“ But it has happened unluckily, that the antiquaries, who have revived the works of our ancient writers, have been for the most part men void of taste and genius, and therefore have always fastidiously rejected the old poetical romances, because founded on fictitious or popular subjects, while they have been careful to grub up every petty fragment of the most dull and insipid rhymist, whose merit it was to deform morality, or obscure true history. ”

“ The romances of chivalry can be traced as early as the eleventh century [497] . I know not if the Roman de Brut written in 1155, was such: but if it was, it was by no means the first poem of the kind; others more ancient are still extant [498] . And we have already seen, that, in the preceding century, when the Normans marched down to the battle of Hastings, they animated themselves, by singing (in some popular romance or ballad) the exploits of Roland and the other heroes of chivalry [499] .
So early as this I cannot trace the songs of chivalry in English. ”

“ In that reign a Lord Beauchamp travelling to Jerusalem was kindly received by a noble person, the Soldan's Lieutenant, who hearing he was descended from the famous Guy of Warwick, "whose story they had in books of their own language," invited him to his palace; and royally feasting him, presented him three precious stones of great value, besides divers cloaths of silk and gold given to his servants. ”

“ At once she kickt, and pusht at Guy,
But all that would not fright him; 90
Who wav'd his winyard o'er sir-loyn,
As if he'd gone to knight him.
He let her blood, frenzy to cure,
And eke he did her gall rip;
His trenchant blade, like cook's long spit, 95
Ran thro' the monster's bald-rib:
He rear'd up the vast crooked rib,
Instead of arch triumphal:
But George hit th' dragon such a pelt,
As made him on his bum fall. 100
St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was for France;
Sing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Tamerlain, with Tartarian bow,
The Turkish squadrons slew ”

“ Sir Lybius comes to a fair city and castle by a riverside, beset round with pavilions or tents: he is informed, in the castle is a beautiful lady besieged by a giant named Maugys, who keeps the bridge, and will let none pass without doing him homage: this Lybius refuses: a battle ensues: the giant described: the several incidents of the battle; which lasts a whole summer's day; the giant is wounded: put to flight; slain. The citizens come out in procession to meet their deliverer: the lady invites him into her castle: falls in love with him; and seduces him to her embraces. ”

“ Should the publick encourage the revival of some of those ancient epic songs of chivalry, they would frequently see the rich ore of an Ariosto or a Tasso, though buried it may be among the rubbish and dross of barbarous times. ”

“ In handling his subject, the Author has brought in most of the common incidents which occur in romance. The description of the dragon [432] —his outrages—the people flying to the knight for succour—his care in chusing his armour—his being drest for fight by a young damsel—and most of the circumstances of the battle and victory (allowing for the burlesque turn given to them) are what occur in every book of chivalry, whether in prose or verse.
If any one piece, more than other, is more particularly levelled at, it seems to be the old rhiming legend of sir Bevis. ”

“ But the ideas of chivalry prevailed long before in all the Gothic nations, and may be discovered as in embriyo in the customs, manners, and opinions of every branch of that people [473] . That fondness of going in quest of adventures, that spirit of challenging to single combat, and that respectful complaisance shewn to the fair sex, (so different from the manners of the Greeks and Romans) , all are of Gothic origin, and may be traced up to the earliest times among all the northern nations [474] . ”

“ The Christians under Charlemagne are said to have found in Spain a golden idol, or image of Mahomet, as high as a bird can fly—it was framed by Mahomet himself of the purest metal, who, by his knowledge in necromancy, had sealed up within it a legion of diabolical spirits. It held in its hand a prodigious club; and the Saracens had a prophetic tradition, that this club should fall from the hand of the image in that year when a certain king should be born in France, &c. ”

“ THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY.
This humourous song (as a former Editor [431] has well observed) is to old metrical romances and ballads of chivalry, what Don Quixote is to prose narratives of that kind:—a lively satire on their extravagant fictions. But altho' the satire is thus general, the subject of this ballad is local and peculiar: so that many of the finest strokes of humour are lost for want of our knowing the minute circumstances to which they allude. ”

“ To flote is to flete or fleet, to flit, to change position easily, to move away quickly; as fleeting moments, flitting birds
Flote and flete are two forms of the same word; and flutter bears the same relation to flote that flitter does to flete.
In the Roxburghe copy of the ballad of Willow, Willow this word is printed as "fleet." (Roxb. Ballads, ed. Chappell, part i. p. 172.) ”

“ Dr. Rimbault points out that the chief incidents in Bürger's Leonora resemble those in this ballad.
The last two stanzas are probably Ramsay's own.]
There came a ghost to Margaret's door,
With many a grievous grone,
And ay he tirled at the pin; [321]
But answer made she none.
Is this my father Philip? 5
Or is't my brother John?
Or is't my true love Willie,
From Scotland new come home?
'Tis not thy father Philip;
Nor yet thy brother John: 10
But tis thy true love Willie
From Scotland new come home,
O sweet Margret! ”

“ This seems to be the true origin of that species of romance, which so long celebrated feats of chivalry, and which at first in metre, and afterwards in prose, was the entertainment of our ancestors, in common with their contemporaries on the continent, till the satire of Cervantes, or rather the increase of knowledge and classical literature, drove them off the [Pg 341] stage to make room for a more refined species of fiction, under the name of French Romances, copied from the Greek [470] . ”

“ Opens with a short exordium to bespeak attention: the hero is described; a natural son of Sir Gawain a celebrated knight of king Arthur's court, who being brought up in a forest by his mother, is kept ignorant of his name and descent. He early exhibits marks of his courage, by killing a knight in single combat, who encountered him as he was hunting. This inspires him with a desire of seeking adventures: therefore cloathing himself in his enemy's armour, he goes to K. Arthur's court, to request the order of knighthood. ”

