Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/186

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��Early Eng/ish Poetry.

��And Lucyiis, the emperor of Rome

I brought to ileadly wracke; And a thousand more of noble knightes

For fcare did turn their backe; Five kings of " Haynims " I did kill

Amidst that bloody strife; Besides the Grecian emperor

Who also /ost his liffe. Whose carcasse I did send to Rome

Cladd pourlye on a becre; And afterward I past Mount Joye

The next approaching yccr. Then I came to Rome where I was mett

Right as a conquerer And by all the cardinalls solempnelye

I was crowned an emperor. One winter there I mad abode;

Then word to mee was brought Howe Mordred had oppressed the crown;

What treason he had wrought. Att home in Brittaine with my queene:

Therefore I came with speed To Brittaine back with all my power

To quitt that traterous deedc. And soon at Sandwich I arrivde

Where Mordred me withstoode. But yctt at last I landed there With effusion of much blood. Thence chased 1 Mordred away

Who fledd to London right, From London to Winchester, and

To Comeballe took his flight. And stile I him pursued with spetd

Tile at the last wee mett: Uhevby an appointed day of fight

Was there agreed and sett Where we did fight of mortal life

Eche other to deprive, Tile of a hundred thousand men

Scarce one was left alive. There all the noble chevalrye Of Brittaine took their end Oh see how fickle is their state

That doc on feates depend. There all the traiterous men were slaitve

Not one escapte away And there dyed all my vallyant knights

Alas ! that woful day ! Two and twenty ycerc I ware the crown

In honor and grete fame ; And thus by deth* suddenlye Deprived of the same.

Some distinguished English critics, like Warton and Dr. Warburton, maintain that the materials as well as the taste for romantic fiction were derived almost exclusively from the Arabians. They as- sume therefore that the traditions, fables and mode of thought in Northern Asia from whence the Scandinavians and Ger- mans are supposed to have originated, were identical with those which the se-


 * The song makes Arthur record his own death.

��eluded people of Arabia afterwards in- corporated into their literature. It is more natural to assume that there is al- ways a similarity in the mythologies, as in the manners, rchgion, and armor of rude ages and races. Respect for woman was a characteristic of the north- ern nations of Europe, and not of the Mohammedans. This is an all pervad- ing element in romantic and chivalric fiction. The Northmen believed in giants and dwarfs ; in wizzards and fair- ies ; in necromancy and enchantments ; as well as the Oriental natives. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that the immense tide of song which inundated Europe from the eleventh to the six- teenth century, under the form of met- rical romances, ballads, and songs, was made up of confluent streams from clas- sical, Oriental, and Gothic mythologies. The Troubadours of Province (from Provincia, by way of eminence), the legitimate successors of the Latin cithar- oedi, the British bards, the northern scalds, the Saxon gleemen, and English harpers, all contributed in turn to form English minstrelsy and French romance. The Latin tongue ceased to be spoken in France about the ninth century. The new language used in its stead was a mix- ture of bad Latin and the language of the Franks. As their speech was a medley, so was their poetry. As the songs of chivalry were the most popular compositions in the new or Romance language, they were called Romans, or Romants. They appeared about the eleventh century. The stories of Ar- thur and his round table are doubtless of British origin. It is evident that the Northmen had the elements of chivalry in them long before that institution be- came famous, as is shown by the story of Regner Lodbrog, the celebrated warrior and sea king, who landed in Denmark about the year <Soo. A Swedish Prince

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