I had written the above note before the appearance of a valuable volume put forth by the Bannatyne Club, entitled Syr Gawayne; A collection of Ancient Romance-Poems, by Scotish and English Authors, relating to that celebrated Knight of the Round Table, with an Introduction, &c., by Sir F. Madden, 1839.
—— syr Guy] In The Rime of Sire Thopas, Chaucer mentions “Sire Guy” as one of the “romaunces of pris.” For an account of, extracts from, and an analysis of, the English romance on the subject of this renowned hero of Warwick, see Ritson’s Met. Rom. (Dissert.) i. xcii., Warton’s Hist. of E. P. i. 169. ed. 4to., and Ellis’s Spec. of Met. Rom. ii. I must also refer the reader to a volume, issued by the Abbotsford Club (while the present sheet was passing through the press), entitled The Romances of Sir Guy of Warwich, and Rembrun his son. Now first edited from the Auchinleck MS. 1840.
Page 70. v. 631.
—— the Golden Flece,
How Jason it wan]
A boke of the hoole lyf of Jason was printed by Caxton in folio, n. d. (about 1475), being a translation by that venerable typographer from the French of Raoul le Fevre. A copy of it (now before me) in the King’s Library, though apparently perfect, has no title of any sort. Specimens of this prose-romance, which is not without merit, may be found in Dibdin’s Biblioth. Spenc. iv. 199.—The story of Jason is also told by Chaucer, Legend of Hipsiphile and Medea; by Gower, Conf. Am. Lib. v.; and, at considerable length, by Lydgate, Warres of Troy, B. i.
v. 634.
Of Arturs rounde table,
With his knightes commendable,
And dame Gaynour, his quene,