[In the following essay, Skeat praises Frederick Madden's edition of William of Palerne for its “strict and literal accuracy,” and offers a brief outline of the story.]

1. The “Extra Series” of the publications of the Early English Text Society, of which this is the first volume, is intended to be supplementary to the ordinary series in such a way as to expedite the printing of the whole quantity of work to be printed. It has been proposed that it shall be reserved entirely for reprints and re-editions, and this rule will in general be adhered to. At the same time, a little laxity of definition must be allowed as to what constitutes a reprint. Thus, the editions of “Piers Plowman” (Text A) and of “Pierce the Ploughmans Crede,” being entirely new, and from entirely new sources, have been issued with the ordinary Series, though both have been edited before more than once; whilst, on the other hand, more than a thousand lines, never before printed, have purposely been included in the present volume, as belonging to the same date, and as having been written by the same author as the rest.

2. Of the two poems here printed, it is the former that has been edited before, in a volume of which the title is—“The Ancient English Romance of William and the Werwolf; edited from an unique copy in King's College Library, Cambridge; with an introduction and glossary. By Frederick Madden, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A., M.R.S.L., Assistant-Keeper of the MSS. in the British Museum. London: printed by William Nicol, Shakspeare-Press. mdcccxxxii.” It forms one of the “Roxburghe Club” series, and only a limited number of copies were printed.

‘The thorough excellence of both the text and glossary of this edition is known to all who have had the opportunity of access to it, and it has always ranked as a contribution of great importance to our knowledge of Early English literature. Sir F. Madden justly claims to have been one of the first editors who insisted on the necessity of strict and literal accuracy, and it is impossible to say how much we owe to him, directly and indirectly. His edition is, in fact, almost a facsimile of the MS., being printed in black-letter, and with all the contractions of the original, a table of these being added to explain them to the reader. A copy of it having been provided for my use, it was sent to the printer, after I had expanded all the contractions by the use of italic letters, numbered the lines, inserted marks of punctuation, and added side-notes. Had the proof-sheets been corrected by this only, the volume would have contained no error of importance; but I judged it to be due to Sir F. Madden and to subscribers to make it absolutely correct (as I hope it now is, in the text at least,) by reading the proof-sheets with the MS. itself, to which I had ready access through the kindness of Mr Bradshaw, Fellow of King's College, and our University Librarian.¹ I have also added a few words within square brackets where there are obvious omissions; they are chiefly taken from Sir F. Madden's notes. As his glossary contained references to the pages, and our object is to have references to the lines of the poem, I have re-written it entirely, incorporating with it the more difficult words in the fragment of “Alisaunder.” For the sidenotes, most of the notes at the end, and indeed for the whole volume in its present state, I am altogether responsible; but I consider it as no little gain that Sir F. Madden, with very great kindness, has looked over the revises of the whole work, and I am much indebted to him for his suggestions. The glossary is, of course, copied from his almost wholly; but to some illustrative notes that are left entirely in his own words I have drawn special attention by attaching to them the letter “—M.” He has also permitted the reprinting of his preface to the former edition, and of his note on the word “Werwolf” (with fresh additions).

3. We are also under great obligations to M. Michelant, of the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris. To him we owe the transcript of a considerable portion of the beginning of the French version of the poem, enabling me to supply the missing portions of the English version at pp. 1-6 and 19-23, and further to compare the French with the English throughout the first 500 lines; some of the results of which comparison will be found in the “Notes.” He even did more; for he secured for us the accuracy of the portions printed by comparing the proof-sheets with the MS. Bibl. de L’Arsenal, Belles Lettres, 178, from which his transcript was made.

THE STORY.

Most of the details of the story can be gathered from the “Index of Names” at the end of the volume, and from the head-lines and side-notes, but a brief sketch of it may be acceptable.

