sange dyd flowe lyke to a tyde, And sprytes were damned for the lacke of knelle, Diddest thou kenne ne lykeness to an Helle, Where all were misdeedes doeyng lyche unwise, Where hope unbarred and deathe eftsoones dyd shote theyre eies. Ye shepster swaynes who the ribibble kenne, Ende the thyghte daunce, ne loke uponne the spere: [menne, In ugsommnesse ware moste bee dyghte toe Unseliness attendethe honourewere; Quaffe your swote vernage and atreeted beere. YNNE whilomme daies, as Stowe saies, There lyved knyghtes doghtie yn fyghtes A Saxonne boulde renowned of oulde For dethe and dernie dede, Maint Tanmen slone the Brugge uponne Baldwynne hys name, Rolles saie the same Al bie Seyncte Lenardes yate. And dydde the Dans arase. None of Rowley's pieces were ever made public, being till the year 1631 shut up in an iron cbest in Redcliff church. One Leefwyne of kyngelie Lyne Inne Brystowe towne dyd leve, Was ynne the strete nempte brede; Fitz Lupous digne of gentle lyne Onne Radclyve made hys Baie, Inn moddie Gronne the whyche uponne Botte reittes and roshes laie. Than Radclyve Strete of mansyonnes meete In semelie gare doe stonde, And Canynge grete of fayre estate Bryngeth to tradynge londe. Hardynge dydde comme from longe kyngddomme Inne Knyvesmythe strete to lyne, Roberte hys sonne, moche gode thynges donne As abbattes doe blasynne. Roberte the erle, ne conkered curll In castle stede dyd fraie A maioure dheene bee and Jamne hee N 1 D tending to confirm the authenticity of these poems. In the first place, this sort of macaronic verse of mixed languages is a style used in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Dante has some of these amongst his Rhyme, (p. 226. vol. 2d. Venice 1741) which are composed of French, Italian, and Latin, and conclude thus: Namque locutus sum in linguâ trinâ. Skelton, who lived not long after Rowley, has also poems in the same kind of verse. Secondly, the correctness of the Latin, and the propriety of the answers in English, show it to have been written at least by a better scholar than Chatterton. Thirdly, the low humour of the dialogue, although suited to the taste of that early and illiterate age, could be no object of imitation to a modern poet. But it is a most remarkable circumstance, that he has introduced his two Cockneies under the names of two most respectable aldermen of the city of London, who lived about the year 1380, sir William Walworth and sir John Philpot; men of such distinguished reputation, not only in their own city, but also in the whole kingdom, that the first parliament of Richard the Second, in granting a subsidy to that king, made it subject to the controul and management of these two citizens. (Walsingham, p. 200. Rapin, vol. i. p. 454 and 458.) ■This salutation, which should be written God ye good den, is more than once used by Shakespear: In Love's Labour Lost, the clown says, God ye good morrow gentlemen; to which the latter replies, God ye good den, fair gentlewoman, And in the Exmoor Courtship, Good den, good den; Quæ requirit misericordiam mala causa est. WALWORTH. God ye good even. VOL. XV. which the glossafist on that pamphlet properly explains by the wish of a good evening; and Mr. Steevens observes on the passage in Love's Labour Lost, that this contraction is not unusual in our ancient comic writers, and quotes the play called the Northern Lass, by R. Brome, 1633, for the following phrase: THE MERRIE TRICKS OF LAMYNGETOWNE. BY MAYSTRE JOHN A ISCAM. [From Dean Milles's edition.] A RYGOUROUS doome is myne, upon mie faie: God dig you den all. Act iv. Sc. 1. That is to say, God give you a good evening; for dig is undoubtedly a mistake for give. So in the dialogue between the Nurse and Mercutio, in Romeo and Juliet, Act ii. Sc. 5. the for- I go my boon companions for to fynde. mer says, To fyght, and not to flee, my sabatans three. Go to my trustie menne in Selwoods chase, gore, Hancele, or hanceled, from the human race; Bid them, like mee theyre leeder, shape theyre mynde [kyude. To be a bloudie foe in armes, gaynst all man RALPH. [Ralph goes out. |