She fails, and falling grieves, and grieving dies; (That liv'd so sweetly) dead, so sweet a grave!" ART. V. The Voyage of the Wandering Knight, shewing the whole course of a Man's Life, how apt he is to follow Vanitie, and how hard it is for him to attaine to Virtue; devised by John Carthemy, a Frenchman, and translated out of French into English, by W. G. [Goodyeare] of Southampton, merchant: a worke worthy of reading, and dedicated to the R. W. Sir Francis Drake; black letter, quarto. Lond. pr: by W. Stansby, n. d. The only notice which we find of this curious and very rare work, is a very slight one in Dunlop's History of Fiction. He there says, speaking of the origin of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, "that by some it has been attributed to Barnard's Religious Allegory, while others have traced it to the Story of the Wandering Knight, translated from the French by Will. Goodyeare, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth;" but of the original work, we find not the slightest mention, except in an enumeration of Romans de spiritualité et de morale, in the Bibliothèque of Gordon de Percel, where he quotes the title, Le Voyage du Chevalier Errant, par Jean de Carthemi, Dominicain, in 8; and dryly adds, "C'est un roman où l'on fait entrer jusqu'aux sept pseaumes de la penitence.' ."* There were two, if not more, editions of the translation about the end of the sixteenth century, and another in the seventeenth, not many years before the appearance of Bunyan's deservedly popular work, and this strengthens the conjecture, that he might have been possessed of a copy, and that to the meditations, arising from the perusal of it during his imprisonment, we are indebted for the Pilgrim's Progress. It is by no means the wish of the writer to detract from the merit, or claims of Bunyan's work to originality, but merely to shew how far the original work, brooding over a warm and somewhat fervid imagination, may have furnished some of the materials, if not the basis, of Bunyan's admirable superstructure. We have had many successful instances of late of this having been done, without either lessening the merit or the popularity of the work * Percel Bibliothèque des Romans, p. 172. so examined; such, for instance, as Dunster's Milton and Ferriar's Sterne, as well as many others; and we must acknowledge that we are much indebted to these curious and interesting researches, for their having pointed out to our notice many valuable works, which, but for these fortunate circumstances, would probably have fallen into total oblivion; or would only have been known to the curious book collector. Upon a careful collation of the two early editions, we have discovered no variations, except a trifling change in the initials subscribed to the dedication, which in the first edition are R: N: probably Rob. Norman, the author of many valuable hydrographical works about that period, [see Beloe's Anecdotes of Literature, vol. vi.] but in the second edition these are reversed; but this is of too trifling an interest to merit farther investigation, We shall now, therefore, proceed to give an analysis of the work, and such occasional extracts as may enable the reader to judge for himself of the main question, upon which it is entitled to his notice; as also of the nature, aim, and merit of the original work; and which, if it has no other claim to our admiration, must certainly be allowed to exhibit a very curious picture of the manners, customs, and religious opinions, of the times in which it was written. The Contents of the first part of The Voyage of the Wandering Knight. Chap. I. The Wandering Knight declareth his intent and foolish enterprise, wishing and supposing in this world to find true felicitie. Chap. II. The Wandering Knight declareth unto Dame Folly, his governess, what is his intent. Chap. III. Folly and Evill-will provide the Knight apparel, armour, and horse; Folly apparelleth and armeth the Wandering Knight. Chap. IV. Folly, upon the way, sheweth the Knight many of her ancient proceedings, and how many great and notable personages she had governed. Chap. V. The Wandering Knight finding too ways, and doubtful whether of them to take, there chanced to come to him Virtue and Voluptuousness, eyther of them offering to guide and conduct the Knight on the way. Chap. VI. The Wandering Knight, by the counsaile of Folly, left Ladie Virtue and followeth Voluptuousness, which led him to the palace of Worldly Felicitie. Chap. VII. How the Wandering Knight was received and welcomed to the palace of Worldly Felicitie. Chap. VIII. Voluptuousness sheweth the Wandering Knight some part of the palace of Worldly Felicitie, and after brought him some dinner. Chap. IX. Dinner being done, Voluptuousness sheweth the Wandering Knight the rest of the palace of Worldly Felicitie, with the su perscription of the towers thereof, and by the author is declared the evill fruit of certaine notorious sinnes. Chap. X. The situation or standing of the palace of Worldly Felicitie. Chap. XI. The author declareth how the Wandering Knight and such like voluptuous livers in the world transgresse the commandment of Almighty God. Chap. XII. The Knight going for to recreate himself, and to view the warrens and forrests which were about the palace of Worldly Felicitie, anone he sawe it sink sodainly into the earth, and perceived himself in the myre up to the saddle skirts. Chap. XIII. The author crieth out bitterly against worldlings and their felicities. The Second Part of The Voyage of the Wandering Knight. Chap. I. God's-Grace draweth the Knight out of the filth of sinne where he had stuck fast. Chap. II. God's-Grace sheweth hell unto the Knight, with all the voluptuous company he saw in the palace of Worldly Felicitie. Chap. III. The Knight declareth how he entered the school of repentance, and of his entertainment there. Chap. IV. How true repentance begins in us, and how the Knight's conscience accused him with the paines he had deserved. Chap. V. By commandment of God's-Grace, Remembrance read to him the goodness of God, with the promises made to repentant sinners. Chap. VI. A sermon which Understanding, the good hermit, made unto the Knight upon the History of Mary Magdalene. Chap. VII. The Knight having received the holy communion, heard the sermon, and dinner ended, mounted into a chariot of triumph, and was by God's-Grace carried to the palace of Vertue. The Third Part of The Voyage of the Wandering Knight. Chap. I. The Knight declareth the great good, solace, and pleasure, which he found in the palace of Ladie Vertue. Chap. II. Description of Vertue. Chap. III. Description of Faith, and how we ought to believe in God for our salvation. Chap. IV. The description of Hope, and how we ought to hope in Almighty