1 Ytugged to and fro. These Tom Tugs were to the men of Hoccleve's time what Hansom cabmen are to modern Londoners. The Thames

was the great highway, landing "bridges" jutted into it, as the map shows; but there was only one bridge over it, so that there was constant crossing by boat, or going up and down by boat. The Privy Seal Office, being on the site of Somerset House, was by the riverside, and if Hoccleve took a boat he saved himself the short walk by the Strand of the river, then an open road with some great houses by it, although now one of the populous paved highways of the town, a part of what might be called the High Street of London, extending from the Bank and Exchange to the Houses of Parliament.

2 Meynee, company of followers; French "mesnie," a family, household, company, servants; Italian "masnada," a troop of soldiers, company, family. "Mansus," "manse" (from "manere," to remain), was a holding that could be cultivated with a couple of oxen; the tenantry of the "mansi," bound to feudal service, were the "mansata," "masnada," or "mainada." The word so formed easily blended with "mains né," "moins né," "minores natu," younger members of a family as opposed to "majores natu," heads of the family, in Middle Latin. French "maisneté" was the right of the younger son or brother. So in Piedmontese " masna," a boy, in Languedoc "meina," a child. "Meinee," from "mansus," means the company of servants attached to a house; and possibly a like word from the other source adds the sense of a family. In this passage the word does not include the second sense, and means only a troop of retainers; as in "Lear," act ii., sc. 4, when Goneril's letters had been delivered to Regan and her husband, "They summon'd up their meiny, straight took horse."

3 In mine audience, in my hearing; which excludes what they may have called him behind his back.

That it me madé larger of dispence

Than that I thought han been. O Flatterie,

The guise of thy traiterous diligecne Is folk to mischief nasten and to hie.5

Albeit that my yearés be but young,

Yet have I seen in folk of high degree How that the venom of Favelés 6 tongue Hath mortifiéd their prosperitee, And brought them in so sharp adversitee That it their life hath also thrown adown,

And yet there can no man in this countree Uneath 7 eschewé this confusióun.

Many a servant unto his lord saith

That all the world speaketh of him honour, When the contráry of that is sooth in faith, And lightly leevéd 9 is this losengoúr: 10

Han, to have.

5 Hie (First English "higan"), to hurry.

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6 Favel, flattery, speaker of fables (Latin "fabula," from "fari," to speak).

7 Uneath, not easily. A double negative in early English only sustained the negation.

8 World speaketh. Pronounced "wo-r-ld speakth." In the next line the y of "contrary" makes one syllable with the following word, "of." So Milton runs the y of "glory" into the succeeding vowel, when he says Satan aspired "To set himself in glory above his peers" ("Paradise Lost," I. 39), and makes him boast that he and his fellows are in mind invincible :

"Though all our glory extinct, and happy state
Here swallow'd up in endless misery."

9 Leeved, believed. First English "lyfan," to allow.

10 Losengour, sounder of praises, from Old French "los laus"), praise, and "losange," the flattering with praises.

(Latin

1 Leasinges, from First English "leas," false, feigned, counterfeit ; "leasung," falseness.

2 The cumberworldes. Those who are only troublers of the world. "Cumber" (Scotish" cummer," German "kummer"), vexation or care. 3 Or this, ere this.

Scripture (pronounced sc-r-ipture), the writing.

5 Mirie, softly (First English "mearo," soft, tender), root of the words marrow (soft fat of bones) and merry.

Annoyen (French "nuire "), hurt.

7 Beth, ben. Beth (First English "beoth ") was plural of the indicative present and of the imperative; ben (First English "beón ") was plural of the subjunctive, "If that ye ben."-Favel you lime. See note 4, page 58. 8 Not a deal, not a part, not a bit.

Holcoté saith 9 upon the book also
Of Sapience, as it can testifie,
When that Ulysses sailéd to and fro

By mermaidés, this was his policie :-
All earés of men of his companie

With wax he stoppé let, for that they nought
Their song should hearé, lest the harmonie
Them might into such deadly sleep have brought;

And bound himself unto the shippés mast:

So thus them all savéd his providénce.

The wise man is of peril sore aghast.

O Flattery, O lurking Pestilence,

If some man 10 did his care and diligénce

To stop his earés from thy poesie,

And not would hearken a word of thy sentence Unto his grief it were a remedie.

Ah nay! Although thy tongé were ago,11

Yet canst thou glose in countenance and cheer; Thou súpportést with lookés evermo

Thy lordés wordés in eaché matere, Although that they a mité be too dear,12 And thus thy guise is, privy and apert

With word and look, among our lordés here
Preferred be, though there be no desert.13

But when the sober true and well advised
With sad visage his lord informeth playn 14
How that his governance 15 is despised

Among the people, and saith him as they sayn,

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Holcote saith. Robert Holcot, a philosopher and theologian, who died of the plague in 1349, wrote many books of high repute in their time, besides the one here quoted.

