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diff --git a/old/62474-0.txt b/old/62474-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d0cde35..0000000 --- a/old/62474-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,65106 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The English and Scottish popular ballads -(vol. 3 of 5), by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The English and Scottish popular ballads (vol. 3 of 5) - -Author: Anonymous - -Editor: Francis James Child - -Release Date: June 25, 2020 [EBook #62474] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH *** - - - - -Produced by Richard Tonsing, Katherine Ward, Alicia -Williams, David T. Jones, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - THE - ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH - POPULAR BALLADS - - - EDITED BY - FRANCIS JAMES CHILD - - - IN FIVE VOLUMES - VOLUME III - - - NEW YORK - DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. - - - - - This Dover edition, first published in 1965, is an - unabridged and unaltered republication of the work - originally published by Houghton, Mifflin and - Company, as follows: - - Vol. I—Part I, 1882; Part II, 1884 - Vol. II—Part III, 1885; Part IV, 1886 - Vol. III—Part V, 1888; Part VI, 1889 - Vol. IV—Part VII, 1890; Part VIII, 1892 - Vol. V—Part IX, 1894; Part X, 1898. - - This edition also contains as an appendix to Part X - an essay by Walter Morris Hart entitled “Professor - Child and the Ballad,” reprinted _in toto_ from Vol. - XXI, No. 4, 1906 [New Series Vol. XIV, No. 4] of the - _Publications of the Modern Language Association of - America_. - - - _Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 65–24347_ - - Manufactured in the United States of America - - Dover Publications, Inc. - 180 Varick Street - New York, N.Y. 10014 - - - - - ADVERTISEMENT TO PART V - - NUMBERS 114–155 - - -REV. PROFESSOR SKEAT has done me the great service of collating Wynken -de Worde’s text of The Gest of Robin Hood, the manuscript of Robin Hood -and the Monk and of Robin Hood and the Potter, and all the Robin Hood -broadsides in the Pepys collection. Mr MACMATH has collated the -fragments of the earlier copy of The Gest which are preserved in the -Advocates’ Library, and, as always, has been most ready to respond to -every call for aid. I would also gratefully acknowledge assistance -received from Mr W. ALDIS WRIGHT, of Trinity College, Cambridge; the -Rev. EDMUND VENABLES, Precentor of Lincoln; Dr FURNIVALL; and, in -America, from Mr W. W. NEWELL, Miss PERINE and Mrs DULANY. - - F. J. C. - - FEBRUARY, 1888. - - - - - ADVERTISEMENT TO PART VI - - NUMBERS 156–188 - - -Mr MACMATH has helped me in many ways in the preparation of this Sixth -Part, and, as before, has been prodigal of time and pains. I am under -particular obligations to Mr ROBERT BRUCE ARMSTRONG, of Edinburgh, for -his communications concerning the ballad-folk of the Scottish border, -and to Dr WILHELM WOLLNER, of the University of Leipsic, and Mr GEORGE -LYMAN KITTREDGE, my colleague in Harvard College, for contributions -(indicated by the initials of their names) which will be found in the -Additions and Corrections. Dr WOLLNER will continue his services. Mr -JOHN KARŁOWICZ, of Warsaw, purposes to review in ‘Wisła’ all the English -ballads which have Polish affinities, and Professor ALEXANDER -VESSELOFSKY has allowed me to hope for his assistance; so that there is -a gratifying prospect that the points of contact between the English and -the Slavic popular ballads will in the end be amply brought out. Thanks -are due and are proffered, for favors of various kinds, to -Lieutenant-Colonel LUMSDEN, of London, Lieutenant-Colonel PRIDEAUX, of -Calcutta, Professor SKEAT, Miss ISABEL FLORENCE HAPGOOD, Professor -VINOGRADOF, of Moscow, Professor GEORGE STEPHENS, Mr AXEL OLRIK, of -Copenhagen (to whom the completion of SVEND GRUNDTVIG’S great work has -been entrusted), Mr JAMES BARCLAY MURDOCH, of Glasgow, Dr F. J. -FURNIVALL, Professor C. R. LANMAN, Mr P. Z. ROUND, and Mr W. W. NEWELL. - - F. J. C. - - JULY, 1889. - - - - - CONTENTS OF VOLUME III - - - BALLAD PAGE - 114. JOHNIE COCK 1 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 495.) - - 115. ROBYN AND GANDELEYN 12 - - 116. ADAM BELL, CLIM OF THE CLOUGH, AND WILLIAM OF CLOUDESLY 14 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 518; IV, 496; V, 297.) - - 117. A GEST OF ROBYN HODE 39 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 519; IV, 496; V, 240, - 297.) - - 118. ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE 89 - - 119. ROBIN HOOD AND THE MONK 94 - - 120. ROBIN HOOD’S DEATH 102 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 240, 297.) - - 121. ROBIN HOOD AND THE POTTER 108 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 497.) - - 122. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER 115 - - 123. ROBIN HOOD AND THE CURTAL FRIAR 120 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 297.) - - 124. THE JOLLY PINDER OF WAKEFIELD 129 - - 125. ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN 133 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 297.) - - 126. ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER 137 - - 127. ROBIN HOOD AND THE TINKER 140 - - 128. ROBIN HOOD NEWLY REVIVED 144 - - 129. ROBIN HOOD AND THE PRINCE OF ARAGON 147 - - 130. ROBIN HOOD AND THE SCOTCHMAN 150 - - 131. ROBIN HOOD AND THE RANGER 152 - - 132. THE BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD 154 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 240.) - - 133. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, I 155 - - 134. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, II 158 - - 135. ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD 165 - - 136. ROBIN HOOD’S DELIGHT 168 - - 137. ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS 170 - - 138. ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE 172 - - 139. ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM 175 - - 140. ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES 177 - - 141. ROBIN HOOD RESCUING WILL STUTLY 185 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 497.) - - 142. LITTLE JOHN A BEGGING 188 - - 143. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP 191 - - 144. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD 193 - - 145. ROBIN HOOD AND QUEEN KATHERINE 196 - - 146. ROBIN HOOD’S CHASE 205 - - 147. ROBIN HOOD’S GOLDEN PRIZE 208 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 519.) - - 148. THE NOBLE FISHERMAN, OR, ROBIN HOOD’S PREFERMENT 211 - - 149. ROBIN HOOD’S BIRTH, BREEDING, VALOR AND MARRIAGE 214 - - 150. ROBIN HOOD AND MAID MARIAN 218 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 519.) - - 151. THE KING’S DISGUISE, AND FRIENDSHIP WITH ROBIN HOOD 220 - - 152. ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW 223 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 241.) - - 153. ROBIN HOOD AND THE VALIANT KNIGHT 225 - - 154. A TRUE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD 227 - - 155. SIR HUGH, OR, THE JEW’S DAUGHTER 233 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 519; IV, 497; V, 241, - 297.) - - 156. QUEEN ELEANOR’S CONFESSION 257 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 498; V, 241, 297.) - - 157. GUDE WALLACE 265 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 242.) - - 158. HUGH SPENCER’S FEATS IN FRANCE 275 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 499; V, 243.) - - 159. DURHAM FIELD 282 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 297.) - - 160. THE KNIGHT OF LIDDESDALE 288 - - 161. THE BATTLE OF OTTERBURN 289 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 520; IV, 499; V, 243, - 297.) - - 162. THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT 303 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 502; V, 244, 297.) - - 163. THE BATTLE OF HARLAW 316 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 245.) - - 164. KING HENRY FIFTH’S CONQUEST OF FRANCE 320 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 245.) - - 165. SIR JOHN BUTLER 327 - - 166. THE ROSE OF ENGLAND 331 - - 167. SIR ANDREW BARTON 334 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 502; V, 245.) - - 168. FLODDEN FIELD 351 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 507; V, 298.) - - 169. JOHNIE ARMSTRONG 362 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 520; IV, 507; V, 298.) - - 170. THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE 372 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 245, 298.) - - 171. THOMAS CROMWELL 377 - - 172. MUSSELBURGH FIELD 378 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 507.) - - 173. MARY HAMILTON 379 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 507; V, 246, 298.) - - 174. EARL BOTHWELL 399 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 247.) - - 175. THE RISING IN THE NORTH 401 - - 176. NORTHUMBERLAND BETRAYED BY DOUGLAS 408 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 299.) - - 177. THE EARL OF WESTMORELAND 416 - (Additions and Corrections: V, 299.) - - 178. CAPTAIN CAR, OR, EDOM O GORDON 423 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 520; IV, 513; V, 247, - 299.) - - 179. ROOKHOPE RYDE 439 - - 180. KING JAMES AND BROWN 442 - - 181. THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY 447 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 515.) - - 182. THE LAIRD O LOGIE 449 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 520; IV, 515; V, 299.) - - 183. WILLIE MACINTOSH 456 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 516.) - - 184. THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY 458 - (Additions and Corrections: III, 520.) - - 185. DICK O THE COW 461 - - 186. KINMONT WILLIE 469 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 516.) - - 187. JOCK O THE SIDE 475 - - 188. ARCHIE O CAWFIELD 484 - (Additions and Corrections: IV, 516.) - - ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS 496 - - - - - 114 - - JOHNIE COCK - - #A.# Percy Papers, Miss Fisher’s MS., No 5, 1780. - - #B.# ‘Johnny Cock,’ Pieces of Ancient Poetry from Unpublished - Manuscripts and Scarce Books, Bristol, 1814, [John Fry], p. 53. - - #C.# ‘Johnny Cock,’ Pieces of Ancient Poetry, etc., p. 51. - - #D.# ‘Johnie of Cockerslee,’ Kinloch’s annotated copy of his Ancient - Scottish Ballads, p. 38 _bis_. - - #E.# ‘Johnie o Cocklesmuir,’ Kinloch MSS, VII, 29; Kinloch’s Ancient - Scottish Ballads, p. 36. - - #F.# ‘Johnie of Breadislee,’ Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 59, 1802. - - #G.# ‘Johnnie Brad,’ Harris MS., fol. 25. - - #H.# ‘Johnnie o Cocklesmuir,’ Buchan’s MSS, I, 82; Dixon, Scottish - Traditional Versions of Ancient Ballads, p. 77, Percy Society, vol. - xvii. - - #I.# ‘Johnie of Braidisbank,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 23. - - #J.# Chambers, Scottish Ballads, p. 181. - - #K.# Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xxxi: one stanza. - - #L.# Harris MS., fol. 25 b: one stanza. - - #M.# Froude, Thomas Carlyle, II, 335, New York, 1882, supplemented by - Mrs Aitken: one stanza. - - -The first notice in print of this precious specimen of the unspoiled -traditional ballad is in Ritson’s Scotish Song, 1794, I, xxxvi, note 25: -the Rev. Mr Boyd, the translator of Dante, had a faint recollection of -three ballads, one of which was called ‘Johny Cox.’ Before this, 1780, a -lady of Carlisle had sent a copy to Doctor Percy, #A#. Scott, 1802, was -the first to publish the ballad, selecting “the stanzas of greatest -merit” from several copies which were in his hands. John Fry gave two -valuable fragments, #C#, #B# (which he did not separate), in his Pieces -of Ancient Poetry, 1814, from a manuscript “appearing to be the -text-book of some illiterate drummer.”[1] I have been able to add only -three versions to those which were already before the world, #A#, #D#, -#G#; and of these #D# is in part the same as #E#, previously printed by -Kinloch. - -Pinkerton, Select Scotish Ballads, II, xxxix, 1783, has preserved a -stanza, which he assigns to a supposititious ballad of ‘Bertram the -Archer:’[2] - - ‘My trusty bow of the tough yew, - That I in London bought, - And silken strings, if ye prove true, - That my true-love has wrought.’ - -This stanza agrees with #J# 6, and with #A# 18, #H# 19 in part, and is -very likely to belong here; but it might be a movable passage, or -commonplace. - -All the versions are in accord as to the primary points of the story. A -gallant young fellow, who pays no regard to the game-laws, goes out, -despite his mother’s entreaties, to ding the dun deer down. He kills a -deer, and feasts himself and his dogs so freely on it that they all fall -asleep. An old palmer, a silly auld, stane-auld carl, observes him, and -carries word to seven foresters [fifteen #B#, three (?) #C#]. They beset -Johnie and wound him; he kills all but one, and leaves that one, badly -hurt, to carry tidings of the rest. Johnie sends a bird to his mother to -bid her fetch him away, #F# 19, 20, cf. #B# 13; a bird warns his mother -that Johnie tarries long, #H# 21 (one of Buchan’s parrots). The _boy_ in -#A# 20, 21 is evidently a corruption of _bird_. Information is given the -mother in a different way in #L#. #B-G# must be adjudged to be -incomplete; #I-M# are mere fragments. #H# has a false and silly -conclusion, 22–24, in imitation of Robin Hood and of Adam Bell. Mrs -Harris had heard another version besides #G# (of which she gives only -one stanza, #L#), in which “Johnie is slain and thrown owre a milk-white -steed; news is sent to Johnie’s mother, who flies to her son.” It is the -one forester who is not quite killed that is thrown over his steed to -carry tidings home, #F# 18, #G# 11. #D# 19, #E# 17, and Mrs Harris’s -second version are, as to this point, evidently corrupted. - -The hero’s name is Johnny Cock, #B# 2, #C# 1; Johny Cox, Rev. Mr Boyd; -John o Cockis (Johny Cockis?), #H# 17; Johny o Cockley’s Well, #A# 14; o -Cockerslee, #D# 14; of Cockielaw, in one of the versions used by Scott -for #F#; o Cocklesmuir, #E# 13, #H# 15. Again, Johnie Brad, #G# 1, #L#; -Johnie o Breadislee, #F# 14; Braidislee, #J# 2. - -The hunting-ground, or the place where Johnie is discovered, is up in -Braidhouplee, down in Bradyslee, #A# 6, high up in Bradyslee, low down -in Bradyslee, #A# 12; Braidscaur Hill, #D# 6, Braidisbanks, #D# 12, #I# -1; Bride’s Braidmuir, #H# 2, 5; Broadspear Hill, #E# 2, 5; Durrisdeer -only in #F# 4. The seven foresters are of Pickeram Side, #A# 3, 19; of -Hislinton, #F# 9. #B# 1^1 reads, Fifteen foresters in the braid alow; -which seems to require emendation, perhaps simply to Braid alow, perhaps -to Braidislee. - -With regard to the localities in #A#, Percy notes that Pickeram Side is -in Northumbria, and that there is a Cockley Tower in Erringside, near -Brady’s Cragg, and a Brady’s Cragg near Chollerford Bridge. There is a -Cockley, _alias_ Cocklaw, in Erringside, near Chollerton, in the south -division of Tynedale Ward, parish of St John Lee. The Erring is a small -stream which enters the Tyne between Chollerton and Chollerford. Again, -Cocklaw Walls appears in the map of the Ordnance Survey, a little to the -north and east of Cockley in Erringside, and Cocklaw Walls may represent -the Cockley’s Well of the ballad. (Percy notes that Cockley’s Well is -said to be near Bewcastle, Cumberland.) I have not found Brady’s Cragg -or Pickeram Side in the Ordnance Survey maps, nor indeed any of the -compounds of Braidy or Braid anywhere. - -There is a Braid a little to the south of Edinburgh, Braid Hills and -Braid Burn; and Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. 17, says that there is -tradition for this region having been the hunting-ground. - -Scott’s copy, #F#, lays the scene in Dumfriesshire, and there is other -tradition to the same effect.[3] - -Percy was struck with the occurrence of the wolf in #A# 17, found also -in #B# 10, #C# 5. He considered, no doubt, that the mention of the wolf -was a token of the high antiquity of the ballad. “Wolues that wyryeth -men, wommen and children” are spoken of in Piers Plowman, #C#, Passus, -X, v. 226, Skeat, 1886, I, 240, and the #C# text is assigned to about -1393. Holinshed (1577), I, 378, says that though the island is void of -wolves south of the Tweed, yet the Scots cannot boast the like, since -they have grievous wolves. - - -#F# is translated by Schubart, p. 187; Wolff, Halle der Völker, I, 41, -Hausschatz, p. 224; Doenniges, p. 10; Gerhard, p. 51; R. von Bismarck, -Deutsches Museum, 1858, I, 897; Cesare Cantù, Documenti alla Storia -Universale, V, 806; in Le Magasin Pittoresque, 1838, p. 127 b; by -Loève-Veimars, p. 296. Grundtvig, p. 269, No 41, translates a compound -of #F#, #I#, #E# (Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 36), and #B#; -Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 18, a mixture of #F# and others. - - - A - - Communicated to Percy by Miss Fisher, of Carlisle, 1780, No 5 of MS. - - 1 - Johny he has risen up i the morn, - Calls for water to wash his hands; - But little knew he that his bloody hounds - Were bound in iron bands. bands - Were bound in iron bands - - 2 - Johny’s mother has gotten word o that, - And care-bed she has taen: - ‘O Johny, for my benison, - I beg you’l stay at hame; - For the wine so red, and the well baken bread, - My Johny shall want nane. - - 3 - ‘There are seven forsters at Pickeram Side, - At Pickeram where they dwell, - And for a drop of thy heart’s bluid - They wad ride the fords of hell.’ - - 4 - Johny he’s gotten word of that, - And he’s turnd wondrous keen; - He’s put off the red scarlett, - And he’s put on the Lincolm green. - - 5 - With a sheaf of arrows by his side, - And a bent bow in his hand, - He’s mounted on a prancing steed, - And he has ridden fast oer the strand. - - 6 - He’s up i Braidhouplee, and down i Bradyslee, - And under a buss o broom, - And there he found a good dun deer, - Feeding in a buss of ling. - - 7 - Johny shot, and the dun deer lap, - And she lap wondrous wide, - Until they came to the wan water, - And he stemd her of her pride. - - 8 - He ’as taen out the little pen-knife, - ’Twas full three quarters long, - And he has taen out of that dun deer - The liver bot and the tongue. - - 9 - They eat of the flesh, and they drank of the blood, - And the blood it was so sweet, - Which caused Johny and his bloody hounds - To fall in a deep sleep. - - 10 - By then came an old palmer, - And an ill death may he die! - For he’s away to Pickram Side, - As fast as he can drie. - - 11 - ‘What news, what news?’ says the Seven Forsters, - ‘What news have ye brought to me?’ - ‘I have noe news,’ the palmer said, - ‘But what I saw with my eye. - - 12 - ‘High up i Bradyslee, low down i Bradisslee, - And under a buss of scroggs, - O there I spied a well-wight man, - Sleeping among his dogs. - - 13 - ‘His coat it was of light Lincolm, - And his breeches of the same, - His shoes of the American leather, - And gold buckles tying them.’ - - 14 - Up bespake the Seven Forsters, - Up bespake they ane and a’: - O that is Johny o Cockleys Well, - And near him we will draw. - - 15 - O the first y stroke that they gae him, - They struck him off by the knee; - Then up bespake his sister’s son: - ‘O the next’ll gar him die!’ - - 16 - ‘O some they count ye well-wight men, - But I do count ye nane; - For you might well ha wakend me, - And askd gin I wad be taen. - - 17 - ‘The wildest wolf in aw this wood - Wad not ha done so by me; - She’d ha wet her foot ith wan water, - And sprinkled it oer my brae, - And if that wad not ha wakend me, - She wad ha gone and let me be. - - 18 - ‘O bows of yew, if ye be true, - In London, where ye were bought, - Fingers five, get up belive, - Manhuid shall fail me nought.’ - - 19 - He has killd the Seven Forsters, - He has killd them all but ane, - And that wan scarce to Pickeram Side, - To carry the bode-words hame. - - 20 - ‘Is there never a boy in a’ this wood - That will tell what I can say; - That will go to Cockleys Well, - Tell my mither to fetch me away?’ - - 21 - There was a boy into that wood, - That carried the tidings away, - And many ae was the well-wight man - At the fetching o Johny away. - - - B - - Pieces of Ancient Poetry from Unpublished Manuscripts and Scarce - Books, Bristol, 1814, p. 53. - - 1 - Fifteen foresters in the Braid alow, - And they are wondrous fell; - To get a drop of Johnny’s heart-bluid, - They would sink a’ their souls to hell. - - 2 - Johnny Cock has gotten word of this, - And he is wondrous keen; - Heś custan off the red scarlet, - And on the Linkum green. - - 3 - And he is ridden oer muir and muss, - And over mountains high, - Till he came to yon wan water, - And there Johnny Cock did lie. - - 4 - They have ridden oer muir and muss, - And over mountains high, - Till they met wi’ an old palmer, - Was walking along the way. - - 5 - ‘What news, what news, old palmer? - What news have you to me?’ - ‘Yonder is one of the proudest wed sons - That ever my eyes did see.’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - He’s taen out a horn from his side, - And he blew both loud and shrill, - Till a’ the fifteen foresters - Heard Johnny Cock blaw his horn. - - 7 - They have sworn a bluidy oath, - And they swore all in one, - That there was not a man among them a’ - Would blaw such a blast as yon. - - 8 - And they have ridden oer muir and muss, - And over mountains high, - Till they came to yon wan water, - Where Johnny Cock did lie. - - 9 - They have shotten little Johnny Cock, - A little above the ee: - . . . . . . . - ‘For doing the like to me. - - 10 - ‘There’s not a wolf in a’ the wood - Woud ’ ha’ done the like to me; - ‘She’d ha’ dipped her foot in coll water, - And strinkled above my ee, - And if I would not have waked for that, - ‘She’d ha’ gane and let me be. - - 11 - ‘But fingers five, come here, [come here,] - And faint heart fail me nought, - And silver strings, value me sma things, - Till I get all this vengeance rowght!’ - - 12 - He ha[s] shot a’ the fifteen foresters, - Left never a one but one, - And he broke the ribs a that ane’s side, - And let him take tiding home. - - 13 - ‘... a bird in a’ the wood - Could sing as I could say, - It would go in to my mother’s bower, - And bid her kiss me, and take me away.’ - - - C - - Pieces of Ancient Poetry from Unpublished Manuscripts and Scarce - Books, Bristol, 1814, p. 51. - - 1 - Johnny Cock, in a May morning, - Sought water to wash his hands, - And he is awa to louse his dogs, - That’s tied wi iron bans. - That’s tied wi iron bans - - 2 - His coat it is of the light Lincum green, - And his breiks are of the same; - His shoes are of the American leather, - Silver buckles tying them. - - 3 - ‘He’ hunted up, and so did ‘he’ down, - Till ‘he’ came to yon bush of scrogs, - And then to yon wan water, - Where he slept among his dogs. - - * * * * * - - 4 - Johnny Cock out-shot a’ the foresters, - And out-shot a the three; - Out shot a’ the foresters, - Wounded Johnny aboun the bree. - - 5 - ‘Woe be to you, foresters, - And an ill death may you die! - For there would not a wolf in a’ the wood - Have done the like to me. - - 6 - ‘For’ ’twould ha’ put its foot in the coll water - And ha strinkled it on my bree, - And gin that would not have done, - Would have gane and lett me be. - - 7 - ‘I often took to my mother - The dandoo and the roe, - But now I’l take to my mother - Much sorrow and much woe. - - 8 - ‘I often took to my mother - The dandoo and the hare, - But now I’l take to my mother - Much sorrow and much care.’ - - - D - - Kinloch’s annotated copy of his Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 38 - _bis_: a West-Country version. - - 1 - Up Johnie raise in a May morning, - Calld for water to wash his hands, - And he has calld for his gude gray hunds, - That lay bund in iron bands. bands - That lay bund in iron bands - - 2 - ‘Ye’ll busk, ye’ll busk my noble dogs, - Ye’ll busk and mak them boun, - For I’m going to the Braidscaur hill, - To ding the dun deer doun.’ - - 3 - Whan Johnie’s mither gat word o that, - On the very bed she lay, - Says, Johnie, for my malison, - I pray ye at hame to stay. - - 4 - Your meat sall be of the very, very best, - Your drink sall be the same, - And ye will win your mither’s benison, - Gin ye wad stay at hame. - - 5 - But Johnie has cast aff the black velvet, - And put on the Lincoln twine, - And he is on to gude greenwud, - As fast as he could gang. - - 6 - His mither’s counsel he wad na tak, - He’s aff, and left the toun, - He’s aff unto the Braidscaur hill, - To ding the dun deer doun. - - 7 - Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west, - And he lookit aneath the sun, - And there he spied the dun deer sleeping, - Aneath a buss o whun. - - 8 - Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap, - And he’s scaithed him in the side, - And atween the water and the wud - He laid the dun deer’s pride. - - 9 - They ate sae meikle o the venison, - And drank sae meikle o the blude, - That Johnie and his twa gray hunds - Fell asleep in yonder wud. - - 10 - By ther cam a silly auld man, - And a silly auld man was he, - And he’s aff to the proud foresters, - As fast as he could dree. - - 11 - ‘What news, what news, my silly auld man? - What news? come tell to me:’ - ‘I heard na news, I speird na news - But what my een did see. - - 12 - ‘As I cam in by Braidisbanks, - And doun amang the whuns, - The bonniest youngster eer I saw - Lay sleepin amang his hunds. - - 13 - ‘His cheeks war like the roses red, - His neck was like the snaw; - His sark was o the holland fine, - And his jerkin lac’d fu braw.’ - - 14 - Up bespak the first forester, - The first forester of a’: - O this is Johnie o Cockerslee; - Come draw, lads, we maun draw. - - 15 - Up bespak the niest forester, - The niest forester of a’: - An this be Johnie o Cockerslee, - To him we winna draw. - - 16 - The first shot that they did shoot, - They woundit him on the bree; - Up bespak the uncle’s son, - ‘The niest will gar him die.’ - - 17 - The second shot that eer they shot, - It scaithd him near the heart; - ‘I only wauken,’ Johnie cried, - ‘Whan first I find the smart. - - 18 - ‘Stand stout, stand stout, my noble dogs, - Stand stout, and dinna flee; - Stand fast, stand fast, my gude gray hunds, - And we will gar them die.’ - - 19 - He has killed six o the proud foresters, - And wounded the seventh sair: - He laid his leg out owre his steed, - Says, I will kill na mair. - - 20 - ‘Oh wae befa thee, silly auld man, - An ill death may thee dee! - Upon thy head be a’ this blude, - For mine, I ween, is free.’ - - - E - - Kinloch’s MSS, VII, 29: from recitation in the North Country. - - 1 - Johnie rose up in a May morning, - Calld for water to wash his hands, - And he has calld for his gud gray hunds, - That lay bund in iron bands. bands - That lay bund in iron bands - - 2 - ‘Ye’ll busk, ye’ll busk my noble dogs, - Ye’ll busk and mak them boun, - For I’m gaing to the Broadspear hill, - To ding the dun deer doun.’ - - 3 - Whan Johnie’s mither heard o this, - She til her son has gane: - ‘Ye’ll win your mither’s benison, - Gin ye wad stay at hame. - - 4 - ‘Your meat sall be o the very, very best, - And your drink o the finest wine; - And ye will win your mither’s benison, - Gin ye wad stay at hame.’ - - 5 - His mither’s counsel he wad na tak, - Nor wad he stay at hame; - But he’s on to the Broadspear hill, - To ding the dun deer doun. - - 6 - Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west, - And a little below the sun, - And there he spied the dun deer lying sleeping, - Aneath a buss o brume. - - 7 - Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap, - And he has woundit him in the side, - And atween the water and the wud - He laid the dun deer’s pride. - - 8 - They ate sae meikle o the venison, - And drank sae meikle o the blude, - That Johnie and his twa gray hunds - Fell asleep in yonder wud. - - 9 - By there cam a silly auld man, - A silly auld man was he, - And he’s aff to the proud foresters, - To tell what he did see. - - 10 - ‘What news, what news, my silly auld man, - What news? come tell to me:’ - ‘Na news, na news,’ said the silly auld man, - ‘But what mine een did see. - - 11 - ‘As I cam in by yon greenwud, - And doun amang the scrogs, - The bonniest youth that ere I saw - Lay sleeping atween twa dogs. - - 12 - ‘The sark that he had on his back - Was o the holland sma, - And the coat that he had on his back - Was laced wi gowd fu braw.’ - - 13 - Up bespak the first forester, - The first forester ava: - ‘An this be Johnie o Cocklesmuir, - It’s time we war awa.’ - - 14 - Up bespak the niest forester, - The niest forester ava: - ‘An this be Johnie o Cocklesmuir, - To him we winna draw.’ - - 15 - The first shot that they did shoot, - They woundit him on the thie; - Up bespak the uncle’s son, - The niest will gar him die. - - 16 - ‘Stand stout, stand stout, my noble dogs, - Stand stout, and dinna flee; - Stand fast, stand fast, my gude gray hunds, - And we will mak them dee.’ - - 17 - He has killed six o the proud foresters, - And he has woundit the seventh sair; - He laid his leg out oure his steed, - Says, I will kill na mair. - - - F - - Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 59, 1802; made up from several different - copies. Nithsdale. - - 1 - Johnie rose up in a May morning, - Called for water to wash his hands: - ‘Gar loose to me the gude graie dogs, - That are bound wi iron bands.’ - - 2 - When Johnie’s mother gat word o that, - Her hands for dule she wrang: - ‘O Johnie, for my bennison, - To the grenewood dinna gang! - - 3 - ‘Eneugh ye hae o the gude wheat-bread, - And eneugh o the blude-red wine, - And therefore for nae vennison, Johnie, - I pray ye, stir frae hame.’ - - 4 - But Johnie’s buskt up his gude bend bow, - His arrows, ane by ane, - And he has gane to Durrisdeer, - To hunt the dun deer down. - - 5 - As he came down by Merriemass, - And in by the benty line, - There has he espied a deer lying, - Aneath a bush of ling. - - 6 - Johnie he shot, and the dun deer lap, - And he wounded her on the side, - But atween the water and the brae, - His hounds they laid her pride. - - 7 - And Johnie has bryttled the deer sae weel - That he’s had out her liver and lungs, - And wi these he has feasted his bludey hounds - As if they had been erl’s sons. - - 8 - They eat sae much o the vennison, - And drank sae much o the blude, - That Johnie and a’ his bludey hounds - Fell asleep as they had been dead. - - 9 - And by there came a silly auld carle, - An ill death mote he die! - For he’s awa to Hislinton, - Where the Seven Foresters did lie. - - 10 - ‘What news, what news, ye gray-headed carle? - What news bring ye to me?’ - ‘I bring nae news,’ said the gray-headed carle, - ‘Save what these eyes did see. - - 11 - ‘As I came down by Merriemass, - And down amang the scroggs, - The bonniest childe that ever I saw - Lay sleeping amang his dogs. - - 12 - ‘The shirt that was upon his back - Was o the holland fine; - The doublet which was over that - Was o the Lincome twine. - - 13 - ‘The buttons that were on his sleeve - Were o the gowd sae gude; - The gude graie hounds he lay amang, - Their mouths were dyed wi blude.’ - - 14 - Then out and spak the first forester, - The heid man ower them a’: - If this be Johnie o Breadislee, - Nae nearer will we draw. - - 15 - But up and spak the sixth forester, - His sister’s son was he: - If this be Johnie o Breadislee, - We soon shall gar him die. - - 16 - The first flight of arrows the foresters shot, - They wounded him on the knee; - And out and spak the seventh forester, - The next will gar him die. - - 17 - Johnie’s set his back against an aik, - His fute against a stane, - And he has slain the Seven Foresters, - He has slain them a’ but ane. - - 18 - He has broke three ribs in that ane’s side, - But and his collar bane; - He’s laid him twa-fald ower his steed, - Bade him carry the tidings hame. - - 19 - ‘O is there na a bonnie bird - Can sing as I can say, - Could flee away to my mother’s bower, - And tell to fetch Johnie away?’ - - 20 - The starling flew to his mother’s window-stane, - It whistled and it sang, - And aye the ower-word o the tune - Was, Johnie tarries lang! - - 21 - They made a rod o the hazel-bush, - Another o the slae-thorn tree, - And mony, mony were the men - At fetching our Johnie. - - 22 - Then out and spake his auld mother, - And fast her teirs did fa; - Ye wad nae be warnd, my son Johnie, - Frae the hunting to bide awa. - - 23 - ‘Aft hae I brought to Breadislee - The less gear and the mair, - But I neer brought to Breadislee - What grieved my heart sae sair. - - 24 - ‘But wae betyde that silly auld carle, - An ill death shall he die; - For the highest tree on Merriemass - Shall be his morning’s fee.’ - - 25 - Now Johnie’s gude bend bow is broke, - And his gude graie dogs are slain, - And his bodie lies dead in Durrisdeer, - And his hunting it is done. - - - G - - Harris MS., fol. 25: from Mrs Harris’s recitation. - - 1 - Johnnie Brad, on a May mornin, - Called for water to wash his hands, - An there he spied his twa blude-hounds, - Waur bound in iron bands. bands - Waur bound in iron bands - - 2 - Johnnie’s taen his gude bent bow, - Bot an his arrows kene, - An strippit himsel o the scarlet red, - An put on the licht Lincoln green. - - 3 - Up it spak Johnnie’s mither, - An’ a wae, wae woman was she: - I beg you bide at hame, Johnnie, - I pray be ruled by me. - - 4 - Baken bread ye sall nae lack, - An wine you sall lack nane; - Oh Johnnie, for my benison, - I beg you bide at hame! - - 5 - He has made a solemn aith, - Atween the sun an the mune, - That he wald gae to the gude green wood, - The dun deer to ding doon. - - 6 - He luiket east, he luiket wast, - An in below the sun, - An there he spied the dun deer, - Aneath a bush o brume. - - 7 - The firsten shot that Johnnie shot, - He wounded her in the side; - The nexten shot that Johnnie shot, - I wat he laid her pride. - - 8 - He’s eaten o the venison, - An drunken o the blude, - Until he fell as sound asleep - As though he had been dead. - - 9 - Bye there cam a silly auld man, - And a silly auld man was he, - An he’s on to the Seven Foresters, - As fast as he can flee. - - 10 - ‘As I cam in by yonder haugh, - An in among the scroggs, - The bonniest boy that ere I saw - Lay sleepin atween his dogs.’ - - * * * * * - - 11 - The firsten shot that Johnnie shot, - He shot them a’ but ane, - An he flang him owre a milk-white steed, - Bade him bear tidings hame. - - - H - - Buchan’s MSS, I, 82; Dixon, Scottish Traditional Versions of Ancient - Ballads, p. 77, Percy Society, vol. xvii. - - 1 - Johnnie raise up in a May morning, - Calld for water to wash his hands, - And he’s commant his bluidy dogs - To be loosd frae their iron bands. bands - To be loosd frae their iron bands - - 2 - ‘Win up, win up, my bluidy dogs, - Win up, and be unbound, - And we will on to Bride’s Braidmuir, - And ding the dun deer down.’ - - 3 - When his mother got word o that, - Then she took bed and lay; - Says, Johnnie, my son, for my blessing, - Ye’ll stay at hame this day. - - 4 - There’s baken bread and brown ale - Shall be at your command; - Ye’ll win your mither’s blythe blessing, - To the Bride’s Braidmuir nae gang. - - 5 - Mony are my friends, mither, - Though thousands were my foe; - Betide me life, betide me death, - To the Bride’s Braidmuir I’ll go. - - 6 - The sark that was on Johnnie’s back - Was o the cambric fine; - The belt that was around his middle - Wi pearlins it did shine. - - 7 - The coat that was upon his back - Was o the linsey brown; - And he’s awa to the Bride’s Braidmuir, - To ding the dun deer down. - - 8 - Johnnie lookd east, Johnnie lookd west, - And turnd him round and round, - And there he saw the king’s dun deer, - Was cowing the bush o brune. - - 9 - Johnnie shot, and the dun deer lap, - He wounded her in the side; - Between him and yon burnie-bank, - Johnnie he laid her pride. - - 10 - He ate sae muckle o the venison, - He drank sae muckle bleed, - Till he lay down between his hounds, - And slept as he’d been dead. - - 11 - But by there came a stane-auld man, - An ill death mat he dee! - For he is on to the Seven Foresters, - As fast as gang could he. - - 12 - ‘What news, what news, ye stane-auld man? - What news hae ye brought you wi?’ - ‘Nae news, nae news, ye seven foresters, - But what your eyes will see. - - 13 - ‘As I gaed i yon rough thick hedge, - Amang yon bramly scroggs, - The fairest youth that eer I saw - Lay sleeping between his dogs. - - 14 - ‘The sark that was upon his back - Was o the cambric fine; - The belt that was around his middle - Wi pearlins it did shine.’ - - 15 - Then out it speaks the first forester: - Whether this be true or no, - O if it’s Johnnie o Cocklesmuir, - Nae forder need we go. - - 16 - Out it spake the second forester, - A fierce fellow was he: - Betide me life, betide me death, - This youth we’ll go and see. - - 17 - As they gaed in yon rough thick hedge, - And down yon forest gay, - They came to that very same place - Where John o Cockis he lay. - - 18 - The first an shot they shot at him, - They wounded him in the thigh; - Out spake the first forester’s son: - By the next shot he maun die. - - 19 - ‘O stand ye true, my trusty bow, - And stout steel never fail! - Avenge me now on all my foes, - Who have my life i bail.’ - - 20 - Then Johnnie killd six foresters, - And wounded the seventh sair; - Then drew a stroke at the stane-auld man, - That words he neer spake mair. - - 21 - His mother’s parrot in window sat, - She whistled and she sang, - And aye the owerturn o the note, - ‘Young Johnnie’s biding lang.’ - - 22 - When this reached the king’s own ears, - It grievd him wondrous sair; - Says, I’d rather they’d hurt my subjects all - Than Johnnie o Cocklesmuir. - - 23 - ‘But where are all my wall-wight men, - That I pay meat and fee, - Will gang the morn to Johnnie’s castle, - See how the cause may be.’ - - 24 - Then he’s calld Johnnie up to court, - Treated him handsomelie, - And now to hunt in the Bride’s Braidmuir, - For life has license free. - - - I - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 23. - - 1 - Johnie rose up in a May morning, - Called for water to wash his hands, hands - And he is awa to Braidisbanks, - To ding the dun deer down. down - To ding the dun deer down - - 2 - Johnie lookit east, and Johnie lookit west, - And it’s lang before the sun, - And there he did spy the dun deer lie, - Beneath a bush of brume. - - 3 - Johnie shot, and the dun deer lap, - And he’s woundit her in the side; - Out then spake his sister’s son, - ‘And the neist will lay her pride.’ - - * * * * * - - 4 - They’ve eaten sae meikle o the gude venison, - And they’ve drunken sae muckle o the blude, - That they’ve fallen into as sound a sleep - As gif that they were dead. - - * * * * * - - 5 - ‘It’s doun, and it’s doun, and it’s doun, doun, - And it’s doun amang the scrogs, - And there ye’ll espy twa bonnie boys lie, - Asleep amang their dogs.’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - They waukened Johnie out o his sleep, - And he’s drawn to him his coat: - ‘My fingers five, save me alive, - And a stout heart fail me not!’ - - * * * * * - - - J - - Chambers’s Scottish Ballads, p. 181, stanzas 13, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, - 26: from the recitation of a lady resident at Peebles. - - 1 - His coat was o the scarlet red, - His vest was o the same; - His stockings were o the worset lace, - And buckles tied to the same. - - 2 - Out then spoke one, out then spoke two, - Out then spoke two or three; - Out spoke the master forester, - ‘It’s Johnie o Braidislee. - - 3 - ‘If this be true, thou silly auld man, - Which you tell unto me, - Five hundred pounds of yearly rent - It shall not pay your fee.’ - - * * * * * - - 4 - ‘O wae be to you seven foresters! - I wonder ye dinna think shame, - You being seven sturdy men, - And I but a man my lane. - - 5 - ‘Now fail me not, my ten fingers, - That are both long and small! - Now fail me not, my noble heart! - For in thee I trust for all. - - 6 - ‘Now fail me not, my good bend bow, - That was in London coft! - Now fail me not, my golden string, - Which my true lover wrocht!’ - - * * * * * - - 7 - He has tossed him up, he has tossed him doun, - He has broken his collar-bone; - He has tied him to his bridle reins, - Bade him carry the tidings home. - - - K - - Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xxxi. - - ‘There’s no a bird in a’ this foreste - Will do as meikle for me - As dip its wing in the wan water - An straik it on my ee-bree.’ - - - L - - Harris MS., fol. 25 b. - - But aye at ilka ae mile’s end - She fand a cat o clay, - An written upon the back o it - ‘Tak your son Johnnie Brod away.’ - - - M - - Froude’s Life of Carlyle, 1795–1875, II, 335, New York, 1882, - completed by a communication of Mr Macmath: as sung by Carlyle’s - mother. - - ‘O Busk ye, O busk ye, my three bluidy hounds, - O busk ye, and go with me, - For there’s seven foresters in yon forest, - And them I want to see.’ see - And them I want to see - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - ‘The Seven Forsters at Pickeram Side’ _is a title supplied by - Percy_. - - 6^2. I wun _is added by Percy, at the end_. - - 7^3, 17^3. one water. - - 15^1. Oh. - - 19^4. bord words, or bood words. - -#B# _follows_ #C# _in Fry without a break. Words distinguished by ’ ’ - in_ #B#, #C# _are emendations or additions of Fry. 4, 5 come - between 12 and 13_. - - 1^1. braid alow. - - 10^1. the word. - - 10^5. would have. - - 11^2. hearted. - - 13^3. bows. - - 4^3. Out-shot. - -#D.# - - “There is a West-Country version of this ballad, under the title - of Johnie of Cockerslee, differing very little from the present. - The variations in the reading I have marked at their respective - places.” _Kinloch. Assuming that Kinloch has given all the - variations (which include six entire stanzas), the West-Country - version is reproduced by combining these readings with so much - of the other copy, Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 38, as - did not vary._ - - 15^3. _Kinloch neglected to alter_ Cocklesmuir here. - -#E.# - - 6^3. lying _is struck through, probably to improve the metre. - Kinloch made two slight changes in printing_. - -#H.# - - 5^1. Mony ane. (?) - - 9^1. Johnnie lap: _probably an error of the copyist_. - - 9^2, 18^2. wound: _cf._ 20^2. - - 21^4. bidding. - - _Dixon has changed_ stane-auld _to_ silly-auld _in 11^1, 12^1, - 20^3;_ Cockis _to_ Cockl’s _in 17^4; and has Scotticised the - spelling_. - -#I.# - - _Motherwell notes a stanza as wanting after 3, some stanzas as - wanting after 4, 5._ - -#J.# - - “The version of the ballad here given is partly copied from those - printed in the Border Minstrelsy and in the publications of - Messrs Kinloch and Motherwell, and is partly taken from the - recitation of a lady resident at Peebles and from a manuscript - copy submitted to me by Mr Kinloch. The twelfth, thirteenth, - fourteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, twenty-first, twenty-second, - twenty-third, twenty-sixth, and twenty-seventh stanzas are here - printed for the first time.” _Chambers. The 14th stanza had been - printed by Scott, #F# 12; the 23d, repeated here (6), by - Pinkerton; the 27th is #D# 20. The first half of the 12th is #D# - 13^{1,2}, and the remainder Chambers’s own: compare his 11 and - #F# 11, from which it seems to have been made._ - -#L.# - - “I have heard another version, where Johnnie is slain and thrown - ‘owre a milk-white steed.’ News is sent to Johnnie’s mother, who - flies to her son; But aye at ilka ae mile’s end, etc.” - -#M.# - - “While she [Carlyle’s mother] was at Craigenputtock, I made her - train me to two song-tunes; and we often sang them together, and - tried them often again in coming down into Annandale.” _The last - half of the stanza is cited. Letter of T. Carlyle, May 18, 1834, - in Froude’s Life, 1795–1835_, II, _335_. - - “Mrs Aitken, sister of T. Carlyle, sent me [January 15, 1884] the - first two lines to complete the stanza of this Johny Cock, but - can call up no more of the ballad.” _Letter of Mr Macmath._ - - - - - 115 - - ROBYN AND GANDELEYN - - Sloane MS., 2593, fol. 14 b, British Museum. - - -Printed by Ritson, Ancient Songs, 1790, p. 48, and by Thomas Wright, -Songs and Carols (selected from the Sloane MS.), No X, London, 1836, and -again in his edition of the whole MS. for the Warton Club, 1856, p. 42. -The manuscript is put at about 1450. - -Wright remarks on the similarity of the name Gandelyn to Gamelyn in the -tale assigned to the Cook in some manuscripts of the Canterbury Tales, -and on the resemblance of the tale of Gamelyn to Robin Hood story. But -he could hardly have wished to give the impression that Robin in this -ballad is Robin Hood. This he no more is than John in the ballad which -precedes is Little John; though Gandelyn is as true to his master as -Little John is, and is pronounced to be by the king, in ‘Robin Hood and -the Monk.’ Ritson gave the ballad the title of ‘Robin Lyth,’ looking on -the ‘lyth’ of the burden as the hero’s surname; derived perhaps from the -village of Lythe, two or three miles to the north of Whitby. A cave on -the north side of the promontory of Flamborough, called Robin Lyth’s -Hole (popularly regarded as the stronghold of a pirate), may have been, -Ritson thinks, one of the skulking-places of the Robin who fell by the -shaft of Wrennok. “Robin Hood,” he adds, “had several such in those and -other parts; and, indeed, it is not very improbable that our hero had -been formerly in the suite of that gallant robber, and, on his master’s -death, had set up for himself.” Thought is free. - - -Translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, page 44, No. 6. - - - 1 - I herde a carpyng of a clerk, - Al at ȝone wod_es_ ende, - Of gode Robyn and Gandeleyn; - Was þ_er_ no_n_ oþ_er_ þynge. - Robyn_n_ lyth in grene wode bowndy_n_ - - 2 - Stronge theuys wern þo chylderi_n_ no_n_, - But bowme_n_ gode and hende; - He wenty_n_ to wode to gety_n_ he_m_ fleych, - If God wold it he_m_ sende. - - 3 - Al day we_n_ty_n_ þo chylderi_n_ too, - And fleych fowndy_n_ he no_n_, - Til it wer_e_ a-geyn euy_n_; - Þe chylderi_n_ wold go_n_ hom. - - 4 - Half a_n_ honderid of fat falyf der - He comy_n_ a-ȝon, - And alle he wern fayr and fat i-now, - But markyd was þ_er_ no_n_: - ‘Be der_e_ God,’ seyde gode Robyn, - ‘Here of we xul haue on.’ - - 5 - Roby_n_ bent his joly bowe, - Þ_er_ in he set a flo; - Þe fattest der of alle - Þe herte he clef a to. - - 6 - He hadde not þe der i-flawe, - Ne half out of þe hyde, - Th_ere_ cam a schrewde arwe out of þe west, - Þ_a_t felde Robert_es_ pryde. - - 7 - Gandeleyn lokyd hy_m_ est and west, - Be eu_er_y syde: - ‘Hoo hat my_n_ mayst_er_ slayin? - Ho hat do_n_ þis dede? - Xal I neu_er_ out of grene wode go - Til I se [his] sydis blede.’ - - 8 - Gandeleyn lokyd hy_m_ est and lokyd west, - And sowt vnd_er_ þe sun_n_e; - He saw a lytil boy - He clepy_n_ Wrennok of Donne. - - 9 - A good bowe in his hond, - A brod arwe þ_er_ ine, - And fowr_e_ and twenti goode arwys, - Trusyd in a þrumme: - ‘Be war þe, war þe, Gandeleyn, - Her-of þu xalt ha_n_ sum_m_e. - - 10 - ‘Be war þe, war þe, Ga_n_deleyn, - Her of þu gyst plente:’ - ‘Eu_er_ on for a_n_ oþ_er_,’ seyde Gandeleyn; - ‘Mysau_n_t_er_ haue he xal fle. - - 11 - ‘Qwer-at xal o_ur_ marke be?’ - Seyde Gandeleyn: - ‘Eu_er_yche at oþ_er_is herte,’ - Seyde Wrennok ageyn. - - 12 - ‘Ho xal ȝeue þe ferste schote?’ - Seyde Ga_n_deleyn: - ‘And I xul ȝeue þe on be-forn,’ - Seyde Wrennok ageyn. - - 13 - Wrennok schette a ful good schote, - And he schet not to hye; - Þrow þe sa_n_choþis of his bryk; - It towchyd neyþ_er_ thye. - - 14 - ‘Now hast þu ȝouy_n_ me on be-forn,’ - Al þus to Wrennok seyde he, - ‘And þrow þe myȝt of o_ur_ lady - A better_e_ I xal ȝeue þe.’ - - 15 - Gandeleyn bent his goode bowe, - And set þ_er_ in a flo; - He schet þrow his grene certyl, - His h_er_te he clef on too. - - 16 - ‘Now xalt þu neu_er_ ȝelpe, Wrennok, - At ale ne at wyn, - Þ_a_t þu hast slawe goode Roby_n_, - And his knaue Gandeleyn. - - 17 - ‘Now xalt þu neu_er_ ȝelpe, Wrennok, - At wyn ne at ale, - Þ_a_t þu hast slawe goode Roby_n_, - And Ga_n_deley_n_ his knaue.’ - - Roby_n_ lyȝth in grene wode bowndy_n_ - - * * * * * - - _Written continuously, without division of stanzas or verses. The - burden, put after 1, stands at the head of the ballad._ - - And _for_ & _always_. - - 1^4. gynge. - - 4^3. I now. - - 4^5. Robyn _wanting_. - - 5^1. went. - - 7^6. Ti I. - - 9^3. & xx. - - 10^2. hir. - - 12^3. ȝewe. - - 12^4. seyd. - - 14^3. þ^u myȝt. - - 17^4. Ga_n_delyyn: knawe. - - _Last line_: bowdy_n_. - - - - - 116 - - ADAM BELL, CLIM OF THE CLOUGH, AND WILLIAM OF CLOUDESLY - - #a.# Two fragments, stanzas 113^4–128^2, 161^2–170, of an edition by - John Byddell, London, 1536: Library of the University of - Cambridge.[4] - - #b.# A fragment, stanzas 53^3–111^3, by a printer not identified: - formerly in the possession of J. Payne Collier.[5] - - #c.# ‘Adambel, Clym of the cloughe, and Wyllyam of cloudesle,’ William - Copeland, London [1548–68]: British Museum, C. 21, c. 64.[6] - - #d.# ‘Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesle,’ James - Roberts, London, 1605: Bodleian Library, C. 39, Art. Selden. - - #e.# Another edition with the same title-page: Bodleian Library, - Malone, 299. - - #f.# ‘Adam Bell, Clime of the Cloug[he], and William off Cloudeslee,’ - Percy MS., p. 390: British Museum. Hales and Furnivall, III, 76. - - -‘Adam Bell’ is licensed to John Kynge in the Stationers’ Registers, 19 -July, 1557–9 July, 1558: Arber, I, 79. Again, among copies which were -Sampson Awdeley’s, to John Charlewood, 15 January, 1582; and, among -copies which were John Charlwoode’s, to James Robertes, 31 May, 1594: -Arber, II, 405, 651. Seven reprints of the seventeenth century, later -than #d#, are noted in Mr W. C. Hazlitt’s Handbook, p. 35. - -The larger part of #a# has been reprinted by Mr F. S. Ellis, in his -catalogue of the library of Mr Henry Huth, I, 128 f, 1880.[7] #b# was -used by Mr W. C. Hazlitt for his edition of the ballad in Remains of the -Early Popular Poetry of England, II, 131.[8] #c# was reprinted by Percy -in his Reliques, 1765, I, 129, with corrections from #f#; and by Ritson, -Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry, 1791, p. 5, with the necessary -emendations of Copland’s somewhat faulty text. #d# is followed by a -Second Part, described by Ritson, in temperate terms, as “a very -inferior and servile production.” It is here given (with much -reluctance) in an Appendix. - -Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly, outlawed for -breach of the game-laws, swear brotherhood, and betake themselves to -Inglewood, a forest adjacent to Carlisle. William is a wedded man, and -one day tells his brethren that he means to go to Carlisle to see his -wife and children. Adam would not advise this, lest he should be taken -by the justice. William goes to Carlisle, nevertheless, knocks at his -window, and is admitted by Alice, his wife, who tells him with a sigh -that the place has been beset for him a half year and more. While they -make good cheer, an old woman, whom William had kept seven years for -charity, slips out, and informs the justice that William is come to -town.[9] The justice and the sheriff come presently with a great rout to -take William. Man and wife defend the house till it is set on fire. -William lets his wife and children down with sheets, and shoots on till -his bowstring is burnt, then runs into the thick of his foes with sword -and buckler, but is felled by doors and windows thrown on him, and so -taken. The sheriff orders the gates of Carlisle to be shut close, and -sets up a gallows to hang William. A boy, friendly to the family, gets -out at a crevice in the wall, and carries word to Adam and Clim, who -instantly set out for the rescue. - -Adam and Clim find the gates shut so fast that there is no chance of -getting in without a stratagem. Adam has a fair written letter in his -pocket: they will make the porter think that they have the king’s seal. -They beat on the gate till the porter comes, and demand to be let in as -messengers from the king to the justice. The porter demurs, but they -browbeat him with the king’s seal; he opens the gate; they wring his -neck and take his keys. First bending their bows and looking to the -strings, they make for the market-place, where they find Cloudesly lying -in a cart, on the point to be hanged. William sees them, and takes hope. -Adam makes the sheriff his mark, Clim the justice; both fall, deadly -wounded; the citizens fly; the outlaws loose Cloudesly’s ropes. William -wrings an axe from the hand of an officer, and smites on every side; -Adam and Clim shoot till their arrows are gone, then draw their swords. -Horns are blown, and the bells rung backwards; the mayor of Carlisle -comes with a large force, and the fight is hotter than ever. But all for -naught, for the outlaws get to the gates, and are soon in Inglewood, -under their trysty-tree. - -Alice had come to Inglewood to make known to Adam and Clim what had -befallen her husband, but naturally had not found them, since they were -already gone to William’s rescue. A woman is heard weeping, and -Cloudesly, taking a turn to see what this may mean, comes upon his wife -and three boys. Very sad she is, but the sight of her husband makes all -well. Three harts are killed for supper, and William gives Alice the -best for standing so boldly by him. The outlaws determine to go to the -king to get a charter of peace. William takes his eldest son with him, -leaving Alice and the two younger at a nunnery. The three brethren make -their way to the king’s presence, without leave of porter or -announcement by usher, kneel down and hold up their hands, and ask grace -for having slain the king’s deer. The king inquires their names, and -when he hears who they are says they shall all be hanged, and orders -them into arrest. Adam Bell once more asks grace, since they have come -to the king of their free will, or else that they may go, with such -weapons as they have, when they will ask no grace in a hundred years. -The king replies again that all three shall be hanged. Hereupon the -queen reminds the king that when she was wedded he had promised to grant -the first boon she should ask; she had hitherto asked nothing, but now -begs the three yeomen’s lives. The king must needs consent. - -Immediately thereafter comes information that the outlaws had slain the -justice and the sheriff, the mayor of Carlisle, all the constables and -catchpolls, the sergeants of the law, forty foresters, and many more. -This makes the king so sad that he can eat no more; but he wishes to see -these fellows shoot that have wrought all this woe. The king’s archers -and the queen’s go to the butts with the three yeomen, and the outlaws -hit everything that is set up. Cloudesly holds the butts too wide for a -good archer, and the three set up two hazel rods, twenty score paces -apart; he is a good archer, says Cloudesly, that cleaves one of these. -The king says no man can do it; but Cloudesly cleaves the wand. The king -declares him the best archer he ever saw. William says he will do a -greater mastery: he will lay an apple on his son’s head (a boy of -seven), and split it in two at six score paces. The king bids him make -haste so to do: if he fail, he shall be hanged; and if he touch the boy, -the outlaws shall be hanged, all three. Cloudesly ties the child to a -stake, turning its face from him, sets an apple on its head, and, -begging the people to remain quiet, cleaves the apple in two. The king -gives Cloudesly eighteen pence a day as his bowman, and makes him chief -rider over the North Country. The queen adds twelve pence, makes him a -gentleman of cloth and fee and his two brothers yeomen of her chamber, -gives the boy a place in her wine-cellar, and appoints Alice her chief -gentlewoman and governess of her nursery. The yeomen express their -thanks, go to Rome [to some bishop, in the later copy] to be absolved of -their sins, live the rest of their lives with the king, and die good -men, all three. - -The rescue of Robin Hood by Little John and Much in No 117, sts 61–82, -has a general resemblance to the rescue of Cloudesly by Adam and Clim in -this ballad, st. 52 ff. The rescue of Will Stutly has also some slight -similarity: cf. No 141, sts 26–33, and 70, 79–81, of ‘Adam Bell.’ - -The shooting of an apple from a boy’s head, sts 151–62, is, as is well -known, a trait in several German and Norse traditions, and these -particular feats, as well as everything resembling them, have been a -subject of eager discussion in connection with the apocryphal history of -William Tell. - -The Icelandic saga of Dietrich of Bern, compiled, according to the -prologue, from Low German tales and ballads, narrates that young Egil, a -brother of Weland the Smith, came to Nidung’s court with the fame of -being the best bowman in the world. Nidung, to prove his skill, required -Egil [on pain of death] to shoot an apple from the head of his son, a -child of three years, only one trial being permitted. Egil split the -apple in the middle. Though allowed but one chance, Egil had provided -himself with three arrows. When asked why, he answered the king that the -two others were meant for him, if he had hit the boy with the first. -Saga Ðiðriks Konungs af Bern, ed. Unger, c. 75, p. 90 f; Peringskiöld, -Wilkina Saga, c. 27, p. 63 f; Raszmann, Die Deutsche Heldensage, II, 247 -f; the Swedish rifacimento, Sagan om Didrik af Bern, ed. -Hyltén-Cavallius, c. 73, p. 54. The Icelandic saga was composed about -1250. - -Saxo, writing about 1200, relates nearly the same incidents of Toko, a -man in the service of King Harold Bluetooth († c. 985). Toko, while -drinking with comrades, had bragged that he was good enough bowman to -hit the smallest apple on top of a stick at the first shot. This boast -was carried to the king, who exacted a fulfilment of it on pain of -death; but the apple was to be set on the head of Toko’s son. The father -exhorted the boy to stand perfectly still, and, to make this easier, -turned the child’s face from the direction of the shot; then, laying out -three arrows from his quiver, executed the required feat. When the king -asked why he had taken three arrows, Toko replied, To wreak the miss of -the first with the points of the others. Saxo Grammaticus, Gesta -Danorum, Book x, ed. Holder, p. 329 f. - -The White Book of Obwalden, written about 1470, informs us that Tell, a -good archer, having refused to bow to Gesler’s hat, was ordered by the -landvogt to shoot an apple from the head of one of his children. Unable -to resist, Tell laid-by a second arrow, shot the apple from the child’s -head, and being asked why he had reserved the other arrow, replied that -if the first had missed he would have shot Gesler or one of his men with -the second.[10] - -This story is introduced into a piece of verse on the origin of the -Swiss confederacy, of nearly the same date as the prose document. In -this the landvogt says to Tell that if he does not hit with the first -shot, it will cost him his life; the distance is one hundred and twenty -paces, as in the English ballad, and Tell says simply that he would have -shot the landvogt if he had hit his son.[11] (Tell uses a cross-bow, not -the long-bow, as the English.) - -Henning Wulf, a considerable person in Holstein, who had headed an -unsuccessful outbreak against Christian the First of Denmark, was -captured and brought before the king. The king, knowing Henning to be an -incomparable archer, ordered him to shoot an apple from the head of his -only son, a child: if he succeeded, he was to go free. The exploit was -happily accomplished. But Henning had put a second arrow into his mouth, -and the king asked the object. The second arrow was for the king, had -the boy been hit. Henning Wulf was outlawed. The story, which is put at -1472, is the subject of a painting preserved in a church.[12] - -The Norwegian king, Haraldr Harðráðr († 1066), who has a grudge against -Hemingr, son of Áslákr, undertakes to put him to proof in shooting, -swimming, and snow-shoe sliding. They go to a wood, and both execute -extraordinary feats with bow and lance; but Hemingr is much superior to -the king. The king orders Hemingr to shoot a nut from his brother -Björn’s head, on pain of death for missing. Hemingr would rather die -than venture such a shot; but his brother offers himself freely, and -undertakes to stand still. Then let the king stand by Björn, says -Hemingr, and see whether I hit. But the king prefers to stand by -Hemingr, and appoints somebody else to the other position. Hemingr -crosses himself, calls God to witness that the king is responsible, -throws his lance, and strikes the nut from his brother’s head, doing him -no harm. Hemings Ðáttr, Flateyjarbók, III, 405 f (1370–80); Müller, -Sagabibliothek, III, 356 ff. This story was probably derived from an old -song, and is preserved in Norwegian and Färöe ballads: ‘Harald kongin og -Hemingen unge,’ Landstad, Norske Folkeviser, No 15, #A#, #B#, pp. -177–188; ‘Geyti Áslaksson,’ Hammershaimb, Færöiske Kvæder, No 17, #A-C#, -II, 149–163. In Norwegian #A#, 5–10, the shot is exacted under pain of -imprisonment. Hemingen insists that the king shall take a place near his -brother [son], whom he exhorts to stand erect and bold; one half of the -nut falls, the other is left on the head; the king asks what was to have -been done with a second arrow which Hemingen had secreted, and is -answered as in the previous cases.[13] The first and last of these -incidents are wanting in #B# (19–22). In the Färöe ballad, #A#, 53–62, -the king tells Geyti (whom he also calls Hemingur) that he must shoot a -nut from his brother’s head. Geyti asks the king to go to the wood with -him to see the result, invokes God and St Olav, hits the nut without -touching his brother. It is not till the next day that the king asks -Geyti why he had _two_ arrows with him in the wood. - -The same story, pleasingly varied for the occasion, is found in the saga -of the Norwegian king Ólafr Tryggvason († 1000). The king hears that -Eindriði, a handsome, rich, and amiable young man, is unconverted. -Eindriði is a good swimmer, bowman, and dirk-thrower. Ólafr, a -proficient in all such exercises, proposes to try masteries with him in -the feats which he has repute for, on the terms that if Eindriði is -beaten he shall be baptized, but if victor shall hold such faith as he -will. The first trial is in swimming, and in this Ólafr shows -unequivocal superiority. The next day they shoot at a target, and the -advantage, after two essays, is rather with Eindriði. The king -compliments Eindriði; but the issue between them is not yet decided. -This fine young fellow’s salvation is at stake, and expedients which one -might otherwise scruple at are justifiable. Ólafr knows that Eindriði -tenderly loves a pretty child, four or five years old, his sister’s son. -This boy shall be our target, says the king. A chessman (the king-piece) -on his head shall be the mark, to be shot off without hurting the boy. -Eindriði must needs submit, but means to have revenge if the child comes -to harm. The king orders a cloth to be passed round the boy’s head, each -end of which is to be held firmly by a man, so as to prevent any -stirring when the whiz of the arrow is heard. Ólafr signs both himself -and the point of his arrow with the cross, and shoots; the arrow takes -off the chessman, passing between it and the head, grazing the crown and -drawing some little blood. The king bids Eindriði take his turn; but -Eindriði’s mother and sister beg him with tears to desist, and he, -though ready to take the risk, yields to their entreaties, and leaves -the victory with Ólafr. On the third day there is a match at a game with -dirks. For a time no one can say which does the better; but in the end -Ólafr performs feats so marvellous as in Eindriði’s conviction to -demonstrate the assistance of a deity: wherefore he consents to be -baptized. Saga Ólafs Tryggvasonar, Fornmanna Sögur, II, 259–74, c. 235; -Flateyjarbók, I, 456–64, cc. 359–64. - -Punker, a warlock of Rorbach (a town not far from Heidelberg), had -obtained from the devil, as the regular recompense for his having thrice -pierced the crucifix, the power of making three unerring shots daily, -and had so been able to pick off in detail all but one of the garrison -of a besieged town. To put his skill to proof, a certain nobleman -ordered him to shoot a piece of money from his own son’s head. Punker -wished to be excused, for he feared that the devil might play him false; -but being induced to make the trial, knocked the coin from the boy’s -cap, doing him no damage. Before shooting, he had stuck another arrow -into his collar, and asked why, replied that if the devil had betrayed -him, and he had killed the child, he would have sent the other bolt -through the body of the person who had obliged him to undertake the -performance. Malleus Maleficarum, Pars II, Quæstio I, c. xvi.[14] The -date of the transaction is put at about 1420. - -The last three forms of this tradition have the unimportant variations -of brother and brother, or uncle and nephew, for father and son, and of -nut, chessman, or coin for apple. - -The story is German-Scandinavian, and not remarkably extended.[15] The -seven versions agree in two points: the shot is compulsory; the archer -meditates revenge in case he harms the person on whose head the mark is -placed.[16] These features are wanting in the English ballad. William of -Cloudesly offers of his own free motion to shoot an apple from his son’s -head, and this after the king had declared him the best archer he had -ever seen, for splitting a hazel-rod at twenty score paces; so that the -act was done purely for glory. To be sure, the king threatens him with -death if he does not achieve what he has undertaken, as death is also -threatened in four of the seven German-Scandinavian stories for refusal -to try the shot or for missing; but the threats in sts 154 f of the -English ballad are a revival of the vow in sts 119 f. Justice has been -balked by the unconditional boon granted the queen; aggravating and -exasperating circumstances have come to light since this unadvised grace -was conceded, and a hope is presented for a pretext under which the king -may still hang the outlaws, all three. The shooting of the apple from -the boy’s head, isolated from any particular connection, is perhaps all -of the German-Scandinavian story that was known to the English -ballad-maker, and all minor resemblances may well be fortuitous.[17] - -If the shooting of an apple by somebody from somebody’s head is to be -regarded as the kernel of the story, its area may then be considerably -extended. - -Castrén heard the following story among the Finns in Russian Karelia. -Robbers had carried a man off over a lake. The son of the captive, a boy -of twelve, followed along the other side of the lake, threatening to -shoot them if they did not let his father go. These threats, for a time, -only procured worse treatment for the prisoner; but at last the boy was -told that his father should be released if he could shoot an arrow -across the water and split an apple laid on his father’s head. This the -boy did, and his father was liberated. Castrén’s Reiseerinnerungen aus -den Jahren 1838–44, ed. Schiefner, p. 89 f. - -A Persian poet introduces into a work composed about 1175 this -anecdote.[18] A distinguished king was very fond of a beautiful slave, -so much so that he was never easy unless he was in some way engaged with -him. When the king amused himself with shooting, this slave would -tremble with fear, for the king would make his mark of an apple placed -on his favorite’s head, split the apple, and in so doing make the slave -sick with alarm. - -J. Grimm had seen a manuscript of travels in Turkey, in the Cassel -library, with a picture of an archer aiming at an apple on a child’s -head. Deutsche Mythologie, I, 317, note, ed. 1875. - -With regard to the Persian story, Benfey observes that it must be -admitted as possible that the shooting of an apple from the head of a -beloved person may have been pitched upon in various localities, -independently, as the mark of supreme skill in archery, but that this is -not likely, and that the history of tradition requires us rather to -presume that the conception was original in one instance only, and -borrowed in the remainder; in which case the borrowing would be by the -West from the East, and not the other way. We can come to no decision, -however, he adds, until the source of the Persian story, or some older -form of it, shall have been discovered. (Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, -1861, p. 680.) The cautiousness of the imperial scholar is worthy of all -imitation. The Persian saga, as it is sometimes called, is, in the -perhaps mutilated form in which we have it, an inconsistent and inept -anecdote; the German-Scandinavian saga is a complete and rational story. -In this story it is fundamental that the archer executes a successful -shot under circumstances highly agitating to the nerves; he risks the -life of a beloved object, and in the majority of versions his own life -is at stake besides. That the act must be done under compulsion is the -simplest corollary. If the archer is cool enough to volunteer the shot, -then the chief difficulty in making it is removed. This is a fault in -the English ballad, where the father is unconcerned, and all the feeling -is shown by the spectators. Cloudesly had already split a hazel-rod at -twenty score paces; what was it for him to hit an apple at six -score?[19] - -But we are still far from covering the range of stories which have been -treated as having some significant relation to that of Egil. Any shot at -an apple, any shot at an object on a child’s person (provided the case -be not a fact and recent), has been thought worth quoting, as a probable -sprout from the same root. For examples: In an Esthonian popular tale, -one Sharpeye hits an apple which a man a long way off is holding by his -mouth. In a Servian poem, the hero, Milosch, sends an arrow through a -ring, and hits a golden apple on the point of a lance. Bellerophon’s -sons, Hippolochus and Isandrus, disputing which should be king of the -Lycians, it was proposed that the question should be settled by seeing -which could shoot through a ring placed on the breast of a child lying -on his back. Laodamia, sister of the competitors, offered her son -Sarpedon for the trial, and the uncles, to show their appreciation of -such handsome behavior, resigned their claims in favor of Sarpedon. The -shot, we may understand, did not come off.[20] - -With regard to all this series of stories, and others which have been -advanced as allied, more will be required to make out a substantial -relationship than their having in common a shot at some object in -contiguity with a living human body, be the object an apple, or whatever -else. The idea of thus enhancing the merit or interest of a shot is not -so ingenious that one instance must be held to be original, and all -others derivative. The archer Alcon, according to Servius,[21] was wont -to shoot through rings placed on men’s heads. Sir John Malcolm (Kaye’s -Life, II, 400) was told that at Mocha, when the dates were ripe, a -stone, standing up some three inches, would be put on the head of a -child, at which two or three of the best marksmen would fire, with ball, -at thirty-one yards distance. A case was reported, about fifty years -ago, of a man in Pennsylvania shooting a very small apple from the head -of another man.[22] A linen-weaver was judicially punished at Spires, -some thirty years ago, for shooting a sheet of paper from his son’s -hand, and afterwards a potato (“also einen Erdapfel,” Rochholz!) from -the boy’s head.[23] The keel-boat men of the Mississippi, in their -playfulness, would cut the pipe out of a companion’s hat-band at a long -distance. “If they quarreled among themselves, and then made friends, -their test that they bore no malice was to shoot some small object from -each other’s heads,” such as an apple. Such feats have of late been -common on the American stage. - -Whatever may be thought of the linen-weaver at Spires, it will scarcely -be maintained that the Mississippi keel-boat men shot at apples in -imitation of William Tell. As to the selection of an apple, it seems -enough to say that an apple makes a convenient mark, is familiar to -temperate climates, and at hand at almost any part of the year.[24] But -the chief point of all to be borne in mind is, that whether the -Mississippi boatmen took their cue, directly or indirectly, from William -Tell, they do not become mythical personages by virtue of their -repeating his shot. None the more does William of Cloudesly. A story -long current in Europe, a mythical story if you please, could certainly -be taken up by an English ballad-maker without prejudice to the -substantial and simply romantic character of his hero.[25] - -The late Mr Joseph Hunter unhesitatingly declared Adam Bell “a genuine -personage of history,” and considered that he had had “the good fortune -to recover from a very authentic source of information some particulars -of this hero of our popular minstrelsy which show distinctly the time at -which he lived.” - -“King Henry the Fourth, by letters enrolled in the Exchequer, in Trinity -Term, in the seventh year of his reign [1406], and bearing date the 14th -day of April, granted to one Adam Bell an annuity of 4_l._ 10_s._ -issuing out of the fee-farm of Clipston, in the forest of Sherwood, -together with the profits and advantages of the vesture and herbage of -the garden called the Halgarth, in which the manor-house of Clipston is -situated. - -“Now, as Sherwood is noted for its connection with archery, and may be -regarded also as the _patria_ of much of the ballad poetry of England, -and the name of Adam Bell is a peculiar one, this might be almost of -itself sufficient to show that the ballad had a foundation in veritable -history. But we further find that this Adam Bell violated his allegiance -by adhering to the Scots, the king’s enemies; whereupon this grant was -virtually resumed, and the sheriff of Nottinghamshire accounted for the -rents which would have been his. In the third year of King Henry the -Fifth [1416], the account was rendered by Thomas Hercy, and in the -fourth year by Simon Leak. The mention of his adhesion to the Scots -leads us to the Scottish border, and will not leave a doubt in the mind -of the most sceptical that we have here one of the persons, some of -whose deeds (with some poetical license, perhaps) are come down to us in -the words of one of our popular ballads.” (New Illustrations of the -Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakespeare, I, 245 f, 1845.) - -Mr Hunter’s points are, that an Adam Bell had a grant from the proceeds -of a farm in the forest of Sherwood, that Adam Bell is a peculiar name, -and that his Adam Bell adhered to the king’s enemies. To be sure, Adam -Bell’s retreat in the ballad is not Sherwood, in Nottinghamshire, but -Englishwood, or Inglewood, in Cumberland (an old hunting-ground of King -Arthur’s, according to several romances), a forest sixteen miles in -length, reaching from Carlisle to Penrith.[26] But it would be captious -to insist upon this. Robin Hood has no connection in extant ballads with -the Cumberland forest, but Wyntoun’s Scottish Chronicle, c. 1420, makes -him to have frequented Inglewood as well as Barnsdale.[27] The -historical Adam Bell was granted an annuity, and forfeited it for -adhering to the king’s enemies, the Scots; the Adam Bell of the ballad -was outlawed for breaking the game-laws, and in consequence came into -conflict with the king’s officers, but never adhered to the king’s -enemies, first or last, received the king’s pardon, was made yeoman of -the queen’s chamber, dwelt with the king, and died a good man. Neither -is there anything peculiar in the name Adam Bell. Bell was as well known -a name on the borders[28] as Armstrong or Graham. There is record of an -Adam Armstrong and an Adam Graham; there is a Yorkshire Adam Bell -mentioned in the Parliamentary Writs (II, 508, 8 and 17 Edward II,) a -hundred years before Hunter’s annuitant; a contemporary Adam Bell, of -Dunbar, is named in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland under the years -1414, 1420 (IV, 198, 325); and the name occurs repeatedly at a later -date in the Registers of the Great Seal of Scotland. - -The placability of the king in this ballad is repeated in the Gest of -Robin Hood, and is also exhibited in the Tale of Gamelyn, where Gamelyn -is made justice of all the free forest, as William is here made chief -rider over all the North Country. The king, besides, forgives all -Gamelyn’s eight young men, and puts them in good office. The king of the -outlaws, in the tale, had previously made his peace without any -difficulty. Vv 888–94, 687–89. - - -Translated, after Percy’s Reliques, by Bodmer, II, 78; by Fouqué, -Büsching, Erzählungen, u. s. w., des Mittelalters, I, 1; the third Fit, -by Knortz, Lieder und Romanzen Altenglands, No 70. - - - #c.# 1 - Mery it was in grene forest, - Amonge the leues grene, - Where that men walke both east a_n_d west, - Wyth bowes and arrowes kene, - - 2 - To ryse the dere out of theyr denne; - Suche sightes as hath ofte bene sene, - As by th[r]e yemen of the north countrey, - By them it is as I meane. - - 3 - The one of them hight Adam Bel, - The other Clym of the Clough, - The thyrd was William of Cloudesly, - An archer good ynough. - - 4 - They were outlawed for venyson, - These thre yemen euerechone; - They swore them brethen vpon a day, - To Englysshe-wood for to gone. - - 5 - Now lith and lysten, gentylmen, - And that of myrthes loueth to here: - Two of them were single men, - The third had a wedded fere. - - 6 - Wyllyam was the wedded man, - Muche more then was hys care: - He sayde to hys brethen vpon a day, - To Carelel he would fare, - - 7 - For to speke with fayre Alse hys wife, - And with hys chyldren thre: - ‘By my trouth,’ sayde Adam Bel, - ‘Not by the counsell of me. - - 8 - ‘For if ye go to Caerlel, brother, - And from thys wylde wode wende, - If the justice mai you take, - Your lyfe were at an ende.’ - - 9 - ‘If that I come not to morowe, brother, - By pryme to you agayne, - Truste not els but that I am take, - Or else that I am slayne.’ - - 10 - He toke hys leaue of hys brethen two, - And to Carlel he is gone; - There he knocked at hys owne wyndowe, - Shortlye and anone. - - 11 - ‘Wher be you, fayre Alyce, my wyfe, - And my chyldren three? - Lyghtly let in thyne husbande, - Wyllyam of Cloudesle.’ - - 12 - ‘Alas!’ then sayde fayre Alyce, - And syghed wonderous sore, - ‘Thys place hath ben besette for you - Thys halfe yere and more.’ - - 13 - ‘Now am I here,’ sayde Cloudesle, - ‘I woulde that I in were; - Now feche vs meate and drynke ynoughe, - And let vs make good chere.’ - - 14 - She feched him meat and drynke plenty, - Lyke a true wedded wyfe, - And pleased hym with that she had, - Whome she loued as her lyfe. - - 15 - There lay an old wyfe in that place, - A lytle besyde the fyre, - Whych Wyllyam had found, of cherytye, - More then seuen yere. - - 16 - Up she rose, and walked full styll, - Euel mote she spede therefoore! - For she had not set no fote on ground - In seuen yere before. - - 17 - She went vnto the justice hall, - As fast as she could hye: - ‘Thys nyght is come vn to thys town - Wyllyam of Cloudesle.’ - - 18 - Thereof the iustice was full fayne, - And so was the shirife also: - ‘Thou shalt not trauaile hether, da_m_e, for nought; - Thy meed thou shalt haue or thou go.’ - - 19 - They gaue to her a ryght good goune, - Of scarlat it was, as I heard say[n]e; - She toke the gyft, and home she wente, - And couched her doune agayne. - - 20 - They rysed the towne of mery Carlel, - In all the hast that they can, - And came thronging to Wyllyames house, - As fast [as] they might gone. - - 21 - Theyr they besette that good yeman, - Round about on euery syde; - Wyllyam hearde great noyse of folkes, - That heytherward they hyed. - - 22 - Alyce opened a shot-wyndow, - And loked all about; - She was ware of the justice and the shrife bothe, - Wyth a full great route. - - 23 - ‘Alas! treason,’ cryed Alyce, - ‘Euer wo may thou be! - Go into my chambre, my husband,’ she sayd, - ‘Swete Wyllyam of Cloudesle.’ - - 24 - He toke hys sweard and hys bucler, - Hys bow and hy[s] chyldren thre, - And wente into hys strongest chamber, - Where he thought surest to be. - - 25 - Fayre Alice folowed hi_m_ as a louer true, - With a pollaxe in her hande: - ‘He shalbe deade that here co_m_eth in - Thys dore, whyle I may stand.’ - - 26 - Cloudesle bent a wel good bowe, - That was of trusty tre, - He smot the justise on the brest, - That hys arrowe brest in thre. - - 27 - ‘God’s curse on his hartt,’ saide William, - ‘Thys day thy cote dyd on; - If it had ben no better then myne, - It had gone nere thy bone.’ - - 28 - ‘Yelde the, Cloudesle,’ sayd the justise, - ‘And thy bowe a_nd_ thy arrowes the fro:’ - ‘Gods curse on hys hart,’ sayde fair Al[i]ce, - ‘That my husband councelleth so.’ - - 29 - ‘Set fyre on the house,’ saide the sherife, - ‘Syth it wyll no better be, - And brenne we therin William,’ he saide, - ‘Hys wyfe and chyldren thre.’ - - 30 - They fyred the house in many a place, - The fyre flew vpon hye; - ‘Alas!’ than cryed fayr Alice, - ‘I se we shall here dy.’ - - 31 - William openyd hys backe wyndow, - That was in hys chambre on hye, - And wyth shetes let hys wyfe downe, - And hys chyldren thre. - - 32 - ‘Haue here my treasure,’ sayde William, - ‘My wyfe and my chyldren thre; - For Christes loue do them no harme, - But wreke you all on me.’ - - 33 - Wyllyam shot so wonderous well, - Tyll hys arrowes were all go, - And the fyre so fast vpon hym fell, - That hys bo[w]stryng brent in two. - - 34 - The spercles brent and fell hym on, - Good Wyllyam of Cloudesle; - But than was he a wofull man, and sayde, - Thys is a cowardes death to me. - - 35 - ‘Leuer I had,’ sayde Wyllyam, - ‘With my sworde in the route to renne, - Then here among myne ennemyes wode - Thus cruelly to bren.’ - - 36 - He toke hys sweard and hys buckler, - And among them all he ran; - Where the people were most in prece, - He smot downe many a man. - - 37 - There myght no man stand hys stroke, - So fersly on them he ran; - Then they threw wyndowes and dores on him, - And so toke that good yeman. - - 38 - There they hym bounde both hand and fote, - And in depe dongeon hym cast; - ‘Now, Cloudesle,’ sayde the hye justice, - ‘Thou shalt be hanged in hast.’ - - 39 - ‘One vow shal I make,’ sayde the sherife, - ‘A payre of new galowes shall I for the make, - And al the gates of Caerlel shalbe shutte, - There shall no man come in therat. - - 40 - ‘Then shall not helpe Clim of the Cloughe, - Nor yet Adam Bell, - Though they came with a thousand mo, - Nor all the deuels in hell.’ - - 41 - Early in the mornyng the justice vprose, - To the gates fast gan he gon, - And commaunded to be shut full cloce - Lightile euerychone. - - 42 - Then went he to the market-place, - As fast as he coulde hye; - A payre of new gallous there dyd he vp set, - Besyde the pyllory. - - 43 - A lytle boy stod them amonge, - And asked what meaned that gallow-tre; - They sayde, To hange a good yeaman, - Called Wyllyam of Cloudesle. - - 44 - That lytle boye was the towne swyne-heard, - And kept fayre Alyce swyne; - Full oft he had sene Cloudesle in the wodde, - And geuen hym there to dyne. - - 45 - He went out of a creues in the wall, - And lightly to the woode dyd gone; - There met he with these wyght yonge men, - Shortly and anone. - - 46 - ‘Alas!’ then sayde that lytle boye, - ‘Ye tary here all to longe; - Cloudesle is taken and dampned to death, - All readye for to honge.’ - - 47 - ‘Alas!’ then sayde good Adam Bell, - ‘That euer we see thys daye! - He myght her with vs haue dwelled, - So ofte as we dyd him praye. - - 48 - ‘He myght haue taryed in grene foreste, - Under the shadowes sheene, - And haue kepte both hym and vs in reaste, - Out of trouble and teene.’ - - 49 - Adam bent a ryght good bow, - A great hart sone had he slayne; - ‘Take that, chylde,’ he sayde, ‘to thy dynner, - And bryng me myne arrowe agayne.’ - - 50 - ‘Now go we hence,’ sayed these wight yong me_n_, - Tary we no lenger here; - We shall hym borowe, by Gods grace, - Though we bye it full dere.’ - - 51 - To Caerlel went these good yemen, - In a mery mornyng of Maye: - Her is a fyt of Cloudesli, - And another is for to saye. - - - 52 - And when they came to mery Caerlell, - In a fayre mornyng-tyde, - They founde the gates shut them vntyll, - Round about on euery syde. - - 53 - ‘Alas!’ than sayd good Adam Bell, - ‘That euer we were made men! - #b.# - These gates be shyt so wonderly well, - That we may not come here in.’ - - 54 - Than spake Clymme of the Cloughe: - With a wyle we wyll vs in brynge; - Let vs say we be messengers, - Streyght comen from oure kynge. - - 55 - Adam sayd, I haue a lettre wryten wele, - Now let vs wysely werke; - We wyll say we haue the kynges seale, - I holde the porter no clerke. - - 56 - Than Adam Bell bete on the gate, - With strökes greate and stronge; - The porter herde suche a noyse therate, - And to the gate faste he thronge. - - 57 - ‘Who is there nowe,’ sayd the porter, - ‘That maketh all this knockynge? - ‘We be two messengers,’ sayd Clymme of the Clo[ughe], - ‘Be comen streyght frome oure kynge.’ - - 58 - ‘We haue a lettre,’ sayd Adam Bell, - ‘To the justyce we must it brynge; - Let vs in, oure message to do, - That we were agayne to our kynge.’ - - 59 - ‘Here cometh no man in,’ sayd the porter, - ‘By hym that dyed on a tre, - Tyll a false thefe be hanged, - Called Wyllyam of Clowdysle.’ - - 60 - Than spake that good [yeman Clym of the Cloughe, - And swore by Mary fre, - If that we stande long wythout, - Lyke a thefe hanged shalt thou be.] - - 61 - [Lo here] we haue got the kynges seale; - [What! l]ordane, arte thou wode? - [The p]orter had wende it had been so, - [And l]yghtly dyd of his hode. - - 62 - ‘[Welco]me be my lordes seale,’ sayd he, - ‘[For] that shall ye come in:’ - [He] opened the gate ryght shortly, - [An] euyll openynge for hym! - - 63 - ‘[N]owe we are in,’ sayd Adam Bell, - ‘[T]herof we are full fayne; - [But] Cryst knoweth that herowed hell, - [H]ow we shall come oute agayne.’ - - 64 - ‘[Had] we the keys,’ sayd Clym of the Clowgh, - ‘Ryght well than sholde we spede; - [Than] myght we come out well ynough, - [Whan] we se tyme and nede.’ - - 65 - [They] called the porter to a councell, - [And] wronge hys necke in two, - [And] kest hym in a depe dongeon, - [And] toke the keys hym fro. - - 66 - ‘[N]ow am I porter,’ sayd Adam Bell; - ‘[Se], broder, the keys haue we here; - [The] worste porter to mery Carlell, - [That ye] had this hondreth yere. - - 67 - ‘[Now] wyll we oure bowës bende, - [Into the t]owne wyll we go, - [For to delyuer our dere] broder, - [Where he lyeth in care and wo.’ - - 68 - Then they bent theyr good yew bowes, - And loked theyr stri_n_ges were round;] - The market-place of mery Carlyll, - They beset in that stounde. - - 69 - And as they loked them besyde, - A payre of newe galowes there they se, - And the iustyce, with a quest of swerers, - That had iuged Clowdysle there hanged to be. - - 70 - And Clowdysle hymselfe lay redy in a carte, - Fast bounde bothe fote and hande, - And a strong rope aboute his necke, - All redy for to be hangde. - - 71 - The iustyce called to hym a ladde; - Clowdysles clothes sholde he haue, - To take the mesure of that good yoman, - And therafter to make his graue. - - 72 - ‘I haue sene as greate a merueyll,’ sayd Clowd[esle], - ‘As bytwene this and pryme, - He that maketh thys graue for me, - Hymselfe may lye therin.’ - - 73 - ‘Thou spekest proudely,’ sayd the iustyce; - ‘I shall hange the with my hande:’ - Full well that herde his bretheren two, - There styll as they dyd stande. - - 74 - Than Clowdysle cast hys eyen asyde, - And sawe hys bretheren stande, - At a corner of the market-place, - With theyr good bowes bent in theyr hand, - Redy the iustyce for to chase. - - 75 - ‘I se good comforte,’ sayd Clowdysle, - ‘Yet hope I well to fare; - If I myght haue my handes at wyll, - [Ryght l]ytell wolde I care.’ - - 76 - [Than b]espake good Adam Bell, - [To Clym]me of the Clowgh so fre; - [Broder], se ye marke the iustyce well; - [Lo yon]der ye may him se. - - 77 - [And at] the sheryf shote I wyll, - [Stron]gly with an arowe kene; - [A better] shotte in mery Carlyll, - [Thys se]uen yere was not sene. - - 78 - [They lo]used theyr arowes bothe at ones, - [Of no] man had they drede; - [The one] hyt the iustyce, the other the sheryf, - [That b]othe theyr sydes gan blede. - - 79 - [All men] voyded, that them stode nye, - [Whan] the iustyce fell to the grounde, - [And the] sheryf fell nyghe hym by; - [Eyther] had his dethës wounde. - - 80 - [All the c]ytezeyns fast gan fle, - [They du]rste no lenger abyde; - [There ly]ghtly they loused Clowdysle, - [Where he] with ropes lay tyde. - - 81 - [Wyllyam] sterte to an offycer of the towne, - [Hys axe] out his hande he wronge; - [On eche] syde he smote them downe, - [Hym tho]ught he had taryed to longe. - - 82 - [Wyllyam] sayd to his bretheren two, - [Thys daye] let vs togyder lyue and deye; - [If euer you] haue nede as I haue nowe, - [The same] shall ye fynde by me. - - 83 - [They] shyt so well in that tyde, - For theyr strynges were of sylke full sure, - That they kepte the stretes on euery syde; - That batayll dyd longe endure. - - 84 - They fought togyder as bretheren true, - Lyke hardy men and bolde; - Many a man to the grounde they threwe, - And made many an hertë colde. - - 85 - But whan theyr arowes were all gone, - Men presyd on them full fast; - They drewe theyr swerdës than anone, - And theyr bowës from them caste. - - 86 - They wente lyghtly on theyr waye, - With swerdes and buckelers rounde; - By that it was the myddes of the daye, - They had made many a wounde. - - 87 - There was many a noute-horne in Carlyll blowen, - And the belles backwarde dyd they rynge; - Many a woman sayd alas, - And many theyr handes dyd wrynge. - - 88 - The mayre of Carlyll forth come was, - And with hym a full grete route; - These thre yomen dredde hym full sore, - For theyr lyuës stode in doubte. - - 89 - The mayre came armed, a full greate pace, - With a polaxe in his hande; - Many a stronge man with hym was, - There in that stoure to stande. - - 90 - The mayre smote at Clowdysle with his byll, - His buckeler he brast in two; - Full many a yoman with grete yll, - ‘[Al]as, treason!’ they cryed for wo. - ‘[Ke]pe we the gates fast,’ they bad, - ‘[T]hat these traytours theroute not go.’ - - 91 - But all for nought was that they wrought, - For so fast they downe were layde - Tyll they all thre, that so manfully fought, - Were goten without at a brayde. - - 92 - ‘Haue here your keys,’ sayd Adam Bell, - ‘Myne offyce I here forsake; - Yf ye do by my councell, - A newë porter ye make.’ - - 93 - He threwe the keys there at theyr hedes, - And bad them evyll to thryue, - And all that letteth ony good yoman - To come and comforte his wyue. - - 94 - Thus be these good yomen gone to the wode, - As lyght as lefe on lynde; - They laughe and be mery in theyr mode, - Theyr enemyes were farre behynde. - - 95 - Whan they came to Inglyswode, - Under theyr trysty-tre, - There they founde bowës full gode, - And arowës greate plentë. - - 96 - ‘So helpe me God,’ sayd Adam Bell, - And Clymme of the Clowgh so fre, - ‘I wolde we were nowe in mery Carlell, - [Be]fore that fayre meynë.’ - - 97 - They set them downe and made good chere, - And eate an[d dr]anke full well: - Here is a fytte [of] these wyght yongemen, - And another I shall you tell. - - - 98 - As they sat in Inglyswode, - Under theyr trysty-tre, - Them thought they herde a woman [wepe], - But her they myght not se. - - 99 - Sore syghed there fayre Alyce, and sayd, - Alas that euer I se this daye! - For now is my dere husbonde slayne, - Alas and welawaye! - - 100 - Myght I haue spoken wyth hys dere breth[eren], - With eyther of them twayne, - [To shew to them what him befell] - My herte were out of payne. - - 101 - Clowdysle walked a lytell besyde, - And loked vnder the grene wodde lynde; - He was ware of his wyfe and his chyldre[n thre], - Full wo in herte and mynde. - - 102 - ‘Welcome, wyfe,’ than sayd Wyllyam, - ‘Unto this trysty-tre; - I had wende yesterdaye, by swete Sai[nt John], - Thou sholde me neuer haue se.’ - - 103 - ‘Now wele is me,’ she sayd, ‘that [ye be here], - My herte is out of wo:’ - ‘Dame,’ he sayd, ‘be mery and glad, - And thanke my bretheren two.’ - - 104 - ‘Here of to speke,’ sayd Ad[am] Bell, - ‘I-wys it [is no bote]; - The me[at that we must supp withall, - It runneth yet fast on fote.’ - - 105 - Then went they down into a lau_n_de, - These noble archares all thre, - Eche of the]m slewe a harte of grece, - [The best t]hey coude there se. - - 106 - ‘[Haue here the] best, Alyce my wyfe,’ - [Sayde Wyllya]m of Clowdysle, - ‘[By cause ye so] boldely stode me by, - [Whan I w]as slayne full nye.’ - - 107 - [Than they] wente to theyr souper, - [Wyth suc]he mete as they had, - [And than]ked God of theyr fortune; - [They we]re bothe mery and glad. - - 108 - [And whan] they had souped well, - [Certayne] withouten leace, - [Clowdysle] sayde, We wyll to oure kynge, - [To get v]s a chartre of peace. - - 109 - [Alyce shal] be at soiournynge, - [In a nunry] here besyde; - [My tow sonn]es shall with her go, - [And ther the]y shall abyde. - - 110 - [Myne eldest so]ne shall go with me, - [For hym haue I] no care, - [And he shall breng] you worde agayne - [How that we do fare. - - 111 - Thus be these wig]ht men to London gone, - [As fast as they ma]ye hye, - [Tyll they came to the kynges] palays, - #c.# - There they woulde nedës be. - - 112 - And whan they came to the kyngës courte, - Unto the pallace gate, - Of no man wold they aske leue, - But boldly went in therat. - - 113 - They preced prestly into the hall, - Of no man had they dreade; - The porter came after and dyd them call, - #a.# - And with them began to [chyde.] - - 114 - The vssher sayd, Yemen, what wolde ye haue? - I praye you tell me; - Ye myght thus make offycers shent: - Good syrs, of whens be ye? - - 115 - ‘Syr, we be outlawes of the forest, - Certayne withouten leace, - And hyther we be come to our kynge, - To get vs a charter of peace.’ - - 116 - And whan they came before our kynge, - As it was the lawe of the lande, - They kneled downe without lettynge, - And eche helde vp his hande. - - 117 - They sayd, Lorde, we beseche you here, - That ye wyll graunte vs grace. - For we haue slayne your fatte falowe dere, - In many a sondry place. - - 118 - ‘What is your names?’ than sayd our kynge, - ‘Anone that you tell me:’ - They sayd, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, - And Wylliam of Clowdesle. - - 119 - ‘Be ye those theues,’ than sayd our kynge, - ‘That men haue tolde of to me? - Here to God I make a vowe, - Ye shall be hanged all thre. - - 120 - ‘Ye shall be dead without mercy, - As I am kynge of this lande:’ - #c.# - He commanded his officers euerichone - Fast on them to lay hand. - - 121 - There they toke these good yemen, - And arested them all thre: - ‘So may I thryue,’ sayd Adam Bell, - ‘Thys game lyketh not me. - - #a.# 122 - ‘But, good lorde, we beseche you nowe, - That ye wyll graunte vs grace, - In so moche as we be to you commen; - Or elles that we may fro you passe, - - 123 - ‘With suche weapons as we haue here, - Tyll we be out of your place; - And yf we lyue this hondred yere, - We wyll aske you no grace.’ - - 124 - ‘Ye speke proudly,’ sayd the kynge, - ‘Ye shall be hanged all thre:’ - ‘That were great pity,’ sayd the quene, - ‘If any grace myght be. - - 125 - ‘My lorde, whan I came fyrst in to this lande, - To be your wedded wyfe, - The fyrst bone that I wolde aske, - Ye wolde graunte me belyfe. - - 126 - ‘And I asked you neuer none tyll nowe, - Therfore, good lorde, graunte it me:’ - ‘Nowe aske it, madame,’ sayd the kynge, - ‘And graunted shall it be.’ - - 127 - ‘Than, good lorde, I you beseche, - The yemen graunte you me:’ - ‘Madame, ye myght haue asked a bone - That sholde haue ben worthe them thre. - - 128 - ‘Ye myght haue asked towres and towne[s], - Parkes and forestes plentie:’ - #c.# - ‘None so pleasaunt to mi pay,’ she said, - ‘Nor none so lefe to me.’ - - 129 - ‘Madame, sith it is your desyre, - Your askyng graunted shalbe; - But I had leuer haue geuen you - Good market-townës thre.’ - - 130 - The quene was a glad woman, - And sayd, Lord, gramarcy; - I dare vndertake for them - That true men shall they be. - - 131 - But, good lord, speke som mery word, - That comfort they may se: - ‘I graunt you grace,’ then said our ki_n_g, - ‘Wasshe, felos, and to meate go ye.’ - - 132 - They had not setten but a whyle, - Certayne without lesynge, - There came messe_n_gers out of the north, - With letters to our kyng. - - 133 - And whan the came before the kynge, - The kneled downe vpon theyr kne, - And sayd, Lord, your offycers grete you wel, - Of Caerlel in the north cuntre. - - 134 - ‘How fare[th] my justice,’ sayd the kyng, - ‘And my sherife also?’ - ‘Syr, they be slayne, without leasynge, - And many an officer mo.’ - - 135 - ‘Who hath them slayne?’ sayd the kyng, - ‘Anone thou tell me:’ - ‘Adam Bel, and Clime of the Clough, - And Wyllyam of Cloudesle.’ - - 136 - ‘Alas for rewth!’ then sayd our kynge, - ‘My hart is wonderous sore; - I had leuer [th]an a thousand pounde - I had knowne of thys before. - - 137 - ‘For I haue y-graunted them grace, - And that forthynketh me; - But had I knowne all thys before, - They had ben hanged all thre.’ - - 138 - The kyng opened the letter anone, - Hym selfe he red it tho, - A_nd_ founde how these thre outlawes had slai_n_e - Thre hundred men and mo. - - 139 - Fyrst the justice and the sheryfe, - And the mayre of Caerlel towne; - Of all the co_n_stables a_nd_ catchipolles - Alyue were left not one. - - 140 - The baylyes and the bedyls both, - And the sergeauntes of the law, - And forty fosters of the fe - These outlawes had y-slaw; - - 141 - And broke_n_ his parks, and slaine his dere; - Ouer all they chose the best; - So perelous outlawes as they were - Walked not by easte nor west. - - 142 - When the kynge this letter had red, - In hys harte he syghed sore; - ‘Take vp the table,’ anone he bad, - ‘For I may eate no more.’ - - 143 - The kyng called hys best archars, - To the buttes with hym to go; - ‘I wyll se these felowes shote,’ he sayd, - ‘That in the north haue wrought this wo.’ - - 144 - The kynges bowmen buske them blyue, - And the quenes archers also, - So dyd these thre wyght yemen, - Wyth them they thought to go. - - 145 - There twyse or thryse they shote about, - For to assay theyr hande; - There was no shote these thre yemen shot - That any prycke might them stand. - - 146 - Then spake Wyllyam of Cloudesle; - By God that for me dyed, - I hold hym neuer no good archar - That shuteth at buttes so wyde. - - 147 - ‘Wherat?’ then sayd our kyng, - ‘I pray thee tell me:’ - ‘At suche a but, syr,’ he sayd, - ‘As men vse in my countree.’ - - 148 - Wyllyam wente into a fyeld, - And his to brothren with him; - There they set vp to hasell roddes, - Twenty score paces betwene. - - 149 - ‘I hold him an archar,’ said Cloudesle, - ‘That yonder wande cleueth in two:’ - ‘Here is none suche,’ sayd the kyng, - ‘Nor none that can so do.’ - - 150 - ‘I shall assaye, syr,’ sayd Cloudesle, - ‘Or that I farther go:’ - Cloudesle, with a bearyng arow, - Claue the wand in to. - - 151 - ‘Thou art the best archer,’ the_n_ said the ki_n_g, - ‘Forsothe that euer I se:’ - ‘And yet for your loue,’ sayd Wylliam, - ‘I wyll do more maystry. - - 152 - ‘I haue a sonne is seuen yere olde; - He is to me full deare; - I wyll hym tye to a stake, - All shall se that be here; - - 153 - ‘And lay an apple vpon hys head, - And go syxe score paces hym fro, - And I my selfe, with a brode arow, - Shall cleue the apple in two.’ - - 154 - ‘Now hast the,’ then sayd the kyng; - ‘By him that dyed on a tre, - But yf thou do not as th_o_u hest sayde, - Hanged shalt thou be. - - 155 - ‘And thou touche his head or gowne, - In syght that men may se, - By all the sayntes that be in heave_n_, - I shall hange you all thre.’ - - 156 - ‘That I haue promised,’ said William, - ‘I wyl it neuer forsake;’ - And there euen before the kynge, - In the earth he droue a stake; - - 157 - And bound therto his eldest sonne, - And bad hym stande styll therat, - And turned the childes face fro him, - Because he shuld not sterte. - - 158 - An apple vpon his head he set, - And then his bowe he bent; - Syxe score paces they were outmet, - And thether Cloudesle went. - - 159 - There he drew out a fayr brode arrowe; - Hys bowe was great and longe; - He set that arrowe in his bowe, - That was both styffe and stronge. - - 160 - He prayed the people that was there - That they would styll stande; - ‘For he that shooteth for such a wager, - Behoueth a stedfast hand.’ - - 161 - Muche people prayed for Cloudesle, - #a.# - That hys lyfe saued myght be, - And whan he made hym redy to shote, - There was many a wepynge eye. - - 162 - Thus Clowdesle clefte the apple in two, - That many a man it se; - ‘Ouer goddes forbode,’ sayd the kynge, - ‘That thou sholdest shote at me! - - 163 - ‘I gyue the .xviii. pens a daye, - And my bowe shalte thou bere, - And ouer all the north countree - I make the chefe rydere.’ - - 164 - ‘And I gyue the .xii. pens a day,’ sayd the que[ne], - ‘By God and by my faye; - Come fetche thy payment whan thou wylt, - No man shall say the naye. - - 165 - ‘Wyllyam, I make the gentylman - Of clothynge and of fee, - And thy two brethren yemen of my chambr[e], - For they are so semely to se. - - 166 - ‘Your sone, for he is tendre of age, - Of my wyne-seller shall he be, - And whan he commeth to mannës state, - Better auaunced shall he be. - - 167 - ‘And, Wylliam, brynge me your wyfe,’ sayd th[e quene]; - Me longeth sore here to se; - She shall be my chefe gentylwoman, - And gouerne my nursery.’ - - 168 - The yemen thanked them full courteysly, - And sayd, To Rome streyght wyll we wende, - [Of all the synnes that we haue done - To be assoyled of his hand. - - 169 - So forth]e be gone these good yemen, - [As fast a]s they myght hye, - [And aft]er came and dwelled with the kynge, - [And dye]d good men all thre. - - 170 - [Thus e]ndeth the lyues of these good yemen, - [God sen]de them eternall blysse, - [And all] that with hande-bowe shoteth, - [That of] heuen they may neuer mysse! - - * * * * * - -_Deficiencies in #a#, #b# are supplied from #c# unless it is otherwise -noted._ - -#a.# - - 120^1. deed. - -#b.# - - 87^1. an oute horne. _The emendation is Prof. Skeat’s._ - - 99^{1,2}. and sayd _begins the second line_. - - 100^3. _supplied from_ #d#, #e#. - -#c.# - - 5^3. singele. - - 11^1. be your. - - 13^2. In woulde. - - 16^2. spende. - - 17^1, 107^1. whent. - - 18^3. fore. - - 22^1. shop-wyndow. - - 22^4. great full great. - - 23^3. Gy. - - 26^1. welgood. - - 30^3. Alece. - - 33^2. all gon. - - 34^{3,4}. and sayde _begins the fourth line_. - - 44^2. there Alyce. - - 44^4. geuend. - - 46^4. Allreadye. - - 48^4. in reaffte [?]. - - 51^1. Cyerlel. - - 52^1. Carelell. - - _Variations from_ #b#. - - 53^3. shut: wonderous. - - 54^1, 56^1, 64^3, 76^1, 85^3, 102^1, 107^1. Then. - - 54^3. Lee. - - 54^4. come nowe. - - 55^3. seales. - - 56^3. a _wanting_. - - 56^4. faste _wanting_. - - 57^4. come ryght. - - 58^2. me _for_ we. - - 59^1. commeth none. - - 59^2. Be: vpon. - - 61^3. went. - - 62^1. he saide. - - 62^3. full shortlye. - - 63^1. are we. - - 63^3. know. - - 64^4, 79^2, 106^4, 108^1. When. - - 65^1. a _wanting_. - - 65^4. hys keys. - - 66^2, 67^3, 76^3. brother. - - 66^4. hundred. - - 68^1. They bent theyr bowes. Then, good yew _from_ #e#, #f#. - - 68^3. in mery. - - 68^4. in _wanting_. - - 69^3. And they: squyers. - - 70^2. bounde _wanting_. - - 71^2. Cloudesle. - - 71^3. good _wanting_: yeman, _and_ ye _always, as_, 88^3, 90^3, - 93^3, 94^1. - - 72^1. Cloudesli. - - 73^2. the hange. - - 73^3. that _wanting_: brtehren, _or_, breehren. - - 74^2, 82^1, 84^1, 100^1, 103^4. brethen. - - 74^2. stande _wanting_. - - 74^3. marked. - - 74^5. to chaunce. - - 75^1. good _wanting_. - - 75^2. will. - - 76^1. Then spake. - - 76^3. Brother. - - 77^1. shyrfe. - - 77^2. an _wanting_. - - 78^1. thre arrowes. - - 78^4. there sedes. - - 79^2. fell downe. - - 81^2. out of. - - 81^4. he taryed all to. - - 82^2. togyder _wanting_. - - 82^4. shall you. - - 83^1. shot. - - 83^3. sede. - - 84^1. The: together. - - 85^2. preced to. - - 86^3. mas myd. - - 87^2. they _wanting_. - - 88^4. For of theyr lyues they stode in great. - - 90^2. brust. - - 90^3. euyll. - - 90^6. That. - - 91^1. y^t y^e. - - 91^2. to fast. - - 91^4. at _wanting_. - - 92^{2,3}. _Transposed_: Yf you do, _etc._, Myne offce. - - 92^4. do we. - - 93^1. theyr keys. - - 94^2. lyghtly as left. - - 94^3. The lough an. - - 94^4. fere. - - 95^1, 98^1. Englyshe. - - 95^2. Under the: trusty, _and_ 98^2. - - 95^3. There _wanting_. - - 95^4. full great. - - 96^1. God me help. - - 96^3. nowe _wanting_. - - 97^2. drynke. - - 97^3. fet of. - - 97^4. And _wanting_: I wyll. - - 98^3. They thaught: woman wepe. - - 98^4. mought. - - 99^1. the fayre; and sayde _begins the next line_. - - 99^2. I sawe. - - 100^2. Or with. - - 100^3. _wanting._ - - 100^4. put out. - - 102^2. Under thus trusti. - - 102^4. had se. - - 106^1, 109^1. Alce. - - 106^3. by me. - - 107^1. theyr _wanting_. - - 107^{2,3}. _Transposed_: And thanked, _etc._, Wyth such. - - 108^2. without any. - - 109^1. Alce shalbe at our. - - 110^3. you breng. - - 111^1. these good yemen. - - 111^2. myght hye. - - 111^3. pallace. - - _Variations from_ #a#. - - 114^3. you. - - 115^2. without any. - - 115^3. become. - - 116^1. the kyng. - - 116^3, 117^1. The. - - 117^1. beseche the. - - 118^1. be your nams: then, _and_ 119^1. - - 122^2. you graunt. - - 123^3. hundreth. - - 124^3. then sayd. - - 126^1. you _wanting_. - - 127^2. These: ye. - - 127^4. all thre. - - 128^1. town. - - 137^1. hauy graunted. - - 153^1. apele. - - _Variations from_ #a#. - - 162^2. myght se. - - 162^4. sholdest _wanting_. - - 164^1. .xvii. - - 164^3. when. - - 165^1. the a. - - 166^3. estate. - - 167^2. her sore. - - 167^4. To gouerne. - - 168^1. thanketh. - - 168^2. To some bysshop wyl we wend. - - 169^1. begone: there good. - - 170^4. they _wanting_. - - a bout, a gayne, a monge, a none, a byde, a lyue, ther at, _etc._, - _are joined_. - -#d#, #e#, #f#. _The readings of all three are the same unless divergence - is noted._ - - 1^1. #f.# in the. - - 1^3. whereas men hunt east. - - 2^1. raise. - - 2^2. #d.# sights haue oft. #e.# sights haue not oft. #f.# has oft. - - 2^3. three yeomen. - - 2^4. as _wanting_. - - 3^2. Another. - - 4^2. thre _wanting_. #d#, #e#. euery chone. #f.# eueryeche one. - - 4^3. brethren on a. - - 4^4. English wood. - - 5^2. And _wanting_: mirth. - - 5^3. #e.# were _wanting_. - - 6^3. brethren, _and generally_. #e.# on a. - - 7^1. There to: Alice. - - 7^2. #f.# with _wanting_. - - 8^1. #e#, #f#. we go. #d.# Carlell, _and generally_. #e#, #f#. - Carlile, _and generally_. - - 8^3. If that: doe you. - - 8^4. life is. - - 9^3. Trust you then that. #d#, #f#. tane. #e.# taken. - - 11^1. Alice he said. - - 11^2. My wife and children three. - - 11^3. owne husband. #f.# thy. - - 12^2. #e#, #f#. very sore. - - 12^4. #d#, #f#. halfe a. #e.# Full halfe a. - - 13^1. #e.# I am. - - 13^2. #d#, #f#. in I. #e.# in we. - - 14^1. #d.# fet. - - 14^2. #d.# true and. - - 14^3. #e.# what she. - - 15^1. #d.# in the. - - 15^2. little before. - - 16^1. rose and forth she goes. - - 16^2. #e.# might. - - 16^3. not _wanting_. - - 16^4. #e.# yeeres. #f.# not 7 yeere. - - 17^1. into. - - 17^3. night she said is come to towne. - - 18^1. #e.# Thereat. - - 18^2. #e.# was _wanting_. #f.# And _wanting_. - - 18^3. #e.# dame _wanting_. - - 18^4. ere. - - 19^2. #d#, #e#. as _wanting_. #d#, #e#, #f#. saine. - - 20^1. raised. - - 20^2. that _wanting_. - - 20^3. #e.# And thronging fast vnto the house. - - 20^4. As fast as. #e.# gan. - - 21^1. the good yeoman. - - 21^2. Round _wanting_. - - 21^3. #d.# of the folke. #e.# of folke. #f.# of the folkes. - - 21^4. thetherward: fast _for_ they. - - 22^1. back _for_ shot. - - 22^3. #e.# bothe _wanting_. #e#, #f#. _second_ the _wanting_. - - 22^4. #e#, #f#. And with them. #e.# a great rout. #f.# a full - great. - - 23^1. then cryed. - - 23^3. #e#, #f#. _second_ my _wanting_. #f.# sweet husband. - - 24^2. #e.# _second_ hys _wanting_. - - 24^3. the _for_ hys. #f.# He went. - - 24^4. #f.# the surest. - - 25^1. Alice like a louer true. - - 25^2. #f.# Tooke a. - - 25^3. #d#, #f#. Said he shall die that commeth. #e.# Said he shall - dye. - - 26^1. right good. - - 26^2. of a. - - 26^4. burst. - - 27^4. had beene neere the. - - 28^2. #d.# _second_ thy _wanting_. #e.# thine arrowes. #f.# the - bow and arrowes. - - 29^2. #d#, #e#. Sith no better it will be. - - 29^3. burne: saith. #f.# burne there. - - 29^4. and his. - - 30^1. #f.# The _for_ they: _and often_. - - 30^2. #d#, #e#. vp _wanting_. #f.# fledd on. - - 30^3. then, _and generally_. #e#, #f#. said faire. - - 30^4. #e.# we here shall. #f.# here wee shall. - - 31^1. a _for_ hys. - - 31^2. _second_ on _wanting_. #d.# was on. - - 31^3. And there: he did let downe. - - 31^4. His wife and children. - - 32^1. #f.# Haue you here. - - 32^2. #d#, #f#. _second_ my _wanting_. - - 32^{1,2}. #e.# _wanting_. - - 32^3. #f.# Gods loue. - - 33^2. #d#, #f#. agoe. #e.# go. - - 33^3. the _wanting_. about _for_ vpon. - - 33^4. #f.# burnt. - - 34^1. fell vppon. - - 34^{3,4}. and sayde _begins the fourth line_. - - 35^1. #e#, #f#. had I. - - 35^2. runne. - - 35^3. #e.# amongst. #d#, #f#. my. - - 35^4. So: burne. - - 36^1. buckler then. - - 36^2. #f.# amongst. - - 36^3. people thickest were. - - 37^1. man abide. #e#, #f#. strokes. - - 37^2. #e.# run. - - 37^3. #f.# Then the: att him. #e.# doore. - - 37^4. that yeoman. #f.# And then the. - - 38^1. both _wanting_. - - 38^2. in a. - - 38^3. #d#, #e#. then said. #d#, #f#. hye _wanting_. - - 39^2. #e.# gallowes thou shalt haue. - - 39^3. #d.# al _wanting_. - - 40^1. There. #f.# helpe yett. - - 40^3. #f#. a 100^d men. - - 41^1. arose. - - 41^2. #f.# can he. - - 41^3. #d.# them to: full _wanting_. #e#, #f#. to shut close. - - 42^3. #d#, #e#. he set vp. #f.# There he new a paire of gallowes - he sett vpp. - - 42^4. #f.# Hard by the. - - 43^2. meant. - - 44^1. the _wanting_. #f.# The litle. - - 44^3. #f.# seene William. - - 44^4. #e.# gaue. - - 45^1. at a creuice of. - - 45^2. wood he ran (ron, runn). #f.# And _wanting_. - - 45^3. #e.# he met. #e#, #f#. wighty yeomen. - - 46^1. #e#, #f#. said the. - - 46^2. #e#, #f#. You. - - 46^3. #e#, #f#. tane. #e.# doomd. - - 46^4. #d.# Already. #e#, #f#. And ready to be hangd. - - 47^2. saw. - - 47^3. #d#, #e#. might haue tarried heere with vs. #f.# He had - better haue tarryed with vs. - - 47^4. #e.# as _wanting_. - - 48^1. haue dwelled. - - 48^2. these _for_ the. #f.# shaddoowes greene. - - 48^3. haue _wanting_: at rest. - - 48^4. #d#, #f#. of all. - - 49^2. he had. - - 50^1. #e.# we go. #d.# wighty yeomen. #e#, #f#. iolly yeomen. - - 50^2. longer. - - 51^1. #f.# bold yeomen. - - 51^2. #f.# All in a mor[n]inge of May. - - 51^4. #f.# And _wanting_. - - 52^1. #f.# to _wanting_. - - 52^2. #f.# All in a morning. - - 52^3. vnto. - - 53^3. wonderous. #d#, #f#. be shut. #e.# are shut. #f.# ffast - _for_ well. - - 53^4. therein. - - 54^4. come. #e.# the king. - - 55^1. wryten _wanting_. - - 55^2. #e.# Now _wanting_. #f.# wiselye marke. - - 56^1. #d#, #f#. at the. #f.# gates. - - 56^2. #f.# hard and. - - 56^3. #d#, #e#. a _wanting_. #f.# marueiled who was theratt. - - 56^4. faste _wanting_. #e#, #f.# gates. - - 57^1. nowe _wanting_. #f.# Who be. - - 57^2. #f.# makes. - - 57^3. #e.# said they then. #f.# quoth Clim. - - 57^4. come right. - - 58^4. the _for_ our. - - 59^1. none in. - - 59^2. #e.# of a. - - 59^3. Till that. #f.# a _wanting_. - - 60^1. #d.# the _for_ that. #e.# that good yeman _wanting_. #f.# - spake good Clim. - - 60^4. #d#, #f#. thou shalt. - - 61^1. got _wanting_. - - 61^3. #d#, #e#. porter wend (weend). #f.# had went _wanting_. - - 62^1. is my: he said. - - 62^2. #d.# ye shall. #e#, #f#. you shall. - - 62^3. #e#, #f#. gates. #d#, #e#. full shortly. #f.# ryght - _wanting_. - - 63^1. are we. - - 63^2. Whereof: are right. - - 63^3. #d.# knowes. #e#, #f#. Christ he knowes assuredly. - - 63^4. #e.# come _wanting_. #f.# gett out. - - 64^{2,3,4}. then, When, _and nearly always_. - - 65^1. a _wanting_. - - 65^3. cast. - - 65^4. #d#, #f#. his keyes. - - 66^2. #e.# we haue. - - 66^3. in _for_ to. - - 66^4. #d.# hundred. #e#, #f#. That came this hundred. - - 67^1. we will. - - 67^3. brother. - - 67^4. That _for_ Where he. - - 68^1. #d.# Then: their good. #e#, #f#. Then: their good yew. - - 68^3. in _for_ of. - - 69^3. #d#, #f#. of squiers. #e.# squirers. - - 69^4. #e#, #f#. That iudged William hanged. - - 70^1. #e#, #f#. hymselfe _wanting_. #f.# ready there in. - - 70^4. #d#, #e#. Already. #f.# to hange. - - 71^2. he should. #e.# Cloudesle. - - 71^3. good _wanting_. - - 71^4. #e.# thereby make him a. #f.# And _wanting_. - - 72^1. a _wanting_. - - 72^3. a graue. - - 73^2. I will thee hang. - - 73^3. heard this. - - 74^1. eye. #e.# William. - - 74^2. two (tow) brethren: stande _wanting_. - - 74^3. #e.# the corner: place wel prepard. - - 74^4. #d.# good _wanting_: bent _wanting_. #e#, #f#. _wanting._ - - 74^5. #d#, #e#. the justice to chase. #f.# the iustice to slaine. - - 75^1. good _wanting_. - - 75^3. #e.# hands let free. - - 75^4. #d#, #e#. might I. - - 76^1. Then spake. - - 76^3. Brother: you. - - 76^4. you. - - 77^1. And _wanting_. - - 78^2. #d#, #e#. they had. - - 78^3. #f.# the shirrfe, the other the iustice. - - 78^4. #d#, #f#. can. - - 79^1. #e.# stood them. - - 79^3. fell _wanting_. - - 79^4. #d#, #e#. deaths. - - 80^1. #f.# flye. - - 80^2. #d#, #f#. longer. - - 80^3. #e.# Then. - - 81^1. #d#, #f#. start. #e.# stept. - - 81^2. out of. - - 81^4. had _wanting_: all too. #f.# Hee thought. - - 82^1. #e.# brethren. - - 82^2. togyder _wanting_. - - 83^1. shot. #e#, #f#. in _wanting_. - - 83^2. full _wanting_. - - 83^4. #e.# The. #d#, #f#. long did. - - 84^1. like _for_ as. - - 85^2. #d#, #f#. pressed to. - - 85^3. #e.# swords out anon. - - 86^3. #d#, #f#. was mid. #f.# were mid. - - 86^4. had _wanting_. - - 87^1. #e.# There was _wanting_. #e#, #f#. Carlile was. - - 87^2. they _wanting_. #d.# backwards. - - 88^1, 89^1, 90^1. mayor, maior. - - 88^3. thre _wanting_. - - 88^4. For of. #d#, #f#. they stood in great. #e.# they were in - great. - - 89^4. #e.# Within that stoure. - - 90^2. brast. #d#, #f#. he _wanting_. - - 90^3. euill. - - 90^4. #f.# ffull woe. - - 90^5. #f.# Keepe well. - - 90^6. That. - - 91^2. #d#, #e#. downe they. #f.# were downe. - - 91^4. gotten out. #e.# of a. - - 92^2. heere I. #e.# My. - - 92^3. #d#, #f#. you. - - 92^4. doe you. - - 93^1. #d#, #f#. their keyes at. #d.# head. - - 93^3. any. - - 94^1. #e#, #f#. be the. - - #d.# word. - - 94^2. lightly. - - 94^3. #f.# wood. - - 95^1. #d#, #e#. English wood. #f.# merry greenwood. - - 95^2. the trustie. - - 95^4. #d.# full great. - - 96^1. God me helpe. - - 96^3. nowe _wanting_. - - 96^4. #d.# manie. #e.# many. #f.# meanye. - - 97^1. #d#, #f#. sate. #e.# Then sat they. - - 97^2. #d#, #e#. drunke. - - 97^3. fit of: yeomen _for_ yonge men. #f.# A 2^d ffitt of the - wightye. - - 97^4. And _wanting_: I will. - - 98^1. English wood. #d#, #f#. sate. - - 98^2. #d#, #e#. trustie. #f.# the greenwoode. - - 98^3. woman wepe. #e#, #f#. They. - - 98^4. #e#, #f#. could act. - - 99^1. Sore then: there _wanting_. #d#, #f#. and sayd _begins the - next line_. - - 99^{1,2}. #e#. And sayd Alas _wanting_. - - 99^2. saw. - - 99^3. #f.# nowe _wanting_. - - 100^1. #e.# spoke. - - 100^2. Or with. - - 100^3. #d#, #e#. To shew to them what him befell. #f.# To show - them, _etc._ - - 101^1. aside. - - 101^2. #f.# He looked. - - 101^3. _second_ his _wanting_. #e.# He saw his. - - 102^2. Under. #d.# this trustie. #e.# a trusty. #f.# the trustye. - - 102^4. #d#, #f#. shouldest had. #e.# shouldst had. - - 103^4. #d#, #e#. brethren. - - 104^4. #e.# It resteth. - - 105^1. the lawnd. - - 105^2. noble men all. - - 105^4. #f.# that they cold see. - - 106^2. #f.# saith. - - 106^3. Because: by me. - - 107^1. they went: theyr _wanting_. - - 107^3. for their. - - 108^2, 115^2. without any leace (lease). - - 109^1. at our. - - 109^2. #f.# Att a. - - 110^1. My. - - 110^2. I haue. - - 111^1. good yeomen. - - 111^2. #d#, #f#. might hye. #e#. can hye. - - 111^3. pallace. - - 111^4. #e#, #f#. Where. #d.# neede. #e#, #f#. needs. - - 112^1. kings. #f.# But when. - - 112^2. #f.# & to. - - 113^1. proceeded presently. - - 113^2. they had. - - 113^4. #e#, #f#. gan. - - 114^1. #e#, #f#. you. - - 114^2. #e#, #f#. to me. - - 114^3. You: thus _wanting_. - - 114^4. from _for_ of. - - 115^2. #f.# Certes. - - 115^3. the _for_ our. - - 116^1. the _for_ our. #d#, #f#. when. #e.# whan. - - 117^1. #d#, #e#. beseech thee. #f.# beseeche yee sure. - - 118^1. What be. #e#, #f#. the _for_ our. - - 118^3. #e.# They sayd _wanting_. - - 119^1. #d#, #e#. than _wanting_. #f.# then. #e.# the _for_ our. - - 119^2. of _wanting_. - - 119^3. #f.# Here I make a vow to God. - - 119^4. You. - - 120^3. #f.# officer[s] euery one. - - 121^1. #e.# Therefore. - - 122^3. doo _for_ be: come. - - 122^4. from. - - 123^2. #d.# your _wanting_. - - 123^3. #d#, #e#. hundreth: #f.# 100^d. - - 123^4. #d#, #e#. of you. #f.# Of you wee will aske noe. - - 125^4. You. - - 126^1. ye. - - 126^4. #f.# itt shalbe. - - 127^1. #f.# good my. - - 127^2. These: ye. - - 127^4. them all. - - 128^1. #f.# You: townes. - - 130^2. #e.# garmarcie. #f.# god a mercye. - - 130^4. they shall. - - 131^2. #d.# they may comfort see. #e.# they might comfort see. - #f.# some comfort they might see. - - 131^3. #e#, #f#. the _for_ our. - - 132^1. #e.# sittin. #f.# sitten. - - 132^3. came two. - - 133^3. #e.# our _for_ your. - - 134^1. fareth. - - 135^1. #e.# slaine them. #f.# then said. - - 135^2. Anone that you. - - 135^3. and _wanting_. - - 136^1. #f.# ffor wrath. - - 136^3. then. #f.# rather then. - - 136^4. of _wanting_. - - 137^1. #f.# y- _wanting_. - - 137^2. #d.# forethinketh. - - 138^1. #d#, #f#. king he. - - 138^3. And there: thre _wanting_. - - 139^2. mayor. - - 139^3. catchpoles. - - 139^4. #f.# but one. - - 140^1. bayliffes. - - 140^3. forresters. - - 140^4. haue. #f.# haue the slawe. - - 141^2. #e#, #f#. Of all. #f.# coice the. - - 141^3. #d.# Such. - - 142^2. hys _wanting_. - - 142^3. #d.# table he said. #e.# table then said he. #f.# tables - then sayd hee. - - 142^4. #e#, #f#. I can. - - 143^1. then called. - - 143^3. #e#, #f#. said he. #f.# To see. - - 143^4. #e.# hath. - - 144^1. #d#, #e#. buskt: blithe. #f.# archers busket: blythe. - - 144^2. #f.# Soe did the queenes alsoe. - - 144^3. #d#, #e#. thre _wanting_. #f.# weightye. - - 144^4. #f.# They thought with them. - - 145^2. thre _wanting_. - - 145^4. them _wanting_. - - 146^2. #e#, #f#. By him. - - 146^3. #d#, #e#. a good. #f.# him not a good. - - 147^1. #e.# the _for_ our. #f.# then _wanting_. - - 147^2. to me. - - 148^1. into the. - - 148^2. brethren. - - 148^4. #f.# 400 paces. - - 149^4. For no man can so doo. - - 150^1. #f.# syr _wanting_. - - 150^2. further. - - 151. #d#, #f#. our king. #e#, #f#. then _wanting_. - - 152^3. tie him. - - 152^4. #e#, #f#. see him. - - 154^1. hast thee. #f.# then _wanting_. - - 154^3. #f.# dost: has. - - 155^4. you hang. - - 156^2. #d#, #e#. I neuer will forsake. #f.# That I will neuer. - - 157^3. him fro. - - 158^3. out _wanting_. #f.# meaten. - - 159^2. #e.# were. - - 160^1. were there. - - 160^4. had neede of a. #e#, #f#. steddy. - - 162^1. claue. - - 162^2. myght see. #d#, #f#. As. - - 162^3. Now God forbid then said. - - 162^4. #d#, #e#. shouldst. - - 163^1. #f.# gaue: 8 pence. - - 163^4. #e.# chiefe ranger. - - 164^1. xiii. #e#, #f#. Ile. - - 165^1. thee a. - - 165^3. #f.# bretheren. - - 165^4. are louely to. - - 166^2. #e#, #f#. he shall be. - - 166^3. mans estate. #e#, #f#. coms, comes. - - 166^4. #d.# aduanced I will him see. #e#, #f#. Better preferred. - - 167^2. #d.# sore for to. #e.# I long full sore to see. #f.# I long - her sore. - - 167^4. To. - - 168^2. #d.# To some bishop will we wend. #e#, #f#. To some bishop - we will wend. - - 168^4. at his. - - 169^1. #e.# the good. - - 169^2. they can. #d.# So fast. - - 169^3. and liued. - - 169^4. good yeomen. - - 170^1. #f.# liffe. - - 170^3. #f.# with a. - - 170^4. #d#, #e#. they _wanting_. - - _Insignificant variations of spelling are not noticed._ - - - APPENDIX - - THE SECOND PART OF ADAM BELL - -August 16, 1586, there was entered to Edward White, in the Stationers’ -Registers, ‘A ballad of William Clowdisley neuer printed before:’ Arber, -II, 455. This was in all probability the present piece, afterwards -printed with ‘Adam Bell’ as a Second Part. The Second Part of Adam Bell -was entered to John Wright, September 24, 1608: Arber, III, 390. The -ballad is a pure manufacture, with no root in tradition, and it is an -absurd extravaganza besides. The copy in the Percy Folio, here collated -with the earliest preserved printed copy, has often the better readings, -but may have been corrected. #a# has such monstrosities as y-then, y-so. - - - #a.# ‘The Second Part of Adam Bell,’ London, James Roberts, 1605. - #b.# ‘Younge Cloudeslee,’ Percy MS. p. 398; Hales and Furnivall, - III, 102. - - 1 - List northerne laddes to blither things - Then yet were brought to light, - Performed by our countriemen - In many a fray and fight: - - 2 - Of Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, - And William of Cloudisly, - Who were in fauour with the king, - For all their misery. - - 3 - Yong William of the wine-seller, - When yeoman he was made, - Gan follow then his father’s steps: - He loued a bonny maide. - - 4 - ‘God’s crosse,’ quoth William, ‘if I misse, - And may not of her speed, - I’le make a thousand northern hearts - For very wo to bleed.’ - - 5 - Gone he is a wooing now, - Our Ladie well him guide! - To merry Mansfield, where I trow - A time he will abide. - - 6 - ‘Soone dop the dore, faire Cicelie bright, - I come with all the hast: - I come a wooing thee for loue, - Here am I come at last.’ - - 7 - ‘I know you not,’ quoth Cicelie tho, - ‘From whence that yee bee come; - My loue you may not haue, I trow, - I vow by this faire sonne. - - 8 - ‘For why, my loue is fixt so sure - Vpon another wight; - I swere by sweet Saint Anne, I’le neuer - Abuse him, out of sight. - - 9 - ‘This night I hope to see my loue, - In all his pride and glee; - If there were thousands, none but him - My heart would ioy to see.’ - - 10 - ‘God’s curse vpon him,’ yong William said, - ‘Before me that hath sped! - A foule ill on the carrion nurse - That first did binde his head!’ - - 11 - Gan William tho for to prepare - A medicine for that chaffe: - ‘His life,’ quoth he, ‘full hard may fare; - Hee’s best to keepe alaffe.’ - - 12 - He drew then out his bright brown sword, - Which was so bright and keene; - A stouter man and hardier - Nere handled sword, I weene. - - 13 - ‘Browne tempered, strong, and worthy blade, - Vnto thy maister show, - If now to triall thou bee put, - How thou canst bide a blow.’ - - 14 - Yong William till an oake gan hie, - Which was in compasse round - Well six and fifty inches nie, - And feld it to the ground. - - 15 - ‘So mot he fare,’ quoth William tho, - ‘That for her loue hath laid - Which I haue loued, and nere did know - Him suter till that maide. - - 16 - ‘And now, deare father, stout and strong, - William of Cloudesley, - How happie were thy troubled sonne - If here I mot thee see. - - 17 - ‘And thy too brethren, Adam Bell - And Clim of the Clough; - Against a thousand men, and more, - We foure would be enough. - - 18 - ‘Growne it is full foure a clocke, - And night will come beliue; - Come on, thou lurden, Cislei’s loue, - This night must I thee shriue. - - 19 - ‘Prepare thee strong, thou fow[l] black caufe! - What ere thou be, I weene - I’le giue thy coxcomb saick a gird - In Mansfield as neuer was seene.’ - - 20 - William a yong faune had slaine, - In Sherwood, merry forrest; - A fairer faune for man’s meat - In Sherwood was neuer drest. - - 21 - Hee hied then till a northerne lasse, - Not halfe a mile him fro; - He said, Dop dore, thou good old nurse, - That in to thee I goe. - - 22 - ‘I faint with being in the wood; - Lo heere I haue a kid, - Which I haue slo for thee and I; - Come dresse it then, I bid. - - 23 - ‘Fetch bread and other iolly fare, - Whereof thou hast some store; - A blither gest this hundred yeare - Came neuer here before.’ - - 24 - The good old nant gan hie a pace - To let yong William in; - ‘A happie nurse,’ quoth William then, - ‘As can be lightly seene. - - 25 - ‘Wend till that house hard by,’ quoth he, - ‘That’s made of lime and stone, - Where is a lasse, faire Cisse,’ hee said; - ‘I loue her as my owne. - - 26 - ‘If thou can fetch her vnto me, - That we may merry be, - I make a vow, in the forrest, - Of deare thou shalt haue fee.’ - - 27 - ‘Rest then, faire sir,’ the woman said; - ‘I sweare by good Saint Iohn, - I will bring to you that same maide - Full quickly and anon.’ - - 28 - ‘Meane time,’ quoth William, ‘I’le be cooke - And see the faune i-drest; - A stouter cooke did neuer come - Within the faire forrest.’ - - 29 - Thick blith old lasse had wit enow - For to declare his minde; - So fast she hi’d, and nere did stay, - But left William behind. - - 30 - Where William, like a nimble cooke, - Is dressing of the fare, - And for this damsell doth he looke; - ‘I would that she were here!’ - - 31 - ‘Good speed, blithe Cisse,’ quoth that old lasse; - ‘God dild yee,’ quoth Cisley againe; - ‘How done you, nant Ione?’ she said, - ‘Tell me it, I am faine.’ - - 32 - The good old Ione said weele she was, - ‘And commen in an arrand till you; - For you must to my cottage gone, - Full quick, I tell you true; - - 33 - ‘Where we full merry meane to be, - All with my elder lad:’ - When Cissley heard of it, truely, - She was exceeding glad. - - 34 - ‘God’s curse light on me,’ quoth Cissley tho, - ‘If with you I doe not hie; - I neuer ioyed more forsooth - Then in your company.’ - - 35 - Happy the good-wife thought her selfe - That of her purpose she had sped, - And home with Cisley she doth come, - So lightly did they tread. - - 36 - And comming in, here William soone - Had made ready his fare; - The good old wife did wonder much - So soone as she came there. - - 37 - Cisley to William now is come, - God send her mickle glee! - Yet was she in a maze, God wot, - When she saw it was hee. - - 38 - ‘Had I beene ware, good sir,’ she said, - ‘Of that it had beene you, - I would haue staid at home in sooth, - I tell you very true.’ - - 39 - ‘Faire Cisley,’ then said William kind, - ‘Misdeeme thou not of mee; - I sent not for thee to the end - To do thee iniury. - - 40 - ‘Sit downe, that we may talke a while, - And eate all of the best - And fattest kidde that euer was slaine - In merry Sirwood forrest.’ - - 41 - His louing words wan Cisley then - To keepe with him a while; - But in the meane time Cislei’s loue - Of her was tho beguile. - - 42 - A stout and sturdie man he was - Of quality and kind, - And knowne through all the north country - To beare a noble minde. - - 43 - ‘But what,’ quoth William, ‘do I care? - If that he meane to weare, - First let him winne; els neuer shall - He haue the maide, I sweare.’ - - 44 - Full softly is her louer come, - And knocked at the dore; - But tho he mist of Cislei’s roome, - Whereat he stampt and swore. - - 45 - ‘A mischief on his heart,’ quoth he, - ‘That hath enlured the maide - To be with him in company!’ - He car’d not what he sayd. - - 46 - He was so with anger mooued - He sware a well great oth, - ‘Deere should he pay, if I him knew, - Forsooth and by my troth!’ - - 47 - Gone he is to finde her out, - Not knowing where she is; - Still wandring in the weary wood, - His true-loue he doth misse. - - 48 - William purchast hath the game, - Which he doth meane to hold: - ‘Come rescew her, and if you can, - And dare to be so bold!’ - - 49 - At length when he had wandred long - About the forrest wide, - A candle-light a furlong off - Full quickly he espied. - - 50 - Then to the house he hied him fast, - Where quickly he gan here - The voice of his owne deere true-loue, - A making bonny cheere. - - 51 - Then gan he say to Cisley tho, - O Cisley, come a way! - I haue beene wandring thee to finde - Since shutting in of day. - - 52 - ‘Who calls faire Cisse?’ quoth William then; - ‘What carle dares bee so bold - Once to aduenture to her to speake - Whom I haue now in hold?’ - - 53 - ‘List thee, faire sir,’ quoth Cislei’s loue, - ‘Let quickly her from you part; - For all your lordly words, I sweare - I’le haue her, or make you smart.’ - - 54 - Yong William to his bright browne sword - Gan quickly then to take: - ‘Because thou so dost challenge me, - I’le make thy kingdome quake. - - 55 - ‘Betake thee to thy weapon strong; - Faire time I giue to thee; - And for my loue as well as thine - A combat fight will I.’ - - 56 - ‘Neuer let sonne,’ quoth Cislei’s loue, - ‘Shine more vpon my head, - If I doe flie, by heauen aboue, - Wert thou a giant bred.’ - - 57 - To bilbo-blade gat William tho, - And buckler stiffe and strong; - A stout battaile then they fought, - Well nie two houres long. - - 58 - Where many a grieuous wound was giue - To each on either part; - Till both the champions then were droue - Almost quite out of heart. - - 59 - Pitteous mone faire Cisley made, - That all the forrest rong; - The grieuous shrikes made such a noise, - She had so shrill a tongue. - - 60 - At last came in the keepers three, - With bowes and arrowes keene, - Where they let flie among these two, - An hundred as I weene. - - 61 - William, stout and strong in heart, - When he had them espied, - Set on corrage for his part; - Among the thickst he hied. - - 62 - The chiefe ranger of the woods - At first did William smite; - Where, at on blow, he smot his head - Fro off his shoulders quite. - - 63 - And being in so furious teene, - About him then he laid; - He slew immediatly the wight - Was sutor to the maide. - - 64 - Great moane was then made; - The like was neuer heard; - Which made the people all around - To crie, they were so feard. - - 65 - ‘Arme! arme!’ the country cried, - ‘For God’s loue quickly hie!’ - Neuer was such a slaughter seene - In all the north country. - - 66 - Will[iam] still, though wounded sore, - Continued in his fight - Till he had slaine them all foure, - That very winter-night. - - 67 - All the country then was raisd, - The traytor for to take - That for the loue of Cisley faire - Had all this slaughter make. - - 68 - To the woods hied William tho— - ’Twas best of all his play— - Where in a caue with Cisley faire - He liued many a day. - - 69 - Proclamation then was sent - The country all around, - The lord of Mansfield should he be - That first the traytor found. - - 70 - Till the court these tydings came, - Where all men did bewaile - The yong and lusty William, - Which so had made them quaile. - - 71 - Hied vp then William Cloudesley, - And lustie Adam Bell, - And famous Clim of the Clough, - Which three then did excell. - - 72 - To the king they hied them fast, - Full quickly and anon; - ‘Mercy I pray,’ quoth old William, - ‘For William my sonne.’ - - 73 - ‘No mercy, traitors,’ quoth the king, - ‘Hangd shall yee be all foure; - Vnder my nose this plot haue you laid - To bringe to passe before.’ - - 74 - ‘In sooth,’ bespake then Adam Bell, - ‘Ill signe Your Grace hath seene - Of any such comotion - Since with you we haue beene. - - 75 - ‘If then we can no mercy haue, - But leese both life and goods, - Of your good grace we take our leaue - And hie vs to the woods.’ - - 76 - ‘Arme, arme,’ then quoth the king, - ‘My merry men euerychone, - Full fast againe these rebbells now - Vnto the woods are gone. - - 77 - ‘A, wo is vs! what shall we doo, - Or which way shall we worke, - To hunt them forth out of the woods, - So traytrouslie there that lurke?’ - - 78 - ‘List you,’ quoth a counsellor graue, - A wise man he seemd; - The[n] craued the king his pardon free - Vnto them to haue deemd. - - 79 - ‘God’s forbod!’ quoth the king, - ‘I neuer it will do! - For they shall hang, each mother’s sonne; - Faire sir, I tell you true.’ - - 80 - Fifty thousand men were charged - After them for to take; - Some of them, set in sundry townes, - In companies did waite. - - 81 - To the woods gan some to goe, - In hope to find them out; - And them perforce they thought to take, - If they might find them out. - - 82 - To the woods still as they came - Dispatched still they were; - Which made full many a trembling heart, - And many a man in feare. - - 83 - Still the outlawes, Adam Bell - And Clim of the Clough, - Made iolly cheere with venison, - Strong drinke and wine enough. - - 84 - ‘Christ me blesse!’ then said our king, - ‘Such men were neuer knowne; - They are the stoutest-hearted men - That manhoode euer showne. - - 85 - ‘Come, my secretary good, - And cause to be declared - A generall pardone to them all, - Which neuer shall be discared. - - 86 - ‘Liuing plenty shall they haue, - Of gold and eke of fee, - If they will, as they did before, - Come liue in court with me.’ - - 87 - Sodenly went forth the newes, - Declared by trumpets sound, - Whereof these three were well aduis’d, - In caue as they were in ground. - - 88 - ‘But list you, sirs,’ quoth William yong, - ‘I dare not trust the king; - It is some fetch is in his head, - Whereby to bring vs in. - - 89 - ‘Nay, stay we here: or first let me - A messenger be sent - Vnto the court, where I may know - His Maiestie’s intent.’ - - 90 - This pleased Adam Bell: - ‘So may we liue in peace, - We are at his most high command, - And neuer will we cease. - - 91 - ‘But if that still we shall be vrged, - And called by traitrous name, - And threated hanging for euery thing, - His Highnesse is to blame. - - 92 - ‘Neare had His Grace subiects more true, - And sturdier then wee, - Which are at His Highnesse will; - God send him well to bee!’ - - 93 - So to the court is yong William gone, - To parley with the king, - Where all men to the king’s presence - Did striue him for to bring. - - 94 - When he before the king was come, - He kneeled down full low; - He shewed quickly to the king - What duty they did owe; - - 95 - In such delightfull order blith, - The king was quickly wonne - To comfort them in their request, - As he before had done. - - 96 - ‘Fetch bread and drinke,’ then said His Grace, - ‘And meat all of the best; - And stay all night here at the court, - And soundly take thy rest.’ - - 97 - ‘Gramercies to Your Grace,’ said William, - ‘For pardon graunted I see:’ - ‘For signe thereof, here take my seale, - And for more certainty.’ - - 98 - ‘God’s curse vpon me,’ sayd William, - ‘For my part if I meane - Euer againe to stirre vp strife! - It neuer shall bee seene.’ - - 99 - The nobles all to William came, - He was so stout and trimme, - And all the ladies, for very ioy, - Did come to welcome him. - - 100 - ‘Faire Cisley now I haue to wife, - In field I haue her wonne;’ - ‘Bring her here, for God’s loue,’ said they all, - ‘Full welcome shall she be [soone].’ - - 101 - Forth againe went William backe, - To wood that he did hie, - And to his father there he shewd - The king his pardone free. - - 102 - ‘Health to His Grace,’ quoth Adam Bell, - ‘I beg it on my knee!’ - The like said Clim of the Clough, - And William of Cloudesley. - - 103 - To the court they all prepare, - Euen as fast as they can hie, - Where graciously they were receiud, - With mirth and merry glee. - - 104 - Cisley faire is wend alone - Vpon a gelding faire; - A proprer damsell neuer came - In any courtly ayre. - - 105 - ‘Welcome, Cisley,’ said the queene, - ‘A lady I thee make, - To wait vpon my owne person, - In all my chiefest state.’ - - 106 - So quickly was this matter done, - Which was so hardly doubted, - That all contentions after that - From court were quickly rowted. - - 107 - Fauourable was the king; - So good they did him finde, - The[y] neuer after sought againe - To vex his royall minde. - - 108 - Long time they liued in court, - So neare vnto the king - That neuer after was attempt - Offred for any thing. - - 109 - God aboue giue all men grace - In quiet for to liue, - And not rebelliously abroad - Their princes for to grieue. - - 110 - Let not the hope of pardon mooue - A subiect to attempt - His soueraigne’s anger, or his loue - From him for to exempt. - - 111 - But that all men may ready be - With all their maine and might - To serue the Lord, and loue the King, - In honor, day and night! - - * * * * * - - #a.# 1^4. In mickle. - - 6^1. Some. - - 13^4. canst thou. - - 20^3. man’s y-meat. - - 21^2. he fro. - - 28^2. I drest. - - 35^2. That her purpose he had of sped. - - 35^4. they read. - - 37^4. amaze. - - 46^1. was yso. - - 64^1. ythen. - - 76^2. euery chone. - - 92^1. more subjects true. - - 93^3. Which _for_ Where. - - #b.# 1^4. In many. - - 5^2. will _for_ well. - - 6^1. Soone. - - 6^3. to thee. - - 13^1. sword _for_ strong. - - 13^4. thou canst. - - 18^4. I must. - - 19^1. ffowle. - - 19^4. was neuer. - - 20^3. man’s meate. - - 21^2. him ffroe. - - 21^3. dop the. - - 22^3. slaine ffor thee & mee. - - 28^2. To see: well drest. - - 31^1. God speed. - - 31^3. doe yee. - - 32^1. woman _for_ Ione. - - 32^2. in _wanting_: to you. - - 35^2. of her purpose shee had sped. - - 35^4. they did tread. - - 37^3. a maze. - - 40^3. The ffattest. - - 44^3. mist Cisleys companye. - - 45^2. allured this. - - 46^1. soe. - - 52^4. in my _for_ now in. - - 57^2. That was both stiffe. - - 57^4. Weer neere. - - 61^1. strong & stout. - - 66^1. Will_ia_m. - - 68^2. Itt was the best. - - 73^2. You shall be hanged. - - 73^3. plott yee have. - - 76^2. euer-eche one. - - 78^3. The craued. - - 79^4. I tell you verry true. - - 86^1. Liuings. - - 92^1. subiects more true. - - 93^3. Where. - - 97^1. Gramercy. - - 100^4. Welcome shee shall bee soone. - - 104^1. is gone. - - 105^4. cheefe estate. - - 106^4. rooted. - - 107^3. ffought _for_ sought. - - - - - 117 - - A GEST OF ROBYN HODE - - #a.# ‘A Gest of Robyn Hode,’ without printer’s name, date, or place; - the eleventh and last piece in a volume in the Advocates’ Library, - Edinburgh. Reprinted by David Laing, 1827, with nine pieces from the - press of Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar, Edinburgh, 1508, and one - other, by a printer unknown, under the title of The Knightly Tale of - Golagrus and Gawane, and other Ancient Poems. - - #b.# ‘A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode,’ etc., London, Wynken de Worde, n. - d.: Library of the University of Cambridge. - - #c.# Douce Fragment, No 16: Bodleian Library. - - #d.# Douce Fragment, No 17: Bodleian Library. - - #e.# Douce Fragment, No 16: Bodleian Library.[29] - - #f.# ‘A Mery Geste of Robyn Hoode,’ etc., London, Wyllyam Copland, n. - d.: British Museum, C. 21. c. - - #g.# ‘A Merry Iest of Robin Hood,’ etc., London, printed for Edward - White, n. d.: Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld., and Mr Henry - Huth’s library. - - -The best qualified judges are not agreed as to the typographical origin -of #a#: see Dickson, Introduction of the Art of Printing into Scotland, -Aberdeen, 1885, pp 51 ff, 82 ff, 86 f. Mr Laing had become convinced -before his death that he had been wrong in assigning this piece to the -press of Chepman and Myllar. The date of #b# may be anywhere from 1492 -to 1534, the year of W. de Worde’s death. Of #c# Ritson says, in his -corrected preface to the Gest, 1832, I, 2: By the favor of the Reverend -Dr Farmer, the editor had in his hands, and gave to Mr Douce, a few -leaves of an old 4to black letter impression by the above Wynken de -Worde, probably in 1489, and totally unknown to Ames and Herbert. No -reason is given for this date.[30] I am not aware that any opinion has -been expressed as to the printer or the date of #d#, #e#. W. Copland’s -edition, #f#, if his dates are fully ascertained, is not earlier than -1548. Ritson says that #g# is entered to Edward White in the Stationers’ -books, 13 May, 1594. “A pastorall plesant commedie of Robin Hood & -Little John, &c,” is entered to White on the 14th of May of that year, -Arber, II, 649: this is more likely to have been a play of Robin Hood. - -#a#, #b#, #f#, #g#, are deficient at 7^1, 339^1, and misprinted at 49, -50, repeating, it may be, the faults of a prior impression. #a# appears, -by internal evidence, to be an older text than #b#.[31] Some obsolete -words of the earlier copies have been modernized in #f#, #g#,[32], and -deficient lines have been supplied. A considerable number of -Middle-English forms remain[33] after those successive renovations of -reciters and printers, which are presumable in such cases. The Gest may -have been compiled at a time when such forms had gone out of use, and -these may be relics of the ballads from which this little epic was made -up; or the whole poem may have been put together as early as 1400, or -before. There are no firm grounds on which to base an opinion. - -No notice of Robin Hood has been down to this time recovered earlier -than that which was long ago pointed out by Percy as occurring in Piers -Plowman, and this, according to Professor Skeat, cannot be older than -about 1377.[34] Sloth, in that poem, says in his shrift that he knows -“rymes of Robyn Hood and Randolf, erle of Chestre,”[35] though but -imperfectly acquainted with his paternoster: #B#, passus v, 401 f, -Skeat, ed. 1886, I, 166. References to Robin Hood, or to his story, are -not infrequent in the following century. - -In Wyntoun’s Chronicle of Scotland, put at about 1420, there is this -passage, standing quite by itself, under the year 1283: - - Lytill Ihon and Robyne Hude - Waythmen ware commendyd gude; - In Yngilwode and Barnysdale - Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale. - - Laing, II, 263. - -Disorderly persons undertook, it seems, to imitate Robin Hood and his -men. In the year 1417, says Stowe, one, by his counterfeit name called -Fryer Tucke, with many other malefactors, committed many robberies in -the counties of Surrey and Sussex, whereupon the king sent out his writs -for their apprehension: Annals, p. 352 b, ed. 1631.[36] A petition to -Parliament, in the year 1439, represents that one Piers Venables, of -Derbyshire, rescued a prisoner, “and after that tyme, the same Piers -Venables, havynge no liflode ne sufficeante of goodes, gadered and -assembled unto him many misdoers, beynge of his clothinge, ... and, in -manere of insurrection, wente into the wodes in that contré, like as it -hadde be Robyn-hode and his meyné:” Rotuli Parliamentorum, V, 16.[37] - -Bower, writing 1441–47, describes the lower orders of his time as -entertaining themselves with ballads both merry and serious, about Robin -Hood, Little John, and their mates, and preferring them to all -others;[38] and Major, or Mair, who was born not long after 1450, says -in his book, printed in 1521, that Robin Hood ballads were in vogue over -all Britain.[39] - -Sir John Paston, in 1473, writes of a servant whom he had kept to play -Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, and who was gone into -Bernysdale: Fenn, Original Letters, etc., II, 134, cited by Ritson. - -Gutch cites this allusion to Robin Hood ballads “from Mr Porkington, No -10, f. 152, written in the reign of Edward IV:” - - Ther were tynkerris in tarlottus, the met was fulle goode, - The “sowe sat one him benche” (_sic_), and harppyd Robyn Hoode. - -And again, the name simply, from “a song on Woman, from MS. Lambeth, -306, fol. 135, of the fifteenth century”: - - He that made this songe full good - Came of the northe and of the sothern blode, - And somewhat kyne to Robyn Hode. - - Gutch, Robin Hood, I, 55 f. - -These passages show the popularity of Robin Hood ballads for a century -or more before the time when the Gest was printed, a popularity which -was fully established at the beginning of this period, and -unquestionably extended back to a much earlier day. Of these ballads, -there have come down to us in a comparatively ancient form the -following: those from which the Gest (printed, perhaps, before 1500) was -composed, being at least four, Robin Hood, the Knight and the Monk, -Robin Hood, Little John and the Sheriff, Robin Hood and the King, and -Robin Hood’s Death (a fragment); Robin Hood and the Monk, No 118, more -properly Robin Hood rescued by Little John, MS. of about 1450, but not -for that older than the ballads of the Gest; Robin Hood and Guy of -Gisborn, No 119, Percy MS. c. 1650; Robin Hood’s Death, No 120, Percy -MS. and late garlands; Robin Hood and the Potter, No 121, MS. of about -1500, later, perhaps, than any other of the group.[40] Besides these -there are thirty-two ballads, Nos 122–153. For twenty-two of these we -have the texts of broadsides and garlands of the seventeenth -century,[41] four of the same being also found in the Percy MS.; eight -occur in garlands, etc., of the last century, one of these same in the -Percy MS., and another in an eighteenth-century MS.; one is derived from -a suspicious nineteenth-century MS., and one from nineteenth-century -tradition. About half a dozen of these thirty-two have in them something -of the old popular quality; as many more not the least smatch of it. -Fully a dozen are variations, sometimes wearisome, sometimes sickening, -upon the theme ‘Robin Hood met with his match.’ A considerable part of -the Robin Hood poetry looks like char-work done for the petty press, and -should be judged as such. The earliest of these ballads, on the other -hand, are among the best of all ballads, and perhaps none in English -please so many and please so long. - -That a considerable number of fine ballads of this cycle have been lost -will appear all but certain when we remember that three of the very best -are found each in only one manuscript.[42] - -Robin Hood is absolutely a creation of the ballad-muse. The earliest -mention we have of him is as the subject of ballads. The only two early -historians who speak of him as a ballad-hero, pretend to have no -information about him except what they derive from ballads, and show -that they have none other by the description they give of him; this -description being in entire conformity with ballads in our possession, -one of which is found in a MS. as old as the older of these two writers. - -Robin Hood is a yeoman, outlawed for reasons not given but easily -surmised, “courteous and free,” religious in sentiment, and above all -reverent of the Virgin, for the love of whom he is respectful to all -women. He lives by the king’s deer (though he loves no man in the world -so much as his king) and by levies on the superfluity of the higher -orders, secular and spiritual, bishops and archbishops, abbots, bold -barons, and knights,[43] but harms no husbandman or yeoman, and is -friendly to poor men generally, imparting to them of what he takes from -the rich. Courtesy, good temper, liberality, and manliness are his chief -marks; for courtesy and good temper he is a popular Gawain. Yeoman as he -is, he has a kind of royal dignity, a princely grace, and a -gentleman-like refinement of humor. This is the Robin Hood of the Gest -especially; the late ballads debase this primary conception in various -ways and degrees. - -This is what Robin Hood is, and it is equally important to observe what -he is not. He has no sort of political character, in the Gest or any -other ballad. This takes the ground from under the feet of those who -seek to assign him a place in history. Wyntoun, who gives four lines to -Robin Hood, is quite precise. He is likely to have known of the -adventure of King Edward and the outlaw, and he puts Robin under Edward -I, at the arbitrary date of 1283, a hundred and forty years before his -own time. Bower, without any kind of ceremony, avouches our hero to have -been one of the proscribed followers of Simon de Montfort, and this -assertion of Bower is adopted and maintained by a writer in the London -and Westminster Review, 1840, XXXIII, 424.