The Rowley Poems by Thomas Chatterton (inspirational books to read .txt) 📖

fadre's _barbde_ halle han ne wynnynge.

 

Let it be allowed, that _barbed horse_ was a proper expression, in the

XV Century, for _a horse covered with armour_, can any one conceive

that _barbed hall_ signified _a hall in which armour was hung_? or

what other sense can _barbde_ have in this passage?

 

BLAKE. Æ 178. 407.

 

  Whanne Autumpne _blake_ and sonne-brente doe appere.

  _Blake_ stondeth future doome, and joie doth mee alyse.

 

_Blake_, in old English, may signifie either _black_, or _bleak_.

Chatterton, in both these passages, renders it _naked_; and, in the

latter, some such signification seems absolutely necessary to make any

sense.

 

BODYKIN. Æ 265.

 

  And for a _bodykin_ a _swarthe_ obteyne.

 

_Bodekin_ is used by Chaucer more than once to signifie a _bodkin_ or

_dagger_. I know not that it had any other signification in his time.

_Swarthe_, used as a noun, has no sense that I am acquainted with.

 

BORDEL. E. III. 2.--Æ 147. BORDELIER. Æ 410.

 

      Goe serche the logges and _bordels_ of the hynde.

      We wylle in a _bordelle_ lyve.

      Hailie the robber and the _bordelyer_.

 

Though _bordel_, in very old French, signifies a _cottage_, and

_bordelier_ a _cottager_, Chaucer uses the first word in no other

sense than that of _brothel_ or _bawdy-house_; and _bordeller_ with

him means the keeper of such a house. After this usage of these words

was so established, it is not easy to believe that any later writer

would hazard them in their primitive sense.

 

BYSMARE. M. 95.

 

  Roaringe and rolleyng on yn course _bysmare_.

 

_Bismare_, in Chaucer, signifies _abusive speech_; nor do I believe

that it ever had any other signification.

 

CHAMPYON, V. PG. 12.

 

  Wee better for to doe do _champyon_ anie onne.

 

I do not believe that _champion_ was used as a verb by any writer much

earlier than Shakespeare.

 

CONTAKE. T. 87. CONTEKE. E. II. 10.

 

  ----I _contake_ thie waie.

  _Conteke_ the dynnynge ayre and reche the skies.

 

_Conteke_ is used by Chaucer, as a _noun_, for _Contention_. I know no

instance of its being used as a _verb_.

 

DERNE. Æ 582. DERNIE. E. I. 19. El. 8. M. 106.

 

  Whan thou didst boaste soe moche of actyon _derne_.

  Oh Raufe, comme lyste and hear mie _dernie_ tale.

  O gentle Juga, beare mie _dernie_ plainte.

  He wrythde arounde yn drearie _dernie_ payne.

 

_Derne_ is a Saxon adj. signifying _secret, private_, in which sense

it is used more than once by Chaucer, and in no other.

 

DROORIE. Ep. 47.

 

  Botte lette ne wordes, whiche _droorie_ mote ne heare,

  Bee placed in the same ----.

 

The only sense that I know of _druerie_ is _courtship, gallantry_,

which will not suit with this passage.

 

 

FONNES. E. II. 14. Æ 421. FONS. T. 4.

 

  Decorn wyth _fonnes_ rare ----

  On of the _fonnis_ whych the clerche have made.

  Quayntyssed _fons_ depictedd on eche sheelde.

 

A _fonne_ in Chaucer signifies a _fool_, and _fonnes--fools_; and

Spenser uses _fon_ in the same sense; nor do I believe that it ever

had any other meaning.

 

KNOPPED. M. 14.

 

  Theyre myghte ys _knopped_ ynne the froste of fere.

 

_Knopped_ is used by Chaucer to signifie _fastened_ with a button,

from _knoppe_, a button; but what poet, that knew the meaning of his

words, would say that any thing was buttoned with _frost_?

 

LECTURN. Le. 46.

 

  An onlist _lecturn_ and a songe adygne.

 

I do not see that _lecturn_ can possibly signifie any thing but _a

reading-desk_, in which sense it is used by Chaucer.

 

LITHIE. Ep. 10.

 

  Inne _lithie_ moncke apperes the barronnes pryde.

 

If there be any such word as this, we should naturally expect it to

follow the signification of _lithe_; soft, limber: which will not suit

with this passage.

 

       *       *       *       *       *

 

I go on to the _third_ general head of words inflected contrary to

grammar and custom. In a language like ours, in which the inflections

are so few and so simple, it is not to be supposed that a writer, even

of the lowest class, would commit very frequent offences of this sort.

I shall take notice of some, which I think impossible to have fallen

from a genuine Rowley.

