Of baum1 and ek piement,"

Of balm and also sweet spiced wine,

Ever ernend to right rent,3
Ever running to right rendering

Of thai stremis al the molde.

Of those streams to all the land.
Stonis preciuse and golde:
Precious stones and gold:
Ther is saphir and vniune,*
There is sapphire and pearl,
Carbuncle and astiune,"
Carbuncle and jasper (?)

Smaragde, lugre," and prassiune,7
Smaragd, lyncure, and chrysoprase,
Beril, onix, topasiune,

Beryl, onyx, and topaz,

Ametist and crisolite,

Amethyst and chrysolite,
Calcedun and epetite.

Chalcedony and hepatite.

Ther beth briddes mani and fale:9 There are birds many and many :

Throstil, thruisse, and nightingale,
Throstle, thrush, and nightingale,
Chalandre 10 and wodwale,"
Lark and woodpecker,

And other briddes without tale,

And other birds without number,
That stinteth neuer by har might

That flag never according to their might
Miri to sing dai and night.

In softly singing day and night.
Yit I do yow mo witte :

Yet I cause you more to know:

'baume." In First

1 Baum. "Balsamum," through the French English it was "baldsam." Balsams are said to have been first used by the people of Palestine and the coasts of Phoenicia, and by the Egyptians and Arabians. One derivative of the name is "Bala Schemen," prince of oils and spices; another from the Hebrew word bosem for the most fragrant substances; another from an unused root, that indicates the way of getting it by cuts made in the trees. The most delightful, and those which were thought most healing, of the spices, aromatic oils, and resins, were called balsams. The name was given to all medicines that were resinous or oily, inflammable, and at the same time of a pleasant smell and penetrating aromatic taste, with curative powers. The prince of balsams was the Balm of Gilead, or True Balsam of Mecca, the resinous juice obtained by incisions in a small tree found only in part of Judea, and in Arabia about Mecca. It was sold in Rome for double its weight in silver. 2 Piement. Wine mixed with honey and spice. Old French, "pig. ment," "piument," "piment;" middle Latin, "pigmentuus," perhaps so called because prepared by the pigmentarii, or apothecaries. Pimenta, the sweet-scented Jamaica pepper called all-spice, because its scent is said to have in it a something of all the spices, could hardly have been known before the discovery of Jamaica by Columbus, in 1494. An old recipe for piment is to powder and mix cloves, cubebs, mace, canella bark, and galangale; pour over them a mixture of two parts good wine and one part honey, let them stand, and then strain through a cloth.

3 Rent. French, "rente;" Italian, "rendita;" Latin, "reddita," from "rendere," to give back, render, surrender, yield, pay.

• Uniune. Latin, unio," a large pearl; said to be so called from ❝unio," oneness, because two were seldom found together.

5 Astiune perhaps should be "astriune." Pliny describes "asteria " as one of the many forms of jasper, a gem so called, he says, because it has included light moving within it that gives out rays of its own. Lugre. Or "ligure." Latin, "lyncurias" and "lingurium;" Greek, Ayyoúptov: a gem like a carbuncle, shining with fiery colour, or like some amber, though not attracting straws when rubbed, but attracting flakes of metal. A fabulous origin from the urine of the lynx was ascribed to it, and this accounted for its name. It was said also to have curative powers when drunk in wine. Pliny repeated incredulously what "the pertinacity of authors compelled him to say;" and added that he never saw a gem so named. Perhaps it was simply a dark amber. But the name, says Jean de Gorris, in his Definitiones Medicarum, was in his time (1500-1572) given by physicians to an amber-coloured belemnite.

7 Prassiune. Or chryso-prase," an apple-green variety of agate, coloured by nickel.

8 Chrysolite is a variety of serpentine.-Chalcedony is an agate pearly or smoky-grey in colour, waxy in lustre, and very translucent. -Hepatite (known also as heavy spar and Bologna spar) is a sulphite of baryta; some forms of it are phosphorescent when heated. Fale. First English, "fela," many; "mani and fale" is like "time and tide," an example of the pairing of synonyms; "tide" in the proverb, "Time and tide wait for no man," being the First English "tid," time or season, as in Whitsuntide, &c.

THE GEESE.

From Sloane MS.-2435, fol. 50. The gees, irostid on the spitte, The geese, roasted on the spit, Fleegh to that abbai, god hit wot,

Fly to that abbey, God wot,

And gredith 12 Gees! al hote! al hot!"
And cry
"Geese! all hot! all hot!"
Hi bringeth garlek gret plente
They bring garlic in great plenty
The best idight 13 that man mai se.
The best dressed that one can see.
The leuerokes 14 that beth cuth,
The skylarks, that are tame,
Lightith adun to manis muth,
Light down on a man's mouth,
Idight in stu ful swithe wel,
Dressed in stew thoroughly well,

Pudrid with gilofre and canel.

Powdered with clove and canella bark.