[44] Major, who probably knew -some ballad of Richard I and Robin Hood, offers a simple conjecture that -Robin flourished about Richard’s time, “circa hæc tempora, ut auguror,” -and this is the representation in Matthew Parker’s ‘True Tale,’ which -many have repeated, not always with ut auguror; as Scott, with whom no -one can quarrel, in the inexpressibly delightful Ivanhoe, and Thierry in -his Conquête de l’Angleterre, Book xi, IV, 81 ff, ed. 1830, both of whom -depict Robin Hood as the chief of a troop of Saxon bandits, Thierry -making him an imitator of Hereward. Hunter, again, The Ballad-Hero, -Robin Hood, p. 48, interprets the King Edward of the Gest as Edward II, -and makes Robin Hood an adherent of the Earl of Lancaster in the fatal -insurrection of 1322. No one of these theories has anything besides -ballads for a basis except Hunter’s. Hunter has an account-book in which -the name Robin Hood occurs; as to which see further on, under stanzas -414–450 of the Gest. Hereward the Saxon, Fulk Fitz Warine, Eustace the -Monk, Wallace, all outlaws of one kind or another, are celebrated in -romantic tales or poems, largely fabulous, which resemble in a general -way, and sometimes in particulars, the traditional ballads about Robin -Hood;[45] but these outlaws are recognized by contemporary history. - -The chief comrades of Robin Hood are: Robin Hood and the Monk, Little -John, Scathlok (Scarlok, Scarlet), and Much; to these the Gest adds -Gilbert of the White Hand and Reynold, 292 f. A friar is not a member of -his company in the older ballads. A curtal, or cutted friar, called -Friar Tuck in the title, but not in the ballad, has a fight with Robin -Hood in No 123, and is perhaps to be regarded as having accepted Robin’s -invitation to join his company; this, however, is not said. Friar Tuck -is simply named as one of Robin’s troop in two broadsides, No 145, No -147, but plays no part in them. These two broadsides also name Maid -Marian, who appears elsewhere only in a late and entirely insignificant -ballad, No 150.[46] - -Friar Tuck is a character in each of two Robin Hood plays, both of which -we have, unluckily, only in a fragmentary state. One of these plays, -dating as far back as 1475, presents scenes from Robin Hood and Guy of -Gisborn, followed, without any link, by others from some ballad of a -rescue of Robin Hood from the sheriff; to which extracts from still -other ballads may have been annexed. In this play the friar has no -special mark; he simply makes good use of his bow. The other play, -printed by Copland with the Gest, not much before 1550, treats more at -length the story of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, and then that of -Robin Hood and the Potter, again, and naturally, without connection. The -conclusion is wanting, and the play may have embraced still other -ballads. The Friar in this is a loose and jovial fellow, and gave the -hint for Scott’s Clerk of Copmanhurst.[47] - -The second of the Robin Hood plays is described in the title as “very -proper to be played in May-games.” These games were in the sixteenth -century, and, it would seem, before, often a medley of many things. They -were not limited to the first day of May, or even to the month of May; -they might occur in June as well. They were not uniform, and might -include any kind of performance or spectacle which suited the popular -taste. “I find,” says Stow, “that in the moneth of May, the citizens of -London, of all estates, lightlie in every parish, or sometimes two or -three parishes joyning together, had their several Mayinges, and did -fetch in Maypoles, with divers warlike shewes, with good archers, -morrice-dancers, and other devices for pastime all the day long; and -towards the evening they had stage-playes and bonefires in the -streetes.”[48] In the Diary of Henry Machyn we read that on the -twenty-sixth of May, 1555, there was a goodly May-game at St Martins in -the Field, with giant and hobby-horses, morris-dance and other -minstrels; and on the third day of June following, a goodly May-game at -Westminster, with giants and devils, and three morris-dancers, and many -disguised, and the Lord and Lady of the May rode gorgeously, with divers -minstrels playing. On the thirtieth of May, 1557, there was a goodly -May-game in Fenchurch Street, in which the Nine Worthies rode, and they -had speeches, and the morris-dance, and the Sowdan, and the Lord and -Lady of the May, and more besides. And again, on the twenty-fourth of -June, 1559, there was a May-game, with a giant, the Nine Worthies, with -speeches, a goodly pageant with a queen, St George and the Dragon, the -morris-dance, and afterwards Robin Hood and Little John, and Maid Marian -and Friar Tuck, and they had speeches round about London. (Pp 89, 137, -201.)[49] - -In the rural districts the May-game was naturally a much simpler affair. -The accounts of the chamberlains and churchwardens of Kingston upon -Thames for Mayday, 23 Henry VII–28 Henry VIII, 1507–36, contain charges -for the morris, the Lady, Little John, Robin Hood, and Maid Marian; the -accounts for 21 Henry VII–1 Henry VIII relate to expenses for the -Kyngham, and a king and queen are mentioned, presumably king and queen -of May; under 24 Henry VII the “cost of the Kyngham and Robyn Hode are -entered together.”[50] - -“A simple northern man” is made to say in Albion’s England, 1586: - - At Paske began our Morris, and ere Penticost our May; - Tho Robin Hood, Liell John, Frier Tucke and Marian deftly play, - And Lard and Ladie gang till kirk, with lads and lasses gay.[51] - -Tollet’s painted window (which is assigned by Douce to about 1460–70, -and, if rightly dated, furnishes the oldest known representation of a -May-game with the morris) has, besides a fool, a piper and six dancers, -a Maypole, a hobby-horse, a friar, and a lady, and the lady, being -crowned, is to be taken as Queen of May. - -What concerns us is the part borne by Robin Hood, John, and the Friar in -these games, and Robin’s relation to Maid Marian. In Ellis’s edition of -Brand’s Antiquities, I, 214, note h, we are told that Robin Hood is -styled King of May in The Book of the Universal Kirk of Scotland. This -is a mistake, and an important mistake. In April, 1577, the General -Assembly requested the king to “discharge [prohibit] playes of Robin -Hood, King of May, and sick others, on the Sabboth day.” In April, 1578, -the fourth session, the king and council were supplicated to discharge -“all kynd of insolent playis, as King of May, Robin Hood, and sick -others, in the moneth of May, played either be bairnes at the schools, -or others”; and the subject was returned to in the eighth session. We -know from various sources that plays, founded on the ballads, were -sometimes performed in the course of the games. We know that archers -sometimes personated Robin Hood and his men in the May-game.[52] The -relation of Robin Hood, John, and the Friar to the May-game morris is -obscure. “It plainly appears,” says Ritson, “that Robin Hood, Little -John, the Friar, and Maid Marian were fitted out at the same time with -the morris-dancers, and consequently, it would seem, united with them in -one and the same exhibition,” meaning the morris. But he adds, with -entire truth, in a note: “it must be confessed that no other direct -authority has been met with for constituting Robin Hood and Little John -integral characters of the morris-dance.”[53] And further, with less -truth so far as the Friar is concerned: “that Maid Marian and the Friar -were almost constantly such is proved beyond the possibility of a -doubt.” The Friar is found in Tollet’s window, which Douce speaks of, -cautiously, as a representation of an English May-game _and_ -morris-dance. The only “direct authority,” so far as I am aware, for the -Friar’s being a party in the morris-dance (unconnected with the -May-game) is the late authority of Ben Jonson’s Masque of the -Metamorphosed Gipsies, 1621, cited by Tollet in his Memoir; where it is -said that the absence of a Maid Marian and a friar is a surer mark than -the lack of a hobby-horse that a certain company cannot be -morris-dancers.[54] The lady is an essential personage in the -morris.[55] How and when she came to receive the appellation of Maid -Marian in the English morris is unknown. The earliest occurrence of the -name seems to be in Barclay’s fourth Eclogue,[56] “subjoined to the last -edition of The Ship of Foles, but originally printed soon after 1500:” -Ritson, I, lxxxvii, ed. 1832. Warton suggested a derivation from the -French Marion, and the idea is extremely plausible. Robin and Marion -were the subject of innumerable motets and pastourelles of the -thirteenth century, and the hero and heroine of a very pretty and lively -play, more properly comic opera, composed by Adam de la Halle not far -from 1280. We know from a document of 1392 that this play was annually -performed at Angers, at Whitsuntide, and we cannot doubt that it was a -stock-piece in many places, as from its merits it deserved to be. There -are as many proverbs about Robin and Marion as there are about Robin -Hood, and the first verse of the play, derived from an earlier song, is -still (or was fifty years ago) in the mouths of the peasant girls of -Hainault.[57] In the May-game of June, 1559, described by Machyn, after -many other things, they had “Robin Hood and Little John,” and “Maid -Marian and Friar Tuck,” some dramatic scene, pantomime, or pageant, -probably two; but there is nothing of Maid Marian in the two -(fragmentary) Robin Hood plays which are preserved, both of which, so -far as they go, are based on ballads. Anthony Munday, towards the end of -the sixteenth century, made a play, full of his own inventions, in which -Robert, Earl of Huntington, being outlawed, takes refuge in Sherwood, -with his chaste love Matilda, daughter of Lord Fitzwaters, and changes -his name to Robin Hood, hers to Maid Marian.[58] One S. G., a good deal -later, wrote a very bad ballad about the Earl of Huntington and his -lass, the only ballad in which Maid Marian is more than a name. -Neglecting these perversions, Maid Marian is a personage in the May-game -and morris who is not infrequently paired with a friar, and sometimes -with Robin Hood, under what relation, in either case, we cannot -precisely say. Percy had no occasion to speak of her as Robin’s -concubine, and Douce none to call her Robin’s paramour. - -That ballads about Robin Hood were familiar throughout England and -Scotland we know from early testimony. Additional evidence of his -celebrity is afforded by the connection of his name with a variety of -natural objects and archaic remains over a wide extent of country. - -“Cairns on Blackdown in Somersetshire, and barrows near to Whitby in -Yorkshire and Ludlow in Shropshire, are termed Robin Hood’s pricks or -butts; lofty natural eminences in Gloucestershire and Derbyshire are -Robin Hood’s hills; a huge rock near Matlock is Robin Hood’s Tor; an -ancient boundary stone in Lincolnshire is Robin Hood’s cross; a presumed -loggan, or rocking-stone, in Yorkshire is Robin Hood’s penny-stone; a -fountain near Nottingham, another between Doncaster and Wakefield, and -one in Lancashire are Robin Hood’s wells; a cave in Nottinghamshire is -his stable; a rude natural rock in Hope Dale is his chair; a chasm at -Chatsworth is his leap; Blackstone Edge, in Lancashire, is his bed; -ancient oaks, in various parts of the country, are his trees.”[59] All -sorts of traditions are fitted to the localities where they are known. -It would be an exception to ordinary rules if we did not find Robin Hood -trees and Robin Hood wells and Robin Hood hills. But, says Wright, in -his essay on the Robin Hood ballads (p. 208), the connection of Robin -Hood’s name with mounds and stones is perhaps one of the strongest -proofs of his mythic character, as if Robin Hood were conceived of as a -giant. The fact in question is rather a proof that those names were -conferred at a time when the real character of Robin Hood was dimly -remembered. In the oldest ballads Robin Hood is simply a stout yeoman, -one of the best that ever bare bow; in the later ballads he is -repeatedly foiled in contests with shepherds and beggars. Is it -supposable that those who knew of him even at his best estate, could -give him a loggan for a penny-stone? No one has as yet undertaken to -prove that the ballads are later than the names.[60] Mounds and stones -bear his name for the same idle reason that “so many others have that of -King Arthur, King John, and, for want of a better, that of the -devil.”[61] - -Kuhn, starting with the assumption that the mythical character of Robin -Hood is fully established (by traditions posterior to the ballads and -contradictory to their tenor), has sought to show that our courteous -outlaw is in particular one of the manifestations of Woden. The -hobby-horse, which, be it borne in mind, though now and then found in -the May-game or morris-dance, was never intimately associated, perhaps -we may say never at all associated, with Robin Hood, represents, it is -maintained, Woden. The fundamental grounds are these. In a Christmas, -New Year, or Twelfth Day sport at Paget’s Bromley, Staffordshire, the -rider of the hobby-horse held a bow and arrow in his hands, with which -he made a snapping noise. In a modern Christmas festivity in Kent, the -young people would affix the head of a horse to a pole about four feet -in length, and tie a cloth round the head to conceal one of the party, -who, by pulling a string attached to the horse’s lower jaw, produced a -snapping noise as he moved along. This ceremony, according to the -reporter, was called a _hoodening_, and the figure of the horse a -_hooden_, “a wooden horse.”[62] The word hooden, according to Kuhn, we -may unhesitatingly expound as Woden; Hood is a corruption of “Hooden,” -and this Hooden again conducts us to Woden. - - Glosyng is a ful glorious thing certayn. - -The sport referred to is explained in Pegge’s Alphabet of Kenticisms -(collected 1735–36), under the name _hooding_, as a country masquerade -at Christmas time, which in Derbyshire they call guising, and in other -places mumming; and to the same effect in the Rev. W. D. Parish’s -Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect (soon to be published) under -_hoodening_, which word is an obvious corruption, or secondary form, of -hooding. The word hooding, applied to the sport, means just what it does -in the old English hooding-cloth, a curtain; that is, a covering, and so -a disguise by covering. It is true that wooden is pronounced hooden,[63] -or ooden, in Kent, and that the hobby-horse had a wooden head, but it is -quite inconceivable that the sport should receive its name from a -circumstance so subordinate as the material of which the horse was made. -Such an interpretation would hardly be thought of had not hooding in its -proper sense long been obsolete. That this is the case is plain from two -facts: the hooding used to be accompanied with carol-singing, and the -Rev. Mr Parish informs us that carol-singing on Christmas Eve is still -called hoodening at Monckton, in East Kent. The form Hooden, from which -Robin’s name is asserted by Kuhn to be corrupted, is invented for the -occasion. I suppose that no one will think that the hobby-horse-rider’s -carrying a bow and arrows, in the single instance of the Staffordshire -sport, conduces at all to the identifying of Robin Hood with the -hobby-horse. Whether the Hobby-Horse represents Woden is not material -here. It is enough that the Hobby-Horse cannot be shown to represent -Robin Hood.[64] - -I cannot admit that even the shadow of a case has been made out by those -who would attach a mythical character either to Robin Hood or to the -outlaws of Inglewood, Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of -Cloudesly.[65] - -Ballads of other nations, relating to classes of men living in revolt -against authority and society, may be expected to show some kind of -likeness to the English outlaw-ballads, and such resemblances will be -pointed out upon occasion. Spanish broadside ballads dating from the end -of the sixteenth century commemorate the valientes and guapos of cities, -robbers and murderers of the most flaunting and flagitious description: -Duran, Romancero, Nos 1331–36, 1339–43, II, 367 ff.[66] These display -towards corregidores, alcaides, customhouse officers, and all the -ministers of government an hostility corresponding to that of Robin Hood -against the sheriff; they empty the jails and deliver culprits from the -gallows; reminding us very faintly of the Robin Hood broadsides, as of -the rescues in Nos 140, 141, the Progress to Nottingham, No 139, in -which Robin Hood, at the age of fifteen, kills fifteen foresters, or of -Young Gamwell, in No 128, who begins his career by killing his father’s -steward.[67] But Robin Hood and his men, in the most degraded of the -broadsides, are tame innocents and law-abiding citizens beside the -guapos. The Klephts, whose songs are preserved in considerable numbers, -mostly from the last century and the present, have the respectability of -being engaged, at least in part, in a war against the Turks, and the -romance of wild mountaineers. They, like Robin Hood, had a marked -animosity against monks, and they put beys to ransom as he would an -abbot or a sheriff. There are Magyar robber-ballads in great number;[68] -some of these celebrate Shobri (a man of this century), who spares the -poor, relieves beggars, pillages priests (but never burns or kills), and -fears God: Erdélyi’s collection, I, 194–98, Nos 237–39; Arany-Gyulai, -II, 56, No 49; Kertbeny, Ausgewählte Ungarische Volkslieder, pp 246–251, -Nos 136–38; Aigner, pp 198–201. Russian robber-songs are given by -Sakharof, under the title Udaluiya, Skazaniya, 1841, I, iii, 224–32; -Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, pp 44–50. There are a few Sicilian -robber-ballads in Pitré, Canti pop. Siciliani, Nos 913–16, II, 125–37. - -The Gest is a popular epic, composed from several ballads by a poet of a -thoroughly congenial spirit. No one of the ballads from which it was -made up is extant in a separate shape, and some portions of the story -may have been of the compiler’s own invention. The decoying of the -sheriff into the wood, stanzas 181–204, is of the same derivation as the -last part of Robin Hood and the Potter, No 121, Little John and Robin -Hood exchanging parts; the conclusion, 451–56, is of the same source as -Robin Hood’s Death, No 120. Though the tale, as to all important -considerations, is eminently original, absolutely so as to the -conception of Robin Hood, some traits and incidents, as might be -expected, are taken from what we may call the general stock of mediæval -fiction. - -The story is a three-ply web of the adventures of Robin Hood with a -knight, with the sheriff of Nottingham, and with the king (the -concluding stanzas, 451–56, being a mere epilogue), and may be -decomposed accordingly. I. How Robin Hood relieved a knight, who had -fallen into poverty, by lending him money on the security of Our Lady, -the first fit, 1–81; how the knight recovered his lands, which had been -pledged to Saint Mary Abbey, and set forth to repay the loan, the second -fit, 82–143; how Robin Hood, having taken twice the sum lent from a monk -of this abbey, declared that Our Lady had discharged the debt, and would -receive nothing more from the knight, the fourth fit, 205–280. II. How -Little John insidiously took service with Robin Hood’s standing enemy, -the sheriff of Nottingham, and put the sheriff into Robin Hood’s hands, -the third fit, 144–204; how the sheriff, who had sworn an oath to help -and not to harm Robin Hood and his men, treacherously set upon the -outlaws at a shooting-match, and they were fain to take refuge in the -knight’s castle; how, missing of Robin Hood, the sheriff made prisoner -of the knight; and how Robin Hood slew the sheriff and rescued the -knight, the fifth and sixth fit, 281–353. III. How the king, coming in -person to apprehend Robin Hood and the knight, disguised himself as an -abbot, was stopped by Robin Hood, feasted on his own deer, and -entertained with an exhibition of archery, in the course of which he was -recognized by Robin Hood, who asked his grace and received a promise -thereof, on condition that he and his men should enter into the king’s -service; and how the king, for a jest, disguised himself and his company -in the green of the outlaws, and going back to Nottingham caused a -general flight of the people, which he stopped by making himself known; -how he pardoned the knight; and how Robin Hood, after fifteen months in -the king’s court, heart-sick and deserted by all his men but John and -Scathlock, obtained a week’s leave of the king to go on a pilgrimage to -Saint Mary Magdalen of Barnsdale, and would never come back in -two-and-twenty years, the seventh and eighth fit, 354–450. A particular -analysis may be spared, seeing that many of the details will come out -incidentally in what follows. - -Barnsdale, Robin Hood’s haunt in the Gest, 3, 21, 82, 134, 213, 262, -440, 442, is a woodland region in the West Riding of Yorkshire, a little -to the south of Pontefract and somewhat further to the north of -Doncaster. The river Went is its northern boundary. “The traveller -enters upon it [from the south] a little beyond a well-known place -called Robin Hood’s Well [some ten miles north of Doncaster, near -Skelbrook], and he leaves it when he has descended to Wentbridge.” (For -Wentbridge, see No 121, st. 6; the Gest, 135^1.) A little to the west is -Wakefield, and beyond Wakefield, between that town and Halifax, was the -priory of Kyrkesly or Kirklees. The Sayles, 18, was a very small tenancy -of the manor of Pontefract. The great North Road, formerly so called, -and here, 18, denominated Watling Street (as Roman roads often are), -crosses Barnsdale between Doncaster and Ferrybridge.[69] Saint Mary -Abbey, “here besyde,” 54, was at York, and must have been a good twenty -miles from Barnsdale. The knight, 126^4, is said to be “at home in -Verysdale.” Wyresdale (now Over and Nether Wyersdale) was an extensive -tract of wild country, part of the old forest of Lancashire, a few miles -to the southeast of Lancaster. The knight’s son had slain a knight and a -squire of Lancaster, #a#, Lancashire, #b#, #f#, #g#, 53. It is very -likely, therefore, that the knight’s castle, in the original ballad, was -in Lancashire. However this may be, it is put in the Gest, 309 f, on the -way between Nottingham and Robin Hood’s retreat, which must be assumed -to be Barnsdale. From it, again, Barnsdale is easily accessible to the -knight’s wife, 334 f.[70] Wherever it lay or lies, the distance from -Nottingham or from Barnsdale, as also the distance from Nottingham to -Barnsdale (actually some fifty miles), is made nothing of in the -Gest.[71] The sheriff goes a-hunting; John, who is left behind, does not -start from Nottingham till more than an hour after noon, takes the -sheriff’s silver to Barnsdale,[72] runs five miles in the forest, and -finds the sheriff still at his sport: 155 f, 168, 176–82. We must not be -nice. Robin Hood has made a vow to go from London to Barnsdale barefoot. -The distance thither and back would not be much short of three hundred -and fifty miles. King Edward allows him a seven-night, and no longer, -442 f. The compiler of the Gest did not concern himself to adjust these -matters. There was evidently at one time a Barnsdale cycle and a -Sherwood cycle of Robin Hood ballads. The sheriff of Nottingham would -belong to the Sherwood series (to which Robin Hood and the Monk -appertains). He is now a capital character in all the old Robin Hood -ballads. If he was adopted from the Sherwood into the Barnsdale set, -this was done without a rearrangement of the topography. - -5–7. Robin Hood will not dine until he has some guest that can pay -handsomely for his entertainment, 18, 19, 206, 209; dinner, accordingly, -is sometimes delayed a long time, 25, 30, 143, 220; to Little John’s -impatience, 5, 16, 206, 211. This habit of Robin’s seems to be a -humorous imitation of King Arthur, who in numerous romances will not -dine till some adventure presents itself; a custom which, at least on -one occasion, proves vexatious to his court. Cf. I, 257 f.[73] - -8–10. Robin’s general piety and his special devotion to the Virgin are -again to be remarked in No 118. There is a tale of a knight who had a -castle near a public road, and robbed everybody that went by, but said -his Ave every day, and never allowed anything to interfere with his so -doing, in Legenda Aurea, c. 51, Grässe, p. 221; Hagen, Gesammtabenteuer, -III, 563, No 86; Morlini Novellæ, Paris, 1855, p. 269, No 17, etc. - -13–15. Robin’s practice corresponds closely with Gamelyn’s: - - Whil Gamelyn was outlawed hadde he no cors; - There was no man that for him ferde the wors - But abbotes and priours, monk and chanoun; - On hem left he no-thing, whan he mighte hem nom. - - vv 779–82, ed. Skeat. - -Fulk Fitz Warine, nor any of his, during the time of his outlawry would -ever do hurt to any one except the king and his knights: Wright, p. 77 -f. - -45. “Distraint of knighthood,” or the practice of requiring military -tenants who held 20 _l._ per annum to receive knighthood, or pay a -composition, began under Henry III, as early as 1224, and was continued -by Edward I. This was regarded as a very serious oppression under James -I and Charles I, and was abolished in 1642. Stubbs, Constitutional -History, II, 281 f; Hallam, Constitutional History, ed. 1854, I, 338, -note x, II, 9, 99. - -62–66. The knight has no security to offer for a loan “but God that dyed -on a tree,” and such security, or that of the saints, is peremptorily -rejected by Robin; but when the knight says that he can offer no other, -unless it be Our Lady, the Virgin is instantly accepted as entirely -satisfactory. In a well-known miracle of Mary, found in most of the -larger collections, a Christian, who resorts to a Jew to borrow money, -tenders Jesus as security, and the Jew, who regards Jesus as a just man -and a prophet, though not divine, is willing to lend on the terms -proposed. The Christian, not being able, as he says, to produce Jesus -Christ in person, takes the Jew to a church, and, standing before an -image of the Virgin and Child, causes him to take the hand of the Child, -saying, Lord Jesus Christ, whose image I have given as pledge for this -money, and whom I have offered this Jew as my surety, I beg and entreat -that, if I shall by any chance be prevented from returning the money to -this man upon the day fixed, but shall give it to thee, thou wilt return -it to him in such manner and form as may please thee. In the sequel this -miraculous interposition becomes necessary, and the money is punctually -restored, the act of grace being implicitly or distinctly attributed to -Mary rather than her Son; distinctly in an English form of the legend, -where the Christian, especially devoted to the Virgin, offers Saint Mary -for his borrow: Horstmann, Die altenglischen Marienlegenden des MS. -Vernon, in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, LVI, 232, No -6.[74] - -107. The abbot had retained the chief justice “by robe and fee,” to -counsel and aid him in the spoliation of the knight, 93. Taking and -giving of robes and fees for such purposes is defined as conspiracy in a -statute of Edward I, 1305–06; and by another statute, 20 Edward III, c. -vi, 1346, justices are required to swear that they will take robes and -fees from no man but the king: et que vos ne prendrez fee, tant come vos -serez justicz, ne robes, de nul homme, graunt ne petit, sinoun du roi -meismes. Statutes of the Realm, I, 145, 305: cited by J. Lewelyn Curtis, -in Notes and Queries, S. I, VI, 479 f. All the English judges, including -the chief justice, were convicted of bribery and were removed, under -Edward I, 1289. - -121. The knight would have given something for the use of the four -hundred pound had the abbot been civil, though under no obligation to -pay interest. In 270 the knight proffers Robin twenty mark (3⅓ per cent) -for his courtesy, which seemingly small sum was to be accompanied with -the valuable gift of a hundred bows and a hundred sheaf of -peacock-feathered, silver-nocked arrows. But though the abbot had not -lent for usury, still less had he lent for charity. The knight’s lands -were to be forfeited if the loan should not be punctually returned, 86 -f, 94, 106; and of this the knight was entirely aware, 85. “As for -mortgaging or pawning,” says Bacon, Of Usury, “either men will not take -pawns without use, or, if they do, they will look precisely for the -forfeiture. I remember a cruel moneyed man in the country that would -say, The devil take this usury; it keeps us from forfeitures of -mortgages and bonds.” But troubles, legal or other, might ensue upon -this hard-dealing unless the knight would give a quittance, 117 f. - -135–37. A ram was the prize for an ordinary wrestling-match; but this is -an occasion which brings together all the best yeomen of the West -Country, and the victor is to have a bull, a horse saddled and bridled, -a pair of gloves, a ring, and a pipe of wine. In Gamelyn “there was set -up a ram and a ring,” v. 172. - -181–204. The sheriff is decoyed into the wood by Robin Hood in No 121, -56–69, No 122, #A#, 18–25, #B#, 20–27, as here by Little John. Fulk Fitz -Warine gets his enemy, King John, into his power by a like stratagem. -Fulk, disguised as a collier, is asked by King John if he has seen a -stag or doe pass. He has seen a horned beast; it had long horns. He -offers to take the king to the place where he saw it, and begs the king -to wait while he goes into the thicket to drive the beast that way. -Fulk’s men are in the forest: he tells them that he has brought the king -with only three knights; they rush out and seize the king. Fulk says he -will have John’s life, but the king promises to restore Fulk’s heritage -and all that had been taken from him and his men, and to be his friend -forever after. A pledge of faith is exacted and given, and very happy is -the king so to escape. But the king keeps the forced oath no better than -the sheriff. Wright, p. 145 ff. There is a passage which has the same -source, though differing in details, in Eustace the Monk, Michel, pp. -36–39, vv 995–1070. The story is incomparably better here than -elsewhere. - -213–33. The black monks are Benedictines. There are two according to 213 -f, 218, 225^4, but the high cellarer only (who in 91–93 is exultant over -the knight’s forfeiture) is of consequence, and the other is made no -account of. Seven score of wight young men, 229^3, is the right number -for a band of outlaws; so Gamelyn, v. 628. The sheriff has his seven -score in Guy of Gisborn, 13. - -243–47. “What is in your coffers?” So Eustace the monk to the merchant, -v. 938, p. 34, Michel: “Di-moi combien tu as d’argent.” The merchant -tells the exact truth, and Eustace, having verified the answer by -counting, returns all the money, saying, If you had lied in the least, -you would not have carried off a penny. When Eustace asks the same -question of the abbot, v. 1765, p. 64, the abbot answers, after the -fashion of our cellarer, Four silver marks. Eustace finds thirty marks, -and returns to the abbot the four which he had confessed. - -213–272. Nothing was ever more felicitously told, even in the best _dit_ -or _fabliau_, than the “process” of Our Lady’s repaying the money which -had been lent on her security. Robin’s slyly significant welcome to the -monk upon learning that he is of Saint Mary Abbey, his professed anxiety -that Our Lady is wroth with him because she has not sent him his pay, -John’s comfortable suggestion that perhaps the monk has brought it, -Robin’s incidental explanation of the little business in which the -Virgin was a party, and request to see the silver in case the monk has -come upon her affair, are beautiful touches of humor, and so delicate -that it is all but brutal to point them out. The story, however, is an -old one, and was known, perhaps, wherever monks were known. A complete -parallel is afforded by Pauli’s Schimpf und Ernst, No 59 (c. 1515). A -nobleman took a burgess’s son prisoner in war, carried him home to his -castle, and shut him up in a tower. After lying there a considerable -time, the prisoner asked and obtained an interview with his captor, and -said: Dear lord, I am doing no good here to you or myself, since my -friends will not send my ransom. If you would let me go home, I would -come back in eight weeks and bring you the money. Whom will you give for -surety? asked the nobleman. I have no one to offer, replied the -prisoner, but the Lord God, and will swear you an oath by him to keep my -word. The nobleman was satisfied, made his captive swear the oath, and -let him go. The hero sold all that he owned, and raised the money, but -was three weeks longer in so doing than the time agreed upon. The -nobleman, one day, when he was riding out with a couple of servants, -fell in with an abbot or friar who had two fine horses and a man. See -here, my good fellows, said the young lord; that monk is travelling with -two horses, as fine as any knight, when he ought to be riding on an ass. -Look out now, we will play him a turn. So saying, he rode up to the -monk, seized the bridle of his horse, and asked, Sir, who are you? Who -is your lord? The monk answered, I am a servant of God, and he is my -lord. You come in good time, said the nobleman. I had a prisoner, and -set him free upon his leaving your lord with me as a surety. But I can -get nothing from this lord of yours; he is above my power; so I will lay -hands on his servant; and accordingly made the monk go with him afoot to -the castle, where he took from him all that he had. Shortly after, his -prisoner appeared, fell at his feet, and wished to pay the ransom, -begging that he would not be angry, for the money could not be got -sooner. But the nobleman said, Stand up, my good man. Keep your money, -and go whither you will, for your surety has paid your ransom. Ed. -Oesterley, p. 49. The gist of the story is in Jacques de Vitry, Sermones -Vulgares, fol. 62, MS. 17,509, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Scala Celi -(1480), 159 b, “De Restitucione,” and elsewhere: see Oesterly’s note, p. -480. A very amusing variety is the _fabliau_ Du povre Mercier, Barbazan -et Méon, III, 17; Montaiglon et Raynaud, II, 114; Legrand, III, 93, ed. -1829.[75] - -293^3. Reynolde. Possibly Little John borrows this Reynolde’s name in -149, but there is no apparent reason why he should. In the following -very strange, and to me utterly unintelligible, piece in Ravenscroft’s -Deuteromelia, which may have been meant to have only enough sense to -sing, Renold, a miller’s son, mickle of might (was he rechristened -Much?), becomes one of Robin Hood’s men. (Deuteromelia, p. 4: London, -for Tho. Adams, 1609.) - - - 1 - By Lands-dale hey ho, - By mery Lands-dale hey ho, - There dwelt a jolly miller, - And a very good old man was he, hey ho. - - 2 - He had, he had and a sonne a, - Men called him Renold, - And mickle of his might - Was he, was he, hey ho. - - 3 - And from his father a wode a, - His fortune for to seeke, - From mery Lands-dale - Wode he, wode he, hey ho. - - 4 - His father would him seeke a, - And found him fast a sleepe; - Among the leaves greene - Was he, was he, hey ho. - - 5 - He tooke, he tooke him up a, - All by the lilly-white hand, - And set him on his feet, - And bad him stand, hey ho. - - 6 - He gave to him a benbow, - Made all of a trusty tree, - And arrowës in his hand, - And bad him let them flee. - - 7 - And shoote was that that a did a, - Some say he shot a mile, - But halfe a mile and more - Was it, was it, hey ho. - - 8 - And at the halfe miles end, - There stood an armed man; - The childe he shot him through, - And through and through, hey ho.[76] - - 9 - His beard was all on a white a, - As white as whale is bone, - His eyes they were as cleare - As christall stone, hey ho. - - 10 - And there of him they made - Good yeoman, Robin Rood, - Scarlet, and Little John, - And Little John, hey ho. - -302–05. The Klepht Giphtakis, wounded in knee and hand, exclaims: Where -are you, my brother, my friend? Come back and take me off, or take off -my head, lest the Turk should do so, and carry it to that dog of an Ali -Pacha. (1790. Fauriel, I, 20; Zambelios, p. 621, No 32; Passow, p. 52, -No 61.) - -357–59. The king traverses the whole length of Lancashire and proceeds -to Plumpton Park, missing many of his deer. Camden, Britannia, II, 175, -ed. 1772, places Plumpton Park on the bank of the Petterel, in -Cumberland, east of Inglewood. (Hunter, p. 30, citing no authority, says -it was part of the forest of Knaresborough, in Yorkshire.) Since this -survey makes the king wroth with Robin Hood, we must give a -corresponding extent to Robin’s operations. And we remember that Wyntoun -says that he exercised his profession in Inglewood and Barnsdale. - -371 ff. The story of the seventh fit has a general similitude to the -extensive class of tales, mostly jocular, represented by ‘The King and -the Miller;’ as to which, see further on. - -403–09. The sport of “pluck-buffet” (424^3) is a feature in the romance -of Richard Cœur de Lion, 762–98, Weber, II, 33 f. Richard is betrayed to -the king of Almayne by a minstrel to whom he had given a cold reception, -and is put in prison. The king’s son, held the strongest man of the -land, visits the prisoner, and proposes to him an exchange of this sort. -The prince gives Richard a clout which makes fire spring from his eyes, -and goes off laughing, ordering Richard to be well fed, so that he may -have no excuse for returning a feeble blow when he takes his turn. The -next day, when the prince comes for his payment, Richard, who has waxed -his hand by way of preparation, delivers a blow which breaks the young -champion’s cheek-bone and fells him dead. There is another instance in -‘The Turke and Gowin,’ Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, I, 91 ff. - -414–450. Robin Hood is pardoned by King Edward on condition of his -leaving the greenwood with all his company, and taking service at court. -In the course of a twelvemonth,[77] keeping up his old profusion, Robin -has spent not only all his own money, but all his men’s, in treating -knights and squires, and at the end of the year all his band have -deserted him save John and Scathlock. About this time, chancing to see -young men shooting, the recollection of his life in the woods comes over -him so powerfully that he feels that he shall die if he stays longer -with the king. He therefore affects to have made a vow to go to -Barnsdale “barefoot and woolward.” Upon this plea he obtains from the -king leave of absence for a week, and, once more in the forest, never -reports for duty in two and twenty years. - -Hunter, who could have identified Pigrogromitus and Quinapalus, if he -had given his mind to it, sees in this passage, and in what precedes it -of King Edward’s trip to Nottingham, a plausible semblance of historical -reality.[78] Edward II, as may be shown from Rymer’s Fœdera, made a -progress in the counties of York, Lancaster, and Nottingham, in the -latter part of the year 1323. He was in Yorkshire in August and -September, in Lancashire in October, at Nottingham November 9–23, -spending altogether five or six weeks in that neighborhood, and leaving -it a little before Christmas. “Now it will scarcely be believed, but it -is, nevertheless, the plain and simple truth, that in documents -preserved in the Exchequer, containing accounts of expenses in the -king’s household, we find the name of Robyn Hode, not once, but several -times occurring, receiving, with about eight and twenty others, the pay -of 3_d._ a day, as one of the ‘vadlets, porteurs de la chambre’ of the -king;” these entries running from March 24, 1324, to November 22 of the -same year. There are entries of payments to vadlets during the year -preceding, but unluckily the accountant has put down the sums in gross, -without specifying the names of persons who received regular wages. -This, as Hunter remarks, does not quite prove that Robyn Hode had not -been among these persons before Christmas, 1323, but, on the other hand, -account-book evidence is lacking to show that he had been. Hunter’s -interpretation of the data is that Robyn Hode entered the king’s service -at Nottingham a little before Christmas, 1323. If this was so, his -career as porter was not only brief, but pitiably checkered. His pay is -docked for five days’ absence in May, again for eight days in August, -then for fifteen days in October. “He was growing weary of his new mode -of life.” Seven days, once more, are deducted in November, and under the -22d of that month we find this entry: Robyn Hode, jadys un des porteurs, -poar cas qil ne poait pluis travailler de donn par comandement, v. s. -After this his name no longer appears. - -A simple way of reading the Exchequer documents is that one Robert Hood, -some time (and, for aught we know, a long time) porter in the king’s -household, after repeatedly losing time, was finally discharged, with a -present of five shillings, because he could not do his work. To detect -“a remarkable coincidence between the ballad and the record” requires -not only a theoretical prepossession, but an uncommon insensibility to -the ludicrous.[79] But taking things with entire seriousness, there is -no correspondence between the ballad and the record other than this: -that Robin Hood, who is in the king’s service, leaves it; in the one -instance deserting, and in the other being displaced. Hunter himself -does not, as in the case of Adam Bell, insist that the name Robin Hood -is “peculiar.” He cites, p. 10, a Robert Hood, citizen of London, who -supplied the king’s household with beer, 28 Edward I, and a Robert Hood -of Wakefield, twice mentioned, 9, 10 Edward II.[80] Another Robert Hood -at Throckelawe, Northumbria, is thrice mentioned in the Exchequer Rolls, -Edward I, 19, 20, 30: Rot. Orig. in Cur. Scac. Abbrev., I, 69, 73, 124. -A Robert Hood is manucaptor for a burgess returned from Lostwithiel, -Cornwall, 7 Edward II, Parliamentary Writs, II, 1019, and another, of -Howden, York, 10 Edward III, is noted in the Calendar of Patent Rolls, -p. 125, No 31, cited by Ritson. In all these we have six Robin Hoods -between 30 Edward I and 10 Edward III, a period of less than forty -years. - -433, 435–50 are translated by A. Grün, p. 166. - - * * * * * - - #a.# 1 - Lythe and listin, ge_n_tilmen, - Th_a_t be of frebore blode; - I shall you tel of a gode yema_n_, - His name was Roby_n_ Hode. - - 2 - Roby_n_ was a p_r_ude outlaw, - [Whyles he walked on grounde; - So curteyse an outlawe] as he was one - Was never non fou_n_de. - - 3 - Roby_n_ stode i_n_ Bernesdale, - And lenyd hy_m_ to a tre; - And bi hy_m_ stode Litell John_n_, - A gode yeman was he. - - 4 - And alsoo dyd gode Scarlok, - And Much, the miller’s so_n_; - There was none ynch of his bodi - But it was worth a grome. - - 5 - Than bespake Lytell John_n_ - All vntoo Robyn Hode: - Maister, and ye wolde dyne betyme - It wolde doo you moche gode. - - 6 - Tha_n_ bespake hy_m_ gode Robyn: - To dyne haue I noo lust, - Till that I haue so_m_ bolde baro_n_, - Or som vnkouth gest. - - 7 - . . . . . . . - That may pay for the best, - Or som knyght or [som] squyer, - That dwelleth here bi west. - - 8 - A gode maner tha_n_ had Robyn; - In londe where th_a_t he were, - Euery day or he wold dyne - Thre messis wolde he here. - - 9 - The one i_n_ the worship of the Fad_er_, - And another of the Holy Gost, - The thirde of Our derë Lady, - That he loued allther moste. - - 10 - Roby_n_ loued Oure derë Lady; - For dout of dydly synne, - Wolde he neuer do co_m_pani harme - Th_a_t any woma_n_ was i_n_. - - 11 - ‘Maistar,’ tha_n_ sayde Lytil John_n_, - ‘And we our borde shal sprede, - Tell vs wheder th_a_t we shal go, - And what life th_a_t we shall lede. - - 12 - ‘Where we shall take, where we shall leue, - Where we shall abide behy_n_de; - Where we shall robbe, where we shal reue, - Where we shal bete and bynde.’ - - 13 - ‘Therof no force,’ than sayde Robyn; - ‘We shall do well inowe; - But loke ye do no husbonde harme, - That tilleth with his ploughe. - - 14 - ‘No more ye shall no gode yeman - That walketh by grenë-wode shawe; - Ne no knyght ne no squyer - Th_a_t wol be a gode felawe. - - 15 - ‘These bisshopp_es_ and these archebishopp_es_, - Ye shall them bete and bynde; - The hyë sherif of Notyingham, - Hym holde ye in your mynde.’ - - 16 - ‘This worde shalbe holde,’ sayde Lytell John_n_, - ‘And this lesson we shall lere; - It is fer dayes; God sende vs a gest, - That we were at oure dynere!’ - - 17 - ‘Take thy gode bowe in thy ho_n_de,’ sayde Rob[yn]; - ‘Late Much we_n_de w_i_t_h_ the; - And so shal Willya_m_ Scarlo[k], - And no man abyde with me. - - 18 - ‘And walke vp to the Saylis, - And so to Watli_n_ge Stret[e], - And wayte after some vnkuth gest, - Vp chaunce ye may the_m_ mete. - - 19 - ‘Be he erle, or ani baro_n_, - Abbot, or ani knyght, - Bringhe hym to lodge to me; - His dyner shall be dight.’ - - 20 - They wente vp to the Saylis, - These yeman all thre; - They loked est, they loke[d] weest; - They myght no man see. - - 21 - But as they loked i_n_ to Bernysdale, - Bi a dernë strete, - Than came a knyght ridinghe; - Full sone they gan hym mete. - - 22 - All dreri was his semblaunce, - And lytell was his pryde; - His one fote in the styrop stode, - That othere wauyd beside. - - 23 - His hode hanged in his iyn two; - He rode in symple aray; - A soriar man than he was one - Rode neuer in somer day. - - 24 - Litell John_n_ was full curteyes, - And sette hym on his kne: - ‘Welcom be ye, gentyll knyght, - Welcom ar ye to me. - - 25 - ‘Welcom be thou to grenë wode, - Hendë knyght and fre; - My maister hath abide_n_ you fastinge, - Syr, al these ourës thre.’ - - 26 - ‘Who is thy maister?’ sayde the knyght; - John_n_ sayde, Robyn Hode; - ‘He is [a] gode yoman,’ sayde the knyght, - ‘Of hym I haue herde moche gode. - - 27 - ‘I graunte,’ he sayde, ‘with you to wende, - My bretherne, all in fere; - My purpos was to haue dyned to day - At Blith or Dancastere.’ - - 28 - Furth than went this gentyl knight, - With a carefull chere; - The teris oute of his iyen ran, - And fell downe by his lere. - - 29 - They brought hym to the lodgë-dore; - Whan Robyn hym gan see, - Full curtesly dyd of his hode - And sette hym on his knee. - - 30 - ‘Welcome, sir knight,’ than sayde Robyn, - ‘Welcome art thou to me; - I haue abyden you fastinge, sir, - All these ouris thre.’ - - 31 - Than answered the gentyll knight, - With wordës fayre and fre; - God the saue, goode Robyn, - And all thy fayre meynë. - - 32 - They wasshed togeder and wyped bothe, - And sette to theyr dynere; - Brede and wyne they had right ynoughe, - And noumbles of the dere. - - 33 - Swannes and fessauntes they had full gode, - And foules of the ryuere; - There fayled none so litell a birde - That euer was bred on bryre. - - 34 - ‘Do gladly, sir knight,’ sayde Robyn; - ‘Gramarcy, sir,’ sayde he; - ‘Suche a dinere had I nat - Of all these wekys thre. - - 35 - ‘If I come ageyne, Robyn, - Here by thys contrë, - As gode a dyner I shall the make - As that thou haest made to me.’ - - 36 - ‘Gramarcy, knyght,’ sayde Robyn; - ‘My dyner whan that I it haue, - I was neuer so gredy, bi dere worthy God, - My dyner for to craue. - - 37 - ‘But pay or ye wende,’ sayde Robyn; - ‘Me thynketh it is gode ryght; - It was neuer the maner, by dere worthi God, - A yoman to pay for a knyhht.’ - - 38 - ‘I haue nought i_n_ my coffers,’ saide the knyght, - ‘That I may prefer for shame:’ - ‘Litell John_n_, go loke,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘Ne let nat for no blame. - - 39 - ‘Tel me truth,’ than saide Robyn, - ‘So God haue parte of the:’ - ‘I haue no more but ten shelynges,’ sayde the knyght, - ‘So God haue parte of me.’ - - 40 - If thou hast no more,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘I woll nat one peny; - And yf thou haue nede of any more, - More shall I lend the. - - 41 - ‘Go nowe furth, Littell John_n_, - The truth tell thou me; - If there be no more but ten shelinges, - No peny that I se.’ - - 42 - Lyttell John_n_ sprede downe hys mantell - Full fayre vpon the grounde, - And there he fonde in the knyghtës cofer - But euen halfe [a] pounde. - - 43 - Littell John_n_ let it lye full styll, - And went to hys maysteer [full] lowe; - ‘What tidyngës, John_n_?’ sayde Robyn; - ‘Sir, the knyght is true inowe.’ - - 44 - ‘Fyll of the best wine,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘The knyght shall begynne; - Moche wo_n_der thi_n_keth me - Thy clot[h]ynge is so thin[n]e. - - 45 - ‘Tell me [one] worde,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘And counsel shal it be; - I trowe thou warte made a knyght of force, - Or ellys of yemanry. - - 46 - ‘Or ellys thou hast bene a sori husbande, - And lyued in stroke and stryfe; - An okerer, or ellis a lechoure,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘Wyth wronge hast led thy lyfe.’ - - 47 - ‘I am none of those,’ sayde the knyght, - ‘By God that madë me; - An hundred wy_n_ter here before - Myn auncetres knyghtes haue be. - - 48 - ‘But oft it hath befal, Robyn, - A man hath be disgrate; - But God that sitteth in heuen aboue - May amende his state. - - 49 - ‘Withyn this two yere, Robyne,’ he sayde, - ‘My neghbours well it knowe, - Foure hundred pounde of gode money - Ful well than myght I spende. - - 50 - ‘Nowe haue I no gode,’ saide the knyght, - ‘God hath shaped such an ende, - But my chyldren and my wyfe, - Tyll God yt may amende.’ - - 51 - ‘In what maner,’ than sayde Robyn, - ‘Hast thou lorne thy rychesse? ’ - ‘For my greatë foly,’ he sayde, - ‘And for my kynd[ë]nesse. - - 52 - ‘I hade a sone, forsoth, Robyn, - That shulde hau[e] ben myn ayre, - Whanne he was twenty wynter olde, - In felde wolde iust full fayre. - - 53 - ‘He slewe a knyght of Lancaster, - And a squyer bolde; - For to saue hym in his ryght - My godes both sette and solde. - - 54 - ‘My londes both sette to wedde, Robyn, - Vntyll a certayn day, - To a ryche abbot here besyde - Of Seynt Mari Abbey.’ - - 55 - ‘What is the som?’ sayde Robyn; - ‘Trouth than tell thou me;’ - ‘Sir,’ he sayde, ‘foure hundred pounde; - The abbot told it to me.’ - - 56 - ‘Nowe and thou lese thy lond,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘What woll fall of the?’ - ‘Hastely I wol me buske,’ sayd the knyght, - ‘Ouer the saltë see, - - 57 - ‘And se w[h]ere Criste was quyke and dede, - On the mount of Caluerë; - Fare wel, frende, and haue gode day; - It may no better be.’ - - 58 - Teris fell out of hys iyen two; - He wolde haue gone hys way: - ‘Farewel, frende, and haue gode day; - I ne haue no more to pay.’ - - 59 - ‘Where be thy frendës?’ sayde Robyn: - ‘Syr, neuer one wol me knowe; - While I was ryche ynowe at home - Great boste than wolde they blowe. - - 60 - ‘And nowe they renne away fro me, - As bestis on a rowe; - They take no more hede of me - Thanne they had me neuer sawe.’ - - 61 - For ruthe thanne wept Litell John_n_, - Scarlok and Muche in fere; - ‘Fyl of the best wyne,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘For here is a symple chere. - - 62 - ‘Hast thou any frende,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘Thy borowe that woldë be? ’ - ‘I haue none,’ than sayde the knyght, - ‘But God that dyed on tree.’ - - 63 - ‘Do away thy iapis,’ than sayde Robyn, - ‘Thereof wol I right none; - Wenest thou I wolde haue God to borowe, - Peter, Poule, or John_n_? - - 64 - ‘Nay, by hym that me made, - And shope both sonne and mone, - Fynde me a better borowe,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘Or money getest thou none.’ - - 65 - ‘I haue none other,’ sayde the knyght, - ‘The sothe for to say, - But yf yt be Our derë Lady; - She fayled me neuer or thys day.’ - - 66 - ‘By dere worthy God,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘To seche all Englonde thorowe, - Yet fonde I neuer to my pay - A moche better borowe. - - 67 - ‘Come nowe furth, Litell John_n_, - And go to my tresourë, - And bringe me foure hundered pound, - And loke well tolde it be.’ - - 68 - Furth tha_n_ went Litell John_n_, - And Scarlok went before; - He tolde oute foure hundred pounde - By eight and twenty score. - - 69 - ‘Is thys well tolde?’ sayde [litell] Much; - John_n_ sayde, ‘What gre[ue]th the? - It is almus to helpe a gentyll knyght, - That is fal in pouertë. - - 70 - ‘Master,’ than sayde Lityll John, - ‘His clothinge is full thynne; - Ye must gyue the knight a lyueray, - To lappe his body therin. - - 71 - ‘For ye haue scarlet and grene, mayster, - And man[y] a riche aray; - Ther is no marchau_n_t in mery Englond - So ryche, I dare well say.’ - - 72 - ‘Take hym thre yerdes of euery colour, - And loke well mete that it be;’ - Lytell John_n_ toke none other mesure - But his bowë-tree. - - 73 - And at euery handfull that he met - He lepëd footës three; - ‘What deuyllës drapar,’ sayid litell Muche, - ‘Thynkest thou for to be?’ - - 74 - Scarlok stode full stil and loughe, - And sayd, By God Almyght, - John_n_ may gyue hym gode mesure, - For it costeth hym but lyght. - - 75 - ‘Mayster,’ than said Litell John_n_ - To gentill Robyn Hode, - ‘Ye must giue the knig[h]t a hors, - To lede home this gode.’ - - 76 - ‘Take hy_m_ a gray coursar,’ sayde Roby_n_, - ‘And a saydle newe; - He is Oure Ladye’s messangere; - God graunt that he be true.’ - - 77 - ‘And a gode palfray,’ sayde lytell Much, - ‘To mayntene hym in his right;’ - ‘And a peyre of botës,’ sayde Scarlock, - ‘For he is a gentyll knight.’ - - 78 - ‘What shalt thou gyue hy_m_, Litell John?’ said Roby_n_; - ‘Sir, a peyre of gilt sporis clene, - To pray for all this co_m_pany; - God bri_n_ge hy_m_ oute of tene.’ - - 79 - ‘Wha_n_ shal mi day be,’ said the knight, - ‘Sir, and your wyll be?’ - ‘This day twelue moneth,’ saide Robyn, - ‘Vnder this grenë-wode tre. - - 80 - ‘It were greate shamë,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘A knight alone to ryde, - Withoutë squyre, yoman, or page, - To walkë by his syde. - - 81 - ‘I shall the lende Litell John, my man, - For he shalbe thy knaue; - In a yema[n]’s stede he may the stande, - If thou greate nedë haue.’ - - - THE SECONDE FYTTE. - - 82 - Now is the knight gone on his way; - This game hym thought full gode; - Wha_n_ne he loked on Bernesdale - He blessyd Roby_n_ Hode. - - 83 - And wha_n_ne he thought on Bernysdale, - On Scarlok, Much, and John_n_, - He blyssyd them for the best company - #b.# - That euer he in come. - - 84 - Then spake that gentyll knyght, - To Lytel Johan gan he saye, - To-morrowe I must to Yorke toune, - To Saynt Mary abbay. - - 85 - And to the abbot of that place - Foure hondred pounde I must pay; - And but I be there vpon this nyght - My londe is lost for ay. - - 86 - The abbot sayd to his couent, - There he stode on grounde, - This day twelfe moneth came there a knyght - And borowed foure hondred pounde. - - 87 - [He borowed foure hondred pounde,] - Upon all his londë fre; - But he come this ylkë day - Dysheryte shall he be. - - 88 - ‘It is full erely,’ sayd the pryoure, - ‘The day is not yet ferre gone; - I had leuer to pay an hondred pounde, - And lay downe anone. - - 89 - ‘The knyght is ferre beyonde the see, - In Englonde is his ryght, - And suffreth honger and colde, - And many a sory nyght. - - 90 - ‘It were grete pytë,’ said the pryoure, - ‘So to haue his londe; - And ye be so lyght of your consyence, - Ye do to hym moch wronge.’ - - 91 - ‘Thou arte euer in my berde,’ sayd the abbot, - ‘By God and Saynt Rycharde;’ - With that cam in a fat-heded monke, - The heygh selerer. - - 92 - ‘He is dede or hanged,’ sayd the monke, - ‘By God that bought me dere, - And we shall haue to spende in this place - Foure hondred pounde by yere.’ - - 93 - The abbot and the hy selerer - Stertë forthe full bolde, - The [hye] iustyce of Englonde - The abbot there dyde holde. - - 94 - The hyë iustyce and many mo - Had take in to they[r] honde - Holy all the knyghtës det, - To put that knyght to wronge. - - 95 - They demed the knyght wonder sore, - The abbot and his meynë: - ‘But he come this ylkë day - Dysheryte shall he be.’ - - 96 - ‘He wyll not come yet,’ sayd the iustyce, - ‘I dare well vndertake;’ - But in sorowe tymë for them all - The knyght came to the gate. - - 97 - Than bespake that gentyll knyght - Untyll his meynë: - Now put on your symple wedes - That ye brought fro the see. - - 98 - [They put on their symple wedes,] - They came to the gates anone; - The porter was redy hymselfe, - And welcomed them euerychone. - - 99 - ‘Welcome, syr knyght,’ sayd the porter; - ‘My lorde to mete is he, - And so is many a gentyll man, - For the loue of the.’ - - 100 - The porter swore a full grete othe, - ‘By God that madë me, - Here be the best coresed hors - That euer yet sawe I me. - - 101 - ‘Lede them in to the stable,’ he sayd, - ‘That eased myght they be;’ - ‘They shall not come therin,’ sayd the knyght, - ‘By God that dyed on a tre.’ - - 102 - Lordës were to mete isette - In that abbotes hall; - The knyght went forth and kneled downe, - And salued them grete and small. - - 103 - ‘Do gladly, syr abbot,’ sayd the knyght, - ‘I am come to holde my day:’ - The fyrst word the abbot spake, - ‘Hast thou brought my pay?’ - - 104 - ‘Not one peny,’ sayd the knyght, - ‘By God that maked me;’ - ‘Thou art a shrewed dettour,’ sayd the abbot; - ‘Syr iustyce, drynke to me. - - 105 - ‘What doost thou here,’ sayd the abbot, - ‘But thou haddest brought thy pay?’ - ‘For God,’ than sayd the knyght, - ‘To pray of a lenger daye.’ - - 106 - ‘Thy daye is broke,’ sayd the iustyce, - ‘Londe getest thou none:’ - ‘Now, good syr iustyce, be my frende, - And fende me of my fone!’ - - 107 - ‘I am holde with the abbot,’ sayd the iustyce, - ‘Both with cloth and fee:’ - ‘Now, good syr sheryf, be my frende!’ - ‘Nay, for God,’ sayd he. - - 108 - ‘Now, good syr abbot, be my frende, - For thy curteysë, - And holde my londës in thy honde - Tyll I haue made the gree! - - 109 - ‘And I wyll be thy true seruaunte, - And trewely seruë the, - Tyl ye haue foure hondred pounde - Of money good and free.’ - - 110 - The abbot sware a full grete othe, - ‘By God that dyed on a tree, - Get the londe where thou may, - For thou getest none of me.’ - - 111 - ‘By dere worthy God,’ then sayd the knyght, - ‘That all this worldë wrought, - But I haue my londe agayne, - Full dere it shall be bought. - - 112 - ‘God, that was of a mayden borne, - Leue vs well to spede! - For it is good to assay a frende - Or that a man haue nede.’ - - 113 - The abbot lothely on hym gan loke, - And vylaynesly hym gan call; - ‘Out,’ he sayd, ‘thou falsë knyght, - Spede the out of my hall!’ - - 114 - ‘Thou lyest,’ then sayd the gentyll knyght, - ‘Abbot, in thy hal; - False knyght was I neuer, - By God that made vs all.’ - - 115 - Vp then stode that gentyll knyght, - To the abbot sayd he, - To suffre a knyght to knele so longe, - Thou canst no curteysye. - - 116 - In ioustës and in tournement - Full ferre than haue I be, - And put my selfe as ferre in prees - As ony that euer I se. - - 117 - ‘What wyll ye gyue more,’ sayd the iustice, - ‘And the knyght shall make a releyse? - And elles dare I safly swere - Ye holde neuer your londe in pees.’ - - 118 - ‘An hondred pounde,’ sayd the abbot; - The justice sayd, Gyue hym two; - ‘Nay, be God,’ sayd the knyght, - #a.# - ‘Yit gete ye it not so. - - 119 - ‘Though ye wolde gyue a thousand more, - Yet were ye neuer the nere; - Shall there neuer be myn heyre - Abbot, iustice, ne frere.’ - - 120 - He stert hy_m_ to a borde anone, - Tyll a table rounde, - And there he shoke oute of a bagge - Eue_n_ four hundred pou_n_d. - - 121 - ‘Haue here thi golde, sir abbot,’ saide the knight, - ‘Which th_a_t thou le_n_test me; - Had thou ben curtes at my comynge, - Rewarded shuldest thou haue be.’ - - 122 - The abbot sat styll, and ete no more, - For all his ryall fare; - He cast his hede on his shulder, - And fast began to stare. - - 123 - ‘Take me my golde agayne,’ saide the abbot, - ‘Sir iustice, th_a_t I toke the:’ - ‘Not a peni,’ said the iustice, - ‘Bi Go[d, that dy]ed on tree.’ - - 124 - ‘Sir [abbot, and ye me]n of lawe, - #b.# - Now haue I holde my daye; - Now shall I haue my londe agayne, - For ought that you can saye.’ - - 125 - The knyght stert out of the dore, - Awaye was all his care, - And on he put his good clothynge, - The other he lefte there. - - 126 - He wente hym forth full mery syngynge, - As men haue tolde in tale; - His lady met hym at the gate, - At home in Verysdale. - - 127 - ‘Welcome, my lorde,’ sayd his lady; - ‘Syr, lost is all your good?’ - ‘Be mery, dame,’ sayd the knyght, - #a.# - ‘And pray for Robyn Hode, - - 128 - ‘That euer his soulë be in blysse: - He holpe me out of tene; - Ne had be his kyndënesse, - Beggers had we bene. - - 129 - ‘The abbot and I accorded ben, - He is s_er_ued of his pay; - The god yoma_n_ le_n_t it me, - As I cam by the way.’ - - 130 - This knight than dwelled fayre at home, - The sothe for to saye, - Tyll he had gete four hundred pound, - Al redy for to pay. - - 131 - He purueyed hi_m_ an hundred bowes, - The stryngës well ydyght, - An hundred shefe of arowës gode, - The hedys burneshed full bryght; - - 132 - And euery arowe an ellë longe, - With pecok wel idyght, - Inocked all w_i_t_h_ whyte siluer; - It was a semely syght. - - 133 - He purueyed hym an [hondreth men], - Well harness[ed in that stede], - #b.# - And hym selfe in that same sete, - And clothed in whyte and rede. - - 134 - He bare a launsgay in his honde, - And a man ledde his male, - And reden with a lyght songe - Vnto Bernysdale. - - 135 - But as he we_n_t at a brydge ther was a wrastely_n_g, - And there taryed was he, - And there was all the best yemen - Of all the west countree. - - 136 - A full fayre game there was vp set, - A whyte bulle vp i-pyght, - A grete courser, with sadle and brydil, - #a.# - With golde burnyssht full bryght. - - 137 - A payre of gloues, a rede golde rynge, - A pype of wyne, in fay; - What man that bereth hym best i-wys - The pryce shall bere away. - - 138 - There was a yoman in that place, - And best worthy was he, - And for he was ferre and frembde bested, - Slayne he shulde haue be. - - 139 - The knight had ruthe of this yoman, - In placë where he stode; - He sayde that yoman shulde haue no harme, - For loue of Robyn Hode. - - 140 - The knyght presed in to the place, - An hundreth folowed hym [free], - With bowës bent and arowës sharpe, - For to shende that companye. - - 141 - They shulderd all and made hym rome, - To wete what he wolde say; - He toke the yema_n_ bi the ha_n_de, - And gaue hy_m_ al the play. - - 142 - He gaue hy_m_ fyue marke for his wyne, - There it lay on the molde. - And bad it shulde be set a broche, - Drynkë who so wolde. - - 143 - Thus longe taried this gentyll knyght, - Tyll that play was done; - So longe abode Robyn fastinge, - Thre hourës after the none. - - - THE THIRDE FYTTE. - - 144 - Lyth and lystyn, gentilmen, - All that nowe be here; - Of Litell John_n_, that was the knightës man, - Goode myrth ye shall here. - - 145 - It was vpon a mery day - That yonge men wolde go shete; - Lytell John_n_ fet his bowe anone, - And sayde he wolde them mete. - - 146 - Thre tymes Litell John_n_ shet aboute, - And alwey he slet the wande; - The proudë sherif of Notingham - By the markës can stande. - - 147 - The sherif swore a full greate othe: - ‘By hy_m_ th_a_t dyede on a tre, - This ma_n_ is the best arschére - That euer yet sawe I [me.] - - 148 - ‘Say me nowe, wight yonge man, - What is nowe thy name? - In what countre were thou borne, - And where is thy wonynge wane?’ - - 149 - ‘In Holdernes, sir, I was borne, - I-wys al of my dame; - Me_n_ cal me Reynolde Grenëlef - Whan I am at home.’ - - 150 - ‘Sey me, Reyno[l]de Grenëlefe, - Wolde thou dwell with me? - And euery yere I woll the gyue - Twenty marke to thy fee.’ - - 151 - ‘I haue a maister,’ sayde Litell John_n_, - ‘A curteys knight is he; - May ye leuë gete of hym, - The better may it be.’ - - 152 - The sherif gate Litell John - Twelue monethës of the knight; - Therfore he gaue him right anone - A gode hors and a wight. - - 153 - Nowe is Litell John the sherifës man, - God lende vs well to spede! - But alwey thought Lytell John - To quyte hym wele his mede. - - 154 - ‘Nowe so God me helpë,’ sayde Litell John, - ‘And by my true leutye, - I shall be the worst seruaunt to hym - Th_a_t euer yet had he.’ - - 155 - It fell vpo_n_ a Wednesday - The sherif on huntynge was gone, - And Litel Iohn lay i_n_ his bed, - And was foriete at home. - - 156 - Therfore he was fasti_n_ge - Til it was past the none; - ‘Gode sir stuarde, I pray to the, - Gyue me my dynere,’ saide Litell John. - - 157 - ‘It is longe for Grenëlefe - Fasti_n_ge thus for to be; - Therfor I pray the, sir stuarde, - Mi dyner gif me.’ - - 158 - ‘Shalt thou neuer ete ne dry_n_ke,’ saide the stuarde, - ‘Tyll my lorde be come to towne:’ - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ saide Litell John, - ‘I had leuer to crake thy crowne.’ - - 159 - The boteler was full vncurteys, - There he stode on flore; - He start to the botery - And shet fast the dore. - - 160 - Lytell John_n_ gaue the boteler suche a tap - His backe went nere in two; - Though he liued an hundred ier, - The wors shuld he go. - - 161 - He sporned the dore w_i_t_h_ his fote; - It went ope_n_ wel and fyne; - And there he made large lyueray, - Bothe of ale and of wyne. - - 162 - ‘Sith ye wol nat dyne,’ sayde Litell John, - ‘I shall gyue you to drinke; - And though ye lyue an hundred wynter, - On Lytel John_n_ ye shall thinke.’ - - 163 - Litell John ete, and Litel John drank, - The whilë that he wolde; - The sherife had i_n_ his kechy_n_ a coke, - A stoute man and a bolde. - - 164 - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ saide the coke, - ‘Thou arte a shrewde hynde - In ani hous for to dwel, - For to askë th_us_ to dyne.’ - - 165 - And there he lent Litell John - God[ë] strokis thre; - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Lytell John, - ‘These strokis lyked well me. - - 166 - ‘Thou arte a bolde man and hardy, - And so thi_n_keth me; - And or I pas fro this place - Assayed better shalt thou be.’ - - 167 - Lytell John_n_ drew a ful gode sworde, - The coke toke another in hande; - They thought no thynge for to fle, - But stifly for to stande. - - 168 - There they faught sore togedere - Two mylë way and well more; - Myght neyther other harme done, - The mountnaunce of an owre. - - 169 - ‘I make my_n_ auowe to God,’ sayde Litell John_n_, - ‘And by my true lewtë, - Thou art one of the best sworde-men - That euer yit sawe I [me.] - - 170 - ‘Cowdest thou shote as well in a bowe, - To grenë wode thou shuldest with me, - And two times in the yere thy clothinge - Chaunged shuldë be; - - 171 - ‘And euery yere of Robyn Hode - Twe_n_ty merke to thy fe:’ - ‘Put vp thy swerde,’ saide the coke, - ‘And felowës woll we be.’ - - 172 - Thanne he fet to Lytell John_n_ - The nowmbles of a do, - Gode brede, and full gode wyne; - They ete and drank theretoo. - - 173 - And when they had dronkyn well, - Theyre trouthës togeder they plight - That they wo[l]de be with Robyn - That ylkë samë nyght. - - 174 - They dyd them to the tresoure-hows, - As fast as they myght gone; - The lokkës, that were of full gode stele, - They brake them euerichone. - - 175 - They toke away the siluer vessell, - And all th_a_t thei mig[h]t get; - Pecis, masars, ne sponis, - Wolde thei not forget. - - 176 - Also [they] toke the godë pe_n_s, - Thre hundred pounde and more, - And did them st[r]eyte to Robyn Hode, - Under the grenë wode hore. - - 177 - ‘God the saue, my derë mayster, - And Criste the saue and se!’ - And thanne sayde Robyn to Litell John_n_, - Welcome myght thou be. - - 178 - ‘Also be that fayre yeman - Thou bryngest there with the; - What tydyngës fro Noty[n]gham? - Lytill John_n_, tell thou me.’ - - 179 - ‘Well the gretith the proudë sheryf, - And sende[th] the here by me - His coke and his siluer vessell, - And thre hundred pounde and thre.’ - - 180 - ‘I make myne avowe to God,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘And to the Trenytë, - It was neuer by his gode wyll - This gode is come to me.’ - - 181 - Lytyll John_n_ there hym bethought - On a shrewde wyle; - Fyue myle i_n_ the forest he ran, - Hym happed all his wyll. - - 182 - Than he met the proudë sheref, - Huntynge with houndes and horne; - Lytell John_n_ coude of curtesye, - And knelyd hym beforne. - - 183 - ‘God the saue, my derë mayster, - And Criste the saue and se!’ - ‘Reynolde Grenëlefe,’ sayde the shryef, - ‘Where hast thou nowe be?’ - - 184 - ‘I haue be in this forest; - A fayre syght can I se; - It was one of the fayrest syghtes - That euer yet sawe I me. - - 185 - ‘Yonder I sawe a ryght fayre harte, - His coloure is of grene; - Seuen score of dere vpon a herde - Be with hym all bydene. - - 186 - ‘Their tyndës are so sharpe, maister, - Of sexty, and well mo, - That I durst not shote for drede, - Lest they wolde me slo.’ - - 187 - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde the shyref, - ‘That syght wolde I fayne se:’ - ‘Buske you thyderwarde, mi derë mayster, - Anone, and we_n_de w_i_t_h_ me.’ - - 188 - The sherif rode, and Litell John_n_ - Of fote he was full smerte, - And whane they came before Robyn, - ‘Lo, sir, here is the mayster-herte.’ - - 189 - Still stode the proudë sherief, - A sory man was he; - ‘Wo the worthe, Raynolde Grenëlefe, - Thou hast betrayed nowe me.’ - - 190 - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Litell John_n_, - ‘Mayster, ye be to blame; - I was mysserued of my dynere - Whan I was w_i_t_h_ you at home.’ - - 191 - Sone he was to souper sette, - And serued well w_i_t_h_ siluer white, - And whan the sherif sawe his vessell, - For sorowe he myght nat ete. - - 192 - ‘Make glad chere,’ sayde Robyn Hode, - ‘Sherif, for charitë, - And for the loue of Litill John_n_ - Thy lyfe I graunt to the.’ - - 193 - Wha_n_ they had souped well, - The day was al gone; - Robyn co_m_mau_n_de[d] Litell John_n_ - To drawe of his hosen and his shone; - - 194 - His kirtell, and his cote of pie, - That was fured well and fine, - And to[ke] hy_m_ a grene ma_n_tel, - To lap his body therin. - - 195 - Robyn com_m_au_n_dyd his wight yonge men, - Vnder the grenë-wode tree, - They shulde lye in that same sute, - That the sherif myght them see. - - 196 - All nyght lay the proudë sherif - In his breche and in his [s]chert; - No wonder it was, in grenë wode, - Though his sydës gan to smerte. - - 197 - ‘Make glade chere,’ sayde Robyn Hode, - ‘Sheref, for charitë; - For this is our ordre i-wys, - Vnder the grenë-wode tree.’ - - 198 - ‘This is harder order,’ sayde the sherief, - ‘Than any ankir or frere; - For all the golde in mery Englonde - I wolde nat longe dwell her.’ - - 199 - ‘All this twelue monthes,’ sayde Robin, - ‘Thou shalt dwell with me; - I shall the techë, proudë sherif, - An outlawë for to be.’ - - 200 - ‘Or I be here another nyght,’ sayde the sherif, - ‘Robyn, nowe pray I the, - Smyte of mijn hede rather to-morowe, - And I forgyue it the. - - 201 - ‘Lat me go,’ tha_n_ sayde the sherif, - ‘For sayntë charitë, - And I woll be the best[ë] frende - That euer yet had ye.’ - - 202 - ‘Thou shalt swere me an othe,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘On my bright bronde; - Shalt thou neuer awayte me scathe, - By water ne by lande. - - 203 - ‘And if thou fynde any of my men, - By nyght or [by] day, - Vpon thyn othë thou shalt swere - To helpe them tha[t] thou may.’ - - 204 - Nowe hathe the sherif sworne his othe, - And home he began to gone; - He was as full of grenë wode - As euer was hepe of stone. - - - THE FOURTH FYTTE. - - 205 - The sherif dwelled in Notingham; - He was fayne he was agone; - And Robyn and his mery men - Went to wode anone. - - 206 - ‘Go we to dyner,’ sayde Littell John_n_; - Robyn Hode sayde, Nay; - For I drede Our Lady be wroth with me, - For she sent me nat my pay. - - 207 - ‘Haue no doute, maister,’ sayde Litell John_n_; - ‘Yet is nat the sonne at rest; - For I dare say, and sauely swere, - The knight is true and truste.’ - - 208 - ‘Take thy bowe in thy hande,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘Late Much wende with the, - And so shal Wyllyam Scarlok, - #b.# - And no man abyde with me. - - 209 - ‘And walke vp vnder the Sayles, - And to Watlynge-strete, - And wayte after some vnketh gest; - Vp-chaunce ye may them mete. - - 210 - ‘Whether he be messengere, - Or a man that myrthës can, - Of my good he shall haue some, - Yf he be a porë man.’ - - 211 - Forth then stert Lytel Johan, - Half in tray and tene, - And gyrde hym with a full good swerde, - Under a mantel of grene. - - 212 - They went vp to the Sayles, - These yemen all thre; - They loked est, they loked west, - They myght no man se. - - 213 - But as [t]he[y] loked in Bernysdale, - By the hyë waye, - Than were they ware of two blacke monkes, - Eche on a good palferay. - - 214 - Then bespake Lytell Johan, - To Much he gan say, - I dare lay my lyfe to wedde, - That [these] monkes haue brought our pay. - - 215 - ‘Make glad chere,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘And frese your bowes of ewe, - And loke your hertës be seker and sad, - Your stryngës trusty and trewe. - - 216 - ‘The monke hath two and fifty [men,] - And seuen somers full stronge; - There rydeth no bysshop in this londe - So ryally, I vnderstond. - - 217 - ‘Brethern,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘Here are no more but we thre; - But we bryngë them to dyner, - Our mayster dare we not se. - - 218 - ‘Bende your bowes,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘Make all yon prese to stonde; - The formost monke, his lyfe and his deth - Is closed in my honde. - - 219 - ‘Abyde, chorle monke,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘No ferther that thou gone; - Yf thou doost, by dere worthy God, - Thy deth is in my honde. - - 220 - ‘And euyll thryfte on thy hede,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘Ryght vnder thy hattës bonde; - For thou hast made our mayster wroth, - He is fastynge so longe.’ - - 221 - ‘Who is your mayster?’ sayd the monke; - Lytell Johan sayd, Robyn Hode; - ‘He is a stronge thefe,’ sayd the monke, - ‘Of hym herd I neuer good.’ - - 222 - ‘Thou lyest,’ than sayd Lytell Joha_n_, - ‘And that shall rewë the; - He is a yeman of the forest, - To dyne he hath bodë the.’ - - 223 - Much was redy with a bolte, - Redly and anone, - He set the monke to-fore the brest, - To the grounde that he can gone. - - 224 - Of two and fyfty wyght yonge yemen - There abode not one, - Saf a lytell page and a grome, - To lede the somers with Lytel Johan. - - 225 - They brought the monke to the lodgë-dore, - Whether he were loth or lefe, - For to speke with Robyn Hode, - Maugre in theyr tethe. - - 226 - Robyn dyde adowne his hode, - The monke whan that he se; - The monke was not so curtëyse, - His hode then let he be. - - 227 - ‘He is a chorle, mayster, by dere worthy God,’ - Than sayd Lytell Johan: - ‘Thereof no force,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘For curteysy can he none. - - 228 - ‘How many men,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Had this monke, Johan?’ - ‘Fyfty and two whan that we met, - But many of them be gone.’ - - 229 - ‘Let blowe a horne,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘That felaushyp may vs knowe;’ - Seuen score of wyght yemen - Came pryckynge on a rowe. - - 230 - And euerych of them a good mantell - Of scarlet and of raye; - All they came to good Robyn, - To wyte what he wolde say. - - 231 - They made the monke to wasshe and wype, - And syt at his denere, - Robyn Hode and Lytell Joha_n_ - They serued him both in-fere. - - 232 - ‘Do gladly, monke,’ sayd Robyn. - ‘Gramercy, syr,’ sayd he. - ‘Where is your abbay, whan ye are at home, - And who is your avowë?’ - - 233 - ‘Saynt Mary abbay,’ sayd the monke, - ‘Though I be symple here.’ - ‘In what offyce?’ sayd Robyn: - ‘Syr, the hyë selerer.’ - - 234 - ‘Ye be the more welcome,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘So euer mote I the; - Fyll of the best wyne,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘This monke shall drynke to me. - - 235 - ‘But I haue grete meruayle,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Of all this longë day; - I drede Our Lady be wroth with me, - She sent me not my pay.’ - - 236 - ‘Haue no doute, mayster,’ sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘Ye haue no nede, I saye; - This monke it hath brought, I dare well swere, - For he is of her abbay.’ - - 237 - ‘And she was a borowe,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Betwene a knyght and me, - Of a lytell money that I hym lent, - Under the grëne-wode tree. - - 238 - ‘And yf thou hast that syluer ibrought, - I pray the let me se; - And I shall helpë the eftsones, - Yf thou haue nede to me.’ - - 239 - The monke swore a full grete othe, - With a sory chere, - ‘Of the borowehode thou spekest to me, - Herde I neuer ere.’ - - 240 - ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Monke, thou art to blame; - For God is holde a ryghtwys man, - And so is his dame. - - 241 - ‘Thou toldest with thyn ownë tonge, - Thou may not say nay, - How thou arte her seruaunt, - And seruest her euery day. - - 242 - ‘And thou art made her messengere, - My money for to pay; - Therfore I cun the morë thanke - Thou arte come at thy day. - - 243 - ‘What is in your cofers?’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Trewe than tell thou me:’ - ‘Syr,’ he sayd, ‘twenty marke, - Al so mote I the.’ - - 244 - ‘Yf there be no more,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘I wyll not one peny; - Yf thou hast myster of ony more, - Syr, more I shall lende to the. - - 245 - ‘And yf I fyndë [more,’ sayd] Robyn, - ‘I-wys thou shalte it for gone; - For of thy spendynge-syluer, monke, - Thereof wyll I ryght none. - - 246 - ‘Go nowe forthe, Lytell Johan, - And the trouth tell thou me; - If there be no more but twenty marke, - No peny that I se.’ - - 247 - Lytell Johan spred his mantell downe, - As he had done before, - And he tolde out of the monkës male - Eyght [hondred] pounde and more. - - 248 - Lytell Johan let it lye full styll, - And went to his mayster in hast; - ‘Syr,’ he sayd, ‘the monke is trewe ynowe, - Our Lady hath doubled your cast.’ - - 249 - ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn— - ‘Monke, what tolde I the?— - Our Lady is the trewest woman - That euer yet founde I me. - - 250 - ‘By dere worthy God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘To seche all Englond thorowe, - Yet founde I neuer to my pay - A moche better borowe. - - 251 - ‘Fyll of the best wyne, and do hym drynke,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘And grete well thy lady hende, - And yf she haue nede to Robyn Hode, - A frende she shall hym fynde. - - 252 - ‘And yf she nedeth ony more syluer, - Come thou agayne to me. - And, by this token she hath me sent, - She shall haue such thre.’ - - 253 - The monke was goynge to London ward, - There to holde grete mote, - The knyght that rode so hye on hors, - To brynge hym vnder fote. - - 254 - ‘Whether be ye away?’ sayd Robyn: - ‘Syr, to maners in this londe, - Too reken with our reues, - That haue done moch wronge.’ - - 255 - ‘Come now forth, Lytell Johan, - And harken to my tale; - A better yemen I knowe none, - To seke a monkës male.’ - - 256 - ‘How moch is in yonder other corser?’ sayd Robyn, - ‘The soth must we see:’ - ‘By Our Lady,’ than sayd the monke, - ‘That were no curteysye, - - 257 - ‘To bydde a man to dyner, - And syth hym bete and bynde.’ - ‘It is our oldë maner,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘To leue but lytell behynde.’ - - 258 - The monke toke the hors with spore, - No lenger wolde he abyde: - ‘Askë to drynkë,’ than sayd Robyn, - ‘Or that ye forther ryde.’ - - 259 - ‘Nay, for God,’ than sayd the monke, - ‘Me reweth I cam so nere; - For better chepe I myght haue dyned - In Blythe or in Dankestere.’ - - 260 - ‘Grete well your abbot,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘And your pryour, I you pray, - And byd hym send me such a monke - To dyner euery day.’ - - 261 - Now lete we that monke be styll, - And speke we of that knyght: - Yet he came to holde his day, - Whyle that it was lyght. - - 262 - He dyde him streyt to Bernysdale, - Under the grenë-wode tre, - And he founde there Robyn Hode, - And all his mery meynë. - - 263 - The knyght lyght doune of his good palfray; - Robyn whan he gan see, - So curteysly he dyde adoune his hode, - And set hym on his knee. - - 264 - ‘God the sauë, Robyn Hode, - And all this company:’ - ‘Welcome be thou, gentyll knyght, - And ryght welcome to me.’ - - 265 - Than bespake hym Robyn Hode, - To that knyght so fre: - What nedë dryueth the to grenë wode? - I praye the, syr knyght, tell me. - - 266 - ‘And welcome be thou, ge[n]tyll knyght, - Why hast thou be so longe?’ - ‘For the abbot and the hyë iustyce - Wolde haue had my londe.’ - - 267 - ‘Hast thou thy londe [a]gayne?’ sayd Robyn; - ‘Treuth than tell thou me:’ - ‘Ye, for God,’ sayd the knyght, - ‘And that thanke I God and the. - - 268 - ‘But take not a grefe,’ sayd the knyght, ‘that I haue be so longe; - I came by a wrastelynge, - And there I holpe a porë yeman, - With wronge was put behynde.’ - - 269 - ‘Nay, for God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Syr knyght, that thanke I the; - What man that helpeth a good yeman, - His frende than wyll I be.’ - - 270 - ‘Haue here foure ho_n_dred pounde,’ tha_n_ sayd the knyght, - ‘The whiche ye lent to me; - And here is also twenty marke - For your curteysy.’ - - 271 - ‘Nay, for God,’ than sayd Robyn, - ‘Thou broke it well for ay; - For Our Lady, by her [hyë] selerer, - Hath sent to me my pay. - - 272 - ‘And yf I toke it i-twyse, - A shame it were to me; - But trewely, gentyll knyght, - Welcom arte thou to me.’ - - 273 - Whan Robyn had tolde his tale, - He leugh and had good chere: - ‘By my trouthe,’ then sayd the knyght, - ‘Your money is redy here.’ - - 274 - ‘Broke it well,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Thou gentyll knyght so fre; - And welcome be thou, ge[n]tyll knyght, - Under my trystell-tre. - - 275 - ‘But what shall these bowës do?’ sayd Robyn, - ‘And these arowës ifedred fre?’ - ‘By God,’ than sayd the knyght, - ‘A porë present to the.’ - - 276 - ‘Come now forth, Lytell Johan, - And go to my treasurë, - And brynge me there foure hondred pounde; - The monke ouer-tolde it me. - - 277 - ‘Haue here foure hondred pounde, - Thou gentyll knyght and trewe, - And bye hors and harnes good, - And gylte thy spores all newe. - - 278 - ‘And yf thou fayle ony spendynge, - Com to Robyn Hode, - And by my trouth thou shalt none fayle, - The whyles I haue any good. - - 279 - ‘And broke well thy foure hondred pound, - Whiche I lent to the, - And make thy selfe no more so bare, - By the counsell of me.’ - - 280 - Thus than holpe hym good Robyn, - The knyght all of his care: - God, that syt in heuen hye, - Graunte vs well to fare! - - - THE FYFTH FYTTE. - - 281 - Now hath the knyght his leue i-take, - And wente hym on his way; - Robyn Hode and his mery men - Dwelled styll full many a day. - - 282 - Lyth and lysten, gentil men, - And herken what I shall say, - How the proud[ë] sheryfe of Notyngham - Dyde crye a full fayre play; - - 283 - That all the best archers of the north - Sholde come vpon a day, - And [he] that shoteth allther best - The game shall bere a way. - - 284 - He that shoteth allther best, - Furthest fayre and lowe, - At a payre of fynly buttes, - Under the grenë-wode shawe, - - 285 - A ryght good arowe he shall haue, - The shaft of syluer whyte, - The hede and the feders of ryche rede golde, - In Englond is none lyke. - - 286 - This than herde good Robyn, - Under his trystell-tre: - ‘Make you redy, ye wyght yonge men; - That shotynge wyll I se. - - 287 - ‘Buske you, my mery yonge men, - Ye shall go with me; - And I wyll wete the shryuës fayth, - Trewe and yf he be.’ - - 288 - Whan they had theyr bowes i-bent, - Theyr takles fedred fre, - Seuen score of wyght yonge men - Stode by Robyns kne. - - 289 - Whan they cam to Notyngham, - The buttes were fayre and longe; - Many was the bolde archere - That shoted with bowës stronge. - - 290 - ‘There shall but syx shote with me; - The other shal kepe my he[ue]de, - And standë with good bowës bent, - That I be not desceyued.’ - - 291 - The fourth outlawe his bowe gan bende, - And that was Robyn Hode, - And that behelde the proud[ë] sheryfe, - All by the but [as] he stode. - - 292 - Thryës Robyn shot about, - And alway he slist the wand, - And so dyde good Gylberte - Wyth the whytë hande. - - 293 - Lytell Johan and good Scatheloke - Were archers good and fre; - Lytell Much and good Reynolde, - The worste wolde they not be. - - 294 - Whan they had shot aboute, - These archours fayre and good, - Euermore was the best, - For soth, Robyn Hode. - - 295 - Hym was delyuered the good arowe, - For best worthy was he; - He toke the yeft so curteysly, - To grenë wode wolde he. - - 296 - They cryed out on Robyn Hode, - And grete hornës gan they blowe: - ‘Wo worth the, treason!’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Full euyl thou art to knowe. - - 297 - ‘And wo be thou! thou proudë sheryf, - Thus gladdynge thy gest; - Other wyse thou behotë me - In yonder wylde forest. - - 298 - ‘But had I the in grenë wode, - Under my trystell-tre, - Thou sholdest leue me a better wedde - Than thy trewe lewtë.’ - - 299 - Full many a bowë there was bent, - And arowës let they glyde; - Many a kyrtell there was rent, - And hurt many a syde. - - 300 - The outlawes shot was so stronge - That no man myght them dryue, - And the proud[ë] sheryfës men, - They fled away full blyue. - - 301 - Robyn sawe the busshement to-broke, - In grenë wode he wolde haue be; - Many an arowe there was shot - Amonge that company. - - 302 - Lytell Johan was hurte full sore, - With an arowe in his kne, - That he myght neyther go nor ryde; - It was full grete pytë. - - 303 - ‘Mayster,’ then sayd Lytell Johan, - ‘If euer thou loue[d]st me, - And for that ylkë lordës loue - That dyed vpon a tre, - - 304 - ‘And for the medes of my seruyce, - That I haue serued the, - Lete neuer the proudë sheryf - Alyue now fyndë me. - - 305 - ‘But take out thy brownë swerde, - And smyte all of my hede, - And gyue me woundës depe and wyde; - No lyfe on me be lefte.’ - - 306 - ‘I wolde not that,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Johan, that thou were slawe, - For all the golde in mery Englonde, - Though it lay now on a rawe.’ - - 307 - ‘God forbede,’ sayd Lytell Much, - ‘That dyed on a tre, - That thou sholdest, Lytell Johan, - Parte our company.’ - - 308 - Up he toke hym on his backe, - And bare hym well a myle; - Many a tyme he layd hym downe, - And shot another whyle. - - 309 - Then was there a fayre castell, - A lytell within the wode; - Double-dyched it was about, - And walled, by the rode. - - 310 - And there dwelled that gentyll knyght, - Syr Rychard at the Lee, - That Robyn had lent his good, - Under the grenë-wode tree. - - 311 - In he toke good Robyn, - And all his company: - ‘Welcome be thou, Robyn Hode, - Welcome arte thou to me; - - 312 - ‘And moche [I] thanke the of thy confort, - And of thy curteysye, - And of thy gretë kyndënesse, - Under the grenë-wode tre. - - 313 - ‘I loue no man in all this worlde - So much as I do the; - For all the proud[ë] sheryf of Notyngham, - Ryght here shalt thou be. - - 314 - ‘Shyt the gates, and drawe the brydge, - #a.# - And let no man come in, - And arme you well, and make you redy, - And to the walles ye wynne. - - 315 - ‘For one thynge, Robyn, I the behote; - I swere by Saynt Quyntyne, - These forty dayes thou wonnest with me, - To soupe, ete, and dyne.’ - - 316 - Bordes were layde, and clothes were spredde, - Redely and anone; - Roby_n_ Hode and his mery me_n_ - To metë can they gone. - - - THE VI. FYTTE. - - 317 - Lythe and lysten, gentylmen, - And herkyn to your songe; - Howe the proudë shyref of Notyngham, - And men of armys stronge, - - 318 - Full fast cam to the hyë shyref, - The contrë vp to route, - And they besette the knyghtës castell, - The wallës all aboute. - - 319 - The proudë shyref loude gan crye, - And sayde, Thou traytour knight, - Thou kepest here the kynges enemys, - Agaynst the lawe and right. - - 320 - ‘Syr, I wyll auowe that I haue done, - The dedys that here be dyght, - Vpon all the landës that I haue, - As I am a trewë knyght. - - 321 - ‘Wende furth, sirs, on your way, - And do no more to me - Tyll ye wyt oure kyngës wille, - What he wyll say to the.’ - - 322 - The shyref thus had his answere, - Without any lesynge; - [Fu]rth he yede to London towne, - All for to tel our ki_n_ge. - - 323 - Ther he telde hi_m_ of that knight, - And eke of Robyn Hode, - And also of the bolde archars, - That were soo noble and gode. - - 324 - ‘He wyll auowe that he hath done, - To mayntene the outlawes stronge; - He wyll be lorde, and set you at nought, - In all the northe londe.’ - - 325 - ‘I wil be at Notyngham,’ saide our kynge, - ‘Within this fourteenyght, - And take I wyll Roby_n_ Hode, - And so I wyll th_a_t knight. - - 326 - ‘Go nowe home, shyref,’ sayde our kynge, - ‘And do as I byd the; - And ordey_n_ gode archers ynowe, - Of all the wydë contrë.’ - - 327 - The shyref had his leue i-take, - And went hym on his way, - And Robyn Hode to grenë wode, - Vpon a certen day. - - 328 - And Lytel John was hole of the arowe - That shot was in his kne, - And dyd hym streyght to Robyn Hode, - Vnder the grenë-wode tree. - - 329 - Roby_n_ Hode walked in the forest, - Vnder the leuys grene; - The proudë shyref of Notyngham - Thereof he had grete tene. - - 330 - The shyref there fayled of Robyn Hode, - He myght not haue his pray; - Than he awayted this gentyll knyght, - Bothe by nyght and day. - - 331 - Euer he wayted the gentyll knyght, - Syr Richarde at the Lee, - As he went on haukynge by the ryuer-syde, - And lete [his] haukës flee. - - 332 - Toke he there this gentyll knight, - With men of armys stronge, - And led hym to Notyngham warde, - Bounde bothe fote and hande. - - 333 - The sheref sware a full grete othe, - Bi hy_m_ th_a_t dyed on rode, - He had leuer tha_n_ an hundred pound - That he had Roby_n_ Hode. - - 334 - This harde the knyghtës wyfe, - A fayr lady and a free; - She set hir on a gode palfrey, - To grenë wode anone rode she. - - 335 - Wha_n_ne she ca_m_ in the forest, - Vnd_er_ the grenë-wode tree, - Fonde she there Roby_n_ Hode, - And al his fayre menë. - - 336 - ‘God the sauë, godë Robyn, - And all thy company; - For Our derë Ladyes sake, - A bonë graunte thou me. - - 337 - ‘Late neuer my wedded lorde - Shamefully slayne be; - He is fast bowne to Notingham warde, - For the loue of the.’ - - 338 - Anone than saide goode Robyn - To that lady so fre, - What man hath your lorde [i-]take? - . . . . . . - - 339 - . . . . . . - ‘For soth as I the say; - He is nat yet thre mylës - Passed on his way.’ - - 340 - Vp than sterte gode Robyn, - As man that had ben wode: - ‘Buske you, my mery men, - For hym that dyed on rode. - - 341 - ‘And he that this sorowe forsaketh, - By hym that dyed on tre, - Shall he neuer in grenë wode - No lenger dwel with me.’ - - 342 - Sone there were gode bowës bent, - Mo than seuen score; - Hedge ne dyche spared they none - That was them before. - - 343 - ‘I make myn auowe to God,’ sayde Robyn, - ‘The sherif wolde I fayne see; - And if I may hy_m_ take, - I-quyte shall it be.’ - - 344 - And whan they came to Notingham, - They walked i_n_ the strete; - And w_i_t_h_ the proudë sherif i-wys - Sonë can they mete. - - 345 - ‘Abyde, thou proudë sherif,’ he sayde, - ‘Abyde, and speke with me; - Of some tidi_n_ges of oure kinge - I wolde fayne here of the. - - 346 - ‘This seuen yere, by dere worthy God, - Ne yede I this fast on fote; - I make myn auowe to God, thou proudë sherif, - It is nat for thy gode.’ - - 347 - Robyn bent a full goode bowe, - An arrowe he drowe at wyll; - He hit so the proudë sherife - Vpon the grounde he lay full still. - - 348 - And or he myght vp aryse, - On his fete to stonde, - He smote of the sherifs hede - With his bright[ë] bronde. - - 349 - ‘Lye thou there, thou proudë sherife, - Euyll mote thou cheue! - There myght no man to the truste - #b.# - The whyles thou were a lyue.’ - - 350 - His men drewe out theyr bryght swerdes, - That were so sharpe and kene, - And layde on the sheryues men, - And dryued them downe bydene. - - 351 - Robyn stert to that knyght, - And cut a two his bonde, - And toke hym in his hand a bowe, - And bad hym by hym stonde. - - 352 - ‘Leue thy hors the behynde, - And lerne for to renne; - Thou shalt with me to grenë wode, - Through myrë, mosse, and fenne. - - 353 - ‘Thou shalt with me to grenë wode, - Without ony leasynge, - Tyll that I haue gete vs grace - Of Edwarde, our comly kynge.’ - - - THE VII. FYTTE. - - 354 - The kynge came to Notynghame, - With knyghtës in grete araye, - For to take that gentyll knyght - And Robyn Hode, and yf he may. - - 355 - He asked men of that countrë - After Robyn Hode, - And after that gentyll knyght, - That was so bolde and stout. - - 356 - Whan they had tolde hym the case - Our kynge vnderstode ther tale, - And seased in his honde - The knyghtës londës all. - - 357 - All the passe of Lancasshyre - He went both ferre and nere, - Tyll he came to Plomton Parke; - He faylyd many of his dere. - - 358 - There our kynge was wont to se - Herdës many one, - He coud vnneth fynde one dere, - That bare ony good horne. - - 359 - The kynge was wonder wroth withall, - And swore by the Trynytë, - ‘I wolde I had Robyn Hode, - With eyen I myght hym se. - - 360 - ‘And he that wolde smyte of the knyghtës hede, - And brynge it to me, - He shall haue the knyghtës londes, - Syr Rycharde at the Le. - - 361 - ‘I gyue it hym with my charter, - And sele it [with] my honde, - To haue and holde for euer more, - In all mery Englonde.’ - - 362 - Than bespake a fayre olde knyght, - That was treue in his fay: - A, my leegë lorde the kynge, - One worde I shall you say. - - 363 - There is no man in this countrë - May haue the knyghtës londes, - Whyle Robyn Hode may ryde or gone, - And bere a bowe in his hondes, - - 364 - That he ne shall lese his hede, - That is the best ball in his hode: - Giue it no man, my lorde the kynge, - That ye wyll any good. - - 365 - Half a yere dwelled our comly kynge - In Notyngham, and well more; - Coude he not here of Robyn Hode, - In what countrë that he were. - - 366 - But alway went good Robyn - By halke and eke by hyll, - And alway slewe the kyngës dere, - And welt them at his wyll. - - 367 - Than bespake a proude fostere, - That stode by our kyngës kne: - Yf ye wyll se good Robyn, - Ye must do after me. - - 368 - Take fyue of the best knyghtës - That be in your lede, - And walke downe by yon abbay, - And gete you monkës wede. - - 369 - And I wyll be your ledës-man, - And lede you the way, - And or ye come to Notyngham, - Myn hede then dare I lay, - - 370 - That ye shall mete with good Robyn, - On lyue yf that he be; - Or ye come to Notyngham, - With eyen ye shall hym se. - - 371 - Full hast[ë]ly our kynge was dyght, - So were his knyghtës fyue, - Euerych of them in monkës wede, - And hasted them thyder blyve. - - 372 - Our kynge was grete aboue his cole, - A brode hat on his crowne, - Ryght as he were abbot-lyke, - They rode up in-to the towne. - - 373 - Styf botës our kynge had on, - Forsoth as I you say; - He rode syngynge to grenë wode, - The couent was clothed in graye. - - 374 - His male-hors and his gretë somers - Folowed our kynge behynde, - Tyll they came to grenë wode, - A myle vnder the lynde. - - 375 - There they met with good Robyn, - Stondynge on the waye, - And so dyde many a bolde archere, - For soth as I you say. - - 376 - Robyn toke the kyngës hors, - Hastëly in that stede, - And sayd, Syr abbot, by your leue, - A whyle ye must abyde. - - 377 - ‘We be yemen of this foreste, - Vnder the grenë-wode tre; - We lyue by our kyngës dere, - [Other shyft haue not wee.] - - 378 - ‘And ye haue chyrches and rentës both, - And gold full grete plentë; - Gyue vs some of your spendynge, - For saynt[ë] charytë.’ - - 379 - Than bespake our cumly kynge, - Anone than sayd he; - I brought no more to grenë wode - But forty pounde with me. - - 380 - I haue layne at Notyngham - This fourtynyght with our kynge, - And spent I haue full moche good, - On many a grete lordynge. - - 381 - And I haue but forty pounde, - No more than haue I me; - But yf I had an hondred pounde, - I wolde vouch it safe on the. - - 382 - Robyn toke the forty pounde, - And departed it in two partye; - Halfendell he gaue his mery men, - And bad them mery to be. - - 383 - Full curteysly Roby_n_ gan say; - Syr, haue this for your spendyng; - We shall mete another day; - ‘Gramercy,’ than sayd our kynge. - - 384 - ‘But well the greteth Edwarde, our kynge, - And sent to the his seale, - And byddeth the com to Notyngham, - Both to mete and mele.’ - - 385 - He toke out the brodë targe, - And sone he lete hym se; - Robyn coud his courteysy, - And set hym on his kne. - - 386 - ‘I loue no man in all the worlde - So well as I do my kynge; - Welcome is my lordës seale; - And, monke, for thy tydynge, - - 387 - ‘Syr abbot, for thy tydynges, - To day thou shalt dyne with me, - For the loue of my kynge, - Under my trystell-tre.’ - - 388 - Forth he lad our comly kynge, - Full fayre by the honde; - Many a dere there was slayne, - And full fast dyghtande. - - 389 - Robyn toke a full grete horne, - And loude he gan blowe; - Seuen score of wyght yonge men - Came redy on a rowe. - - 390 - All they kneled on theyr kne, - Full fayre before Robyn: - The kynge sayd hym selfe vntyll, - And swore by Saynt Austyn, - - 391 - ‘Here is a wonder semely syght; - Me thynketh, by Goddës pyne, - His men are more at his byddynge - Then my men be at myn.’ - - 392 - Full hast[ë]ly was theyr dyner idyght, - And therto gan they gone; - They serued our kynge with al theyr myght, - Both Robyn and Lytell Johan. - - 393 - Anone before our kynge was set - The fattë venyson, - The good whyte brede, the good rede wyne, - And therto the fyne ale and browne. - - 394 - ‘Make good chere,’ said Robyn, - ‘Abbot, for charytë; - And for this ylkë tydynge, - Blyssed mote thou be. - - 395 - ‘Now shalte thou se what lyfe we lede, - Or thou hens wende; - Than thou may enfourme our kynge, - Whan ye togyder lende.’ - - 396 - Up they stertë all in hast, - Theyr bowës were smartly bent; - Our kynge was neuer so sore agast, - He wende to haue be shente. - - 397 - Two yerdës there were vp set, - Thereto gan they gange; - By fyfty pase, our kynge sayd, - The merkës were to longe. - - 398 - On euery syde a rose-garlonde, - They shot vnder the lyne: - ‘Who so fayleth of the rose-garlonde,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘His takyll he shall tyne, - - 399 - ‘And yelde it to his mayster, - Be it neuer so fyne; - For no man wyll I spare, - So drynke I ale or wyne: - - 400 - ‘And bere a buffet on his hede, - I-wys ryght all bare:’ - And all that fell in Robyns lote, - He smote them wonder sare. - - 401 - Twyse Robyn shot aboute, - And euer he cleued the wande, - And so dyde good Gylberte - With the Whytë Hande. - - 402 - Lytell Johan and good Scathelocke, - For nothynge wolde they spare; - When they fayled of the garlonde, - Robyn smote them full sore. - - 403 - At the last shot that Robyn shot, - For all his frendës fare, - Yet he fayled of the garlonde - Thre fyngers and mare. - - 404 - Than bespake good Gylberte, - And thus he gan say; - ‘Mayster,’ he sayd, ‘your takyll is lost, - Stande forth and take your pay.’ - - 405 - ‘If it be so,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘That may no better be, - Syr abbot, I delyuer the myn arowe, - I pray the, syr, serue thou me.’ - - 406 - ‘It falleth not for myn ordre,’ sayd our kynge, - ‘Robyn, by thy leue, - For to smyte no good yeman, - For doute I sholde hym greue.’ - - 407 - ‘Smyte on boldely,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘I giue the largë leue:’ - Anone our kynge, with that worde, - He folde vp his sleue, - - 408 - And sych a buffet he gaue Robyn, - To grounde he yede full nere: - ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Thou arte a stalworthe frere. - - 409 - ‘There is pith in thyn arme,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘I trowe thou canst well shete:’ - Thus our kynge and Robyn Hode - Togeder gan they mete. - - 410 - Robyn behelde our comly kynge - Wystly in the face, - So dyde Syr Rycharde at the Le, - And kneled downe in that place. - - 411 - And so dyde all the wylde outlawes, - Whan they se them knele: - ‘My lorde the kynge of Englonde, - Now I knowe you well. - - 412 - ‘Mercy then, Robyn,’ sayd our kynge, - ‘Vnder your trystyll-tre, - Of thy goodnesse and thy grace, - For my men and me!’ - - 413 - ‘Yes, for God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘And also God me saue, - I askë mercy, my lorde the kynge, - And for my men I craue.’ - - 414 - ‘Yes, for God,’ than sayd our kynge, - ‘And therto sent I me. - With that thou leue the grenë wode, - And all thy company; - - 415 - ‘And come home, syr, to my courte, - And there dwell with me.’ - ‘I make myn avowe to God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘And ryght so shall it be. - - 416 - ‘I wyll come to your courte, - Your seruyse for to se, - And brynge with me of my men - Seuen score and thre. - - 417 - ‘But me lykë well your seruyse, - I [wyll] come agayne full soone, - And shote at the donnë dere, - As I am wonte to done.’ - - - THE VIII. FYTTE. - - 418 - ‘Haste thou ony grenë cloth,’ sayd our kynge, - ‘That thou wylte sell nowe to me?’ - ‘Ye, for God,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘Thyrty yerdës and thre.’ - - 419 - ‘Robyn,’ sayd our kynge, - ‘Now pray I the, - Sell me some of that cloth, - To me and my meynë.’ - - 420 - ‘Yes, for God,’ then sayd Robyn, - ‘Or elles I were a fole; - Another day ye wyll me clothe, - I trowe, ayenst the Yole.’ - - 421 - The kynge kest of his colë then, - A grene garment he dyde on, - And euery knyght also, i-wys, - Another had full sone. - - 422 - Whan they were clothed in Lyncolne grene, - They keste away theyr graye; - ‘Now we shall to Notyngham,’ - All thus our kynge gan say. - - 423 - They bente theyr bowes, and forth they went, - Shotynge all in-fere, - Towarde the towne of Notyngham, - Outlawes as they were. - - 424 - Our kynge and Robyn rode togyder, - For soth as I you say, - And they shote plucke-buffet, - As they went by the way. - - 425 - And many a buffet our kynge wan - Of Robyn Hode that day, - And nothynge spared good Robyn - Our kynge in his pay. - - 426 - ‘So God me helpë,’ sayd our kynge, - ‘Thy game is nought to lere; - I sholde not get a shote of the, - Though I shote all this yere.’ - - 427 - All the people of Notyngham - They stode and behelde; - They sawe nothynge but mantels of grene - That couered all the felde. - - 428 - Than euery man to other gan say, - ‘I drede our kynge be slone; - Comë Robyn Hode to the towne, i-wys - On lyue he lefte neuer one.’ - - 429 - Full hast[ë]ly they began to fle, - Both yemen and knaues, - And olde wyues that myght euyll goo, - They hypped on theyr staues. - - 430 - The kynge l[o]ughe full fast, - And commaunded theym agayue; - When they se our comly kynge, - I-wys they were full fayne. - - 431 - They ete and dranke, and made them glad, - And sange with notës hye; - Than bespake our comly kynge - To Syr Rycharde at the Lee. - - 432 - He gaue hym there his londe agayne, - A good man he bad hym be; - Robyn thanked our comly kynge, - And set hym on his kne. - - 433 - Had Robyn dwelled in the kyngës courte - But twelue monethes and thre, - That [he had] spent an hondred pounde, - And all his mennes fe. - - 434 - In euery place where Robyn came - Euer more he layde downe, - Both for knyghtës and for squyres, - To gete hym grete renowne. - - 435 - By than the yere was all agone - He had no man but twayne, - Lytell Johan and good Scathelocke, - With hym all for to gone. - - 436 - Robyn sawe yonge men shote - Full fayre vpon a day; - ‘Alas!’ than sayd good Robyn, - ‘My welthe is went away. - - 437 - ‘Somtyme I was an archere good, - A styffe and eke a stronge; - I was compted the best archere - That was in mery Englonde. - - 438 - ‘Alas!’ then sayd good Robyn, - ‘Alas and well a woo! - Yf I dwele lenger with the kynge, - Sorowe wyll me sloo.’ - - 439 - Forth than went Robyn Hode - Tyll he came to our kynge: - ‘My lorde the kynge of Englonde, - Graunte me myn askynge. - - 440 - ‘I made a chapell in Bernysdale, - That semely is to se, - It is of Mary Magdaleyne, - And thereto wolde I be. - - 441 - ‘I myght neuer in this seuen nyght - No tyme to slepe ne wynke, - Nother all these seuen dayes - Nother ete ne drynke. - - 442 - ‘Me longeth sore to Bernysdale, - I may not be therfro; - Barefote and wolwarde I haue hyght - Thyder for to go.’ - - 443 - ‘Yf it be so,’ than sayd our kynge, - ‘It may no better be, - Seuen nyght I gyue the leue, - No lengre, to dwell fro me.’ - - 444 - ‘Gramercy, lorde,’ then sayd Robyn, - And set hym on his kne; - He toke his leuë full courteysly, - To grenë wode then went he. - - 445 - Whan he came to grenë wode, - In a mery mornynge, - There he herde the notës small - Of byrdës mery syngynge. - - 446 - ‘It is ferre gone,’ sayd Robyn, - ‘That I was last here; - Me lyste a lytell for to shote - At the donnë dere.’ - - 447 - Robyn slewe a full grete harte; - His horne than gan he blow, - That all the outlawes of that forest - That horne coud they knowe, - - 448 - And gadred them togyder, - In a lytell throwe. - Seuen score of wyght yonge men - Came redy on a rowe, - - 449 - And fayre dyde of theyr hodes, - And set them on theyr kne: - ‘Welcome,’ they sayd, ‘our [derë] mayster, - Under this grenë-wode tre.’ - - 450 - Robyn dwelled in grenë wode - Twenty yere and two; - For all drede of Edwarde our kynge, - Agayne wolde he not goo. - - 451 - Yet he was begyled, i-wys, - Through a wycked woman, - The pryoresse of Kyrkësly, - That nye was of hys kynne: - - 452 - For the loue of a knyght, - Syr Roger of Donkesly, - That was her ownë speciall; - Full euyll motë they the! - - 453 - They toke togyder theyr counsell - Robyn Hode for to sle, - And how they myght best do that dede, - His banis for to be. - - 454 - Than bespake good Robyn, - In place where as he stode, - ‘To morow I muste to Kyrke[s]ly, - Craftely to be leten blode.’ - - 455 - Syr Roger of Donkestere, - By the pryoresse he lay, - And there they betrayed good Robyn Hode, - Through theyr falsë playe. - - 456 - Cryst haue mercy on his soule, - That dyed on the rode! - For he was a good outlawe, - And dyde pore men moch god. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Here begynneth a gest of Robyn Hode. - - 1–12. _Printed without division of stanzas or verses._ - - 2^{2,3}. _Deficiency supplied from_ #b#. - - 4^1. gooe. - - 4^2. milsers. - - 4^3. yuch. - - 6^4. vnkoutg. - - 7^1. _lacking in all._ - - 8^4. .iij. messis. - - 9^3. The .iij. - - 9^4. all ther. - - 13^4. tillet. - - 15^4. mynge. - - 18^3. vnknuth. - - 32^3. ynought. - - 33^1. felsauntes. - - 37^1. wened. - - 38^3. Late _for_ Litell, _which all the others have_. - - 39^2. of _for_ haue. - - 39^3. but .xx.: _see_ 42^4. - - 41^1. nowne. - - 41^3. .xx. felinges. - - 46^2. in strocte. - - 46^3. And. - - 47^3. And. - - 47^4. haue bene. - - 50^{2,3}. _The verses are transposed._ - - 50^2. God had. - - 54^2. Vutyll. - - 66^3. to may. - - 68^4. Bo .xxviij. - - 70^4. To helpe: _cf._ 194^4. - - 77^3. betes. - - 78^2. clere. - - 79^3. .xij. - - 82^1. ou. - - 82^3. bernedtale. - - 83^3. for he. - - 83^4–118^3. _wanting_; _supplied from_ #b#. - - 119^1. a .M. - - 120^4. Eue_n_ .cccc. - - 121^2. thon. - - 123^4. Bi god ... on tree. _The tops of_ d _and of_ th, _and a - part of_ dy, _remain_. - - 124^1. Sir ... n of lawe. - - 124^2. _Only the top of_ N _remains_. - - 124^2–127^3. _wanting_, _being torn away_; _supplied from_ #b#. - - 128^2. Ha. - - 130^3. .cccc. li. - - 131^{1,3}. an .C. - - 131^3. aros we. - - 132^1. an ille. - - 132^3. Worked all. - - 133^{1,2}. He purneyed hym an. _Only a part of_ n _in the last - word remains_. Well harness. _Only a part of_ n _and the tops - of_ ess _remaining_. - - 133^3–136^3. _wanting; supplied from_ #b#. - - 138^2. Bnd. - - 143^1. louge. - - 143^2. doue. - - 150^4. tho thy. - - 160^3. Thougt: an C. - - 160^4. he be go. - - 161^3. And therfore. - - 162^2. gyne. - - 163^2. he wol be. - - 164^2. _read_ hyne? - - 165^3. anowe. - - 168^4. mountnauuce. - - 175^3. wasars. - - 179^2. sende the. _Perhaps_ sent the, _as in_ 384^2 (#b#). - - 180^1. abowe. - - 181^3. v myle. - - 182^2. Hnntynge. - - 183^3. Rrynolde. - - 185^3. vij. score. - - 187^1. shyrel. - - 199^1. this xij. - - 201^3. thy best. - - 202^3. scade. - - 206^1. Johū. - - 206^4. pray. - - 208^4–314^1. _wanting; supplied from_ #b#. - - 315^3. These xl.: with men. - - 321^3. welle. - - 330^1. fayles. - - 331^3. ryner. - - 333^3. an C. li. - - 339^3. myeles. - - 349^3. to thy. - - _From_ 349^4 _wanting; supplied from_ #b#. - -#b.# _Title-page_: Here begynneth a lytell geste of Robyn hode. _At the - head of the poem_: Here begynneth a lytell geste of Robyn hode - and his meyne, And of the proude Sheryfe of Notyngham. - - 2^4. y-founde. - - 3^3. Iohan: _and always_. - - 4^1. Scathelock. - - 4^3. no. - - 5^1. be spake hym. - - 5^3. yf ye. - - 6^1. hym _wanting_. - - 6^2. I haue. - - 6^3. that _wanting_. - - 6^4. vnketh. - - 7^1. _wanting._ - - 7^3. knygot or some squyere. - - 8^4. Thre. - - 9^2. The other. - - 9^3. was of. - - 9^4. all other moste. - - 11^3. that _wanting_: gone. - - 11^4. that _wanting_. - - 13^1. than _wanting_. - - 13^4. tylleth. - - 14^4. wolde. - - 15^4. ye _wanting_. - - 16^1. beholde: Ihoan. - - 16^2. shall we. - - 17^1. Robyn. - - 17^3. Scathelocke. - - 18^3. vnketh. - - 20. vnto. - - 20^2. yemen. - - 21^1. to _wanting_. - - 21^3. came there. - - 22^1. then was all his semblaunte. - - 23^1. hangynge ouer. - - 23^4. somers. - - 24^1. full _wanting_. - - 24^4. you. - - 26^1. is your. - - 26^3. is a. - - 27^2. all thre. - - 28^1. went that. - - 29^1. vnto. - - 29^2. gan hym. - - 30^2. thou arte. - - 30^3. abyde. - - 32^2. set tyll. - - 32^3. right _wanting_. - - 33^3. neuer so. - - 35^4. that _wanting_. - - 36^2. whan I haue. - - 38^3. Lytell Iohan: Robyn hode. - - 39^1. than _wanting_. - - 39^2. god haue. - - 39^3, 41^3. but .x. s. - - 40^1. thou haue. - - 40^4. len. - - 41^4. Not one. - - 42^4. halfe a. - - 43^2. full lowe. - - 43^3. tydynge. - - 43^4. inough. - - 44^4. clothynge: thynne. - - 45^1. one worde. - - 45^3. thou were. - - 46^2. in stroke. - - 46^4. hast thou. - - 47^1. of them. - - 47^3. An .C. wynter. - - 47^4. haue be. - - 49^1. within two or thre. - - 49^3. hondreth. - - 50^{2,3}. _The verses are transposed._ - - 50^2. hath shapen. - - 51^1. than _wanting_. - - 53^1. of Lancastshyre. - - 53^4. both. - - 54^1. beth. - - 56^2. What shall. - - 57^4. may not. - - 58^3. frendes. - - 59^2. knowe me. - - 60^4. had _wanting_. - - 61^2. Scathelocke and Much also. - - 62^1. frendes. - - 62^2. borowes that wyll. - - 62^4. on a. - - 63^1. waye: than _wanting_. - - 63^3. I wyll. - - 64^3. me _wanting_. - - 67^4. loke that it well tolde. - - 68^2, 74^1, 77^3, 83^2. Scathelocke. - - 68^4. By eyghtene. - - 69^1. lytell Much. - - 69^2. greueth. - - 70^4. To helpe. - - 71^2. many a. - - 72^2. it well mete it be. - - 73^1. And of. - - 73^2. lept ouer. - - 73^3. deuylkyns. - - 73^4. for _wanting_. - - 74^3. hym the better. - - 74^4. Bygod it cost him. - - 75^1. than _wanting_. - - 75^2. All vnto Robyn. - - 75^3. an hors. - - 75^4. al th_is_. - - 76^4. God leue. - - 78^2. clere. - - 80^3. Without. - - 81^1. lene. - - 82^1. went on. - - 82^2. he thought. - - 83^1. bethought. - - 87^1. _wanting._ - - 88^3. hondrde. - - 89^2. he is ryght. - - 98^1. _wanting._ - - 113^2. gan loke. - - 118^4. grete ye. - - 119^2. were thou. - - 121^4. Rewarde. - - 123^4. By god that dyed on a tree. - - 124^1. Syr abbot, and ye men of lawe. - - 128^2. of my. - - 128^3. not be. - - 130^3. got foure hondreth. - - 131^2. dyght. - - 132^3. I nocked. - - 133^{1,2}. - purueyed hym an hondreth men - Well harneysed in that stede. - - 135^1. _Qy?_ But at Wentbrydge ther was. - - 136^2. bulle I vp pyght. - - 137^2. in good fay. - - 137^3. that _wanting_. - - 138^3. frend bestad. - - 138^4. I-slayne. - - 139^2. where that. - - 140^2. hondred: fere _for_ free. - - 145^2. shote. - - 146^1. shot. - - 146^2. sleste. - - 146^4. gan. - - 147^4. euer _wanting_: I me. - - 148^4. wan. - - 149^1. sir _wanting_: bore. - - 150^2. Wolte. - - 151^3. gete leue. - - 153^2. Ge gyue. - - 155^1. befell. - - 156^3. to _wanting_. - - 156^4. me to dyne. - - 157^2. so longe to be. - - 157^3. sir _wanting_. - - 157^4. gyue thou. - - 159^3. the _wanting_. - - 160^1. a rap. - - 160^2. yede nygh on two. - - 160^3. an .c. wynter. - - 160^4. wors he sholde go. - - 161^2. we_n_t vp. - - 161^3. there: made a. - - 161^4. and wyne. - - 163^1. _second_ John _wanting_. - - 163^2. whyle he. - - 164^3. an householde to. - - 165^3. to God _wanting_. - - 165^4. lyketh: me _wanting_. - - 166^1. and an. - - 167^1. ful _wanting_. - - 168^2. well _wanting_. - - 169^4. I me. - - 170^4. I-chaunged. - - 173^4. same day. - - 174^3. of full _wanting_. - - 175^3. and spones. - - 175^4. they none. - - 176^1. they toke. - - 176^3. dyde hym. - - 176^4. wode tre. - - 178^1. And also. - - 179^2. sende the: _cf._ 384^2. - - 181^1. hym there. - - 181^2. whyle. - - 181^4. at his. - - 182^2. hounde. - - 182^3. coud his. - - 184^3. syght. - - 185^1. I se. - - 185^3. an herde. - - 186^1. His tynde. - - 188^3. afore. - - 188^4. sir _wanting_. - - 189^4. now be trayed. - - 191^2. well _wanting_. - - 191^3. se his. - - 192^1. Make good. - - 192^4. lyfe is graunted. - - 193^2. a gone. - - 193^3. commaunded. - - 194^1. cote a pye. - - 194^2. well fyne. - - 194^3. toke. - - 195^3. They shall lay: sote. - - 196^1. laye that. - - 196^4. sydes do smerte. - - 199^1. All these. - - 200^1. Or I here a nother nyght sayd. - - 200^2. I praye. - - 200^3. to-morne. - - 201^3. the best. - - 201^4. That yet had the. - - 202^3. Thou shalt neuer a wayte me scathe. - - 203^2. or by. - - 204^1. haue: I-swore. - - 205^2. that he was gone. - - 205^3. had his. - - 206^4. pay. - - 207^4. trusty. - - 208^3. Scathelock. - - 209^3. after such. - - 210^{3,4}. - Or yf he be a pore man - Of my good he shall haue some. - - 214^4. these _wanting_. - - 215^2. frese our: leese your? dress your? - - 216^1. .lii.: men _wanting_. - - 218^2. you _for_ yon. - - 224^1. .lii. - - 231^4. serued them. - - 240^3. ryghtwysman. - - 240^4. his name. - - 242^1. art nade. - - 243^4. Also. - - 245^1. more sayd _wanting_. - - 247^4. hondred _wanting_. - - 267^1. gayne. - - 272^1. I toke it I twyse: _the second_ I _is probably a misprint_. - - 279^1. thy .cccc. li. - - 280^2. all of this. - - 283^3. all ther best. - - 284^1. all theyre best. - - 292^2. they slist. - - 293^2. acchers. - - 299^1. beut. - - 305^3. dede, _second_ d _inverted_. - - 314^4. walle. - - 315^3. These twelue: with me. - - 316^1. were _wanting_. - - 316^4. gan they. - - 317^2. vnto. - - 319^3. enemye. - - 319^4. Agayne the lawes. - - 320^2. dedes thou. - - 321^2. doth. - - 322^3. yode. - - 323^1. tolde. - - 323^4. That noble were. - - 324^1. He wolde: had. - - 324^3. He wolde. - - 325^1. woll: sayd the. - - 326^1. nowe _wanting_: thou proud sheryf: sayde our kynge - _wanting_. - - 326^2. the bydde. - - 329^4. Therfore. - - 330^1. fayled. - - 330^4. and by. - - 331^1. a wayted that. - - 331^4. let his. - - 332^3. hym home. - - 332^4. honde and fote. - - 333^2. on a tre. - - 334^1. harde _wanting_: This the lady, the. - - 334^2. and fre. - - 335^1. to the. - - 335^2. tre tre. - - 336^1. God the good: saue _wanting_. - - 336^3. lady loue. - - 337^1. Late thou neuer. - - 337^2. Shamly I slayne be. - - 337^3. fast I-bounde. - - 338^2. lady fre. - - 338^3. I take. - - 338^4, 339^1. _wanting._ - - 339^4. on your. - - 340^2. As a: be. - - 340^3. yonge men. - - 340^4. on a. - - 341^2. on a. - - 341^3. wode be. - - 341^1. Nor. - - 342^1. i bent. - - 342^3. spare. - - 343^2. The knyght. - - 343^4. I-quyt than. - - 344^4. gan. - - 346^2. so fast. - - 346^4. At is. - - 347^1. full _wanting_. - - 347^2. at his. - - 349^2. thou thryue. - - 349^3. to the. - - 351^2. his hoode. - - 356^2. vnder-stonde. - - 363^2. hane. - - 368^3. walked; _qy?_ walketh: by your. - - 371^4. blyth. - - 377^4. _repeats verse_ 2: Other shyft haue not we, _Copland and - Ed. White’s copies_. - - 381^4. I vouch it halfe on the. #f# _and_ #g#: I would geue it to - thee. - - 385^1. brode tarpe. _Copland and Ed. White’s copies_: seale _for_ - tarpe. - - 400^2. A wys. - - 401^4. the good whyte. - - 402^4. sore. - - 409^2. shote. - - 409^4. than they met. #f#, they gan: #g#, gan they mete. - - 412^{1,2}. _Copland and Ed. White_: sayd Robyn to our king, Vnder - this. - - 417^2. _Copland and Ed. White_: I wyll come. - - 421^3. had so I wys: _so Copland and Ed. White_. - - 423^1. Theyr bowes bente: _cf._ #f#, #g#. - - 433^2. .xii. - - 433^3. he had _in Copland and Ed. White_. - - 436^2. ferre: fayre _in_ #c#, _Copland and Ed. White_. - - 437^3. was commytted. _Copland and Ed. White_: was commended for. - - 440^1. bernysdade. - - 441^2. _Qy?_ No tymë slepe. - - 443^1. he so. - - 449^3. our dere _in_ #e#. - - 454^2. places. - - Explycit. kynge Edwarde and Robyn hode and Lytell Johan Enprented - at London in fletestrete at the sygne of the sone By Wynken de - Worde. - - a bode, a gast, a gone, a nother, a vowe, be fore, be gan, be - spake, for gone, i brought, launs gay, out lawes, to gyder, - vnder take, _etc., etc., are printed_ abode, etc., etc.; I wys, - i-wys; & and. - - _It will be understood that not all probable cases of ë have been - indicated._ - -#c.# - - 26^4. myche. - - 28^4. ere _for_ lere. - - 29^2. hym gan, _as in_ #a#. - - 29^3. he _wanting_. - - 30^3. a byde. - - 30^4. oures. - - 32^1. wesshe. - - 32^2. sat tyll. - - 32^3. ryght inough, _as in_ #a#. - - 33^3. non so lytell, _as in_ #a#. - - 34^2. Garmercy. - - 34^4. all this. - - 35^4. that _wanting, as in_ #b#. - - 36^2. it _wanting_. - - 37^2. Me thynke. - - 38^3. Lytell Johan, _as in_ #b#. - - 39^1. then sayd, _as in_ #a#. - - 39^2. haue parte of the. - - 39^3, 41^3. .x. s.. - - 40^1. haue, _as in_ #b#. - - 40^4. len, _as in_ #b#. - - 41^4. Not one, _as in_ #b#. - - 42^4. halfe a. - - 43^2. full lowe, _as in_ #b#. - - 43^3. tydynge, _as in_ #b#. - - 44^3. Myche, thyket. - - 45^1. one worde, _as in_ #b#. - - 45^3. were, _as in_ #b#. - - 46^1. haste be. - - 46^2. stroke. - - 46^3. And, _as in_ #a#. - - 46^4. hast led, _as in_ #a#. - - 47^1. nene of tho. - - 47^3. An .c. wynter. - - 47^4. haue be. - - 48^3. that syt. - - 49^1. this two yere, _as in_ #a#. - - 49^2. well knowe. - - 50^{2,3}. _order as in_ #a#, #b#. - - 50^2. hath shapen, _as in_ #b#. - - 51^1. than _wanting, as in_ #b#. - - 51^2. thou lose. - - 53^1. lancasesshyre. - - 53^4. bothe, _as in_ #a#, #b#. - - 54^1. bothe, _as in_ #a#. - - 56^2. shall fall, _as in_ #b#. - - 57^1. wher. - - 57^4. noo better, _as in_ #a#. - - 58^1. eyen _has fallen into the next line_ (eyen way). - - 58^3. frende, _as in_ #a#. - - 58^4. I ne haue noo nother. - - 59^1. the frendes. - -#d.# - - 280^2. all of this, _as in_ #b#. - - 281^4. full styll. - - 282^2. [her] keneth. - - 283^3. all thee beste. - - 284^1. all there beste. - - 286^3. ye _wanting_. - - 287^4, 288^{1,2,3}. _cut off._ - - 289^{1,2}. _transposed._ - - 290^3. I bent. - - 291^1. can bende. - - 291^4. as he. - - 292^1. shet. - - 292^2. they clyft. - - 293^1. Scathelocke. - - 293^2. good in fere. - - 295^4. then wolde. - - 296^2. can they. - - 296^3. the _wanting_. - - 297. _cut off, except_ ylde forest _in line_ 4. - - 302^2. on his. - - 302^3. go ne. - - 303^2. louest. - - 305^1. all out. - - 305^3. woundes depe. - - 306^{1–3}. _cut off._ - - 306^4. now _wanting: only the lower part of the words of this line - remains_. - - 307^2. vpon. - - 310^3. Robyn hode lente. - - 312^1. myche thanket he of the. - - 312^3. the grete. - - 314^4. walle, _as in_ #b#. - - 315. _nearly all cut away._ - - 317^2. herkeneth to. - - 319^3. enmye, _as in_ #b#. - - 319^4. lawes, _as in_ #b#. - - 320^2. [t]hou here, _as in_ #b#. - - 323^{3,4}, 324^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 324^3. He wolde, _as in_ #b#. - - 326^1. Goo home thou proude sheryf, _as in_ #b#. - - 326^2. the bydde, _as in_ #b#. - - 329^4. Therfore, _as in_ #b#. - - 331^1. wayted thys gentyll. - - 331^4. his haukes. - - 332^{3,4}, 333^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 334^2. and a, _as in_ #a#. - - 334^3. a _wanting_. - - 336^3. ladye loue, _as in_ #b#. - - 337^3. bounde, _as in_ #b#. - - 338^2. so _wanting_. - - 338^3. I take. - - 338^4, 339^1. _wanting, as in_ #a#, #b#. - - 339^4. _has only_ [y]our way. - - 340^2. be wode. - - 340^3. mery yonge men, _as in_ #b#. - - 340^4. on rode, _as in_ #a#. - - 341^2. _only_ [th]at dyed on _preserved_. - - 342. _wanting._ - - 343^4. then shall, _as in_ #b#. - - 344^4. can they, _as in_ #a#. - - 346^2. so faste, _as in_ #b#. - - 346^4. It is not, _as in_ #a#. - - 347^1. full godd, _as in_ #a#. - - 347^2. at wyll, _as in_ #a#. - - 349^2. thryue, _as in_ #b#. - - 349^3. to the struste. - - 350^2. bothe sharp. - -#e.# - - 436^2. Full fayre. - - 436^4. is gone. - - 437^3. cōmitted. - - 441^2. to slepe. - - 441^3. Nor of all. - - 441^4. Noutter ete nor. - - 442^1. longeth so sore to be in. - - 442^{3,4}, 443^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 446^4. donde. - - 447^2. can he. - - 447^3. outlawes in. - - 449^3. our dere. - -#f.# - - _Title_: A mery geste of Robyn Hoode and of hys lyfe, wyth a newe - playe for to be played in Maye games, very plesaunte and full of - pastyme. _At the head of the poem_: Here begynneth a lyttell - geste of Robyn hoode and his mery men, and of the proude Shyryfe - of Notyngham. - - _Insignificant variations of spelling are not noted._ - - 1^2. freborne. - - 2^4. yfounde. - - 3^2. lened vpon a. - - 3^3. stode _wanting_. - - 4^1. Scathelocke: _and always_. - - 4^2. mylners. - - 4^3. was no. - - 5^3. if ye. - - 6^1. hym _wanting_. - - 6^4. vnketh. - - 7^1. _wanting._ - - 7^3. or some squyer. - - 9^2. The other. - - 9^3. was of. - - 9^4. of all other. - - 11^3. that _wanting_: shall gone. - - 11^4. that _wanting_. - - 13^1. than _wanting_. - - 13^3. husbandeman. - - 13^4. with the. - - 14^4. That would. - - 15^4. ye _wanting_. - - 16^2. shall we. - - 16^3. farre. - - 18^1. Nowe walke ye vp vnto the Sayle. - - 18^3. vnketh. - - 18^4. By chaunce some may ye. - - 19^1. cearle _misprinted for_ earle. - - 19^3. hym then to. - - 20^1. went anone vnto. - - 21^1. loked in B. - - 21^2. deme (_for_ derne) strate. - - 21^3. there _wanting_. - - 22^1. drousli (droufli?) than: semblaunt. - - 23^1. hanged ouer: eyes. - - 23^4. on sommers. - - 24^1. full _wanting_. - - 24^4. are you. - - 25^3. you _wanting_. - - 26^1. is your. - - 26^3. is a. - - 26^4. haue I harde. - - 27^1. graunt the: wynde. - - 27^2. brethren all three. - - 28^1. went that. - - 28^3. eyes. - - 29^1. vnto. - - 29^2. gan hym. - - 29^4. downe on. - - 30^2. thou art. - - 30^3. you _wanting_. - - 32^3. right _wanting_. - - 33^3. fayleth neuer so. - - 33^4. was spred. - - 35^4. that _wanting_. - - 36^1. I thank the, knyght, then said. - - 36^2. when I haue. - - 36^3. By god I was neuer so gredy. - - 37^3. dere _wanting_. - - 38^3. Lytell John: Robyn hoode. - - 39^1. than _wanting_. - - 40^1. thou haue. - - 40^3. I shall lende. - - 41^4. Not any penny. - - 42^4. halfe a. - - 43^2. full lowe. - - 43^4. inowe _wanting_. - - 45^1. me one. - - 45^3. thou were. - - 46^1. Or yls els: haste by. - - 46^2. stroke. - - 46^4. thou _wanting_. - - 47^1. of them. - - 47^3, 49^3, 55^3, _etc._ hundreth. - - 48^2. hat be. - - 49^1. two or three yerers. - - 49^2. _wanting._ - - 50^{2,3}. _transposed._ - - 50^2. hath shopen. - - 50^4. god it amende. - - 51^1. than _wanting_. - - 51^2. lost thy. - - 52^3. wenters. - - 53^1. Lancastshyre. - - 56^2. What shall. - - 58^1. eyes. - - 58^3. frendes. - - 58^4. ne _wanting_. - - 59^2. knowe mee. - - 59^3. Whyles. - - 59^4. boste that. - - 60^4. had _wanting_: neuer me. - - 61^2. Much also. - - 62^1. frendes. - - 62^2. borowes: wyll. - - 62^3. than _wanting_. - - 62^4. on a. - - 63^1. than _wanting_. - - 63^3. I haue. - - 64^1. made me. - - 64^3. me _wanting_. - - 65^3. yf _wanting_. - - 67^4. it well tolde. - - 68^4. eyghten score. - - 69^1. lyttell Much. - - 69^2. greueth. - - 70^4. To wrappe. - - 71^2. muche ryche. - - 72^2. that well mete it. - - 73^1. And of. - - 73^2. lept ouer. - - 73^3. What the deuils. - - 73^4. for _wanting_. - - 74^1. lought. - - 74^3. hym the better. - - 74^4. By god it cost. - - 75^1. than _wanting_. - - 75^2. All unto R. - - 75^3. that knight an. - - 75^4. al this. - - 76^4. God lende that it. - - 78^1. shal. - - 78^2. clene. - - 78^4. out _wanting_. - - 79^4. Under the. - - 81^3. may stande. - - 82^2. he thought. - - 83^4. came. - - 84^1. spake the. - - 86^3. xij monethes. - - 87^1. _wanting._ - - 87^2. his lande and fee. - - 87^4, 95^4. Disherited. - - 89^2. is his. - - 89^4. sore. - - 91^3. came. - - 92^4. poundes. - - 93^3. The highe. - - 94^2. taken. - - 96^1. not _wanting_. - - 96^3. teme to. - - 98^1. _wanting._ - - 100^3. corese. - - 101^3. The shal. - - 102^4. saluted. - - 103^3. that the. - - 103^4. me my. - - 104^2. hath made. - - 105^4. To desyre you of. - - 106^4. defend me from. - - 111^1. then _wanting_. - - 112^2. Sende. - - 112^3. a assaye. - - 113^1. on then gan. - - 113^2. _wanting._ - - 115^4. canst not. - - 118^4. Ye get ye it. - - 119^2. were thou. - - 120^3. of _wanting_. - - 121^3. Haddest thou. - - 121^4. I would haue rewarded thee. - - 122^2. royall chere. - - 122^4. fast gan. - - 123^4. on a. - - 124^3. I shall. - - 128^3. not be. - - 129^2. is _wanting_. - - 129^4. came. - - 130^3. got. - - 131^2. stringes were well dyght. - - 132^3. And nocked y^e were with. - - 133^3. sute. - - 134^3. And rode. - - 135^1. But _wanting_: by a bridg was. - - 136^2. vp ypyght. - - 136^4. burnisshed. - - 137^2. in good fay. - - 137^3. that _wanting_. - - 138^3. fayre and frend. - - 139^2. where y^e he. - - 140^1. the _wanting_. - - 140^2. him in fere. - - 141^1. sholdreth and: come _for_ rome. - - 142^2. laye than. - - 142^4. And drynke. - - 143^4. the _wanting_. - - 145^2. shute. - - 146^2. alway cleft. - - 146^4. gan. - - 147^2. a _wanting_. - - 147^4. That euer I dyd see. - - 148^1. me thou. - - 148^3. thou wast. - - 148^4. wining. - - 149^1. sir _wanting_. - - 150^2. Wylt. - - 151^3. gete leue. - - 152^3. gaue to him anone. - - 153^2. He geue vs. - - 154^1. me _wanting_. - - 154^4. he had yete. - - 156^3. to _wanting_. - - 156^4. me meate. - - 157^1. to long. - - 157^2. Fasting so long to. - - 157^3. sir _wanting_. - - 157^4. geue thou. - - 158^4. had lere. - - 160^1. rappe. - - 160^2. backe yede nygh into. - - 160^3. lyueth an hundreth wynter. - - 160^4. worse he should go. - - 161^2. went vp. - - 161^3. And there: a _wanting_. - - 161^4. of _wanting_. - - 162^3. liue this. - - 162^4. shall ye. - - 163^1. and also dronke. - - 163^2. that he. - - 164^2. hyne, _perhaps rightly_. - - 164^3. an householde to. - - 164^4. For _wanting_. - - 165^3. to God _wanting_. - - 165^4. do lyke wel me. - - 166^1. a hardy. - - 167^1. ful _wanting_. - - 167^3. for _wanting_. - - 168^2. wel _wanting_. - - 169^4. I me. - - 170^4. Chaunged it should. - - 173^4. same day at nyght. - - 174^1. The hyed. - - 175^1. the _wanting_. - - 175^3. masers and. - - 175^4. they non. - - 176^1. they toke. - - 176^2. and three. - - 176^3. And hyed. - - 176^4. wode tree. - - 177^4. Welcome thou art to me. - - 178^1. And so is that good. - - 178^2. That thou hast brought wyth the. - - 179^2. And he hath send the. - - 179^3. His cope. - - 180^1. advow. - - 181^1. there _wanting_. - - 181^4. at his. - - 182^3. coulde his. - - 184^1. haue nowe. - - 185^1. I se. - - 185^3. of _wanting_: a. - - 186^1. tyndes be. - - 187^3. Buske the. - - 188^3. afore. - - 188^4. sir _wanting_. - - 189^3. worthe the. - - 189^4. now betrayed. - - 191^2. well _wanting_. - - 192^1. good chere. - - 192^4. lyfe is graunted. - - 193^3. commaunded. - - 194^1. cote a pye. - - 194^3. toke. - - 195^1. wight yemen. - - 195^3. shall: in that sorte. - - 196^1. that proude. - - 196^4. sydes do smarte. - - 197^1. chere _wanting_. - - 198^4. dwel longe. - - 199^1. these. - - 200^1. Or I here another nyght lye. - - 201^3. the best. - - 202^3. Thou shalt neuer wayte me skathe. - - 202^4. nor by. - - 203^2. by day. - - 204^1. swore. - - 204^2. he _wanting_. - - 204^4. was any man. - - 205^2. that he was gone. - - 206^2. Hode _wanting_. - - 206^4. pay. - - 209^1. walke _wanting_: into the. - - 209^3. And loke for some straunge. - - 209^4. By chaunce you. - - 210^2. a _wanting_. - - 210^{3,4}. _as in_ #b#. - - 211^1. sterte. - - 211^2. fraye. - - 212^1. went than vnto. - - 213^1. as he. - - 214^2. can. - - 214^4. these monkes. - - 215^2. And bende we. - - 215^3. harte. - - 216^1. but lii men. - - 218^2. Make you yonder preste. - - 220^1. An euell. - - 220^2. vnder the. - - 221^1. What hyght your. - - 222^2. shall sore rewe. - - 223^1. a bowe. - - 223^2. Redy. - - 223^4. gan. - - 224^1. twoo and fifty wyght yemen. - - 224^2. abode but. - - 226^2. whan he did se. - - 229^1. an. - - 231^1. The made. - - 231^4. serued them. - - 234^2. mote I thryue or the. - - 236^2. Ye nede not so to saye. - - 236^3. hath brought it. - - 237^1. And _wanting_. - - 238^1. broughte. - - 238^3. the eft agayne. - - 238^4. of me. - - 240^3. right wise. - - 241^2. mayest. - - 242^1. made _wanting_. - - 242^3. I do the thanke. - - 243^4. So mote I thryue or the. - - 244^2. not out one. - - 244^3. hast nede. - - 244^4. shall I: to _wanting_. - - 245^1. fyne more sayd. - - 245^4. Thereof I wyll haue. - - 247^1. John layd. - - 247^3. he _wanting_. - - 247^4. hundreth poundes. - - 248^4. cost. - - 249^2. that tolde. - - 249^3. the trust. - - 252^1. A_n_d she haue nede of ony. - - 256^1. And what is on the other courser. - - 256^2. sothe we must. - - 256^3. than _wanting_. - - 259^4. _second_ in _wanting_. - - 263^1. light fro his. - - 263^2. can. - - 263^3. Right curteysly. - - 265^1. good Robin. - - 266^4. They would. - - 267^1. agayne. - - 267^3. than sayd. - - 267^4. that _wanting_. - - 268^1. no grefe: _printed in two lines_. - - 268^3. dyd helpe. - - 269^1. Now, by my treuthe than sayd. - - 269^2. For that, knight, thanke. - - 270^1. poundes. - - 270^3. there. - - 270^{3,4}. _printed in one line._ - - 271^1. than _wanting_. - - 271^3. her high. - - 272^1. And I should take: twyse. - - 272^4. thou art. - - 273^1. And whan. - - 273^2. laughed and made. - - 274^4. Under this trusty. - - 275^2. fethered. - - 275^3. gentyl knyght. - - 276^2. My wyll done that it be. - - 277^3. bye the a hors. - - 277^4. the _for_ thy (_as_ me, be _for_ my, by). - - 279^2. I dyd lende. - - 280^2. of all his. - - 280^3. sytteth. - - 283^3. they that shote al of the best. - - 283^4. The best. - - 284^1. al of the best. - - 284^3. of goodly. - - 285^3. fethers. - - 286^2. his trusty. - - 286^3, 288^3. wyght yemen. - - 287^1. mery yemen. - - 287^3. I shall knowe. - - 288^2. Their arowes fethere free. - - 289^3. archers. - - 289^4. shote. - - 291^1. can. - - 292^2. he clefte. - - 292^4. the lylly white. - - 294^1. Whan that. - - 294^3. than was. - - 294^4. good Robin. - - 295^1. To him. - - 295^3. gyft full. - - 295^4. than would. - - 296^2. gan the. - - 297^2. Thus chering. - - 297^3. Another promyse thou made to me. - - 297^4. Within the wylde. - - 298^1. And I had y^e in the gr[e]ne forest. - - 298^2. trusty tree. - - 298^3. me leue. - - 300^4. away belyue. - - 301^4. Amonge the. - - 302^1. John he was hort. - - 302^2. in the. - - 303^2. loues. - - 304^4. nowe to. - - 305^2. smite thou of. - - 305^3. woundes so wyde and longe. - - 305^4. That I after eate no breade. - - 306^1. that _wanting_. - - 306^2. slayne. - - 306^4. Though I had it all by me. - - 307^1. forbyd that: Much then. - - 307^4. Depart. - - 308^4. another a whyle. - - 312^1. I do the thankes for thy comfort. - - 312^{2,3}. And for. - - 313^1. all the. - - 314^1. Shutte. - - 314^4. wall. - - 315^1. the hote. - - 315^3. Thou shalt these xij dayes abide. - - 316^2. Redye. - - 316^4. gan. - - 317^2. vnto the. - - 317^3. Howe the proude shirife began. - - 319^1. can. - - 319^3. kepest there. - - 319^4. lawes. - - 320^4. am true. - - 321^2. do ye no more vnto. - - 322^3. he went. - - 323^4. That noble were and. - - 324^1. He wolde: had. - - 324^3. He wold. - - 325^1. the kynge. - - 326^1. Go home, thou proude sheryfe. - - 326^2. the bydde. - - 329^4. Therfore. - - 330^1. Ther he. - - 330^3. that gentyl. - - 330^4. and by. - - 331^1. awayted that. - - 331^4. his hauke. - - 332^1. _misprinted_ To be. - - 332^3. him home to. - - 332^4. Ybounde. - - 333^2. on a tree. - - 333^4. robin hode had he. - - 334^1. Then the lady the. - - 334^2. a _wanting_. - - 335^1. to the. - - 335^3. There she found. - - 336^1. Robyn Hode. - - 336^3. ladyes loue. - - 337^1. Let thou. - - 337^2. to be. - - 337^3. bound. - - 338^2. so _wanting_. - - 338^3. ytake. - - 338^4. The proude shirife than sayd she. - - 339. _Only this_: He is not yet passed thre myles, You may them - ouertake. - - 340^2. a man: ben. - - 340^3. mery yemen. - - 340^4. on a tree. - - 341^2. on a tree. - - 341^{3,4}. And by him that al thinges maketh No lenger shall dwell - with me. - - 342^1. ybent. - - 343^2. The knight would. - - 343^3. And yf ye he may him take. - - 343^4. Yquyte than shall he bee. - - 344^4. gan the. - - 346^2. so fast. - - 346^4. That is. - - 347^1. full _wanting_. - - 347^2. at his. - - 349^2. may thou thryue. - - 349^3. to the. - - 349^4. thou wast. - - 351^1. start. - - 351^2. cut into. - - 354^4. and _wanting_. - - 355^1. them _for_ men. - - 356^2. vnderstode. - - 357^1. the compasse. - - 357^2. He wend. - - 358^2. a one. - - 358^3. fynde any. - - 359^4. eyes. - - 360^3. He should. - - 361^2. it with. - - 364^3. to no. - - 366^2. By halte. - - 366^4. And vsed. - - 368^2. That we be. - - 368^4. walked: by your. - - 369^2. on the. - - 369^4. I saye. - - 370^4. eyes. - - 371^1. hastely. - - 371^3. They were all in. - - 371^4. thyther blythe. - - 375^2. Standinge by. - - 376^1. toke _wanting_. - - 376^4. you. - - 377^4. Other shyft haue not we. - - 378^2. And good. - - 380^3. full _wanting_. - - 381^3. a. - - 381^4. I would geve it to the. - - 382^2. And deuyde it than did he. - - 382^3. Half he gaue to. - - 384^2. He hath sent. - - 384^3. to _wanting_. - - 384^4. and to. - - 385^1. brode seale. - - 385^2. lete me. - - 387^4. trusty tre. - - 388^1. he had. - - 388^4. fast was. - - 389^2. he can it. - - 389^3. wyght yemen. - - 389^4. Came runnyng. - - 391^2. pene. - - 392^1. hastely: dyght. - - 392^2. can. - - 394^4. Blessed may. - - 395^2. that thou. - - 395^3. maiest. - - 395^4. together by lente. - - 396^4. ben. - - 397^1. werd. - - 397^2. can the. - - 397^3. fifty space. - - 398^2. The. - - 400^{1,2}. A good buffet on his head bare, For that shalbe his - fyne. - - 400^3. And those: fell to. - - 401^4. the lilly white hande. - - 404^2. And than he. - - 405^4. syr _wanting_. - - 406^1. the kyng. - - 407^2. largely. - - 407^4. folded. - - 408^1. geue. - - 408^4. a tall. - - 409^2. can wel. - - 409^4. Togeder they gan. - - 410^1. Stedfastly in. - - 411^2. they sawe. - - 411^4. wele. - - 412^1. than sayd Robin. - - 412^2. this trusty. - - 412^4. for me. - - 413^1. And yet sayd good Robin. - - 413^2. As good god do me. - - 413^3. aske the. - - 413^4. I it. - - 414^1. than _wanting_. - - 414^2. Thy peticion I graunt the. - - 414^3. So y^t thou wylt leue. - - 415^1. syr _wanting_. - - 415^2. There to. - - 417^1. But and I lyke not. - - 417^2. I wyll. - - 417^4. I was. - - 418^2. now sell. - - 419^3. To sel to me. - - 420^1. for good. - - 420^3. And other. - - 421^1. his cote. - - 421^3. had so ywys. - - 421^4. They clothed them full soone. - - 422^3. shal we. - - 422^4. All this our kyng can. - - 423^1. The bent their bowes. - - 424^2. and as. - - 424^3. And all they shot. - - 425^4. kyng whan he did paye. - - 426^1. the kyng. - - 428^1. to the other can. - - 429^1. hastely. - - 430^2. them to come. - - 430^3. sawe. - - 431^4. of the. - - 432^3. Robin hode. - - 433^1. Robi_n_ hode: dwelleth. - - 433^3. That he had. - - 434^2. lay. - - 434^3. and squyers. - - 435^1. all gone. - - 436^4. wend. - - 437^3. commended for. - - 438^2. Alas what shall I do. - - 439^4. my. - - 440^4. And there would I faene be. - - 441^1. might no time this seuen nightes. - - 441^3. Neyther all this. - - 441^4. eate nor. - - 442^3. wolward haue I. - - 443^3. nyghtes. - - 446^3. I haue a lyttell lust. - - 447^2. can. - - 448^3. wyght yemen. - - 448^4. Came runnyng. - - 449^4. Under the. - - 450^1. dwelleth. - - 450^2. yeres. - - 450^3. Than for all. - - 452^2. Donkester. - - 452^3. _wanting._ - - 452^4. For euyll mot thou the. - - Thus endeth the lyfe of Robyn hode. - -#g.