It even occurs in Skeltons, and Surreys Poems, and, what is ftil more extraordinary, in Spensers Faërie quene, and Shakspeares Loves-labours-loft (if, in fact, that part of it ever receive'd the illuminateing touch of our great dramatist). Mister Steevens, in his note on the last instance, obferves that whales " is the Saxon genitive cafe," meaning that it requires to be pronounce'd as a disfyllable, (thus, whales, or, more properly, whaleës,) which it, certainly, is in every instance.

V. 522. Thou shalt take us with the dede.]

That is, with the manner (a law-phrase, cum manu opere, ovesque le main œuvre), flagrante delicto, or in the very act, and, in what the Scots call'd, in refpect of their deer-stealers, the reid, or bluidy, hand.

V. 1213. A lay of Bretayne callyd hyt ys.]

See Emare, V. 1030, and the note upon that pasfage.

THE SQUYR OF LOWE DEGRE.

This strange and whimfycal, but genuine Engleifh, performance is here giveën from a copy in quarto, and black-letter, without date, "Imprented at London by me Wyllyam Copland," extant among mis. ter Garricks old plays, now in the British museum (K. vol. 9). That it was printed before 1575 is evident from Lanehams "Letter," allready mention'd; and, in fact, as Copland dye'd in 1568, or 1569, could not be lateër than one of thofe years. It was, moreover, license'd to John Kynge, on the roth of June 1560; and, from the apparent modernisation of the printed copy, feems of much greater antiquity. Spenfer, in his Faery quene, has introduce'd "The squire of

lowe degree;" and, in Shakspeares play of King Henry the fifth, captain Fluellen fays to ancient Pistol, "You call'd me yesterday mountain Squire, but i wil make you to-day a fquire of lowe degre" (A&t V, fcene 1). Thefe allufions prove, at least, the popularity of the poem ; its age, however, cannot be eafeyly ascertain'd; for, though it has been thought even anteriour, in point of date, to the time of Chaucer, it is never mention'd by any one writeër, before the fixteenth century; nor is it known to be extant in manuscript; and, in fact, the Museum copy is the onely one that exists in print.

V. 1. It was a fquyer of lowe degre.]

A fquire was a state or condition inferiour, and, generally speaking, preparatory, to that of a knight, upon whom the fquire attended in the nature of a fervant; haveing the care of his horse and armour; drefsing and undrefsing him; and carveing his meat, and ferveing him with bread and wine, at table. See Memoires fur l'ancienne chevalerie, tome I, P. 11, &c. A most curious and interesting account of the education, employments, and progrefs, of a page, varlet, or squire, wil be found in the Histoire et plaifante cronicque du petit Jehan de Saintré, an excellent romance of the fifteenth century (Paris, 1523, 1724).

V. 29. And in the arber was a tre, &c.]

Warton, who conjectures this poem to be "coëval with Chaucer," fays, in a note, " From this pasfage, and another of the fame fort, an ingenious correfpondent* has taken occafion to confider Chaucers Rime of

This ingenious correspondent turns out to be mister, afterward doctor Percy, fince dean of Carlile, and now bishop, of Dromore. See a note in his Reliques of ancient English poetry, London, 1794, III, xxiii,

fir Thopas in a new light ;" and transcribes his words. "The rhyme of fir Thopas was intended, by Chaucer, as a kind of burlesque on the old ballad-romances; many of which he quotes.... Now, in thefe old romances, nothing is fo common as impertinent digresfions, containing affected enumerations of trees, birds, &c. There is a specimen of the former in an old romance, intitled, The Squyer of lowe degre:* where it is remarkable that the author has reckoned the lily, the piany, the fother-wood, &c. as trees. With the fame accuracy the pie, the popinjay, the Sparrow, &c. are classed among the finging birds in the lines which immediately follow the lift of trees.... From these lines we shall easily perceive the drift of Chaucer's humour in the following ftanzas of Sir Thopas:

There fpringen herbes grete and fmal,
The lycores and the setuall,

And many a clove gelofer,
And nutmeges to put in ale,
Whether it be new or stale,

Or for to lie in cofer.

