Lancelot of the Laik Part 31

[Footnote T76: MS. "?alt."]

[Headnote: GALIOT GIVES LANCELOT HIS OWN HORSE.]

[Sidenote: He offers him as many horses as he needs; and proposes that they shall never again part.]

And ?et yhour hor be falit at this ned, 3416 Di?ple yhow not, for-quhy ?e ?al not want Als many as yhow lykith for to hawnt; And I my-?elf, I ?al yhowr ?qwyar bee, And, if G.o.d will, neu{er} more ?al wee 3420 [Sidenote: He 'lights from his horse, and gives him to Lancelot, who thanks him.]

Dep{ar}t;" w{i}t{h} that, anon he can to lycht Doune frome his hor, and gaf hyme to y^e kny{ch}t.

The lord he thonkit, and the hor hath ton, And als ?o fre?ch one to the feld is gon, 3424 As at no ?trok{is} he that day had ben.

His falowis glad, one hor that hath hy{m} ?en, To galiot one vthir hor thai broght; And he goith one, and frome the feld he ?o{ch}t, 3428 [Sidenote: Galiot returns to his host, and chooses a band of 10,000 men.]

And to the plan quhar that his o?t{is} were; And brandymagus chargit he to ?tere Eft{er} hyme, w{i}t{h}in a lytill ?pace, And x thou?and he takyne w{i}t{h} hy{m} ha. 3432 Towart the feld onon he can to Rid, And chargit them befor ye o?t to byd.

[Sidenote: The trumpets, clarions, horns, and bugles are sounded.]

Wp goith the trumpet{is}, and the claryownis, h.o.r.n.ys, bugill{is} blawing furt{h} thar ?ownis, 3436 That al the c.u.n.tre re?ownit hath about; [Sidenote: Arthur's folk despair.]

Than arthuris folk var in di?par & dout, That hard the noys, and ?aw the m{u}lt.i.tud Of fre?ch folk; thai cam as thai war wod. 3440

[Headnote: LANCELOT HARANGUES ARTHUR'S HOST.]

[Sidenote: The sable knight, still fearless,]

[B]ot he that was w{i}t{h}owten any dred, In ?abill cled, and ?aw the gret ned, A??emblyt al his falowis, and arayd; [Sidenote: harangues his men, saying,]

And thus to them in manly t{er}mes ?aid: 3444 "What that ?e ar I knaw not yhour e?tat, [Fol. 42b.]

[Sidenote: "I know not who ye are, but I know that ye ought to be commended.]

Bot of ma{n}hed and wor?chip, well I wat, Out throuch this warld yhe aw to be {com}me{n}dit, This day ?e have ?o kny{ch}tly yhow defendit. 3448 [Sidenote: Ye see how your enemies, as night approaches, are striving to give you an outrage or a fright.]

And now yhe ?ee how that, a?anis the ny{ch}t, Yhour ennemys p{re}tendit w{i}t{h} thar myght Of mult.i.tud, and w{i}t{h} thar new o?t, And w{i}t{h} thar buglis and thar wynd{is} bo?t 3452 Fre?chly cu{m}myng In to ?ich aray, To ifyne yhow one owtrag[T77] or affray.

And now almo?t cu{m}myne Is the ny{ch}t, [Sidenote: Employ then your courage, so that the honour ye have won be not again lost.]

Quharfor yhour ?trenth, yhour curag, & yhovr my{ch}t 3456 Yhe occupye in to ?o manly wy, That the wor?chip of kny{ch}thed & empry That yhe have wonyng, and ye g{re}t renown Be not ylo?t, be not ylaid doune. 3460 For one hour the ?ufferyng of di?tre, Gret harm It war yhe tyne the hie encre Of vor?chip, ?{er}uit al this day before.

And to yhow al my con?ell is, tharfore, 3464 [Sidenote: Resolve then to meet them sharply, without fear, so that they may feel the cold spear in their hearts.]

