Leenton the Lord, on the laund fellit. 14020 Humeriun the herty, hew to the dethe, And Famen the fuerse, fey with his hond. THEZ PARIS SLOGH IN THE FFELD. Paris, palamydon put out of lyue, And Frygie, the fell kyng, fonnget to dethe: 14024 Antilagon also, after forsothe. Achilles the choise kyng, hym chaunsit to sle, Book XXXVI. Leonteus. Eumelus. Firmeus. (fol. 214b.) Palamedes. Antilochus. Achilles. Ajax. THIES ACHILLES SLOGH IN THE FFELD. Achilles, with his choppes, chaunsit to sle 14028 Emphemun the fuerse, & the prise Emphorbiun: Euphemus and Austeron the stith, out of state broght: Lygonun the lege kyng, launchet thurgh dint: 14032 Troiell, with treason, & the true kyng Menon : THIES ENEAS SLOGH. Eneas also auntrid to sle 14036 Amphymak the fuerse, with a fyne speire; And Neron the noble with a nolpe alse. THIES PIRRUS SLOGH. Pyrrus, the pert kyng, put vnto dethe Pantasilia the prise qwene, pertest of ladies; Euphorbus. Lycaon. Hector. Troilus and Amphimachus. Nireus. Penthesilea. 14040 Kyng Priam, with pyne, Polexena his doghter: Polyxena. Thies worthy to wale, as werdes hom demyt, Were martrid in maner, as I mynt haue. Now the proses is plainly put to an end : 14044 He bryng vs to the blisse, pat bled for our Syn. AMEN. NOTES. 1. 1. Maistur in magesté, King of Kings, or Almighty King. That maister had the meaning of chief, principal, greatest, there are many proofs, as maister-street, the chief or principal street, maister-man, the Lord or chief of a band; and the names given to the chief officers of the crown, as Master of the Household, Master of the Ceremonies, &c., &c. But the word in that meaning was much more common in Scotland than in England, and is still so used. Even as late as the close of the 16th century the Provost of Edinburgh was called the maister Mair, or chief of all the Provosts or Mayors of Scotland. In an account of the rejoicings in Edinburgh in 1590, we find, "The nomber of thame that wer thair, I sall descriue thame as I can ; My Lord, I mene the maister Mair, Burel's Entry Q. 1590, Watson's Coll. II. 14. 1. 2. Endles and on, euer to last, the One God, Infinite, and Everlasting. 1. 4. wysshe me with wyt, endow me with the needed gifts, or, instruct and guide me. Observe the s becomes sh in wisse, as also in slepe in 1. 6, and in a few other words throughout the work. 8 · 1. 6. slydyn vppon shlepe, fallen into forgetfulness: by slomeryng of Age, through the negligence of the past, as in the expression, the sleep of ages.' II. 7-8. Compare with Morte Arthure, 11. 16-22. to wale in hor tyme, to be found in their age. To Wale is to choose, to select, as in 11. 373, 1355, 13224; also, in plenty, as in 11. 340, 373; of all kinds, as in 1. 332. Wale is an adj. in 694, 1329, 1727, 1943, meaning, choice, good, dear, strong, deadly; and in 1546 it means utmost, extreme: in 11952 it is a s. and means choice. In all its forms and uses there is the idea of choice, selection, excellence, superiority: it is a very common word in Scotland, and still has all those meanings. Thus Burns, in 'The Cotter's Saturday Night,' has, "Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, Again, in 'Halloween,' "Then first, an' foremost, thro' the kail, again, in Auld Rob Morris,' "There's auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen, He's the King o' guid fellows and wale of auld men : and Dean Ramsay gives an amusing instance of its use in "There's na waile o' wigs on Munrimmon Moor." Of its adjective sense, take the friendly salutation on a fine day, "this is wale weather." South of the Forth it is wale; North, it is wile: as in the phrase will and wile, free choice. See Poems in the Buchan Dialect, p. 5. 1. 9. drepit with deth, struck down by death. 1. 11. Sothe stories ben stoken up, true stories are shut up, or put by: & straught out of mind, and passed out of mind, and are forgotten. 1. 12. swolowet into swym, passed away like a dream. 1. 15. On lusti to loke, unattractive reading, lacking manliness. 1. 18. sum feynit o fere, some are fictions entirely. 