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Be.

NOTES.

Fortescue uses also 'beth' (the old 'beoth'). 'Are' is Scandinavian.

Schewyd, shewed. For 'ed,' the ending 'yd' or 'id' used. Many similar capricious spellings will be noticed. Jus Regale. Under this, the prince 'may rule his people by such laws as he maketh himself' (Chap. I.)an absolute monarchy.

Jus Politicum et Regale. Under this, the prince 'may not rule his people by other laws than such as they assent unto' (Chap. I.)-a limited monarchy. 'Law Politic' is Law enacted by the will of the people or citizens (Gr. polītēs, a citizen, inhabitant of a polis, 'city,' or state). Saynt Lewes. Lewis IX. of France, who reigned 1226-70, was called St Lewis; and most rightly so called, for he was perhaps the best king that ever reigned, unless it were our own Alfred' (Freeman). He led the seventh crusade, and was engaged in the eighth at his death.

Ne...

never. We have already seen examples of denial by two, three, and even four negatives. Talys, tailles, tallies, tallage, taxes. Originally, similar pieces of wood with reckonings scored or notched upon them, kept by debtor and creditor; hence, kept by vassal and lord in the case of taxes or tribute. From Lat. talea (a green stick, a shoot newly cut), through Fr. taille (lit. a cutting, section). Astatts, Estates, conditions, orders,

classes; that is, representatives of the different classes of freemen in the nation. These, in most countries, were counted as three-Nobles, Clergy, and Commons-the Commons generally being only the citizens of the towns " (Freeman).

Here the three Estates must be taken somewhat loosely; the com

mons in general were the dependents of the nobles, and the town deputies were not raised to a really equal voice with the nobles till later, by a bold innovation of St Lewis's grandson, Philip the Fair (1285-1314).

'Estate' is from Old Fr. estat (mod. Fr. état), from Lat. statum (condition, position, state), from stare (to stand). The prefixed e is a modification of i, which the vulgar Latin put before sc, sm, sp, st, in the fifth and sixth centuries, to make the pronunciation easier. Parlement, the French form of 'Parlia

ment;' from Fr. parler (to speak): the fact of talking about or discussing things; and hence, specially, the fact of considering the affairs of the nation. Whence the place, and the assembly. Milton wrote

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Necessi-te is the transition form from

Fr. nécessi-té (from Lat. necessitatem) to 'necessi-ty.'

He would not set... upon the Nobles, &c. Cf.: 'The Kyng ther (in the Realme of Fraunce) askyth never Subsyde of (subsidy from) his Nobles, for drede that if he chargyd them so, thay would confedre (confederate) with the Comons, and peraventure

putt hym downe' (Chap. XII.) Have not rebellid or &c. Cf.: Which (to rebel) the Comons of Fraunce do not, nor may (can) do; for thay have no Wepon, nor Armor, nor Good to bye (buy) it withall' (Chap. XII.);

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Them

One of the MSS. reads hem, the older form. So augmented. say 'so. occurs below. May (unneth lyve). 'May' here means · can.' One of the MSS. reads 'mowe,' here and throughout; cf. the extract from Mandeville, where both forms occur.

as. We should now that;' and this form

Unneth is the old un-eath-e, 'un

easi-ly:' hence hardly, scarcely. Weryn, wear. In 3d plur. indic., Fortescue sometimes uses the ending 'yn,' sometimes 'en' (cf. 'passen' in next sentence, and 'gone' in the next).

Grete (canvas), great, gross, coarse. Compare More's Utopia, Book II. (Robinson's transl., Arber's reprint, p. 88): As for the smalnesse or finenesse of the threde, that is no thinge passed for' (regarded as of no consequence).'

Hosyn, hosen, hose. Our only plural noun in -en still remaining in good use is 'oxen.'

Sum (singular), some one, one; an indef.

selection of a representative person. Tenement, Fr. ténément, Lat. tenementum, from tenere, to hold, occupy: anything (lands, houses, &c.) holden, held, or occupied; a holding.

Scute, a crown, a French gold coin worth 3s. 4d. O. Fr. escu (orig.

escut; mod. Fr. écu), a shield, coat of arms, crown; from Lat. scutum (shield).

Artyd, from Lat. ar(c)tus, squeezed, pressed, forced.

Most extreme. 'Extreme' is already superlative, though not in the usual English form. Lat. extremus, superl. of exter or exterus (from ex, out of).

One, the most fertile Realme is about the same as 'one of the most fertile realms.' The apposition form has now given way to the partitive form. Cf. Spenser, Faery Queene, I. iii. 37: 'He is one the truest knight alive.' Shakspeare has examples; such as one the wisest prince' (Henry VIII., ii. 4).

Straungars. O. Fr. estranger (mod. Fr. étranger), from estrange, from Lat. extraneus (from extra), an outsider, foreigner, stranger. Almayn, Germany. Fr. Allemagne, Lat. Allemannia.

Castells, castles. Lat. castellum, a fortified place, fort.

Fortrasis, fortresses, strongholds. Fr. forteresse, from Lat. fortis (strong). Socoures, succours. From Lat. succurro (from sub, curro), run under, so as to hold up or aid.

The Scotts, who came from Ireland about the end of the third century A.D., and the Pyctes (Picts), or Caledonians (called Peohtas in the Chronicle), held the country north of the Forth. Both were Keltic peoples. Trybutorye. Britain was held by the Romans, 43-410 A.D.

Litil Brytayne or Bretagne, Britannia Minor, Brittany, the north-west corner of France.

Off which... Yssue. Rectify syntax. Grete Arthure, says this mythical his

tory, was son of Uther Pendragon, one of Constantine's three sons.