The birdes fingen, it is no naie,
The fperhawke, and the popinjaye,
That joye it was to here;
The throstell eke made his laye,
The wood-cocke upon the spraye,

She fong full loud and clere.

* Though this" ingenious correspondent" has allready fay'd, that, in what he is pleafe'd to call "the old balladromances," nothing is so common as these impertinent digres fions and enumerations, he was not able to produce a fingle inftance, except The Squyr of lowe degre, which, after all, is not prove'd to be one of these "old ballad-romances;" none of which, in fact, contains any such impertinenceës,

The "ingenious correfpondent" ads that Speght and Urry have fubftituted wood-larke, inftead of woodcock, not confidering that Chaucer is jocofe." Tyrwhitts edition, however, indisputablely the best, reads wood dove; and as Lybeaus Disconus, one of the romanceës enumerateëd by Chaucer, is alludeëd to in The fquyr of lowe degre, it is not, probablely, allfo, of his age. (See Obfervations on the Fairy queen, I, 139.)

Bottom, the weaver, in Shakspeares Midsummernights-dream, after he has receive'd Robin Good-fellows favour of an asses head, fings part of one of these "old ballad-romances," to convince his companions, whom he fuppofeës to be within hearing, that he is not afray'd:

"The woofel cocke, fo blacke of hew,

With orange-tawny bill,

The throstle, with his note fo true,

The wren with little quill;

The finch, the sparrow, and the larke,

The plainfong cuckow grey;

Whofe note full many a man doth marke,

And dares not answer, nay."

Dureing the performance of this fingular melody, the queen of Fairys, allure'd out of her nap by fuch har monious strains, exclaims,

"What angel wakes me from my flow'ry bed." V. 51. The jaye jangled them amonge.]

Thus, in The cherrie and the flae:

"The jargon of the jangling jays."

Again, in The houlate, a ftil more ancient poem, by Holland:

"Thus jowkit with juxtèrs the janglane ja.”

Again, in Wedderburns Complainte of .Scotland, St.

Andrews, 1549; "the jargolyne of the fuallou gart the jay jangil."

V. 82. As was the giaunte fyr Colbraunde.]

This Colbrond was a Danish giant, whom fir Guy, earl of Warwick, like another David, fought in single combat, defeated, and flew. The combat is elaborately defcribe'd by Robert of Gloucester, and Henry de Knyghton, the historians, and Michael Drayton the poet, each of whom, no doubt, was indebted to the old Engleish romance of "Sir Guy," or the Latin one of a certain imaginary Girardus Cornubienfis, for whom fee Hearnes appendix to the Chronicon de Dunftaple, Num. XI, and who was translateëd, in drawling ftanzas of balade royal, by dan John Lydgate, monk of Bury; though it hapens not to be mention'd by any historical writeër of or near the time of action. Warton, indeed, an admirable judge, to be fure, of literary antiquitys! feems to have no doubt of both Bevis and Guy being "English heros," and actually refers, for the latter, to "Will. Malmesf. Geft. Angl. ii. 6. where it would, probablely, be fomewhat difficult to find him. Camden, indeed, a profefs'd antiquary, and even the more learned Selden, are nearly as credulous as "honeft Tom."

V. 140. Lynen cloth i shall none were.]

He means, in fact, to become a pilgrim, not "an hermyte," the former being a vagabond, the latter stationary; and, instead of a linen shirt, would wear one of hair or woolen; as fuch-like ignorant and despicable enthusiasts were wont to do. Thus, fir Armado, in Loves labours loft, fays, "The naked truth of it is, i have no fhirt; i go woolward for penance." Again, in Ywaine and Gawain, V. 267 :