Book XXXVI. (fol. 214 a.) of the Greeks and Trojans slain during the siege. of the Trojans that followed Æneas and Antenor, There were fey in the figlit, of the felle grekes, Eght hundrith thowsaund þro throngyn to dethe, 13992 And sex thowsaund besyde all of sad pepull. The Sowme of the sure men, þat þe Cité keppit, 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, And fyue hundreth fere, þat folowet hym after. 1000 All the Remnond of Renkes, pat raght fro pe toune, 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. Arcesilaus. Protesilaus. Meriones. Patroclus. 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. Protroculun, Prothenor, the prise knight slaght; 14012 Othemen, also, abill of person : Polexenun, Paralanun, Polibeton, also : Tedynur, in the toile he tyrnit to ground. Phephun, palamydon, the fuerse in the feld slogh. Polyxenus. Diores. a OF THE CHIEFS WHO FELL. 459 Book XXXVI. Leenton the Lord, on the laund fellit. 14020 Humeriun the herty, hew to the dethe, And Famen the fuerse, fey with his hond. Leonteus. THEZ PARIS SLOGH IN THE FFELD. (fol. 2146.) Palamedes. 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, Antilochus. Achilles, Ajax. THIES ACHILLES SLOGE IN THE FFELD. Achilles, with his choppes, chaunsit to sle 14028 Emphemun the fuerse, & the prise Emphorbiun : Euphemus and Euphorbus. Asteropæus. Ector the honerable, oddist of knightes, Neptolomon, with noy, of þat noble was ded: Neoptolemus. Hector. Troilus and THIES ENEAS SLOGI. Eneas also auntrid to sle 14036 Amphymak the fuerse, with a fyne speire; And Neron the noble with a nolpe alse. Amphimachus, Nireus. THIES PIRRUS SLOGH. Penthesilea. Pyrrus, the pert kyng, put vnto dethe Pantasilia the prise qwene, pertest of ladies ; Thies worthy to wale, as werdes hom demyt, Now the proses is plainly put to an end : 14044 He bryng vs to the blisse, þat 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, 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 8 becomes sh in wisse, as also in slepe in 1. 6, and in few other words throughout the work. 1. 6. slydyn vrpon 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 l. 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 8, 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, 6 6 “ 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 : 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. 19. as he will, as he likes best: wärys 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 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 l. 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, “0, 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.) |
