Ivanhoe | Page 3

make any obstinate opposition, for he began to be of

opinion with Dr Wheeler, in Miss Edgeworth's excellent tale of
"Maneuvering," that "Trick upon Trick" might be too much for the
patience of an indulgent public, and might be reasonably considered as
trifling with their favour.
The book, therefore, appeared as an avowed continuation of the
Waverley Novels; and it would be ungrateful not to acknowledge, that
it met with the same favourable reception as its predecessors.
Such annotations as may be useful to assist the reader in
comprehending the characters of the Jew, the Templar, the Captain of
the mercenaries, or Free Companions, as they were called, and others
proper to the period, are added, but with a sparing hand, since sufficient
information on these subjects is to be found in general history.
An incident in the tale, which had the good fortune to find favour in the
eyes of many readers, is more directly borrowed from the stores of old
romance. I mean the meeting of the King with Friar Tuck at the cell of
that buxom hermit. The general tone of the story belongs to all ranks
and all countries, which emulate each other in describing the rambles of
a disguised sovereign, who, going in search of information or
amusement, into the lower ranks of life, meets with adventures
diverting to the reader or hearer, from the contrast betwixt the
monarch's outward appearance, and his real character. The Eastern
tale-teller has for his theme the disguised expeditions of Haroun
Alraschid with his faithful attendants, Mesrour and Giafar, through the
midnight streets of Bagdad; and Scottish tradition dwells upon the
similar exploits of James V., distinguished during such excursions by
the travelling name of the Goodman of Ballengeigh, as the Commander
of the Faithful, when he desired to be incognito, was known by that of
Il Bondocani. The French minstrels are not silent on so popular a theme.
There must have been a Norman original of the Scottish metrical
romance of Rauf Colziar, in which Charlemagne is introduced as the
unknown guest of a charcoal-man.*
* This very curious poem, long a desideratum in Scottish * literature,
and given up as irrecoverably lost, was * lately brought to light by the
researches of Dr Irvine of * the Advocates' Library, and has been
reprinted by Mr David * Laing, Edinburgh.
It seems to have been the original of other poems of the kind.
In merry England there is no end of popular ballads on this theme. The

poem of John the Reeve, or Steward, mentioned by Bishop Percy, in
the Reliques of English Poetry,* is said to
* Vol. ii. p. 167.
have turned on such an incident; and we have besides, the King and the
Tanner of Tamworth, the King and the Miller of Mansfield, and others
on the same topic. But the peculiar tale of this nature to which the
author of Ivanhoe has to acknowledge an obligation, is more ancient by
two centuries than any of these last mentioned.
It was first communicated to the public in that curious record of ancient
literature, which has been accumulated by the combined exertions of
Sir Egerton Brydges. and Mr Hazlewood, in the periodical work
entitled the British Bibliographer. From thence it has been transferred
by the Reverend Charles Henry Hartsborne, M.A., editor of a very
curious volume, entitled "Ancient Metrical Tales, printed chiefly from
original sources, 1829." Mr Hartshorne gives no other authority for the
present fragment, except the article in the Bibliographer, where it is
entitled the Kyng and the Hermite. A short abstract of its contents will
show its similarity to the meeting of King Richard and Friar Tuck.
King Edward (we are not told which among the monarchs of that name,
but, from his temper and habits, we may suppose Edward IV.) sets
forth with his court to a gallant hunting-match in Sherwood Forest, in
which, as is not unusual for princes in romance, he falls in with a deer
of extraordinary size and swiftness, and pursues it closely, till he has
outstripped his whole retinue, tired out hounds and horse, and finds
himself alone under the gloom of an extensive forest, upon which night
is descending. Under the apprehensions natural to a situation so
uncomfortable, the king recollects that he has heard how poor men,
when apprehensive of a bad nights lodging, pray to Saint Julian, who,
in the Romish calendar, stands Quarter-Master-General to all forlorn
travellers that render him due homage. Edward puts up his orisons
accordingly, and by the guidance, doubtless, of the good Saint, reaches
a small path, conducting him to a chapel in the forest, having a hermit's
cell in its close vicinity. The King hears the reverend man, with a
companion of his solitude, telling his beads within, and meekly