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Book XXXVI.

(fol. 214 a.)

Of the Greeks and

Trojans slain

during the siege.

Of the Trojans
that followed
Eneas and
Antenor.

Arcesilaus.
Protesilaus.
Meriones.

Patroclus.

Prothenor.
Ormenias.

Polyxenus.
Peneleus.
Poly poetes.

Diores.

Phidippus.
Palamedes.

Antiphus.

There were fey in the fight, of the felle grekes, Eght hundrith thowsaund pro throngyn to dethe, 13992 And sex thowsaund besyde all of sad pepull.

The Sowme of the sure men, þat þe Cité keppit, Sex hundreth thowsaund, seuyn hundreth & sex, on the last.

Whan Eneas was exiled, euyn were his shippes

13996 Two hundreth full hole, all of hede vessell.

The troiens fro the toune, fat turnet with
Antenor,

Were two thowsaund full thro, thristy men all, And fyue hundreth fere, pat folowet hym after. 14000 All the Remnond of Renkes, pat raght fro pe

toune,

With Eneas afterward etlid to see.

The worthiest to wete, þat in wer deghit,

I shall nem you the nomes vponone here,— 14004 Bothe of grekes, er I go, and of gret Troy, And who dight hom to dethe with dynttes of

hond.

THIES ECTOR SLOGH WITH HOND, OF KYNGES.

Thies, honerable Ector auntrid to Sle,

Er the doghty was ded, all of du kynges. 14008 Achilagon, a choise kyng, he choppit to dethe. Protheselon, in prese, he put out of lyue.

Myrion the mighty, he martrid with hond.
Protroculun, Prothenor, the prise knight slaght;

14012 Othemen, also, abill of person:

Polexenun, Paralanun, Polibeton, also:
Kyng Philip, pat bold britnet with strokes.
Tedynur, in the toile he tyrnit to ground.

14016 Durion of his dynttes drepit was there.
Phephun, palamydon, the fuerse in the feld slogh.
Xansipun the souerain, with a Sore dynt.

OF THE CHIEFS WHO FELL.

Leenton the Lord, on the laund fellit.

14020 Humeriun the herty, hew to the dethe, And Famen the fuerse, fey with his hond.

459

Book XXXVI.

Leonteus.

Eumelus.

Firmeus.

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,
And Aiax, afterward, abill of dede.

(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:
Ector the honerable, oddist of knightes,

14032 Troiell, with treason, & the true kyng Menon :
Neptolomon, with noy, of pat noble was ded:
Thies brettonit pat bold or he bale dreghit.

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.
Asteropæus.

Lycaon.

Hector.

Troilus and
Memnon.
Neoptolemus.

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,
The Provost ane maist prudent man:
With the haill counsall of the toun,
Ilkane cled in a velvet goun."

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.

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.'

11. 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,
He wales a portion with judicious care.”

Again, in 'Halloween,'

"Then first, an' foremost, thro' the kail,
Their stocks maun a' be sought ance:
They stuk their een, an' grape, an' wale,
For muckle anes, an' straught anes:

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 form 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.)

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