Reliques of Ancient English Poetry consisting of Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and other Pieces of our earlier Poets, (Chiefly of the Lyric kind.) Together with some few of later Date |
1. |
1. |
I. |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. | VI. KING ESTMERE. |
VII. |
VIII. |
IX. |
X. |
XI. |
XII. |
II. |
III. |
2. |
3. |
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry | ||
VI. KING ESTMERE.
This old Romantic Legend, (which is given from two
copies, one of them in the Editor's folio MS.) bears marks
of great antiquity, and perhaps ought to have taken place
of any in this volume. It should seem to have been written
while a great part of Spain was in the hands of the
Saracens or Moors: whose empire there was not fully extinguished
before the year 1491. The Mahometans are spoken
of in v. 49, &c. just in the same terms as in all other
old romances. The author of the ancient Legend of Sir
And so full of zeal for his religion, as to return the following polite message to a Paynim king's fair daughter, who had fallen in love with him, and sent two Saraecn knights to invite him to her bower,
“To speake with an heathen hounde,
“Unchristen houndes, I rede you fie,
“Or I your harte bloud shall se .”
Indeed they return the compliment by calling him elswhere “A christen hounde. ”
This was conformable to the real manners of the barbarous ages: perhaps the same excuse will hardly serve our bard for the situations in which he has placed some of his royal personages. That a youthful monarch should take a journey into another kingdom to visit his mistress incog. was a piece of gallantry paralleled in our own Charles I. but that king Adland should be found lolling or leaning at his gate (v. 35.) may be thought perchance a little out of character. And yet the great painter of manners, Homer, did not think it inconsistent with decorum to represent a king of the Taphians rearing himself at the gate of Ulysses to inquire for that monarch, when he touched at Ithaca as he was taking a voyage with a ship's cargo of iron to dispose in traffic . So little ought we to judge of ancient manners by our own.
Before I conclude this article, I cannot help observing that the reader will see in this ballad, the character of the old Minstrels (those successors of the bards) placed in a very respectable light : here he will see one of them represented mounted on a fine horse, accompanied with an attendant to bear his harp after him, and to sing the
Come and you shall heare;
Ile tell you of two of the boldest brethren,
That ever born y-were.
The tother was kyng Estmere;
As any were farr and neare.
Within kyng Estmeres halle:
When will ye marry a wyfe, brothèr,
A wyfe to gladd us all?
And answered him hastilee:
I knowe not that ladye in any lande,
That is able to marry with mee.
Men call her bright and sheene;
If I were kyng here in your stead,
That ladye sholde be queene.
Throughout merrye Englànd,
Where we might find a messenger
Betweene us two to sende.
Ile beare you companèe;
Many throughe fals messengers are deceivde,
And I feare lest soe shold wee.
Of twoe good renisht steedes,
And when they came to king Adlands halle,
Of red golde shone their weedes.
Before the goodlye yate,
Ther they found good kyng Adlànd
Rearing himselfe theratt.
Nowe Christ thee save and see.
Sayd, You be welcome, king Estmere,
Right hartilye unto mee.
Men call her bright and sheene,
My brother wold marrye her to his wiffe,
Of Englande to be queene.
Syr Bremor the kyng of Spayne;
And then she nicked him of naye,
I feare sheele do youe the same.
And 'leeveth on Mahound;
And pitye it were that fayre ladyè
Shold marrye a heathen hound.
For my love I you praye;
That I may see your daughter deare
Before I goe hence awaye.
Syth my daughter was in halle,
She shall come downe once for your sake
To glad my guestès alle.
With ladyes lacede in pall,
And halfe a hondred of bolde knightes,
To bring her from bowre to hall;
And eke as manye gentle squieres,
To waite upon them all.
Hunge lowe downe to her knee;
And everye rynge on her smalle fingèr,
Shone of the chrystall free.
Sayes, Christ you save and see.
Sayes, You be welcome, kyng Estmere,
Right welcome unto mee.
So well, and hartilèe,
Soone sped now itt may bee.
My daughter, I saye naye;
Remember well the kyng of Spayne,
What he sayd yesterdaye.
And reave me of my lyfe:
And ever I feare that paynim kyng,
Iff I reave him of his wyfe.
Are stronglye built aboute;
And therefore of that foule paynìm
Wee neede not stande in doubte.
