lished from two mss. by Morris in his Old English Miscellany, PP. 156 ff. 76, 24. Non: Ms. Jesus Coll. 29 reads mon "man.” 77, 4. biwench: bipench "bethink." 77, 26. told by Ekkehardus: in his Libri de casibus monasterii Sancti Galli, cap. 26. This was ed. by G. Meyer von Knonau, St. Gallen, 1877. The author is called Ekkehard IV. He died about 1060. 78, 18. Ethelbert, King of Kent: lived 552-616. His epitaph is: Rex Æthelbertus hic clauditur in poliandro; Fana pians certus Christo meat absque meandro. Quoted by Thomas of Elmham, Historia monasterii S. Augustini Cantuariensis, ed. Hardwick, 1858, p. 142. 78, 20. Laurentius: d. 619. His epitaph: Hic sacra, Laurenti, sunt signa tui monumenti : Quoted by Thomas of Elmham, op. cit., p. 149. 78, 21. by Weever: John Weever (1576-1632) of Queen's College, Cambridge. His Ancient Funerall Monuments was published in London in 1631, folio. ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS AND CONJECTURES ON RHYME 80, 10. from Walen: Walen is now derived from O.E. wealh-"foreigner," O.H.G. walh-, cf. Low Lat. Volca. 81, 21. Lewis Morris: lived 1700-65. His Celtic Remains, completed in 1760, was published in 1878 in connection with the Archeologia Cambrensis, ed. by Silvan Evans. See the Dict. Nat. Biog., xxxix. 101 ff. 83, 16. no rhyme: cf. the note to 58, 1. 83, 19. from their neighbours the Britons: this view is now abandoned. 84, 9. Athelstan's donation: this so-called charter, which dates apparently from the time of Edward II., is printed with a translation in the Memorials of Beverley Minster, ii. 280–7 (Surtees Society 108, Durham, 1903). 84, 11. granted to Earl Leofric: Gray apparently means by. In memory of the act by which Lady Godiva was said to have secured the freedom of Coventry (see Matthew of Westminster, an. 1057, and Tennyson's Godiva), pictures of Leofric and Godiva were set up in a south window of Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II. The earl held in his right hand a charter on which was written, I Luriche for the love of thee Doe make Coventre tol-free. Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, iii. 177, n. k. Leofric was Earl of Mercia 1032-57; d. 1057. 85, 13. fragment of Cadmon: cf. 59, 2. SOME REMARKS ON THE POEMS OF JOHN LYDGATE 87, 17. in 1393: for the evidence cf. Schick's ed. of The Temple of Glas, p. lxxxvii. 87, 21. Hatfield-Brodhook: now Hatfield-Broadoak, or Hatfield Regis. 89, 11. King Arthur was not dead: this idea survived even Gray's own time by at least a century. Cf. Sir J. Rhys, Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx, ii. 458-64. As late as 1800 Arthur was believed in Cornwall to be still living in the form of a chough; cf. Edgar MacCulloch in Notes and Queries, Dec. 24, 1853, Ist Ser., viii. 618. 90, 20. Dares Phrygius: a Trojan priest mentioned by Homer (Iliad, v. 9) who was said in the Middle Ages to have written a Historia de excidio Troiae, which, together with Dictys the Cretan's Ephemeris belli Troiani, forms the basis of medieval romances on the fall of Troy. 90, 27. Gowere: cf. Chaucer's dedication of Troilus and Criseyde (v. 1856 f.): O moral Gower, this book I directe To thee, and to the philosophical Strode. Concerning Ralph Strode, the schoolman and poet, who flourished in the latter part of the fourteenth century, see Gollancz's article in the Dict. Nat. Biog. Gollancz's view that Strode wrote The Pearl has not found favor. 90, 30. Richard Hermite: Richard Rolle de Hampole (c. 1290-1349), the celebrated Yorkshire mystic. The Prick of Conscience (9624 lines) was edited by Morris for the Philological Society in 1863. 91, 15. from the original Latin: on this subject see Emil Koeppel's Munich dissertation, Laurents de Premierfait und John Lydgates Bearbeitungen von Boccaccios De casibus virorum illustrium, 1885, PP. 37-46. Koeppel concludes that Lydgate knew the Latin original, but made very little use of it. For a summary of the contents, see Morley, English Writers, vi. 110-14. 91, 16. Machabrées Daunce of Death: the Dance of Death was probably connected with the name of St. Macarius, the Egyptian anchorite, through his being represented as teaching the emptiness of life and the certainty of death to three youths out hunting; cf. Morley, English Writers, vi. 109. 