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Inwardly fervent,

If so he might among his workes all
Do build a palace, and a riche hall,
Which shoulde be his chose chief dungeon,▾
His royal see, and sovereign mansion.
And when he gan to his work approach,
He made it build high upon a roche
It for to assure in its foundation,
And called it the noble Ilion.-
And high amidst this noble Ilion,
So rich and passing of foundation,
Which clerks yet in their bookes praise,
King Priam made an hall for to raise.-
And, of this hall farther to define,
With stones square by level and by line
It paved was; with full great diligence
Of masonry, and passing excellence,
And all above raised was a see,
Full curiously of stones and perree,2
That called was, as chief and principál
Of the reign, 3 the seat most royál.
Tofore which was set, by great delight,
A board 4 of ebon and of ivory white;

Pro suæ habitationis hospitio.

Pierreries, jewels. Fr. • Kingdom.

4 Table.

So egally y-joined, and so clean,

That in the work there was no rift1 y-seen:

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And sessions were made on every side

Only the estates by order to divide.
Eke, in the hall, as it was convenable,
On each partie was a dormant 3 table,
Of ivory eke, and of this ebon tree, &c.

The bounds of the present sketch will not permit a farther accumulation of extracts from this obsolete poem: in which, however, the inquisitive reader will find much curious information; though he will not discover such poetical beauties, as can justify its original popularity. That popularity was, indeed, excessive and unbounded; and it continued without much diminution during, at least, two centuries. To this the praises of succeeding writers bear ample testimony; but it is confirmed by a direct and most singular evidence.

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3 Fixed ready. Tyrwhitt. In Chaucer's prologue, the Frankelein's table,

"Dormant in his hall alway,

"Stood ready covered all the longe day."

Perhaps the common tables resembled those still in use in France, which consist of a few boards nailed together, and placed (when wanted for use) on folding tressells; so that the different parts may be separately removed.

An anonymous writer has taken the pains to modernize the whole poem, consisting of about 28000 verses; to change the ancient context, and almost every rhyme, and to throw the whole into six-line stanzas: and yet, so little was he solicitous to raise his own reputation at the expence of the original author, that though he has altered the title and preface of the work, he has still ascribed it to Lydgate. This strange instance of perverted talents and industry, was published under the title of "the

Life and Death of Hector," by Thomas Purfoot, 1614, and is well known to the booksellers.

The date of Lydgate's death is doubtful; at least it is stated differently by different authors. In his Philomela he mentions the decease of an earl of Warwick, who died in 1446, so that he must have survived that year. Some authorities place his death in 1461, and this date is not improbable,

CHAPTER XII.

Reign of Henry V. continued.-James I. King of Scotland-Extract from the "King's Quair."

We are probably indebted to an accident, which happened in the reign of Henry IV. for the most elegant poem that was produced during the early part of the fifteenth century: it is called the KING'S QUAIR,* and was written by James I. king of Scotland.

This Prince was the second son of Robert III. and was born in 1395. His elder bother, David, having disgraced himself by the general profligacy of his conduct, was confined, by his father's order, in the palace of Falkland, where he died of a dysentery, in 1401; or, as was more generally believed, was starved to death, by order of his uncle, the duke of Albany, to whom Robert had entrusted the administration of the kingdom. After the death of this prince, the king determined to send his surviving son, James, to be educated at the court of his ally, Charles VI. king of France; and *Cahier, Fr.; whence quire.

James embarked for that country, with his governor the earl of Orkney, and a numerous train of attendants: but the ship was stopped, on the 12th of April, 1405, off Flamborough-Head, by an English squadron, and the passengers were, by order of Henry IV. sent as prisoners to London.

This happened about a week before the termination of a truce; and though such infractions of treaties, were very common during the barbarous warfare, which was at that time carried on between England and Scotland, the capture and subsequent detention of James, were attributed to the intrigues of the duke of Albany, who, in consequence of the death of king Robert, in the following year, was nominated regent of Scotland; and who, by means of the king's long detention in England, not only preserved that dignity, to the end of his life, but quietly transmitted it to his son Murdoch earl of Fife.

That Henry had no right to consider as a prisoner, the sovereign of an independent nation, whom an act of insolent violence, had placed within his power, is perfectly evident: but the accident was perhaps ultimately advantageous to the prince himself, as well as to the nation, which he was born to govern. He was at this time only ten years of age; and Henry, though he treated him with

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