From Fabliaux or Tales, abridged from French Manuscripts of the XIIth and XIIIth Centuries by M. Le Grand, selected and translated into English Verse, by the late G. L. Way, Esq., with A Preface, Notes and Appendix, by the late G. Ellis, Esq., A New Edition, corrected in Three Volumes, Volume I, Printed for J. Rodwell, London; 1815; pp. 99-104, 188-190.
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WHAT gentle bachelor is he
Sword-begot in fighting field,
Rock’d and cradled in a shield,
Whose infant food a helm did yield?
On lions’ flesh he makes his feast,
Thunder lulls him to his rest;
His dragon-front doth all defy,
His lion-heart, and libbard-eye,
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His teeth that like boars’ tushes are,
His tiger-fierceness, drunk with war.
Ponderous as a mace his fist
Down descends where-e’er it list,
Down, with bolt of thunder’s force,
Bears to earth both knight and horse.
Keener far than falcon’s sight
His eye pervades the clouds of fight;
And at tourneys ’tis his play
To change the fortune of the day,
Wielding well his helpful arm,
Void of fear, as nought might harm.
O’er the seas to English ground,
Be some rare adventure found,
Or to Jura’s mount, he hies;
These are his festivities.
In the fields of battle join’d,
Like to straws before the wind
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All his foes avoid his hand,
None that deadly brunt may stand.
Him in joust may no man see
But still with foot from stirrup free,
Knight and courser casting down
Oft with mortal dint o’erthrown;
Nor shield of bark, nor steel, nor lance,
Aught may ward the dire mischance.
When he slumbers, when he sleeps,
Still on head his helm he keeps;
Other pillow fits not him
Stern of heart and stout of limb.
Broken swords, and spears that fail,
And the shatter’d hauberk’s mail,
These compose the warriour’s treat
Of poignant sauce or comfits sweet;
And dust he quaffs in fields of death,
And quaffs the panting courser’s breath.
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When the lusty chase he tries,
On foot o’er hill and dale he hies;
Lion, rutting hart, or bear,
He joys to seek and slaughter there.
Wealth to all throughout the land
Wide he deals with lavish hand.
THE translator has here employed the 7-or-8-syllable couplet, which is the measure of the original extract, conforming also to the single line and triplet with which it begins. The harshness of imagery he has also endeavoured to retain, with exception of one passage (line 39 to 42) which may be literally rendered as follows: —
‘Nor doth he demand other sugar-plums
‘Than the points of swords broken;
‘And the iron of lances with mustard,
It is a food which much pleaseth him;
And the broken meshes of hauberks with pepper.’
In the original —
‘Ne ne demande autre dragies
‘Que pointes d’espees brisies;
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‘Et fers de glaive à la moustarde,
‘C’est un mes qui formetnt li tarde;
‘Et haubers desmaillies au poivre.’
The two next lines are very animated: —
‘Et vout la grant poudriere boivre
‘Avec l’aleine des chevaus.’
Page 101, >ine 1. ‘What gentle bachelor is he, &c.’
The nobility of Europe was usually divided into three orders: bannerets, knights, and squires. The banneret, whether duke, earl, marquis, or barons, was a great landholder, who was able to conduct under his banner a certain number of gentlemen who were his immediate tenants. This banner was square. The standard or pennon of the knights was pointed. The poorer knights were generally called les bas chevaliers bachelors. There were, however, some bachelors who were so by the tenure of their lands, and who, when knighted, were called knights-bachelors. As to the squires, it has been already observed in the preface that they were candidates for knighthood.
Page 101, Line 3. ‘Rock’d and cradled in a shield.’
Some shields were extremely curved in their breadth; so that, if laid on the ground with the inside uppermost, they might very well have answered the purpose of a cradle.
Page 102, Line 3. ‘Ponderous as a mace his fist, &c.’
The mace (or masse or massue) was used both in battles and tournaments. It was a common weapon with ecclesiasticks, who, in consequence of their tenures, frequently took the field, but were by a canon of the church forbidden to wield the sword. The mace was generally made of iron, but (the handle at least) was sometimes of wood. In figure it much resembled a chocolate mill. A leathern thong or a chain was passed through a hole in the handle, by which the mace might be suspended from the saddle-bow, and secured from falling out of the hand.