92, 22. "long processes": some of Shakespeare's comic characters, e. g., the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (i. 3. 16–57), reflect this love of leisurely proceeding. Cf. also Edward Biscuit's account of the death of Sir Roger de Coverley, The Spectator, Oct. 23, 1712. Professor Raleigh (The English Novel, 1894, p. 4) speaks of "the ambling monotony of the chanted recitations concerning Sir Eglamour, Sir Perceval, and Sir Isumbras.' Chaucer had his laugh at the dreariness of these stories in Sir Thopas. 93, 26. the father of circumstance: for a recent comprehensive criticism of Homer's style see Croiset-Heffelbower, An Abridged History of Greek Literature, 1904, pp. 30 ff., 45 ff. 96, 2. our ancient poets so voluminous: MacCracken (The Lydgate Canon, London Philological Soc'y, 1908, p. xxvii) concedes to Lydgate the authorship of 145,198 lines, mostly verse. Cf. Schick, Lydgate's Temple of Glas, 1891, p. clv. Of Chaucer's works there are extant about 55,150 lines. 98, 8. owe their first formation: this true, of course, only of the literary speech. 98, 22. the nearest to him: Bale says of Lydgate, in his Catalogus: "Omnium sui temporis in Anglia poetarum, absit inuidia dicto, facilè primus floruit." Quoted by Schick, Lydgate's Temple of Glas, p. xi, n. I. IOI, 29. the fragment of Simonides: the Ode on Danae, in his De compositione verborum, chap. 26. 105, 8. upon the women: cf. his Troy-Book, iii. 4270– 4417. 106, 21. fellows of colleges: Gray here hits at the scandal-mongers of his own university. 110, 8. more frequent in Chaucer: cf. the portrait of the Monk in the Prologue. III, 12. cheerfulness: G. chearfulness. III, 29. Doctor Machabrée: an amusing mistake of Gray's time; cf. the note on 91, 16. 112, 24 ff. Like a Midsomer Rose: also printed by Halliwell-Phillipps, The Minor Poems of Lydgate, London, 1840, pp. 22-26, from Ms. Jesus Coll. 56, Cambridge. Cf. MacCracken, The Lydgate Canon, p. xix. 115, 1. eight poets: besides Sackville other contributors were William Baldwin, George Ferrers, Cavyll, Thomas Phaer, the translator of Virgil, John Skelton, Dolman, Thomas Churchyard, John Higgins, Thomas Blennerhasset, Michael Drayton, Richard Niccols, Francis Segar, and Dingley. Editions appeared in 1559 (ed. by Baldwin), 1563, 1571, 1574 (ed. by Higgins), 1575 (reissue of Higgins's "First Parte"), 1578 ("The Second Parte," expanded by Blennerhasset), 1587 (ed. by Thomas Newton), 1610 (ed. by Niccols), 1619 (re-issue of the ed. of 1610), and 1815 (ed. by Joseph Haslewood). 115, 7. Where is now: on the ubi sunt? formula cf. J. W. Bright, M. L. Notes, viii. 94, F. Tupper, Jr., same, pp. 253 f. SAMUEL DANIEL 118, 8. his youth was passed: Daniel lived from 1562 till 1619. Besides his prose History of England and his masques, he wrote little after 1603. 118, 18. a pedantic admiration: this is perhaps as severe an arraignment of the tendency toward classicism as we meet with anywhere in Gray's writings. 118, 23. the expectations Spenser had raised: In tragick plaints and passionate mischance. Colin Clouts Come Home Again (1595), l. 416-27. The "well tuned song" is Delia (1592); the last two lines refer to The Complaint of Rosamond (1592). 120, 11. Marino: Giambattista Marino or Marini (15691625). His inflated style became known by the name of Marinism. 120, 14. Seneca for a model: in his Cleopatra (1594) and Philotas (1605). SELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERS 122, 1. Richard West: born in 1716, the son of Richard West, playwright and Lord Justice of Ireland, and grandson of Bishop Burnet. At Eton he was one of the "Quadruple Alliance with Ashton, Gray, and Walpole, and was called Favonius. He was at Christ Church, Oxford, 1735-8, then began to read law at the Inner Temple, but afterward thought of going into the army; ill health prevented him and he died of consumption on June 1, 1742. 122, 13. Lord Waldegrave's: James, first Earl Waldegrave (1685-1741), succeeded Sir Horatio Walpole as ambassador and minister-plenipotentiary at Paris in 1730. 122, 15. four acts: "The French opera has only three acts, but often a prologue on a different subject, which (as Mr. Walpole informs me, who saw it at the same time) was the case in this very representation." Mason. |