# - - _Title and heading as in_ #f#. - - 1^2. free borne. - - 1^4. yfound. - - 2^2. Whilst: on the. - - 3^2. leaned vpon a. - - 3^3. stode _wanting_. - - 4^1. Scathlock, _and always_. - - 4^2. milners. - - 4^3. was no. - - 5^1. bespake him. - - 5^3. if you. - - 6^1. hym _wanting_: Robin hood. - - 6^2. I haue. - - 6^3. that _wanting_. - - 6^4. vnketh. - - 7^1. _wanting._ - - 7^3. or some squire. - - 9^2. The other. - - 9^3. was of. - - 9^4. of all other. - - 10^1. he loued. - - 11^3. what way we: gone. - - 11^4. that _wanting_. - - 13^1. than _wanting_. - - 13^3. you: husbandman. - - 13^4. with the. - - 14^1. you. - - 14^4. That would. - - 15^1. These _wanting_. - - 15^4. ye _wanting_. - - 16^1. be _wanting_. - - 16^2. shall we. - - 17^2. goe with. - - 18^1. Now walke ye vp vnto the shore. - - 18^4. By chance some may ye meet. - - 19^3. him then. - - 20^1. went anon vnto. - - 21^1. looked in. - - 21^2. a deme. - - 21^3. came there. - - 22^1. All drouflye, _perhaps_ (_wrongly_) drouslye: semblant. - - 22^3. on the. - - 22^4. The other. - - 23^1. ouer his eyes. - - 23^4. on summers. - - 24^1. full _wanting_. - - 24^4. you. - - 25^3. you _wanting_. - - 26^1. is your. - - 26^3. is a. - - 26^4. haue I. - - 27^2. bretheren all three. - - 28^1. went that. - - 28^3. eyes. - - 29^1. vnto the. - - 29^2. gan him. - - 29^3. he did. - - 29^4. downe on. - - 30^2. thou art. - - 30^3. you _wanting_. - - 32^3. right _wanting_. - - 33^3. neuer so. - - 33^4. was spread. - - 35^4. that _wanting_. - - 36^1. I thanke thee knight then said. - - 36^2. when I haue. - - 36^3. By God I was neuer so greedy. - - 37^1. ere you. - - 37^2. Me thinke is. - - 37^3. dere _wanting_. - - 38^3. Little John: Robin hood. - - 39^1. than _wanting_. - - 40^1. thou haue. - - 40^4. I shall. - - 41^4. Not any peny. - - 42^4. halfe a. - - 43^2. full lowe. - - 43^4. inowe _wanting_. - - 45^1. one word. - - 45^3. thou wert: a _wanting_. - - 46^1. hast be. - - 46^2. stroke. - - 46^4. With whores hast thou. - - 47^1. of these. - - 47^3. An hundreth winters. - - 47^4. haue be. - - 48^1. of it. - - 48^2. disgrast. - - 49^1. Within 2 or 3 yeares: said he. - - 49^2. _wanting._ - - 49^3, 55^3, 67^3, _etc._ hundreth. - - 50^{2,3}. _transposed._ - - 50^2. hath shapen. - - 50^4. God it amend. - - 51^1. than _wanting_. - - 51^2. lost. - - 52^3. winters. - - 53^1. Lancashire. - - 54^1. landes be. - - 56^2. What shall. - - 58^1. eyes. - - 58^3. friends. - - 58^4. ne _wanting_. - - 59^2. a one: knowe me. - - 59^3. Whiles. - - 60^4. had _wanting_. - - 61^1. _misprinted_ ruthe they went. - - 61^2. Much also. - - 62^1. friends. - - 62^2. borrowes: will. - - 62^3. than _wanting_. - - 62^4. on a. - - 63^1. thy iest: than _wanting_. - - 63^2. I will. - - 63^3. will God. - - 64^1. made me. - - 64^2. doth _misprinted for_ both. - - 64^3. me _wanting_. - - 65^3. yf _wanting_. - - 65^4. faileth. - - 67^4. it well tolde. - - 68^3. tolde forth. - - 68^4. eighteene score. - - 69^1. little much. - - 69^2. grieued. - - 69^4. fallen. - - 70^4. To wrap. - - 71^2. much rich. - - 72^2. that well ymet it. - - 73^1. And of. - - 73^2. leped ouer. - - 73^4. for _wanting_. - - 74^1. full _wanting_: laught. - - 74^3. the better measure. - - 74^4. By God it cost. - - 75^1. than _wanting_. - - 75^2. All vnto R. - - 75^3. an. - - 75^4. all his good. - - 76^1. God lend that it be. - - 78^2. clene. - - 78^4. bring them. - - 79^3. months. - - 79^4. Vnder the. - - 81^3. the _wanting_. - - 82^2. he thought. - - 83^4. came. - - 84^1. spake the. - - 85^3. vpon _wanting_. - - 86^3. months: there _wanting_. - - 87^1. _wanting._ - - 87^2. land and fee. - - 87^4, 95^4. Disherited. - - 88^3. a. - - 88^4. lay it. - - 89^2. is his. - - 89^4. sore. - - 90^4. You doe him. - - 92^4. pounds. - - 93^1. and high. - - 93^2. Stert. - - 93^3. The high. - - 94^2. taken. - - 95^3. comes. - - 96^1. not _wanting_. - - 96^3. to them. - - 98^1. _wanting._ - - 100^3. best corse. - - 100^4. I _wanting_. - - 101^1. them to. - - 101^3. come there. - - 102^4. saluted. - - 103^4. me my. - - 104^2. hath made. - - 105^4. To desire of. - - 106^4. defend me against. - - 109^2. _wanting._ - - 110^3. thy lande. - - 111^1. then _wanting_. - - 112^2. Send. - - 113^1. on them. - - 113^2. _wanting._ - - 113^4. Step thee: of the. - - 116^1. tournaments. - - 116^2. farre that. - - 117^2. a _wanting_. - - 117^3. Or else: safely say. - - 118^4. Ye get not my land so. - - 119^1. thousa_n_d pound more. - - 119^2. were thou. - - 121^2. that _wanting_. - - 121^3. Hadst. - - 121^4. I would haue rewarded thee. - - 122^2. royall cheere. - - 122^4. gan. - - 123^2. to thee. - - 123^4. on a. - - 124^1. and you. - - 124^2. held. - - 128^3. had not. - - 129^2. is _wanting_. - - 129^4. came on the. - - 130^3. got. - - 132^3. And nocked they were with. - - 133^3. suite. - - 134^3. And rode. - - 135^1. As he went vp a bridge was. - - 136^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 136^3. with a. - - 137^2. in good. - - 137^3. that _wanting_. - - 138^3. friend bested. - - 138^4. Yslaine. - - 139^2. where that. - - 139^3. the yeoman. - - 139^4. the loue. - - 140^2. him in feare. - - 141^1. all _wanting_. - - 142^1. markes. - - 142^4. And drinke. - - 143^2. that the. - - 143^4. the _wanting_. - - 146^2. alway claue. - - 146^4. gan. - - 147^4. euer I did see. - - 148^1. me thou. - - 148^3. wast thou. - - 148^4. wonning. - - 149^1. sir _wanting_. - - 149^2. al _wanting_. - - 150^2. Wilt. - - 151^3. ye get leave. - - 152^3. to him anon. - - 153^2. He giue vs. - - 154^1. me _wanting_. - - 154^4. he had yet. - - 155^1. befell. - - 155^4. forgot. - - 156^2. the _wanting_. - - 156^3. to _wanting_. - - 156^4. me meat. - - 157^2. Fasting so long to. - - 157^3. sir _wanting_. - - 157^4. giue thou. - - 158^1. Shalt neither eat nor drinke. - - 159^1. was vncourteous. - - 159^2. on the. - - 160^1. a rappe. - - 160^2. backe yede nigh. - - 160^3. liueth: winters. - - 160^4. he still shall goe. - - 161^2. ope. - - 161^3. there: a large. - - 161^4. and wine. - - 162^1. you. - - 162^3. you liue this. - - 162^4. shall ye. - - 163^1. eat and also drunke. - - 163^3. in the. - - 164^1. my. - - 164^2. hine: _perhaps rightly_. - - 164^3. an housholde for. - - 165^3. to God _wanting_. - - 165^4. doe like well. - - 166^1. and a. - - 167^1. ful _wanting_. - - 167^2. toke _wanting_. - - 167^3. for _wanting_. - - 168^2. well _wanting_. - - 169^4. euer I saw yet. - - 170^4. changed it should. - - 171^4. we will. - - 173^3. ylke day at. - - 174^1. They hied. - - 174^2. they could. - - 174^3. full _wanting_. - - 174^4. euery one. - - 175^1. the _wanting_. - - 175^3. masers and. - - 175^4. they none. - - 176^1. Also they. - - 176^2. and three. - - 176^3. And hied them to. - - 176^4. wood tree. - - 177^3. And thou. - - 177^4. Welcome thou art to me. - - 178^1. And so is that good yeoman. - - 178^2. That thou hast brought with. - - 179^2. He hath sent thee here. - - 179^3. His cup. - - 180^2. And by. - - 181^1. there _wanting_. - - 181^3. he ran _wanting_. - - 181^4. at his. - - 182^2. hound. - - 182^3. could his. - - 183^1. saue thee. - - 183^2. you saue. - - 183^4. haue you. - - 184^1. haue now be in the. - - 185^1. I see. - - 185^3. of _wanting_. - - 186^1. tindes be. - - 187^1. my. - - 187^3. Buske thee. - - 188^2. A foote. - - 188^3. afore. - - 188^4. sir _wanting_. - - 189^3. worth thee. - - 189^4. nowe _wanting_. - - 190^1. Litell _wanting_. - - 191^2. well _wanting_. - - 192^1. Make good. - - 192^2. of _for_ for. - - 192^4. life is graunted. - - 193^1. had all. - - 193^3. commanded. - - 193^4. hose and shoone. - - 194^1. coate a pie. - - 194^3. tooke. - - 195^1. wight yeomen. - - 195^3. That they shall lie in that sorte. - - 196^1. lay that. - - 196^4. sides doe smart. - - 197^1. chere _wanting_. - - 198^4. dwell long. - - 199^1. All this. - - 200^1. Or I heere an other night lie. - - 200^2. I pray. - - 200^3. my: to morne. - - 200^4. _wanting._ - - 201^3. the best. - - 202^3. Thou shalt: wait: scath. - - 202^4. nor by. - - 203^2. or else by. - - 204^2. home againe to. - - 204^3. as _wanting_. - - 204^4. was any man. - - 205^2. that he was gon. - - 206^2. But Robin said. - - 206^4. pay. - - 207^3. dare sweare. - - 209^1. walke _wanting_: into the. - - 209^3. And looke for some strange. - - 209^4. By chance you. - - 210^2. a _wanting_. - - 210^{3,4}. _as in_ #b#, _excepting_ goods _for_ good. - - 211^2. in a fray. - - 212^1. went then vnto. - - 213^1. as they. - - 213^3. They were ware. - - 214^4. These monkes. - - 215^2. And bend we. - - 215^3. looke our. - - 216^1. hath but fifty and two man. - - 216^4. royall. - - 217^1. Bretheren. - - 218^2. Make you yonder priest. - - 220^1. An. - - 221^1. What hight your. - - 222^2. sore rue. - - 223^1. a bowe. - - 223^2. Ready. - - 223^4. ground he gan. - - 224^1. two and fiftie wight yeomen. - - 224^2. abode but. - - 225^3. Hode _wanting_. - - 226^1. downe. - - 226^2. when he did. - - 226^4. let it. - - 229^1. blowe we. - - 231^4. serued him. - - 232^3. you. - - 234^2. So mote I thriue of thee. - - 236^2. You neede not so to say. - - 236^3. hath brought it. - - 237^1. And _wanting_. - - 238^1. hast the mony brought. - - 238^3. eft againe. - - 238^4. need of. - - 240^1. my. - - 241^2. not denay. - - 242^1. made _wanting_. - - 242^3. I doe thee thanke. - - 243^2. Truth. - - 243^4. So mought I thriue and thee. - - 244^2. not take one. - - 244^3. hast need of. - - 244^4. shall I: to _wanting_. - - 245^1. finde more said. - - 245^3. spending-money. - - 245^4. Thereof I will haue. - - 246^4. penny let me. - - 247^1. John laid. - - 247^2. he _wanting_. - - 247^4. Eight hundreth. - - 248^3. true now. - - 248^4. cost. - - 249^2. Monke that. - - 251^1. and to. - - 251^3. need of. - - 252^1. haue need of any. - - 256^1. And what is in y^e other coffer. - - 256^2. we must. - - 256^3. than _wanting_. - - 258^2. he _wanting_. - - 259^4. or D. - - 263^1. light from his. - - 263^2. can. - - 263^3. Right _for_ So: down. - - 265^1. bespake good Robin: Hode _wanting_. - - 266^3. For _wanting_. - - 266^4. They would. - - 267^3. then said. - - 267^4. And that. - - 268^1. take no griefe. - - 268^3. did I helpe. - - 268^4. they put. - - 269^1. Now by my truth then. - - 269^2. For that knight thanke. - - 270^1. than _wanting_. - - 270^3. there is: also _wanting_. - - 271^1. then said. - - 271^3. her hie. - - 272^1. And I should take it twice. - - 272^2. for me. - - 273^1. And when. - - 273^2. He laughed and made. - - 274^4. this trusty. - - 275^1. do he said. - - 275^2. fethered. - - 275^3. the gentle. - - 276^2. My will doone that it be. - - 276^3. Go and fetch me foure: pounds. - - 277^3. buye thee. - - 278^3. shalt not. - - 278^4. Whilste I. - - 279^1. well for. - - 279^2. I did send. - - 280^2. of all his. - - 280^3. sitteth. - - 281^1. take. - - 281^2. wend. - - 283^3. And they that shoote all of the best. - - 283^4. The best. - - 284^1. all of the best. - - 284^3. of goodly. - - 285^1. he should. - - 285^3. and feathers. - - 285^4. the like. - - 286^2. his trusty. - - 286^3. ye ready you wight yeomen. - - 287^1. merry yeomen. - - 287^3. I shall know. - - 288^2. Their takles. - - 288^3. of _wanting_: wight yeomen. - - 289^3. were: archers. - - 289^4. shot. - - 291^1. The first. - - 291^4. the buttes where. - - 292^2. he claue. - - 292^4. lilly-white. - - 293^4. they would. - - 294^3. then was. - - 295^1. To him. - - 295^3. guift full. - - 295^4. then would. - - 296^2. A great horn gan he. - - 297^1. be to thee. - - 297^2. Thus cheering. - - 297^3. An other promise thou madest to me. - - 297^4. Within the greene. - - 298^1. But and I had thee there againe. - - 298^2. the trusty. - - 298^3. giue me. - - 299^3. was torne. - - 300^4. away beliue. - - 301^1. broke. - - 301^4. the _for_ that. - - 302^1. he was. - - 302^2. on the knee. - - 303^2. you loued. - - 305^2. thou off. - - 305^3. wounds so wide and long. - - 305^4. That I after eat no bread. - - 306^1. that _wanting_. - - 306^2. wert slaine. - - 306^4. Though I had it all by me. - - 307^1. forbid that: Much then. - - 307^4. Depart. - - 308^3. he set. - - 310^2. of the. - - 311^3. be thou _wanting_. - - 312^1. I do thee thanke for. - - 312^{2,3}. And for. - - 313^1. all the. - - 314^4. the wall. - - 315^1. thee hite. - - 315^2. And sweare. - - 315^3. Thou shalt these twelue daies abide with me. - - 316^2. Ready and. - - 316^4. gan. - - 317^2. hearken vnto the. - - 317^3. sheriffe began. - - 319^3. there: enemies. - - 319^4. all law. - - 320^1. what I. - - 320^4. a _wanting_. - - 321^2. doe ye. - - 321^3. you wit your. - - 322^3. he went. - - 323^4. noble were and. - - 324^1. He would: had. - - 324^3. He would. - - 325^1. said the. - - 325^4. will I. - - 326^1. Goe home thou proude: sayde our kynge _wanting_. - - 326^2. I you bid. - - 329^4. Therefore had. - - 330^1. there he. - - 330^3. that gentle. - - 331^1. Euer awaited that. - - 331^2. of the. - - 331^4. his hauke. - - 332^1. To betray this gentle knight. - - 332^3. him home. - - 332^4. Ybound. - - 333^2. on a tree. - - 333^3. had rather then a. - - 333^4. That Robin hood had hee. - - 334^1. Then the lady the. - - 334^2. a _wanting_. - - 335^1. to the. - - 335^3. There found she. - - 335^4. merry menye. - - 336^3. loue _for_ sake. - - 337^1. Let thou. - - 337^3. bound. - - 338^2. so _wanting_. - - 338^3. thy lord ytake. - - 338^4. The proud sheriffe then said she. - - 339. - he is not yet passed three miles, - you may them ouertake: - - 340. - Vp then start good Robin - as a man that has been wake: - Buske ye, my merry yeomen, - for him that dyed on a tree. - - 341^2. on a tree. - - 341^3. And by him that all things maketh. - - 341^4. shall dwell. - - 342^1. ybent. - - 342^2. More. - - 342^3. they spared none. - - 343^2. The knight. - - 343^3. if ye may him ouertake. - - 343^4. then shall he. - - 344^4. gan. - - 345^2. so fast. - - 345^4. thy boote. - - 347^1. full _wanting_. - - 347^2. at his. - - 349^1. the _for_ thou. - - 349^2. may thou. - - 349^3. to thee. - - 350^3. it on. - - 350^4. driue. - - 351^2. cut in. - - 353^2. leasind. - - 354^4. hode if. - - 355^1. them _for_ men. - - 356^2. vnderstood. - - 356^4. all the knights land. - - 357^1. The compasse of. - - 357^2. wend. - - 358^2. many a one. - - 358^3. finde any. - - 359^4. eyes. - - 360^2. vnto. - - 360^3. He should. - - 360^4. of _for_ at. - - 361^2. it with. - - 362^3. O my. - - 364^2. his best. - - 364^3. to no. - - 366^2. halt. - - 366^3. he slew. - - 366^4. And vsed. - - 368^2. now be. - - 368^3. by your. - - 368^4. a monks. - - 369^1. lodesman. - - 369^2. on the. - - 369^4. come at. - - 370^4. eyes. - - 371^1. hastily. - - 371^3. They were all: monks weeds. - - 371^4. thither blithe. - - 372^4. to _wanting_. - - 374^1. sommer. - - 374^3. Vntill. - - 375^2. by the. - - 376^3. sayd _wanting_. - - 376^4. you. - - 377^4. Other shift haue not wee. - - 378^2. good _for_ gold. - - 380^3. full _wanting_. - - 381^1. I _wanting_. - - 381^3. an. - - 381^4. I would giue it to thee. - - 382^2. And deuided it then did he. - - 382^3. Halfe he gaue to. - - 382^4. to _wanting_. - - 383^2. Syr _wanting_. - - 384^2. He hath sent. - - 385^1. broad seale. - - 386^3. be my. - - 387^1. tyding. - - 387^4. the trusty. - - 388^1. he had. - - 388^4. full was fast. - - 389^2. gan it. - - 389^3. wight yeomen. - - 389^4. running _for_ redy. - - 392^1. hastily: dight. - - 392^2. can. - - 393^4. the good ale browne. - - 394^4. may thou. - - 395^1. I _for_ we. - - 395^2. Or that. - - 395^3. maist. - - 395^4. be lend. - - 396^4. beene. - - 397^2. can. - - 400^{1,2}. A good buffet on his head beare for this shall be his - fine. - - 400^3. And those: fell in. - - 401^2. claue. - - 401^4. lilly white. - - 403^2. Fore: freends faire. - - 403^3. of _wanting_. - - 404^2. then _for_ thus. - - 405^4. syr _wanting_. - - 406^1. said y^e. - - 406^2. be _for_ by, _as often_. - - 407^2. largely. - - 407^4. folded. - - 408^4. a tall frier. - - 409^2. can. - - 409^4. gan they meet. - - 410^2. Stedfast in. - - 411^1. the said! - - 411^2. sawe. - - 412^1. said Robin to. - - 412^2. this trusty. - - 412^4. and for mee. - - 413^1. And yet said good R. - - 413^2. As good God do me. - - 413^3. aske thee. - - 413^4. I it. - - 414^1. than _wanting_. - - 414^2. Thy petition I graunt thee. - - 414^3. So that thou wilt leaue. - - 415^1. syr _wanting_. - - 415^2. There to dwell. - - 417^1. But and I like not. - - 417^2. I will. - - 417^4. I was. - - 418^2. nowe _wanting_. - - 419^3. To sell. - - 421^1. his cote. - - 421^3. had so ywis. - - 421^4. They clothed them full. - - 422^2. the gray. - - 422^3. Now shall we. - - 422^4. All this: can. - - 423^1. They bent their. - - 424^3. And all they. - - 425^4. king when he did pay. - - 426^1. said the. - - 426^4. I shot. - - 428^1. togither can. - - 428^4. leaueth not one. - - 429^1. hastely. - - 430^2. to come againe. - - 430^3. saw our. - - 431^4. of the. - - 432^3. Robin hood. - - 433^1. Robin hood dwelled. - - 433^3. That he had. - - 434^3. and squires. - - 434^4. a great. - - 435^1. gone. - - 435^4. hym _wanting_. - - 436^2. faire. - - 436^4. wend. - - 437^3. was commended for the. - - 438^2. Alas what shall I doe. - - 440^4. there would I faine be. - - 441^1. might no time this: nights. - - 441^2. one _for_ ne. - - 441^3. all this. - - 441^4. nor _for_ ne. - - 442^3. haue I. - - 443^3. nights. - - 446^3. I haue a little lust for. - - 447^2. can. - - 448^3. wight yeomen. - - 448^4. running _for_ redy. - - 449^4. Vnder the. - - 450^2. yeeres. - - 450^3. Then for dred. - - 452^2. Dankastre. - - 452^3. _wanting._ - - 452^4. For euill: they thee. - - 455^3. good _wanting_. - - Thus endeth the life of Robin hood. - - - - - 118 - - ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE - - ‘Guye of Gisborne,’ Percy MS., p. 262; Hales and Furnivall, II, 227. - - -First printed in the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 1765, I, 74, -and, with less deviation from the original, in the fourth edition, 1794, -I, 81. Reprinted from the Reliques in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, I, 114. - -Robin Hood has had a dream that he has been beaten and bound by two -yeomen, who have taken away his bow. He vows that he will have -vengeance, and sets out in search of them with Little John. Robin and -John shoot as they go, till they come to the greenwood and see a yeoman -leaning against a tree, clad in a horse-hide, with head, tail, and mane. -John proposes to go to the yeoman to ask his intentions. Robin considers -this to be forward of John, and speaks so roughly to him that John parts -company, and returns to Barnsdale. Things are in a bad way there: the -sheriff of Nottingham has attacked Robin’s band; two have been slain; -Scarlett is flying, and the sheriff in pursuit with seven score men. -John sends an arrow at the pursuers, which kills one of them; but his -bow breaks, and John is made prisoner and tied to a tree. - -Robin learns from the man in horse-hide that he is seeking Robin Hood, -but has lost his way. Robin offers to be his guide, and as they go -through the wood proposes a shooting-match. Both shoot well, but Robin -so much the better that the other breaks out into expressions of -admiration, and asks his name. Tell me thine first, says Robin. “I am -Guy of Gisborne;” “and I Robin Hood, whom thou long hast sought.” They -fight fiercely for two hours; Robin stumbles and is hit, but invokes the -Virgin’s aid, leaps up and kills Guy. He nicks Guy’s face so that it -cannot be recognized, throws his own green gown over the body, puts on -the horse-hide, and blows Guy’s horn. The sheriff hears in the sound -tidings that Guy has slain Robin, and thinks it is Guy that he sees -coming in the horse-hide. The supposed Guy is offered anything that he -will ask, but will take no reward but the boon of serving the knave as -he has the master. Robin hies to Little John, looses him, and gives him -Sir Guy’s bow. The sheriff takes to flight, but cannot outrun John’s -arrow, which cleaves his heart. - -The beginning, and perhaps the development, of the story might have been -more lucid but for verses lost at the very start. Robin Hood dreams of -two yeomen that beat and bind him, and goes to seek them, “in greenwood -where they be.” Sir Guy being one, the other person pointed at must of -course be the sheriff of Nottingham (who seems to be beyond his beat in -Yorkshire,[81] but outlaws can raise no questions of jurisdiction), in -league with Sir Guy (a Yorkshireman, who has done many a curst turn) for -the capture or slaying of Robin. The dream simply foreshadows danger -from two quarters. But Robin Hood is nowhere informed, as we are, that -the sheriff is out against him with seven score men, has attacked his -camp, and taken John prisoner. He knows nothing of this so far on as -stanza 45^3, where, after killing Guy, he says he will go to Barnsdale -to see how his men are faring. Why then does he make his arrangements in -stanzas 42–45^2, before he returns to Barnsdale, to pass himself off for -Sir Guy? Plainly this device is adopted with the knowledge that John is -a prisoner, and as a means of delivering him; which all that follows -shows. Our embarrassment is the greater because we cannot point out any -place in the story at which the necessary information could have been -conveyed; there is no cranny where it could have been thrust in. It will -not be enough, therefore, to suppose that verses have dropped out; there -must also have been a considerable derangement of the story. - -The abrupt transition from the introductory verses, 1, 2^{1,2}, is found -in Adam Bell, and the like occurs in other ballads. - -A fragment of a dramatic piece founded on the ballad of Guy of Gisborne -has been preserved in manuscript of the date of 1475, or earlier.[82] In -this, a knight, not named, engages to take Robin Hood for the sheriff, -and is promised gold and fee if he does. The knight accosts Robin, and -proposes that they shoot together. They shoot, cast the stone, cast the -axle-tree, perhaps wrestle (for the knight has a fall), then fight to -the utterance. Robin has the mastery, cuts off the knight’s head, and -dons his clothes, putting the head into his hood. He hears from a man -who comes along that Robin Hood and his men have been taken by the -sheriff, and says, Let us go kill the sheriff. Then follows, out of the -order of time, as is necessary in so brief a piece, the capture of Friar -Tuck and the others by the sheriff. The variations from the Percy MS. -story may be arbitrary, or may be those of another version of the -ballad. The friar is called Tuck, as in the other play: see Robin Hood -and the Potter. - - ‘Syr sheryffë, for thy sakë, - Robyn Hode wull Y takë.’ - ‘I wyll the gyffë golde and fee, - This behestë þ_o_u holdë me.’ - - ‘Robyn Hode, ffayre and fre, - Vndre this lyndë shotë we.’ - ‘With the shote Y wyll, - Alle thy lustës to full fyll.’ - - ‘Have at the prykë!’ - ‘And Y cleuë the stykë.’ - ‘Late vs castë the stone.’ - ‘I grauntë well, be Seynt John.’ - ‘Late vs castë the exaltre.’ - ‘Have a foote be-forë the! - Syr knyght, ye haue a falle.’ - ‘And I the, Robyn, qwytë shall.’ - ‘Owte on the! I blowë myn horne.’ - ‘Hit warë better be vnborne.’ - ‘Lat vs fyght at ottrauncë.’ - ‘He that fleth, God gyfe hym myschauncë! - - Now I hauë the maystry herë, - Off I smytë this sory swyrë. - This knyghtys clothis wolle I werë, - And in my hode his hede woll berë. - Welle mete, felowë myn: - What herst þ_o_u of gode Robyn?’ - ‘Robyn Hode and his menye - W_i_t_h_ the sheryff takyn be.’ - ‘Sette on footë w_i_t_h_ gode wyll, - And the sheryffë wull we kyll.’ - - ‘Beholde wele Ffrere Tukë, - Howe he dothe his bowë plukë. - Ȝeld yow, syrs, to the sheryff[ë], - Or elles shall yo_u_r bowës clyffë.’ - ‘Nowe we be bownden alle in samë; - Frere [T]uke, þis is no gamë.’ - ‘Co[m]e þ_o_u forth, þ_o_u fals outlawë: - Þ_o_u shall b[e] hangyde and ydrawë.’ - ‘Now, allas! what shall we doo! - We [m]ostë to the prysone goo.’ - ‘Opy[n] the yatis faste anon, - An[d] [d]oo theis thevys ynnë gon.’[83] - -Ritson pointed out that Guy of Gisborne is named with “other worthies, -it is conjectured of a similar stamp,” in a satirical piece of William -Dunbar, ‘Of Sir Thomas Norray.’ - - Was never vyld Robeine wnder bewch, - Nor ȝet Roger of Clekkinsklewch, - So bauld a bairne as he; - Gy of Gysburne, na Allan Bell, - Nor Simones sonnes of Quhynfell, - At schot war nevir so slie.[84] - - Ed. John Small, Part II, p. 193. - -Gisburne is in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the borders of -Lancashire, seven miles from Clitheroe. - - He that had neither beene a kithe nor kin - Might haue seene a full fayre sight, 36^{1,2}, - -anticipates Byron:— - - By heaven, it is a splendid sight to see, - For one who hath no friend, no brother, there. - - Childe Harold, I, 40^{1,2}. - - -Translated, after Percy’s Reliques, by Bodmer, II, 128; La Motte Fouqué, -in Büsching’s Erzählungen, p. 241; Doenniges, p. 174; Anastasius Grün, -p. 103; Cesare Cantù, Documenti, etc., p. 799 (the first thirty-seven -stanzas). - - - 1 - When shawes beene sheene, and shradds full fayre, - And leeues both large and longe, - Itt is merrry, walking in the fayre fforrest, - To heare the small birds songe. - - 2 - The woodweele sang, and wold not cease, - Amongst the leaues a lyne: - And it is by two wight yeomen, - By deare God, _tha_t I meane. - - * * * * * - - 3 - ‘Me thought they did mee beate and binde, - And tooke my bow mee froe; - If I bee Robin a-liue in this lande, - I’le be wrocken on both them towe.’ - - 4 - ‘Sweauens are swift, m_aster_,’ q_uo_th Iohn, - ‘As the wind _tha_t blowes ore a hill; - Ffor if itt be neu_er_ soe lowde this night, - To-morrow it may be still.’ - - 5 - ‘Buske yee, bowne yee, my merry men all, - Ffor Iohn shall goe w_i_th mee; - For I’le goe seeke yond wight yeomen - In greenwood where the bee.’ - - 6 - Thé cast on their gowne of greene, - A shooting gone are they, - Vntill they came to the merry greenwood, - Where they had gladdest bee; - There were the ware of [a] wight yeoman, - His body leaned to a tree. - - 7 - A sword and a dagger he wore by his side, - Had beene many a mans bane, - And he was cladd in his capull-hyde, - Topp, and tayle, and mayne. - - 8 - ‘Stand you still, m_aster_,’ q_uo_th Litle Iohn, - ‘Vnder this trusty tree, - And I will goe to yond wight yeoman, - To know his meaning trulye.’ - - 9 - ‘A, Iohn, by me thou setts noe store, - And _tha_t’s a ffarley thinge; - How offt send I my men beffore, - And tarry my-selfe behinde? - - 10 - ‘It is noe cunning a knaue to ken, - And a man but heare him speake; - And itt were not for bursting of my bowe, - Iohn, I wold thy head breake.’ - - 11 - But often words they breeden bale, - _Tha_t p_ar_ted Robin and Iohn; - Iohn is gone to Barn[e]sdale, - The gates he knowes eche one. - - 12 - And when hee came to Barnesdale, - Great heauinesse there hee hadd; - He ffound two of his fellowes - Were slaine both in a slade, - - 13 - And Scarlett a ffoote flyinge was, - Ou_er_ stockes and stone, - For the sheriffe w_i_th seuen score men - Fast after him is gone. - - 14 - ‘Yett one shoote I’le shoote,’ sayes Litle Iohn, - ‘W_i_th Crist his might and mayne; - I’le make yond fellow _tha_t flyes soe fast - To be both glad and ffaine.’ - - 15 - Iohn bent vp a good veiwe bow, - And ffetteled him to shoote; - The bow was made of a tender boughe, - And fell downe to his foote. - - 16 - ‘Woe worth thee, wicked wood,’ sayd Litle Iohn, - ‘_Tha_t ere thou grew on a tree! - Ffor this day thou art my bale, - My boote when thou shold bee!’ - - 17 - This shoote it was but looselye shott, - The arrowe flew in vaine, - And it mett one of the sheriffes men; - Good W_illia_m a Trent was slaine. - - 18 - It had beene better for W_illia_m a Trent - To hange vpon a gallowe - Then for to lye in the greenwoode, - There slaine w_i_th an arrowe. - - 19 - And it is sayd, when men be mett, - Six can doe more then three: - And they haue tane Litle Iohn, - And bound him ffast to a tree. - - 20 - ‘Thou shalt be drawen by dale and downe,’ q_uo_th the sheriffe, - ‘And hanged hye on a hill:’ - ‘But thou may ffayle,’ q_uo_th Litle Iohn, - ‘If itt be Christs owne will.’ - - 21 - Let vs leaue talking of Litle Iohn, - For hee is bound fast to a tree, - And talke of Guy and Robin Hood, - In the green woode where they bee. - - 22 - How these two yeomen together they mett, - Vnder the leaues of lyne, - To see what marchandise they made - Euen at that same time. - - 23 - ‘Good morrow, good fellow,’ q_uo_th S_i_r Guy; - ‘Good morrow, good ffellow,’ q_uo_th hee; - ‘Methinkes by this bow thou beares in thy hand, - A good archer thou seems to bee.’ - - 24 - ‘I am wilfull of my way,’ q_uo_th S_i_r Guye, - ‘And of my morning tyde:’ - ‘I’le lead thee through the wood,’ q_uo_th Robin, - ‘Good ffellow, I’le be thy guide.’ - - 25 - ‘I seeke an outlaw,’ q_uo_th S_i_r Guye, - ‘Men call him Robin Hood; - I had rather meet w_i_th him vpon a day - Then forty pound of golde.’ - - 26 - ‘If you tow mett, itt wold be seene whether were better - Afore yee did p_ar_t awaye; - Let vs some other pastime find, - Good ffellow, I thee pray. - - 27 - ‘Let vs some other masteryes make, - And wee will walke in the woods euen; - Wee may chance mee[t] w_i_th Robin Hoode - Att some vnsett steven.’ - - 28 - They cutt them downe the sum_m_er shroggs - W_hi_ch grew both vnder a bryar, - And sett them three score rood in twinn, - To shoote the prickes full neare. - - 29 - ‘Leade on, good ffellow,’ sayd S_i_r Guye, - ‘Lead on, I doe bidd thee:’ - ‘Nay, by my faith,’ q_uo_th Robin Hood, - ‘The leader thou shalt bee.’ - - 30 - The first good shoot _tha_t Robin ledd - Did not shoote an inch the pricke ffroe; - Guy was an archer good enoughe, - But he cold neere shoote soe. - - 31 - The second shoote S_i_r Guy shott, - He shott w_i_thin the garlande; - But Robin Hoode shott it better then hee, - For he cloue the good pricke-wande. - - 32 - ‘Gods blessing on thy heart!’ sayes Guye, - ‘Goode ffellow, thy shooting is goode; - For an thy hart be as good as thy hands, - Thou were better then Robin Hood. - - 33 - ‘Tell me thy name, good ffellow,’ q_uo_th Guy, - ‘Vnder the leaues of lyne:’ - ‘Nay, by my faith,’ q_uo_th good Robin, - ‘Till thou haue told me thine.’ - - 34 - ‘I dwell by dale and downe,’ q_uo_th Guye, - ‘And I haue done many a curst turne; - And he _tha_t calles me by my right name - Calles me Guye of good Gysborne.’ - - 35 - ‘My dwelling is in the wood,’ sayes Robin; - ‘By thee I set right nought; - My name is Robin Hood of Barnesdale, - A ffellow thou has long sought.’ - - 36 - He _tha_t had neither beene a kithe nor kin - Might haue seene a full fayre sight, - To see how together these yeomen went, - W_i_th blades both browne and bright. - - 37 - To haue seene how these yeomen together foug[ht], - Two howers of a sum_m_ers day; - Itt was neither Guy nor Robin Hood - _Tha_t ffettled them to flye away. - - 38 - Robin was reacheles on a roote, - And stumbled at _tha_t tyde, - And Guy was quicke and nimble w_i_th-all, - And hitt him ore the left side. - - 39 - ‘Ah, deere Lady!’ sayd Robin Hoode, - ‘Thou art both mother and may! - I thinke it was neu_er_ mans destinye - To dye before his day.’ - - 40 - Robin thought on Our Lady deere, - And soone leapt vp againe, - And thus he came w_i_th an awkwarde stroke; - Good S_i_r Guy hee has slayne. - - 41 - He tooke S_i_r Guys head by the hayre, - And sticked itt on his bowes end: - ‘Thou hast beene traytor all thy liffe, - W_hi_ch thing must haue an ende.’ - - 42 - Robin pulled forth an Irish kniffe, - And nicked S_i_r Guy in the fface, - _Tha_t hee was neuer on a woman borne - Cold tell who S_i_r Guye was. - - 43 - Saies, Lye there, lye there, good S_i_r Guye, - And w_i_th me be not wrothe; - If thou haue had the worse stroakes at my hand, - Thou shalt haue the better cloathe. - - 44 - Robin did off his gowne of greene, - S_i_r Guye hee did it throwe; - And hee put on _tha_t capull-hyde, - _Tha_t cladd him topp to toe. - - 45 - ‘The bowe, the arrowes, and litle horne, - And w_i_th me now I’le beare; - Ffor now I will goe to Barn[e]sdale, - To see how my men doe ffare.’ - - 46 - Robin sett Guyes horne to his mouth, - A lowd blast in it he did blow; - _Tha_t beheard the sheriffe of Nottingham, - As he leaned vnder a lowe. - - 47 - ‘Hearken! hearken!’ sayd the sheriffe, - ‘I heard noe tydings but good; - For yonder I heare S_i_r Guyes horne blowe, - For he hath slaine Robin Hoode. - - 48 - ‘For yonder I heare S_i_r Guyes horne blow, - Itt blowes soe well in tyde, - For yonder comes _tha_t wighty yeoman, - Cladd in his capull-hyde. - - 49 - ‘Come hither, thou good S_i_r Guy, - Aske of mee what thou wilt haue:’ - ‘I’le none of thy gold,’ sayes Robin Hood, - ‘Nor I’le none of itt haue. - - 50 - ‘But now I haue slaine the m_aster_,’ he sayd, - ‘Let me goe strike the knaue; - This is all the reward I aske, - Nor noe other will I haue.’ - - 51 - ‘Thou art a madman,’ said the shiriffe, - ‘Thou sholdest haue had a knights ffee; - Seeing thy asking [hath] beene soe badd, - Well granted it shall be.’ - - 52 - But Litle Iohn heard his m_aster_ speake, - Well he knew _tha_t was his steuen; - ‘Now shall I be loset,’ q_uo_th Litle Iohn, - ‘W_i_th Christs might in heauen.’ - - 53 - But Robin hee hyed him towards Litle Iohn, - Hee thought hee wold loose him beliue; - The sheriffe and all his companye - Fast after him did driue. - - 54 - ‘Stand abacke! stand abacke!’ sayd Robin; - ‘Why draw you mee soe neere? - Itt was neu_er_ the vse in our countrye - One’s shrift another shold heere.’ - - 55 - But Robin pulled forth an Irysh kniffe, - And losed Iohn hand and ffoote, - And gaue him S_i_r Guyes bow in his hand, - And bade it be his boote. - - 56 - But Iohn tooke Guyes bow in his hand— - His arrowes were rawstye by the roote—; - The sherriffe saw Litle Iohn draw a bow - And ffettle him to shoote. - - 57 - Towards his house in Nottingam - He ffled full fast away, - And soe did all his companye, - Not one behind did stay. - - 58 - But he cold neither soe fast goe, - Nor away soe fast runn, - But Litle Iohn, w_i_th an arrow broade, - Did cleaue his heart in twinn. - - * * * * * - - 1^1. When shales beeene. - - 1^4. birds singe. - - 2^1. woodweete. - - 2^3. by 2. - - 11^1. ball. - - 12^3. 2 of. - - 13^3. with 7. - - 15^1. veiwe. _The word is partly pared away._ - - 15^4. footee. - - 18^1. a william. - - 19^2. 6 can ... 3. - - 21^4. in they green. - - 22^1. these 2. - - 23^4. archer: _an_ e _has been added at the end_. _Furnivall._ - - 25^4. 40[li :]. - - 27^4. _a stroke before the_ v _of steven_. _Furnivall._ - - 28^3. 3 score. - - 31^1. 2[d :]. - - 32^3. for on. - - 37^2. 2 howers. - - 44^1. did on. - - 55^1. kniffee. - - - - - 119 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE MONK - - #a.# MS. of about 1450: Cambridge University Library, Ff. 5. 48, fol. - 128 b. #b.# One leaf of a MS. of the same age, containing stanzas - 69^3–72, 77^2–80^2: Bagford Ballads, vol. i, art. 6, British Museum. - - -#a# is printed from the manuscript in Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, II, -54, 1806; Hartshorne’s Ancient Metrical Tales, p. 179, 1829; Ritson’s -Robin Hood, ed. 1832, II, 221, collated by Sir Frederic Madden. Here -printed from a fresh transcript, carefully revised by Rev. Professor -Skeat. - -On a bright Whitsuntide morning, Robin Hood, not having “seen his -Savior” for more than a fortnight, resolves to go to mass at Nottingham. -Much advises that he take twelve yeomen with him for safety, but Robin -will have only Little John. They improve the time, while on their way to -church, by shooting for a wager. Robin scornfully offers John three to -one; but John nevertheless wins five shillings of his master, at which -Robin loses his temper, and strikes John. John will be his man no more, -and returns to the wood. Robin, sorry for this consequence of his bad -humor, goes on to Nottingham alone. A monk at Saint Mary’s church -recognizes Robin, and gives information to the sheriff, who comes with a -large force to arrest the king’s felon. Robin kills or wounds many of -the posse, but his sword breaks upon the sheriff’s head. In some way -which we do not learn, owing to verses lost,[85] Robin’s men hear that -their master has been taken. They are all out of their wits but Little -John. Mild Mary, he tells his comrades, will never forsake one who has -been so long devoted to her, and he, with her help, will see to the -monk. The next day John and Much waylay the monk, who is carrying -letters to the king conveying the tidings of Robin’s capture; they kill -him, take the letters, and carry them to the king themselves. The king -gives them twenty pounds for their news, and makes them yeomen of the -crown; he sends his privy seal to the sheriff by John, commanding that -Robin Hood shall be brought to him unhurt. The sheriff, upon receiving -the seal, makes John good cheer, and goes to bed heavy with wine. John -and Much, while the sheriff is sleeping, make their way to the jail. -John rouses the porter, runs him through,[86] and takes his keys, -unbinds Robin Hood, and puts a good sword in his hand; they leap from -the wall where it is lowest. The sheriff finds the jailer dead in the -morning, and searches the town for his captive; but Robin is in merry -Sherwood. Farewell now, says John; I have done thee a good turn for an -ill. Nay, says Robin, I make thee master of my men and me. So shall it -never be, answers John; I care only to be a comrade. The king hears that -Robin has escaped, and that the sheriff is afraid to show himself. -Little John has beguiled us both, says the king. I made them yeomen of -the crown, and gave them pay with my own hand! Little John loves Robin -Hood better than he does us. Say no more. John has beguiled us all. - -Too much could not be said in praise of this ballad, but nothing need be -said. It is very perfection in its kind; and yet we have others equally -good, and beyond doubt should have had more, if they had been written -down early, as this was, and had not been left to the chances of -tradition. Even writing would not have saved all, but writing has saved -this (in large part), and in excellent form. - -The landscape background of the first two stanzas has been often -praised, and its beauty will never pall. It may be called landscape or -prelude, for both eyes and ears are addressed, and several others of -these woodland ballads have a like symphony or setting: Adam Bell, Robin -Hood and the Potter, Guy of Gisborne, even the much later ballad of The -Noble Fisherman. It is to be observed that the story of the outlaw Fulk -Fitz Warine, which has other traits in common with Robin Hood ballads, -begins somewhat after the same fashion.[87] - -Robin Hood’s devotion to the Virgin, st. 34, is a feature which -reappears in Robin Hood and the Potter, Guy of Gisborne, Robin Hood and -the Curtal Friar, and above all in The Gest. His profound piety, as -evinced in stanzas 6, 7, and again in 8, 9 of The Gest, is commemorated -by Bower in a passage in the Scotichronicon, of about the same date as -the manuscript of the present ballad (1450), which we have every reason -to assume to be derived from a lost ballad.[88] Robin Hood had mass -regularly sung at Barnsdale, nor would he suffer the office to be -interrupted for the most pressing occasion. (We know from The Gest, st. -440, that he had a pretty chapel there, dedicated to Mary Magdalen.) One -day, while so engaged, he was informed that the sheriff and his men, old -foes of his, had tracked him to the very retired part of the forest -where the service was going on, and was urged to fly with his best -speed. This, for reverence of the sacrament, which he was then most -devoutly adoring, he utterly refused to do, and then, while the rest -were fearing for their lives, trusting in him whom he worshipped, fell -upon his enemies, with a few of his followers who had rallied to him, -and easily put them to rout. Enriched with their spoil and ransom, he -was led to hold the ministers of the church (but apparently not “bishops -and archbishops,” Gest, st. 15) and masses in greater veneration than -ever, mindful of the common saw, God hears the man who often hears the -mass.[89] - -There is a general resemblance between the rescue of Robin Hood in -stanzas 61–81 and that of William of Cloudesly in Adam Bell, 56–94, and -the precaution suggested by Much in the eighth stanza corresponds to the -warning given by Adam in the eighth stanza of the other ballad. There is -a verbal agreement in stanzas 71 of the first and 66 of the second.[90] -Such agreements or repetitions are numerous in the Robin Hood ballads, -and in other traditional ballads, where similar situations occur. - -Robin Hood’s rescue of Little John, in Guy of Gisborne, after -quarrelling with him on a fanciful provocation, is a partial offset for -Little John’s heart-stirring generosity in this ballad. We have already -had several cases of ballads in which the principal actors exchange -parts. - -That portion of ‘Robin Hood’s Death’ in which Robin Hood gets angry with -Scarlet, and shoots with Little John on his way to be let blood, may -have been transferred, at least in part, from Robin Hood and the Monk. - -It is hardly worth the while to ask whether the monk in this ballad is -the same who is pillaged in The Gest. So rational a suggestion as that -more than one monk must have fallen into Robin’s hands, in the course of -his long and lucrative career, may not be conclusive, but we may rest -certain that there were many Robin Hood ballads besides the few old ones -which have come down to us; and if so, there would be many variations -upon so agreeable a topic as the depleting of overstocked friars. - - -Translated, after Jamieson, by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske -Folkeviser, p. 148, No 24; by Anastasius Grün, p. 89. - - - 1 - In som_er_, when þe shawes be sheyn_e_, - And leves be large and long, - Hit is full mery i_n_ feyre foreste - To here þe foulys song: - - 2 - To se þe dere draw to þe dale, - And leve þe hilles hee, - And shadow he_m_ i_n_ þe levës grene, - Vnd_e_r the grene-wode tre. - - 3 - Hit befel on Whitsontide, - Erly in a May mornyng, - The son vp feyre can shyne, - And the briddis mery can syng. - - 4 - ‘This is a mery mornyng,’ seid Litull John, - ‘Be hym þ_a_t dyed on tre; - A more mery man þen I am one - Lyves not in Cristiantë. - - 5 - ‘Pluk vp þi hert, my dere mayst_er_,’ - Litull John can sey, - ‘And thynk hit is a full fayre tyme - In a mornyng of May.’ - - 6 - ‘Ȝe, on thyng greves me,’ seid Robyn, - ‘And does my hert mych woo; - Þ_a_t I may not no solem day - To mas nor matyns goo. - - 7 - ‘Hit is a fourtnet and more,’ seid he, - ‘Syn I my sauyo_u_r see; - To day wil I to Notyngham,’ seid Robyn, - ‘W_i_t_h_ þe myght of mylde Marye.’ - - 8 - Than spake Moche, þe myln_er_ sun, - Eu_er_ more wel hym betyde! - ‘Take twelue of þi wyght ȝemen, - Well weppynd, be þi side. - Such on wolde þi selfe slon, - Þ_a_t twelue dar not abyde.’ - - 9 - ‘Of all my mery men,’ seid Robyn, - ‘Be my feith I wil non haue, - But Litull John shall beyre my bow, - Til þ_a_t me list to drawe.’ - - 10 - ‘Þ_o_u shall beyre þin own,’ seid Litull Jon, - ‘Maist_er_, and I wyl beyre myne, - And we well shete a peny,’ seid Litull Jon, - ‘Vnd_e_r þe grene-wode lyne.’ - - 11 - ‘I wil not shete a peny,’ seyd Robyn Hode, - ‘In feith, Litull John, w_i_t_h_ the, - But eu_er_ for on as þ_o_u shet_is_,’ seid_e_ Robyn, - ‘In feith I holde þe thre.’ - - 12 - Thus shet þei forth, þese ȝemen too, - Bothe at buske and brome, - Til Litull John wan of his maist_er_ - Fiue shillings to hose and shone. - - 13 - A ferly strife fel þem betwene, - As they went bi the wey; - Litull John seid he had won fiue shillings, - And Robyn Hode seid schortly nay. - - 14 - W_i_t_h_ þ_a_t Robyn Hode lyed Litul Jon, - And smote hym w_i_t_h_ his hande; - Litul Jon waxed wroth þ_erw_it_h_, - And pulled out his bright bronde. - - 15 - ‘Were þ_o_u not my maist_er_,’ seid Litull John, - ‘Þ_o_u shuldis by hit ful sore; - Get þe a man wher þ_o_u w[ilt], - For þ_o_u get_is_ me no more.’ - - 16 - Þen Robyn goes to Notyngh_a_m, - Hym selfe mornyng allone, - And Litull John to mery Scherwode, - The pathes he knew ilkone. - - 17 - Whan Robyn came to Notyngham, - S_er_tenly w_i_t_h_outen layn, - He prayed to God and myld Mary - To bryng hym out saue agayn. - - 18 - He gos in to Seynt Mary chirch, - And kneled down before the rode; - Alle þ_a_t eu_er_ were þe church w_i_t_h_in - Beheld wel Robyn Hode. - - 19 - Beside hym stod a gret-hedid munke, - I pray to God woo he be! - Fful sone he knew gode Robyn, - As sone as he hym se. - - 20 - Out at þe durre he ran, - Fful sone and anon; - Alle þe ȝatis of Notyngham - He made to be sparred eu_er_ychon. - - 21 - ‘Rise vp,’ he seid, ‘þ_o_u prowde schereff, - Buske þe and make þe bowne; - I haue spyed þe kyngg_is_ felon, - Ffor sothe he is in þ_i_s town. - - 22 - ‘I haue spyed þe false felon, - As he stond_is_ at his masse; - Hit is long of þe,’ seide þe munke, - ‘And eu_er_ he fro vs passe. - - 23 - ‘Þ_i_s trayt_u_r name is Robyn Hode, - Vnd_e_r þe grene-wode lynde; - He robbyt me onys of a hundred pound, - Hit shalle neu_er_ out of my mynde.’ - - 24 - Vp þen rose þ_i_s prowd_e_ shereff, - And radly made hym ȝare; - Many was þe mod_er_ son - To þe kyrk w_i_t_h_ hym can fare. - - 25 - In at þe durres þei throly thrast, - W_i_t_h_ staves ful gode wone; - ‘Alas, alas!’ seid Robyn Hode, - ‘Now mysse I Litull John.’ - - 26 - But Robyn toke out a too-hond sworde, - Þ_a_t hangit down be his kne; - Þ_e_r as þe schereff and his men stode thyckust, - Thedurward_e_ wolde he. - - 27 - Thryes thorowout þem he ran þen, - For soþe as I yow sey, - And woundyt mony a mod_er_ son, - And twelue he slew þ_a_t day. - - 28 - His sworde vpon þe schireff hed - S_er_tanly he brake in too; - ‘Þe smyth þ_a_t þe made,’ seid Robyn, - ‘I pray to God wyrke hym woo! - - 29 - ‘Ffor now am I weppynlesse,’ seid Robyn, - ‘Alasse! agayn my wyll_e_; - But if I may fle þese traytors fro, - I wot þei wil me kyll.’ - - 30 - Robyn in to the churchë ran, - Throout hem eu_er_ilkon, - - * * * * * - - 31 - Su_m_ fel in swonyng as þei were dede, - And lay stil as any stone; - Non of theym were i_n_ her mynde - But only Litull Jon. - - 32 - ‘Let be yo_u_r rule,’ seid Litull Jon, - ‘Ffor his luf þ_a_t dyed on tre, - Ȝe þ_a_t shulde be duȝty men; - Het is gret shame to se. - - 33 - ‘Oure maist_er_ has bene hard bystode - And ȝet scapyd away; - Pluk vp yo_u_r hert_is_, and leve þ_i_s mone, - And harkyn what I shal say. - - 34 - ‘He has s_er_uyd Oure Lady many a day, - And ȝet wil, securly; - Þ_er_for I trust in hir specialy - No wyckud deth shal he dye. - - 35 - ‘Þ_er_for be glad,’ seid Litul John, - ‘And let þ_i_s mournyng be; - And I shal be þe munk_is_ gyde, - W_i_t_h_ þe myght of mylde Mary. - - 36 - . . . . . . . - ‘We will go but we too; - And I mete hym,’ seid Litul John, - . . . . . . . - - - 37 - ‘Loke þ_a_t ȝe kepe wel owre tristil-tre, - Vnd_e_r þe levys smale, - And spare non of this venyson, - Þ_a_t gose in thys vale.’ - - 38 - Fforþe þen went these ȝemen too, - Litul John and Moche on fere, - And lokid on Moch emys hows, - Þe hye way lay full nere. - - 39 - Litul John stode at a wyndow i_n_ þe mornyng, - And lokid forþ at a stage; - He was war wher þe munke came ridyng, - And w_i_t_h_ hym a litul page. - - 40 - ‘Be my feith,’ seid Litul John to Moch, - ‘I can þe tel tithyngus gode; - I se wher þe munke cu_m_ys rydyng, - I know hym be his wyde hode.’ - - 41 - They went in to the way, þese ȝeme_n_ boþe, - As curtes men and hende; - Þei spyrred tithyngus at þe munke, - As they hade bene his frende. - - 42 - ‘Ffro whens come ȝe?’ seid Litull Jon, - ‘Tel vs tithyngus, I yow pray, - Off a false owtlay, [callid Robyn Hode,] - Was takyn ȝist_e_rday. - - 43 - ‘He robbyt me and my felowes boþe - Of twenti marke in s_er_ten; - If þ_a_t false owtlay be takyn, - Ffor soþe we wolde be fayn.’ - - 44 - ‘So did he me,’ seid þe munke, - ‘Of a hundred pound and more; - I layde furst hande hym apon, - Ȝe may thonke me þ_er_fore.’ - - 45 - ‘I pray God thanke you,’ seid Litull John, - ‘And we wil when we may; - We wil go w_i_t_h_ you, w_i_t_h_ yo_u_r leve, - And bryng yow on yo_u_r way. - - 46 - ‘Ffor Robyn Hode hase many a wilde felow, - I tell you in certen; - If þei wist ȝe rode þ_i_s way, - In feith ȝe shulde be slayn.’ - - 47 - As þei went talking be þe way, - The munke and Litull John, - John toke þe munk_i_s horse be þe hede, - Fful sone and anon. - - 48 - Johne toke þe munk_i_s horse be þe hed, - Ffor soþe as I yow say; - So did Much þe litull page, - Ffor he shulde not scape away. - - 49 - Be þe golett of þe hode - John pulled þe munke down; - John was nothyng of hym agast, - He lete hym falle on his crown. - - 50 - Litull John was so[re] agrevyd, - And drew owt his swerde in hye; - This munke saw he shulde be ded, - Lowd mercy can he crye. - - 51 - ‘He was my maist_er_,’ seid Litull John, - ‘Þ_a_t þ_o_u hase browȝt in bale; - Shalle þ_o_u neu_er_ cu_m_ at our kyng, - Ffor to telle hym tale.’ - - 52 - John smote of þe munk_i_s hed, - No long_er_ wolde he dwell; - So did Moch þe litull page, - Ffor ferd lest he wolde tell. - - 53 - Þ_e_r þei beryed hem boþe, - In nouþ_er_ mosse nor lyng, - And Litull John and Much infere - Bare þe letturs to oure kyng. - - 54 - . . . . . . . - He knelid down vpon his kne: - ‘God ȝow saue, my lege lorde, - Ih_es_us yow saue and se! - - 55 - ‘God yow saue, my lege kyng!’ - To speke John was full bolde; - He gaf hym þe letturs i_n_ his hond, - The kyng did hit vnfold. - - 56 - Þe kyng red þe letturs anon, - And seid, So mot I the, - Þ_er_ was neu_er_ ȝoman i_n_ mery Inglond - I longut so sore to se. - - 57 - ‘Wher is þe munke þ_a_t þese shuld haue brouȝt?’ - Oure kyng can say: - ‘Be my trouth,’ seid Litull John, - ‘He dyed aft_e_r þe way.’ - - 58 - Þe kyng gaf Moch and Litul Jon - Twenti pound in s_er_tan, - And made þeim ȝemen of þe crown, - And bade þeim go agayn. - - 59 - He gaf John þe seel in hand, - The sheref for to bere, - To bryng Robyn hym to, - And no man do hym dere. - - 60 - John toke his leve at oure kyng, - Þe sothe as I yow say; - Þe next way to Notyngham - To take, he ȝede þe way. - - 61 - Whan John came to Notyngham - The ȝatis were sparred ychon; - John callid vp þe porter, - He answerid sone anon. - - 62 - ‘What is þe cause,’ seid Litul Jon, - ‘Þ_o_u sparris þe ȝates so fast?’ - ‘Because of Robyn Hode,’ seid [þe] porter, - ‘In depe prison is cast. - - 63 - ‘John and Moch and Wyll Scathlok, - Ffor sothe as I yow say, - Þei slew oure men vpon our wallis, - And sawten vs eu_er_y day.’ - - 64 - Litull John spyrred aft_e_r þe schereff, - And sone he hym fonde; - He oppyned þe kyngus p_ri_ue seell, - And gaf hym in his honde. - - 65 - Whan þe scheref saw þe kyngus seell, - He did of his hode anon: - ‘Wher is þe munke þ_a_t bare þe letturs?’ - He seid to Litull John. - - 66 - ‘He is so fayn of hym,’ seid Litul John, - ‘Ffor soþe as I yow say, - He has made hym abot of Westmynst_er_, - A lorde of þ_a_t abbay.’ - - 67 - The scheref made John gode chere, - And gaf hym wyne of the best; - At nyȝt þei went to her bedde, - And eu_er_y man to his rest. - - 68 - When þe scheref was on slepe, - Dronken of wyne and ale, - Litul John and Moch for soþe - Toke þe way vnto þe jale. - - 69 - Litul John callid vp þe jayler, - And bade hym rise anon; - He seyd Robyn Hode had brokyn p_ri_son, - And out of hit was gon. - - 70 - The porter rose anon s_er_tan, - As sone as he herd John calle; - Litul John was redy w_i_t_h_ a swerd, - And bare hym to þe walle. - - 71 - ‘Now wil I be porter,’ seid Litul John, - ‘And take þe keyes in honde:’ - He toke þe way to Robyn Hode, - And sone he hym vnbonde. - - 72 - He gaf hym a gode swerd i_n_ his hond, - His hed [ther]w_i_t_h_ for to kepe, - And ther as þe walle was lowyst - Anon down can þei lepe. - - 73 - Be þ_a_t þe cok began to crow, - The day began to spryng; - The scheref fond þe jaylier ded, - The comyn bell made he ryng. - - 74 - He made a crye thoroout al þe tow[n], - Whed_e_r he be ȝoman or knave, - Þ_a_t cowþe bryng hym Robyn Hode, - His warison he shuld haue. - - 75 - ‘Ffor I dar neu_er_,’ said þe scheref, - ‘Cu_m_ before oure kyng; - Ffor if I do, I wot s_er_ten - Ffor soþe he wil me heng.’ - - 76 - The scheref made to seke Notyngham, - Bothe be strete and stye, - And Robyn was in mery Scherwode, - As liȝt as lef on lynde. - - 77 - Then bespake gode Litull John, - To Robyn Hode can he say, - I haue done þe a gode turne for an euyll, - Quyte þe whan þ_o_u may. - - 78 - ‘I haue done þe a gode turne,’ seid Litull John, - ‘Ffor sothe as I yow say; - I haue brouȝt þe vnd_e_r grene-wod_e_ lyne; - Ffare wel, and haue gode day.’ - - 79 - ‘Nay, be my trouth,’ seid Robyn Hode, - ‘So shall hit neu_er_ be; - I make þe maist_er_,’ seid Robyn Hode, - ‘Off alle my men and me.’ - - 80 - ‘Nay, be my trouth,’ seid Litull John, - ‘So shalle hit neu_er_ be; - But lat me be a felow,’ seid Litull John, - ‘No nod_e_r kepe I be.’ - - 81 - Thus John gate Robyn Hod out of p_ri_son, - S_er_tan w_i_t_h_outyn layn; - Whan his men saw hym hol and sounde, - Ffor sothe they were full fayne. - - 82 - They filled in wyne, and made hem glad, - Vnd_e_r þe levys smale, - And ȝete pastes of venyson, - Þat gode was w_i_t_h_ ale. - - 83 - Than worde came to oure kyng - How Robyn Hode was gon, - And how þe scheref of Notyngham - Durst neu_er_ loke hym vpon. - - 84 - Then bespake oure cu_m_ly kyng, - In an angur hye: - Litull John hase begyled þe schereff, - In faith so hase he me. - - 85 - Litul John has begyled vs bothe, - And þ_a_t full wel I se; - Or ellis þe schereff of Notyngham - Hye hongut shuld_e_ he be. - - 86 - ‘I made hem ȝemen of þe crowne, - And gaf hem fee w_i_t_h_ my hond; - I gaf hem grith,’ seid oure kyng, - ‘Thorowout all mery Inglond. - - 87 - ‘I gaf theym grith,’ þen seid oure kyng; - ‘I say, so mot I the, - Ffor sothe soch a ȝeman as he is on - In all Inglond ar not thre. - - 88 - ‘He is trew to his maist_er_,’ seid our kyng; - ‘I sey, be swete Seynt John, - He louys bett_e_r Robyn Hode - Then he dose vs ychon. - - 89 - ‘Robyn Hode is eu_er_ bond to hym, - Bothe in strete and stalle; - Speke no more of this mat_er_,’ seid oure kyng, - ‘But John has begyled vs alle.’ - - 90 - Thus endys the talkyng of the munke - And Robyn Hode i-wysse; - God, þ_a_t is eu_er_ a crowned kyng, - Bryng vs all to his blisse! - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - _A curl over final_ n, _as in_ Robyn, John, on, sawten, _etc.; a - crossed_ h, _as in_ John, mych, _etc.; crossed_ ll, _as in_ - full, litull, well, _etc.; a hooked_ g, _as in_ mornyng, kyng, - _etc., have been treated as not significant. As to_ Robyn, _cf._ - 7^3, 11^{1,3}, 13^4, 14^1, _etc., where there is simple_ n; _as - to_ John, 10^{1,3}, 14^3, 31^4, _etc., where we have_ Jon; _as - to_ Litull, 14^{1,3}, 39^1, 68^3, 69^1, 70^3, 71^1, _where we - have_ Litul. And _is printed for_ &; be twene, be fore, be side, - be held, be spake, þer with, thorow out, with outen, _etc., are - joined_. - - 3^1. tide _no longer legible_. - - 7^1. seid h ..., _illegible after_ h. - - 8^{3,6}. xij. - - 10^1. þ^i nown. - - 12^4, 13^3. v s’. - - 14^1. lyed _before_ Robyn _struck through_. - - 23^3. of a C li. - - 27^1. thorow at: _but cf._ 30^2. - - 27^4. xij. - - 30^1. Robyns men to the churche ran: _Madden. There are no men - with Robin. “This line is almost illegible. It certainly begins - with_ Robyn, _and the second word is not_ men. _I read it_, - Robyn into the churche ran.” _Skeat._ - - 30^2. _A gap here between two pages, and there are commonly six - stanzas to a page. At least six are required for the capture of - Robin Hood and the conveying of the tidings to his men._ - - 43^2. Of xx. - - 44^1. me me _in my copy, probably by inadvertence_. - - 44^2. Of a C li. - - 53^1. hym. - - 56^1. Þ^e kyng. - - 58^2. xx li. - - 77^4. #b# _has_ Quit me, _which is perhaps better_. - - 78^2. _perhaps_ saie; _nearly illegible_. - - 90^2. I wysse. - - #b.# - - 69^3. þe p_ri_s_o_n. - - 70^4. throw to. - - 71^1. be jayler. - - 71^2. toke. - - 72^2. hed ther with. - - 72^3. wallis wer_e_. - - 72^4. down ther they. - - 77^2. [t]hen _for_ can (?). - - 77^4. Quit me. - - 78^2. the saye. - - 78^3. þe grene. - - 79^{1,3}. Hode _wanting_. - - - - - 120 - - ROBIN HOOD’S DEATH - - #A.# ‘Robin Hoode his Death,’ Percy MS., p. 21; Hales and Furnivall, - I, 53. - - #B.# ‘Robin Hood’s Death and Burial.’ #a.# The English Archer, - Paisley, John Neilson, 1786: Bodleian Library, Douce, F. F. 71 (6), - p. 81. #b.# The English Archer, York, printed by N. Nickson, in - Feasegate, n. d.: Bodleian Library, Douce, F. F. 71 (4), p. 70. - - -#B# is given in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 183, “from a collation of -two different copies” of a York garland, “containing numerous -variations, a few of which are retained in the margin.” - -#A.# Robin Hood is ailing, and is convinced that the only course for him -is to go to Kirklees priory for blooding. Will Scarlet cannot counsel -this, unless his master take fifty bowmen with him; for a yeoman lives -there with whom there is sure to be a quarrel. Robin bids Scarlet stay -at home, if he is afraid. Scarlet, seeing that his master is wroth, will -say no more.[91] Robin Hood will have no one go with him but Little -John, who shall carry his bow. John proposes that they shall shoot for a -penny along the way, and Robin assents. - -The opening of the ballad resembles that of Robin Hood and the Monk. -There Robin’s soul is ill at ease, as here his body, and he resolves to -go to Nottingham for mass; Much, the Miller’s son, advises a guard of -twelve yeomen; Robin will take none with him except John, to bear his -bow;[92] and John suggests that they shall shoot for a penny as they go. - -A very interesting passage of the story here followed, of which we can -barely guess the contents, owing to nine stanzas having been torn away. -Robin Hood and John keep up their shooting all the way, until they come -to a black water, crossed by a plank. On the plank an old woman is -kneeling, and banning Robin Hood. Robin Hood asks why, but the answer is -lost, and it is not probable that we shall ever know: out of her proper -malignancy, surely, or because she is a hired witch, for Robin is the -friend of lowly folk. But if this old woman is banning, others, no doubt -women, are weeping, for somehow they have learned that he is to be let -blood that day at the priory, and foresee that ill will come of it. -Robin is disturbed by neither banning nor weeping; the prioress is his -cousin, and would not harm him for the world. So they shoot on until -they come to Kirklees. - -Robin makes the prioress a present of twenty pound, with a promise of -more when she wants, and she falls to work with her bleeding-irons. The -thick blood comes, and then the thin, and Robin knows that there has -been treason. John asks, What cheer? Robin answers, Little good. Nine -stanzas are again wanting, and again in a place where we are not helped -by the other version. John must call from the outside of the building, -judging by what follows. An altercation seems to pass between Robin and -some one; we should suppose between Robin and Red Roger. Robin slips out -of a shot-window, and as he does so is thrust through the side by Red -Roger. Robin swoops off Red Roger’s head, and leaves him for dogs to -eat. Then Red Roger must be below, and John is certainly below. He would -have seen to Red Roger had they both been within. But John must be under -a window on a different side of the building from that whence Robin -issues, for otherwise, again, he would have seen to Red Roger. We are -driven to suppose that the words in st. 19 pass between Robin above and -Roger below. - -Though Robin is near his last breath, he has, he says, life enough to -take his housel. He must get it in a very irregular way, but he trusts -it will “bestand” him.[93] John asks his master’s leave to set fire to -Kirklees, but Robin will not incur God’s blame by harming any woman -[“widow”] at his latter end. Let John make his grave of gravel and -greet, set his sword at his head, his arrows at his feet, and lay his -bow by his side.[94] - -#B#, though found only in late garlands, is in the fine old strain. -Robin Hood says to Little John that he can no longer shoot matches, his -arrows will not flee; he must go to a cousin to be let blood. He goes, -alone, to Kirkley nunnery, and is received with a show of cordiality. -His cousin bloods him, locks him up in the room, and lets him bleed all -the livelong day, and until the next day at noon. Robin bethinks himself -of escaping through a casement, but is not strong enough. He sets his -horn to his mouth and blows thrice, but so wearily that Little John, -hearing, thinks his master must be nigh to death. John comes to Kirkley, -breaks the locks, and makes his way to Robin’s presence. He begs the -boon of setting fire to Kirkley, but Robin has never hurt woman in all -his life, and will not at his end. He asks for his bow to shoot his last -shot, and where the arrow lights there his grave shall be.[95] His grave -is to be of gravel and green, long enough and broad enough, a sod under -his head, another at his feet, and his bow by his side, that men may -say, Here lies bold Robin Hood. - -The account of Robin Hood’s death which is given in The Gest, agrees as -to the main items with what we find in #A#. The prioress of Kirkesly, -his near kinswoman, betrayed him when he went to the nunnery to be let -blood, and this she did upon counsel with Sir Roger of Donkester, with -whom she was intimate. The Life of Robin Hood in the Sloane MS, which is -mostly made up from The Gest, naturally repeats this story. - -Grafton, in his Chronicle, 1569, citing “an olde and auncient pamphlet,” -says: For the sayd Robert Hood, beyng afterwardes troubled with -sicknesse, came to a certain nonry in Yorkshire, called Bircklies, -where, desiryng to be let blood, he was betrayed and bled to death: -edition of 1809, p. 221. So the Harleian MS, No 1233, article 199, of -the middle of the seventeenth century, and not worth citing, but cited -by Ritson. According to Stanihurst, in Holinshed’s Ireland (p. 28 of ed. -of 1808), after Robin Hood had been betrayed at a nunnery in Scotland -called Bricklies, Little John was fain to flee the realm, and went to -Ireland, where he executed an extraordinary shot, by which he thought -his safety compromised, and so removed to Scotland, and died there. - -Martin Parker’s True Tale of Robin Hood, which professes to be collected -from chronicles, ascribes Robin Hood’s death to a faithless friar, who -pretended “in love to let him blood,” when he had a fever, and allowed -him to bleed to death. Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight, a late and -thoroughly worthless broadside ballad, says simply, He sent for a monk -to let him blood, who took his life away. - -A Russian popular song has an interesting likeness to the conclusion of -Robin Hood’s Death. The last survivor of a band of brigands, feeling -death to be nigh, exclaims: - - Bury me, brothers, between three roads, - The Kief, and the Moscow, and the Murom famed in story. - At my feet fasten my horse, - At my head set a life-bestowing cross, - In my right hand place my keen sabre. - Whoever passes by will stop; - Before my life-bestowing cross will he utter a prayer, - At the sight of my black steed will he be startled, - At the sight of my keen sword will he be terrified. - ‘Surely this is a brigand who is buried here, - A son of the brigand, the bold Stenka Razín.’ - - Sakharof, Skazaniya Russkago Naroda, I, iii, 226.[96] - -Dimos, twenty years a Klepht, tells his comrades to make his tomb wide -and high enough for him to fight in it, standing up, and to leave a -window, so that the swallows may tell him that spring has come and the -nightingales that it is May: Fauriel, I, 56; Zambelios, p. 607, 13; -Passow, p. 85. This is a song of the beginning of the present century. - - -#B# is translated in Le Magasin Pittoresque, 1838, p. 126 f; by -Loève-Veimars, p. 223; by Cantù, Documenti alla Storia Universale, V, -III, p. 801; Anastasius Grün, p. 200; Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, No -20. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 21; Hales and Furnivall, I, 53. - - 1 - ‘I will neuer eate nor drinke,’ Robin Hood said, - ‘Nor meate will doo me noe good, - Till I haue beene att merry Churchlees, - My vaines for to let blood.’ - - 2 - ‘That I reade not,’ said Will Scarllett, - ‘M_aster_, by the assente of me, - W_i_thout halfe a hundred of yo_u_r best bowmen - You take to goe with yee. - - 3 - ‘For there a good yeoman doth abide - Will be sure to quarrell w_i_th thee, - And if thou haue need of vs, m_aster_, - In faith we will not flee.’ - - 4 - ‘And thou be feard, thou Will_iam_ Scarlett, - Att home I read thee bee:’ - ‘And you be wrothe, my deare m_aster_, - You shall neuer heare more of mee.’ - - * * * * * - - 5 - ‘For there shall noe man w_i_th me goe, - Nor man w_i_th mee ryde, - And Litle Iohn shall be my man, - And beare my benbow by my side.’ - - 6 - ‘You’st beare yo_u_r bowe, m_aster_, yo_u_r selfe, - And shoote for a peny w_i_th mee:’ - ‘To that I doe assent,’ Robin Hood sayd, - ‘And soe, Iohn, lett it bee.’ - - 7 - They two bolde children shotten together, - All day theire selfe in ranke, - Vntill they came to blacke water, - And over it laid a planke. - - 8 - Vpon it there kneeled an old woman, - Was banning Robin Hoode; - ‘Why dost thou bann Ro_bin_ Hoode?’ said Robin, - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 9 - . . . . . . . - ‘To giue to Robin Hoode; - Wee weepen for his deare body, - _Tha_t this day must be lett bloode.’ - - 10 - ‘The dame prior is my aunts daughter, - And nie vnto my kinne; - I know shee wold me noe harme this day, - For all the world to winne.’ - - 11 - Forth then shotten these children two, - And they did neuer lin, - Vntill they came to merry Churchlees, - To merry Churchlee[s] w_i_th-in. - - 12 - And when they came to mer_r_y Churchlees, - They knoced vpon a pin; - Vpp then rose dame prioresse, - And lett good Robin in. - - 13 - Then Robin gaue to dame prioresse - Twenty pound in gold, - And bad her spend while that wold last, - And shee shold haue more when shee wold. - - 14 - And downe then came dame prioresse, - Downe she came in that ilke, - W_i_th a p_air_ off blood-irons in her hands, - Were wrapped all in silke. - - 15 - ‘Sett a chaffing-dish to the fyer,’ s_ai_d dame prioresse, - ‘And stripp thou vp thy sleeue:’ - I hold him but an vnwise man - _Tha_t will noe warning leeve. - - 16 - Shee laid the blood-irons to Ro_bin_ Hoods vaine, - Alacke, the more pitye! - And pearct the vaine, and let out the bloode, - That full red was to see. - - 17 - And first it bled, the thicke, thicke bloode, - And afterwards the thinne, - And well then wist good Robin Hoode - Treason there was within. - - 18 - ‘What cheere my m_aster_?’ said Litle Iohn; - ‘In faith, Iohn, litle goode;’ - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 19 - ‘I haue upon a gowne of greene, - Is cut short by my knee, - And in my hand a bright browne brand - _Tha_t will well bite of thee.’ - - 20 - But forth then of a shot-windowe - Good Ro_bin_ Hood he could glide; - Red Roger, w_i_th a grounden glaue, - Thrust him through the milke-white side. - - 21 - But Ro_bin_ was light and nimble of foote, - And thought to abate his pride, - Ffor betwixt his head and his shoulders - He made a wound full wide. - - 22 - Says, Ly there, ly there, Red Roger, - The doggs they must thee eate; - ‘For I may haue my houzle,’ he said, - ‘For I may both goe and speake. - - 23 - ‘Now giue me mood,’ Robin said to Litle Iohn, - ‘Giue me mood w_i_th thy hand; - I trust to God in heauen soe hye - My houzle will me bestand.’ - - 24 - ‘Now giue me leaue, giue me leaue, m_aster_,’ he said, - ‘For Christs loue giue leaue to me, - To set a fier within this hall, - And to burne vp all Churchlee.’ - - 25 - ‘That I reade not,’ said Ro_bin_ Hoode then, - ‘Litle Iohn, for it may not be; - If I shold doe any widow hurt, at my latter end, - God,’ he said, ‘wold blame me; - - 26 - ‘But take me vpon thy backe, Litle Iohn, - And beare me to yonder streete, - And there make me a full fayre graue, - Of grauell and of greete. - - 27 - ‘And sett my bright sword at my head, - Mine arrowes at my feete, - And lay my vew-bow by my side, - My met-yard wi . . . . - - - B - - #a.# The English Archer, Paisley, printed by John Neilson for George - Caldwell, Bookseller, near the Cross, 1786, p. 81, No 24. #b.# The - English Archer, York, printed by N. Nickson, in Feasegate, n. d., p. - 70. - - 1 - When Robin Hood and Little John - Down a down a down a down - Went oer yon bank of broom, - Said Robin Hood bold to Little John, - We have shot for many a pound. - Hey, etc. - - 2 - But I am not able to shoot one shot more, - My broad arrows will not flee; - But I have a cousin lives down below, - Please God, she will bleed me. - - 3 - Now Robin he is to fair Kirkly gone, - As fast as he can win; - But before he came there, as we do hear, - He was taken very ill. - - 4 - And when he came to fair Kirkly-hall, - He knockd all at the ring, - But none was so ready as his cousin herself - For to let bold Robin in. - - 5 - ‘Will you please to sit down, cousin Robin,’ she said, - ‘And drink some beer with me?’ - ‘No, I will neither eat nor drink, - Till I am blooded by thee.’ - - 6 - ‘Well, I have a room, cousin Robin,’ she said, - ‘Which you did never see, - And if you please to walk therein, - You blooded by me shall be.’ - - 7 - She took him by the lily-white hand, - And led him to a private room, - And there she blooded bold Robin Hood, - While one drop of blood would run down. - - 8 - She blooded him in a vein of the arm, - And locked him up in the room; - Then did he bleed all the live-long day, - Until the next day at noon. - - 9 - He then bethought him of a casement there, - Thinking for to get down; - But was so weak he could not leap, - He could not get him down. - - 10 - He then bethought him of his bugle-horn, - Which hung low down to his knee; - He set his horn unto his mouth, - And blew out weak blasts three. - - 11 - Then Little John, when hearing him, - As he sat under a tree, - ‘I fear my master is now near dead, - He blows so wearily.’ - - 12 - Then Little John to fair Kirkly is gone, - As fast as he can dree; - But when he came to Kirkly-hall, - He broke locks two or three: - - 13 - Until he came bold Robin to see, - Then he fell on his knee; - ‘A boon, a boon,’ cries Little John, - ‘Master, I beg of thee.’ - - 14 - ‘What is that boon,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Little John, [thou] begs of me?’ - ‘It is to burn fair Kirkly-hall, - And all their nunnery.’ - - 15 - ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘That boon I’ll not grant thee; - I never hurt woman in all my life, - Nor men in woman’s company. - - 16 - ‘I never hurt fair maid in all my time, - Nor at mine end shall it be; - But give me my bent bow in my hand, - And a broad arrow I’ll let flee; - And where this arrow is taken up, - There shall my grave digged be. - - 17 - ‘Lay me a green sod under my head, - And another at my feet; - And lay my bent bow by my side, - Which was my music sweet; - And make my grave of gravel and green, - Which is most right and meet. - - 18 - ‘Let me have length and breadth enough, - With a green sod under my head; - That they may say, when I am dead - Here lies bold Robin Hood.’ - - 19 - These words they readily granted him, - Which did bold Robin please: - And there they buried bold Robin Hood, - Within the fair Kirkleys. - - * * * * * - - #A.# - - 1^3. church Lees: _cf._ 11^3. - - 2^3. halfe 100^d. - - 3^1. there is. - - 6^2. nor shoote. - - 7^1, 11^1. 2. - - 8^3, 18^2, 27^4. _half a page gone._ - - 12^1. church lees. - - 13^2. 20[ty :]. - - 20^1. shop _for_ shot. - - 20^3. grounding. - - 24^4. church lee. - -#B. a.# - - Robin Hood’s death and burial: shewing how he was taken ill, and - how he went to his cousin at Kirkly-hall, in Yorkshire, who let - him blood, which was the cause of his death. Tune of Robin - Hood’s last farewel, etc. - - 2^2. fly. - - 15^3. burnt _for_ hurt. - - 19^4. Kirkly. - - _The ballad, as Ritson says, “is made to conclude with some - foolish lines (adopted from the London copy” of R. H. and the - Valiant Knight) in order to introduce the epitaph._ - - 20 - Thus he that never feard bow nor spear - Was murderd by letting blood; - And so, loving friends, the story it ends - Of valiant Robin Hood. - - 21 - There’s nothing remains but his epitaph now, - Which, reader, here you have, - To this very day which read you may, - As it is upon his grave. - Hey down a derry derry down - - _The epitaph, however, does not follow._ - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _omitting_ in Yorkshire _and_ Tune of, etc. - _Printed in stanzas of two long lines. The burden is wanting._ - - 1^2. over. - - 1^3. bold _wanting_. - - 2^2. broad _wanting_: flee. - - 3^1. he _wanting_. - - 3^2. coud wen. - - 4^1. when that. - - 4^2. knocked at. - - 5^4. I blood letted be. - - 6^4. You blood shall letted be. - - 7^2. let him into. - - 7^4. Whilst: down _wanting_. - - 8^1. in the vein. - - 8^2. in a. - - 8^3. There. - - 9^1. casement door. - - 9^2. to be gone. - - 9^4. Nor he: him _wanting_. - - 10^4. strong blasts. - - 11^2. under the. - - 11^3. now _wanting_. - - 12^2. he could. - - 13^1. see _wanting_. - - 14^1. quoth _for_ said. - - 14^2. thou begs. - - 15. _wanting._ - - 16^1. neer. - - 16^2. at my. - - 16^4. my broad arrows. - - 17^{1,2}. _To go with_ 16^{3,4}. - With verdant sods most neatly put, - Sweet as the green wood tree. - - 19^1. promisd him. - - 19^4. Near to: Kirkleys. - - 20^1. that feard neither. - - 20^3. it _wanting_. - - 20^4. valiant bold. - - 21^1. There is. - - 21^4. it was upon the. - - _After_ 19. - - Kirkleys was beautiful of old, - Like Winifrid’s of Wales, - By whose fair well strange cures are told - In legendary tales. - Upon his grave was laid a stone, - Declaring that he dy’d, - And tho so many years ago, - Time can’t his actions hide. - - _At the end is the epitaph, wanting in_ #a#. - - Robin Hood’s Epitaph, set on his tomb by the Prioress of Kirkley - Monastry, in Yorkshire. - - Robert Earl of Huntington - Lies under this little stone. - No archer was like him so good, - His wildness nam’d him Robin Hood. - Full thirteen years and something more - These no[r]thern parts he vexed sore: - Such out-laws as he and his men - May England never know again. - - - - - 121 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE POTTER - - Library of the University of Cambridge, MS. E e. 4. 35, fol. 14 b, of - about 1500. - - -Printed from the manuscript in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, I, 81; here -from a transcript of the original, carefully revised by Rev. Professor -Skeat. - -Robin Hood sees a potter driving over the lea; the potter has been in -the habit of passing that way, and never has paid toll. Little John has -had a brush with the potter, and offers to lay forty shillings that no -man can make him leave a pledge. Robin accepts the wager, stops the -potter, and demands a “pledge”; the potter refuses to leave pledge or -pay toll, takes a staff from his cart, knocks Robin’s buckler out of his -hand, and, ere Robin can recover it, fells him with a blow in the neck. -Robin owns that he has lost. The potter says it is no courtesy to stop a -poor yeoman thus; Robin agrees heartily, and proposes fellowship, also -to change clothes with the potter and sell his ware at Nottingham. The -potter is willing; John warns his master to beware of the sheriff. Robin -takes his stand near the sheriff’s gate, and offers his pots so cheap -that soon there are but five left; these he sends as a gift to the -sheriff’s wife, who in return asks him to dinner. While they are at -their meal, two of the sheriff’s men talk of a shooting-match for forty -shillings: this the potter says he will see, and after a good dinner -goes with the rest to the butts. All the archers come half a bow’s -length short of the mark; Robin, at his wish, gets a bow from the -sheriff, and his first shot misses the mark by less than a foot, his -second cleaves the central pin in three. The sheriff applauds; Robin -says there is a bow in his cart which he had of Robin Hood. The sheriff -wishes he could see Robin Hood, and the potter offers to gratify this -wish on the morrow. They go back to the sheriff’s for the night, and -early the next day set forth; the sheriff riding, the potter in his -cart. When they come to the wood, the potter blows his horn, for so they -shall know if Robin be near; the horn brings all Robin’s men. The -sheriff would now give a hundred pound not to have had his wish; had he -known his man at Nottingham, it would have been a thousand year ere the -potter had come to the forest. I know that well, says Robin, and -therefore shall you leave your horse with us, and your other gear. Were -it not for your wife you would not come off so lightly. The sheriff goes -home afoot, but with a white palfrey, which Robin presents to his wife. -Have you brought Robin home? asks the dame. Devil speed him, answers her -spouse, he has taken everything from me; all but this fair palfrey, -which he has sent to thee. The merry dame laughs, and swears that the -pots have been well paid for. Robin asks the potter how much his pots -were worth, gives him ten pounds instead of the two nobles for which -they could have been sold, and a welcome to the wood whenever he shall -come that way. - -The Play of Robin Hood, an imperfect copy of which is printed at the end -of Copland’s and of White’s edition of The Gest, is founded on the -ballads of Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar and of Robin Hood and the -Potter. The portion which is based on the ballad of Robin and the Potter -is given in an appendix. - -Robin Hood and the Butcher, No 122, repeats many of the incidents of the -present ballad. The sheriff is enticed into the forest (by Little John -instead of Robin Hood) in The Gest, 181 ff. This part of the story, in -Robin Hood and the Butcher, is much more like that of The Gest than it -is in Robin Hood and the Potter. We shall have only too many variations -of the adventure in which Robin Hood unexpectedly meets his match in a -hand-to-hand fight, now with a pinder, then with a tanner, tinker, -shepherd, beggar, etc. His adversaries, after proving their mettle, are -sometimes invited and induced to join his company: not so here. In some -broadside ballads of this description, with an extravagance common -enough in imitations, Robin Hood is very badly mauled, and made all but -contemptible.[97] In Robin Hood and the Potter, Little John is willing -to wager on the result of a trial, from his own experience. Will -Scadlock is equally confident in Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, -perhaps for the same reason, although this is not said. In Robin Hood -and the Shepherd, Little John takes his turn _after_ his master, and so -with three of Robin’s men in Robin Hood and the Beggar, No 133. - -Hereward the Saxon introduces himself into the Norman court as a potter, -to obtain information of an attack which William the Conqueror was -thought to intend on his stronghold at Ely: De Gestis Herwardi Saxonis, -24, in Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 69, attributed to the -twelfth century. Wallace, in like manner, to scout in the English camp: -Blind Harry’s poem, ed. Moir, Book Six, v. 435 ff, p. 123 ff. This is -also one of the many artifices by which Eustace the Monk deceives his -enemy, the Count of Boulogne: Roman d’Eustache le Moine, ed. Michel, p. -39, v. 1071 ff, a poem of the thirteenth century. See, for Hereward and -Eustace, T. Wright’s Essays on Subjects connected with the Literature, -etc., of England in the Middle Ages, II, 108 ff, 135. - -Disguise is the wonted and simplest expedient of an outlaw mixing among -his foes, “wherein the pregnant enemy does much.” Fulk Fitz Warine takes -the disguise of an old monk, a merchant, a charcoal-burner; Hereward, -that of a potter, a fisherman; Eustace the Monk, of a potter, shepherd, -pilgrim, charcoal-burner, woman, leper, carpenter, minstrel, etc.; -Wallace, of a potter, pilgrim, woman (twice), etc., in Blind Harry’s -poem, of a beggar in ballads; Robin Hood, of a potter, butcher, beggar, -shepherd, an old woman, a fisherman (?), Guy of Gisborne. - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 76. - - - 1 - In schomer, when the leves spryng, - The bloschoms on eu_er_y bowe, - So merey doyt the berdys syng - Yn wodys merey now. - - 2 - Herkens, god yemen, - Comley, corteys, and god, - On of the best þ_a_t yeu_er_ bar_e_ bow_e_, - Hes name was Roben Hode. - - 3 - Roben Hood was the yeman’s name, - That was boyt corteys and ffre; - Ffor the loffe of owr_e_ ladey, - All wemen werschepyd he. - - 4 - Bot as the god yeman stod on a day, - Among hes mery maney, - He was war_e_ of a prowd pott_er_, - Cam dryfyng owyr the ley. - - 5 - ‘Yonder comet a prod pott_er_,’ seyde Roben, - ‘That long hayt hantyd þ_i_s wey; - He was neuer so corteys a man - On peney of pawage to pay.’ - - 6 - ‘Y met hem bot at Went-breg,’ seyde Lytyll John, - ‘And ther_e_for_e_ yeffell mot he the! - Seche thre strokes he me gafe, - Yet by my seydys cleffe þey. - - 7 - ‘Y ley forty shillings,’ seyde Lytyll John, - ‘To pay het thes same day, - Ther ys nat a man among hus all - A wed schall make hem ley.’ - - 8 - ‘Her_e_ ys forty shillings,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Mor_e_, and thow dar say, - Þ_a_t y schall make þ_a_t prowde pott_er_, - A wed to me schall he ley.’ - - 9 - Ther_e_ thes money they leyde, - They toke het a yeman to kepe; - Roben beffor_e_ the pott_er_ he breyde, - A[nd] bad hem stond stell. - - 10 - Handys apon hes hors he leyde, - And bad the pott_er_ stonde foll stell; - The pott_er_ schorteley to hem seyde, - Ffelow, what ys they well? - - 11 - ‘All thes thre yer, and mor_e_, pott_er_,’ he seyde, - ‘Thow hast hantyd thes wey, - Yet wer_e_ tow neuer so cortys a man - On peney of pauage to pay.’ - - 12 - ‘What ys they name,’ seyde þe pott_er_, - ‘Ffor pauage thow aske of me?’ - ‘Roben Hod ys mey name, - A wed schall thow leffe me.’ - - 13 - ‘Wed well y non leffe,’ seyde þe pott_er_, - ‘Nor pavag well y non pay; - Awey they honde ffro mey hors! - Y well the tene eyls, be mey ffay.’ - - 14 - The potter to hes cart he went, - He was not to seke; - A god to-hande staffe þ_e_rowt he hent, - Beffor_e_ Roben he leppyd. - - 15 - Roben howt w_i_t_h_ a swerd bent, - A bokeler en hes honde; - The pott_er_ to Roben he went, - And seyde, Ffelow, let mey hors go. - - 16 - Togeder then went thes to yemen, - Het was a god seyt to se; - Ther_e_of low Robyn hes men, - Ther_e_ they stod onder a tre. - - 17 - Leytell John to hes ffelowhe[s] seyde, - ‘Yend pott_er_ well steffeley stonde:’ - The pott_er_, w_i_t_h_ a acward stroke, - Smot the bokeler owt of hes honde. - - 18 - A[nd] ar Roben meyt get het agen - Hes bokeler at hes ffette, - The pott_er_ yn the neke hem toke, - To the gronde sone he yede. - - 19 - That saw Roben hes men, - As thay stod onder a bow; - ‘Let vs helpe owr_e_ mast_er_,’ seyde Lytell John, - ‘Yonder pott_er_,’ seyde he, ‘els well hem slo.’ - - 20 - Thes yemen went w_i_t_h_ a breyde, - To ther mast[er] they cam. - Leytell John to hes mast[er] seyde, - Ho haet the wager won? - - 21 - ‘Schall y haffe yowr_e_ forty shillings,’ seyde Lytl John, - ‘Or ye, mast_er_, schall haffe myne?’ - ‘Yeff they wer_e_ a hundred,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Y ffeythe, they ben all theyne.’ - - 22 - ‘Het ys fol leytell cortesey,’ seyde þe potter, - ‘As y haffe harde weyse men saye, - Yeffe a por_e_ yeman com drywyng on the wey, - To let hem of hes gorney.’ - - 23 - ‘Be mey trowet, thow seys soyt,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Thow seys god yeme[n]rey; - And thow dreyffe fforthe yeu_er_y day, - Thow schalt neuer be let ffor me. - - 24 - ‘Y well prey the, god pott_er_, - A ffelischepe well thow haffe? - Geffe me they clothyng, and þow schalt hafe myne; - Y well go to Notynggam.’ - - 25 - ‘Y gra[n]t ther_e_to,’ seyde the potter, - ‘Thow schalt ffeynde me a ffelow gode; - Bot thow can sell mey pott_ys_ well, - Com ayen as thow yode.’ - - 26 - ‘Nay, be mey trowt,’ seyde Roben, - ‘And then y bescro mey hede, - Yeffe y bryng eny pott_ys_ ayen, - And eney weyffe well hem chepe.’ - - 27 - Than spake Leytell John, - And all hes ffelowhes heynd, - ‘Mast_er_, be well war_e_ of the screffe of Notynggam, - Ffor he ys leytell howr ffrende.’ - - 28 - ‘Heyt war howte!’ seyde Roben, - ‘Ffelowhes, let me a lone; - Thorow the helpe of Howr Ladey, - To Notynggam well y gon.’ - - 29 - Robyn went to Notynggam, - Thes pott_ys_ ffor to sell; - The pott_er_ abode w_i_t_h_ Robens men, - Ther_e_ he ffered not eylle. - - 30 - Tho Roben droffe on hes wey, - So merey ower the londe: - Her es mor_e_, and affter ys to saye, - The best ys beheynde. - - - 31 - When Roben cam to Notynggam, - The soyt yef y scholde saye, - He set op hes hors anon, - And gaffe hem hotys and haye. - - 32 - Yn the medys of the towne, - Ther_e_ he schowed hes war_e_; - ‘Pott_y_s! pott_y_s!’ he gan crey foll sone, - ‘Haffe hansell ffor the mar_e_!’ - - 33 - Ffoll effen agenest the screffeys gate - Schowed he hes chaffar_e_; - Weyffes and wedowes abowt hem drow, - And chepyd ffast of hes war_e_. - - 34 - Yet, ‘Pottys, gret chepe!’ creyed Robyn, - ‘Y loffe yeffell thes to stonde;’ - And all that say hem sell - Seyde he had be no potter long. - - 35 - The pottys that wer_e_ werthe pens ffeyffe, - He solde tham ffor pens thre; - Preveley seyde man and weyffe, - ‘Ywnder potter schall neu_er_ the.’ - - 36 - Thos Roben solde ffoll ffast, - Tell he had pottys bot ffeyffe; - Op he hem toke of hes car_e_, - And sende hem to the screffeys weyffe. - - 37 - Ther_e_of sche was ffoll ffayne, - ‘Gereamarsey, _ser_,’ than seyde sche; - ‘When ye com to thes contre ayen, - Y schall bey of the[y] pottys, so mot y the.’ - - 38 - ‘Ye schall haffe of the best,’ seyde Roben, - And swar_e_ be the Treneytë; - Ffoll corteysley [sc]he gan hem call, - ‘Com deyne w_i_t_h_ the screfe and me.’ - - 39 - ‘God amarsey,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Yowr_e_ bedyng schall be doyn;’ - A mayden yn the pottys gan ber_e_, - Roben and þe screffe weyffe ffolowed anon. - - 40 - Whan Roben yn to the hall cam, - The screffë sone he met; - The pott_er_ cowed of corteysey, - And sone the screffe he gret. - - 41 - ‘Lo, ser, what thes pott_er_ hayt geffe yow and me; - Ffeyffe pottys smalle and grete!’ - ‘He ys ffoll wellcom,’ seyd the screffe; - ‘Let os was, and go to mete.’ - - 42 - As they sat at her methe, - W_i_t_h_ a nobell cher_e_, - To of the screffes men gan speke - Off a gret wager; - - 43 - Off a schotyng, was god and ffeyne, - Was made the thother daye, - Off forty shillings, the soyt to saye, - Who scholde thes wager wen. - - 44 - Styll than sat thes prowde potter, - Thos than thowt he; - As y am a trow cerstyn man, - Thes schotyng well y se. - - 45 - Whan they had ffared of the best, - W_i_t_h_ bred and ale and weyne, - To the bottys the made them prest, - W_i_t_h_ bowes and boltys ffoll ffeyne. - - 46 - The screffes men schot ffoll ffast, - As archares þ_a_t weren godde; - Ther_e_ cam non ner ney the marke - Bey halffe a god archares bowe. - - 47 - Stell then stod the prowde pott_er_, - Thos than seyde he; - And y had a bow, be the rode, - On schot scholde yow se. - - 48 - ‘Thow schall haffe a bow,’ seyde the screffe, - ‘The best þ_a_t thow well cheys of thre; - Thou semyst a stalward and a stronge, - Asay schall thow be.’ - - 49 - The screffe com_m_andyd a yeman þ_a_t stod hem bey - Afft_er_ bowhes to weynde; - The best bow þ_a_t the yeman browthe - Roben set on a stryng. - - 50 - ‘Now schall y wet and thow be god, - And polle het op to they ner_e_;’ - ‘So god me helpe,’ seyde the prowde pott_er_, - ‘Þys ys bot rygȝt weke ger_e_.’ - - 51 - To a quequer Roben went, - A god bolt owthe he toke; - So ney on to the marke he went, - He ffayled not a fothe. - - 52 - All they schot abowthe agen, - The screffes men and he; - Off the marke he welde not ffayle, - He cleffed the preke on thre. - - 53 - The screffes men thowt gret schame - The pott_er_ the mastry wan; - The screffë lowe and made god game, - And seyde, Pott_er_, thow art a man. - - 54 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - Thow art worthey to ber_e_ a bowe - Yn what plas that þow goe. - - 55 - ‘Yn mey cart y haffe a bowe, - Ffor soyt,’ he seyde, ‘and that a godde; - Yn mey cart ys the bow - That gaffe me Robyn Hode.’ - - 56 - ‘Knowest thow Robyn Hode?’ seyde the screffe, - ‘Pott_er_, y prey the tell thow me;’ - ‘A hundred torne y haffe schot w_i_t_h_ hem, - Vnder hes tortyll-tre.’ - - 57 - ‘Y had leuer nar a hundred ponde,’ seyde þe screffe, - ‘And swar_e_ be the Trenitë, - . . . . . . . - Þ_a_t the ffals outelawe stod be me.’ - - 58 - ‘And ye well do afftyr mey red,’ seyde þe pott_er_, - ‘And boldeley go w_i_t_h_ me, - And to morow, or we het bred, - Roben Hode well we se.’ - - 59 - ‘Y wel queyt the,’ kod the screffe, - ‘Y swer_e_ be God of meythe;’ - Schetyng thay left, and hom þey went, - Her soper was reddy deythe. - - 60 - Vpon the morow, when het was day, - He boskyd hem fforthe to reyde; - The pott_er_ hes cart fforthe gan ray, - And wolde not leffe beheynde. - - 61 - He toke leffe of the screffys wyffe, - And thankyd her of all thyng: - ‘Dam, ffor mey loffe and ye well þys wer_e_, - Y geffe yow her_e_ a golde ryng.’ - - 62 - ‘Gramarsey,’ seyde the weyffe, - ‘Ser, god eylde het the;’ - The screffes hart was neuer so leythe, - The ffeyr_e_ fforeyst to se. - - 63 - And when he cam yn to the fforeyst, - Yonder the leffes grene, - Berdys ther_e_ sange on bowhes prest, - Het was gret goy to se. - - 64 - ‘Her_e_ het ys merey to be,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Ffor a man that had hawt to spende; - Be mey horne I schall awet - Yeff Roben Hode be her_e_.’ - - 65 - Roben set hes horne to hes mowthe, - And blow a blast þ_a_t was ffoll god; - Þ_a_t herde hes men þ_a_t þer_e_ stode, - Ffer downe yn the wodde. - - 66 - ‘I her mey mast_er_ blow,’ seyde Leytell John, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - They ran as thay wer_e_ wode. - - 67 - Whan thay to thar mast_er_ cam, - Leytell John wold not spar_e_; - ‘Mast_er_, how haffe yow ffar_e_ yn Notynggam? - How haffe yow solde yowr_e_ war_e_?’ - - 68 - ‘Ye, be mey trowthe, Leyty[ll] John, - Loke thow take no car_e_; - Y haffe browt the screffe of Notynggam, - Ffor all howr_e_ chaffar_e_.’ - - 69 - ‘He ys ffoll wellcom,’ seyde Lytyll John, - ‘Thes tydyng ys ffoll godde; - The screffe had leuer nar a hundred ponde - He had [neuer sene Roben Hode.] - - 70 - ‘[Had I] west þ_a_t befforen, - At Notynggam when we wer_e_, - Thow scholde not com yn ffeyr_e_ fforest - Of all thes thowsande eyr_e_.’ - - 71 - ‘That wot y well,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Y thanke God that ye be her_e_; - Ther_e_ffor_e_ schall ye leffe yowr_e_ hors w_i_t_h_ hos, - And all yowr_e_ hother ger_e_.’ - - 72 - ‘That ffend I Godys fforbod,’ kod the screffe, - ‘So to lese mey godde; - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . - - 73 - ‘Hether ye cam on hors ffoll hey, - And hom schall ye go on ffote; - And gret well they weyffe at home, - The woman ys ffoll godde. - - 74 - ‘Y schall her sende a wheyt palffrey, - Het ambellet be mey ffey, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . - - 75 - ‘Y schall her sende a wheyt palffrey, - Het hambellet as the weynde; - Ner_e_ ffor the loffe of yowr_e_ weyffe, - Off mor_e_ sorow scholde yow seyng.’ - - 76 - Thes parted Robyn Hode and the screffe; - To Notynggam he toke the waye; - Hes weyffe ffeyr_e_ welcomed hem hom, - And to hem gan sche saye: - - 77 - Seyr, how haffe yow ffared yn grene fforeyst? - Haffe ye browt Roben hom? - ‘Dam, the deyell spede hem, bothe bodey and bon; - Y haffe hade a ffoll gret skorne. - - 78 - ‘Of all the god that y haffe lade to grene wod, - He hayt take het ffro me; - All bot thes ffeyr_e_ palffrey, - That he hayt sende to the.’ - - 79 - W_i_t_h_ þ_a_t sche toke op a lowde lawhyng, - And swhar_e_ be hem þ_a_t deyed on tre, - ‘Now haffe yow payed ffor all þe pottys - That Roben gaffe to me. - - 80 - ‘Now ye be com hom to Notynggam, - Ye schall haffe god ynowe;’ - Now speke we of Roben Hode, - And of the pottyr ondyr the grene bowhe. - - 81 - ‘Pott_er_, what was they pottys worthe - To Notynggam þ_a_t y ledde w_i_t_h_ me?’ - ‘They wer worthe to nobellys,’ seyde he, - ‘So mot y treyffe or the; - So cowde y [haffe] had ffor tham, - And y had ther_e_ be.’ - - 82 - ‘Thow schalt hafe ten ponde,’ seyde Roben, - ‘Of money ffeyre and ffre; - And yeuer whan thow comest to grene wod, - Wellcom, pott_er_, to me.’ - - 83 - Thes p_ar_tyd Robyn, the screffe, and the pott_er_, - Ondernethe the grene-wod tre; - God haffe mersey on Roben Hodys solle, - And saffe all god yemanrey! - - * * * * * - - 2^2. cortessey. - - 3^4. werschep ye. - - 4^4. the lefe. - - 5^1, 6^1. syde. - - 6^3. Seche iij. - - 6^4. þey cleffe by my seydys. - - 7^1, 8^1, 21^1, 43^3. xl s’. - - 7^3. hys all. - - 7^4. hem leffe. - - 11^1. thes iij. - - 11^4. I peney. - - 14^2. And teke _at the beginning of the line struck through_. - - 16^1. thes ij. - - 17^1. ffelow he seyde. - - 17^3. a caward. - - 19^2. onder _or_ ender. - - 19^4. hels: sclo. - - 20^1. went yemen. - - 20^2. To thes. - - 21^3, 56^3, 57^1. a c. - - 25. st. 29 _is wrongly put here_. - - 25^4. yede. - - 27^2. ffelow hes. - - 28. _The order of the lines is_ 3, 2, 1, 4. - - 30^3. Heres. - - 35^1. pens v. - - 35^2. pens iij. d. - - 36^2. bot v. - - 37^2. Gere amarsey seyde sche than, _with a character after_ sche - _which is probably an abbreviation for_ ser, _as in_ 62^2. - - 41^4. to to. - - 42^1. methe. - - 42^3. ij of. - - 43^3. xl s. - - 45^3. the pottys. - - 45^4. bolt yt. - - 48^2. of iij. - - 48^3. senyst. - - 48^4. A say. - - 50^2. And [thow]? _The_ ll _in_ polle _is crossed_; potte _may - have been intended by the writer_. - - 52^4. on iij. - - 54^{1,2}. _No blank here, and none at_ 57^3, 66^{2,3}, 72^{3,4}, - 74^{3,4}. - - 55^{3,4}. Yn mey cart ys the bow þ_a_t Robyn gaffe me. - - 56^3. A c. - - 57^1, 69^3. a c. - - 59^2. & swer_e_: meythey. - - 59^4. scoper. - - 64^3. he schall. - - 68^1. I leyty. - - 69^4, 70^1. He had west þ_a_t be fforen. - - 74^{1,2}. _Ought perhaps to be dropped. The writer, having got the - second verse wrong, may have begun the stanza again._ - - 80^3. _After this line is repeated_, Ye schall haffe god ynowhe. - - 80^4. bowhes. - - 81^3. worthe ij. - - 81^6. be ther_e_. - - 82. hafe x li. - - Expleycyt Robynhode. - - A bowt, a non, be heynde, _etc. are joined_. And _for_ & - _throughout. Some terminal curls rendered with_ e _were, - perhaps, mere tricks of writing; as marks over final_ m, n, _in_ - cam, on, yemen, _etc., crossed double_ l _in_ all, _etc., a - curled_ n _in_ Roben, _have been assumed to be_. - - - APPENDIX - - THE PLAYE OF ROBYN HODE (vv. 121 ff.) - -As printed by Copland, at the end of his edition of the Gest, with a few -corrections from White’s edition, 1634: Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, -199. I have not thought it necessary to collate Ritson’s reprint with -Copland. The collations with White here are made with the undated copy -in the Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld. - - ROBYN HODE - - Lysten, to [me], my mery men all, v. 121 - And harke what I shall say; - Of an adventure I shall you tell, - That befell this other daye. - With a proude potter I met, - And a rose-garlande on his head, - The floures of it shone marvaylous freshe; - This seven yere and more he hath used this waye, - Yet was he never so curteyse a potter - As one peny passage to paye. 130 - Is there any of my mery men all - That dare be so bolde - To make the potter paie passage, - Either silver or golde? - - LYTELL JOHN - - Not I master, for twenty pound redy tolde. 135 - For there is not among us al one - That dare medle with that potter, man for man. - I felt his handes not long agone, - But I had lever have ben here by the; - Therfore I knowe what he is. 140 - Mete him when ye wil, or mete him whan ye shal, - He is as propre a man as ever you medle[d] withal. - - ROBYN HODE - - I will lai with the, Litel John, twenti pound so read, - If I wyth that potter mete, - I wil make him pay passage, maugre his head. 145 - - LYTTEL JOHN - - I consente therto, so eate I bread; - If he pay passage, maugre his head, - Twenti pound shall ye have of me for your mede. - - THE POTTERS BOY JACKE - - Out alas, that ever I sawe this daye! - For I am clene out of my waye 150 - From Notyngham towne; - If I hye me not the faster, - Or I come there the market wel be done. - - ROBYN HODE - - Let me se, are the pottes hole and sounde? - - JACKE - - Yea, meister, but they will not breake the ground. 155 - - ROBYN HODE - - I wil them breke, for the cuckold thi maisters sake; - And if they will breake the grounde, - Thou shalt have thre pence for a pound. - - JACKE - - Out alas! what have ye done? - If my maister come, he will breke your crown. 160 - - THE POTTER - - Why, thou horeson, art thou here yet? - Thou shouldest have bene at market. - - JACKE - - I met with Robin Hode, a good yeman; - He hath broken my pottes, - And called you kuckolde by your name. 165 - - THE POTTER - - Thou mayst be a gentylman, so God me save, - But thou semest a noughty knave. - Thou callest me cuckolde by my name, - And I swere by God and Saynt John, - Wyfe had I never none: 170 - This cannot I denye. - But if thou be a good felowe, - I wil sel mi horse, mi harneis, pottes and paniers to, - Thou shalt have the one halfe, and I will have the other. - If thou be not so content, 175 - Thou shalt have stripes, if thou were my brother. - - ROBYN HODE - - Harke, potter, what I shall say: - This seven yere and more thou hast used this way, - Yet were thou never so curteous to me - As one penny passage to paye. 180 - - THE POTTER - - Why should I pay passage to thee? - - ROBYN HODE - - For I am Robyn Hode, chiefe gouernoure - Under the grene-woode tree. - - THE POTTER - - This seven yere have I used this way up and downe, - Yet payed I passage to no man, 185 - Nor now I wyl not beginne, to do the worst thou can. - - ROBYN HODE - - Passage shalt thou pai here under the grene-wode tre, - Or els thou shalt leve a wedde with me. - - THE POTTER - - If thou be a good felowe, as men do the call, - Laye awaye thy bowe, 190 - And take thy sword and buckeler in thy hande, - And se what shall befall. - - ROBIN HODE - - Lyttle John, where art thou? - - LYTTEL [JOHN] - - Here, mayster, I make God avowe. - I tolde you, mayster, so God me save, 195 - That you shoulde fynde the potter a knave. - Holde your buckeler faste in your hande, - And I wyll styfly by you stande, - Ready for to fyghte; - Be the knave never so stoute, 200 - I shall rappe him on the snoute, - And put hym to flyghte. - - _The rest is wanting._ - - * * * * * - - 121. to [me], _wanting in White_. - - 142. medled, _W._ - - 153. maryet. - - 154. the, _C._; thy, _W._ - - 186. to do: to _wanting in W_. - - 188. wedded, _C._; wed, _W._ - - 196. your, _C._; you, _W._ - - - - - 122 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE BUTCHER - - #A.# ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher,’ Percy MS., p. 7; Hales and - Furnivall, I, 19. - - #B.# ‘Robin Hood and the Butcher.’ #a.# Wood, 401, 19 b. #b.# Garland - of 1663, No 6. #c.# Garland of 1670, No 5. #d.# Pepys, II, 102, No - 89. - - -Other copies, of the second class, are in the Roxburghe collection, III, -259, and the Douce collection, III, 114. #B a# was printed, with -changes, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 23; a copy resembling the -Douce by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 106. - -The story is a variation of Robin Hood and the Potter. According to #A#, -the sheriff of Nottingham has resolved to have Robin’s head. A butcher -is driving through the forest, and his dog flies at Robin, for which -Robin kills the dog. The butcher undertakes to let a little of the -yeoman’s blood for this, and there is a bout between staff and sword, in -which we know that the butcher must bear himself well, though just here -the first of three considerable gaps occurs. Robin buys the butcher’s -stock, changes clothes with him, and goes to Nottingham to market his -flesh. There he takes up his lodging at the sheriff’s, having perhaps -conciliated the sheriff’s wife with the present of a fine joint. He -sells at so low a rate that his stock is all gone before any one else -has sold a bit. The butchers ask him to drink, and Robin makes an -appointment with them at the sheriff’s. A second gap deprives us of the -knowledge of what passes here, but we infer that, as in #B#, Robin is so -reckless of his money that the sheriff thinks he can make a good bargain -in horned beasts with him. Robin is ready; we see that he has come with -a well-formed plan. The next day the sheriff goes to view the livestock, -and is taken into the depth of the forest; it turns out that the wild -deer are the butcher’s horned beasts. Robin’s men come in at the sound -of his horn; the sheriff is lightened of all his money, and is told that -his head is spared only for his wife’s sake. All this the sheriff tells -his wife, on his return, and she replies that he has been served rightly -for not tarrying at home, as she had begged him to do. The sheriff says -he has learned wisdom, and will meddle no more with Robin Hood. - -#B a# omits the brush between Robin and the butcher, mostly wanting, -indeed, in #A# also, but only because of the damage which the manuscript -has suffered. - -The passage in which the sheriff is inveigled into Robin’s haunts has, -as already mentioned, close affinity with the Gest, 181 ff. - -The first three stanzas of #A# would not be missed, and apparently -belong to some other ballad.[98] - -#B a# is signed T. R., as is also Robin Hood and the Beggar in two -editions, and these we may suppose to be the initials of the person who -wrote the story over with middle rhyme in the third line of the stanza, -a peculiarity which distinguishes a group of ballads which were sung to -the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger: see Robin Hood and Little John, -No 125, and also No 128. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 7; Hales and Furnivall, I, 19. - - 1 - But Robin he walkes in the g[reene] fforrest, - As merry as bird on boughe, - But he that feitches good Robins head, - Hee’le find him game enoughe. - - 2 - But Robine he walkes in the greene fforrest, - Vnder his trusty-tree; - Sayes, Hearken, hearken, my merrymen all, - What tydings is come to me. - - 3 - The sheriffe he hath made a cry, - Hee’le have my head i-wis; - But ere a tweluemonth come to an end - I may chance to light on his. - - 4 - Robin he marcht in the greene forrest, - Vnder the greenwood scray, - And there he was ware of a proud bucher, - Came driuing flesh by the way. - - 5 - The bucher he had a cut-taild dogg, - And at Robins face he flew; - But Robin he was a good sword, - The bucher’s dogg he slew. - - 6 - ‘Why slayes thou my dogg?’ sayes the bucher, - ‘For he did none ill to thee; - By all the s_ain_ts that are in heaven - Thou shalt haue buffetts three.’ - - 7 - He tooke his staffe then in his hand, - And he turnd him round about: - ‘Thou hast a litle wild blood in thy head, - Good fellow, thou’st haue it letten out.’ - - 8 - ‘He that does that deed,’ sayes Robin, - ‘I’le count him for a man; - But that while will I draw my sword, - And fend it if I can.’ - - 9 - But Robin he stroke att the bloudy bucher, - In place were he did stand, - - * * * * * - - 10 - ‘I [am] a younge bucher,’ sayes Robin, - ‘You fine dames am I come amonge; - But euer I beseech you, good Mrs Sheriffe, - You must see me take noe wronge.’ - - 11 - ‘Thou art verry welcome,’ said M_aster_ Sherriff’s wiffe, - ‘Thy inne heere up [to] take; - If any good ffellow come in thy companie, - Hee’st be welcome for thy sake.’ - - 12 - Robin called ffor ale, soe did he for wine, - And for it he did pay: - ‘I must to my markett goe,’ says Robin, - ‘For I hold time itt of the day.’ - - 13 - But Robin is to the markett gone, - Soe quickly and beliue, - He sold more flesh for one peny - Then othe[r] buchers did for fiue. - - 14 - The drew about the younge bucher, - Like sheepe into a fold; - Yea neuer a bucher had sold a bitt - Till Robin he had all sold. - - 15 - When Robin Hood had his markett made, - His flesh was sold and gone; - Yea he had receiued but a litle mony, - But thirty pence and one. - - 16 - Seaven buchers, the garded Robin Hood, - Ffull many time and oft; - Sayes, We must drinke w_i_th you, brother bucher, - It’s custome of our crafte. - - 17 - ‘If that be the custome of yo_u_r crafte, - As heere you tell to me, - Att four of the clocke in the afternoone - At the sheriffs hall I wilbe.’ - - * * * * * - - 18 - . . . . . . . - ‘If thou doe like it well; - Yea heere is more by three hundred pound - Then thou hast beasts to sell.’ - - 19 - Robyn sayd naught, the more he thought: - ‘Mony neere comes out of time; - If once I catch thee in the greene fforest, - _Tha_t mony it shall be mine.’ - - 20 - But on the next day seuen butchers - Came to guard the sheriffe that day; - But Robin he was the whigh[t]est man, - He led them all the way. - - 21 - He led them into the greene fforest, - Vnder the trusty tree; - Yea, there were harts, and ther were hynds, - And staggs w_i_th heads full high. - - 22 - Yea, there were harts and there were hynds, - And many a goodly ffawne; - ‘Now praised be God,’ says bold Robin, - ‘All these they be my owne. - - 23 - ‘These are my horned beasts,’ says Robin, - ‘M_aster_ Sherriffe, w_hi_ch must make the stake;’ - ‘But euer alacke, now,’ said the sheriffe, - ‘_Tha_t tydings comes to late!’ - - 24 - Robin sett a shrill horne to his mouth, - And a loud blast he did blow, - And then halfe a hundred bold archers - Came rakeing on a row. - - 25 - But when the came befor bold Robin, - Even there the stood all bare: - ‘You are welcome, m_aster_, from Nottingham: - How haue you sold your ware?’ - - * * * * * - - 26 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - It proues bold Robin Hood. - - 27 - ‘Yea, he hath robbed me of all my gold - And siluer _tha_t euer I had; - But that I had a verry good wife at home, - I shold haue lost my head. - - 28 - ‘But I had a verry good wife at home, - W_h_ich made him gentle cheere, - And therfor, for my wifes sake, - I shold haue better favor heere. - - 29 - ‘But such favor as he shewed me - I might haue of the devills dam, - That will rob a man of all he hath, - And send him naked home.’ - - 30 - ‘That is very well done,’ then says his wiffe, - ‘Itt is well done, I say; - You might haue tarryed att Nottingham, - Soe fayre as I did you pray.’ - - 31 - ‘I haue learned wisdome,’ sayes the sherriffe, - ‘And, wife, I haue learned of thee; - But if Robin walke easte, or he walke west, - He shall neuer be sought for me.’ - - - B - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 19 b. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 6. #c.# Garland - of 1670, No 5. #d.# Pepys, II, 102, No 89. - - 1 - Come, all you brave gallants, and listen a while, - With hey down, down, an a down - That are in the bowers within; - For of Robin Hood, that archer good, - A song I intend for to sing. - - 2 - Upon a time it chancëd so - Bold Robin in forrest did spy - A jolly butcher, with a bonny fine mare, - With his flesh to the market did hye. - - 3 - ‘Good morrow, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘What food hast? tell unto me; - And thy trade to me tell, and where thou dost dwell, - For I like well thy company.’ - - 4 - The butcher he answered jolly Robin: - No matter where I dwell; - For a butcher I am, and to Notingham - I am going, my flesh to sell. - - 5 - ‘What is [the] price of thy flesh?’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Come, tell it soon unto me; - And the price of thy mare, be she never so dear, - For a butcher fain would I be.’ - - 6 - ‘The price of my flesh,’ the butcher repli’d, - ‘I soon will tell unto thee; - With my bonny mare, and they are not dear, - Four mark thou must give unto me.’ - - 7 - ‘Four mark I will give thee,’ saith jolly Robin, - ‘Four mark it shall be thy fee; - Thy mony come count, and let me mount, - For a butcher I fain would be.’ - - 8 - Now Robin he is to Notingham gone, - His butcher’s trade for to begin; - With good intent, to the sheriff he went, - And there he took up his inn. - - 9 - When other butchers they opened their meat, - Bold Robin he then begun; - But how for to sell he knew not well, - For a butcher he was but young. - - 10 - When other butchers no meat could sell, - Robin got both gold and fee; - For he sold more meat for one peny - Than others could do for three. - - 11 - But when he sold his meat so fast, - No butcher by him could thrive; - For he sold more meat for one peny - Than others could do for five. - - 12 - Which made the butchers of Notingham - To study as they did stand, - Saying, surely he was some prodigal, - That had sold his father’s land. - - 13 - The butchers they stepped to jolly Robin, - Acquainted with him for to be; - ‘Come, brother,’ one said, ‘we be all of one trade, - Come, will you go dine with me?’ - - 14 - ‘Accurst of his heart,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘That a butcher doth deny; - I will go with you, my brethren true, - And as fast as I can hie.’ - - 15 - But when to the sheriff’s house they came, - To dinner they hied apace, - And Robin he the man must be - Before them all to say grace. - - 16 - ‘Pray God bless us all,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘And our meat within this place; - A cup of sack so good will nourish our blood, - And so I do end my grace. - - 17 - ‘Come fill us more wine,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Let us merry be while we do stay; - For wine and good cheer, be it never so dear, - I vow I the reckning will pay. - - 18 - ‘Come, brother[s], be merry,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Let us drink, and never give ore; - For the shot I will pay, ere I go my way, - If it cost me five pounds and more.’ - - 19 - ‘This is a mad blade,’ the butchers then said; - Saies the sheriff, He is some prodigal, - That some land has sold, for silver and gold, - And now he doth mean to spend all. - - 20 - ‘Hast thou any horn-beasts,’ the sheriff repli’d, - ‘Good fellow, to sell unto me?’ - ‘Yes, that I have, good Master Sheriff, - I have hundreds two or three. - - 21 - ‘And a hundred aker of good free land, - If you please it to see; - And I’le make you as good assurance of it - As ever my father made me.’ - - 22 - The sheriff he saddled a good palfrey, - With three hundred pound in gold, - And away he went with bold Robin Hood, - His horned beasts to behold. - - 23 - Away then the sheriff and Robin did ride, - To the forrest of merry Sherwood; - Then the sheriff did say, God bless us this day - From a man they call Robin Hood! - - 24 - But when that a little further they came, - Bold Robin he chancëd to spy - A hundred head of good red deer, - Come tripping the sheriff full nigh. - - 25 - ‘How like you my hornd beasts, good Master Sheriff? - They be fat and fair for to see;’ - ‘I tell thee, good fellow, I would I were gone, - For I like not thy company.’ - - 26 - Then Robin he set his horn to his mouth, - And blew but blasts three; - Then quickly anon there came Little John, - And all his company. - - 27 - ‘What is your will?’ then said Little John, - ‘Good master come tell it to me;’ - ‘I have brought hither the sheriff of Notingham, - This day to dine with thee.’ - - 28 - ‘He is welcome to me,’ then said Little John, - ‘I hope he will honestly pay; - I know he has gold, if it be but well told, - Will serve us to drink a whole day.’ - - 29 - Then Robin took his mantle from his back, - And laid it upon the ground, - And out of the sheriffeś portmantle - He told three hundred pound. - - 30 - Then Robin he brought him thorow the wood, - And set him on his dapple gray: - ‘O have me commended to your wife at home;’ - So Robin went laughing away. - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - 1^2. bughe. - - 1^3. d _in_ head _has a tag to it: Furnivall_. - - 6^4. 3. _After_ 9^2, 17^4, 25^4, _half a page gone_. - - 13^4. 5. - - 15^4. 30[ty :]. - - 17^3. 4. - - 18^3. 300[li :]. - - 19^3. cacth: in thy. - - 20^1. 7. - - 24^3. 100[d :]. - - 28^3. p_ro_ _for_ for. - -#B. a.# - - Robin Hood and the Butcher. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the - Begger. - - _At the end_, T. R. - - _Colophon._ London. Printed for F. Grove on Snow Hill. F. Grove - _printed_ 1620–55: _Chappell_. - - 12^4. hath sold. - -#b.# - - Robin Hood and the Butcher; shewing how he robbed the sheriff of - Nottingham. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the Begger. - - 4^2. I do. - - 5^1. What is price. - - 10^4, 11^4. Then. - - 12^1. when _misprinted for_ made. - - 12^4. had sold. - - 18^1. brother. - - 18^3. go on. - - 19^3. hath sold. - - 21^1. And an. - - 21^4. to me. - - 25^1. Sheriff _wanting_. - - 27^4. with me. - - 29^3. sheriffs. - -#c.# - - _Title as in_ #b.# - - 2, 8, _and after_ 8, _burden_: a hey. - - 5^1. is y^e. - - 10^4, 11^4. Then. - - 12^4. had sold. - - 17^2. do _wanting_. - - 18^1. brother. - - 18^3. go on. - - 18^4. costs. - - 19^3. hath sold. - - 21^2. it please. - - 21^3. you _wanting_. - - 21^4. did me. - - 24^3. red _wanting_. - - 27^2. pray tell. - - 29^3. sheriffs. - -#d.# - - Robin Hood and the Butcher. To the Tune of Robin Hood and the - Beggar. - - _Colophon._ Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. - 1670–86 (?). - - _Burden. From 2^1 on_, With a hey (_not_ With hey). _Also after - the fourth line_, With a hey, &c. - - 1^1. ye. - - 1^2. this bower. - - 1^4. for _wanting_. - - 2^2. in the. - - 5^1. What’s the. - - 5^3. be it. - - 7^3. The. - - 8^3. a good. - - 9^1. butchers did open. - - 10^4. Then. - - 12^4. hath sold. - - 13^3. of a. - - 14^2. will deny. - - 15^3. Robin Hood. - - 16^4. do _wanting_. - - 17^2. be merry. - - 18^1. brothers. - - 18^4. pound or. - - 20^1. thou _wanting_: hornd: sheriff then said. - - 21^1. A hundred acres. - - 22^2. And with. - - 22^3. And _wanting_. - - 26^2. blew out. - - 27^1. will master said. - - 27^2. I pray you come. - - 27^3. hither _wanting_. - - 28^1. then _wanting_. - - 28^3. were it but. - - 29^4. five _for_ three, _wrongly, see_ 22^2. - - 30^1. he _wanting_: through. - - - - - 123 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE CURTAL FRIAR - - #A.# ‘Robine Hood and Ffryer Tucke,’ Percy MS., p. 10; Hales and - Furnivall, I, 26. - - #B.# ‘The Famous Battel between Robin Hood and the Curtal Fryer.’ #a.# - Garland of 1663, No 11. #b.#[99] Pepys, I, 78, No 37. #c.# Garland - of 1670. #d.# Wood, 401, leaf 15 b. #e.# Pepys, II, 99, No 86. #f.# - Douce, II, 184. - - -#B# also in the Roxburghe collection, III, 16. - -#B d# was printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 58, corrected by #b# -and compared with #e#; and in Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777–1784, I, 136, -probably from the Aldermary garland. - -The opening verses of #A# are of the same description as those with -which Nos 117, 118, 119, and others begin. 1 has been corrupted, and 2 -also, one would think, as there is no apparent reason for maids weeping -and young men wringing hands in the merry month of May. In the first -stanza, - - But how many merry monthes be in the yeere? - There are 13 in May; - The midsummer moone is the merryest of all, - Next to the merry month of May. - -_month_ in the first and the fourth line might be changed to _moon_, to -justify thirteen in the second, and to accord with _moon_ in the third. -For in May, in the second line, we may read, I say, or many say. The -first stanza of No 140, #B#, runs: - - There are twelve months in all the year, - As I hear many say; - But the merriest month in all the year - Is the merry month of May. - -Nearly, or quite, one half of #A# has been torn from the manuscript, but -there is no reason to suppose that the story differed much from that of -#B.# - -Upon Little John’s killing a hart at five hundred foot, Robin Hood -exclaims that he would ride a hundred mile to find John’s match. -Scadlock, with a laugh, says that there is a friar at Fountains Abbey -who will beat both John and Robin, or indeed Robin and all his yeomen. -Robin Hood takes an oath never to eat or drink till he has seen that -friar. (Cf. No 30, I, 275, 279.) Robin goes to Fountains Abbey, and -ensconces his men in a fern-brake. He finds the friar walking by the -water, well armed, and begs [orders, #B#] the friar to carry him -over.[100] The friar takes Robin on his back, and says no word till he -is over; then draws his sword and bids Robin carry him back, or he shall -rue it. Robin takes the friar on his back, and says no word till he is -over; then bids the friar carry him over once more. The friar, without a -word, takes Robin on his back, and when he comes to the middle of the -stream throws him in. When both have swum to the shore, Robin lets an -arrow fly, which the friar puts by with his buckler. The friar cares not -for his arrows, though Robin shoots till his arrows are all gone. They -take to swords, and fight with them for six good hours, when Robin begs -the boon of blowing three blasts on his horn. The friar gives him leave -to blow his eyes out: fifty bowmen come raking over the lea. The friar -in turn asks a boon, to whistle thrice in his fist. Robin cares not how -much he whistles: fifty good bandogs come raking in a row. Here there is -a divergence. According to #A#, the friar will match every man with a -dog, and himself with Robin. God forbid, says Robin; better be matched -with three of the dogs than with thee. Stay thy tikes, and let us be -friends. In #B#, two dogs go at Robin and tear his mantle from his back; -all the arrows shot at them the dogs catch in their mouths. Little John -calls to the friar to call off his dogs, and enforces his words by -laying half a score of them dead on the plain with his bow. The friar -cries, Hold; he will make terms. Robin Hood offers the friar clothes and -fee to forsake Fountains Abbey for the green-wood. We must infer, as in -the parallel case of the Pinder of Wakefield, that the offer is -accepted.[101] But the Curtal Friar, like the Pinder again, plays no -part in Robin Hood story out of his own ballad. - -Robin Hood and the Friar, in both versions, is in a genuinely popular -strain, and was made to sing, not to print. Verbal agreements show that -#A# and #B# have an earlier ballad as their common source; but of this, -one or the other has retained but little. I cannot think that #B# 33, 34 -are of the original matter. It is a derogation from Robin Hood’s prowess -that he should have his mantle torn from his back, and we may ask why -the dogs do not catch Little John’s arrows as well as others. - -Fountains Abbey, near Ripon, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, was a -Cistercian monastery, dating from the twelfth century. (It is loosely -called a nunnery in #A# 4.) The friar is called “cutted” in #A# and -“curtal” in #B#, and these words have been held to mean short-frocked, -and therefore to make the friar a Franciscan. Staveley, The Romish -Horseleech, speaking of the Franciscans, says at p. 214, Experience -shews that in some countrys, where friers used to wear short habits, the -order was presently contemned and derided, and men called them curtaild -friers. Cited by Douce, Illustrations of Shakspere, I, 61. So, according -to Douce, we may probably understand the curtal friar to be a curtailed -friar, and in like manner of the curtal dogs. “Cutted” in #A# can -signify nothing but short-frocked. In the title of that version, though -not in the text, the friar is called Tuck, which means that he is -“ytukked bye,” like Chaucer’s Friar John, but not that he wears a short -frock. The friar in the play (see below) has a “long cote,” v. 46. But I -apprehend that #B# has the older word in curtal, and that curtal is -simply _curtilarius_, and applied to both friar and dogs because they -had the care and keeping of the _curtile_, or vegetable garden, of the -monastery.[102] - -The title of #A# in the MS. is Robin Hood and Friar Tuck; from which it -follows that the copyist, or some predecessor, considered the stalwart -friar of Fountains Abbey to be one with the jocular friar of the -May-games and the morris dance. But Friar Tuck, the wanton and the -merry, like Maid Marian, owes his association with Robin Hood primarily -to these popular sports, and not in the least to popular ballads. In the -truly popular ballads Friar Tuck is never heard of, and in only two even -of the broadsides, Robin Hood and Queen Katherine and Robin Hood’s -Golden Prize, is he so much as named; in both no more than named, and in -both in conjunction with Maid Marian. - -‘The Play of Robin Hood,’ the first half of which is based on the -present ballad, calls the friar Friar Tuck, and represents him -accordingly. See the Appendix. He is also called Tuck in the play -founded on Guy of Gisborne. - -In Munday’s Downfall of Robert, Earl of Huntington, Friar Tuck is by -implication identified with the friar who fell into the well, Dodsley’s -Old Plays, ed. Hazlitt, VIII, 185; and Mr Chappell is consequently led -to say, at p. 390 of his ‘Popular Music,’ that the ballad of the Friar -in the Well was in all probability a tale of “Robin Hood’s fat friar.” -Cavilling at this phrase of Shakspere’s only so far as to observe that -the friar of the traditional Robin Hood ballad is as little fat as -wanton, I need but say that the truth of the case had been already -accurately expressed by Mr Chappell at p. 274 of his invaluable work: -“the story is a very old one, and one of the many against monks and -friars in which not only England, but all Europe, delighted.” - -The boon to blow three blasts on his horn, #B# 25, is also asked by -Robin of the Shepherd, No 134, st. 15. The reply made by the Shepherd, -st. 16, is, If thou shouldst blow till tomorrow morn, I scorn one foot -to flee. In R. H. Rescuing Three Squires, #B# 25, when Robin, disguised -as a beggar, intimates to the sheriff that he may blow his horn, the -answer is nearly the same as here: Blow till both thy eyes fall out. In -No 127, st. 34 f, Robin asks a boon of the Tinker, without specifying -what the boon is; the Tinker refuses; Robin blows his horn while the -Tinker is not looking. In No 135, st. 16 f, Robin asks the three keepers -to let him blow one blast on his horn, and they refuse. This boon of -[three] blasts on a horn is not an important matter in these Robin Hood -ballads, but it may be noticed as a feature of other popular ballads in -which an actor is reduced to extremity: as in the Swedish ballad Stolts -Signild, Arwidsson, II, 128, No 97, and the corresponding Signild og -hendes Broder, Danske Viser, IV, 31, No 170, in both of which the answer -to the request is, Blow as much as you will. So in a Russian bylina, -when Solomon is to be hanged, he obtains permission three several times -to blow his horn, and is told to blow as much as he will, and upon the -third blast his army comes to the rescue: Rybnikof, II, No 52, Jagié, in -Archiv für slavische Philologie, I, 104 ff; Miss Hapgood’s Epic Songs of -Russia, p. 287 f; also F. Vogt, Salman und Morolf, p. 104, sts 494 -ff.[103] Three cries take the place of three blasts, upon occasion: as -in the case of the unhappy maid in the German forms of No 4, I, 32 ff, -where also the maid is sometimes told to cry as much as she wants, and -in Gesta Romanorum, Oesterley, cap. 108, p. 440. - - -#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 124. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 10; Hales and Furnivall, I, 26. - - 1 - But how many merry monthes be in the yeere? - There are thirteen, I say; - The midsum_m_er moone is the merryest of all, - Next to the merry month of May. - - 2 - In May, when mayds beene fast weepand, - Young men their hands done wringe, - - * * * * * - - 3 - ‘I’le . . pe . . . . . - Over may noe man for villanie:’ - ‘I’le never eate nor drinke,’ Ro_bin_ Hood sa[id], - ‘Till I that cutted friar see.’ - - 4 - He builded his men in a brake of fearne, - A litle from that nunery; - Sayes, If you heare my litle horne blow, - Then looke you come to me. - - 5 - When Robin came to Fontaines Abey, - Wheras that fryer lay, - He was ware of the fryer where he stood, - And to him thus can he say. - - 6 - A payre of blacke breeches the yeoman had on, - His coppe all shone of steele, - A fayre sword and a broad buckeler - Beseemed him very weell. - - 7 - ‘I am a wet weary man,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Good fellow, as thou may see; - Wilt beare [me] over this wild water, - Ffor sweete S_ain_t Charity?’ - - 8 - The fryer bethought him of a good deed; - He had done none of long before; - He hent up Robin Hood on his backe, - And over he did him beare. - - 9 - But when he came over _tha_t wild water, - A longe sword there he drew: - ‘Beare me backe againe, bold outlawe, - Or of this thou shalt have enoughe.’ - - 10 - Then Robin Hood hent the fryar on his back, - And neither sayd good nor ill; - Till he came ore that wild water, - The yeoman he walked still. - - 11 - Then Robin Hood wett his fayre greene hoze, - A span aboue his knee; - S[ay]s, Beare me ore againe, thou cutted f[ryer] - - * * * * * - - 12 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - . . . . . good bowmen - [C]ame raking all on a rowe. - - 13 - ‘I beshrew thy head,’ said the cutted ffriar, - ‘Thou thinkes I shall be shente; - I thought thou had but a man or two, - And thou hast [a] whole conuent. - - 14 - ‘I lett thee haue a blast on thy horne, - Now giue me leaue to whistle another; - I cold not bidd thee noe better play - And thou wert my owne borne brother.’ - - 15 - ‘Now fute on, fute on, thou cutted fryar, - I pray God thou neere be still; - It is not the futing in a fryers fist - _Tha_t can doe me any ill.’ - - 16 - The fryar sett his neave to his mouth, - A loud blast he did blow; - Then halfe a hundred good bandoggs - Came raking all on a rowe. - - 17 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘Euery dogg to a man,’ said the cutted fryar, - ‘And I my selfe to Robin Hood.’ - - 18 - ‘Over God’s forbott,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘_Tha_t euer _tha_t soe shold bee; - I had rather be mached w_i_th three of the tikes - Ere I wold be matched on thee. - - 19 - ‘But stay thy tikes, thou fryar,’ he said, - ‘And freindshipp I’le haue w_i_th thee; - But stay thy tikes, thou fryar,’ he said, - ‘And saue good yeomanry.’ - - 20 - The fryar he sett his neave to his mouth, - A lowd blast he did blow; - The doggs the coucht downe euery one, - They couched downe on a rowe. - - 21 - ‘What is thy will, thou yeoman?’ he said, - ‘Haue done and tell it me;’ - ‘If that thou will goe to merry greenwood, - - * * * * * - - - B - - #a.# Garland of 1663, No 11. #b.# Pepys, I, 78, No 37. #c.# Garland - of 1670, No 10. #d.# Wood, 401, leaf 15 b. #e.# Pepys, II, 99, No - 86. #f.# Douce, II, 184. - - 1 - In summer time, when leaves grow green, - And flowers are fresh and gay, - Robin Hood and his merry men - Were disposed to play. - - 2 - Then some would leap, and some would run, - And some would use artillery: - ‘Which of you can a good bow draw, - A good archer to be? - - 3 - ‘Which of you can kill a buck? - Or who can kill a do? - Or who can kill a hart of greece, - Five hundred foot him fro?’ - - 4 - Will Scadlock he killd a buck, - And Midge he killd a do, - And Little John killd a hart of greece, - Five hundred foot him fro. - - 5 - ‘God’s blessing on thy heart,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘That hath [shot] such a shot for me; - I would ride my horse an hundred miles, - To finde one could match with thee.’ - - 6 - That causd Will Scadlock to laugh, - He laughed full heartily: - ‘There lives a curtal frier in Fountains Abby - Will beat both him and thee. - - 7 - ‘That curtal frier in Fountains Abby - Well can a strong bow draw; - He will beat you and your yeomen, - Set them all on a row.’ - - 8 - Robin Hood took a solemn oath, - It was by Mary free, - That he would neither eat nor drink - Till the frier he did see. - - 9 - Robin Hood put on his harness good, - And on his head a cap of steel, - Broad sword and buckler by his side, - And they became him weel. - - 10 - He took his bow into his hand, - It was made of a trusty tree, - With a sheaf of arrows at his belt, - To the Fountains Dale went he. - - 11 - And comming unto Fountain[s] Dale, - No further would he ride; - There was he aware of a curtal frier, - Walking by the water-side. - - 12 - The fryer had on a harniss good, - And on his head a cap of steel, - Broad sword and buckler by his side, - And they became him weel. - - 13 - Robin Hood lighted off his horse, - And tied him to a thorn: - ‘Carry me over the water, thou curtal frier, - Or else thy life’s forlorn.’ - - 14 - The frier took Robin Hood on his back, - Deep water he did bestride, - And spake neither good word nor bad, - Till he came at the other side. - - 15 - Lightly leapt Robin Hood off the friers back; - The frier said to him again, - Carry me over this water, fine fellow, - Or it shall breed thy pain. - - 16 - Robin Hood took the frier on ’s back, - Deep water he did bestride, - And spake neither good word nor bad, - Till he came at the other side. - - 17 - Lightly leapt the fryer off Robin Hoods back; - Robin Hood said to him again, - Carry me over this water, thou curtal frier, - Or it shall breed thy pain. - - 18 - The frier took Robin Hood on’s back again, - And stept up to the knee; - Till he came at the middle stream, - Neither good nor bad spake he. - - 19 - And coming to the middle stream, - There he threw Robin in: - ‘And chuse thee, chuse thee, fine fellow, - Whether thou wilt sink or swim.’ - - 20 - Robin Hood swam to a bush of broom, - The frier to a wicker wand; - Bold Robin Hood is gone to shore, - And took his bow in hand. - - 21 - One of his best arrows under his belt - To the frier he let flye; - The curtal frier, with his steel buckler, - He put that arrow by. - - 22 - ‘Shoot on, shoot on, thou fine fellow, - Shoot on as thou hast begun; - If thou shoot here a summers day, - Thy mark I will not shun.’ - - 23 - Robin Hood shot passing well, - Till his arrows all were gone; - They took their swords and steel bucklers, - And fought with might and maine; - - 24 - From ten oth’ clock that day, - Till four ith’ afternoon; - Then Robin Hood came to his knees, - Of the frier to beg a boon. - - 25 - ‘A boon, a boon, thou curtal frier, - I beg it on my knee; - Give me leave to set my horn to my mouth, - And to blow blasts three.’ - - 26 - ‘That will I do,’ said the curtal frier, - ‘Of thy blasts I have no doubt; - I hope thou’lt blow so passing well - Till both thy eyes fall out.’ - - 27 - Robin Hood set his horn to his mouth, - He blew but blasts three; - Half a hundred yeomen, with bows bent, - Came raking over the lee. - - 28 - ‘Whose men are these,’ said the frier, - ‘That come so hastily?’ - ‘These men are mine,’ said Robin Hood; - ‘Frier, what is that to thee?’ - - 29 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ said the curtal frier, - ‘The like I gave to thee; - Give me leave to set my fist to my mouth, - And to whute whutes three.’ - - 30 - ‘That will I do,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Or else I were to blame; - Three whutes in a friers fist - Would make me glad and fain.’ - - 31 - The frier he set his fist to his mouth, - And whuted whutes three; - Half a hundred good ban-dogs - Came running the frier unto. - - 32 - ‘Here’s for every man of thine a dog, - And I my self for thee:’ - ‘Nay, by my faith,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘Frier, that may not be.’ - - 33 - Two dogs at once to Robin Hood did go, - The one behind, the other before; - Robin Hoods mantle of Lincoln green - Off from his back they tore. - - 34 - And whether his men shot east or west, - Or they shot north or south, - The curtal dogs, so taught they were, - They kept their arrows in their mouth. - - 35 - ‘Take up thy dogs,’ said Little John, - ‘Frier, at my bidding be;’ - ‘Whose man art thou,’ said the curtal frier, - ‘Comes here to prate with me?’ - - 36 - ‘I am Little John, Robin Hoods man, - Frier, I will not lie; - If thou take not up thy dogs soon, - I’le take up them and thee.’ - - 37 - Little John had a bow in his hand, - He shot with might and main; - Soon half a score of the friers dogs - Lay dead upon the plain. - - 38 - ‘Hold thy hand, good fellow,’ said the curtal frier, - ‘Thy master and I will agree; - And we will have new orders taken, - With all the haste that may be.’ - - 39 - ‘If thou wilt forsake fair Fountains Dale, - And Fountains Abby free, - Every Sunday throughout the year, - A noble shall be thy fee. - - 40 - ‘And every holy day throughout the year, - Changed shall thy garment be, - If thou wilt go to fair Nottingham, - And there remain with me.’ - - 41 - This curtal frier had kept Fountains Dale - Seven long years or more; - There was neither knight, lord, nor earl - Could make him yield before. - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _Half a page is gone after 2^2, 11^3, 21^3._ - - 1^1. moones? - - 1^2. 13 in May. - - 1^4. month _may pass, though_ moone _is expected_. - - 2^{1,2}. _might perhaps be intelligible with the other half of the - stanza_. - - 10^4, 20^3. They. - - 11^1. eze. - - 13^4. cou_n_ent? com_m_ent? _F._ - - 15^1. Now fate. - - 16^3. 100[d :]. - - 17^{3,4}. _bis_ { - - 18^1. Ever. - - 18^3. 3. - -#B. a.# - - The famous battel between Robin Hood and the Curtal Fryer, near - Fountain Dale. - - To a new northern tune. - - 4^1, 6^1. Sadlock: Scadlock _elsewhere_. - - 15^1. stept. _Cf._ 17^1: leapt _in_ #b#, #e#. - - 19^4. sing. - - 24^3. his _wanting, and in all but_ #b#, #e#. - - 24^4. the _wanting, and in all but_ #b#, #e#. - - 27^4. ranking: _in_ #d#, #e#, #f#, ranging. - - 32^1. of thine _wanting_: _found only in_ #b#. - - 34^4. catcht: kept _in_ #b#, #d#. - - 35^3. thon. - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _omitting_ near Fountain Dale. - - Printed at London for H. Gosson. (1607–41.) - - 2^4. for to. - - 3^4, 4^4, 5^3, 27^3, 31^3. hundreth. - - 5^3. a _for_ an. - - 5^4. with _wanting_. - - 7^3. and all. - - 7^4. all a on a. - - 8^1. Hood he. - - 9^2, 12^2. And _wanting_. - - 10^4. Fountaine. - - 11^1. into. - - 11^2. he would. - - 11^3. he was: of the. - - 12^1. a _wanting_. - - 14^4, 16^4. th’ other. - - 15^1. leapt _for_ stept. - - 16^1. on his. - - 18^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 18^2. in _for_ up. - - 20^2. wigger. - - 20^4. in his. - - 22^1. Scot: _a misprint_. - - 23^2. gane. - - 23^4. They _for_ And. - - 24^1. of clock of that. - - 24^2. four of th’. - - 24^3. to his. - - 24^4. of the. - - 25^4. But to. - - 26^1. I will. - - 27^4. raking. - - 28^2. comes. - - 29^4, 30^3, 31^2. whues, _unobjectionable_: _in all the rest_ - whutes. - - 31^1. he set. - - 31^3. of good band-dogs. - - 32^1. man of thine. - - 32^8. said _for_ quoth. - - 34^4. kept the. - - 38^4. that _wanting_. - - 40^1. through the. - - 41^2. and more. - -#c.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_ Dales. - - 5^2. hath _wanting_. - - 6^3, 7^1. Fountain. - - 8^4. he the frier did. - - 15^1. stept. - - 20^1. swom. - - 23^1. shot so. - - 28^3. men _wanting_. - - 31^3. band-dogs. - - 34^4. catcht. - - 35^4. to me. - - 40^2. garments. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #b#. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, W. Gilbertson. (1640–80?) - - 5^3. a. - - 5^4. with _wanting_. - - 7^4. all in. - - 11^1. Fountains. - - 11^2. farther. - - 15^1. stept. - - 16^1. on his. - - 20^2. wigger. - - 23^1. shot so. - - 23^4. They _for_ And. - - 24^3. his _wanting_. - - 24^4. the _wanting_. - - 27^4. ranging. - - 28^3. men _wanting_. - - 31^1. he _wanting_. - - 32^1. of thine _wanting_. - - 33^2. and the other. - - 34^4. They kept. - - 39^3. through the. - - 40^2. garments. - -#e.# - - _Title as in_ #b#. - - Printed for W. Thackeray, J. Millet, and A. Milbourn. (1680–97?) - - 2^4. for _wanting_. - - 3^4, 4^4. hundreth. - - 5^2. That shot such a shoot. - - 5^3. a _for_ an. - - 5^4. with _wanting_. - - 6^3. Fountain. - - 7, 8. _wanting._ - - 10^2. made _wanting_. - - 11^1. Fountain’s. - - 11^2. farther. - - 11^3. he was. - - 12^1. on _wanting_. - - 15^1. leapt _for_ stept. - - 15^3. thou fine. - - 16^1. on his. - - 16^3. speak. - - 17^3. over the. - - 20^2. wigger. - - 20^3. to the. - - 22^2. on _wanting_. - - 23^1. shot so. - - 23^2. were all gane. - - 23^4. They _for_ And. - - 24^3. to his. - - 24^4. Of the. - - 26^1. I will. - - 27^2. blew out. - - 27^4. ranging. - - 31^3. bay dogs. - - 32^1. Here is. - - 34^3. The cutrtles. - - 34^4. caught the. - - 38^1. Hold thy hand, hold thy hand, said. - - 39^{1,2}, 41^1. Fountain. - - 40^1. through the. - - 40^2. garments. - - 41^2. and _for_ or. - -#f.# - - _Title as in_ #b#. - - London, printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. (1655–80.) - - 2^2. some _wanting_. - - 5^2. shot such a shoot. - - 5^3. a. - - 5^4. with _wanting_. - - 11^1. Fountains. - - 11^2. farther. - - 11^3. ware. - - 15^1. step’d. - - 15^3. thou fine. - - 16^1. on his. - - 20^2. wigger. - - 20^3. to the. - - 21^3, 34^3. curtle. - - 22^2. on _wanting_. - - 23^1. shot so. - - 23^2. Till all his arrows were. - - 23^4. They _for_ And. - - 24^3. his _wanting_. - - 24^4. the _wanting_. - - 27^4. ranging. - - 28^3. men _wanting_. - - 30^3. fryer. - - 31^1. he _wanting_. - - 31^3. bay-dogs. - - 32^1. Here is: of thine _wanting_. - - 33^2. and the other. - - 34^4. caught the. - - 39^2, 41^1. Fountain. - - 39^3, 40^1. through the. - - 40^2. garments. - - 41^2. and more. - - - APPENDIX - - THE PLAY OF ROBIN HOOD - - (1–110) - -#a.# - - Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 192, as printed by William Copland, - at the end of his edition of the Gest. - -#b.# - - As printed by Edward White, at the end of his edition of the Gest: - Bodleian Library, Z. 3. Art. Seld. - - ROBYN HODE - - Now stand ye forth, my mery men all, - And harke what I shall say; - Of an adventure I shal you tell, - The which befell this other day. - As I went by the hygh way, 5 - With a stout frere I met, - And a quarter-staffe in his hande. - Lyghtely to me he lept, - And styll he bade me stande. - There were strypes two or three, 10 - But I cannot tell who had the worse, - But well I wote the horeson lept within me, - And fro me he toke my purse. - Is there any of my mery men all - That to that frere wyll go, 15 - And bryng hym to me forth withall, - Whether he wyll or no? - - LYTELL JOHN - - Yes, mayster, I make God avowe, - To that frere wyll I go, - And bring him to you, 20 - Whether he wyl or no. - - FRYER TUCKE - - _Deus hic! deus hic!_ God be here! - Is not this a holy worde for a frere? - God save all this company! - But am not I a jolly fryer? 25 - For I can shote both farre and nere, - And handle the sworde and buckler, - And this quarter-staffe also. - If I mete with a gentylman or yeman, - I am not afrayde to loke hym upon, 30 - Nor boldly with him to carpe; - If he speake any wordes to me, - He shall have strypes two or thre, - That shal make his body smarte. - But, maisters, to shew you the matter 35 - Wherfore and why I am come hither, - In fayth I wyll not spare. - I am come to seke a good yeman, - In Bernisdale men sai is his habitacion, - His name is Robyn Hode. 40 - And if that he be better man than I, - His servaunt wyll I be, and serve him truely; - But if that I be better man than he, - By my truth my knave shall he be, - And leade these dogges all three. 45 - - ROBYN HODE - - Yelde the, fryer, in thy long cote. - - FRYER TUCKE - - I beshrew thy hart, knave, thou hurtest my throt[e]. - - ROBYN HODE - - I trowe, fryer, thou beginnest to dote; - Who made the so malapert and so bolde - To come into this forest here, 50 - Amonge my falowe dere? - - FRYER - - Go louse the, ragged knave. - If thou make mani wordes, I will geve the on the eare, - Though I be but a poore fryer. - To seke Robyn Hode I am com here, 55 - And to him my hart to breke. - - ROBYN HODE - - Thou lousy frer, what wouldest thou with hym? - He never loved fryer, nor none of freiers kyn. - - FRYER - - Avaunt, ye ragged knave! - Or ye shall have on the skynne. 60 - - ROBYN HODE - - Of all the men in the morning thou art the worst, - To mete with the I have no lust; - For he that meteth a frere or a fox in the morning, - To spede ill that day he standeth in jeoperdy. - Therfore I had lever mete with the devil of hell, 65 - (Fryer, I tell the as I thinke,) - Then mete with a fryer or a fox - In a mornyng, or I drynk. - - FRYER - - Avaunt, thou ragged knave! this is but a mock; - If thou make mani words thou shal have a knock. 70 - - ROBYN HODE - - Harke, frere, what I say here: - Over this water thou shalt me bere, - The brydge is borne away. - - FRYER - - To say naye I wyll not; - To let the of thine oth it were great pitie and sin; 75 - But up on a fryers backe, and have even in! - - ROBYN HODE - - Nay, have over. - - FRYER - - Now am I, frere, within, and thou, Robin, without, - To lay the here I have no great doubt. - Now art thou, Robyn, without, and I, frere, within, 80 - Lye ther, knave; chose whether thou wilte sinke or swym. - - ROBYN HODE - - Why, thou lowsy frere, what hast thou done? - - FRYER - - Mary, set a knave over the shone. - - ROBYN HODE - - Therfore thou shalt abye. - - FRYER - - Why, wylt thou fyght a plucke? 85 - - ROBYN HODE - - And God send me good lucke. - - FRYER - - Than have a stroke for fryer Tucke. - - ROBYN HODE - - Holde thy hande, frere, and here me speke. - - FRYER - - Say on, ragged knave, - Me semeth ye begyn to swete. 90 - - ROBYN HODE - - In this forest I have a hounde, - I wyl not give him for an hundreth pound. - Geve me leve my horne to blowe, - That my hounde may knowe. - - FRYER - - Blowe on, ragged knave, without any doubte, 95 - Untyll bothe thyne eyes starte out. - Here be a sorte of ragged knaves come in, - Clothed all in Kendale grene, - And to the they take their way nowe. - - ROBYN HODE - - Peradventure they do so. 100 - - FRYER - - I gave the leve to blowe at thy wyll, - Now give me leve to whistell my fyll. - - ROBYN HODE - - Whystell, frere, evyl mote thou fare! - Untyll bothe thyne eyes stare. - - FRYER - - Now Cut and Bause! 105 - Breng forth the clubbes and staves, - And downe with those ragged knaves! - - ROBYN HODE - - How sayest thou, frere, wylt thou be my man, - To do me the best servyse thou can? - Thou shalt have both golde and fee. 110 - - * * * * * - -After ten lines of ribaldry, which have no pertinency to the traditional -Robin Hood and Friar, the play abruptly passes to the adventure of Robin -Hood and the Potter. - -#a.# - - _Ritson has been followed, without collation with Copland._ - - 35. maister. - - 64. spede ell. - - 70. you, you _for_ thou, thou. - - 82. donee. - - 104. starte. - -#b.# - - 13. he _wanting_. - - 15. to the. - - 23. word of. - - 31. Not. - - 35. maister. - - 41. if he. - - 43. be a. - - 59. ye _wanting_. - - 61. in a. - - 65. had rather: of hell _wanting_. - - 70. y^u: y^u shalt. - - 81. choose either sinke. - - 97. Here is. - - 103. might thou. - - 104. stare. - - - - - 124 - - THE JOLLY PINDER OF WAKEFIELD - - #A. a.# Wood, 402, leaf 43. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 4. #c.# Garland - of 1670, No 3. #d.# Pepys, II, 100, No 87 a. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 61 - b. - - #B.# Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 32. - - -Printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 16, from one of Wood’s copies, -“compared with two other copies in the British Museum, one in black -letter:” Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 99. - -There is another copy in the Roxburghe collection, III, 24, and there -are two in the Bagford. - -‘A ballett of Wakefylde and a grene’ is entered to Master John Wallye -and Mistress Toye, 19 July, 1557–9 July, 1558: Stationers’ Registers, -Arber, I, 76. - -The ballad is one of four, besides the Gest, that were known to the -author of the Life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS., 715, which dates from -the end of the seventeenth century. It is thoroughly lyrical, and -therein “like the old age,” and was pretty well sung to pieces before it -ever was printed. A snatch of it is sung, as Ritson has observed, in -each of the Robin Hood plays, The Downfall of Robert, Earl of -Huntington, by Anthony Munday, and The Death of Robert, Earl of -Huntington, by A. Munday and Henry Chettle, both printed in 1601. - - At Michaelmas cometh my covenant out, - My master gives me my fee; - Then, Robin, I’ll wear thy Kendall green, - And wend to the greenwood with thee. - - O there dwelleth a jolly pinder - At Wakefield all on a green.[104] - -Silence sings the line ‘And Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John,’ 3^2, in the -Second Part of King Henry Fourth, V, 3, and Falstaff addresses Bardolph -as Scarlet and John in the first scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor. In -Beaumont and Fletcher’s Philaster, V, 4, Dyce, I, 295, we have: “Let -not ... your Robinhoods, Scarlets, and Johns tie your affections in -darkness to your shops.” Scarlet and John, comrades of Robin Hood from -the beginning, are prominent in many ballads. - -Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John have left the highway and made a path over -the corn,[105] apparently in defiance of the Pinder of Wakefield, who -has the fame of being able to exact a penalty of trespassers, whatever -their rank. The Pinder bids them turn again; they, being three to one, -scorn to comply. The Pinder fights with them till their swords are -broken. Robin cries Hold! and asks the Pinder to join his company in the -greenwood. This the Pinder is ready to do at Michaelmas, when his -engagement to his present master will be terminated. Robin asks for meat -and drink, and the Pinder offers him bread, beef, and ale. - -The adventure of the ballad is naturally introduced into the play of -George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, printed in 1599, reprinted in -Dodsley’s Old Plays (the third volume of the edition of 1825), and by -Dyce among the works of Robert Greene. George a Greene fights with -Scarlet, and beats him; then with Much (not John), and beats him; then -with Robin Hood. Robin protests he is the stoutest champion that ever he -laid hands on, and says: - - George, wilt thou forsake Wakefield - And go with me? - Two liveries will I give thee every year, - And forty crowns shall be thy fee. - -George welcomes Robin to his house, offering him wafer-cakes, beef, -mutton, and veal. (Dyce, II, 196 f.) - -The scene in the play is found in the prose history of George a Green, -London, 1706, of which a copy is known, no doubt substantially the same, -of the date 1632. The Pinner here fells ‘Slathbatch,’ Little John, and -the Friar, before his bout with Robin. See Thoms, A Collection of Early -Prose Romances, II, 44–47, and the prefaces, p. viii ff, p. xviii f, for -more about the popularity of the Pinner’s story. - -Wakefield is in the West Riding of the county of York. - -Richard Brathwayte, in a poetical epistle “to all true-bred northerne -sparks of the generous society of the Cottoneers,” Strappado for the -Divell, 1615 (cited by Ritson, Robin Hood, ed. 1795, I, xxvii-ix), -speaks of - - The Pindar’s valour, and how firme he stood - In th’ townes defence gainst th’ rebel Robin Hood; - How stoutly he behav’d himselfe, and would, - In spite of Robin, bring his horse to th’ fold: - -from which we might infer that according to one account the Pinder had -impounded Robin’s horse. But as Robin Hood, in this passage, is -confounded with the rebel Earl of Kendal, or some one of his adherents, -it is safe to suppose that Brathwayte has been twice inaccurate.[106] - -The ballad is so imperfect that one might be in doubt whether the Pinder -fights with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John all together or successively. -But to suppose the Pinder capable of dealing with all three at once -would be monstrous, and we see from the History and from Greene’s play -that the Pinder must take them one after the other, and Robin the last -of the three. - -There are seven other ballads, besides The Pinder of Wakefield, in which -Robin Hood, after trying his strength with a stout fellow, and coming -off somewhat or very much the worse, induces his antagonist to enlist in -his company. Several of these are very late, and most of them -imitations, we may say, of the Pinder, or one of the other. These -ballads are: Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar; Robin Hood and Little -John; Robin Hood and the Tanner; Robin Hood and the Tinker, 28 ff; Robin -Hood Revived; Robin Hood and the Ranger; Robin Hood and the Scotchman. -We might add Robin Hood and Maid Marian. The episode of Little John and -the Cook, in the Gest, 165–171, is after the same pattern. There is -another set in which a contest of a like description does not result in -an accession to the outlaw-band. These are Robin Hood and the Potter; -Robin Hood and the Butcher; Robin Hood and the Beggar, I; Robin Hood and -the Beggar, II (Robin Hood first beaten, then three of his men severely -handled); Robin Hood and the Shepherd (Robin Hood overmastered, Little -John on the point of being beaten, etc.); The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood -(John outmatched first, then his master); Robin Hood’s Delight (combat -between Robin Hood, Little John, and Scadlock and three Keepers); Robin -Hood and the Pedlars (again three to three). - -There are, as might be expected, frequent verbal agreements in -these ballads, and many of them are collected by Fricke, Die -Robin-Hood-Balladen, pp 91–95. - -The fights in these ballads last from an hour, Gest, st. 168, to a long -summer’s day, in this ballad, st. 6. In Robin Hood and Maid Marian, st. -11, the time is at least an hour, or more; in Robin Hood and the Tanner, -st. 20, two hours and more; in Robin Hood and the Ranger, st. 12, three -hours; in Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, #B# 24, and Robin Hood and -the Shepherd, st. 11, from ten o’clock till four; in Robin Hood’s -Delight, st. 11, from eight o’clock till two, and past. - - - A - - #a.# Wood, 402, leaf 43. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 4. #c.# Garland of - 1670, No 3. #d.# Pepys, II, 100, No 87 a. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 61 b. - - 1 - In Wakefield there lives a jolly pinder, - In Wakefield, all on a green; (_bis_) - - 2 - ‘There is neither knight nor squire,’ said the pinder, - ‘Nor baron that is so bold, (_bis_) - Dare make a trespasse to the town of Wakefield, - But his pledge goes to the pinfold.’ (_bis_) - - 3 - All this beheard three witty young men, - ’Twas Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John; - With that they spyed the jolly pinder, - As he sate under a thorn. - - 4 - ‘Now turn again, turn again,’ said the pinder, - ‘For a wrong way have you gone; - For you have forsaken the king his highway, - And made a path over the corn.’ - - 5 - ‘O that were great shame,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘We being three, and thou but one:’ - The pinder leapt back then thirty good foot, - ’Twas thirty good foot and one. - - 6 - He leaned his back fast unto a thorn, - And his foot unto a stone, - And there he fought a long summer’s day, - A summer’s day so long, - Till that their swords, on their broad bucklers, - Were broken fast unto their hands. - - * * * * * - - 7 - ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And my merry men euery one; - For this is one of the best pinders - That ever I try’d with sword. - - 8 - ‘And wilt thou forsake thy pinder his craft, - And live in [the] green wood with me? - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - 9 - ‘At Michaelmas next my covnant comes out, - When every man gathers his fee; - I’le take my blew blade all in my hand, - And plod to the green wood with thee.’ - - 10 - ‘Hast thou either meat or drink,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘For my merry men and me? - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - 11 - ‘I have both bread and beef,’ said the pinder, - ‘And good ale of the best;’ - ‘And that is meat good enough,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘For such unbidden guest. - - 12 - ‘O wilt thou forsake the pinder his craft, - And go to the green wood with me? - Thou shalt have a livery twice in the year, - The one green, the other brown [shall be].’ - - 13 - ‘If Michaelmas day were once come and gone - And my master had paid me my fee, - Then would I set as little by him - As my master doth set by me.’ - - - B - - Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 32. - - * * * * * - - 1 - ‘But hold y . . hold y . . .’ says Robin, - ‘My merrymen, I bid yee, - For this [is] one of the best pindars - That euer I saw w_i_th mine eye. - - 2 - ‘But hast thou any meat, thou iolly pindar, - For my merrymen and me?’ - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - 3 - ‘But I haue bread and cheese,’ sayes the pindar, - ‘And ale all on the best:’ - ‘That’s cheere good enoughe,’ said Robin, - ‘For any such vnbidden guest. - - 4 - ‘But wilt be my man?’ said good Robin, - ‘And come and dwell w_i_th me? - And twise in a yeere thy clothing [shall] be changed - If my man thou wilt bee, - The tone shall be of light Lincolne greene, - The tother of Picklory.’ - - 5 - ‘Att Michallmas comes a well good time, - When men haue gotten in their ffee; - I’le sett as litle by my m_aster_ - As he now setts by me, - I’le take my benbowe in my hande, - And come into the grenwoode to thee.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _The second and fourth lines were repeated in singing._ - -#a.# - - The Iolly Pinder of Wakefield. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. G[i]lber[t]son. (F. Coles, - 1646–1674; T. Vere, 1648–1680; W. Gilbertson, 1640–1663. - Chappell.) - - 1^1. their. - - 3^1. witty, _which all have, is a corruption of_ wight. - - 10^1. laid. - - 13^4. by my. - -#b#, #c#. - - Robin Hood and the jolly Pinder of Wakefield, shewing how he - fought with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John a long summer’s day. - To a Northern tune. - -#b.# - - 1^1. there dwels. - - 2^4. it goes. - - 4^1. saith. - - 5^1. a _for_ great: saith. - - 11^2. all. - - 11^3. that’s. - - 12^1. thy _for_ the. - -#c.# - - 4^3. king’s high. - - 6^2. fast unto. - - 6^4. And a. - - 6^5. that _wanting_. - - 9^1. covenants. - - 10^1. thou _wanting_. - -#d.# - - The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield with Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John. - - Printed by and for Alex. Milbourn, in Green-Arbor Court, in the - Little Old-Baily. (A. Milbourn, 1670–1697. Chappell.) - - 3^3. espy’d. - - 3^4. sat. - - 4^2. you have. - - 4^3. the kings. - - 5^1. a _for_ great. - - 6^2. foot against. - - 6^3. they _for_ he. - - 6^6. broke. - - 8^1. pinders craft. - - 8^2. in the. - - 13^1. was come. - - 13^4. set _wanting_. - -#e.# - - The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield: with Robin Hood, Scarlet and John. - - _No printer’s name._ - - 3^3. espyed. - - 3^4. sat. - - 4^2. you have. - - 4^3. kings. - - 6^1. foot against. - - 6^6. broke. - - 8^1. pinders craft. - - 13^1. was come. - - 13^4. set _wanting_. - - Pepys Penny Merriments Garland: _according to Hales and - Furnivall_. - - 6^4. And a. - - 6^5. that _wanting_. - - 10^1. thou _wanting_. - - 12^1. thy pinder. - - Gutch, Robin Hood, II, 144 f, _says that the Roxburghe copy has - in_ 3^1 wight yeomen. - - _He prints_ 7^{2–4}: - And my merry men stand aside; - For this is one of the best pinders - That with sword ever I tryed. - - 8^{3–4}. - Thou shalt have a livery twice in the year, - Th’one greene, tither brown shall be. - - _These parts of stanzas_ 7, 8 _he gives as from a black-letter - copy, which he does not describe_. - -#B.# - - _1^{1,2} make half a stanza in the MS., and 1^{3,4} are joined - with 2^{1,2}. 4^{5,6} and 5^{1,2} make a stanza. It is not - supposed that 4 and 5 were originally stanzas of six lines, but - rather that, one half of each of two stanzas having been - forgotten, the other has attached itself to a complete stanza - which chanced to have the same rhyme. Stanzas of six lines, - formed in this way, are common in traditional ballads._ - - 3^4. guests. - - 4^3. 2[s :]. in. - - - - - 125 - - ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN - - #a.# A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, I, 75. #b.