Notes and Queries, Number 69, February 22, 1851 | Page 6

enough to ascribe their origin to so recent a date, but to derive it from a mere mechanic was more than our author's patience could endure. Accordingly he is not sparing of invective against those who so disparage his race.
Vappa, nebulo, and similar terms, are freely applied to their characters; invidia, [Greek: kako��theia], &c., to their motives. The following is a specimen of the way he handles them:--
"Dantes Po?ta illustrissimum Christianissimorum Regum Franci? genus �� laniis Parisiensibus deducit, utique tam vere, quam ille tenebrio nostrum �� scalarum fabro: quas mirum, ni auctor generis in suspendium eorum parabat, quos vaticinabatur illustri nobilitate su? obtrectaturos."
Now the charge of a ladder upon their shield was certainly borne by the several branches of this family long before any of them became masters of Verona; and I should suggest that it originated in some brilliant escalade of one of the first members of it. Thus, of course, it would remind us all of perhaps the earliest thing of the kind--I mean the shield and bearings of Eteoclus before Thebes:
"[Greek: Esch��matistai d' aspis ou smikron tropon;] [Greek: An��r d' hoplit��s klimakos prosambaseis] [Greek: Steichei pros echthr?n purgon, ekpersai thel?n.]" Sept. c. Thebas, 461.
WALDEGRAVE BREWSTER.
H----n, Jan. 28. 1851.
* * * * *
INEDITED BALLAD ON TRUTH.
I send you herewith a copy of an ancient ballad which I found this day while in search of other matters. I have endeavoured to explain away the strange orthography, and I have conjecturally supplied the last line. The ballad is unhappily imperfect. I trust that abler antiquaries than myself will give their attention to this fragmentary poem.
"A BALADE OF TROUTHE.
(Harl. MSS. No. 48. folio 92.)
"What more poyson . than ys venome. What more spytefull . than ys troozte.[1] Where shall hattred . sonere come. Than oone anothyr . that troozte showthe. Undoyng dysplesure . no love growthe. 5 And to grete[2] men . in especyall. Troozte dare speke . lest[3] of all.
"And troozte . all we be bound to. And troozte . most men now dothe fle.[4] What be we then . that so do. 10 Be we untrewe . troozte saythe ee.[5] But he y^t tellethe troozte . what ys he. A besy foole . hys name shalle ronge.[6] Or else he hathe an euyle tonge.
{135} "May a tong . be trew and evyle. 15 Trootze ys good . and evyle ys navtze.[7] God ys trootze . and navzt ys y^e devyle. Ego sum veritas . o^r[8] lord tavzt.[9] At whyche word . my conceyt lavzt.[10] To se[11] our Lorde . yff[12] foly in hym be. 20 To use troozt . that few doth but he.
"To medyle w^t trouthe[13] . no small game. For trouthe told . of tyms ys shent. And trouthe known . many doth blame. When trouthe ys tyrned . from trew intent. 25 Yet trouthe ys trouthe . trewly ment.[14] But now what call they trouthe . trow ye. Trowthe ys called colored honest��.
"Trouthe . ys honest without coloure. Trouthe . shameth not in no condycyon. 30 Of hymself . without a trespasowre. By myst and knowne . of evyle condycyon. But of trouthe thys ys y^e conclusyon. Surely good ordre there ys brokyne. Where trouthe may not . nor dare be spokyne.[15] 35
"Trouthe many tyms ys cast. Out of credence . by enformacyon. Yet trouthe crepthe[16] out at last. And ovyr mastrythe cavylacyon.[17] That I besech Cryst . every nacyon. 40 May use trouthe . to God and man. * * that he * not * syn * * ." * * * * * *
I would fill up the lacuna--
"Now that he do not syn . we can."
Perhaps, I repeat, some more able antiquaries will give their attention to this, and satisfy me on the points of punctuation, date, &c.
KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE.
[Footnote 1: Truth, I presume, is meant, though it does not seem to agree with the context, which is pure nonsense in its present condition.]
[Footnote 2: Great.]
[Footnote 3: Least.]
[Footnote 4: Flee.]
[Footnote 5: Yea.]
[Footnote 6: Ring, I fancy.]
[Footnote 7: Naught.]
[Footnote 8: Our.]
[Footnote 9: Taught.]
[Footnote 10: Laughed.]
[Footnote 11: See.]
[Footnote 12: If.]
[Footnote 13: Here the orthography changes.]
[Footnote 14: Meant.]
[Footnote 15: I think there must be some allusion here, which can only be arrived at by knowing the date of its composition.]
[Footnote 16: An elision for creepeth; possibly an intermediate etymological state of creeps.]
[Footnote 17: From "to cavil."]
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Minor Notes.
Ayot St. Lawrence Church (Vol. iii., pp. 39. 102.). Ayot St. Lawrence, Herts, is another deserted church, like that of Landwade,--in fact a ruin, with its monuments disgracefully exposed. I was so astonished at seeing it in 1850, that I would now ask the reason of its having been allowed to fall into such distress, and how any one could have had the power to build the present Greek one, instead of restoring its early