 

CLEVIS. H. 2. 46.

 

  Fierce as a _clevis_ from a rocke ytorne.

 

_Clevis_ or _cleves_ is the plural number of _Cleve_, a cliff. It

is so used by Chaucer. I cannot believe that it was ever used as a

singular noun.

 

EYNE. E. II. 79. T. 169. See also Æ 681.

 

  In everich _eyne_ aredynge nete of wyere.

  Wythe syke an _eyne_ shee swotelie hymm dydd view.

 

_Eyne_, a contraction of _eyen_, is the plural number of _eye_. It

is not more probable that an ancient writer should have used the

expressions here quoted, than that any one now should say--In _every

eyes_;--_With such an eyes_.

 

HEIE. E. II. 15. T. 123. Le. 5. 9. Ent. 2. Æ 355.

 

_Heie_, the old plural of _He_, was obsolete, I apprehend, in the time

of the supposed Rowley. At least it is very improbable that the same

writer, at any time, should use _heie_ and _theie_ indifferently, as

in these poems.

 

THYSSEN. E. II. 87.

 

  Lette _thyssen_ menne, who haveth sprite of love.

 

I cannot believe that _thyssen_ was ever in use as the plural number

of _this_. The termination seems to have been added, for the sake of

the metre, by one who knew that many words formerly ended in _en_,

but was quite ignorant of what particular sorts they were. In the same

manner _coyen_, Æ. 125. and _sothen_, Æ. 227. are put for _coy_ and

_sothe_, contrary to all usage or analogy.

 

And this leads me to the capital blunder, which runs through all these

poems, and would alone be sufficient to destroy their credit; I mean,

the termination of _verbs in the singular number_ in _n_[3]. I will

set down a number of instances, in which _han_ is used for the present

or past time _singular_ of the v. _Have_; only premising, that _han_,

being an abbreviation of _haven_, is never used by any ancient writer

except in the present time _plural_ and the infinitive mode.

 

26. v. 9. The Brytish Merlyn oftenne _hanne_

               The gyfte of inspyration.

 

        Ba. 2. The featherd songster chaunticleer

               _Han_ wounde hys bugle horne.

 

      Æ.  685. Echone wylle wyssen hee _hanne_ seene the daie.

 

Bryghte sonne _han_ ynne hys roddie robes byn dyghte.

 

Whanne Englonde _han_ her foemenn.

 

----Mie stede _han_ notte mie love.

 

_Hanne_ alle the fuirie of mysfortunes wylle

               Fallen onne mie benned headde I _hanne_ been Ælla stylle.

 

20. _Hane_ Englonde thenne a tongue butte notte a stynge?

 

61. A tye of love a dawter faire she _hanne_.

 

1. 74. Ne doubting but the bravest in the londe

               _Han_ by his foundynge arrowe-lede bene sleyne.

 

Where he by chance _han_ slayne a noble's son.

 

And in the battel he much goode _han_ done.

 

He of his boddie _han_ kepte watch and ward.

 

His chaunce in warr he ne before _han_ tryde.

 

The erlie felt de Torcies trecherous knyfe

               _Han_ made his crymson bloude and spirits floe.

 

O Hengist, _han_ thy cause bin good and true!

 

The erlie was a manne of hie degree.

               And _han_ that daie full manie Normannes sleine.

 

But better _han_ it bin to lett alone.

 

If more instances should be wanted, see H. 1. 396. 429. 455. H. 2.

703.--p. 275. ver. 4.--p. 281. ver. 63.--p. 288. ver. 1.

 

In the same irregular manner the following verbs are used

_singularly_.

 

I. 10. Then _fellen_ on the grounde and thus yspoke.

 

2. 665. Bewopen Alfwoulde _fellen_ on his knee.

 

287. ver. 17. For thee I _gotten_ or bie wiles or breme.

 

1. 252. He turned aboute and vilely _souten_ flie.

 

2. 339. Fallyng he _shooken_ out his smokyng braine.

 

2. 334. His sprite--Ne _shoulden_ find a place in anie songe.

 

  Æ. 172. So Adam _thoughtenne_ when ynn paradyse----

 

Tys now fulle morne; I _thoughten_, bie laste nyghte--

 

  Ch. 54. Full well it _shewn_, he _thoughten_ coste no sinne.

 

See also H. 2. 366. where _thoughten_, with the additional syllable,

not being quite long enough for the verse, has had another syllable

added at the beginning.

 

  Ne onne abash'd _enthoughten_ for to flee.

 

And (what is still more curious) we have a participle of the present

tense formed from this fictitious past time, in Æ. 704.