10 Chalandre. Our skylark is the Alauda arvensis. The Calendra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra) is a larger bird, found in most parts of Europe, with a voice more sonorous, but not less agreeable. The calandra lark will imitate also readily the notes of other birds, and even the squalling of a cat. It is a compliment in Italy to tell a lady that she sings like a calandra. 11 Wodiale - translated "Picus" in the " Promptorium Parvn lorum," and said to be equivalent to "reynefowle" and "wodehake" -is the wood-hacker, or pecker.

12 Gredith. First English, "grædan," to say, cry, call. The plural of the present indicative in eth, here and elsewhere in the poem, indicates Southern dialect. In Northern dialect, the characteristic plural of the present indicative is es; in Midland dialect, en. The difference in this respect supplies one of the chief tests in discrimi. nating carly dialects.

13 Idight. First English, "dihtan," to set in order, arrange, prepare; past participle, "gediht." The ge was softened to y or i; the strongly aspirated h came to be represented by the letter used for a soft g, the rough aspirate being like an aspirated g. When that letter was disused, the sound was in this word represented by gh, and the prefix disappeared.

14 Leverokes. First English, "lafere;" the sharp f taking the flat sound of v between two vowels, or becoming yet more softened, and ther well sounded in old fashion, gives the Northern English laverock or lauerock, that we clip down to lark. The laverock is the skylark of our fields, not the calandra. The two birds are distinguished in our English version of a part of "The Romaunt of the Rose: ""There mighte men see many flockes

Of turtles and of laverockes, Chelaundres felé saw I there."

Nis no spech of no drink,

There are no words about any drink,

Ak take inogh withute swink.

But take enough without trouble.
Whan the monkes geeth to masse,
When the monks go to mass,

Al the fenestres, that beth of glasse,

All the windows, that are of glass,
Turneth into crystal bright
Turn into bright crystal
To give monkes more light.
To give monks more light.
When the masses beth iseiid,
When the masses have been said,
And the bokes up ileiid,
And the books aside are laid,
The cristal turnith into glasse,
The crystal turneth into glass,

In state that hit rather1 wasse.

In state that before it was.
The yung monkes euch dai
Tho young monks each day
Aftir met goth to plai.
After meat go to play.

Nis ther hauk no fule so swifte

There is no hawk or bird so swift
Bettir fleing bi the lifte2
Better flying in the air

Than the monkes heigh of mode
Than the monks high of mood
With har sleuis and har hode.
With their sleeves and their hood.
Whan the abbot seeth ham flee,

When the abbot sees them fly,
That he holt for moch glee,
That he holds for much glee,

Ak natheles al thar amang

But nevertheless all thereamong

He biddeth tham light to eue-sang.

He bids them alight at evensong.

The monkes lighteth noght adun,

The monks do not alight,

Ac furre fleeth in o randun.3

But farther fly in one swift sudden rush.

[14 lines omitted.]

Another abbei is therbi,

Another abbey is thereby,

For soth a gret fair nunneric, Forsooth a great fair nunnery,

1 Rather. First English, "hreth," swift, quick; "hrathe" and "rathe" (with e as adverbial sign), swiftly, quickly. To say that one would "rather" do anything, is equivalent to saying one would "sooner" do it.

2 Lifte. First English, "lyft" (German, "luft"), the air. The final e here is a case-cnding.

2 In o randun. "An," with the n dropped before a consonant, meant one. The broad sound of a weakened to o, and its length was marked, according to a later custom, by the added e; thus án" became "one," and (with the n omitted) a became as here, o. "Randun " was a First-English word, that meant rapid or sudden rush; it became "randon" and "random." Randon, in old French, meant rapid force the force of a violent stream. In Barbour's Bruce, "randoun is used for swift motion; and elsewhere, "to randon" means to run swiftly and wildly, the sense of the old French "randonner," a term applied in the chase to the rush of a hunted beast that had been struck with arrow or spear.

So he schal the londe winne.
So he shall that country win.
Lordinges gode and hend,
Nobles good and gentle,
Mot ye neuer of world wend,
May you never go from this world
Fort ye stond to yure cheance 5
Till you stand to your chance
And fulfille that penance,
And fulfil that penance,
That ye mote that lond ise
That ye may see that land
And never more turne age.
And never more turn back.
Prey we god, so mote hit be,
Pray we God, so may it be,
Amen, per scinte charite.
Amen, by Saint Charity.

Translation of metrical romances from the French was a marked feature of our verse literature in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and throughout the fourteenth. Let us be, therefore, among tho listeners to an old minstrel who has romance to chant for our amusement, and he shall give us the Fabliau of Sir Cleges. A Fabliau was a short metrical tale, busy with action, and told with a lively freedom. It would be recited not without dramatic animation to its audiences, had its origin in Northern France, and was related to the ballad of North Europe. I preserve old spelling only where the verse requires it.

Twitte. First English, "gewitan," to understand.

5 Cheance. The word is old French, from "cheoir;" Latin, cadere;" to fall. It is now spelt, both in French and English, "chance." Taking "what chanccs" is taking "what falls," the image being drawn from the uncertain turn of the dice.

6 This was first printed in 1810 by Mr. Henry Weber, in his "Metrical Romances of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Centuries," from a fifteenth century MS. in the Advocate's library.

