321 Another copy, of equal, if not greater, antiquity, but imperfect at the end, is preserve'd in the Auchinleck MS. in the Advocates library, Edinburgh. Scarcely two lines together are exactly alike; but it is not, upon the whole, a better copy, except as it, in one place, fupplys an omisfion. The title of the Bodleian MS. is in rime: "Her bigenneth of the kyng of Tars, How the foudan of Dammas Was icriftned thoru godes grace.' That it has been translateëd from the French is evident from the poets repeated referenceës to his original : * "In ftori as we rede: "As ich finde in my fawe." Damas is Damascus, and Tars, Thrace. See bishop Douglases Virgile, and Ruddimans glossary. V. 11. That hoore rihte heir fcholde ben.] The Edinburgh MS. reads, "Non fairer woman mizt ben," and contains variations, more or less important, in allmost every line. V. 85. The foudan fat at his des.] The Edinburgh manuscript reads better: "As the foudan fat at his des. V. 93. Hethene hound he doth the call.] That the christians of former ageës entertain❜d an inveterate antipathy to the Mahometans (who, certainly, would not have been much lefs intolerant) is apparent from the ancient romanceës of chivalry, French or Engleifh, in which this equally polite and religious appellation, frequently occurs. Thus, in Syr Bevys, that gallant knight, as we learn from the right reverend editour of The Reliques of ancient English poetry, is fo ful of zeal for his religion, as to return the following mesfage to a Paynim kings fair daughter, who had fall'n in love with him, and sent two Saracen knights to invite him to her bower: "I wyll not ones ftirre of this grounde, Indeed, he ads, they return the compliment, by calling him elfewhere "A christen hounde.” V. 114. This half of the ftanza hath been borrow'd from the advocates copy, being omited in the Oxford one, and being of itsfelf, apparently, not perfectly correct. V. 446. Bi Jovin and Plotoun.] "Sire Jovin," a few lines below, is a different deity from "Jubiter,” and, as Warton suggests, may mean the Roman emperour Jovinian, against whom St. Jerom wrote, and whos history is in the Gesta Romanorum, C. 59. Plotoun is Pluto, V. 468. Appolin.] Apollo. "Quel dieu," fays a Saracen to Jofeph of Arimathea, " croyez vous? Nous ne avons que quatre dieux, Mahom, Tervagant, Apolin, & Jupin." (Lancelot du lac, tome 2, fo. 46.) One of thefe Saracen deitys occurs in Syr Bevys: “And if thou wylt thy god forsake, And to Apolyne, our god, the betake," &c. V.469. Aftrot.] Ashtaroth, the godess of the Zidonians, occasionally worship'd by the children of Israel. See I Kings, XI, 5, 33. EMARE. The immediate French original of this ancient and excellent romance (here giveën from a unique copy in the Cotton manufcript, Caligula, A. II.) is not known to be preferve'd, though fo frequently refer'd to in the poem itsfelf; for inftance: "As i here fynge in fonge." V. 2. The ftory, however, is relateëd, at great length, though with fome variations, and under different names, by the poet Gower, in the second book of his Confesfio amantis, and, after him, by Chaucer, in his Man of lawes tale.* The former, who makes the lady, whom he calls Conftance, or Custen, daughter to Tiberius Conftantyn, a fabulous Christian emperour of Rome, refers to the cronike," as his authority; and may, therfor, feem to have been indebted to fome work in the nature of the Gesta Romanorum, in which it is not to be now found. It, likewife, occurs (much alter'd, and very concisely abridge'd) in Il Pecorone de fer Gio *This imitation affords a convinceing proof that Gower i a poet anteriour to Chaucer, though many of the latters pieceës hapen to appear with an earlyer date than his own. He, in fact, exprefsly calls Chaucer his "disciple, and poete," for that," in the flowres of his youth," he had made for his fake "ditees and fonges glade." There could not, however, be much difference in their ageës; as Chaucer was 66 nowe in his daies olde;" and Gower himself, in 1396, both old and blind; though he furvive'd Chaucer about two years, which fhort period he made use of to damn his own reputation to all eternity. vanni Fiorentino, say'd to have been compose'd in the year 1378 (fee Gior. X. No. 1); the authour of which may feem to have been indebted to a MS. of the national library, Paris, (Num. 8701, a paper-book writen in 1370), intitle'd “ Fabula romanenfis de rege Francorum, cujus nomen reticetur, qui in filia fua adulterium & incestum committere voluit." After all, the primary fource of this popular history is, most probablely, to be found in the legendary life of a spurious Offa the first, king of the West- Angles, attributeëd to Matthew Paris (see Watses edition of his Historia major, &c. P.965); and, in fupport of this conjecture, it may be observe'd, that even Gower lays part of his fcene in Engleland, V. 104. Sertes thys ys a fayry, Or ellys a vanytè.] The old queen, in V. 446, says, "Sone, thys ys a fende, In this wordy wede.” Gower, in his legend of Conftance (the Emare of the prefent poem), makes Domilde, the kings mother, write, in the forge'd letter to her son, "Thy wife, which is of fairie, Of fuche a childe delivered is, Fro kinde, whiche ftant all amis." In another pasfage, of the fame tale, he fays, "The god of hir hath made an ende, And fro this worldes fayrie Hath taken hir into companie:" but what he means, by "this worldes fayrie," is not easey to furmise. V. 122. Idoyne and Amadas.] The story of these loveërs is mention'd by Gower (Confesfio amantis, fo. 133): "Myn ere with a good pitance That whilome were in my cas. It is, likewife, as mister Warton has obferve'd, citeëd in the prologue to a collection of legends, call'd Curfor mundi, an ancient poem, translateëd from the French: "Men lykyn jeftis for to here, And romans rede in divers manere, Of king John, and of Ifenbras, Of Ydoine and Amas." Their names allfo occur in the old fabliau of Gautier d'Aupais (Fabliaux ou contes, C, 335). The adventures of "la belle Ydoyne" are contain'd, according to M. De Bure (Cata. de la bib. du D. de la Valliere: additions, 53), in the last part of the MS. Roman d'Aymeri de Narbonne: but this is a mistake; "Le viel [not La belle] Y doine," being actually, in that romance, a king of Arabia : "Le fils Guyon fuz le vair iert asfis, Et fiert Ydoine qui fu rois darrabiz.” "Le roy Ydoine a pris baptizement." (MSS. Reg. 20 D XI.) Another inftance has been allready mention'd of a knights name in one romance being a ladys in another. V. 134. Trystram and Ifowde.] Two famous loveërs; the fubject of many an ancient romance. A valuable fragment of one in French verse is in the posfesfion of Francis Douce efquire; and another, very curious, and, posfiblely, ftil older, but |