[1] "The Troy Tale" was composed at the command of the King, Henry
the Fifth; as "the Fall of Princes," from Boccace, was at the desire
of Humphrey, the good Duke of Gloucester. He wrote regal poems for
kings, while he dispersed wisdom and merriment for their subjects.
[2] While this volume is passing through the press, "A Selection from
the Minor Poems of Lydgate" has been edited by Mr. Halliwell. The
versatility of Lydgate's poetical skill is advantageously shown in
his comic satire, and his ethics drawn from a deep insight into human
nature. The editor suggests a new reading for the title of the ballad
of "London _Lick-penny_," more suitable to the misadventures of its
hero,--"London _Lack-penny_," for London could not lick a penny from
the forlorn hero who had not one to offer to it. GROSE, probably
taken by the humorous designation, has placed it among his local
proverbs.
The tale of the "Prioress and her Three Wooers" is one of the
happiest fabliaux. Mr. Campbell transcribed "the merrie tale" for his
Specimens, when he discovered that a preceding forager had
anticipated him in Mr. Jamieson, who has preserved it in his "Popular
Ballads," i. 253.
[3] Turner's "Hist. of England," v.
[4] I may point out the raw material which our poetical antiquary has
here worked up with such perfect effect in this picturesque
enumeration. Appended to Speght's "Chaucer," that editor furnished a
very curious list of about a hundred works by Lydgate, which were in
his own possession. Most of the singular poetical exhibitions here
enumerated are mentioned towards the end of that list, and which
Warton has happily appropriated, and so turned a dry catalogue into a
poetical picture. [A selection of Lydgate's Poems, 44 in number, were
printed by the Percy Society in 1840.]
[5] DAN, as Ritson tells us, is a title given to the individuals of
certain religious orders, from the barbarous Latin _Domnus_, a
variation of _Dominus_, or the French _Dam_, or _Dom_. _Dan_ became a
corruption of _Don_ for _Dominus_. The title afterwards extended to
persons of respectable condition, as vague as our complimentary
esquire. It was applied to Chaucer by Spenser, and when obsolete it
became jocular; for we have "Dan Cupid." Prior renewed it with
ludicrous gravity when telling a tale which he had from "Dan Pope."
It is still used in an honourable sense by the Spaniards in their
DON.
[6] "Literary Remains," ii. 130.
[7] The great poet has left two or three most precious fragments; but
these have long been buried in those ill-fated quartos, consisting
chiefly of notes on Greek and on Plato, which Matthias published with
extraordinary pomp; and, so he used to say, as a monument for himself
as well as the bard--a monument which, his egregious self-complacency
lived to witness, partook more of the properties of a tombstone than
the glory of a column.
[8] "Gray's Works," by Matthias, ii. p. 60.