in the very nature of it. This is my theory concerning these anomalous compositions. A friend has pointed out to me a passage, in Birch's life of Milton, which seems to prove the existence of cotemporary documents confirmatory of the odious light in which the Saxon monk was viewed. Documents, probably, familiar to our eldest chroniclers, but of which no traces, except such as are met with in their own writings, are extant. The passage is as follows: "Mr. Toland, speaking of 'Milton's* History of Britain,' observes: We have not this history as it came out of the author's hands; for the licensers, those sworn officers to destroy learning, liberty, and good sense, expunged several passages of it, wherein he exposed the superstitious pride and cunning of the POPISH MONKS IN THE SAXON TIMES, but which were applied by the sagacious licensers to Charles the Second's BISHOPS." The number of the NURSERY RHYMES still in popular currency must be considerable; I myself have heard, or seen more than three hundred, not one of which (of those at least I have tried) have refused to resume, when tested by correlative sound * Milton could only have collected his information concerning the SAXON MONK from our oldest writers, to whom documents must have been familiar, which had been put out of any one's reach, most likely, long before the time of that writer. in our ancient dialect, the shape of some anticlerical lampoon in that form of language. If those, who deem the following compositions harsh and exaggerating sarcasms, will turn over the pages of the courtly and catholick, but candid, Chaucer, they may learn to regard them as the comparatively lenient and understating expositions of the conduct of the lazy, libertine, rapacious satellites of an outlandish and anti-national Church. Nursery Rhymes. 1.-Jockey was a Piper's son, And he fell in love when he was young, J' haeck gij wo aes! Er Pye persse aen! Wo aes, Hoeve Heer de hilde's, end Vaêr er wee; You Harpy! where provisions are at hand! You man of the Cowl [monk]! keep on with your grinding oppression! keep on with your fell vexations in your neighbour's farm! Woe to the village where there exists a provision store! Put in your claims upon the produce of the gardens and orchards of the village! They are all within your homage [all hold of you]! Of our provision the farmer is the true and safe preserver and useful purveyor; the monk the curse and the waster. The farmer is the store that preserves and supplies the bread we eat, and thus keeps want at a distance. But that which the timid wheedled Cousin Farmer had harvested and stored up for us, the Friar seizes upon and devours like a cancer [is all swallowed by the devouring jaws of the Monk]. The first three lines are an ironical apostrophe to the Friarhood to perseveer in their oppressions and robberies, and open the opportunity to state the way they were felt by the sufferers. The other three lines are as a kind of return of the speaker to his own breast for the grounds upon which the above apostrophe has been extorted from him; and by which he shews the relative effects of the industrious thrifty cultivator of the earth, as contrasting with the idle rapacious consumers of its produce, in regard to society. It was of the four first lines, the first Lord Mansfield said, he would rather have been the author, than of any other four in all the English Poetry. That he said these words, I know, but upon what ground beyond that of easy stanza-like resonance I am not now aware. Was, instead of were, is not English, as used in them; but has been forced in, from analogy of the sound with the original form. From the term Jockey falling into the travesty, the lines have been supposed to relate to some Scotch rustick scene; but upon no other ground, clearly. J',je, ye. Haeck, a rapacious being. Woe ues, where provision is to be had, and sounds was. Pye, a hood of woollen or felt which covered the head and shoulders, and was the uniform dress of the friar of those days; and hence the token of that tribe. Hijen, to vex, to worry, to oppress. Fel, ferociously. In el hoeve, in the demesne of another. Wee'n, wee aen! woe befall! Hie, the hamlet, village, street, in the former sense of a village and which still survives in the names of some of them; as for instance in Market-le-street; and means a row of houses at the sides of a highway or road. Woe aes j'hanghe, wherever there may be a larder [store] full of meat, a place where meat is prepared for keeping. Aentaelen, to cite, to summon, to call upon. Tuijn, orchard, garden. Plee, pleghe houden, to hold in homage. Hoeve-heer, the farmer, the landlord in those days. Hilde, the pantry, as the place where provisions are preserved and had when wanted for use; and thus a useful due preserver. Vaér, vader, the father, the token of the Monk whose popular title it was. Wee, woe. Greten [kreten] af, to hoot away, to scare away. Winnen, to earn. Bló, blood, timorous. Oom, the wheedling appellation given by the Monk to the Cloddy, and means Cousin, my cousin. Hye, the worker, the peasant. Top, the crown of the head, that part where the monk was shaved, and thus his token as the mark of his calling. Knouwen, knaeuwen, to gnaw away. J'hangh sounds young ; j'haack gij, jockey; hie fel in el hoeve, he fell in love; bló oom hye, blow my. "Is it such perill with him for to mete? CHAUCER. Over the fields and along the towns [villages]. 2. The lion and the unicorn Some gave And sent him out of town. Die laeyen end die u nick oe'ren Fight against! contest! lay your claws upon him who comes to load you with fresh rates, and with eager intention to put a fresh yoke upon your neck! Like a surly mastiff, growl at [show your teeth to] him who offers to assess you afresh, and put another yoke upon your neck. Be sure, Cousin Cloddy, you make the fellow comprehend your reproof, that you blast him properly [give it him well]; and that you make known to him by some practical sign; the sooner he betakes himself to his own den the better for him. * Laeyen, laeden, to load, to lay on, to make more heavy, aggréver, aggravare, and sounds lion. Nick, neck, nack, neck. Oe 'ren, oeveren, uveren, to desire eagerly, to long for, in Latin avere, whence avarus, and probably the same word with ijveren, to take to heart, to be zealous for. Weêr, weder, against. Vechten, to fight. Dingen, to litigate, dispute. Voeren, to put forward. Krouw, krauw, kraauw, a stroke with the talon or claw. Jemand een lustige krauw geeven is, to give a man a proper rebuff, a sickener. Bieden, to offer. Rouwhond, a rough dog. Bauwen, to make mouths. Toe hun, to him, OBS.-It is however possible o'eren may be as the contraction of overen, to ride over, to bestride; and nick o'eren, as to neck-bestride. |