362 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 80. 



And here, talking of prophecy, we would, first 

 reminding our readers how, in the olden time, the 

 Poet and the Prophet -were loolted upon as identical, 

 call their attention to the following vision of our 

 Queen in her Crystal Palace, which met the eye when 

 in" fine phrensy rolling" of the Father of English Poetry, 

 as he has recorded in his House of Fame. Had 

 Chaucer attended the opening of the Exhibition as 

 "0«r own Reporter,^' could his description liave been 

 more exact? 



THE TEMPLE Y-MADE OF GLAS. 



A Prevision hy Dan Chaucer, a.d. 1380. 



Now hearken every nmnir man 

 That English underslande can, 

 And listeth to my dreme to here, 

 For nowe at erst shall ye lere : 



thought, that wrote al that I m€t 

 And in the tresorie it set 



Of my braine, nowe shall men see 

 If any vertvie in thee bee 

 To lellen al my dreme aright 

 Nowe kithe thy engine and thy might ! 

 * * * + 



But, as I slept, me mette I was 

 Within a temple yniade of glas, 

 In which there were mo images 

 Of gold, standing in sundry stages, 

 Sette in mo rich tabernacles, 

 And with perrie mo pinnacles, 

 And mo curious portraiiures, 

 And qiieint manner of figures 

 Of gold worke, than I saw ever. 



But all the men that been on live 

 Ne ban the conning to descrive 

 The beaute of tliat ilke place, 

 Ne couden castcn no compace 

 Soch another for to make, 

 That might of beauty be his make; 

 Ne so wonderly ywrought, 

 That it astonieth yet my thought, 

 And maketh all my witte to swinke 

 On this castel for to thinke, 

 So that tlie wondir great beautie 

 Caste, craftc, and curiositie, 

 Ne can I not to you devise, 

 My witte ne may not me sufBse; 

 But nathelesse all the substaunce 



1 have yet in my remembraunce, ' 



For why ? jMe thoughtin, by saint Gile, 



All was of stone of berile, 



Bothe the castel and the toure, 



And eke the hall, and every boure; 



"Without peeccs or joynlngs. 



But many subtcll compassings, 



As barbicans and pinnacles, 



Imageries and tabernacles ; 



I saw, and ful eke of windowes 



As flakes fallen in great snowes ; 



And eke in each of the pinnacles 

 Weren sundry habitacles. 



When I had scene all this sight 

 In this noble temple thus. 

 Hey, Lord, thought I, that madest us. 

 Yet never saw I such noblesse 

 Of images, nor such richesse 

 As I see graven in this church. 

 But nought wote I who did them worebe, 



Yet certaine as I further passe, 

 I w()l you all the shape devise. 

 Yet I ententive was to see. 

 And for to poren wondre low. 

 If I could anywise yknow 

 What maner stone tiiis castel was: ' 

 For it was like a limed glas, 

 But that it shone full more clere, 

 But of what congeled matere 

 It was, I n' iste redely, 

 But at the last espied I, 

 And found that it was every dele 

 A thing of yse and not of stele: 

 Thougiit I, " By Saint Thomas of Kent, 



This were a feeble foiindement 



To by Helen on a place so hie ; 



He ought him Utile to glorifie 



That hereon bilte, God so me save." 

 But, Lord, so faire it was to shewe. 



For it was all with gold behewe : 



Lo, how shotdd I now tell all this, 



Ne of the hell eke what need is ? 



But in I went, and that anone. 



There met I crying many one 



" A hirgcs, a hirges, hold up well ! 



God save the Lady of this pell ! 



Our owne gentill Lady Fame 



And hem that willen to have a name." 



For in this lustie and rich place 



All on hie above a deis 



Satte in a see imperiall 



That made was of rubie royall 



A feminine creature 



That never formed by nature 



Was soche another one I saie : 



For alderfirst, soth to saie, 



]\Ie thought that she was so lite 



That the length of a cubite 



Was lenger than she seemed to be ; 



***** 



Tho was I ware at the last 

 As mine eyen gan up cast 

 That this ilke noble queene 

 On her shoulders gan sustene 

 Both the armes and the name 

 Of tho that had large fame. 



And thus found I sitting this goddesse 

 In noble honour and richesse 

 Of which I stinte a while now 

 Other thing to tellen you. 