Embrons, King of Apulia, by his wife Felice, daughter of the Emperor of Greece, had a fair son named William. The brother of Embrons, wishing to be heir to the throne, bribed two ladies, Gloriande and Acelone, to murder the child. But at this very time, as the child was at play (at Palermo), a wild wolf caught him up, ran off with him, swam the Straits of Messina, and carried him away to a forest near Rome, not injuring, but taking great care of him. But while the wolf went to get some food for him, the child was found by a cowherd, who took him home and adopted him. (Now you must know that the wolf was not a true wolf, but a werwolf or man-wolf; he had once been Alphouns, eldest son of the King of Spain, and heir to the crown of Spain. His stepmother Braunde, wishing her son Braundinis to be the heir, enchanted him so that he became a werwolf.) One day the Emperor of Rome, going out a-hunting, lost his way, and met with the boy William, with whom he was much pleased, and took the child from the cowherd behind him on his horse to Rome, and committed him to the care of his own daughter Melior, to be her page. William, growing up beloved by everybody, attracted, as might have been expected, the love of Melior in particular; who, in a long but amusing soliloquy, concludes that, though she is degrading herself to think upon a foundling, she finds it harder still not to think of him, and seeks the advice of her dear friend Alisaundrine, a daughter of the Duke of Lombardy. This young damsel bids her be at ease, and, having some slight knowledge of witchcraft, causes William to dream of Melior, and to fall in love with her hopelessly. All his consolation is to sit in Melior's garden, and he considers himself sufficiently fed by gazing at her window the whole day. Worn out by this, he falls asleep there, and is found by the two ladies, and, by Alisaundrine's devices, the young couple are soon betrothed; but it has to be kept a great secret, lest the emperor should come to hear of it. About this time the emperor's lands are invaded by the Duke of Saxony. William, knighted for the occasion, is, by his prowess, the chief instrument of the invader's defeat; a defeat which the duke takes so much to heart that he shortly dies of grief. The emperor thanks and praises William greatly, very much to his daughter's delight. But the next circumstance is untoward enough. The Emperor of Greece (who be it remembered, is William's grandfather) sends an embassy, headed by Lord Roachas, to ask the hand of Melior for his son Partenedon. The emperor at once accepts the proposal, and the Emperor of Greece and Prince Partenedon set out for Rome. William falls ill at the news, but is soon recovered by the expressions of devoted constancy which he receives from Melior. The Greeks arrive at Rome, and great preparations are made; what is to be done? Melior and William consult their unfailing friend Alisaundrine, who, not knowing what else to do, steals the skins of two white bears from the royal kitchen, sews her friends up in them, and lets them out by a postern-gate from Melior's garden, and bids them a sad farewell. But they had been observed; for a Greek, walking in this garden, had seen, to his great astonishment, two bears walking off on their hind legs, and tells his companions of his adventure, for which he is well laughed at, nothing more being thought of it at the time. The lovers hurry away till they find a den, wherein they conceal themselves, but fear to die of hunger. In this strait the werwolf finds them, and brings them sodden beef and two flasks of wine, having robbed two men whom he met carrying them. Meanwhile, great are the preparations for the wedding, which is to take place at St Peter's church. But at the last moment, where is the bride? The Emperor of Rome, frantic with rage, questions Alisaundrine, who evades his questions, but at last avows her conviction that, if William cannot be found, neither will Melior. William is indeed missing, and the Greek's story about the two white bears is at once understood, and a hue and cry is raised after them. They are not found, and the Greeks return to their own country. The lovers, still disguised as bears, and guided and fed by the werwolf, flee to Benevento, where they are nearly caught, but escape by the werwolf's help. Finding their disguise is known, they dress up as a hart and hind, and at last, after a strange adventure at Reggio, cross the Straits of Messina to Palermo, the werwolf still guiding them. Palermo is in a state of siege. King Embrons is dead, and Felice is queen, but is hard pressed by the Spaniards, as the King of Spain has asked the hand of her daughter Florence (William's sister) for his son Braundinis, and, on her refusal, has come to enforce his claim. Queen Felice has a dream of happy omen, and, perceiving the hart and hind, dresses herself also in a hind's skin, and goes to meet them, welcoming them and offering them protection, if William will deliver her from the Spaniards. Rejoiced at this, William, on Embrons' horse, and with a werwolf painted on his shield, performs marvels, and takes both the King and Prince of Spain prisoners, never to be released till the wicked Queen Braunde shall disenchant the werwolf. She is sent for, and arrives, and reverses the charm, restoring Alphouns to his right shape, for which she is pardoned; and the Prince Alphouns receives great praises for his kindness to William, it being now seen that he did but steal him away to save his life from the plots of King Embrons's brother. By way of further reward, he is to marry Florence, and William is, of course, to marry Melior. William sends a message to this effect to Melior's father, who, for joy to hear that she is alive, promises to come to the wedding, and to bring Alisaundrine with him. At the same time the Emperor of Greece, Queen Felice's father, sends Partenedon his son to Palermo to help the queen against the Spaniards; but the prince is not a little chagrined at finding that he has come to see Melior, whom he once wooed, and whom he lost at the last moment, married to the husband of her own choice. Seeing no help for it, however, he submits as well as he can. But there is another disappointed suitor, Prince Braundinis; can nothing be done for him? It is at once arranged that he can marry Alisaundrine, and the triple wedding of William and Melior, Alphouns and Florence, Braundinis and Alisaundrine, is celebrated in one day; after which, Partenedon returns to Greece, and the Spaniards return to Spain. The Emperor of Rome dying, William is elected to succeed him as emperor, and is crowned at Rome; and Alphouns, his steadfast friend, who has become King of Spain on his father's death, is present at the joyful ceremony. And thus the Queen of Palermo lived to see her dream come true, that her right arm reached over Rome and her left arm lay over Spain; for her son was the emperor of the former country, and her daughter queen of the latter; nor was the kind cowherd forgotten, for his adopted son gave him an earldom, and brought him out of his care and poverty.

It ought to be remarked that the curious fancies about the enchantment of Alphouns into a werwolf, and the dressing up of William and Melior, firstly in the skins of two white bears and afterwards in the skins of a hart and a hind, as also the wearing of a hind's skin by the Queen of Palermo, form the true groundwork of the story, and no doubt, at the time, attracted most attention. To a modern reader this part of the narrative becomes tedious, and one wonders why the disguises were kept on so long. But as a whole, the story is well told, and the translator must have been a man of much poetic power, as he has considerably improved upon his original. For further remarks upon him, see Sir F. Madden's preface, and the “Introduction to Alisaunder.” …

Notes

1. May not some of the alleged difficulty of the study of Old English be fairly attributed to the shameful inaccuracy of some of the texts? The portion of William and the Werwolf printed by Hartshorne is, in places, simply inexplicable.