V. 174. Felanrade] rightly felaurade. That the payenes hit nuft ;] Mift would better fuit the rime, but not the fense; the characters being legible either way. V. 233. Stiward tac thou here My fundling for to lere Of wode and of ryvere.] Thus, Robert of Brunne, in his verfion of Le Brut ke maistre Wace (fee Hearnes edition of Robert of Glou cester, P. 622): "Marian faire in chere He couthe of wode and ryvere, In alle maner of venerie, &c." It is explain'd, in The rime of fire Thopas: "He coude hunte at the wilde dere, And ride on hauking for the rivere.” See, likewise, The fquyr of low degree, V. 774; and The frankleins tale, V. 1752. V. 236. And toggen othe harpe With his nalis fharpe.] This is an ordinary accomplishment of the heros of romance. In the original fragment, at the table of king Gudred, his daughter Lenburc, her two brothers, and Horn, pass the harp to each other: the latter par ticularly distinguishes himself: "Lors print la harpe a fei fi commence a temprer Sur tuz ceus ke i funt fait cift à merveiller. E quant il ot ci fait comenca a noter Le lay dunt orains dis * de Batolf haut e cler Si cum funt cil Bretun de tel fait custumer.” Sir Tristram, in his youth, was fent into France for his education, and there "learned to be an harper, passing all other, that there was none fuch called in no countrey." Mort d'Arthur, P. 1, C. 3. See allfo C. 59; and more inftanceës in the Roman de Tristan, Rouen, 1489. In mister Douceës MS. he fays to Yfolt: "Od ma harpe me delitoie, Je noi confort ki tant amoie, Ke mult favoie ben harper. V. 531. Rymenild welcometh fire Horn.] The parallel pasfage of the original is at fo. 60, b. "Rimel la fille le rei bien en oi parler, &c.' V. 580. The knyght hire gan to cuffe.] In the original, Rimel gives him a kifs along with the ring, faying, "Ceft anel prendrez, od trestut ceft baiser." V. 644. And Fykenyld bi is syde.] This Fykenild, in the original poem, is name'd "Batolf le fiz Hunlaf rei de nobleté, Ki en Bretagne maint, ke ceft fun herité, Le fift de fa forur Rimel od la grant beuté," &c. Wikele. Being refuse'd a horse by Horn, he betrays his love to the king, as in V. 690, &c. V. 704. Aylmer gan hom turne, &c. King Hunlaf (the Aylmer of the present poem) and Horn have a much larger dialogue in the French original. V. 747. He toc Athulf is fere Aboute the fwere.] Athulf is never once mention'd in the French. And drof hem up-o-londe.] The country, in which he now lands, is, in the original fragment, call'd Westir, which is there explain'd to mean Ireland. "Ki ore Hirland lors Weftir fu apelee." V. 767. That one wes hoten Athyld, And that other Beryld.] In the French fragment the names of the two fons of king Guddred of Westir, who meet Horn, on his arrival in that kingdom, are Gofer and Eg fer. The latters question is nearly the fame with that in the present poem. Part of his reply is as follows: "De Sutdene fui nez, "Ne me deura nul blasmer per le mien efcient, Or vus ai tut rendu vostre demandement.” It would feem, from the first of these lines, that there had been a ftil more ancient romance on this fubject, to which Horn is thus aukwardly made to refer. It feems alludeëd to in two other pasfageës: "Joe fui veraiement Horn, dunt parolent la gent." "E Horn fi a torné cum dit le parchemin.' V. 785. Godmod he lad to halle.] The parallel pasfage of the old fragment is in fo. 63, b. and begins "Kuant li reis Guddred vit fes fiz ke funt entrez.” V. 800. Ther thou haft munt to wyfe, Awey he fhal the dryve; For Godmodes feyrhede These lines answer to the following of the original: "Je vus alez donneer kot vus nel amenez, Kas il eft de beute is fi elluminez, Ke vus la ou il eft petit ferre preisez, Ki tuz homes einz oes de beute pusfiez." Fo. 63, b. V. 809. Ther com in, at none, A geaunt fuythe fone.] This giant is not so call'd in the French; where he is name'd Rollac. He was the fon of Godebrand, and the nephew of Hildebrant and Herebrant, two African, or Saracen, tyrants, who now arrive in Weftir, and had flain Aaluf the father of Horn.* They fend him to the court to demand tribute, but Horn fights with, and kils him, and cuts off his head. The battle is describe'd at fome length. The two princeës are flain by Hydebrant; but their death is revenge'd by Horn. In a former part, mention is made of a similar vifit to king Hunlaf by a giant name'd Marmorin. Fo. 59. V. 906. Me buriede hem with ryche won.] *It is, however, fay'd, afterward, to Horn, by Gudred: "Si vus vengez bien de Romuld le malfé, Ki vostre pere Aaluf ocift par grant pecché." Mister Ellis, in his criticism on Robert of Gloucester, fays "The oddeft peculiarity in his ftyle is the ftrange ufe of the word me, which," he ads, "we have feen once by Layamon, but which here occurs as a mere expletive in every page. In fact, however, the use of this word is, by no means, a peculiarity in the honest monk, fince it occurs in Layamon, in the prefent poem, and would be found, no doubt, in other productions of that age if we had them to confult : neither is it ever once an expletive; and that this ingenious, but rapid, writeër, did not perfectly understand his own objection is evident from his haveing quoteëd a single pasfage in which it is neither od, nor peculiar, nor frange, nor expletive, but is merely a vulgar fubftitution of the accufative me, inftead of the nominative i; a vulgar corruption common enough at this day. ME, in fact, as most frequently and certainly use'd by Robert of Gloucester, as wel as by Layamon, and in the above text, means nothing more or less than MEN, as could be prove'd from a hundred citations; but wil be fufficiently fo from 'Hearnes glossary: "ME, men, me, i, to me, my. ME CLUPETH, men call; ME BERE, men carried; ME NOM, men took; ME NOT, men know not; ME SEITH, men say.” ཏམ། ། V.915. Dohter ich habbe one, Ermenild that feyre may.] Gudreds daughter, in the original, is named Lenburc, whom he there offers as wife to Horn, who politely decline's the gift, as being engage'd to one of his own condition, the daughter of a vavafour in Britain; a refufal which the king deems proper to a madman. * Specimens, I, 104. |