Eche after other, clad in clothes blake;
But swiche a crie and swiche a wo they make,
That in this world n'is creature living
That ever herd swiche another waimenting;
And of this crie ne wolde they never ftenten
Till they the reines of his bridel henten.

What folk be ye that at min home coming
Perturben fo my fefte with crying?

Quod Thefeus; have ye fo grete envie

905

Of min honour, that thus complaine and crie? 910
Or who hath you misboden or offended?
Do telle me, if that it may be amended,
And why ye be thus clothed alle in blake?
The oldest lady of hem all than spake,
Whan fhe had fwouned with a dedly chere,
That it was reuthe for to feen and here.

She fayde, Lord, to whom Fortune hath yeven

Victorie, and as a conqueror to liven,

915

Thefeus is described making his offerings, &c. upon his return in a temple of Pallas, Thef. 1. ii.

.907-13.] Imitated from The Thefelda;

Chi fon coftoro, che a noftri lieti aventi
Cum crini fparti, batendofe el pecto,
Di fqualor piene in altri obfcuri vellimenti,
Tutte piangendo, come fe in defpecto
Haveffen la mia gloria e l'altre genti.

The 3d line, I fufpect, thould be read thus ;

Di fqualor piene in atri veftimenti.

Obfcuri was a glofs for atri.

. 911. mißboden] Injured; fo in a charter of Canute to the church of St. Paul, Monaft. v. iii. p. 304, that nan manheom mißbeode.

Nought greveth us your glorie and your honour,
But we befeke you of mercie and focour:
Have mercie on our woe and our diftreffe:
Some drope of pitee thurgh thy gentillesse
Upon us wretched wimmen let now falle;
For certes, Lord, ther n'is non of us alle
That the n'hath ben a ducheffe or a quene;
Now be we caitives, as it is wel fene :
Thanked be Fortune and hire falfe whele
That non eftat enfureth to be wele.
And certes, Lord, to abiden your prefence,
Here in this temple of the goddeffe Clemence
We han ben waiting all this fourtenight:
Now helpe us, Lord, fin it lieth in thy might.
I wretched wight, that wepe and waile thus,
Was whilom wif to King Capaneus
That starfe at Thebes, curfed be that day;

920

925

930

935

And alle we that ben in this aray,

And maken all this lamentation,

We loften alle our hufbondes at that toun,.
While that the fiege therabouten lay:

And yet now the olde Creon, wala wa!
That lord is now of Thebes the citee,

940

Fulfilled of ire and of iniquitee,

.940. wala wa] I fhall take the liberty of constantly reprefenting this interjection in this fimple form, though in the mff. it is written very differently, walaway, weilaway, welaway, c. from whence the more modern vulgar weladay. Wa and la are both Saxon interjections of grief. The compound wala wa is ufed in Chr. Sax. Gibf. p. 191.

He for defpit, and for his tyrannie,
To don the ded bodies a vilanie,

Of alle our lordes, which that ben yslawe,
Hath alle the bodies on an hepe ydrawe,
And will not fuffren hem by non affent
Neyther to ben yberied ne ybrent,

But maketh houndes ete hem in defpite.

945

And with that word, withouten more refpite, 950 They fallen groff, and crien pitously,

Have on us wretched wimmen fom mercy,
And let our forwe finken in thin herte.

This gentil duk doun from his courfer fterte

With herte pitous whan he herd hem fpeke;

955

Him thoughte that his herte wolde all to-breke

Whan he faw hem fo pitous and fo mate
That whilom weren of so gret estate,
And in his armes he hem all up hente,
And hem comforted in ful good entente,
And fwore his oth, as he was trewe knight,
He wolde don fo ferforthly his might
Upon the tyrant Creon hem to wreke,
That all the peple of Grece fhulde fpeke
How Creon was of Thefeus yferved,
As he that hath his dcth ful wel deferved.

And right anon, withouten more abode,
His banner he difplaide, and forth he rode
To Thebes ward, and all his hoft befide:

No ner Athenes n'olde he go ne ride,

960

965

970

970. No ner Athenes] Nere is used for nerre, and that for

Ne take his efe fully half a day,

But onward on his way that night he lay,
And fent anon polita the quene,

And Entelie hire yonge sister shene,
Unto the toun of Athenes for to dwell;

And forth he rit; ther n'is no more to tell.

The red statue of Mars, with fpere and targë,
So fhineth in his white banner large,

That all the feldes gliteren up and doun;
And by his banner borne is his penon

Of gold ful riche, in which that ther was yhete
The Minotaure which that he flew in Crete.
Thus rit this duk, thus rit this conquerour,
And in his hot of chevalrie the flour,
Til that he came to Thebes, and alight
Fayre in a feld, ther as he thought to fight.
But fhortly for to speken of this thing,
With Creon, which that was of Thebes king,
He fought, and flew him manly as a knight
In plaine bataille, and put his folk to flight;

And by affaut he wan the citée after,

975

980

985

990

And rent adoun bethe wall, and sparre, and rafter; And to the ladies he restored again

The bodies of hir houfbondes that were flain,

nerer, the comparative of ner: fo ver. 1852, ferre ne nere; ver. 13450, nere and nere; ver. 16189, never the nere.

.981. ybete] Probably stamped, that operation being an ciently, I fuppofe, performed by the hammer. See ver. 11948; $1951.

Volume II

F

To don the obfequies, as was tho the gife.
But it were all to long for to devise
The grete clamour and the waimenting
Whiche that the ladies made at the brenning

Of the bodies, and the gret honour
That Thefeus, the noble conquerour,

Doth to the ladies whan they from him wente;
But fhortly for to telle is min entente.

Whan that this worthy duk, this Thefeus,
Hath Creon flaine, and wonnen Thebes thus,
Still in the feld he toke all night his refte,
And did with all the contree as him lefte:
To ranfake in the tas of bodies dede,
Hem for to ftripe of harneis and of wede,
The pillours dide hir befinesse and cure,
After the bataille and difcomfiture;
And fo befell that in the tas they found,
Thurgh girt with many a grevous blody wound,
Two yonge knightes ligging by and by,
Bothe in on armes wrought ful richely;
Of whiche two Arcita highte that on,
And he that other highte Palamon.

1

1005

ICIO

v. 1016. And be that other]. He is inferted for the fake of the metre: but perhaps we thould rather read, with fome of the mil. And that other knight bigbte Palamon See the n. on ver. 393.—Highte is a ditlyilable here, as in other places, ver. 618, 862, 1730, 3097, et al. It is difficult to determine precifely what part of fpeech it is; but upon the whole I am inclined to confider it as a word of a very fingular form, a verb