10 Some man, any man. First English "sum," some, one, any one. 11 Were ago, were gone. 12 A mite too dear, not worth a mite.

13 The sense is, And thus your manner, whether secret or open, flattering by words or looks, "is be preferred" among our lords here, though there be no preference deserved.

14 Pleyn (French "plein," fully), without reservation or false colouring.

15 The four syllables in "governance" are made by sounding the rn, not by use of the final e, since that is followed by a vowel. We must either roll the r in "governance," or assume that the form "is be,"

As man true ought unto his sovereign, Counselling him amend his governance, The lordés herté swelleth for disdain And bids him voidé blivé1 with mischance.

Men setten not by Truthé nowadays;

Men love it not, men will it not cherice;2 And yet is Truthé best at all assays:

When that false Favel, soustenour of vice,
Not wité shall how hire to chevice,3
Full boldély shall Truth her head upbear.
Lordés, lest Favel you from wealé trice,
No longer suffer her nestlen in your ear.

Be as be may, no more of this as now;
But to my Misrulé will I refeere;
Whereas I was at easé well enow

Or éxcess unto me was lief and deere,
And or I knew his earnesful maneere

My purse of coin had reasonable wone;7

But now therein can there but scant appeere, Excess hath nigh exiléd them each one.

The Fiend and Excessé ben convertible,

As énditeth to me my fantasie:

This is my skill,-If it be admittible

Excess in meat and drink is Gluttonie, Gluttony awakéth Melancholie, Melancholy engendreth War and Strife,

Strife causeth Mortal Hurt through her folie. Thus may Excessé reve a soul her life.8

No force of all this; go we now to watch 10
By nightertale "out of all mesúre;
For as in that 12 findé could I no match

In all the Privy Seal with me to endure, And to the cup aye took I keep and cure 13 For that the drink appallen 14 shouldé nought, But when the pot emptied was of moisture To wake afterward came not in my thought.

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here used as a sort of equivalent in the present to "has been," occurs in line 275. Shakespeare has even made three syllables of such a word as Percy, "It is my son, young Harry Percy," and found the final

in words like mother, brother, so well sounded that he might give it the value of a syllable at the end of a line, thus making mother and brother three-syllabled words ("Richard III.," v. 3; "Julius Cæsar," iv. 3). But, perhaps, Hoccleve repeated the form "is be." "Governance" has only three syllables in line 278.

1 Voide blive, depart from him quickly.

• Shall not know how to sustain herself.

2 Cherice, cherish.

• Earnesful, full of yearning; the manner of excess that leads, not to content, but to new cravings.

7 Wone, frequency, custom, from First English "wunian" (German "wohnen"), to dwell. From the sense of habitual frequenting comes the use of the word to mean plenty. So in the Chester Miracle Play of the "Pilgrims of Emmaus," Peter answers to the question of Jesus, "Have you any meat here ?"

"Yea, my Lordé lief and dear, Roasted fish and honey infere Thereof we have good wone."

8 Reve a soul her life, rob a soul of its life, as the fiend does; reve, from First English "reafian," to seize, rob, spoil, destroy.

9 No force of all this, no care about all this (in our riotous youth). "No force for" this or that was a common phrase for not caring, and the verb "to force" had a sense of regarding or caring for, as in "Love's Labour's Lost" (v. 2), "Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear."

I dare not say Prentys and Arundel 18
Me counterfeit and in such wake go ny me;
But often they their bed loven so well

That of the day it draweth nigh the prymé

Ere they rise up; not can I tell the timé When they to beddé goon, it is so late.

O Healthé, lord, thou seest them in that crimé, And yet thee loth is with them to debate ! 19

And why? I n'at; 20 it sit not unto me,
That mirror am of riot and excess,
To knowen of a goddés privitee,

But thus I imagine and thus I guess :
Thou movéd art of tender gentleness
Them to forbear, and will them not chastise
For they in mirth and virtuous gladnéss
Lordés reconforter in sundry wise.

But to my purpose: syn that my sickness,
As well of purse as body, hath refrained
Me from tavérn and other wantonness,

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17 By strict reckoning, I know-stop, let me see-I could surely put my finger on two as loth to leave their beds as I am.-Aght (First English "æ'ht," German "acht"), estimation, careful observing. 18 Prentis and Arundel seem to have been two jesters.

19 Debate. French "debattre," to beat down.

20 I n'at, I know not. Like "habban" and "nabban" were “witan," to know, and "nytan," not to know. "Ic wát" (afterwards "wot") was First English for "I know," and "ic nát" for "I know not."

21 Heap, a crowd. First English "heap," a troop or company of

My grievous hurt full little is complained, But they the lack complain of my dispence, Alas, that ever knit I was and chained To Excess, or him did obedience!