# Aldermary Garland, - by R. Marshall, n. d., No 22. - - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 138; Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, -204. There is a bad copy in a Robin Hood’s Garland of 1749. - -“This ballad,” says Ritson, “is named in a schedule of such things under -an agreement between W. Thackeray and others in 1689, Col. Pepys, vol. -5.” It occurs in a list of ballads printed for and sold by William -Thackeray at the Angel in Duck-Lane (see The Ballad Society’s reprint of -the Roxburghe Ballads, W. Chappell, I, xxiv, from a copy in the Bagford -collection), but by some caprice of fortune has not, so far as is known, -come down in the broadside form, neither is it found in the older -garlands. - -Robin Hood and Little John belongs to a set of ballads which have middle -rhyme in the third line of the stanza, and are directed to be sung to -one and the same tune. These are: R. H. and the Bishop, R. H. and the -Beggar, R. H. and the Tanner, to the tune of R. H. and the Stranger; R. -H. and the Butcher, R. H.’s Chase, Little John and the Four Beggars, to -the tune of R. H. and the Beggar; R. H. and Little John, R. H. and the -Ranger, to the tune of Arthur a Bland (that is, R. H. and the Tanner). -There is no ballad with the title Robin Hood and the Stranger. Ritson -thought it proper to give this title to a ballad which uniformly bears -the title of Robin Hood Newly Revived, No 128, because Robin’s -antagonist is repeatedly called “the stranger” in it. But Robin’s -antagonist is equally often called “the stranger” in the present ballad -(eleven times in each), and Robin Hood and Little John has the middle -rhyme in the third line, which Robin Hood Newly Revived has not -(excepting in seven stanzas at the end, which are a portion of a -different ballad, Robin Hood and the Scotchman). Robin Hood and Little -John (and Robin Hood Newly Revived as well) would naturally be referred -to as Robin Hood and the Stranger, for the same reason that Robin Hood -and the Tanner is referred to as Arthur a Bland. The fact that the -middle rhyme in the third line is found in Robin Hood and Little John, -but is lacking in Robin Hood Newly Revived, gives a slightly superior -probability to the supposition that the former, or rather some older -version of it (for the one we have is in a rank seventeenth-century -style), had the secondary title of Robin Hood and the Stranger.[107] - -Like Robin Hood’s Progress to Nottingham, this ballad affects, in the -right apocryphal way, to know an adventure of Robin’s early life. Though -but twenty years old, Robin has a company of threescore and nine bowmen. -With all these he shakes hands one morning, and goes through the forest -alone, prudently enjoining on the band to come to his help if he should -blow his horn. He meets a stranger on a narrow bridge, and neither will -give way. Robin threatens the stranger with an arrow, which, as he -requires to be reminded, is cowardly enough, seeing that the other man -has nothing but a staff. Recalled to ordinary manliness, Robin Hood, -laying down his bow, provides himself with an oaken stick, and proposes -a battle on the bridge, which he shall be held to win who knocks the -other into the water in the end. In the end the stranger tumbles Robin -into the brook, and is owned to have won the day. The band are now -summoned by the horn, and when they hear what the stranger has done are -about to seize and duck him, but are ordered to forbear. Robin Hood -proposes to his antagonist that he shall join his men, and John Little, -as he declares his name to be, accedes. John Little is seven foot -tall.[108] Will Stutely says his name must be changed, and they -rebaptize the “infant” as Little John. - -‘A pastorall plesant commedie of Robin Hood and Little John, etc.,’ is -entered to Edward White in the Stationers’ Registers, May 14, 1594, and -‘Robin Hood and Litle John’ to Master Oulton, April 22, 1640. (Arber, -II, 649, IV, 507.) - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 65. - - - 1 - When Robin Hood was about twenty years old, - With a hey down down and a down - He happend to meet Little John, - A jolly brisk blade, right fit for the trade, - For he was a lusty young man. - - 2 - Tho he was calld Little, his limbs they were large, - And his stature was seven foot high; - Where-ever he came, they quak’d at his name, - For soon he would make them to fly. - - 3 - How they came acquainted, I’ll tell you in brief, - If you will but listen a while; - For this very jest, amongst all the rest, - I think it may cause you to smile. - - 4 - Bold Robin Hood said to his jolly bowmen, - Pray tarry you here in this grove; - And see that you all observe well my call, - While thorough the forest I rove. - - 5 - We have had no sport for these fourteen long days, - Therefore now abroad will I go; - Now should I be beat, and cannot retreat, - My horn I will presently blow. - - 6 - Then did he shake hands with his merry men all, - And bid them at present good b’w’ye; - Then, as near a brook his journey he took, - A stranger he chancd to espy. - - 7 - They happend to meet on a long narrow bridge, - And neither of them would give way; - Quoth bold Robin Hood, and sturdily stood, - I’ll show you right Nottingham play. - - 8 - With that from his quiver an arrow he drew, - A broad arrow with a goose-wing: - The stranger reply’d, I’ll liquor thy hide, - If thou offerst to touch the string. - - 9 - Quoth bold Robin Hood, Thou dost prate like an ass, - For were I to bend but my bow, - I could send a dart quite thro thy proud heart, - Before thou couldst strike me one blow. - - 10 - ‘Thou talkst like a coward,’ the stranger reply’d; - ‘Well armd with a long bow you stand, - To shoot at my breast, while I, I protest, - Have nought but a staff in my hand.’ - - 11 - ‘The name of a coward,’ quoth Robin, ‘I scorn, - Wherefore my long bow I’ll lay by; - And now, for thy sake, a staff will I take, - The truth of thy manhood to try.’ - - 12 - Then Robin Hood stept to a thicket of trees, - And chose him a staff of ground-oak; - Now this being done, away he did run - To the stranger, and merrily spoke: - - 13 - Lo! see my staff, it is lusty and tough, - Now here on the bridge we will play; - Whoever falls in, the other shall win - The battel, and so we’ll away. - - 14 - ‘With all my whole heart,’ the stranger reply’d; - ‘I scorn in the least to give out;’ - This said, they fell to ‘t without more dispute, - And their staffs they did flourish about. - - 15 - And first Robin he gave the stranger a bang, - So hard that it made his bones ring: - The stranger he said, This must be repaid, - I’ll give you as good as you bring. - - 16 - So long as I’m able to handle my staff, - To die in your debt, friend, I scorn: - Then to it each goes, and followd their blows, - As if they had been threshing of corn. - - 17 - The stranger gave Robin a crack on the crown, - Which caused the blood to appear; - Then Robin, enrag’d, more fiercely engag’d, - And followd his blows more severe. - - 18 - So thick and so fast did he lay it on him, - With a passionate fury and ire, - At every stroke, he made him to smoke, - As if he had been all on fire. - - 19 - O then into fury the stranger he grew, - And gave him a damnable look, - And with it a blow that laid him full low, - And tumbld him into the brook. - - 20 - ‘I prithee, good fellow, O where art thou now?’ - The stranger, in laughter, he cry’d; - Quoth bold Robin Hood, Good faith, in the flood, - And floating along with the tide. - - 21 - I needs must acknowledge thou art a brave soul; - With thee I’ll no longer contend; - For needs must I say, thou hast got the day, - Our battel shall be at an end. - - 22 - Then unto the bank he did presently wade, - And pulld himself out by a thorn; - Which done, at the last, he blowd a loud blast - Straitway on his fine bugle-horn. - - 23 - The eccho of which through the vallies did fly, - At which his stout bowmen appeard, - All cloathed in green, most gay to be seen; - So up to their master they steerd. - - 24 - ‘O what’s the matter?’ quoth William Stutely; - ‘Good master, you are wet to the skin:’ - ‘No matter,’ quoth he; ‘the lad which you see, - In fighting, hath tumbld me in.’ - - 25 - ‘He shall not go scot-free,’ the others reply’d; - So strait they were seizing him there, - To duck him likewise; but Robin Hood cries, - He is a stout fellow, forbear. - - 26 - There’s no one shall wrong thee, friend, be not afraid; - These bowmen upon me do wait; - There’s threescore and nine; if thou wilt be mine, - Thou shalt have my livery strait. - - 27 - And other accoutrements fit for a man; - Speak up, jolly blade, never fear; - I’ll teach you also the use of the bow, - To shoot at the fat fallow-deer. - - 28 - ‘O here is my hand,’ the stranger reply’d, - ‘I’ll serve you with all my whole heart; - My name is John Little, a man of good mettle; - Nere doubt me, for I’ll play my part.’ - - 29 - His name shall be alterd,’ quoth William Stutely, - ‘And I will his godfather be; - Prepare then a feast, and none of the least, - For we will be merry,’ quoth he. - - 30 - They presently fetchd in a brace of fat does, - With humming strong liquor likewise; - They lovd what was good; so, in the greenwood, - This pretty sweet babe they baptize. - - 31 - He was, I must tell you, but seven foot high, - And, may be, an ell in the waste; - A pretty sweet lad; much feasting they had; - Bold Robin the christning grac’d. - - 32 - With all his bowmen, which stood in a ring, - And were of the Notti[n]gham breed; - Brave Stutely comes then, with seven yeomen, - And did in this manner proceed. - - 33 - ‘This infant was called John Little,’ quoth he, - ‘Which name shall be changed anon; - The words we’ll transpose, so where-ever he goes, - His name shall be calld Little John.’ - - 34 - They all with a shout made the elements ring, - So soon as the office was ore; - To feasting they went, with true merriment, - And tippld strong liquor gillore. - - 35 - Then Robin he took the pretty sweet babe, - And cloathd him from top to the toe - In garments of green, most gay to be seen, - And gave him a curious long bow. - - 36 - ‘Thou shalt be an archer as well as the best, - And range in the greenwood with us; - Where we’ll not want gold nor silver, behold, - While bishops have ought in their purse. - - 37 - ‘We live here like squires, or lords of renown, - Without ere a foot of free land; - We feast on good cheer, with wine, ale, and beer, - And evry thing at our command.’ - - 38 - Then musick and dancing did finish the day; - At length, when the sun waxed low, - Then all the whole train the grove did refrain, - And unto their caves they did go. - - 39 - And so ever after, as long as he livd, - Altho he was proper and tall, - Yet nevertheless, the truth to express, - Still Little John they did him call. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - _Title._ Robin Hood and Little John. Being an account of their - first meeting, their fierce encounter, and conquest. To which is - added, their friendly agreement, and how he came to be calld - Little John. - - To the tune of Arthur a Bland. - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#. - - 2^2. statue. - - 3^2. you would. - - 3^3. among. - - 3^4. it _wanting_. - - 4^3. his _for_ my, _wrongly_. - - 5^1. for _wanting_. - - 5^3. be _wanting_. - - 8^4. offer. - - 9^2. where I do bend. - - 11^2. Therefore. - - 11^3. I will. - - 13^1. it _wanting_. - - 13^2. on this. - - 15^1. And first: he _wanting_. - - 15^2. he _for_ it. - - 16^1. a _for_ my. - - 16^3. both goes, and follow. - - 18^1. he did. - - 19^1. in a fury. - - 19^3. which _for_ that. - - 20^1. O _wanting_. - - 22^3. blew. - - 23^1. did ring. - - 23^4. their matter. - - 24^3. that _for_ which. - - 27^1. fitting also. - - 30^1. him _for_ in. - - 30^4. baptiz’d. - - 31^1. feet. - - 31^3. He was a sweet. - - 32^3. came. - - 34^4. liquors. - - 35^2. the _wanting_. - - 39^1. they _for_ he. - - 39^2. he be. - - - - - 126 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 9 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 10. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 9. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 111, No 98. - - -Printed in Old Ballads, 1723, I, 83. - -#a# was printed by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 30. Evans has an -indifferent copy, probably edited, in his Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, -112. - -Arthur a Bland, a Nottingham tanner, goes of a summer’s morning into -Sherwood forest to see the red deer. Robin Hood pretends to be a keeper -and to see cause for staying the Tanner. The Tanner says it will take -more than one such to make him stand. They have a two hours’ fight with -staves, when Robin cries Hold! The Tanner henceforth shall be free of -the forest, and if he will come and live there with Robin Hood shall -have both gold and fee. Arthur a Bland gives his hand never to part from -Robin, and asks for Little John, whom he declares to be his kinsman. -Robin Hood blows his horn. Little John comes at the call, and, learning -what has been going on, would like to try a bout with the Tanner, but -after a little explanation throws himself upon his kinsman’s neck. The -three take hands for a dance round the oak-tree. - -The sturdy Arthur a Bland is well hit off, and, bating the sixteenth and -thirty-fifth stanzas, the ballad has a good popular ring. There is -corruption at 8^3, 12^3, and perhaps 13^3. - -Little John offers to fight with the Tinker in No 127, and again with -the Stranger in No 128, as here with the Tanner, and is forbidden, as -here, by his master. In R. H. and the Shepherd, No 135, he undertakes -the Shepherd after Robin has owned himself conquered, and the fight is -stopped after John has received some sturdy blows. In the Bold Pedlar -and Robin Hood, No 132, John begins and Robin follows, and each in turn -cries, Pedlar, pray hold your hand. In R. H. and the Potter, No 121, -John is ready to bet on the Potter, because he has already had strokes -from him which he has reason to remember. - -As the Tanner is John’s cousin, so, in Robin Hood Revived, No 128, the -Stranger turns out to be Robin Hood’s nephew, Young Gamwell, -thenceforward called Scathlock; and in No 132 the Bold Pedlar proves to -be Gamble Gold, Robin’s cousin. - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 117. - - - 1 - In Nottingham there lives a jolly tanner, - With a hey down down a down down - His name is Arthur a Bland; - There is nere a squire in Nottinghamshire - Dare bid bold Arthur stand. - - 2 - With a long pike-staff upon his shoulder, - So well he can clear his way; - By two and by three he makes them to flee, - For he hath no list to stay. - - 3 - And as he went forth, in a summer’s morning, - Into the forrest of merry Sherwood, - To view the red deer, that range here and there, - There met he with bold Robin Hood. - - 4 - As soon as bold Robin Hood did him espy, - He thought some sport he would make; - Therefore out of hand he bid him to stand, - And thus to him he spake: - - 5 - Why, what art thou, thou bold fellow, - That ranges so boldly here? - In sooth, to be brief, thou lookst like a thief, - That comes to steal our king’s deer. - - 6 - For I am a keeper in this forrest; - The king puts me in trust - To look to his deer, that range here and there, - Therefore stay thee I must. - - 7 - ‘If thou beest a keeper in this forrest, - And hast such a great command, - Yet thou must have more partakers in store, - Before thou make me to stand.’ - - 8 - ‘Nay, I have no more partakers in store, - Or any that I do need; - But I have a staff of another oke graff, - I know it will do the deed.’ - - 9 - ‘For thy sword and thy bow I care not a straw, - Nor all thine arrows to boot; - If I get a knop upon thy bare scop, - Thou canst as well shite as shoote.’ - - 10 - ‘Speak cleanly, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘And give better terms to me; - Else I’le thee correct for thy neglect, - And make thee more mannerly.’ - - 11 - ‘Marry gep with a wenion!’ quoth Arthur a Bland, - ‘Art thou such a goodly man? - I care not a fig for thy looking so big; - Mend thou thyself where thou can.’ - - 12 - Then Robin Hood he unbuckled his belt, - He laid down his bow so long; - He took up a staff of another oke graff, - That was both stiff and strong. - - 13 - ‘I’le yield to thy weapon,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Since thou wilt not yield to mine; - For I have a staff of another oke graff, - Not half a foot longer then thine. - - 14 - ‘But let me measure,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Before we begin our fray; - For I’le not have mine to be longer then thine, - For that will be called foul play.’ - - 15 - ‘I pass not for length,’ bold Arthur reply’d, - ‘My staff is of oke so free; - Eight foot and a half, it will knock down a calf, - And I hope it will knock down thee.’ - - 16 - Then Robin Hood could no longer forbear; - He gave him such a knock, - Quickly and soon the blood came down, - Before it was ten a clock. - - 17 - Then Arthur he soon recovered himself, - And gave him such a knock on the crown, - That on every hair of bold Robin Hoods head, - The blood came trickling down. - - 18 - Then Robin Hood raged like a wild bore, - As soon as he saw his own blood; - Then Bland was in hast, he laid on so fast, - As though he had been staking of wood. - - 19 - And about, and about, and about they went, - Like two wild bores in a chase; - Striving to aim each other to maim, - Leg, arm, or any other place. - - 20 - And knock for knock they lustily dealt, - Which held for two hours and more; - That all the wood rang at every bang, - They ply’d their work so sore. - - 21 - ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And let our quarrel fall; - For here we may thresh our bones into mesh, - And get no coyn at all. - - 22 - ‘And in the forrest of merry Sherwood - Hereafter thou shalt be free:’ - ‘God-a-mercy for naught, my freedom I bought, - I may thank my good staff, and not thee.’ - - 23 - ‘What tradesman art thou?’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Good fellow, I prethee me show: - And also me tell in what place thou dost dwel, - For both these fain would I know.’ - - 24 - ‘I am a tanner,’ bold Arthur reply’d, - ‘In Nottingham long have I wrought; - And if thou’lt come there, I vow and do swear - I will tan thy hide for naught.’ - - 25 - ‘God a mercy, good fellow,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Since thou art so kind to me; - And if thou wilt tan my hide for naught, - I will do as much for thee. - - 26 - ‘But if thou’lt forsake thy tanners trade, - And live in green wood with me, - My name’s Robin Hood, I swear by the rood - I will give thee both gold and fee.’ - - 27 - ‘If thou be Robin Hood,’ bold Arthur reply’d, - ‘As I think well thou art, - Then here’s my hand, my name’s Arthur a Bland, - We two will never depart. - - 28 - ‘But tell me, O tell me, where is Little John? - Of him fain would I hear; - For we are alide by the mothers side, - And he is my kinsman near.’ - - 29 - Then Robin Hood blew on the beaugle horn, - He blew full lowd and shrill, - But quickly anon appeard Little John, - Come tripping down a green hill. - - 30 - ‘O what is the matter?’ then said Little John, - ‘Master, I pray you tell; - Why do you stand with your staff in your hand? - I fear all is not well.’ - - 31 - ‘O man, I do stand, and he makes me to stand, - The tanner that stands thee beside; - He is a bonny blade, and master of his trade, - For soundly he hath tand my hide.’ - - 32 - ‘He is to be commended,’ then said Little John, - ‘If such a feat he can do; - If he be so stout, we will have a bout, - And he shall tan my hide too.’ - - 33 - ‘Hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘For as I do understand, - He’s a yeoman good, and of thine own blood, - For his name is Arthur a Bland.’ - - 34 - Then Little John threw his staff away, - As far as he could it fling, - And ran out of hand to Arthur a Bland, - And about his neck did cling. - - 35 - With loving respect, there was no neglect, - They were neither nice nor coy, - Each other did face, with a lovely grace, - And both did weep for joy. - - 36 - Then Robin Hood took them both by the hand, - And danc’d round about the oke tree; - ‘For three merry men, and three merry men, - And three merry men we be. - - 37 - ‘And ever hereafter, as long as I live, - We three will be all one; - The wood shall ring, and the old wife sing, - Of Robin Hood, Arthur, and John.’ - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood and the Tanner, or, Robin Hood met with his match: A - merry and pleasant song relating the gallant and fierce combate - fought between Arthur Bland, a Tanner of Nottingham, and Robin - Hood, the greatest and most noblest archer of England. The tune - is, Robin and the Stranger. - - Printed for W. Gilbertson. (1640–63: _Chappell_.) - - 3^2. merry Forrest of. - - 7^2. hath. - - 7^3. But. - - 9^3. the bare. - - 11^1. qd.. - - 13^3. straff. - - 14^4. _Wanting in my copy, probably by accidental omission: - supplied from_ #b#. - - 17^3. That from every side: Old Ballads, 1713, _to restore the - middle rhyme_. - - 21^2. let your Quiver: _cf._ #b#, #c#, #d#. - - 21^3. thrash: to: _cf._ #b#. - - 22^4. good _wanting_. - - 26^3. the wood: _cf._ #d#. - - 35^2. noice. - - 36^1. took him by: _cf._ #d#. - - 37^4. Kobin. - -#b.# - - _Title as in #a#.By the same printer as #a#. Burden sometimes_ - With hey, _etc._ - - 1^1. lives there. - - 1^2, 11^1, 27^3. Arthur Bland. - - 3^2. merry Forrest of. - - 6^2. he puts. - - 7^2. hath. - - 7^3. Yet. - - 7^4. Before that. - - 8^3, 12^3, 13^3. graft. - - 9^3. thy bare. - - 11^1. quoth. - - 13^1. I yield. - - 13^4. than. - - 14^3. to _wanting_. - - 14^4. For that will be called foul play. - - 17^2. He gave. - - 17^3. Hoods _wanting_. - - 21^2. let our quarrel. - - 21^3. thresh: into. - - 22^4. my good. - - 23^2. pray thee. - - 24^3. thou come. - - 25^2. kinde and free. - - 26^3. the wood. - - 28^1. where’s. - - 29^2. both _for_ full. - - 30^1. then _wanting_. - - 33^3. thy. - - 34^4. he did. - - 36^1. took him by. - - 36^2. round _wanting_. - - 37^1. so long. - -#c.# - - _Title as in_ #a.# _Burden after_ 2^1, With hey, _etc._ - - 1^2, 11^1, 27^3. Arthur Bland. - - 2^4. not. - - 3^2. merry Forrest of. - - 4^3. them to. - - 7^2. hath. - - 7^3. Yet you. - - 7^4. Before that. - - 8^3, 12^3, 13^3. graft. - - 9^3. thy bare. - - 11^1. qd.. - - 13^1. I yield. - - 14^3. to _wanting_. - - 14^4. For that will be called foul play. - - 16^3. blood ran. - - 17^2. He gave. - - 17^3. hair on Robins. - - 17^4. blood ran. - - 18^4. been cleaving wood. - - 20^1. deal. - - 20^4. so fast. - - 21^2. let our quarrel. - - 21^3. thresh: into. - - 22^4. my good. - - 24^3. thou come. - - 25^2. kind and free. - - 26^1. thou wilt. - - 26^3. the wood. - - 28^3. mother. - - 29^1. he blew. - - 29^2. both _for_ full. - - 29^3. and anon. - - 30^3. your _wanting_. - - 31^2. me _for_ thee. - - 33^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 33^3. thy blood. - - 34^4. he did. - - 35^4. they both. - - 36^1. took him by. - - 36^2. round _wanting_. - - 37^1. And we: so long as we. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_: the greatest archer in London. - Printed for J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. - Passenger. (1670–1682?) _Burden sometimes_, With hey, _etc._ - - 1^4. to stand. - - 3^1. on a. - - 3^2. forrest of merry. - - 4^1. Robin he did him. - - 4^4. he did spake. - - 5^4. the kings. - - 6^1. If thou beest a, _caught from_ 7^1. - - 7^2. hast. - - 7^3. Then thou. - - 7^4. makst. - - 8^2. Nor any: do not. - - 9^2. thy. - - 9^3. thou get a knock upon thy. - - 11^1. gip: wernion qd. - - 11^4. if thou. - - 12^2. And threw it upon the ground. - - 12^3. Says, I have a. - - 12^4. That is both strong and sound. - - 13^1. But let me measure, said. - - 14^3. I’le have mine no longer. - - 14^4. For that will be counted foul play. - - 16^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 17^1. he _wanting_. - - 17^3. from every hair of. - - 18^1. raved _for_ raged. - - 18^3. he was. - - 18^4. stacking. - - 19^4. other _wanting_. - - 20^2. for _wanting_. - - 21^2. let our quarrel. - - 21^3. thrash our bones to. - - 22^3. I’ve. - - 22^4. my good. - - 24^3. thou come. - - 26^1. thou wilt. - - 26^2. in the. - - 26^3. name is: rood. - - 29^1. on his. - - 29^2. both _for_ full. - - 29^4. tripping over the hill. - - 30^2. you me. - - 30^3. the staff. - - 31^3. and a. - - 32^3. about. - - 33^3. thy. - - 35^2. They was. - - 37^1. we live. - - 37^2. all as (_printed_ sa). - - - - - 127 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE TINKER - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 17 b. - - #b.# Pepys, II, 107, No 94. - - #c.# Douce, III, 118 b. - - -In the Roxburghe collection, III, 22. Not in the Garland of 1663 or that -of 1670. - -#a# is printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 38; in Gutch’s Robin -Hood, II, 264, “compared with” the Roxburghe copy. The ballad was -printed by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 118. - -The fewest words will best befit this contemptible imitation of -imitations. Robin Hood meets a Tinker, and they exchange scurrilities. -The Tinker has a warrant from the king to arrest Robin, but will not -show it when asked. Robin Hood suggests that it will be best to go to -Nottingham, and there the two take one inn and drink together till the -Tinker falls asleep; when Robin makes off, and leaves the Tinker to pay -the shot. The host informs the Tinker that it was Robin Hood that he was -drinking with, and recommends him to seek his man in the parks. The -Tinker finds Robin, and they fall to it, crab-tree staff against sword. -Robin yields, and begs a boon; the Tinker will grant none. A blast of -the horn brings Little John and Scadlock. Little John would fain see -whether the Tinker can do for him what he has done for his master, but -Robin proclaims a peace, and offers the Tinker terms which induce him to -join the outlaws. - -It is not necessary to suppose the warrant to arrest Robin a souvenir of -‘Guy of Gisborne’; though that noble ballad is in a 17th century MS., it -does not appear to have been known to the writers of broadsides. - - - 1 - In summer time, when leaves grow green, - Down a down a down - And birds sing on every tree, - Hey down a down a down - - Robin Hood went to Nottingham, - Down a down a down - As fast as hee could dree. - Hey down a down a down - - 2 - And as hee came to Nottingham - A Tinker he did meet, - And seeing him a lusty blade, - He did him kindly greet. - - 3 - ‘Where dost thou live?’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘I pray thee now mee tell; - Sad news I hear there is abroad, - I fear all is not well.’ - - 4 - ‘What is that news?’ the Tinker said; - ‘Tell mee without delay; - I am a tinker by my trade, - And do live at Banbura.’ - - 5 - ‘As for the news,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘It is but as I hear; - Two tinkers they were set ith’ stocks, - For drinking ale and bear.’ - - 6 - ‘If that be all,’ the Tinker said, - ‘As I may say to you, - Your news it is not worth a fart, - Since that they all bee true. - - 7 - ‘For drinking of good ale and bear, - You wil not lose your part:’ - ‘No, by my faith,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘I love it with all my heart. - - 8 - ‘What news abroad?’ quoth Robin Hood; - ‘Tell mee what thou dost hear; - Being thou goest from town to town, - Some news thou need not fear.’ - - 9 - ‘All the news,’ the Tinker said, - ‘I hear, it is for good; - It is to seek a bold outlaw, - Which they call Robin Hood. - - 10 - ‘I have a warrant from the king, - To take him where I can; - If you can tell me where hee is, - I will make you a man. - - 11 - ‘The king will give a hundred pound - That hee could but him see; - And if wee can but now him get, - It will serve you and mee.’ - - 12 - ‘Let me see that warrant,’ said Robin Hood; - ‘I’le see if it bee right; - And I will do the best I can - For to take him this night.’ - - 13 - ‘That will I not,’ the Tinker said; - ‘None with it I will trust; - And where hee is if you’l not tell, - Take him by force I must.’ - - 14 - But Robin Hood perceiving well - How then the game would go, - ‘If you will go to Nottingham, - Wee shall find him I know.’ - - 15 - The Tinker had a crab-tree staff, - Which was both good and strong; - Robin hee had a good strong blade, - So they went both along. - - 16 - And when they came to Nottingham, - There they both tooke one inn; - And they calld for ale and wine, - To drink it was no sin. - - 17 - But ale and wine they drank so fast - That the Tinker hee forgot - What thing he was about to do; - It fell so to his lot - - 18 - That while the Tinker fell asleep, - Hee made then haste away, - And left the Tinker in the lurch, - For the great shot to pay. - - 19 - But when the Tinker wakened, - And saw that he was gone, - He calld then even for his host, - And thus hee made his moan. - - 20 - ‘I had a warrant from the king, - Which might have done me good, - That is to take a bold outlaw, - Some call him Robin Hood. - - 21 - ‘But now my warrant and mony’s gone, - Nothing I have to pay; - And he that promisd to be my friend, - He is gone and fled away.’ - - 22 - ‘That friend you tell on,’ said the host, - ‘They call him Robin Hood; - And when that first hee met with you, - He ment you little good.’ - - 23 - ‘Had I known it had been hee, - When that I had him here, - Th’ one of us should have tri’d our strength - Which should have paid full dear. - - 24 - ‘In the mean time I must away; - No longer here I’le bide; - But I will go and seek him out, - What ever do me betide. - - 25 - ‘But one thing I would gladly know, - What here I have to pay;’ - ‘Ten shillings just,’ then said the host; - ‘I’le pay without delay. - - 26 - ‘Or elce take here my working-bag, - And my good hammer too; - And if that I light but on the knave, - I will then soon pay you.’ - - 27 - ‘The onely way,’ then said the host, - ‘And not to stand in fear, - Is to seek him among the parks, - Killing of the kings deer.’ - - 28 - The Tinker hee then went with speed, - And made then no delay, - Till he had found then Robin Hood, - That they might have a fray. - - 29 - At last hee spy’d him in a park, - Hunting then of the deer; - ‘What knave is that,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘That doth come mee so near?’ - - 30 - ‘No knave, no knave,’ the Tinker said, - ‘And that you soon shall know; - Whether of us hath done most wrong, - My crab-tree staff shall show.’ - - 31 - Then Robin drew his gallant blade, - Made then of trusty steel; - But the Tinker laid on him so fast - That he made Robin reel. - - 32 - Then Robins anger did arise; - He fought full manfully, - Vntil hee had made the Tinker - Almost then fit to fly. - - 33 - With that they had a bout again, - They ply’d their weapons fast; - The Tinker threshed his bones so sore - He made him yeeld at last. - - 34 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ Robin hee cryes, - ‘If thou wilt grant it mee;’ - ‘Before I do it,’ the Tinker said, - ‘I’le hang thee on this tree.’ - - 35 - But the Tinker looking him about, - Robin his horn did blow; - Then came unto him Little John, - And William Scadlock too. - - 36 - ‘What is the matter,’ quoth Little John, - ‘You sit in th’ highway side?’ - ‘Here is a Tinker that stands by, - That hath paid well my hide.’ - - 37 - ‘That Tinker,’ then said Little John, - ‘Fain that blade I would see, - And I would try what I could do, - If hee’l do as much for mee.’ - - 38 - But Robin hee then wishd them both - They should the quarrel cease, - ‘That henceforth wee may bee as one, - And ever live in peace. - - 39 - ‘And for the jovial Tinker’s part, - A hundred pound I’le give, - In th’ year to maintain him on, - As long as he doth live. - - 40 - ‘In manhood hee is a mettle man, - And a mettle man by trade; - I never thought that any man - Should have made me so fraid. - - 41 - ‘And if hee will bee one of us, - Wee will take all one fare, - And whatsoever wee do get, - He shall have his full share.’ - - 42 - So the Tinker was content - With them to go along, - And with them a part to take, - And so I end my song. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - A new song, to drive away cold winter, - Between Robin Hood and the Jovial Tinker; - How Robin by a wile - The Tinker he did cheat, - But at the length, as you shall hear, - The Tinker did him beat; - Whereby the same they then did so agree - They after livd in love and unity. - - To the tune of In Summer Time. - - London, Printed for F. Grove, dwelling on Snowhill. (1620–55.) - - 1^3. Nottingam. - - 8^2. here. - - 10^1. warrand. - -#b.# - - _Title as in #a#: except that_ he _is wanting in the fourth line, - and_ so _in the last line but one_. - - Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–86?) - - 3^1. qd. - - 4^4. Banburay. - - 6^3. it _wanting_. - - 11^1. king would: an. - - 14^3. you would. - - 16^2. they took up their. - - 22^1. speak _for_ tell. - - 24^1. was _for_ will. - - 24^4. me _wanting_. - - 25^3. Ten shillings just I have to pay. - - 26^3. if I: on that. - - 28^3. then found. - - 31^3. Tinker he laid on so fast. - - 32^2. right _for_ full. - - 33^1. laid about. - - 33^4. That he. - - 35^4. Will. - - 39^2. pounds: I _for_ Ile. - - 40^1. mettled. - - 40^4. afraid. - - 41^1. with us. - -#c.# - - Robin Hood and the Jolly Tinker: Shewing how they fiercely - encountered, and after the victorious conquest lovingly agreed. - Tune of In Summer Time. - - London, Printed by J. Hodges, at the Looking Glass, on London - Bridge. _Not in black letter._ - - 3^1. doth. - - 4^1. the news. - - 4^4. Bullbury. - - 5^3. they are. - - 6^3. it _wanting_. - - 8^4. needs. - - 11^1. would give an. - - 11^4. thee _for_ you. - - 15^1. A crab-tree staff the Tinker had. - - 16^2. they took up at their inn. - - 18^2. Robin made haste away. - - 19^1. did awake. - - 19^3. even _wanting_. - - 20^3. to seek. - - 21^1. the _for_ my. - - 21^4. He _wanting_. - - 22^1. speak _for_ tell. - - 23^1. I but. - - 23^3. might _for_ strength. - - 24^1. I will. - - 24^4. should betide. - - 25^1. But _wanting_. - - 25^3. just I have to pay. - - 26^1. bags. - - 26^3. that _wanting_. - - 27^3. amongst. - - 29^1. in the. - - 31^2. Made of a. - - 31^3. he laid: him _wanting_. - - 32^3. that he. - - 32^4. Then almost. - - 33^1. they laid about. - - 33^3. full _for_ so. - - 33^4. That he. - - 34^2. grant to. - - 35^4. also _for_ too. - - 36^3. There. - - 37^2. would I. - - 37^3. And would. - - 38^2. They would. - - 39^3. In a. - - 40^1. mettle. - - 40^4. afraid. - - - - - 128 - - ROBIN HOOD NEWLY REVIVED - - ‘Robin Hood Newly Reviv’d.’ #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, - III, 18, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of - 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88. - - -Also Douce, III, 120 b, London, by L. How, and Roxburghe, III, 408: both -of these are of the eighteenth century. - -#a# is printed, with not a few changes, in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, -II, 66. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 143, agrees nearly with the -Aldermary garland. - -Robin Hood, walking the forest, meets a gaily-dressed young fellow, who -presently brings down a deer at forty yards with his bow. Robin commends -the shot, and offers the youngster a place as one of his yeomen. The -offer is rudely received; each bends his bow at the other. Robin -suggests that one of them may be slain, if they shoot: swords and -bucklers would be better. Robin strikes the first blow, and is so -stoutly answered that he is fain to know who the young man is. His name -is Gamwell, and, having killed his father’s steward, he has fled to the -forest to join his uncle, Robin Hood. The kinsmen embrace, and walk on -till they meet Little John. Robin Hood tells John that the stranger has -beaten him. Little John would like a bout, to see if the stranger can -beat him. This Robin forbids, for this stranger is his own sister’s son; -he shall be next in rank to Little John among his yeomen, and be called -Scarlet. - -The story seems to have been built up on a portion of the ruins, so to -speak, of the fine tale of Gamelyn. There the king of the outlaws, -sitting at meat with his seven score young men, sees Gamelyn wandering -in the wood with Adam, and tells some of his young men to fetch them in. -Seven start up to execute the order, and when they come to Gamelyn and -his comrade bid the twain hand over their bows and arrows. Gamelyn -replies, Not though ye fetch five men, and so be twelve; but no violence -being attempted, the pair go to the king, who asks them what they seek -in the woods. Gamelyn answers, No harm; but to shoot a deer, if we meet -one, like hungry men. The king gives them to eat and drink of the best, -and, upon learning that the spokesman is Gamelyn, makes him master, -under himself, over all the outlaws. Little John having long had the -place of first man under Robin, the best that the ballad-maker could do -for Gamwell was to make him chief yeoman after John.[109] (The Tale of -Gamelyn, ed. Skeat, vv 625–686. The resemblance of the ballad is -remarked upon at p. x.) - -Ritson gives this ballad the title of Robin Hood and the Stranger, -remarking: The title now given to this ballad is that which it seems to -have originally borne; having been foolishly altered to Robin Hood newly -Revived. R. H. and the Bishop, R. H. and the Beggar, R. H. and the -Tanner, are directed to be sung to the tune of Robin Hood and the -Stranger, but no ballad bears such a title in any garland or -broadside.[110] The ballad referred to as Robin Hood and the Stranger -may possibly have been this, but, for reasons given at p. 133, Robin -Hood and Little John is, as I think, more likely to be the one meant. - -Robin Hood and the Stranger was one name for the most popular of Robin -Hood tunes, and this particular tune was sometimes called ‘Robin Hood’ -absolutely (see the note at the end of the next ballad). If the ballad -denoted by Robin Hood and the Stranger was also sometimes known as -‘Robin Hood’ simply, and especially if this ballad was Robin Hood and -Little John, an explanation presents itself of the title ‘Robin Hood -newly Revived.’ What is revived is the favorite topic of the process by -which Robin Hood enlarged and strengthened his company. The earlier -ballad had shown how Little John came to join the band; the second -undertakes to tell us how Scarlet was enlisted, the next most important -man after John. - -The second part, referred to in the last stanza, was separated, Mr -Chappell thought, when the present ballad was “newly revived,” because -the whole was found too long for a penny (one would say that both parts -together were “dear enough a leek”), and seven stanzas (incoherent in -themselves and not cohering with what lies before us) added to fill up -the sheet. These stanzas will be given under No 130, as Robin Hood and -the Scotchman; and the “second part,” ‘R. H. and the Prince of Aragon,’ -or ‘R. H., Will. Scadlock and Little John,’ follows immediately. - - - 1 - Come listen a while, you gentlemen all, - With a hey down down a down down - That are in this bower within, - For a story of gallant bold Robin Hood - I purpose now to begin. - - 2 - ‘What time of the day?’ quoth Robin Hood then; - Quoth Little John, ’Tis in the prime; - ‘Why then we will to the green wood gang, - For we have no vittles to dine.’ - - 3 - As Robin Hood walkt the forrest along— - It was in the mid of the day— - There was he met of a deft young man - As ever walkt on the way. - - 4 - His doublet it was of silk, he said, - His stockings like scarlet shone, - And he walkt on along the way, - To Robin Hood then unknown. - - 5 - A herd of deer was in the bend, - All feeding before his face: - ‘Now the best of ye I’le have to my dinner, - And that in a little space.’ - - 6 - Now the stranger he made no mickle adoe, - But he bends and a right good bow, - And the best buck in the herd he slew, - Forty good yards him full froe. - - 7 - ‘Well shot, well shot,’ quoth Robin Hood then, - ‘That shot it was shot in time; - And if thou wilt accept of the place, - Thou shalt be a bold yeoman of mine.’ - - 8 - ‘Go play the chiven,’ the stranger said, - ‘Make haste and quickly go; - Or with my fist, be sure of this, - I’le give thee buffets store.’ - - 9 - ‘Thou hadst not best buffet me,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘For though I seem forlorn, - Yet I can have those that will take my part, - If I but blow my horn.’ - - 10 - ‘Thou wast not best wind thy horn,’ the stranger said, - ‘Beest thou never so much in hast, - For I can draw out a good broad sword, - And quickly cut the blast.’ - - 11 - Then Robin Hood bent a very good bow, - To shoot, and that he would fain; - The stranger he bent a very good bow, - To shoot at bold Robin again. - - 12 - ‘O hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘To shoot it would be in vain; - For if we should shoot the one at the other, - The one of us may be slain. - - 13 - ‘But let’s take our swords and our broad bucklers, - And gang under yonder tree:’ - ‘As I hope to be sav’d,’ the stranger said, - ‘One foot I will not flee.’ - - 14 - Then Robin Hood lent the stranger a blow - Most scar’d him out of his wit; - ‘Thou never felt blow,’ the stranger he said, - ‘That shall be better quit.’ - - 15 - The stranger he drew out a good broad sword, - And hit Robin on the crown, - That from every haire of bold Robins head - The blood ran trickling down. - - 16 - ‘God a mercy, good fellow!’ quoth Robin Hood then, - ‘And for this that thou hast done; - Tell me, good fellow, what thou art, - Tell me where thou doest woon.’ - - 17 - The stranger then answered bold Robin Hood, - I’le tell thee where I did dwell; - In Maxfield was I bred and born, - My name is Young Gamwell. - - 18 - For killing of my own fathers steward, - I am forc’d to this English wood, - And for to seek an vncle of mine; - Some call him Robin Hood. - - 19 - ‘But thou art a cousin of Robin Hoods then? - The sooner we should have done:’ - ‘As I hope to be sav’d,’ the stranger then said, - ‘I am his own sisters son.’ - - 20 - But, Lord! what kissing and courting was there, - When these two cousins did greet! - And they went all that summers day, - And Little John did meet. - - 21 - But when they met with Little John, - He there unto [him] did say, - O master, where have you been, - You have tarried so long away? - - 22 - ‘I met with a stranger,’ quoth Robin Hood then, - ‘Full sore he hath beaten me:’ - ‘Then I’le have a bout with him,’ quoth Little John, - ‘And try if he can beat me.’ - - 23 - ‘Oh [no], oh no,’ quoth Robin Hood then, - ‘Little John, it may [not] be so; - For he’s my own dear sisters son, - And cousins I have no mo. - - 24 - ‘But he shall be a bold yeoman of mine, - My chief man next to thee; - And I Robin Hood, and thou Little John, - And Scarlet he shall be: - - 25 - ‘And wee’l be three of the bravest outlaws - That is in the North Country.’ - If you will have any more of bold Robin Hood, - In his second part it will be. - - * * * * * - -#a#, #b#, #e#. - - Robin Hood newly reviv’d. To a delightful new tune. - -#c#, #d#. - - Robin Hood newly revived: Or his meeting and fighting with his - cousin Scarlet. To a delightful new tune. - -#a.# - - Printed for Richard Burton. (1641–74.) - - 2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3, qd. - - 6^3. in th. - - 11^2. To that shoot and. - - 21^2. him _supplied from_ #c#, #d#. - -#b.# - - London, Printed for Richard Burton, at the Sign of the Horshooe in - West Smithfield. - - 3^2. midst. - - 4^1. it _wanting_. - - 6^4. full _wanting_. - - 11^2. To shot and that. - - 12^4. must be. - - 21^2. him _wanting_. - - 23^1. Oh no. - - 23^2. may not. - -#c.# - - 3^3. ware _for_ met. - - 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3, 23^1, qd. - - 9^3. can I. - - 10^1. blow _for_ wind. - - 11^2. To shoot and that. - - 13^3. he said. - - 16^1, 18^4. bold Robin. - - 19^1. art thou. - - 21^2. unto him. - - 23^1. Oh no. - - 23^2. may not. - - 25^4. In this. - -#d.# - - 2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, qd. - - 3^3. ware _for_ met. - - 6^4. good _wanting_. - - 7^2. was in. - - 9^2. am _for_ seem. - - 11^1. he bent. - - 11^2. To shoot and that. - - 12^4. must be. - - 13^3. he said. - - 16^2. that _wanting_. - - 18^1. own _wanting_. - - 19^1. art thou. - - 21^2. unto him. - - 23^1. Oh no. - - 23^2. may not. - - 25^3. If thou wilt. - - 25^4. In this. - -#e.# - - Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–82?) - - 1^2. in _wanting_. - - 2^1, 7^1, 9^1, 12^1, 16^1, 22^1, 22^3. quod. - - 3^2. midst. - - 3^3. with _for_ of. - - 4^1. it _wanting_. - - 6^2. and _wanting_. - - 6^4. full _wanting_. - - 7^3. except. - - 9^3. can _wanting_. - - 11^2. To that shot and he. - - 11^3. bent up a noble. - - 12^1. O _wanting_. - - 12^4. must be. - - 19^1. art thou. - - 21^2. him _wanting_. - - 22^1, 23^1. then _wanting_. - - 23^1. Oh no. - - 23^2. may not. - - 25^3. If you’l have more. - - 25^4. In this. - -_Followed in all the copies by seven stanzas which belong to a different -ballad._ _See_ No 130. - - - - - 129 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE PRINCE OF ARAGON - - ‘Robin Hood, Will. Scadlock and Little John.’[111] - - #a.# Roxburghe, I, 358, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 431. #b.# - Pepys, II, 120, No 106. - - -Also Roxburghe, III, 582, without a printer’s name. - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 71, from #a#, with changes; Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 186. - -This is only a pseudo-chivalrous romance, tagged to Robin Hood Newly -Revived as a Second Part, with eight introductory stanzas. Both parts -are as vapid as possible, and no piquancy is communicated by the matter -of the two being as alien as oil and water. The Prince of Aragon, a Turk -and an infidel, has beleaguered London, and will have the princess to -his spouse, unless three champions can vanquish him and his two giants. -Robin Hood, Scadlock, and John undertake the case, and disguise -themselves as pilgrims, so as not to be stopped on their way. Robin -kills the prince, and John and Scadlock each a giant. The king demands -to know who his deliverers are, and Robin Hood avails himself of the -opportunity to get the king’s pardon for himself and his men. The -princess was to be the victor’s prize, but cannot marry all three, as -might perhaps have been foreseen. She is allowed to pick, and chooses -Will Scadlock. The Earl of Maxfield is present, and weeps bitterly at -the sight of Scadlock, because, he says, he had a son like Will, of the -name of Young Gamwell. Scadlock, whom we know from the First Part to be -Gamwell, falls at his father’s feet, and the wedding follows. - - - 1 - Now Robin Hood, Will Scadlock and Little John - Are walking over the plain, - With a good fat buck which Will Scadlock - With his strong bow had slain. - - 2 - ‘Jog on, jog on,’ cries Robin Hood, - ‘The day it runs full fast; - For though my nephew me a breakfast gave, - I have not yet broke my fast. - - 3 - ‘Then to yonder lodge let us take our way, - I think it wondrous good, - Where my nephew by my bold yeomen - Shall be welcomd unto the green wood.’ - - 4 - With that he took the bugle-horn, - Full well he could it blow; - Streight from the woods came marching down - One hundred tall fellows and mo. - - 5 - ‘Stand, stand to your arms!’ crys Will Scadlock, - ‘Lo! the enemies are within ken:’ - With that Robin Hood he laughd aloud, - Crys, They are my bold yeomen. - - 6 - Who, when they arriv’d and Robin espy’d, - Cry’d, Master, what is your will? - We thought you had in danger been, - Your horn did sound so shrill. - - 7 - ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘The danger is past and gone; - I would have you to welcome my nephew here, - That hath paid me two for one.’ - - 8 - In feasting and sporting they passed the day, - Till Phœbus sunk into the deep; - Then each one to his quarters hy’d, - His guard there for to keep. - - 9 - Long had they not walked within the green wood, - But Robin he was espy’d - Of a beautiful damsel all alone, - That on a black palfrey did ride. - - 10 - Her riding-suit was of sable hew black, - Sypress over her face, - Through which her rose-like cheeks did blush, - All with a comely grace. - - 11 - ‘Come, tell me the cause, thou pritty one,’ - Quoth Robin, ‘and tell me aright, - From whence thou comest, and whither thou goest, - All in this mournful plight?’ - - 12 - ‘From London I came,’ the damsel reply’d, - ‘From London upon the Thames, - Which circled is, O grief to tell! - Besieg’d with forraign arms. - - 13 - ‘By the proud Prince of Aragon, - Who swears by his martial hand - To have the princess for his spouse, - Or else to waste this land: - - 14 - ‘Except that champions can be found - That dare fight three to three, - Against the prince and giants twain, - Most horrid for to see: - - 15 - ‘Whose grisly looks, and eyes like brands, - Strike terrour where they come, - With serpents hissing on their helms, - Instead of feathered plume. - - 16 - ‘The princess shall be the victors prize, - The king hath vowd and said. - And he that shall the conquest win - Shall have her to his bride. - - 17 - ‘Now we are four damsels sent abroad, - To the east, west, north, and south, - To try whose fortune is so good - To find these champions forth. - - 18 - ‘But all in vaine we have sought about; - Yet none so bold there are - That dare adventure life and blood, - To free a lady fair.’ - - 19 - ‘When is the day?’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘Tell me this and no more:’ - ‘On Midsummer next,’ the damsel said, - ‘Which is June the twenty-four.’ - - 20 - With that the teares trickled down her cheeks, - And silent was her tongue; - With sighs and sobs she took her leave, - Away her palfrey sprung. - - 21 - This news struck Robin to the heart, - He fell down on the grass; - His actions and his troubled mind - Shewd he perplexed was. - - 22 - ‘Where lies your grief?’ quoth Will Scadlock, - ‘O master, tell to me; - If the damsels eyes have piercd your heart, - I’ll fetch her back to thee.’ - - 23 - ‘Now nay, now nay,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘She doth not cause my smart; - But it is the poor distressed princess - That wounds me to the heart. - - 24 - ‘I will go fight the giants all - To set the lady free:’ - ‘The devil take my soul,’ quoth Little John, - ‘If I part with thy company.’ - - 25 - ‘Must I stay behind?’ quoth Will Scadlock; - ‘No, no, that must not be; - I’le make the third man in the fight, - So we shall be three to three.’ - - 26 - These words cheerd Robin at the heart, - Joy shone within his face; - Within his arms he huggd them both, - And kindly did imbrace. - - 27 - Quoth he, We’ll put on mothly gray, - With long staves in our hands, - A scrip and bottle by our sides, - As come from the Holy Land. - - 28 - So may we pass along the high-way; - None will ask from whence we came, - But take us pilgrims for to be, - Or else some holy men. - - 29 - Now they are on their journey gone, - As fast as they may speed, - Yet for all haste, ere they arriv’d, - The princess forth was led: - - 30 - To be deliverd to the prince, - Who in the list did stand, - Prepar’d to fight, or else receive - His lady by the hand. - - 31 - With that he walkt about the lists, - With giants by his side: - ‘Bring forth,’ said he, ‘your champions, - Or bring me forth my bride. - - 32 - ‘This is the four and twentieth day, - The day prefixt upon; - Bring forth my bride, or London burns, - I swear by Acaron.’ - - 33 - Then cries the king, and queen likewise, - Both weeping as they speak, - Lo! we have brought our daughter dear, - Whom we are forcd to forsake. - - 34 - With that stept out bold Robin Hood, - Crys, My liege, it must not be so; - Such beauty as the fair princess - Is not for a tyrants mow. - - 35 - The prince he then began to storm; - Crys, Fool, fanatick, baboon! - How dares thou stop my valours prize? - I’ll kill thee with a frown. - - 36 - ‘Thou tyrant Turk, thou infidel,’ - Thus Robin began to reply, - ‘Thy frowns I scorn; lo! here’s my gage, - And thus I thee defie. - - 37 - ‘And for these two Goliahs there, - That stand on either side, - Here are two little Davids by, - That soon can tame their pride.’ - - 38 - Then did the king for armour send, - For lances, swords, and shields: - And thus all three in armour bright - Came marching to the field. - - 39 - The trumpets began to sound a charge, - Each singled out his man; - Their arms in pieces soon were hewd, - Blood sprang from every vain. - - 40 - The prince he reacht Robin a blow— - He struck with might and main— - Which forcd him to reel about the field, - As though he had been slain. - - 41 - ‘God-a-mercy,’ quoth Robin, ‘for that blow! - The quarrel shall soon be try’d; - This stroke shall shew a full divorce - Betwixt thee and thy bride.’ - - 42 - So from his shoulders he’s cut his head, - Which on the ground did fall, - And grumbling sore at Robin Hood, - To be so dealt withal. - - 43 - The giants then began to rage, - To see their prince lie dead: - ‘Thou’s be the next,’ quoth Little John, - ‘Unless thou well guard thy head.’ - - 44 - With that his faulchion he whirld about— - It was both keen and sharp— - He clove the giant to the belt, - And cut in twain his heart. - - 45 - Will Scadlock well had playd his part, - The giant he had brought to his knee; - Quoth he, The devil cannot break his fast, - Unless he have you all three. - - 46 - So with his faulchion he run him through, - A deep and gashly wound; - Who damd and foamd, cursd and blasphemd, - And then fell to the ground. - - 47 - Now all the lists with cheers were filld, - The skies they did resound, - Which brought the princess to herself, - Who was faln in a swound. - - 48 - The king and queen and princess fair - Came walking to the place, - And gave the champions many thanks, - And did them further grace. - - 49 - ‘Tell me,’ quoth the king, ‘whence you are, - That thus disguised came, - Whose valour speaks that noble blood - Doth run through every vain.’ - - 50 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘On my knees I beg and crave:’ - ‘By my crown,’ quoth the king, ‘I grant; - Ask what, and thou shalt have.’ - - 51 - ‘Then pardon I beg for my merry men, - Which are within the green wood, - For Little John, and Will Scadlock, - And for me, bold Robin Hood.’ - - 52 - ‘Art thou Robin Hood?’ then quoth the king; - ‘For the valour you have shewn, - Your pardons I doe freely grant, - And welcome every one. - - 53 - ‘The princess I promised the victors prize; - She cannot have you all three:’ - ‘She shall chuse,’ quoth Robin: saith Little John, - Then little share falls to me. - - 54 - Then did the princess view all three, - With a comely lovely grace, - Who took Will Scadlock by the hand, - Quoth, Here I make my choice. - - 55 - With that a noble lord stept forth, - Of Maxfield earl was he, - Who lookt Will Scadlock in the face, - Then wept most bitterly. - - 56 - Quoth he, I had a son like thee, - Whom I lovd wondrous well; - But he is gone, or rather dead; - His name is Young Gamwell. - - 57 - Then did Will Scadlock fall on his knees, - Cries, Father! father! here, - Here kneels your son, your Young Gamwell - You said you lovd so dear. - - 58 - But, lord! what imbracing and kissing was there, - When all these friends were met! - They are gone to the wedding, and so to bedding, - And so I bid you good night. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood, Will. Scadlock, and Little John, or, A narrative of - their victory obtained against the Prince of Aragon and the two - Giants: and how Will. Scadlock married the Princess. - - Tune of Robin Hood, or, Hey down, down a down. - - London, Printed by and for W. O[nley], and are to be sold by the - booksellers. (1650–1702.) - - 1^1. Will., _and always, except_ 55^3. - - 27^1. moth-ly. - - 32^2. perfixt. - - 47^1. sheers. - -#b.# - - A new ballad of Robin Hood, _etc._, _as in_ #a#. To the tune of, - _etc._ London: Printed for A. M[ilbourne], W. O[nley], and T. - Thackeray in Duck Lane. (1670–89?) - - 1^3. William. - - 7^3. I should. - - 7^4. has. - - 10^2. Cypress. - - 11^3. whether. - - 13^3. to his. - - 27^1. mothly. - - 32^1. twenty day. - - 32^2. prefixt. - - 32^3. or _wanting_. - - 37^1. those. - - 38^1. the king did. - - 40^3. him rell. - - 42^3. grumbled. - - 46^3. ramb’d _for_ dam’d. - - 47^1. with sheets. - - 56^4. it is. - - 58^3. and so the bedding. - - - - - 130 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE SCOTCHMAN - - #A. a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, III, 18, in the Ballad - Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland - of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88. - - #B.# Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 392, from an Irish garland, printed at - Monaghan, 1796. - - -#A# is simply the conclusion given to Robin Hood Newly Revived in the -broadsides, and has neither connection with that ballad nor coherence in -itself, being on the face of it the beginning and the end of an -independent ballad, with the break after the third stanza. 3 may -possibly refer to the Scots giving up Charles I to the parliamentary -commissioners, in 1647. In #B#, four stanzas appear to have been added -to the first three of #A# in order to make out a story,—the too familiar -one of Robin being beaten in a fight with a fellow whom he chances to -meet, and consequently enlisting the man as a recruit. - - - A - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 27 b. #b.# Roxburghe, III, 18, in the Ballad - Society’s reprint, II, 426. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 3. #d.# Garland - of 1670, No 2. #e.# Pepys, II, 101, No 88. - - 1 - Then bold Robin Hood to the north he would go, - With a hey down down a down down - With valour and mickle might, - With sword by his side, which oft had been tri’d, - To fight and recover his right. - - 2 - The first that he met was a bony bold Scot, - His servant he said he would be; - ‘No,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘it cannot be good, - For thou wilt prove false unto me. - - 3 - ‘Thou hast not bin true to sire nor cuz:’ - ‘Nay, marry,’ the Scot he said, - ‘As true as your heart, I’le never part, - Gude master, be not afraid.’ - - * * * * * - - 4 - Then Robin Hood turnd his face to the east; - ‘Fight on my merry men stout, - Our cause is good,’ quoth brave Robin Hood, - ‘And we shall not be beaten out.’ - - 5 - The battel grows hot on every side, - The Scotchman made great moan; - Quoth Jockey, Gude faith, they fight on each side; - Would I were with my wife Ione! - - 6 - The enemy compast brave Robin about, - ’Tis long ere the battel ends; - Ther’s neither will yeeld nor give up the field, - For both are supplied with friends. - - * * * * * - - 7 - This song it was made in Robin Hoods dayes; - Let’s pray unto Iove above - To give us true peace, that mischief may cease, - And war may give place unto love. - - - B - - Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 392, from an Irish garland, printed at - Monaghan, 1796. - - 1 - Now bold Robin Hood to the north would go, - With valour and mickle might, - With sword by his side, which oft had been try’d, - To fight and recover his right. - - 2 - The first that he met was a jolly stout Scot, - His servant he said he would be; - ‘No,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘it cannot be good, - For thou wilt prove false unto me. - - 3 - ‘Thou hast not been true to sire or cuz;’ - ‘Nay, marry,’ the Scot he said, - ‘As true as your heart, I never will part; - Good master, be not afraid.’ - - 4 - ‘But eer I employ you,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘With you I must have a bout;’ - The Scotchman reply’d, Let the battle be try’d, - For I know I will beat you out. - - 5 - Thus saying, the contest did quickly begin, - Which lasted two hours and more; - The blows Sawney gave bold Robin so brave - The battle soon made him give oer. - - 6 - ‘Have mercy, thou Scotchman,’ bold Robin Hood cry’d, - ‘Full dearly this boon have I bought; - We will both agree, and my man you shall be, - For a stouter I never have fought.’ - - 7 - Then Sawny consented with Robin to go, - To be of his bowmen so gay; - Thus ended the fight, and with mickle delight - To Sherwood they hasted away. - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _For the printer, etc., see_ No 128, Robin Hood newly Revived. - -#a.# - - 1^3. trid. - - 1^4. rigth. - - 4^3, 5^3. qd. - -#b.# - - 1^3. tri’d. - - 3^1. or _for_ nor. - - 4^3. case. - -#c.# - - 4^3, 5^3. qd. - -#d.# - - 4^3. case. - -#e.# - - 2^1. met with was a bold. - - 2^3. qd. - - 4^3. case: quod. - - - - - 131 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE RANGER - - ‘Robin Hood and the Ranger.’ #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, C. - Dicey, in Bow Church-Yard, n. d., but before 1741, p. 78. #b.# R. - H.’s Garland, London, W. & C. Dicey, n. d. #c.# R. H.’s Garland, - London, L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #d.# The English Archer, - etc., York, N. Nickson, in Feasegate, n. d. #e.# The English Archer, - etc., Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #f.# R. H.’s Garland, York, T. - Wilson & R. Spence, n. d. (All in the Bodleian Library.) - - -In Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 133, from a York edition of Robin -Hood’s Garland. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 200, apparently from -an Aldermary garland. - -Mr Halliwell, in Notices of Fugitive Tracts, etc., Percy Society, vol. -xxix. p. 19, refers to an edition of Robin Hood’s Garland printed for -James Hodges, at the Looking-glass, London-bridge, n. d., as containing -“the earliest copy yet known” of Robin Hood and the Ranger, but does not -indicate how the alleged fact was ascertained. Inside of the cover of -#a# is written, William Stukely, 1741. #b# appears in advertisements as -early as 1753. - -Robin Hood, while about to kill deer, is forbidden by a forester, and -claiming the forest as his own, the cause has to be tried with weapons. -They break their swords on one another, and take to quarter-staves. -Robin Hood is so sorely cudgelled that he gives up the fight, declaring -that he has never met with so good a man. He summons his yeomen with his -horn; the forester is induced to join them. - - - 1 - When Phœbus had melted the sickles of ice, - With a hey down, &c. - And likewise the mountains of snow, - Bold Robin Hood he would ramble to see, - To frolick abroad with his bow. - - 2 - He left all his merry men waiting behind, - Whilst through the green vallies he passd; - There did he behold a forester bold, - Who cry’d out, Friend, whither so fast? - - 3 - ‘I’m going,’ quoth Robin, ‘to kill a fat buck, - For me and my merry men all; - Besides, eer I go, I’ll have a fat doe, - Or else it shall cost me a fall.’ - - 4 - ‘You’d best have a care,’ said the forester then, - ‘For these are his majesty’s deer; - Before you shall shoot, the thing I’ll dispute, - For I am head-forester here.’ - - 5 - ‘These thirteen long summers,’ quoth Robin, ‘I’m sure, - My arrows I here have let fly, - Where freely I range; methinks it is strange, - You should have more power than I. - - 6 - ‘This forest,’ quoth Robin, ‘I think is my own, - And so are the nimble deer too; - Therefore I declare, and solemnly swear, - I wont be affronted by you.’ - - 7 - The forester he had a long quarter-staff, - Likewise a broad sword by his side; - Without more ado, he presently drew, - Declaring the truth should be try’d. - - 8 - Bold Robin Hood had a sword of the best, - Thus, eer he would take any wrong, - His courage was flush, he’d venture a brush, - And thus they fell to it ding dong. - - 9 - The very first blow that the forester gave, - He made his broad weapon cry twang; - ’Twas over the head, he fell down for dead, - O that was a damnable bang! - - 10 - But Robin he soon did recover himself, - And bravely fell to it again; - The very next stroke their weapons were broke, - Yet never a man there was slain. - - 11 - At quarter-staff then they resolved to play, - Because they would have t’other bout; - And brave Robin Hood right valiantly stood, - Unwilling he was to give out. - - 12 - Bold Robin he gave him very hard blows, - The other returnd them as fast; - At every stroke their jackets did smoke, - Three hours the combat did last. - - 13 - At length in a rage the bold forester grew, - And cudgeld bold Robin so sore - That he could not stand, so shaking his hand, - He said, Let us freely give oer. - - 14 - Thou art a brave fellow, I needs must confess - I never knew any so good; - Thou’rt fitting to be a yeoman for me, - And range in the merry green wood. - - 15 - I’ll give thee this ring as a token of love, - For bravely thou’st acted thy part; - That man that can fight, in him I delight, - And love him with all my whole heart. - - 16 - Then Robin Hood setting his horn to his mouth, - A blast he merrily blows; - His yeomen did hear, and strait did appear, - A hundred, with trusty long bows. - - 17 - Now Little John came at the head of them all, - Cloathd in a rich mantle of green; - And likewise the rest were gloriously drest, - A delicate sight to be seen. - - 18 - ‘Lo, these are my yeomen,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And thou shalt be one of the train; - A mantle and bow, a quiver also, - I give them whom I entertain.’ - - 19 - The forester willingly enterd the list, - They were such a beautiful sight; - Then with a long bow they shot a fat doe, - And made a rich supper that night. - - 20 - What singing and dancing was in the green wood, - For joy of another new mate! - With mirth and delight they spent the long night, - And liv’d at a plentiful rate. - - 21 - The forester neer was so merry before - As then he was with these brave souls, - Who never would fail, in wine, beer or ale, - To take off their cherishing bowls. - - 22 - Then Robin Hood gave him a mantle of green, - Broad arrows, and a curious long bow; - This done, the next day, so gallant and gay, - He marched them all on a row. - - 23 - Quoth he, My brave yeomen, be true to your trust, - And then we may range the woods wide: - They all did declare, and solemnly swear, - They’d conquer, or die by his side. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood and the Ranger, or True Friendship after a fierce - Fight. Tune of Arthur a Bland. - - 2^4. whether. - - 8^3. he’ll. - - 12^1. a very hard blow. - -#b.# - - 2^4. whither. - - 6^2. are all. - - 11^2. the other. - - 12^1. very hard blows. - - 14^2. any one. - - 15^2. thou hast. - - 18^2. And _wanting_. - - 23^4. They would. - -#c.# - - _Burden_: With a hey down down down and a down. - - 2^4. whither. - - 5^3. methink’. - - 6^2. deers. - - 8^3. he’d. - - 10^1. soon recoverd. - - 10^2. to _wanting_. - - 10^3. they broke. - - 12^1. very hard blows. - - 12^4. this combat. - - 13^4. He cry’d. - - 14^4. And live. - - 16^2. blast then. - - 19^2. a _wanting_. - - 21^2. with the. - -#d.# - - Tune of, _etc. wanting. Burden wanting_. - - 1^1. the circles. - - 1^3. he _wanting_: ramble away. - - 2^4. whither. - - 5^2. arrows here I’ve. - - 5^4. then I. - - 6^2. so is. - - 7^1. he _wanting_. - - 8^1. he had. - - 8^3. he’d. - - 9^1. that _wanting_. - - 9^3. his head. - - 10^1. soon recoverd. - - 10^3. they broke. - - 12^1. he _wanting_: many hard blows. - - 13^4. He cry’d. - - 16^1. Then _wanting_: Hood set his bugle horn. - - 16^2. blast then. - - 16^3. and soon. - - 16^4. An. - - 17^3. rest was. - - 18^1. said bold. - - 18^4. I’ll. - - 20^3. the whole. - - 21^2. with the. - - 21^3. beer and. - - 21^4. take of the. - - 22^2. a _wanting_. - - 23^4. They would. - -#e.# - - _Burden_: With a hey down down derry down: _or_ Hey down derry - derry down. - - 1^1. circle. - - 1^3. he _wanting_: ramble away. - - 2^3. he did. - - 2^4. whither. - - 3^1. quoth Robin _wanting_. - - 3^3. ere. - - 5^2. here _wanting_. - - 6^2. so is. - - 7^1. he _wanting_. - - 8^2. neer. - - 8^3. he’d. - - 8^4. thus _wanting_. - - 9^3. his head. - - 10^1. soon recovered. - - 10^3. they broke. - - 11^1. then _wanting_. - - 12^1. many hard blows. - - 13^4. He cry’d. - - 15^4. whole _wanting_. - - 16^1. set his brave. - - 16^2. blast then. - - 16^3. and soon. - - 16^4. An. - - 18^1. said bold. - - 18^3. and a bow. - - 18^4. I’ll. - - 20^1. were in. - - 20^3. the whole. - - 21^2. with the. - - 22^2. a _wanting_. - -#f.# - - 1^1. ickles of ice. - - 1^3. would frolicksome be. - - 1^4. And ramble about with his bow. - - 2^4. whither. - - 8^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 8^3. he’d. - - 10^1. recovered. - - 10^3. they broke. - - 10^4. Yet neither of them were slain. - - 11^2. the other. - - 12^1. very hard blows. - - 12^4. this combat. - - 13^4. He cry’d. - - 14^1. And live. - - 18^1. said bold. - - 19^4. a good. - - 21^2. As when. - - 21^3. beer and. - - - - - 132 - - THE BOLD PEDLAR AND ROBIN HOOD - - J. H. Dixon, Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of - England, p. 71, Percy Society, vol. xvii, 1846. - - -“An aged female in Bermondsey, Surrey, from whose oral recitation the -editor took down the present version, informed him, that she had often -heard her grandmother sing it, and that it was never in print; but he -has of late met with several common stall copies.” - -Robin Hood and Little John fall in with a pedlar. Little John asks what -goods he carries, and says he will have half his pack. The pedlar says -he shall have the whole if he can make him give a perch of ground. They -fight, and John cries Hold. Robin Hood undertakes the pedlar, and in -turn cries Hold. Robin asks the pedlar’s name. He will not give it till -they have told theirs, and when they have so done says it still lies -with him to tell or not. However, he is Gamble Gold, forced to flee his -country for killing a man. If you are Gamble Gold, says Robin, you are -my own cousin. They go to a tavern and dine and drink. - -Stanzas 11, 12, 15 recall Robin Hood’s Delight, No 136, 19, 20, 24; 13, -14 Robin Hood Revived, No 128, 17, 18. As remarked under No 128, this is -a traditional variation of Robin Hood Revived. - - - 1 - There chanced to be a pedlar bold, - A pedlar bold he chanced to be; - He rolled his pack all on his back, - And he came tripping oer the lee. - Down a down a down a down, - Down a down a down - - 2 - By chance he met two troublesome blades, - Two troublesome blades they chanced to be; - The one of them was bold Robin Hood, - And the other was Little John so free. - - 3 - ‘O pedlar, pedlar, what is in thy pack? - Come speedilie and tell to me:’ - ‘I’ve several suits of the gay green silks, - And silken bow-strings two or three.’ - - 4 - ‘If you have several suits of the gay green silk, - And silken bow-strings two or three, - Then it’s by my body,’ cries Little John, - ‘One half your pack shall belong to me.’ - - 5 - ‘O nay, o nay,’ says the pedlar bold, - ‘O nay, o nay, that never can be; - For there’s never a man from fair Nottingham - Can take one half my pack from me.’ - - 6 - Then the pedlar he pulled off his pack, - And put it a little below his knee, - Saying, If you do move me one perch from this, - My pack and all shall gang with thee. - - 7 - Then Little John he drew his sword, - The pedlar by his pack did stand; - They fought until they both did sweat, - Till he cried, Pedlar, pray hold your hand! - - 8 - Then Robin Hood he was standing by, - And he did laugh most heartilie; - Saying, I could find a man, of a smaller scale, - Could thrash the pedlar and also thee. - - 9 - ‘Go you try, master,’ says Little John, - ‘Go you try, master, most speedilie, - Or by my body,’ says Little John, - ‘I am sure this night you will not know me.’ - - 10 - Then Robin Hood he drew his sword, - And the pedlar by his pack did stand; - They fought till the blood in streams did flow, - Till he cried, Pedlar, pray hold your hand! - - 11 - Pedlar, pedlar, what is thy name? - Come speedilie and tell to me: - ‘My name! my name I neer will tell, - Till both your names you have told to me.’ - - 12 - ‘The one of us is bold Robin Hood, - And the other Little John so free:’ - ‘Now,’ says the pedlar, ‘it lays to my good will, - Whether my name I chuse to tell to thee. - - 13 - ‘I am Gamble Gold of the gay green woods, - And travelled far beyond the sea; - For killing a man in my father’s land - From my country I was forced to flee.’ - - 14 - ‘If you are Gamble Gold of the gay green woods, - And travelled far beyond the sea, - You are my mother’s own sister’s son; - What nearer cousins then can we be?’ - - 15 - They sheathed their swords with friendly words, - So merrilie they did agree; - They went to a tavern, and there they dined, - And bottles cracked most merrilie. - - * * * * * - - 3^1, 5^1, 5^2. Oh. - - - - - 133 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, I - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 23 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 8. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 7. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 116, No 100. - - -#a# is printed, with changes, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 122. -Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 180, agrees with the Aldermary -garland. - -There is a copy in the Roxburghe Collection, III, 20. - -Robin Hood, riding towards Nottingham, comes upon a beggar, who asks -charity. Robin says he has no money, but must have a bout with him. The -beggar with his staff gives three blows for every stroke of Robin’s with -his sword. Robin cries truce, and at the suggestion, we might almost say -upon the requisition, of the beggar, exchanges his horse and finery for -the beggar’s bags and rags. Thus equipped, he proceeds to Nottingham, -and has the adventure with the sheriff and three yeomen which is the -subject of No 140. - -The copy in the Wood and in the Roxburghe collections is signed T. R., -like Robin Hood and the Butcher, #B#, and, like the latter ballad, this -is a _rifacimento_, with middle rhyme in the third line. It is perhaps -made up from two distinct stories; the Second Part, beginning at stanza -20, from Robin Hood rescuing Three Squires, and what precedes from a -ballad resembling Robin Hood and the Beggar, II. - -But no seventeenth-century version of Robin Hood and the Beggar, II, is -known, and it is more likely that we owe the fight between Robin Hood -and the Beggar to the folly and bad taste of T. R. Robin has no sort of -provocation to fight with the beggar, and no motive for changing -clothes, the proposition actually coming from the beggar, st. 15, and it -is an accident that his disguise proves useful (cf. Guy of Gisborne). -The beggar should have reported that three men were to be hanged, but -instead of this is forced into a fight, in order that one more -ignominious defeat may be scored against Robin. - -The verses, - - 9^{3,4}, - I am an outlaw, as many do know, - My name it is Robin Hood, - -occur also in Robin Hood and the Bishop, No 143, 6^{3,4}. ‘And this -mantle of mine I’le to thee resign,’ 16^3, looks very like a -reminiscence of Robin Hood and the Bishop, 10^3, ‘Thy spindle and twine -unto me resign.’[112] - - - 1 - Come light and listen, you gentlemen all, - Hey down, down, and a down - That mirth do love for to hear, - And a story true I’le tell unto you, - If that you will but draw near. - - 2 - In elder times, when merriment was, - And archery was holden good, - There was an outlaw, as many did know, - Which men called Robin Hood. - - 3 - Vpon a time it chanced so - Bold Robin was merry disposed, - His time to spend he did intend, - Either with friends or foes. - - 4 - Then he got vp on a gallant brave steed, - The which was worth angels ten; - With a mantle of green, most brave to be seen, - He left all his merry men. - - 5 - And riding towards fair Nottingham, - Some pastime for to spy, - There was he aware of a jolly beggar - As ere he beheld with his eye. - - 6 - An old patcht coat the beggar had on, - Which he daily did vse for to wear; - And many a bag about him did wag, - Which made Robin Hood to him repair. - - 7 - ‘God speed, God speed,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘What countryman? tell to me:’ - ‘I am Yorkeshire, sir; but, ere you go far, - Some charity give vnto me.’ - - 8 - ‘Why, what wouldst thou have?’ said Robin Hood, - ‘I pray thee tell vnto me:’ - ‘No lands nor livings,’ the beggar he said, - ‘But a penny for charitie.’ - - 9 - ‘I have no money,’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘But, a ranger within the wood, - I am an outlaw, as many do know, - My name it is Robin Hood. - - 10 - ‘But yet I must tell thee, bonny beggar, - That a bout with [thee] I must try; - Thy coat of gray, lay down I say, - And my mantle of green shall lye by.’ - - 11 - ‘Content, content,’ the beggar he cry’d, - ‘Thy part it will be the worse; - For I hope this bout to give thee the rout, - And then have at thy purse.’ - - 12 - The beggar he had a mickle long staffe, - And Robin had a nut-brown sword; - So the beggar drew nigh, and at Robin let fly, - But gave him never a word. - - 13 - ‘Fight on, fight on,’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘This game well pleaseth me;’ - For every blow that Robin did give, - The beggar gave buffets three. - - 14 - And fighting there full hard and sore, - Not far from Nottingham town, - They never fled, till from Robinś head - The blood came trickling down. - - 15 - ‘O hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘And thou and I will agree;’ - ‘If that be true,’ the beggar he said, - ‘Thy mantle come give vnto me.’ - - 16 - ‘Nay a change, a change,’ cri’d Robin Hood; - ‘Thy bags and coat give me, - And this mantle of mine I’le to thee resign, - My horse and my braverie.’ - - 17 - When Robin Hood had got the beggars clothes, - He looked round about; - ‘Methinks,’ said he, ‘I seem to be - A beggar brave and stout. - - 18 - ‘For now I have a bag for my bread, - So have I another for corn; - I have one for salt, and another for malt, - And one for my little horn. - - 19 - ‘And now I will a begging goe, - Some charitie for to find:’ - And if any more of Robin you’l know, - In this second part it’s behind. - - - 20 - Now Robin he is to Nottingham bound, - With his bags hanging down to his knee, - His staff, and his coat, scarce worth a groat, - Yet merrilie passed he. - - 21 - As Robin he passed the streets along, - He heard a pittifull cry; - Three brethren deer, as he did hear, - Condemned were to dye. - - 22 - Then Robin he highed to the sheriffs [house], - Some reliefe for to seek; - He skipt, and leapt, and capored full high, - As he went along the street. - - 23 - But when to the sheriffs doore he came, - There a gentleman fine and brave, - ‘Thou beggar,’ said he, ‘come tell vnto me - What is it that thou wouldest have?’ - - 24 - ‘No meat, nor drink,’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘That I come here to crave; - But to beg the lives of yeomen three, - And that I fain would have.’ - - 25 - ‘That cannot be, thou bold beggar, - Their fact it is so cleer; - I tell to thee, hangd they must be, - For stealing of our kings deer.’ - - 26 - But when to the gallows they did come, - There was many a weeping eye: - ‘O hold your peace,’ said Robin then, - ‘For certainly they shall not dye.’ - - 27 - Then Robin he set his horn to his mouth, - And he blew but blastes three, - Till a hundred bold archers brave - Came kneeling down to his knee. - - 28 - ‘What is your will, master?’ they said, - ‘We are here at your command:’ - ‘Shoot east, shoot west,’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘And look that you spare no man.’ - - 29 - Then they shot east, and they shot west; - Their arrows were so keen - The sheriffe he, and his companie, - No longer must be seen. - - 30 - Then he stept to these brethren three, - And away he had them tane; - But the sheriff was crost, and many a man lost, - That dead lay on the plain. - - 31 - And away they went into the merry green wood, - And sung with a merry glee, - And Robin took these brethren good - To be of his yeomandrie. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood and the Beggar: Shewing how Robin Hood and the Beggar - fought, and how he changed clothes with the Beggar, and how he - went a begging to Nottingham, and how he saved three brethren - from being hangd for stealing of deer. To the tune of Robin Hood - and the Stranger. _Signed_ T. R. - - London, Printed for Francis Grove, on Snowhill. (1620–55.) - - _Burden_: an a. - - 1^1. light _in all: a corruption of_ lyth. - - 2^2. archrey. - - 3^4. friend or foe: _cf._ #b#, #c#. - - 4^2. angell. - - 6^1. had one. - - 10^1. tell the. - - 12^1. saffe. - - 21^3. brethred. - - 27^4. dow. - - 31^4. yeomandriee. - -#b#, #c#. - - _Title as in #a#. Not signed. Burden sometimes_, With hey, _etc._, - or, With a hey, _etc._; _once, in_ #c#, Hey derry derry down. - -#b.# - - 3^4. friends or foes. - - 4^2. angels. - - 7^1. Hood then. - - 7^2. unto. - - 8^3. he _wanting_. - - 9^3. doth know. - - 10^2. with thee. - - 10^4. lay. - - 16^1. said _for_ cri’d. - - 20^1. he _wanting_. - - 21^4. was for to. - - 22^1. sheriffs house. - - 27^2. he _wanting_. - - 30^2. them had. - -#c.# - - 3^4. friends or foes. - - 4^2. angels. - - 7^1. Hood then. - - 7^2. unto. - - 8^3. living. - - 10^2. with thee. - - 19^4. known _for_ behind. - - 21^4. for to. - - 22^1. sheriffs house. - - 25^3. they hanged. - - 27^2. he _wanting_. - - 30^2. them had. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #a#: _except_ of the king’s deer. _Not signed._ - - Printed for I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger. (1670–86.) - - _Burden_: With a hey down down and a down. - - 3^2. merrily. - - 3^4. friend or foe. - - 4^2. angels. - - 5^1. brave _for_ fair. - - 7^1. Hood then. - - 7^2. unto. - - 10^2. with thee. - - 11^1. he said. - - 12^1. muckle. - - 12^4. But he. - - 13^3. Robin gave. - - 14^3. Robin Hood’s head. - - 15^3. If it. - - 17^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 17^3. Methink. - - 18^3. for mault: for salt. - - 19^4. In the. house _wanting, as in_ #a#. - - 22^3. and he leapt. - - 23^4. is’t: would’st. - - 25^4. of the. - - 26^3. O _wanting_: Robin Hood. - - 27^4. down on their. - - 28^2. here _wanting_. - - 29^1. east then. - - 30^2. has. - - 30^3. many men. - - 31^1. And _wanting_. - - 31^3. Then Robin Hood. - - - - - 134 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE BEGGAR, II - - #a.# ‘The History of Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ Aberdeen, Printed by - and for A. Keith: Bodleian Library, Douce, HH 88, pasted between pp - 68, 69 of Robin Hood’s Garland, London, C. Dicey. A. Keith of - Aberdeen printed from 1810 to 1835. - - #b.# ‘A pretty dialogue betwixt Robin Hood and a Beggar,’ Newcastle, - in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, I, 97. - - -#a# is printed by Gutch, Robin Hood, II, 230, with deviations. Of #b# -Ritson says: The corruptions of the press being equally numerous and -minute, some of the most trifling have been corrected without notice. -Despite the corruptions, #b# is, in some readings, preferable to #a#. -Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. xliii, says that pretty early stall copies -were printed both at Aberdeen and Glasgow. - -Robin Hood attempts to stop a beggar, from whom he thinks he may get -some money. The beggar gives no heed to his summons, but hies on. Robin, -getting a surly answer upon a second essay, says that if there be but a -farthing he will have it, orders the beggar to loose the strings of his -pocks, and threatens him with an arrow. The beggar defies him, and upon -Robin’s drawing his bow, reaches him such a stroke with a staff that bow -and arrow are broken to bits. Robin takes to his sword; the beggar -lights on his hand with his staff and disables him completely, then -follows in with lusty blows, till Robin falls in a swoon. The beggar -moves on with entire unconcern. Three of Robin’s men come by and revive -him with water. Their master tells them of his disgrace; he had never -been in so hard a place in forty year. He bids them bring the beggar -back or slay him. Two of the three will be enough for that, they say, -and one shall stay with him. Two set forth, accordingly, with a caution -to be wary, take a short cut, which brings them out ahead of the beggar, -and leap on him from a hiding, one gripping his staff and the other -putting a dagger to his breast. The beggar sues for his life in vain; -they will bind him and will take him back to their master, to be slain -or hanged. He offers them a hundred pound and more for his liberty. They -decide together to take the money, and say nothing about it, simply -reporting that they have killed the old carl. The beggar spreads his -cloak on the ground and many a pock on it; then, standing between them -and the wind, takes a great bag of meal from his neck and flings the -meal into their eyes. Having thus blinded them, he seizes his staff, -which they had stuck in the ground, and gives each of them a dozen. The -young men take to their heels, the beggar calling after them to stop for -their pay. Robin, after a jest at the meal on their cloaths, makes them -tell how they have fared. We are shamed forever, he cries; but smiles to -see that they have had their taste of the beggar’s tree. - -This tale is rightly called by Ritson a North Country composition of -some antiquity, “perhaps Scottish.” Fragments of Robin Hood ballads, -Motherwell informs us, were traditionally extant in his day which had -not (and have not) found their way into printed collections, and we know -from very early testimony that such ballads were current in Scotland. -This is by far the best of the Robin Hood ballads of the secondary, so -to speak cyclic, period. It has plenty of homely humor, but the heroic -sentiment is gone. It does not belong to the iron, the cast-iron, age of -Robin Hood’s Birth, Breeding, etc.; but neither does it belong to the -golden age of Robin Hood and the Monk, or the Gest. It would be no gain -to have Thersites drubbing Odysseus. Robin finds his match, for the -nonce, in the Potter, but he does not for that depute two of his men to -be the death of the Potter. It never occurred to Little John and Much to -get a hundred pound from a beggar, kill him, and pocket the money. - -A story resembling that of the second part of this ballad occurs, as -Ritson has observed, in Le moyen de parvenir, “1739, I, 304;” II, 94, -London, 1786; p. 171, Paris, 1841. A friar encounters two footpads, who -offer to relieve him of the burden of his frock. He asks them to let him -take it off peaceably, puts his staff under his foot, takes off the -frock and throws it before them. While one of the pair stoops to get it, -the friar picks up the staff and hits the knave a blow which sends him -headlong; the other runs off. - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 180. - - - 1 - Lyth and listen, gentlemen, - That’s come of high born blood; - I’ll tell you of a brave booting - That befel Robin Hood. - - 2 - Robin Hood upon a day, - He went forth him alone, - And as he came from Barnesdale - Into a fair evening, - - 3 - He met a beggar on the way, - That sturdily could gang; - He had a pike-staff in his hand, - That was baith stark and strang. - - 4 - A clouted cloak about him was, - That held him from the cold; - The thinnest bit of it, I guess, - Was more than twenty fold. - - 5 - His meal-pock hang about his neck, - Into a leathern fang, - Well fastened with a broad buckle, - That was both stark and strang. - - 6 - He had three hats upon his head, - Together sticked fast; - He cared neither for wind nor weet, - In lands wherever he past. - - 7 - Good Robin coost him in his way, - To see what he might be; - If any beggar had money, - He thought some part had he. - - 8 - ‘Tarry, tarry,’ good Robin says, - ‘Tarry, and speak with me;’ - He heard him as he heard [him] not, - And fast his way can hie. - - 9 - ‘It be’s not so,’ says good Robin, - ‘Nay, thou must tarry still;’ - ‘By my troth,’ says the bold beggar, - ‘Of that I have no will. - - 10 - ‘It is far to my lodging-house, - And it is growing late; - If they have supt ere I come in, - I will look wondrous blate.’ - - 11 - ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, - ‘I see well by thy fare, - If thou chear well to thy supper, - Of mine thou takes no care; - - 12 - ‘Who wants my dinner all the day, - And wots not where to lie, - And should I to the tavern go, - I want money to buy. - - 13 - ‘Sir, thou must lend me some money, - Till we two meet again:’ - The beggar answerd cankerdly, - I have no money to lend. - - 14 - Thou art as young a man as I, - And seems to be as sweer; - If thou fast till thou get from me, - Thou shalt eat none this year. - - 15 - ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, - ‘Since we are sembled so, - If thou have but a small farthing, - I’ll have it ere thou go. - - 16 - ‘Therefore, lay down thy clouted cloak, - And do no longer stand, - And loose the strings of all thy pocks; - I’ll ripe them with my hand. - - 17 - ‘And now to thee I make a vow, - If thou make any din, - I shall see if a broad arrow - Can pierce a beggar’s skin.’ - - 18 - The beggar smil’d, and answer made: - Far better let me be; - Think not that I will be afraid - For thy nip crooked tree. - - 19 - Or that I fear thee any whit - For thy curn nips of sticks; - I know no use for them so meet - As to be pudding-pricks. - - 20 - Here I defy thee to do me ill, - For all thy boistrous fare; - Thou’s get nothing from me but ill, - Would thou seek it evermair. - - 21 - Good Robin bent his noble bow— - He was an angry man— - And in it set a broad arrow; - Yet er ’twas drawn a span, - - 22 - The beggar, with his noble tree, - Reacht him so round a rout - That his bow and his broad arrow - In flinders flew about. - - 23 - Good Robin bound him to his brand, - But that provd likewise vain; - The beggar lighted on his hand - With his pike-staff again. - - 24 - I wot he might not draw a sword - For forty days and more; - Good Robin could not speak a word, - His heart was never so sore. - - 25 - He could not fight, he could not flee, - He wist not what to do; - The beggar, with his noble tree, - Laid lusty flaps him to. - - 26 - He paid good Robin back and side, - And beft him up and down, - And with his pike-staff still on laid - Till he fell in a swoon. - - 27 - ‘Fy! stand up, man,’ the beggar said, - ‘’Tis shame to go to rest; - Stay still till thou get thy mony [told], - I think it were the best. - - 28 - ‘And syne go to the tavern-house, - And buy both wine and ale; - Hereat thy friends will crack full crouse, - Thou has been at a dale.’ - - 29 - Good Robin answerd never a word, - But lay still as a stane; - His cheeks were white as any clay, - And closed were his eyne. - - 30 - The beggar thought him dead but fail, - And boldly bownd away; - I would you had been at the dale, - And gotten part of the play. - - - 31 - Now three of Robin’s men, by chance, - Came walking on the way, - And found their master in a trance, - On ground where he did lie. - - 32 - Up have they taken good Robin, - Making a piteous bier, - Yet saw they no man there at whom - They might the matter spear. - - 33 - They looked him all round about, - But wounds on him saw none, - Yet at his mouth came bocking out - The blood of a good vein. - - 34 - Cold water they have taken syne, - And cast into his face; - Then he began to lift his eyne, - And spake within short space. - - 35 - ‘Tell us, dear master,’ says his men, - ‘How with you stands the case?’ - Good Robin sighd ere he began - To tell of his disgrace. - - 36 - ‘I have been watchman in this wood - Near hand this forty year, - Yet I was never so hard bestead - As you have found me here. - - 37 - ‘A beggar with a clouted cloak, - In whom I feard no ill, - Hath with a pike-staff clawd my back; - I fear’t shall never be well. - - 38 - ‘See, where he goes out oer yon hill, - With hat upon his head; - If ever you lovd your master well, - Go now revenge this deed. - - 39 - ‘And bring him back again to me, - If it lie in your might, - That I may see, before I die, - Him punisht in my sight. - - 40 - ‘And if you may not bring him back, - Let him not go loose on; - For to us all it were great shame - If he escapt again.’ - - 41 - ‘One of us shall with you remain, - Because you’re ill at ease; - The other two shall bring him back, - To use him as you please.’ - - 42 - ‘Now, by my troth,’ says good Robin, - ‘I trow there’s enough said; - If he get scouth to weild his tree, - I fear you’ll both be paid.’ - - 43 - ‘Be ye not feard, our good master, - That we two can be dung - With any blutter base beggar, - That hath nought but a rung. - - 44 - ‘His staff shall stand him in no stead; - That you shall shortly see; - But back again he shall be led, - And fast bound shall he be, - To see if you will have him slain, - Or hanged on a tree.’ - - 45 - ‘But cast you slily in his way, - Before he be aware, - And on his pike-staff first lay hands; - You’ll speed the better far.’ - - 46 - Now leave we Robin with his man, - Again to play the child, - And learn himself to stand and gang - By haulds, for all his eild. - - 47 - Now pass we to the bold beggar, - That raked oer the hill, - Who never mended his pace no more - Nor he had done no ill. - - 48 - The young men knew the country well, - So soon where he would be, - And they have taken another way, - Was nearer by miles three. - - 49 - They rudely ran with all their might, - Spar’d neither dub nor mire, - They stirred neither at laigh nor hight, - No travel made them tire, - - 50 - Till they before the beggar wan, - And coost them in his way; - A little wood lay in a glen, - And there they both did stay. - - 51 - They stood up closely by a tree, - In ilk side of the gate, - Until the beggar came them to, - That thought not of such fate. - - 52 - And as he was betwixt them past, - They leapt upon him baith; - The one his pike-staff gripped fast, - They feared for its scaith. - - 53 - The other he held in his sight - A drawn dirk to his breast, - And said, False carl, quit thy staff, - Or I shall be thy priest. - - 54 - His pike-staff they have taken him frae, - And stuck it in the green; - He was full leath to let [it] gae, - If better might have been. - - 55 - The beggar was the feardest man - Of one that ever might be; - To win away no way he can, - Nor help him with his tree. - - 56 - He wist not wherefore he was tane, - Nor how many was there; - He thought his life-days had been gone, - And grew into despair. - - 57 - ‘Grant me my life,’ the beggar said, - ‘For him that died on tree, - And take away that ugly knife, - Or then for fear I’ll die. - - 58 - ‘I grievd you never in all my life, - By late nor yet by ayre; - Ye have great sin, if ye should slay - A silly poor beggar.’ - - 59 - ‘Thou lies, false lown,’ they said again, - ‘By all that may be sworn; - Thou hast near slain the gentlest man - That ever yet was born. - - 60 - ‘And back again thou shalt be led, - And fast bound shalt thou be, - To see if he will have thee slain, - Or hanged on a tree.’ - - 61 - The beggar then thought all was wrong; - They were set for his wrack; - He saw nothing appearing then - But ill upon worse back. - - 62 - Were he out of their hands, he thought, - And had again his tree, - He should not be had back for nought, - With such as he did see. - - 63 - Then he bethought him on a wile, - If it could take effect, - How he the young men might beguile, - And give them a begeck. - - 64 - Thus for to do them shame or ill - His beastly breast was bent; - He found the wind grew something shril, - To further his intent. - - 65 - He said, Brave gentlemen, be good, - And let the poor man be; - When ye have taken a beggar’s blood, - It helps you not a flee. - - 66 - It was but in my own defence, - If he hath gotten skaith; - But I will make a recompence, - Much better for you baith. - - 67 - If ye will set me safe and free, - And do me no danger, - An hundred pounds I will you give, - And much more good silver, - - 68 - That I have gathered these many years, - Under this clouted cloak, - And hid up wonder privately, - In bottom of my pock. - - 69 - The young men to a council yeed, - And let the beggar gae; - They wist how well he had no speed - From them to run away. - - 70 - They thought they would the money take, - Come after what so may, - And then they would not bring him back, - But in that part him slay. - - 71 - By that good Robin would not know - That they had gotten coin; - It would content him for to show - That there they had him slain. - - 72 - They said, False carl, soon have done - And tell forth that money; - For the ill turn thou hast done - ’Tis but a simple fee. - - 73 - And yet we will not have thee back, - Come after what so may, - If thou will do that which thou spake, - And make us present pay. - - 74 - O then he loosd his clouted cloak, - And spread it on the ground, - And thereon laid he many a pock, - Betwixt them and the wind. - - 75 - He took a great bag from his hase; - It was near full of meal; - Two pecks in it at least there was, - And more, I wot full well. - - 76 - Upon his cloak he laid it down, - The mouth he opend wide, - To turn the same he made him bown, - The young men ready spy’d. - - 77 - In every hand he took a nook - Of that great leathern meal, - And with a fling the meal he shook - Into their faces hail. - - 78 - Wherewith he blinded them so close - A stime they could not see; - And then in heart he did rejoice, - And clapt his lusty tree. - - 79 - He thought, if he had done them wrong - In mealing of their cloaths, - For to strike off the meal again - With his pike-staff he goes. - - 80 - Or any one of them could red their eyne, - Or yet a glimmering could see, - Ilk ane of them a dozen had, - Well laid on with the tree. - - 81 - The young men were right swift of foot, - And boldly ran away; - The beggar could them no more hit, - For all the haste he may. - - 82 - ‘What ails this haste?’ the beggar said, - ‘May ye not tarry still, - Until your money be receivd? - I’ll pay you with good will. - - 83 - ‘The shaking of my pocks, I fear, - Hath blown into your eyne; - But I have a good pike-staff here - Will ripe them out full clean.’ - - 84 - The young men answerd neer a word, - They were dumb as a stane; - In the thick wood the beggar fled, - Eer they riped their eyne. - - 85 - And syne the night became so late, - To seek him was but vain: - But judge ye, if they looked blate - When they came home again. - - 86 - Good Robin speard how they had sped; - They answerd him, Full ill; - ‘That cannot be,’ good Robin says; - ‘Ye have been at the mill. - - 87 - ‘The mill it is a meatrif place, - They may lick what they please; - Most like ye have been at that art, - Who would look to your cloaths.’ - - 88 - They hangd their heads, and droped down, - A word they could not speak: - Robin said, Because I fell a-swoon, - I think you’ll do the like. - - 89 - Tell on the matter, less and more, - And tell me what and how - Ye have done with the bold beggar - I sent you for right now. - - 90 - And then they told him to an end, - As I have said before, - How that the beggar did them blind, - What misters process more. - - 91 - And how he lin’d their shoulders broad - With his great trenchen tree, - And how in the thick wood he fled, - Eer they a stime could see. - - 92 - And how they scarcely could win home, - Their bones were beft so sore: - Good Robin cry’d, Fy! out, for shame! - We’re sham’d for evermore. - - 93 - Altho good Robin would full fain - Of his wrong revenged be, - He smil’d to see his merry young men - Had gotten a taste of the tree. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - The History of Robin Hood and the Beggar: in two Parts. Part I: - Shewing how Robin Hood, in attempting to rob a Beggar near - Barnesdale, was shamefully defeated, and left for dead, till - taken up by three of his men. Part II: How the beggar blinded - two of his men with a bag of meal, who were sent to kill him or - bring him back. - - _Title prefixed to the ballad_: Robin Hood and the Beggar. - - _In stanzas of two long lines. After 30_: The Second Part. - - 22^3. arrows. - - 30^1. but sail: _that is_, but ſail. - - 38^3. you _for_ your. - - 41^2. ill a case: _which perhaps should be retained_. - - 46^1. and _for_ with. - - 46^4. the eild. - - 48^3. a another. - - 51^4. fate: #b#, late, _that is_, let. - - 53^3. quite. - - 65^4. fly: #b#, flee. - - 77^3. sling: _that is_, ſling. - - 79^3. strick. - - 89^2. where and. - -#b.# - - _In stanzas of two long lines._ - - _Some of these readings may be Ritson’s corrections._ - - 1^2. That be. - - 2^4. a _wanting_. - - 3^2. Who _for_ That. - - 4^2. frae the. - - 5^2. whang. - - 5^3. to a. - - 7^1. cast. - - 8^3. heard him not. - - 8^4. on his. - - 9^1. ’Tis be. - - 9^3. said. - - 11^3. shares well. - - 11^4. dost not care. - - 12^1. all this. - - 12^3. would I. - - 13^1. you must. - - 13^2. two _wanting_. - - 14^1. art a. - - 15^2. asembled. - - 15^3. has. - - 16^1. Come lay. - - 17^3. if _wanting_. - - 20^4. Wouldst: it _wanting_. - - 21^4. Lo eer. - - 22^3. arrow. - - 24^{2,4}. mair, sair. - - 25^3. ſlaps. - - 26^2. baiſt. - - 26^3. laid on loud _for_ still on laid. - - 27^1. Fy _wanting_. - - 27^3. still till: money told. - - 28^4. hast been at the. - - 29^3. pale _for_ white. - - 30^1. but fail. - - 30^2. his way. - - 30^3. ye. - - 31^2. by the. - - 31^4. where that he lay. - - 33^2. wound. - - 34^1. gotten _for_ taken. - - 34^2. unto. - - 34^3. to hitch his ear. - - 34^4. speak. - - 35^1. said. - - 36^2. this twenty. - - 36^4. ye. - - 37^2. Of whom. - - 37^3. with his. - - 37^4. ‘twill. - - 38^1. out _wanting_. - - 38^3. eer ye. - - 40^4. escape. - - 41^2. ill at ease. - - 42^3. And he. - - 43^1. ye, good _wanting_. - - 43^4. has. - - 44^5. ye. - - 45^3. hands lay. - - 45^4. Ye. - - 46^1. with his. - - 46^4. his eild. - - 47^3. no _wanting_. - - 47^4. Then he. - - 48^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 49^1. They stoutly. - - 49^3. They started at neither how nor height. - - 50^2. cast them. - - 51^2. In each. - - 51^3. them nigh. - - 51^4. thought of no such late. - - 54^3. let it. - - 54^4. An better might it been. - - 55^2. any _for_ one. - - 56^1. Nor wist he. - - 56^4. He _for_ And. - - 57^2. on the. - - 57^3. And hold. - - 57^4. Or else. - - 58^2. Neither by late or air. - - 58^3. You have great sin if you would. - - 59^2. For all. - - 59^4. Of one that eer. - - 60^1. shall. - - 62^3. led back. - - 63^3. he might the young men. - - 63^4. gave them a begack. - - 64^1. for _wanting_: for ill. - - 64^3. blew _for_ grew. - - 65^2. a poor. - - 65^4. flee. - - 66^2. has. - - 66^4. Is better. - - 67^1. fair and. - - 67^2. no more dear. - - 67^4. odd _for_ good. - - 68^1. this. - - 69^1. to the. - - 69^3. full well. - - 70^3. And yet: not take. - - 70^4. that place. - - 71^3. for _wanting_. - - 72^2. forth thy. - - 72^3. turn that. - - 72^4. It’s: plee _for_ fee. - - 74^3. lay he. - - 75^1. half, _that is_, half. - - 76^1. this cloak: set it. - - 76^3. bound. - - 77^2. bag _for_ meal. - - 77^3. fling. - - 77^4. face all hail. - - 79^2. cloath. - - 79^3. strike. - - 80^1. Eer any of. - - 80^2. Or a glimmering might. - - 80^4. with his. - - 81^2. boldly bound. - - 82^1. What’s all this. - - 82^2. May not thou. - - 83^4. Can ripe. - - 85^2. in vain. - - 87^1. meat rife part. - - 87^3. at the. - - 87^4. at your. - - 88^1. they drooped. - - 88^3. a sound. - - 88^4. ye. - - 89^1. less or. - - 89^2. what and. - - 90^1. And when. - - 90^4. presses _for_ process. - - 91^{1,2}. _wanting._ - - 91^3. woods. - - 92^2. were baste. - - 93^2. his wrath. - - - - - 135 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD - - #a.# Garland of 1663, No 13. - - #b.# Garland of 1670, No 12. - - #c.# Wood, 401, leaf 13 b. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 115, No 102. - - -Roxburghe, II, 392, III, 284; Douce, III, 115 b, by L. How, of the -eighteenth century. A manuscript copy in the British Museum, Add. 15072, -fol. 59, is #a#, with omission of 12^2–15^4, and a few errors of -carelessness. - -Printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood from #c# and one of the Roxburghe -broadsides. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 136, seems to have -followed the Aldermary garland, with slight deviation. - -Robin Hood, walking in the forest, finds a shepherd lying on the ground, -and bids him rise and show what he has in his bottle and bag. The -shepherd tells him that he shall not see a drop of his bottle until his -valor has been tried. Robin stakes twenty pound on the issue of a fight, -and the shepherd his bag and bottle. They fight from ten to four, hook -against sword. Robin Hood falls to the ground, and the shepherd calls on -him to own himself beaten. Robin demands the boon of three blasts on his -horn. These bring Little John, who undertakes the shepherd, and is so -roughly handled that Robin is fain to yield his wager, to which Little -John heartily agrees. - -It is but the natural course of exaggeration that the shepherd, having -beaten Robin Hood, should beat Little John. This is descending low -enough, but we do not see the bottom of this kind of balladry here. - -In King Alfred and the Shepherd, Old Ballads, 1723, I, 43, stanzas 6–17, -the king plays Robin’s part, fighting four hours with the Shepherd and -then craving a truce. Further on Alfred blows his horn. There are also -verbal agreements. - - - 1 - All gentlemen and yeomen good, - Down a down a down a down - I wish you to draw near; - For a story of gallant brave Robin Hood - Vnto you I wil declare. - Down, etc. - - 2 - As Robin Hood walkt the forrest along, - Some pastime for to spie, - There was he aware of a jolly shepherd, - That on the ground did lie. - - 3 - ‘Arise, arise,’ cryed jolly Robin, - ‘And now come let me see - What is in thy bag and bottle, I say; - Come tell it unto me.’ - - 4 - ‘What’s that to thee, thou proud fellow? - Tell me as I do stand - What thou hast to do with my bag and bottle? - Let me see thy command.’ - - 5 - ‘My sword, which hangeth by my side, - Is my command I know; - Come, and let me taste of thy bottle, - Or it may breed thee wo.’ - - 6 - ‘Tut, the devil a drop, thou proud fellow, - Of my bottle thou shalt see, - Untill thy valour here be tried, - Whether thou wilt fight or flee.’ - - 7 - ‘What shall we fight for?’ cries bold Robin Hood; - ‘Come tell it soon to me; - Here is twenty pounds in good red gold; - Win it, and take it thee.’ - - 8 - The Shepherd stood all in a maze, - And knew not what to say: - ‘I have no money, thou proud fellow, - But bag and bottle I’le lay.’ - - 9 - ‘I am content, thou shepherd-swain, - Fling them down on the ground; - But it will breed thee mickle pain, - To win my twenty pound.’ - - 10 - ‘Come draw thy sword, thou proud fellow, - Thou stands too long to prate; - This hook of mine shall let thee know - A coward I do hate.’ - - 11 - So they fell to it, full hardy and sore; - It was on a summers day; - From ten till four in the afternoon - The Shepherd held him play. - - 12 - Robins buckler proved his chief defence, - And saved him many a bang, - For every blow the Shepherd gave - Made Robins sword cry twang. - - 13 - Many a sturdy blow the Shepherd gave, - And that bold Robin found, - Till the blood ran trickling from his head; - Then he fell to the ground. - - 14 - ‘Arise, arise, thou proud fellow, - And thou shalt have fair play, - If thou wilt yield, before thou go, - That I have won the day.’ - - 15 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ cried bold Robin; - ‘If that a man thou be, - Then let me take my beaugle-horn, - And blow but blasts three.’ - - 16 - ‘To blow three times three,’ the Shepherd said, - ‘I will not thee deny; - For if thou shouldst blow till to-morrow morn, - I scorn one foot to fly.’ - - 17 - Then Robin set his horn to his mouth, - And he blew with mickle main, - Until he espied Little John - Come tripping over the plain. - - 18 - ‘O who is yonder, thou proud fellow, - That comes down yonder hill?’ - ‘Yonder is Little John, bold Robin Hoods man, - Shall fight with thee thy fill.’ - - 19 - ‘What is the matter?’ saies Little John, - ‘Master, come tell to me:’ - ‘My case is great,’ saies Robin Hood, - ‘For the Shepherd hath conquered me.’ - - 20 - ‘I am glad of that,’ cries Little John, - ‘Shepherd, turn thou to me; - For a bout with thee I mean to have, - Either come fight or flee.’ - - 21 - ‘With all my heart, thou proud fellow, - For it never shall be said - That a shepherds hook of thy sturdy look - Will one jot be dismaid.’ - - 22 - So they fell to it, full hardy and sore, - Striving for victory; - ‘I will know,’ saies John, ‘ere we give ore, - Whether thou wilt fight or flye.’ - - 23 - The Shepherd gave John a sturdy blow, - With his hook under the chin; - ‘Beshrew thy heart,’ said Little John, - ‘Thou basely dost begin.’ - - 24 - ‘Nay, that’s nothing,’ said the Shepherd; - ‘Either yield to me the day, - Or I will bang thee back and sides, - Before thou goest thy way. - - 25 - ‘What? dost thou think, thou proud fellow, - That thou canst conquer me? - Nay, thou shalt know, before thou go, - I’le fight before I’le flee.’ - - 26 - With that to thrash Little John like mad - The Shepherd he begun; - ‘Hold, hold,’ cryed bold Robin Hood, - ‘And I’le yield the wager won.’ - - 27 - ‘With all my heart,’ said Little John, - ‘To that I will agree; - For he is the flower of shepherd-swains, - The like I never did see.’ - - 28 - Thus have you heard of Robin Hood, - Also of Little John, - How a shepherd-swain did conquer them; - The like did never none. - - * * * * * - -#a#, #b#. - - Robin Hood and the Shepard: Shewing how Robin Hood, Little John - and the Shepheard fought a sore combate. - - Tune is, Robin Hood and Queen Katherine. - -#a.# - - _Burden: a third_ a down _is not printed after the first line, but - is after the last_. - - 4^3. hast thou. - - 5^4. thy wo. - - 7^2. Gome. - - 20^4. Eihter. - - 26^2. Sheherd. - -#b.# - - _Burden_: Down a down a down a down. - - _After_ 9^1, 21^4, With a, &c. - - 1^3. bold _for_ brave. - - 4^3. thou hast. - - 5^3. tast. - - 5^4. thee _for_ thy. - - 7^1. bold _wanting_. - - 7^3. pound. - - 10^2. standst. - - 12^1. chiefest. - - 13^3. tickling. - - 16^1. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin. - - 16^2. _wanting._ - - 17^1. Robin he. - - 18^3. Little _wanting_. - - 19^3. is very bad, cries. - - 26^1. Again the Shepherd laid on him. - - 26^4. And _wanting_: I will. - - 27^4. I did never. - - 28^4. was never known. - -#c.# - - Robin Hood and the Shepheard: Shewing how Robin Hood, Little John - and the Shepheard fought a sore combat. - - The Shepherd fought for twenty pound, - And Robin for bottle and bag, - But the Shepheard stout gave them the rout - So sore they could not wag. - - The tune is Robin and Queen Katherine. - - London, Printed for John Andrews, at the White Lion, in - Pie-Corner. (1660.) - - _Burden_: Down a down a down a down. - - 1^3. bold _for_ brave. - - 4^3. thou hast. - - 5^4. my wo. - - 8^1. amaze. - - 11^3. four till ten. - - 12^1. chiefest. - - 13^4. And then. - - 16^1. _wanting._ - - 19^3. cries _for_ saies. - - 19^4. hath beaten. - - 22^3. ile know saith. - - 22^4. flee. - - 25^1. doest. - - 26^1. _wanting._ - - 26^2. began. - - 26^4. And _wanting_: I will. - - 27^3. Shepheards. - - 27^4. I did never. - -#d.# - - _Title as in #a#, #b#._ - - Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.) - - _Burden_: Down a down down. - - 1^3. bold _for_ brave. - - 2^3. he was. - - 4^3. hast thou, _as in_ #a#. - - 5^1. that _for_ which. - - 5^4. thy woe, _as in_ #a#. - - 6^1. Tut _wanting_. - - 7^1. bold _wanting_. - - 7^3. pound. - - 10^2. standest. - - 11^1. hard. - - 12^1. chiefest. - - 15^3. beagle. - - 16^1. Then said the Shepherd to bold Robin. - - 16^2. To that will I agree. - - 16^4. flee. - - 17^1. he set. - - 17^2. with might and main. - - 18^3. Little _wanting_. - - 19^3. bad cries. - - 21^2. shall never. - - 21^3. at thy. - - 22^4. flee. - - 24^3. thy _for_ thee. - - 26^1. Again the Shepherd laid on him. - - 26^2. began. - - 26^3. Hood _wanting_. - - 26^4. And _wanting_: I will. - - 27^4. I did never. - - 28^4. The like was never known. - - - - - 136 - - ROBIN HOOD’S DELIGHT - - (ROBIN HOOD, JOHN, SCARLOCK AND THREE KEEPERS) - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 41 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 17. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 16. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 112, No 99. - - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 116, from #a#, with changes. Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 176. - -Robin Hood, Scarlock, and John, walking in Sherwood, are charged to -stand by three of King Henry’s keepers. There is a fight from eight till -two o’clock, in which the outlaws are at some disadvantage. Robin asks -that he may blow his horn, then he will fight again. The keepers refuse; -he must fall on or yield. Robin owns them to be stout fellows; he will -not fight it out there with swords, but at Nottingham with sack. They go -to Nottingham accordingly, and drink themselves good friends. - -The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood, No 132, a late traditional copy, shows -traces of st. 20 of this ballad in st. 12, where the Pedlar says it lies -with him whether he will tell his name, and again at the end, where -Robin Hood, John, and the Pedlar drink friendship at the tavern. Robin -Hood’s antagonists are again foresters and keepers in the Progress to -Nottingham, and in Robin Hood and the Ranger. There are numerous verbal -agreements between Robin Hood’s Delight and Robin Hood and the Shepherd. - - -Translated by Loève-Veimars, p. 199. - - - 1 - There is some will talk of lords and knights, - Doun a doun a doun a doun - And some of yeoman good, - But I will tell you of Will Scarlock, - Little John and Robin Hood. - Doun a doun a doun a doun - - 2 - They were outlaws, as ’tis well known, - And men of a noble blood; - And a many a time was their valour shown - In the forrest of merry Sheerwood. - - 3 - Vpon a time it chanced so, - As Robin Hood would have it be, - They all three would a walking go, - Some pastime for to see. - - 4 - And as they walked the forest along, - Upon a midsummer day, - There was they aware of three keepers, - Clade all in green aray. - - 5 - With brave long faucheons by their sides, - And forest-bills in hand, - They calld aloud to those bold outlaws, - And charged them to stand. - - 6 - ‘Why, who are you,’ cry’d bold Robin, - ‘That speaks so boldly here? ’ - ‘We three belong to King Henry, - And are keepers of his deer.’ - - 7 - ‘The devil thou art!’ sayes Robin Hood, - ‘I am sure that it is not so; - We be the keepers of this forest, - And that you soon shall know. - - 8 - ‘Come, your coats of green lay on the ground, - And so will we all three, - And take your swords and bucklers round, - And try the victory.’ - - 9 - ‘We be content,’ the keepers said, - ‘We be three, and you no less; - Then why should we be of you afraid, - And we never did transgress?’ - - 10 - ‘Why, if you be three keepers in this forest, - Then we be three rangers good, - And we will make you to know, before you do go, - You meet with bold Robin Hood.’ - - 11 - ‘We be content, thou bold outlaw, - Our valour here to try, - And we will make you know, before we do go, - We will fight before we will fly. - - 12 - ‘Then, come draw your swords, you bold outlaws, - And no longer stand to prate, - But let us try it out with blows, - For cowards we do hate. - - 13 - ‘Here is one of us for Will Scarlock, - And another for Little John, - And I my self for Robin Hood, - Because he is stout and strong.’ - - 14 - So they fell to it full hard and sore; - It was on a midsummers day; - From eight a clock till two and past, - They all shewed gallant play. - - 15 - There Robin, and Will, and Little John, - They fought most manfully, - Till all their winde was spent and gone, - Then Robin aloud did cry: - - 16 - ‘O hold, O hold,’ cries bold Robin, - ‘I see you be stout men; - Let me blow one blast on my bugle-horn, - Then I’le fight with you again.’ - - 17 - ‘That bargain’s to make, bold Robin Hood, - Therefore we it deny; - Though a blast upon thy bugle-horn - Cannot make us fight nor fly. - - 18 - ‘Therefore fall on, or else be gone, - And yield to us the day: - It shall never be said that we were afraid - Of thee, nor thy yeomen gay.’ - - 19 - ‘If that be so,’ cries bold Robin, - ‘Let me but know your names, - And in the forest of merry Sheerwood - I shall extol your fames.’ - - 20 - ‘And with our names,’ one of them said, - ‘What hast thou here to do? - Except that you will fight it out, - Our names thou shalt not know.’ - - 21 - ‘We will fight no more,’ sayes bold Robin, - ‘You be men of valour stout; - Come and go with me to Nottingham, - And there we will fight it out. - - 22 - ‘With a but of sack we will bang it out, - To see who wins the day; - And for the cost, make you no doubt - I have gold and money to pay - - 23 - ‘And ever after, so long as we live, - We all will brethren be; - For I love those men with heart and hand - That will fight, and never flee.’ - - 24 - So away they went to Nottingham, - With sack to make amends; - For three dayes space they wine did chase, - And drank themselves good friends. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood’s Delight, or, A merry combat fought between Robin - Hood, Little John and Will Scarelock and three stout Keepers in - Sheerwood Forrest. - - Robin was valiant and stout, so was Scarelock and John, in the - field, - But these keepers stout did give them the rout, and made them all - for to yield; - But after the battel ended was, bold Robin did make them amends, - For claret and sack they did not lack, so drank themselves good - friends. - - To the tune of Robin Hood and Quene Katherine, or, Robin Hood and - the Shepheard. - - London, Printed for John Andrews, at the White Lion, near Pye - Corner. (1660.) - -#b#, #c#. - - _Title the same, without the verses_: Scarlet _for_ Scarelock. - - 1^2. #b#, yeomen. - - 1^3, 13^1. Scarlet. - - 2^1. it is. - - 2^3. And many. - - 4^3. was he: #c#, forresters _for_ keepers. - - 5^1. side. - - 5^2. #c#, forrests bils. - - 5^3. #c#, bold _wanting_. - - 7^1. #b#, bold Robin, Hood _wanting_: #c#, said Robin Hood. - - 7^2. #b#, it _wanting_: #c#, that _wanting_. - - 10^4. met. - - 11^3. do _wanting_. - - 11^4. #b.# wee’l. - - 16^1. #c.# thy hand cryes. - - 17^1. is. - - 19^3. #c.# in that. - - 19^4. #b.# I will. - - 20^3. thou wilt. - - 23^1. hereafter. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #b#, #c#, _except_: fought against. - - Printed for William Thackeray, at the Angel in Duck Lane. (1689.) - - 1^1. There’s. - - 1^2. yeomen. - - 1^3, 13^1. Scarlet. - - 2^3. And many. - - 4^3. forresters _for_ keepers. - - 5^3. bold _wanting_. - - 6^2. speak. - - 7^1. said. - - 7^2. that _wanting_. - - 7^3. the _wanting_: in _for_ of. - - 8^1. Come _wanting_. - - 9^2. you _wanting_. - - 9^3. we of you be. - - 10^1. the _for_ three. - - 10^3. we’l: to _wanting_. - - 11^3. _first_ we, do _wanting_. - - 14^1. hardy. - - 15^3. spend. - - 16^3. with my beagle. - - 17^1. is. - - 17^3. Thy blast: beagle. - - 18^3. never shall: we are. - - 20^3. thou wilt. - - 23^1. hereafter. - - 23^3. these. - - - - - 137 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE PEDLARS - - ‘Robinhood and the Peddlers,’ the fourth ballad in a MS. formerly in - the possession of J. Payne Collier, now in the British Museum; - previously printed in Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 351. - - -The manuscript in which this ballad occurs contains a variety of -matters, and, as the best authority[113] has declared, may in part have -been written as early as 1650, but all the ballads are in a -nineteenth-century hand, and some of them are maintained to be -forgeries. I see no sufficient reason for regarding this particular -piece as spurious, and therefore, though I should be glad to be rid of -it, accept it for the present as perhaps a copy of a broadside, or a -copy of a copy. - -The story resembles that of Robin Hood’s Delight, pedlars taking the -place of keepers; but Robin is reduced to an ignominy paralleled only in -the second ballad of Robin Hood and the Beggar. Robin Hood, accompanied -by Scarlet and John, bids three pedlars stand. They pay no heed, and he -sends an arrow through the pack of one of them. Hereupon they throw down -their packs and wait for their assailants to come up. Robin’s bow is -broken by a blow from a staff of one of the pedlars. Robin calls a truce -until he and his men can get staves. There is then an equal fight, the -end of which is that Robin Hood is knocked senseless and left in a -swoon, tended by Scarlet and John. But before the pedlars set forward, -Kit o Thirske, the best man of the three, and the one who has fought -with Robin, administers a balsam to his fallen foe, which he says will -heal his hurts, but which operates unpleasantly. - -Thirsk is about twenty miles from York, in the North Riding. - - - 1 - Will you heare a tale of Robin Hood, - Will Scarlett, and Little John? - Now listen awhile, it will make you smile, - As before it hath many done. - - 2 - They were archers three, of hie degree, - As good as ever drewe bowe; - Their arrowes were long and their armes were strong, - As most had cause to knowe. - - 3 - But one sommers day, as they toke their way - Through the forrest of greene Sherwood, - To kill the kings deare, you shall presently heare - What befell these archers good. - - 4 - They were ware on the roade of three peddlers with loade, - Ffor each had his packe, - Ffull of all wares for countrie faires, - Trusst up upon his backe. - - 5 - A good oke staffe, a yard and a halfe, - Each one had in his hande; - And they were all bound to Nottingham towne, - As you shall understand. - - 6 - ‘Yonder I see bolde peddlers three,’ - Said Robin to Scarlett and John; - ‘We’le search their packes upon their backes - Before that they be gone. - - 7 - ‘Holla, good fellowes!’ quod Robin Hood, - ‘Whither is it ye doe goe? - Now stay and rest, for that is the best, - ’Tis well ye should doe soe.’ - - 8 - ‘Noe rest we neede, on our roade we speede, - Till to Nottingham we get:’ - ‘Thou tellst a lewde lye,’ said Robin, ‘for I - Can see that ye swinke and swet.’ - - 9 - The peddlers three crosst over the lee, - They did not list to fight: - ‘I charge you tarrie,’ quod Robin, ‘for marry, - This is my owne land by right. - - 10 - ‘This is my mannor and this is my parke, - I would have ye for to knowe; - Ye are bolde outlawes, I see by cause - Ye are so prest to goe.’ - - 11 - The peddlers three turned round to see - Who it might be they herd; - Then agen went on as they list to be gone, - And never answered word. - - 12 - Then toke Robin Hood an arrow so good, - Which he did never lacke, - And drew his bowe, and the swift arrowe - Went through the last peddlers packe. - - 13 - Ffor him it was well on the packe it fell, - Or his life had found an ende; - And it pierst the skin of his backe within, - Though the packe did stand his frend. - - 14 - Then downe they flung their packes eche one, - And stayde till Robin came: - Quod Robin, I saide ye had better stayde; - Good sooth, ye were to blame. - - 15 - ‘And who art thou? by S. Crispin, I vowe - I’le quickly cracke thy head!’ - Cried Robin, Come on, all three, or one; - It is not so soone done as said. - - 16 - My name, by the roode, is Robin Hood, - And this is Scarlett and John; - It is three to three, ye may plainelie see, - Soe now, brave fellowes, laye on. - - 17 - The first peddlars blowe brake Robins bowe - That he had in his hand; - And Scarlett and John, they eche had one - That they unneath could stand. - - 18 - ‘Now holde your handes,’ cride Robin Hood, - ‘Ffor ye have got oken staves; - But tarie till wee can get but three, - And a fig for all your braves.’ - - 19 - Of the peddlers the first, his name Kit o Thirske, - Said, We are all content; - Soe eche tooke a stake for his weapon, to make - The peddlers to repent. - - 20 - Soe to it they fell, and their blowes did ring well - Uppon the others backes; - And gave the peddlers cause to wish - They had not cast their packes. - - 21 - Yet the peddlers three of their blowes were so free - That Robin began for to rue; - And Scarlett and John had such loade laide on - It made the sunne looke blue. - - 22 - At last Kits oke caught Robin a stroke - That made his head to sound; - He staggerd, and reelde, till he fell on the fielde, - And the trees with him went round. - - 23 - ‘Now holde your handes,’ cride Little John, - And soe said Scarlett eke; - ‘Our maister is slaine, I tell you plaine, - He never more will speake.’ - - 24 - ‘Now, heaven forefend he come to that ende,’ - Said Kit, ‘I love him well; - But lett him learne to be wise in turne, - And not with pore peddlers mell. - - 25 - ‘In my packe, God wot, I a balsame have got - That soone his hurts will heale;’ - And into Robin Hoods gaping mouth - He presentlie powrde some deale. - - 26 - ‘Now fare ye well, tis best not to tell - How ye three peddlers met; - Or if ye doe, prithee tell alsoe - How they made ye swinke and swett.’ - - 27 - Poore Robin in sound they left on the ground, - And hied them to Nottingham, - While Scarlett and John Robin tended on, - Till at length his senses came. - - 28 - Noe soone[r], in haste, did Robin Hood taste - The balsame he had tane, - Than he gan to spewe, and up he threwe - The balsame all againe. - - 29 - And Scarlett and John, who were looking on - Their maister as he did lie, - Had their faces besmeard, both eies and beard, - Therewith most piteously. - - 30 - Thus ended that fray; soe beware alwaye - How ye doe challenge foes; - Looke well aboute they are not to stoute, - Or you may have worst of the blowes. - - - - - 138 - - ROBIN HOOD AND ALLEN A DALE - - #a.# ‘Robin Hood and Allin of Dale,’ Douce, II, leaf 185. - - #b.# ‘Robin Hood and Allin of Dale,’ Pepys, II, 110, No 97. - - #c.# ‘Robin Hood and Allen a Dale,’ Douce, III, 119 b. - - -Printed in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, II, 44, and Evans’s Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 126, after a copy very near to #c#. In Ritson’s -Robin Hood, 1795, II, 46, probably after Roxburghe II, 394. Not included -in the garlands of 1663, 1670; in a garland of 1749, the Aldermary -garland, R. Marshall, and the Lichfield, M. Morgan, both not dated, No -8; in the York garland, 1811, No 9. In the Kinloch MSS, V, 183, there is -a copy, derived from the broadside, but Scotticised, and improved in the -process. - -A young man, Allen a Dale, whom Robin Hood has seen passing, one day -singing and the next morning sighing, is stopped by Little John and the -Miller’s Son, and brought before their master, who asks him if he has -any money. He has five shillings and a ring, and was to have been -married the day before, but his bride has been given to an old knight. -Robin asks what he will give to get his true-love. All that he can give -is his faithful service. Robin goes to the church and declares the match -not fit: the bride shall choose for herself. He blows his horn, and -four-and-twenty of his men appear, the foremost of whom is Allen a Dale. -Robin tells Allen that he shall be married on the spot. The bishop says -no; there must be three askings. Robin puts the bishop’s coat on Little -John, and Little John asks seven times. Robin gives Allen the maid, and -bids the man take her away that dare. - -The ballad, it will be observed, is first found in broadside copies of -the latter half of the seventeenth century. The story is told of -Scarlock in the life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS, 715, 7, fol. 157, of -the end of the sixteenth century; Thoms, Early Prose Romances, II, p. -39. - -“Scarlock he induced [to become one of his company] upon this occacion. -One day meting him as he walked solitary and lyke to a man forlorne, -because a mayd to whom he was affyanced was taken from [him] by the -violence of her frends, and given to another, that was auld and welthy; -whereupon Robin, understandyng when the maryage-day should be, came to -the church as a beggar, and having his company not far of, which came in -so sone as they hard the sound of his horne, he ‘took’ the bryde -perforce from him that was in hand to have maryed her, and caused the -preist to wed her and Scarlocke togeyther.” - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 146. - - - 1 - Come listen to me, you gallants so free, - All you that loves mirth for to hear, - And I will you tell of a bold outlaw, - That lived in Nottinghamshire. (_bis_.) - - 2 - As Robin Hood in the forrest stood, - All under the green-wood tree, - There was he ware of a brave young man, - As fine as fine might be. - - 3 - The youngster was clothed in scarlet red, - In scarlet fine and gay, - And he did frisk it over the plain, - And chanted a roundelay. - - 4 - As Robin Hood next morning stood, - Amongst the leaves so gay, - There did he espy the same young man - Come drooping along the way. - - 5 - The scarlet he wore the day before, - It was clean cast away; - And every step he fetcht a sigh, - ‘Alack and a well a day!’ - - 6 - Then stepped forth brave Little John, - And Nick the millers son, - Which made the young man bend his bow, - When as he see them come. - - 7 - ‘Stand off, stand off,’ the young man said, - ‘What is your will with me?’ - ‘You must come before our master straight, - Vnder yon green-wood tree.’ - - 8 - And when he came bold Robin before, - Robin askt him courteously, - O hast thou any money to spare - For my merry men and me? - - 9 - ‘I have no money,’ the young man said, - ‘But five shillings and a ring; - And that I have kept this seven long years, - To have it at my wedding. - - 10 - ‘Yesterday I should have married a maid, - But she is now from me tane, - And chosen to be an old knights delight, - Whereby my poor heart is slain.’ - - 11 - ‘What is thy name?’ then said Robin Hood, - ‘Come tell me, without any fail:’ - ‘By the faith of my body,’ then said the young man, - ‘My name it is Allin a Dale.’ - - 12 - ‘What wilt thou give me,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘In ready gold or fee, - To help thee to thy true-love again, - And deliver her unto thee?’ - - 13 - ‘I have no money,’ then quoth the young man, - ‘No ready gold nor fee, - But I will swear upon a book - Thy true servant for to be.’ - - 14 - ‘How many miles is it to thy true-love? - Come tell me without any guile:’ - ‘By the faith of my body,’ then said the young man, - ‘It is but five little mile.’ - - 15 - Then Robin he hasted over the plain, - He did neither stint nor lin, - Vntil he came unto the church - Where Allin should keep his wedding. - - 16 - ‘What dost thou do here?’ the bishop he said, - ‘I prethee now tell to me:’ - ‘I am a bold harper,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘And the best in the north countrey.’ - - 17 - ‘O welcome, O welcome,’ the bishop he said, - ‘That musick best pleaseth me;’ - ‘You shall have no musick,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘Till the bride and the bridegroom I see.’ - - 18 - With that came in a wealthy knight, - Which was both grave and old, - And after him a finikin lass, - Did shine like glistering gold. - - 19 - ‘This is no fit match,’ quoth bold Robin Hood, - ‘That you do seem to make here; - For since we are come unto the church, - The bride she shall chuse her own dear.’ - - 20 - Then Robin Hood put his horn to his mouth, - And blew blasts two or three; - When four and twenty bowmen bold - Came leaping over the lee. - - 21 - And when they came into the church-yard, - Marching all on a row, - The first man was Allin a Dale, - To give bold Robin his bow. - - 22 - ‘This is thy true-love,’ Robin he said, - ‘Young Allin, as I hear say; - And you shall be married at this same time, - Before we depart away.’ - - 23 - ‘That shall not be,’ the bishop he said, - ‘For thy word shall not stand; - They shall be three times askt in the church, - As the law is of our land.’ - - 24 - Robin Hood pulld off the bishops coat, - And put it upon Little John; - ‘By the faith of my body,’ then Robin said, - ‘This cloath doth make thee a man.’ - - 25 - When Little John went into the quire, - The people began for to laugh; - He askt them seven times in the church, - Least three times should not be enough. - - 26 - ‘Who gives me this maid,’ then said Little John; - Quoth Robin, That do I, - And he that doth take her from Allin a Dale - Full dearly he shall her buy. - - 27 - And thus having ended this merry wedding, - The bride lookt as fresh as a queen, - And so they returnd to the merry green wood, - Amongst the leaves so green. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood and Allin of Dale: Or, a pleasant relation how a young - gentleman being in love with a young damsel, which was taken - from him to be an old knight’s bride, and how Robin Hood, - pittying the young mans case, took her from the old knight, when - they were going to be marryed, and restored her to her own true - love again. - - Bold Robin Hood he did the young man right, - And took the damsel from the doteing knight. - - To a pleasant northern tune, or, Robin Hood in the green wood - stood. - - With allowance. Printed for F. Cole, T. Vere, J. Wright and J. - Clarke. (Coles, Vere and Wright, 1655–80, J. Clarke, 1650–82: - _Chappell_.) - - 11^4. Alllin. - - 18^1. wealhty. - - 22^3. marrid. - -#b.# - - _Title, etc., as in_ #a#. - - With allowance. Printed for Alex. Milbourn, in Green-Arbor-Court, - in the Little-Old-Baily. (Alexander Milbourne 1670–97: - _Chappell_.) - - 1^3. tell you. - - 2^3. he was aware. - - 10^2. she was from me tane. - - 16^1. dost thou here. - - 16^2. unto. - - 18^4. like the. - - 19^1. not a fit: qd. - - 25^2. for _wanting_. - - 26^1. then _wanting_. - - 26^3. And _wanting_. - - 27^1. having ende of. - - 27^2. lookt like a. - -#c.# - - Robin Hood and Allen a Dale: Or, the manner of Robin Hood’s - rescuing a young lady from an old knight to whom she was going - to be married, and restoring her to Allen a Dale, her former - love. - - To the tune of Robin Hood in the green wood. - - _No printer._ Sold in Bow-Church-Yard, London. - - 1^3. tell you. - - 2^3. aware. - - 4^3. spy. - - 5^2. quite _for_ clean. - - 6^2. Midge _for_ Nick. - - 9^3. these seven. - - 10^2. she was from me taen. - - 11^2. any _wanting_. - - 13^4. for _wanting_. - - 16^1. do _wanting_: then _for_ he. - - 16^2. unto me. - - 17^1. then _for_ he. - - 18^4. Who shone like the glittering. - - 19^1. not a fit. - - 19^4. she _wanting_. - - 22^3. at the. - - 24^3. Robin he. - - 24^4. This coat. - - 25^1. to _for_ into. - - 25^2. for _wanting_. - - 26^1. me _wanting_: maid, says. - - 27^2. bride she lookd like a. - - - - - 139 - - ROBIN HOOD’S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM - - #a.# Wood, 402, leaf 14 b. #b.# Wood, 401, leaf 37 b. #c.# Garland of - 1663, No 2. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 1. #e.# Pepys, II, 104, No 92. - - -This piece occurs also in the Roxburghe Ballads, III, 270, 845, the -Douce, III, 120, was among Heber’s ballads (a copy by W. Onley), and is -probably in all collections of broadsides. - -#a# or #b# was printed by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 12. A copy in -Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 96, is later, and very like Douce, -III, 120. - -When Robin Hood is but fifteen years of age, he falls in with fifteen -foresters who are drinking together at Nottingham. They hear with scorn -that he intends to take part in a shooting-match. He wagers with them -that he will kill a hart at a hundred rod, and does this. They refuse to -pay, and bid him begone if he would save his sides from a basting. Robin -kills them all with his bow; people come out from Nottingham to take -him, but get very much hurt. Robin goes to the green wood; the townsmen -bury the foresters. - -This is evidently a comparatively late ballad, but has not come down to -us in its oldest form. The story is told to the following effect in the -life of Robin Hood in Sloane MS. 715, 7, fol. 157, written, as it seems, -says Ritson, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Robin Hood, going -into a forest with a bow of extraordinary strength, fell in with some -rangers, or woodmen, who gibed at him for pretending to use a bow such -as no man could shoot with. Robin said that he had two better, and that -the one he had with him was only a “birding-bow”; nevertheless he would -lay his head against a certain sum of money that he would kill a deer -with it at a great distance. When the chance offered, one of the rangers -sought to disconcert him by reminding him that he would lose his head if -he missed his mark. Robin won the wager, and gave every man his money -back except the one who had tried to fluster him. A quarrel followed, -which ended with Robin’s killing them all, and consequently betaking -himself to life in the woods. Thoms, Early Prose Romances, II, Robin -Hood, 37 ff. - -Douce notes in his copy of Ritson’s Robin Hood (Bodleian Library) the -second stanza of this ballad as it is cited in the Duke of Newcastle’s -play, ‘The Varietie’: - - When Robin came to Nottingham, - His dinner all for to dine, - There met him fifteen jolly foresters, - Were drinking ale and wine. - - Gutch’s Robin Hood, II, 123. - - -Translated by A. Grün, p. 61; Doenniges, p. 170. - - - 1 - Robin Hood hee was and a tall young man, - Derry derry down - And fifteen winters old, - And Robin Hood he was a proper young man, - Of courage stout and bold. - Hey down derry derry down - - 2 - Robin Hood he would and to fair Nottingham, - With the general for to dine; - There was he ware of fifteen forresters, - And a drinking bear, ale, and wine. - - 3 - ‘What news? What news?’ said bold Robin Hood; - ‘What news, fain wouldest thou know? - Our king hath provided a shooting-match:’ - ‘And I’m ready with my bow.’ - - 4 - ‘We hold it in scorn,’ then said the forresters, - ‘That ever a boy so young - Should bear a bow before our king, - That’s not able to draw one string.’ - - 5 - ‘I’le hold you twenty marks,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘By the leave of Our Lady, - That I’le hit a mark a hundred rod, - And I’le cause a hart to dye.’ - - 6 - ‘We’l hold you twenty mark,’ then said the forresters, - ‘By the leave of Our Lady, - Thou hitst not the marke a hundred rod, - Nor causest a hart to dye.’ - - 7 - Robin Hood he bent up a noble bow, - And a broad arrow he let flye, - He hit the mark a hundred rod, - And he caused a hart to dy. - - 8 - Some said hee brake ribs one or two, - And some said hee brake three; - The arrow within the hart would not abide, - But it glanced in two or three. - - 9 - The hart did skip, and the hart did leap, - And the hart lay on the ground; - ‘The wager is mine,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘If ’twere for a thousand pound.’ - - 10 - ‘The wager’s none of thine,’ then said the forresters, - ‘Although thou beest in haste; - Take up thy bow, and get thee hence, - Lest wee thy sides do baste.’ - - 11 - Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow, - And his broad arrows all amain, - And Robin Hood he laught, and begun to smile, - As hee went over the plain. - - 12 - Then Robin Hood hee bent his noble bow, - And his broad arrows he let flye, - Till fourteen of these fifteen forresters - Vpon the ground did lye. - - 13 - He that did this quarrel first begin - Went tripping over the plain; - But Robin Hood he bent his noble bow, - And hee fetcht him back again. - - 14 - ‘You said I was no archer,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘But say so now again;’ - With that he sent another arrow - That split his head in twain. - - 15 - ‘You have found mee an archer,’ saith Robin Hood, - ‘Which will make your wives for to wring, - And wish that you had never spoke the word, - That I could not draw one string.’ - - 16 - The people that lived in fair Nottingham - Came runing out amain, - Supposing to have taken bold Robin Hood, - With the forresters that were slain. - - 17 - Some lost legs, and some lost arms, - And some did lose their blood, - But Robin Hood hee took up his noble bow, - And is gone to the merry green wood. - - 18 - They carryed these forresters into fair Nottingham, - As many there did know; - They digd them graves in their church-yard, - And they buried them all a row. - - * * * * * - -#a#, #b#. - - Robin Hoods Progresse to Nottingham, - - Where hee met with fifteen forresters, all on a row, - And hee desired of them some news for to know, - But with crosse graind words they did him thwart, - For which at last hee made them smart. - - To the tune of Bold Robin Hood. - -#a.# - - London, Printed for Fran. Grove. And entred according to order. - (1620–55: _Chappell._) - -#b.# - - London, Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. (1655–80: - _Chappell._) - - _3. Commonly punctuated as if spoken entirely by Robin. There - would certainly be an antecedent probability against three - speeches in one stanza, in an older ballad._ - -#c#, #d#. - - Robin Hoods Progress to Notingham, where he slew fifteen - Forresters. To the tune of Bold Robin Hood. - -#c.# - - 6^3. an. - - 7^3. a mark. - - 15^3. spake. - -#d.# - - 7^3. an hundred. - - 11^3. began. - - 12^3. of the. - - 14^2. say you so. - - 14^3. he another arrnw let fly. - - 18^1. to fair. - -#e.# - - _Title as in #a#, #b#, above, with these variations in the verse_: - - 2, news to. 3, And with. 4, them for to. - - Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–82?) - - 1^1. and _wanting_. - - 2^1. would unto. - - 2^3. aware. - - 4^1. scorn said bold R. Hood. - - 5^3. the mark an. - - 5^4, 7^4. one hart. - - 6^1. marks. - - 6^3. That thou: an. - - 7^3. an. - - 8^2. some say. - - 8^3. in _for_ within. - - 11^2. all _wanting_. - - 11^3. began. - - 14^4. Which split. - - 15^1. said. - - 15^2. for _wanting_. - - 15^3. wish you ne’r had. - - 17^3. R. Hood he bent. - - 18^3. yards. - - 18^4. all on a row. - - - - - 140 - - ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES - - #A.# Percy MS., p. 5; Hales and Furnivall, I, 13; Jamieson’s Popular - Ballads, II, 49. - - #B. a.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Widow’s Three Sons from the Sheriff, - when going to be executed,’ The English Archer, York, N. Nickson, n. - d. #b.# The English Archer, Paisley, John Neilson, 1786. #c.# - Adventures of ... Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808. All in the - Bodleian Library, Douce, F.F. 71. - - #C.# ‘Robin Hood rescuing the Three Squires from Nottingham Gallows.’ - #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, Printed by W. & C. Dicey, n. d. - #b.# R. H.’s Garland, London, L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #c.# - R. H.’s Garland, York, T. Wilson and R. Spence, n. d. #d.# R. H.’s - Garland, Preston, W. Sergent, n. d. #e.# R. H.’s Garland, London, J. - Marshall & Co., n. d. #f.# R. H.’s Garland, Wolverhampton, J. Smart, - n. d. #a-d#, Douce, FF. 71, #f#, Douce, Add. 262, Bodleian Library. - - -#B# is given by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 151, “from the York -edition of Robin Hood’s garland;” #C#, the same, II, 216, from an -Aldermary Churchyard garland, and by Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, -215. - -#B.# Robin Hood, while on his way to Nottingham, meets an old woman who -is weeping for three squires condemned to die that day, not for -recognized crimes, but for killing the king’s deer. These seem to be his -own men: st. 6. Pursuing his way, he meets an old “palmer,” really a -beggar, who confirms the bad news. He changes clothes with the palmer -(who at first thinks the proposal a mock), and at Nottingham comes upon -the sheriff, and asks what he will give an old fellow to be his hangman. -The sheriff offers suits and pence; Robin says, hangmen be cursed, he -will never take to that business. He has a horn in his pocket which -would blow the sheriff little good; the sheriff bids him blow his fill. -The first blast brings a hundred and fifty of Robin’s men; the second -brings three score more. They free their own men and hang the sheriff. - -In #C# the three squires are expressly said to be the woman’s sons;[114] -for the palmer we have a beggar; Robin asks it as a boon that he may be -hangman, and will have nothing for his service but three blasts on his -horn, ‘that their souls to heaven may flee.’ The horn brings a hundred -and ten men, and the sheriff surrenders the three squires. - -In the fragment #A#, Robin changes clothes with an old man, who appears -by stanza 11 to be a beggar. His men are with him meanwhile, and he -orders them to conceal themselves in a wood until they hear his horn. A -blast brings three hundred of them; Robin casts off his beggar’s gear -and stands in his red velvet doublet;[115] his men bend their bows and -beset the gallows. The sheriff throws up his hands and begs for terms; -Robin demands the three squires. The sheriff objects, for they are the -king’s felons; Robin will have them, or the sheriff shall be the first -man to flower the tree. - -‘Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ No 133, from stanza 16, is another version -of this ballad. Robin changes clothes with a beggar, after a hard fight -in which he has had the worse, goes to Nottingham, and hears that three -brothers are condemned to die. He hies to the sheriff to plead for them; -a gentleman at the door tells him they must be hanged for deer-stealing -clearly proved. At the gallows Robin blows his horn; a hundred archers -present themselves, and ask his will. He commands them to shoot east and -west and spare no man. The sheriff and his men, all that are not laid -low, fly, and the three brothers, who have already shown their quality, -are added to Robin’s company. - -A Scottish version of #B#, derived from the English, is given in an -appendix. It occurs in Kinloch MSS, V, 288, and may be as old as the -York garland used by Ritson, or older. - -Ritson was informed by his friend Edward Williams, the Welsh bard, that -#C# and its tune were well known in South Wales by the name of Marchog -Glas, or Green Knight. As to the tune, says Dr Rimbault, it is not to be -found in the collections of Welsh airs, nor was _his_ friend John Parry, -then representing the Welsh bards, able to give any account of it. -Nothing further is said by Rimbault, either way, of the ballad. - -#B# 6, in which Robin reminds the old woman that she had once given him -to sup and dine, implicitly as a reason for his exerting himself in -behalf of the three squires (who, according to the title of the ballad, -but not the text, are her three sons), looks like a reminiscence of st. -9 of R. H. and the Bishop, No 143, where an old woman shows her -gratitude to Robin Hood for having given her shoes and hose, and may not -originally have belonged here.[C] - -#B# 1, #A# 9^{1,2}, 11^{3,4}, #B# 25, 28^{1,2} are almost repetitions of -Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar, #A# 1, #A# 4^{3,4}, 12^{3,4}, #B# 26, -28^{1,2}.