The whole chapter may be re-written, with special attention to improved construction of Sentence and Paragraph.

NEW ENGLISH.

WILLIAM DUNBAR.-1460 ?-1520?

WILLIAM DUNBAR is the greatest name in English poetry between Chaucer and Spenser; indeed, Sir Walter Scott speaks of him as 'the excellent poet, unrivalled by any which Scotland has produced.' He was a native of Lothian, studied in St Salvator's College, St Andrews (B.A. 1477, and M. A. 1479), begged for a while in the garb of a Franciscan friar, and thereafter spent much time at the Scottish court in vain hopes of a fat benefice. In 1500, James IV. gave him a pension of £10 Scots (about £3 English), which was doubled in 1507, and raised to £80 in 1510.

Dunbar's extant pieces are all short. One of the greatest, and certainly the most elaborate, is The Goldyn Targe, 1508, a fine allegorical description of the gradual succumbing of Reason to the persistent attacks of Love. With it may be ranked The Thistle and the Rose, 1503, an allegorical poem on the nuptials of James IV. and Margaret Tudor, and The Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins.

THE GOLDEN TARGE.*

Bright as the star of day began to shine,
When gone to bed were Vesper and Lucine,
I raise,1 and by a rosere 2 did me rest;
Up sprang the golden candle matutine,3
With clear depurit beamës crystalline,
Gladding the merry fowlis in their nest,
Ere Phoebus was in purple cape revest; 5
Up rose the lark, the heavens' minstrel fine,
In May, in till a morrow mirthfullest.

5

1 Rose. 2 Arbour of roses. Of the morning. 4 Purified. Dressed, attired. 6 In-to, upon.

* The spelling is largely modernised in this extract; and it will be modernised, where necessary, in all extracts following.

Full angel-like these 1 birdis sang their hours 2
Within their curtains green, in to 3 their bowers,

Apparellit white and red with bloomës sweet;
Enamellit was the field with all coloúrs;
The pearly droppis shook in silver showers,

While all in balm did branch and leavis fleet: 4
To part from Phœbus did Aurora greet ; 5
Her crystal tears I saw hang on the flowers,
Which 6 he for love all drank up with his heat.

For mirth of May, with skippis and with hops,
The birdis sang upon the tender crops,

With curious notes, as Venus' chapel clerks ;
The roses young, new spreading of their knops,"
Were powderit bright with heavenly beryl drops,
Through beamës red, burning as ruby sparks;
The skyës rang for shouting of the larks;
The purple heaven, o'erscalitR in silver slops,9

O'ergilt the treeïs, branches, leaves, and barks.

Down through the ryce1o a river ran with streams
So lustily again(st) those 11 lykand 12 leams,13

That all the lake as lamp did leam 14 of light
Which shadowit all about with twinkling gleams ;
That boughis bathit were in fecund beams

Through the reflex of Phoebus' visage bright.

On every side the hedges rose on height;

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The bank was green, the brook was full of breams,15 35
The stanners 16 clear as stars in frosty night.

The crystal air, the sapphire firmament,

The ruby skyës of the orient,

Cast beryl beams on emerant 17 boughis green;
The rosy garth depaynt 18 and redolent,

40

Orig.

1 Thir (in original). 2 Orisons. In, within. 4 Float. 5 Weep. quhilk. 7 Buds. 8 Spilt, poured over, overflowing. Or slaps, breaches (as in a wall). 10 Long branches (cf. Ger. reis, twig), hence trees or bushes. 11 Orig. thai.

12 Grateful, pleasing. 13 Gleams, sunbeams.

14 Gleam, shine. 15 Fishes. 16 Gravel, small stones in the bed of the river. 17 Emerald, verdant. 18 Painted.

4

With purple, azure, gold, and goulis1 gent2
Arrayed was by dame Flora the queen
So nobilly3 that joy was for to sene ;*
The rock again(st) 5 the river rèsplendent
As low 6 enluminit? all the leaves sheen.

What through the merry fowlis' harmony,
And through the river's sound that ran me by,
On Flora's mantle I slepit as I lay;
Where soon in to my dreamës fantasy
I saw approach again(st) the orient sky
A sail, as white as blossom upon spray,8
With merse9 of gold, bright as the star of day;
Which tendit to the land full lustily,

As falcon swift desirous of her prey.

12

And hard on board 10 unto the bloomit meads,
Among the greenë rispis 11 and the reeds,
Arrivit she, wherefrom anon there lands
An hundred ladies, lusty in to weeds,"
As fresh as floweris that in May up spreads,
In kirtles 13
green, withoutyn kell 14 or bands:
Their bright hairis hang glittering on the strands
In tresses clear, wyppit 15 with golden threads,
With pappis white, and middles 16 small as wands.

Describe I would, but who could well endite,
How all the fieldis with those lilies white

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Depaynt were bright, which to the heaven did glete: 17
Not thou, Homèr, as fair as thou could write,
For all thine ornate stylis so perfyte ; 18
Nor yet thou, Tullius, whose lippis sweet
Of rhetoric 19 did in till termës fleet:

8

3 Nobly.

70

4 See

Sprig, small twig

1 Gules (a term of heraldry), red. 2 Elegant, pretty. (gerund). Opposite to, facing, Flame. 7 Illuminated. or branch. 9 Mast. 10 Close on shore. 1 Coarse marsh-grass. 12 Pleasant in clothes, delightfully dressed. 13 Short jackets, or petticoats. 14 Cowl, hood. 15 Bound, tied round. 16 Waists. 17 Glitter. 18 Perfect. 19 Oratory, the speaker's

art.

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