POEMS THOMAS CHATTERTON. ECLOGUES. The three first Eclogues are printed from a MS. furnished by Mr. Catcott, in the hand-writing of Thomas Chatterton. It is a thin copy-book in 4to. with the following title in the first page: Eclogues and other Poems by Thomas Rowley, with a Glossary and Annotations by Thomas Chatterton. There is only one other poem in this book, viz. the fragment of Goddwyn, a Tragedie. The fourth Eclogue is reprinted from the Town and Country Magazine for May 1769, p. 273. It is there entitled, Elinoure and Juga. Written three hundred years ago by T. Rowley, secular priest. And it has the following subscription: D. B. Bristol, May 1769. Chatterton soon after told Mr. Catcott, that he (Chatterton) inserted it in the magazine. ECLOGUE THE FIRST. ROBERTE AND RAUFE. Swote flouretts, mantled meedows, forestes dygne; Gravots far-kend arounde the errmiets cell; The swote ribible dynning yn the dell; The joyous daunceynge ynn the hoastrie courte; Eke the highe songe and everych joie farewell, Farewell the verie shade of fayre dysporte: Impestering trobble onn mie heade doe comme, Ne on kynde seyncte to warde the aye encreasynge dome. ROBERTE. Oh! I coulde waile mie kynge-coppe-decked mees, Mie spreedynge flockes of shepe of lillie white, Mie tendre applynges', and embodyde trees, Mie parker's grange, far spreedynge to the syghte, [fyghte, Mie cuyen kyne, mie bullockes stringe yn Mie gorne emblaunched with the comfreie plante, [lyghte, Mie floure Seyncte Marie shotteyng wythe the Mie store of all the blessynges Heaven can grant. I amm duressed unto sorrowes blowe, [flowe. WHANNE Englonde, smeethynge from her le- Ihantend to the peyne, will lette ne salte teare thal wounde, [awaie, From her galled necke dyd twytte the chayne Ah, Raufe! gif thos the howres do comme alonge, dernie [dale. Come heare the balefull dome of Robynne of the RAUFE. Saie to mee nete; I kenne thie woe in myne; Oh! I've a tale that Sabalus mote telle. RAUFE Here I wille obaie1 untylle dethe doe 'pere, Here lyche a foule empoysoned leathel tree, Whyche sleaeth everichone that cometh nere,' Soe wille I fyxed unto thys place gre. I to bement haveth moe cause than thee; Sleene in the warre mie boolie fadre lies; Oh! joieous I hys mortherer would slea, And bie hys syde for aie enclose myne eies. Calked 3 from evrych joie, heere wylle I blede; Fell ys the Cullys-yatte of mie hartes castle stede. Mr. Tyrwhitt asserts that this word is not to be found elsewhere. 2 This word is explained, as Chatterton has interpreted it, by Kersey and Speght. But the compiler of Gloss. Ur. has observed, that obay, in the single passage of Chaucer, in which it occurs C. T. ver. 12034 is a misprint, and should be abeye, as it is printed in the last edition from the best MSS. The inference is plain enough, from whence the author of the poems got his word obaie, with its interpretation. Tyrwhitt. 3 This word appears to have been formed upon a misapprehension of the following article in Skinner: "Calked, exp. cast, credo cast up." Chat ROBERTE. Oure woes alyche, alyche our dome shal bee. Peace fledde, disorder sheweth her dark rode, And thorow ayre doth flie, yn garments steyned with bloude. SPRYTES of the bleste, the pious Nygelle sed, To ken syke large a flete, syke fyne, syke breme. The water slughornes wythe a swotye cleme terton did not attend to the difference between casting out, and casting up, i. e. casting up figures in calculation. That the latter was Skinner's meaning may be collected from his next article. "Calked for calculated. Ch. the Frankeleynes tale." It is probable too, I think, that in both articles Skinner refers, by mistake, to a line of the Frankeleins Tale, which in the common editions stands thus:-" Full subtelly he had calked al this," where calked is a mere misprint for calculed, the reading of the MSS. Tyrwhitt. * Alone is never used for only; solus for unicus ; seul for unique. The distinction I believe subsists in most languages. If the learned persons do not yet apprehend it, I would advise them in the following passage of Shakspeare, "Ah! no-it is my only son"-to substitute my son alone, and to judge for themselves whether the difference in the idea suggested arises merely from the different position of the words. Tyrwhitt. 