The Lay of Havelok the Dane Part 27

2450. Cf. ll. 2505 and 2822. This appears to have been a common, but barbarous, method in former times of leading traitors or malefactors to execution. Thus in the Romance of Kyng Alisaunder, the treatment of the murderers of Darius is described:

He dude quyk harnesche hors, And sette theron heore cors, Hyndeforth they seten, saun faile; In heore hand they hulden theo tailes. --l. 4708.

2461. We find a similar proverb in the _Historie de Melusine, tiree des Chroniques de Poitou_, &c. 12mo. Par. 1698, in which (at p. 72) Thierry, Duke of Bretagne, says to Raimondin;-- "Vous autorisez par votre silence _notre Proverbe_, qui dit, _Qu'un vieux peche fait nouvelle vergogne_."

2513. _Sket was seysed_, &c. Comp. the Fr. l. 971.

Apres cest fet, ad receu Le regne q'a son piere fu.

2516.

_And the king ful sone it yaf Vbbe in the hond, wit a fayr staf._

So in _Sir Tristrem_:

Rohant he yaf _the wand_, And bad him sitte him bi, That fre; 'Rohant lord mak y To held this lond of me.' --fytte i. st. 83; p. 52.

The editor is clearly mistaken in explaining the _wand_ to be a _truncheon_, or _symbol of power_. For the custom of giving seisin or invest.i.ture _per fustim_, and _per baculum_, see Madox's _Formul.

Anglican._ pref. p. ix. and Spelman, Gloss. in v. _Investire_, and _Traditio_. The same usage existed in France, _par rain et par baton_.

2521.

_----of monekes blake A priorie to seruen inne ay._

The allusion here may be made either to the Abbey of Wellow, in Grimsby, which was a monastery of _Black Canons_, said to have been built about A.D. 1110, or (what is more probable) to the Augustine Friary of Black Monks, which is stated in the _Monumental Antiquities of Grimsby_, by the Rev. G. Oliver, to have been "founded _about_ the year 1280,"

p. 110. No notice of it occurs in Tanner till the year 1304. Pat. 33 Edw. I. Some old walls of this edifice, which was dissolved in 1543, still remain, and the site is still called "The Friars." If the connection between this foundation and the one recorded in the poem be considered valid, the date of the composition must be referred to _rather_ a later period than we wish to admit.

2530. The French supplies what is here omitted, viz. that Havelok sails to England by the persuasion of his wife.

[Indeed, ll. 979-1006 of the French text may serve to fill up the evident gap in the story; a translation of the pa.s.sage is added, to shew this more clearly.

Quant Haueloc est rois pussanz, Le regne tint plus de .iiii. an Merueillos tresor i auna.

When Havelok is a mighty king, He reigned more than 4 years, Marvellous treasure he ama.s.sed.

Argentille li commanda Qu'il pa.s.sast en Engleterre Pur son heritage conquerre, Dont son oncle l'out engettee, [Et] A grant tort desheritee.

Argentille (Goldborough) bade him Pa.s.s into England To conquer her heritage, Whence her uncle had cast her out, And very wrongly disinherited her.

Li rois li dist qu'il fera Ceo qu'ele li comandera.

Sa nauie fet a-turner, Ses genz & ses ostz mander.

The king told her that he would do That which she should command him.

He got ready his fleet, And sent for his men and his hosts.

En mier se met quant orre a, Et la reyne od lui mena.

Quatre vinz & quatre cenz Out Haueloc, pleines de genz.

He puts to sea when he has prayed, And took the queen with him.

Four score and four hundred (s.h.i.+ps) Had Havelok, full of men.

Tant out nage & sigle, Q'en Carleflure est ariue.

Sur le hauene se herbergerent, Par le pais viande quierent.

So far has he steered and sailed That he has arrived at Carleflure.

Hard by the haven they abode, And sought food in the country round.

Puis enuoia li n.o.ble rois, Par le consail de ses Danois, A Alsi qu'il li rendist La terre qe tint Ekenbright, Q'a sa niece fut donee, Dont il l'out desheritee;

Then sent the n.o.ble king, By the advice of his Danes, To Alsi (G.o.drich)--that he should restore to him The land that Ekenbright (Athelwold) held, Which was given to his niece, And of which he had deprived her.

Et, si rendre n'el voleit, Mande qu'il le purchaceroit.

Av roi uindrent li messager--

And, if he would not give it up, He sends word that he will take it.

To the king came the messengers.]

The remainder of the French poem altogether differs in its detail from the English.

2927. _Hire that was ful swete in bedde._] Among Kelly's Scotch Proverbs, p. 290, we find: "_Sweet in the bed_, and sweir up in the morning, was never a good housewife;" and in a ballad of the last century quoted by Laing, the editor of that highly curious collection, the _Select pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry of Scotland_, we meet with the same expression:

A Clown is a Clown both at home and abroad, When a Rake he is comely, and _sweet in his bed_.

[2990. The last word is written _thit_ in the MS., but, as it rimes to _rith_, we should suppose _tiht_ to be the word meant. _Thit_ cannot be explained, but _tiht_ (or perhaps _t.i.th_, according to our scribe's spelling) is the pp. of a verb signifying _to purpose_, which is the exact meaning required. Cf.

"And y to turne to ee have _ti?t_;"

i.e. "I have resolved to turn to thee."

_Political, Religious, and Love Poems_; ed. Furnivall, 1866; p. 177.]