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Bid her remember what she dreamt,

In her bed where as she lay;

How, when the grype and the grimly beast, Would have carried her crown away,

Even then, there came the little grey hawk,
And saved her from his claws;

Then bid the queen be merry at heart,
For heaven will 'fend her cause.

Back then rode that fair damsel,

And her heart it leapt for glee;
And when she told her gracious dame,
A glad woman then was she.

But when the appointed day was come,
No help appeared nigh,

Then woeful, woeful, was her heart,
And the tears stood in her eye.

And now a fire was built of wood,
And a stake was made of tree,
And now queen Elinore forth was led,
A sorrowful sight to see!

No knight stood forth, no knight there came,

No help appeared nigh;

And now the fire was lighted up,

Queen Elinore she must die.

Three times the Herald he waved his hand,
And three times spake on high,-

Giff any good knight will 'fend this dame,
Come forth, or she must die!

And now the fire was lighted up,
As hot as hot might be;

When riding upon a little white steed,
The tiny Boy they see.

Away with that stake! away with those brands!

And loose our comely queen!

I am come to fight with Sir Aldingar,
And prove him a traitor keen.

Forth then stood Sir Aldingar;

But when he saw the child,

He laughed and scoffed, and turned his back,
And weened he had been beguiled.

Now turn, now turn thee, Aldingar,
And either fight or flee;

I trust that I shall avenge the wrong,
Though I am so small to see.

The boy pulled forth a well good sword,
So gilt it dazzled the ee,

The first stroke stricken at Aldingar,
Smote off his legs by the knee.

Stand up, stand up, thou false traitor,
And fight upon thy feet,

For, an' thou thrive as thou beginn'st,
Of height we shall be meet.

A priest! a priest! says Aldingar,
While I am a man alive;

A priest! a priest! says Aldingar,
Me for to houzle + and shrive.

I would have lain by our comely queen,
But she would never consent;

Then I thought to betray her unto our king,
In a fire to have her brent.

* Ee-eyen-or eyn, the ancient plural of eye.

* Administer the Eucharist, or extreme unction from the Saxon, husl. To shrive-confess.

There came a lazar to the king's gates,

A lazar both blind and lame,-
I took the lazar upon my back,
And on her bed had him lain.

Then ran I to our comely king,
These tidings sore to tell-
But ever alack! says Aldingar,
Falsing never does well.

Forgive, forgive me, queen, madam,
The short time I must live;-
Now Christ forgive thee, Aldingar,
As freely I forgive.

Here take thy queen, our King Harry,
And love her as thy life,

For never had a king in Christenty,

A truer and a fairer wife.

King Henry ran to clasp his

queen,

And loosed her full soon;
Then turned to look for the tiny Boy,
-The Boy was vanished and gone!

But first he had touched the lazar-man,
And stroaked him with his hand;
The lazar under the gallows tree,
All whole and sound did stand.

The lazar under the gallows tree
Was comely, straight, and tall;

King Henry made him his head steward,
To wait within his hall.

PERCY.

THE

MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAINE.

THE original of this story is supposed to be as old as the beginning of the fourteenth century, and to have supplied Chaucer with a theme for one of his tales- The Wife's Tale." As it stands here, it contains all the amendments and supplementary stanzas by Dr. Percy; every alternate leaf, containing nine stanzas, being wanting in his folio MS. As a general answer, however, to all the charges against him, he has printed the old fragment literally and exactly at the end of his first volume, "that such austere antiquaries as complain that the ancient copies have not been always rigidly adhered to, may see how unfit for publication many of the pieces would have been, if all the blunders, corruptions, and nonsense of illiterate reciters and transcribers had been superstitiously retained, without some attempt to correct and amend them." It should be added, that on a comparison of the two, there is as little difference as could be expected or wished.

KING Arthur lives in merry Carlile,
And seemly is to see,

And there with him Queen Guenever,
That bride so bright of blee.

And there with him Queen Guenever,
That bride so bright in bower,
And all his barons about him stood,
That were both stiff and stower.

The king a royal Christmass kept,
With mirth and princely cheer;
To him repaired many a knight,
That came both far and near.

And when they were to dinner set,
And cups went freely round,
Before them came a fair damsel,
And knelt upon the ground.

A boon! a boon! O King Arthur!
I beg a boon of thee-
Avenge me of a carlish knight,

Who hath shent my love and me.

At Tearn-Wadling* his castle stands,
Near to that lake so fair,

And proudly rise the battlements,
And streamers deck the air.

No gentle knight, nor lady gay,
May pass that castle wall,

But from that foul discourteous knight
Mishap will them befall.

He's twice the size of common men,

With thews and sinews strong!
And on his back he bears a club,
That is both thick and long.

This grim baron 'twas our hard hap
But yester morn to see,

When to his bower he bare my love,

And sore misused me.

* Tearn (i. e. lake) Wadling is a small lake, near Hesketh in Cumberland, on the road from Penrith to Carlisle. It is reported that the remains of an old castle, near the lake, were visible at no remote period.-Dr. PERCY.

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