 

  _Enthoughteyng_ for to scape the _brondeynge_ foe--

 

Which would not have been a bit more intelligible in the XV Century

than it would be now. _Brondeynge_ will be taken notice of below.

 

Many other instances of the most unwarrantable anomalies might be

produced under this head; but I think I have said enough to prove,

that the language of these poems is totally different from that of the

other English writers of the XV Century; and consequently that they

were not written in that century; which was my first, proposition. I

shall now endeavour to prove, from the same internal evidence of the

language, that they were written entirely by Thomas Chatterton.

 

For this purpose it will only be necessary to have recourse to those

interpretations of words by way of Glossary, which were confessedly

written by him[4]. It will soon appear, if I am not much mistaken,

that the author of the Glossary was the author of the Poems.

 

Whoever will take the pains to examine these interpretations will

find, that they are almost all taken from SKINNER'S _Etymologicon

Linguæ Anglicanæ_[5]. In many cases, where the words are really

ancient, the interpretations are perfectly right; and so far

Chatterton can only be considered in the light of a commentator, who

avails himself of the best assistances to explane any genuine author.

But in many other instances, where the words are either not ancient

or not used in their ancient sense, the interpretations are totally

unfounded and fantastical; and at the same time the words cannot be

altered or amended consistently with any rules of criticism, nor can

the interpretations be varied without destroying the sense of

the passage. In these cases, I think, there is a just ground for

believing, that the words as well as their interpretations came from

the hand of Chatterton, especially as they may be proved very often to

have taken their rise either from blunders of Skinner himself, or from

such mistakes and misapprehensions of his meaning as Chatterton, from

haste and ignorance, was very likely to fall into.

 

I will state first some instances of words and interpretations which

have evidently been derived from blunders of Skinner.

 

ALL A BOON. E. III. 41. See before, p. 315. _A manner of asking a

favour_, says Chatterton.

 

Now let us hear Skinner.

 

"=All a bone=, exp. Preces, Supplex Libellus, Supplicatio, vel ut jam

loquimur Petitio viro Principi exhibita, ni fallor ab AS. Bene, unde

nostrum _Boon_ additis particulis Fr. G. A _la_. Ch. Fab. Mercatoris

fol. 30. p. i. Col. 2."

 

The passage of Chaucer which is referred to, as an authority for this

word, is the following, Canterb. Tales, ver. 9492.

 

"And alderfirst he bade them _all a bone_," i.e. he made a request to

them all. So that Skinner is entirely mistaken in making one phrase of

these three words; and it is surely more probable that the author of

the poems was misled by him, than that a really ancient writer mould

have been guilty of so egregious a blunder.

 

AUMERES. E. III. 25. is explained by Chatterton to mean _Borders of

gold and silver_, &c. And AUMERE in Æ. 398, and Ch. 7. seems to be

used in the same sense of _a border of a garment_. And so Skinner has

by mistake explained the word, in that passage of Chaucer which has

been mentioned above [See p. 316, where the true meaning of _Aumere_

is given].

 

"=Aumere= ex contextu videtur _Fimbria_ vel _Instita_, nescio an a

Teut. =Umbher=, Circum, Circa, q. d. Circuitus seu ambitus. _Ch_. f.

p. I.C. I."

 

BAWSIN. Æ. 57. _Large_. Chatterton. M. 101. _Huge, bulky_. Chatterton.

 

Without pretending to determine the precise meaning of Bawsin, I think

I may venture to say that there is no older or better authority for

rendering it large, than Skinner. "=Bawsin=, exp. _Magnus, Grandis_,

&c."

 

BRONDEOUS. E. II. 24. _Furious_. Chatterton. BRONDED. H. 2. 558.

BRONDEYNGE. Æ. 704. BURLIE BRONDE. G. 7. _Fury, anger_. Chatterton.

See also H. 2. 664. All these uses of _Bronde_, and its supposed

derivatives, are taken from Skinner. "Bronde, exp. _Furia_, &c."

though in another place he explains Burly brand (I believe, rightly)

to mean _Magnus ensis_. It should be observed, that the phrase _Burly

brand_, if used in its true sense, would still have been liable to

suspicion, as it does not appear in any work, that I am acquainted

with, prior to the _Testament of Creseide_, a Scottish composition,

written many years after the time of the supposed Rowley.

 

BURLED. M. 20. _Armed_. Chatterton. So Skinner, "Burled, exp.

_Armatus_, &c."

 

BYSMARE. M. 95. _Bewildered, curious_. Chatterton. BYSMARELIE. Le. 26.

_Curiously_. Chatterton. See also p. 285. ver. 141. BISMARDE.

 

It is evident, I think, that all these words are originally derived

from Skinner,