Since the foregoing Essay was first printed, the Editor hath met with some
additional examples of the old alliterative metre. The first is in MS.,[21] which begins
thus:
"CristCrownedKyng, that onCros didest,[22]
And artComfort of allCare, thow[23] kind go out ofCours,
With thiHalwes inHevenHeried mote thu be,
And thyWorshipfulWerkesWorshiped evre,
That sucheSondrySignesShewest unto man,
InDremyng, inDrecchyng,[24] and inDerke swevenes."
The author, from this prœmium, takes occasion to give an account of a dream
that happened to himself, which he introduces with the following circumstances:
"Ones y meOrdayned, as y haveOfte doon,
WithFrendes andFelawes,Frendemen, and other;
AndCaught me in aCompany onCorpusChristi even,
Six other[25]Seven myle, oute ofSuthampton,
To takeMelodye andMirthes, among myMakes;
WithRedyng ofROMAUNCES, andRevelyng among,
TheDym of theDerknesseDrewe me into the west;
And beGon for to spryng in theGrey day.
ThanLift y up myLyddes, andLoked in the sky,
AndKnewe by theKendeCours, hit clered in the est:
Blyve yBusked me down, and toBed went,
For toComforte myKynde, andCacche a stepe."He then describes his dream:
"Methought that yHoved onHigh on anHill,
And lokedDoun on aDaleDepest of othre;
Ther ySawe in mySight aSelcouthe peple;
TheMultitude was soMoche, itMighte not be nombred.
Methoughte y herd aCrownedKing of hisComunes axe
ASoleyne[26]Subsidie, toSusteyne his werres.
With that aClerkKneled adowne andCarped these wordes,
LiegeLord, yif it youLike toListen a while,
SomeSaws ofSalomon y shall youSheweSone."
The writer then gives a solemn lecture to kings on the art of governing. From
the demand of subsidies "to susteyne his werres," I am inclined to believe this poem
composed in the reign of King Henry V. as the manuscript appears, from a subsequent
entry, to have been written before the 9th of Henry VI. The whole poem contains but
146 lines.
The alliterative metre was no less popular among the old Scottish poets, than
with their brethren on this side the Tweed. In Maitland's Collection of ancient Scottish
Poems, MS. in the Pepysian Library, is a very long poem in this species of
versification, thus inscribed:
"HEIR begins the Tretis of the twa Marriit Wemen and the Wedo, compylit be Maister William
Dunbar.[27]
"Upon theMidsummer evvenMirriest of nichtis
IMuvit furth alane quhen asMidnight was past
Besyd aneGudlieGreneGarth[28] full ofGay flouris
Hegeit[29] of aneHugeHicht withHawthorn treeis
Quairon aneBird on aneBransche soBirst out hir notis
That nevir aneBlythfullerBird was on theBeuche[30] hard," &c.