The reader of Early English should remember that words from the Norman-French, retaining much of their original pronunciation, have the accent on the last syllable in such words as "hardy," "stature," and often on the last syllable of a participle, as "parting;" also that syllables in such words were often distinctly pronounced, where in modern English they are run together, thus making three syllables of such a word as "cre-a-ture." In course of time the tendency of English accents upon syllables is to be transferred to an earlier one than that to which it first gave stress. In reading old verse we should place the accent where the measure tells us that it fell. The final e that represented old case-endings, &c., was usually sounded before a consonant, and dropped before a vowel. Except where errors of a copyist have marred the music, the most unpractised reader of an Early English poem who makes proper allowance for these differences will soon learn to preserve its rhythm. The pronunciation generally should be less slurred than it now is, and tend slightly to bring the vowel-sounds into accord with those of our neigh bours over sea.

5 Claranis, clarions; a line for wind instrument is followed by two lines for stringed instruments, and two for voices.

• Getarnis, citterns or guitars. The German "zither," a citole, was a sort of dulcimer, an arrangement of some fifty wires stretched on a sounding-board, and played with sticks, one having its end padded for use in the softer pissiges. An old Cornish drema of the fourteenth century, "Ordinale de Origine Mundi." groups in one line "cythol, crowd, fyth, ha sutry"-citole, fiddle, viol, and psaltery. -original psaltery is said to have been trianguler and ten-stringed; afterwards its form was changed, and more strings were added.

The

I thank Thee of thy sonde;7

The mirth that I was wont to make.

At this timé for Thy sake

I fed both free and bond;

All that ever came in Thy name
Wanted neither wild nor tame

That was in my lond;
Of rich metés and drinkés good
That might be got, by the rood,
For cost I would not lend."8

As he stood in mourning so
His good wife came him unto,

And in her arms him hent: 9

She kissed him with gladsome cheer:

66

'My lord," she said, "my trué fere,10

I heard what ye ment; 11
Ye see well it helpeth naught
To make sorrow in your heart,
Therefore I pray you stint.
Let your sorrow away gon,
And thanké God of His loan
Of all that He hath sent.

"For Christís sake I pray you blin 12 Of all the sorrow that ye be in

In honour of this day.

Now every man should be glad,
Therefore I pray you be not sad;

Think what I you say.

Go we to our meaté swithe,13

And let us make us glad and blithe

As well as we may.

I hold it for the best truly,

For your meat is all ready,

I hope to your pay.' "14

120

130

140

7 Sonde, that which is sent, a gift. "I thank Thee for thy gift." So the author of "Piers Plowman" makes Conscience say to Meed, who had quoted half a text to get Scripture warrant for ascribing victory and honour to those who gave money, that the soul which receives the gift is by so much in bondage: "The soule that the sonde taketh bi so moche is bounde."

8 Lend, abate. French "lentir," retard the pace,

9 Hent, took, seized. First English "hentan."

10 Fere, companion. First English "fera" and "gefera."

11 Ment, bemoaned. First English "mæ'nan."

12 Blin, cease. First English "blinnan."

13 Swithe, quickly; unchanged from First English.

14 Pay, content, French. Old French" paie," from Latin "pacare," to pacify.

15 Tho (First English "tha "), then.

16 Stere, turn away; from "styran," to steer, guide, remove.

17 Whipped away, whip and quip, First English "hweop" (still in vulgar use as "whop"), Cymric" chwip," are mimetic words, representing the sound of a quick movement through the air. It is still used, as here, in its first sense, to represent quick movement simply. 18 Lere, face. First English "hleor," the jaw, cheek, face. 19 In fere, together. First English "fera," a companion.

1 Werch, work, do; First English "wyrcan," in which the c might be hardened or softened, like the c in circe, which has become kirk and church.

2 Thoo (First English "tha"), then.

3 Pensi, thought. French "pensée."

Here the r in children gives the word a third syllable. So Shakespeare, in "Comedy of Errors," Act i., sc. 2-"These are the parents of those children." In Timon of Athens," Act iii., sc. 5-" But who is man that is not angry ? and in other places.

5 Verament, truly. French "vraiment."

Dis-ease, want of ease.

7 Raught, reached. First English "ræcan," to reach, had for its past tense "ræhte."

Stead (First English "stede "), place.

• Fruit had each vowel sounded, as in French.

10 Couth, could. First English cunnan," to ken, know, be able, had for its present "can," and for its past "cuthe;" this was written "couthe," "couth," "coud," then "cou'd," because (from a supposed relation to would and should) I seemed to be wanting; then the l was inserted, and we came to "could."

11 Pronounce "ō-ne," not "wun."

12 Off slive, to slive off. First English "slifan," to cleave, split. 13 Thinketh me, methinks, it seems to me. From the First English impersonal verb "thincan," to seem; past "thúhte." To think is from "thencan," past "thóhte."

14 Dight, prepared. First English "dihtan."

15 Goodly has the d and 1 so sounded as to give the effect of a short vowel sound between them. So Shakespeare in "Henry IV.. Part II.," "A rotten case abides no handling," and in "Taming of the Shrew," "While she did call me rascal fiddler."