1. 19. as he will, as he likes best: warys his tyme, spends his time: ware still means to spend or to expend. 1. 21. old stories of stithe, old stories of valiant men: þat astate held, of high rank. Stithe is properly firm, steady, strong, sturdy, hence valiant. "Als thai had A lord that sua suete wes and deboner, And in bataill sa styth to stand, That thai had gret causs blyth to be." The Bruce, Bk 8, 1. 384 (Jamieson's Ed.). 1. 23. wees, men. The common form of this word is wye, from A.S. wiga, a soldier, a warrior, hence its meaning knight, man. The forin wee occurs in 'Awntyrs of Arthure,' 54. 3, and frequently in this work, and means warrior, knight; but as frequently it means man, and in 1. 3356, lady. It is still used in the West of Scotland and applied to both sexes as a contracted form of wegh, wigh (the local pronunciation of wight, wycht): thus, when a person is worn out by hard work, he or she will say, "O, but I'm a weary wee!"; and Hogg in 'The Queen's Wake' makes the Witch of Fife say, "Ne wonder I was a weary wycht Quhan I cam hame to you." Similarly the verb weigh is pronounced wee, and weights is wees, weghts, wights: plough is ploo, or plew: a plough is a ploo, or a pleuch: an eye is an ee and many more examples, in which the old pronunciation is more or less retained, might be given. (See Specimens of Early English by Morris and Skeat, p. xvi, § 3.) 1. 25. to ken all the crafte, to know all the particulars. to ken is here to know; in l. 1452, to be known or discovered; and in 1. 8746, known it also means to be seen, or, to the sight, as in 1. 1567. The word is still used in Scotland with all these meanings, and with another, to make known, to instruct, to tell, as in Morte Arthure, 2619, "Wille thow for knyghthede kene me thy name?" The part. kennyng is used as a s. meaning knowledge, as in 1. 2837 of this work; but it also means a very little, in the least degree, as in Burns's 'Address to the Unco Guid,' "Then gently scan your brother Man, Still gentler sister Woman; Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, 1. 29. fele yeres, many years: fele is an adv. in l. 1884. fele vertus, very or intensely virtuous; and in 1. 2400 it is used as a s. the fairest of po fele, the fairest of the band, lit. of those many. The word is still in use. 1. 30. myn hit, to recollect for the purpose of telling: I thinke, I intend, or, I expect to be able, as in Wolsey's 'Speech to Cromwell,' "Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear In all my miseries;" Myn, which occurs frequently in the above sense, also means to speak of, to tell of, as in l. 431, "This Medea the maiden þat I mynt first." It is a good example of a peculiarity of the language of this work which cannot fail to be noticed,-the dropping of the d and t sounds in certain words, as in comaund (= commanded), 11. 2557, 2564, graunser, 1. 2169, a practice which is still very common in the West of Scotland, as aul' for auld, baul for bauld, caul' for cauld, callan for callant, buhher for butter, wahher for water, hree for three, &c. &c.: readers of Burns's Poems will be able to supply many examples. (See note to 1. 347 of William of Palerne, E. E. Text edit.) 1. 32. for lernyng of vs, for our instruction. Note the peculiar use of learn this is the sense in which it is still most frequently employed in Scotland. 1. 35. pan hom maister were, than they had authority for: maister has here the same meaning as in the phrase, "he was master of his subject." 1. 36. lympit of the sothe, fell short of the truth: as a lame foot in walking falls short of the full step. 1. 37. menye, company, set (of poets): in this sense the word is used by Wickliffe, Langland, Barbour, Douglas, and Henryson; but a more common sense is, armed men, followers, from its original meaning of domestics, retainers. (See Glossary to Douglas's Virgil, Ruddiman's edition, and Wedgwood's Etym. Dict. s. v. Meiny.) 1. 38. haithill of dedis, prince of poets, lit. noble in (such) works: |