Dispences large enhance a mannés loos1

While they endure; and when they be forbore

His name is dead; men keep their mouthés close

As not a penny had he spent before:

My thank is qweynt,3 my purse his stuff hath lore,1

And my carcase replete with heaviness:

Be ware, Hoccleve, I redé5 thee therefore,

And to a meané rulé6 thou thee dress.

Who so passingé measuré desireth,

As that witnessen oldé clerkés wise, Himself encumbreth oftensith7 and mireth,3 And forthy let the Meané thee suffise. If such a cónceit in thine herté rise As thy profit may hinder or thy renown If it were execut in any wise,With manly reason thrusté thou it down.

Thy rentés annual as thou well woost 10 Too scarce been great costés to sustain; And in thy coffer, pardy, is cold roast;

And of thy manual labour, as I ween, Thy lucre is such that it uneath 11 is seen Ne felt; of giftés say I eke the same;

And stealé, for the guerdon 12 is so keen, Ne darst thou not; ne beg also, for shame.

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BEGGARY.

From Harleian MS.-4,425, page 73.

My noble lord, that now is Tresoréer,

From thine highnessé have a token or twey

And that that due is, thy magnificence Shunneth to wernen9 as that I believe. As I saidé, Rue on mine impotence,

That likely am to sterven 10 yet ere eve But if thou in this wisé me relieve; By coin I geté may such medicíne

As may mine hurtés, allé that me grieve, Exilé clean and voidé me of pine.12

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King James I. of Scotland, born in 1394, was intercepted at sea, and made prisoner by Henry IV. in 1405. He was educated in England during the reign of Henry V. Every attempt was made to train him in English habits of thought, and by marriage with Jane Beaufort he was attached to the royal family of England. His love for Lady Jane Beaufort was expressed in a poem of some length called "the King's Quair," which means, the king's little book, written before his release. King James returned to Scotland soon after the death of Henry V., was crowned at Scone in 1424, and was for twelve years a vigorous Scottish king, endeavouring to establish law and order among turbulent nobles, and to assure the rights and just liberties of his people. His firm upholding of justice led to his assassination in 1436.

A famous old poem, that dwells heartily upon the humours of a festival day in a Scottish town, "Peblis to the Play," is ascribed to King James I. by John Mair, who was born thirty-three years after the king's death. Mair said of him, "He was a most

1 Not but for, only for.

2 Of ferneyear, arrears from a past year.

3 I kepte, &c., I took heed not to be a dun-am loth to be onethough that fashion is common now, and the shameless craver gets what he will because a king cannot be always saying, No.

Werne, refuse. First English "wyrnan," to forbid, refuse, deny. 5 Shaméfast (First English "sceamfæst"), modest, fast or firm in "sceamu;" now spelt "shame-faced."

Arghness, hesitation, indolence. First English "yrhth," sluggishness, dread. 7 Arteth, constrains. Me entremete, put between, interpose myself. 9 Werne, refuse. 10 Sterve, perish. First English "steorfan," German "sterben." But if, unless. 12 Pine (First English "pin"), pain, torment.

JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND IN HIS YOUTH. From a Contemporary Portrait at Kielberg, engraved in "Pinkerton's Iconographia Scotica."

clever composer in his mother tongue; whereof many writings and familiar songs are still held by the Scots in memory among their best. He composed the clever song 'Yas sen,' and that pleasant and clever song 'At Beltane,' which others have endeavoured to change into a song of Dalkeith and Gargeil, because it was kept close in a tower or chamber where a woman lived with her mother." Though James I.'s authorship has been questioned, no evidence in favour of another author is as good as this. The first words forming the old title to "Peblis to the Play" are "At Beltane;" the subject of the poem is the Beltane festival at Peebles, and as Mair says, others, when the original could not be got at, gave imitations of it with the scene laid elsewhere. We have such an imitation extant in the poem of "Christ's Kirk on the Green," which de scribes, after the manner of "Peebles to the Play," & rustic festival, of which the scene seems to be laid at Leslie, in Aberdeenshire, where the ruins of an old Christ's Kirk still stand on a green, and a fair used to be held. The other imitations of King James's playful sketch of life among his people have been lost.

In choice of the theme of "Peebles to the Play' there was a poet's feeling. Beltane Day was an ancient festival, originating in the days of Celtic paganism, held on old May Day by the Scots, and in Ireland on the 21st of June, at the time of the solstice. The word Beil-tine meant Bel's fire: Bel being one of the old Celtic names of the sun. Advance of the sun's beneficent power over the earth fixed the time of this ancient festival for joyous worship of one of the great forces of nature. The celebration was first and last a rustic one, and it was kept at last especially by cowherds, who gathered in the fields, and dressed themselves a dinner of boiled milk and eggs, with cakes of a mystical form, des signed, doubtless, by heathen priests of old, for they were studded with lumps in the shape of nipples