God. Chap. V. The description of Love and Charitie, and how we ought to love God and our neighbour. Chap. VI. The effects and prayers of Love and Charity. Chap. VII. The description of the foure morall vertues, Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance. Chap. VIII. How Faith, from the top of the tower, sheweth unto the Knight the citie of Heaven. Chap. IX. The desire the Knight had to come to Heaven, and how God's-grace brought Perseverance. Chap. X. Good-Understanding sheweth the Knight how to keepe Perseverance always with him. Chap. XI. The protestation that Good-Understanding taught the Knight to make every day to avoid temptation, that he ought to humble himselfe before God, and what he should aske in his prayer. Chap. XII. The author's peroration or conclusion, to the devout readers or hearers. He thus commences : "Many historiographers, both poets and orators, as well profane as divine, have, by writing, notified divers persons with their voyages and adventures. First, Justin and Diodore of Sicilie have made mention of the Argonautes' voyage by sea; that is to say, of Jason and his allies, Castor, Pollex, Hercules, and other peeres, to the isle of Cholcos, to winne the golden fleece, which a great dragon kept; also Homer, a Greek poet, writ in verse, the wandering and sea voyage of Ulysses and his companions at their return from the Trojan warres ; after him, Virgil, a most elegant Latine poet, set down in verse the voyage of Æneas into Italy, with his fortune after the subversion of Troy. Now, if we come to sacred histories, wee shall finde, first how Moses wrote of the children of Israel, their going out of Egypt into the land of promise, and of the two and forty mansions that they made in the desarts, for the space of forty years. And how the four evangelists likewise most faithfully have written of the holy peregrination of the blessed son of God, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who took upon him our fraile and human nature. The self-same Saviour hath set down the parable of the voluptuous voyage of the prodigal childe and his return. St. Luke very notably and sincerely hath delivered in writing the painful and holy peregrination of that great vessel of election, St. Paul, together with the great travel he tooke to preach the gospell and the faith of Jesus Christ to all the Gentiles. "And now, by God's 's-grace, I mean to declare mine own voyage and adventures, much like that of the prodigal child, who left his father's house, and ranged into strange countries, wasting all his goods, living licentiously: but after he knew his lewdness, he returned to his father, of whome he was very lovingly received: so I, by great Folly counsailed in absenting myself far away (not only in body but in mind) from God, my Father and Creator, have wasted and consumed all my goods, which the same my God and Father had bountifully bestowed upon me, in following vain pleasures of this life; but in the end, I being inspired with divine grace, acknowledged mine offences, and leaving the dark region of sinne and vanity, through the ayde and conduction of the divine grace, am returned to mine eternall Father, humbly requiring pardon and mercy, who, of his unspeakable mercy, hath lovingly received me; but how all this has been done I will declare unto you, praying you patiently to give me the hearing, and attentively consider my talke, and well to note the whole from the beginning to the end. "When I had passed in all folly and lasciviousness three weeks of the years of my age, that is to say, my infancie, child-age, and youth,. which make together one-and-twentie years, I enterred into the age of a young man, which is the fourth week of my age, which is between two-and-twentie and four-and-twentie years; at five-and-twentie, I was minded to take a voyage by my foolish industrie to seek where in this world I might find true felicitie and happiness, which seemed to my sottish sense an easy matter; being young, strong, wilde, hardy, and couragiously disposed, methought in my mind to live in the world without felicitie was a life worse than death; but, alas! being plunged in the darkness of ignorance, I considered not that true felicitie was the gift of God from above, and cannot be attained without his help. Being robbed of reason, I thought it might come easilie of myself, without the help of others; so that then I sought true felicitie where she is not, was not, nor ever shall bee: as, in riches, worldly pleasure, strength, honour, and delights of the flesh. But I was, in so thinking, as very fool as hee who hopeth with angling lines to catch fishes in the air, or with the hounds to hunt the hare in the ocean sea. Were it not, think you, great folly so to think? Even the like it is to thinke that true felicitie is to be found here in this wretched worlde. And for so much as in perfect felicitie is comprehended all goodness, and that the world (as saith St. John) is addicted and given to all evill, and subject to hunger, thirst, heat, cold, diseases, calamities, pride, ambition, covetousness, and voluptuousness, it is evident that those which here be living, supposing here to find true felicitie, are worse than fools and voide of right reason. True felicitie is not without goodness and vertue, which cometh from God above. If it be so, why then is it not most wicked and presumptuous of man to think that by a man's own industrie he is able to possess and enjoy the fair lot of true felicitie? therefore every one that thinketh in this world hee may come to perfect felicitie and true blessedness, shall find in fine, as I found, for felicitie, vanitie-for good, evill." The next extract we shall make, is a description of the situation or standing of the Palace of Worldly Felicitie, (Chap. X.) as it gives a most curious picture of what at that period constituted a princely mansion, ornamented with every possible luxury and means of enjoyment that human ingenuity could devise. "The pallace was situated or built in a pleasant valley upon the foote of a high mountaine, environed with hills on every side, whereby it was not only defended from force of tempests which way soever the wind blew, but the very hills themselves were very sightly and serviceable; for on the one side, was a goodly vine-yard, wherein grew grapes of sundry sorts; on the other side it yielded a great quantity of grain; on another side were proper woods, which yielded a good store of timber and trees, wherein bred all manner of birds; on another side were warrens and conniborrows full of hares and connies; in another place was a goodly parke, wherein was no want of deer, red or fallow. Beyond these hills were goodly forrests full of gentlemanly game for hunting. In the valley where the palace stood, was a marvellous faire |