5 When I will wear a garment all of blood, And stain my favours in a bloody mask. Shakspeare, Henry IV. p. 1. The banner glesters on the beme of daie; spere. The jynynge shieldes doe shemre and moke Sprytes of the bleste, and everyche seyncte ydedde, word. Lyche a battently low mie swerde shall brend. Goddwyn. 50. scriptions can be explained? Nothing that I am Now what have we similar by which these deapprised of, now a days. But I think that there were of old some phenomena, mentioned by the illustrate the point greatly. In the Saxon Chromore early historians of this country, which will nicle we read, that in the year 1032, there were earthquakes in many parts of this kingdom; aud that a sad mortality ensued; and what is very particular, there were seen fires of an uncommon appearance, such as were never seen before. They broke out of the earth in different places and did a great deal of mischieft. takes notice of earthquakes happening, and of a Simeon Dunelmensis like fire appearing a few years after, anno 1048. He speaks of it as, breaking out in Derbyshire and * Gron signifies undoubtedly a marshy place: but also solid ground. + P. 154. See also Roger de Hoveden, p. 440. Hence we may perceive that the artificial fire called wild fire at this day, took its name from the similitude it bore to these battent lowes and grom| fires, which broke out in the times specified. Shaketh alofe his honde, and seene afarre. Syke sunnys wayne wyth amayl'd beames doe barr The blaunchie mone or estells to gev lyghte. Sprytes of the bleste, and evrich seyncte ydedde, Poure owte your pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde. Distraughte affraie, wythe lockes of blodde-red die, Terroure, emburled yn the thonders rage, Deathe, lysked to dismaie, dothe ugsomme flie, Euchafynge echone champyonne war to wage. Speres bevyie speres; swerdes upon swerdes engage; 3 some neighbouring counties, and being of an alarming nature; and he concludes with saying, "villas et segetes multas ustulavit." Hist. Ang. Script. Decem. p. 183. It is recorded by John Brompton nearly in the same manner. He mentions the mortality which then prevailed; and the mischief which was done by these fires. Ibid. p. 939. 1. 48. The like phenomenon is said to have appeared in the next century, according to Holinshead, as well as other writers. He mentions in the reign of Henry the First, that there were earthquakes similar to the former; and that fires came out of the earth with great violence, which could not by water, nor by any means be subdued. V. 2. p. 44. Fires of this nature must have had a very formidable appearance. And it was not any fenny meteor, but undoubtedly these groundfires, to which the poet alluded. It is remarkable that the first appearance of them was anno 1032, and the second, if not a continuation of the same phenomenon, was anno 1048; both in the days of earl Godwin, from whom the tragedy has its name. So that the comparison there made, agrees very well with the times, and with the event by which they were distinguished. The last instance of such fires, was not indeed in the days of king Richardt, who is the person concerned in the Second Eclogue, yet not so far removed, but that there might have been persons living by whom they were seen. The memory of them could not have been soon effaced. Hence it was natural for persons, who were treating of those times, to introduce those circumstances, which so particularly marked them. For the justice of these comparisons was very apparent in those days: which fitness and propriety is lost if they are introduced at a later season, and by another hand. It is from such remote and secret references that I am induced to think that some of these poems are of a greater antiquity than has generally been attributed to them. As to the person who has attempted to explain them, it is manifest that he proceeded merely by surmise and conjecture. He was not acquainted with the latent purport of these references; and the conclusion which necessarily foliows, is, I think, very plain. * See an account of a similar phenomenon in Germany mentioned by Tacitus. They happened anno 1135, in the last year of Henry the First. See Polydore Virgil, p. 195. Armoure on armouredynn, shielde upon shielde; Ne dethe of thosaudes can the warr assuage, Botte falleynge nombers sable all the feelde, Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seyncte ydedde, Poure owte youre pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde. The foemen fal arounde; the cross reles hye; Steyned ynne goere, the harte of warre ys seen; Kynge Rycharde, thorough everyche trope doth flie, And beereth meynte of Turkes onto the greene; Bie hymm the floure of Asies menn is sleene; The waylynge mone doth fade before hys sonne; Bie hymm hys knyghtes bee formed to actions deene, Doeynge syke marvels, strongers be aston. Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seyncte ydedde, Poure owte youre pleasaunce on mie fadres hedde. The fyghte is wonne; kynge Rycharde master The Englonde bannerr kisseth the hie ayre; [is; Full of pure joie the armie is iwys, And everych one haveth it onne his bayre; Agayne to Englonde comme, and worschepped there, Twyghte into lovynge armes, and feasted eft; In everych eyne aredynge nete of wyere, Of all remembrance of past peyne berefte. Sprytes of the bleste, and everych seynote ydedde, Syke pleasures powre upon mie fadres hedde. Syke Nigel sed, whan from the bluie sea The upswol sayle dyd daunce before his eyne; Swefte as the wishe, hee toe the beeche dyd flee, And founde his fadre steppeynge from the bryne. [loove, Lette thyssen menne, who haveth sprite of Bethyncke untoe hemselves how mote the meetynge proove. ECLOGUE THE THIRD. MANNE. WOMANNE. SIR ROGERRE. WOULDST thou kenn Nature in her better parte? Goe, serche the logges and bordels' of the hynde; Giff theie have anie, itte ys roughe-made arte, Inne hem you see the blakied1 forme of kynde. Now shield with shield, with helmet helmet clos'd, To armour armour, lance to lance oppos'd. Spears lean on spears, on targets targets throng, Helms stuck to helms, and man drove man along. Pope's Homer. 3 The idea of breaking, which is quite foreign from bevyle, might perhaps have been suggested by the following passage in Kersey: "Bevile (in heraldry) broken or open, ke a bevel, or car penter's rule." Tyrwhitt. 4 Thyssen. This word is not to be found in any other writer: thisom or thisen is used by the colliers about Bristol. I Bordel, in very old French signifies a cottage, and bordeher, a cottager. Chaucer uses the first for a brothel, and the second for a keeper of such a house. To explain this strange word, blake, as occurring Æ. 178. Whanne Autumpne blake and sonne-brente doe appere. And again 407. Blake stondeth future doome, and joie doth mee alyse, is explained open, exposed; and blakied is made the participle from an imaginary verb, to blakie, signifying to open. 3 Mr. Tyrwhitt says, "the only passage, I believe, in which these eight letters are to be found together in the same order, is in Chaucer, C. Tales, v. 9492. "And alderfirst he bade hem all a bone." This the dean of Exeter considers as authority, arguing that the words in Chaucer should be connected: but all is there evidently an adjective connected with the pronoun hem. Bye yer preestschype nowe saye unto mée; Syr Gaufryd the kuyghte, who lyvethe harde Whie shoulde he than mee [bie, Bee moe greate, Inne honnoure, knyghtehoode and estate? Attourne thy eyne arounde thys haied mee, Didde not yttes loke, whilest ytte there dyd stonde, To croppe ytte in the bodde move somme dred honde. Syke ys the waie of lyffe; the loverds ente Mooveth the robber hym therfor to slea; Gyf thou has ethe, the shadowe of contente, Beleive the trothe, theres none moe haile yan thee. [bee? Thou wurchest; welle, canne thatte a trobble Slothe moe wulde jade thee than the roughest daie. Couldest thou the kivercled of soughlys see, Thou wouldst eftsoones see trothe ynne whatte 1 saie; [thenne Botte lette me heere thie waie of lyffe, and Heare thou from me the lyffe of odher menne. MANNE. I ryse wyth the sonne, Lyche hym to dryve the wayne, Botte of the maydens, oh! 1 daunce the beste heiedeygnes, SYR ROGERRE. Has thou ne seene a tree uponne a hylle, Whose unliste braunces rechen far toe syghte; Whan fuired unwers doe the Heaven fylle, Itte shaketh deere yn dole and moke affryghte. Whylest the congeon flowrette abessie♦ dyghte, Stondethe unhurte, unquaced bie the storme: Syke is a picte of lyffe: the manne of myghte Is tempest-chaft, hys woe greate as hys forme; Thieselfe a flowrette of a small accounte, Wouldst harder felle the wynde, as hygher thes dydste mounte. Evidently from the French abaisser, but corIt is ruptly and indeed unintelligibly formed. used by no other writer. Tyrwhitt. |