B. iii. c. ii. f. xlvi. Without respect of person or of port. PORT, is carriage, afpect. Fr. port. It is fo ufed by Chaucer; and by Harrison, speaking of the lord mayor of London. "Of a fubject there is no publick officer, of anie citie in Europe, that may comin PORT and, countenance with him, during the time of his office*. ແ pare B. iii. c. iii. f. iv. My glorious foveraignes goodlie auncestrie. Milton, in his hiftory of England, seems to have used Spenser's chronicle of the british kings, as a kind of clue, to direct him through fo dark and perplexed a fubject. He plainly copies our author's order and difpofition, whom he quotes; and almoft tranfcribes from him in the ftory of Lear, as much, however, as the difference between profe and verfe will permit. Milton was very fond of the old british history, in which his imagination discovered many fine fubjects for poetry. Milton's History is an admirable comment on this part of our author; which is manifeftly taken from the former part of John Hardyng's chronicle. * Description of England, üt fupr. pag. 168, B. ii. c. x. f. liii. The holie grayle. I forgot to remark before*, that in the Afhmolean Museum, at Oxford, there is a very curious and beautiful manufcript, of the Hiftory of Arthur and his knights, and their Atchievement of the Sangrealt. It is in folio, on vellum; the initials are illuminated, and the chapters are adorned with head-pieces, expreffing the story, painted and illuminated; in which we fee the fashion of antient armour, building, manner of tilting, and other particulars. These are the only illuminations of the kind I have seen. They afe fomething like the wood-cuts to an old edition of Ariofto, 1540. Other ornaments are introduced in the margin, and at the foot of the pages. This manuscript, I prefume, is of confiderable antiquity. In the Bodleian library are two other manuscripts, in french, of the hiftory of Arthur and his conqueft, of the Sangreal §. With regard to what I have faid above, concerning the word Grayle in Skelton, I find I am miftaken; *Vol. I. pag. 34. + Codd. Afhmol. fol. 828. In Vinegia. quarto. § Viz. Cod. Ken. Digb. 1284, 223. And Hyper. Bodl. [ex Hat tonianis] 4092, 67. Vol. I. pag. 35. Ii 2 Grayle Grayle there fignifying Graduale, or the Refponforium, or Antiphonarium, in the romifh fervice. The french word is Greel, which Dufrefne* interprets," Livre "a chanter le meffe." Thus, in fome monaftic in ventories taken at the reformation, we find Grayles enumerated, i. e. fervice-books. Skelton, cited above, fays; The peacocke fo proud, Because his voice is loud, He fhall fing the GRAYLE. i. e. He fhall fing that part of the fervice which is called the Grayle, or graduale. Among the furniture given to the chapel of Trinity-college, Oxford, by the founder, mention is made of four Grayles of Parchment lyned with gold †, B. iii. c. x. f. viii. Brawles, ballads, virelayes, and verses vain. The study of the italian poets, in the age of queen Elizabeth, introduced a great variety of measures; particularly in the lyrical pieces of that time, in their canzonets, madrigals, devifes, fonnets, and epithala * "Quia in gradibus canitur." Dufr. in Voc. He mentions a Will of Charles earl of Valois, 1320, in which he bequeathes, " un miffel ❝ et un greel." Indent. dat. Maii 5, 1556. Regist. I. Coll. Trin. Oxon. miums. But nothing could be more abfurd than their imitations of the roman measures; an attempt begun and patronifed by Sir Philip Sydney, and Sir Edward Dyer. In an old mifcellaneous collection of poems, by Sydney, Dyer, Davis, Greville, Campion, and others, printed 1621, and entitled Davifon's Poems, or a Poetical Rhapsodie*, there is an iambic elegy by Spenfer, never printed in his works, which I fhall reftore to the public. This little piece may justly be deemed a curiofity on more accounts than one. LOUES EMBAS IE, IN ΑΝ IAMBICKE ELEGIE. Vnhappy verfe! the witneffe of vnhappy ftate, Whether lying reftleffe in heauy bed, or else If in bed, tell her that mine eyes can take no reft: It is the fourth impreffion. Lond. for R. Jackfon. 12mo. pag. 203. Afked 4 Afked why, fay waking loue suffereth no sleepe: Tell her, that her pleasures were wont to lull me asleepe, Tell her, that her beauty was wont to feed mine eyes: Tell her, that her sweet tong was wont to make me mirth. Now do I nightly wafte, wanting my kindly reft: And if I waste, who will bewaile my heauy chance ? And if I ftarue, who will record my curfed end? And if I die, who will fay, this was Immerito? EDMUND SPENCER. To this I add another piece, equally curious and unknown, by the fame author; which Mr. Johnson discovered, among other recommendatory verses, prefixed to an old tranflation of Contareni's description of Venice, by one Lewkenor. The antique Babel, empreffe of the Eaft, Upreard her buildinges to the threatned skies; And fecond Babell, tyrant of the West, Her ayry towers upraised much more high; But, with the weight of their own furquedry, They both are fallen, that all the earth did feare, And |
