And other harpers many oon.
And the grete Glascúrioun,1
And smale harpers with her glees,
Saten under hym in sees,2
And gunne on hym upwarde to gape,
And countrefet hym as an ape,
Or as crafte countrefeteth kynde.
Tho saugh I stonden hym behynde,
A-fer fro hem, alle be hemselve,
Many thousand tymes twelve,
That maden lowde menstralcies
In cornemuse, and shalmyes,"
And many other maner pipe,
That craftely begunne to pipe,
Bouthe in doucet and in riede,
That ben at festes with the bride.
And many flowte and liltyng' horne,
And pipes made of grene corne,
As han thise lytel herde gromes,*
That kepen bestis in the bromes.
Ther saugh I than Atiteris,
And of Athenes daun Pseustis,
And Marcia 10 that lost her skynne,
Bothe in face, body, and chynne,
For that she wolde envien, loo,
To pipen bet than Apollo.
See the ballads of Glasgerion, in Percy's Reliques, vol. iii.; and note I, 4, of the Essay in vol. i., for comments on this passage. Seats (Lat. sedes). Nature. A wind instrument. A string instrument. A sort of pipe. (Dulcimer?) 7 Sprightly. Grooms. • Heaths. 10 Marsyas was a male flute-player of Phrygia (Metamor phoses, vi. 382-400). Atiteris and Pseustis are now unknown.
There saugh I fames, olde and yonge,
Pipers of alle Duche tonge,
To lerne love-daunces, sprynges,
Reues, and these straunge thynges.
Tho saugh I in another place,
Stonden in a large space
Of hem that maken blody soun,
In trumpe, beme,2 and claryoun;
For in feight and blodeshedynges
Ys used gladly clarionynges.
Ther herd I trumpen Messenus,*
Of whom that speketh Virgilius.
There herd I trumpe Joab also,
Theodomas, and other mo,
And al that usede clarioun,
In Cataloigne and Aragoun,
That in her tyme famous were
To lerne, saugh I trumpe there.
Ther saugh I sit in other sees,
Pleyinge upon sondry glees,
Whiche that I kannot nevene,"
Moo than sterres ben in hevene,
Of whiche I nyl not now ryme,
For ese of yow, and losse of tyme:
For tyme ylost, this knowen ye,
Be no way may recovered be.
There saugh I pleyen jugelours,
Magiciens, and tregetours,
1 Reyes, quick German dances. Horn. vi. 162. 4C. Canterbury Tales, 1. 14,056. bury Tales, 14,995, 15,917.
8 Misenius. Eneid Name. Cf. Canter
CHARMERESSES."
And phitonisses,1 charmeresses,
Olde wyches, sorceresses,
That usen exorsisaciouns,
And eke thes fumygaciouns;
And clerkes eke, which konne wel
Alle this magikes naturel,
That craftely doon her ententes,
To maken, in certeyn ascendentes,
Ymages, lo, thrugh which magike,
To make a man ben hool or syke.
Ther saugh I the quene Medea,2
And Circes eke, and Calipsa.
Ther saugh I Hermes Ballenus,
Limete, and eke Symon Magus.
Ther sawgh I tho, and knew by name,
That by such art doon men han fame.
Ther saugh I colle tregetour"
Upon a table of sygamour
Pleyen an uncouthe thynge to telle;
I saugh him carien a wynd-melle
Under a walshe-note shale."
What shuld I make lenger tale
Of alle the pepil I ther say,
Fro hennes into domesday?
Whan I had al this folkys beholde,
And fonde me louse,' and noght ycolde,
Pythonesses. The wife of Jason. See Ovid, Heroides, ep. xi. . Dethe of Blaunche, 1. 330. 3 Hermes Balanus means Mercury the Bathman. By some reference is supposed to be intended to Hermes Trismegistus, the reputed founder of alchemy, though the account of the Fountain of Mercury given by Cvid in the Fasti, 7. 673, makes the title Balarus apt. 4 Spelled also Lumete, Lymote, and Lymeste. A false trickster. • Walnut shell. 7 Loose.
And oft I musede longe while
Upon these walles of berile,
That shoone ful lyghter than a glas,
And made wel more than hit was,
To semen every thynge, ywis,
As kynde thynge1 of Fames is;
I gan to romen til I fonde
The castel gate on my ryght honde,
Which that so wel y-corven was,
That never suche another nas;
And yit it was be aventure
Ywrought, as often as be cure.2
Hyt nedeth noght yow more to tellen,
To make yow to longe duellen,
Of these gates florisshinges,"
Ne of compasses, ne of kervynges,
Ne how they hat in masoneries,
As corbetz, ful of ymageryes.
But, Lord! so faire yt was to shewe
For hit was alle with gold behewe.
But in I went, and that anoon;
Ther mette I cryinge many oon,
"A larges, larges! hald up wel!
God save the lady of thys pel,"
Our oune gentil lady Fame,
And hem that wilnen to have name
Of us!" Thus herd I crien alle,
And faste comen out of halle,
1 A natural quality. (Exaggeration.) Design. Adornments Contrivances. Palace.
And shoon nobles and sterlynges.1
And somme crouned were as kynges,
With corounes wroght ful of losynges;
And many ryban, and many frenges
Were on her clothes trewely.
Thoo atte last aspyed I
That pursevauntes and herauldes,
That crien ryche folkes laudes,
Hyt weren; alle and every man
Of hem, as I yow tellen can,
Had on him throwen a vesture,
Whiche that men clepen a cote armure,
Enbrowded wonderlyche ryche,
As though ther nere nought ylyche.
But noght wyl I, so mote I thryve,
Ben aboute to dyscryve
Al these armes that ther weren,
That they thus on her cotes beren,
For hyt to me were impossible;
Men myghte make of hem a bible,
'Twenty foote thykke, I trowe.
For certeyn who-so koude i-knowe
Myghte ther alle the armes seen,
Of famouse folke that han ybeen
In Auffrike, Europe, and Asye,
Syth first began the chevalrie.
Loo! how shulde I now tel al thys?
Ne of the halle eke what nede is
1 Showed nobles and silver pieces. Lozenges, though Caxton printed "lesynges," lies.
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