Part 35 (1/2)

[283] 211. =Shrift=; the confession made to a priest.

[284] 214. =Winchester=; a cathedral city in southern England, the ancient capital of the country.

[285] 233. =Pleasaunce=; pleasure.

[286] 236. =Pardie=; certainly or surely. It was originally an oath from the French _par Dieu_.

[287] 260. =Dais=; the platform on which was the king's throne.

[288] 268. =Rede=; story.

WILLIAM MORRIS

William Morris was born in 1834 in Walthamstead, Ess.e.x, England, and died in London in 1896. He went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1853, where he formed a close friends.h.i.+p with Edward Burne-Jones, the future artist. A little later he came under the influence of Rossetti, who induced him to attempt painting, an art which he followed with no great success. In 1858 he published _The Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems_. This volume was followed by _The Life and Death of Jason_ (1867), _The Earthly Paradise_ (finished 1872), and _Sigurd the Volsung_ (1876). In 1863 he became a manufacturer of wall paper and artistic furniture, branching out afterwards into weaving, dyeing, and other crafts. After 1885 he was a confirmed Socialist, speaking frequently at laborers' meetings and pouring forth a steady stream of leaflets and pamphlets in support of his radical beliefs. His death was probably due to overwork.

Morris was by instinct a lover of the beautiful and harmonious. A fluent versifier, he delighted especially in the composition of narrative poetry, which he adorned with ornate description and superb decoration.

This very richness sometimes cloys the taste and tends to arouse a feeling of monotony. His longest work, _The Earthly Paradise_, is modelled somewhat on Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, and contains twenty-four stories, twelve mediaeval and twelve cla.s.sic in origin.

A satisfactory short life is that by Alfred Noyes in the English Men of Letters Series.

ATALANTA'S RACE (Page 187)

Published in 1868 as the first story in the collection called _The Earthly Paradise_. The episode was a favorite with Greek and Latin writers, and has been used occasionally in modern times. The metre in this version is the antiquated Rime Royal.

[289] 1. =Arcadia= was a province of the Grecian peninsula.

[290] 14. =Cornel= is a kind of wood of great hardness used for making bows.

[291] 28. =King Schoenus=; a Boeotian king, the son of Athamas. Most other versions of the story name Iasius as Atalanta's father.

[292] 62. =Image of the sun=; a statue of Phoebus Apollo, the sun-G.o.d.

[293] 63. =The Fleet-foot One=; Mercury (Hermes), the messenger of the G.o.ds.

[294] 79. =Diana=; the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and the sister of Apollo. She was the G.o.ddess of the moon and of the hunt. She was also the protector of chast.i.ty. See Guerber, _Myths of Greece and Rome_, Chapter VI.

[295] 80. =Lists=; desires.

[296] 177. =Saffron gown=; the orange-yellow dress indicative of the bride.

[297] 184. =The sea-born one=; Aphrodite (Venus). See page 266.

[298] 206. The =Dryads= were wood-nymphs who were supposed to watch over vegetation.

[299] 208. =Adonis' bane=; the wild boar. Adonis was a beautiful youth who was pa.s.sionately loved by Venus, though he did not return her affection. He was mortally wounded at a hunt by a wild boar, and died in the arms of the G.o.ddess.

[300] 211. =Argive=; Grecian.