W{i}t{h} manly curag, but radour, yhe p{re}tend To met tham ?charply at the ?peris end, So that thei feil the cold ?peris poynt Out-throw thar ?cheld{is}, in thar hart{is} poynt. 3468 So ?al thai fynd we ar no-thing affrayt; Whar-throuch we ?all the well le be a??ayt.

[Sidenote: Perhaps then the foremost will make the rest afraid."]

If that we met them ?charply in the berd, The forme?t ?al mak al the laif afferd." 3472 And w{i}t{h} o woy thai cry al, "?{ir} kny{ch}t, Apone yhour manhed, and yhour gret my{ch}t, [Sidenote: They promise to stand firm.]

We ?al abid, for no man ?hall e?chef Frome yhow this day, his ma{n}hed for to pref." 3476 [Sidenote: Sir Yvan also bids his men be comforted; for that they see all the strength of their enemies.]

And to his o?t the lord ?{ir} yvane ?aid, "Yhe comfort yow, yhe be no-thing affrayd, Ws ned no more to dreding of ?uppri; We ?e the ?trenth of al our ennemys." 3480 Thus he ?aid, for he wend thai var no mo, [Sidenote: Sir Gawane, however, knew better.]

Bot ?{ir} gawan knew well It vas not ?o; For al the o?t{is} my{ch}t he ?e al day, And the gret ho?t he ?aw quhar y{a}t it lay. 3484

[Footnote T77: MS. "owtray." See Glossary.]

[Headnote: THE POEM ABRUPTLY ENDS.]

[Sidenote: Galiot also exhorts his men.]

[A]nd galiot he can his folk exort, Be?eching them to be of good comfort, And ?ich encont{er}

[_The rest is wanting._]

NOTES.

[It may be observed, once for all, that the expression _in to_ repeatedly occurs where we should simply use _in_; and _one to_ is in like manner put for _unto_. The ending _-ith_ (for _-ed_) is frequent in the past tense, and _-it_ (also for _-ed_) in the past participle, though this distinction is not always observed. A still more noticeable ending is _-ing_ (for _-en_) in the infinitive. Observe further that the letters _v_, _u_, and _w_ are perfectly convertible, and used quite indiscriminately; so that _wpone_ means _upon_; _vthir_ means _uthir_, i.e., _other_: _our_ is put for _over_; _vounde_ signifies _wound_, etc.]

Page 1, line 1. _The soft morow._ This nominative case has no verb.

A similar construction occurs in the first lines of Books II. and III.

4. _Uprisith--his hot courss_, Upriseth in his hot course; _chare_, chariot.

6. _sent_, sendeth; so also _stant_, standeth, l. 326.

8. _valkyne_, waken.

10. _gyrss_, gra.s.s.

11. _a.s.say_, a.s.sault.

13. _wox_, voice.

17. _frome I can_, from the time that I did.

18. _It deuit me_, it availed me. Jamieson gives "_Dow_, 1. to be able; A.S. _dugan_ (_valere_), to be able. 2. to avail; Teut. _doogen_."

P. 2, l. 23. _hewy ?erys_, heavy years.

24. "Until that Phbus had thrice gone through his full circuits" (lit.

spheres). See the peculiar use of "pas" in other places.

26. "So, by such a manner, was my lot fated;" see l. 41.

28. _carving can_, did cut.

30. _be the morow_, by the morn.

36. _neulyngis_, newly, anew.

43. _walkith_, walked.

50. _I-clede_, y-clad, clad. Ch. has _clede_.

54. "No one within thought he could be seen by any wight outside."

P. 3, l. 56. _clos it_, enclose it; the MS. has _closit_.

57. _alphest._ This reading of the MS. is an error for _alcest_. See Chaucer, Prologue to Legend of good women, l. 511:

"The gret{e} goodnesse of the quene Alceste, That turned was into a dayesye,"

Alceste being the contracted form of Alcestis.

59. _Wnclosing gane_, did unclose.

60. "The bright sun had illumined the spray, and had updrawn (upwarped) into the l.u.s.ty air the night's soft (sober) and moist showers; and had made the morning soft, pleasant, and fair." With this difficult pa.s.sage we should compare l. 2477.

66. _Quhill_, until.