By heaven and your righte hand,
That you will marrye me to your wyfe,
And make me queene of your land.
By heaven and his righte hand,
That he wolde marrye her to his wyfe,
And make her queene of his land.
To goe to his owne countree,
That marryed the might bee.
A myle forthe of the towne,
But in did come the kyng of Spayne,
With kempès many a one.
With manye a grimme baròne,
Tone day to marrye kyng Adlands daughter,
Tother daye to carrye her home.
In all the spede might bee,
That he must either returne and fighte,
Or goe home and lose his ladyè.
Another whyle he ranne;
Till he had oretaken king Estmere,
I wis, he never blanne.
What tydinges nowe, my boye?
O tydinges I can tell to you,
That will you sore annoye.
A myle out of the towne,
With kempès many a one:
With manye a grimme baròne,
Tone daye to marrye king Adlands daughter,
Tother daye to carrye her home.
And ever-more well by mee:
You must either turne againe and fighte,
Or goe home and lose your ladyè.
My reade shall ryde at thee,
Whiche waye we best may turne and fighte,
To save this fayre ladyè.
And your reade must rise at me,
I quicklye will devise a waye
To sette thy ladye free.
And learned in gramaryè
And when I learned at the schole,
Something shee taught itt mee.
And iff it were but knowne,
His color, which is whyte and redd,
It will make blacke and browne:
Itt will make redd and whyte;
That sworde is not in all Englande,
Upon his coate will byte.
Out of the north countrèe;
And Ile be your boye, so faine of fighte,
To beare your harpe by your knee.
That ever tooke harpe in hand;
And I will be the best singèr,
That ever sung in this land.
All and in grammaryè,
That we towe are the boldest men,
That are in all Christentyè.
On towe good renish steedes;
And whan they came to king Adlands hall,
Of redd gold shone their weedes.
Untill the fayre hall yate,
There they found a proud portèr
Rearing himselfe theratt.
Sayes, Christ thee save and see.
Nowe you be welcome, sayd the portèr,
Of what land soever ye bee.
Come out of the northe countrèe;
We beene come hither untill this place,
This proud weddinge for to see.
As it is blacke and browne,
Ild saye king Estmere and his brother
Were comen untill this towne.
Layd itt on the porters arme:
And ever we will thee, proud portèr,
Thow wilt saye us no harme.
And sore he handled the ryng,
Then opened to them the fayre hall yates,
He lett for no kind of thyng.
Up att the fayre hall board;
The frothe, that came from his brydle bitte,
Light on kyng Bremors beard.
Goe stable him in the stalle;
Itt doth not beseeme a proud harpèr
To stable him in a kyngs halle.
He will do nought that's meete;
And aye that I cold but find the man,
Were able him to beate.
Thou harper here to mee;
There is a man within this halle,
That will beate thy lad and thee.
A sight of him wold I see;
And whan hee hath beaten well my ladd,
Then he shall beate of mee.
And looked him in the eare;
For all the gold, that was under heaven,
He durst not neigh him neare.
And how what aileth thee?
He sayes, Itt is written in his forhead
All and in gramaryè,
That for all the gold that is under heaven,
I dare not neigh him nye.
And playd thereon so sweete:
Upstarte the ladye from the kynge,
As hee sate at the meate.
Now stay thy harpe, I say;
For an thou playest as thou beginnest,
Thou'lt till my bride awaye.
And playd both fayre and free;
The ladye was so pleasde theratt,
She laught loud laughters three.
Thy harpe and stryngs eche one,
And as many gold nobles thou shalt have,
As there be stryngs thereon.
Iff I did sell it yee?
“To playe my wiffe and me a fitt ,
When abed together we bee.”
As shee sitts laced in pall,
And as many gold nobles I will give,
As there be rings in the hall.
Iff I did sell her yee?
More seemelye it is for her fayre bodye
To lye by mee than thee.
And Adler he did syng,
“O ladye, this is thy owne true love;
“Noe harper, but a kyng.
“As playnlye thou mayest see;
“And Ile rid thee of that foule paynìm,
“Who partes thy love and thee.”
And blushte and lookt agayne,
And hath the Sowdan slayne.
And loud they gan to crye:
Ah! traytors, yee have slayne our kyng,
And therefore yee shall dye.
