"It was a wonder wede, Nowther of wol, ne of line." V. 148. For his love that harowed hell.] This means Jefus Christ, who, in the interval between his crucifixion and afcenfion, is fay'd, in the apostles creed, to have "defcended into hel." This vifitation is relateëd, most at large, in Nichodemuses gofpel. In Hearnes appendix to Forduns Scotichronicon (P. 1402-3), is a fingular engraveing from an old illumination, in which " Ihefus Christus (refurgens a mortuis Spoliat infernum," not faint Patrick, as doctor Johnson mistakes)" is reprefented," as he fays, "vifiting hel, and puting the devils into great confufion...of whom one...[with a prong and a horn] has a label issuing out of his mouth, with these words, “Dut out arongzt!” (Note in Shakspeare, 1793, VII, 342.) The harowing of hel (which feems to mean facking or plundering, as Chrift goes arm'd with his crofs, and releaseës Adam, his children, and all the faints) is frequently mention'd in the ancient mysterys. In one of The Coventry Corpus-Christi-plays (Cotton MSS. Vespafian, D, VIII, fo. 185, 6) Belyall crys when Chrifts foul is at the gates of hel, "Alas, alas, out and harrow!" In one of The Chester-Whitfun-plays (Harley MSS, Num. 2015), call'd The harrowing of hell (fo. 5), the fecond dæmon exclaims, "Out harrowe! where is our mighte?" "Haro," according to Warton, "is a form of exclamation anciently ufe'd in Normandy [clameur de Haro], to call for help, or to raise the Hue and cry [erroneously, fuppofe'd by fome, on that account, to be a corruption of Ha Rou! i. e. Rollo, D. of Normandy]. (Ob. on the F. Q. I, 171.) In fact, however, Pharroh was the old war-cry of the Irish (fee Camdens Britannia, 1695, P. 1047; and Spenfers View of Ireland, P. 39). The word, too, or crie de guerre, of Joan of Arc, was Hara ha!" (Howells Letters, P. 113.) V. 171. For, and ye my love fhould wynne, With chyvalry ye muft begin.] In like manner Horn-child, before he wil agree to marry Rymenild, thinks it necessary to spend feven years in knightly adventures. See, allfo, the advice giveën to Petit Jehan de Saintré, by la jeune dame des belles coufines (P. 169, &c.) and his fubfequent conduct. V. 175. Through which ye may wynne your fhone.] See Le bone Florence of Rome, V. 656; and the note upon that pasfage. V. 215. Both O and R fhall be therein, With A and M it shall begynne.] His device would resemble that of Chaucers prioress: "Of fmale coral about her arm she bare A pair of bedes, gauded alle with grene, And theron heng a broche of gold ful shene, V. 306. And fet his chaplet upon his head.] A chaplet, it is prefume'd, was a garland of flowers. V. 390. But thou myght take him with the dede.] Unless, that is, thou should't take him with the manner. See before, The erle of Tolous, V. 522; and the note on that line. V. 541. Undo your dore, my lady fwete.] From this repeated exclamation of the poor terrify'd fquire, he seems to have acquire'd it as a nickname, the printers colophon being " Thus endeth Undo your dore, otherwife called the fquyr of lowe degre.' To Undo your door is, to open it. Thus Gower, Confesfio amantis, fo. 41: "This Geta cam than at laste So, likewife, in Kynge Horn: "Horn bed Undo, wel fofte, This fenfe of the word, however, would seem to have been obfolete in the time of Shakspeare, who, in the fragment of an old fong, fuppofe'd to be fung by Ophelia, has "-dupt the chamber-doore." V. 591. I pray to god, and our lady, To fend you the whele of Victory.] This couplet has allready occur'd. This illustrious princefs, however, is here made to confound the wheel of Fortune with that of Victory, a godefs who had no wheel. V.614. Whan the dwarfe and mayde Ely.] See Lybeaus disconus, V. 110, &c. where, however, the dwarf fays nothing at all; fo that, it is probable, there has either been a different edition of Lybeaus in French or Engleish, or the prefent minstrel has misreciteëd the one we have. V. 714. With browes brent, and eyes ful mery.] The printed copy reads "browes bent:" the emendation is founded on the authority of an old Scotifh fong: "In January last, On munanday at morn, As through the fields i paft, To view the winter corn, I looked me behind, And faw come o'er the know Ane glancing in her apron, With a bonny brent brow." Again, in The filken-fnooded lafsie: "Fair her hair, and brent her brow." In the glosfary to Ramfays Poems Brent-brow is explain'd "fmooth high forehead." V.773. Homward thus fhall ye ryde, On haukyng by the ryvers fide.] This is an ordinary pastime in the old romanceës. Thus Adam Davie, in his Lyf of Alyfaunder: "In green wood and of huntyng, And of ryver of haukyng." So, likewife, Chaucer, in his Rime of fire Thopas: "He couth hunt al the wild dere, And ride an hawking by the rivere." Again, in The frankleins tale : "These fauconers upon a faire rivere, That with the hawkis han the heron flain." V. 824. Your maryners shall fynge arowe Hey how and rumbylawe.] Some fong, with this burthen, seems to have been, formerly, peculiar to feamen. Thus, in Cocke Lorelles bote, b. l. "For joye theyr trumpettes dyde they blowe, And fome fonge heve and howe, rumbelowe." Skelton, too, in his Bowge of court has the following lines: "Holde up the helme, loke up, and lete god ftere, I wolde be merie, what wind that ever blowe, Heve and how rombelow, row the bote, Norman, rowe:" alludeing, it appears from Fabian, to "a roundell or fonge," made by the watermen in praise of John Norman, mayor of London, in the thirty fecond year of Henry the fixth, who, instead of rideing to Westminfter, like his predecesfors," was rowed thyther by water." Its high antiquity is further manifested by the fragment of a very ancient Scotish song, preserve'd by the fame Fabian, and other older chronicleërs, on the battle of Bannock-burn, in 1314: "Maydens of Englande, fore may ye morne, For your lemans ye have loft at Bannockys-borne, With heve alowe: What weneth the king of England So foone to have wone Scotland? Again, in another old fragment: "I saw three ladies fair, finging hey and how, I faw three mariners, finging rumbelow, V. 941. Farewell golde, pure and fyne, This lift of adieus might have been reasonablely prefume'd to have been parody'd by the immortal Shakspeare, who, certainly, was not very fcrupulous in the felection of his literary asfistants, where he makes his hero roar out his final "Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!" if his industrious editours had not allready provideëd, for the illustration of their inimitable authour, a fufficient quantity of thofe exclamatory perorations. (See the edition of 1793, XV, 542.) THE KNIGHT OF CURTESY AND THE FAIR LADY OF FAGUELL. The history of which we have here a fimple and romantick, but, at the fame time, terefting and pathetick, narrative, is relateëd, with fome prolixity, by Fauchet, from an old chronicle, writen about the year 1380, and is generally believe'd to be founded on facts. Le chastellain de Couci, the conftable, that is, of Couci-castle (fo ftrangely perverted in the prefent poem |