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of his work," De Casibus," written by Laurent de Premierfait, which was originally printed at Bruges in 1476, and at Lyons in 1483. Lydgate's poem was probably useful, when first written, as a book of reference, to those who could not consult the original; but the day of its popularity is past.

The Troy Book, however, containing (as the title-page assures us)" the only true and sincere "history of the wars between the Grecians and "the Trojans," deserves more consideration. Being a translation from Colonna's prose history, which contained the substance of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis, it comprises all the materials of one class of Romantic history; and is valuable as a specimen of the learning, as well as of the credulity, of our ancestors. The story is so much connected with our early studies; that story is so comically adapted to the usages and manners of chivalry; its author is so minute and circumstantial in describing events. which never happened; is so precise in his dates and numbers; so full of event and bustle; and so prodigal of ornament; that if this poem be no longer resorted to by common readers, as a source of amusement, it is, perhaps, only because two close columns of black letter, presenting ninety lines in a page, are too

formidable to be encountered by any eyes, but those of a veteran in antiquarian researches.

The most esteemed edition of this work is that of 1555, printed by Thomas Marshe, under the care of one John Braham, who corrected it from many errors of the original edition, given by Pinson in 1513. It has been already observed, that Lydgate undertook this poem at the request of Henry V. when prince of Wales: it was begun in 1412, and finished in 1420. The first of these dates is rather oddly expressed in the following lines.

And of the time to maken mention,
When I began on this translation,
It was the year, soothly for to sayn,
Fourteen complete tho of his father's reign.
The time of year, shortly to conclude,
When twenty grees was Phebus' altitude.
The hour, when he hath made his steedes draw
His rosen chariot low under the wawe

To bathe his beams, &c.

Here" the year fourteen complete" must mean the fourteenth, i. e. 1412; for Henry IV. who began his reign in September 1399, and died in March 1413, did not reign fourteen complete

years. The remainder of the description, though now rather obscure, was certainly intended to express, very exactly, the moment at which Lydgate began his poem; and was probably intelligible to contemporary readers. Judicial astrology was then in vogue; and he was anxious to prove, that he had commenced his operation at a lucky moment. His work, perhaps, may not give us reason to believe in the poetical influence of the stars; but we must at least approve his modesty, in trusting the perfection of his verses to good fortune, rather than to genius.

Every one knows that Laomedon, king of Troy, had the rashness to offend Jason and Hercules, who stopped in his country on their way to Colchis; and that Hercules revenged this "uncurtesy" by destroying the city of Troy. Such an episode in the adventures of the Argonauts, naturally connects the second Trojan war with their expedition, which is therefore related by Lydgate as minutely as if he had been their ship-mate, and had kept a journal of the voyage. The following lines describe part of the ceremonial used by king Oetes, after Jason's first audience.

The time approached, and gan to nigh fast,
That officers full busily them cast

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To make ready, with all their busy curé,
And in the halle bordes for to cure.

For by the dial the hour they gan to mark
That Phebus southward whirled up his ark,
So high aloft that it drew to noon;
That it was time for the king to gone
Unto his meat, and enter into hall.

And then Oetes, with his lordes all,
And with his knights about him every one,
With Hercules, and also with Jasón,

Is set to meat in his royal see;

And every lord like to his degree.

But first of all, this mighty man Jason,
Assigned was by the king anon

For to sitte at his owne borde :
And Hercules, that was so great a lord,
Was sette also faste by his side.
And the marshall no longer list abide,
To assign estates where they should be:
Like as they were of high or low degree,
And after that, on scaffold high aloft,
The noise gan loud, and nothing soft,
Of trumpeters, and eke of clarioners:
And therewithal, the noble officers
Full thriftely served have the hall-
I want cunning by order to descrive

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Of every course the diversities,

The strange sewes,' and the subtleties,"

That were that day served in that place, &c.

The following picture of Medea's growing passion is not inelegant :

For as she sat at meat tho in that tide,
Her father next, and Jason by her side,
All suddenly her fresh and rosen hue
Full ofte-time gan changen and renew;
An hundred sithes 3 in a little space.

For now,
the blood from her goodly face
Unto her heart unwarely gan avale : 4
And therewithal she waxeth dead and pale.
And eft anon (who thereto gan take heed)
Her hue returneth into goodly red:

• Mr. Tyrwhitt explains sewes, dishes; but his quotation from Gower rather proves it to mean broths, or soups, in which sense the word often occurs in ancient cookeryreceipts. Sax. seawe, succus, liquor. (Lye's Dict.) Seve. Fr. The Scotch still use the word sowens for a sort of oatmeal broth, or flummery.

• These were ornaments placed on the table, and sometimes illustrated with mottos.

⚫ Times.

• Again. Sax.

4 Descend. Fr.

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