And swith he drew his brand;
And Estmere he, and Adler yonge
Right stiffe in stour can stand.
Throughe help of Gramaryè
That soone they have slayne the kempery men,
Or forst them forth to flee.
And marryed her to his wyfe,
And brought her home to merrye Englànd
With her to leade his lyfe.
See a short Memoir at the end of this ballad, pag. 74.
Termagaunt (mentioned above in p. 60.) is the name given in the old romances to the God of the Sarazens: in which he is constantly linked with Mahound or Mahomet. Thus in the legend of syr Guy the Soudan (Sultan) swears,
“And Termagaunt my God so bright.”
Sign. p. iij. b.
This word is derived by the very learned Editor of Junius from the Anglo-Saxon [for] very, and [for] mighty. —As this word had so sublime a derivation, and was so applicable to the true God, how shall we account for its being so degraded? Perhaps Termagant had been a name originally given to some Saxon idol, before our ancestors were converted to Christianity; or had been the peculiar attribute of one of their false deities; and therefore the first Christian missionaries rejected it as profane and improper to be applied to the true God. Afterwards when the irruptions of the Saracens into Europe, and the Crusades into the East, had brought them acquainted with a new species of unbelievers; our ignorant ancestors, who thought all that did not receive the Christian law, were necessarily Pagans and Idolaters, supposed the Mahometan creed was in all respects the same with that of their Pagan forefathers, and therefore made no scruple to give the ancient name of Termagant to the God of the Saracens: just in the same manner as they afterwards used the name of Sarazen to express any kind of Pagan or Idolater. In the ancient romance of Merline (in the editor's folio MS.) the Saxons themselves that came over with Hengist, because they were not Christians, are constantly called Sarazens.
However that be, it is certain that, after the times of the Crusades, both Mahound and Termagaunt made their frequent appearance in the Pageants and religious Enterludes of the barbarous ages; in which they were exhibited with gestures so furious and frantic, as to become proverbial. Thus Skelton speaks of Wolsey,
“No man dare him withsay.”
Ed. 1736. p. 158.
And Bale, describing the threats used by some Papist magistrates to his wife, speaks of them as “grennyng upon her lyke Termagauntes in a playe.” [Actes of Engl. Votaryes, pt. 2. fo. 83. Ed. 1550. 12mo.]—Hence we may conceive the force of Hamlet's expression in Shakespeare, where condemning a ranting player he says, “I could have such a fellow whipt for ore-doing Termagant: it out-Herods Herod.” A. 3. sc. 3.—By degrees the word came to be applied to an outrageous turbulent person, and especially to a violent brawling woman; to whom alone it is now confined: and this the rather as, I suppose, the character of Termagant was anciently represented on the stage after the eastern mode, with long robes or petticoats.
Another frequent character in the old pageants or enterludes of our ancestors, was the sowdan or soldan representing a grim eastern tyrant: This appears from a curious passage in Stow's Annals [p. 458.]—In a stage-play “the people know right well that he that plaieth the sowdain, is percase a sowter [shoe-maker], yet if one should cal him by his owne name, while he standeth in his majestie, one of his tormentors might bap to break his head.” The sowdain or soldan, was a name given to any Sarazen king, (being only a more rude pronunciation of the word sultan) as the soldan of Egypt, the soudan of Persia, the sowdan of Babylon, &c. who were generally represented as accompanied with grim Sarazens, whose business it was to punish and torment Christians.
I cannot conclude this short Memoir, without observing that the French romancers who had borrowed the word Termagant from us, and applied it as we in their old romances, corrupted it into Tervagaunte: And from them La Fontaine took it up, and has used it more than once in his tales.—This may be added to the other proofs adduced in these volumes of the great intercourse that formerly subsisted between the old minstrels and legendary writers of both nations, and that they mutually borrowed each others romances.
Even so late as the time of Froissart, we find Minstrels and Heralds mentioned together, as those who might securely go into an enemy's country. Cap. cxl.
The word Gramayre occurs several times in the foregoing poem, and every where seems to signify Magic or some kind of supernatural science. I know not whence to derive it, unless it be from the word Grammar.—In those dark and ignorant ages, when it was thought a high degree of learning to be able to read and write; he who had made a little further progress in literature, might well pass for a conjurer or magician.
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry | ||