As certaynly syker* ye be,
Helpe gete ye none of me.

But and your kynge were dede, I plgyht
I wolde you helpe with all my myght."

Another passage

differs thus remarkably from Mr.

Ellis's text. See his Specimens, p. 201.

"Kynge Angys, † veramente,

Hadde a doughter fayre and gente,
That was a hethen Sarasyn, ‡
And Vortyger, for love of hym,

Toke her anone to his wyfe,
And was accorded all his lyfe:
Soone he wedded her there,

And menged theyr blode bothe in fere.§

So that the cure of Englonde

Was loste in the fendes honde."

The printed copy contains but a small portion of the second part of this romance, as conveyed in the elegant narrative of Mr. Ellis from a transcript of the Auchinleck MS. communicated by Mr. Scott; and what it does contain, deviates greatly from the written text, as will be seen by comparing the following extract with its counterpart in Vol. I. p. 234 of the Romance Specimens: where it is much compressed.

"So on a day the messengeres,
As they satte at theyr dyneres
In a towne of the west countre,

With mete and drynke grete plente,
An olde chorle** there came ynne

With long heres on his chynne:

Shoes.

And shone on his fete full bad.
He began to coughe and grone thore, f
And sayd- he was an hongred sore,
And bad them on the bench above,
Gyve hym some metę, for Goddes love."

They hym answered, without lesynge,
He sholde neyther have mete ne other thynge.
They swore, by hym that Judas solde!
He was a stoute chorle, and a bolde, ||
And myght travayle for his mete,
Yf he with trouthe wolde it gete.

They called hym Fayter! § everychone,

And bad hym trusse ** faste, & [be] gone:

And swore by the trouthe that God hym gaffe,
He sholde have of his owne staffe

Thre stroses++ well i-set,

But

he hyed hym oute the bet.'
Than answered the olde man,-
Felowes, he sayd, no chorle I am :
I am an olde man of this worlde,
And many wonders I have herde;
And ye but wretches of yonge blood,
And knowe all but lytell good:
And yf ye coude, as ye ne can,
Ye wolde scorne none old man,

As ye go in your prynces nede;
For olde men myght you
rede. Ill
For to finde Marlyn the chylde

Your prynce was bothe good and wylde

To sende men that done outerage,

For to wende §§ on his message,

§ Deceiver.

qu. there? i. e. very frankly. || A sturdy and bold fellow. ** pack up quickly. tt a misprint probably for strokes. ‡‡ Unless.

advise.

$$ to go,

For

For Marlyn is of suche manere,
Though he stode before you here,
And spake to you as I do,

Ye sholde hym knowe never the mo.

*

Thryes to-daye ye have hym met,

And yet ye knowe hym never the bet:
Therfore go home, by my rede,
To fynde hym shall ye not spede.
Bydde your prynce take barons fyve,
And go seche Marlyn blyve; †

And that Marlyn shall them abyde,
On hye by the forest syde."

Aurelius Ambrosius, or Aurilis Brosias, in the MS. romance, seems to be called Pendragon in the printed. copy, and is made the elder brother of Uther. This Uther was a strong man, says the metrical record, and in the absence of his brother, being befriended by Merlin, had an affray with King Hengist, in which he

"Gave hym such a stroke,

That he flewe tayle over toppe,

And toke hym by the hede anone,
And smote it fro the necke bone."

After this achievement the army of Hengist fled, but in their flight 500 of the stoutest were slain: and three days afterwards the rest were suffered to depart for Denmark, upon taking an oath that they would never return to England more. The tidings of the death of Hengist, soon roused two of his nephews to revenge, Sir Gamoure and Metradoure, both 'grete lordes of londe'; the latter holding two, and the former three duchies. These lords collected together a mighty

* Thrice.

† blithe.

head.

host,

host, with whom they set sail for England, and landed at Bristol. Merlin by his skill in prescience, having announced the approach of these formidable foes to Uther and Pendragon, and predicted that one of these brothers would fall in the conflict, directed Pendragon to make the attack on land, and Uther to follow up the assault by sea. Desperate was the encounter and furious the resistance; but while Uther, the favourite of Merlin, escaped with life, the doughty Pendragon fell; after having had his horse killed under him, and after contending on foot with a hundred Saracens, or Saxons, who in murderous combination

"Atte ones began on hym to hewe,

And brake bothe backe and arme,

And slewe."

After this account of the catastrophe of Pendragon, the printed copy of the romance or " treatyse of Marlyn," thus concludes

"Whan Uther that understode

That his broder was slayne, he was wode,

And badde his folke faste fyght;

And he bestyred hym as a knyght.
Of xxx M. that were on lyve,

There escaped away not fyve.

Of Englysshe men there were slayne

But thre hondred yt ony man coude sayne. †

Bytweene Bath and Brystowe tho

Thre myle myght no man go,
Neyther in dale, neyther in den, ‡
But he trade on dede men.

Den is usually put for cave or dell, but here seems opposed to the latter,

and may mean a woody acclivity.

Whan

Whan it was agaynst the nyght
Uther dyde discomfyte the fyght,
With many an erle and baroune,
And with knyghtes of grete renoune,
They wente home to theyr in *

On ye morowe, by the counceyll of Marlyn.
Pendragon was out sought,

And in the erthe faire i-brought:

Beryed he was full mery

In the towne of Glastenbery.

Thus ended the doughty kynge:
God gyve his soule good endynge!
And after that Pendragon was dede,
Uther was crowned by comyn rede, †
And helde Englonde to ryght.
I praye to God, full of myght,
Graunte them heven blysse above!
Amen! for his moders love.
And gyve them all good endynge.
That have herde this talkynge."

It will be seen from Mr. Ellis's prose continuation, that the second part of Merlin embraces a new series of events, from the union of Uther with the beautiful Igerna, which gave birth to heroic Arthur.

T. P.

ART. VIII. Syr Degore. (On a label, above a wooden cut of an equestrian Knight and his Esquire) Colophon: Thus endeth the treatyse of Syr Degore. Enprinted at London in Flete strete, at the sygne of the Sonne, by Wynkyn de Worde. (18 leaves in 8vo. of 4to. size.)

• Habitation.

+ public choice.

An