WhyllPylat wasProvoste. under thatPrynce ryche
AndJewesJustice also. ofJudeas londe
Herode under empere. asHerytage wolde
Kyng," &c.The other is intitledChevalere Assigne[or De Cigne], that is,The Knight of the Swan,
being an ancient romance, beginning thus:
"All-Weldynge God .When it is hisWylle
Wele heWereth hisWerke .With his owene honde
For ofteHarmes wereHente. thatHelpe wene myzte
Nere theHyznes ofHym. that lengeth inHevene
For this," &c.Among Mr. Garrick's collection of old plays[8] is a prose narrative of the adventures
of this same Knight of the Swan, "newlye translated out of Frenshe into Englyshe, at
thinstigacion of the puyssaunt and illustryous prynce, Lorde Edward Duke of
Buckynghame." This lord it seems had a peculiar interest in the book, for in the
preface the translator tells us, that this "highe dygne and ilIustryous prynce my lorde
Edwarde by the grace of God Duke of Buckyngham, Erle of Hereforde, Stafforde, and
Northampton, desyrynge cotydyally to encrease and augment the name and fame of
such as were relucent in vertuous feates and triumphaunt actes of chyvalry, and to
encourage and styre every lusty and gentell herte by the exemplyficacyon of the same,
havyng a goodli booke of the highe and miraculuos histori of a famous and puyssaunt
kynge, named Oryant, sometime reynynge in the parties of beyonde the sea, havynge
to his wife a noble lady; of whome she conceyved sixe sonnes and a daughter, and
chylded of them at one only time; at whose byrthe ech one of them had a chayne of
sylver at their neckes, the whiche were all tourned by the provydence of God into
whyte swannes, save one, of the whiche this present hystory is cornpyled, named
Helyas, the knight of the swanne,of whom linially is dyscended my sayde lorde. The
whiche ententifly to have the sayde hystory more amply and unyversally knowen in
thys hys natif countrie, as it is in other, hath of his hie bountie by some of his faithful
and trusti servauntes cohorted mi mayster Wynkin de Worde[9] to put the said
vertuous hystori in prynte at whose instigacion and stiring I (Roberte Copeland) have
me applied, moiening the helpe of God, to reduce and translate it into our maternal
and vulgare english tonge after the capacite and rudenesse of my weke entendement."-
- A curious picture of the times! While in Italy literature and the fine arts were ready
to burst forth with classical splendor under Leo X., the first peer of this realm was
proud to derive his pedigree from a fabulous knight of the swan.[10]
To return to the metre ofPierce Plowman: In the folio MS. so often quoted in
these volumes, are two poems written in that species of versification. One of these is
an ancient allegorical poem, entitledDeath and Life, (in two fitts or parts, containing
458 distichs) which, for aught that appears, may have been written as early, if not
before, the time of Langland. The first forty lines are broke as they should be into
distichs, a distinction that is neglected in the remaining part of the transcript, in order
I suppose to save room. It begins:
"ChristChristen king,
that on theCrosse tholed;
HaddPaines andPassyons
to defend our soules;
Give usGrace on theGround
theGreatlye to serve,
For thatRoyallRed blood
thatRann from thy side."