“ Hence the progress, among them, from poetical history to poetical fiction is very discernible: they have some old pieces, that are in effect complete Romances of Chivalry [488] . They have also (as hath been observed) a multitude of Sagas [489] or histories on romantic subjects, containing a mixture of prose and verse, of various dates, some of them written since the times of the Crusades, others long before: but their narratives in verse only are esteemed the more ancient. ”

“ Then succeeded fabulous songs and romances in verse, which for a long time prevailed in France and England before they had books of chivalry in prose. Yet in both these countries the minstrels still retained so much of their original institution, as frequently to make true events the subject of their songs [487] ; and indeed, as during the barbarous ages, the regular histories were almost all written in Latin by the monks, the memory of events was preserved and propagated among the ignorant laity by scarce any other means than the popular songs of the minstrels. ”

“ It is peculiarly unfortunate that such as maintain this opinion are obliged to take their first step from the Moorish provinces in Spain, without one intermediate resting place, to Armorica or Bretagne, the province in France from them most remote, not more in situation than in the manners, habits, and language of its Welsh inhabitants, which are allowed to have been derived from this island, as must have been their traditions, songs, and fables; being doubtless all of Celtic original. ”

“ Had this been the case the first French romances of chivalry would have been on Moorish, or at least Spanish subjects: whereas the most ancient stories of this kind, whether in prose or verse, whether in Italian, French, English, &c., are chiefly on the subjects of Charlemagne and the Paladins, or of our British Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, &c., being evidently borrowed from the fabulous chronicles of the supposed Archbishop Turpin and of Jeffery of Monmouth. ”

“ Charlemagne and Alfred [493] . Now poetry, being thus the transmitter of facts, would as easily learn to blend them with fictions in France and England, as she is known to have done in the north, and that much sooner, for the reasons before assigned [494] . This, together with the example and influence of the Normans, will easily account to us, why the first romances of chivalry that appeared both in England and France [495] were composed in metre, as a rude kind of epic songs. ”

“ Sir Lybius, maid Ellen, and the dwarf, renew their journey: they see a castle stuck round with human heads; and are informed it belongs to a knight called Sir Gefferon, who, in honour of his lemman or mistress, challenges all comers: He that can produce a fairer lady, is to be rewarded with a milk-white faulcon, but if overcome, to lose his head. ”

“ That our old romances of chivalry may be derived in a lineal descent from the ancient historical songs of the Gothic Bards and Scalds, will be shown below, and indeed appears the more evident, as many of those songs are still preserved in the north, which exhibit all the seeds of chivalry before it became a solemn institution [471] . ”

“ After letters began to prevail, and history assumed a more stable form, by being committed to plain simple prose; these songs of the Scalds or Bards began to be more amusing than useful. And in proportion as it became their business chiefly to entertain and delight, they gave more and more into embellishment, and set off their recitals with such marvellous fictions, as were calculated to captivate gross and ignorant minds. ”

“ Sir Lybius arms himself, and leaps on horseback: he finds two giants roasting a wild boar, who have [Pg 360] a fair lady their captive. Sir Lybius, by favour of the night, runs one of them through with his spear: is assaulted by the other: a fierce battle ensues: he cuts off the giant's arm, and at length his head. The rescued lady (an Earl's daughter) tells him her story; and leads him to her father's castle; who entertains him with a great feast; and presents him at parting with a suit of armour and a steed. He sends the giant's head to K. Arthur. ”

“ As this poem lays claim to a pretty high antiquity, we have assigned it a place among our early pieces: though, after all, there is reason to believe it has received very considerable modern improvements: for in the Editor's ancient MS. collection is a very old imperfect copy of the same ballad: wherein though the leading features of the story are the same, yet the colouring here is so much improved and heightened, and so many additional strokes are thrown in, that it is evident the whole has undergone a revisal. ”

“ The first romances of chivalry among the Germans were in metre: they have some very ancient narrative songs (which they call Lieder) not only on the fabulous heroes of their own country, but also on those of France and Britain, as Tristram, Arthur, Gawain, and the knights von der Tafel-ronde (vid. Goldasti Not. in Eginhart. Vit. Car. Mag. 4to. 1711, p. 207.)
[502] The Welsh have still some very old romances about K. Arthur; but as these are in prose, they are not probably their first pieces that were composed on that subject. ”

“ Percy has very ingeniously restored the measure by ejecting the superfluous syllables, and given consistency to the whole by the restoration of the proper person; and as it is now highly improbable that any further ancient copy will be found, and those which exist are manifestly corrupt, it seemed justifiable to adopt the judicious emendations of this ingenious editor. ”

“ Whoever compares the play with the ballad, will have no doubt but the former is the original: the language is far more obsolete, and such a vein of simplicity runs through the whole performance, that, had the ballad been written first, there is no doubt but every circumstance of it would have been received into the drama: whereas this was probably built on some Italian novel.
Printed from two ancient copies, one of them in black-letter in the Pepys Collection. Its title at large is, The Children in the Wood; or, The Norfolk Gentleman's Last Will and Testament: To the tune of Rogero, &c. ”

“ Percy describes it as one of the most beautiful ballads in our own or any other language; and Allan Ramsay writes, "I know not where to seek a finer mixture of pathos and terror in the whole range of Gothic romance." ”

“ Even the common arbitrary fictions of romance were (as is hinted above) most of them familiar to the ancient Scalds of the North, long before the time of the Crusades. They believed the existence of giants and dwarfs [476] ; they entertained opinions not unlike the more modern notion of fairies [477] , they were strongly possessed with the belief of spells and inchantment [478] , and were fond of inventing combats with dragons and monsters [479] . ”