[116] - -The rescue in the ballad is introduced into Anthony Munday’s play of The -Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, Act II, Scene 2. Scarlet and -Scathlock, sons of Widow Scarlet, are to be hanged. Friar Tuck attends -them as confessor. Robin Hood, disguised as an old man, pretends that -they have killed his son, and asks the sheriff that they may be -delivered to him for revenge. The sheriff allows them to be unbound. -Robin, for a feigned reason, blows his horn; Little John and Much come -in and begin a fight; Friar Tuck, pretending to help the sheriff, knocks -down his men; the sheriff and his men run away. (Dodsley’s Old Plays, -ed. Hazlitt, VIII, 134–41.) - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1832, II, 155, suggests that the circumstance of -Robin’s changing clothes with the palmer may possibly be taken from “the -noble history of Ponthus of Galyce,” printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1511, -and cites this passage, which resembles the narrative in #B# 8, 10, 11: -“And as he [Ponthus] rode, he met with a poore palmer, beggynge his -brede, the whiche had his gowne all to-clouted and an olde pylled hatte: -so he alyght, and sayd to the palmer, frende, we shall make a chaunge of -all our garmentes, for ye shall have my gowne and I shall have yours and -your hatte. A, syr, sayd the palmer, ye bourde you with me. In good -fayth, sayd Ponthus, I do not; so he dyspoyled hym and cladde hym with -all his rayment, and he put vpon hym the poore mannes gowne, his -gyrdell, his hosyn, his shone, his hatte and his bourden.” - -This noble history is taken from one in French which is merely the -romance of Horn turned into prose, and it is also possible that the -passage in the English ballad may be derived from some version of Hind -Horn: see No 17. - -Wallace changes clothes with a beggar in ‘Gude Wallace,’ No 157, #F#, -#G#, where there is a general likeness to this ballad of Robin Hood. It -may be noted that Wulric the Heron, one of the comrades of Hereward, -rescues four brothers who were about to be hanged, killing some of their -common enemies: Michel, Chroniques Anglo-Normandes, II, 51. - - -#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 135, Doenniges, p. 135, Knortz -L. u. R. Altenglands, No 19; combined with #C#, by Talvj, -Charakteristik, p. 489. - - - A - - * * * * * - - 1 - ‘. . . . . . . - In faith thou shal[t] haue mine, - And twenty pound in thy purse, - To spend att ale and wine.’ - - 2 - ‘Though yo_u_r clothes are of light Lincolne green, - And mine gray russett and torne, - Yet it doth not you beseeme - To doe an old man scorne.’ - - 3 - ‘I scorne thee not, old man,’ says Robin, - ‘By the faith of my body; - Doe of thy clothes, thou shalt haue mine, - For it may noe better bee.’ - - 4 - But Robin did on this old mans hose, - The were torne in the wrist; - ‘When I looke on my leggs,’ said Robin, - ‘Then for to laugh I list.’ - - 5 - But Robin did on the old mans shooes, - And the were cliitt full cleane; - ‘Now, by my faith,’ sayes Litle Iohn, - ‘These are good for thornës keene.’ - - 6 - But Robin did on the old mans cloake, - And it was torne in the necke; - ‘Now, by my faith,’ said William Scarlett, - ‘Heere shold be set a specke.’ - - 7 - But Robin did on this old mans hood, - Itt gogled on his crowne; - ‘When I come into Nottingham,’ said Robin, - ‘My hood it will lightly downe. - - 8 - ‘But yonder is an outwood,’ said Robin, - ‘An outwood all and a shade, - And thither I reede you, my merrymen all, - The ready way to take. - - 9 - ‘And when you heare my litle horne blow, - Come raking all on a rowte - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 10 - But Robin he lope, and Robin he threw, - He lope over stocke and stone; - But those that saw Ro_bin_ Hood run - Said he was a liuer old man. - - 11 - [Then Robin set his] horne to his mowth, - A loud blast cold h[e] blow; - Ffull three hundred bold yeomen - Came rakinge all on a row. - - 12 - But Robin cast downe his baggs of bread, - Soe did he his staffe with a face, - And in a doublet of red veluett - This yeoman stood in his place. - - 13 - ‘But bend yo_u_r bowes, and stroke yo_u_r strings, - Set the gallow-tree aboute, - And Christs cursse on his heart,’ said Robin, - ‘That spares the sheriffe and the sergiant!’ - - 14 - When the sheriffe see gentle Robin wold shoote, - He held vp both his hands; - Sayes, Aske, good Robin, and thou shalt haue, - Whether it be house or land. - - 15 - ‘I will neither haue house nor land,’ said Ro_bin_, - ‘Nor gold, nor none of thy ffee, - But I will haue those three squires - To the greene fforest w_i_th me. - - 16 - ‘Now marry, Gods forbott,’ said the sheriffe, - ‘That euer _tha_t shold bee; - For why, they be the kings ffelons, - They are all condemned to dye.’ - - 17 - ‘But grant me my askinge,’ said Robin, - ‘Or by the faith of my body - Thou shalt be the first man - Shall flower this gallow-tree.’ - - 18 - ‘But I wi[ll haue t]hose three squires - . . . . . . . - - - B - - #a.# The English Archer, Robin Hood’s Garland, York, N. Nickson, n. - d., p. 65. #b.# The English Archer, etc., Paisley, John Neilson, - 1786. #c.# Adventures of Robin Hood, Falkirk, T. Johnston, 1808. - - 1 - There are twelve months in all the year, - As I hear many men say, - But the merriest month in all the year - Is the merry month of May. - - 2 - Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, - With a link a down and a day, - And there he met a silly old woman, - Was weeping on the way. - - 3 - ‘What news? what news, thou silly old woman? - What news hast thou for me?’ - Said she, There’s three squires in Nottingham town - To-day is condemned to die. - - 4 - ‘O have they parishes burnt?’ he said, - ‘Or have they ministers slain? - Or have they robbed any virgin, - Or with other men’s wives have lain?’ - - 5 - ‘They have no parishes burnt, good sir, - Nor yet have ministers slain, - Nor have they robbed any virgin, - Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’ - - 6 - ‘O what have they done?’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘I pray thee tell to me:’ - ‘It’s for slaying of the king’s fallow deer, - Bearing their long bows with thee.’ - - 7 - ‘Dost thou not mind, old woman,’ he said, - ‘Since thou made me sup and dine? - By the truth of my body,’ quoth bold Robin Hood, - ‘You could not tell it in better time.’ - - 8 - Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, - With a link a down and a day, - And there he met with a silly old palmer, - Was walking along the highway. - - 9 - ‘What news? what news, thou silly old man? - What news, I do thee pray?’ - Said he, Three squires in Nottingham town - Are condemnd to die this day. - - 10 - ‘Come change thy apparel with me, old man, - Come change thy apparel for mine; - Here is forty shillings in good silver, - Go drink it in beer or wine.’ - - 11 - ‘O thine apparel is good,’ he said, - ‘And mine is ragged and torn; - Whereever you go, wherever you ride, - Laugh neer an old man to scorn.’ - - 12 - ‘Come change thy apparel with me, old churl, - Come change thy apparel with mine; - Here are twenty pieces of good broad gold, - Go feast thy brethren with wine.’ - - 13 - Then he put on the old man’s hat, - It stood full high on the crown: - ‘The first bold bargain that I come at, - It shall make thee come down.’ - - 14 - Then he put on the old man’s cloak, - Was patchd black, blew, and red; - He thought no shame all the day long - To wear the bags of bread. - - 15 - Then he put on the old man’s breeks, - Was patchd from ballup to side; - ‘By the truth of my body,’ bold Robin can say, - ‘This man lovd little pride.’ - - 16 - Then he put on the old man’s hose, - Were patchd from knee to wrist; - ‘By the truth of my body,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘I’d laugh if I had any list.’ - - 17 - Then he put on the old man’s shoes, - Were patchd both beneath and aboon; - Then Robin Hood swore a solemn oath, - It’s good habit that makes a man. - - 18 - Now Robin Hood is to Nottingham gone, - With a link a down and a down, - And there he met with the proud sheriff, - Was walking along the town. - - 19 - ‘O save, O save, O sheriff,’ he said, - ‘O save, and you may see! - And what will you give to a silly old man - To-day will your hangman be?’ - - 20 - ‘Some suits, some suits,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘Some suits I’ll give to thee; - Some suits, some suits, and pence thirteen - To-day’s a hangman’s fee.’ - - 21 - Then Robin he turns him round about, - And jumps from stock to stone; - ‘By the truth of my body,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘That’s well jumpt, thou nimble old man.’ - - 22 - ‘I was neer a hangman in all my life, - Nor yet intends to trade; - But curst be he,’ said bold Robin, - ‘That first a hangman was made. - - 23 - ‘I’ve a bag for meal, and a bag for malt, - And a bag for barley and corn; - A bag for bread, and a bag for beef, - And a bag for my little small horn. - - 24 - ‘I have a horn in my pocket, - I got it from Robin Hood, - And still when I set it to my mouth, - For thee it blows little good.’ - - 25 - ‘O wind thy horn, thou proud fellow, - Of thee I have no doubt; - I wish that thou give such a blast - Till both thy eyes fall out.’ - - 26 - The first loud blast that he did blow, - He blew both loud and shrill; - A hundred and fifty of Robin Hood’s men - Came riding over the hill. - - 27 - The next loud blast that he did give, - He blew both loud and amain, - And quickly sixty of Robin Hood’s men - Came shining over the plain. - - 28 - ‘O who are yon,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘Come tripping over the lee?’ - ‘The’re my attendants,’ brave Robin did say, - ‘They’ll pay a visit to thee.’ - - 29 - They took the gallows from the slack, - They set it in the glen, - They hangd the proud sheriff on that, - Releasd their own three men. - - - C - - Robin Hood’s Garland. #a.# London, printed by W. & C. Dicey, in St. - Mary Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, Cheapside, and sold at the - Warehouse at Northampton, n. d.: p. 74, No 24. #b.# London, printed - by L. How, in Peticoat Lane, n. d.: p. 23. #c.# York, T. Wilson and - R. Spence, n. d.: p. 27. #d.# Preston, W. Sergent, n. d.: p. 62. - #e.# London, printed and sold by J. Marshall & Co., Aldermary Church - Yard, Bow Lane, n. d.: No 24. #f.# Wolverhampton, printed and sold - by J. Smart, n. d. - - 1 - Bold Robin Hood ranging the forest all round, - The forest all round ranged he; - O there did he meet with a gay lady, - She came weeping along the highway. - - 2 - ‘Why weep you, why weep you?’ bold Robin he said, - ‘What, weep you for gold or fee? - Or do you weep for your maidenhead, - That is taken from your body?’ - - 3 - ‘I weep not for gold,’ the lady replyed, - ‘Neither do I weep for fee; - Nor do I weep for my maidenhead, - That is taken from my body.’ - - 4 - ‘What weep you for then?’ said jolly Robin, - ‘I prithee come tell unto me;’ - ‘Oh! I do weep for my three sons, - For they are all condemned to die.’ - - 5 - ‘What church have they robbed?’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Or parish-priest have they slain? - What maids have they forced against their will? - Or with other men’s wives have lain?’ - - 6 - ‘No church have they robbd,’ this lady replied, - ‘Nor parish-priest have they slain; - No maids have they forc’d against their will, - Nor with other men’s wives have lain.’ - - 7 - ‘What have they done then?’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Come tell me most speedily:’ - ‘Oh! it is for killing the king’s fallow deer, - And they are all condemned to die.’ - - 8 - ‘Get you home, get you home,’ said jolly Robin, - ‘Get you home most speedily, - And I will unto fair Nottingham go, - For the sake of the squires all three.’ - - 9 - Then bold Robin Hood for Nottingham goes, - For Nottingham town goes he, - O there did he meet with a poor beggar-man, - He came creeping along the highway. - - 10 - ‘What news, what news, thou old beggar-man? - What news, come tell unto me:’ - ‘O there is weeping and wailing in fair Nottingham, - For the death of the squires all three.’ - - 11 - This beggar-man had a coat on his back, - ’Twas neither green, yellow, nor red; - Bold Robin Hood thought ’twas no disgrace - To be in a beggar-man’s stead. - - 12 - ‘Come, pull off thy coat, you old beggar-man, - And you shall put on mine; - And forty good shillings I’ll give thee to boot, - Besides brandy, good beer, ale and wine.’ - - 13 - Bold Robin Hood then unto Nottingham came, - Unto Nottingham town came he; - O there did he meet with great master sheriff, - And likewise the squires all three. - - 14 - ‘One boon, one boon,’ says jolly Robin, - ‘One boon I beg on my knee; - That, as for the deaths of these three squires, - Their hangman I may be.’ - - 15 - ‘Soon granted, soon granted,’ says great master sheriff, - ‘Soon granted unto thee; - And you shall have all their gay cloathing, - Aye, and all their white money.’ - - 16 - ‘O I will have none of their gay cloathing, - Nor none of their white money, - But I’ll have three blasts on my bugle-horn, - That their souls to heaven may flee.’ - - 17 - Then Robin Hood mounted the gallows so high, - Where he blew loud and shrill, - Till an hundred and ten of Robin Hood’s men - They came marching all down the green hill. - - 18 - ‘Whose men are they all these?’ says great master sheriff, - ‘Whose men are they? tell unto me:’ - ‘O they are mine, but none of thine, - And they’re come for the squires all three.’ - - 19 - ‘O take them, O take them,’ says great master sheriff, - ‘O take them along with thee; - For there’s never a man in all Nottingham - Can do the like of thee.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - 1^3. 20[l :]. - - 5^2. _Only one of the_ i’s _is dotted in_ cliit: _Furnivall_. - - 6^3. said w^m. - - 9^2. _half a page wanting._ - - 10 _follows_ 12. - - 11^3. 300[d :]. - - 15^3, 18^1. 3. - - 17^2. or be me. - - 18^1. _half a page wanting._ - -#B. a.# - - 3^3. Knews. - - 4^1, 6^1, 11^1, 19^{1,2}, 25^1, 28^1. Oh. - - 8^2. and a down a. - - 12^1. chur. - - 15^1. Teen. - - 16^2. Where. - - 17^4. Itts. - - 24^4. For me. - - 28^1. are you. - -#b.# - - Robin Hood rescu’d the Widow’s three Sons from the Sheriff when - going to be hanged. - -#c.# - - How Robin Hood rescued, etc., ... to be hanged. - -#b#, #c#. - - 2^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 2^2. a down down. - - 2^3. met with. - - 2^4. along the highway. - - 3^2. to me. - - 3^4. To-day are. - - 5^2. Nor have they. - - 6^3. ’Tis for. - - 7^3. quoth _wanting_. - - 8^1. Robin he is. - - 8^2. a down down and a day. - - 8^3. old _wanting_. - - 9^1. silly palmer. - - 10^2. with _for_ for. - - 10^3. of _for_ in. - - 10^4. beer and good wine. - - 12^1. churl. - - 14^3. not _for_ no. - - 14^4. the poor bags. - - 15^1. Then. - - 15^2. Were _for_ Was. - - 15^3. did say. - - 16^2, 17^2. Were _wanting_. - - 17^2. both _wanting_. - - 17^4. ’Tis. - - 18^1. Robin is unto. - - 18^2. a down down and a day. - - 18^4. the highway. - - 19^2. you may you [may you?]. - - 19^4. That to-day. - - 20^4. day is. - - 21^2. stone to stone. - - 22^1. never: in _wanting_. - - 23^2. And _wanting_. - - 24^1. a small horn now in. - - 24^2. it _wanting_. - - 24^4. For thee. - - 25^4. fly out. - - 26^3. An: Robin’s men. - - 27^3. Robin’s men. - - 28^1. are you. - - 28^2. Comes. - - 28^3. bold Robin. - - 29^4. And released. - -#b.# - - 18^3. with _wanting_. - - 20^2. unto thee. - - 20^3. pence fourteen. - -#c.# - - 6^2. unto me. - - 7^2. mad’st. - - 15^1. poor _for_ old. - - 20^1. suits and pence fourteen. - - 20^{2,3}. _wanting._ - - 21^1. turnd. - - 21^2. jumpd. - - 22^2. the trade. - - 24^3. I put. - - 25^3. gave. - - 29^2. let _for_ set. - -#C.# #a.# - - _The Garland is not earlier, and probably not much later, than - 1753_, “The Arguments ... in the ... affair of Eliz. Canning ... - robbed ... in Jan^y, 1753,” _occurring in advertisements printed - therewith_. - - 16^1. of ther. - -#b.# - - 5^4. have they. - - 6^4. have they. - - 11^4. in the. - - 12^4. beside. - - 16^3. buglee. - - 17^2. blew both. - - 18^3. are all. - - 19^4. That can. - -#c.# - - 1^1. ranged. - - 3^1. this lady. - - 4^4. all _wanting_. - - 5^4. have they. - - 6^3. they have. - - 6^4. have they. - - 7^3. it’s all. - - 7^4. they’re. - - 8^3. will then to. - - 9^1. bold _wanting_: to _for_ for. - - 11^2. It was. - - 11^2. or red. - - 11^3. it was. - - 11^4. in the. - - 12^1. thou old. - - 12^3. give you. - - 13^1. then to. - - 13^3. And there. - - 13^4. Aye and. - - 14^2. upon my. - - 14^3. the three. - - 15^1. great _wanting_. - - 15^2. Soon grant it I will unto thee. - - 15^4. Aye _wanting_. - - 16^1. I’ll. - - 16^3. of my. - - 17^2. blew both. - - 17^4. They _wanting_. - - 18^3. are all. - - 19^4. That can. - -#d.# - - 1^3. he did. - - 3^2. I _wanting_. - - 6^2. No. - - 7^2. Come tell unto me speedily. - - 8^3. will for. - - 10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_. - - 11^4. in the. - - 12^1. thou old. - - 12^2. thou shalt. - - 15^1. great _wanting_. - - 17^1. When. - - 17^3. Hood’s _wanting_. - - 17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_. - - 18^1. all _wanting_: great _wanting_. - - 18^4. And are. - - 19^3. in fair. - -#e.# - - 5^4. have they. - - 6^4. have they. - - 10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_. - - 11^4. in the. - - 12^1. thou old. - - 12^2. thou shalt. - - 14^3. death. - - 15^1. great _wanting_. - - 17^1. When. - - 17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_. - - 18^1. are they: great _wanting_. - - 18^2. come tell. - - 18^4. And are. - - 19^3. in fair. - -#f.# - - 5^4. have they. - - 6^4. have they. - - 7^4. they’re. - - 10^3. there’s: fair _wanting_. - - 11^4. in the. - - 12^1. thou old. - - 12^2. thou shalt. - - 14^3. death. - - 15^1. great _wanting_. - - 17^1. When. - - 17^4. They _wanting_: all _wanting_. - - 18^1. are they: great _wanting_. - - 18^2. come tell. - - 18^4. And are come. - - 19^3. in fair. - - - APPENDIX - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHERIFF - - Kinloch MSS, V, 288, in Kinloch’s handwriting. - - - 1 - Robin Hood’s to Nottinghame gane, - Wi a linkie down and a day, - And there he met wi an auld woman, - Coming weeping alang the highway. - - 2 - ‘Weep ye for any of my gold, auld woman? - Or weep ye for my fee? - Or weep ye for any warld’s gear - This day I can grant to thee?’ - - 3 - ‘I weep not for your gold, kind sir, - I weep not for your fee; - But I weep for my three braw sons, - This day condemned to die.’ - - 4 - ‘O have they parishes burned?’ he said, - ‘Or have they ministers slain? - Or have they forced maidens against their will? - Or wi other men’s wives hae they lain?’ - - 5 - ‘They have not parishes burned, kind sir, - They have not ministers slain; - They neer forced a maid against her will, - Nor wi no man’s wife hae they lain.’ - - 6 - ‘O what hae they done then?’ quo Robin Hood, - ‘I pray thee tell unto me:’ - ‘O they killed the king’s fallow deer, - And this day are condemned to die.’ - - 7 - ‘O have you mind, old mother,’ he said, - ‘Since you made my merry men to dine? - And for to repay it back unto thee - Is come in a very good time.’ - - 8 - Sae Robin Hood’s to Nottinghame gane, - With a linkie down and a day, - And there he met an old beggar man, - Coming creeping along the high way. - - 9 - ‘What news, what news, old father?’ he said, - ‘What news hast thou for me?’ - ‘There’s three merry men,’ quo the poor auld man, - ‘This day condemned to die.’ - - 10 - ‘Will you change your apparel wi me, old father? - Will you change your apparel for mine? - And twenty broad shillings I’ll gie ye to the boot, - To drink gude beer or wine.’ - - 11 - ‘Thine is of the scarlet fine, - And mine is baith ragged and torn; - Sae never let a young supple youth - Laugh a gude auld man to scorn.’ - - 12 - ‘Change your apparel wi me, old churl, - And quickly change it for mine, - And thirty broad shillings I’ll gie to the boot, - To drink gude beer or wine.’ - - 13 - When Robin put on the auld man’s hat, - It was weary high in the crown; - ‘By the hand of my body,’ quo Robin Hood, - ‘I am lang whan I loot down.’ - - 14 - Whan Robin put on the auld man’s cloak, - There was mony a pock therein; - A pock for meal, and a pock for maut, - And a pock for groats and corn, - And a little wee pockie that hung by his side - That he put in his bugle-horn. - - 15 - Sae Robin Hood’s [to] Nottinghame gane, - Wi a linkie down and a day, - And there he met wi the high sheriff, - Coming riding alang the high way. - - 16 - ‘O save you, O save you, high sheriff,’ he said, - ‘And weel saved mote you be! - And what will you gie to the silly auld man - Your hangman for to be?’ - - 17 - ‘Thirteen pence,’ the sheriff replied, - ‘That is the hangman’s fee, - But an the claiths of the three young men - This day condemned to die.’ - - 18 - ‘I never hanged a man in a’ my life, - And intend not to begin; - But ever I hang a man in my life, - High sheriff, thou’s be the ane. - - 19 - ‘But I have a horn in my pocket, - I gat it frae Robin Hood, - And gif I tak out my little horn, - For thee it will no blaw gude.’ - - 20 - ‘Blaw, blaw, bauld beggar,’ he said, - ‘Blaw, and fear nae doubt; - I wish you may gie sic a blast - Till your eyne loup out.’ - - 21 - Then Robin he gave a skip, - And he skipped frae a stick till a stane; - ‘By the hand of my body,’ quo the high sheriff, - ‘You are a supple auld man.’ - - 22 - Then Robin set his horn to his mouth, - And he blew baith loud and shrill, - Till sixty-four of bold Robin’s men - Cam marching down the green hill. - - 23 - ‘What men are these,’ quo the high sheriff, - ‘That comes sae merrily?’ - ‘They are my men,’ quo Robin Hood, - ‘And they’ll pay a visit to thee.’ - - 24 - They tack the gallows out of the glen, - And they set it in a slap; - They hanged the sheriff upon it, - And his best men at his back. - - 25 - They took the gallows out o the slap, - And they set [it] back in the glen, - And they hanged the sheriff upon it, - Let the three young men gae hame. - - - - - 141 - - ROBIN HOOD RESCUING WILL STUTLY - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 35 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 7. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 6. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 106, No 93. - - -This ballad probably occurs in all the larger collections of broadsides. -It was given in Old Ballads, 1723, I, 90. #a# is printed by Ritson, -Robin Hood, 1795, II, 102. Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 164, -follows an Aldermary copy. - -Robin Hood learns that Will Stutly has been captured and is to be hanged -the next day. Robin and his men go to the rescue, and ask information of -a palmer who is standing under the wall of the castle in which Stutly is -confined; the palmer confirms the news. Stutly is brought out by the -sheriff, of whom he asks to have a sword and die in fight, not on the -tree. This refused, he asks only to have his hands loosed. The sheriff -again refuses; he shall die on the gallows. Little John comes out from -behind a bush, cuts Stutly’s bonds, and gives him a sword twitched by -John from one of the sheriff’s men. An arrow shot by Robin Hood puts the -sheriff to flight, and his men follow. Stutly rejoices that he may go -back to the woods. - -This is a ballad made for print, with little of the traditional in the -matter and nothing in the style. It may be considered as an imitation of -The Rescue of the Three Squires, whence the ambush in st. 9 and the -palmer ‘fair’ in 10. - - - 1 - When Robin Hood in the green-wood livd, - Derry derry down - Vnder the green-wood tree, - Tidings there came to him with speed, - Tidings for certainty, - Hey down derry derry down - - 2 - That Will Stutly surprized was, - And eke in prison lay; - Three varlets that the sheriff had hired - Did likely him betray. - - 3 - I, and to-morrow hanged must be, - To-morrow as soon as it is day; - But before they could this victory get, - Two of them did Stutly slay. - - 4 - When Robin Hood he heard this news, - Lord! he was grieved sore, - I, and unto his merry men [said], - Who altogether swore, - - 5 - That Will Stutly should rescued be, - And be brought safe again; - Or else should many a gallant wight - For his sake there be slain. - - 6 - He cloathed himself in scarlet then, - His men were all in green; - A finer show, throughout the world, - In no place could be seen. - - 7 - Good lord! it was a gallant sight - To see them all on a row; - With every man a good broad sword, - And eke a good yew bow. - - 8 - Forth of the green wood are they gone, - Yea, all couragiously, - Resolving to bring Stutly home, - Or every man to die. - - 9 - And when they came the castle neer - Whereas Will Stutly lay, - ‘I hold it good,’ saith Robin Hood, - ‘Wee here in ambush stay, - - 10 - ‘And send one forth some news to hear, - To yonder palmer fair, - That stands under the castle-wall; - Some news he may declare.’ - - 11 - With that steps forth a brave young man, - Which was of courage bold; - Thus hee did say to the old man: - I pray thee, palmer old, - - 12 - Tell me, if that thou rightly ken, - When must Will Stutly die, - Who is one of bold Robins men, - And here doth prisoner lie? - - 13 - ‘Alack, alass,’ the palmer said, - ‘And for ever wo is me! - Will Stutly hanged must be this day, - On yonder gallows-tree. - - 14 - ‘O had his noble master known, - Hee would some succour send; - A few of his bold yeomandree - Full soon would fetch him hence.’ - - 15 - ‘I, that is true,’ the young man said; - ‘I, that is true,’ said hee; - ‘Or, if they were neer to this place, - They soon would set him free. - - 16 - ‘But fare thou well, thou good old man, - Farewell, and thanks to thee; - If Stutly hanged be this day, - Revengd his death will be.’ - - 17 - He was no sooner from the palmer gone, - But the gates was opened wide, - And out of the castle Will Stutly came, - Guarded on every side. - - 18 - When hee was forth from the castle come, - And saw no help was nigh, - Thus he did say unto the sheriff, - Thus he said gallantly: - - 19 - Now seeing that I needs must die, - Grant me one boon, says he; - For my noble master nere had man - That yet was hangd on the tree. - - 20 - Give me a sword all in my hand, - And let mee be unbound, - And with thee and thy men I’le fight, - Vntill I lie dead on the ground. - - 21 - But his desire he would not grant, - His wishes were in vain; - For the sheriff had sworn he hanged should be, - And not by the sword be slain. - - 22 - ‘Do but unbind my hands,’ he saies, - ‘I will no weapons crave, - And if I hanged be this day, - Damnation let me have.’ - - 23 - ‘O no, O no,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘Thou shalt on the gallows die, - I, and so shall thy master too, - If ever in me it lie.’ - - 24 - ‘O dastard coward!’ Stutly cries, - ‘Thou faint-heart pesant slave! - If ever my master do thee meet, - Thou shalt thy paiment have. - - 25 - ‘My noble master thee doth scorn, - And all thy cowardly crew; - Such silly imps unable are - Bold Robin to subdue.’ - - 26 - But when he was to the gallows come, - And ready to bid adiew, - Out of a bush leaps Little John, - And steps Will Stutly to. - - 27 - ‘I pray thee, Will, before thou die, - Of thy dear friends take leave; - I needs must borrow him a while, - How say you, master sheriff?’ - - 28 - ‘Now, as I live,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘That varlet will I know; - Some sturdy rebell is that same, - Therefore let him not go.’ - - 29 - With that Little John so hastily - Away cut Stutly’s bands, - And from one of the sheriff his men, - A sword twicht from his hands. - - 30 - ‘Here, Will, here, take thou this same, - Thou canst it better sway; - And here defend thy self a while, - For aid will come straight way.’ - - 31 - And there they turnd them back to back, - In the middle of them that day, - Till Robin Hood approached neer, - With many an archer gay. - - 32 - With that an arrow by them flew, - I wist from Robin Hood; - ‘Make haste, make haste,’ the sheriff he said, - ‘Make haste, for it is good.’ - - 33 - The sheriff is gone; his doughty men - Thought it no boot to stay, - But, as their master had them taught - They run full fast away. - - 34 - ‘O stay, O stay,’ Will Stutly said, - ‘Take leave ere you depart; - You nere will catch bold Robin Hood - Vnless you dare him meet.’ - - 35 - ‘O ill betide you,’ quoth Robin Hood, - ‘That you so soon are gone; - My sword may in the scabbord rest, - For here our work is done.’ - - 36 - ‘I little thought when I came here, - When I came to this place, - For to have met with Little John, - Or seen my masters face.’ - - 37 - Thus Stutly was at liberty set, - And safe brought from his foe; - ‘O thanks, O thanks to my master, - Since here it was not so.’ - - 38 - ‘And once again, my fellows, - We shall in the green woods meet, - Where we will make our bow-strings twang, - Musick for us most sweet.’ - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood his rescuing Will Stutly from the sheriff and his men, - who had taken him prisoner, and was going to hang him. - - To the tune of Robin Hood and Queen Katherine. - - London, Printed for F. Grove, on Snow-hill. Entred according to - order. (1620–55: _Chappell_.) - - 25^1. thou dost. - - 26^4. too. - - 29^2. Stutli’s. - - 33^1. doubtless. - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_ rescuing of: were going. - - 4^3. said _wanting_. - - 6^3. in all the. - - 11^1. steps out. - - 13^1. Alas, alas. - - 13^4. yonders gallow. - - 14^2. would soon. - - 16^4. shall be. - - 19^4. the _wanting_. - - 25^1. thou dost. - - 26^4. too. - - 28^1. he _wanting_. - - 33^1. doubtless. - -#c.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_ were going. - - 1^4. Tiding for certainly. - - 3^4. stay. - - 4^3. men said. - - 13^1. Alass, alass. - - 17^2. was _wanting_. - - 24^2. hearted. - - 25^1. thee dost. - - 26^4. too. - - 29^2. Stutli’s. - - 33^1. doubtless. - - 36^2. came hereto, - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #a#. - - Printed for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. (1670–86?) - - 1^1. livd _wanting_. - - 3^2. as ’tis. - - 4^3. and to: men said. - - 5^2. brought back. - - 8^1. they are. - - 9^3. said. - - 13^1. Alas, alas. - - 13^3. to day. - - 14^3. yeomanry. - - 17^2. gates were. - - 19^2. said. - - 19^4. the _wanting_. - - 21^1. But this. - - 21^3. swore. - - 24^2. hearted. - - 25^1. thee doth. - - 26^1. gone _for_ come. - - 28^1. he _wanting_. - - 29^1. And Little. - - 29^3. sheriffs. - - 33^1. doubtless. - - 35^1. said _for_ quoth. - - 36^2. came here. - - - - - 142 - - LITTLE JOHN A BEGGING - - #A.# Percy MS., p. 20; Hales and Furnivall, I, 47. - - #B.# ‘Little John and the Four Beggers.’ #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 33 b. - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 16. #c.# Garland of 1670, No 15. #d.# - Pepys, II, 119, No 105. - - -#B# is also in the Roxburghe collection, III, 10. - -#B a# is printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 128. Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 196 follows the Aldermary garland. - -#A.# Little John, meaning to go a begging, induces an old mendicant to -change clothes with him and to give him some hints how to conduct -himself. Thus prepared he attempts to attach himself to three palmers, -who, however, do not covet his company. One of the palmers gives John a -whack on the head. We may conjecture, from the course of the story in -#B#, that John serves them all accordingly, and takes from them so much -money that, if he had kept on in this way, he might, as he says, have -bought churches. - -The beginning of #A# is very like that of Robin Hood rescuing Three -Squires, #A#; but the disguise is for a different object. We are -reminded again of Hind Horn, and particularly of versions #C#, #G#, #H#, -in which the beggar, after change of clothes, is asked for instructions. - -#B.# John is deputed by Robin to go a begging, and asks to be provided -with staff, coat, and bags. He joins four sham beggars, one of whom -takes him a knock on the crown. John makes the dumb to speak and the -halt to run, and bangs them against the wall, then gets from one’s cloak -three hundred pound, and from another’s bag three hundred and three, -which he thinks is doing well enough to warrant his return to Sherwood. - - -#B# is translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 155. - - - A - -Percy MS., p. 20; Hales and Furnivall, I, 47. - - * * * * * - - 1 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - . . . . beggar,’ he sayes, - ‘W_i_th none such fellows as thee.’ - - 2 - ‘I am not in iest,’ said Litle Iohn, - ‘I sweare all by the roode; - Change w_i_th mee,’ said Little Iohn, - ‘And I will giue thee some boote.’ - - 3 - But he has gotten on this old mans gowne, - It reacht not to his wrist; - ‘Christ’s curse on’s hart,’ said Litle Iohn, - ‘That thinkes my gowne amisse.’ - - 4 - But he has gotten on this old mans shoes, - Are clouted nine fold about; - ‘Beshrew his hart,’ says Litle Iohn, - ‘That bryer or thorne does doubt. - - 5 - ‘Wilt teach me some phrase of thy begging?’ says Iohn; - ‘I pray thee, tell it mee, - How I may be as beggar-like - As any in my companie.’ - - 6 - ‘Thou must goe two foote on a staffe, - The third vpon a tree; - Full loud that thou must cry and fare, - When nothing ayleth thee.’ - - 7 - But Iohn he walket the hills soe high, - Soe did [he] the hills soe browne; - The ready way that he cold take - Was towards Nottingham towne. - - 8 - But as he was on the hills soe high, - He mett w_i_th palmers three; - Sayes, God you saue, my brethren all, - Now God you saue and see! - - 9 - This seuen yeere I haue you sought; - Before I cold neuer you see! - Said they, Wee had leuer such a cankred carle - Were neuer in our companie. - - 10 - But one of them tooke Litle Iohn on his head, - The blood ran over his eye; - Little Iohn turned him twise about - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 11 - ‘If I . . . . . . . - As I haue beene but one day, - I shold haue purcchased three of the best churches - That stands by any highway.’ - - - B - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 33 b. #b.# Garland of 1663, No 16. #c.# Garland - of 1670, No 15. #d.# Pepys, II, 119, No 105. - - 1 - All you that delight to spend some time - With a hey down down a down down - A merry song for to sing, - Vnto me draw neer, and you shall hear - How Little John went a begging. - - 2 - As Robin Hood walked the forrest along, - And all his yeomandree, - Sayes Robin, Some of you must a begging go, - And, Little John, it must be thee. - - 3 - Sayes John, If I must a begging go, - I will have a palmers weed, - With a staff and a coat, and bags of all sort, - The better then I shall speed. - - 4 - Come, give me now a bag for my bread, - And another for my cheese, - And one for a peny, when as I get any, - That nothing I may leese. - - 5 - Now Little John he is a begging gone, - Seeking for some relief; - But of all the beggers he met on the way, - Little John he was the chief. - - 6 - But as he was walking himself alone, - Four beggers he chanced to spy, - Some deaf, and some blind, and some came behind; - Says John, Here’s brave company! - - 7 - ‘Good-morrow,’ said John, ‘my brethren dear, - Good fortune I had you to see; - Which way do you go? pray let me know, - For I want some company. - - 8 - ‘O what is here to do?’ then said Little John, - ‘Why rings all these bells?’ said he; - ‘What dog is a hanging? come, let us be ganging, - That we the truth may see.’ - - 9 - ‘Here is no dog a hanging,’ then one of them said, - ‘Good fellow, we tell unto thee; - But here is one dead wil give us cheese and bred, - And it may be one single peny.’ - - 10 - ‘We have brethren in London,’ another he said, - ‘So have we in Coventry, - In Barwick and Dover, and all the world over, - But nere a crookt carril like thee. - - 11 - ‘Therefore stand thee back, thou crooked carel, - And take that knock on the crown;’ - ‘Nay,’ said Little John, ‘I’le not yet be gone, - For a bout will I have with you round. - - 12 - ‘Now have at you all,’ then said Little John, - ‘If you be so full of your blows; - Fight on, all four, and nere give ore, - Whether you be friends or foes.’ - - 13 - John nipped the dumb, and made him to rore, - And the blind that could not see, - And he that a cripple had been seven years, - He made him run faster then he. - - 14 - And flinging them all against the wall, - With many a sturdie bang, - It made John sing, to hear the gold ring, - Which against the walls cryed twang. - - 15 - Then he got out of the beggers cloak - Three hundred pound in gold; - ‘Good fortune had I,’ then said Little John, - ‘Such a good sight to behold.’ - - 16 - But what found he in a beggers bag, - But three hundred pound and three? - ‘If I drink water while this doth last, - Then an ill death may I dye! - - 17 - ‘And my begging-trade I will now give ore, - My fortune hath bin so good; - Therefore I’le not stay, but I will away - To the forrest of merry Sherwood.’ - - 18 - And when to the forrest of Sherwood he came, - He quickly there did see - His master good, bold Robin Hood, - And all his company. - - 19 - ‘What news? What news?’ then said Robin Hood, - ‘Come, Little John, tell unto me; - How hast thou sped with thy beggers trade? - For that I fain would see.’ - - 20 - ‘No news but good,’ then said Little John, - ‘With begging ful wel I have sped; - Six hundred and three I have here for thee, - In silver and gold so red.’ - - 21 - Then Robin took Little John by the hand, - And danced about the oak-tree: - ‘If we drink water while this doth last, - Then an il death may we die!’ - - 22 - So to conclude my merry new song, - All you that delight it to sing, - ’Tis of Robin Hood, that archer good, - And how Little John went a begging. - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _Half a page wanting at the beginning, and after 10^3._ - - 3^2. his crest. - - 4^2. 9. - - 6^1. 2. - - 6^2. 3^d. - - 8^2, 11^3. 3. - - 9^1. 7. - - 9^3. had neuer. - - 10^2. him 2[s :]. - -#B. a.# - - Little John and the Four Beggers: A new merry song of Robin Hood - and Little John, shewing how Little John went a begging, and how - he fought with Four Beggers, and what a prize he got of the Four - Beggers. - - The tune is, Robin Hood and the Begger. - - Printed for William Gilber[t]son. (1640–63.) - - 13^4. them _for_ him. - - 14^4. Whih again. - - 22^4. beggiug. - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#. - - 11^2. on thy. - - 11^4. I will. - - 12^3. never. - - 13^4. made him. - - 14^4. again. - - 20^3. Three hundred. - -#c.# - - _Title as in #a#, except_: from these four Beggers. To the tune of - Robin Hood and the Begger. - - _Burden_: _last_ down _wanting_. - - 8^3. a _wanting_: let’s. - - 9^2. I _for_ we. - - 10^1. he _wanting_. - - 12^3. never. - - 13^4. made him: than. - - 14^4. against. - - 19^4. I fain would fain. - - 20^1. then _wanting_. - - 20^3. Three hundred. - - 22^2. it _wanting_. - -#d.# - - _Title as in #a#, except_: Or, a new. To the tune of Robin Hood, - &c. - - Printed for J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. - (1670–86?) - - 1^2. for _wanting_. - - 3^3. sorts. - - 3^4. then shall I. - - 4^3. as _wanting_. - - 5^{1,4}. he _wanting_. - - 7^1. my children. - - 10^2. in the Country. - - 13^4. made run then. - - 14^4. against. - - 16^1. in the. - - 17^2. it hath. - - 18^1. But when. - - 19^3. with the. - - 22^2. And you. - - - - - 143 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP - - ‘Robin Hood and the Bishop.’ #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 11 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 5. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 4. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 109, No 96. - - #e.# Roxburghe, I, 362, in the Ballad Societys reprint, II, 448. - - -Also Pepys, II, 122, No 107, by Alexander Milbourne (1670–97): Old -Ballads, 1723, II, 39. - -#a# is printed in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 19. Evans, Old Ballads, -1777, 1784, I, 102, apparently follows the Aldermary Churchyard garland. - -Robin Hood, while ranging the forest, sees a bishop and all his men -coming, and, knowing that if he is taken no mercy will be given him, -asks the help of an old woman, to whom he makes himself known. The old -woman has had a kindness from him, and wishes to return it. She consents -to exchange her gray coat and spindle for his green mantle and arrows, -and Robin makes for his band in this disguise. The bishop carries off -the old woman on a horse, making no doubt that he has Robin in custody, -but, as he proceeds through the wood, sees a hundred bowmen, and asks -his prisoner what this may be. I think it be Robin Hood, says the -supposed outlaw. “And who are you?” “Why, I am an old woman.” The bishop -turns about, but Robin stays him, ties him to a tree, takes five hundred -pound from his portmantle, and then is willing he should go. But Little -John will not let him off till he has sung a mass; after which the -bishop is mounted on his dapple-gray, with his face to the tail, and -told to pray for Robin Hood. - -This ballad and the following are variations upon the theme of Robin -Hood and the Monk, in the Gest. The disguise as a woman occurs in other -outlaw stories; as in Eustace the Monk, Michel, p. 43. Also in Blind -Harry’s Wallace, ed. Moir, Book I, 239, and Book IV, 764, pp 9, 72: in -the first case Wallace has a rock and sits spinning. See also the ballad -of Gude Wallace, further on. - -We hear again of the forced mass, st. 23, in Robin Hood and Queen -Katherine, #A# 31, #B# 40; and of money borrowed against the bishop’s -will, in #A# 32 of the same. It is the Bishop of Hereford who suffers: -see the ballad which follows. - - -Translated by Doenniges, p. 203; Anastasius Grün, p. 113. - - - 1 - Come, gentlemen all, and listen a while, - Hey down down an a down - And a story I’le to you unfold; - I’le tell you how Robin Hood served the Bishop, - When he robbed him of his gold. - - 2 - As it fell out on a sun-shining day, - When Phebus was in his prime, - Then Robin Hood, that archer good, - In mirth would spend some time. - - 3 - And as he walkd the forrest along, - Some pastime for to spy, - There was he aware of a proud bishop, - And all his company. - - 4 - ‘O what shall I do?’ said Robin Hood then, - ‘If the Bishop he doth take me, - No mercy he’l show unto me, I know, - But hanged I shall be.’ - - 5 - Then Robin was stout, and turnd him about, - And a little house there he did spy; - And to an old wife, for to save his life, - He loud began for to cry. - - 6 - ‘Why, who art thou?’ said the old woman, - ‘Come tell it to me for good:’ - ‘I am an out-law, as many do know, - My name it is Robin Hood. - - 7 - ‘And yonder’s the Bishop and all his men, - And if that I taken be, - Then day and night he’l work me spight, - And hanged I shall be.’ - - 8 - ‘If thou be Robin Hood,’ said the old wife, - ‘As thou dost seem to be, - I’le for thee provide, and thee I will hide - From the Bishop and his company. - - 9 - ‘For I well remember, one Saturday night - Thou bought me both shoos and hose; - Therefore I’le provide thy person to hide, - And keep thee from thy foes.’ - - 10 - ‘Then give me soon thy coat of gray, - And take thou my mantle of green; - Thy spindle and twine unto me resign, - And take thou my arrows so keen.’ - - 11 - And when that Robin Hood was so araid, - He went straight to his company; - With his spindle and twine, he oft lookt behind - For the Bishop and his company. - - 12 - ‘O who is yonder,’ quoth Little John, - ‘That now comes over the lee? - An arrow I will at her let flie, - So like an old witch looks she.’ - - 13 - ‘O hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin then, - ‘And shoot not thy arrows so keen; - I am Robin Hood, thy master good, - And quickly it shall be seen.’ - - 14 - The Bishop he came to the old womans house, - And he called with furious mood, - ‘Come let me soon see, and bring unto me, - That traitor Robin Hood.’ - - 15 - The old woman he set on a milk-white steed, - Himselfe on a dapple-gray, - And for joy he had got Robin Hood, - He went laughing all the way. - - 16 - But as they were riding the forrest along, - The Bishop he chanc’d for to see - A hundred brave bow-men bold - Stand under the green-wood tree. - - 17 - ‘O who is yonder,’ the Bishop then said, - ‘That’s ranging within yonder wood?’ - ‘Marry,’ says the old woman, ‘I think it to be - A man calld Robin Hood.’ - - 18 - ‘Why, who art thou,’ the Bishop he said, - ‘Which I have here with me?’ - ‘Why, I am an old woman, thou cuckoldly bishop; - Lift up my leg and see.’ - - 19 - ‘Then woe is me,’ the Bishop he said, - ‘That ever I saw this day!’ - He turnd him about, but Robin so stout - Calld him, and bid him stay. - - 20 - Then Robin took hold of the Bishops horse, - And ty’d him fast to a tree; - Then Little John smil’d his master upon, - For joy of that company. - - 21 - Robin Hood took his mantle from’s back, - And spread it upon the ground, - And out of the Bishops portmantle he - Soon told five hundred pound. - - 22 - ‘So now let him go,’ said Robin Hood; - Said Little John, That may not be; - For I vow and protest he shall sing us a mass - Before that he goe from me. - - 23 - Then Robin Hood took the Bishop by the hand, - And bound him fast to a tree, - And made him sing a mass, God wot, - To him and his yeomandree. - - 24 - And then they brought him through the wood, - And set him on his dapple-gray, - And gave the tail within his hand, - And bade him for Robin Hood pray. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hood and the Bishop: Shewing how Robin Hood went to an old - womans house and changed cloaths with her, to scape from the - Bishop; and how he robbed the Bishop of all his gold, and made - him sing a mass. To the tune of Robin Hood and the Stranger. - - London, Printed for F. Grove on Snow-Hill. (1620–55.) - - _Burden_: _sometimes_ With a hey, _etc._; With hey, _etc._ - - 2^2. her _for_ his: _cf._ #b#, #c#. - - 8^2. doth: _cf._ #b#, #c#, #d#, #e#. - - 9^1. on _for_ one: _cf._ #e#. - - 16^2. chance. - -#b.# - - _Title as in #a#. Burden: with the same variations as in #a#._ - - 2^2. in his. - - 5^4. for _wanting_. - - 8^1. then said. - - 8^2. dost. - - 9^1. on. - - 14^3. soon _wanting_. - - 16^2. chanc’d. - - 17^1. then _wanting_. - - 17^2. yonders. - - 18^3. cuckoldy. - - 19^1. to me. - - 19^3. Robin Hood. - -#c.# - - _Title as in #a#. Burden: always_ With a hey, _etc._ - - 2^2. in his. - - 4^4. _wanting._ - - 5^{3,4}. for _wanting_. - - 8^2. dost. - - 9^1. on. - - 16^1. long. - - 16^2. chanced. - - 17^1. he said. - - 18^3. cuckoldy. - - 19^1. to me. - - 19^3. Robin Hood. - - 24^4. bid. - -#d.# - - _Title as in #a#, except_, escape: robbed him: sing mass. - - _Burden_: With a hey down down and a down. - - 2^1. of a. - - 2^2. in her. - - 2^3. That _for_ Then. - - 4^4. shall I. - - 5^4. for _wanting_. - - 7^3. my _for_ me. - - 8^1. old woman. - - 8^2. dost. - - 9^1. well _wanting_: on. - - 11^1. that _wanting_: thus _for_ so. - - 13^1. Robin Hood. - - 16^2. chanc’d. - - 18^3. am a woman: cuckoldy. - - 19^3. Robin Hood. - - 20^4. of his. - - 22^1. So _wanting_. - - 23^1. by’th. - - 24^1. And when. - -#e.# - - _Title as in #a#, except_, escape: robbed him: sing mass. - - London, Printed by and for W. O[nley], _etc._ (1650–1702.) - - _Burden_: With a hey down down an a down. - - 1^2. to you I’ll. - - 1^3. to you. - - 2^1. of a. - - 2^2. in her. - - 2^3. Bold Robin Hood. - - 3^3. he _wanting_. (?) - - 4^1. saith. - - 4^4. shall I. - - 5^2. did he. - - 5^3. for _wanting_. - - 5^4. aloud began to. - - 7^3. my _for_ me. - - 7^4. shall I. - - 8^1. then said the old woman. - - 8^2. dost. - - 9^1. well _wanting_: one. - - 9^2. brought. - - 10^2. the _for_ my. - - 11^1. thus _for_ so. - - 11^3. and _wanting_. - - 12^3. at her I will. - - 13^1. saith. - - 16^2. chanc’d. - - 17^4. A _wanting_. - - 18^3. am a woman. - - 19^3. Robin Hood. - - 19^4. to him. - - 20^4. of this. - - 22^1. So _wanting_. - - 23^1. by th’. - - - - - 144 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD - - #A. a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, J. Marshall & Co., Aldermary - Churchyard, No 23. #b.# ‘Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford,’ - Douce Ballads, III, 123 b, London, C. Sheppard, 1791. #c.# - Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 395, from a broadside - printed for Daniel Wright, next the Sun Tavern in Holborn. #d.# - Robin Hood’s Garland, 1749, No 23. - - #B.# E. Cochrane’s Song-Book, p. 149, No 113. - - -#A a# in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 146, “compared with the York -copy,” that is, with two or three slight changes: Evans, Old Ballads, -1777, 1784, I, 211. #B#, the Scottish copy, is very likely only an -imperfect remembrance of a broadside, but the date of the MS., though -this is perhaps not determinable, has been put as early as 1730. - -Robin Hood, expecting the Bishop of Hereford to pass near Barnsdale, has -a deer killed for his dinner. He dresses himself and six of his men in -shepherd’s attire, and when the Bishop approaches they make an ado to -attract his attention. The Bishop interrogates them. Robin owns that -they mean to make merry with the king’s venison. The Bishop will show -them no mercy; they must go before the king with him. Robin summons his -band with his horn and it is the Bishop’s turn to cry mercy. Robin will -not let him off, but takes him to Barnsdale, and makes him great cheer. -The Bishop foresees that there will be a heavy reckoning. Little John -searches the Bishop’s portmanteau, and takes out three hundred pound; -enough, he says, to make him in charity with the churchman. They make -the Bishop dance in his boots, #A#, or sing a mass, #B#, and he is glad -to get off so lightly. - -The Bishop of Hereford appears in the next ballad, Robin Hood and Queen -Katherine. He there tells us that Robin had made him sing a mass out of -hours, and had borrowed money of him against his will. - -The conclusion of this ballad is to the same effect as that of the -preceding, and was probably suggested by the Gest. No copy has been -found, in print or writing, earlier than the last century; a fact of no -special importance. Whenever written, if written it was, it is far -superior to most of the seventeenth century broadsides. Mr Chappell -speaks of it as being now (thirty years ago) the most popular of the -Robin Hood set. - - -Translated by Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 493; Anastasius Grün, p. 151; -Loève-Veimars, p. 204. - - - A - - #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, Aldermary Churchyard, No 23. #b.# Douce - Ballads, III, 123 b, 1791. #c.# Chappell’s Popular Music of the - Olden Time, p. 395, from a broadside printed for Daniel Wright, #d.# - Robin Hood’s Garland, without place, 1749, No 23, p. 98. - - 1 - Some they will talk of bold Robin Hood, - And some of barons bold, - But I’ll tell you how he servd the Bishop of Hereford, - When he robbd him of his gold. - - 2 - As it befel in merry Barnsdale, - And under the green-wood tree, - The Bishop of Hereford was to come by, - With all his company. - - 3 - ‘Come, kill a venson,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘Come, kill me a good fat deer; - The Bishop of Hereford is to dine with me to-day, - And he shall pay well for his cheer. - - 4 - ‘We’ll kill a fat venson,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘And dress it by the highway-side; - And we will watch the Bishop narrowly, - Lest some other way he should ride.’ - - 5 - Robin Hood dressd himself in shepherd’s attire, - With six of his men also; - And, when the Bishop of Hereford came by, - They about the fire did go. - - 6 - ‘O what is the matter?’ then said the Bishop, - ‘Or for whom do you make this a-do? - Or why do you kill the king’s venson, - When your company is so few?’ - - 7 - ‘We are shepherds,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘And we keep sheep all the year, - And we are disposed to be merry this day, - And to kill of the king’s fat deer.’ - - 8 - ‘You are brave fellows!’ said the Bishop, - ‘And the king of your doings shall know; - Therefore make haste and come along with me, - For before the king you shall go.’ - - 9 ‘O pardon, O pardon,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘O pardon, I thee pray! - For it becomes not your lordship’s coat - To take so many lives away.’ - - 10 - ‘No pardon, no pardon,’ says the Bishop, - ‘No pardon I thee owe; - Therefore make haste, and come along with me, - For before the king you shall go.’ - - 11 - Then Robin set his back against a tree, - And his foot against a thorn, - And from underneath his shepherd’s coat - He pulld out a bugle-horn. - - 12 - He put the little end to his mouth, - And a loud blast did he blow, - Till threescore and ten of bold Robin’s men - Came running all on a row; - - 13 - All making obeysance to bold Robin Hood; - ’Twas a comely sight for to see: - ‘What is the matter, master,’ said Little John, - ‘That you blow so hastily?’ - - 14 - ‘O here is the Bishop of Hereford, - And no pardon we shall have:’ - ‘Cut off his head, master,’ said Little John, - ‘And throw him into his grave.’ - - 15 - ‘O pardon, O pardon,’ said the Bishop, - ‘O pardon, I thee pray! - For if I had known it had been you, - I’d have gone some other way.’ - - 16 - ‘No pardon, no pardon,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘No pardon I thee owe; - Therefore make haste and come along with me, - For to merry Barnsdale you shall go.’ - - 17 - Then Robin he took the Bishop by the hand, - And led him to merry Barnsdale; - He made him to stay and sup with him that night, - And to drink wine, beer, and ale. - - 18 - ‘Call in the reckoning,’ said the Bishop, - ‘For methinks it grows wondrous high:’ - ‘Lend me your purse, Bishop,’ said Little John, - ‘And I’ll tell you bye and bye.’ - - 19 - Then Little John took the bishop’s cloak, - And spread it upon the ground, - And out of the bishop’s portmantua - He told three hundred pound. - - 20 - ‘Here’s money enough, master,’ said Little John, - ‘And a comely sight ’tis to see; - It makes me in charity with the Bishop, - Tho he heartily loveth not me.’ - - 21 - Robin Hood took the Bishop by the hand, - And he caused the music to play, - And he made the Bishop to dance in his boots, - And glad he could so get away. - - - B - - E. Cochrane’s Song-Book, p. 149, No 113. - - 1 - Some talk of lords, and some talk of lairds, - And some talk of barrons bold, - But I’ll tell you a story of bold Robin Hood, - How he robbed the Bishop of his gold. - - 2 - ‘Cause kill us a venison,’ sayes Robin Hood, - ‘And we’ll dress it by the high-way side, - And we will watch narrowly for the Bishop, - Lest some other way he do ride.’ - - 3 - ‘Now who is this,’ sayes the Bishop, - ‘That makes so boldly here - To kill the king’s poor small venison, - And so few of his company here?’ - - 4 - ‘We are shepherds,’ says Robin Hood, - ‘And do keep sheep all the year; - And we thought it fit to be merry on a day, - And kill one of the king’s fallow deer.’ - - 5 - ‘Thou art a bold fellow,’ the Bishop replyes, - ‘And your boldness you do show; - Make hast, make hast, and go along with me, - For the king of your doings shall know.’ - - 6 - He leand his back unto a brae, - His foot against a thorn, - And out from beneath his long shepherds coat - He pulled a blowing-horn. - - 7 - He put his horn in to his mouth, - And a snell blast he did blow, - Till four and twenty of bold Robins men - Came riding up all in a row. - - 8 - ‘Come, give us a reckoning,’ says the Bishop, - ‘For I think you drink wondrous large:’ - ‘Come, give me your purse,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘And I will pay all your charge.’ - - 9 - He pulled off his long shepherds coat, - And he spread it on the ground, - And out of the Bishops long trunk-hose, - He pulled a hundred pound. - - 10 - ‘O master,’ quoth Litle John, - ‘It’s a very bony sight for to see; - It makes me to favour the Bishop, - Tho in heart he loves not me.’ - - 11 - ‘Come, sing us a mass,’ sayes bold Robin Hood, - ‘Come, sing us a mass all anon; - Come, sing us a mass,’ sayes bold Robin Hood, - ‘Take a kick in the a—se, and be gone.’ - - * * * * * - -#A. a.# - - The Bishop of Hereford’s Entertainment by Robin Hood and Little - John, &c., in merry Barnsdale. - - 8^4. Forr. - - 18^3. master _for_ Bishop: _cf._ #b#. - -#b.# - - London, Published April 7th, 1791, by C. Sheppard, No 19, Lambert - Hill, Doctors Commons. - - 3^3. ’s to. - - 7^4. to taste. - - 10^1. said. - - 11^4. out his. - - 12^2. he did. - - 12^3. Robin Hood’s. - - 13^2. for _wanting_. - - 13^3. What’s. - - 14^2. Says no. - - 17^1. he _wanting_. - - 17^3. him stay and dine with him that day. - - 18^2. For I think. - - 18^3. bishop _for_ master. - - 20^3. me have charity for. - - 21^3. And _wanting_: the old. - -#c.# - - _Title as in_ #a#. - - 1^1. O some: of brave. - - 1^3. ye. - - 1^4. And robbd. - - 2^1. All under. - - 3^1. kill me. - - 3^3. ’s to. - - 10^1. said. - - 16^1. said bold. - - 18^1. in a. - - 18^3. purse, master. - - 21^3. the old. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #a#: &c _wanting_. - - 1^1. they _wanting_. - - 1^3. of Hereford _wanting_. - - 1^4. his _wanting_. - - 3^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 3^3. to-day _wanting_. - - 3^4. well _wanting_. - - 4^1. kill the vension. - - 5^1. Hood he. - - 5^2. And six: men likewise. - - 5^4. Then _for_ They. - - 6^1. then _wanting_. - - 6^3. of the. - - 6^4. And your: so small. - - 7^1. Hood _wanting_. - - 9^1. bold _wanting_. - - 10^1. said. - - 10^4. you must. - - 11^4. out his fine. - - 12^2. he did. - - 12^4. marching down in a. - - 13^3. master _wanting_. - - 14^4. into the. - - 15^4. I would: gone another. - - 16^1. bold Robin: Hood _wanting_. - - 17^1. he _wanting_. - - 17^2. And he. - - 17^3. to _wanting_. - - 18^1. in a. - - 18^2. Methinks it runs. - - 18^3. master _wanting_. - - 19^3. portmantle. - - 19^4. He took. - - 20^1. master _wanting_. - - 20^2. And it is: ’tis _wanting_. - - 21^1. Robin he took. - - 21^2. he _wanting_. - - 21^3. And _wanting_. - - 21^4. so _wanting_. - - - - - 145 - - ROBIN HOOD AND QUEEN KATHERINE - - #A.# ‘Robin Hoode and Quene Kath[erine],’ Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and - Furnivall, I, 37. - - #B.# ‘Renowned Robin Hood,’ etc. #a.# Wood, 502, leaf 10. #b.# - Roxburghe, I, 356, in the Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 419. #c.# - Garland of 1663, No 9. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 8. #e.# Wood, 401, - leaf 31 b. #f.# Pepys, II, 103, No 90. - - #C.# ‘Robin Hood, Scarlet and John,’ etc., Garland of 1663, No 1. - - -A copy in Roxburghe, III, 450, printed by L. How, in Petticoat Lane, is -of the eighteenth century. In Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 82, “from -an old black-letter copy in a private collection, compared with another -in that of Anthony a Wood.” In Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 149, -from an Aldermary garland. - -Robin Hood has made Queen Katherine his friend by presenting her with a -sum of gold which he had taken from the king’s harbingers. The king has -offered a heavy wager that his archers cannot be excelled, and the queen -may have her choice of all other bowmen in England. Availing herself of -these terms, the queen summons Robin Hood and his men, who are to come -to London on St George’s day, under changed names. She hopes to have -Robin relieved of his outlawry. The king’s archers lead off, and make -three. The ladies think the queen has no chance. She asks Sir Richard -Lee, known to us already from the Gest, to be on her side. Sir Richard -Lee, we are told, is sprung from Gawain’s blood (#A#, Gower’s, Gowrie’s -in other texts), and naturally would deny nothing to a lady. The Bishop -of Hereford declines to be of the queen’s party, but stakes a large sum -on the king’s men. The queen’s archers shoot, and the game stands three -and three; the queen bids the king beware. The third three shall pay for -all, says the king. It is now time for the outlaws to do their best. -Loxly, as Robin Hood is called, leads off. The particulars of the -outlaws’ exploits are wanting in #A#. - -In #B#, #C#, Robin’s feat is obscurely described. Clifton, who -represents Scarlet (for in #B#, #C#, contrary to older tradition, -Scarlet seems to be put before John), cleaves the willow wand, and Midge -(Mutch), the Miller’s Son, who, according to #A# 10, is John, is but -little behind him.[117] The queen, to assure the safety of her men, begs -the boon that the king will not be angry with any of her party, and the -king replies, Welcome, friend or foe. - -After this there is no occasion for concealment. The Bishop of Hereford, -learning who Loxly is, says that Robin is only too old an acquaintance; -Robin had once made him say a mass at two in the afternoon, and borrowed -money of him which had never been repaid. Robin offers to pay him for -the mass by giving half of the gold back. Small thanks, says the bishop, -for paying me with my own money. King Henry, quite outstripping even the -easiness of Edward in the Gest, says he loves Robin never the worse, and -invites him to leave his outlaws and come live at the court, a proposal -which is peremptorily rejected. This is a very pleasant ballad, with all -the exaggeration, and it is much to be regretted that one half of #A# is -lost. - -#C# is a piece of regular hack-work, and could not maintain itself in -competition with #B#, upon which, perhaps, it was formed. It will be -observed that Sir Richard Lee is changed into Sir Robert Lee in #C#, and -that the thirty-fourth stanza represents the king as subsequently making -Robin Hood Earl of Huntington. - -The adventure of the Bishop of Hereford with Robin Hood is the subject -of a separate ballad, now found only in a late form: see No 144. - -Loxly, the name given to Robin in the present ballad, is, according to -the Life in the Sloane MS., a town in Yorkshire, “or after others in -Nottinghamshire,” where Robin was born. The ballad of Robin Hood’s -Birth, Breeding, etc., following the same tradition, or invention, says -“Locksly town in Nottinghamshire.” It appears from Spencer Hall’s -Forester’s Offering, London, 1841, that there is a Loxley Chase near -Sheffield, in Yorkshire, and a Loxley River too: Gutch, I, 75. - -Finsbury field was long a noted place for the practice of archery. In -the year 1498, says Stow, all the gardens which had continued time out -of mind without Moorgate, to wit, about and beyond the lordship of -Fensberry, were destroyed. And of them was made a plain field for -archers to shoot in. Survey of London, 1598, p. 351, cited, with other -things pertinent, by Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 86 f. - -R. H. and the Shepherd, R. H. rescuing Will Stutly, and R. H.’s Delight, -are directed to be sung to the tune of R. H. and Queen Katherine, #B#, -and may therefore be inferred to be of later date. R. H.’s Progress to -Nottingham is to be sung to “Bold Robin Hood,” and as this conjunction -of words occurs several times in R. H. and Queen Katherine, and the -burden and its disposition, in the Progress to Nottingham, are the same -as in R. H. and Queen Katherine, “Bold Robin Hood” may indicate this -present ballad. R. H. and Queen Katherine, #C#, is directed to be sung -to the tune of The Pinder of Wakefield. - -R. H.’s Chase is a sequel to R. H. and Queen Katherine. - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 172. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 15; Hales and Furnivall, I, 37. - - 1 - Now list you, lithe you, gentlemen, - A while for a litle space, - And I shall tell you how Queene Katterine - Gott Robin Hood his grace. - - 2 - Gold taken from the kings harbengers - Seldome times hath beene seene, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 3 - . . . . . . . - ‘Queene Katherine, I say to thee;’ - ‘That’s a princly wager,’ q_uo_th Queene Katherine, - ‘Betweene yo_u_r grace and me. - - 4 - ‘Where must I haue mine archers?’ says Queene Katherine; - ‘You haue the flower of archery:’ - ‘Now take yo_u_r choice, dame,’ he sayes, - ‘Thorow out all England free. - - 5 - ‘Yea from North Wales to Westchester, - And also to Couentry; - And when you haue chosen the best you can, - The wager must goe w_i_th mee.’ - - 6 - ‘If that prooue,’ says Queene Katherine, - ‘Soone that wilbe tride and knowne; - Many a man counts of another mans pursse, - And after looseth his owne.’ - - 7 - The queene is to her palace gone, - To her page thus shee can say: - Come hither to me, Dicke Patrinton, - Trusty and trew this day. - - 8 - Thou must bring me the names of my archers all, - All strangers must they bee, - Yea from North Wales to West Chester, - And alsoe to Couentrie. - - 9 - Com_m_end me to Robin Hood, says Queene Katherine, - And alsoe to Litle John, - And specially to Will Scarlett, - Ffryar Tucke and Maid Marryan. - - 10 - Robin Hood we must call Loxly, - And Little John the Millers sonne; - Thus wee then must change their names, - They must be strangers euery one. - - 11 - Com_m_end mee to Robin Hood, sayes Queene Katherine, - And marke, page, what I say; - In London they must be w_i_th me - [Vpon S^t Georges day.] - - * * * * * - - 12 - . . . . . . . - ‘These words hath sent by me; - Att London you must be w_i_th her - Vpon S^t Georg[e]s day. - - 13 - ‘Vpon S^t Georg[e]s day att noone - Att London needs must you bee; - Shee wold not misse yo_u_r companie - For all the gold in Cristinty. - - 14 - ‘Shee hath tane a shooting for yo_u_r sake, - The greatest in Christentie, - And her part you must needs take - Against her prince, Henery. - - 15 - ‘Shee sends you heere her gay gold ring - A trew token for to bee; - And, as you are [a] banisht man, - Shee trusts to sett you free.’ - - 16 - ‘And I loose that wager,’ says bold Robin Hoode, - ‘I’le bring mony to pay for me; - And wether that I win or loose, - On my queenes part I will be.’ - - 17 - In som_m_er time when leaues grow greene, - And flowers are fresh and gay, - Then Ro_bin_ Hood he deckt his men - Eche one in braue array. - - 18 - He deckt his men in Lincolne greene, - Himselfe in scarlett red; - Fayre of theire brest then was it seene - When his siluer armes were spread. - - 19 - With hatt_i_s white and fethers blacke, - And bowes and arrowes keene, - And thus he ietted towards louly London, - To p_re_sent Queene Katherine. - - 20 - But when they cam to louly London, - They kneeled vpon their knee; - Sayes, God you saue, Queene Katherine, - And all yo_u_r dignitie! - - * * * * * - - 21 - . . . . . . . of my guard,’ - Thus can King Henry say, - ‘And those that wilbe of Queene Katerines side, - They are welcome to me this day.’ - - 22 - ‘Then come hither to me, S_i_r Richard Lee, - Thou art a knight full good; - Well it is knowen ffrom thy pedygree - Thou came from Gawiins blood. - - 23 - ‘Come hither, Bishopp of Hereford,’ q_uo_th Queene Katherine— - A good preacher I watt was hee— - ‘And stand thou heere vpon a odd side, - On my side for to bee.’ - - 24 - ‘I like not that,’ sayes the bishopp then, - ‘By faikine of my body, - For if I might haue my owne will, - On the kings I wold bee.’ - - 25 - ‘What will thou be[t] against vs,’ says Loxly then, - ‘And stake it on the ground?’ - ‘That will I doe, fine fellow,’ he says, - ‘And it drawes to fiue hundreth pound.’ - - 26 - ‘There is a bett,’ says Loxly then; - ‘Wee’le stake it merrily;’ - But Loxly knew full well in his mind - And whose that gold shold bee. - - 27 - Then the queenes archers they shot about - Till it was three and three; - Then the lady’s gaue a merry shout, - Sayes, Woodcocke, beware thine eye! - - 28 - ‘Well, gam and gam,’ then q_uo_th our king, - ‘The third three payes for all;’ - Then Robine rounded w_i_th our queene, - Says, The kings p_ar_t shall be small. - - 29 - Loxly puld forth a broad arrowe, - He shott it vnder hand, - . . . . s vnto . . - . . . . . . . - - * * * * * - - 30 - . . . . . . . - ‘For once he vndidd mee; - If I had thought it had beene bold Ro_bin_ Hoode, - I wold not haue betted one peny. - - 31 - ‘Is this Ro_bin_ Hood?’ says the bishopp againe; - ‘Once I knew him to soone; - He made me say a masse against my will, - Att two a clocke in the afternoone. - - 32 - ‘He bound me fast vnto a tree, - Soe did he my merry men; - He borrowed ten pound against my will, - But he neuer paid me againe.’ - - 33 - ‘What and if I did?’ says bold Ro_bin_ Hood, - ‘Of that masse I was full faine; - In recompence, befor king and queene - Take halfe of thy gold againe.’ - - 34 - ‘I thanke thee for nothing,’ says the bishopp, - ‘Thy large gift to well is knowne, - _Tha_t will borrow a mans mony against his will, - And pay him againe w_i_th his owne.’ - - 35 - ‘What if he did soe?’ says King Henery, - ‘For that I loue him neuer the worsse; - Take vp thy gold againe, bold Robin Hood, - And put [it] in thy pursse. - - 36 - ‘If thou woldest leaue thy bold outlawes, - And come and dwell w_i_th me, - Then I wold say thou art welcome, bold Ro_bin_ Hood, - The flower of archery.’ - - 37 - ‘I will not leaue my bold outlawes - For all the gold in Christentie; - In merry Sherwood I’le take my end, - Vnder my trusty tree. - - 38 - ‘And gett yo_u_r shooters, my leeig[e], where you will, - For in faith you shall haue none of me; - And when Queene Katherine puts up her f[inger] - Att her Graces com_m_andement I’le bee.’ - - * * * * * - - - B - - #a.# Wood, 402, leaf 10. #b.# Roxburghe, I, 356, in the Ballad - Society’s reprint, II, 419. #c.# Garland of 1663, No 9. #d.# Garland - of 1670, No 8. #e.# Wood, 401, leaf 31 b. #f.# Pepys, II, 103, No - 90. - - 1 - Gold tane from the kings harbengers, - Down a down a down - As seldome hath been seen, - Down a down a down - And carried by bold Robin Hood - For a present to the queen. - Down a down a down - - 2 - ‘If that I live a year to an end,’ - Thus gan Queen Katherin say, - ‘Bold Robin Hood, I will be thy friend, - And all thy yeomen gay.’ - - 3 - The queen is to her chamber gone, - As fast as she can wen; - She cals unto her her lovely page, - His name was Richard Patringten. - - 4 - ‘Come hither to mee, thou lovely page, - Come thou hither to mee; - For thou must post to Notingham, - As fast as thou canst dree. - - 5 - ‘And as thou goest to Notingham, - Search all those English wood; - Enquire of one good yeoman or another - That can tell thee of Robin Hood.’ - - 6 - Sometimes he went, sometimes hee ran, - As fast as he could win; - And when hee came to Notingham, - There he took up his inne. - - 7 - And when he came to Notingham, - And had took up his inne, - He calls for a pottle of Renish wine, - And drank a health to his queen. - - 8 - There sat a yeoman by his side; - ‘Tell mee, sweet page,’ said hee, - ‘What is thy business or the cause, - So far in the North Country?’ - - 9 - ‘This is my business and the cause, - Sir, I’le tell it you for good, - To inquire of one good yeoman or another - To tell mee of Robin Hood.’ - - 10 - ‘I’le get my horse betime in the morn, - By it be break of day, - And I will shew thee bold Robin Hood, - And all his yeomen gay.’ - - 11 - When that he came at Robin Hoods place, - Hee fell down on his knee: - ‘Queen Katherine she doth greet you well, - She greets you well by mee. - - 12 - ‘She bids you post to fair London court, - Not fearing any thing; - For there shall be a little sport, - And she hath sent you her ring.’ - - 13 - Robin took his mantle from his back— - It was of the Lincoln green— - And sent it by this lovely page, - For a present unto the queen. - - 14 - In summer time, when leaves grow green, - It is a seemly sight to see - How Robin Hood himself had drest, - And all his yeomandry. - - 15 - He cloathed his men in Lincoln green, - And himself in scarlet red, - Black hats, white feathers, all alike; - Now bold Robin Hood is rid. - - 16 - And when he came at Londons court, - Hee fell downe on his knee: - ‘Thou art welcome, Locksly,’ said the queen, - ‘And all thy good yeomendree.’ - - 17 - The king is into Finsbury field, - Marching in battel ray, - And after follows bold Robin Hood, - And all his yeomen gay. - - 18 - ‘Come hither, Tepus,’ said the king, - ‘Bow-bearer after mee, - Come measure mee out with this line - How long our mark shall be.’ - - 19 - ‘What is the wager?’ said the queen, - ‘That must I now know here:’ - ‘Three hundred tun of Renish wine, - Three hundred tun of beer. - - 20 - ‘Three hundred of the fattest harts - That run on Dallom lee; - That’s a princely wager,’ said the king, - ‘That needs must I tell thee.’ - - 21 - With that bespake one Clifton then, - Full quickly and full soon; - ‘Measure no mark for us, most soveraign leige, - Wee’l shoot at sun and moon.’ - - 22 - ‘Ful fifteen score your mark shall be, - Ful fifteen score shall stand;’ - ‘I’le lay my bow,’ said Clifton then, - ‘I’le cleave the willow wand.’ - - 23 - With that the kings archers led about, - While it was three and none; - With that the ladies began to shout, - Madam, your game is gone! - - 24 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ Queen Katherine cries, - ‘I crave on my bare knee; - Is there any knight of your privy counsel - Of Queen Katherines part will be? - - 25 - ‘Come hither to mee, Sir Richard Lee, - Thou art a knight full good; - For I do know by thy pedigree - Thou springst from Goweres blood. - - 26 - ‘Come hither to me, thou Bishop of Herefordshire’— - For a noble priest was he— - ‘By my silver miter,’ said the bishop then, - ‘I’le not bet one peny. - - 27 - ‘The king hath archers of his own, - Full ready and full light, - And these be strangers every one, - No man knows what they height.’ - - 28 - ‘What wilt thou bet,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Thou seest our game the worse?’ - ‘By my silver miter,’ said the bishop then, - ‘All the mony within my purse.’ - - 29 - ‘What is in thy purse?’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Throw it down on the ground;’ - ‘Fifteen score nobles,’ said the bishop then, - ‘It’s neer an hundred pound.’ - - 30 - Robin Hood took his bagge from his side, - And threw it down on the green; - William Scadlocke went smiling away, - ‘I know who this mony must win.’ - - 31 - With that the queens archers led about, - While it was three and three; - With that the ladies gave a shout, - ‘Woodcock, beware thyn ee!’ - - 32 - ‘It is three and three, now,’ said the king, - ‘The next three pays for all;’ - Robin Hood went and whispered to the queen, - ‘The kings part shall be but small.’ - - 33 - Robin Hood he led about, - He shot it under hand, - And Clifton, with a bearing arrow, - He clave the willow wand. - - 34 - And little Midge, the Miller’s son, - Hee shot not much the worse; - He shot within a finger of the prick; - ‘Now, bishop, beware thy purse!’ - - 35 - ‘A boon, a boon,’ Queen Katherine cries, - ‘I crave on my bare knee,— - That you will angry be with none - That is of my party.’ - - 36 - ‘They shall have forty days to come, - And forty days to go, - And three times forty to sport and play; - Then welcome friend or fo.’ - - 37 - ‘Then thou art welcome, Robin Hood,’ said the queen, - ‘And so is Little John, - So is Midge, the Miller’s son; - Thrice welcome every one.’ - - 38 - ‘Is this Robin Hood?’ the king now said; - ‘For it was told to mee - That he was slain in the pallace-gate, - So far in the North Country.’ - - 39 - ‘Is this Robin Hood,’ said the bishop then, - ‘As I see well to be? - Had I knowne that had been that bold outlaw, - I would not have bet one peny. - - 40 - ‘Hee took me late one Saturday at night, - And bound mee fast to a tree, - And made mee sing a mass, God wot, - To him and his yeomendree.’ - - 41 - ‘What and if I did?’ says Robin Hood, - ‘Of that mass I was full fain; - For recompense to thee,’ he says, - ‘Here’s half thy gold again.’ - - 42 - ‘Now nay, now nay,’ saies Little John, - ‘Master, that shall not be; - We must give gifts to the kings officers; - That gold will serve thee and mee.’ - - - C - - The Garland of 1663, No 1. - - 1 - Stout Robin Hood, a most lusty out-law, - As ever yet lived in this land, - As ever yet lived in this land. - His equal I’m sure you never yet saw, - So valiant was he of his hand, - So valiant was he of his hand. - - 2 - No archers could ever compare with these three, - Although from us they are gone; - The like was never, nor never will be, - To Robin Hood, Scarlet and John. - - 3 - Many stout robberies by these men were done, - Within this our kingdom so wide; - Vpon the highway much treasure they have won, - No one that his purse ere deny’d. - - 4 - Great store of money they from the kings men - Couragiously did take away; - Vnto fair Queen Katherine they gave it again, - Who to them these words did say. - - 5 - If that I live but another fair year, - Kind Robin Hood, said the fair queen, - The love for this courtesie that I thee bear, - Assure thy self it shall be seen. - - 6 - Brave Robin Hood courteously thanked her Grace, - And so took his leave of the queen; - He with his bold archers then hied him apace, - In summer time, to the woods green. - - 7 - ‘Now wend we together, my merry men all, - To the green wood to take up our stand:’ - These archers were ready at Robin Hoods call, - With their bent bows all in their hand. - - 8 - ‘Come, merrily let us now valiantly go - With speed unto the green wood, - And there let us kill a stout buck or a do, - For our master, Robin Hood.’ - - 9 - At London must now be a game of shooting, - Where archers should try their best skill; - It was so commanded by their gracious king; - The queen then thought to have her will. - - 10 - Her little foot-page she sent with all speed, - To find out stout Robin Hood, - Who in the North bravely did live, as we read, - With his bow-men in the green wood. - - 11 - When as this young page unto the North came, - He staid under a hill at his inn; - Within the fair town of sweet Nottingham, - He there to enquire did begin. - - 12 - The page then having enquired aright - The way unto Robin Hoods place, - As soon as the page had obtained of him sight, - He told him strange news from her Grace. - - 13 - ‘Her Majestie praies you to haste to the court,’ - And therewithall shewd him her ring; - We must not delay his swift haste to this sport, - Which then was proclaimd by the king. - - 14 - Then Robin Hood hies him with all speed he may, - With his fair men attired in green, - And towards fair London he then takes his way; - His safety lay all on the queen. - - 15 - Now Robin Hood welcome was then to the court, - Queen Katharine so did allow; - Now listen, my friends, and my song shal report - How the queen performed her vow. - - 16 - The king then went marching in state with his peers - To Finsbury field most gay, - Where Robin Hood follows him, void of all fears, - With his lusty brave shooters that day. - - 17 - The king did command that the way should be - Straight mete with a line that was good; - The answer was made to him presently, - By lusty bold Robin Hood. - - 18 - ‘Let there be no mark measured,’ then said he soon; - ‘I,’ so said Scarlet and John, - ‘For we will shoot to the sun or the moon; - We scorn to be outreacht with none.’ - - 19 - ‘What shall the wager be?’ then said the queen, - ‘Pray tell me before you begin:’ - ‘Three hundred tuns of good wine shall be seen, - And as much of strong bear for to win. - - 20 - ‘Three hundred of lusty fat bucks, sweet, beside, - Shall now be our royal lay:’ - Quoth Robin Hood, What ere does betide, - I’le bear this brave purchase away. - - 21 - ‘Full fifteenscore,’ saith the king, ‘it shall be;’ - Then straight did the bow-men begin, - And Robin Hoods side gave them leave certainly - A while some credit to win. - - 22 - The royal queen Katharine aloud cried she, - Is here no lord, nor yet knight, - That will take my part in this bold enmity? - Sir Robert Lee, pray do me right. - - 23 - Then to the bold Bishop of Herefordshire - Most mildly spoke our good queen; - But he straight refused to lay any more, - Such ods on their parties were seen. - - 24 - ‘What wilt thou bet, seeing our game is the worse?’ - Unto him then said Robin Hood: - ‘Why then,’ quoth the bishop, ‘all that’s in my purse;’ - Quoth Scarlet, That bargain is good. - - 25 - ‘A hundred good pounds there is in the same,’ - The bishop unto him did say; - Then said Robin Hood, Now here’s for the game, - And to bear this your money away. - - 26 - Then did the kings archer his arrows command - Most bravely and with great might, - But brave jolly Robin shot under his hand, - And then did hit the mark right. - - 27 - And Clifton he then, with his arrow so good, - The willow-wood cleaved in two; - The Miller’s young son came not short, by the rood, - His skill he most bravely did show. - - 28 - Thus Robin Hood and his crew won the rich prize, - From all archers that there could be; - Then loudly unto the king Queen Katherine cries, - Forgive all my company! - - 29 - The king then did say, that for forty daies, - Free leave then to come or go, - For any man there, though he got the praise, - ‘Be he friend,’ quoth he, ‘or be he foe.’ - - 30 - Then quoth the queen, Welcome thou art, Robin Hood, - And welcome, brave bow-men all three; - Then straight quoth the king, I did hear, by the rood, - That slain he was in the countrey. - - 31 - ‘Is this Robin Hood?’ the bishop did say, - ‘Is this Robin Hood certainly? - He made me to say him mass last Saturday, - To him and his bold yeomendry.’ - - 32 - ‘Well,’ quoth Robin Hood, ‘in requital thereof, - Half thy gold I give unto thee;’ - ‘Nay, nay,’ then said Little John in a scoff, - ‘‘Twill serue us ith’ North Countrey.’ - - 33 - Then Robin Hood pardon had straight of the king, - And so had they every one; - The fame of these days most loudly does ring, - Of Robin Hood, Scarlet and John. - - 34 - Great honours to Robin Hood after were done, - As stories for certain do say; - The king made him Earl of fair Huntington, - Whose fame will never decay. - - 35 - Thus have you heard the fame of these men, - Good archers they were every one; - We never shal see the like shooters again - As Robin Hood, Scarlet and John. - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _After 2^2, 11^3, 20^4, 29^3, 38^4, half a page is gone._ - - 2^1. _Perhaps_ harvengers. - - 5^2. cauentry. - - 9^3. _Perhaps_ Will_iam_. - - _After 16_: The 2d part. - - 18^2. hinselfe. - - 25^4. 500[th :]. - - 27^2, 28^2. 3. - - 31^4. 2. - - 32^3. 10[li :]. - -#B.# - - Renowned Robin Hood: or, his famous archery truly related; with - the worthy exploits hee acted before Queen Katherine, hee being - an outlaw-man; and how shee for the same obtained of the king - his own and his fellows pardon. To a new tune. - -#a.# - - London, Printed for F. Grove, on Snow-hill. Entred according to - order. (1620–55.) - - 16^4. yeomen three: _so #b-e#, but_ yeomendree, _the reading of - #f#, must be right, since the whole band is present, and only - two yeomen besides Robin are distinguished_. - - 23^2, 31^2. While, _if preserved, must be taken in the sense of_ - till, _which occurs in #f#, 23^2, as in #A#, 27^2._ - - 31^1. the kings: _so all_. #A#, 27 _has_ queenes, _rightly_. - - 31^4. thy knee: _so all except_ #b#, _which has_ thy nee. - - 35^2. crave that on. - - 39^4. have _wanting_: _cf._ #A# 30, #c#, #f#. - - 40^4. yeomen three: _so all_. _See_ 16^4. - -#b.# - - Printed at London for Francis Grove. - - 2^2. can. - - 3^3. unto her lovely. - - 3^4. Parringten. - - 4^4. can. - - 6^3, 7^1. came at. - - 8^1. sate. - - 8^4. in this. - - 10^2. Be it the. - - 11^1. Hood. - - 13^3. sent that. - - 14^2. It’s. - - 21^3. markes. - - 23^1. archer. - - 25^4. sprungst. - - 31^1. the kings. - - 31^4. thy nee. - - 33^3. baring. - - 33^4. clove. - - 35^1. cryed. - - 35^2. crave that on. - - 38^1. now said the king. - - 38^2. so told. - - 38^3. in Pallace gates. - - 39^4. not bet. - - 40^4. yeomen three. - - 41^1. an if. - - 41^2. full _wanting_. - -#c.# - - 3^3. unto her lovelie. - - 5^3, 9^3. or other. - - 8^1. sate. - - 9^1. is the. - - 10^4. yeoman. - - 16^4. yeomen three. - - 17^1. gone _for_ field. - - 20^4. must I needs. - - 23^3. shoot. - - 24^4. On _for_ Of. - - 25^4. sprangst from Gowries. - - 30^3. Sadlock. - - 30^4. whose this money must be. 31^1. the kings. - - 31^4. thy knee. - - 32^3. to _wanting_. - - 35^2. crave that on. - - 39^4. have bet. - - 40^1. on _for_ one. - - 40^4. yeomen three. - -#d.# - - 3^3. unto her lovely. - - 3^4. Patrington. - - 13^4. to _for_ unto. - - 14^4. his _wanting_. - - 16^4. yeomen three. - - 24^4. On _for_ Of. - - 25^4. sprangst. - - 31^1. the kings. - - 31^4. thy knee. - - 35^2. crave that on. - - 36^4. welcome every one. - - 39^1. quoth _for_ said. - - 39^4. not bet. - - 40^1. on _for_ one. - - 40^4. yeomen three. - -#e.# - - London, Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere & J. Wright. (1655–80.) - - 3^4. Patrington. - - 7^3. calld. - - 8^1. sate. - - 8^3. thy cause. - - 10^1. betimes. - - 16^4. good _wanting_: yeomen three. - - 17^2. gallant ray. - - 19^2. needs _for_ now. - - 20^2. runs. - - 22^3. quoth _for_ said. - - 31^1. the kings. - - 31^3. shoot. - - 31^4. thy knee. - - 35^2. that _wanting_. - - 38^3. the _wanting_. - - 39^3. I thought it had. - - 39^4. not bet. - - 40^4. yeomen three. - - 42^2. may not. - -#f.# - - _In the title_: being an outlaw man (hee _wanting_): how he _for_ - how shee. - - Printed for J. W[right], J. C[larke], W. T[hackeray], and T. - Passenger. (1670–86?) - - 3^3. unto her lovely. - - 3^4. Parington. - - 4^1. Come thou: my _for_ thou. - - 4^3. now _for_ post. - - 5^2. woods. - - 6^2. wen. - - 7^3. bottle. - - 7^4. drinks. - - 8^1. sate. - - 8^3. or thy. - - 10^1. betimes. - - 11^1. to _for_ at. - - 13^2. the _wanting_. - - 13^4. to _for_ unto. - - 14^2. It was. - - 16^4. thy yeomandree. - - 17^1. is gone to. - - 17^2. array. - - 18^4. must be. - - 20^4. to the. - - 23^1. lead. - - 23^2. Till it. - - 24^2. crave it. - - 24^3. ever a _for_ any. - - 24^4. side _for_ part. - - 25^4. sprangest. - - 28^3. then said the bishop. - - 29^1. in it said. - - 30^3. Will. - - 31^1. the kings. - - 31^4. thy knee. - - 32^4. part _wanting_. - - 35^2. crave it. - - 35^3. would _for_ will. - - 36^4. welcome every one. - - 37^3. And so. - - 38^1. said now. - - 39^1. quoth _for_ said. - - 39^3. it had. - - 39^4. not a bet. - - 40^1. on Saturday night. - - 40^4. yeomen three. - - 41^1. then says. - - 42^2. may not. - -#C.# - - Robin Hood, Scarlet and John: Wherein you may see how Robin Hood, - having lived an out-law many years, the Queen sent for him, and - shooting a match before the King and Queen at London, and - winning the rich prize, the Queen gained his pardon, and he was - afterwards Earl of Huntington. - - To the tune of The Pinder of Wakefield. - - 20^3. what or. - - 26^1. archers. - - 27^3. yonng. - - 28^3. Katheline. - - 30^{1,3}. qd. - - - - - 146 - - ROBIN HOOD’S CHASE - - #a.# Garland of 1663, No 15. - - #b.# Garland of 1670, No 14. - - #c.# Wood, 401, leaf 29 b. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 104, No 91. - - -Roxburghe, III, 14, 418; Douce, III, 121 b, London, by L. How, an -eighteenth-century copy. #c# is signed T. R., and has no printer’s name. - -Reprinted in Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 92, from #c#. Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 156, agrees nearly with the Aldermary garland. - -Robin Hood’s Chase is a sequel to Robin Hood and Queen Katherine, and -begins with a summary of that ballad. King Henry, who has been gracious, -and over-gracious, to the outlaw, has a revulsion of feeling after Robin -has left his presence, and sets out in pursuit of him. When the king -reaches Nottingham, Robin leaves Sherwood for Yorkshire, whence he -speeds successively to Newcastle, Berwick, Carlisle, Lancaster, Chester, -the king always following him close. At Chester the happy idea occurs to -him of going back to London, as if to inquire whether he were wanted. -Queen Katherine informs Robin that the king has gone to Sherwood to seek -him, and Robin says he will return to the forest immediately to learn -the king’s will. King Henry, coming home weary and vexed, is told by his -queen that Robin has been there to seek him. A cunning knave, quoth the -king. The queen intercedes for Robin. - -This is a well-conceived ballad, and only needs to be older. - - -Translated by A. Grün, p. 169, with omission of stanzas 1–7, 24. - - - 1 - Come you gallants all, to you I do call, - With a hey down down a down down - That now is within this place, - For a song I will sing of Henry the king, - How he did Robin Hood chase. - - 2 - Queen Katherine she a match then did make, - As plainly doth appear, - For three hundred tun of good red wine, - And three hundred tun of beer. - - 3 - But yet her archers she had to seek, - With their bows and arrows so good; - But her mind it was bent, with a good intent, - To send for bold Robin Hood. - - 4 - But when bold Robin Hood he came there, - Queen Katherine she did say, - Thou art welcome, Locksley, said the queen, - And all thy yeomen gay. - - 5 - For a match at shooting I have made, - And thou my part must be: - ‘If I miss the mark, be it light or dark, - Then hanged I will be.’ - - 6 - But when the game came to be playd, - Bold Robin he then drew nigh; - With his mantle of green, most brave to be seen, - He let his arrows fly. - - 7 - And when the game it ended was, - Bold Robin wan it with a grace, - But after, the king was angry with him, - And vowed he would him chase. - - 8 - What though his pardon granted was - While he with them did stay, - But yet the king was vexed at him - When as he was gone his way. - - 9 - Soon after the king from the court did hie, - In a furious angry mood, - And often enquire, both far and near, - After bold Robin Hood. - - 10 - But when the king to Nottingham came, - Bold Robin was then in the wood; - ‘O come now,’ said he, ‘and let me see - Who can find me bold Robin Hood.’ - - 11 - But when that Robin Hood he did hear - The king had him in chase, - Then said Little John, Tis time to be gone, - And go to some other place. - - 12 - Then away they went from merry Sherwood, - And into Yorkshire he did hie, - And the king did follow, with a hoop and a hallow, - But could not come him nigh. - - 13 - Yet jolly Robin he passed along, - He [went] straight to Newcastle town, - And there stayed he hours two or three, - And then he for Berwick was gone. - - 14 - When the king he did see how Robin did flee, - He was vexed wondrous sore; - With a hoop and a hallow he vowed to follow, - And take him, or never give ore. - - 15 - ‘Come now, let’s away,’ then cries Little John, - ‘Let any man follow that dare; - To Carlile wee’l hie with our company, - And so then to Lancaster.’ - - 16 - From Lancaster then to Chester they went, - And so did king Henery; - But Robin away, for he durst not stay, - For fear of some treachery. - - 17 - Saies Robin, Come, let us to London go, - To see our noble queens face; - It may be she wants our company, - Which makes the king so us chase. - - 18 - When Robin he came Queen Katherine before, - He fell upon his knee: - ‘If it please your Grace, I am come to this place, - To speak with king Henery.’ - - 19 - Queen Katherine she answered bold Robin again, - The king is gone to merry Sherwood; - And when he went he to me did say - He would go seek Robin Hood. - - 20 - ‘Then fare you well, my gracious queen, - For to Sherwood I will hie apace; - For fain would I see what he would with me, - If I could but meet with his Grace.’ - - 21 - But when King Henery he came home, - Full weary, and vexed in mind, - When he did hear Robin had been there, - He blamed Dame Fortune unkind. - - 22 - ‘You are welcome home,’ Queen Katherine cried, - ‘Henry, my soveraign liege; - Bold Robin Hood, that archer good, - Your person hath been to seek.’ - - 23 - But when King Henry he did hear - That Robin had been there him to seek, - This answer he gave, He’s a cunning knave, - For I have sought him this whole three weeks. - - 24 - ‘A boon! a boon!’ Queen Katherine cried, - ‘I beg it here on your Grace, - To pardon his life, and seek no more strife:’ - And so endeth Robin Hoods chase. - - * * * * * - -#a#, #b#, #c#. - - Robin Hood’s Chase: or, A merry progress between Robin Hood and - King Henry, shewing how Robin Hood led the King his chase from - London to London, and when he had taken his leave of the Queen - he returned to merry Sherwood. - - To the tune of Robin Hood and the Begger. - -#a.# - - _Burden_: _variously printed_ With a hey, etc., With hey, etc.; - _twice_ Down a down a down. - - 5^{2,3}. Robin _between the lines, to show that what follows is - his speech. So #b#, #c#. In #d#_ Robin _stands at the head of - the third line_. - - 21^3. But when: _so_ #b#, #c#. - - 23^4, 3 weeks. - -#b.# - - _Burden_: With hey, etc., _or_, With a hey, etc. - - 2^1. she then a match. - - 3^1. she had her archers. - - 6^1. game it. - - 7^2. a _wanting_. - - 10^2. then _wanting_. - - 11^1. that bold. - - 13^2. went _wanting_. - - 14^4. and _for_ or. - - 15^1. cry’d. - - 16^2. good King Henry. - - 18^4. Henry. - - 21^3. But when. - - 23^2. there _wanting_. - - 23^4. 3 weeks. - - 24^2. here on my knee. - -#c.# - - _Signed_ T. R. _No printer._ - - _Burden_: With hey down down an a down. - - 2^4. hundred _wanting_. - - 3^3. it _wanting_. - - 5^1. of _for_ at. - - 6^1. it came. - - 8^3. after _for_ yet. - - 10^2. then _wanting_. - - 13^2. went _wanting_. - - 16^2, 18^4, 21^1. Henry. - - 16^3. to stay. - - 18^2. fell low. - - 18^4. For to. - - 21^3. But when. - - 22^2. leech. - - 23^4. 3 weeks. - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, #b#, #c#, _except_: The tune is. - - Printed for William Thackeray at the Angel in Duck-Lane. (1689.) - - _Burden_: With hey down down a down. - - 2^1. then a match did. - - 3^1. yet she had her archers. - - 5^1. of _for_ at. - - 5^2. on my. - - 5^4. will I. - - 6^2. he _wanting_. - - 7^2. a _wanting_. - - 8^4. had _for_ was. - - 10^2. O bold: then _wanting_. - - 10^3. Come said he. - - 11^1. that bold Robin he. - - 13^2. And went strait. - - 13^3. he stayed. - - 13^4, 14^1. he _wanting_. - - 14^4. gave. - - 15^1. than said Little. - - 16^2, 18^4, 21^1. Henry. - - 17^1. for London. - - 18^2. fell low. - - 18^4. For to. - - 19^3. he _wanting_. - - 19^4. go to. - - 20^3. what he’d have. - - 21^3. And that he. - - 22^1. You’re. - - 23^2. there _wanting_. - - 23^3. He is a. - - 23^4. 3 week. - - 24^2. of your. - - - - - 147 - - ROBIN HOOD’S GOLDEN PRIZE - - #a.# Wood, 401, leaf 39 b. - - #b.# Garland of 1663, No 14. - - #c.# Garland of 1670, No 13. - - #d.# Pepys, II, 114, No 101. - - -Also Roxburghe, III, 12, 486; Old Ballads, 1723, II, 121; Douce, III, -121, London, by L. How, of the last century. - -Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 97, from #a#, with changes. Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 160, agrees nearly with the Aldermary garland. - -Entered, says Ritson, in the Stationers’ book, by Francis Grove, 2d -June, 1656.[118] Being directed to be sung to the tune “R. H. was a tall -young man,” that is, R. H.’s Progress to Nottingham, this ballad is the -later of the two. - -Robin Hood, disguised as a friar, asks charity of two priests. They -pretend to have been robbed, and not to have a penny. Robin pulls them -from their horses, saying, Since you have no money, we will pray for -some, and keeps them at their prayers for an hour. Now, he says, we will -see what heaven has sent us; but the monks can find nothing in their -pockets. We must search one another, Robin says, and beginning the -operation finds five hundred pounds on the monks. Of this he gives fifty -pounds to each of the priests to pay for their prayers, keeping the -remainder. The priests would now move on, but Robin requires three oaths -of them, of truth, chastity and charity, before he lets them go. - -The kernel of the story is an old tale which we find represented in -Pauli’s Schimpf und Ernst, 1533, Österley, p. 397, Anhang, No 14, ‘Wie -drey lantzknecht vmb ein zerung batten.’ Three soldiers, out of service, -meet the cellarer of a rich Benedictine cloister, who has a bag hanging -at his saddle-bow, with four hundred ducats in it. They ask for some -money, for God’s sake and good fellowship’s. The cellarer answers that -he has no money: there is nothing but letters in his bag. Then, since we -all four are without money, they say, we will kneel down and pray for -some. After a brief orison, the three jump up, search the bag, and find -four hundred ducats. The cellarer offers them a handsome douceur, and -says he had the money in the bag before; but to this they will give no -credence. They give the monk his share of one hundred, and thank God -devoutly for his grace. Retold by Waldis, with a supplement, Esopus, IV, -21, ed. Kurz, II, 64; and by others, see Oesterley’s notes, p. 552, -Kurz’s, p. 156. - -#a# seems to be signed L. P., and these would most naturally be the -initials of the versifier. - - -Translated by Doenniges, p. 198, by Anastasius Grün, p. 131. - - - 1 - I have heard talk of bold Robin Hood, - Derry derry down - And of brave Little John, - Of Fryer Tuck, and Will Scarlet, - Loxley, and Maid Marion. - Hey down derry derry down - - 2 - But such a tale as this before - I think there was never none; - For Robin Hood disguised himself, - And to the wood is gone. - - 3 - Like to a fryer, bold Robin Hood - Was accoutered in his array; - With hood, gown, beads and crucifix, - He past upon the way. - - 4 - He had not gone [past] miles two or three, - But it was his chance to spy - Two lusty priests, clad all in black, - Come riding gallantly. - - 5 - ‘Benedicete,’ then said Robin Hood, - ‘Some pitty on me take; - Cross you my hand with a silver groat, - For Our dear Ladies sake. - - 6 - ‘For I have been wandring all this day, - And nothing could I get; - Not so much as one poor cup of drink, - Nor bit of bread to eat.’ - - 7 - ‘Now, by my holydame,’ the priests repli’d, - ‘We never a peny have; - For we this morning have been robd, - And could no mony save.’ - - 8 - ‘I am much afraid,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘That you both do tell a lye; - And now before that you go hence, - I am resolvd to try.’ - - 9 - When as the priests heard him say so, - Then they rode away amain; - But Robin Hood betook him to his heels, - And soon overtook them again. - - 10 - Then Robin Hood laid hold of them both, - And pulld them down from their horse: - ‘O spare us, fryer!’ the priests cry’d out, - ‘On us have some remorse!’ - - 11 - ‘You said you had no mony,’ quoth he, - ‘Wherefore, without delay, - We three will fall down on our knees, - And for mony we will pray.’ - - 12 - The priests they could not him gainsay, - But down they kneeled with speed; - ‘Send us, O send us,’ then quoth they, - ‘Some mony to serve our need.’ - - 13 - The priests did pray with mournful chear, - Sometimes their hands did wring, - Sometimes they wept and cried aloud, - Whilst Robin did merrily sing. - - 14 - When they had been praying an hours space, - The priests did still lament; - Then quoth bold Robin, Now let’s see - What mony heaven hath us sent. - - 15 - We will be sharers now all alike - Of the mony that we have; - And there is never a one of us - That his fellows shall deceive. - - 16 - The priests their hands in their pockets put, - But mony would find none: - ‘We’l search our selves,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Each other, one by one.’ - - 17 - Then Robin Hood took pains to search them both, - And he found good store of gold; - Five hundred peeces presently - Vpon the grass was told. - - 18 - ‘Here is a brave show,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Such store of gold to see, - And you shall each one have a part, - Cause you prayed so heartily.’ - - 19 - He gave them fifty pound a-peece, - And the rest for himself did keep; - The priests durst not speak one word, - But they sighed wondrous deep. - - 20 - With that the priests rose up from their knees, - Thinking to have parted so; - ‘Nay, stay,’ said Robin Hood, ‘one thing more - I have to say ere you go. - - 21 - ‘You shall be sworn,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘Vpon this holy grass, - That you will never tell lies again, - Which way soever you pass. - - 22 - ‘The second oath that you here must take, - All the days of your lives - You never shall tempt maids to sin, - Nor lye with other mens wives. - - 23 - ‘The last oath you shall take, it is this, - Be charitable to the poor; - Say you have met with a holy fryer, - And I desire no more.’ - - 24 - He set them upon their horses again, - And away then they did ride; - And hee returnd to the merry green-wood, - With great joy, mirth and pride. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - Robin Hoods Golden Prize. - - He met two priests upon the way, - And forced them with him to pray. - For gold they prayed, and gold they had, - Enough to make bold Robin glad. - His share came to four hundred pound, - That then was told upon the ground; - Now mark, and you shall hear the jest; - You never heard the like exprest. - - Tune is, Robin Hood was a tall young man. - - London, Printed for F. Grove on Snow-hill. Entred according to - order. Finis, L. P. F. Grove’s _date, according to Mr Chappell, - is 1620–55. Ritson says that the ballad was entered in the - Stationers’ book by_ Francis Grove, 2d June, 1656. - -#b.# - - Robin Hoods Golden Prize: Shewing how he robbed two priests of - five hundred pound. The tune is, Robin Hood was a tall young - man. - - 4^1. gone past. - - 6^1. all the. - - 7^1. holy dame: priest. - - 9^2. Then _wanting_. - - 10^1. hold on. - - 13^1. with a. - - 15^4. fellow. - - 17^4. he _for_ was. - - 18^4. For praying so. - - 19^1. pounds. - - 19^3. not to. - - 23^1. it _wanting_. - -#c.# - - _Title the same_: _except_, Tune is. - - 2^4. he is. - - 4^1. gone past. - - 7^1. holy dame. - - 9^2. Then _wanting_. - - 10^1. holt of. - - 13^1. with a. - - 15^1. now _wanting_. - - 15^4. fellow. - - 17^1. pain: both _wanting_. - - 18^3. each one shall. - - 19^1. pounds. - - 24^1. upon _wanting_. - -#d.# - - Title as in #c#. Printed for William Thackeray at the Angel in - Duck-lane. (1689.) - - 1^1. bold _wanting_. - - 2^2. think was never known. - - 4^1. gone past. - - 7^1. holy dame. - - 8^3. before you do go. - - 9^1. so say. - - 10^1. hold on. - - 11^1. you’d: quoth Robin Hood. - - 12^2. kneel. - - 13^1. with a. - - 14^3. let us. - - 15^1. now _wanting_. - - 15^2. the _wanting_. - - 15^4. fellow. - - 16^2. could. - - 17^1. pain: both _wanting_. - - 17^4. he _for_ was. - - 18^3. each one shall. - - 19^1. pounds. - - 19^2. doth _for_ did. - - 20^1. up _wanting_. - - 22^3. unto sin. - - 23^3. with _wanting_. - - 24^1. on _for_ upon. - - - - - 148 - - THE NOBLE FISHERMAN, OR, ROBIN HOOD’S PREFERMENT - - #a.# Wood, 402, p. 18. #b.# Wood, 401, leaf 25 b. #c.# Garland of - 1663, No 12. #d.# Garland of 1670, No 11. #e.# Rawlinson, 566. #f.# - Pepys, II, 108, No 95. #g.# Pepys, II, 123, No 108. - - -Also Roxburghe, II, 370, III, 524; The Noble Fisherman’s Garland, 1686; -Bagford, 643. m. 10, 22. - -‘The Noble Ffisherman, or, Robin Hoods great Prize’ is receipted for to -Francis Coules in the Stationers’ Registers, June 13, 1631: Arber, IV, -254. - -Ritson, Robin Hood, II, 110, 1795, “from three old black-letter copies, -one in the collection of Anthony a Wood, another in the British Museum, -and the third in a private collection.” Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, -I, 171, from an Aldermary garland. - -Robin Hood is here made to try his fortunes on the sea, like Eustace the -Monk and Wallace. He goes to Scarborough and gives himself out as a -fisherman, and is engaged as such by a widow with whom he lodges, who is -the owner of a ship. Out of his wantonness, rather than his ignorance, -we must suppose, Simon, as he calls himself, when others cast baited -hooks into the water, casts in bare lines; for which he is laughed to -scorn. A French cruiser bears down on the fishermen, and the master -gives up all for lost. Simon asks for his bow; not a Frenchman will he -spare. The master, not strangely, takes such talk for brag. Simon -requests to be tied to a mast, ‘that at his mark he may stand fair,’ and -to have his bow in his hand, when never a Frenchman will he spare. He -shoots one of the enemy through the heart, and then asks to be loosed -and to have his bow in his hand, when, again, never a Frenchman will he -spare. The Englishmen board, and find a booty of twelve thousand pound. -Simon announces that he shall give half the ship to the dame who -employed him, and the other half to his comrades. The master objects; -Simon has won the vessel with his own hand (a point which might have -been made more distinctly to appear in the narrative), and he shall have -her. But the outlaw afloat has still his munificent old ways; so it -shall be as to the ship, and the twelve thousand pound shall build an -asylum ‘for the opprest’! All this may strike us as infantile, but the -ballad was evidently in great favor two hundred years ago. - - -Translated (not entirely) by A. Grün, p. 295. - - - 1 - In summer time, when leaves grow green, - When they doe grow both green and long, - Of a bould outlaw, calld Robin Hood, - It is of him I sing this song. - - 2 - When the lilly leafe and the elephant - Doth bud and spring with a merry good cheere, - This outlaw was weary of the wood-side, - And chasing of the fallow deere. - - 3 - ‘The fishermen brave more mony have - Then any merchant, two or three; - Therefore I will to Scarborough goe, - That I a fisherman brave may be.’ - - 4 - This outlaw calld his merry men all, - As they sate under the green-wood tree: - ‘If any of you have gold to spend, - I pray you heartily spend it with me. - - 5 - ‘Now,’ quoth Robin, ‘I’le to Scarborough goe, - It seemes to be a very faire day;’ - Who tooke up his inne at a widdow-womans house, - Hard by upon the water gray. - - 6 - Who asked of him, Where wert thou borne? - Or tell to me, where dost thou fare? - ‘I am a poore fisherman,’ saith he then, - ‘This day intrapped all in care.’ - - 7 - ‘What is thy name, thou fine fellow? - I pray thee heartily tell to me;’ - ‘In mine own country where I was borne, - Men called me Simon over the Lee.’ - - 8 - ‘Simon, Simon,’ said the good wife, - ‘I wish thou maist well brook thy name;’ - The outlaw was ware of her courtesie, - And rejoycd he had got such a dame. - - 9 - ‘Simon, wilt thou be my man? - And good round wages I’le give thee; - I have as good a ship of mine owne - As any sayle upon the sea. - - 10 - ‘Anchors and planks thou shalt want none, - Masts and ropes that are so long;’ - ‘And if that you thus furnish me,’ - Said Simon, ‘nothing shall goe wrong.’ - - 11 - They pluckt up anchor, and away did sayle, - More of a day then two or three; - When others cast in their baited hooks, - The bare lines into the sea cast he. - - 12 - ‘It will be long,’ said the master then, - ‘Ere this great lubber do thrive on the sea; - I’le assure you he shall have no part of our fish, - For in truth he is of no part worthy.’ - - 13 - ‘O woe is me,’ said Simon then, - ‘This day that ever I came here! - I wish I were in Plomton Parke, - In chasing of the fallow deere. - - 14 - ‘For every clowne laughs me to scorne, - And they by me set nought at all; - If I had them in Plomton Park, - I would set as little by them all.’ - - 15 - They pluckt up anchor, and away did sayle, - More of a day then two or three; - But Simon spied a ship of warre, - That sayld towards them most valourously. - - 16 - ‘O woe is me,’ said the master then, - ‘This day that ever I was borne! - For all our fish we have got to-day - Is every bit lost and forlorne. - - 17 - ‘For your French robbers on the sea, - They will not spare of us one man, - But carry us to the coast of France, - And ligge us in the prison strong.’ - - 18 - But Simon said, Doe not feare them, - Neither, master, take you no care; - Give me my bent bow in my hand, - And never a Frenchman will I spare. - - 19 - ‘Hold thy peace, thou long lubber, - For thou art nought but braggs and boast; - If I should cast the over-board, - There were nothing but a lubber lost.’ - - 20 - Simon grew angry at these words, - And so angry then was he - That he tooke his bent bow in his hand, - And to the ship-hatch goe doth he. - - 21 - ‘Master, tye me to the mast,’ saith he, - ‘That at my mark I may stand fair, - And give me my bended bow in my hand, - And never a Frenchman will I spare.’ - - 22 - He drew his arrow to the very head, - And drew it with all might and maine, - And straightway, in the twinkling of an eye, - Doth the Frenchmans heart the arow gain. - - 23 - The Frenchman fell downe on the ship-hatch, - And under the hatches down below; - Another Frenchman that him espy’d - The dead corps into the sea doth throw. - - 24 - ‘O master, loose me from the mast,’ he said, - ‘And for them all take you no care, - And give me my bent bow in my hand, - And never a Frenchman will I spare.’ - - 25 - Then streight [they] did board the Frenchmans ship, - They lying all dead in their sight; - They found within the ship of warre - Twelve thousand pound of money bright. - - 26 - ‘The one halfe of the ship,’ said Simon then, - ‘I’le give to my dame and children small; - The other halfe of the ship I’le bestow - On you that are my fellowes all.’ - - 27 - But now bespake the master then, - For so, Simon, it shall not be; - For you have won her with your own hand, - And the owner of it you shall bee. - - 28 - ‘It shall be so, as I have said; - And, with this gold, for the opprest - An habitation I will build, - Where they shall live in peace and rest.’ - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - The Noble Fisher-man, or, Robin Hoods Preferment: shewing how he - won a great prize on the sea, and how he gave the one halfe to - his dame and the other to the building of almes-houses. - - The tune is, In summer time. - - London, Printed for F. Coles, in the Old Baily. (1631?) - - 3^1. fisher-man, _which perhaps should stand_. - - 5^1. with _for_ quoth. - - 20^4. hatchs. - - 21^2. fare. - - 22^4. Frenchman. - - 23^1. fell owne. - - 25^2. lyin. - - 28^2. for thee. - -#b.# - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_: won a prize, gave one half. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson. (1648–63?) - - 2^1. Clephant. - - 2^2. good _wanting_. - - 3^1. fisherman. - - 3^3. will I. - - 5^1. with _for_ quoth. - - 12^4. of _wanting_. - - 14^2. set nothing. - - 16^3. fish that we have got: to-day _wanting_. - - 17^1. For yon. - - 19^4. There’s but a simple. - - 20^4. ship-hatch. - - 21^1. mast he said. - - 21^2. fare. - - 21^3. bent. - - 22^4. Frenchmans. - - 23^1. downe. - - 25^1. streight they boarded the French ship. - - 25^2. lying. - - 25^4. in mony. - - 26^3. of my ship I’le give. - - 26^4. To you. - - 27^3. hands. - - 27^4. must be. - - 28^2. for thee. - -#c#, #d#. - - _Title as in_ #a#, _except_: won a prize, gave one. - - The tune is, Summer time. - - 2^2. good _wanting_. - - 3^1. fisher men. - - 3^2. Than. - - 5^1. Now quoth. - - 6^2. #c#, thou dost. - - 6^3. said. - - 6^4. #d#, cares. - - 7^4. call. - - 9^4. sails. - - 11^2. #d#, than. - - 12^3. you _wanting_. - - 12^4. of _wanting_. - - 14^2. set nothing. - - 15^2. than. - - 15^4. most _wanting_. - - 16^3. fish that we have got: to-day _wanting_. - - 17^1. yon: robber. - - 18^2. you any. - - 19^4. There’s but a simple. - - 20^4. shiphatch. - - 21^1. mast he said. - - 21^2. fair. - - 21^3. bent. - - 21^4. #d#, a _wanting_. - - 22^4. Frenchmans. - - 23^1. down. - - 24^1. #c#, mast side. - - 25^1. they boarded the French ship. - - 25^2. lying. - - 25^4. in _for_ of. - - 26^3. of my ship I’le give. - - 26^4. To you. - - 27^1. #c#, But _wanting_. - - 27^3. hands. - - 27^4. you must: #d#, of you it. - - 28^2. for the. - -#e.# - - _Title as in #b#. Variations found also in #b# are not given._ - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright, and J. Clarke. - (1650–80?) - - 5^1. Now quoth. - - 5^4. waters. - - 6^1. of _wanting_. - - 9^4. sails. - - 15^3. espy’d. - - 17^4. And lay. - - 18^2. any _for_ no. - - 23^3. that him did espy. - -#f.# - - _Title as in_ #b.# - - Printed for Alex. Milbourn, Will. Ownley, Tho. Thackeray at the - Angel in Duck-lane. (_Date indeterminable: after 1670._) - - 1^2. doe _wanting_. - - 1^4. my song. - - 2^2. good _wanting_. - - 3^1. fishermen. - - 3^2. merchants. - - 3^4. fisherman might be. - - 4^3. If you have any. - - 5^1. Now quoth Robin Hood. - - 5^4. waters. - - 6^1. of _wanting_. - - 6^3. said. - - 7^2. tell it. - - 7^4. call. - - 9^2. I will. - - 9^3. of my. - - 9^4. sails. - - 10^1. shalt not want. - - 10^3. that _wanting_. - - 12^3. you _wanting_. - - 12^4. of _wanting_. - - 14^2. set nothing. - - 15^3. espyed. - - 15^4. most _wanting_. - - 16^3. fish that we have got. - - 17^1. robber. - - 17^4. And lay. - - 18^2. you any. - - 19^4. There’s but a simple lubber lost. - - 20^4. And in. - - 21^1. saith he _wanting_. - - 21^2. fair. - - 21^3. bent. - - 22^4. Frenchmans. - - 23^1. ship-catch: _so_ #g#. - - 23^2. there below. - - 25^1. Then they boarded the French: _so_ #g#. - - 25^4. in _for_ of. - - 26^3. other part: I’le give. - - 26^4. To you. - - 27^3. hands. - - 27^4. owner thereof you must. - - 28^2. for the. - -#g.# - - _Title as in_ #b#. - - Printed for I. Wright, I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger. - (1670–86?) - - _Agrees generally with_ #f#. - - 17^1. For yon. - - - - - 149 - - ROBIN HOOD’S BIRTH, BREEDING, VALOR AND MARRIAGE - - #a.# Roxburghe, I, 360, in The Ballad Society’s reprint, II, 440. - - #b.# Pepys, II, 116, No 103. #c.# Pepys, II, 118, No 104. - - -Printed in Dryden’s Miscellany, VI, 346, ed. 1716; A Collection of Old -Ballads, 1723, I, 64; Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1795, II, 1 (#a#); Evans, Old -Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 86. - -The jocular author of this ballad, who would certainly have been -diverted by any one’s supposing him to write under the restraints of -tradition, brings Adam Bell, Clim, and Cloudesly into company with Robin -Hood’s father. So again the silly Second Part of Adam Bell in one of the -copies, that of 1616. Robin Hood’s father’s bow, st. 3, carried two -north-country miles and an inch. The son, then, was only half his -father, though, in Ritson’s words, “Robin Hood and Little John have -frequently shot an arrow a measured mile.” - -Robin Hood’s mother was niece to Guy of Warwick, and sister to Gamwel of -Gamwel Hall. In Robin Hood newly Revived, Young Gamwel is Robin Hood’s -sister’s son. According to this ballad, Robin Hood goes with his mother -to keep Christmas with old Gamwell, his uncle, whose seat is forty miles -from Locksly town. Little John is a member of the household, a fine lad -at gambols and juggling, and twenty such tricks. Robin Hood, however, -puts Little John down in this way, and everybody else. His uncle is so -much pleased that he tells Robin he shall be his heir, and no more go -home. Robin asks the boon that Little John may be his page. All the -while, for how long we know not, Robin Hood has had his band of yeomen -in Sherwood. Thither he goes (the time is not specified, but birds are -singing in st. 50), and while he is collecting his men, Clorinda, queen -of the shepherds and archeress, passes, and arrests his attention. The -favorable impression which she makes at first sight is confirmed by her -presently shooting a deer through side and side. Robin takes her to his -bower for a refection, which is served by four-and-twenty yeomen. She -inquires his name; he gives it, and asks her to be his bride. After a -blush and a pause, Clorinda says, With all my heart, and it is no wonder -that Robin proposes to send for a priest immediately. Clorinda is, -however, engaged to go to Titbury feast, whither she invites Robin to -keep her company. On the way he has an affray with eight yeomen, who bid -him hand over the buck which Clorinda had killed, and which he is -somehow taking along with him. With Little John’s help, five of the -eight are killed; the rest are spared. A bull-baiting is going on at -Titbury, which one wonders that a person of Clorinda’s imputed “wisdom -and modesty” should care for; but somehow Clorinda throws off her -dignity in the 45th stanza. After dinner the parson is sent for, the -marriage ceremony is performed, and Robin and Clorinda return to -Sherwood. - -The author of this ballad (“the most beautiful and one of the oldest -extant” of the series, says the editor of the collection of 1723) knew -nothing of the Earl of Huntington and Matilda Fitzwater, but represents -Robin Hood as the son of a forester. In everything except keeping Robin -a yeoman, he writes “as the world were now but to begin, antiquity -forgot, custom not known;” but poets in his day, to quote the critic of -1723, “were looked upon like other Englishmen, born to live and write -with freedom.” - -Concerning the bull-running at Tutbury, or Stutesbury, Staffordshire (a -hideously brutal custom, of long standing), a compendium of antiquarian -information is given by Gutch, II, 118. Arthur a Bradley, a rollicking -ballad of a Merry Wedding, mentioned in stanza 46, is printed by Ritson, -Robin Hood, 1795, II, 210. - - - 1 - Kind gentlemen, will you be patient awhile? - Ay, and then you shall hear anon - A very good ballad of bold Robin Hood, - And of his man, brave Little John. - - 2 - In Locksly town, in Nottinghamshire, - In merry sweet Locksly town, - There bold Robin Hood he was born and was bred, - Bold Robin of famous renown. - - 3 - The father of Robin a forrester was, - And he shot in a lusty long bow, - Two north country miles and an inch at a shot, - As the Pinder of Wakefield does know. - - 4 - For he brought Adam Bell, and Clim of the Clugh, - And William a Clowdesle - To shoot with our forrester for forty mark, - And the forrester beat them all three. - - 5 - His mother was neece to the Coventry knight, - Which Warwickshire men call Sir Guy; - For he slew the blue bore that hangs up at the gate, - Or mine host of The Bull tells a lye. - - 6 - Her brother was Gamwel, of Great Gamwel Hall, - And a noble house-keeper was he, - Ay, as ever broke bread in sweet Nottinghamshire, - And a squire of famous degree. - - 7 - The mother of Robin said to her husband, - My honey, my love, and my dear, - Let Robin and I ride this morning to Gamwel, - To taste of my brothers good cheer. - - 8 - And he said, I grant thee thy boon, gentle Joan, - Take one of my horses, I pray; - The sun is a rising, and therefore make haste, - For to-morrow is Christmas-day. - - 9 - Then Robin Hoods fathers grey gelding was brought, - And sadled and bridled was he; - God wot, a blew bonnet, his new suit of cloaths, - And a cloak that did reach to his knee. - - 10 - She got on her holiday kirtle and gown, - They were of a light Lincoln green; - The cloath was homespun, but for colour and make - It might a beseemed our queen. - - 11 - And then Robin got on his basket-hilt sword, - And his dagger on his tother side, - And said, My dear mother, let’s haste to be gone, - We have forty long miles to ride. - - 12 - When Robin had mounted his gelding so grey, - His father, without any trouble, - Set her up behind him, and bad her not fear, - For his gelding had oft carried double. - - 13 - And when she was settled, they rode to their neighbours, - And drank and shook hands with them all; - And then Robin gallopt, and never gave ore, - Till they lighted at Gamwel Hall. - - 14 - And now you may think the right worshipful squire - Was joyful his sister to see; - For he kist her and kist her, and swore a great oath, - Thou art welcome, kind sister, to me. - - 15 - To-morrow, when mass had been said in the chappel, - Six tables were coverd in the hall, - And in comes the squire, and makes a short speech, - It was, Neighbours, you’re welcome all. - - 16 - But not a man here shall taste my March beer, - Till a Christmas carrol he sing: - Then all clapt their hands, and they shouted and sung, - Till the hall and the parlour did ring. - - 17 - Now mustard and braun, roast beef and plumb pies, - Were set upon every table: - And noble George Gamwel said, Eat and be merry, - And drink too, as long as you’re able. - - 18 - When dinner was ended, his chaplain said grace, - And, ‘Be merry, my friends,’ said the squire; - ‘It rains, and it blows, but call for more ale, - And lay some more wood on the fire. - - 19 - ‘And now call ye Little John hither to me, - For Little John is a fine lad - At gambols and juggling, and twenty such tricks - As shall make you merry and glad.’ - - 20 - When Little John came, to gambols they went, - Both gentleman, yeoman and clown; - And what do you think? Why, as true as I live, - Bold Robin Hood put them all down. - - 21 - And now you may think the right worshipful squire - Was joyful this sight for to see; - For he said, Cousin Robin, thou’st go no more home, - But tarry and dwell here with me. - - 22 - Thou shalt have my land when I dye, and till then - Thou shalt be the staff of my age; - ‘Then grant me my boon, dear uncle,’ said Robin, - ‘That Little John may be my page.’ - - 23 - And he said, Kind cousin, I grant thee thy boon; - With all my heart, so let it be; - ‘Then come hither, Little John,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Come hither, my page, unto me. - - 24 - ‘Go fetch me my bow, my longest long bow, - And broad arrows, one, two, or three; - For when it is fair weather we’ll into Sherwood, - Some merry pastime to see.’ - - 25 - When Robin Hood came into merry Sherwood, - He winded his bugle so clear, - And twice five and twenty good yeomen and bold - Before Robin Hood did appear. - - 26 - ‘Where are your companions all?’ said Robin Hood, - ‘For still I want forty and three;’ - Then said a bold yeoman, Lo, yonder they stand, - All under a green-wood tree. - - 27 - As that word was spoke, Clorinda came by; - The queen of the shepherds was she; - And her gown was of velvet as green as the grass, - And her buskin did reach to her knee. - - 28 - Her gait it was graceful, her body was straight, - And her countenance free from pride; - A bow in her hand, and quiver and arrows - Hung dangling by her sweet side. - - 29 - Her eye-brows were black, ay, and so was her hair, - And her skin was as smooth as glass; - Her visage spoke wisdom, and modesty too; - Sets with Robin Hood such a lass! - - 30 - Said Robin Hood, Lady fair, whither away? - O whither, fair lady, away? - And she made him answer, To kill a fat buck; - For to-morrow is Titbury day. - - 31 - Said Robin Hood, Lady fair, wander with me - A little to yonder green bower; - There sit down to rest you, and you shall be sure - Of a brace or a lease in an hour. - - 32 - And as we were going towards the green bower, - Two hundred good bucks we espy’d; - She chose out the fattest that was in the herd, - And she shot him through side and side. - - 33 - ‘By the faith of my body,’ said bold Robin Hood, - ‘I never saw woman like thee; - And comst thou from east, ay, or comst thou from west, - Thou needst not beg venison of me. - - 34 - ‘However, along to my bower you shall go, - And taste of a forresters meat:’ - And when we come thither, we found as good cheer - As any man needs for to eat. - - 35 - For there was hot venison, and warden pies cold, - Cream clouted, with honey-combs plenty; - And the sarvitors they were, beside Little John, - Good yeomen at least four and twenty. - - 36 - Clorinda said, Tell me your name, gentle sir; - And he said, ’Tis bold Robin Hood: - Squire Gamwel’s my uncle, but all my delight - Is to dwell in the merry Sherwood. - - 37 - For ’tis a fine life, and ’tis void of all strife. - ‘So ’tis, sir,’ Clorinda reply’d; - ‘But oh,’ said bold Robin, ‘how sweet would it be, - If Clorinda would be my bride!’ - - 38 - She blusht at the motion; yet, after a pause - Said, Yes, sir, and with all my heart; - ‘Then let’s send for a priest,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And be married before we do part.’ - - 39 - But she said, It may not be so, gentle sir, - For I must be at Titbury feast; - And if Robin Hood will go thither with me, - I’ll make him the most welcome guest. - - 40 - Said Robin Hood, Reach me that buck, Little John, - For I’ll go along with my dear; - Go bid my yeomen kill six brace of bucks, - And meet me to-morrow just here. - - 41 - Before we had ridden five Staffordshire miles, - Eight yeomen, that were too bold, - Bid Robin Hood stand, and deliver his buck; - A truer tale never was told. - - 42 - ‘I will not, faith!’ said bold Robin: ‘come, John, - Stand to me, and we’ll beat em all:’ - Then both drew their swords, an so cut em and slasht em - That five of them did fall. - - 43 - The three that remaind calld to Robin for quarter, - And pitiful John beggd their lives; - When John’s boon was granted, he gave them good counsel, - And so sent them home to their wives. - - 44 - This battle was fought near to Titbury town, - When the bagpipes bated the bull; - I am king of the fidlers, and sware ’tis a truth, - And I call him that doubts it a gull. - - 45 - For I saw them fighting, and fidld the while, - And Clorinda sung, Hey derry down! - The bumpkins are beaten, put up thy sword, Bob, - And now let’s dance into the town. - - 46 - Before we came to it, we heard a strange shouting, - And all that were in it lookd madly; - For some were a bull-back, some dancing a morris, - And some singing Arthur-a-Bradly. - - 47 - And there we see Thomas, our justices clerk, - And Mary, to whom he was kind; - For Tom rode before her, and calld Mary, Madam, - And kist her full sweetly behind. - - 48 - And so may your worships. But we went to dinner, - With Thomas and Mary and Nan; - They all drank a health to Clorinda, and told her - Bold Robin Hood was a fine man. - - 49 - When dinner was ended, Sir Roger, the parson - Of Dubbridge, was sent for in haste; - He brought his mass-book, and he bade them take hands, - And he joynd them in marriage full fast. - - 50 - And then, as bold Robin Hood and his sweet bride - Went hand in hand to the green bower, - The birds sung with pleasure in merry Sherwood, - And ’twas a most joyful hour. - - 51 - And when Robin came in the sight of the bower, - ‘Where are my yeomen?’ said he; - And Little John answered, Lo, yonder they stand, - All under the green-wood tree. - - 52 - Then a garland they brought her, by two and by two, - And plac’d them upon the bride’s head; - The music struck up, and we all fell to dance, - Till the bride and the groom were a-bed. - - 53 - And what they did there must be counsel to me, - Because they lay long the next day, - And I had haste home, but I got a good piece - Of the bride-cake, and so came away. - - 54 - Now out, alas! I had forgotten to tell ye - That marryd they were with a ring; - And, so will Nan Knight, or be buried a maiden, - And now let us pray for the king: - - 55 - That he may get children, and they may get more, - To govern and do us some good; - And then I’ll make ballads in Robin Hood’s bower, - And sing em in merry Sherwood. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - A new ballad of bold Robin Hood, shewing his Birth, Breeding, - Valour and Marriage, at Titbury Bull-running: calculated for the - meridian of Staffordshire, but may serve for Derbyshire or Kent. - - London, Printed by and for W. O[nley], and are to be sold by the - booksellers. (1650–1702.) - - 15^1. Morrow. - - 16^2. be sung. - - 17^1. mustards, braun: _cf._ #b#. - - 20^2. gentlemen, yeomen: _cf._ #b#. - - 30^2. Oh. - - 38^4. be merry: _cf._ #b#. - - 40^3. Go _wanting_: _cf._ #b#. - - 43^3. good _wanting_: _cf._ #b#. - - 52^1. the brought. - - 52^2. them at the bride’s bed: _cf._ #b#. - -#b.# - - A proper new ballad of bold Robin Hood, shewing his Birth, his - Breeding, his Valour, _etc._, _as above_. - - To a pleasant new northern tune. - - Printed for I. Wright, I. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passenger. - (1670–86?) - - 1^2, 6^3, 29^1, 33^3. I _for_ Ay. - - 2^1. And, _by mistake, for_ In: in merry Nottinghamshire. - - 3^3. shoot. - - 4^4. beat um. - - 5^3. at that. - - 9^3. Got on his. - - 13^1. And _wanting_. - - 13^2. drunk. - - 13^4. at great. - - 15^1. To-morrow. - - 15^2. ith hall. - - 15^4. y’are. - - 16^2. be sung. - - 17^1. mustard and braun. - - 17^4. y’are. - - 18^1. this _for_ his. - - 19^4. you both. - - 20^2. gentleman, yeoman. - - 21^4. here _wanting_. - - 24^1. Go and fetch my bow. - - 24^2. and _for_ or. - - 24^3. ’tis. - - 26^4. the _for_ a. - - 27^4. buskins. - - 28^3. quiver of. - - 30^2. O. - - 30^3. him an. - - 30^4. Tilbery. - - 34^3. came. - - 38^3. let us. - - 38^4. be married. - - 40^3. Go bid. - - 41^2. Six _for_ Eight: too too. - - 42^2. beat um. - - 42^3. slasht um. - - 42^4. of the six. - - 43^3. good counsel. - - 45^3. Rob. - - 46^1. came in we. - - 51^1. in sight. - - 51^4. a _for_ the. - - 52^1. they. - - 52^2. upon the bride’s head. - - 55^4. sing um. - -#c.# - - Printed by and for Alex. Milbourn, at the Stationers-Arms, in - Green-Arbor-Court, in the Little-Old-Baily. (1670–97.) _Compared - only here and there._ - - 9^1. God wot his. - - 30^4. Tilbury. - - 41^2. Eight: too too. - - 42^4. of the eight. - - 45^3. Bob. - - - - - 150 - - ROBIN HOOD AND MAID MARIAN - - Wood, 401, leaf 21 b. - - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 157, from Wood’s copy. In none of the -garlands. - -The Earl of Huntington, _alias_ Robin Hood, is forced by fortune’s spite -to part from his love Marian, and take to the green wood. Marian dresses -herself “like a page,” and, armed with bow, sword, and buckler, goes in -quest of Robin. Both being disguised, neither recognizes the other until -they have had an hour at swords, when Robin Hood, who has lost some -blood, calls to his antagonist to give over and join his band. Marian -knows his voice, and discovers herself. A banquet follows, and Marian -remains in the wood. - -Though Maid Marian and Robin Hood had perhaps been paired in popular -sports, no one thought of putting more of her than her name into a -ballad, until one S. S. (so the broadside is signed) composed this -foolish ditty. The bare name of Maid Marian occurs in No 145 #A#, 9^4 -and in No 147, 1^4. - -Even in Barclay’s fourth eclogue, written not long after 1500, where, -according to Ritson,[119] the earliest notice of Maid Marian occurs, and -where, he says, “she is evidently connected with Robin Hood,” the two -are really kept distinct; for the lusty Codrus in that eclogue wishes to -hear “some mery fit of Maide Marion, _or els_ of Robin Hood.” - -In Munday’s play of The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington, Matilda, -otherwise Marian, daughter to Lord Lacy, accompanies Earl Robert to -Sherwood, upon his being outlawed for debt the very day of their -troth-plight. There she lives a spotless maiden, awaiting the time when -the outlawry shall be repealed and Robin may legally take her to wife. -Neither the author of the play nor that of the ballad was, so far as is -known, repeating any popular tradition. - -The ordinary partner of Maid Marian is Friar Tuck, not Robin Hood. There -is no ground for supposing that there ever were songs or tales about the -Maid and Friar, notwithstanding what is cursorily said by one of the -characters in Peele’s Edward I: - - Why so, I see, my mates, of old - All were not lies that _beldames told_ - Of Robin Hood and Little John, - Friar Tuck and Maid Marian. - - ed. Dyce, I, 133. - - -Translated by Anastasius Grün, p. 72, Loève-Veimars, p. 208. - - - 1 - A Bonny fine maid of a noble degree, - With a hey down down a down down - Maid Marian calld by name, - Did live in the North, of excellent worth, - For she was a gallant dame. - - 2 - For favour and face, and beauty most rare, - Queen Hellen shee did excell; - For Marian then was praisd of all men - That did in the country dwell. - - 3 - ’Twas neither Rosamond nor Jane Shore, - Whose beauty was clear and bright, - That could surpass this country lass, - Beloved of lord and knight. - - 4 - The Earl of Huntington, nobly born, - That came of noble blood, - To Marian went, with a good intent, - By the name of Robin Hood. - - 5 - With kisses sweet their red lips meet, - For shee and the earl did agree; - In every place, they kindly imbrace, - With love and sweet unity. - - 6 - But fortune bearing these lovers a spight, - That soon they were forced to part, - To the merry green wood then went Robin Hood, - With a sad and sorrowfull heart. - - 7 - And Marian, poor soul, was troubled in mind, - For the absence of her friend; - With finger in eye, shee often did cry, - And his person did much comend. - - 8 - Perplexed and vexed, and troubled in mind, - Shee drest her self like a page, - And ranged the wood to find Robin Hood, - The bravest of men in that age. - - 9 - With quiver and bow, sword, buckler, and all, - Thus armed was Marian most bold, - Still wandering about to find Robin out, - Whose person was better then gold. - - 10 - But Robin Hood, hee himself had disguisd, - And Marian was strangly attir’d, - That they provd foes, and so fell to blowes, - Whose vallour bold Robin admir’d. - - 11 - They drew out their swords, and to cutting they went, - At least an hour or more, - That the blood ran apace from bold Robins face, - And Marian was wounded sore. - - 12 - ‘O hold thy hand, hold thy hand,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And thou shalt be one of my string, - To range in the wood with bold Robin Hood, - To hear the sweet nightingall sing.’ - - 13 - When Marian did hear the voice of her love, - Her self shee did quickly discover, - And with kisses sweet she did him greet, - Like to a most loyall lover. - - 14 - When bold Robin Hood his Marian did see, - Good lord, what clipping was there! - With kind imbraces, and jobbing of faces, - Providing of gallant cheer. - - 15 - For Little John took his bow in his hand, - And wandring in the wood, - To kill the deer, and make good chear, - For Marian and Robin Hood. - - 16 - A stately banquet the[y] had full soon, - All in a shaded bower, - Where venison sweet they had to eat, - And were merry that present hour. - - 17 - Great flaggons of wine were set on the board, - And merrily they drunk round - Their boules of sack, to strengthen the back, - Whilst their knees did touch the ground. - - 18 - First Robin Hood began a health - To Marian his onely dear, - And his yeomen all, both comly and tall, - Did quickly bring up the rear. - - 19 - For in a brave veine they tost off the[ir] bouls, - Whilst thus they did remain, - And every cup, as they drunk up, - They filled with speed again. - - 20 - At last they ended their merryment, - And went to walk in the wood, - Where Little John and Maid Marian - Attended on bold Robin Hood. - - 21 - In sollid content together they livd, - With all their yeomen gay; - They livd by their hands, without any lands, - And so they did many a day. - - 22 - But now to conclude, an end I will make - In time, as I think it good, - For the people that dwell in the North can tell - Of Marian and bold Robin Hood. - - * * * * * - - A Famous Battle between Robin Hood and Maid Marian, declaring - their Love, Life, and Liberty. Tune, Robin Hood Reviv’d. - - _No printer: black-letter._ S. S. _at the end_. - - 11^1. out rheir. - - 19^1. vente. - - 21^3. there: wirhout. - - _A MS. copy in Percy’s papers has in 16^1_ he had, _and in 19^1_, - in a brave venie they tost off their bowles. _It is barely - possible that venie, which Ritson prints, may be right._ - - - - - 151 - - THE KING’S DISGUISE, AND FRIENDSHIP WITH ROBIN HOOD - - #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, W. & C. Dicey, in St Mary Aldermary - Church Yard, Bow Lane, Cheapside, n. d. (but not older than 1753), - p. 76, No 25. #b.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, Printed by L. How, - in Peticoat Lane, n. d. #c.# ‘The King’s Disguise and True - Friendship with Robin Hood,’ London, Printed by L. How, in Petticoat - Lane, Douce Ballads, III, 113 b (not black letter). #d.# Robin - Hood’s Garland, London, R. Marshall, in Aldermary Church-Yard, - Bow-Lane, n. d., p. 80, No 25. - - -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 162, “from the common collection of -Aldermary Church Yard;” Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 218; Gutch, -Robin Hood, II, 281, Ritson’s copy “compared with one in the York -edition.” - -The ballad is not found in a garland of 1749; but this garland has only -twenty-four pieces. - -The story, as far as st. 38, is a loose paraphrase, with omissions, of -the seventh and eighth fits of the Gest, and seems, like the two which -here follow it, “to have been written by some miserable retainer to the -press, merely to eke out the book; being, in fact, a most contemptible -performance:” Ritson. - -12^1 may have been borrowed from Martin Parker’s True Tale, No 154, -15^1. By the clergyman who was first Robin Hood’s bane, 29^1, is meant -the prior of York, who in Munday’s play, The Downfall of Robert Earl of -Huntington, procures his outlawry. The forcing of the sheriff to give -the king a supper may be the beggarly author’s own invention. The last -two lines are intended to serve as a link with Robin Hood and the -Valiant Knight, which, however, does not immediately succeed in the -garlands, Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow being interposed. - - -Translated by Doenniges, p. 185; A. Grün, p. 159; Loève-Veimars, p. 212. - - - 1 - King Richard hearing of the pranks - Of Robin Hood and his men, - He much admir’d, and more desir’d, - To see both him and them. - - 2 - Then with a dozen of his lords - To Nottingham he rode; - When he came there, he made good cheer, - And took up his abode. - - 3 - He having staid there some time, - But had no hopes to speed, - He and his lords, with [free] accord, - All put on monk’s weeds. - - 4 - From Fountain-abby they did ride, - Down to Barnsdale; - Where Robin Hood preparëd stood - All company to assail. - - 5 - The king was higher then the rest, - And Robin thought he had - An abbot been whom he did spleen; - To rob him he was glad. - - 6 - He took the king’s horse by the head, - ‘Abbot,’ says he, ‘abide; - I am bound to rue such knaves as you, - That live in pomp and pride.’ - - 7 - ‘But we are messengers from the king,’ - The king himself did say; - ‘Near to this place his royal Grace - To speak with thee does stay.’ - - 8 - ‘God save the king,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And all that wish him well; - He that does deny his sovereignty, - I wish he was in hell.’ - - 9 - ‘O thyself thou curses,’ says the king, - ‘For thou a traitor art:’ - ‘Nay, but that you are his messenger, - I swear you lie in heart. - - 10 - ‘For I never yet hurt any man - That honest is and true; - But those that give their minds to live - Upon other men’s due. - - 11 - ‘I never hurt the husbandman, - That use to till the ground; - Nor spill their blood that range the wood - To follow hawk or hound. - - 12 - ‘My chiefest spite to clergy is, - Who in these days bear a great sway; - With fryars and monks, with their fine sprunks, - I make my chiefest prey. - - 13 - ‘But I am very glad,’ says Robin Hood, - ‘That I have met you here; - Come, before we end, you shall, my friend, - Taste of our green-wood cheer.’ - - 14 - The king did then marvel much, - And so did all his men; - They thought with fear, what kind of cheer - Robin would provide for them. - - 15 - Robin took the king’s horse by the head, - And led him to the tent; - ‘Thou would not be so usd,’ quoth he, - ‘But that my king thee sent. - - 16 - ‘Nay, more than that,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘For good king Richard’s sake, - If you had as much gold as ever I told, - I would not one penny take.’ - - 17 - Then Robin set his horn to his mouth, - And a loud blast he did blow, - Till a hundred and ten of Robin Hood’s men - Came marching all of a row. - - 18 - And when they came bold Robin before, - Each man did bend his knee; - ‘O,’ thought the king, ‘’tis a gallant thing, - And a seemly sight to see.’ - - 19 - Within himself the king did say, - These men of Robin Hood’s - More humble be than mine to me; - So the court may learn of the woods. - - 20 - So then they all to dinner went, - Upon a carpet green; - Black, yellow, red, finely minglëd, - Most curious to be seen. - - 21 - Venison and fowls were plenty there, - With fish out of the river: - King Richard swore, on sea or shore, - He neer was feasted better. - - 22 - Then Robin takes a can of ale: - ‘Come, let us now begin; - Come, every man shall have his can; - Here’s a health unto the king.’ - - 23 - The king himself drank to the king, - So round about it went; - Two barrels of ale, both stout and stale, - To pledge that health were spent. - - 24 - And after that, a bowl of wine - In his hand took Robin Hood; - ‘Until I die, I’ll drink wine,’ said he, - ‘While I live in the green-wood. - - 25 - ‘Bend all your bows,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘And with the grey goose wing - Such sport now shew as you would do - In the presence of the king.’ - - 26 - They shewd such brave archery, - By cleaving sticks and wands, - That the king did say, Such men as they - Live not in many lands. - - 27 - ‘Well, Robin Hood,’ then says the king, - ‘If I could thy pardon get, - To serve the king in every thing - Wouldst thou thy mind firm set?’ - - 28 - ‘Yes, with all my heart,’ bold Robin said, - So they flung off their hoods; - To serve the king in every thing, - They swore they would spend their bloods. - - 29 - ‘For a clergyman was first my bane, - Which makes me hate them all; - But if you’ll be so kind to me, - Love them again I shall.’ - - 30 - The king no longer could forbear, - For he was movd with ruth; - [‘Robin,’ said he, ‘I now tell thee - The very naked truth.] - - 31 - ‘I am the king, thy sovereign king, - That appears before you all;’ - When Robin see that it was he, - Strait then he down did fall. - - 32 - ‘Stand up again,’ then said the king, - ‘I’ll thee thy pardon give; - Stand up, my friend; who can contend, - When I give leave to live?’ - - 33 - So they are all gone to Nottingham, - All shouting as they came; - But when the people them did see, - They thought the king was slain, - - 34 - And for that cause the outlaws were come, - To rule all as they list; - And for to shun, which way to run - The people did not wist. - - 35 - The plowman left the plow in the fields, - The smith ran from his shop; - Old folks also, that scarce could go, - Over their sticks did hop. - - 36 - The king soon let them understand - He had been in the green wood, - And from that day, for evermore, - He’d forgiven Robin Hood. - - 37 - When the people they did hear, - And the truth was known, - They all did sing, ‘God save the king! - Hang care, the town’s our own!’ - - 38 - ‘What’s that Robin Hood?’ then said the sheriff; - ‘That varlet I do hate; - Both me and mine he causd to dine, - And servd us all with one plate.’ - - 39 - ‘Ho, ho,’ said Robin, ‘I know what you mean; - Come, take your gold again; - Be friends with me, and I with thee, - And so with every man. - - 40 - ‘Now, master sheriff, you are paid, - And since you are beginner, - As well as you give me my due; - For you neer paid for that dinner. - - 41 - ‘But if that it should please the king - So much your house to grace - To sup with you, for to speak true, - [I] know you neer was base.’ - - 42 - The sheriff could not [that] gain say, - For a trick was put upon him; - A supper was drest, the king was guest, - But he thought ’twould have undone him. - - 43 - They are all gone to London court, - Robin Hood, with all his train; - He once was there a noble peer, - And now he’s there again. - - 44 - Many such pranks brave Robin playd - While he lived in the green wood: - Now, my friends, attend, and hear an end - Of honest Robin Hood. - - * * * * * - - The King’s Disguise, and Friendship with Robin Hood. - - To a Northern Tune. - -#a.# - - 9^1. thyself, thyself. - - 9^3. yon. - - 28^4. spent. - - 29^1. ban. - - 30^2. with truth. - - 30^{3,4}. _Supplied from R. H.’s Garland, York, Thomas Wilson & - Son, 1811._ - -#b#, #c#. - - 3^3. with free. - - 6^1. #c#, livd. - - 9^1. O thyself thou. - - 13^1. said. - - 14^3. that kind. - - 18^1. bold _wanting_. - - 21^1. was. - - 23^4. was. - - 26^4. #c#, Lived. - - 27^2. I [s]hould. - - 27^4. would. - - 28^2. they _wanting_. - - 28^4. they’d. - - 29^1. ban. - - 30^2. with truth. - - 30^{3,4}. _wanting._ - - 33^1. #c#, they’re. - - 34^1. was. - - 35^1. his plow: field. - - 36^4. #b#, Ha’d: #c#, Had. - - 37^2. And that. - - 38^4. #b#, with plate: #c#, in plate. - - 40^2. are the. - - 41^1. #c#, it _wanting_. - - 41^4. #b#, I _wanting_: #c#, I know. - - 42^1. that gain say. - - 42^4. it would undone. - - 43^1. They’re. - -#d.# - - 3^3. with one. - - 5^3. he had seen. - - 6^4. lives. - - 9^1. Thyself thou cursest said. - - 10^3. who give. - - 14^1. king he then did. - - 16^1. quoth _for_ said. - - 21^4. never. - - 22^3. And every. - - 23^4. was spent. - - 28^4. blood. - - 29^1. bane. - - 30^2. with truth. - - 30^{3,4}. _wanting._ - - 31^3. saw _for_ see. - - 36^1. did let. - - 37^1. Then. - - 41^4. I _wanting_. - - 42^1. that _wanting_. - - 42^4. a guest. - - - - - 152 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW - - #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, W. and C. Dicey, St Mary Aldermary - Church-yard, Bow-Lane, n. d., p. 80, No 26. #b.# Robin Hood’s - Garland, London, R. Marshall, in Aldermary Church-yard, Bow-Lane, n. - d., p. 84, No 26. #c.# Robin Hood’s Garland, Preston, Printed and - sold by W. Sergent, n. d. - - -Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 226, and Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, -II, 171, from an Aldermary garland. Gutch, II, 289, from Ritson, -“compared with the York edition.” - -The ballad is not found in a garland of 1749. - -The first twenty-three stanzas are based upon The Gest, sts 282–95. The -remainder is mostly taken up with John’s astute device for sending -information to the sheriff. The two concluding lines are for connection -with R. H. and the Valiant Knight, which follows in some garlands, as -here. - -According to Martin Parker’s True Tale, Robin Hood shot a letter -addressed to the king into Nottingham, on an arrow-head, offering to -submit upon terms: sts 78–81. Two cases of a message shot on an arrow -are cited by Rochholz, Tell u. Gessler in Sage u. Geschichte, p. 28 and -note. - - -Translated by A. Grün, p. 140. - - - 1 - When as the sheriff of Nottingham - Was come, with mickle grief, - He talkd no good of Robin Hood, - That strong and sturdy thief. - Fal lal dal de - - 2 - So unto London-road he past, - His losses to unfold - To King Richard, who did regard - The tale that he had told. - - 3 - ‘Why,’ quoth the king, ‘what shall I do? - Art thou not sheriff for me? - The law is in force, go take thy course - Of them that injure thee. - - 4 - ‘Go get thee gone, and by thyself - Devise some tricking game - For to enthral yon rebels all; - Go take thy course with them.’ - - 5 - So away the sheriff he returnd, - And by the way he thought - Of the words of the king, and how the thing - To pass might well be brought. - - 6 - For within his mind he imagined - That when such matches were, - Those outlaws stout, without [all] doubt, - Would be the bowmen there. - - 7 - So an arrow with a golden head - And shaft of silver white, - Who won the day should bear away - For his own proper right. - - 8 - Tidings came to brave Robin Hood, - Under the green-wood tree: - ‘Come prepare you then, my merry men, - We’ll go yon sport to see.’ - - 9 - With that stept forth a brave young man, - David of Doncaster: - ‘Master,’ said he, ‘be ruld by me, - From the green-wood we’ll not stir. - - 10 - ‘To tell the truth, I’m well informed - Yon match is a wile; - The sheriff, I wiss, devises this - Us archers to beguile.’ - - 11 - ‘O thou smells of a coward,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Thy words does not please me; - Come on’t what will, I’ll try my skill - At yon brave archery.’ - - 12 - O then bespoke brave Little John: - Come, let us thither gang; - Come listen to me, how it shall be - That we need not be kend. - - 13 - Our mantles, all of Lincoln green, - Behind us we will leave; - We’ll dress us all so several - They shall not us perceive. - - 14 - One shall wear white, another red, - One yellow, another blue; - Thus in disguise, to the exercise - We’ll gang, whateer ensue. - - 15 - Forth from the green-wood they are gone, - With hearts all firm and stout, - Resolving [then] with the sheriff’s men - To have a hearty bout. - - 16 - So themselves they mixed with the rest, - To prevent all suspicion; - For if they should together hold - They thought [it] no discretion. - - 17 - So the sheriff looking round about, - Amongst eight hundred men, - But could not see the sight that he - Had long expected then. - - 18 - Some said, If Robin Hood was here, - And all his men to boot, - Sure none of them could pass these men, - So bravely they do shoot. - - 19 - ‘Ay,’ quoth the sheriff, and scratchd his head, - ‘I thought he would have been here; - I thought he would, but, tho he’s bold, - He durst not now appear.’ - - 20 - O that word grieved Robin Hood to the heart; - He vexëd in his blood; - Eer long, thought he, thou shalt well see - That here was Robin Hood. - - 21 - Some cried, Blue jacket! another cried, Brown! - And the third cried, Brave Yellow! - But the fourth man said, Yon man in red - In this place has no fellow. - - 22 - For that was Robin Hood himself, - For he was cloathd in red; - At every shot the prize he got, - For he was both sure and dead. - - 23 - So the arrow with the golden head - And shaft of silver white - Brave Robin Hood won, and bore with him - For his own proper right. - - 24 - These outlaws there, that very day, - To shun all kind of doubt, - By three or four, no less no more, - As they went in came out. - - 25 - Until they all assembled were - Under the green-wood shade, - Where they report, in pleasant sport, - What brave pastime they made. - - 26 - Says Robin Hood, All my care is, - How that yon sheriff may - Know certainly that it was I - That bore his arrow away. - - 27 - Says Little John, My counsel good - Did take effect before, - So therefore now, if you’ll allow, - I will advise once more. - - 28 - ‘Speak on, speak on,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘Thy wit’s both quick and sound; - [I know no man amongst us can - For wit like thee be found.’] - - 29 - ‘This I advise,’ said Little John; - ‘That a letter shall be pend, - And when it is done, to Nottingham - You to the sheriff shall send.’ - - 30 - ‘That is well advised,’ said Robin Hood, - ‘But how must it be sent?’ - ‘Pugh! when you please, it’s done with ease, - Master, be you content. - - 31 - ‘I’ll stick it on my arrow’s head, - And shoot it into the town; - The mark shall show where it must go, - When ever it lights down.’ - - 32 - The project it was full performd; - The sheriff that letter had; - Which when he read, he scratchd his head, - And rav’d like one that’s mad. - - 33 - So we’ll leave him chafing in his grease, - Which will do him no good; - Now, my friends, attend, and hear the end - Of honest Robin Hood. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - 12^2. hither. - - 25^3. relate _for_ report. - - 28^{3,4}. _supplied from R. H.’s Garland, York, Thomas Wilson & - Son, 1811._ - -#b#, #c#. - - 3^3. to take. - - 6^3. without all. - - 10^1. the _wanting_. - - 10^2. it is. - - 11^1. O _wanting_. - - 11^2. do not. - - 12^2. thither. - - 14^3. in the. - - 15^3. then _wanting_. - - 16^4. thought it. - - 17^4. suspected. - - 19^3. #c#, but _wanting_. - - 21^2. a third. - - 22^1. #c#, bold Robin. - - 24^2. kinds. - - 24^3. nor more. - - 25^3. relate. - - 28^{3,4}. _wanting._ - - 31^3. must show. - - 32^1. well _for_ full. - - 33^1. in the. - - - - - 153 - - ROBIN HOOD AND THE VALIANT KNIGHT - - #a.# Robin Hood’s Garland, London, C. Dicey, Bow Church Yard, n. d., - but before 1741, p. 88, Bodleian Library, Douce H H, 88. #b.# Robin - Hood’s Garland, 1749, without place or printer, p. 101, No 24. #c.# - Robin Hood’s Garland, London, R. Marshall, in Aldermary Church-Yard, - Bow-Lane, n. d., p. 87, No 27. - - -Evans, Old Ballads, 1777, 1784, I, 232, from an Aldermary garland; -Ritson, Robin Hood, 1795, II, 178, from an Aldermary garland, corrected -by a York copy. - -Written, perhaps, because it was thought that authority should in the -end be vindicated against outlaws, which may explain why this piece -surpasses in platitude everything that goes before. - - -Translated by Loève-Veimars, p. 219. - - - 1 - When Robin Hood, and his merry men all, - Derry, etc. - Had reigned many years, - The king was then told they had been too bold - To his bishops and noble peers. - Hey, etc. - - 2 - Therefore they called a council of state, - To know what was best to be done - For to quell their pride, or else, they reply’d, - The land would be over-run. - - 3 - Having consulted a whole summers day, - At length it was agreed - That one should be sent to try the event, - And fetch him away with speed. - - 4 - Therefore a trusty and worthy knight - The king was pleasd to call, - Sir William by name; when to him he came, - He told him his pleasure all. - - 5 - ‘Go you from hence to bold Robin Hood, - And bid him, without more a-do, - Surrender himself, or else the proud elf - Shall suffer with all his crew. - - 6 - ‘Take here a hundred bowmen brave, - All chosen men of might, - Of excellent art for to take thy part, - In glittering armour bright.’ - - 7 - Then said the knight, My sovereign liege, - By me they shall be led; - I’ll venture my blood against bold Robin Hood, - And bring him alive or dead. - - 8 - One hundred men were chosen straight, - As proper as eer men saw; - On Midsummer-day they marched away, - To conquer that brave outlaw. - - 9 - With long yew bows and shining spears, - They marchd in mickle pride, - And never delayd, or halted, or stayd, - Till they came to the greenwood-side. - - 10 - Said he to his archers, Tarry here; - Your bows make ready all, - That, if need should be, you may follow me; - And see you observe my call. - - 11 - ‘I’ll go in person first,’ he cry’d, - ‘With the letters of my good king, - Both signd and seald, and if he will yield, - We need not draw one string,’ - - 12 - He wanderd about till at length he came - To the tent of Robin Hood; - The letter he shews; bold Robin arose, - And there on his guard he stood. - - 13 - ‘They’d have me surrender,’ quoth bold Robin Hood, - ‘And lie at their mercy then; - But tell them from me, that never shall be, - While I have full seven-score men.’ - - 14 - Sir William the knight, both hardy and bold, - Did offer to seize him there, - Which William Locksly by fortune did see, - And bid him that trick forbear. - - 15 - Then Robin Hood set his horn to his mouth, - And blew a blast or twain, - And so did the knight, at which there in sight - The archers came all amain. - - 16 - Sir William with care he drew up his men, - And plac’d them in battle array; - Bold Robin, we find, he was not behind; - Now this was a bloody fray. - - 17 - The archers on both sides bent their bows, - And the clouds of arrows flew; - The very first flight, that honoured knight - Did there bid the world adieu. - - 18 - Yet nevertheless their fight did last - From morning till almost noon; - Both parties were stout, and loath to give out; - This was on the last [day] of June. - - 19 - At length they went off; one part they went - To London with right good-will; - And Robin Hood he to the green-wood tree, - And there he was taken ill. - - 20 - He sent for a monk, who let him blood, - And took his life away; - Now this being done, his archers they run, - It was not a time to stay. - - 21 - Some got on board and crossd the seas, - To Flanders, France, and Spain, - And others to Rome, for fear of their doom, - But soon returnd again. - - 22 - Thus he that never feard bow nor spear - Was murderd by letting of blood; - And so, loving friends, the story doth end - Of valiant bold Robin Hood. - - 23 - There’s nothing remains but his epitaph now, - Which, reader, here you have; - To this very day, and read it you may, - As it was upon his grave. - - - Robin Hood’s Epitaph, - Set on his tomb - By the Prioress of Birkslay Monastery, in Yorkshire. - - Robin, Earl of Huntington, - Lies under this little stone. - No archer was like him so good; - His wildness nam’d him Robin Hood. - Full thirteen years, and something more, - These northern parts he vexed sore. - Such outlaws as he and his men - May England never know again! - - * * * * * - - Robin Hood and the Valiant Knight; together with an account of his - Death and Burial, &c. Tune of Robin Hood and the Fifteen - Foresters. - -#a.# - - _Inside the cover is written, William Stukely, 1741._ - - 18^4. day _found in_ #b.# - -#b.# - - _A carelessly printed book, with only twenty-four ballads. It - belonged to Bishop Percy. Burden omitted._ - - 1^1. When bold Robin and. - - 1^3. had been told he. - - 1^4. With his. - - 2^1. the best. - - 2^4. will be. - - 3. _wanting._ - - 6^1. Take an. - - 6^3. art to. - - 7^3. again Robin. - - 12^1. till at last. - - 12^2. of bold. - - 13^1. would have: bold, Hood, _wanting_. - - 13^3. that it. - - 13^4. Whilst. - - 15^1. Robin he set. - - 17^4. there _wanting_. - - 18^1. the fight. - - 18^4. last day. - - 19^2. For London. - - 19^3. he _wanting_. - - 20^1. to let. - - 20^2. done away they ran. - - 21. _wanting._ - - 22^1. that neither. - - 24^3. it _wanting_. - - 24^4. it were. - - _The epitaph is not given._ - -#c.# - - _Burden_: Derry down down: Hey down derry derry down. - - 1^3. that they had been bold. - - 2^2. best _wanting_. - - 5^1. Go you. - - 6^1. an. - - 7^3. bold _wanting_. - - 10^4. see that. - - 11^3. Well signd. - - 14^4. bid them: to forbear. - - 18^4. day _wanting_. - - 19^1. party. - - 19^2. For London. - - 20^1. to let. - - 20^2. Who took. - - 20^4. a _wanting_. - - 21^1. Some went. - - 23^3. and _wanting_. - - - - - 154 - - A TRUE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD - - -Martin Parker’s True Tale of Robin Hood was entered to Francis Grove the -29th of February, 1632: Stationers’ Registers, Arber, IV, 273. A copy in -the British Museum (press-mark C. 39. a. 52), which is here reprinted, -is assumed by Mr W. C. Hazlitt, Handbook, p. 439, and Mr George Bullen, -Brit. Mus. Catalogue, to be of this first edition. The title of this -copy is: A True Tale of Robbin [Hood], or, A briefe touch of the life -and death o[f that] Renowned Outlaw, Robert Earle of Huntin[gton] -vulgarly called Robbin Hood, who lived and died in [A. D.] 1198, being -the 9. yeare of the reigne of King Ric[hard] the first, commonly called -Richard Cuer de Lyon. Carefully collected out of the truest Writers of -our English C[hroni]cles. And published for the satisfaction of those -who desire to s[ee] Truth purged from falsehood. By Martin Parker. -Printed at London for T. Cotes, and are to be sold by F. Grove -dwellin[g] upon Snow-hill, neare the Saracen[s head].[120] - -Martin Parker professes in st. 117 to follow chronicles, not “fained -tales.” Perhaps he regards broadside-ballads with historical names in -them as chronicles: at any rate, though he reports some things which are -found in Grafton, and in Major as cited by Grafton, much the larger part -of his True Tale is now to be found only in ballads. When he does not -agree with ballads which have come down to us, he may have used earlier -copies, or he may have invented. The story of the abbot in 23–26 is at -least from the same source as Robin Hood and the Bishop; the plundering -of King Richard’s receivers in 33 is evidently the same event as that -referred to in the first stanza of Robin Hood and Queen Katherine; Robin -Hood is said to have built eight almshouses in 71, and one in the last -stanza of The Noble Fisherman. The Gest could hardly have been unknown -to Parker. Stanzas 3–9, concerning Robin’s rank, prodigality, and -outlawry, may have been based upon Munday’s play; but nothing is said of -Maid Marian. 44–50 and 56–65 may report the substance of some lost -broadside. - -Perhaps Parker calls his compilation a _True_ Tale because a tale of -Robin Hood was a proverb for an incredible story: “Tales of Robin Hood -are good for fools.” - - - 1 - Both gentlemen, or yeomen bould, - Or whatsoever you are, - To have a stately story tould, - Attention now prepare. - - 2 - It is a tale of Robin Hood, - Which I to you will tell, - Which being rightly understood, - I know will please you well. - - 3 - This Robbin, so much talked on, - Was once a man of fame, - Instiled Earle of Huntington, - Lord Robert Hood by name. - - 4 - In courtship and magnificence, - His carriage won him prayse, - And greater favour with his prince - Than any in his dayes. - - 5 - In bounteous liberality - He too much did excell, - And loved men of quality - More than exceeding well. - - 6 - His great revennues all he sould - For wine and costly cheere; - He kept three hundred bowmen bold, - He shooting lovd so deare. - - 7 - No archer living in his time - With him might well compare; - He practisd all his youthfull prime - That exercise most rare. - - 8 - At last, by his profuse expence, - He had consumd his wealth, - And being outlawed by his prince, - In woods he livd by stealth. - - 9 - The abbot of S_aint_ Maries rich, - To whom he mony ought, - His hatred to this earle was such - That he his downefall wrought. - - 10 - So being outlawed, as ’tis told, - He with a crew went forth - Of lusty cutters, stout and bold, - And robbed in the North. - - 11 - Among the rest, one Little John, - A yeoman bold and free, - Who could, if it stood him upon, - With ease encounter three. - - 12 - One hundred men in all he got, - With whom, the story sayes, - Three hundred common men durst not - Hold combate any wayes. - - 13 - They Yorkshire woods frequented much, - And Lancashire also, - Wherein their practises were such - That they wrought mickle woe. - - 14 - None rich durst travell to and fro, - Though nere so strongly armd, - But by these theeves, so strong in show, - They still were robd and harmd. - - 15 - His chiefest spight to the clergie was, - That lived in monstrous pride; - No one of them he would let passe - Along the high-way side, - - 16 - But first they must to dinner goe, - And afterwards to shrift: - Full many a one he served so, - Thus while he livd by theft. - - 17 - No monkes nor fryers he would let goe, - Without paying their fees: - If they thought much to be usd so, - Their stones he made them leese. - - 18 - For such as they the country filld - With bastards in those dayes; - Which to prevent, these sparkes did geld - All that came by their wayes. - - 19 - But Robbin Hood so gentle was, - And bore so brave a minde, - If any in distresse did passe, - To them he was so kinde - - 20 - That he would give and lend to them, - To helpe them at their neede: - This made all poore men pray for him, - And wish he well might speede. - - 21 - The widdow and the fatherlesse - He would send meanes unto, - And those whom famine did oppresse - Found him a friendly foe. - - 22 - Nor would he doe a woman wrong, - But see her safe conveid; - He would protect with power strong - All those who crav’d his ayde. - - 23 - The abbot of Saint Maries then, - Who him undid before, - Was riding with two hundred men, - And gold and silver store. - - 24 - But Robbin Hood upon him set - With his couragious sparkes, - And all the coyne perforce did get, - Which was twelve thousand markes. - - 25 - He bound the abbot to a tree, - And would not let him passe - Before that to his men and he - His lordship had sayd masse. - - 26 - Which being done, upon his horse - He set him fast astride, - And with his face towards his ar— - He forced him to ride. - - 27 - His men were faine to be his guide, - For he rode backward home; - The abbot, being thus villifide, - Did sorely chafe and fume. - - 28 - Thus Robbin Hood did vindicate - His former wrongs receivd; - For ’twas this covetous prelate - That him of land bereavd. - - 29 - The abbot he rode to the king - With all the haste he could, - And to his Grace he every thing - Exactly did unfold. - - 30 - And sayd if that no course were tane, - By force or stratagem, - To take this rebell and his traine, - No man should passe for them. - - 31 - The king protested by and by - Unto the abbot then - That Robbin Hood with speed should dye, - With all his merry men. - - 32 - But ere the king did any send, - He did another feate, - Which did his Grace much more offend; - The fact indeed was great. - - 33 - For in a short time after that, - The kings receivers went - Towards London with the coyne they got, - For’s Highnesse northerne rent. - - 34 - Bold Robbin Hood and Little John, - With the rest of their traine, - Not dreading law, set them upon, - And did their gold obtaine. - - 35 - The king much moved at the same, - And the abbots talke also, - In this his anger did proclaime, - And sent word to and fro, - - 36 - That whosoere, alive or dead, - Could bring him Robbin Hood, - Should have one thousand markes, well payd - In gold and silver good. - - 37 - This promise of the king did make - Full many yeomen bold - Attempt stout Robbin Hood to take, - With all the force they could. - - 38 - But still when any came to him, - Within the gay greene wood, - He entertainement gave to them, - With venison fat and good. - - 39 - And shewd to them such martiall sport, - With his long bow and arrow, - That they of him did give report, - How that it was great sorow, - - 40 - That such a worthy man as he - Should thus be put to shift, - Being late a lord of high degree, - Of living quite bereft. - - 41 - The king, to take him, more and more - Sent men of mickle might, - But he and his still beate them sore, - And conquered them in fight. - - 42 - Or else, with love and courtesie, - To him he won their hearts: - Thus still he lived by robbery, - Throughout the northerne parts. - - 43 - And all the country stood in dread - Of Robbin Hood and’s men; - For stouter lads nere livd by bread, - In those dayes nor since then. - - 44 - The abbot which before I nam’d - Sought all the meanes he could - To have by force this rebell tane, - And his adherents bold. - - 45 - Therefore he armd five hundred men, - With furniture compleate, - But the outlawes slew halfe of them, - And made the rest retreate. - - 46 - The long bow and the arrow keene - They were so usd unto - That still they kept the forest greene, - In spight o th’ proudest foe. - - 47 - Twelve of the abbots men he tooke, - Who came him to have tane, - When all the rest the field forsooke; - These he did entertaine - - 48 - With banquetting and merriment, - And, having usd them well, - He to their lord them safely sent, - And willd them him to tell - - 49 - That if he would be pleasd at last - To beg of our good king - That he might pardon what was past, - And him to favour bring, - - 50 - He would surrender backe agen - The money which before - Was taken by him and his men, - From him and many more. - - 51 - Poore men might safely passe by him, - And some that way would chuse, - For well they knew that to helpe them - He evermore did use. - - 52 - But where he knew a miser rich, - That did the poore oppresse, - To feele his coyne his hand did itch; - Hee’de have it, more or lesse. - - 53 - And sometimes, when the high-way fayld, - Then he his courage rouses; - He and his men have oft assayld - Such rich men in their houses. - - 54 - So that, through dread of Robbin then - And his adventurous crew, - The mizers kept great store of men, - Which else maintaynd but few. - - 55 - King Richard, of that name the first, - Sirnamed Cuer de Lyon, - Went to defeate the Pagans curst, - Who kept the coasts of Syon. - - 56 - The Bishop of Ely, chancelor, - Was left as vice-roy here, - Who like a potent emperor - Did proudly domminere. - - 57 - Our chronicles of him report - That commonly he rode - With a thousand horse from court to court, - Where he would make abode. - - 58 - He, riding downe towards the north, - With his aforesayd traine, - Robbin and his did issue forth, - Them all to entertaine. - - 59 - And, with the gallant gray-goose wing, - They shewed to them such play, - That made their horses kicke and fling, - And downe their riders lay. - - 60 - Full glad and faine the bishop was, - For all his thousand men, - To seeke what meanes he could to passe - From out of Robbins ken. - - 61 - Two hundred of his men were kil’d, - And fourescore horses good; - Thirty, who did as captives yeeld, - Were carryed to the greene wood. - - 62 - Which afterwards were ransomed, - For twenty markes a man; - The rest set spurres to horse, and fled - To th’ town of Warrington. - - 63 - The bishop, sore enraged then, - Did, in King Richards name, - Muster a power of northerne men, - These outlawes bold to tame. - - 64 - But Robbin, with his courtesie, - So wonne the meaner sort, - That they were loath on him to try - What rigor did import. - - 65 - So that bold Robbin and his traine - Did live unhurt of them, - Vntill King Richard came againe - From faire Jerusalem. - - 66 - And then the talke of Robbin Hood - His royall eares did fill; - His Grace admir’d that ith’ greene wood - He thus continued still. - - 67 - So that the country farre and neare - Did give him great applause; - For none of them neede stand in feare, - But such as broke the lawes. - - 68 - He wished well unto the king, - And prayed still for his health, - And never practised any thing - Against the common wealth. - - 69 - Onely, because he was undone - By th’ crewell clergie then, - All meanes that he could thinke upon - To vexe such kinde of men - - 70 - He enterprized, with hatefull spleene; - In which he was to blame, - For fault of some, to wreeke his teene - On all that by him came. - - 71 - With wealth which he by robbery got - Eight almes-houses he built, - Thinking thereby to purge the blot - Of blood which he had spilt. - - 72 - Such was their blinde devotion then, - Depending on their workes; - Which, if ’twere true, we Christian men - Inferiour were to Turkes. - - 73 - But, to speake true of Robbin Hood, - And wrong him not a iot, - He never would shed any mans blood - That him invaded not. - - 74 - Nor would he iniure husbandmen, - That toyld at cart and plough; - For well he knew, were’t not for them, - To live no man knew how. - - 75 - The king in person, with some lords, - To Notingham did ride, - To try what strength and skill affords - To crush these outlawes pride. - - 76 - And, as he once before had done, - He did againe proclaime, - That whosoere would take upon - To bring to Notingham, - - 77 - Or any place within the land, - Rebellious Robbin Hood, - Should be preferd in place to stand - With those of noble blood. - - 78 - When Robbin Hood heard of the same, - Within a little space, - Into the towne of Notingham - A letter to his Grace - - 79 - He shot upon an arrow-head, - One evening cunningly; - Which was brought to the king, and read - Before his Maiestie. - - 80 - The tennour of this letter was - That Robbin would submit, - And be true leigeman to his Grace, - In any thing that’s fit, - - 81 - So that his Highnesse would forgive - Him and his merry men all; - If not, he must i th’ greene wood live, - And take what chance did fall. - - 82 - The king would faine have pardoned him, - But that some lords did say, - This president will much condemne - Your Grace another day. - - 83 - While that the king and lords did stay - Debating on this thing, - Some of these outlawes fled away - Unto the Scottish king. - - 84 - For they supposd, if he were tane, - Or to the king did yeeld, - By th’ commons all the rest on ’s traine - Full quickely would be quelld. - - 85 - Of more than full a hundred men - But forty tarryed still, - Who were resolvd to sticke to him, - Let fortune worke her will. - - 86 - If none had fled, all for his sake - Had got their pardon free; - The king to favour meant to take - His merry men and he. - - 87 - But ere the pardon to him came, - This famous archer dy’d: - His death, and manner of the same, - I’le presently describe. - - 88 - For, being vext to thinke upon - His followers revolt, - In melancholly passion - He did recount their fault. - - 89 - ‘Perfideous traytors!’ sayd he then, - ‘In all your dangers past - Have I you guarded as my men - To leave me thus at last?’ - - 90 - This sad perplexity did cause - A fever, as some say, - Which him unto confusion drawes, - Though by a stranger way. - - 91 - This deadly danger to prevent, - He hide him with all speede - Vnto a nunnery, with intent - For his healths sake to bleede. - - 92 - A faithlesse fryer did pretend - In love to let him blood; - But he by falshood wrought the end - Of famous Robbin Hood. - - 93 - The fryer, as some say, did this - To vindicate the wrong - Which to the clergie he and his - Had done by power strong. - - 94 - Thus dyed he by trechery, - That could not dye by force; - Had he livd longer, certainely, - King Richard, in remorse, - - 95 - Had unto favour him receavd; - He brave men elevated; - ’Tis pitty he was of life bereavd - By one which he so hated. - - 96 - A treacherous leech this fryer was, - To let him bleed to death; - And Robbin was, me thinkes, an asse, - To trust him with his breath. - - 97 - His corpes the priores of the place, - The next day that he dy’d, - Caused to be buried, in mean case, - Close by the high-way side. - - 98 - And over him she caused a stone - To be fixed on the ground; - An epitaph was set thereon, - Wherein his name was found. - - 99 - The date o th’ yeare, and day also, - Shee made to be set there, - That all who by the way did goe - Might see it plaine appeare - - 100 - That such a man as Robbin Hood - Was buried in that place; - And how he lived in the greene wood, - And robd there for a space. - - 101 - It seemes that though the clergie he - Had put to mickle woe, - He should not quite forgotten be, - Although he was their foe. - - 102 - This woman, though she did him hate, - Yet loved his memory; - And thought it wondrous pitty that - His fame should with him dye. - - 103 - This epitaph, as records tell, - Within this hundred yeares - By many was discerned well, - But time all things outweares. - - 104 - His followers, when he was dead, - Were some received to grace; - The rest to forraigne countries fled, - And left their native place. - - 105 - Although his funerall was but meane, - This woman had in minde - Least his fame should be buried cleane - From those that came behind. - - 106 - For certainely, before nor since, - No man ere understood, - Vnder the reigne of any prince, - Of one like Robbin Hood. - - 107 - Full thirteene yeares, and something more, - These outlawes lived thus, - Feared of the rich, loved of the poore, - A thing most marvelous. - - 108 - A thing impossible to us - This story seemes to be; - None dares be now so venturous; - But times are chang’d, we see. - - 109 - We that live in these latter dayes - Of civill government, - If neede be, have a hundred wayes - Such outlawes to prevent. - - 110 - In those dayes men more barbarous were, - And lived lesse in awe; - Now, God be thanked! people feare - More to offend the law. - - 111 - No roaring guns were then in use, - They dreampt of no such thing; - Our English men in fight did chuse - The gallant gray-goose wing. - - 112 - In which activity these men, - Through practise, were so good, - That in those dayes non equald them, - Specially Robbin Hood. - - 113 - So that, it seemes, keeping in caves, - In woods and forrests thicke, - Thei’d beate a multitude with staves, - Their arrowes did so pricke. - - 114 - And none durst neare unto them come, - Unlesse in courtesie; - All such he bravely would send home, - With mirth and iollity. - - 115 - Which courtesie won him such love, - As I before have told; - ’Twas the cheefe cause that he did prove - More prosperous than he could. - - 116 - Let us be thankefull for these times - Of plenty, truth and peace, - And leave our great and horrid crimes, - Least they cause this to cease. - - 117 - I know there’s many fained tales - Of Robbin Hood and’s crew; - But chronicles, which seldome fayles, - Reports this to be true. - - 118 - Let none then thinke this a lye, - For, if ’twere put to th’ worst, - They may the truth of all discry - I th’ raigne of Richard the first. - - 119 - If any reader please to try, - As I direction show, - The truth of this brave history, - Hee’l finde it true I know. - - 120 - And I shall thinke my labour well - Bestowed, to purpose good, - When’t shall be sayd that I did tell - True tales of Robbin Hood. - - * * * * * - - _At the end of the Tale_: - - The Epitaph which the Prioresse of the Monastery of Kirkes Lay in - Yorke-shire set over Robbin Hood, which, as is before mentioned, - was to bee reade within these hundreth yeares, though in old - broken English, much to the same sence and meaning. - - Decembris quarto die, 1198: anno regni Richardii Primi 9. - - Robert Earle of Huntington - Lies under this little stone. - No archer was like him so good: - His wildnesse named him Robbin Hood. - Full thirteene yeares, and something more, - These northerne parts he vexed sore. - Such out-lawes as he and his men - May England never know agen. - - Some other superstitious words were in it, which I thought fit to - leave out.[121] - - Bodl. L. 78. - - 2^2. That _for_ which. - - 20^4. wisht. - - 59^3. kicke _for_ kickle. - - 70^2. In _for_ For. - - 94^2. Who _for_ That. - - 108^1. impossible _for_ unpossible. - - 116^3. our _for_ out. - - - - - 155 - - SIR HUGH, OR, THE JEW’S DAUGHTER - - #A.# ‘Hugh of Lincoln,’ Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 151. - - #B.# ‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 32. - - #C.# ‘The Jewis Daughter,’ Bishop Percy’s Papers. - - #D.# ‘Sir Hugh,’ Herd’s MSS, I, 213; stanzas 7–10, II, 219. Herd’s - Scottish Songs, 1776, I, 96. - - #E.# ‘Sir Hugh, or, The Jew’s Daughter,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. - 51. - - #F.# A. Hume, Sir Hugh of Lincoln, p. 35. - - #G.# From the recitation of an American lady. - - #H.# ‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ from the recitation of an American lady. - - #I.# Sir Egerton Brydges, Restituta, I, 381. - - #J.# ‘Sir Hugh.’ #a.# Notes and Queries, First Series, XII, 496. #b.# - The same, VIII, 614. - - #K.# Notes and Queries, First Series, IX, 320; Salopian Shreds and - Patches, in Miss C. S. Burne’s Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 539. - - #L. a.# Communicated by the Rev. E. Venables. #b.# A Walk through - Lincoln Cathedral, by the same, p. 41. - - #M.# F. H. Groome, In Gipsy Tents, Edinburgh, 1880, p. 145. - - #N.# ‘Little Harry Hughes and the Duke’s Daughter,’ Newell, Games and - Songs of American Children, p. 75. - - #O.# G. A. Sala, Illustrated London News, LXXXI, 415, October 21, - 1882, and Living London, 1883, p. 465. - - #P.# Halliwell, Ballads and Poems respecting Hugh of Lincoln, p. 37, - Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 192: two stanzas. - - #Q.# ‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ Motherwell’s Note-Book, p. 54: two stanzas. - - #R.# ‘Sir Hew, or, The Jew’s Daughter,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, - Appendix, p. xvii, VII: one stanza. - - -The copy in Pinkerton’s Tragic Ballads, 1781, p. 50, is made up of eight -stanzas of #D# and six of #B#, slightly retouched by the editor; that in -Gilchrist’s collection, 1815, I, 210, is eight stanzas of #D# and nine -of #A#; that in Stenhouse’s edition of Johnson’s Museum, IV, 500, -“communicated by an intelligent antiquarian correspondent,” is -compounded from #A#, #B#, #D#, #E# and Pinkerton, with a little chaff of -its own; that printed by W. C. Atkinson, of Brigg, Lincolnshire, in the -London Athenæum, 1867, p. 96, is Pinkerton’s, with two trifling changes. -Allen, History of the County of Lincoln, 1834, p. 171 (repeating Wilde, -Lincoln Cathedral, 1819, p. 27, as appears from Notes and Queries, 4th -Series, II, 60), says that a complete manuscript of the ballad was once -in the library of the cathedral, and cites the first stanza, which -differs from Pinkerton’s only in having “Mary Lincoln” for “merry -Lincoln.” - -The several versions agree in the outline of the story, and in many of -the details. According to #A#, boys who are playing football are joined -by Sir Hugh, who kicks the ball through the Jew’s window. Sir Hugh sees -the Jew’s daughter looking out of the window, and asks her to throw down -the ball. She tells him to come and get it; this he is afraid to do, for -fear she may do to him “as she did to his father.” The Jew’s daughter -entices him in with an apple, leads him through nine dark doors, lays -him on a table, and sticks him like a swine; then rolls him in a cake of -lead, and throws him into a draw-well fifty fathoms deep, Our Lady’s -draw-well. The boy not returning at eve, his mother sets forth to seek -him; goes to the Jew’s castle, the Jew’s garden, and to the draw-well, -entreating in each case Sir Hugh to speak. He answers from the well, -bidding his mother go make his winding-sheet, and he will meet her at -the back of merry Lincoln the next morning. His mother makes his -winding-sheet, and the dead corpse meets her at the back of merry -Lincoln: all the bells of Lincoln are rung without men’s hands, and all -the books of Lincoln are read without man’s tongue. - -The boy’s name is Sir Hugh in #A-F#, etc.; in #K# the name is corrupted -to Saluter, and in the singular and interesting copy obtained in New -York, #N#, to Harry Hughes, the Jew’s Daughter in this becoming the -Duke’s Daughter. The place is Merry Lincoln in #A#, #D#, #L# (Lincoln, -#J#; Lincolnshire, #Q#); corrupted in #B#, #C#, to Mirryland town,[122] -in #E# to Maitland town; changed to Merry Scotland, #I#, #J#, #O#, which -is corrupted to Merrycock land, #K#; in #G#, #H#, old Scotland, fair -Scotland. The ball is tossed [patted] into the Jew’s garden, #G#, #H#, -#I#, #L#, #M#, #O#, #P#, where the Jews are sitting a-row, #I#, #O#. The -boy will not come in without his play-feres, #B#, #C#, #D#, #F#, #G#, -#I#, #J#, #K#; if he should go in, his mother would cause his heart’s -blood to fall, etc., #G#, #I#, #K#.[123] The boy is rolled in a cake -[case] of lead, #A-E# (L, #b#?); in a quire of tin, #N#. The draw-well -is Our Lady’s only in #A# (L, #b#?); it is the Jew’s in #C#, #D#; it is -a [the] deep draw-well, simply, in #B#, #E#, #F#, #G#; a little -draw-well, #N#, a well, #O#; fifty fathoms deep, #A-F#, #N#; #G#, -eighteen fathoms, #O#, five and fifty feet. In #G#, the Jew’s daughter -lays the Bible at the boy’s head, and the Prayer-Book at his feet (how -came these in the Jew’s house?) before she sticks him; in #I#, #K#, the -Bible and Testament after; in #I#, the Catechism in his heart’s blood. -In #H#, the boy, at the moment of his death, asks that the Bible may be -put at his head, and the Testament at his feet, and in #M#, wants “a -seven-foot Bible” at his head and feet. In #E#, #F#, the boy makes this -request from the draw-well (“and pen and ink at every side,” #E#), and -in #N# with the variation that his Bible is to be put at his head, his -“busker” at his feet, and his Prayer-Book at his right side. In #O# -there is a jumble: - - ‘Oh lay a Bible at my head, - And a Prayer-Book at my feet, - In the well that they did throw me in,’ etc. - -The boy asks his mother to go and make ready his winding-sheet in #A#, -#B#, #C#, #E#, #F#; and appoints to meet her at the back of the town, -#A#, #B#, #E#; at the birks of Mirryland town, #C#. - -The fine trait of the ringing of the bells without men’s hands, and the -reading of the books without man’s tongue, occurs only in #A#. When -Florence of Rome approached a church, “the bellys range thorow Godys -grace, withowtyn helpe of hande:” Le Bone Florence of Rome, Ritson, Met. -Rom., III, 80, v. 1894 f. Bells which ring without men’s hands are very -common in popular tradition. See Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 140; -Wunderhorn, II, 272, ed. 1808; Luzel, C. P. de la Basse-Bretagne, I, 446 -f., 496 f., II, 44 f., 66 f., 308 f., 542 f.; Maurer, Isländische -Volkssagen, p. 215; Weckenstedt, Wendische Sagen, p. 379, No 5; Temme, -Volkssagen der Altmark, p. 29, No 31; Münsterische Geschichten, u. s. -w., p. 186; Bartsch, Sagen aus Meklenburg, I, 390, No 539; Mone’s -Anzeiger, VIII, 303 f., No 41 and note, and VII, 32; Birlinger, Aus -Schwaben, Neue Sammlung, I, 72; Birlinger u. Buck, I, 144, No 223, 145, -No 225, a, b, c; Schöppner, Sagenbuch der bayerischen Lande, I, 294, No -301, etc.[124] - -The story of Hugh of Lincoln is told in the Annals of Waverley, under -the year 1255, by a contemporary writer, to this effect.[125] A boy in -Lincoln, named Hugh, was crucified by the Jews in contempt of Christ, -with various preliminary tortures. To conceal the act from Christians, -the body, when taken from the cross, was thrown into a running stream; -but the water would not endure the wrong done its maker, and immediately -ejected it upon dry land. The body was then buried in the earth, but was -found above ground the next day. The guilty parties were now very much -frightened and quite at their wit’s end; as a last resort they threw the -corpse into a drinking-well. Thereupon the whole place was filled with -so brilliant a light and so sweet an odor that it was clear to everybody -that there must be something holy and prodigious in the well. The body -was seen floating on the water, and, upon its being drawn up, the hands -and feet were found to be pierced, the head had, as it were, a crown of -bloody points, and there were various other wounds: from all which it -was plain that this was the work of the abominable Jews. A blind woman, -touching the bier on which the blessed martyr’s corpse was carrying to -the church, received her sight, and many other miracles followed. -Eighteen Jews, convicted of the crime, and confessing it with their own -mouth, were hanged. - -Matthew Paris, also writing contemporaneously, supplies additional -circumstances, one of which, the mother’s finding of the child, is -prominent in the ballad.[126] The Jews of Lincoln stole the boy Hugh, -who was some eight years old, near Peter and Paul’s day, June 29, and -fed him properly for ten days, while they were sending to all parts of -England to convoke their co-believers to a crucifixion of him in -contempt of Jesus. When they were assembled, one of the Lincoln Jews was -appointed judge, a Pilate, as it were, and the boy was sentenced to -various torments; he was scourged till the blood ran, crowned with -thorns, spit upon, pricked with knives, made to drink gall, mocked and -scoffed at, hailed as false prophet; finally he was crucified, and a -lance thrust into his heart. He was then taken down and disembowelled; -for what reason is not known, but, as it was said, for magical purposes. -The mother (whose name, not given by this chronicler, is known to have -been Beatrice) made diligent search for her lost child for several days, -and was told by her neighbors that they had seen the boy playing with -Jewish children, and going into a Jew’s house. This house the mother -entered, and saw the boy’s body, which had been thrown into a well. The -town officers were sent for, and drew up the corpse. The mother’s -shrieks drew a great concourse to the place, among whom was Sir John of -Lexington, a long-headed and scholarly man (a priest of the cathedral), -who declared that he had heard of the Jews doing such things before. -Laying hands on the Jew into whose house the boy had been known to go, -John of Lexington told him that all the gold in England would not buy -him off; nevertheless, life and limb should be safe if he would tell -everything. The Jew, Copin by name, encouraged and urged by Sir John, -made a full confession: all that the Christians had said was true; the -Jews crucified a boy every year, if they could get hold of one, and had -crucified this Hugh; they had wished to bury the body, after they had -come to the conclusion that an innocent’s bowels were of no use for -divination, but the earth would not hold it; so they had thrown it into -a well, but with no better success, for the mother had found it, and -reported the fact to the officers. The canons of Lincoln Cathedral -begged the child’s body, and buried it in their church with the honors -due to so precious a martyr. The king, who had been absent in the North, -being made acquainted with these circumstances, blamed Sir John for the -promise which he had so improperly made the wretch Copin. But Copin was -still in custody, and, seeing he had no chance for life, he volunteered -to complete his testimony! almost all the Jews in England had been -accessory to the child’s death, and almost every city of England where -Jews lived had sent delegates to the ceremony of his immolation, as to a -Paschal sacrifice. Copin was then tied to a horse, and dragged to the -gallows, and ninety-one other Jews carried to London and imprisoned. The -inquisition made by the king’s justices showed that the crime had been -virtually the common act of the Jews of England, and the mother’s appeal -to the king, which was pressed unremittingly, had such effect that on St -Clement’s day eighteen of the richer and more considerable Jews of -Lincoln were hanged on gallows specially constructed for the purpose, -more than sixty being reserved for a like sentence in the tower of -London.[127] - -The Annals of Burton give a long report of this case, which is perhaps -contemporary, though the MS. is mostly of the next century. On the last -day of July, at a time when all the principal Jews of England were -collected at Lincoln, Hugh, a school-boy (_scholaris_) of nine, the only -son of a poor woman, was kidnapped towards sunset, while playing with -his comrades, by Jopin, a Jew of that place. He was concealed in Jopin’s -house six and twenty days, getting so little to eat and drink that he -had hardly the strength to speak. Then, at a council of all the Jews, -resident and other, it was determined that he should be put to death. -They stripped him, flogged him, spat in his face, cut off the cartilage -of the nose and the upper lip, and broke the main upper teeth; then -crucified him. The boy, fortified by divine grace, maintained himself -with cheerfulness, and uttered neither complaint nor groan. They ran -sharp points into him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his -head, till the body was covered with the blood from these wounds, then -pierced his side with a lance, and he gave up the ghost. The boy not -coming home as usual, his mother made search for him. As he was not -found, the information given by his playmates as to when and where they -had last seen him roused a strong suspicion among the Christians that he -had been carried off and killed by the Jews; all the more because there -were so many of them present in the town at that time, and from all -parts of the kingdom, though the Jews pretended that the occasion for -this unusual congregation was a grand wedding. The truth becoming every -day clearer, the mother set off for Scotland, where the king then -chanced to be, and laid the complaint at his feet. The Jews, meanwhile, -knowing that the business would be looked into, were in great -consternation; they took away the body in the night, and threw it into a -well. In the well it was found in the course of an inquisition ordered -by the king, and, when it was drawn out, a woman, blind for fifteen -years, who had been very fond of the boy, laid her hand on the body in -faith, exclaiming, Alas, sweet little Hugh, that it so happened! and -then rubbed her eyes with the moisture of the body, and at once -recovered her sight. The miracle drew crowds of people to the spot, and -every sick or infirm person that could get near the body went home well -and happy: hearing whereof, the dean and canons of the cathedral went -out in procession to the body of the holy martyr, and carried it to the -minster with all possible ceremony, where they buried it very honorably -(disregarding the passionate protests of a brother canon, of the parish -to which the boy belonged, who would fain have retained so precious, and -also valuable, an object within his own bounds). The king stopped at -Lincoln, on his way down from Scotland, looked into the matter, found -the charges against the Jews to be substantiated, and ordered an arrest -of the whole pack. They shut themselves up in their houses, but their -houses were stormed. In the course of the examination which followed, -John of Lessington promised Jopin, the head of the Jews, and their -priest (who was believed to be at the bottom of the whole transaction), -that he would do all he could to save his life, if Jopin would give up -the facts. Jopin, delighted at this assurance, and expecting to be able -to save the other Jews by the use of money, confessed everything. But -considering what a disgrace it would be to the king’s majesty if the -deviser and perpetrator of such a felony escaped scot-free, Jopin was, -by sentence of court, tied to the tail of a horse, dragged a long way -through the streets, over sticks and stones, and hanged. Such other Jews -as had been taken into custody were sent to London, and a good many -more, who were implicated but had escaped, were arrested in the -provinces. Eighteen suffered the same fate as Jopin. The Dominicans -exerted themselves to save the lives of the others,—bribed so to do, as -some thought; but they lost favor by it, and their efforts availed -nothing. It was ordered by the government that all the Jews in the land -who had consented to the murder, and especially those who had been -present, namely, seventy-one who were in prison in London, should die -the death of Jopin. But Richard of Cornwall, the king’s brother, to whom -the king had pledged all the Jews in England as security for a loan, -stimulated also by a huge bribe, withstood this violation of vested -rights, and further execution was stayed.[128] - -An Anglo-French ballad of ninety-two stanzas, which also appears to be -contemporary with the event, agrees in many particulars with the account -given in the Annals of Burton, adding several which are found in none of -the foregoing narratives.[129] Hugh of Lincoln was kidnapped one evening -towards the beginning of August, by Peitevin, the Jew.[130] His mother -at once missed him, and searched for him, crying, I have lost my child! -till curfew. She slept little and prayed much, and immediately after her -prayer the suspicion arose in her mind that her child had been abducted -by the Jews. So, with the break of day, the woman went weeping through -the Jewry, calling at the Jews’ doors, Where is my child? Impelled by -the suspicion which, as it pleased God, she had of the Jews, she kept on -till she came to the court. When she came before King Henry (whom God -preserve!), she fell at his feet and begged his grace: “Sire, my son was -carried off by the Lincoln Jews one evening; see to it, for charity!” -The king swore by God’s pity, If it be so as thou hast told, the Jews -shall die; if thou hast lied on the Jews, by St Edward, doubt not thou -shalt have the same judgment. Soon after the child was carried off, the -Jews of Lincoln made a great gathering of all the richest of their sect -in England. The child was brought before them, tied with a cord, by the -Jew Jopin. They stripped him, as erst they did Jesus. Then said Jopin, -thinking he spoke to much profit, The child must be sold for thirty -pence, as Jesus was. Agim, the Jew, answered, Give me the child for -thirty pence; but I wish that he should be sentenced to death, since I -have bought him. The Jews said, Let Agim have him, but let him be put to -death forthwith: worse than this, they all cried with one voice, Let him -be put on the cross! The child was unbound and hanged on the cross, -vilely, as Jesus was. His arms were stretched to the cross, and his feet -and hands pierced with sharp nails, and he was crucified alive. Agim -took his knife and pierced the innocent’s side, and split his heart in -two. As the ghost left the body, the child called to his mother, Pray -Jesus Christ for me! The Jews buried the body, so that no one might know -of their privity, but some of them, passing the place the next morning, -found it lying above ground. When they heard of this marvel, they -determined in council that the corpse should be thrown into a jakes; but -the morning after it was again above ground. While they were in agonies -of terror, one of their number came and told them that a woman, who had -been his nurse, had agreed for money to take the body out of the city; -but he recommended that all the wounds should first be filled with -boiling wax. The body was taken off by this nurse and thrown into a well -behind the castle.[131] A woman coming for water the next day discovered -it lying on the ground, so filthy that she scarce durst touch it. This -woman bethought herself of the child which had been stolen. She went -back to Lincoln, and gave information to Hugh’s stepfather, who found -her tale probable by reason of the suspicion which he already had of the -Jews. The woman went through the city proclaiming that she had found the -child, and everybody flocked to the well. The coroners were sent for, -and came with good will to make their inspection. The body was taken -back to Lincoln. A woman came up, who had long before lost her sight, -and calling out, Alas, pretty Hugh, why are you lying here! applied her -hands to the corpse and then to her eyes, and regained her sight. All -who were present were witnesses of the miracle, and gave thanks to God. -A converted[132] Jew presented himself, and suggested that if they -wished to know how the child came by its death they should wash the body -in warm water; and this being done, the examination which he made -enabled him to show that this treason had been done by the Jews, for the -very wounds of Jesus were found upon the child. They of the cathedral, -hearing of the miracle, came out and carried the body to the church, and -buried it among other saints with great joy: mult ben firent, cum m’ est -avis. Soon after, the mother arrived from the court, very unhappy -because she had not been able to find her child. The Lincoln Jews were -apprehended and thrown into prison; they said, We have been betrayed by -Falsim. The next day King Henry came to Lincoln, and ordered the Jews -before him for an inquest. A wise man who was there took it upon him to -say that the Jew who would tell the truth to the king should fare the -better for it. Jopin, in whose house the treason had been done, told the -whole story as already related. King Henry, when all had been told, -cried, Right ill did he that killed him! The justices[133] went to -council, and condemned Jopin to death: his body was to be drawn through -the city “de chivals forts et ben ferré[s]” till life was extinct, and -then to be hanged. And this was done. I know well where, says the -singer: by Canewic, on the high hill.[134] Of the other Jews it is only -said that they had much shame. - -The English ballads, the oldest of which were recovered about the middle -of the last century, must, in the course of five hundred years of -tradition, have departed considerably from the early form; in all of -them the boy comes to his death for breaking a Jew’s window, and at the -hands of the Jew’s daughter. The occurrence of Our Lady’s draw-well, in -#A#, is due to a mixing, to this extent, of the story of Hugh with that -of the young devotee of the Virgin who is celebrated in Chaucer’s -Prioresses Tale. In Chaucer’s legend, which somewhat strangely removes -the scene to a city in Asia, a little “clergeon” (cf. the scholaris of -the Annals of Burton) excites, not very unnaturally, the wrath of the -Jews by singing the hymn “Alma redemptoris mater” twice a day, as he -passes, schoolward and homeward, through the Jewry. For this they cut -his throat and throw him into a privy. The Virgin comes to him, and bids -him sing the anthem still, till a grain which she lays upon his tongue -shall be removed. The mother, in the course of her search for her boy, -goes to the pit, under divine direction, and hears him singing. - -Another version of this legend occurs in a collection of the Miracles of -Our Lady in the Vernon MS., c. 1375, leaf cxxiii, back; printed by Dr. -Horstmann in Herrig’s Archiv, 1876, LVI, 224, and again in the Chaucer -Society’s Originals and Analogues, p. 281. The boy, in this, contributes -to the support of his family by singing and begging in the streets of -Paris. His song is again Alma redemptoris mater, and he sings it one -Saturday as he goes through the Jewry. He is killed, disposed of, and -discovered as in Chaucer’s tale, and the bishop, who “was come to see -that wonder,” finds in the child’s throat a lily, inscribed all over -with Alma redemptoris mater, which being taken out the song ceases. But -when the child’s body is carried to the minster, and a requiem mass is -begun, the corpse rises up, and sings Salve, sancta parens. - -Another variety of the legend is furnished by the Spanish Franciscan -Espina, Fortalicium Fidei, 1459, in the edition of Lyons, 1500, fol. -ccviii, reprinted by the Chaucer Society, Originals and Analogues, p. -108.[135] The boy is here called Alfonsus of Lincoln. The Jews, having -got him into their possession, deliberate what shall be done to him, and -decide that the tongue with which he had sung Alma redemptoris shall be -torn out, likewise the heart in which he had meditated the song, and the -body be thrown into a jakes. The Virgin comes to him, and puts a -precious stone in his mouth, to supply the place of his tongue, and the -boy at once begins to sing the anthem, and keeps on incessantly for four -days; at the end of which time the discovery is made by the mother, as -before. The body is taken to the cathedral, where the bishop delivers a -sermon, concluding with an injunction upon all present to pour out their -supplications to heaven that this mystery may be cleared up. The boy -rises to his feet, takes the jewel from his mouth, explains everything -that has passed, hands the jewel to the bishop, to be preserved with -other reliques, and expires. - -A miracle versified from an earlier source by Gautier de Coincy, some -thirty or forty years before the affair of Hugh of Lincoln, is obviously -of the same ultimate origin as the Prioresses Tale. A poor woman in -England had an only son with a beautiful voice, who did a good deal for -the support of his mother by his singing. The Virgin took a particular -interest in this clerçoncel, among whose songs was Gaude Maria, which he -used to give in a style that moved many to tears. One day, when he was -playing in the streets with his comrades, they came to the Jews’ street, -where some entertainment was going on which had collected a great many -people, who recognized the boy, and asked him to give them a song about -Our Lady. He sang with his usual pathos and applause. Jews were -listening with the rest, and one of them was so exasperated by a passage -in the hymn that he would have knocked the singer on the head then and -there, had he dared. When the crowd was dispersed, this Jew enticed the -child into his house by flattery and promises, struck him dead with an -axe, and buried him. His mother went in search of him, and learned the -second day that the boy had been singing in the Jewry the day before, -and it was intimated that the Jews might have laid hands on him and -killed him. The woman gave the Virgin to understand that if she lost her -child she should never more have confidence in her power; nevertheless, -more than twenty days passed before any light was thrown on his -disappearance. At the end of that time, being one day in the Jews’ -street, and her wild exclamations having collected a couple of thousand -people, she gave vent to her conviction that the Jews had killed her -son. Then the Virgin made the child, dead and buried as he was, sing out -Gaude Maria in a loud and clear voice. An assault was made on the Jews -and the Jews’ houses, including that of the murderer; and here, after -much searching, guided by the singing, they found the boy buried under -the door, perfectly well, and his face as red as a fresh cherry. The boy -related how he had been decoyed into the house and struck with an axe; -the Virgin had come to him in what seemed a sleep, and told him that he -was remiss in not singing her response as he had been wont, upon which -he began to sing. Bells were rung, the Virgin was glorified, some Jews -were converted, the rest massacred. (G. de Coincy, ed. Poquet, col. 557 -ff; Chaucer Society, Originals and Analogues, p. 253 ff.) The same -miracle, with considerable variations, occurs in Mariu Saga, ed. Unger, -p. 203, No 62, ‘Af klerk ok gyðingum;’ also in Collin de Plancy, -Légendes des Saintes Images, p. 218, ‘L’Enfant de Chœur de Notre-Dame du -Puy,’ under the date 1325. - -Murders like that of Hugh of Lincoln have been imputed to the Jews for -at least seven hundred and fifty years,[136] and the charge, which there -is reason to suppose may still from time to time be renewed, has brought -upon the accused every calamity that the hand of man can inflict, -pillage, confiscation, banishment, torture, and death, and this in huge -proportions. The process of these murders has often been described as a -parody of the crucifixion of Jesus. The motive most commonly alleged, in -addition to the expression of contempt for Christianity, has been the -obtaining of blood for use in the Paschal rites,—a most unhappily -devised slander, in stark contradiction with Jewish precept and -practice. That no Christian child was ever killed by a Jew, that there -never even was so much truth as that (setting aside the object) in a -single case of these particular criminations, is what no Christian or -Jew would undertake to assert; but of these charges in the mass it may -safely be said, as it has been said, that they are as credible as the -miracles which, in a great number of cases, are asserted to have been -worked by the reliques of the young saints, and as well substantiated as -the absurd sacrilege of stabbing, baking, or boiling the Host,[137] or -the enormity of poisoning springs, with which the Jews have equally been -taxed.[138] And these pretended child-murders, with their horrible -consequences, are only a part of a persecution which, with all -moderation, may be rubricated as the most disgraceful chapter in the -history of the human race.[139] - -Cases in England, besides that of Hugh of Lincoln, are William of -Norwich, 1137, the Saxon Chronicle, Earle, p. 263, Acta Sanctorum, March -(25), III, 588; a boy at Gloucester, 1160, Brompton, in Twysden, col. -1050, Knyghton, col. 2394; Robert of St Edmondsbury, 1181, Gervasius -Dorobornensis, Twysden, col. 1458; a boy at Norwich, stolen, -circumcised, and kept for crucifixion, 1235, Matthew Paris, Chronica -Majora, Luard, III, 305 (see also III, 543, 1239, IV, 30, 1240); a boy -at London, 1244, Matthew Paris, IV, 377 (doubtful, but solemnly buried -in St. Paul’s); a boy at Northampton, 1279, crucified, but not quite -killed, the continuator of Florence of Worcester, Thorpe, II, 222. - -It would be tedious and useless to attempt to make a collection of the -great number of similar instances which have been mentioned by -chroniclers and ecclesiastical writers; enough come readily to hand -without much research. - -A boy was crucified and thrown into the Loire by the Jews of Blois in -1171: Sigiberti Gemblacensis Chronica, auctarium Roberti de Monte, in -Pertz, Mon. Germ. Hist. Script., VI, 520, Grätz, Geschichte der Juden, -VI, 217–19. Philip Augustus had heard in his early years from playmates -that the Jews sacrificed a Christian annually (and, according to some, -partook of his heart), and this is represented as having been his reason -for expelling the Jews from France. Richard of Pontoise was one of these -victims, in 1179: Rigordus, Gesta Philippi Augusti, p. 14 f., § 6, and -Guillelmus Armoricus, p. 179, § 17, in the edition of 1882; Acta -Sanctorum, March (25), III, 591. France had such a martyr as late as -1670: see the case of Raphaël Lévy in Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, -2^r Theil, 224; Drumont, La France Juive, II, 402–09. - -Alfonso the Wise has recorded in the Siete Partidas, 1255, that he had -heard that the Jews were wont to crucify on Good Friday children that -they had stolen (or waxen images, when children were not to be had), -Partida VII, Tit. XXIV, Ley ii^a, III, 670, ed. 1807, and this was one -of the most effective grounds offered in justification of the expulsion -of the Jews under Ferdinand and Isabella: Amador de los Rios, Historia -de los Judíos de España, I, 483 f. San Dominguito de Val, a choir-boy of -seven, Chaucer’s clergeon over again, was said to have been stolen and -crucified at Saragossa in 1250: Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, 1726, vol. -ix, 2d part, pp. 484–86; Acta SS., Aug. (31), VI, 777. Several children -were crucified at Valladolid in 1452, and like outrages occurred near -Zamora in 1454, and at Sepulveda in 1468: Grätz, VIII, 238. Juan -Passamonte, “el niño de Guardia,” was kidnapped in 1489, and crucified -in 1490: Llorente (Pellier), Histoire de l’Inquisition, ed. 1818, I, 258 -f. - -Switzerland affords several stories of the sort: a boy at Frisingen in -1287, Ulrich, Sammlung jüdischer Geschichten, p. 149; Rudolf of Bern, -1288 or 1294, Ulrich, pp. 143–49, Acta Sanctorum, April (17), II, 504, -Stobbe, Die Juden in Deutschland, p. 283; a boy at Zürich, 1349, another -at Diessenhofen, 1401, Ulrich, pp. 82, 248 f. - -Examples are particularly numerous in Germany. 1181, Vienna, Zunz, p. -25; 1198, Nuremberg, Stobbe, p. 281; about 1200, Erfurt, Zunz, p. 26; -1220, St Henry, Weissenburg, Acta SS., April, II, 505 (but 1260, -Schœpflin, Alsatia Illustrata, II, 394 f.); 1235–6, Fulda, Grätz, -Geschichte der Juden, VII, 109, 460; 1261, Magdeburg, Stobbe, p. 282; -1283, Mayence, Grätz, VII, 199; 1285, Munich, Grätz, VII, 200, Aretin, -Geschichte der Juden in Baiern, p. 18; 1286, Oberwesel, near Bacharach, -Werner (boy or man), Grätz, VII, 201, 479, Stobbe, p. 282, Acta -Sanctorum, April (19), II, 697; 1292, Colmar, Stobbe, p. 283; 1293, -Krems, _ib._; 1302, Remken, _ib._; 1303, Conrad, at Weissensee, _ib._; -1345, Henry, at Munich, Acta SS., May (27), VI, 657; 1422, Augsburg, or -1429, Ravensburg, Ulrich, p. 88 ff; 1454, Breslau, Grätz, VIII, 205; -1462, Andrew, in Tyrol, Acta SS., July (12), III, 462; 1474 and 1476, -Ratisbon, Zeitschrift für die historische Theologie (Train, Geschichte -der Juden in Regensburg), 1837, Heft 3, p. 98 ff., 104 ff., and -(Saalschütz), 1841, Heft 4, p. 140 ff., Grätz, VIII, 279 ff.; 1475, -Simon of Trent, Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script., XX, 945–49 (Annals of -Placentia), Liliencron, Historische V. l. der Deutschen, II, 13, No 128, -Grätz, VIII, 269 ff., Acta SS., March (24), III, 494, La Civiltà -Cattolica, 1881 and 1882;[140] a little before 1478, Baden, Train, as -above, p. 117; 1540, Zappenfeld, near Neuburg (nothing “proved”), -Aretin, p. 44 f.; 1562, Andrew, Tyrol, Acta SS., July (12), III, 462, -with a picture,[141] p. 464; 1650, Caden (and others in Styria, -Carinthia, and Carniola), Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, 1711, 2^r -Theil, p. 223; near Sigeberg, in the diocese of Cologne, Joanettus, Acta -SS., March, III, 502, with no year. - -Italy appears to be somewhat behind the rest of Europe. The Fortalicium -Fidei reports a case at Pavia some time before 1456, and another at -Savona of about 1452: Basel ed. (c. 1475), fol. 116 f. 1480, Venice, -Beato Sebastiano da Porto Buffolè del Bergamasco, Civiltà Cattolica, X, -737. Israel, one of the culprits of Trent, revealed his knowledge of -similar transactions at Padova, Mestre, Serravalle and Bormio, in the -course of his own life, besides several in Germany: Civ. Catt., X, 737. - -Further, 1305, Prague, Eisenmenger, p. 221; 1407, Cracow, “Dlugosz, -Hist. Polonicæ, l. x, p. 187;” 1494, Tyrnau, Ungerische Chronica, 1581, -p. 375; 1505, Budweis, Stobbe, p. 292; 1509, Bösing, Hungary, -Eisenmenger, p. 222; 1569, Constantinople, Fickler, Theologia Juridica, -1575, p. 505 (cited by Michel); 1598, Albertus, in Polonia, Acta SS., -April (circa 20), II, 835. - -Train, as above, p. 98, note, adds, with authorities, Pforzheim, -Ueberlingen, Swäbisch-Hall, Friuli, Halle, Eichstädt, Berlin. See also -Acta SS., April, III, 838 (De pluribus innocentibus per Judæos -excruciatis), March, III, 589, and April, II, 505; and Drumont, La -France Juive, II, 392 f. - -The charge against the Jews of murdering children for their blood is by -no means as yet a thing of the past. The accusation has been not -infrequently made in Russia during the present century. Although the -entertaining of such an inculpation was forbidden by an imperial ukase -in 1817, a criminal process on this ground, involving forty-three -persons, was instituted in 1823, and was brought to a close only in -1835, when the defendants were acquitted on account of the entire -failure of proof: Stobbe, p. 186. The murder of a child of six in -Neuhoven, in the district of Düsseldorf, in 1834, occasioned the -demolition of two Jewish houses and a synagogue: Illgen, in Zeitschrift -für die historische Theologie, 1837, Heft 3, 40, note. In February, -1840, a Greek boy of ten disappeared in Rhodes. The Jews were believed -to have killed him for his blood. Torture was freely used to extort -confessions. The case was removed to Constantinople, and in July, upon -the report of the supreme court, the Divan pronounced the innocence of -the defendants: Illgen, Z. f. d. Hist. Theol., 1841, Heft 4, p. 172, -note, Hume, Sir Hugh of Lincoln, p. 30.[142] In 1881, the Jews were in -suspicion on account of a boy at Alexandria, and of a girl at Calarasi, -Wallachia: Civiltà Cattolica, VIII, 225, 737. The Moniteur de Rome, June -15, 1883, affords several more of these too familiar tales. A Greek -child was stolen at Smyrna, a few years before the date last mentioned, -towards the time of the Passover, and its body found four days after, -punctured with pins in a thousand places. The mother, like Beatrice in -1255, denounced the Jews as the culprits; the Christian population rose -in a mass, rushed to the Jews’ quarter, and massacred more than six -hundred. An affair of the same nature took place at Balata, the Ghetto -of Constantinople, in 1842, of which the consequences to the Jews are -not mentioned; and again at Galata, “where the Jews escaped by bribing -the Turkish police to suppress testimony” (Drumont, II, 412). A young -girl disappeared at Tisza-Eszlár, in Hungary, in April, 1882, and the -Jews were suspected of having made away with her. The preliminary -judicial inquiry was marked by the intimidation and torture of several -persons examined for evidence. Fifteen who were held for trial were -absolutely acquitted in August, 1883, after more than a year of -imprisonment. The shops of Jews in Budapest were plundered by Christians -disappointed in the verdict! (Der Blut-Prozess von Tisza-Eszlár, New -York, 1883.) - - -#B# is translated by Herder, I, 120; by Bodmer, I, 59; in Seckendorf’s -Musenalmanach für das Jahr 1808, p. 5; by Doering, p. 163; by Von -Marées, p. 48. Allingham’s ballad by Knortz, Lieder u. Romanzen -Alt-Englands, p. 118. - - - A - - Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 151, as taken down by the editor from - Mrs Brown’s recitation. - - 1 - Four and twenty bonny boys - Were playing at the ba, - And by it came him sweet Sir Hugh, - And he playd oer them a’. - - 2 - He kickd the ba with his right foot, - And catchd it wi his knee, - And throuch-and-thro the Jew’s window - He gard the bonny ba flee. - - 3 - He’s doen him to the Jew’s castell, - And walkd it round about; - And there he saw the Jew’s daughter, - At the window looking out. - - 4 - ‘Throw down the ba, ye Jew’s daughter, - Throw down the ba to me!’ - ‘Never a bit,’ says the Jew’s daughter, - ‘Till up to me come ye.’ - - 5 - ‘How will I come up? How can I come up? - How can I come to thee? - For as ye did to my auld father, - The same ye’ll do to me.’ - - 6 - She’s gane till her father’s garden, - And pu’d an apple red and green; - ’Twas a’to wyle him sweet Sir Hugh, - And to entice him in. - - 7 - She’s led him in through ae dark door, - And sae has she thro nine; - She’s laid him on a dressing-table, - And stickit him like a swine. - - 8 - And first came out the thick, thick blood, - And syne came out the thin, - And syne came out the bonny heart’s blood; - There was nae mair within. - - 9 - She’s rowd him in a cake o lead, - Bade him lie still and sleep; - She’s thrown him in Our Lady’s draw-well, - Was fifty fathom deep. - - 10 - When bells were rung, and mass was sung, - And a’the bairns came hame, - When every lady gat hame her son, - The Lady Maisry gat nane. - - 11 - She’s taen her mantle her about, - Her coffer by the hand, - And she’s gane out to seek her son, - And wanderd oer the land. - - 12 - She’s doen her to the Jew’s castell, - Where a’were fast asleep: - ‘Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh, - I pray you to me speak.’ - - 13 - She’s doen her to the Jew’s garden, - Thought he had been gathering fruit: - ‘Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh, - I pray you to me speak.’ - - 14 - She neard Our Lady’s deep draw-well, - Was fifty fathom deep: - ‘Whareer ye be, my sweet Sir Hugh, - I pray you to me speak.’ - - 15 - ‘Gae hame, gae hame, my mither dear, - Prepare my winding sheet, - And at the back o merry Lincoln - The morn I will you meet.’ - - 16 - Now Lady Maisry is gane hame, - Made him a winding sheet, - And at the back o merry Lincoln - The dead corpse did her meet. - - 17 - And a’the bells o merry Lincoln - Without men’s hands were rung, - And a’the books o merry Lincoln - Were read without man’s tongue, - And neer was such a burial - Sin Adam’s days begun. - - - B - - Percy’s Reliques, I, 32, 1765; from a manuscript copy sent from - Scotland. - - 1 - The rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune, - Sae dois it doune the Pa; - Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune, - Whan they play at the ba. - - 2 - Than out and cam the Jewis dochter, - Said, Will ye cum in and dine? - ‘I winnae cum in, I cannae cum in, - Without my play-feres nine.’ - - 3 - Scho powd an apple reid and white, - To intice the yong thing in: - Scho powd an apple white and reid, - And that the sweit bairne did win. - - 4 - And scho has taine out a little pen-knife, - And low down by her gair; - Scho has twin’d the yong thing and his life, - A word he nevir spak mair. - - 5 - And out and cam the thick, thick bluid, - And out and cam the thin, - And out and cam the bonny herts bluid; - Thair was nae life left in. - - 6 - Scho laid him on a dressing-borde, - And drest him like a swine, - And laughing said, Gae nou and pley - With your sweit play-feres nine. - - 7 - Scho rowd him in a cake of lead, - Bade him lie stil and sleip; - Scho cast him in a deip draw-well, - Was fifty fadom deip. - - 8 - Whan bells wer rung, and mass was sung, - And every lady went hame, - Than ilka lady had her yong sonne, - Bot Lady Helen had nane. - - 9 - Scho rowd hir mantil hir about, - And sair, sair gan she weip, - And she ran into the Jewis castel, - Whan they wer all asleip. - - 10 - ‘My bonny Sir Hew, my pretty Sir Hew, - I pray thee to me speik:’ - ‘O lady, rinn to the deip draw-well, - Gin ye your sonne wad seik.’ - - 11 - Lady Helen ran to the deip draw-well, - And knelt upon her kne: - ‘My bonny Sir Hew, an ye be here, - I pray thee speik to me.’ - - 12 - ‘The lead is wondrous heavy, mither, - The well is wondrous deip; - A keen pen-knife sticks in my hert, - A word I dounae speik. - - 13 - ‘Gae hame, gae hame, my mither deir, - Fetch me my windling sheet, - And at the back o Mirry-land toun, - It’s thair we twa sall meet.’ - - - C - - Percy papers; communicated to Percy by Paton, in 1768 or 69, and - derived from a friend of Paton’s. - - 1 - Four and twenty bonny boys - War playing at the ba; - Then up and started sweet Sir Hew, - The flower amang them a’. - - 2 - He hit the ba a kick wi’s fit, - And kept it wi his knee, - That up into the Jew’s window - He gart the bonny ba flee. - - 3 - ‘Cast doun the ba to me, fair maid, - Cast doun the ba to me;’ - ‘O neer a bit o the ba ye get - Till ye cum up to me. - - 4 - ‘Cum up, sweet Hew, cum up, dear Hew, - Cum up and get the ba;’ - ‘I canna cum, I darna cum, - Without my play-feres twa.’ - - 5 - ‘Cum up, sweet Hew, cum up, dear Hew, - Cum up and play wi me;’ - ‘I canna cum, I darna cum, - Without my play-feres three.’ - - 6 - She’s gane into the Jew’s garden, - Where the grass grew lang and green; - She powd an apple red and white, - To wyle the young thing in. - - 7 - She wyl’d him into ae chamber, - She wyl’d him into twa, - She wyl’d him to her ain chamber, - The fairest o them a’. - - 8 - She laid him on a dressing-board, - Where she did sometimes dine; - She put a penknife in his heart, - And dressed him like a swine. - - 9 - Then out and cam the thick, thick blude, - Then out and cam the thin; - Then out and cam the bonny heart’s blude, - Where a’the life lay in. - - 10 - She rowd him in a cake of lead, - Bad him lie still and sleep; - She cast him in the Jew’s draw-well, - Was fifty fadom deep. - - 11 - She’s tane her mantle about her head, - Her pike-staff in her hand, - And prayed Heaven to be her guide - Unto some uncouth land. - - 12 - His mither she cam to the Jew’s castle, - And there ran thryse about: - ‘O sweet Sir Hew, gif ye be here, - I pray ye to me speak.’ - - 13 - She cam into the Jew’s garden, - And there ran thryse about: - ‘O sweet Sir Hew, gif ye be here, - I pray ye to me speak.’ - - 14 - She cam unto the Jew’s draw-well, - And there ran thryse about: - ‘O sweet Sir Hew, gif ye be here, - I pray ye to me speak.’ - - 15 - ‘How can I speak, how dare I speak, - How can I speak to thee? - The Jew’s penknife sticks in my heart, - I canna speak to thee. - - 16 - ‘Gang hame, gang hame, O mither dear, - And shape my winding sheet, - And at the birks of Mirryland town - There you and I shall meet.’ - - 17 - Whan bells war rung, and mass was sung, - And a’men bound for bed, - Every mither had her son, - But sweet Sir Hew was dead. - - - D - - Herd’s MS., I, 213; stanzas 7–10, II, 219. - - 1 - A’the boys of merry Linkim - War playing at the ba, - An up it stands him sweet Sir Hugh, - The flower amang them a’. - - 2 - He keppit the ba than wi his foot, - And catchd it wi his knee, - And even in at the Jew’s window - He gart the bonny ba flee. - - 3 - ‘Cast out the ba to me, fair maid, - Cast out the ba to me!’ - ‘Ah never a bit of it,’ she says, - ‘Till ye come up to me. - - 4 - ‘Come up, sweet Hugh, come up, dear Hugh, - Come up and get the ba’!’ - ‘I winna come up, I mayna come [up], - Without my bonny boys a’.’ - - 5 - ‘Come up, sweet Hugh, come up, dear Hugh, - Come up and speak to me!’ - ‘I mayna come up, I winna come up, - Without my bonny boys three.’ - - 6 - She’s taen her to the Jew’s garden, - Where the grass grew lang and green, - She’s pu’d an apple reid and white, - To wyle the bonny boy in. - - 7 - She’s wyl’d him in thro ae chamber, - She’s wyl’d him in thro twa, - She’s wyl’d him till her ain chamber, - The flower out owr them a’. - - 8 - She’s laid him on a dressin-board, - Whare she did often dine; - She stack a penknife to his heart, - And dressd him like a swine. - - 9 - She rowd him in a cake of lead, - Bade him lie still and sleep; - She threw him i the Jew’s draw-well, - ’Twas fifty fathom deep. - - 10 - Whan bells was rung, and mass was sung, - An a’ man bound to bed, - Every lady got hame her son, - But sweet Sir Hugh was dead. - - - E - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 51, as taken down from the recitation of - a lady. - - 1 - Yesterday was brave Hallowday, - And, above all days of the year, - The schoolboys all got leave to play, - And little Sir Hugh was there. - - 2 - He kicked the ball with his foot, - And kepped it with his knee, - And even in at the Jew’s window - He gart the bonnie ba flee. - - 3 - Out then came the Jew’s daughter: - ‘Will ye come in and dine?’ - ‘I winna come in, and I canna come in, - Till I get that ball of mine. - - 4 - ‘Throw down that ball to me, maiden, - Throw down the ball to me!’ - ‘I winna throw down your ball, Sir Hugh, - Till ye come up to me.’ - - 5 - She pu’d the apple frae the tree, - It was baith red and green; - She gave it unto little Sir Hugh, - With that his heart did win. - - 6 - She wiled him into ae chamber, - She wiled him into twa, - She wiled him into the third chamber, - And that was warst o’t a’. - - 7 - She took out a little penknife, - Hung low down by her spare, - She twined this young thing o his life, - And a word he neer spak mair. - - 8 - And first came out the thick, thick blood, - And syne came out the thin, - And syne came out the bonnie heart’s blood, - There was nae mair within. - - 9 - She laid him on a dressing-table, - She dressd him like a swine; - Says, Lie ye there, my bonnie Sir Hugh, - Wi yere apples red and green! - - 10 - She put him in a case of lead, - Says, Lie ye there and sleep! - She threw him into the deep draw-well, - Was fifty fathom deep. - - 11 - A schoolboy walking in the garden - Did grievously hear him moan; - He ran away to the deep draw-well, - And fell down on his knee. - - 12 - Says, Bonnie Sir Hugh, and pretty Sir Hugh, - I pray you speak to me! - If you speak to any body in this world, - I pray you speak to me. - - 13 - When bells were rung, and mass was sung, - And every body went hame, - Then every lady had her son, - But Lady Helen had nane. - - 14 - She rolled her mantle her about, - And sore, sore did she weep; - She ran away to the Jew’s castle, - When all were fast asleep. - - 15 - She cries, Bonnie Sir Hugh, O pretty Sir Hugh, - I pray you speak to me! - If you speak to any body in this world, - I pray you speak to me. - - 16 - ‘Lady Helen, if ye want your son, - I’ll tell ye where to seek; - Lady Helen, if ye want your son, - He’s in the well sae deep.’ - - 17 - She ran away to the deep draw-well, - And she fell down on her knee, - Saying, Bonnie Sir Hugh, O pretty Sir Hugh, - I pray ye speak to me! - If ye speak to any body in the world, - I pray ye speak to me. - - 18 - ‘Oh the lead it is wondrous heavy, mother, - The well it is wondrous deep; - The little penknife sticks in my throat, - And I downa to ye speak. - - 19 - ‘But lift me out o this deep draw-well, - And bury me in yon churchyard; - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 20 - ‘Put a Bible at my head,’ he says, - ‘And a Testament at my feet, - And pen and ink at every side, - And I’ll lie still and sleep. - - 21 - ‘And go to the back of Maitland town, - Bring me my winding sheet; - For it’s at the back of Maitland town - That you and I shall meet.’ - - 22 - O the broom, the bonny, bonny broom, - The broom that makes full sore, - A woman’s mercy is very little, - But a man’s mercy is more. - - - F - - Hume’s Sir Hugh of Lincoln, p. 35, obtained from recitation in - Ireland. - - 1 - ’Twas on a summer’s morning - Some scholars were playing at ball, - When out came the Jew’s daughter - And leand her back against the wall. - - 2 - She said unto the fairest boy, - Come here to me, Sir Hugh; - ‘No! I will not,’ said he, - ‘Without my playfellows too.’ - - 3 - She took an apple out of her pocket, - And trundled it along the plain, - And who was readiest to lift it - Was little Sir Hugh again. - - 4 - She took him by the milk-white han, - An led him through many a hall, - Until they came to one stone chamber, - Where no man might hear his call. - - 5 - She set him in a goolden chair, - And jaggd him with a pin, - And called for a goolden cup - To houl his heart’s blood in. - - 6 - She tuk him by the yellow hair, - An also by the feet, - An she threw him in the deep draw-well; - It was fifty fadom deep. - - 7 - Day bein over, the night came on, - And the scholars all went home; - Then every mother had her son, - But little Sir Hugh’s had none. - - 8 - She put her mantle about her head, - Tuk a little rod in her han, - An she says, Sir Hugh, if I fin you here, - I will bate you for stayin so long. - - 9 - First she went to the Jew’s door, - But they were fast asleep; - An then she went to the deep draw-well, - That was fifty fadom deep. - - 10 - She says, Sir Hugh, if you be here, - As I suppose you be, - If ever the dead or quick arose, - Arise and spake to me. - - 11 - ‘Yes, mother dear, I am here, - I know I have staid very long; - But a little penknife was stuck in my heart, - Till the stream ran down full strong. - - 12 - ‘And mother dear, when you go home, - Tell my playfellows all - That I lost my life by leaving them, - When playing that game of ball. - - 13 - ‘And ere another day is gone, - My winding-sheet prepare, - And bury me in the green churchyard, - Where the flowers are bloomin fair. - - 14 - ‘Lay my Bible at my head, - My Testament at my feet; - The earth and worms shall be my bed, - Till Christ and I shall meet.’ - - - G - - #a.# Written down by Mrs Dulany, January 14, 1885, from the - recitation of her mother, Mrs Nourse, aged above ninety, as learned - when a child, in Philadelphia. #b.# From the same source, furnished - several years earlier by Miss Perine, of Baltimore. - - 1 - It rains, it rains in old Scotland, - And down the rain does fa, - And all the boys in our town - Are out a playing at ba. - - 2 - ‘You toss your balls too high, my boys, - You toss your balls too low; - You’ll toss them into the Jew’s garden, - Wherein you darst not go.’ - - 3 - Then out came one of the Jew’s daughters, - All dressed in red and green: - ‘Come in, come in, my pretty little boy, - And get your ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘I winna come in, and I canna come in, - Without my playmates all, - And without the will of my mother dear, - Which would cause my heart’s blood to fall.’ - - 5 - She shewed him an apple as green as grass, - She shewed him a gay gold ring, - She shewed him a cherry as red as blood, - Which enticed the little boy in. - - 6 - She took him by the lily-white hand, - And led him into the hall, - And laid him on a dresser-board, - And that was the worst of all. - - 7 - She laid the Bible at his head, - The Prayer-Book at his feet, - And with a penknife small - She stuck him like a sheep. - - 8 - Six pretty maids took him by the head, - And six took him by the feet, - And threw him into a deep draw-well, - That was eighteen fathoms deep. - - * * * * * - - 9 - ‘The lead is wondrous heavy, mother, - The well is wondrous deep, - A keen pen-knife sticks in my heart, - And nae word more can I speak.’ - - - H - - Communicated by Miss Perine, of Baltimore, Maryland, as sung by her - mother about 1825. - - 1 - It rains, it rains in fair Scotland, - It rains both great and small - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 2 - He tossed the hall so high, so low, - He tossed the ball so low, - He tossed it over the Jew’s garden-wall, - Where no one dared to go. - - 3 - Out came one of the Jew’s daughters, - All dressed in apple-green; - Said she, My dear little boy, come in, - And pick up your ball again. - - 4 - ‘I dare not come, I will not come, - I dare not come at all; - For if I should, I know you would - Cause my blood to fall.’ - - 5 - She took him by the lily-white hand, - And led him thro the kitchen; - And there he saw his own dear maid - A roasting of a chicken. - - 6 - She put him in a little chair, - And pinned him with a pin, - And then she called for a wash-basin, - To spill his life blood in. - - 7 - ‘O put the Bible at my head, - And the Testament at my feet, - And when my mother calls for me, - You may tell her I’m gone to sleep.’ - - - I - - Sir E. Brydges, Restituta, I, 381, “obtained some years since” - (1814) from the recitation of an aged lady. - - 1 - It rains, it rains in merry Scotland, - It rains both great and small, - And all the children in merry Scotland - Are playing at the ball. - - 2 - They toss the ball so high, so high, - They toss the ball so low, - They toss the ball in the Jew’s garden, - Where the Jews are sitting a row. - - 3 - Then up came one of the Jew’s daughters, - Cloathed all in green: - ‘Come hither, come hither, my pretty Sir Hugh, - And fetch thy ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘I durst not come, I durst not go, - Without my play-fellowes all; - For if my mother should chance to know, - She’d cause my blood to fall.’ - - * * * * * - - 5 - She laid him upon the dresser-board, - And stuck him like a sheep; - She laid the Bible at his head, - The Testament at his feet, - The Catechise-Book in his own heart’s blood, - With a penknife stuck so deep. - - * * * * * - - - J - - #a.# Notes and Queries, First Series, XII, 496, B. H. C., from the - manuscript of an old lacemaker in Northamptonshire. #b.# N. and Q., - First Series, VIII, 614, B. H. C., from memory, stanzas 1–6. - - 1 - It rains, it rains in merry Scotland, - Both little, great and small, - And all the schoolfellows in merry Scotland - Must needs go play at ball. - - 2 - They tossd the ball so high, so high, - With that it came down so low; - They tossd it over the old Jew’s gates, - And broke the old Jew’s window. - - 3 - The old Jew’s daughter she came out, - Was clothed all in green: - ‘Come hither, come hither, you young Sir Hugh, - And fetch your ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘I dare not come, nor I will not come, - Without my schoolfellows come all; - For I shall be beaten when I go home - For losing of my ball.’ - - 5 - She ‘ticed him with an apple so red, - And likewise with a fig; - She threw him over the dresser-board, - And sticked him like a pig. - - 6 - The first came out the thickest of blood, - The second came out so thin, - The third came out the child’s heart-blood, - Where all his life lay in. - - 7 - ‘O spare my life! O spare my life! - O spare my life!’ said he; - ‘If ever I live to be a young man, - I’ll do as good chare for thee.’ - - 8 - ‘I’ll do as good chare for thy true love - As ever I did for the king; - I will scour a basin as bright as silver - To let your heart-blood run in.’ - - 9 - When eleven o’clock was past and gone, - And all the school-fellows came home, - Every mother had her own child - But young Sir Hugh’s mother had none. - - 10 - She went up Lincoln and down Lincoln, - And all about Lincoln street, - With her small wand in her right hand, - Thinking of her child to meet. - - 11 - She went till she came to the old Jew’s gate, - She knocked with the ring; - Who should be so ready as the old Jew herself - To rise and let her in! - - 12 - ‘What news, fair maid? what news, fair maid? - What news have you brought to me? - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 13 - ‘Have you seen any of my child today, - Or any of the rest of my kin?’ - ‘No, I’ve seen none of your child today, - Nor none of the rest of your kin.’ - - - K - - Notes and Queries, First Series, IX, 320; taken down by S. P. Q. - from the recitation of a nurse-maid in Shropshire about 1810. - Salopian Shreds and Patches, July 21, 1875, in Miss Burne’s - Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 539. - - 1 - It hails, it rains, in Merry-Cock land, - It hails, it rains, both great and small, - And all the little children in Merry-Cock land - They have need to play at ball. - - 2 - They tossd the ball so high, - They tossd the ball so low, - Amongst all the Jews’ cattle, - And amongst the Jews below. - - 3 - Out came one of the Jew’s daughters, - Dressed all in green: - ‘Come, my sweet Saluter, - And fetch the ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘I durst not come, I must not come, - Unless all my little playfellows come along; - For if my mother sees me at the gate, - She’ll cause my blood to fall. - - 5 - ‘She showd me an apple as green as grass, - She showd me a gay gold ring; - She showd me a cherry as red as blood, - And so she entic’d me in. - - 6 - ‘She took me in the parlor, - She took me in the kitchen, - And there I saw my own dear nurse, - A picking of a chicken. - - 7 - ‘She laid me down to sleep, - With a Bible at my head and a Testament at my feet; - And if my playfellows come to quere for me, - Tell them I am asleep.’ - - - L - - #a.# Communicated in a letter from the Rev. E. Venables, Precentor - of Lincoln, as sung to him by a nurse-maid nearly sixty years ago, - January 24, 1885. A Buckinghamshire version. #b.# A Walk through - Lincoln Minster, by the Rev. E. Venables, p. 41, 1884. - - 1 - It rains, it hails in merry Lincoln, - It rains both great and small, - And all the boys and girls today - Do play at pat the ball. - - 2 - They patted the ball so high, so high, - They patted the ball so low, - They patted it into the Jew’s garden, - Where all the Jews do go. - - 3 - Then out it spake the Jew’s daughter, - As she leant over the wall; - ‘Come hither, come hither, my pretty play-fellow, - And I’ll give you your ball.’ - - 4 - She tempted him [in] with apple so red, - But that wouldnt tempt him in; - She tempted him in with sugar so sweet, - And so she got him in. - - 5 - Then she put forth her lilly-white hand, - And led him through the hall: - ‘This way, this way, my pretty play-fellow, - And you shall have your ball.’ - - 6 - She led him on through one chamber, - And so she did through nine, - Until she came to her own chamber, - Where she was wont to dine, - And she laid him on a dressing-board, - And sticket him like a swine. - - 7 - Then out it came the thick, thick blood, - And out it came the thin, - And out it came the bonnie heart’s blood, - There was no more within. - - - M - - F. H. Groome, In Gipsy Tents, 1880, p. 145: “first heard at - Shepherd’s Bush, in 1872, from little Amy North.” - - 1 - Down in merry, merry Scotland - It rained both hard and small; - Two little boys went out one day, - All for to play with a ball. - - 2 - They tossed it up so very, very high, - They tossed it down so low; - They tossed it into the Jew’s garden, - Where the flowers all do blow. - - 3 - Out came one of the Jew’s daughters, - Dressëd in green all: - ‘If you come here, my fair pretty lad, - You shall have your ball.’ - - 4 - She showed him an apple as green as grass; - The next thing was a fig; - The next thing a cherry as red as blood, - And that would ‘tice him in. - - 5 - She set him on a golden chair, - And gave him sugar sweet; - Laid him on some golden chest of drawers, - Stabbed him like a sheep. - - 6 - ‘Seven foot Bible - At my head and my feet; - If my mother pass by me, - Pray tell her I’m asleep.’ - - - N - - Newell’s Games and Songs of American Children, p. 75, as sung by a - little girl in New York: derived, through her mother, from a - grandmother born in Ireland. - - 1 - It was on a May, on a midsummer’s day, - When it rained, it did rain small; - And little Harry Hughes and his playfellows all - Went out to play the ball. - - 2 - He knocked it up, and he knocked it down, - He knocked it oer and oer; - The very first kick little Harry gave the ball, - He broke the duke’s windows all. - - 3 - She came down, the youngest duke’s daughter, - She was dressed in green: - ‘Come back, come back, my pretty little boy, - And play the ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘I wont come back, and I daren’t come back, - Without my playfellows all; - And if my mother she should come in, - She’d make it the bloody ball.’ - - 5 - She took an apple out of her pocket, - And rolled it along the plain; - Little Harry Hughes picked up the apple, - And sorely rued the day. - - 6 - She takes him by the lily-white hand, - And leads him from hall to hall, - Until she came to a little dark room, - That no one could hear him call. - - 7 - She sat herself on a golden chair, - Him on another close by, - And there’s where she pulled out her little penknife, - That was both sharp and fine. - - 8 - Little Harry Hughes had to pray for his soul, - For his days were at an end; - She stuck her penknife in little Harry’s heart, - And first the blood came very thick, and then came very thin. - - 9 - She rolled him in a quire of tin, - That was in so many a fold; - She rolled him from that to a little draw-well, - That was fifty fathoms deep. - - 10 - ‘Lie there, lie there, little Harry,’ she cried, - ‘And God forbid you to swim, - If you be a disgrace to me, - Or to any of my friends.’ - - 11 - The day passed by, and the night came on, - And every scholar was home, - And every mother had her own child, - But poor Harry’s mother had none. - - 12 - She walked up and down the street, - With a little sally rod in her hand, - And God directed her to the little draw-well, - That was fifty fathoms deep. - - 13 - ‘If you be there, little Harry,’ she said, - ‘And God forbid you to be, - Speak one word to your own dear mother, - That is looking all over for thee.’ - - 14 - ‘This I am, dear mother,’ he cried, - ‘And lying in great pain, - With a little penknife lying close to my heart, - And the duke’s daughter she has me slain. - - 15 - ‘Give my blessing to my schoolfellows all, - And tell them to be at the church, - And make my grave both large and deep, - And my coffin of hazel and green birch. - - 16 - ‘Put my Bible at my head, - My busker (?) at my feet, - My little prayer-book at my right side, - And sound will be my sleep.’ - - - O - - G. A. Sala, Illustrated London News, October 21, 1882, LXXXI, 415, - repeated in Living London, 1883, p. 465: heard from a nurse in - childhood. - - 1 - It rains, it rains, in merry Scotland, - It rains both great and small, - And all the children in merry Scotland - Must needs play at ball. - - 2 - They toss the ball so high, - And they toss the ball so low; - They toss it into the Jew’s garden, - Where the Jews sate all of a row. - - 3 - . . . . . . . - A-dressëd all in green: - ‘Come in, come in, my pretty lad, - And you shall have your ball again.’ - - 4 - ‘They set me in a chair of state, - And gave me sugar sweet; - They laid me on a dresser-board, - And stuck me like a sheep. - - 5 - ‘Oh lay a Bible at my head, - And a Prayer-Book at my feet! - In the well that they did throw me in, - Full five-and-fifty feet deep.’ - - - P - - Halliwell, Ballads and Poems respecting Hugh of Lincoln, p. 37, - Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, p. 192, ed. 1849: - communicated by Miss Agnes Strickland, from oral tradition at - Godalming, Surrey. - - 1 - He tossed the ball so high, so high, - He tossed the ball so low, - He tossed the ball in the Jew’s garden, - And the Jews were all below. - - 2 - Oh then out came the Jew’s daughter, - She was dressed all in green: - ‘Come hither, come hither, my sweet pretty fellow, - And fetch your ball again.’ - - - Q - - Motherwell’s Note-Book, p. 54, as sung by Widow Michael, an old - woman in Barhead. - - 1 - A’ the bairns o Lincolnshire - Were learning at the school, - And every Saturday at een - They learnt their lessons weel. - - 2 - The Jew’s dochter sat in her bower-door, - Sewing at her seam; - She spied a’the bonnie bairns, - As they cam out and hame. - - - R - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xvii, VII. - - It was in the middle o the midsimmer tyme, - When the scule weans playd at the ba, ba, - Out and cam the Jew’s tochter, - And on little Sir Hew did ca, ca, - And on little Sir Hew did ca. - - * * * * * - -#B.# - - _Initial_ quh _is changed to_ wh: z, _for_ ȝ, _to_ y. - -#C.# - - “‘The Jew’s Daughter,’ which you say was transmitted to Mr Dodsley - by a friend of yours, never reached me, and Mr Dodsley says he - knows nothing of it. I wish you would prevail on your friend to - try to recollect or recover it, and send me another copy by - you.” _Percy to Paton, Jan. 12, 1769. The copy in the Percy - papers is in Paton’s hand._ - - 1^4. _First written_: The fairest o them a’. - - 7^4. _First written_: The flower amang them a’. - -#D.# - - 10^4. bells were, _in the second copy_. - -#E.# - - 9^2. a swan. - -#F.# - - _Hume says, p. 5, that he first heard the ballad in early - boyhood_; “it was afterwards readily identified with Sir Hugh of - Lincoln, though the rustic minstrel from whom I received it made - no allusion to locality.” _One cannot tell whether this copy is - the ballad heard in early boyhood._ - - 14^1. “_This and the next verse are transposed._” _Hume._ - -#G. a.# - - 2^4. darest. - -#b.# - - 1^2. doth fall. - - 1^3. When all. - - 1^4. Were out a playing ball. - - 2^1. We toss the balls so. - - 2^2. We toss the balls so. - - 2^3. We’ve tossed it. - - 2^4. Where no one dares to. - - 3^1. out and came the Jew’s daughter. - - 3^3. Said, Come. - - 4^1. will not come in, I cannot. - - 4^2. playfellows. - - 4^3. Nor _for_ And. - - 4^4. Which will. _After 4_: - I must not come, I dare not come, - I cannot come at all, - For if my mother should call for me, - I cannot hear her call. - - 5^4. To entice this. - - _After_ 5 (_compare Miss Perine’s own version_, #H# 6): - She put him in a little chair, - She pinned him with a pin, - And then she called for a wash-basin, - To spill his heart’s blood in. - - 6^3. dressing. - - 7^2. And the. - - 8 _comes before_ 6. - - 8^3. they threw: deep dark well. - - 8^4. Was fifty fathoms. - - 9 _wanting._ - -#J.# #a.# - - 6^4. Whereer. - -#b.# - - 1^2. It rains both great. - - 2^2. And yet it. - - 3^3. thou young. - - 4^1. I dare not come, I dare not come. - - 4^2. Unless my. - - 4^3. And I shall be flogged when I get. - - 5^3. She laid him on the. - - 6^1. The thickest of blood did first come out. - - 6^3. The third that came was his dear heart’s blood. - - 6^4. Where all his. - - 7–13 _wanting._ - -#K.# - - _There are slight changes in the second copy._ - - 4^2. all _wanting_. - - 5^{1,3}. _The first_ as _wanting_. - -#L. a.# - - “After nearly sixty years my memory is not altogether trustworthy, - and I am not altogether sure how far I have mixed up my childish - recollections with later forms of the ballad which I have read.” - - _The singer tagged on to this fragment version #c# of_ The Maid - freed from the Gallows, _given at_ II, 352. - -#b.# - - 1^3. For all. - - 3^1. it _wanting_. - - 4^1. him in. - - 4^4. And wiled the young thing in. - - 5. _wanting._ - - 6^1. him in through one dark door. - - 6^2. she has. - - 6^{3,4}. _wanting._ - - 6^5. She’s laid him. - - _After_ 7: - She’s rolled him in a cake of lead, - Bade him lie still and sleep, - And thrown him in St Mary’s well, - ’Twas fifty fathoms deep. - - When bells were rung, and mass was sung, - And all the boys came home, - Then every mother had her own son, - But Lady Maisy had none. - -#N.# - - “The writer was not a little surprised to hear from a group of - colored children, in the streets of New York city (though in a - more incoherent form), the following ballad. He traced the song - to a little girl living in one of the cabins near Central Park, - from whom he obtained this version.... The mother of the family - had herself been born in New York, of Irish parentage, but had - learned from her own mother, and handed down to her children, - such legends of the past as the ballad we cite.” _Communicated - to me by Mr. Newell some considerable time before publication._ - -#O.# - - 3. “One of the Jew’s daughters, ‘a-dressed all in green,’ issues - from the garden and says, Come in, etc.” - - - - - THE - ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH - POPULAR BALLADS - - EDITED BY - FRANCIS JAMES CHILD - - PART VI - - - - - 156 - - QUEEN ELEANOR’S CONFESSION - - #A. a.# ‘Queen Eleanor’s Confession,’ a broadside, London, Printed for - C. Bates, at the Sun and Bible in Gilt-spur-street, near Pye-corner, - Bagford Ballads, II, No 26, British Museum (1685?). #b.# Another - broadside, Printed for C. Bates in Pye-corner, Bagford Ballads, I, - No 33 (1685?). #c.# Another copy, Printed for C. Bates, in - Pye-corner, reprinted in Utterson’s Little Book of Ballads, p. 22. - #d.# A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, I, 18. - - #B.# Skene MS., p. 39. - - #C.# ‘Queen Eleanor’s Confession,’ Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 77. - - #D.# ‘The Queen of England,’ Aytoun, Ballads of Scotland, 1859, I, - 196. - - #E.# ‘Queen Eleanor’s Confession,’ Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, - p. 247. - - #F.# ‘Earl Marshall,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 1. - - -Given in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, II, 145, “from an old printed copy,” -with some changes by the editor, of which the more important are in -stanzas 2–4. #F#, “recovered from recitation” by Motherwell, repeats -Percy’s changes in 2, 3, 10^4, and there is reason to question whether -this and the other recited versions are anything more than traditional -variations of printed copies. The ballad seems first to have got into -print in the latter part of the seventeenth century, but was no doubt -circulating orally some time before that, for it is in the truly popular -tone. The fact that _two_ friars hear the confession would militate -against a much earlier date. In #E# there might appear to be some -consciousness of this irregularity; for the Queen sends for a single -friar, and the King says he will be “a prelate old” and sit in a dark -corner; but none the less does the King take an active part in the -shrift.[143] - -There is a Newcastle copy, “Printed and sold by Robert Marchbank, in the -Customhouse-Entry,” among the Douce ballads in the Bodleian Library, 3, -fol. 80, and in the Roxburghe collection, British Museum, III, 634. This -is dated in the Museum catalogue 1720? - -Eleanor of Aquitaine was married to Henry II of England in 1152, a few -weeks after her divorce from Louis VII of France, she being then about -thirty and Henry nineteen years of age. “It is needless to observe,” -says Percy, “that the following ballad is altogether fabulous; whatever -gallantries Eleanor encouraged in the time of her first husband, none -are imputed to her in that of her second.” - -In Peele’s play of Edward I, 1593, the story of this ballad is -transferred from Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine to Edward Longshanks -and that model of women and wives, Eleanor of Castile, together with -other slanders which might less ridiculously have been invented of Henry -II’s Eleanor.[144] Edward’s brother Edmund plays the part of the Earl -Marshall. The Queen dies; the King bewails his loss in terms of imbecile -affection, and orders crosses to be reared at all the stages of the -funeral convoy. Peele’s Works, ed. Dyce, I, 184 ff. - -There are several sets of tales in which a husband takes a -shrift-father’s place and hears his wife’s confession. 1. A fabliau “Du -chevalier qui fist sa fame confesse,” Barbazan et Méon, III, 229; -Montaiglon, Recueil Général, I, 178, No 16; Legrand, Fabliaux, etc., -1829, IV, 132, with circumstances added by Legrand. 2. Les Cent -Nouvelles Nouvelles, 1432, No 78; Scala Celi, 1480, fol. 49;[145] Mensa -Philosophica, cited by Manni, Istoria del Decamerone, p. 476; Doni, -Novelle, Lucca, 1852, Nov. xiii; Malespini, Ducento Novelle, No 92, -Venice, 1609, I, 248; Kirchhof, Wendunmuth, No 245, Oesterley, II, 535; -La Fontaine, “Le Mari Confesseur,” Contes, I, No 4. 3. Boccaccio, VII, -5. - -In 1, 2, the husband discovers himself after the confession; in 3 he is -recognized by the wife before she begins her shrift, which she frames to -suit her purposes. In all these, the wife, on being reproached with the -infidelity which she had revealed, tells the husband that she knew all -the while that he was the confessor, and gives an ingenious turn to her -apparently compromising disclosures which satisfies him of her -innocence. All these tales have the cynical Oriental character, and, to -a healthy taste, are far surpassed by the innocuous humor of the English -ballad. - -Oesterley, in his notes to Kirchhof, V, 103, cites a number of German -story-books in which the tale may, in some form, be found; also Hans -Sachs, 4, 3, 7b.[146] In Bandello, Parte Prima, No 9, a husband, not -disguising himself, prevails upon a priest to let him overhear his -wife’s confession, and afterwards kills her. - -Svend Grundtvig informed me that he had six copies of an evidently -recent (and very bad) translation of Percy’s ballad, taken down from -recitation in different parts of Denmark. In one of these Queen Eleanor -is exchanged for a Queen of Norway. Percy’s ballad is also translated by -Bodmer, II, 40; Ursinus, p. 59; Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 513; Döring, -p. 373; Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, No 51. - - - A - - #a.# A broadside, London, Printed for C. Bates, at the Sun & Bible - in Gilt-spur-street, near Pye-corner, Bagford Ballads, II, No 26, - 1685? #b.# A broadside, Printed for C. Bates, in Pye-corner, Bagford - Ballads, I, No 33, 1685? #c.# Another copy of b, reprinted in - Utterson’s Little Book of Ballads, p. 22. #d.# A Collection of Old - Ballads, 1723, I, 18. - - 1 - Queen Elenor was a sick woman, - And afraid that she should dye; - Then she sent for two fryars of France, - For to speak with them speedily. - - 2 - The King calld down his nobles all, - By one, by two, and by three, - And sent away for Earl Martial, - For to speak with him speedily. - - 3 - When that he came before the King, - He fell on his bended knee; - ‘A boon, a boon! our gracious king, - That you sent so hastily.’ - - 4 - ‘I’ll pawn my living and my lands, - My septer and my crown, - That whatever Queen Elenor says, - I will not write it down. - - 5 - ‘Do you put on one fryar’s coat, - And I’ll put on another, - And we will to Queen Elenor go, - One fryar like another.’ - - 6 - Thus both attired then they go; - When they came to Whitehall, - The bells they did ring, and the quiristers sing, - And the torches did light them all. - - 7 - When that they came before the Queen, - They fell on their bended knee: - ‘A boon, a boon! our gracious queen, - That you sent so hastily.’ - - 8 - ‘Are you two fryars of France?’ she said, - ‘Which I suppose you be; - But if you are two English fryars, - Then hanged shall you be.’ - - 9 - ‘We are two fryars of France,’ they said, - ‘As you suppose we be; - We have not been at any mass - Since we came from the sea.’ - - 10 - ‘The first vile thing that ere I did - I will to you unfold; - Earl Martial had my maidenhead, - Underneath this cloath of gold.’ - - 11 - ‘That is a vile sin,’ then said the king, - ‘God may forgive it thee!’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth Earl Martial, - With a heavy heart then spoke he. - - 12 - ‘The next vile thing that ere I did - To you I’ll not deny; - I made a box of poyson strong, - To poyson King Henry.’ - - 13 - ‘That is a vile sin,’ then said the King, - ‘God may forgive it thee!’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth Earl Martial, - ‘And I wish it so may be.’ - - 14 - ‘The next vile thing that ere I did - To you I will discover; - I poysoned Fair Rosamond, - All in fair Woodstock bower.’ - - 15 - ‘That is a vile sin,’ then said the King, - ‘God may forgive it thee!’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth Earl Martial, - ‘And I wish it so may be.’ - - 16 - ‘Do you see yonders little boy, - A tossing of that ball? - That is Earl Martialś eldest son, - And I love him the best of all. - - 17 - ‘Do you see yonders little boy, - A catching of the ball? - That is King Henry’s son,’ she said, - ‘And I love him the worst of all. - - 18 - ‘His head is like unto a bull, - His nose is like a boar;’ - ‘No matter for that,’ King Henry said, - ‘I love him the better therefore.’ - - 19 - The King pulld of his fryar’s coat, - And appeard all in red; - She shriekd and she cry’d, she wrong her hands, - And said she was betrayd. - - 20 - The King lookd over his left shoulder, - And a grim look looked he, - And said, Earl Martial, but for my oath, - Then hanged shouldst thou be. - - - B - - Skene MS., p. 39. - - 1 - Our queen’s sick, an very sick, - She’s sick an like to die; - She has sent for the friars of France, - To speak wi her speedilie. - - 2 - ‘I’ll put on a friar’s robe, - An ye’ll put on anither, - An we’ll go to Madam the Queen, - Like friars bath thegither.’ - - 3 - ‘God forbid,’ said Earl Marishall, - ‘That ever the like shud be, - That I beguile Madam the Queen! - I wad be hangit hie.’ - - 4 - The King pat on a friar’s robe, - Earl Marishall on anither; - They’re on to the Queen, - Like friars baith thegither. - - 5 - ‘Gin ye be the friars of France, - As I trust well ye be— - But an ye be ony ither men, - Ye sall be hangit hie.’ - - 6 - The King he turnd him roun, - An by his troth sware he, - We hae na sung messe - Sin we came frae the sea. - - 7 - ‘The first sin ever I did, - An a very great sin ’twas tee, - I gae my maidenhead to Earl Marishall, - Under the greenwood tree.’ - - 8 - ‘That was a sin, an a very great sin, - But pardond it may be;’ - ‘Wi mendiment,’ said Earl Marishall, - But a heavy heart had he. - - 9 - ‘The next sin ever I did, - An a very great sin ’twas tee, - I poisened Lady Rosamond, - An the King’s darling was she.’ - - 10 - ‘That was a sin, an a very great sin, - But pardond it may be;’ - ‘Wi mendiment,’ said King Henry, - But a heavy heart had he. - - 11 - ‘The next sin ever I did, - An a very great sin ’twas tee, - I keepit poison in my bosom seven years, - To poison him King Henrie.’ - - 12 - ‘That was a sin, an a very great sin, - But pardond it may be;’ - ‘Wi mendiment,’ said King Henry, - But a heavy heart had he. - - 13 - ‘O see na ye yon bonny boys, - As they play at the ba? - An see na ye Lord Marishal’s son? - I lee him best of a’. - - 14 - ‘But see na ye King Henry’s son? - He’s headit like a bull, and backit like a boar, - I like him warst awa:’ - ‘And by my sooth,’ says him King Henry, - ‘I like him best o the twa.’ - - 15 - The King he turned him roun, - Pat on the coat o goud, - . . . . . . . - The Queen turnd the King to behold. - - 16 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘Gin I hadna sworn by the crown and sceptre roun, - Earl Marishal sud been gart die.’ - - - C - - Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 77. - - 1 - The Queen’s faen sick, and very, very sick, - Sick, and going to die, - And she’s sent for twa friars of France, - To speak with her speedilie. - - 2 - The King he said to the Earl Marischal, - To the Earl Marischal said he, - The Queen she wants twa friars frae France, - To speak with her presentlie. - - 3 - Will ye put on a friar’s coat, - And I’ll put on another, - And we’ll go in before the Queen, - Like friars both together. - - 4 - ‘But O forbid,’ said the Earl Marischal, - ‘That I this deed should dee! - For if I beguile Eleanor our queen, - She will gar hang me hie.’ - - 5 - The King he turned him round about, - An angry man was he; - He’s sworn by his sceptre and his sword - Earl Marischal should not die. - - 6 - The King has put on a friar’s coat, - Earl Marischal on another, - And they went in before the Queen, - Like friars both together. - - 7 - ‘O, if ye be twa friars of France, - Ye’re dearly welcome to me; - But if ye be twa London friars, - I will gar hang you hie.’ - - 8 - ‘Twa friars of France, twa friars of France, - Twa friars of France are we, - And we vow we never spoke to a man - Till we spake to Your Majesty.’ - - 9 - ‘The first great sin that eer I did, - And I’ll tell you it presentlie, - Earl Marischal got my maidenhead, - When coming oer the sea.’ - - 10 - ‘That was a sin, and a very great sin, - But pardoned it may be;’ - ‘All that with amendment,’ said Earl Marischal, - But a quacking heart had he. - - 11 - ‘The next great sin that eer I did, - I’ll tell you it presentlie; - I carried a box seven years in my breast, - To poison King Henrie.’ - - 12 - ‘O that was a sin, and a very great sin, - But pardoned it may be;’ - ‘All that with amendment,’ said Earl Marischal, - But a quacking heart had he. - - 13 - ‘The next great sin that eer I did, - I’ll tell you it presentlie; - I poisoned the Lady Rosamond, - And a very good woman was she. - - 14 - ‘See ye not yon twa bonny boys, - As they play at the ba? - The eldest of them is Marischal’s son, - And I love him best of a’; - The youngest of them is Henrie’s son, - And I love him none at a’ - - 15 - ‘For he is headed like a bull, a bull, - He is backed like a boar;’ - ‘Then by my sooth,’ King Henrie said, - ‘I love him the better therefor.’ - - 16 - The King has cast off his friar’s coat, - Put on a coat of gold; - The Queen she’s turned her face about, - She could not ’s face behold. - - 17 - The King then said to Earl Marischal, - To the Earl Marischal said he, - Were it not for my sceptre and sword, - Earl Marischall, ye should die. - - - D - - Aytoun’s Ballads of Scotland, 2d edition, I, 196, from the - recitation of a lady residing in Kirkcaldy; learned of her mother. - - 1 - The queen of England she has fallen sick, - Sore sick, and like to die; - And she has sent for twa French priests, - To bear her companie. - - 2 - The King he has got word o this, - And an angry man was he; - And he is on to the Earl-a-Marshall, - As fast as he can gae. - - 3 - ‘Now you’ll put on a priest’s robe, - And I’ll put on anither, - And we will on unto the Queen, - Like twa French priests thegither.’ - - 4 - ‘No indeed!’ said the Earl-a-Marshall, - ‘That winna I do for thee, - Except ye swear by your sceptre and crown - Ye’ll do me nae injurie.’ - - 5 - The King has sworn by his sceptre and crown - He’ll do him nae injurie, - And they are on unto the Queen, - As fast as they can gae. - - 6 - ‘O, if that ye be twa French priests, - Ye’re welcome unto me; - But if ye be twa Scottish lords, - High hanged ye shall be. - - 7 - ‘The first sin that I did sin, - And that to you I’ll tell, - I sleeped wi the Earl-a-Marshall, - Beneath a silken bell. - - 8 - ‘And wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - And I pray ye pardon me;’ - ‘Amen, and amen!’ said the Earl-a-Marshall, - And a wearied man was he. - - 9 - ‘The neist sin that I did sin, - And that to you I’ll tell, - I keeped the poison seven years in my bosom, - To poison the King himsel. - - 10 - ‘And wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - And I pray ye pardon me;’ - ‘Amen, and amen!’ said the Earl-a-Marshall, - And a wearied man was he. - - 11 - ‘O see ye there my seven sons, - A’playing at the ba? - There’s but ane o them the King’s himsel, - And I like him warst of a’. - - 12 - ‘He’s high-backed, and low-breasted, - And he is bald withal;’ - ‘And by my deed,’ and says the King, - ‘I like him best mysel! - - 13 - ‘O wae betide ye, Earl-a-Marshall, - And an ill death may ye die! - For if I hadna sworn by my sceptre and crown, - High hanged ye should be.’ - - - E - - Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 247. - - 1 - The Queen fell sick, and very, very sick, - She was sick, and like to dee, - And she sent for a friar oure frae France, - Her confessour to be. - - 2 - King Henry, when he heard o that, - An angry man was he, - And he sent to the Earl Marshall, - Attendance for to gie. - - 3 - ‘The Queen is sick,’ King Henry cried, - ‘And wants to be beshriven; - She has sent for a friar oure frae France; - By the rude, he were better in heaven! - - 4 - ‘But tak you now a friar’s guise, - The voice and gesture feign, - And when she has the pardon crav’d, - Respond to her, Amen! - - 5 - ‘And I will be a prelate old, - And sit in a corner dark, - To hear the adventures of my spouse, - My spouse, and her haly spark.’ - - 6 - ‘My liege, my liege, how can I betray - My mistress and my queen? - O swear by the rude that no damage - From this shall be gotten or gien!’ - - 7 - ‘I swear by the rude,’ quoth King Henry, - ‘No damage shall be gotten or gien; - Come, let us spare no cure nor care - For the conscience o the Queen.’ - - * * * * * - - 8 - ‘O fathers, O fathers, I’m very, very sick, - I’m sick, and like to dee; - Some ghostly comfort to my poor soul - O tell if ye can gie!’ - - 9 - ‘Confess, confess,’ Earl Marshall cried, - ‘And you shall pardoned be;’ - ‘Confess, confess,’ the King replied, - ‘And we shall comfort gie.’ - - 10 - ‘Oh, how shall I tell the sorry, sorry tale! - How can the tale be told! - I playd the harlot wi the Earl Marshall, - Beneath yon cloth of gold. - - 11 - ‘Oh, wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - But I hope it will pardoned be;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth the Earl Marshall, - And a very feart heart had he. - - 12 - ‘O down i the forest, in a bower, - Beyond yon dark oak-tree, - I drew a penknife frae my pocket - To kill King Henerie. - - 13 - ‘Oh, wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - But I hope it will pardoned be;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth the Earl Marshall, - And a very feart heart had he. - - 14 - ‘O do you see yon pretty little boy, - That’s playing at the ba? - He is the Earl Marshall’s only son, - And I loved him best of a’. - - 15 - ‘Oh, wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - But I hope it will pardoned be;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth the Earl Marshall, - And a very feart heart had he. - - 16 - ‘And do you see yon pretty little girl, - That’s a’beclad in green? - She’s a friar’s daughter, oure in France, - And I hoped to see her a queen. - - 17 - ‘Oh, wasna that a sin, and a very great sin? - But I hope it will pardoned be;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ quoth the Earl Marshall, - And a feart heart still had he. - - 18 - ‘O do you see yon other little boy, - That’s playing at the ba? - He is King Henry’s only son, - And I like him warst of a’. - - 19 - ‘He’s headed like a buck,’ she said, - ‘And backed like a bear;’ - ‘Amen!’ quoth the King, in the King’s ain voice, - ‘He shall be my only heir.’ - - 20 - The King lookd over his left shoulder, - An angry man was he: - ‘An it werna for the oath I sware, - Earl Marshall, thou shouldst dee.’ - - - F - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 1; from recitation. - - 1 - Queene Eleanor was a sick woman, - And sick just like to die, - And she has sent for two fryars of France, - To come to her speedilie. - And she has sent, etc. - - 2 - The King called downe his nobles all, - By one, by two, by three: - ‘Earl Marshall, I’ll go shrive the Queene, - And thou shalt wend with mee.’ - - 3 - ‘A boone, a boone!’ quoth Earl Marshall, - And fell on his bended knee, - ‘That whatsoever the Queene may say, - No harm thereof may bee.’ - - 4 - ‘O you’ll put on a gray-friar’s gowne, - And I’ll put on another, - And we will away to fair London town, - Like friars both together.’ - - 5 - ‘O no, O no, my liege, my king, - Such things can never bee; - For if the Queene hears word of this, - Hanged she’ll cause me to bee.’ - - 6 - ‘I swear by the sun, I swear by the moon, - And by the stars so hie, - And by my sceptre and my crowne, - The Earl Marshall shall not die.’ - - 7 - The King’s put on a gray-friar’s gowne, - The Earl Marshall’s put on another, - And they are away to fair London towne, - Like fryars both together. - - 8 - When that they came to fair London towne, - And came into Whitehall, - The bells did ring, and the quiristers sing, - And the torches did light them all. - - 9 - And when they came before the Queene, - They kneeled down on their knee: - ‘What matter, what matter, our gracious queene, - You’ve sent so speedilie?’ - - 10 - ‘O, if you are two fryars of France, - It’s you that I wished to see; - But if you are two English lords, - You shall hang on the gallowes-tree.’ - - 11 - ‘O we are not two English lords, - But two fryars of France we bee, - And we sang the Song of Solomon, - As we came over the sea.’ - - 12 - ‘Oh, the first vile sin I did commit - Tell it I will to thee; - I fell in love with the Earl Marshall, - As he brought me over the sea.’ - - 13 - ‘Oh, that was a great sin,’ quoth the King, - ‘But pardond it must bee;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ said the Earl Marshall, - With a heavie heart spake hee. - - 14 - ‘Oh, the next sin that I did commit - I will to you unfolde; - Earl Marshall had my virgin dower, - Beneath this cloth of golde.’ - - 15 - ‘Oh, that was a vile sin,’ said the King, - ‘May God forgive it thee!’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ groaned the Earl Marshall, - And a very frightened man was hee. - - 16 - ‘Oh, the next sin that I did commit - Tell it I will to thee; - I poisoned a lady of noble blood, - For the sake of King Henrie.’ - - 17 - ‘Oh, that was a great sin,’ said the King, - ‘But pardoned it shall bee;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ said the Earl Marshall, - And still a frightened man was he. - - 18 - ‘Oh, the next sin that ever I did - Tell it I will to thee; - I have kept strong poison this seven long years, - To poison King Henrie.’ - - 19 - ‘Oh, that was a great sin,’ said the King, - ‘But pardoned it must bee;’ - ‘Amen! Amen!’ said the Earl Marshall, - And still a frightened man was hee. - - 20 - ‘O don’t you see two little boys, - Playing at the football? - O yonder is the Earl Marshall’s son, - And I like him best of all. - - 21 - ‘O don’t you see yon other little boy, - Playing at the football? - O that one is King Henrie’s son, - And I like him worst of all. - - 22 - ‘His head is like a black bull’s head, - His feet are like a bear;’ - ‘What matter! what matter!’ cried the King, - ‘He’s my son, and my only heir.’ - - 23 - The King plucked off his fryar’s gowne, - And stood in his scarlet so red; - The Queen she turned herself in bed, - And cryed that she was betrayde. - - 24 - The King lookt oer his left shoulder, - And a grim look looked he; - ‘Earl Marshall,’ he said, ‘but for my oath, - Thou hadst swung on the gallowes-tree.’ - - * * * * * - -#A. a.# - - Queen Eleanor’s Confession: Shewing how King Henry, with the Earl - Martial, in Fryars Habits, came to her, instead of two Fryars - from France, which she sent for. To a pleasant New Tune. _Both - #a# and #b# are dated in the Museum Catalogue 1670?_ “C. Bates, - at Sun & Bible, near St. Sepulchre’s Church, in Pye Corner, - 1685.” _Chappell._ - - 10^1. thta ere. - - 14^2. disdover. - - 17^1. younders. - -#b.# - - _Title the same, except_ came to see her. - - 16^3. Martial’s. - - 17^1. see then yonders. - - 20^1. his let. - -#c.# - - _Title as in #a#._ - - 4^3. whatsoever. - - 8^4. you shall. - - 16^2. catching of the. - - 16^3. Marshal’s. - - 17^1. see then yonders. - -#d.# - - Queen Eleanor’s Confession to the Two supposed Fryars of France. - - 1^4. To speak with her. - - 2^2. and _wanting_. - - 2^4. For _wanting_. - - 4^1. I’ll pawn my lands the King then cry’d. - - 4^3. whatsoere. - - 5^1. on a. - - 5^4. Like fryar and his brother. - - 6^3. they _wanting_. - - 7^4. you. - - 8^2. As I. - - 10^4. Beneath this. - - 11^1, 13^1, 15^1. That’s. - - 11^4. then _wanting_. - - 16^2. of the. - - 16^3. Marshal’s. - - 16^4, 17^4. And _wanting_. - - 18^3. Henry cry’d. - - 19^3. shriekd, she cry’d, and wrung. - - 20^4. Or hanged. - -#E.# - - 14^4. loved; love _in Kinloch’s annotated copy_. - -#F.# - - 10^1, 11^1, 20^{1,3}, 21^{1,3}. Oh. - - - - - 157 - - GUDE WALLACE - - #A.# ‘On an honourable Achievement of Sir William Wallace, near - Falkirk,’ a chap-book of Four New Songs and a Prophecy, 1745? - Johnson’s Museum, ed. 1853, D. Laing’s additions, IV, 458 *; - Maidment’s Scotish Ballads and Songs, 1859, p. 83. - - #B.# ‘Sir William Wallace,’ communicated to Percy by Robert Lambe, of - Norham, probably in 1768. - - #C.# ‘Gude Wallace,’ Johnson’s Museum, p. 498, No 484, communicated by - Robert Burns. - - #D.# ‘Gude Wallace,’ communicated to Robert Chambers by Elliot - Anderson, 1827. - - #E.# ‘Willie Wallace,’communicated to James Telfer by A. Fisher. - - #F.# ‘Willie Wallace,’ Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 114. - - #G.# ‘Sir William Wallace,’ Alexander Laing’s Thistle of Scotland, p. - 100; Motherwell’s MS., p. 487. - - #H.# ‘Wallace and his Leman,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of - Scotland, II, 226. - - -#C# is reprinted by Finlay, I, 103. It is made the basis of a long -ballad by Jamieson, II, 166, and serves as a thread for Cunningham’s -‘Gude Wallace,’ Scottish Songs, I, 262.[147] #F# is repeated by -Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. 364, and by Aytoun, I, 54. A copy in the -Laing MSS, University of Edinburgh, Div. II, 358, is #C#. - -Blind Harry’s Wallace (of about 1460, earlier than 1488) is clearly the -source of this ballad. #A-F# are derived from vv 1080–1119 of the Fifth -Book. Here Wallace, on his way to a hostelry with a comrade, met a -woman, who counselled them to pass by, if Scots, for southrons were -there, drinking and talking of Wallace; twenty are there, making great -din, but no man of fence. “Wallace went in and bad Benedicite.” The -captain said, Thou art a Scot, the devil thy nation quell. Wallace drew, -and ran the captain through; “fifteen he straik and fifteen has he -slayn;” his comrade killed the other five. - -The story of #A-E# is sufficiently represented by that of #A#. Wallace -comes upon a woman washing, and asks her for tidings. There are fifteen -Englishmen at the hostelry seeking Wallace. Had he money he would go -thither. She tells him out twenty shillings (for which he takes off -_both_ hat and hood, and thanks her reverently). He bows himself over a -staff and enters the hostelry, saying, Good ben be here (in #C#, he bad -Benedicite, in the words of Blind Harry). The captain asks the crooked -carl where he was born, and the carl answers that he is a Scot. The -captain offers the carl twenty shillings for a sight of Wallace. The -carl wants no better bode, or offer.[148] He strikes the captain such a -blow over the jaws that he will never eat more, and sticks the rest. -Then he bids the goodwife get him food, for he has eaten nothing for two -days. Ere the meal is ready, fifteen other Englishmen light at the door. -These he soon disposes of, sticking five, trampling five in the gutter, -and hanging five in the wood. - -#F# makes Wallace change clothes with a beggar, and ask charity at the -inn. He kills his thirty men between eight and four, and then returning -to the North-Inch (a common lying along the Tay, near Perth) finds the -maid who was washing her lilie hands in st. 3 still “washing tenderlie.” -He pulls out twenty of the fifty pounds which he got from the captain, -and hands them over to the maid for the good luck of her half-crown. - -#G# has the change of clothes with the beggar, found in #F#, and -prefixes to the story of the other versions another adventure of -Wallace, taken from the Fourth Book of Blind Harry, vv 704–87. Wallace’s -enemies have seen him leaving his mistress’s house. They seize her, -threaten to burn her unless she ‘tells,’ and promise to marry her to a -knight if she will help to bring the rebel down. Wallace returns, and -she seeks to detain him, but he says he must go back to his men. -Hereupon she falls to weeping, and ends with confessing her treason. He -asks her if she repents; she says that to mend the miss she would burn -on a hill, and is forgiven. Wallace puts on her gown and curches, hiding -his sword under his weed, tells the armed men who are watching for him -that Wallace is locked in, and makes good speed out of the gate. Two men -follow him, for he seems to be a stalwart quean; Wallace turns on them -and kills them. This is Blind Harry’s story, and it will be observed to -be followed closely in the ballad, with the addition of a pitcher in -each hand to complete the female disguise, and two more southrons to -follow and be killed. The first half of this version is plainly a late -piece of work, very possibly of this century, much later than the other, -which itself need not be very old. But the portions of Blind Harry’s -poem out of which these ballads were made were perhaps themselves -composed from older ballads, and the restitution of the lyrical form may -have given us something not altogether unlike what was sung in the -fifteenth, or even the fourteenth, century. The fragment #H# is, as far -as it goes, a repetition of #G#. - -Bower (1444–49) says that after the battle of Roslyn, 1298, Wallace took -ship and went to France, distinguishing himself by his valor against -pirates on the sea and against the English on the continent, as ballads -both in France and Scotland testify.[149] A fragment of a ballad -relating to Wallace is preserved in Constable’s MS. Cantus: Leyden’s -Complaynt of Scotland, p. 226. - - Wallace parted his men in three - And sundrie gaits are gone. - -#C# is translated by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 198; #F# by Knortz, -Schottische Balladen, p. 69, No 22. - - - A - - A chap-book of Four New Songs and a Prophecy, 1745? The Scots - Musical Museum, 1853, D. Laing’s additions, IV, 458 *; Maidment, - Scotish Ballads and Songs, 1859, p. 83. - - 1 - ‘Had we a king,’ said Wallace then, - ‘That our kind Scots might live by their own! - But betwixt me and the English blood - I think there is an ill seed sown.’ - - 2 - Wallace him over a river lap, - He lookd low down to a linn; - He was war of a gay lady - Was even at the well washing. - - 3 - ‘Well mot ye fare, fair madam,’ he said, - ‘And ay well mot ye fare and see! - Have ye any tidings me to tell, - I pray you’ll show them unto me.’ - - 4 - ‘I have no tidings you to tell, - Nor yet no tidings you to ken; - But into that hostler’s house - There’s fifteen of your Englishmen. - - 5 - ‘And they are seeking Wallace there, - For they’ve ordained him to be slain:’ - ‘O God forbid!’ said Wallace then, - ‘For he’s oer good a kind Scotsman. - - 6 - ‘But had I money me upon, - And evn this day, as I have none, - Then would I to that hostler’s house, - And evn as fast as I could gang.’ - - 7 - She put her hand in her pocket, - She told him twenty shillings oer her knee; - Then he took off both hat and hood, - And thankd the lady most reverently. - - 8 - ‘If eer I come this way again, - Well paid [your] money it shall be;’ - Then he took off both hat and hood, - And he thankd the lady most reverently. - - 9 - He leand him twofold oer a staff, - So did he threefold oer a tree, - And he’s away to the hostler’s house, - Even as fast as he might dree. - - 10 - When he came to the hostler’s house, - He said, Good-ben be here! quoth he: - An English captain, being deep load, - He asked him right cankerdly, - - 11 - Where was you born, thou crooked carle, - And in what place, and what country? - ’Tis I was born in fair Scotland, - A crooked carle although I be.’ - - 12 - The English captain swore by th’ rood, - ‘We are Scotsmen as well as thee, - And we are seeking Wallace; then - To have him merry we should be.’ - - 13 - ‘The man,’ said Wallace, ‘ye’re looking for, - I seed him within these days three; - And he has slain an English captain, - And ay the fearder the rest may be.’ - - 14 - ‘I’d give twenty shillings,’ said the captain, - ‘To such a crooked carle as thee, - If you would take me to the place - Where that I might proud Wallace see.’ - - 15 - ‘Hold out your hand,’ said Wallace then, - ‘And show your money and be free, - For tho you’d bid an hundred pound, - I never bade a better bode,’ [said he]. - - 16 - He struck the captain oer the chafts, - Till that he never chewed more; - He stickd the rest about the board, - And left them all a sprawling there. - - 17 - ‘Rise up, goodwife,’ said Wallace then, - ‘And give me something for to eat; - For it’s near two days to an end - Since I tasted one bit of meat.’ - - 18 - His board was scarce well covered, - Nor yet his dine well scantly dight, - Till fifteen other Englishmen - Down all about the door did light. - - 19 - ‘Come out, come out,’ said they, ‘Wallace!’ then, - ‘For the day is come that ye must die;’ - And they thought so little of his might, - But ay the fearder they might be. - - 20 - The wife ran but, the gudeman ran ben, - It put them all into a fever; - Then five he sticked where they stood, - And five he trampled in the gutter. - - 21 - And five he chased to yon green wood, - He hanged them all out-oer a grain; - And gainst the morn at twelve o’clock, - He dined with his kind Scottish men. - - - B - - Communicated to Percy by R. Lambe, of Norham, apparently in 1768. - - 1 - ‘I wish we had a king,’ says Wallace, - ‘That Scotland might not want a head; - In England and in Scotland baith, - I’m sure that some have sowed ill seed.’ - - 2 - Wallace he oer the water did luke, - And he luked law down by a glen, - And he was aware of a gay lady, - As she was at the well washing. - - 3 - ‘Weel may ye save, fair lady!’ he says, - ‘Far better may ye save and see! - If ye have ony tidings to tell, - I pray cum tell them a’to me.’ - - 4 - ‘I have no tidings you to tell, - And as few tidings do I ken; - But up and to yon ostler-house - Are just gane fifteen gentlemen. - - 5 - ‘They now are seeking Gude Wallace, - And ay they’re damning him to hang;’ - ‘Oh God forbid,’ says Wallace then, - ‘I’m sure he is a true Scotsman. - - 6 - ‘Had I but ae penny in my pocket, - Or in my company ae baubee, - I woud up to yon ostler-house, - A’these big gentlemen to see.’ - - 7 - She pat her hand into her pocket, - She powd out twenty shillings and three: - ‘If eer I live to come this way, - Weel payed shall your money be.’ - - 8 - He leaned him twafold oer a staff, - Sae did he twafold oer a tree, - And he’s gane up to the ostler-house, - A’these fine gentlemen to see. - - 9 - When he cam up among them a’, - He bad his benison be there; - The captain, being weel buke-learnd, - Did answer him in domineer. - - 10 - ‘Where was ye born, ye cruked carl, - Or in what town, or what countree?’ - ‘O I was born in fair Scotland, - A cruked carl although I be.’ - - 11 - The captain sware by the root of his sword, - Saying, I’m a Scotsman as weel as thee; - Here’s twenty shillings of English money - To such a cruked carl as thee, - If thou’ll tell me of that Wallace; - He’s ay the creature I want to see. - - 12 - ‘O hawd your hand,’ says Wallace then, - ‘I’m feard your money be not gude; - If ’twere as muckle and ten times mair, - It shoud not bide anither bode.’ - - 13 - He’s taen the captain alang the chaps, - A wat he never chawed mair; - The rest he sticked about the table, - And left them a’a sprawling there. - - 14 - ‘Gude wife,’ he said, ‘for my benison, - Get up and get my dinner dight; - For it is twa days till an end - Syne I did taste ane bit of meat.’ - - 15 - Dinner was not weel made ready, - Nor yet upon the table set, - When fifteen other Englishmen - Alighted all about the yate. - - 16 - ‘Come out, come out now, Wallace,’ they say, - ‘For this is the day ye are to dee; - Ye trust sae mickle in God’s might, - And ay the less we do fear thee.’ - - 17 - The gude wife ran but, the gude man ran ben, - They pat the house all in a swither; - Five sune he sticked where he stude, - And five he smitherd in a gutter. - - 18 - Five he chac’d to the gude green-wood, - And hanged them a’out-oer a pin; - And at the morn at eight o’clock - He din’d with his men at Lough-mabin. - - - C - - Johnson’s Museum, p. 498, No 484, communicated by Robert Burns. - - 1 - ‘O For my ain king,’ quo Gude Wallace, - ‘The rightfu king of fair Scotland! - Between me and my soverign blude - I think I see some ill seed sawn.’ - - 2 - Wallace out over yon river he lap, - And he has lighted low down on yon plain, - And he was aware of a gay ladie, - As she was at the well washing. - - 3 - ‘What tydins, what tydins, fair lady?’ he says, - ‘What tydins hast thou to tell unto me? - What tydins, what tydins, fair lady?’ he says, - ‘What tydins hae ye in the south countrie?’ - - 4 - ‘Low down in yon wee ostler-house - There is fyfteen Englishmen, - And they are seekin for Gude Wallace, - It’s him to take and him to hang.’ - - 5 - ‘There’s nocht in my purse,’ quo Gude Wallace, - ‘There’s nocht, not even a bare pennie; - But I will down to yon wee ostler-house, - Thir fyfteen Englishmen to see.’ - - 6 - And when he cam to yon wee ostler-house - He bad bendicite be there; - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 7 - ‘Where was ye born, auld crookit carl? - Where was ye born, in what countrie?’ - ‘I am a true Scot born and bred, - And an auld crookit carl just sic as ye see.’ - - 8 - ‘I wad gie fifteen shillings to onie crookit carl, - To onie crookit carl just sic as ye, - If ye will get me Gude Wallace; - For he is the man I wad very fain see.’ - - 9 - He hit the proud captain alang the chafft-blade, - That never a bit o meal he ate mair; - And he sticket the rest at the table where they sat, - And he left them a’lyin sprawlin there. - - 10 - ‘Get up, get up, gudewife,’ he says, - ‘And get to me some dinner in haste; - For it will soon be three lang days - Sin I a bit o meat did taste.’ - - 11 - The dinner was na weel readie, - Nor was it on the table set, - Till other fifteen Englishmen - Were a’lighted about the yett. - - 12 - ‘Come out, come out now, Gude Wallace! - This is the day that thou maun die:’ - ‘I lippen nae sae little to God,’ he says, - ‘Altho I be but ill wordie.’ - - 13 - The gudewife had an auld gudeman; - By Gude Wallace he stiffly stood, - Till ten o the fyfteen Englishmen - Before the door lay in their blude. - - 14 - The other five to the greenwood ran, - And he hangd these five upon a grain, - And on the morn, wi his merry men a’, - He sat at dine in Lochmaben town. - - - D - - Communicated to Robert Chambers by Elliot Anderson, Galashiels, 21 - April, 1827, in a letter preserved among Kinloch’s papers. Copied, - with changes, in Kinloch MSS, I, 177. Furnished me by Mr. Macmath. - - 1 - ‘I wish we had our king,’ quo Gude Wallace, - ‘An ilka true Scotsman had his nawn; - For between us an the southron louns - I doubt some ill seed has been sawn.’ - - 2 - Wallace he owre the water gaed, - An looked low down by a glen, - An there he saw a pretty, pretty maid, - As she was at the well washin. - - 3 - ‘O weel may ye wash, my bonny, bonny maid! - An weel may ye saep, an me to see! - If ye have ony tidins to tell, - I pray you tell them unto me.’ - - 4 - ‘I have no tidins for to tell, - Nor ony uncos do I ken; - But up into yon little alehouse - An there sits fyfteen Englishmen. - - 5 - ‘An ay they are speakin o Gude Wallace, - An ay they are doomin him to hang:’ - ‘O forbid!’ quo Gude Wallace, - ‘He’s owre truehearted a Scotsman. - - 6 - ‘Had I but a penny in my pouch, - As I have not a single bawbee, - I would up into yon little alehouse, - An ay thae southron blades to see.’ - - 7 - She’s put her hand into her pouch, - An counted him out pennies three; - ‘If ever I live to come back this way, - Weel paid the money it shall be.’ - - 8 - He’s taen a staff into his hand, - An leand himsel outowre a tree, - An he’s awa to yon little alehouse, - An ay the southron louns to see. - - 9 - When he gaed in to that little alehouse, - He bad his bennison be there; - The captain answered him [in] wrath, - He answerd him with domineer. - - 10 - ‘O whare was ye born, ye crooked auld carle? - An how may this your dwellin be?’ - ‘O I was born in fair Scotland, - A crooked carle altho I be.’ - - 11 - ‘O I would een gie twenty shillins - To ony sic crooked carle as thee - That wad find me out Gude Wallace; - For ay that traitor I lang to see.’ - - 12 - ‘Haud out your hand,’ quo Gude Wallace, - ‘I doubt your money be not gude; - If ye’ll gie ither twenty shillins, - It neer shall bide ye anither bode.’ - - 13 - He’s taen the captain outowre the jaws, - Anither word spak he neer mair; - An five he sticket whare they sat, - The rest lay scramblin here an there. - - 14 - ‘Get up, get up, gudewife,’ he says, - ‘An get some meat ready for me, - For I hae fasted this three lang days; - A wat right hungry I may be.’ - - 15 - The meat it wasna weel made ready, - Nor as weel on the table set, - Till there cam fyfteen Englishmen - An lighted a’about the yett. - - 16 - The gudewife ran but, the gudeman ran ben; - It put them a’in sic a stoure - That five he sticket whare they sat, - An five lay sprawlin at the door. - - 17 - An five are to the greenwood gane, - An he’s hangd them a’outowre a tree, - An before the mornin twal o clock - He dined wi his men at Loch Marie. - - - E - - Communicated to James Telfer by A. Fisher, as written down from the - mouth of a serving-man, who had learned it in the neighborhood of - Lochmaben. Mr Robert White’s papers. - - 1 - Willie Wallace the water lap, - And lighted low down in a glen; - There he came to a woman washing, - And she had washers nine or ten. - - 2 - ‘O weel may ye wash!’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘O weel may ye wash!’ said fair Willie, - ‘And gin ye have any tidings to tell, - I pray ye tell them unto me.’ - - 3 - ‘I have nae tidings for to tell, - And as few will I let ye ken; - But down into yon hosteler-ha - Lies fifteen English gentlemen.’ - - 4 - ‘O had I ae penny in my pocket, - Or had I yet ane bare bawbee, - I would go to yon hosteler-ha, - All for these Englishmen to see. - - 5 - ‘O wil ye len me ane pennie, - Or will ye len me a bare bawbee, - I would go to yon hosteler-ha, - All for these Englishmen to see.’ - - 6 - She’s put her hand into her pocket, - And she’s gaen him out guineas three, - And he’s away to yon ostler-ha, - All for these Englishmen to see. - - 7 - Before he came to the hosteler-ha, - He linkit his armour oer a tree; - These Englishmen, being weel book-learned, - They said to him, Great Dominie! - - 8 - Where was ye born, ye crookit carle? - Where was ye born, or in what countrie? - ‘In merry Scotland I was born, - A crookit carle altho I be.’ - - 9 - ‘Here’s fifteen shillings,’ one of them said, - ‘Here’s other fifteen I’ll gie to thee, - If you will tell me where the traitor Willie Wallace is, - Or where away thou thinks he’ll be.’ - - 10 - ‘Pay down, pay down your money,’ he said, - ‘Pay down, pay down richt speedilie, - For if your answer be not good, - You shall have the downfall of Robin Hood,’ [said he]. - - 11 - He struck the captain on the jaw, - He swore that he would chow nae mair cheese; - He’s killed all the rest with his good broad-sword, - And left them wallowing on their knees. - - 12 - ‘Go cover the table,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘Go cover the table, get me some meat, - For it is three days and rather mair - Since I did either drink or eat.’ - - 13 - They had not the table weel covered, - Nor yet the candle weel gaen licht, - Till fifteen other Englishmen - They a’down at the door did light. - - 14 - ‘Come out, come out, Willie Wallace,’ they said. - ‘Come out, come out, and do not flee, - For we have sworn by our good broadswords - That this is the nicht that you sall dee.’ - - 15 - He’s killed five with his good broadsword, - He’s drowned other five in the raging sea, - And he’s taen other five to the merry greenwood, - And hanged them oer the highest tree. - - - F - - Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 114; from a gypsy tinker, p. 199. - - 1 - Wallace in the high highlans, - Neither meat nor drink got he; - Said, Fa me life, or fa me death, - Now to some town I maun be. - - 2 - He’s put on his short claiding, - And on his short claiding put he; - Says, Fa me life, or fa me death, - Now to Perth-town I maun be. - - 3 - He steped oer the river Tay, - I wat he steped on dry land; - He was aware of a well-fared maid, - Was washing there her lilie hands. - - 4 - ‘What news, what news, ye well-fared maid? - What news hae ye this day to me?’ - ‘No news, no news, ye gentle knight, - No news hae I this day to thee, - But fifteen lords in the hostage-house - Waiting Wallace for to see.’ - - 5 - ‘If I had but in my pocket - The worth of one single pennie, - I would go to the hostage-house, - And there the gentlemen to see.’ - - 6 - She put her hand in her pocket, - And she has pulld out half-a-crown; - Says, Take ye that, ye belted knight, - ‘Twill pay your way till ye come down. - - 7 - As he went from the well-fared maid, - A beggar bold I wat met he, - Was coverd wi a clouted cloak, - And in his hand a trusty tree. - - 8 - ‘What news, what news, ye silly auld man? - What news hae ye this day to gie?’ - ‘No news, no news, ye belted knight, - No news hae I this day to thee, - But fifteen lords in the hostage-house - Waiting Wallace for to see.’ - - 9 - ‘Ye’ll lend me your clouted cloak, - That covers you frae head to shie, - And I’ll go to the hostage-house, - Asking there for some supplie.’ - - 10 - Now he’s gone to the West-muir wood, - And there he’s pulld a trusty tree; - And then he’s on to the hostage gone, - Asking there for charitie. - - 11 - Down the stair the captain comes, - Aye the poor man for to see: - ‘If ye be a captain as good as ye look, - Ye’ll give a poor man some supplie; - If ye be a captain as good as ye look, - A guinea this day ye’ll gie to me.’ - - 12 - ‘Where were ye born, ye crooked carle? - Where were ye born, in what countrie?’ - ‘In fair Scotland I was born, - Crooked carle that I be.’ - - 13 - ‘I would give you fifty pounds, - Of gold and white monie, - I would give you fifty pounds, - If the traitor Wallace ye’d let me see.’ - - 14 - ‘Tell down your money,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘Tell down your money, if it be good; - I’m sure I have it in my power, - And never had a better bode. - - 15 - ‘Tell down your money,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘And let me see if it be fine; - I’m sure I have it in my power - To bring the traitor Wallace in.’ - - 16 - The money was told on the table, - Silver bright of pounds fiftie; - ‘Now here I stand,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘And what hae ye to say to me? ’ - - 17 - He slew the captain where he stood, - The rest they did quack an roar; - He slew the rest around the room, - And askd if there were any more. - - 18 - ‘Come, cover the table,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘Come, cover the table now, make haste; - For it will soon be three lang days - Sin I a bit o meat did taste.’ - - 19 - The table was not well covered, - Nor yet was he set down to dine, - Till fifteen more of the English lords - Surrounded the house where he was in. - - 20 - The guidwife she ran but the floor, - And aye the guidman he ran ben; - From eight o clock till four at noon - He has killd full thirty men. - - 21 - He put the house in sick a swither - That five o them he sticket dead, - Five o them he drownd in the river, - And five hung in the West-muir wood. - - 22 - Now he is on to the North-Inch gone, - Where the maid was washing tenderlie; - ‘Now by my sooth,’ said Willie Wallace, - ‘It’s been a sair day’s wark to me.’ - - 23 - He’s put his hand in his pocket, - And he has pulld out twenty pounds; - Says, Take ye that, ye weel-fared maid, - For the gude luck of your half-crown. - - - G - - The Thistle of Scotland, Alexander Laing, p. 100, from the - repetition of an old gentlewoman in Aberdeenshire. Also Motherwell’s - MS., p. 487, communicated by Peter Buchan of Peterhead, “who had it - from an old woman in that neighborhood.” - - 1 - Woud ye hear of William Wallace, - An sek him as he goes, - Into the lan of Lanark, - Amang his mortel faes? - - 2 - There was fyften English sogers - Unto his ladie cam, - Said, Gie us William Wallace, - That we may have him slain. - - 3 - Woud ye gie William Wallace, - That we may have him slain, - And ye’s be wedded to a lord, - The best in Christendeem. - - 4 - ‘This verra nicht at seven, - Brave Wallace will come in, - And he’ll come to my chamber-door, - Without or dread or din.’ - - 5 - The fyften English sogers - Around the house did wait, - And four brave southron foragers - Stood hie upon the gait. - - 6 - That verra nicht at seven - Brave Wallace he came in, - And he came to his ladie’s bouir, - Withouten dread or din. - - 7 - When she beheld him Wallace, - She star’d him in the face; - ‘Ohon, alas!’ said that ladie, - ‘This is a woful case. - - 8 - ‘For I this nicht have sold you, - This nicht you must be taen, - And I’m to be wedded to a lord, - The best in Christendeem.’ - - 9 - ‘Do you repent,’ said Wallace, - ‘The ill you’ve dane to me?’ - ‘Ay, that I do,’ said that ladie, - ‘And will do till I die. - - 10 - ‘Ay, that I do,’ said that ladie, - ‘And will do ever still, - And for the ill I’ve dane to you, - Let me burn upon a hill.’ - - 11 - Now God forfend,’ says brave Wallace, - ‘I shoud be so unkind; - Whatever I am to Scotland’s faes, - I’m aye a woman’s friend. - - 12 - ‘Will ye gie me your gown, your gown, - Your gown but and your kirtle, - Your petticoat of bonny brown, - And belt about my middle? - - 13 - ‘I’ll take a pitcher in ilka hand, - And do me to the well; - They’ll think I’m one of your maidens, - Or think it is yoursell.’ - - 14 - She has gien him her gown, her gown, - Her petticoat and kirtle, - Her broadest belt, wi silver clasp, - To bind about his middle. - - 15 - He’s taen a pitcher in ilka hand, - And dane him to the well; - They thought him one of her maidens, - They kend it was nae hersell. - - 16 - Said one of the southron foragers, - See ye yon lusty dame? - I woud nae gie muckle to thee, neebor, - To bring her back agen. - - 17 - Then all the southrons followd him, - And sure they were but four; - But he has drawn his trusty brand, - And slew them pair by pair. - - 18 - He threw the pitchers frae his hands, - And to the hills fled he, - Until he cam to a fair may, - Was washin on yon lea. - - 19 - ‘What news, what news, ye weel-far’d may? - What news hae ye to gie?’ - ‘Ill news, ill news,’ the fair may said, - ‘Ill news I hae to thee. - - 20 - ‘There is fyften English sogers - Into that thatched inn, - Seeking Sir William Wallace; - I fear that he is slain.’ - - 21 - ‘Have ye any money in your pocket? - Pray lend it unto me, - And when I come this way again, - Repaid ye weel shall be.’ - - 22 - Sheś put her hand in her pocket, - And taen out shillings three; - He turnd him right and round about, - And thankd the weel-far’d may. - - 23 - He had not gone a long rig length, - A rig length and a span, - Until he met a bold beggar, - As sturdy as coud gang. - - 24 - ‘What news, what news, ye bold beggar? - What news hae ye to gie?’ - ‘O heavy news,’ the beggar said, - ‘I hae to tell to thee. - - 25 - ‘There is fyften English sogers, - I heard them in yon inn, - Vowing to kill him Wallace; - I fear the chief is slain.’ - - 26 - ‘Will ye change apparell wi me, auld man? - Change your apparell for mine? - And when I come this way again, - Ye’ll be my ain poor man.’ - - 27 - When he got on the beggar’s coat, - The pike-staff in his hand, - He’s dane him down to yon tavern, - Where they were drinking wine. - - 28 - ‘What news, what news, ye staff-beggar? - What news hae ye to gie?’ - ‘I hae nae news, I heard nae news, - As few I’ll hae frae thee.’ - - 29 - ‘I think your coat is ragged, auld man; - But woud you wages win, - And tell where William Wallace is, - We’ll lay gold in your hand.’ - - 30 - ‘Tell down, tell down your good red gold, - Upon the table-head, - And ye sall William Wallace see, - Wi the down-come of Robin Hood.’ - - 31 - They had nae tauld the money down, - And laid it on his knee, - When candles, lamps, and candlesticks, - He on the floor gard flee. - - 32 - And he has drawn his trusty brand, - And slew them one by one, - Then sat down at the table-head, - And called for some wine. - - 33 - The goodwife she ran but, ran but, - The goodman he ran ben, - The verra bairns about the fire - Were a’like to gang brain. - - 34 - ‘Now if there be a Scotsman here, - He’ll come and drink wi me; - But if there be an English loun, - It is his time to flee.’ - - 35 - The goodman was an Englishman, - And to the hills he ran; - The goodwife was a Scots woman, - And she came to his hand. - - - H - - Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, II, 226. - - 1 - Wallace wight, upon a night, - Came riding oer the linn, - And he is to his leman’s bower, - And tirld at the pin. - - 2 - ‘O sleep ye, wake ye, lady?’ he said, - ‘Ye’ll rise, lat me come in.’ - ‘O wha’s this at my bower-door, - That knocks, and knows my name? ’ - ‘My name is William Wallace, - Ye may my errand ken.’ - - 3 - ‘The truth to you I will rehearse, - The secret I’ll unfold; - Into your enmies’ hands this night - I fairly hae you sold.’ - - 4 - ‘If that be true ye tell to me, - Do ye repent it sair?’ - ‘O that I do,’ she said, ‘dear Wallace, - And will do evermair! - - 5 - ‘The English did surround my house, - And forced me theretill; - But for your sake, my dear Wallace, - I coud burn on a hill.’ - - 6 - Then he gae her a loving kiss, - The tear droppd frae his ee; - Says, Fare ye well for evermair, - Your face nae mair I’ll see. - - 7 - She dressd him in her ain claithing, - And frae her house he came; - Which made the Englishmen admire, - To see this stalwart dame. - - 8 - He is to Saint Johnston gane, - And there he playd him well; - For there he saw a well-far’d may, - Was washing at a well. - - 9 - ‘What news, what news, ye well-far’d may? - What news hae ye to me? - What news, what news, ye well-far’d may, - All from your north countrie?’ - - 10 - ‘See ye not yon tavern-house, - That stands on yonder plain? - This very day have landet in it - Full fifteen Englishmen; - - 11 - ‘In search of Wallace, our dear champion, - Ordaining that he shoud dee.’ - ‘Then on my troth,’ said Wallace wight, - ‘These Englishmen I’se see.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - 2^3. was not war. #F# 3 _has_ wasna aware. #B#, #C#, _have the - obviously right reading_. - - 5^1. Wallace then. _Maidment_, there. - - 5^4. _Maidment_, ouer good. - - 10^1. _Maidment_, When come. - - 10^2. quoth he be here. - - 12^4. _Maidment_, should we. - -#B.# - - 8^2. oer a stree. Stree _is glossed by Lambe as_ stick, _but this - is impossible: the_ s _was induced by the_ s _in_ staff _above_. - - 10^3, 12^1. Oh. - - 11^1. root of his sword _simply from ignorance of the meaning of - the_ rood, _by which the captain swears in #A# 12_; rood of his - sword _is hardly to be thought of_. - - 12^2. A word _for_ A wat. _See_ #D# 14^4. - - 16^{3,4}. _Corrupted: the words should be Wallace’s._ _Cf._ #C# - 12. - -#C.# - - 9^2. meal: _perhaps_ meat. - -#D.# - - 1^2. _Var._ (_or gloss_), his ain. - - 2^1. went _changed to_ gaed (_for rhyme?_). - - 9^4. _Var._ with angry jeer. - -#E.# - - 2^3. gin he. _A. Fisher says that lines are wanting, and has - supplied two after 7^2 (making a stanza of 7^{3,4}, 8^{1,2}, and - leaving 8^{3,4} as a half stanza) and two after 10^2 (leaving - 10^{3,4} as the second half of another stanza). The arrangement - here adopted is in conformity with that of the other copies._ - -#F.# - - 3^3. wasna. - - 22^1. Insch. - -#G.# - - _Buchan’s variations._ - - 2^3. And _for_ Said. - - 3^4. Christendeen. - - 9^2, 10^3, 15^2, 27^3. done. - - 10^4. on a. - - 12^1. me _wanting_. - - 20^2. I heard them in yon inn. - - 21^1. you. - - 32^2. ane by ane. - - - - - 158 - - HUGH SPENCER’S FEATS IN FRANCE - - #A.# ‘Hugh Spencer,’ Percy MS., p. 281; Hales and Furnivall, II, 290. - - #B.# ‘Hugh Spencer,’ Percy Papers, communicated by the Duchess Dowager - of Portland. - - #C.# Dr Joseph Robertson’s Journal of Excursions, No 4. - - -The king of England, #A#, #B#, sends Hugh Spencer as ambassador to -France, to know whether there is to be peace or war between the two -lands. Spencer takes with him a hundred men-at-arms, #A#; twenty ships, -#B#. The French king, Charles, #A# 30, declares for war, #A#, #C#; says -that the last time peace was broken it was not along of him, #B#. The -queen, Maude, #B# 9, is indignant that the king should parley with -traitors, #A#, with English shepherds, #B#. She proposes to Spencer a -joust with one of her knights. The Englishman has no jousting-horse. -Three horses are brought out for him, all of which he rejects, #A#, #B#; -in #C#, two. In #A# he calls for his old hack which he had brought over -sea; in #B#, #C#, he accepts a fourth [third], a fiery-eyed black. -Spencer breaks his spear, a French shaft, upon his antagonist; three -spears [two] are tied together to make something strong enough for him -to wield. He unhorses the Frenchman, then rides through the French camp -and kills some thirteen or fourteen score of King Charles’s men, #A#. -The king says he will have his head, #A#, with some provocation -certainly; the queen says as much in #B#, though Spencer has only killed -her champion in fair fight. Spencer has but four true brethren left, #A# -33; we are not told what had become of the rest of his hundred. With -these, or, in #B#, with two, he makes a stand against the royal guard, -and kills scores of them. The French king begs him to hold his hand, #A# -34, #B# 35. There shall never be war with England while peace may be -kept, #A#; he shall take back with him all the ships he brought, -#B#.[150] - -Hugh is naturally turned into a Scotsman in the Scottish version, #C#. -The shepherd’s son that he is matched with, 7, 15, is explained by -traditional comment to be the queen’s cousin. - -These feats of Hugh Spencer do not outstrip those of the Breton knight -Les Aubrays, when dealing with the French, Luzel, I, 286–305, II, -564–581; nor is his _fanfaronnerie_ much beyond that of Harry Fifth. The -Breton knight was explicitly helped by St Anne, but then Spencer and -Harry have God and St George to borrow. - -Liebrecht well remarks, Göttinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1868, p. 1900, that -Spencer’s rejecting the three French horses and preferring his old hack -is a characteristically traditional trait, and like what we read of -Walter of Aquitania in the continuation of his story in the chronicle of -the cloister of Novalesa. After Walter, in his old age, had entered this -monastery, he was deputed to obtain redress for a serious depredation on -the property of the brethren. Asking the people of the cloister whether -they have a horse serviceable for fight in case of necessity, he is told -that there are good strong cart-horses at his disposal. He has these -brought out, mounts one and another, and condemns all. He then inquires -whether the old steed which he had brought with him is still alive. It -is, but very old, and only used to carry corn to the mill. “Let me see -him,” says Walter, and, mounting, cries, “Oh, this horse has not -forgotten what I taught him in my younger days.” Grimm u. Schmeller, -Lateinische Gedichte des X. u. XI. Jahrhunderts, p. 109. See ‘Tom -Potts,’ II, 441.[151] - -Of the many Hugh Spensers if we select the younger of the favorites of -Edward II, his exploits, had they any foundation in reality, would -necessarily fall between 1322, when Charles IV came to the French -throne, and 1326, when the Spensers, father and son, ended their career. -The French king says in #B# 8 that Spenser had sunk his ships and slain -his men. Hugh Spenser the younger (both, according to Knyghton, col. -2539, but the father was a very old man) was engaged in piracy in 1321. -The quarrel between Edward II and Charles IV, touching the English -possessions in France, was temporarily arranged in 1325, but not through -the mediation of the younger Spenser, who never was sent on an embassy -to France. Another Sir Hugh Spenser was a commander in the Earl of -Arundel’s fleet in the operations against the French in Charles VI’s -time, 1387, and was taken prisoner in consequence of his ship grounding: -Knyghton, col. 2693; Nicolas, History of the Royal Navy, II, 322f. No -one of the three queens of Charles IV bore the name of Maude, which is -assigned to the French queen in #B#, neither did the queen of Charles -VI. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 281; Hales and Furnivall, II, 290. - - 1 - The court is kept att leeue London, - And euermore shall be itt; - The K_ing_ sent for a bold embassador, - And S_i_r Hugh Spencer _tha_t he hight. - - 2 - ‘Come hither, Spencer,’ saith our kinge, - ‘And come thou hither vnto mee; - I must make thee an embassadour - Betweene the k_ing_ of Ffrance and mee. - - 3 - ‘Thou must comend me to the k_ing_ of Ffrance, - And tell him thus and now ffrom mee, - I wold know whether there shold be peace in his land, - Or open warr kept still must bee. - - 4 - ‘Thou’st haue thy shipp at thy comande, - Thou’st neither want for gold nor ffee; - Thou’st haue a hundred armed men, - All att thy bidding ffor to bee.’ - - 5 - The wind itt serued, and they sayled, - And towards Ffrance thus they be gone; - The wind did bring them safe to shore, - And safelye landed euerye one. - - 6 - The Ffrenchmen lay on the castle-wall, - The English souldiers to behold: - ‘You are welcome, traitors, out of England; - The heads of you are bought and sold.’ - - 7 - W_i_th _tha_t spake proud Spencer: - My leege, soe itt may not bee; - I am sent an embassador - Ffrom our English king to yee. - - 8 - The k_ing_ of England greetes you well, - And hath sent this word by mee; - He wold know whether there shold be peace in yo_u_r land, - Or open warres kept still must bee. - - 9 - ‘Comend me to the English kinge, - And tell this now ffrom mee; - There shall neuer peace be kept in my land - While open warres kept there may bee.’ - - 10 - W_i_th _tha_t came downe the queene of Ffrance, - And an angry woman then was shee; - Saies, Itt had beene as ffitt now for a k_ing_ - To be in his chamber w_i_th his ladye, - Then to be pleading w_i_th traitors out of England, - Kneeling low vppon their knee. - - 11 - But then bespake him proud Spencer, - For noe man else durst speake but hee: - You haue not wiped yo_u_r mouth, madam, - Since I heard you tell a lye. - - 12 - ‘O hold thy tounge, Spencer!’ shee said, - ‘I doe not come to plead with thee; - Darest thou ryde a course of warr - W_i_th a knight _tha_t I shall put to thee?’ - - 13 - ‘But eu_er_ alacke!’ then Spencer sayd, - ‘I thinke I haue deserued Gods cursse; - Ffor I haue not any armour heere, - Nor yett I haue noe iusting-horsse.’ - - 14 - ‘Thy shankes,’ q_uo_th shee, ‘beneath the knee - Are verry small aboue the shinne - Ffor to doe any such hon_oura_blle deeds - As the Englishmen say thou has done. - - 15 - ‘Thy shankes beene small aboue thy shoone, - And soe the beene aboue thy knee; - Thou art to slender euery way - Any good iuster ffor to bee.’ - - 16 - ‘But euer alacke,’ said Spencer then, - ‘For one steed of the English countrye!’ - W_i_th _tha_t bespake and one Ffrench knight, - This day thou’st haue the choyce of three. - - 17 - The first steed he ffeiched out, - I-wis he was milke-white; - The ffirst ffoot Spencer in stirropp sett, - His backe did from his belly tyte. - - 18 - The second steed _tha_t he ffeitcht out, - I-wis _tha_t hee was verry browne; - The second ffoot Spencer in stirropp settt, - _Tha_t horsse and man and all ffell downe. - - 19 - The third steed _tha_t hee ffeitched out, - I-wis _tha_t he was verry blacke; - The third ffoote Spencer into the stirropp sett, - He leaped on to the geldings backe. - - 20 - ‘But eu_er_ alacke,’ said Spencer then, - ‘For one good steed of the English countrye! - Goe ffeitch me hither my old hacneye, - _Tha_t I brought w_i_th me hither beyond the sea.’ - - 21 - But when his hackney there was brought, - Spencer a merry man there was hee; - Saies, W_i_th the grace of God and St George of England, - The ffeild this day shall goe w_i_th mee. - - 22 - ‘I haue not fforgotten,’ Spencer sayd, - ‘Since there was ffeild foughten att Walsingam, - When the horsse did heare the trumpetts sound, - He did beare ore both horsse and man.’ - - 23 - The day was sett, and togetther they mett, - W_i_th great mirth and melodye, - W_i_th minstrells playing, and trumpetts soundinge, - W_i_th drumes striking loud and hye. - - 24 - The ffirst race that Spencer run, - I-wis hee run itt wonderous sore; - He [hitt] the knight vpon his brest, - But his speare itt burst, and wold touch noe more. - - 25 - ‘But euer alacke,’ said Spencer then, - ‘For one staffe of the English countrye! - W_i_thout you’le bind me three together,’ - Q_uo_th hee, ‘they’le be to weake ffor mee.’ - - 26 - W_i_th _tha_t bespake him the Ffrench knight, - Sayes, Bind him together the whole thirtye, - For I haue more strenght in my to hands - Then is in all Spencers bodye. - - 27 - ‘But proue att p_ar_ting,’ Spencer sayes, - ‘Ffrench knight, here I tell itt thee; - For I will lay thee five to four - The bigger man I proue to bee.’ - - 28 - But the day was sett, and together they mett, - W_i_th great mirth and melodye, - W_i_th minstrells playing, and trumpetts soundinge, - W_i_th drummes strikeing loud and hye. - - 29 - The second race _tha_t Spencer run, - I-wis hee ridd itt in much pride, - And he hitt the knight vpon the brest, - And draue him ore his horsse beside. - - 30 - But he run thorrow the Ffrench campe; - Such a race was neu_e_r run beffore; - He killed of K_ing_ Charles his men - Att hand of thirteen or fourteen score. - - 31 - But he came backe againe to the K[ing], - And kneeled him downe vpon his knee; - Saies, A knight I haue slaine, and a steed I haue woone, - The best _tha_t is in this countrye. - - 32 - ‘But nay, by my faith,’ then said the K_ing_, - ‘Spencer, soe itt shall not bee; - I’le haue _tha_t traitors head of thine, - To enter plea att my iollye.’ - - 33 - But Spencer looket him once about, - He had true bretheren left but four; - He killed ther of the K_ing_s gard - About twelve or thirteen score. - - 34 - ‘But hold thy hands,’ the K_ing_ doth say, - ‘Spencer, now I doe pray thee; - And I will goe into litle England, - Vnto _tha_t cruell kinge w_i_th thee.’ - - 35 - ‘Nay, by my ffaith,’ Spencer sayd, - ‘My leege, for soe itt shall not bee; - For an you sett ffoot on English ground, - You shall be hanged vpon a tree.’ - - 36 - ‘Why then, comend [me] to _tha_t Englishe kinge, - And tell him thus now ffrom mee, - _Tha_t there shall neu_er_ be open warres kept in my land - Whilest peace kept _tha_t there may bee.’ - - - B - - Percy Papers: communicated by the Duchess Dowager of Portland. - - 1 - Our king lay at Westminst_e_r, - as oft times he had done, - And he sent for Hugh Spencer, - to come to him anon. - - 2 - Then in came Hugh Spencer, - low kneeling on his knee: - ‘What’s the matter, my liege, - you sent so speedily for me?’ - - 3 - ‘Why you must go ambassadour - to France now, to see - Whether peace shall be taken, - aye, or open wars must be.’ - - 4 - ‘Who shall go with me?’ - says Hugh Spencer, he: - ‘That shall Hugh Willoughby - and John of Atherly.’ - ‘O then,’ says Hugh Spencer, - ‘we’ll be a merry company.’ - - 5 - When they came before the French king, - they kneeled low on the knee: - ‘O rise up, and stand up, - whose men soer you be.’ - - 6 - The first that made answer - was Hugh Spencer, he: - ‘We are English ambassad_ou_rs, - come hither to see - Whether peace shall be taken, - aye, or open wars must be.’ - - 7 - Then spoke the French king, - and he spoke courteously: - The last time peace was broken, - it was neer along of me. - - 8 - For you sunk my ships, slew my men, - and thus did ye; - And the last time peace was broken, - it was neer along of me. - - 9 - Then in came Queen Maude, - and full as ill was she: - ‘A chamber of presence - is better for thee, - Then amongst English shepherds, - low bending on the knee.’ - - 10 - The first that made answer - was Hugh Spencer, he: - ‘We are no English shepherds, - Queen Maude, I tell thee, - But we’re knights, and knights fellows, - the worst man in our company.’ - - 11 - O then spoke Queen Maude, - and full as ill was she: - Thou shouldst be Hugh Spencer, - thou talkst so boldly. - - 12 - And if thou beest Hugh Spencer, - as well thou seemst to be, - I’ve oft heard of thy justling, - and some of it would fain see. - - 13 - I have a steed in my stable - that thou canst not ride; - I have a spear in my keeping - that thou canst not guide; - And I have a knight in my realm - that thou darest not abide. - - 14 - Then Spencer askd Willoughby - and John of Atherly - Whether he should take this justling in hand, - aye, or let it be. - - 15 - O then spoke Hugh Willoughby - and John of Atherly: - If you won’t take it [in] hand, - why turn it unto we. - - 16 - ‘It shall neer be said in England,’ - says Hugh Spencer, he, - ‘That I refused a good justling - and turned it to ye. - - 17 - ‘Alas,’ says Hugh Spencer, - ‘full sore may I moan, - I have nought here but an ambler, - my good steed’s at home.’ - - 18 - Then spoke a French knight, - and he spoke courteously: - I have thirty steeds in my stables, - the best of them take to thee. - - 19 - ‘Gramercy,’ says Spencer, - ‘aye, and gramercy; - If eer thou comest to England, - well rewarded shalt thou be.’ - - 20 - The first steed they brought him, - he was a milk-white: - ‘Take that away,’ says Spencer, - ‘for I do not him like.’ - - 21 - The next steed they brought him, - he was a good dun: - ‘Take that away,’ says Spencer, - ‘for he’s not for my turn.’ - - 22 - The next steed they brought him, - he was a dapple-grey: - ‘Take that away,’ says Spencer, - ‘for he is not used to the way.’ - - 23 - The next steed they brought him, - he was a coal-black; - His eyes burnt in his head, - as if fire were in flax; - ‘Come saddle me that horse,’ says Spencer, - ‘for I’ll have none but that.’ - - 24 - When that horse was saddled, - and Spencer got on, - With his spear at his foot, - O he was portly man! - - 25 - ‘Now I am on that steede-back - that I could not ride, - That spear in my keeping - that I could not guide, - Come shew me that French knight - that I dare not abide.’ - - 26 - ‘It is a sign by thy sharp shin, - ay, and thy cropped knee, - That you are no fit match - to justle with me:’ - ‘Why it makes no matter,’ says Spencer, - ‘you hear no brags of me.’ - - 27 - The first time they rode together, - now Sir Hugh and he, - He turnd him in his saddle - like an apple on a tree. - - 28 - The next time they rode together, - now Sir Hugh and he, - He lit upon his breast-plate, - and he broke his spear in three. - - 29 - ‘A spear now,’ says Spencer, - ‘a spear now get me:’ - ‘Thou shalt have one,’ says Willoughby, - ‘if in France one there be.’ - - 30 - ‘O tye two together, - and the stronger they’l be, - For the French is the better, - and the better shall be:’ - ‘Why it makes no matter,’ says Spencer, - ‘you hear no brags of me.’ - - 31 - The next time they rode together, - now Sir Hugh and he, - He threw him fifteen foot from his saddle, - and he broke his back in three: - ‘Now I have slain thy justler, - Queen Maude, I tell thee.’ - - 32 - O then spoke Queen Maude, - and full as ill was she: - If thou’st slain my justler, - by the Kings laws thou’st dye. - - 33 - ‘It shall neer be said in England,’ - says Hugh Spencer, he; - ‘It shall neer be said in England,’ - says Hugh Willoughby; - - 34 - ‘It shall neer be said in England,’ - says John of Atherly, - ‘That a queen of another nation - eer had her will of we.’ - - 35 - They laid their heads together, - and their backs to the wall; - There were four score of the Queen’s guards, - and they slew them all. - - 36 - Then spoke the French king, - and he spoke courteously: - O hold thy hand, Spencer, - I dearly pray thee. - - 37 - Thou art sharp as thy spear, - and as fierce as thy steed, - And the stour of thy lilly-white hand - makes my heart bleed. - - 38 - Thou hadst twenty ships hither, - thou’st have twenty away; - Then hold thy hand, Spencer, - I dearly thee pray. - - - C - - Dr Joseph Robertson’s Journal of Excursions, No 4; taken down from a - man in the parish of Leochel, Aberdeenshire, 12 February, 1829. - - 1 - It fell about the Martinmas time - The wind blew loud and cauld, - And all the knichts of fair Scotland - They drew them to sum hald. - - 2 - Unless it was him young Sir Hugh, - And he beet to sail the sea, - Wi a letter between twa kings, to see an they - wald lat down the wars, - And live and lat them be. - - 3 - On Friday shipped he, and lang - Ere Wodensday at noon - In fair France landed he, - . . . . . . . - - 4 - He fell down before the King, - On his bare knees: - ‘Gude mak ye safe and soun;’ - ‘Fat news o your contrie?’ he says. - - 5 - ‘The news o our countrie,’ he says, - ‘Is but news brought over the sea, - To see an ye’ll lat down the wars, - And live and lat them be.’ - - 6 - ‘Deed no,’ he says; - ‘I’m but an auld man indeed, - But I’ll no lat down the wars, - And live and lat them be.’ - - 7 - It’s out it spak the Queen hersel: I have a shepherd’s sin - Would fight an hour wi you; - ‘And by my seeth,’ says young Sir Hugh, - ‘That sight fain would I see.’ - - 8 - The firsten steed that he drew out, - He was the penny-gray; - He wad hae ridden oer meel or mor - A leve-lang summer’s day. - - 9 - O girths they brak, and great horse lap, - But still sat he on he: - ‘A girth, a girth,’ says young Sir Hugh, - ‘A girth for charity!’ - ‘O every girth that you shall have, - Its gude lord shall hae three.’ - - 10 - The nexten steed that he drew out, - He was the penny-brown; - He wad hae ridden oer meel or mor - As ever the dew drap down. - - 11 - O bridles brak, and great horse lap, - But still sat he on he: - ‘A bridle, a bridle,’ says young Sir Hugh, - ‘A bridle for charitie!’ - ‘O every bridle that you shall have, - And its gude lord shall have three.’ - - 12 - The nexten steed that he drew out - He was the raven-black; - His een was glancin in his head - Like wild-fire in a slack; - ‘Get here a boy,’ says young Sir Hugh, - ‘Cast on the saddle on that.’ - - 13 - O brands there brak, and great horse lap, - But still sat he on he: - ‘A brand, a brand,’ says young Sir Hugh, - ‘A brand for charitie!’ - ‘O every brand that you sall have, - And its gude lord sall have three.’ - - 14 - He gave him a dep unto the heart, - And over the steed fell he: - ‘I rather had gane you money,’ she says, - ‘And free lands too, - That ye had foughten an hour wi him, - And than had latten him be.’ - - 15 - ‘If ye hae ony mair shepherd’s sins,’ he says, - ‘Or cooks i your kitchie, - Or ony mair dogs to fell, - Ye’ll bring them here to me; - And gin they be a true-hearted Scotsman, - They’ll no be scorned by thee.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - 4^3. 100. - - 5^{1,3}. They. - - 6^1. walls? _There is a tag at the end of this word in the MS. - Furnivall._ - - 16^4. of 3. - - 17^4. _MS._, tylpe, _with the_ l _crossed at top. Furnivall_. - - 18^{1,3}. 2[d .]. - - 18^2. _I should read_ berry-browne _were it not for_ verry blacke - _in 19^2_. - - 19^{1,3}. 3[d .]. - - 25^3. 3. - - 26^2. 30^{tye}. - - 27^3. 5 to 4. - - 29^1. 2[d .]. - - 30^4. 13 or 14. - - 32^4. _No emendation of this unintelligible line occurs to me._ - - 33^2. 4. - - 33^3. therof. - - 33^4. 2 or 3: _cf._ 30^4, _and observe the metre_. - - 35^3. for on: seitt _or_ settt. - - And _for_ & _always_. - -#C.# - - 14^4. too: _pronounced_ tee. - - 15. The shepherd’s son was the Queen’s own son: _comment of the - reciter_. _I do not understand the last two lines; indeed they - are obviously corrupt._ - - - - - 159 - - DURHAM FIELD - - ‘Durham ffeilde,’ Percy MS., p. 245; Hales and Furnivall, II, 190. - - -While Edward Third was absent in France, and for the time engaged with -the siege of Calais, David Bruce, the young king of Scotland, at the -instance of Philip of Valois, but also because he “yearned to see -fighting,” invaded England with a large army. Having taken by storm the -Border castle of Liddel, he was advised by William of Douglas to turn -back, which, it was represented by Douglas, he could do with credit -after this success. Other lords said that Douglas had filled his bags, -but theirs were toom, and that the way lay open to London, for there -were no men left in England but souters, skinners, and traders.[152] The -Scots moved on to Durham, and encamped in a park not far from the town, -in a bad position. In the mean while a powerful force had been collected -by the northern nobility and the English churchmen, without the -knowledge of the Scots. William of Douglas, going out to forage, rode -straight to the ground where his foes lay, and in the attempt to retreat -lost five hundred of his men. King David drew up his army in three -divisions: one under his own command, another under the Earl of Murray -and William Douglas, the third under the Steward of Scotland and the -Earl of March. The operations of the Scots were impeded by the ditches -and fences that traversed the ground on which they stood, and their -situation made them an almost helpless mark for the ten thousand archers -of the English army. Murray’s men were completely routed by a charge of -cavalry, and their leader killed. The English then fell upon the King’s -division, which, after a desperate fight, was “vanquished utterly.” -David, who had received two wounds from arrows, was taken prisoner by -John Copland, “by force, not yolden,” after knocking out two of the -Englishman’s teeth with a knife. Wyntoun’s Chronykil, ed. Laing, II, 470 -ff; Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 339 ff. The battle was fought on -the 17th of October, 1346. - -According to the English chronicle of Lanercost, John of Douglas, -‘germanus domini Willelmi,’ fought with the Earl of Murray in the first -Scottish division, and the Earl of Buchan was associated with King David -in the command of the second. The English were also in three bodies. The -leaders of the first were the Earl of Angus, ‘inter omnes Angliæ nobilis -persona,’ Henry Percy, Ralph Neville, and Henry Scrope; the Archbishop -of York led the second; Mowbray, Rokeby, and John of Copland were in the -third. Ed. Stevenson, pp. 349–51. - -David, in the ballad, proposes to himself nothing less than the conquest -of England and the distribution of the territory among his chief men. He -is not a youth of twenty-two; William Douglas has served him four and -thirty years. Still he will brook no advice, and kills his own squire -for warning him of the danger of his enterprise. The Earl of Angus is to -lead the van; but Angus, as we have seen, was engaged on the other side. -The title of Angus might have deceived the minstrel, but it was hardly -to be expected that Neville should be turned into a Scot as he is in st. -17. Angus, and also ‘Vaughan,’ that is Baughan, or Buchan,[153] are to -be in the king’s coat-armor, sts 11, 13, imitating Blunt and the rest at -Shrewsbury, and the five false Richmonds at Bosworth. James[154] Douglas -offers to lead the van, 14; so does William Douglas in 21. An Englishman -who does not know a Neville would surely not be very precise about a -Douglas, and it must be conceded that the Douglases have not always been -kept perfectly distinct by historians. James Douglas, whoever he may be -supposed to be, “went before;” that is, he plays the part which belongs -historically to the Knight of Liddesdale, loses all his men, and -returns, with an arrow in his thigh, to report that one Englishman is -worth five Scots: 26–33.[155] But the Scots, even at that rate, have the -advantage, for a herald, sent out to reconnoitre, tells their king that -they are ten to one. - -The commanders on the English side are the Bishop of Durham, Earl Percy, -the Archbishop of York, the Bishop of Carlisle, and “Lord -Fluwilliams.”[156] The Bishop of Durham orders that no man shall fight -before he has ‘served his God,’ and five hundred priests say mass in the -field who afterwards take part in the fray. (The monks of Durham, -Knyghton tells us, had made terms with the Scots, and were to pay a -thousand pounds for ransom-money the next day; and so, when they saw the -Scots yielding, they raised their voices in a Te Deum, which sounded to -the clouds and quickened the courage of the English.) The king of Scots -is wounded by an arrow through his nose, and, stepping aside to bleed, -is taken prisoner by John of Copland, whom he first smites angrily. -Copland sets the king on a palfrey and leads him to London. King Edward, -newly arrived from France, asks him how he likes the shepherds, millers, -and priests. There’s not a yeoman in England, says David, but he is -worth a Scottish knight. Aye, says King Edward, laughing, that is -because you were fighting against the right. Shortly after this the -Black Prince brings the king of France captive from the field of -Poitiers. Says David to John, Welcome, brother, but I would I had gone -to Rome! And I, would I had gone to Jerusalem! replies John. Thus ends -the battle of Durham, fought, says the minstrel, on a morning of May, -sts 27, 64, and within the same month as the battles of Crécy and -Poitiers.[157] Though Poitiers was fought ten years after Durham, the -king of Scots and the king of France no doubt met in London, for John -was taken thither in April, 1357, and David was not released from his -captivity until the following November. - -Stanza 18 affords us an upper limit for a date. Lord Hambleton is said -to be of the king’s kin full nigh. James Hamilton, the first lord, -married the princess Mary, sister of James III, in 1474, and his -descendants were the next heirs to the throne after the Stewarts, whose -line was for a time but barely kept up. - - - 1 - Lordinges, listen, and hold you still; - Hearken to me a litle; - I shall you tell of the fairest battell - _Tha_t eu_er_ in England beffell. - - 2 - For as it befell in Edward the Thirds dayes, - In England, where he ware the crowne, - Then all the cheefe chiualry of England - They busked and made them bowne. - - 3 - They chosen all the best archers - _Tha_t in England might be found, - And all was to fight w_i_th the k_ing_ of Ffrance, - W_i_thin a litle stounde. - - 4 - And when our k_ing_ was ou_er_ the water, - And on the salt sea gone, - Then tydings into Scotland came - _Tha_t all England was gone. - - 5 - Bowes and arrowes they were all forth, - At home was not left a man - But shepards and millers both, - And preists w_i_th shauen crownes. - - 6 - Then the k_ing_ of Scotts in a study stood, - As he was a man of great might; - He sware he wold hold his parlam_ent_ in leeue London, - If he cold ryde there right. - - 7 - Then bespake a squ_ier_, of Scottland borne, - And sayd, My leege, apace, - Before you come to leeue London, - Full sore you’le rue _tha_t race. - - 8 - Ther beene bold yeomen in merry England, - Husbandmen stiffe and strong; - Sharpe swords they done weare, - Bearen bowes and arrowes longe. - - 9 - The K_ing_ was angrye at that word; - A long sword out hee drew, - And there befor his royall companye - His owne squier hee slew. - - 10 - Hard hansell had the Scottes _tha_t day, - _Tha_t wrought them woe enoughe, - For then durst not a Scott speake a word - Ffor hanging att a boughe. - - 11 - ‘The Earle of Anguish, where art thou? - In my coate-armor thou shalt bee, - And thou shalt lead the forward - Thorrow the English countrye. - - 12 - ‘Take thee Yorke,’ then sayd the K_ing_, - ‘In stead wheras it doth stand; - I’le make thy eldest sonne after thee - Heyre of all Northumberland. - - 13 - ‘The Earle of Vaughan, where be yee? - In my coate-armor thou shalt bee; - The high Peak and Derbyshire - I giue it thee to thy fee.’ - - 14 - Then came in famous Douglas, - Saies, What shall my meede bee? - And I’le lead the vawward, lord, - Thorow the English countrye. - - 15 - ‘Take thee Worster,’ sayd the K_ing_, - ‘Tuxburye, Killingworth, Burton vpon Trent; - Doe thou not say another day - But I haue giuen thee lands and rent. - - 16 - ‘S_i_r Rich_ard_ of Edenborrow, where are yee? - A wise man in this warr! - I’le giue thee Bristow and the shire - The time _tha_t wee come there. - - 17 - ‘My lo_rd_ Nevill, where beene yee? - You must in this warres bee; - I’le giue thee Shrewsburye,’ saies the K_ing_, - ‘And Couentrye faire and free. - - 18 - ‘My lo_rd_ of Hambleton, where art thou? - Thou art of my kin full nye; - I’le giue thee Lincolne and Lincolneshire, - And _tha_t’s enouge for thee.’ - - 19 - By then came in W_illia_m Douglas, - As breeme as any bore; - He kneeled him downe vpon his knees, - In his hart he sighed sore. - - 20 - Saies, I haue serued you, my louelye leege, - This thirty winters and four, - And in the Marches betweene England and Scottland - I haue beene wounded and beaten sore. - - 21 - For all the good service _tha_t I haue done, - What shall my meed bee? - And I will lead the vanward - Thorrow the English countrye. - - 22 - ‘Aske on, Douglas,’ said the king, - ‘And granted it shall bee:’ - ‘Why then, I aske litle London,’ saies Will_iam_ Douglas, - ‘Gotten giff _tha_t it bee.’ - - 23 - The K_ing_ was wrath, and rose away, - Saies, Nay, _tha_t cannot bee! - For _tha_t I will keepe for my cheefe chamber, - Gotten if it bee. - - 24 - But take thee North Wales and Weschaster, - The cuntrye all round about, - And rewarded thou shalt bee, - Of _tha_t take thou noe doubt. - - 25 - Fiue score k_nigh_ts he made on a day, - And dubbd them with his hands; - Rewarded them right worthilye - W_i_th the townes in merry England. - - 26 - And when the fresh k_nigh_ts they were made, - To battell the buske them bowne; - Iames Douglas went before, - And he thought to haue wonnen him shoone. - - 27 - But the were mett in a morning of May - W_i_th the com_m_inaltye of litle England; - But there scaped neu_er_ a man away, - Through the might of Christës hand. - - 28 - But all onely Iames Douglas; - In Durham in the ffeild - An arrow stroke him in the thye; - Fast flinge[s he] towards the K_ing_. - - 29 - The K_ing_ looked toward litle Durham, - Saies, All things is not well! - For Iames Dowglas beares an arrow in his thye, - The head of it is of steele. - - 30 - ‘How now Iames?’ then said the K_ing_, - ‘How now, how may this bee? - And where beene all thy merrymen - That thou tooke hence with thee?’ - - 31 - ‘But cease, my k_ing_,’ saies Iames Douglas, - ‘Aliue is not left a man!’ - ‘Now by my faith,’ saies the k_ing_ of Scottes, - ‘_Tha_t gate was euill gone. - - 32 - ‘But I’le reuenge thy quarrell well, - And of _tha_t thou may be faine; - For one Scott will beate fiue Englishmen, - If the meeten them on the plaine.’ - - 33 - ‘Now hold yo_u_r tounge,’ saies Iames Douglas, - ‘For in faith _tha_t is not soe; - For one English man is worth fiue Scotts, - When they meeten together thoe. - - 34 - ‘For they are as egar men to fight - As a faulcon vpon a pray; - Alas! if eu_er_ the winne the vanward, - There scapes noe man away.’ - - 35 - ‘O peace thy talking,’ said the K_ing_, - ‘They bee but English knaues, - But shepards and millers both, - And preists w_i_th their staues.’ - - 36 - The K_ing_ sent forth one of his heralds of armes - To vew the Englishmen: - ‘Be of good cheere,’ the herald said, - ‘For against one wee bee ten.’ - - 37 - ‘Who leades those ladds?’ said the k_ing_ of Scottes, - ‘Thou herald, tell thou mee:’ - The herald said, The Bishopp of Durham - Is captaine of _tha_t companye. - - 38 - ‘For the Bishopp hath spred the K_ing_‘s banner, - And to battell he buskes him bowne:’ - ‘I sweare by St. Andrewes bones,’ saies the K_ing_, - ‘I’le rapp _tha_t preist on the crowne.’ - - 39 - The K_ing_ looked towards litle Durham, - And _tha_t hee well beheld, - _Tha_t the Earle Percy was well armed, - W_i_th his battell-axe entred the feild. - - 40 - The K_ing_ looket againe towards litle Durham, - Four ancyents there see hee; - There were to standards, six in a valley, - He cold not see them w_i_th his eye. - - 41 - My Lord of Yorke was one of them, - My Lord of Carlile was the other, - And my Lord Ffluwilliams, - The one came w_i_th the other. - - 42 - The Bishopp of Durham com_m_anded his men, - And shortlye he them bade, - _Tha_t neu_er_ a man shold goe to the feild to fight - Till he had serued his God. - - 43 - Fiue hundred preists said masse _tha_t day - In Durham in the feild, - And afterwards, as I hard say, - They bare both speare and sheeld. - - 44 - The Bishopp of Durham orders himselfe to fight, - W_i_th his battell-axe in his hand; - He said, This day now I will fight - As long as I can stand! - - 45 - ‘And soe will I,’ sayd my Lo_rd_ of Carlile, - ‘In this faire morning gay;’ - ‘And soe will I,’ said my Lo_rd_ Ffluwilliams, - ‘For Mary, _tha_t myld may.’ - - 46 - Our English archers bent their bowes. - Shortlye and anon; - They shott ou_er_ the Scottish oast - And scantlye toucht a man. - - 47 - ‘Hold downe yo_u_r hands,’ sayd the Bishopp of Durham, - ‘My archers good and true:’ - The second shoote _tha_t the shott, - Full sore the Scottes itt rue. - - 48 - The Bishopp of Durham spoke on hye, - _Tha_t both p_ar_tyes might heare: - ‘Be of good cheere, my merrymen all, - The Scotts flyen, and changen there cheere.’ - - 49 - But as the saidden, soe the didden, - They fell on heapës hye; - Our Englishmen laid on w_i_th their bowes, - As fast as they might dree. - - 50 - The k_ing_ of Scotts in a studye stood - Amongst his companye; - An arrow stoke him thorrow the nose, - And thorrow his armorye. - - 51 - The K_ing_ went to a marsh-side - And light beside his steede; - He leaned him downe on his sword-hilts, - To let his nose bleede. - - 52 - There followed him a yeaman of merry England, - His name was Iohn of Coplande: - ‘Yeeld thee, traytor!’ saies Coplande then, - ‘Thy liffe lyes in my hand.’ - - 53 - ‘How shold I yeeld me,’ sayes the K_ing_, - ‘And thou art noe gentleman?’ - ‘Noe, by my troth,’ sayes Copland there, - ‘I am but a poore yeaman. - - 54 - ‘What art thou better then I, S_i_r K_ing_? - Tell me if that thou can! - What art thou better then I, S_i_r K_ing_, - Now we be but man to man?’ - - 55 - The K_ing_ smote angerly at Copland then, - Angerly in that stonde; - And then Copland was a bold yeaman, - And bore the K_ing_ to the ground. - - 56 - He sett the K_ing_ upon a palfrey, - Himselfe upon a steede; - He tooke him by the bridle-rayne, - Towards London he can him lead. - - 57 - And when to London _tha_t he came, - The K_ing_ from Ffrance was new come home, - And there unto the k_ing_ of Scottes - He sayd these words anon. - - 58 - ‘How like you my shepards and my millers? - My priests w_i_th shaven crownes?’ - ‘By my fayth, they are the sorest fighting men - _Tha_t ev_e_r I mett on the ground. - - 59 - ‘There was never a yeaman in merry England - But he was worth a Scottish k_nigh_t:’ - ‘I, by my troth,’ said K_ing_ Edward, and laughe, - ‘For you fought all against the right.’ - - 60 - But now the prince of merry England, - Worthilye under his sheelde, - Hath taken the k_ing_ of Ffrance, - At Poytiers in the ffeelde. - - 61 - The prince did p_re_sent his father w_i_th _tha_t food, - The louely k_ing_ off Ffrance, - And fforward of his iourney he is gone: - God send us all good chance! - - 62 - ‘You are welcome, broth_er_!’ sayd the k_ing_ of Scotts, to _th_e - k_ing_ of Ffrance, - ‘For I am come hither to soone; - Christ leeve _tha_t I had taken my way - Unto the court of Roome!’ - - 63 - ‘And soe wold I,’ said the k_ing_ of Ffrance, - ‘When I came over the streame, - _Tha_t I had taken my iourney - Unto Ierusalem!’ - - 64 - Thus ends the battell of ffaire Durham, - In one morning of May, - The battell of Cressey, and _th_e battle of Potyers, - All within one monthës day. - - 65 - Then was welthe and welfare in mery England, - Solaces, game, and glee, - And every man loved other well, - And the K_ing_ loved good yeomanrye. - - 66 - But God _tha_t made the grasse to growe, - And leaves on greenwoode tree, - Now save and keepe our noble k_ing_, - And maintaine good yeomanry! - - * * * * * - - And _for_ & _throughout_. - - 1^1. _Perhaps_ lesten: yo. - - 1^2. a litle spell? - - 2^1. 3^{ds}. - - 8^3. sharpes. - - 11^3. forward _has a tag to the_ #d#. _Furnivall._ - - 12^1. thy _for_ thee. - - 13^1. _in_ Earle _the_ l _is made over an_ e. _Furnivall._ - - 15^2. Tuxburye _doubtful in the MS._ - - 20^2. 30: 4. - - 25^1. 5 score. - - 31^1. Janes. - - 32^3, 33^3. 5. - - _After_ 39. 2d part. - - 40^2. 4. - - 40^3. 6. - - 43^1. 500. - - 44^1. Durhan. - - 47^3. 2d. - - 62^1. brothers. - - 66. _Pencil note in Percy’s late hand._ - - This and 2 following leaves being unfortunately torn out, in - sending the subsequent piece [‘King Estmere’] to the press, the - conclusion of the preceding ballad has been carefully - transcribed; and indeed the fragments of the other leaves ought - to have been so. - - - - - 160 - - THE KNIGHT OF LIDDESDALE - - Hume of Godscroft, History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, 1644, - p. 77. - - -William Douglas, the Knight of Liddesdale, who figures in the foregoing -ballad, was assassinated in 1353, while hunting in Ettrick forest, by -his kinsman and godson, Lord William Douglas. - -According to the Scotichronicon, the motive was said to be revenge for -Alexander Ramsay, one of the first men among the Scots, whom Liddesdale -had assaulted while he was holding a court, wounded, carried off, and -suffered to die by starving; and for Sir David Berkeley, whom Liddesdale -was charged with procuring to be murdered in 1350, in return for the -death of his brother, Sir John Douglas, brought to pass by Berkeley. -(Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 348, 335, XIV, 8, XIII, 50, XIV, 7.) - -Hume of Godscroft considers the motive assigned to be quite unnatural, -and at best a pretence. A ballad known to him gave a different account. -“The Lord of Liddesdale, being at his pastime, hunting in Attrick -forest, is beset by William Earle of Douglas, and such as hee had -ordained for that purpose, and there assailed, wounded, and slain, -beside Galsewood, in the yeare 1353; upon a jealousie that the Earle had -conceived of him with his lady, as the report goeth, for so sayes the -old song.” After citing the stanza which follows, Hume goes on to say: -“The song also declareth how shee did write her love-letters to -Liddisdale, to disswade him from that hunting. It tells likewise the -manner of the taking of his men, and his owne killing at Galsewood, and -how hee was carried the first night to Lindin Kirk, a mile from Selkirk, -and was buried within the Abbacie of Melrosse.” - -“The sole basis for this statement of Hume’s,” says Sir William Fraser, -The Douglas Book, I, 223 f, 1885, “seems to be the anonymous Border -ballad, part of which he quotes, to which he adds the tradition that the -lady wrote to her lover to dissuade him from that hunting. Apart from -the fact that this tradition is opposed to contemporary history, which -states that Sir William was wholly unsuspicious of danger, the story -told by Godscroft is otherwise erroneous. He assumes that Douglas was -made earl in 1346, and that he was married to a daughter of the Earl of -March, neither of which assumptions is true. Douglas was not created -earl until 26th January, 1357–8, and there was therefore no ‘Countess of -Douglas’ to wait for the Knight of Liddesdale. Douglas’s only wife was -Lady Margaret of Mar, who survived him. The exact date of their marriage -has not been ascertained, but it is certain that Douglas had no countess -of the family of March in 1353, while it is doubtful if at that date he -was married at all. Popular tradition is therefore at fault in assigning -matrimonial jealousy as a motive for killing the Knight of Liddesdale.” - -“Some fragments of this ballad are still current, and will be found in -the ensuing work,” says Scott, Minstrelsy, I, 221, note, ed. 1833. It -may be that Sir Walter became convinced that these fragments were not -genuine; at any rate, they do not appear in his collection. - - The Countesse of Douglas out of her boure she came, - And loudly there that she did call: - ‘It is for the Lord of Liddesdale - That I let all these teares downe fall.’ - - - - - 161 - - THE BATTLE OF OTTERBURN - - #A. a.# Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. iv, leaf 24, of about 1550. #b.# - Harleian MS. 293, leaf 52. Both in the British Museum. - - #B. a.# Herd’s MSS, I, 149, II, 30; Herd’s Scottish Songs, 1776, I, - 153. #b.# Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1802, I, 31. - - #C.# Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1833, I, 354. - - #D.# Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xviii f., two stanzas. - - #E.# Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. lxxi, note 30, one stanza. - - -#A a# was first printed in the fourth edition of Percy’s Reliques, 1794, -I, 18, and #A b# in the first edition, 1765, I, 18. - -By far the most circumstantial account of the battle of Otterburn is -given by Froissart (Chroniques, Buchon, XI, 362 ff, chap. 115 ff), and -his highly felicitous narrative may be briefly summarized as follows. - -The quarrels of Richard II with his uncles and a consequent feud between -the great northern families of Neville and Percy furnished the Scots an -inviting opportunity for an invasion of England on a large scale. Under -the pretext of a festive meeting, a preliminary conference of barons and -knights was held at Aberdeen, and it was there agreed that they should -muster, the middle of August, 1388, at a place on the border near -Jedburgh, with such forces as they could command. In all this they took -no counsel with the king, who was then past seventy, and was regarded as -of no account for their purposes. The result was a larger gathering than -had been seen for sixty years, quite twelve hundred lances and forty -thousand ordinary fighting-men. - -The Earl of Northumberland and his sons, the Seneschal of York, and the -Captain of Berwick had heard of the intended meeting at Aberdeen, and -had sent heralds and minstrels thither, to get further information. -These agents reported that all Scotland was astir, and that there was to -be another parley in the forest of Jedburgh. The barons and knights of -Northumberland made due preparations, and, the better to keep these -secret, remained quiet in their houses, ready to sally as soon as they -learned that the Scots were in motion. Feeling themselves incapable of -coping with so large a body as had been collected, they decided upon a -simultaneous counter-raid, and that from the east or from the west, -according as the enemy should take the road from the west or the east. -Of this plan of the English the Scots obtained knowledge from a spy whom -they had captured, and to foil it they divided their army, directing the -main body towards Carlisle, under command of Archibald Douglas, of the -Earl of Fife, son of the king, and many other nobles, while a detachment -of three or four hundred picked men-at-arms, supported by two thousand -stout fellows, partly archers, all well mounted,[158] and commanded by -James, Earl of Douglas, the Earl of March and Dunbar, and the Earl of -Murray, were to strike for Newcastle, cross the river, and burn and -ravage the bishopric of Durham. - -The eastern division (with which alone we are concerned) carried out -their program to the letter. They advanced at speed, stopping for -nothing, and meeting with no resistance, and the burning and pillaging -had begun in Durham before the Earl of Northumberland knew of their -arrival. Fire and smoke soon showed what was going on. The earl -dispatched his sons Henry and Ralph Percy to Newcastle, where the whole -country rallied, gentle and simple; he himself remaining at Alnwick, in -the hope of being able to enclose the Scots, when they should take the -way north, between two bodies of English. The Scots attained to the very -gates of Durham; then, having burned every unfortified town between -there and Newcastle, they turned northward, with a large booty, repassed -the Tyne, and halted at Newcastle. There was skirmishing for two days -before the city, and in the course of a long combat between Douglas and -Henry Percy the Scot got possession of the Englishman’s pennon. This he -told Percy he would raise on the highest point of his castle at -Dalkeith; Percy answered that he should never accomplish that vaunt, nor -should he carry the pennon out of Northumberland. ‘Come then to-night -and win it back,’ said Douglas; ‘I will plant it before my tent.’ It was -then late, and the fighting ceased; but the Scots kept good guard, -looking for Percy to come that very night for his pennon. Percy, -however, was constrained to let that night pass. - -The Scots broke up their camp early the next morning and withdrew -homewards. Taking and burning the tower and town of Ponteland on their -way, they moved on to Otterburn, thirty miles northwest from Newcastle, -where there was a strong castle or tower, in marshy ground, which they -assailed for a day without success. At the end of the day they held a -council, and the greater part were in favor of making for Carlisle in -the morning, to rejoin their countrymen. But the Earl of Douglas would -not hear of this; Henry Percy had said that he would challenge his -pennon; they would stay two or three days more and assault the castle, -and see if Percy would be as good as his word. So the Scots encamped at -their ease, making themselves huts of trees, and availing themselves of -the marshes to fortify their position. At the entrance of the marshes, -which was on the Newcastle road, they put their servants and foragers, -and they drove their cattle into the bogs. - -Henry Percy was greatly vexed and mortified at the loss of his pennon, -and in the evening he represented to the knights and squires of -Northumberland how much it concerned his honor to make good what he had -said to Douglas, that the pennon should never be carried out of England. -But these gentlemen were all convinced that Douglas was backed by the -whole power of Scotland, of which they had seen only the van, by forty -thousand men who could handle them at their will; at any rate, it was -better to lose a pennon than two or three hundred knights and squires, -and expose the country to risk. As for the loss of the pennon, it was -one of the chances of arms; Douglas had won it handsomely; another time -Percy would get as much from him, or more.[159] To this the Percys were -fain to yield. Later there came scouts with information that Douglas was -encamped at Otterburn, that the main army was not acting in conjunction -with him, and that his forces, all told, did not exceed three thousand. -Henry Percy was overjoyed at the news, and cried, To horse! by the faith -I owe to God and my father, I will go seek my pennon, and the Scots -shall be ousted before this night is over. The evening of that same day -the Bishop of Durham was expected to arrive with a great many men, but -Henry Percy would not wait. Six hundred lances and eight thousand foot -were enough, he said, to serve the Scots, who had but three hundred -lances and two thousand other folk. The English set forth as soon as -they could get together, by the road which the Scots had taken, but were -not able to move very fast by reason of their infantry. - -Some of the Scots knights were supping, and more were asleep (for they -had had hard work at the assault on the tower, and were meaning to be up -betimes to renew the attack), when the English were upon the camp, -crying, Percy! Percy! There was naturally great alarm. The English made -their attack at that part of the camp where, as before said, the -servants and foragers were lodged. This was, however, strong, and the -knights sent some of their men to hold it while they themselves were -arming. Then the Scots formed, each under his own earl and captain. It -was night, but the weather was fair and the moon shining. The Scots did -not go straight for the English, but took their way along by the marshes -and by a hill, according to a plan which they had previously arranged -against the case that their camp should be attacked. The English made -short work with the underlings, but, as they advanced, always found -fresh people to keep up a skirmish. And now the Scots, having executed a -flank movement, fell upon their assailants in a mass, from a quarter -where nothing was looked for, shouting their battle-cries with one -voice. The English were astounded, but closed up, and gave them Percy! -for Douglas! Then began a fell battle. The English, being in excess and -eager to win, beat back the Scots, who were at the point of being -worsted. James Douglas, who was young, strong, and keen for glory, sent -his banner to the front, with the cry, Douglas! Douglas! Henry and Ralph -Percy, indignant against the earl for the loss of the pennon, turned in -the direction of the cry, responding, Percy! Knights and squires had no -thought but to fight as long as spears and axes would hold out. It was a -hand-to-hand fight; the parties were so close together that the archers -of neither could operate; neither side budged, but both stood firm. The -Scots showed extraordinary valor, for the English were three to one; but -be this said without disparagement of the English, who have always done -their duty. - -As has been said, the English were so strong that they were forcing -their foes back, and this James Douglas saw. To regain the ground, he -took a two-handed axe, plunged into the thickest, and opened a path -before him; for there was none so well armed in helmet or plate as not -to fear his strokes. So he made his way till he was hit by three spears, -all at once, one in the shoulder, another in the chest, another in the -thigh, and borne to the ground. The English did not know that it was -Earl Douglas that had fallen; they would have been so much elated that -the day would have been theirs. Neither did the Scots; if they had, they -would have given up in despair. Douglas could not raise himself from the -ground, for he was wounded to the death. The crush about him was great, -but his people had kept as close to him as they could. His cousin, Sir -James Lindsay, reached the spot where he was lying, and with Lindsay Sir -John and Sir Walter Sinclair, and other knights and squires. Near him, -and severely wounded, they found his chaplain, William of North Berwick, -who had kept up with his master the whole night, axe in hand; also Sir -Robert Hart, with five wounds from lances and other weapons. Sir John -Sinclair asked the earl, Cousin, how fares it with you? ‘Indifferently,’ -said the earl; ‘praised be God, few of my ancestors have died in their -beds. Avenge me, for I count myself dead. Walter and John Sinclair, up -with my banner, and cry, Douglas! and let neither friend nor foe know of -my state.’ The two Sinclairs and Sir John Lindsay did as they were -bidden, raised the banner, and shouted, Douglas! They were far to the -front, but others, who were behind, hearing the shout loudly repeated, -charged the English with such valor as to drive them beyond the place -where Douglas now lay dead, and came up with the banner which Sir John -Lindsay was bearing, begirt and supported by good Scots knights and -squires. The Earl of Murray came up too, and the Earl of March and -Dunbar as well, and they all, as it were, took new life when they saw -that they were together and that the English were giving ground. Once -more was the combat renewed. The English had the disadvantage of the -fatigue of a rapid march from Newcastle, by reason whereof their will -was better than their wind, whereas the Scots were fresh; and the -effects appeared in this last charge, in which the Scots drove the -English so far back that they could not recover their lost ground. Sir -Ralph Percy had already been taken prisoner. Like Douglas, he had -advanced so far as to be surrounded, and being so badly wounded that his -hose and boots were full of blood, he surrendered to Sir John Maxwell. -Henry Percy, after a valorous fight with the Lord Montgomery, became -prisoner to the Scottish knight. - -It was a hard battle and well fought, but such are the turns of fortune -that, although the English were the greater number, and all bold men and -practised in arms, and although they attacked the enemy valiantly, and -at first drove them back a good distance, the Scots in the end won the -day. The losses of the English were put by their antagonists at 1040 -prisoners, 1860 killed in the fight and the pursuit, and more than 1000 -wounded; those of the Scots were about 100 killed and 200 captured.[160] -The Scots retired without molestation, taking the way to Melrose Abbey, -where they caused the Earl of Douglas to be interred, and his obsequies -to be reverently performed. Over his body a tomb of stone was built, and -above this was raised the earl’s banner. - -Such is the story of the battle of Otterburn, fought on Wednesday, the -19th day of August,[161] in the year of grace 1388, as related by -Froissart (with animated tributes to the hardihood and generosity of -both parties) upon the authority of knights and squires actually -present, both English and Scots, and also French. - -Wyntoun, ix, 840–54, 900f (Laing, III, 36f) says that the alarm was -given the Scots by a young man that came right fast riding (cf. #A# 20, -21, #B# 4, #C# 17), and that many of the Scots were able to arm but -imperfectly; among these Earl James, who was occupied with getting his -men into order and was “reckless of his arming,” and the Earl of Murray, -who forgot his basnet (cf. #C# 20). Earl James was slain no man knew in -what way. Bower, Scotichronicon, II, 405, agrees with Wyntoun. English -chroniclers, Knyghton, col. 2728, Walsingham (Riley, II, 176[162]), -Malverne, the continuator of Higden (Polychronicon, Lumby, IX, 185), -assert that Percy killed Douglas with his own hand, Knyghton adding that -Percy also wounded the Earl of Murray to the point of death. - -That a Scots ballad of Otterburn was popular in the sixteenth century -appears from The Complaynte of Scotlande, 1549, where a line is cited, -The Perssee and the Mongumrye met, p. 65, ed. Murray: cf. #B# 9^1, #C# -30^1.[163] In the following century Hume of Godscroft writes:[164] The -Scots song made of Otterburn telleth the time, about Lammasse, and the -occasion, to take preyes out of England; also the dividing of the armies -betwixt the Earles of Fife and Douglas, and their severall journeys, -almost as in the authentick history. It beginneth thus: - - It fell about the Lammas tide, - When yeomen wonne their hay, - The doughtie Douglas gan to ride, - In England to take a prey. - -Motherwell maintains that the ballad which passes as English is the -Scots song altered to please the other party. His argument, however, is -far from conclusive. “That The Battle of Otterbourne was thus dealt with -by an English transcriber appears obvious, for it studiously omits -dilating on Percy’s capture, while it accurately details his combat with -Douglas;” that is to say, the ballad as we have it is just what a real -English ballad would have been, both as to what it enlarges on and what -it slights. “Whereas it would appear that in the genuine Scottish -version the capture of Percy formed a prominent incident, seeing it is -the one by which the author of The Complaynt refers to the ballad [The -Perssee and the Mongumrye met]:” from which Motherwell was at liberty to -deduce that #B# and #C# represent the genuine Scottish version, several -stanzas being given to the capture of Percy in these; but this he would -not care to do, on account of the great inferiority of these forms. A -Scotsman could alter an English ballad “to suit political feeling and -flatter national vanity,” as Motherwell says the Scots _did_ with Chevy -Chace. (See further on, p. 303.) There is no reason to doubt that a -Scots ballad of Otterburn once existed, much better than the two -inferior, and partly suspicious, things which were printed by Herd and -Scott, and none to doubt that an English minstrel would deal freely with -any Scots ballad which he could turn to his purpose; but then there is -no evidence, positive or probable, that this particular ballad was -“adapted” from the Scots song made of Otterburn; rather are we to infer -that the few verses of #B# and #C# which repeat or resemble the text of -#A# were borrowed from #A#, and, as likely as not, Hume’s first stanza -too.[165] - -#A#, in the shape in which it has come down to us, must have a date long -subsequent to the battle, as the grammatical forms show; still, what -interested the borderers a hundred years or more after the event must -have interested people of the time still more, and it would be against -the nature of things that there should not have been a ballad as early -as 1400. The ballad we have is likely to have been modernized from such -a predecessor, but I am not aware that there is anything in the text to -confirm such a supposition, unless one be pleased to make much of the -Wednesday of the eighteenth stanza. The concluding stanza implies that -Percy is dead, and he was killed at Shrewsbury, in 1403. - - -#A.# 3. Hoppertope hyll, says Percy, is a corruption for Ottercap Hill -(now Ottercaps Hill) in the parish of Kirk Whelpington, Tynedale Ward, -Northumberland. Rodclyffe Cragge (now Rothley Crags) is a cliff near -Rodeley, a small village in the parish of Hartburn, in Morpeth Ward, -south-east of Ottercap; and Green Leyton, corruptly Green Lynton, is -another small village, south-east of Rodeley, in the same parish. -Reliques, 1794, I, 22. - -8. Henry Percy seems to have been in his twenty-third year. As for his -having been a march-man “all his days,” he is said to have begun -fighting ten years before, in 1378, and to have been appointed Governor -of Berwick and Warden of the Marches in 1385: White, History of the -Battle of Otterburn, p. 67 f. Walsingham calls both Percy and Douglas -young men, and Froissart speaks at least twice of Douglas as young. -Fraser, The Douglas Book, 1885, I, 292, says that Douglas was probably -born in 1358. White, as above, p. 91, would make him somewhat older. - -17. The chivalrous trait in this stanza, and that in the characteristic -passage 36–44, are peculiar to this transcendently heroic ballad. - -26, 27. The earldom of Menteith at the time of this battle, says Percy, -following Douglas’s Peerage, was possessed by Robert Stewart, Earl of -Fife, third son of King Robert II; but the Earl of Fife was in command -of the main body and not present. (As Douglas married a daughter of King -Robert II, the Earl of Fife was not his uncle, but his brother-in-law.) -The mention of Huntley, says Percy, shows that the ballad was not -composed before 1449; for in that year Alexander, Lord of Gordon and -Huntley, was created Earl of Huntley by King James II. The Earl of -Buchan at that time was Alexander Stewart, fourth son of the king. -Reliques, 1794, I, 36. - -35^2. ‘The cronykle will not layne.’ So in ‘The Rose of England,’ No -166, st. 22^4, ‘The cronickles of this will not lye,’ and also 17^2; and -in ‘Flodden Field,’ appendix, p. 360, st. 121^4. - -43, 49. It will be remembered that the archers had no part in this -fight. - -45, 46. “The ancient arms of Douglas are pretty accurately emblazoned in -the former stanza, and if the readings were, The crowned harte, and, -Above stode starres thre, it would be minutely exact at this day. As for -the Percy family, one of their ancient badges or cognizances was a white -lyon statant, and the silver crescent continues to be used by them to -this day. They also give three luces argent for one of their quarters.” -Percy, as above, p. 30. - -48. So far as I know, St George does not appear as Our Lady’s knight in -any legendary, though he is so denominated or described elsewhere in -popular tradition. So in the spell for night-mare, which would naturally -be of considerable antiquity, - - S. George, S. George, Our Ladies knight, - He walkt by day, so did he by night, etc.: - -Reginald Scot, The Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584, as reprinted by -Nicholson, p. 68, ed. 1665, p. 48; and Fletcher’s Monsieur Thomas, iv. -6, Dyce, VII, 388. In Nicholas Udall’s ‘Roister Doister,’ known to be as -old as 1551, Matthew Merrygreek exclaims, “What then? sainct George to -borow, Our Ladie’s knight!” Ed. W. D. Cooper, p. 77, Shakespeare -Society, 1847. The Danish ballad of St George, ‘St Jørgen og Dragen,’ -Grundtvig, No 103, II, 559 ff, the oldest version of which is from a -16th century MS., begins, “Knight St George, thou art my man” (svend); -and in the second version, George, declining the princess whom he has -rescued, says he has vowed to Mary to be her servant.[166] In the -corresponding Swedish ballad, of the same age as the Danish, George is -called Mary’s knight (Maria honom riddare gjorde, st. 2): Geijer and -Afzelius, ed. Bergström, II, 402. This is also his relation in German -ballads: Meinert, p. 254; Ditfurth, I, 55, No 68.[167] - -#B.# 1, 9, 14 nearly resemble #A# 1, 50, 68, and must have the same -origin. In #B# 9 Douglas is changed to Montgomery; in 14 Douglas is -wrongly said to have been buried on the field, instead of at Melrose -Abbey, where his tomb is still to be seen. - -7 is founded upon a tradition reported by Hume of Godscroft: “There are -that say that he was not slain by the enemy, but by one of his owne men, -a groome of his chamber, whom he had struck the day before with a -truncheon in the ordering of the battell, because hee saw him make -somewhat slowly to; and they name this man John Bickerton of Luffenesse, -who left a part of his armour behinde unfastned, and when hee was in the -greatest conflict, this servant of his came behinde his back and slew -him thereat.” Ed. 1644, p. 105. - -11. The summons to surrender to a braken-bush is not in the style of -fighting-men or fighting-days, and would justify Hotspur’s contempt of -metre-ballad-mongers. - -12, 13. #B# agrees with Froissart in making a Montgomery to be the -captor of Henry Percy, whereas #A# represents that Montgomery was taken -prisoner and exchanged for Percy. In The Hunting of the Cheviot Sir Hugh -Montgomery kills Percy, and in return is shot by a Northumberland -archer. - -#C.# Scott does not give a distinct account of this version. He says -that he had obtained two copies, since the publication of the earlier -edition, “from the recitation of old persons residing at the head of -Ettrick Forest, by which the story is brought out and completed in a -manner much more correspondent to the true history.” #C# is, in fact, a -combination of four copies; the two from Ettrick Forest, #B a#, and the -MS. copy used in #B b# to “correct” Herd. - -8, it scarcely requires to be said, is spurious, modern in diction and -in conception. - -19. Perhaps derived from Hume of Godscroft rather than from tradition. -When Douglas was dying, according to this historian,[168] he made these -last requests of certain of his kinsmen: “First, that yee keep my death -close both from our owne folke and from the enemy; then, that ye suffer -not my standard to be lost or cast downe; and last, that ye avenge my -death, and bury me at Melrosse with my father. If I could hope for these -things,” he added, “I should die with the greater contentment; for long -since I heard a prophesie that a dead man should winne a field, and I -hope in God it shall be I.” Ed. 1644, p. 100. - -22 must be derived from the English version. As the excellent editor of -The Ballad Minstrelsy of Scotland, Glasgow, 1871, remarks, “no Scottish -minstrel would ever have dreamt of inventing such a termination to the -combat between these two redoubted heroes ... as much at variance with -history as it is repulsive to national feeling:” p. 431. - -Genealogical matters, in this and the following ballad, are treated, not -always to complete satisfaction, in Bishop Percy’s notes, Reliques, -1794, I, 34 ff; Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, I, 351, 363 ff: White’s -History of the Battle of Otterburn, p. 67 ff; The Ballads and Songs of -Ayrshire, I, 66 f. - -#A# is translated by Doenniges, p. 87; #C# by Grundtvig, Engelske og -skotske Folkeviser, No 12, p. 74, and by Talvj, Charakteristik, p. 537. - - - A - - #a.# Cotton MS. Cleopatra, C. iv, leaf 64, of about 1550. #b.# - Harleian MS. 293, leaf 52. - - 1 - Yt fell abowght the Lamasse tyde, - Whan husbond_es_ wynnes ther haye, - The dowghtye Dowglasse bowynd hym to ryde, - In Ynglond to take a praye. - - 2 - The yerlle of Fyffe, w_y_t_h_owghten stryffe, - He bowynd hym over Sulway; - The grete wolde ever to-gether ryde; - That raysse they may rewe for aye. - - 3 - Over Hoppertope hyll they cam in, - And so down by Rodclyffe crage; - Vpon Grene Lynton they lyghted dowyn, - Styrande many a stage. - - 4 - And boldely brente Northomberlond, - And haryed many a towyn; - They dyd owr Ynglyssh men grete wrange, - To batell that were not bowyn. - - 5 - Than spake a berne vpon the bent, - Of comforte that was not colde, - And sayd, We haue brente Northomberlond, - We haue all welth in holde. - - 6 - Now we haue haryed all Bamborowe schyre, - All the welth in the worlde haue wee, - I rede we ryde to Newe Castell, - So styll and stalworthlye. - - 7 - Vpon the morowe, when it was day, - The standerds schone full bryght; - To the Newe Castell the toke the waye, - And thether they cam full ryght. - - 8 - S_yr_ Henry Perssy laye at the New Castell, - I tell yow w_y_t_h_owtten drede; - He had byn a march-man all hys dayes, - And kepte Barwyke vpon Twede. - - 9 - To the Newe Castell when they cam, - The Skottes they cryde on hyght, - ‘Syr Hary Perssy, and thou byste w_i_t_h_in, - Com to the fylde, and fyght. - - 10 - ‘For we haue brente Northomberlonde, - Thy erytage good and ryght, - And syne my logeyng I haue take - W_y_t_h_ my brande dubbyd many a knyght.’ - - 11 - S_yr_ Harry Perssy cam to the wall_es_, - The Skottyssch oste for to se, - And sayd, And thou hast brente Northomberlond - Full sore it rewyth me. - - 12 - Yf thou hast haryed all Bamborowe schyre, - Thow hast done me grete envye; - For the trespasse thow hast me done, - The tone of vs schall dye. - - 13 - ‘Where schall I byde the?’ sayd the Dowglas, - ‘Or where wylte thow com to me?’ - ‘At Otterborne, in the hygh way, - [T]her mast thow well logeed be. - - 14 - ‘[T]he roo full rekeles ther sche rinnes, - [T]o make the game a[nd] glee; - [T]he fawken and the fesaunt both, - Among the holtes on hye. - - 15 - ‘Ther mast thow haue thy welth at wyll, - Well looged ther mast be; - Yt schall not be long or I com the tyll,’ - Sayd Syr Harry Perssye. - - 16 - ‘Ther schall I byde the,’ sayd the Dowglas, - ‘By the fayth of my bodye:’ - ‘Thether schall I com,’ sayd S_yr_ Harry Perssy, - ‘My trowth I plyght to the.’ - - 17 - A pype of wyne he gaue them over the walles, - For soth as I yow saye; - Ther he mayd the Dowglasse drynke, - And all hys ost that daye. - - 18 - The Dowglas turnyd hym homewarde agayne, - For soth w_i_t_h_owghten naye; - He toke hys logeyng at Oterborne, - Vpon a Wedynsday. - - 19 - And ther he pyght hys standerd dowyn, - Hys gettyng more and lesse, - And syne he warned hys men to goo - To chose ther geldyng_es_ gresse. - - 20 - A Skottysshe knyght hoved vpon the bent, - A wache I dare well saye; - So was he ware on the noble Perssy, - In the dawnyng of the daye. - - 21 - He prycked to hys pavyleon-dore, - As faste as he myght ronne; - ‘Awaken, Dowglas,’ cryed the knyght, - ‘For hys love that syttes in trone. - - 22 - ‘Awaken, Dowglas,’ cryed the knyght, - ‘For thow maste waken wyth wynne; - Yender haue I spyed the prowde Perssye, - And seven stondardes wyth hym.’ - - 23 - ‘Nay by my trowth,’ the Dowglas sayed, - ‘It ys but a fayned taylle; - He durst not loke on my brede banner - For all Ynglonde so haylle. - - 24 - ‘Was I not yesterdaye at the Newe Castell, - That stond_es_ so fayre on Tyne? - For all the men the Perssy had, - He coude not garre me ones to dyne.’ - - 25 - He stepped owt at his pavelyon-dore, - To loke and it were lesse: - ‘Araye yow, lordyng_es_, one and all, - For here bygynnes no peysse. - - 26 - ‘The yerle of Mentaye, thow arte my eme, - The fowarde I gyve to the: - The yerlle of Huntlay, cawte and kene, - He schall be w_y_t_h_ the. - - 27 - ‘The lorde of Bowghan, in armure bryght, - On the other hand he schall be; - Lord Jhonsto_u_ne and Lorde Maxwell, - They to schall be w_y_t_h_ me. - - 28 - ‘Swynton, fayre fylde vpon yo_u_r pryde! - To batell make yow bowen - S_yr_ Davy Skotte, S_yr_ Water Stewarde, - S_yr_ Jhon of Agurstone!’ - - 29 - The Perssy cam byfore hys oste, - Wych was ever a gentyll knyght; - Vpon the Dowglas lowde can he crye, - ‘I wyll holde that I haue hyght. - - 30 - ‘For thou haste brente Northomberlonde, - And done me grete envye; - For thys trespasse thou hast me done, - The tone of vs schall dye.’ - - 31 - The Dowglas answerde hym agayne, - W_y_t_h_ grett wurd_es_ vpon hye, - And sayd, I haue twenty agaynst thy one, - Byholde, and thou maste see. - - 32 - Wyth th_a_t the Perssy was grevyd sore, - For soth as I yow saye; - He lyghted dowyn vpon his foote, - And schoote hys horsse clene awaye. - - 33 - Eu_e_ry man sawe that he dyd soo, - That ryall was euer in rowght; - Eu_e_ry man schoote hys horsse hym froo, - And lyght hym rowynde abowght. - - 34 - Thus S_yr_ Hary Perssye toke the fylde, - For soth as I yow saye; - Jh_es_u Cryste in hevyn on hyght - Dyd helpe hym well that daye. - - 35 - But nyne thowzand, ther was no moo, - The cronykle wyll not layne; - Forty thowsande of Skottes and fowre - That day fowght them agayne. - - 36 - But when the batell byganne to ioyne, - In hast ther cam a knyght; - The letters fayre furth hath he tayne, - And thus he sayd full ryght: - - 37 - ‘My lorde yo_u_r father he gretes yow well, - Wyth many a noble knyght; - He desyres yow to byde - That he may see thys fyght. - - 38 - ‘The Baron of Grastoke ys com out of the west, - Wyth hym a noble companye; - All they loge at yo_u_r fathers thys nyght, - And the batell fayne wolde they see.’ - - 39 - ‘For Jh_es_us love,’ sayd Syr Harye Perssy, - ‘That dyed for yow and me, - Wende to my lorde my father agayne, - And saye thow sawe me not w_y_t_h_ yee. - - 40 - ‘My trowth ys plyght to yonne Skottysh knyght, - It nedes me not to layne, - That I schulde byde hym vpon thys bent, - And I haue hys trowth agayne. - - 41 - ‘And if that I w[e]ynde of thys growende, - For soth, onfowghten awaye, - He wolde me call but a kowarde knyght - In hys londe another daye. - - 42 - ‘Yet had I lever to be rynde and rente, - By Mary, that mykkel maye, - Then ever my manhood schulde be reprovyd - Wyth a Skotte another day. - - 43 - ‘Wherfore schote, archars, for my sake, - And let scharpe arowes flee; - Mynstrells, playe vp for yo_u_r waryson, - And well quyt it schall bee. - - 44 - ‘Eu_e_ry man thynke on hys trewe-love, - And marke hym to the Trenite; - For to God I make myne avowe - Thys day wyll I not flee.’ - - 45 - The blodye harte in the Dowglas armes, - Hys standerde stode on hye, - That eu_e_ry man myght full well knowe; - By syde stode starrës thre. - - 46 - The whyte lyon on the Ynglyssh perte, - For soth as I yow sayne, - The lucett_es_ and the cressawnt_es_ both; - The Skott_es_ favght them agayne. - - 47 - Vpon Sent Androwe lowde can they crye, - And thrysse they schowte on hyght, - And syne m_er_ked them one owr Ynglysshe men, - As I haue tolde yow ryght. - - 48 - Sent George the bryght, owr ladyes knyght, - To name they were full fayne; - Owr Ynglyssh men they cryde on hyght, - And thrysse the schowtte agayne. - - 49 - Wyth that scharpe arowes bygan to flee, - I tell yow in sertayne; - Men of armes byganne to joyne, - Many a dowghty man was ther slayne. - - 50 - The Perssy and the Dowglas mette, - That ether of other was fayne; - They swapped together whyll that the swette, - W_y_t_h_ sword_es_ of fyne collayne: - - 51 - Tyll the bloode from ther bassonnett_es_ ranne, - As the roke doth in the rayne; - ‘Yelde the to me,’ sayd the Dowglas, - ‘Or ell_es_ thow schalt be slayne. - - 52 - ‘For I see by thy bryght bassonet, - Thow arte su_m_ man of myght; - And so I do by thy burnysshed brande; - Thow arte an yerle, or ell_es_ a knyght.’ - - 53 - ‘By my good faythe,’ sayd the noble Perssye, - ‘Now haste thow rede full ryght; - Yet wyll I never yelde me to the, - Whyll I may stonde and fyght.’ - - 54 - They swapped together whyll that they swette, - Wyth swordës scharpe and long; - Ych on other so faste thee beette, - Tyll ther helmes cam in peyses dowyn. - - 55 - The Perssy was a man of strenghth, - I tell yow in thys stounde; - He smote the Dowglas at the swordës length - That he felle to the growynde. - - 56 - The sworde was scharpe, and sore can byte, - I tell yow in sertayne; - To the harte he cowde hym smyte, - Thus was the Dowglas slayne. - - 57 - The stonderd_es_ stode styll on eke a syde, - Wyth many a grevous grone; - Ther the fowght the day, and all the nyght, - And many a dowghty man was slayne. - - 58 - Ther was no freke that ther wolde flye, - But styffely in stowre can stond, - Ychone hewyng on other whyll they myght drye, - Wyth many a bayllefull bronde. - - 59 - Ther was slayne vpon the Skottës syde, - For soth and sertenly, - S_yr_ James a Dowglas ther was slayne, - That day that he cowde dye. - - 60 - The yerlle of Mentaye he was slayne, - Grysely groned vpon the growynd; - S_yr_ Davy Skotte, S_yr_ Water Stewarde, - S_yr_ Jhon of Agurstoune. - - 61 - S_yr_ Charllës Morrey in that place, - That never a fote wold flee; - S_yr_ Hewe Maxwell, a lorde he was, - W_y_t_h_ the Dowglas dyd he dye. - - 62 - Ther was slayne vpon the Skottës syde, - For soth as I yow saye, - Of fowre and forty thowsande Scott_es_ - Went but eyghtene awaye. - - 63 - Ther was slayne vpon the Ynglysshe syde, - For soth and sertenlye, - A gentell knyght, S_yr_ Jhon Fechewe, - Yt was the more pety. - - 64 - S_yr_ James Hardbotell ther was slayne, - For hym ther hartes were sore; - The gentyll Lovell ther was slayne, - That the Perssys standerd bore. - - 65 - Ther was slayne vpon the Ynglyssh perte, - For soth as I yow saye, - Of nyne thowsand Ynglyssh men - Fyve hondert cam awaye. - - 66 - The other were slayne in the fylde; - Cryste kepe ther sowlles from wo! - Seyng ther was so fewe fryndes - Agaynst so many a foo. - - 67 - Then on the morne they mayde them beerys - Of byrch and haysell graye; - Many a wydowe, w_y_t_h_ wepyng teyres, - Ther makes they fette awaye. - - 68 - Thys fraye bygan at Otterborne, - Bytwene the nyght and the day; - Ther the Dowglas lost hys lyffe, - And the Perssy was lede awaye. - - 69 - Then was ther a Scottysh p_ri_soner tayne, - S_yr_ Hewe Mongomery was hys name; - For soth as I yow saye, - He borowed the Perssy home agayne. - - 70 - Now let vs all for the Perssy praye - To Jh_es_u most of myght, - To bryng hys sowlle to the blysse of heven, - For he was a gentyll knyght. - - - B - - #a.# Herd’s MS., I, 149, II, 30; Herd’s Scottish Songs, 1776, I, - 153. #b.# Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 31, 1802, “corrected” from Herd, - 1776, “by a MS. copy.” - - 1 - It fell and about the Lammas time, - When husbandmen do win their hay, - Earl Douglass is to the English woods, - And a’with him to fetch a prey. - - 2 - He has chosen the Lindsays light, - With them the gallant Gordons gay, - And the Earl of Fyfe, withouten strife, - And Sir Hugh Montgomery upon a grey. - - 3 - They have taken Northumberland, - And sae hae they the north shire, - And the Otter Dale, they hae burnt it hale, - And set it a’into fire. - - 4 - Out then spake a bonny boy, - That servd ane o Earl Douglass kin; - Methinks I see an English host, - A-coming branken us upon. - - 5 - ‘If this be true, my little boy, - And it be troth that thou tells me, - The brawest bower in Otterburn - This day shall be thy morning-fee. - - 6 - ‘But if it be fase, my little boy, - But and a lie that thou tells me, - On the highest tree that’s in Otterburn - With my ain hands I’ll hing thee high.’ - - 7 - The boy’s taen out his little penknife, - That hanget low down by his gare, - And he gaed Earl Douglass a deadly wound, - Alack! a deep wound and a sare. - - 8 - Earl Douglas said to Sir Hugh Montgomery, - Take thou the vanguard o the three, - And bury me at yon braken-bush, - That stands upon yon lilly lee. - - 9 - Then Percy and Montgomery met, - And weel a wot they warna fain; - They swaped swords, and they twa swat, - And ay the blood ran down between. - - 10 - ‘O yield thee, yield thee, Percy,’ he said, - ‘Or else I vow I’ll lay thee low;’ - ‘Whom to shall I yield,’ said Earl Percy, - ‘Now that I see it maun be so?’ - - 11 - ‘O yield thee to yon braken-bush, - That grows upon yon lilly lee; - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 12 - ‘I winna yield to a braken-bush, - Nor yet will I unto a brier; - But I would yield to Earl Douglass, - Or Sir Hugh Montgomery, if he was here.’ - - 13 - As soon as he knew it was Montgomery, - He stuck his sword’s point in the ground, - And Sir Hugh Montgomery was a courteous knight, - And he quickly broght him by the hand. - - 14 - This deed was done at Otterburn, - About the breaking of the day; - Earl Douglass was buried at the braken-bush, - And Percy led captive away. - - - C - - Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1833, I, 345. #B# completed by - two copies “obtained from the recitation of old persons residing at - the head of Ettrick Forest.” - - 1 - It fell about the Lammas tide, - When the muir-men win their hay, - The doughty Douglas bound him to ride - Into England, to drive a prey. - - 2 - He chose the Gordons and the Græmes, - With them the Lindesays, light and gay; - But the Jardines wald not with him ride, - And they rue it to this day. - - 3 - And he has burnd the dales of Tyne, - And part of Bambrough shire, - And three good towers on Reidswire fells, - He left them all on fire. - - 4 - And he marchd up to Newcastle, - And rode it round about: - ‘O wha’s the lord of this castle? - Or wha’s the lady o’t? ’ - - 5 - But up spake proud Lord Percy then, - And O but he spake hie! - I am the lord of this castle, - My wife’s the lady gay. - - 6 - ‘If thou’rt the lord of this castle, - Sae weel it pleases me, - For, ere I cross the Border fells, - The tane of us shall die.’ - - 7 - He took a lang spear in his hand, - Shod with the metal free, - And for to meet the Douglas there - He rode right furiouslie. - - 8 - But O how pale his lady lookd, - Frae aff the castle-wa, - When down before the Scottish spear - She saw proud Percy fa. - - 9 - ‘Had we twa been upon the green, - And never an eye to see, - I wad hae had you, flesh and fell; - But your sword sall gae wi me.’ - - 10 - ‘But gae ye up to Otterbourne, - And, wait there dayis three, - And, if I come not ere three dayis end, - A fause knight ca ye me.’ - - 11 - ‘The Otterbourne’s a bonnie burn; - ’Tis pleasant there to be; - But there is nought at Otterbourne - To feed my men and me. - - 12 - ‘The deer rins wild on hill and dale, - The birds fly wild from tree to tree; - But there is neither bread nor kale - To fend my men and me. - - 13 - ‘Yet I will stay at Otterbourne, - Where you shall welcome be; - And, if ye come not at three dayis end, - A fause lord I’ll ca thee.’ - - 14 - ‘Thither will I come,’ proud Percy said, - ‘By the might of Our Ladye;’ - ‘There will I bide thee,’ said the Douglas, - ‘My troth I plight to thee.’ - - 15 - They lighted high on Otterbourne, - Upon the bent sae brown; - They lighted high on Otterbourne, - And threw their pallions down. - - 16 - And he that had a bonnie boy, - Sent out his horse to grass; - And he that had not a bonnie boy, - His ain servant he was. - - 17 - But up then spake a little page, - Before the peep of dawn: - ‘O waken ye, waken ye, my good lord, - For Percy’s hard at hand.’ - - 18 - ‘Ye lie, ye lie, ye liar loud! - Sae loud I hear ye lie: - For Percy had not men yestreen - To dight my men and me. - - 19 - ‘But I have dreamd a dreary dream, - Beyond the Isle of Sky; - I saw a dead man win a fight, - And I think that man was I.’ - - 20 - He belted on his guid braid sword, - And to the field he ran, - But he forgot the helmet good, - That should have kept his brain. - - 21 - When Percy wi the Douglas met, - I wat he was fu fain; - They swakked their swords, till sair they swat, - And the blood ran down like rain. - - 22 - But Percy with his good broad sword, - That could so sharply wound, - Has wounded Douglas on the brow, - Till he fell to the ground. - - 23 - Then he calld on his little foot-page, - And said, Run speedilie, - And fetch my ain dear sister’s son, - Sir Hugh Montgomery. - - 24 - ‘My nephew good,’ the Douglas said, - ‘What recks the death of ane! - Last night I dreamd a dreary dream, - And I ken the day’s thy ain. - - 25 - ‘My wound is deep; I fain would sleep; - Take thou the vanguard of the three, - And hide me by the braken-bush, - That grows on yonder lilye lee. - - 26 - ‘O bury me by the braken-bush, - Beneath the blooming brier; - Let never living mortal ken - That ere a kindly Scot lies here.’ - - 27 - He lifted up that noble lord, - Wi the saut tear in his ee; - He hid him in the braken-bush, - That his merrie men might not see. - - 28 - The moon was clear, the day drew near, - The spears in flinders flew, - But mony a gallant Englishman - Ere day the Scotsmen slew. - - 29 - The Gordons good, in English blood - They steepd their hose and shoon; - The Lindsays flew like fire about, - Till all the fray was done. - - 30 - The Percy and Montgomery met, - That either of other were fain; - They swapped swords, and they twa swat, - And aye the blood ran down between. - - 31 - ‘Now yield thee, yield thee, Percy,’ he said, - ‘Or else I vow I’ll lay thee low!’ - ‘To whom must I yield,’ quoth Earl Percy, - ‘Now that I see it must be so?’ - - 32 - ‘Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loun, - Nor yet shalt thou yield to me; - But yield thee to the braken-bush, - That grows upon yon lilye lee.’ - - 33 - ‘I will not yield to a braken-bush, - Nor yet will I yield to a brier; - But I would yield to Earl Douglas, - Or Sir Hugh the Montgomery, if he were here.’ - - 34 - As soon as he knew it was Montgomery, - He struck his sword’s point in the gronde; - The Montgomery was a courteous knight, - And quickly took him by the honde. - - 35 - This deed was done at the Otterbourne, - About the breaking of the day; - Earl Douglas was buried at the braken-bush, - And the Percy led captive away. - - - D - - Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xviii f; from recitation. - - 1 - Then out an spak a little wee boy, - And he was near o Percy’s kin: - Methinks I see the English host - A coming branking us upon. - - 2 - Wi nine waggons scaling wide, - And seven banners bearing high; - It wad do any living gude - To see their bonny colours fly. - - - E - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. lxxi, note 30; from a recited copy. - - ‘O yield thee to yon braken-bush, - That grows upon yon lilly lie; - For there lies aneth yon braken-bush - What aft has conquerd mae than thee.’ - - * * * * * - -#A. a.# - - 3^4. many a styrande. “The reading of the MS. is, I suspect, - right; for stage, or staig, in Scotland means a young horse - unshorn of its masculine attributes, and the obvious intention - of the poet is merely to describe that the Scottish alighted - from many a prancing steed, in order to prepare for action.” - _Motherwell, Minstrelsy, p. lxxi, note 30, who would read - accordingly_, [Off] many a styrande stage. _The fourth line, as - amended by Motherwell, would be a superfluity, whereas Percy’s - reading, here adopted, adds a pleasing incident, the rousing of - the deer as the troopers passed their haunts._ - - 20^1. beste, _corrected_ to bent. - - 22^1. _repeated at the top of fol. 65 back._ - - 31^3. the one; #b#, thy one. - - 34^2. soth soth. - - 41^1. #b#, weynde. - - 46^3. cressawtt#es#. - - 50^3. schapped: _cf._ 54^1. - - 60^4. S_yr_ James: _cf._ 28^4. - - 64^3. Covell. - - _Crossed final_ ll, _in_ all, styll, Castell, schall, well, _etc., - has not been rendered_ ll_e_. - -#b.# - - A Songe made in R. 2. his tyme of the Battelle at Otterburne - betweene the Lord Henry Percye, Earle of Northomberland, and the - Earle Douglas of Scotland, Anº. 1388. - - _Either #b# is a transcript of #a#, or both are from the same - source._ - - 3^2. Redclyffe. - - 3^4. Many a stirande. - - 4^4. bound. - - 7^4. they ranne. - - 11^1. S^r Henry came. - - 13^2. wille. - - 14^2. game and. - - 15^2. maiste thou. - - 15^4. Henrye. - - 20^1. houered vppon the beste bent. - - 24^4. gare me oute to. - - 28^4. Aguiston. - - 31^3. thy one. - - 35^1. no more. - - 35^2. cronicles. - - 37^3. abyde. - - 39^4. w^{th} thie eye. - - 40^1. yonde Skotes. - - 41^1. Ffor yf I weynde. - - 44^3. my avowe. - - 46^2. I _wanting_. - - 49^1. arrowes gan vpe to. - - 50^3. schapped: swatte. - - 51^1. from the. - - 54^1. swotte. - - 57^1. stonderes; elke syde. - - 59^3. a _wanting_. - - 60^4. S^r James. - - 63^3. Ffitzhughe. - - 64^1. Harbotle. - - 64^3. Covelle. - - 66^4. a _wanting_. - - 67^1. the morowe. - - 70^1. Percyes. - - _A pencil note on the first leaf of #b# (signed F. M., Sir F. - Madden) states that it is in Ralph Starkey’s hand._ - -#B. a.# - - 2^3. Fuife _in my transcript of_ Herd, I; Fyfe in II. - - 3^3. hae _is omitted in_ II _and the printed copy_. - - 3^4. _printed_ into a fire. - - 5^3. bravest _in my transcript of_ Herd, I; brawest, II; _printed_ - brawest. - - 7^3. _The second MS. has_ gae; _printed_ gae. - - 8^3. bring me _in my transcript of_ Herd, I; bury _in the second - MS., and so printed_. - - 12^2. II, into. - -#b.# - - 1^1. and _wanting_. - - 2^4. Hugh the. - - 3^1. have harried. - - 3^2. they Bambroshire. - - 3^3. And _wanting_. - - 3^4. a’in a blaze o fire. - - 5^1. true, thou little foot-page. - - 5^2. If this be true thou tells to me. - - 5^4. This day _wanting_; morning’s. - - 6^1. thou little. - - 6^2. lie thou tells to. - - 6^3. that’s _wanting_. - - 6^4. hang. - - 7^1. boy has. - - 7^2. hung right low. - - 7^3. gave Lord. - - 7^4. I wot a. - - 8^1. Douglas to the Montgomery said. - - 8^3. me by the. - - 8^4. that grows. - - 9^1. The Percy. - - 9^2. That either of other were fain. - - 10^1. Yield thee, O yield. - - 10^4. it must. - - 11 - Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loun, - Nor yet shalt thou yield to me; - But yield thee to the braken-bush, - That grows upon yon lilye lee. - - 12^1. I will not. - - 12^2. I to. - - 12^4. Hugh the: he were. - - 13^{1,3}. And the Montgomery. - - 13^4. And quickly took him. - - 14^4. the Percy. - -#C.# - - 34^1. _In one copy_: As soon as he knew it was Sir Hugh. - - - - - 162 - - THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT - - #A.# MS. Ashmole, 48, 1550 or later, Bodleian Library, in Skeat’s - Specimens of English Literature, etc., third edition, 1880, p. - 67.[169] - - #B. a.# ‘Chevy Chase,’ Percy MS., p. 188, Hales and Furnivall, II, 7. - #b.# Pepys Ballads, I, 92, No 45, Magdalene College, Cambridge, - broadside, London, printed for M. G. #c.# Douce Ballads, fol. 27^b, - Bodleian Library, and Roxburghe Ballads, III, 66, British Museum, - broadside, printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright, #d.# Wood - Ballads, 401, 48, Bodleian Library, broadside, printed for F. Coles, - T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson. #e.# Bagford Ballads, I, No 32, British - Museum, broadside, printed by and for W. Onley. #f.# A Scottish - copy, without printer, Harvard College Library. - - -#A# was first printed by Hearne in Guilielmi Neubrigensis Historia, I, -lxxxii ff, 1719; then by Percy, Reliques, I, 1, 1765, with a judicious -preface. The whole manuscript, in which this piece is No 8, was edited -by Thomas Wright for the Roxburghe Club in 1860: Songs and Ballads, with -other short Poems, chiefly of the Reign of Philip and Mary. - -#B# may probably be found in any of the larger sets of broadsides. It is -included in such collections as Dryden’s Miscellanies, II, 238, 1702; -Pills to purge Melancholy, IV, 289, 1719; Old Ballads, I, 111, 1723; -Percy’s Reliques, I, 235, 1765. #b# has many readings of #a#, the copy -in the Percy MS. There is a second Bagford copy, II, No 37, printed like -#e#, for W. Onley. #f#, the Scottish copy, is probably of a date near -1700. Like the edition printed at Glasgow, 1747, it is, in the language -of Percy, “remarkable for the wilful corruptions made in all the -passages which concern the two nations”: Folio Manuscript, Hales and -Furnivall, II, 1, note, and Reliques, 1765, I, 234. The Scots are made -fifteen hundred, the English twenty, in 6, 13, 53, 54; the speeches of -King James and King Henry are interchanged in 58, 60; 62, 63, are -dropped. - -The ‘Hunttis of Chevet’ is among the “sangis of natural music of the -antiquite” mentioned as sung by the “shepherds” in The Complaynt of -Scotland, a book assigned to 1549. It was an old and a popular song at -the middle of the sixteenth century. The copy in the Ashmolean -manuscript is subscribed Expliceth, quod Rychard Sheale, upon which -ground Sheale has been held to be the author,[170] and not, as Percy and -Ritson assumed, simply the transcriber, of the ballad. Sheale describes -himself as a minstrel living at Tamworth, whose business was to sing and -talk, or to chant ballads and tell stories. He was the author of four -pieces of verse in the same manuscript, one of which is of the date 1559 -(No 56). This and another piece (No 46), in which he tells how he was -robbed of above three score pound, give a sufficient idea of his dialect -and style and a measure of his ability. This ballad was of course part -of his stock as minstrel; the supposition that he was the author is -preposterous in the extreme. - -The song “which is commonly sung of the Hunting of Chiviot,” says Hume -of Godscroft, “seemeth indeed poeticall and a meer fiction, perhaps to -stirre up vertue; yet a fiction whereof there is no mention, neither in -the Scottish nor English chronicle”: p. 104. To this the general -replication may be made that the ballad can scarcely be a deliberate -fiction. The singer is not a critical historian, but he supposes himself -to be dealing with facts; he may be partial to his countrymen, but he -has no doubt that he is treating of a real event; and the singer in this -particular case thought he was describing the battle of Otterburn, the -Hunting of the Cheviot being indifferently so called: st. 65. The -agreement to meet, in #A#, st. 9, corresponds with the plight in -Otterburn, st. 16; 17^4 corresponds to Otterburn 12^4, 30^4; 47, 56, 57, -are the same as Otterburn 58, 61, 67; 31, 32, 66, are variants of -Otterburn 51, 52, 68; Douglas’s summons to Percy to yield, Percy’s -refusal, and Douglas’s death, 33^1, 35–37^2, may be a variation of -Otterburn, 51^3, 55–56; Sir John of Agarstone is slain with Percy in 52, -and with Douglas in Otterburn 60; Sir Hugh Montgomery appears in both. - -The differences in the story of the two ballads, though not trivial, are -still not so material as to forbid us to hold that both may be founded -upon the same occurrence, the Hunting of the Cheviot being of course the -later version,[171] and following in part its own tradition, though -repeating some portions of the older ballad. According to this older -ballad, Douglas invades Northumberland in an act of public war; -according to the later, Percy takes the initiative, by hunting in the -Scottish hills without the leave and in open defiance of Douglas, -lieutenant of the Marches. Such trespasses,[172] whether by the English -or the Scots, were not less common, we may believe, than hostile -incursions, and the one would as naturally as the other account for a -bloody collision between the rival families of Percy and Douglas, to -those who consulted “old men” instead of histories: cf. stanza 67. The -older and the later ballad concur (and herein are in harmony with some -chroniclers, though not with the best) as to Percy’s slaying Douglas. In -the older ballad Percy is taken prisoner, an incident which history must -record, but which is somewhat insipid, for which reason we might expect -tradition to improve the tale by assigning a like fate to both of the -heroic antagonists. - -The singer all but startles us with his historical lore when he informs -us in 63 that King Harry the Fourth “did the battle of Hombylldown” to -requite the death of Percy; for though the occasion of Homildon was -really another incursion on the part of the Scots, and the same Percy -was in command of the English who in the ballad meets his death at -Otterburn, nevertheless the battle of Homildon was actually done -fourteen years subsequent to that of Otterburn and falls in the reign of -Henry Fourth. The free play of fancy in assigning the cause of Homildon -must be allowed to offset the servility to an accurate chronology; and -such an extenuation is required only in this instance.[173] Not only is -the fourth Harry on the throne of England at the epoch of Otterburn, but -Jamy is the Scottish king, although King James I was not crowned until -1424, the second year of Henry VI. - -But here we may remember what is well said by Bishop Percy: “A -succession of two or three Jameses, and the long detention of one of -them in England, would render the name familiar to the English, and -dispose a poet in those rude times to give it to any Scottish king he -happened to mention.” The only important inference from the mention of a -King James is that the minstrel’s date is not earlier than 1424. - -The first, second, and fourth James were contemporary with a Henry -during the whole of their reign, and the third during a part of his; -with the others we need not concern ourselves. It has given satisfaction -to some who wish to reconcile the data of the ballad with history to -find in a Scottish historiographer a record of a fight between a Percy -and a Douglas in 1435 or 1436, at the very end of the reign of James I. -Henry Percy of Northumberland, says Hector Boece, made a raid into -Scotland with four thousand men (it is not known whether of his own -motion or by royal authority), and was encountered by nearly an equal -force under William Douglas, Earl of Angus, and others, at Piperden, the -victory falling to the Scots, with about the same slaughter on both -sides: Scotorum Historia, 1526, fol. ccclxvi, back. This affair is -mentioned by Bower, Scotichronicon, 1759, II, 500 f, but the leader of -the English is not named,[174] wherefore we may doubt whether it was a -Percy. Very differently from Otterburn, this battle made but a slight -impression on the chroniclers. - -Sidney’s words, though perhaps a hundred times requoted since they were -cited by Addison, cannot be omitted here: “Certainly I must confesse my -own barbarousnes. I never heard the olde song of Percy and Duglas that I -found not my heart mooved more then with a trumpet; and yet is it sung -but by some blinde crouder, with no rougher voyce then rude stile: -which, being so evill apparrelled in the dust and cobwebbes of that -uncivill age, what would it worke trymmed in the gorgeous eloquence of -Pindar!”[175] Sidney’s commendation is fully justified by the quality of -The Battle of Otterburn, but is merited in even a higher degree by The -Hunting of the Cheviot, and for that reason (I know of no other) The -Hunting of the Cheviot may be supposed to be the ballad he had in mind. -The song of Percy and Douglas, then, was sung about the country by blind -fiddlers about 1580 in a rude and ancient form, much older than the one -that has come down to us; for that, if heard by Sidney, could not have -seemed to him a song of an uncivil age, meaning the age of Percy and -Douglas, two hundred years before his day. It would give no such -impression even now, if chanted to an audience three hundred years later -than Sidney.[176] - -#B# is a striking but by no means a solitary example of the impairment -which an old ballad would suffer when written over for the broadside -press. This very seriously enfeebled edition was in circulation -throughout the seventeenth century, and much sung (says Chappell) -despite its length.[177] It is declared by Addison, in his appreciative -and tasteful critique, Spectator, Nos 70, 74, 1711, to be the favorite -ballad of the common people of England.[178] Addison, who knew no other -version, informs us that Ben Jonson used to say that he had rather have -been the author of Chevy Chase than of all his works. The broadside copy -may possibly have been the only one known to Jonson also, but in all -probability the traditional ballad was still sung in the streets in -Jonson’s youth, if not later. - -#A# 3. By these “shyars thre” is probably meant three districts in -Northumberland which still go by the name of _shires_ and are all in the -neighborhood of Cheviot. These are Islandshire, being the district so -named from Holy Island; Norehamshire, so called from the town and castle -of Noreham or Norham; and Bamboroughshire, the ward or hundred belonging -to Bamborough castle and town. Percy’s Reliques, 1794, I, 5, note. - -15. Chyviat Chays, well remarks Mr Wheatley in his edition of the -Reliques, I, 22, becomes Chevy Chace by the same process as that by -which Teviotdale becomes Tividale, and there is no sufficient occasion -for the suggestion that Chevy Chase is a corruption of chevauchée, raid, -made by Dr. E. B. Nicholson, Notes and Queries, Third Series, XII, 124, -and adopted by Burton, History of Scotland, II, 366. - -38 f. “That beautiful line _taking the dead man by the hand_ will put -the reader in mind of Æneas’s behavior towards Lausus, whom he himself -had slain as he came to the rescue of his aged father” (Ingemuit -miserans graviter, dextramque tetendit, etc., Æn. X, 823, etc.): -Addison, in Spectator, No 70. - -54^{3,4}, and #B# 50^{3,4}. Witherington’s prowess was not without -precedent, and, better still, was emulated in later days. Witness the -battle of Ancrum Muir, 1545, or “Lilliard’s Edge,” as it is commonly -called, from a woman that fought with great bravery there, to whose -memory there was a monument erected on the field of battle with this -inscription, as the traditional report goes: - - “Fair maiden Lilliard lies under this stane; - Little was her stature, but great her fame; - On the English lads she laid many thumps, - And when her legs were off, she fought upon her stumps.”[179] - -The giant Burlong also fought wonderfully on his stumps after Sir -Triamour had smitten his legs off by the knee: Utterson’s Popular -Poetry, I, 67, 1492–94, cited by Motherwell; Percy MS., Hales and -Furnivall, II, 131. Sir Graysteel fights on one leg: Eger and Grine, -Percy MS., I, 386 f, 1032, 1049. Nygosar, in Kyng Alisaunder, after both -his armes have been cut off, bears two knights from their steeds “with -his heved and with his cors”: 2291–2312, Weber, I, 98 f. Still better, -King Starkaðr, in the older Edda, fights after his head is off: -Helgakviða Hundingsbana, ii, 27, Bugge, p. 196.[180] - -“Sed, etiam si ceciderit, de genu pugnat,” Seneca, De Providentia 2, 4 -(cited in The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1794, I, 306), is explained by -Seneca himself, Epis. lxvi, 47: “qui, succisis poplitibus, in genua se -excepit nec arma dimisit.” “In certaminibus gladiatorum hoc sæpe -accidisse et statuæ existentes docent, imprimis gladiator Borghesinus.” -Senecæ Op. Phil., Bouillet, II, 12. - -61^1. “Lovely London,” as Maginn remarks, Blackwood’s Magazine, VII, -327, is like the Homeric Αὐγειὰς ἐρατεινάς, Ἀρήνην ἐρατεινήν, Il., ii, -532, 591, etc. Leeve, or lovely, London, is of frequent occurrence: see -No 158, 1^1, No 168, appendix, 7^5, No 174, 35^1, etc. So “men of -pleasant Tivydale,” #B# 14^1, wrongly in #B a#, #f#, “pleasant men of -Tiuydale.” - -64^3. Glendale is one of the six wards of Northumberland, and Homildon -is in this ward, a mile northwest of Wooler. - -65^2. That tear begane this spurn “is said to be a proverb, meaning that -tear, or pull, brought about this kick”: Skeat. Such a proverb is -unlikely and should be vouched. There may be corruption, and perhaps we -should read, as a lamentation, That ear (ever) begane this spurn! Or -possibly, That tear is for That there, meaning simply there. - -For genealogical illustrations may be consulted, with caution, Percy’s -Reliques, 1794, I, 34 ff, 282 ff. With respect to 53^1, Professor Skeat -notes: “Lou_m_le, Lumley; always hitherto printed louele (and explained -Lovel), though the MS. cannot be so read, the word being written loūle. -‘My Lord Lumley’ is mentioned in the ballad of Scotish Feilde, Percy -Fol. MS., I, 226, l. 270; and again in the ballad of Bosworth Feilde, -_id._, III, 245, l. 250.” - - - A is translated by Herder, II, 213; by R. - -v. Bismarck, Deutches Museum, 1858, I, 897; by Von Marées, p. 63; by -Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, p. 84, No 13. Into Latin by -Dr. William Maginn, in Blackwood’s Magazine, 1819–20, VI, 199, VII, 323. - -#B# is translated by Bothe, p. 6; by Knortz, L. u. R. Alt-Englands, p. -24, No 7; by Loève-Veimars, p. 55; (in part) by Cantù, p. 802. Into -Latin by Henry Bold, Dryden’s Miscellanies, ed. 1702, II, 239; by Rev. -John Anketell, Poems, etc., Dublin, 1793, p. 264. - - - A - - MS. Ashmole, 48 Bodleian Library, in Skeat’s Specimens of English - Literature, 1394–1579, ed. 1880, p. 67. - - 1 - The P_er_së owt off Northombarlonde, - and avowe to God mayd he - That he wold hunte in the mowntayns - off Chyviat w_i_t_h_in days thre, - In the magg_er_ of doughtë Dogles, - and all that eu_er_ with him be. - - 2 - The fattiste hart_es_ in all Cheviat - he sayd he wold kyll, and cary them away: - ‘Be my feth,’ sayd _th_e dougheti Doglas agayn, - ‘I will let _tha_t hontyng yf _tha_t I may.’ - - 3 - The[n] _th_e P_er_së owt off Bamborowe cam, - w_i_t_h_ him a myghtee meany, - W_i_t_h_ fifteen hondrith archar_es_ bold off blood and bone; - _th_e wear chosen owt of shyars thre. - - 4 - This begane at a Monday at morn, - in Cheviat the hillys so he; - The chylde may rue that ys vn-born, - it wos the mor pittë. - - 5 - The dryvars thorowe the wood_ës_ went, - for to reas the dear; - Bomen byckarte vppone the bent - w_i_t_h_ ther browde aros cleare. - - 6 - Then the wylde thorowe the wood_ës_ went, - on eu_er_y sydë shear; - Greahond_es_ thorowe the grevis glent, - for to kyll thear dear. - - 7 - _Th_is begane in Chyviat _th_e hyls abone, - yerly on a Monnyn-day; - Be _tha_t it drewe to the oware off none, - a hondrith fat hart_ës_ ded _the_r lay. - - 8 - The blewe a mort vppone _th_e bent, - _th_e semblyde on sydis shear; - To the quyrry then the P_er_së went, - to se the bryttlynge off the deare. - - 9 - He sayd, It was the Duglas promys - this day to met me hear; - But I wyste he wold faylle, verament; - a great oth _th_e P_er_së swear. - - 10 - At the laste a squyar off Northo_m_b_er_londe - lokyde at his hand full ny; - He was war a the doughetie Doglas co_m_mynge, - with him a myghttë meany. - - 11 - Both with spear, bylle, and brande, - yt was a myghtti sight to se; - Hardyar men, both off harte nor hande, - wear not in Cristiantë. - - 12 - The wear twenti hondrith spear-men good, - withoute any feale; - The wear borne along be the watt_er_ a Twyde, - yth bownd_ës_ of Tividale. - - 13 - ‘Leave of the brytlyng of the dear,’ he sayd, - ‘and to your boÿs lock ye tayk good hed_e_; - For neu_er_ sithe ye wear on your mothars borne - had ye neu_er_ so mickle ned_e_.’ - - 14 - The dougheti Dogglas on a stede, - he rode all_e_ his men beforne; - His armor glytteryde as dyd a glede; - a boldar barne was nev_er_ born. - - 15 - ‘Tell me whos men ye ar,’ he says, - ‘or whos men that ye be: - Who gave youe leave to hunte in this Chyviat chays, - in _th_e spyt of myn and of me.’ - - 16 - The first mane that ev_er_ him an answear mayd, - yt was _th_e good lord P_er_së: - ‘We wyll not tell the whoys men we ar,’ he says, - ‘nor whos men _tha_t we be; - But we wyll hounte hear in this chays, - in the spyt of thyne and of the. - - 17 - ‘_Th_e fattiste hart_ës_ in all Chyviat - we haue kyld, and cast to carry them away:’ - ‘Be my troth,’ sayd _th_e doughetë Dogglas agay[n], - ‘_the_rfor the ton of vs shall de this day.’ - - 18 - Then sayd the doughtë Doglas - unto the lord P_er_së: - ‘To kyll all_e_ thes giltles men, - alas, it wear great pittë! - - 19 - ‘But, P_er_së, thowe art a lord of lande, - I am a yerle callyd w_i_t_h_in my contrë; - Let all our men vppone a p_ar_ti stande, - and do the battell off the and of me.’ - - 20 - ‘Nowe Crist_es_ cors on his crowne,’ sayd the lorde P_er_së, - ‘who-so-euer _the_r-to says nay! - Be my troth, doughttë Doglas,’ he says, - ‘thow shalt neu_er_ se that day. - - 21 - ‘Nethar in Ynglonde, Skottlonde, nar France, - nor for no man of a woman born, - But, and fortune be my chance, - I dar met him, on man for on.’ - - 22 - Then bespayke a squyar off Northombarlonde, - R_i_c_hard_ Wytharyngton was him nam; - ‘It shall neu_er_ be told in Sothe-Ynglonde,’ he says, - ‘to Kyng Herry _th_e Fourth for sham. - - 23 - ‘I wat youe byn great lord_ës_ twaw, - I am a poor squyar of lande; - I wyll_e_ neu_er_ se my captayne fyght on a fylde, - and stande my selffe and loocke on, - But whyll_e_ I may my weppone welde, - I wyll_e_ not [fayle] both hart and hande.’ - - 24 - That day, _tha_t day, _tha_t dredfull day! - _th_e first fit here I fynde; - And youe wyll here any mor a the hountynge a the Chyviat, - yet ys _the_r mor behynd_e_. - - - 25 - The Yngglyshe men hade ther bowys yebent, - _th_er hartes wer good yenoughe; - The first off arros that the shote off, - seven skore spear-men the sloughe. - - 26 - Yet byddys the yerle Doglas vppon _th_e bent, - a captayne good yenoughe, - And that was sene verament, - for he wrought ho_m_ both woo and wouche. - - 27 - The Dogglas p_ar_tyd his ost in thre, - lyk a cheffe cheften off pryde; - With suar spears off myghttë tre, - the cu_m_ in on eu_er_y syde; - - 28 - Thrughe our Yngglyshe archery - gave many a wounde full_e_ wyde; - Many a doughetë the garde to dy, - which ganyde them no pryde. - - 29 - The Ynglyshe men let ther boÿs be, - and pulde owt brand_es_ _tha_t wer brighte; - It was a hevy syght to se - bryght sword_es_ on basnit_es_ lyght. - - 30 - Thorowe ryche male and myneyeple, - many sterne the strocke done streght; - Many a freyke that was full_e_ fre, - ther vndar foot dyd lyght. - - 31 - At last the Duglas and the P_er_së met, - lyk to captayns of myght and of mayne; - The swapte togethar tyll_e_ the both swat, - w_i_t_h_ swordes that wear of fyn myllan. - - 32 - Thes worthë freckys for to fyght, - _the_r-to _th_e wear full_e_ fayne, - Tyll_e_ the bloode owte off thear basnet_es_ sprente, - as eu_er_ dyd heal or ra[y]n. - - 33 - ‘Yelde the, P_er_së,’ sayde the Doglas, - ‘and i feth I shall_e_ the brynge - Wher thowe shalte haue a yerls wagis - of Jamy our Skottish kynge. - - 34 - ‘Thoue shalte haue thy ransom fre, - I hight the hear this thinge; - For the manfullyste man yet art thowe - that eu_er_ I conqueryd in filde fighttyng_e_.’ - - 35 - ‘Nay,’ sayd the lord P_er_së, - ‘I tolde it the beforne, - That I wolde neu_er_ yeldyde be - to no man of a woman born.’ - - 36 - W_i_t_h_ that ther cam an arrowe hastely, - forthe off a myghttë wane; - Hit hathe strekene the yerle Duglas - in at the brest-bane. - - 37 - Thorowe lyvar and long_ës_ bathe - the sharpe arrowe ys gane, - _Tha_t neu_er_ aft_er_ in all his lyffe-days - he spayke mo word_ës_ but ane: - _Tha_t was, Fyghte ye, my myrry men, whyllys ye may, - for my lyff-days ben gan. - - 38 - The P_er_së leanyde on his brande, - and sawe _th_e Duglas de; - He tooke the dede mane by the hande, - and sayd, Wo ys me for the! - - 39 - ‘To haue savyde thy lyffe, I wolde haue p_ar_tyde w_i_t_h_ - my land_es_ for years thre, - For a bett_er_ man, of hart nare of hande, - was nat in all _th_e north contrë.’ - - 40 - Off all that se a Skottishe knyght, - was callyd S_er_ Hewe the Monggo_m_byrry; - He sawe the Duglas to the deth was dyght, - he spendyd a spear, a trusti tre. - - 41 - He rod vppone a corsiare - throughe a hondrith archery: - He neu_er_ stynttyde, nar neu_er_ blane, - tyll_e_ he cam to _th_e good lord P_er_së. - - 42 - He set vppone the lorde P_er_së - a dynte that was full soare; - With a suar spear of a myghttë tre - clean thorow the body he _th_e P_er_së ber, - - 43 - A the tothar syde that a man myght se - a large cloth-yard and mare: - Towe bettar captayns wear nat in Cristiantë - then _tha_t day slan wear _th_er. - - 44 - An archar off Northomb_er_londe - say slean was _th_e lord Persë; - He bar a bende bowe in his hand, - was made off trusti tre. - - 45 - An arow _tha_t a cloth-yarde was lang - to th_e_ harde stele halyde he; - A dynt _tha_t was both sad and soar - he sat on S_er_ Hewe _th_e Monggo_m_byrry. - - 46 - _Th_e dynt yt was both sad and sar - _tha_t he of Monggo_m_berry sete; - _Th_e swane-fethars _tha_t his arrowe bar - w_i_t_h_ his hart-blood _th_e wear wete. - - 47 - Ther was neu_er_ a freake wone foot wolde fle, - but still in stour dyd stand, - Heawyng on yche othar, whyll_e_ the myghte dre, - w_i_t_h_ many a balfull brande. - - 48 - This battell begane in Chyviat - an owar befor the none, - And when even-songe bell was rang, - the battell was nat half done. - - 49 - The tocke . . on ethar hande - be the lyght off the mone; - Many hade no strenght for to stande, - in Chyviat _th_e hillys abon. - - 50 - Of fifteen hondrith archars of Ynglonde - went away but seuenti and thre; - Of twenti hondrith spear-men of Skotlonde, - but even five and fifti. - - 51 - But all wear slayne Cheviat w_i_t_h_in; - _th_e hade no streng[th]e to stand on hy; - The chylde may rue that ys unborne, - it was _th_e mor pittë. - - 52 - Thear was slayne, withe the lord P_er_së, - S_er_ Joh_a_n of Ag_er_stone, - S_er_ Rogar, the hinde Hartly, - S_er_ Wyllyam, the bolde Hearone. - - 53 - Ser Jorg, the worthë Lou_m_le, - a knyghte of great renowen, - Ser Raff, the ryche Rugbe, - with dynt_es_ wear beaten dowene. - - 54 - For Wetharryngton my harte was wo, - _tha_t eu_er_ he slayne shulde be; - For when both his leggis wear hewyne in to, - yet he knyled and fought on hys kny. - - 55 - Ther was slayne, w_i_t_h_ _th_e dougheti Duglas, - S_er_ Hewe the Monggo_m_byrry, - S_er_ Dauy Lwdale, _tha_t worthë was, - his sistars son was he. - - 56 - S_er_ Charls a Murrë in that place, - _tha_t neu_er_ a foot wolde fle; - S_er_ Hewe Maxwell_e_, a lorde he was, - w_i_t_h_ _th_e Doglas dyd he dey. - - 57 - So on the morrowe the mayde them byears - off birch and hasell so g[r]ay; - Many wedous, w_i_t_h_ wepyng tears, - cam to fache _the_r makys away. - - 58 - Tivydale may carpe off care, - Northo_m_barlond may mayk great mon, - For towe such captayns as slayne wear thear - on the March-pa_r_ti shall neu_er_ be non. - - 59 - Word ys co_m_men to Eddenburrowe, - to Jamy _th_e Skottishe kynge, - That dougheti Duglas, lyff-tenant of the M_ar_ches, - he lay slean Chyviot w_i_t_h_in. - - 60 - His handdës dyd he weal and wryng, - he sayd, Alas, and woe ys me! - Such an othar captayn Skotland w_i_t_h_in, - he sayd, ye-feth shuld neu_er_ be. - - 61 - Worde ys co_m_myn to lovly Londone, - till the fourth Harry our kynge, - _Tha_t lord P_er_së, leyff-tenante of the M_ar_chis, - he lay slayne Chyviat w_i_t_h_in. - - 62 - ‘God haue m_er_ci on his soll_e_,’ sayde Kyng Harry, - ‘good lord, yf thy will it be! - I haue a hondrith captayns in Ynglonde,’ he sayd, - ’as good as eu_er_ was he: - But, P_er_së, and I brook my lyffe, - thy deth well quyte shall be.’ - - 63 - As our noble kynge mayd his avowe, - lyke a noble prince of renowen, - For the deth of the lord P_er_së - he dyde the battell of Ho_m_byll-down; - - 64 - Wher syx and thrittë Skottishe knyght_es_ - on a day wear beaten down; - Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght, - ov_er_ castill_e_, towar, and town. - - 65 - This was the hontynge off the Cheviat, - that tear begane this spurn; - Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe - call it _th_e battell of Ott_er_burn. - - 66 - At Ott_er_burn begane this spurne, - vppone a Monnynday; - Ther was the doughtë Doglas slean, - _th_e P_er_së neu_er_ went away. - - 67 - Ther was neu_er_ a tym on the Marche-p_ar_tës - sen _th_e Doglas and _th_e P_er_së met, - But yt ys m_er_vele and the rede blude ro_n_ne not, - as the reane doys in _th_e stret. - - 68 - Ihesue Crist our balys bete, - and to the blys vs brynge! - Thus was the hountynge of the Chivyat: - God send vs all_e_ good endyng! - - - B - - #a.# Percy MS., p. 188, Hales and Furnivall, II, 7. #b.# Pepys - Ballads, I, 92, No 45, broadside printed for M. G. #c.# Douce - Ballads, fol. 27^b, and Roxburghe Ballads, III, 66, broadside - printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright. #d.# Wood’s Ballads, - 401, 48, broadside printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson. - #e.# Bagford Ballads, I, No 32, broadside printed by and for W. - Onley. #f.# A Scottish copy, without printer. - - - 1 - God prosper long our noble k_ing_, - our liffes and saftyes all! - A woefull hunting once there did - in Cheuy Chase befall. - - 2 - To dr_i_ue the deere w_i_th hound and horne - Erle Pearcy took the way: - The child may rue _tha_t is vnborne - the hunting of _tha_t day! - - 3 - The stout Erle of Northumberland - a vow to God did make - His pleasure in the Scottish woods - three som_m_ers days to take, - - 4 - The cheefest harts in Cheuy C[h]ase - to kill and beare away: - These tydings to Erle Douglas came - in Scottland, where he lay. - - 5 - Who sent Erle Pearcy p_re_sent word - he wold p_re_vent his sport; - The English erle, not fearing that, - did to the woods resort, - - 6 - W_i_th fifteen hundred bowmen bold, - all chosen men of might, - Who knew ffull well in time of neede - to ayme their shafts arright. - - 7 - The gallant greyhound[s] swiftly ran - to chase the fallow deere; - On Munday they began to hunt, - ere daylight did appeare. - - 8 - And long before high noone the had - a hundred fat buckes slaine; - Then hauing dined, the drouyers went - to rouze the deare againe. - - 9 - The bowmen mustered on the hills, - well able to endure; - Theire backsids all w_i_th speciall care - _tha_t day were guarded sure. - - 10 - The hounds ran swiftly through the woods - the nimble deere to take, - _Tha_t w_i_th their cryes the hills and dales - an eccho shrill did make. - - 11 - Lord Pearcy to the querry went - to veiw the tender deere; - Q_uo_th he, Erle Douglas p_ro_mised once - this day to meete me heere; - - 12 - But if I thought he wold not come, - noe longer wold I stay. - W_i_th _tha_t a braue younge gentlman - thus to the erle did say: - - 13 - ‘Loe, yonder doth Erle Douglas come, - hys men in armour bright; - Full twenty hundred Scottish speres - all marching in our sight. - - 14 - ‘All men of pleasant Tiuydale, - fast by the riuer Tweede:’ - ‘O ceaze yo_u_r sportts!’ Erle Pearcy said, - ‘and take yo_u_r bowes w_i_th speede. - - 15 - ‘And now w_i_th me, my countrymen, - yo_u_r courage forth advance! - For there was neuer champion yett, - in Scottland nor in Ffrance, - - 16 - ‘_Tha_t eu_er_ did on horsbacke come, - [but], and if my hap it were, - I durst encounter man for man, - w_i_th him to breake a spere.’ - - 17 - Erle Douglas on his milke-white steede, - most like a baron bold, - Rode formost of his company, - whose armor shone like gold. - - 18 - ‘Shew me,’ sayd hee, ‘whose men you bee - _tha_t hunt soe boldly heere, - _Tha_t w_i_thout my consent doe chase - and kill my fallow deere.’ - - 19 - The first man _tha_t did answer make - was noble Pearcy hee, - Who sayd, Wee list not to declare - nor shew whose men wee bee; - - 20 - ‘Yett wee will spend our deerest blood - thy cheefest harts to slay.’ - Then Douglas swore a solempne oathe, - and thus in rage did say: - - 21 - ‘Ere thus I will outbraued bee, - one of vs tow shall dye; - I know thee well, an erle thou art; - Lord Pearcy, soe am I. - - 22 - ‘But trust me, Pearcye, pittye it were, - and great offence, to kill - Then any of these our guiltlesse men, - for they haue done none ill. - - 23 - ‘Let thou and I the battell trye, - and set our men aside:’ - ‘Accurst bee [he!]’ Erle Pearcye sayd, - ‘by whome it is denyed.’ - - 24 - Then stept a gallant squire forth— - Witherington was his name— - Who said, ‘I wold not haue it told - to Henery our k_ing_, for shame, - - 25 - ‘_Tha_t ere my captaine fought on foote, - and I stand looking on. - You bee two Erles,’ q_uo_th Witheringhton, - and I a squier alone; - - 26 - ‘I’le doe the best _tha_t doe I may, - while I haue power to stand; - While I haue power to weeld my sword, - I’le fight w_i_th hart and hand.’ - - 27 - Our English archers bent their bowes; - their harts were good and trew; - Att the first flight of arrowes sent, - full foure score Scotts the slew. - - 28 - To driue the deere w_i_th hound and horne, - Dauglas bade on the bent; - Two captaines moued w_i_th mickle might, - their speres to shiuers went. - - 29 - They closed full fast on eu_er_ye side, - noe slacknes there was found, - But many a gallant gentleman - lay gasping on the ground. - - 30 - O Christ! it was great greeue to see - how eche man chose his spere, - And how the blood out of their brests - did gush like water cleare. - - 31 - At last these two stout erles did meet, - like captaines of great might; - Like lyons woode they layd on lode; - the made a cruell fight. - - 32 - The fought vntill they both did sweat, - w_i_th swords of tempered steele, - Till blood downe their cheekes like raine - the trickling downe did feele. - - 33 - ‘O yeeld thee, Pearcye!’ Douglas sayd, - ‘and in faith I will thee bringe - Where thou shall high advanced bee - by Iames our Scottish k_ing_. - - 34 - ‘Thy ransome I will freely giue, - and this report of thee, - Thou art the most couragious k_nigh_t - [that ever I did see.]’ - - 35 - ‘Noe, Douglas!’ q_uo_th Erle Percy then, - ‘thy p_ro_fer I doe scorne; - I will not yeelde to any Scott - _tha_t eu_er_ yett was borne!’ - - 36 - W_i_th _tha_t there came an arrow keene, - out of an English bow, - Which stroke Erle Douglas on the brest - a deepe and deadlye blow. - - 37 - Who neu_er_ sayd more words then these: - Fight on, my merry men all! - For why, my life is att [an] end, - lo_rd_ Pearcy sees my fall. - - 38 - Then leauing liffe, Erle Pearcy tooke - the dead man by the hand; - Who said, ‘Erle Dowglas, for thy life, - wold I had lost my land! - - 39 - ‘O Christ! my verry hart doth bleed - for sorrow for thy sake, - For sure, a more redoubted k_nigh_t - mischance cold neu_er_ take.’ - - 40 - A k_nigh_t amongst the Scotts there was - w_hi_ch saw Erle Douglas dye, - Who streight in hart did vow revenge - vpon the Lord Pearcye. - - 41 - S_i_r Hugh Mountgomerye was he called, - who, w_i_th a spere full bright, - Well mounted on a gallant steed, - ran feircly through the fight, - - 42 - And past the English archers all, - w_i_thout all dread or feare, - And through Erle Percyes body then - he thrust his hatfull spere. - - 43 - W_i_th such a vehement force and might - his body he did gore, - The staff ran through the other side - a large cloth-yard and more. - - 44 - Thus did both those nobles dye, - whose courage none cold staine; - An English archer then p_er_ceiued - the noble erle was slaine. - - 45 - He had [a] good bow in his hand, - made of a trusty tree; - An arrow of a cloth-yard long - to the hard head haled hee. - - 46 - Against S_i_r Hugh Mountgomerye - his shaft full right he sett; - The grey-goose-winge _tha_t was there-on - in his harts bloode was wett. - - 47 - This fight from breake of day did last - till setting of the sun, - For when the rung the euening-bell - the battele scarse was done. - - 48 - W_i_th stout Erle Percy there was slaine - S_i_r Iohn of Egerton, - S_i_r Rob_er_t Harcliffe and S_i_r William, - S_i_r Iames, that bold barron. - - 49 - And with S_i_r George and S_i_r Iames, - both k_nigh_ts of good account, - Good S_i_r Raphe Rebbye there was slaine, - whose prowesse did surmount. - - 50 - For Witherington needs must I wayle - as one in dolefull dumpes, - For when his leggs were smitten of, - he fought vpon his stumpes. - - 51 - And w_i_th Erle Dowglas there was slaine - S_i_r Hugh Mountgomerye, - And S_i_r Charles Morrell, _tha_t from feelde - one foote wold neu_er_ flee; - - 52 - S_i_r Roger Heuer of Harcliffe tow, - his sisters sonne was hee; - S_i_r David Lambwell, well esteemed, - but saved he cold not bee. - - 53 - And the Lo_rd_ Maxwell, in like case, - w_i_th Douglas he did dye; - Of twenty hundred Scottish speeres, - scarce fifty-fiue did flye. - - 54 - Of fifteen hundred Englishmen - went home but fifty-three; - The rest in Cheuy Chase were slaine, - vnder the greenwoode tree. - - 55 - Next day did many widdowes come - their husbands to bewayle; - They washt their wounds in brinish teares, - but all wold not p_re_vayle. - - 56 - Theyr bodyes, bathed in purple blood, - the bore w_i_th them away; - They kist them dead a thousand times - ere the were cladd in clay. - - 57 - The newes was brought to Eddenborrow, - where Scottlands k_ing_ did rayne, - _Tha_t braue Erle Douglas soddainlye - was w_i_th an arrow slaine. - - 58 - ‘O heauy newes!’ K_ing_ Iames can say; - ‘Scottland may wittenesse bee - I haue not any capt_aine_ more - of such account as hee.’ - - 59 - Like tydings to K_ing_ Henery came, - w_i_thin as short a space, - _Tha_t Pearcy of Northumberland - was slaine in Cheuy Chase. - - 60 - ‘Now God be w_i_th him!’ said our k_ing_, - ‘sith it will noe better bee; - I trust I haue within my realme - fiue hundred as good as hee. - - 61 - ‘Yett shall not Scotts nor Scottland say - but I will vengeance take, - And be revenged on them all - for braue Erle Percyes sake.’ - - 62 - This vow the k_ing_ did well p_er_forme - after on Humble-downe; - In one day fifty k_nigh_ts were slayne, - w_i_th lords of great renowne. - - 63 - And of the rest, of small account, - did many hundreds dye: - Thus endeth the hunting in Cheuy Chase, - made by the Erle Pearcye. - - 64 - God saue our k_ing_, and blesse this land - w_i_th plentye, ioy, and peace, - And grant hencforth _tha_t foule debate - twixt noble men may ceaze! - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _Without division of stanzas, and in long lines, in the MS., and - so printed by Hearne, Wright, and Skeat._ - - “The MS. is a mere scribble, and the spelling very - unsatisfactory:” Skeat. - - 1^2. and A vowe: _for_ avowe, _see_ 63^1. - - 1^4. days iij. - - 3^2. xv. C archard_es_. - - 3^4. iij. - - 5^1. 30^1, 37^1. throrowe. - - 7^1. _The_r: _cf._ 4^1. - - 8^1. mot. - - 10^3. war ath the. - - 11^1. brylly and. - - 12^1. xx. C. - - 22^4. Herry _th_e iiij.. - - 24^3. mor athe: athe chyviat. - - 27^1. in iii.. - - 36^1. A narrowe. - - 39^2. years iij.. - - 43^1. athe. - - 44^1. A narchar. - - 45^2. haylde. - - 48^2. A nowar. - - 50^1. xvC. - - 50^2. vij^x. - - 50^3. xxC. - - 60^3. A-nothar. - - 61^2. the iiij.. - - 61^3. cheyff tenante. - - 62^3. a C.. - - 68^1. ballys. - - And _for_ & _always_. - - Expliceth quoth Rychard Sheale. - -#B. a.# - - 1^3. there was. - - 3^4. 3. - - 6^1. 1500. - - 8^1. a 100. - - 9^4. _tha_t they. - - 13^3. 20. - - 14^1. pleasant men of. - - 25^3. 2. - - 27^1. bend. - - 28^3, 31^1. 2. - - 31^3. Lyons moods. - - 36^3. who scorke Erle. - - 38^3. thy sake; _but compare_ #A# 41^1. #b#, #c#, _have_ life; - sake _was caught from_ 39^2. - - 41. 2^d parte. - - 43^2. _tha_t his body. - - 48^1. slaine. _There is a dot for the_ i, _but nothing more in the - MS.: Furnivall_. - - 49^3. & good. - - 50^2. in too full; _perhaps_ wofull. - - 53^3. 20. - - 53^4. 55. - - 54^1. 1500. - - 54^2. 53. - - 55^3. They washt they. - - 56^3. a 1000. - - 59^1. in Cheuy chase was slaine. - - 60^4. 500. - - 62^3. 50. - - And _always for_ &. - -#b#, #c#, #d#, #e#. - - #b#, #c#, #d# (_and I suppose_ #e#), _in stanzas of eight lines_. - -#b.# - - A memorable song vpon the vnhappy hunting in Cheuy Chase betweene - the Earle Pearcy of England and Earle Dowglas of Scotland. To - the tune of Flying Fame. - - London, Printed for M. G. _Error for_ H. G.? Henry Gosson - (1607–41). - -#c.# - - A Memorable song on the unhappy Hunting in Chevy-Chase between - Earl Piercy of England and Earl Dowglas of Scotland. Tune of - Flying Fame. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere and J. Wright. (1655–80?) - -#d.# - - _Title as in_ #c#. To the tune, etc. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere and W. Gilbertson. (1648–61?) - -#e.# - - An Unhappy Memorable Song of the Hunting; _the rest as in_ #d#. - - Licensd and Enterd according to Order. - - London, Priented by and for W. Onley, and are to be sold by C. - Bates, at the Sun and Bible in Pye-corner, (1650–1702?) - - 1^3. #d.# The woful. - - 1^4. there did. - - 2^2. his way. - - 4^3. #e.# The tidings. - - 5^3. fearing this. - - 7^1. gray-hounds. - - 7^4. when day light. - - 8^2. #b#, #c#, #d#. an. - - 8^4. #c#, #d#, #e#. rouze them up. - - 9^3. #d.# The. - - 9^4. that day. - - 10^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. And with. - - 11^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. once _wanting_. - - 12^1. #e.# If that I. - - 14^1. #b.# pleasant men of. #c#, #d#, #e#. men of pleasant. - - 14^3. Then cease your sport. - - 15^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. For never was their (there). - - 15^4. or in. - - 16^2. #b#, #c#. but if. #d.# but since. - - 16^3. #d.# I _wanting_. - - 17^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. on a. - - 17^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. of the. - - 18^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. he said. - - 19^1. The man that first. - - 19^4. #c#, #d#. now shew. - - 20^1. #b#, #c#, #d#. Yet will we. - - 22^3. #b#, #c#, #d#. Then _wanting_. #e.# And _for_ any. #c#, #e#. - harmless. - - 22^4. #c#, #d#, #e#. no ill. - - 23^3. be he. #c#, #d#, #e#. Lord P. - - 23^4. #c#, #d#, #e#. this is. - - 24^3. #c#, #d#. said he would. - - 25^1. #d.# ever. - - 25^2. #c#, #d#, #e#. I stood. - - 25^3. #d.# two be. #b.# quod W. #c#, #d#, #e#. said W. - - 27^1. bent. - - 27^4. #c#, #e#. threescore. - - 28^2. #c#, #d#, #e#. Earl D. #c.# had the bent. #d.# bad the bent. - - 28^3. A captain: mickle pride. - - 28^4. The spears. #e.# sent _for_ went. - - 29^3. And many. - - 30^1. #b.# a _for_ great. - - 30^2. #b.# each one chose. #c#, #d#, #e#. and likewise for to - hear. - - 30^{3,4}. #c#, #d#, #e#. The cries of men lying in their gore, and - scattered here and there. - - 31^3. lions mov’d. - - 31^4. and made. - - 32^3. Vntill the blood like drops of raine. - - 33^1. Yeeld thee Lord Piercy. - - 33^2. and _wanting_. - - 33^3. shalt. - - 33^4. #b.# with Iames. #d.# the _for_ our. - - 34^1. #c#, #d#. will I. - - 34^2. and thus. - - 34^4. that ever I did see. - - 35^1. #e.# To _for_ Noe. - - 36^3. #b.# And stroke E. D. to the heart. #c#, #d#, #e#. Which - struck E. D. to the heart. - - 36^4. #e.# and #a.# - - 37^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. never spake (spoke). - - 37^3. at an end. - - 38^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. And said. #b#, #c#, #d#, #e#. thy life. - - 39^2. with sorrow. - - 39^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. more renowned. - - 39^4. #c#, #d#. did. #e.# did ever. - - 40^1. #b.# among. - - 40^3. in wrath. - - 40^4. the Earl. - - 41^2. #c#, #e#. most bright. - - 43^2. #b.# his body he did. #c#, #d#, #e#. he did his body. - - 43^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. The spear went. - - 44^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. So thus. #b.# both these two. #c#, #e#. - these. - - 45^1. #b.# a good bow in. #c#, #d#, #e#. a bow bent in. - - 45^4. #c#, #d#, #e#. unto the head drew he. - - 46^1. #d.# Montgomery then. - - 46^2. so right his shaft. - - 46^4. heart. - - 47^1. fight did last from break of day. - - 48^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. With the Earl. - - 48^2. Ogerton. - - 48^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. Ratcliff and Sir Iohn. - - 49^1. and good. - - 49^3. And (_of_ #a#) _wanting_. - - 50^2. #b.# wofull. #c#, #d#, #e#. doleful. - - 50^4. #b.# still vpon. - - 51^3. And _wanting_: the field. #c#, #e#. Charles Currel. - - 51^4. flye. - - 52^1. #b.# Sir Robert. #c#, #d#, #e#. Sir Charles Murrel of - Ratcliff too. - - 52^2. #d.# sisters sisters. - - 52^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. Lamb so well. - - 52^4. yet saved could. - - 53^1. Markwell: #c#, #d#, #e#. in likewise. - - 53^2. did with E. Dowglas dye. - - 53^3. #b#, #d#. peers _for_ speeres. - - 54^3. #c#, #d#, #e#. rest were slain in C. C. - - 56^4. #c#, #d#, #e#. when _for_ ere. - - 57^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. This news. - - 58^1. did say. - - 58^2. can _for_ may. - - 59^4. was slain in Chevy Chase. - - 60^2. twill. - - 61^1. #c#, #e#. Scot. - - 61^4. #e.# Lord _for_ Erle. - - 62^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. vow full well the king performd. - - 62^4. #b.# of high. - - 63^3. ended. #d.# of _for_ in. - - 63^4. #b.# Lord _for_ Erle. - - 64^1. #c#, #d#, #e#. the king: the land. - - 64^2. #c#, #d#, #e#. in plenty. - -#f.# - - _The copy reprinted by Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs - Historical and Traditionary, 1868, I, 80. This copy was given - Maidment by Mr Gibb_, “for many years one of the sub-librarians - in the library of the Faculty of Advocates. It had belonged to - his grandmother, and was probably printed in Edinburgh about the - beginning of the last or end of the preceding century.” - - 5^3. fearing him. - - 6^1. twenty hundred. - - 13^3. fifteen hundred. - - 14^1. All pleasant men, _as in_ #a#, #b#. - - 27^1. Our Scotish archers bent. - - 27^4. they four score English slew. - - 28^2. Douglas bade on the bent. - - 30^1. O but it was a grief to see; _and again_, 39^1, O but _for_ - O Christ. - - 46^3. wings that were. - - 46^4. were. - - 50^4. fought still on the stumps. - - 53^3. Of fifteen hundred. - - 53^4. went hame but fifty three. - - 54^1. twenty hundred. - - 54^2. scarce fifty five did flee. - - 55^4. could. - - 56^4. when they were cold as clay. - - 58^1. 60 _is substituted here_. - - 60. 58 _is substituted, with change of_ James _to_ Henry, _and, in - the next line, of_ Scotland _to_ England. - - 61, 62 are omitted. - - 63^1. Now of. - - 64^3. debates. - - - - - 163 - - THE BATTLE OF HARLAW - - #A. a.# Communicated by Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, Esq., of - Kinaldie, Aberdeenshire. #b.# Notes and Queries, Third Series, VII, - 393, communicated by A. Ferguson. - - #B.# The Thistle of Scotland, 1823, p. 92. - - -The copy of this ballad which was printed by Aytoun, 1858, I, 75, was -derived by Lady John Scott from a friend of Mr Dalrymple’s, and when it -left Mr Dalrymple’s hands was in the precise form of #A a#. Some changes -were made in the text published by Aytoun, and four stanzas, 14–16, 18, -were dropped, the first three to the advantage of the ballad, and quite -in accordance with the editor’s plan. Mr Dalrymple informs me that in -his younger days he had essayed to improve the last two lines of stanza -7 by the change, - - We’d best cry in our merry men - And turn our horses’ head, - -and had rearranged stanzas 18, 19, “which were absolutely chaotic,” -adhering, however, closely to the sense. #A b#, given in Notes and -Queries, from a manuscript, as “the original version of this ballad,” -exhibits the changes made by Mr Dalrymple, and was therefore, one would -suppose, founded upon his copy. Half a century ago the ballad was -familiar to the people, and the variations of #b#, which are not few, -may be traditional, and not arbitrary; for this reason it has been -thought best not to pass them over. The Great North of Scotland Railway, -A Guide, by W. Ferguson, Edinburgh, 1881, contains, p. 8 f, a copy which -is evidently compounded from #A b# and Aytoun. It adds this variation of -the last stanza: - - Gin ony body spier at ye - For the men ye took awa, - They’re sleepin soun and in their sheen - I the howe aneath Harlaw. - -The editor of The Thistle of Scotland treats the ballad as a burlesque, -and “not worth the attention of the public,” on which ground he refrains -from printing more than three stanzas, one of these being 15; and -certainly both this and that which follows it have a dash of the -unheroic and even of the absurd. Possibly there were others in the same -strain in the version known to Laing, but all such may fairly be -regarded as wanton depravations, of a sort which other and highly -esteemed ballads have not escaped. - -The battle of Harlaw was fought on the 24th July, 1411. Donald of the -Isles, to maintain his claim to the Earldom of Ross,[181] invaded the -country south of the mountains with ten thousand islanders and men of -Ross (ravaging everywhere as he advanced) in the hope of sacking -Aberdeen, and reducing to his power the country as far as the Tay. There -was universal alarm in those parts. He was met at Harlaw, eighteen miles -northwest of Aberdeen, by Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, and Alexander -Ogilby, sheriff of Angus, with the forces of Mar, Garioch, Angus, and -The Mearns, and his further progress was stayed. The Celts lost more -than nine hundred, the Lowlanders five hundred, including nearly all the -gentry of Buchan. (Scotichronicon, II, 444 f.) This defeat was in the -interest of civilization against savagery, and was felt, says Burton, -“as a more memorable deliverance even than that of Bannockburn.” -(History of Scotland, 1883, II, 394.) - -As might be expected, the Lowlanders made a ballad about this hard -fight. ‘The battel of the Hayrlau’ is noted among other popular songs, -in immediate connection with ‘The Hunttis of Chevet,’ by the author of -The Complaint of Scotland, 1549 (Murray’s edition, p. 65), but most -unfortunately this ancient song, unlike Chevy Chase, has been lost. -There is a well-known poem upon the battle, in thirty-one eight-line -stanzas, printed by Ramsay, in his Ever Green, 1724, I, 78.[182] David -Laing believed that it had been printed long before. “An edition,” he -says, “printed in the year 1668, was in the curious library of old -Robert Myln” (Early Metrical Tales, p. xlv.) In the catalogue of Myln’s -books there is entered, apparently as one of a bundle of pamphlets, -“Harlaw, The Battle yrof, An. 1411 ... 1668,”[183] and the entry may -reasonably be taken to refer to the poem printed by Ramsay. This piece -is not in the least of a popular character. It has the same artificial -rhyme as The Raid of the Reid Swyre and The Battle of Balrinnes, but in -every other respect is prose. Mr Norval Clyne, Ballads from Scottish -History, p. 244 ff, has satisfactorily shown that the author used -Boece’s History, and even, in a way, translated some of Boece’s phrases. - -The story of the traditional ballad is, at the start, put into the mouth -of a Highlander, who meets Sir James the Rose and Sir John the Gryme, -and is asked for information about Macdonell; but after stanza 8, these -gentlemen having gone to the field, the narrator describes what he saw -as he went on and further on. It is somewhat surprising that John -Highlandman should be strolling about in this idle way when he should -have been with Macdonell. The narrator[184] in the Ever Green poem -reports at second hand: as he is walking, he meets a man who, upon -request, tells him the beginning and the end.[185] Both pieces have -nearly the same first line. The borrowing was more probably on the part -of the ballad, for a popular ballad would be likely to tell its tale -without preliminaries. - -A ballad taken down some four hundred years after the event will be apt -to retain very little of sober history. It is almost a matter of course -that Macdonell should fall, though in fact he was not even routed, but -only forced to retire. It was vulgarly said in Major’s time that the -Highlanders were beaten: they turned and ran awa, says the ballad. -Donaldum non fugarunt, says Major, and even the ballad, inconsistently, -‘Ye’d scarce known who had won.’ We are not disconcerted at the Highland -force being quintupled, or the battle’s lasting from Monday morning till -Saturday gloaming: diuturna erat pugna, says Major. But the ignoring of -so marked a personage as Mar, and of other men of high local distinction -that fell in the battle,[186] in favor of the Forbeses, who, though -already of consequence in Aberdeenshire, are not recorded to have taken -any part in the fight, is perhaps more than might have been looked for, -and must dispose us to believe that this particular ballad had its rise -in comparatively recent times. - -Dunidier is a conspicuous hill on the old road to Aberdeen, and Netherha -is within two miles of it. (Overha and Netherha are only a mile apart, -and the one reading is as good as the other.) Harlaw is a mile north -from Balquhain (pronounced Bawhyne), and precisely at a right angle to -John Highlandman’s route from the West. Drumminor (to which Brave Forbes -sends for his mail-coat in stanza 15) was above twenty miles away, and -the messenger would have to pass right through the Highland army. The -fact that Drumminor ceased to be the head-castle of that powerful name -in the middle of the last century tells in some degree in favor of the -age of the ballad. (Notes of Mr Dalrymple.) - -“The tune to which the ballad is sung, a particularly wild and simple -one, I venture to believe,” says Mr Dalrymple, “is of the highest -antiquity.” A tune of The Battle of Harlaw, as Motherwell pointed out, -Minstrelsy lxii, is referred to in Polemo Middiana;[187] and a “march, -or rather pibroch,” held to be this same air, is given in the Lute Book -of Sir William Mure of Rowallan, p. 30, and is reproduced in Dauney’s -Ancient Scotish Melodies, p. 349 (see the same work, p. 138 f, note b.) -Sir William Mure is said to have died in 1657. The Ever Green Harlaw is -adapted to an air in Johnson’s Museum, No 512, and “The Battle of -Hardlaw, a pibroch,” is given in Stenhouse’s Illustrations, IV, 447, -1853, “from a folio MS. of Scots tunes, of considerable antiquity.” This -last air occurs, says Maidment, in the rare Collection of Ancient Scots -Music (c. 1776) by Daniel Dow, “The Battle of Hara Law,” p. 28: Scotish -Ballads, etc., I, 200. - - - A - - #a.# Communicated by Charles Elphinstone Dalrymple, Esq., of - Kinaldie, Aberdeenshire, in 1888, as obtained from the country - people by himself and his brother fifty years before. #b.# Notes and - Queries, Third Series, VII, 393, communicated by A. Ferguson. - - 1 - As I cam in by Dunidier, - An doun by Netherha, - There was fifty thousand Hielanmen - A-marching to Harlaw. - Wi a dree dree dradie drumtie dree. - - 2 - As I cam on, an farther on, - An doun an by Balquhain, - Oh there I met Sir James the Rose, - Wi him Sir John the Gryme. - - 3 - ‘O cam ye frae the Hielans, man? - An cam ye a’ the wey? - Saw ye Macdonell an his men, - As they cam frae the Skee?’ - - 4 - ‘Yes, me cam frae ta Hielans, man, - An me cam a’ ta wey, - An she saw Macdonell an his men, - As they cam frae ta Skee.’ - - 5 - ‘Oh was ye near Macdonell’s men? - Did ye their numbers see? - Come, tell to me, John Hielanman, - What micht their numbers be?’ - - 6 - ‘Yes, me was near, an near eneuch, - An me their numbers saw; - There was fifty thousan Hielanmen - A-marchin to Harlaw.’ - - 7 - ‘Gin that be true,’ says James the Rose, - ‘We’ll no come meikle speed; - We’ll cry upo our merry men, - And lichtly mount our steed.’ - - 8 - ‘Oh no, oh no,’ says John the Gryme, - ‘That thing maun never be; - The gallant Grymes were never bate, - We’ll try phat we can dee.’ - - 9 - As I cam on, an farther on, - An doun an by Harlaw, - They fell fu close on ilka side; - Sic fun ye never saw. - - 10 - They fell fu close on ilka side, - Sic fun ye never saw; - For Hielan swords gied clash for clash, - At the battle o Harlaw. - - 11 - The Hielanmen, wi their lang swords, - They laid on us fu sair, - An they drave back our merry men - Three acres breadth an mair. - - 12 - Brave Forbës to his brither did say, - Noo brither, dinna ye see? - They beat us back on ilka side, - An we’se be forced to flee. - - 13 - ‘Oh no, oh no, my brither dear, - That thing maun never be; - Tak ye your good sword in your hand, - An come your wa’s wi me.’ - - 14 - ‘Oh no, oh no, my brither dear, - The clans they are ower strang, - An they drive back our merry men, - Wi swords baith sharp an lang.’ - - 15 - Brave Forbës drew his men aside, - Said, Tak your rest a while, - Until I to Drumminnor send, - To fess my coat o mail. - - 16 - The servan he did ride, - An his horse it did na fail, - For in twa hours an a quarter - He brocht the coat o mail. - - 17 - Then back to back the brithers twa - Gaed in amo the thrang, - An they hewed doun the Hielanmen, - Wi swords baith sharp an lang. - - 18 - Macdonell, he was young an stout, - Had on his coat o mail, - An he has gane oot throw them a’, - To try his han himsell. - - 19 - The first ae straik that Forbës strack, - He garrt Macdonell reel, - An the neist ae straik that Forbës strack, - The great Macdonell fell. - - 20 - An siccan a lierachie - I’m sure ye never saw - As wis amo the Hielanmen, - When they saw Macdonell fa. - - 21 - An whan they saw that he was deid, - They turnd an ran awa, - An they buried him in Leggett’s Den, - A large mile frae Harlaw. - - 22 - They rade, they ran, an some did gang, - They were o sma record; - But Forbës an his merry men, - They slew them a’the road. - - 23 - On Monanday, at mornin, - The battle it began, - On Saturday, at gloamin, - Ye’d scarce kent wha had wan. - - 24 - An sic a weary buryin - I’m sure ye never saw - As wis the Sunday after that, - On the muirs aneath Harlaw. - - 25 - Gin ony body speer at you - For them ye took awa, - Ye may tell their wives and bairnies - They’re sleepin at Harlaw. - - - B - - The Thistle of Scotland, 1823, p. 92. - - 1 - As I cam thro the Garrioch land, - And in by Over Ha, - There was sixty thousan Highland men - Marching to Harlaw. - - 11 - The Highland men, with their broad sword, - Pushd on wi might and power, - Till they bore back the red-coat lads - Three furlongs long, and more. - - 15 - Lord Forbës calld his men aside, - Says, Take your breath awhile, - Until I send my servant now - To bring my coat o mail. - - * * * * * - -#A. a.# - - 1^1. _Var._ Garioch land. - - 4^3. she: _so delivered, notwithstanding the inconsistency with_ - me _in lines 1, 2_. - - 11^3. _Var._ back the red-coats. - - 20^1. _Sometimes_ pitleurachie. - - 25. “_There are different versions of this stanza_:” C. E. D. - -#A. b.# - - _Printed in two long lines._ - - _Burden_: In a dree, etc. - - 1^2. Wetherha. - - 1^4. a’marchin. - - 3^4, 4^4. Come marchin frae. 4^{1,2}. she cam. - - 5^1. Oh were ye near an near eneuch. - - 6^1. she was. - - 6^2. An she. - - 6^4. a’marchin for Harlaw. - - 7^1. quo James. - - 7^{3,4}. - So we’d best cry in our merry men, - And turn our horses’ heeds. - - 8^1. quo John. - - 10^3. gaed _for_ gied. - - 11^4. or mair. - - 12^1. did to his brither say. - - 12^4. And we’ll be. - - 15^1. Forbes to his men did say. - - 15^2. Noo, tak. - - 16^1. Brave Forbes’ hinchman, _var._ servant, then did. - - 19^2. Made the great M’Donell. - - 19^3. The second stroke that. - - 20^1. a ‘pilleurichie.’ 20^2. The like ye. - - 20^3. As there was amang. - - 21^3. in ‘Leggatt’s lan:’ “_the manuscript is indistinct, and it - would read equally well_, Leggalt’s lan. - - 21^4. Some twa three miles awa. - - 22^2. But they were. - - 22^3. For Forbes. - - 22^4. Slew maist a’by the. - - 23^4. Ye’d scarce tell wha. - - 24^2. The like ye never. - - 24^3. As there was. - - 24^4. muirs down by. - - 25^1. An gin Hielan lasses speer. - - 25^2. them that gaed awa. - - 25^3. tell them plain an plain eneuch. - -#B.# - - 15^1. man. - - - - - 164 - - KING HENRY FIFTH’S CONQUEST OF FRANCE - - #a-d#, broadsides. #a.# Among Percy’s papers. #b.# Roxburghe Ballads, - III, 358. #c.# Jewitt’s Ballads and Songs of Derbyshire, p. 1. #d.# - Chetham’s Library, Manchester, in Hales and Furnivall, Percy’s Folio - MS., II, 597. #e.# Percy papers, “taken down from memory.” #f.# - Nicolas, History of the Battle of Agincourt, 1832, Appendix, p. 78, - from the recitation of a very aged person. #g.# The same, p. 80, - source not mentioned. #h.# Tyler, Henry of Monmouth, II, 197, - apparently from memory. #i.# Percy Society, XVII, Dixon, Ancient - Poems, etc., p. 52, from singing. #j.# Skene MS., p. 42. #k.# - Macmath MS., p. 27, from tradition. #l#, #m#. Buchan’s MSS, I, 176, - II, 124, probably broadside or stall copies. - - -All the known copies of this ballad are recent. It is not in Thackeray’s -list of broadsides, which dates perhaps as late as 1689 (Chappell, The -Roxburghe Ballads, I, xxiv-xxvii); and it is not included in the -collection of 1723–25, which showed particular favor to historical -pieces. In a manuscript index of first lines to a large collection of -songs and ballads “formed in 1748,” I find, “As our king lay on his -bed,” and the ballad may probably have first been published in the -second quarter of the last century. In a woodcut below the title of #a#, -#b#, there are two soldiers with G R on the flap of the coat and G on -the cap (no doubt in #c# as well); the date of these broadsides cannot -therefore be earlier than the accession of George I, 1714. The broadside -is in a popular manner, but has no mark of antiquity. It may, however, -represent an older ballad, disfigured by some purveyor for the Aldermary -press. - -It is probable that the recited versions had their ultimate source in -print, and that printed copies were in circulation which, besides the -usual slight variations,[188] contained two more stanzas, one after 2 -and another after 8, such as are found in #h# and elsewhere; which -stanzas are likely to have formed part of the original matter. - -_After_ 2, #h# (see also #g#, #i#, #j#): - - Tell him to send me my tribute home, - Ten ton of gold that is due to me; - Unless he send me my tribute home, - Soon in French land I will him see. - -After 8, #h# (see also #g#, #i#, #k#, #m#): - - O then bespoke our noble king, - A solemn vow then vowed he: - I’ll promise him such English balls[189] - As in French lands he neer did see! - -#g# has several stanzas which are due to the hand of some improver. - -Another, and much more circumstantial, ballad on Agincourt, written from -the chronicles, was current in the seventeenth century. It begins, ‘A -councell braue [grave] our king did hold,’ and may be seen in the Percy -Manuscript, p. 241, Hales and Furnivall, II, 166, in The Crown Garland -of Golden Roses (with seven stanzas fewer), ed. 1659, p. 65 of the -reprint by the Percy Society, vol. xv; Pepys’ Ballads, I, 90, No 44; Old -Ballads, II, 79; Pills to purge Melancholy, V, 49; etc. - -The story of the Tennis-Balls is not mentioned by the French historians, -by Walsingham, Titus Livius, or the anonymous biographer of Henry in -Cotton MS., Julius E. IV.[190] It occurs, however, in several -contemporary writings, as in Elmham’s Liber Metricus de Henrico Quinto, -cap. xii (Quod filius regis Francorum, in derisum, misit domino regi -pilas, quibus valeret cum pueris ludere potius quam pugnare, etc.), -Cole, Memorials of Henry the Fifth, 1858, p. 101; but not in Elmham’s -prose history. So in Capgrave, De illustribus Henricis, with a _fertur_, -ed. Hingeston, 1858, p. 114; but not in Capgrave’s chronicle. We might -infer, in these two cases, that the tale was thought good enough for -verses and good enough for eulogies, though not good enough for history. - -Again, in verses of Harleian MS. 565, “in a hand of the fifteenth -century,” the Dolphin says to the English ambassadors: - - Me thinke youre kyng he is nought [so] old - No werrys for to maynteyn. - Grete well youre kyng, he seyde, so yonge, - That is both gentill and small; - A tonne of tenys-ballys I shall hym sende, - For hym to pleye with all. - -Henry sends back this message: - - Oure Cherlys of Fraunce gret well or ye wende, - The Dolfyn prowed withinne his wall; - Swyche tenys-ballys I schal hym sende - As schall tere the roof all of his [h]all.[191] - -But there is a chronicler who has the tale still. Otterbourne writes: -Eodem anno \[1414], in quadragesima, rege existente apud Kenilworth, -Karolus, regis Francorum filius, Delphinus vocatus, misit pilas -Parisianas ad ludendum cum pueris. Cui rex Anglorum rescripsit, dicens -se in brevi pilas missurum Londoniarum, quibus terreret et confunderet -sua tecta. - -And once more, the author of an inedited “Chronicle of King Henry the -Fifth that was Kyng Henries son,” Cotton MS., Claudius A. viii, of the -middle of the fifteenth century, fol. 1, back:[192] - - And tha_n_ the Dolphine of Fraunce aunswered to our embassatours, - and said in this man_er_, ‘that the kyng was ouer yong and to tender - of age to make any warre ayens hym, and was not lyke yet to be noo - good werrioure to doo and to make suche a conquest there vpon hym. - And somwhat in scorne and dispite he sente to hym a tonne full_e_ of - tenys-ballis, be-cause he wolde haue some-what for to play - w_i_t_h_all_e_ for hym and for his lordis, and that be-came hym - better than to mayntayn any werre. And than anone oure lordes that - was embassatours token hir leue and comen in to England ayenne, and - tolde the kyng and his counceill_e_ of the vngoodly aunswer that - they had of the Dolphy_n_, and of the present the which_e_ he had - sent vnto the kyng. And whan the kyng had hard her wordis, and the - answere of the Dolp[h]ynne, he was wondre sore agreued, and right_e_ - euell_e_ apayd towarde the Frenssh_e_men, and toward the kyng, and - the Dolphynne, and thought_e_ to auenge hym vpon hem as sone as God - wold send hym grace and myght_e_; and anon lette make tenys-ballis - for the Dolp[h]ynne in all the hast that the myght_e_ be made, and - they were grete gonne-stones for the Dolp[h]ynne to play - wyth_e_-all_e_.’ - -The Dolphin, whom two of these writers make talk of Henry as if he were -a boy, was himself in his nineteenth year, and the English king more -than eight years his senior. “Hume has justly observed,” says Sir Harris -Nicolas, “that the great offers made by the French monarch, however -inferior to Henry’s demands, prove that it was his wish rather to -appease than exasperate him; and it is almost incredible that, whilst -the advisers of Charles evinced so much forbearance, his son should have -offered Henry a personal insult.... It should be observed, as additional -grounds for doubting that the message or gift was sent by the Dauphin, -that such an act must have convinced both parties of the hopelessness of -a pacific arrangement afterwards, and would, it may be imagined, have -equally prevented the French court and Henry from seeking any other -means of ending the dispute than by the sword. This, however, was not -the case; for even supposing that the offensive communication was made -on the occasion of the last, instead ... of that of the first embassy, -it is certain that overtures were again sent to Henry whilst he was on -his journey to the place of embarkation, and that even when there, he -wrote to the French monarch with the object of adjusting his claims -without a recourse to arms:” pp. 9, 12 f. - -History repeats itself. Darius writes to Alexander as if he were a boy, -and sends him, with other things, a ball to play with; and Alexander, in -his reply to Darius, turns the tables upon the Persian king by his -interpretation of the insolent gifts: Pseudo-Callisthenes, I, 36, ed. -Müller, p. 40 f.[193] The parallel is close. It is not inconceivable -that the English story is borrowed, but I am not prepared to maintain -this. - -It does not appear from any testimony external to the ballad that -married men or widows’ sons had the benefit of an exemption in the levy -for France, or that Cheshire, Lancashire, and Derby[194] were -particularly called upon to furnish men: st. 9. The Rev. J. Endell Tyler -believes the ballad to be unquestionably of ancient origin, “probably -written and sung within a very few years of the expedition,” “before -Henry’s death, and just after his marriage;” which granted, this stanza -would have a certain interest. But, says Mr Tyler, “whether there is any -foundation at all in fact for the tradition of Henry’s resolution to -take with him no married man or widow’s son, the tradition itself bears -such strong testimony to the general estimate of Henry’s character for -bravery at once and kindness of heart that it would be unpardonable to -omit every reference to it,” and he has both printed the ballad in the -body of his work and placed “that golden stanza” on his title-page.[195] -The question of Henry’s kindness of heart does not require to be -discussed here, but it may be said in passing that there is not quite -enough in this ballad to remove the impression which is ordinarily made -by his conduct of the siege of Rouen. - -The Battle of Agincourt was fought October 25, 1415. It is hardly -necessary to say, with reference to the marching to Paris gates, that -Henry had the wisdom to evacuate French ground as soon after the battle -as convoy to England could be procured. - - - 1 - As our king lay musing on his bed, - He bethought himself upon a time - Of a tribute that was due from France, - Had not been paid for so long a time. - Fal, lal, etc. - - 2 - He called for his lovely page, - His lovely page then called he, - Saying, You must go to the king of France, - To the king of France, sir, ride speedily. - - 3 - O then went away this lovely page, - This lovely page then away went he; - And when he came to the king of France, - Low he fell down on his bended knee. - - 4 - ‘My master greets you, worthy sir; - Ten ton of gold that is due to be, - That you will send him his tribute home, - Or in French land you soon will him see.’ - - 5 - ‘Your master’s young and of tender years, - Not fit to come into my degree, - And I will send him three tennis-balls, - That with them he may learn to play.’ - - 6 - O then returned this lovely page, - This lovely page then returned he, - And when he came to our gracious king, - Low he fell down on his bended knee. - - 7 - ‘What news, what news, my trusty page? - What is the news you have brought to me?’ - ‘I have brought such news from the king of France - That you and he will never agree. - - 8 - ‘He says you’re young and of tender years, - Not fit to come into his degree, - And he will send you three tennis-balls, - That with them you may learn to play.’ - - 9 - ‘Recruit me Cheshire and Lancashire, - And Derby Hills that are so free; - No marryd man nor no widow’s son; - For no widow’s curse shall go with me.’ - - 10 - They recruited Cheshire and Lancashire, - And Derby Hills that are so free; - No marryd man, nor no widow’s son; - Yet there was a jovial bold company. - - 11 - O then we marchd into the French land, - With drums and trumpets so merrily; - And then bespoke the king of France, - ‘Lo, yonder comes proud King Henry.’ - - 12 - The first shot that the Frenchmen gave, - They killd our Englishmen so free; - We killd ten thousand of the French, - And the rest of them they ran away. - - 13 - And then we marched to Paris gates, - With drums and trumpets so merrily: - O then bespoke the king of France, - ‘The Lord have mercy on my men and me! - - 14 - ‘O I will send him his tribute home, - Ten ton of gold that is due to he, - And the finest flower that is in all France - To the Rose of England I will give free.’ - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - King Henry V. his Conquest of France, in revenge for the affront - offered him by the French king in sending him, instead of the - Tribute due, a Ton of Tennis-Balls. - - Printed and sold at the Printing Office in Bow Church-Yard, - London. - - 1^3. due to. - -#b.# - - _Title the same, with omission of the first_ him _and_ due. - - Printed and sold in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London. st. - - 1^3. due from. - - 3^3. Low he came. - - 3^4. And when fell. - - 7^1. _wanting._ - - 7^4. he and you will ne’er. - - 10^3. man or widow’s. - - 12^4. run. - -#c.# - - _Title as in #b#. Printed as in #b#._ - - 1^3. due from. - - 3^1. away went. - - 3^3. Lo he. - - 3^4. And then he. - - 7^4. he and you will ne’er. - - 9^3. man or widow’s. - - 12^4. run. - -#d.# - - _Title as in #b#. Imprint not given._ - - 1^3. due from. - - 3^3. Low he came. - - 3^4. And when fell. - - 7^4. he and you will ne’er. - - 9^3. man or. - - 12^4. run. - -#e.# - - 2^1. Then he called on. - - 2^4. With a message from King Henry. - - 3^1. Away then went. - - 3^2. Away and away and away. - - 3^4. He fell low down. - - 4^2. of gold _wanting_. - - 4^3. And you must send him this. - - 4^4. you’ll soon. - - 5^1, 8^1. tender age. - - 5^2, 8^2. not meet to come in. - - 5^3. So I’ll send him home some. - - 6^{1,2,4} _as in_ 3^{1,2,4}. - - 7^1. my lovely. - - 7^2. what news bring you to me? - - 7^4. That I’m sure with him you’ll neer agree. - - 8^3. So he’s sent you here some. - - 9^2. that be. - - 9^3, 10^3. man nor widow’s. - - 9^4. For _wanting_. - - 10^{1,2}. Then they recruited Lankashire, Cheshire and Derby Hills - so free. - - 10^4. brave _for_ bold. - - 11^2, 13^2. so _wanting_. - - 11^3, 13^1. O then. - - 12^3. But we. - - 12^4. them were forsd to free. - - 13^4. Lord have mercy on [my] men and me. - - 14^1. send this. - - 14^3. fairest flower in all French land. - - 14^4. make free. - -#f.# - - “Communicated by Bertram Mitford, of Mitford Castle, in - Northumberland, who wrote it from the dictation of a very aged - relative.” - - 1^1. As a. - - 1^3. Those tributes due from the French king. - - 2^4. Those tributes that are due to me. - - 3^{1,2}, 6^{1,2}. Away, away went this lovely page, Away and away - and away went he, _nearly as in_ #e#. - - 4^{1,2}. My master he does greet you well, He doth greet you most - heartily. - - 4^3. If you don’t. - - 5^2, 8^2. come within. - - 5^4. And in French land he ne’er dare me see. - - 7^1. my lovely, _as in_ #e#. - - 7^3. from the French king. - - 7^4. That with him I’m sure you can ne’er agree. - - 8^4. And in French land you ne’er dare him see. - - 9^1. Go, ‘cruit me. - - 10^4. jovial brave, _as in_ #e#. - - 12^1. The first that fired it was the French. - - 12^4. them were forced to flee. - - 13^3. The first that spoke was the French king. - - 13^4. Lord a mercy on my poor men and me. - - 14^{1,2}. O go and take your tributes home, Five tons of gold I - will give thee. - - 14^4. in all French land, _as in_ #e#. - - #f# _was clearly derived from the same source as #e#._ - -#g.# - - _The fourth line repeated as burden._ - - 2. - O then calld he his lovely page, - His lovely page then called he, - Who, when he came before the king, - Lo, he fell down on his bended knee. - - ‘Welcome, welcome, thou lovely page, - Welcome, welcome art thou here; - Go sped thee now to the king of France, - And greet us well to him so dear. - - ‘And when thou comst to the king of France, - And hast greeted us to him so dear, - Thou then shall ask for the tribute due, - That has not been paid for many a year.’ - - 3^{1,2}. Away then went this lovely page, Away, away, O then went - he. - - 3^4. Lo, he. _Between 3 and 4_: - ‘What news, what news, thou royal page? - What news, what news dost thou bring to me?’ - ‘I bring such news from our good king - That him and you may long agree. - - 4. - ‘My master then does greet you well, - Does greet you well and happy here, - And asks from you the tribute due, - That has not been paid this many a year.’ - - 6^{1,2}. - Away, away went this lovely page, - Away, away, then away went he.[196] - - 7^4. That he and you can ne’er agree. - - _After 8_: - O then in wroth rose our noble king, - In anger great then up rose he: - ‘I’ll send such balls to the king in France - As Frenchmen ne’er before did see.’ - - 9^1. Go ‘cruit me. - - 10^{3,4}. - Tho no married man, nor no widow’s son, - They recruited three thousand men and three. - - _Between 10 and 11_: - And when the king he did them see, - He greeted them most heartily: - ‘Welcome, welcome, thou trusty band, - For thou art a jolly brave company. - - ‘Go now make ready our royal fleet, - Make ready soon, and get to sea; - I then will shew the king of France - When on French ground he does me see.’ - - And when our king to Southampton came, - There the ships for him did wait a while; - Sure such a sight was ne’er seen before, - By any one in this our isle. - - Their course they then made strait for France, - With streamers gay and sails well filld; - But the grandest ship of all that went - Was that in which our good king saild. - - 11^{3,4}. - The Frenchmen they were so dismayd, - Such a sight they ne’er did wish to see. - - 12^1. The first that fired it was the French, _as in_ #f#. - - 13^3. The first that spoke was the French king, _as in_ #f#. - - 13^4. Lo yonder comes proud King Henry. - - _After 13_: - ‘Our loving cousin, we greet you well, - From us thou now hast naught to fear; - We seek from you our tribute due, - That has not been paid for this many a year.’ - - 14{1,2}. - ‘O go and take your tributes home, - Five tons of gold I will give to thee,’ - - _as in_ #f#. - - 14^3. And the fairest flower in all French land, _as in_ #e#, #f#. - -#h.# - - “The author, to whom the following Song of Agincourt has been - familiar from his childhood, cannot refrain from inserting it - here.” - - 1^1. musing _wanting_. - - 1^2. All musing at the hour of prime: “conjectural.” - - 1^3. He bethought him of the king of France. - - 1^4. And tribute due for so long a time. - - 2^{3,4}, 3^3. king in. - - _After 2_: - Tell him to send me my tribute home, - Ten ton of gold that is due to me; - Unless he send me my tribute home, - Soon in French land I will him see. - - 3^{1,2}, 6^{1,2}. - Away then goes this lovely page, - As fast, as fast as he could hie. - - 4^2. gold is due to me. - - 5^3. send him home some. - - 7^4. That you and he can. - - 8^2. come up to. - - 8^3. He has sent you home some. - - _After 8_: - Oh! then bespoke our noble king, - A solemn vow then vowed he: - I’ll promise him such English balls - As in French lands he ne’er did see. - - _Cf._ #g#. - - 9^1. Go! call up. - - 9^3, 10^3. But neither ... nor. - - 9^4. For _wanting_. - - 10^1. They called up. - - _After 10_: - He called unto him his merry men all, - And numbered them by three and three, - Until their number it did amount - To thirty thousand stout men and three. - - _Cf._ #g# 10^{3,4}. - - 11^1. Away then marched they. - - 11^2, 13^2. and fifes. - - 12^1. The first that fired it was the French, _as in_ #f#, #g#. - - 13^1. Then marched they on to. - - 14^2. due from me. - - 14^3. the very best flower. - -#i.# - - _From the singing of a Yorkshire minstrel, with_ “one or two - verbal corrections” _from a modern broadside_. - - 2^{1,2}, 3^1, 6^1. trusty _for_ lovely. - - _After 2_: - And tell him of my tribute due, - Ten ton of gold that’s due to me; - That he must send me my tribute home, - Or in French land he soon will me see. - - .^2, 6^2. Away and away and away, _as in_ #e#, #f#. - - _After 8_: Oh! then, etc., _as in_ #h#, _but_ tennis-balls _in - line three_. - - 9^1. Go call up, _as in_ #h#. - - 10^1. They called up, _as in_ #h#. - - 12^4. And the rest of them they were forced to flee, _nearly as - in_ #f#. - - 13^4. Lord have mercy on my poor men and me, _as in_ #f#. - - 14^3. And the fairest flower that is in our French land: _cf._ - #e#, #f#, #g#. - - 14^4. shall go free, _as in_ #g#. - -#j.# - - _A Scottish version of the broadside from recitation of the - beginning of this century: of slight value._ - - 1^2. On his bed lay musing he: _for the_ ee _rhyme_. - - _After 2_ (_cf._ #g#, #h#, #i#): - Ye gae on to the king of France, - Ye greet him well and speedily, - And ye bid him send the tributes due, - Or in French lands he’ll soon see me. - - 5^3, 8^3. some tennis. - - 5^4. may play him merrilie. - - 6^1. Away, away went. - - 7^4. him an you. - - 8^4. may play fu merrilie. - - 9^1, 10^1. Chester and Lincolnshire. - - 11^2. wi drum an pipe. - - 12 _wanting._ - - 13^2. wi pipe an drum. - - 13^4. God hae mercie on my poor men and me: _cf._ #f#, #i#. - - 14 _wanting._ - -#k.# - - Received, 1886, from Mr Alexander Kirk, Inspector of Poor, Dalry, - Kirkcudbrightshire, who learned it many years ago from David - Rae, Barlay, Balmaclellan. - - 3^{1,2}, 6^{1,2}. Away, away ... Away, away, and away: _cf._ #e#, - #f#, #g#, #i#. - - 7^{3,4}. No news, no news, ... But just what my two eyes did see: - _cf._ No 114, #A# 11, #E# 10, #F# 10. - - _After_ 8 (_cf._ #g#, #h#, #i#): - Go call to me my merry men all, - All by thirties and by three, - And I will send him such tennis-balls - As on French ground he did never see. - - 12 _wanting._ - - 13^1. But when they came to the palace-gates. - -#l.# - - ‘Henry V and King of France.’ - - 2^{3,4}, 3^3. king in. - - 5^2. come unto. - - 7^4. him and you. - - 8^2. come to. - - 11^1. Then they. - - 13^4. Have mercy, Lord. - -#m.# - - ‘The Two Kings.’ - - 3, 4. - When he came to the king of France, - He fell down on his bended knee: - ‘My master greets you, noble sir, - For a tribute that is due to he.’ - - 5^2, 8^2. come to. - - 5^3. send him home ten. - - 6, 7. - When he came to our noble king, - He fell low on his bended knee: - ‘What news, what news, my lovely page? - What news have ye brought unto me?’ - - 8^3. He’s sent you hame ten. - - _After 8_: - Out then spake our noble king, - A solemn vow then vowed he: - ‘I shall prepare such English balls - That in French land he ne’er did see.’ - - 9^1. You do recruit. - - 10^1. They did recruit. - - 11 _wanting._ - - 12^4. The rest of them were forced to flee. - - 13^1. As we came in at the palace-gates. - - 13^4. Have mercy on my men and me. - - 14^3. The fairest flower in a’ French land. - - - - - 165 - - SIR JOHN BUTLER - - ‘Sir Iohn Butler,’ Percy MS., p. 427; Hales and Furnivall, III, 205. - - -The subject of this ballad is the murder of a Sir John Butler at Bewsey -Hall, near Warrington, Lancashire. - -The story, which may be imperfect at the beginning, is that a party of -men cross the moat in a leathern boat, and among them William Savage is -one of the first. Sir John Butler’s daughter Ellen wakens her father and -tells him that his uncle Stanley is within his hall. If that be true, -says Sir John, a hundred pound will not save me. Ellen goes down into -the hall, and is asked where her father is; she avers that he is ridden -to London, but the men know better, and search for him. Little Holcroft -loses his head in trying to keep the door of the room where Sir John is; -they enter, and call on him to yield. He will yield to his uncle -Stanley, but never to false Peter Legh. Ellen Butler calls for a priest; -William Savage says, He shall have no priest but my sword and me. Lady -Butler was at this time in London; had she been at home she might have -begged her husband’s life of her good brother John. She dreams that her -lord is swimming in blood, and long before day sets out for Bewsey Hall. -On her way she learns that her husband is slain, and the news impels her -to go back to London, where she begs of the king the death of false -Peter Legh, her brother Stanley, William Savage, and all. Would ye have -three men to die for one? says the king; if thou wilt come to London, -thou shalt go home Lady Gray. - -The papers of Roger Dodsworth,[197] the antiquarian ([198]16..), give -the following account of the transaction, according to the tradition of -his time. “Sir John Boteler, Knight, was slaine in his bed by the Lord -Standley’s procurement, Sir Piers Leigh and Mister William Savage -joininge with him in that action, curruptinge his servants, his porter -settinge a light in a windowe to give knowledge upon the water that was -about his house at Bewsaye, when the watch that watched about his howse -at Bewsaye, where your way to ... [_i. e._ Bold] comes, were gone awaye -to their owne homes; and then they came over the moate in lether boates, -and soe to his chambre, where one of his servants, called Hontrost -[Holcroft], was slaine, being his chamberlaine; the other brother -betrayed his master. They promised him a great reward, and he going with -them a way, they hanged him at a tree in Bewsaye Park. After this Sir -John Boteler’s lady pursued those that slewe her husband, and indyted -xx. men for that ‘saute,’ but being marryed to Lorde Gray, he made her -suites voyd, for which cause she parted from her husband, the Lorde -Graye, and came into Lancastershyre, and sayd, If my lord wyll not helpe -me that I may have my wyll of mine enemies, yet my bodye shall be -berryed by him; and she caused a tombe of alabaster to be made, where -she lyeth upon the right hand of her husband, Sir John Butler.”[198] - -Another paper in the same collection assumes to give the cause of the -murder. “The occasion of the murther was this. The king being to come to -Lathom, the Erle of Derby, his brother-in-law, sent unto hym [Sir John -Butler] a messenger to desire him to wear his cloath [appear as his -retainer] at that tyme; but in his absence his lady said she scorned -that her husband should wayte on her brother, being as well able to -entertayne the kynge as he was; which answer the erle tooke in great -disdayne, and persecuted the said Sir John Butler with all the mallice -that cowd be.” After mutual ill-services, they took arms one against the -other, Sir Piers Legh and William Savage siding with the earl, and in -the end these three corrupted Sir John Butler’s servants and murdered -him in his bed. “Hys lady, at that instant being in London, did dreame -the same night that he was slayne, that Bewsaye Hall did swym with -blood; whereupon she presently came homewards, and heard by the way the -report of his death.”[199] - -Sir John Boteler, son of Sir John, born in 1429, married for his third -wife Margaret Stanley, widow of Sir Thomas Troutbeck, daughter of Thomas -first Lord Stanley, and sister of Thomas the second lord, whom Dodsworth -calls by anticipation Earl of Derby, which he was not until 1485. Sir -John Boteler had by his first wife four daughters, but no Ellen; by -Margaret Stanley he had a son Thomas, born in 1461. He died in 1463, and -his wife afterwards married for her third husband Henry Lord Grey of -Codnor. - -According to st. 23 of the ballad, Dame Margaret’s brother Stanley, that -is Lord Thomas, is directly concerned in the murder which in the -Dodsworth story he is said only to have procured. But an uncle Stanley -appears to be a prominent member of the hostile party in sts 5, 12; how, -we cannot explain. A ‘good’ brother John is mentioned in st. 15, of whom -Lady Butler might have begged her husband’s life, and who must, -therefore, have been present. Lady Butler had a brother John. But the -alleged participation of Sir Peter Legh and William Savage in this -murder, perpetrated in 1463, is an impossibility. Sir Peter Legh was -born in 1455, and was only eight years old at that time, and William -Savage, nephew of Lord Thomas Stanley, was also a mere child. As to the -part ascribed to Lord Thomas Stanley, Sir Thomas Butler, the son of Sir -John, is said to have lived on the most friendly terms with him in after -days, and to have limited “an estate in remainder, after the limitation -to himself and his heirs, to the Earl of Derby in fee,” which we can -hardly suppose he would have done if the earl had been his father’s -murderer. - -The occasion of the murder is represented in the tradition reported by -Dodsworth to have been Sir John Butler’s refusal (through his wife) to -wear the Earl of Derby’s livery at the time of the king’s coming to -Lathom. The king (Henry VII) did indeed come to Lathom, but not until -the year 1495, thirty-two years after Sir John’s death, and three years -after that of his wife. It is true that other accounts make Sir Thomas, -the son of Sir John, to have been the victim of the murder; but Sir -Thomas died in 1522, and the Earl of Derby in 1504.[200] There is not, -as Dr. Robson says, a tittle of evidence to show that there was any -murder at all, whether of Sir John or any other of the Butler family. -But it was an unquiet time, and the conjecture has been offered “that, -being a consistent Lancastrian,” Sir John “may have incurred some -Yorkist resentments, and have been sacrificed by a confederacy of some -of those who, though his private friends, were his political -enemies.”[201] - -Sir John Butler, son of Sir John, is of course the only person that the -ballad and the parallel tradition can intend, for Margaret Stanley was -the only Stanley that ever married a Butler, and Margaret Stanley’s -third husband was Lord Grey of Codnor. But Sir John the elder, who died -in 1430, had a daughter Ellen, “old enough to raise an alarm when her -father was attacked, while he was actually nephew by marriage to the -second Sir John Stanley of Lathom, who survived him.” (If we might -proceed according to established mythological rules, and transfer to the -son what is told of the father, we might account for the “uncle Stanley” -and the Ellen of the ballad.) Sir John the senior’s widow, Lady -Isabella, was in 1437 violently carried off and forced into marriage by -one William Poole, and her petition to Parliament for redress calls this -Poole an outlaw “for felony for man’s death by him murdered and slain.” -It has been thought a not overstrained presumption that this language -may refer to the death of Lady Isabella’s husband, the earlier Sir John, -though it would be strange, if such were the reference, that no name -should be given.[202] - -The Bewsey murder has been narrated, with the variations of later -tradition, by John Fitchett in ‘Bewsey, a Poem,’ Warrington, 1796; in a -ballad by John Roby, Traditions of Lancashire, 1879, II, 72; and in -another ballad in Ballads and Songs of Lancashire, Harland and -Wilkinson, 1882, p. 13 (at p. 15 Fitchett’s verses are cited). See also -Dr Robson, in the preface to the Percy ballad, p. 208, and Beamont, -Annals of the Lords of Warrington, p. 318. - - - 1 - But word is come to Warrington, - And Busye Hall is laid about; - S_i_r Iohn Butler and his merry men - Stand in ffull great doubt. - - 2 - When they came to Busye Hall - Itt was the merke midnight, - And all the bridges were vp drawen, - And neuer a candle-light. - - 3 - There they made them one good boate, - All of one good bull skinn; - Will_iam_ Sauage was one of the ffirst - _Tha_t euer came itt w_i_thin. - - 4 - Hee sayled ore his merrymen, - By two and two together, - And said itt was as good a bote - As ere was made of lether. - - 5 - ‘Waken you, waken you, deare ffather! - God waken you w_i_thin! - For heere is yo_u_r vnckle Standlye - Come yo_u_r hall w_i_thin.’ - - 6 - ‘If _tha_t be true, Ellen Butler, - These tydings you tell mee, - A hundred pound in good redd gold - This night will not borrow mee.’ - - 7 - Then came downe Ellen Butler - And into her ffathers hall, - And then came downe Ellen Butler, - And shee was laced in pall. - - 8 - ‘Where is thy ffather, Ellen Butler? - Haue done, and tell itt mee:’ - ‘My ffather is now to London ridden, - As Christ shall haue p_ar_t of mee.’ - - 9 - ‘Now nay, now nay, Ellen Butler, - Ffor soe itt must not bee; - Ffor ere I goe fforth of this hall, - Yo_u_r ffather I must see.’ - - 10 - The sought _tha_t hall then vp and downe - Theras Iohn Butler lay; - The sought _tha_t hall then vp and downe - Theras Iohn Butler lay. - - 11 - Ffaire him ffall, litle Holcrofft! - Soe merrilye he kept the dore, - Till _tha_t his head ffrom his shoulders - Came tumbling downe the ffloore. - - 12 - ‘Yeeld thee, yeelde thee, Iohn Butler! - Yeelde thee now to mee!’ - ‘I will yeelde me to my vnckle Stanlye, - And neere to ffalse Peeter Lee.’ - - 13 - ‘A preist, a preist,’ saies Ellen Butler, - ‘To housle and to shriue! - A preist, a preist,’ sais Ellen Butler, - ‘While _tha_t my father is a man aliue!’ - - 14 - Then bespake him Will_iam_ Sauage, - A shames death may hee dye! - Sayes, He shall haue no other preist - But my bright sword and mee. - - 15 - The Ladye Butler is to London rydden, - Shee had better haue beene att home; - Shee might haue beggd her owne marryed lo_rd_ - Att her good brother Iohn. - - 16 - And as shee lay in leeue London, - And as shee lay in her bedd, - Shee dreamed her owne marryed lo_rd_ - Was swiminnge in blood soe red. - - 17 - Shee called vp her merry men all, - Long ere itt was day; - Saies, Wee must ryde to Busye Hall, - W_i_th all speed _tha_t wee may. - - 18 - Shee mett w_i_th three Kendall men, - Were ryding by the way: - ‘Tydings, tydings, Kendall men, - I pray you tell itt mee!’ - - 19 - ‘Heauy tydings, deare madam; - Ffrom you wee will not leane; - The worthyest k_night_ in merry England, - Iohn Butler, Lord! hee is slaine!’ - - 20 - ‘Ffarewell, ffarwell, Iohn Butler! - Ffor thee I must neuer see: - Ffarewell, ffarwell, Busiye Hall! - For thee I will neu_er_ come nye.’ - - 21 - Now Ladye Butler is to London againe, - In all the speed might bee, - And when shee came before her prince, - Shee kneeled low downe on her knee. - - 22 - ‘A boone, a boone, my leege!’ shee sayes, - ‘Ffor Gods loue grant itt mee!’ - ‘What is thy boone, Lady Butler? - Or what wold thou haue of mee? - - 23 - ‘What is thy boone, Lady Butler? - Or what wold thou haue of mee?’ - ‘_Tha_t ffalse Peeres of Lee, and my brother Stanley, - And Will_iam_ Sauage, and all, may dye.’ - - 24 - ‘Come you hither, Lady Butler, - Come you ower this stone; - Wold you haue three men ffor to dye, - All ffor the losse off one? - - 25 - ‘Come you hither, Lady Butler, - With all the speed you may; - If thou wilt come to London, La_dy_ Butler, - Thou shalt goe home Lady Gray.’ - - * * * * * - - 2^2. merke _may be_ merle _in the MS.: Furnivall_. - - 4^2. 2 and 2. - - 6^3. a 100[li .]. - - 7^1. them _for_ Then. - - 10^{1,2}. _These two lines only are in the MS., but they are - marked with a bracket and bis: Furnivall._ - - 18^1, 24^3. 3. - - 22^{3,4}. _These two lines are bracketed, and marked bis in the - MS.: Furnivall._ - - - - - 166 - - THE ROSE OF ENGLAND - - ‘The Rose of Englande,’ Percy MS., p. 423; Hales and Furnivall, III, - 187. - - -The title of this ballad, as Percy notes in his manuscript, is quoted in -Fletcher’s Monsieur Thomas (printed in 1639), act third, scene third, -Dyce, VII, 364. The subject is the winning of the crown of England from -Richard III by Henry VII, and the parties on both sides, though some of -them are sometimes called by their proper names, are mostly indicated by -their badges or cognizances,[203] which were perfectly familiar, so that -though there is a “perpetual allegory,” it is not a “dark conceit.” - -The red rose of Lancaster was rooted up by a boar, Richard, who was -generally believed to have murdered Henry VI and his son Edward, the -Prince of Wales; but the seed of the rose, the Earl of Richmond, -afterwards wore the crown. The sixth stanza gives us to understand that -the young Earl of Richmond was under the protection of Lord Stanley at -Lathom before his uncle, the Earl of Pembroke, fled with him to -Brittany, in 1471; but this does not appear in the histories. The Earl -of Richmond came back to claim his right (in 1485), and brought with him -the blue boar, the Earl of Oxford, to encounter, with Richard, the white -boar. Richmond sends a messenger to the old eagle, Lord Stanley, his -stepfather, to announce his arrival; Stanley thanks God, and hopes that -the rose shall flourish again. The Welshmen rise in a mass under Rice ap -Thomas and shog on to Shrewsbury. Master Mitton, bailiff of Shrewsbury, -refuses at first to let Richmond enter, but, upon receiving letters from -Sir William Stanley of Holt Castle, opens the gates. The Earl of Oxford -is about to smite off the bailiff’s head; Richmond interferes, and asks -Mitton why he was kept out. The bailiff knows no king but him that wears -the crown; if Richmond shall put down Richard, he will, when sworn, be -as true to Richmond as to Richard now. Richmond recognizes this as -genuine loyalty, and will not have the bailiff harmed. The earl moves on -to Newport, and then has a private meeting at Atherstone with Lord -Stanley, who makes great moan because the young eagle, Lord Strange, his -eldest son, is a hostage in the hands of the white boar. At the battle -Oxford has the van; Lord Stanley follows ‘fast’! The Talbot-dog (Sir -Gilbert Talbot) bites sore; the unicorn (Sir John Savage) quits himself -well; then comes in the hart’s head (Sir William Stanley), the field is -fought, the white boar slain, and the young eagle saved as by fire.[204] - -How the Earl of Richmond compassed the crown of England is told at more -length in two histories in the ballad-stanza, ‘Bosworth Field’ and ‘Lady -Bessy.’ The first of these (656 verses) occurs only in the Percy MS., -Hales and Furnivall, III, 235. It is on the whole a tame performance. -Richmond is kept quite subordinate to the Stanleys, kneeling to Sir -William, v. 371, and “desiring” the van of Lord Stanley, who grants his -request, 449–51. The second exists in two versions: (1) Harleian MS. -367, printed by Mr Halliwell-Phillipps, Percy Society, vol. xx, 1847, p. -43, and Palatine Anthology, 1850, p. 60; Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, -III, 321 (each of about 1100 verses); (2) Percy Society and Palatine -Anthology again, p. 1, p. 6, and previously by Thomas Heywood, 1829 -(about 1250 vv). In this second poem the love, ambition, and energy of -Elizabeth of York sets all the instruments at work, and the Stanleys are -not so extravagantly prominent. It is a remarkably lively narrative, -with many curious details, and in its original form (which we cannot -suppose we have) must have been nearly contemporary. ‘Bosworth Field’ -borrows some verses from it. - - -17^2, 22^4. This affirmation of the trustworthiness of the chronicle -occurs in ‘The Battle of Otterburn,’ No 161, 35^2, and again in ‘Flodden -Field,’ No 178, appendix, 121^4. - - - 1 - Throughout a garden greene and gay, - A seemlye sight itt was to see - How fflowers did flourish fresh and gay, - And birds doe sing melodiouslye. - - 2 - In the midst of a garden there sprange a tree, - W_hi_ch tree was of a mickle price, - And there vppon sprang the rose soe redd, - The goodlyest _tha_t euer sprange on rise. - - 3 - This rose was ffaire, ffresh to behold, - Springing w_i_th many a royall lance; - A crowned king, w_i_th a crowne of gold, - Ouer England, Ireland, and of Ffrance. - - 4 - Then came in a beast men call a bore, - And he rooted this garden vpp and downe; - By the seede of the rose he sett noe store, - But afterwards itt wore the crowne. - - 5 - Hee tooke the branches of this rose away, - And all in sunder did them teare, - And he buryed them vnder a clodd of clay, - Swore they shold neu_er_ bloome nor beare. - - 6 - Then came in an egle gleaming gay, - Of all ffaire birds well worth the best; - He took the branche of the rose away, - And bore itt to Latham to his nest. - - 7 - But now is this rose out of England exiled, - This certaine truth I will not laine; - But if itt please you to sitt a while, - I’le tell you how the rose came in againe. - - 8 - Att Milford Hauen he entered in; - To claime his right, was his delight; - He brought the blew bore in w_i_th him, - To encounter w_i_th the bore soe white. - - 9 - The[n] a messenger the rose did send - To the egles nest, and bidd him hye: - ‘To my ffather, the old egle, I doe [me] commend, - His aide and helpe I craue speedylye.’ - - 10 - Saies, I desire my father att my cominge - Of men and mony att my need, - And alsoe my mother of her deer blessing; - The better then I hope to speede. - - 11 - And when the messenger came before thold egle, - He kneeled him downe vpon his knee; - Saith, Well greeteth you my lo_rd_ the rose, - He hath sent you greetings here by me. - - 12 - Safe ffrom the seas Christ hath him sent, - Now he is entered England w_i_thin: - ‘Let vs thanke God,’ the old egle did say, - ‘He shall be the fflower of all his kine. - - 13 - ‘Wend away, messenger, w_i_th might and maine; - Itt’s hard to know who a man may trust; - I hope the rose shall fflourish againe, - And haue all things att his owne lust.’ - - 14 - Then S_i_r Rice ap Thomas drawes Wales w_i_th him; - A worthy sight itt was to see, - How the Welchmen rose wholy w_i_th him, - And shogged them to Shrewsburye. - - 15 - Att _tha_t time was baylye in Shrewsburye - One M_aster_ Mitton, in the towne; - The gates were strong, and he mad them ffast, - And the portcullis he lett downe. - - 16 - And throug a garrett of the walls, - Ouer Severne these words said hee; - ‘Att these gates no man enter shall;’ - But he kept him out a night and a day. - - 17 - These words Mitton did Erle Richmond tell - (I am sure the chronicles of this will not lye); - But when l_ett_res came from S_i_r W_illia_m Stanley of the Holt - castle, - Then the gates were opened p_re_sentlye. - - 18 - Then entred this towne the noble lord, - The Erle Richmond, the rose soe redd; - The Erle of Oxford, w_i_th a sword, - Wold haue smitt of the bailiffes head. - - 19 - ‘But hold yo_u_r hand,’ saies Erle Richmond, - ‘Ffor his loue _tha_t dyed vpon a tree! - Ffor if wee begin to head so soone, - In England wee shall beare no degree.’ - - 20 - ‘What offence haue I made thee,’ sayd Erle Richmonde, - ‘_Tha_t thou kept me out of my towne?’ - ‘I know no king,’ sayd Mitton then, - ‘But Rich_ard_ now, _tha_t weares the crowne.’ - - 21 - ‘Why, what wilt tho_u_ say,’ said Erle Richmonde, - ‘When I haue put K_ing_ Richard downe?’ - ‘Why, then Ile be as true to you, my lo_rd_, - After the time _tha_t I am sworne.’ - - 22 - ‘Were itt not great pitty,’ sayd Erle Richmond, - ‘_Tha_t such a man as this shold dye, - Such loyall service by him done? - (The cronickles of this will not lye.) - - 23 - ‘Thou shalt not be harmed in any case;’ - He p_ar_done[d] him p_re_sentlye; - They stayd not past a night and a day, - But towards Newp_or_t did they hye. - - 24 - But [at] Attherston these lords did meete; - A worthy sight itt was to see, - How Erle Richmond tooke his hatt in his hand, - And said, Cheshire and Lancashire, welcome to me! - - 25 - But now is a bird of the egle taken; - Ffrom the white bore he cannot fflee; - Therfore the old egle makes great moane, - And prayes to God most certainly. - - 26 - ‘O stedfast God, verament,’ he did say, - ‘Thre p_er_sons in one god in Trinytye, - Saue my sonne, the young egle, this day - Ffrom all ffalse craft and trecherye!’ - - 27 - Then the blew bore the vanward had; - He was both warry and wise of witt; - The right hand of them he tooke, - The sunn and wind of them to gett. - - 28 - Then the egle ffollowed fast vpon his pray, - W_i_th sore dints he did them smyte; - The talbott he bitt wonderous sore, - Soe well the vnicorne did him quite. - - 29 - And then came in the harts head; - A worthy sight itt was to see, - The iacketts _tha_t were of white and redd, - How they laid about them lustilye. - - 30 - But now is the ffeirce ffeeld foughten and ended, - And the white bore there lyeth slaine, - And the young egle is p_re_serued, - And come to his nest againe. - - 31 - But now this garden fflourishes ffreshly and gay, - W_i_th ffragrant fflowers comely of hew, - And gardners itt doth maintaine; - I hope they will proue iust and true. - - 32 - Our k_ing_, he is the rose soe redd, - _Tha_t now does fflourish ffresh and gay: - Confound his ffoes, Lo_rd_, wee beseeche, - And loue His Grace both night and day! - - * * * * * - - 10^4. Then better. - - 12^1. him _is apparently altered from_ mim _in the MS.: - Furnivall_. - - 14^4. shogged him. - - 17^3. cane _for_ came. - - 26^2. 3. - - 29^3. They. - - - - - 167 - - SIR ANDREW BARTON - - #A.# ‘S_i_r Andrew Bartton,’ Percy MS. p. 490; Hales and Furnivall, - III, 399. - - #B.# ‘The Life and Death of Sir Andrew Barton,’ etc. #a.# Douce - Ballads, I, 18 b. #b.# Pepys Ballads, I, 484, No 249. #c.# Wood - Ballads, 401, 55. #d.# Roxburghe Ballads, I, 2; reprinted by the - Ballad Society, I, 10. #e.# Bagford Ballads, 643, m. 9. (61). #f.# - Bagford Ballads, 643, m. 10 (77). #g.# Wood Ballads, 402, 37. #h.# - ‘Sir Andrew Barton,’ Glenriddell MSS, XI, 20. - - -Given in Old Ballads, 1723, I, 159; in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, II, 177, -a copy made up from the Folio MS. and #B b#, with editorial emendations; -Ritson’s Select Collection of English Songs, 1783, I, 313. #B f# is -reprinted by Halliwell, Early Naval Ballads, Percy Society, vol. ii, p. -4, 1841; by Moore, Pictorial Book of Ancient Ballad Poetry, p. 256, -1853. There is a Bow-Churchyard copy, of no value, in the Roxburghe -collection, III, 726, 727, dated in the Museum catalogue 1710. - -A collation of #A# and #B# will show how ballads were retrenched and -marred in the process of preparing them for the vulgar press.[205] #B -a-g# clearly lack two stanzas after 11 (12, 13, of #A#). This omission -is perhaps to be attributed to careless printing rather than to reckless -cutting down, for the stanzas wanted are found in #h#. #h# is a -transcript, apparently from recitation or dictation, of a Scottish -broadside. It has but fifty-six stanzas, against the sixty-four of #B a# -and the eighty-two of #A#, and is extremely corrupted. Besides the two -stanzas not found in the English broadside, it has one more, after 50, -which is perhaps borrowed from ‘Adam Bell’: - - ‘Foul fa the hands,’ says Horsley then, - ‘This day that did that coat put on; - For had it been as thin as mine, - Thy last days had been at an end.’[206] - -#A# has a regrettable gap after 35, and is corrupted at 29^2[207], 47^2. - -In the year 1476 a Portuguese squadron seized a richly loaded ship -commanded by John Barton, in consequence of which letters of reprisal -were granted to Andrew, Robert, and John Barton, sons of John, and these -letters were renewed in 1506,[208] “as no opportunity had occurred of -effectuating a retaliation;” that is to say, as the Scots, up to the -later date, had not been supplied with the proper vessels. The king of -Portugal remonstrated against reprisals for so old an offence, but he -had put himself in the wrong four years before by refusing to deal with -a herald sent by the Scottish king for the arrangement of the matter in -dispute. It is probable that there was justice on the Scottish side, -“yet there is some reason to believe that the Bartons abused the royal -favor, and the distance and impunity of the sea, to convert this -retaliation into a kind of piracy against the Portuguese trade, at that -time, by the discoveries and acquisitions in India, rendered the richest -in the world.” All three of the brothers were men of note in the naval -history of Scotland. Andrew is called Sir Andrew, perhaps, in imitation -of Sir Andrew Wood; but his brother attained to be called Sir -Robert.[209] - -We may now hear what the writers who are nearest to the time have to say -of the subject-matter of our ballad. - -Hall’s Chronicle, 1548. In June [1511], the king being at Leicester, -tidings were brought to him that Andrew Barton, a Scottish man and a -pirate of the sea, saying that the king of Scots had war with the -Portingales, did rob every nation, and so stopped the king’s streams -that no merchants almost could pass, and when he took the Englishmen’s -goods, he said they were Portingales’ goods, and thus he haunted and -robbed at every haven’s mouth. The king, moved greatly with this crafty -pirate, sent Sir Edmund Howard, Lord Admiral of England,[210] and Lord -Thomas Howard, son and heir to the Earl of Surrey, in all the haste to -the sea, which hastily made ready two ships, and without any more abode -took the sea, and by chance of weather were severed. The Lord Howard, -lying in the Downs, perceived where Andrew was making toward Scotland, -and so fast the said lord chased him that he overtook him, and there was -a sore battle. The Englishmen were fierce, and the Scots defended them -manfully, and ever Andrew blew his whistle to encourage his men, yet for -all that, the Lord Howard and his men, by clean strength, entered the -main deck; then the Englishmen entered on all sides, and the Scots -fought sore on the hatches, but in conclusion Andrew was taken, which -was so sore wounded that he died there; then all the remnant of the -Scots were taken, with their ship, called The Lion. All this while was -the Lord Admiral in chase of the bark of Scotland called Jenny Pirwyn, -which was wont to sail with The Lion in company, and so much did he with -other that he laid him on board and fiercely assailed him, and the -Scots, as hardy and well stomached men, them defended; but the Lord -Admiral so encouraged his men that they entered the bark and slew many, -and took all the other. Then were these two ships taken, and brought to -Blackwall the second day of August, and all the Scots were sent to the -Bishop’s place of York, and there remained, at the king’s charge, till -other direction was taken for them. [They were released upon their -owning that they deserved death for piracy, and appealing to the king’s -mercy, says Hall.] The king of Scots, hearing of the death of Andrew of -Barton and taking of his two ships, was wonderful wroth, and sent -letters to the king requiring restitution according to the league and -amity. The king wrote with brotherly salutations to the king of Scots of -the robberies and evil doings of Andrew Barton, and that it became not -one prince to lay a breach of a league to another prince in doing -justice upon a pirate or thief, and that all the other Scots that were -taken had deserved to die by justice if he had not extended his mercy. -(Ed. of 1809, p. 525.) - -Buchanan, about twenty years later, writes to this effect. Andrew -Breton[211] was a Scots trader whose father had been cruelly put to -death by the Portuguese, after they had plundered his ship. This outrage -was committed within the dominion of Flanders, and the Flemish -admiralty, upon suit of the son, gave judgment against the Portuguese; -but the offending parties would not pay the indemnity, nor would their -king compel them, though the king of Scots sent a herald to make the -demand. The Scot procured from his master a letter of marque, to warrant -him against charges of piracy and freebooting while prosecuting open war -against the Portuguese for their violation of the law of nations, and in -the course of a few months inflicted great loss on them. Portuguese -envoys went to the English king and told him that this Andrew was a man -of such courage and enterprise as would make him a dangerous enemy in -the war then impending with the French, and that he could now be -conveniently cut off, under cover of piracy, to the advantage of English -subjects and the gratification of a friendly sovereign. Henry was easily -persuaded, and dispatched his admiral, Thomas Howard,[212] with two of -the strongest ships of the royal navy, to lie in wait at the Downs for -Andrew, then on his way home from Flanders. They soon had sight of the -Scot, in a small vessel, with a still smaller in company. Howard -attacked Andrew’s ship, but, though the superior in all respects, was -barely able to take it after the master and most of his men had been -killed. The Scots captain, though several times wounded and with one leg -broken by a cannon-ball, seized a drum and beat a charge to inspirit his -men to fight until breath and life failed. The smaller ship was -surrendered with less resistance, and the survivors of both vessels, by -begging their lives of the king (as they were instructed to do by the -English), obtained a discharge without punishment. The Scottish king -made formal complaint of this breach of peace, but the answer was ready: -the killing of pirates broke no leagues and furnished no decent ground -for war. (Rer. Scot. Historia, 1582, fol. 149 b, 150.) - -Bishop Lesley, writing at about the same time as Buchanan, openly -accuses the English of fraud. “In the month of June,” he says, “Andrew -Barton, being on the sea in warfare contrar the Portingals, against whom -he had a letter of mark, Sir Edmund Howard, Lord Admiral of England, and -Lord Thomas Howard, son and heir to the Earl of Surrey, past forth at -the king of England’s command, with certain of his best ships; and the -said Andrew, being in his voyage sailing toward Scotland, having only -but one ship and a bark, they set upon at the Downs, and at the first -entry did make sign unto them that there was friendship standing betwix -the two realms, and therefore thought them to be friends; wherewith -they, nothing moved, did cruelly invade, and he manfully and -courageously defended, where there was many slain, and Andrew himself -sore wounded, that he died shortly; and his ship, called The Lion, and -the bark, called Jenny Pirrvyne, which, with the Scots men that was -living, were had to London, and kept there as prisoners in the Bishop of -Yorks house, and after was sent home in Scotland. When that the -knowledge hereof came to the king, he sent incontinent a herald to the -king of England, with letters requiring dress for the slaughter of -Andrew Barton, with the ships to be rendered again; otherwise it might -be an occasion to break the league and peace contracted between them. To -the which it was answered by the king of England that the slaughter -being a pirate, as he alleged, should be no break to the peace; yet not -the less he should cause commissioners meet upon the borders, where they -should treat upon that and all other enormities betwix the two -realms.”[213] (History of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1830, p. 82 f.) - -The ballad displaces Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard, and puts in their -place Lord Charles Howard, who was not born till twenty-five years after -the fight. Lord Charles Howard, son of William, a younger half-brother -of Thomas and Edward, was, in his time, like them, Lord High Admiral, -and had the honor of commanding the fleet which served against the -Armada. He was created Earl of Nottingham in 1596, and this -circumstance, adopted into #A# 78,[214] puts this excellent ballad later -than one would have said, unless, as is quite possible, the name of the -English commander has been changed. There is but one ship in the ballad, -as there is but a single captain, but Henry Hunt makes up for the other -when we come to the engagement. The dates are much deranged in #A#. The -merchants make their complaint at midsummer, the summer solstice (in -May, #B# 1), and here there is agreement with Hall and Lesley. The -English ship sails the day before midsummer-even, #A# 17; the fight -occurs not more than four days after (#A# 18, 33, 34; #B# 16, 31); four -days is a large allowance for returning, but the ship sails into Thames -mouth on the day before New Year’s even, #A# 71, 72, 74.[215] In #B# the -English do not sail till winter, and although the interval from May is -long for fitting out a ship, inconsistency is avoided. According to -Hall, the English ships brought in their prizes August 2d. - -#A.# King Henry Eighth, having been informed by eighty London merchants -that navigation is stopped by a Scot who would rob them were they twenty -ships to his one, asks if there is never a lord who will fetch him that -traitor, and Lord Charles Howard volunteers for the service, he to be -the only man. The king offers him six hundred fighting men, his choice -of all the realm. Howard engages two noble marksmen, Peter Simon to be -the head of a hundred gunners, and William Horsley to be the head of a -hundred bowmen, and sails, resolved to bring in Sir Andrew and his ship, -or never again come near his prince. On the third day he falls in with a -fine ship commanded by Henry Hunt, and asks whether they have heard of -Barton. Henry Hunt had been Barton’s prisoner the day before, and can -give the best intelligence and advice. Barton is a terrible fellow; his -ship is brass within and steel without; and although there is a -deficiency at #A# 36, there is enough to show that it was not less -magnificent than strong, 36^2, 75^2. He has a pinnace of thirty guns, -and the voluble and not too coherent Hunt makes it a main point to sink -this pinnace first. But above all, Barton carries beams in his -topcastle, and with these, if he can drop them, his own ship is a match -for twenty;[216] therefore, let no man go to his topcastle. Hunt borrows -some guns from Lord Howard, trusting to be forgiven for breaking the -oath upon which he had been released by his captor the day before, and -sets a ‘glass’ (lantern?) to guide Howard’s ship to Barton’s, which they -see the next day. Barton is lying at anchor, 45^3, 46^1; the English -ship, feigning to be a merchantman, passes him without striking topsails -or topmast, ‘stirring neither top nor mast.’ Sir Andrew has been admiral -on the sea for more than three years, and no Englishman or Portingal -passes without his leave: he orders his pinnace to bring the pedlars -back; they shall hang at his main-mast tree. The pinnace fires on Lord -Howard and brings down his foremast and fifteen of his men, but Simon -sinks the pinnace with one discharge, which, to be sure, includes nine -yards of chain besides other great shot, less and more. Sir Andrew cuts -his ropes to go for the pedlar himself. Lord Howard throws off disguise, -sounds drums and trumpets, and spreads his ensign. Simon’s son shoots -and kills sixty; the perjured Henry Hunt comes in on the other side, -brings down the foremast, and kills eighty. One wonders that Barton’s -guns do not reply; in fact he never fires a shot; but then he has that -wonderful apparatus of the beams, which, whether mechanically perfect or -not, is worked well by the poet, for not many better passages are met -with in ballad poetry than that which tells of the three gallant -attempts on the main-mast tree, 52–66. Sir Andrew had not taken the -English archery into his reckoning. Gordon, the first man to mount, is -struck through the brain; so is James Hamilton, Barton’s sister’s son. -Sir Andrew dons his armor of proof and goes up himself. Horsley hits him -under his arm; Barton will not loose his hold, but a second mortal wound -forces him to come down. He calls on his men to fight on; he will lie -and bleed awhile, and then rise and fight again; “fight on for Scotland -and St Andrew, while you hear my whistle blow!” Soon the whistle is -mute, and they know that Barton is dead; the English board; Howard -strikes off Sir Andrew’s head, while the Scots stand by weeping, and -throws the body over the side, with three hundred crowns about the -middle to secure it a burial. So Jon Rimaardssøn binds three bags about -his body when he jumps into the sea, saying, He shall not die poor that -will bury my body: Danske Viser, II, 225, st. 30. Lord Howard sails back -to England, and is royally welcomed. England before had but one ship of -war, and Sir Andrew’s made the second, says the ballad, but therein -seems to be less than historically accurate: see Southey’s Lives of the -British Admirals, 1833, II, 171, note. Hunt, Horsley, and Simon are -generously rewarded, and Howard is made Earl of Nottingham. When King -Henry sees Barton’s ghastly head, he exclaims that he would give a -hundred pounds if the man were alive as he is dead: ambiguous words, -which one would prefer not to interpret by the later version of the -ballad, in which Henry is eager himself to give the doom, #B# 58; nor -need we, for in the concluding stanza the king, in recognition of the -manful part that he hath played, both here and beyond the sea, says that -each of Barton’s men shall have half a crown a day to take them home. - -The variations of #B#, as to the story, are of slight importance. There -is no pinnace in #B#. Horsley’s shots are somewhat better arranged: -Gordon is shot under the collar-bone, the nephew through the heart; the -first arrow rebounds from Barton’s armor, the second smites him to the -heart. ‘Until you hear my whistle blow,’ in 53^4, is a misconception, -coming from not understanding that till (as in #A# 66^4) may mean while. - - -The copy in Percy’s Reliques is translated by Von Marées, p. 88. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 490; Hales and Furnivall, III, 399. - - 1 - As itt beffell in m[i]dsumer-time, - When burds singe sweetlye on euery tree, - Our noble k_ing_, K_ing_ Henery the Eighth, - Ouer the riuer of Thames past hee. - - 2 - Hee was no sooner ouer the riuer, - Downe in a fforrest to take the ayre, - But eighty merchants of London cittye - Came kneeling before K_ing_ Henery there. - - 3 - ‘O yee are welcome, rich merchants, - [Good saylers, welcome unto me!’] - They swore by the rood the were saylers good, - But rich merchants they cold not bee. - - 4 - ‘To Ffrance nor Fflanders dare we nott passe, - Nor Burdeaux voyage wee dare not ffare, - And all ffor a ffalse robber _tha_t lyes on the seas, - And robb[s] vs of our merchants-ware.’ - - 5 - K_ing_ Henery was stout, and he turned him about, - And swore by the Lord _tha_t was mickle of might, - ‘I thought he had not beene in the world throughout - _Tha_t durst haue wrought England such vnright.’ - - 6 - But euer they sighed, and said, alas! - Vnto K_ing_ Harry this answere againe: - ‘He is a proud Scott _tha_t will robb vs all - If wee were twenty shipps and hee but one.’ - - 7 - The k_ing_ looket ouer his left shoulder, - Amongst his lords and barrons soe ffree: - ‘Haue I neuer lo_rd_ in all my realme - Will ffeitch yond traitor vnto mee?’ - - 8 - ‘Yes, _tha_t dare I!’ sayes my lo_rd_ Chareles Howard, - Neere to the k_ing_ wheras hee did stand; - ‘If _tha_t Yo_u_r Grace will giue me leaue, - My selfe wilbe the only man.’ - - 9 - ‘Thou shalt haue six hundred men,’ saith our k_ing_, - ‘And chuse them out of my realme soe ffree; - Besids marriners and boyes, - To guide the great shipp on the sea.’ - - 10 - ‘I’le goe speake w_i_th S_i_r Andrew,’ sais Ch_arles_, my lo_rd_ - Haward; - ‘Vpon the sea, if hee be there; - I will bring him and his shipp to shore, - Or before my prince I will neu_er_ come neere.’ - - 11 - The ffirst of all my lo_rd_ did call, - A noble gunner hee was one; - This man was three score yeeres and ten, - And Peeter Simon was his name. - - 12 - ‘Peeter,’ sais hee, ‘I must sayle to the sea, - To seeke out an enemye; God be my speed!’ - Before all others I haue chosen thee; - Of a hundred guners thoust be my head.’ - - 13 - ‘My lo_rd_,’ sais hee, ‘if you haue chosen mee - Of a hundred gunners to be the head, - Hange me att yo_u_r maine-mast tree - If I misse my marke past three pence bread.’ - - 14 - The next of all my lo_rd_ he did call, - A noble bowman hee was one; - In Yorekeshire was this gentleman borne, - And William Horsley was his name. - - 15 - ‘Horsley,’ sayes hee, ‘I must sayle to the sea, - To seeke out an enemye; God be my speede! - Before all others I haue chosen thee; - Of a hundred bowemen thoust be my head.’ - - 16 - ‘My lo_rd_,’ sais hee, ‘if you haue chosen mee - Of a hundred bowemen to be the head, - Hang me att yo_u_r mainemast-tree - If I misse my marke past twelue pence bread.’ - - 17 - W_i_th pikes, and gunnes, and bowemen bold, - This noble Howard is gone to the sea - On the day before midsummer-euen, - And out att Thames mouth sayled they. - - 18 - They had not sayled dayes three - Vpon their iourney they tooke in hand, - But there they mett w_i_th a noble shipp, - And stoutely made itt both stay and stand. - - 19 - ‘Thou must tell me thy name,’ sais Ch_arles_, my lo_rd_ Haward, - ‘Or who thou art, or ffrom whence thou came, - Yea, and where thy dwelling is, - To whom and where thy shipp does belong.’ - - 20 - ‘My name,’ sayes hee, ‘is Henery Hunt, - W_i_th a pure hart and a penitent mind; - I and my shipp they doe belong - Vnto the New-castle _tha_t stands vpon Tine.’ - - 21 - ‘Now thou must tell me, Harry Hunt, - As thou hast sayled by day and by night, - Hast thou not heard of a stout robber? - Men calls him S_i_r Andrew Bartton, k_nigh_t.’ - - 22 - But euer he sighed, and sayd, Alas! - Ffull well, my lo_rd_, I know _tha_t wight; - He robd me of my merchants ware, - And I was his prisoner but yesternight. - - 23 - As I was sayling vppon the sea, - And [a] Burdeaux voyage as I did ffare, - He clasped me to his archborde, - And robd me of all my merchants-ware. - - 24 - And I am a man both poore and bare, - And euery man will haue his owne of me, - And I am bound towards London to ffare, - To complaine to my prince Henerye. - - 25 - ‘_Tha_t shall not need,’ sais my lo_rd_ Haward; - ‘If thou canst lett me this robber see, - Ffor euery peny he hath taken thee ffroe, - Thou shalt be rewarded a shilling,’ q_uo_th hee. - - 26 - ‘Now God fforefend,’ saies Henery Hunt, - ‘My lo_rd_, you shold worke soe ffarr amisse! - God keepe you out of _tha_t traitors hands! - For you wott ffull litle what a man hee is. - - 27 - ‘Hee is brasse w_i_thin, and steele w_i_thout, - And beames hee beares in his topcastle stronge; - His shipp hath ordinance cleane round about; - Besids, my lo_rd_, hee is verry well mand. - - 28 - ‘He hath a pinnace, is deerlye dight, - S_ain_t Andrews crosse, _tha_t is his guide; - His pinnace beares nine score men and more, - Besids fifteen cannons on euery side. - - 29 - ‘If you were twenty shippes, and he but one, - Either in archbord or in hall, - He wold ouercome you euerye one, - And if his beames they doe downe ffall.’ - - 30 - ‘This is cold comfort,’ sais my Lord Haward, - ‘To wellcome a stranger thus to the sea; - I’le bring him and his shipp to shore, - Or else into Scottland hee shall carrye mee.’ - - 31 - ‘Then you must gett a noble gunner, my lo_rd_, - _Tha_t can sett well w_i_th his eye, - And sinke his pinnace into the sea, - And soone then ou_er_come will hee bee. - - 32 - ‘And when _tha_t you haue done this, - If you chance S_i_r Andrew for to bord, - Lett no man to his topcastle goe; - And I will giue you a glasse, my lord, - - 33 - ‘And then you need to ffeare no Scott, - Whether you sayle by day or by night; - And to-morrow, by seuen of the clocke, - You shall meete w_i_th S_i_r Andrew Bartton, k_night_. - - 34 - ‘I was his prisoner but yester night, - And he hath taken mee sworne,’ q_uo_th hee; - ‘I trust my L[ord] God will me fforgiue - And if _tha_t oath then broken bee. - - 35 - ‘You must lend me sixe peeces, my l_ord_,’ q_uo_th hee, - ‘Into my shipp, to sayle the sea, - And to-morrow, by nine of the clocke, - Yo_u_r Hono_u_r againe then will I see.’ - - * * * * * - - 36 - And the hache-bord where S_i_r Andrew lay - Is hached w_i_th gold deerlye dight: - ‘Now by my ffaith,’ sais Ch_arles_, my lo_rd_ Haward, - ‘Then yonder Scott is a worthye wight! - - 37 - ‘Take in yo_u_r ancyents and yo_u_r standards, - Yea _tha_t no man shall them see, - And put me fforth a white willow wand, - As merchants vse to sayle the sea.’ - - 38 - But they stirred neither top nor mast, - But S_i_r Andrew they passed by: - ‘Whatt English are yonder,’ said S_i_r Andrew, - ‘_Tha_t can so litle curtesye? - - 39 - ‘I haue beene admirall ouer the sea - More then these yeeres three; - There is neu_er_ an English dog, nor Portingall, - Can passe this way w_i_thout leaue of mee. - - 40 - ‘But now yonder pedlers, they are past, - _Whi_ch is no litle greffe to me: - Ffeich them backe,’ sayes S_i_r Andrew Bartton, - ‘They shall all hang att my maine-mast tree.’ - - 41 - W_i_th _tha_t the pinnace itt shott of, - _Tha_t my Lo_rd_ Haward might itt well ken; - Itt stroke downe my lords fforemast, - And killed fourteen of my lo_rd_ his men. - - 42 - ‘Come hither, Simon!’ sayes my lo_rd_ Haward, - ‘Looke _tha_t thy words be true thou sayd; - I’le hang thee att my maine-mast tree - If thou misse thy marke past twelue pence bread.’ - - 43 - Simon was old, but his hart itt was bold; - Hee tooke downe a peece, and layd itt ffull lowe; - He put in chaine yeards nine, - Besids other great shott lesse and more. - - 44 - W_i_th _tha_t hee lett his gun-shott goe; - Soe well hee settled itt w_i_th his eye, - The ffirst sight _tha_t S_i_r Andrew sawe, - Hee see his pinnace sunke in the sea. - - 45 - When hee saw his pinace sunke, - Lord! in his hart hee was not well: - ‘Cutt my ropes! itt is time to be gon! - I’le goe ffeitch yond pedlers backe my selfe!’ - - 46 - When my lo_rd_ Haward saw S_i_r Andrew loose, - Lord! in his hart _tha_t hee was ffaine: - ‘Strike on yo_u_r drummes! spread out yo_u_r ancyents! - Sound out yo_u_r trumpetts! sound out amaine!’ - - 47 - ‘Ffight on, my men!’ sais S_i_r Andrew Bartton; - ‘Weate, howsoeu_er_ this geere will sway, - Itt is my lo_rd_ Adm[i]rall of England - Is come to seeke mee on the sea.’ - - 48 - Simon had a sonne; w_i_th shott of a gunn— - Well S_i_r Andrew might itt ken— - He shott itt in att a priuye place, - And killed sixty more of S_i_r Andrews men. - - 49 - Harry Hunt came in att the other syde, - And att S_i_r Andrew hee shott then; - He droue downe his fformast-tree, - And killed eighty more of S_i_r Andriwes men. - - 50 - ‘I haue done a good turne,’ sayes Harry Hunt; - ‘S_i_r Andrew is not our k_ing_s ffreind; - He hoped to haue vndone me yesternight, - But I hope I haue quitt him well in the end.’ - - 51 - ‘Euer alas!’ sayd S_i_r Andrew Barton, - ‘What shold a man either thinke or say? - Yonder ffalse theeffe is my strongest enemye, - Who was my prisoner but yesterday. - - 52 - ‘Come hither to me, thou Gourden good, - And be thou readye att my call, - And I will giue thee three hundred pound - If thou wilt lett my beames downe ffall.’ - - 53 - W_i_th _tha_t hee swarued the maine-mast tree, - Soe did he itt w_i_th might and maine; - Horseley, w_i_th a bearing arrow, - Stroke the Gourden through the braine. - - 54 - And he ffell into the haches againe, - And sore of this wound _tha_t he did bleed; - Then word went throug S_i_r Andrews men, - _Tha_t the Gourden hee was dead. - - 55 - ‘Come hither to me, Iames Hambliton, - Thou art my sisters sonne, I haue no more; - I will giue [thee] six hundred pound - If thou will lett my beames downe ffall.’ - - 56 - With _tha_t hee swarued the maine-mast tree, - Soe did hee itt w_i_th might and maine: - Horseley, w_i_th another broad arrow, - Strake the yeaman through the braine. - - 57 - _Tha_t hee ffell downe to the haches againe; - Sore of his wound _tha_t hee did bleed; - Couetousness getts no gaine, - Itt is verry true, as the Welchman sayd. - - 58 - But when hee saw his sisters sonne slaine, - Lo_rd_! in his heart hee was not well: - ‘Goe ffeitch me downe my armour of proue, - Ffor I will to the topcastle my-selfe. - - 59 - ‘Goe ffeitch me downe my armour of prooffe, - For itt is guilded w_i_th gold soe cleere; - God be w_i_th my brother, Iohn of Bartton! - Amongst the Portingalls hee did itt weare.’ - - 60 - But when hee had his armour of prooffe, - And on his body hee had itt on, - Euery man _tha_t looked att him - Sayd, Gunn nor arrow hee neede feare none. - - 61 - ‘Come hither, Horsley!’ sayes my lo_rd_ Haward, - ‘And looke yo_u_r shaft _tha_t itt goe right; - Shoot a good shoote in the time of need, - And ffor thy shooting thoust be made a k_nigh_t.’ - - 62 - ‘I’le doe my best,’ sayes Horslay then, - ‘Yo_u_r Honor shall see beffore I goe; - If I shold be hanged att yo_u_r mainemast, - I haue in my shipp but arrowes tow.’ - - 63 - But att S_i_r Andrew hee shott then; - Hee made sure to hitt his marke; - Vnder the spole of his right arme - Hee smote S_i_r Andrew quite throw the hart. - - 64 - Yett ffrom the tree hee wold not start, - But hee clinged to itt w_i_th might and maine; - Vnder the coller then of his iacke, - He stroke S_i_r Andrew thorrow the braine. - - 65 - ‘Ffight on my men,’ sayes Sir Andrew Bartton, - ‘I am hurt, but I am not slaine; - I’le lay mee downe and bleed a-while, - And then I’le rise and ffight againe. - - 66 - ‘Ffight on my men,’ sayes S_i_r Andrew Bartton, - ‘These English doggs they bite soe lowe; - Ffight on ffor Scottland and S_ain_t Andrew - Till you heare my whistle blowe!’ - - 67 - But when the cold not heare his whistle blow, - Sayes Harry Hunt, I’le lay my head - You may bord yonder noble shipp, my lo_rd_, - For I know S_i_r Andrew hee is dead. - - 68 - W_i_th _tha_t they borded this noble shipp, - Soe did they itt w_i_th might and maine; - The ffound eighteen score Scotts aliue, - Besids the rest were maimed and slaine. - - 69 - My lo_rd_ Haward tooke a sword in his hand, - And smote of S_i_r Andrews head; - The Scotts stood by did weepe and mourne, - But neu_er_ a word durst speake or say. - - 70 - He caused his body to be taken downe, - And ou_er_ the hatch-bord cast into the sea, - And about his middle three hundred crownes: - ‘Whersoeuer thou lands, itt will bury thee.’ - - 71 - W_i_th his head they sayled into England againe, - W_i_th right good will, and fforce and main, - And the day beffore Newyeeres euen - Into Thames mouth they came againe. - - 72 - My lo_rd_ Haward wrote to K_ing_ Heneryes grace, - W_i_th all the newes hee cold him bring: - ‘Such a Newyeeres gifft I haue brought to yo_u_r Gr[ace] - As neu_er_ did subiect to any king. - - 73 - ‘Ffor merchandyes and manhood, - The like is nott to be ffound; - The sight of these wold doe you good, - Ffor you haue not the like in yo_u_r English ground.’ - - 74 - But when hee heard tell _tha_t they were come, - Full royally hee welcomed them home; - S_i_r Andrews shipp was the k_ing_s Newyeeres guifft; - A brauer shipp you neu_er_ saw none. - - 75 - Now hath our k_ing_ S_i_r Andrews shipp, - Besett w_i_th pearles and p_re_cyous stones; - Now hath England two shipps of warr, - Two shipps of warr, before but one. - - 76 - ‘Who holpe to this?’ sayes K_ing_ Henerye, - ‘_Tha_t I may reward him ffor his paine:’ - ‘Harry Hunt, and Peeter Simon, - William Horseleay, and I the same.’ - - 77 - ‘Harry Hunt shall haue his whistle and chaine, - And all his iewells, whatsoeuer they bee, - And other rich giffts _tha_t I will not name, - For his good service he hath done mee. - - 78 - ‘Horslay, right thoust be a k_nigh_t, - Lands and liuings thou shalt haue store; - Howard shalbe erle of Nottingham, - And soe was neuer Haward before. - - 79 - ‘Now, Peeter Simon, thou art old; - I will maintaine thee and thy sonne; - Thou shalt haue fiue hundred pound all in gold - Ffor the good service _tha_t thou hast done.’ - - 80 - Then K_ing_ Henerye shiffted his roome; - In came the Queene and ladyes bright; - Other arrands they had none - But to see S_i_r Andrew Bartton, k_nigh_t. - - 81 - But when they see his deadly fface, - His eyes were hollow in his head; - ‘I wold giue a hundred pound,’ sais K_ing_ Henerye, - ‘The man were aliue as hee is dead! - - 82 - ‘Yett ffor the manfull p_ar_t _tha_t hee hath playd, - Both heere and beyond the sea, - His men shall haue halfe a crowne a day - To bring them to my brother, K_ing_ Iamye.’ - - - B - - #a.# Douce Ballads, I, 18 b. #b.# Pepys Ballads, I, 484, No 249. - #c.# Wood Ballads, 401, 55. #d.# Roxburghe Ballads, I, 2. #e.# - Bagford Ballads, 643, m. 9 (61). #f.# Bagford Ballads, 643, m. 10 - (77). #g.# Wood Ballads, 402, 37. #h.# Glenriddell MSS, XI, 20. - - 1 - When Flora, with her fragrant flowers, - Bedeckt the earth so trim and gay, - And Neptune, with his dainty showers, - Came to present the month of May, - - 2 - King Henry would a progress ride; - Over the river of Thames past he, - Unto a mountain-top also - Did walk, some pleasure for to see. - - 3 - Where forty merchants he espy’d, - With fifty sail, come towards him, - Who then no sooner were arriv’d, - But on their knees did thus complain. - - 4 - ‘An’t please Your Grace, we cannot sail - To France no voyage, to be sure, - But Sir Andrew Barton makes us quail, - And robs us of our merchant-ware.’ - - 5 - Vext was the king, and turned him, - Said to the lords of high degree, - Have I ner a lord within my realm - Dare fetch that traytor unto me? - - 6 - To him repli’d Lord Charles Howard: - I will, my liege, with heart and hand; - If it please you grant me leave, he said, - I will perform what you command. - - 7 - To him then spake King Henry: - I fear, my lord, you are too young. - ‘No whit at all, my liege,’ quoth he; - ‘I hope to prove in valour strong. - - 8 - ‘The Scottish knight I vow to seek, - In what place soever he be, - And bring a shore, with all his might, - Or into Scotland he shall carry me.’ - - 9 - ‘A hundred men,’ the king then said, - ‘Out of my realm shall chosen be, - Besides saylors and ship-boys - To guide a great ship on the sea. - - 10 - ‘Bow-men and gunners of good skill - Shall for this service chosen be, - And they at thy command and will - In all affairs shall wait on thee.’ - - 11 - Lord Howard calld a gunner then - Who was the best in all the realm; - His age was threescore years and ten, - And Peter Simon was his name. - - 12 - My lord calld then a bow-man rare, - Whose active hands had gained fame, - A gentleman born in Yorkshire, - And William Horsly was his name. - - 13 - ‘Horsly,’ quoth he, ‘I must to sea, - To seek a traytor, with great speed; - Of a hundred bow-men brave,’ quoth he, - ‘I have chosen thee to be the head.’ - - 14 - ‘If you, my lord, have chosen me - Of a hundred men to be the head, - Upon the main-mast I’le hanged be, - If twelve-score I miss one shillings breadth.’ - - 15 - Lord Howard then, of courage bold, - Went to the sea with pleasant chear, - Not curbd with winters piercing cold, - Though it was the stormy time of the year. - - 16 - Not long he had been on the sea, - No more in days then number three, - Till one Henry Hunt he there espied, - A merchant of Newcastle was he. - - 17 - To him Lord Howard cald out amain, - And strictly charged him to stand; - Demanding then from whence he came, - Or where he did intend to land. - - 18 - The merchant then made him answer soon, - With heavy heart and careful mind, - ‘My lord, my ship it doth belong - Unto Newcastle upon Tine.’ - - 19 - ‘Canst thou shew me,’ the lord did say, - ‘As thou didst sail by day and night, - A Scottish rover on the sea, - His name is Andrew Barton, knight? ’ - - 20 - Then to him the merchant sighd and said, - With grieved mind and well a way, - ‘But over well I know that wight, - I was his prisoner but yesterday. - - 21 - ‘As I, my lord, did pass from France, - A Burdeaux voyage to take so far, - I met with Sir Andrew Barton thence, - Who robd me of my merchant-ware. - - 22 - ‘And mickle debts, God knows, I owe, - And every man did crave his own; - And I am bound to London now, - Of our gracious king to beg a boon.’ - - 23 - ‘Shew me him,’ said [Lord] Howard then, - ‘Let me but once the villain see, - And one penny he hath from the tane, - I’le double the same with shillings three.’ - - 24 - ‘Now, God forbid,’ the merchant said; - ‘I fear your aim that you will miss; - God bless you from his tyranny, - For little you know what man he is. - - 25 - ‘He is brass within and steel without, - His ship most huge and mighty strong, - With eighteen pieces strong and stout, - He carrieth on each side along. - - 26 - ‘With beams for his top-castle, - As also being huge and high, - That neither English nor Portugal - Can pass Sir Andrew Barton by.’ - - 27 - ‘Hard news thou shewst,’ then said the lord, - ‘To welcome strangers to the sea; - But, as I said, I’le bring him aboard, - Or into Scotland he shall carry me.’ - - 28 - The merchant said, If you will do so, - Take counsel, then, I pray withal: - Let no man to his top-castle go, - Nor strive to let his beam[s] down fall. - - 29 - ‘Lend me seven pieces of ordnance then, - Of each side of my ship,’ quoth he, - ‘And to-morrow, my lord, twixt six and seven, - Again I will Your Honour see. - - 30 - ‘A glass I’le set that may be seen - Whether you sail by day or night; - And to-morrow, be sure, before seven, - You shall see Sir Andrew Barton, knight.’ - - 31 - The merchant set my lord a glass, - So well apparent in his sight - That on the morrow, as his promise was, - He saw Sir Andrew Barton, knight. - - 32 - The lord then swore a mighty oath, - ‘Now by the heavens that be of might, - By faith, believe me, and by troth, - I think he is a worthy knight. - - 33 - ‘Fetch me my lyon out of hand,’ - Saith the lord, ‘with rose and streamer high; - Set up withal a willow-wand, - That merchant-like I [may] pass by.’ - - 34 - Thus bravely did Lord Howard pass, - And did on anchor rise so high; - No top-sail at all he cast, - But as his foe he did him defie. - - 35 - Sir Andrew Barton seeing him - Thus scornfully to pass by, - As though he cared not a pin - For him and all his company, - - 36 - Then called he his men amain, - ‘Fetch back yon pedler now,’ quoth he, - ‘And against this way he comes again - I’le teach him well his courtesie.’ - - 37 - A piece of ordnance soon was shot - By this proud pirate fiercely then - Into Lord Howards middle deck, - Which cruel shot killd fourteen men. - - 38 - He calld then Peter Simon, he: - ‘Look now thy word do stand in stead, - For thou shalt be hanged on main-mast - If thou miss twelve score one penny breadth.’ - - 39 - Then Peter Simon gave a shot - Which did Sir Andrew mickle scare, - In at his deck it came so hot, - Killd fifteen of his men of war. - - 40 - ‘Alas!’ then said the pyrate stout, - ‘I am in danger now, I see; - This is some lord, I greatly doubt, - That is set on to conquer me.’ - - 41 - Then Henry Hunt, with rigor hot, - Came bravely on the other side, - Who likewise shot in at his deck, - And kild fifty of his men beside. - - 42 - Then ‘Out, alas!’ Sir Andrew cri’d, - ‘What may a man now think or say! - Yon merchant thief that pierceth me, - He was my prisoner yesterday.’ - - 43 - Then did he on Gordion call, - Unto top-castle for to go, - And bid his beams he should let fall, - ‘For I greatly fear an overthrow.’ - - 44 - The lord cald Horsly now in hast: - ‘Look that thy word stand now in stead, - For thou shalt be hanged on main-mast - If thou miss twelve score one shillings breadth.’ - - 45 - Then up [the] mast-tree swarved he, - This stout and mighty Gordion; - But Horsly, he most happily - Shot him under the collar-bone. - - 46 - Then calld he on his nephew then, - Said, Sisters sons I have no mo; - Three hundred pound I will give thee, - If thou wilt to top-castle go. - - 47 - Then stoutly he began to climb, - From off the mast scornd to depart; - But Horsly soon prevented him, - And deadly piercd him to the heart. - - 48 - His men being slain, then up amain - Did this proud pyrate climb with speed, - For armour of proof he had put on, - And did not dint of arrow dread. - - 49 - ‘Come hither, Horsly,’ said the lord, - ‘See thine arrow aim aright; - Great means to thee I will afford, - And if you speed, I’le make you a knight.’ - - 50 - Sir Andrew did climb up the tree, - With right good will and all his main; - Then upon the breast hit Horsly he, - Till the arrow did return again. - - 51 - Then Horsly spied a private place, - With a perfect eye, in a secret part; - His arrow swiftly flew apace, - And smote Sir Andrew to the heart. - - 52 - ‘Fight on, fight on, my merry men all, - A little I am hurt, yet not slain; - I’le but lie down and bleed a while, - And come and fight with you again. - - 53 - ‘And do not,’ he said, ‘fear English rogues, - And of your foes stand not in awe, - But stand fast by St Andrews cross, - Until you hear my whistle blow.’ - - 54 - They never heard his whistle blow, - Which made them [all] sore afraid: - Then Horsly said, My lord, aboard, - For now Sir Andrew Barton’s dead. - - 55 - Thus boarded they this gallant ship, - With right good will and all their main, - Eighteen score Scots alive in it, - Besides as many more were slain. - - 56 - The lord went where Sir Andrew lay, - And quickly thence cut off his head: - ‘I should forsake England many a day, - If thou wert alive as thou art dead.’ - - 57 - Thus from the wars Lord Howard came, - With mickle joy and triumphing; - The pyrates head he brought along - For to present unto our king: - - 58 - Who briefly then to him did say, - Before he knew well what was done, - ‘Where is the knight and pyrate gay? - That I my self may give the doom.’ - - 59 - You may thank God,’ then said the lord, - ‘And four men in the ship,’ quoth he, - ‘That we are safely come ashore, - Sith you had never such an enemy: - - 60 - ‘That is Henry Hunt, and Peter Simon, - William Horsly, and Peters son; - Therefore reward them for their pains, - For they did service at their turn.’ - - 61 - To the merchant then the king did say, - ‘In lue of what he hath from the tane, - I give to the a noble a day, - Sir Andrews whistle and his chain: - - 62 - ‘To Peter Simon a crown a day, - And half-a-crown a day to Peters son, - And that was for a shot so gay, - Which bravely brought Sir Andrew down. - - 63 - ‘Horsly, I will make thee a knight, - And in Yorkshire thou shalt dwell: - Lord Howard shall Earl Bury hight, - For this title he deserveth well. - - 64 - ‘Seven shillings to our English men, - Who in this fight did stoutly stand, - And twelve pence a-day to the Scots, till they - Come to my brother kings high land.’ - - * * * * * - - _All the copies in stanzas of eight lines._ - -#A.# - - 1^3. 8[th .]. - - 2^3. 80. - - 3^2. _MS. pared away. From the Reliques. Percy’s marginal reading - is_ For sailors good are welcome to me. _The tops of letters - left do not suit either of Percy’s lines, says Furnivall._ - - 3^3. swore: _MS. pared away. Percy’s reading._ - - 6^4. 20. - - 9^1. 600. - - 11^3. 60: #B#, three score. - - 12^4, 13^2, 15^4, 16^2. 100^ḍ, 100. - - 13^4, 18^1. 3. - - 16^2. they _for_ the. - - 16^4, 42^4. 12^[d:]. - - 15^1. sayes, _a letter blotted out before_ a: _Furnivall._ - - 20^2. poor _would read better than_ pure (_cf._ #B#, 18^2, heavy - heart), _but is not satisfactory_. - - 23^3. archborde _for_ hachborde?: _cf._ 36^1, 70^2. - - 27^2, 29^4, 52^4, 55^4. beanes, _or_ beaues. - - 28^3. 9. - - 28^4. 15. - - 29^1. 20. - - 29^2. charke-bord: _should perhaps be_ hachbord. - - 33^1. fferae. - - 33^3. 7. - - 35^3, 43^3. 9. - - 36 _is perhaps out of place._ - - 36^1. lies _for_ lay? - - 37. Part II. - - 41^1. they _for_ the. - - 41^3. strokes. - - 44^4. sumke. - - 47^2. Weate _I cannot emend_. - - 48^4. 60. - - 49^3. fformost. - - 49^4. 80: Andirwes. - - 52^3. 300[li :]. - - 53^1, 56^1. _perhaps_ swarned: _Furnivall_. - - 55^3. 600[li .]. - - 57^{3,4}. _three follows four: transposed for rhyme._ - - 64^4. they _for_ the. - - 65^4. _Only half the_ n _of_ againe _in the MS.: Furnivall_. - - 68^3. 18. - - 70^3. 300. - - 71^2. meanye _for_ main. - - 71^4. againe they came. - - 75^{3,4}. 2. - - 76^2. paime. - - 79^3. 500[li .]. - - 81^3. 100[li :]. - -#B. a.# - - The Relation of the life and death of Sir Andrew Barton, a Pyrate - and Rover on the Seas. - - The tune is, Come follow my love. - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and J. Wright [1655–80]. - - 13^1. ly _in_ Horsly _is worn or torn away, and so is_ to _in the - next line_. - - 20^3. But ever. - - 24^1. the Lord he: #c#, #g#, my Lord he: _the others_, the - merchant. - - 26^4. Can S. A. B. pass by. _So all but_ #h#. - - 28^4. beam. - - 33, 34 _follow_ 36. - - 38^2. to _for_ do. - - 45^2. Thus. - - 47^3. _Cut off: supplied from_ #b#, #c#. - - 53^3. Sir Andrews, _and so_ #b#, #c#, #d#. - - 54^2. all _supplied from_ #c#. - - 63^3. bright _for_ hight. - - 64^3. ey _of_ they _cut off, and_ land _in the following line_. - -#b.# - - A True Relation, _etc._ Tune is, _etc._ - - Printed for J. Wright, J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger - [1670–82?]. - - _From a transcript made for Bishop Percy, who has in a few places - made corrections which are not always easily distinguished from - those of the copyist._ - - 5^2. to his. - - 10^1. great _changed to_ good. - - 13^2. To seek: good speed. - - 14^4. Of: I _wanting_. - - 15^4. was stormy. - - 16^3. But one: there he ‘spy’d. - - 17^4. did _inserted by Percy, but perhaps in the text_. - - 18^1. him _wanting_. - - 20^3. over well. - - 20^4. but _wanting_. - - 21^1. did sail. - - 22^1. deps. - - 23^1. [Lord] _wanting_. - - 24^1. the merchant. - - 25^3. pieces of ordnance. - - 28^4. beams. - - 29^3. twix. - - 33, 34 _follow_ 36. - - 33^4. [may] _wanting_. - - 36^1. is men. - - 36^3. And again. - - 38^2. to _for_ do. - - 38^4, 44^4. breath. - - 44^4. a shilling. - - 47^3. But Horsly soon prevented him. - - 49^4. if thou. - - 53^1. said he. - - 53^3. Sir: _corrected by Percy to_ St. - - 54^1. hear. - - 54^2. [all] _wanting_. - - 57^4. unto the. - - 59^4. never _wanting_. - - 61^2. lieu. - - 63^2. shall. - - 63^3. hight. - - 64^3. they. - - 64^4. land. - -#c.# - - A true Relation, _etc._ The tune is, _etc._ - - Printed for F. Coles, T. Vere, and W. Gilbertson. [1648–80. Coles, - Vere, Wright, and Gilbertson _are found together as early as_ - 1655.] - - 4^1. An’t like. - - 5^3. lord in all. - - 8^2. In place wheresoever. - - 8^3. on shore. - - 11^3. year. - - 13^2. To see. - - 14^3. the _wanting_. - - 18^1. him _wanting_. - - 20^3. ever: knew. - - 21^3. with _wanting_. - - 21^4. wares. - - 23^2. that villain. - - 24^1. my Lord he. - - 24^4. you little know. - - 26^1. for her. - - 31^2. to his. - - 33, 34 _follow_ 36. - - 33^2. streamers. - - 34^2. ride _for_ rise. - - 35^3. Although. - - 36^1. he on. - - 36^3. come. - - 38^2. do stand. - - 39^2. care _for_ scare. - - 39^4. fifty. - - 41^3. shot it. - - 41^4. five _for_ fifty. - - 42^4. but yesterday. - - 44^4. shilling bred. - - 45^1. then swarded he. - - 46^2. son: no more. - - 47^3. _As in #b#._ - - 49^2. that thine. - - 49^4. a _wanting_. - - 53^3. Sir Andrews. - - 54^2. them all sore. - - 57^3. he _wanting_. - - 59^3. are come safely to the shore. - - 62^2. half crown. - - 63^2. there shalt thou. - - 63^3. hight. - - 63^4. he hath deserved. - - 64^2. to this. - -#d#, #e#, #f#. - - _Title as in_ #b.# Tune, Come follow my love, etc. - -#d.# - - Printed by and for W. O[nley], and sold by the Booksellers of - Pye-corner and London-Bridge. [1650–1702.] - -#e.# - - Printed by and for W. O., and sold by C. Bates at the Sun and - Bible in Pye-corner. - -#f.# - - Printed by and for W. O., and sold by the booksellers. - - #d# _and_ #e# _are dated in the Museum Catalogue_ 1670; #f.# 1672. - - 2^1. a hunting. - - 5^1. turning. - - 5^2. #d#, #e#. to his. - - 6^1. Charles Lord Howard. - - 7^1. #d#, #e#. speak, #f.# spoke. - - 8^1. Scotch. - - 13^2. with good. - - 15^4. the _wanting_. - - 16^1. #f.# the _wanting_. - - 16^2. #f.# no _wanting_. - - 16^3. But one: there he. - - 18^1. him _wanting_. - - 20^1. to him _wanting_. - - 20^3. over well. - - 20^4. but _wanting_. - - 21^1. did sail. - - 22^2. doth: _but_ And _means_ if. - - 23^1. Lord Howard. - - 23^2. but _wanting_. - - 23^3. And e’ry. - - 24^1. the merchant. - - 24^4. you think. - - 25^3. pieces of ordnance. - - 27^2. stranger. - - 28^4. beams. - - 29^3. twixt six and seven _wanting_. - - 30^1. #d#, #e#. set as. #f.# I set as. - - 33, 34 _follow_ 36. - - 33^4. I may. - - 34^2. did _wanting_. - - 34^3. at last. - - 34^4. as a foe did. - - 36^3. And ere. - - 37^2. #e.# By his. - - 38^2. how thy word do. - - 38^3. shall. - - 38^4. #f.# breath. - - 40^3. greatly fear. - - 43^2. Unto the. - - 43^4. For he: feard. - - 44^2. #d#, #e#. now stand. #f.# now _wanting_. - - 44^4. #d#, #e#. a shilling, #f#. shilling’s breath. - - 45^1. swerved. - - 45^4. #f.# under his. - - 47^3. _As in #b#, #c#._ - - 48^4. arrows. - - 49^2. See thou thy arrows. - - 49^4. if thou speedst: make the[e] knight. - - 52^4. #f.# with _wanting_. - - 53^1. he said. - - 53^2. #e.# inwe. - - 53^3. Sir Andrews. - - 54^2. all full sore. - - 56^4. were. - - 58^1. unto _for_ then to. - - 59^4. never had. - - 61^1. #f.# merchant therefore the king he said. - - 63^3. hight. - - 63^4. #e.# this girle. #f.# this act. - - 64^1. #f.# Ninety pound. - -#g.# - - A true Relation, etc. To the tune of Come follow me, love. - - London, Printed for E. W. - - _This copy has been considerably corrected, and only a part of the - variations is given._ - - 2^2. of _wanting_. - - 2^3. mountaines. - - 3^2. with swiftest. - - 4^1. An’t like. - - 5^2. to his. - - 5^3. in all my. - - 11^4. One _for_ And. - - 14^4. shilling. - - 16^2. No more then dayes in number three. - - 18^1. him _wanting_. - - 20^1. said and sighd. - - 20^2. a g. m. and a w. - - 20^3. over. - - 20^4. For I. - - 21^3. with _wanting_. - - 23^1. Lord Howard. - - 23^2. that _for_ the. - - 23^3. for one. - - 24^1. my Lord, quoth he. - - 26^1. beams from her. - - 28^4. beames. - - 32^4. weight (_that is_, wight) _for_ knight. - - 33^2. streamers. - - 33^4. I may. - - 34^2. ride. - - 34^4. he _wanting_. - - 35, 36 _wanting._ - - 38^2. do stand. - - 38^4. bred. - - 39^4. fifty. - - 41^4. five. - - 42^4. but yesterday. - - 43^1. on one Gordion. - - 45^1. then swarmed. - - 48^2. this stout. - - 49^2. See that thy arrow. - - 49^4. if thou: thee knight. - - 53^2. stand in no awe. - - 53^3. S. Andrew’s. - - 54^2. them all full sore. - - 55^4. moe. - - 56^3. I would forsweare. - - 57^4. the king. - - 59^2. in this ship with me. - - 59^3. to shore. - - 59^4. never had. - - 60^3. paine. - - 63^2. there shalt thou. - - 63^4. his title he hath deserved. - - 64^2. to this. - - 64^4. king his land. - - Old Ballads, 1723, _and_ Roxburghe, III, 726, _have_ Iris _for - the_ Neptune _of_ #B#, _in_ 1^3; Charles Lord Howard _in_ 6^1; - Ninety pounds _in_ 64^1. - -#h.# - - _This being a Scottish copy, and the variations also numerous, it - seems advisable to give the whole text rather than only the - divergent readings. The transcript may be inferred, from - passages phonetically misrendered, to have been made from - recitation or reading, more probably from recitation, since many - of the differences from the printed copies are of the sort which - are made by reciters; that is, immaterial expressions are - imperfectly remembered; and again, 16^2 is adopted from popular - ballad phraseology, and, as already observed, the stanza - following 50 is borrowed from_ ‘Adam Bell.’ _Cases of writing - sound for sense are_ 4^3, makes us squails _for_ makes us quail; - 7^3, I quitted all _for_ No whit at all; 48^2, The spirit _for_ - This pĭrate; 61^3, A nobler day _for_ A noble a day. _Verses of - 25, 26 have been interchanged. 8, 9^{3,4}, 10^{1,2}, 21, 28, 29, - 30, 32, 36, 44, 49, 52^{2,3,4}, 53^1 are wanting. 33, 34 are in - the right order. It is a little surprising that a Scottish copy - should have_ Sir Andrew Cross _for_ St Andrew’s cross, 53^3. - #a-d# _have_ Sir Andrews Cross. - - 1 - When Febus, with her fragrant flours, - bedect the earth so trim and gay, - And Neptan, with his denty shours, - came to present the month o May, - - 2 - King Hendry would a hunting ride, - and over the river Thames past he, - Unto a mountain-top also - he walkd, some pleasures to espy. - - 3 - There fortie merchants he espy’d, - with fiftie sail, come towards him; - No sooner there they were arrived - but on their knees they did complain. - - 4 - ‘My lodge,’ said they, ‘we cannot sail - to France nor Spain, for to be sure; - Sir Andrew Barton makes us squails, - and berubs (?) us of our merchant-wair.’ - - 5 - The king was grievd and turnd him, - said to his lords of high degree, - Is there not a lord in my realm - can fetch yon traitor unto me? - - 6 - Then out bespoke Lord Charles Howard, - and says, My ludge, with heart and hand, - If that you’l give me leave, said he, - I will perform what you command. - - 7 - But out bespoke King Hendrie: - ‘I fear, my lord, you are too young;’ - ‘I quitted all, my lodge,’ said he, - ‘for I think to prove one valient strong.’ - - 9^{1,2} - ‘A hundred men out of my realm - shall for this service chosen be, - 10^{3,4} - And they, at thy command and will, - in all affairs, shall wait on thee.’ - - 11 - The king calld on a gunner then, - whose age was ‘bove three score and ten; - He was the best in that realm, - and Petter Simon height his name. - - [#A# 12] - ‘Now Peter,’ said he, ‘wee’r bound to sea, - to fetch a traitor with good speed, - And over a hundred gunners good - I’ve chosen thee to be the head.’ - - [#A# 13] - ‘My lodge,’ says he, ‘if he have chosen me - oer a hundred men to be the head, - Upon mine mast I hangd shall be, - if I mess twelve score on a shilling breadth.’ - - 12 - My lord calld on a bow-man then, - whose hands and acts had gained fame; - He was the best in that realm, - and William Horsley height his name. - - 13 - ‘Now Horsley,’ says he, ‘wee’r bound to sea, - to fetch a traitor wi good speed, - And over a hundred archers good - I’ve chosen thee to be the head.’ - - 14 - ‘My lord,’ sais he, ‘if ye hae chosen me - oer a hundred men to be the head, - Upon my mast I hangd shall be, - if I mess twelve score a shilling breadth.’ - - 15 - Lord Howard he’s gone to the wars, - wi muckle mirth and merrie cheer; - He was not curbd with winters cold, - tho it was the stormy time a year. - - 16 - He had not been upon the seas, - no not a day but only three, - Till he espy’d Sir Hendry Hunt, - a merchant of Newcastle he. - - 17 - A peice of ordinance was shot, - which straitly charged him to stand; - Demanding of him from whence he came, - and where he was intend to land. - - 18 - The merchant he made answer then, - with a heavy heart and carefull mind, - ‘If it please Your Grace, my ship belongs - unto Newcastle upon Tine.’ - - 19 - ‘Canst thou but show me,’ said the lord, - ’as those did sail by day or night, - A Scotish rubber on the seas, - whose name’s Sir Andrew Burton, knight?’ - - 20 - The merchant sighd, and said, Alas! - full over well I do him know; - Good keep you frae his tiranie! - for I was his prisoner yesterday. - - 22 - And muckle debt, God knows, I owe, - if every man would crave his oun; - But I am bound for London nou, - of our gracious king to beg a bon. - - 23 - ‘Wilt you go with me,’ said the lord, - ‘and once that villain let me see, - For every pennie he’s from thee taen - I double the same wi shillings three.’ - - 24 - But the merchant sighd, and said, Alas! - I fear, my lord, your aims you miss; - Good keep you frae his tiranie! - for little you ken what a man he is. - - 25^1 - For he’s brass within and steel without, - 26^2 - and his great ship’s mighty hugie high, - So that neither English nor Portugees - can pass Sir Andrew Burton by. - - 26^1 - And he has beams for his top-castle - 25^2 - which is both mighty huge and strong; - He has eighteen peice of ordinance - he carries on each side along. - - 27 - ‘Bad news thou tells,’ then said the lord, - ‘to welcome strangers to the sea; - But as I have said, I’ll bring him abord, - or into Scotland he’s carry me.’ - - 31 - So the merchant set my lord a glass, - that well appeared in his eye, - And the morning, as his promise was, - he did Sir Andrew Burton see. - - 33 - ‘Fetch me my lyon out of hand, - set up our rose on streamers high; - Set up likewise a willie wand, - that merchant like we may pass by.’ - - 34 - Thus bravely did Lord Howard pass, - upon an anchor rose so high; - No topsail at last he did upcast, - but like a foe did him defie. - - 35 - Sir Andrew Barton, seeing him - thus scornfull-like for to pass by, - As tho he cared not a pin - for him and all his company, - - 37 - Sir Andrew Barton gave a shott - which did Lord Howard muckle dear; - For it came so hotly in at his deck - killd fifteen of his men a ware. - - 38 - My lord calld on o’ Petter Seymore, - says, See thy words does stand in steed; - For upon main-mast thou hangd shall be, - if thou miss twelve score a shilling breed. - - 39 - Then Petter Symore gave a shot - which did Sir Andrew muckle scarr; - It came so hotly in his deck - killd fifty of his men a ware. - - 40 - Then ‘Out, alas!’ Sir Andrew cryes, - ‘and aye alas, and woe’s me! - This is some lord, I greatly fear, - that is set out to conquer me.’ - - 41 - Then Hendry Hunt, with rigor hot, - came bravely on the other side; - He shot so hotly in at his deck - killd fiftie of his men beside. - - 42 - Then ‘Out, alas!’ Sir Andrew cryes, - ‘what can a man now do or say? - This merchant thief it percies me, - he was my prisoner yesterday.’ - - 43 - Sir Andrew calld on Gordon then, - and bad him to top-castle go - And strive to let his beems doun fall, - for he greatly feard an overthrow. - - 45 - Then up mass’-tree then climed he, - that stout and mighty Gordon; - But Horsley soon prevented him, - and shot him in at collar-bone. - - 46 - Sir Andrew calld his nephew then; - says, Sisters son I hi nè mae; - A hundred pounds I’ll to thee give - if thou’l up to top-castle gae. - - 47 - Then up mast-tree then climed he, - from of the deck for to depart; - But Horsley soon prevented him, - and deadly peirced him to the heart. - - 48 - His men being slain, then up amain - the spirit proud did climb wi speed; - Armour of proof he did put on, - and of arrows dint he had nè dread. - - 50 - Then up mast-tree then climbed he, - the spirit proud did climb amain; - But Horsley hat him upon the breast, - till his arrow did return again. - - ‘Foul fà the hands,’ says Horsley then, - ‘this day that did that coat put on! - For had it been as thin as mine, - thy last days had been at an end.’ - - 51 - But Horsley spy’d a private part, - with a canie hand and secret art, - And his arrows swiftly flew amain, - and pierced Sir Andrew to the heart. - - 52^1 - ‘Fight on, fight on, my mirrie men all, - 53^2 - and of English rogues stand ye nè aw; - But stand fast by Sir Andrew cross - till that ye hear my whistle blà.’ - - 54 - But they never heard his whistle blà, - which made them mightyly to dread; - Say Horsley, My lord, we’ll go abord, - for now I know Sir Andrew’s dead. - - 55 - Then boarded they this great ship then, - with muckle might and a’ their main, - And in her was eighteen score o Scots alive, - besides there mony maē were slain. - - 56 - My lord went where Sir Andrew lay, - and hastely cut of his head: - ‘I’d forsake England this mony a day, - if thou were alive as thou art dead.’ - - 57 - So Lord Howard he’s come from the wars, - with muckle mirth and triumphing, - And the pirot’s head he brought along, - for to present unto their king. - - 58 - But out bespoke King Hendry, - before he knew well what was done: - ‘Bring here to me that villain strong, - that I mysell may give the doom.’ - - 59 - ‘Ye may be thankfà,’ said the lord, - ‘at what is done, my ludge,’ said he, - ‘That we’r returned alive again; - for ye’d never such an enemy. - - 60 - ‘There’s Hendry Hunt, and Petter Symore, - and William Horsley, and Petter’s son; - Therefore reward them for their pain, - for they did service at their turn.’ - - 61 - The king he said to Hendry Hunt, - ‘For every pennie he’s from the tane, - A nobler day I’l to thee give, - and Sir Andrew’s whistle and his chain. - - 62 - ‘A croun a day to Petter Symore, - and half a croun to Petter’s son; - And that was for the shots they gave, - which bravely brought Sir Andrew doun. - - 63 - ‘Horsley, I’l make of thee a knight, - and in Yorkshire thou shall dwell; - Lord Howard shall Earl Bewry height, - for the tittle he deserves full well. - - 64 - ‘Seven rosenobles to our English men, - which in the feight did stoutly stand, - And twelve pence a day unto the Scots, - till they come to my broth_e_r king’s land.’ - - * * * * * - - 38^1. on O’. o’ _may mean_ old. - - 62 _follows_ 63. - - - - - 168 - - FLODDEN FIELD - - From Deloney’s Pleasant History of John Winchcomb, in his younger - yeares called Jacke of Newberie, etc., London, 1633; reprinted by J. - O. Halliwell, London, 1859, p. 48. - - -Printed in Ritson’s Ancient Songs, 1790, p. 115; Evans’s Old Ballads, -1810, III, 55. - -A booke called Jack of Newbery was entered to Thomas Millington, March -7, 1597: Arber, Stationers’ Registers, III, 81. The edition of 1633, the -earliest which Mr Halliwell-Phillipps had met with, was the ninth, -published by Cuthbert Wright. The author has introduced several pieces -of verse into his tale, two of them popular ballads, ‘The Fair Flower of -Northumberland’ and this of Flodden, of which Deloney says, “in disgrace -of the Scots, and in remembrance of the famous atchieved historie, the -commons of England made this song, which to this day is not forgotten of -many:” p. 47. - -King James has made a vow to be in London on St James’s day. Queen -Margaret begs him to keep faith with her brother Henry, and reminds him -that England is hard to win; for which James says she shall die. Lord -Thomas Howard, the queen’s chamberlain, comes to the defence of his -mistress, but the king in his rage declares that he shall be hanged and -she burned as soon as he comes back. But James never came back; he was -slain at Bramstone Green with twelve thousand of his men. - -1, 2. St James’s day is selected, as being the king’s. King James’s -letter to King Henry is dated the 26th of July, the day following St -James’s day, and the Scottish herald delivered it in France, and -announced war to the king of England, in consequence of the -unsatisfactory answer, on the 12th of August, or shortly before. - -3–5. Queen Margaret’s remonstrance is historical. James, says Lindsay, -would “give no credence to no counsel, sign nor token that made against -his purpose, but refused all godly counsel which was for the weal of his -crown and country; neither would he use any counsel of his wise and -prudent wife, Margaret, queen of Scotland, for no prayer nor -supplication that she could make him.... She assured him, if he past in -England at that time, that he would get battle. Yet this wise and loving -counsel could not be taken in good part by him, because she was the king -of England’s sister.” Cronicles, 1814, p. 267 f. - -6. The Earl of Surrey, uncle by marriage to Margaret Tudor, had the -charge of escorting her to Scotland in 1503, and this is ground enough -for the ballad’s making him her chamberlain ten years later. - -8. “This battle was called the Field of Flodden by the Scotsmen and -Brankston [Bramstone] by the Englishmen, because it was stricken on the -hills of Flodden beside a town called Brankston; and was stricken the -ninth day of September, 1513.” Lesley, History, 1830, p. 96. - -10. Hall says that the English slew “twelve thousand, at the least, of -the best gentlemen and flower of Scotland.” The gazette of the battle -(Pinkerton’s History, II, 457), Polydore Vergil, and modern Scottish -historians, say ten thousand. Among these were twelve earls, thirteen -lords, and many other persons of high rank. - -12. ‘Iack with a feather’ is said in contempt of the Scottish king’s -levity or foolhardiness. “Then was the body bowelled, embawmed and -cered:” Hall, p. 564, ed. 1809. “His body was bowelled, rebowelled, and -enclosed in lead,” “lapped in lead:” Stowe, Chronicle, p. 494 b, ed. -1631; Survey, Book III, p. 81 a, ed. 1710. Fair Rosamond’s bones, when -they were exhumed at Godstow, says Leland, were closed in lead and -within that closed in leather: Dugdale’s Monasticon, ed. 1823, IV, 365, -No VIII. - -In the letter sent to Henry VIII in France James included the slaughter -of Andrew Barton among the unredressed grievances of which he had to -complain. A few days before the battle of Flodden, Lord Thomas Howard, -then admiral, used the occasion of his father’s dispatching a herald to -the King of Scots to say that “inasmuch as the said king had divers and -many times caused the said lord to be called at days of true to make -redress for Andrew Barton, a pirate of the sea long before that -vanquished by the same Lord Admiral, he was now come, in his own proper -person, to be in the vanguard of the field, to justify the death of the -said Andrew against him and all his people, and would see what could be -laid to his charge the said day:” Hall’s Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 558. - -There is a slight resemblance in one or two particulars, such as might -be expected from similarity of circumstances, between this ballad and -‘Durham Field.’ In the latter the King of Scots swears that he will hold -his parliament in leeve London, st. 6. A squire warns him that there are -bold yeomen in England; the king is angry, draws his sword, and kills -the squire, 7–9. In ‘Scotish Ffeilde,’ Percy Folio, Hales and Furnivall, -I, 217,[217] the French king says there is nothing left in England save -millers and mass-priests, v. 109; and in the poem on Flodden, reprinted -by Weber, and recently by Federer,[218] Lord Home makes this same -assertion, Weber, p. 10, 187–92; Federer, p. 8, sts 46, 47. Cf. ‘Durham -Field,’ p. 282. - -The forged manuscript formerly in the possession of J. Payne Collier, -containing thirty ballads alleged to be of the early part of the -seventeenth century, has for the second piece in the volume a transcript -of this ballad, with variations. - -The battle of Flodden called out a great deal of verse. The most notable -pieces are two already referred to, and a third which will be given here -in an appendix; the less important will be found in Weber’s volume. - - - 1 - King Jamie hath made a vow, - Keepe it well if he may! - That he will be at lovely London - Upon Saint James his day. - - 2 - ‘Upon Saint James his day at noone, - At faire London will I be, - And all the lords in merrie Scotland, - They shall dine there with me.’ - - 3 - Then bespake good Queene Margaret, - The teares fell from her eye: - ‘Leave off these warres, most noble king, - Keepe your fidelitie. - - 4 - ‘The water runnes swift and wondrous deepe, - From bottome unto the brimme; - My brother Henry hath men good enough; - England is hard to winne.’ - - 5 - ‘Away,’ quoth he, ‘with this silly foole! - In prison fast let her lie: - For she is come of the English bloud, - And for these words she shall dye.’ - - 6 - With that bespake Lord Thomas Howard, - The queenes chamberlaine that day: - ‘If that you put Queene Margaret to death, - Scotland shall rue it alway.’ - - 7 - Then in a rage King Jamie did say, - ‘Away with this foolish mome! - He shall be hanged, and the other be burned, - So soone as I come home.’ - - 8 - At Flodden Field the Scots came in, - Which made our English men faine; - At Bramstone Greene this battaile was seene, - There was King Jamie slaine. - - 9 - Then presently the Scots did flie, - Their cannons they left behind; - Their ensignes gay were won all away, - Our souldiers did beate them blinde. - - 10 - To tell you plaine, twelve thousand were slaine - That to the fight did stand, - And many prisoners tooke that day, - The best in all Scotland. - - 11 - That day made many [a] fatherlesse child, - And many a widow poore, - And many a Scottish gay lady - Sate weeping in her bower. - - 12 - Jack with a feather was lapt all in leather, - His boastings were all in vaine; - He had such a chance, with a new morrice-dance, - He never went home againe. - - * * * * * - - 3^1. he spake. - - _The copy followed by Ritson puts st. 11 after 5. The principal - variations of the Collier copy may be given, though they are - without authority or merit._ - - _After 2_: - March out, march out, my merry men, - Of hie or low degree; - I’le weare the crowne in London towne, - And that you soone shall see. - - 4^4. To venture life and limme. - - Then doe not goe from faire Scotland, - But stay thy realm within; - Your power, I weene, is all to weake, - And England hard to winne. - - 5^1. this sillie mome. - - 7^2. this other mome. - - _After 8_: - His bodie never could be found, - When he was over throwne, - And he that wore faire Scotlands crowne - That day could not be knowne. - - _For 12, to adapt the piece to the seventeenth century_: - Now heaven we laude that never more - Such tiding shall come to hand; - Our king, by othe, is king of both - England and faire Scotland. - - - APPENDIX - - FLODDEN FIELD - - #a.# ‘Flodden Ffeilde,’ Percy MS., p. 117; Hales and Furnivall, I, - 313. #b.# Harleian MS. 293, fol. 55. #c.# Harleian MS. 367, fol. - 120. - - -A text made from #b# and #c# is printed by Weber, Flodden Field, p. 366, -and by R. H. Evans, Old Ballads, 1810, III, 58. #b#, #c# lack all that -follows 102 except 103, with which all three copies alike end. This -stanza makes a natural conclusion to the vindication of Lancashire, -Cheshire and the Earl of Derby, and what intervenes in #a#, after 102, -seems to be an interpolation. Nevertheless I have preferred to give the -Percy text (though the others are not inferior to it, and possess the -unity which has to be brought about in this case by transferring the -last stanza), on account of the pleasing story How Rowland Egerton came -to the lordship of Ridley, 107–119, which would make no bad ballad by -itself. - -At the battle of Flodden, the right wing of the van, commanded by Sir -Edmund Howard, the third son of the Earl of Surrey, was routed by the -Scots under Lord Home, Chamberlain of Scotland, and the Earl of Huntly. -“Edmund Howard had with him a thousand Cheshire men, and five hundred -Lancashire men, and many gentlemen of Yorkshire, on the right wing of -the lord Howard; and the Lord Chamberlain of Scotland, with many lords, -did set on him, and the Cheshire and Lancashire men never abode stroke, -and few of the gentlemen of Yorkshire abode, but fled.... And the said -Edmund Howard was thrice felled, and to his relief the lord Dacre came, -with fifteen hundred men.”[219] On the other hand, the Cheshire and -Lancashire men of the extreme left, under command of Sir Edward Stanley, -discomfited the Scottish division of Lennox and Argyle. King Henry -received the news of the victory while he was lying before Tournay, “and -highly praised the Earl, and the Lord Admiral and his son, and all the -gentlemen and commons that were at that valiant enterprise; howbeit, the -king had a secret letter that the Cheshire men fled from Sir Edmund -Howard, which letter caused great heart-burning and many words; but the -king thankfully accepted all thing, and would no man to be -dispraised.”[220] - -This poem, a history in the ballad style, was composed to vindicate the -behavior of Lancashire and Cheshire at Flodden, and to glorify the -Stanleys;[221] in the accomplishment of which objects it becomes -incumbent upon the minstrel to expose the malice of the Earl of Surrey, -to whom he imputes the “wrong writing” which caused such heart-burning. - -The Earl of Surrey sends a letter by a herald to King Henry, then at -Tournay. The king asks the news before he breaks the seal, and who -fought and who fled. The herald answers that King James is slain, and -that Lancashire and Cheshire fled; no man of the Earl of Derby’s durst -face the foe. The king opens the letter, which confirms the herald’s -report, and calls for the Earl of Derby. Sir Ralph Egerton suggests that -if Lancashire and Cheshire fled, it must have been because they had a -Howard, and not a Stanley, for their captain. The Earl of Derby comes -before the king, and says the same; let him have Lancashire and -Cheshire, and he will burn up all Scotland and conquer to Paris gate. -The king says cowards will fight to retrieve what they have lost. We -were never cowards, rejoins Derby; who brought in your father at Milford -Haven? (It was not precisely the Stanleys.) The king turns away; the -Duke of Buckingham is ready to lay his life that all this comes from a -false writing of the Earl of Surrey.[222] Derby is not to be comforted, -and breaks out in farewells to all his kith and kin, Edward Stanley, -John Stanley, and many more; they must be slain, for they never would -flee. The Earl of Shrewsbury bids him take heart; Derby goes on with -farewells to Lancaster, Latham, and all familiar places. In the midst of -his exclamations, James Garsed, “Long Jamie,” a yeoman of the guard, -comes flying to the Earl of Derby for protection: he had killed two men, -and wounded three. Derby’s intercession can do only harm now, but he -will ask friends to speak for Jamie. A messenger arrives from the king -ordering Long Jamie to be delivered up; he is to be hanged. Buckingham -takes Jamie by one arm and Shrewsbury takes him by the other, and with -Derby in front and many gentlemen following, they go to the king. -Welcome, dukes and earls, says the king, but most welcome of all our -traitor, Long Jamie! Jamie, how durst thou show thyself in our presence -after slaying thy brethren? Jamie explains that his fellows had called -him coward, and bidden him flee to that coward the Earl of Derby. The -Earl of Derby had befriended him when he was little and maintained him -till he was able to shoot. Then one day a Scottish minstrel brought King -Henry a bow which none of his guard could bend. Jamie shot seven times -with it, and the eighth time broke it; then told the Scot to pick up the -pieces and take them to his king; upon which Henry had made him yeoman -of the guard, thanks to His Grace and to the Earl of Derby who had -brought him up. And now, to have the earl taunted, to be false to the -man who had been true to him—he had rather die. Stand up, Jamie, says -the King; have here my charter; but let there be no more fighting while -you are in France. Then you must grant me one thing, says Jamie—that he -that abuses Lancashire or Cheshire shall die; and the king commands -proclamation to be made that any man abusing Lancashire or Cheshire -shall have his judgment on the next tree. The next morning comes a -messenger from the queen wishing the king joy, for his brother-in-law, -King Jamie, is slain. Henry asks again, Who fought and who fled? -“Lancashire and Cheshire have done the deed,” is the reply; “had not the -Earl of Derby been true to thee, England had been in great hazard.” The -king on the moment promotes Edward and John Stanley and ‘Rowland’ -Egerton, who had fought with Edward. Buckingham runs for Derby, and the -king welcomes the earl, and returns to him all that he had taken from -him. But one thing grieveth me still, says Derby—to have been called -coward yesterday. “It was a wrong writing that came from the Earl of -Surrey,” says the king, “but I shall teach him to know his prince.” -Derby asks no more than to be judge over Surrey, and the king makes him -so; as he says, so it shall be. “Then his life is saved,” says the earl; -“if my uncle slew his father” (but, as before said, there was no -occasion for uneasiness on that score), “he would have taken vengeance -on me.” And so the glory is all shifted to Derby, and nothing remains -for Surrey. - -The minstrel goes on to speak of the surrender of Tournay, and then of -an essay of the king’s to reward an Egerton for good service done.[223] -Egerton would be glad to have his reward in Cheshire. The king has -nothing there to give but five mills at Chester; Egerton does not wish -to be called a miller. The king offers the forest of Snowdon; Egerton, -always kneeling on his knee, does not wish to be called a ranger. -Nothing will please thee, Egerton, says the king; but Egerton asks for -Ridley in Cheshire, and gets it. - -The last twelve verses profess to enumerate Henry Eighth’s victories in -France: ‘Hans and Gynye’ (neither of which I recognize, unless Gynye -stands for Guinegatte, the Battle of the Spurs), Tournay and Thérouanne, -these in the campaign of 1513, and Boulogne and Montreuil[224] during -the invasion of 1544. - - - 1 - Now let vss talke of [the] Mount of Flodden, - Fforsooth such is our chance, - And let vs tell what tydings the Ear[l]e of Surrey - Sent to o_u_r k_ing_ into France. - - 2 - The earle he hath a writting made, - And sealed it w_i_th his owne hand; - From the Newcastle vpon Tine - The herald passed from the land. - - 3 - And after to Callice hee arriued, - Like a noble leed of high degree, - And then to Turwin soone he hyed, - There he thought to haue found K_ing_ Henery. - - 4 - But there the walls were beaten downe, - And our English soldiers therin laine; - Sith to Turnay the way hee nume, - Wheras lay the emperour of Almaine, - And there he found the k_ing_ of England, - Blessed Iesus, p_re_serve _tha_t name! - - 5 - When the herald came before o_u_r k_ing_, - Lowlye he fell downe on his knee, - And said, Christ, christen k_ing_, _tha_t on the cross dyed, - Noble K_ing_ Henery, this day thy speed may bee! - - 6 - The first word _tha_t the prince did minge, - Said, Welcome, herald, out of England, to me! - How fares my leeds? how fares my lords? - My knights, my esq_uie_rs, in their degree? - - 7 - ‘Heere greeteth you well yo_u_r owne leae_tena_nt, - The Honorable Erle of Surrey; - He bidds you in Ffrance to venter yo_u_r chance, - For slaine is yo_u_r brother, K_ing_ Iamye, - And att louelie London you shall him finde, - My comelye prince, in the p_re_sence of thee.’ - - 8 - Then bespake our comlye king, - Said, Who did fight and who did flee? - And who bore him best of the Mount of Fflodden? - And who was false, and who was true to me? - - 9 - ‘Lancashire and Cheshire,’ sayd the messenger, - ‘Cleane they be fled and gone; - There was nere a man that longd to the Er_le_ of Darby - _Tha_t durst looke his enemyes vpon.’ - - 10 - S[t]ill in a study stood o_u_r noble k_ing_, - And tooke the writting in his hand; - Shortlye the seale he did vnclose, - And readilye he read as he found. - - 11 - Then bespake our comlye k_ing_, - And called vpon his chiualree, - And said, Who will feitch me the K_ing_ of Man, - The Honno_ra_bl_e_ Thomas Erle of Darbye? - - 12 - He may take Lancashire and Cheshire, - _Tha_t he hath called the cheefe of chiualree; - Now falsely are they fled and gone, - Neuer a one of them is true to mee! - - 13 - Then bespake S_i_r Raphe Egerton, the k_night_, - And lowlye kneeled vpon his knee, - And said, My soueraigne lo_rd_, K_ing_ Henery, - If it like yo_u_r Grace to pardon mee, - - 14 - If Lancashire and Cheshire be fled and gone, - Of those tydings wee may be vnfaine; - But I dare lay my life and lande - It was for want of their capt_aine_. - - 15 - For if the Erle of Derby our capt_aine_ had beene, - And vs to lead in our arraye, - Then noe Lancashire man nor Cheshire - _Tha_t euer wold haue fled awaye. - - 16 - ‘Soe it prooued well,’ said our noble k_ing_, - ‘By him _tha_t deerlye dyed vpon a tree! - Now when wee had the most neede, - Falslye they serued then to mee.’ - - 17 - Then spake W_illia_m Brewerton, k_night_, - And lowlye kneeled his prince before, - And sayd, My soueraigne k_ing_, Henery the Eighth, - If yo_u_r Grace sett by vs soe little store, - - 18 - Wheresoeuer you come in any feild to fight, - Set the Earle of Darby and vs before; - Then shall you see wether wee fight or flee, - Trew or false whether we be borne. - - 19 - Compton rowned w_i_th our k_ing_, - And said, Goe wee and leaue the cowards right; - ‘Heere is my gloue to thee,’ q_uo_th Egerton, - ‘Compton, if thou be a k_nigh_t. - - 20 - ‘Take my gloue, and w_i_th me fight, - Man to man, if thou wilt turne againe; - For if our prince were not p_re_sent right, - The one of vs two shold be slaine, - - 21 - ‘And neu_er_ foote beside the ground gone - Vntill the one dead shold bee.’ - Our prince was moued theratt anon, - And returned him right teenouslye. - - 22 - And to him came on the other hand - The Honno_ra_ble Erle of Darbye; - And when he before our prince came, - He lowlye kneeled vpon his knee, - - 23 - And said, Iesu Christ, _tha_t on the crosse dyed, - This day, noble Henery, thy speed may bee! - The first word _tha_t the k_ing_ did speake, - Sayd, Welcome, K_ing_ of Man and Erle of Darbye! - - 24 - How likest thou Cheshire and Lancashire both, - W_hi_ch were counted cheefe of chiualree? - Falslye are they fled and gone, - And neu_er_ a one is trew to mee. - - 25 - ‘If _tha_t be soe,’ said the erle free, - ‘My leege, therof I am not faine; - My comlye prince, rebuke not mee, - I was not there to be there capt_aine_. - - 26 - ‘If I had beene their capt_aine_,’ the erle said then, - ‘I durst haue layd both liffe and land - He neu_er_ came out of Lancashire nor Cheshire - That wold haue fledd beside the ground. - - 27 - ‘But if it like yo_u_r noble Grace - A litle boone to grant itt mee, - Lett me haue Lancashire and Cheshire both, - I desire noe more helpe trulye; - - 28 - ‘If I ffayle to burne vp all Scottland, - Take me and hang me vpon a tree! - I, I shall conquer to Paris gate, - Both comlye castles and towers hye. - - 29 - ‘Wheras the walls beene soe stronge, - Lancashire and Cheshire shall beate them downe.’ - ‘By my fathers soule,’ sayd our k_ing_, - ‘And by him _tha_t dyed on the roode, - - 30 - ‘Thou shalt neu_er_ haue Lancashire nor Cheshire right - Att thy owne obedyence for to bee! - Cowards in a feild felly will fight - Againe to win the victorye.’ - - 31 - ‘Wee were neu_er_ cowards,’ said the erle, - ‘By him _tha_t deerlye dyed on tree! - Who brought in yo_u_r father att Milford Hauen? - K_ing_ Henery the Seuenth forsooth was hee. - - 32 - ‘Thorow the towne of Fortune wee did him bring, - And soe convayd him to Shrewsburye, - And soe crowned him a noble k_ing_; - And Rich_ard_ _tha_t day wee deemed to dye.’ - - 33 - Our prince was greatlye moued at _tha_t worde, - And returned him hastilye againe; - To comfort the erle came on the other hande - The doughtye Edward, Duk of Buckingam. - - 34 - ‘Plucke vp thy hart, brother Stanlye, - And lett nothing greeiue thee! - For I dare lay my liffe to wedd - It is a false writing of the Erle of Surrey. - - 35 - ‘Sith K_ing_ Rich_ard_ felle, he neu_er_ loued thee, - For thy vnckle slue his father deere, - And deerlye deemed him to dye; - S_i_r _Christ_opher Savage his standard away did beare.’ - - 36 - ‘Alas, brother,’ sayd the Erle of Darbye, - ‘Woe be the time _tha_t I was made k_nigh_t, - Or were ruler of any lande, - Or euer had manhood in feild to fight! - - 37 - ‘Soe bold men in battle as were they, - Forsooth had neither lo_rd_ nor swaine; - Ffarwell my vnckle, S_i_r Ed_ward_ Stanley! - For well I wott _tha_t thou art slaine. - - 38 - ‘Surelye whiles thy liffe wold last - Thou woldest neu_er_ shrinke beside the plaine; - Nor Iohn Stanley, _tha_t child soe younge; - Well I wott _tha_t thou art slaine. - - 39 - ‘Ffarwell Kighlye! coward was thou neu_er_; - Old S_i_r Henery, the good k_nigh_t, - I left the[e] ruler of Latham, - To be [my] deputye both day and night. - - 40 - ‘Ffarwell Townlye, _tha_t was soe true! - And _tha_t noble Ashton of Middelton! - And the sad Southwarke, _tha_t eu_er_ was sure! - For well I wott _tha_t thou art gone. - - 41 - ‘Farwell Ashton vnde[r] Line! - And manlye Mullenax! for thou art slaine; - For doubtlesse while yo_u_r liues wold last - You wold never shun beside the plaine. - - 42 - ‘Ffarwell Adderton w_i_th the leaden mall! - Well I know thow art deemed to dye; - I may take my leaue att you all; - The flower of manhoode is gone from mee. - - 43 - ‘Ffarwell S_i_r John Booth of Barton, k_nigh_t! - Well I know _tha_t thou art slaine; - While thy liffe wold last to fight, - Thou wold neu_er_ be-sids the plaine. - - 44 - ‘Ffarwell Butler, and S_i_r Bode! - Sure you haue beene eu_er_ to mee; - And soe I know _tha_t [still] you wold, - If _tha_t vnslaine you bee. - - 45 - ‘Ffarwell _Christ_opher Savage, the wighte! - Well I know _tha_t thou art slaine; - For whiles thy life wold last to fight, - Thou wold neuer besids the plaine. - - 46 - ‘Ffarwell Dutton, and S_i_r Dane! - You haue beene eu_er_ trew to mee; - Ffarwell the Baron of Kinderton! - Beside the feild thou wold not flee. - - 47 - ‘Ffarwell Ffitton of Gawsworth! - Either thou art taken or slaine; - Doubtelesse while thy life wold last, - Thou wold neuer beside the plaine.’ - - 48 - As they stood talkinge together there, - The duke and the erle trulye, - Came ffor to comfort him th[e] trew Talbott, - And the noble Erle of Shrewsburye. - - 49 - ‘Plucke vp thy hart, sonne Tho_mas_, and be merry, - And let noe tydings greeve thee! - Am not I godfather to our k_ing_? - My owne god-sonne forsooth is hee.’ - - 50 - He tooke the Duke of Buckingam by the arme, - And the Erle of Sh[r]ewsburye by the other: - ‘To p_ar_t w_i_th you it is my harme; - Farwell, my father and my brother! - - 51 - ‘Farwell Lancaster, _tha_t litle towne! - Farwell now for euer and aye! - Many pore men may pray for my soule - When they lye weeping in the lane. - - 52 - ‘Ffarwell Latham, _tha_t bright bower! - Nine towers thou beares on hye, - And other nine thou beares on the outer walls; - W_i_thin thee may be lodged k_ing_s three. - - 53 - ‘Ffarwell Knowsley, _tha_t litle tower - Vnderneth the holtes soe hore! - Eu_er_ when I thinke on _tha_t bright bower, - Wite me not though my hart be sore. - - 54 - ‘Ffarwell Tocstaffe, _tha_t trustye _par_ke, - And the fayre riuer _tha_t runes there beside, - There I was wont to chase the hinde and hart! - Now therin will I neu_er_ abide. - - 55 - ‘Ffarwell bold Birkhead! there was I boorne, - Within the abbey and that monesterye; - The sweet covent for mee may mourne; - I gaue to you the tythe of Beeston, trulye. - - 56 - ‘Ffarwell Westchester for eu_er_more! - And the Watter Gate! it is my owne; - I gaue a mace _for_ the serieant to weare, - To waite on the maior, as it is knowne. - - 57 - ‘Will I neu_er_ come _tha_t citye w_i_thin; - But, sonne Edw_ard_, thou may clayme it of right: - Ffarwell Westhardin! I may thee [call] myn, - K_nigh_t and lord I was of great might. - - 58 - ‘Sweete sonne Edw_ard_, white bookes thou make, - And eu_er_ haue pittye on the pore cominaltye! - Ffarwell Hope and Hopedale! - Mould and Moulesdale, God be w_i_th thee! - I may take leaue with a sorry cheere, - For w_i_thin thee will I neuer bee.’ - - 59 - As they stoode talking together there, - The duke and the lords trulye, - Came Iamie Garsed, a yeman of the guard, - _Tha_t had beene brought vp w_i_th the Erle of Derbye; - Like the devill w_i_th his fellowes he had fared, - He s[t]icked two, and wounded three. - - 60 - After, w_i_th his sword drawen in his hand, - He fled to the noble Earle of Derbye: - ‘Stand vp, Iamye!’ the erle said, - ‘These tydings nothing liketh mee. - - 61 - ‘I haue seene the day I cold haue saued thee, - Such thirty men if thou hads slaine, - And now if I shold speake for thee, - Sure thow weret to be slaine. - - 62 - ‘I will once desire my bretheren eche one - _Tha_t they will speake for thee.’ - He prayd the Duke of Buckingam, - And alsoe the Erle of Shrewsburye, - - 63 - Alsoe my lo_rd_ Fitzwater soe wise, - And the good Lo_rd_ Willowbye, - S_i_r Rice Ap Thomas, a k_nigh_t of price; - They all spoke for Long Iamye. - - 64 - They had not stayd but a litle while there, - The duke and the erles in their talkinge, - But straight to the erle came a messenger, - _Tha_t came latelye from the k_ing_, - - 65 - And bad _tha_t Long Iamie shold be sent; - There shold neither be grith nor grace, - But on a boughe he shold be hanged, - In middest the feild, before the erles face. - - 66 - ‘If _tha_t be soe,’ said the Erle of Derbye, - ‘I trust our prince will better bee; - Such tydings maketh my hart full heavye - Afore his Grace when _tha_t wee bee.’ - - 67 - The Duke of Buckingam tooke Iamie by the one arme, - And the Erle of Shrewsburye by the other; - Afore them they put the K_ing_ of Man, - It was the Erle of Darbye and noe other. - - 68 - The lo_rd_ Fitzwater followed fast, - And soe did the lo_rd_ Willowbyghe; - The comfortable Cobham mad great hast; - All went w_i_th the noble Erle of Derbye. - - 69 - The hind Hassall hoved on fast, - W_i_th the lusty Lealand trulye; - Soe did S_i_r Alex_ander_ Osbaston, - Came in w_i_th the Erle of Derbye. - - 70 - The royall Ratcliffe, _tha_t rude was neu_er_, - And the trustye Trafford, keene to trye, - And wight Warburton, out of Cheshire, - All came w_i_th the Erle of Darbye. - - 71 - S_i_r Rice ap Thomas, a k_nigh_t of Wales, - Came w_i_th a feirce menye; - He bent his bowes on the bent to abyde, - And cleane vnsett the gallow-tree. - - 72 - When they came afore our k_ing_, - Lowlye they kneeled vpon their knees; - The first word _tha_t our prince did myn, - ‘Welcome, dukes and erles, to mee! - - 73 - ‘The most welcome hither of all - Is our owne traitor, Long Iamie: - Iamie, how durst thou be soe bold - As in our p_re_sence for to bee? - - 74 - ‘To slay thy bretheren w_i_thin their hold! - Thou was sworne to them, and they to thee.’ - Then began Long Iamie to speake bold: - ‘My leege, if it please yo_u_r Grace to pardon mee, - - 75 - ‘When I was to my supp_er_ sett, - They called me coward to my face, - And of their talking they wold not lett, - And thus w_i_th them I vpbrayded was. - - 76 - ‘The bade me flee from them apace - To _tha_t coward the Erle of Derbye! - When I was litle, and had small grace, - He was my helpe and succour trulye. - - 77 - ‘He tooke [me] from my father deere, - And keeped me w_i_thin his woone - Till I was able of my selfe - Both to shoote and picke the stone. - - 78 - ‘Then after, vnder Grenwich, vpon a day - A Scottish minstrell came to thee, - And brought a bow of yew to drawe, - And all the guard might not stirr _tha_t tree. - - 79 - ‘Then the bow was giuen to the Erle of Derbye, - And the erle deliuered it to mee; - Seven shoots before yo_u_r face I shott, - And att the eighth in sunder it did flee. - - 80 - ‘Then I bad the Scott bow downe his face, - And gather vp the bow, and bring it to his k_ing_; - Then it liked yo_u_r noble Grace - Into yo_u_r guard for me to bring. - - 81 - ‘Sithen I haue liued a merry liffe, - I thanke yo_u_r Grace and the Erle of Darbye; - But to haue the erle rebuked thus, - _Tha_t my bringer-vp forsooth was hee, - - 82 - ‘I had rather suffer death,’ he said, - ‘Then be false to the erle _tha_t was true to me.’ - ‘Stand vp Iamie!’ said our k_ing_, - ‘Haue heere my charter, I giue it thee. - - 83 - ‘Let me haue noe more fighting of thee - Whilest thou art w_i_thin Ffrance lande.’ - ‘Then one thing you must grant,’ said Iamie, - ‘_Tha_t yo_u_r word theron may stand: - - 84 - ‘Whosoe rebuketh Lancashire or Chesshire - Shortlye shall be deemed to dye.’ - Our k_ing_ comanded a cry i-wis - To be p_ro_claimed hastilye. - - 85 - ‘If the dukes and erles kneele on their knees, - Itt getteth on sturr the comonaltye; - If wee be vpbrayded thus, - Manye a man is like to dye.’ - The k_ing_ said, He _tha_t rebuket Lancashire or Cheshire - Shall haue his iudgment on the next tree. - - 86 - Then soe they were in rest - For the space of a night, as I weene, - And on the other day, w_i_thout leasinge, - There came a messenger from the q_ueene_. - - 87 - And when he came before our k_ing_, - Lowlye he kneeled vpon his knee, - And said, Chr[i]st thee saue, our noble k_ing_, - And thy speed this day may bee! - Heere greeteth thee well thy loue and liking, - And our honorable q_ueene_ and ladye, - - 88 - And biddeth you in Ffrance to be glad, - For slaine is yo_u_r brother-in-law K_ing_ Iamie, - And att louelye London he shalbe found, - My comlye prince, in the p_re_sence of thee. - - 89 - Then bespake our comlye prince, - Saiinge, Who did fight and who did flee? - And who bare them best of the Mount of Fflodden? - And who is false, and who is true to mee? - - 90 - ‘Lancashire and Cheshire,’ said the messenger, - ‘They haue done the deed w_i_th their hand; - Had not the Erle of Derbye beene to thee true, - In great aduenture had beene all England.’ - - 91 - Then bespake our prince on hye, - ‘S_i_r Raphe Egertton, my marshall I make thee; - S_i_r Edward Stanley, thou shalt be a lo_rd_, - Lord Mounteagle thou shalt bee. - - 92 - ‘Yonge Iohn Stanley shalbe a k_nigh_t, - And he is well worthy for to bee.’ - The Duke of Buckingham the tydings hard, - And shortlye ran to the Erle of Darbye: - - 93 - ‘Brother, plucke vp thy hart and be merrye, - And let noe tydings greeve thee! - Yesterday, thy men called cowerds were, - And this day they haue woone the victorye.’ - - 94 - The duke tooke the erle by the arme, - And thus they ledden to the prince [trulye]. - Seven roods of ground the k_ing_ he came, - And sayd, ‘Welcome, K_ing_ of Man and Erle of Derbye! - The thing _tha_t I haue taken from thee, - I geeve it to thee againe whollye. - - 95 - ‘The manrydden of Lancashire and Cheshire both, - Att thy bidding euer to bee; - Ffor those men beene true, Thomas, indeed; - They beene trew both to thee and mee.’ - - 96 - ‘Yett one thing greeveth me,’ said the erle, - ‘And in my hart maketh me heavye, - This day to heare the wan the feild, - And yesterday cowards to bee.’ - - 97 - ‘It was a wronge wryting,’ sayd our k_ing_, - ‘_Tha_t came ffrom the Erle of Surrey; - But I shall him teach his prince to know, - If euer wee come in our countrye.’ - - 98 - ‘I aske noe more,’ sayd the noble erle, - ‘Ffor all _tha_t my men haue done trulye, - But _tha_t I may be iudge my selfe - Of _tha_t noble Erle of Surreye.’ - - 99 - ‘Stand vp, Thomas!’ sayd our prince, - ‘Lord Marshall I make thee, - And thou shalt be iudge thy selfe, - And as thou saiest, soe shall it bee.’ - - 100 - ‘Then is his liffe saued,’ sayd the erle, - ‘I thanke Iesu and yo_u_r Grace trulye; - If my vnckle slew his father deere, - He wold haue venged him on mee.’ - - 101 - ‘Thou art verry patient,’ sayd our k_ing_; - ‘The Holy Ghost remaines, I thinke, in thee; - On the south side of Turnay thou shalt stande, - W_i_th my godfather the Erle of Shrewsburye.’ - - 102 - And soe to _tha_t seege forth the went, - The noble Shrewsburye and the Erle of Derbye, - And the laid seege vnto the walls, - And wan the towne in dayes three. - - 103 - Thus was Lancashire and Cheshire rebuked - Thorow the pollicye of the Erle of Surrey. - Now God, _tha_t was in Bethlem borne, - And for vs dyed vpon a tree, - Saue o_u_r noble prince _tha_t wereth the crowne, - And haue mercy on the Erles soule of Derbye! - - · · · · · - - 104 - And then bespake o_u_r noble k_ing_, - These were the words said hee; - Sayes, Come, Alex_ander_ Ratcliffe, k_nigh_t, - Come hither now vnto mee, - Ffor them shalt goe on the south side of Tournay, - And w_i_th thee thou shalt haue thousands three. - - 105 - Then forth is gone Alex_ander_ Ratcliffe, k_nigh_t; - W_i_th him he leads men thousand three; - But or ere three dayes were come to an end, - The Ffrenchmen away did flee. - - 106 - Then K_ing_ Henery planted three hundred Englishmen - _Tha_t in the citye shold abyde and bee: - Alex_ander_ Rat_cliffe_, he wold haue mad him gou_er_no_u_r there, - But he forsooke it certainelye, - And made great intreatye to our k_ing_ - _Tha_t he might come into England in his compa[n]ye. - - · · · · · - - 107 - And then bespake noble K_ing_ Henery, - And these were the words said hee: - Sayes, Come hither, Row_land_ Egerton, k_nigh_t, - And come thou hither vnto mee; - - 108 - For the good service _tha_t thou hast done, - Well rewarded shalt thou bee. - Then forth came Row_land_ Egerton, - And kneeled downe vpon his knee. - - 109 - Saies, If it like yo_u_r Grace, my gracious k_ing_, - The reward _tha_t you will bestow on mee, - I wold verry gladlye haue it in Cheshire, - Ffor _tha_t’s att home in my owne country. - - 110 - And then bespake him noble K_ing_ Henery, - And these were the words said hee; - ‘I haue nothing, Egerton, in all Cheshire - _Tha_t wilbe any pleasure for thee - But fiue mills stands att Chester townes end; - The gone all ouer the water of Dee.’ - - 111 - Still kneeled Row_land_ Egerton, - And did not rise beside his knee; - Sayes, If it like yo_u_r Highnesse, my gracious k_ing_, - A milner called I wold neuer bee. - - 112 - And then bespake him noble K_ing_ Harrye, - These were the words said hee; - Saith, I’le make mine avow to God, - And alsoe to the Trinitye, - There shall neu_er_ be k_ing_ of England - But the shalbe miller of the mills of Dee! - - 113 - I haue noe other thing, Egerton, - _Tha_t wilbe for thy delight; - I will giue thee the forrest of Snoden in Wales, - Wherby thou may giue the horne and lease; - In siluer it wilbe verry white, - And meethinkes shold thee well please. - - 114 - . . . . . . . . . - Still kneeled Row_land_ Egerton on his knee; - He sayes, If itt like yo_u_r Highnes, my gracious k_ing_, - A ranger called wold I neuer bee. - - 115 - Then our k_ing_ was wrath_e_, and rose away, - Sayes, I thinke, Egerton, nothing will please thee. - And then bespake him, Row_land_ Egerton, - Kneeling yet still on his knee: - - 116 - Sayes, If itt like yo_u_r Highnesse, my gracious k_ing_, - _Tha_t yo_u_r Highnes pleasure will now heer mee, - In Cheshire there lyes a litle grange-house, - In the lo_rd_sh[i]ppe of Rydeley it doth lyee. - - 117 - A tanner there in it did dwell; - My leege, it is but a cote w_i_th one eye, - And if yo_u_r Grace wold bestow this on mee, - Ffull well it wold pleasure me. - - 118 - Then bespake our noble K_ing_ Harrye, - And these were the words saith hee; - Saies, Take thee _tha_t grange-house, Egerton, - And the lo_rd_shippe of Rydley, faire and free. - - 119 - For the good service thou hast to me done, - I will giue it vnto thy heyres and thee: - And thus came Row[land] Egertton - To the lo_rd_shippe of Rydley, faire and free. - - · · · · · - - 120 - This noble K_ing_ Harry wan great victoryes in France, - Thorrow the might _tha_t Christ Jesus did him send. - - First our k_ing_ wan Hans and Gynye, - And [two] walled townes, the truth to say; - And afterwards wan other two townes, - The names of them were called Turwin and Turnay. - - 121 - High Bullen and Base Bullen he wan alsoe, - And other village-townes many a one, - And Muttrell he wan alsoe— - The cronicles of this will not lye— - And kept to Calleis, plainsht w_i_th Englishmen, - Vnto the death _tha_t he did dye. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - 4^2. soliders. - - 16^4. them. - - 17^3. 8^{th}. - - 20^3. wright. - - 20^4. vs 2. - - 31^4. 7[th .]. - - 35^1. feele. - - 35^4. xopher Savage, _and again_ 45^1: always _for_ away. - - 41^1. vndeline. - - 45^1. K_nigh_t _for_ wighte. - - 52^{2,3}. 9. - - 52^4. 3. - - 53^2. whore. - - 53^4. white. - - 56^3. giue: p_ro_ _for_ for. - - 57^2. wright. - - 58^1. Lookes _for_ bookes. 2d Parte _at_ 59^3. - - 59^6. 2: 3. - - 61^2. 30. - - 65^1. Ianie. - - 79^3. 7. - - 79^4. 8^{th}: breake _for_ flee, _cf._ #b#, #c#. - - 83^4. ward: _cf._ #b#. - - 84^3. I cry _for_ a cry: a _in_ #b#, #c#. - - 89^4. who his _for the first_ who is. - - 94^3. 7. - - 95^1. Maurydden. - - 102^4, 104^4. 3. - - 103. 121 _in the MS._ - - 104^6. 1000[s :] 3. - - 105^2. 1000[d :] 3. - - 106^1. 300[d :]. - - 110^5. 5. - - 112^6. he _for_ the? - - 117^4. me pleasure. - - 120^5. 2. - - And _for_ & _always_. - -#b#, #c#. - - _In stanzas of eight lines._ #b.# A ballate of the Battalle of - Ffloden Ffeeld betweene the Earle of Surrey and the King of - Scots. #c.# Flowden Feilde. - - _Trivial variations of spelling are not regarded._ - - 1^1. of the. - - 1^2. our fortune and chaunce. - - 1^3. tell of. #b.# tythandes. #c.# tythance. - - 2^2. surly _after_ And: his _wanting_. - - 3^1. at _for_ to. - - 3^2. #b.# lorde _for_ leed. #b#, #c#. great _for_ high. - - 3^4. #b.# found Henry our kynge. - - 4^5–7^6. _Two stanzas, the first ending at 6^2._ - - 4^5. the prince. - - 4^6. #c.# Iesu. - - 5^2. he kneeled vppon. - - 5^4. King _wanting_. - - 6^4. and _for the second_ my. - - 7^3. biddethe. - - 7^5. ye. - - 8^2. _Prefix_ And. - - 8^3. bare: uppon, upon, _for_ of. #b.# them _for_ him. - - 9^2. they bene both. - - 9^3. non _for_ nere. #b.# belonged. - - 10^1. #b.# a stand. - - 10^2. And he. - - 10^4. _First_ he _wanting_. #b.# tould (_corrected from_ coulde?) - _for_ found. - - 11^1. #b.# noble _for_ comlye. - - 11^2. And he. - - 12^1. #b.# C. and L. #b#, #c# _add_ bothe. - - 12^2. the _wanting_. - - 12^4. Not a. - - 13^3. King _wanting_. - - 13^4. #b#, And it, #c#, Yf it, like you my souereigne lord. - - 14^1. #c.# bene. - - 14^2. #c.# tythandes. - - 15^3. #b.# L. nor C. mene. - - 15^4. #b.# wold euer. - - 16^2. on _for_ vpon a. - - 16^3. For now: greatest _for_ most. - - 16^4. then served they _for_ they serued then. - - 17^4. And _for_ If. - - 18^1. ye: any _wanting_. - - 18^3. #c.# ye. - - 18^4. #b.# whether (_altered from_ wher) that wee are. - - 19^1. #b.# rounded. #b#, #c#. anon _added to_ king. - - 19^2. And _wanting_. #b.# Sayenge. - - 19^3. to thee _wanting_. - - 21^1. #b.# neuer a: besydes. - - 21^4. #b.# right angerly. - - 22^1. other syde. - - 22^4. lowly he. - - 23^3. #b.# our king sayde. #c.# speake. - - 23^4. #b.# Was _for_ Sayd. - - 24^1. #c.# L. and C. - - 24^2. was _for_ were. - - 24^3. nowe _inserted before_ are. - - 24^4. #b.# Neuer a one of them. #c.# Neuer one of them ys (_but_ - are, _in a later hand_). - - 25^1. #c.# then _for_ free. - - 26^4. #b.# fled a foote. - - 27^2. #b.# to _for_ itt. - - 28^1. to brene, bren. - - 28^2. _First_ me _wanting_. - - 28^3. _First_ I _wanting_: all to. #b.# gates. - - 28^4. #b.# Bothe the. - - 29^1. walles they. - - 29^3. then sayd. - - 30^1. and _for_ nor. - - 30^2. #c.# thyne. - - 30^3. #b.# freely _for_ felly. - - 31^2. for me _for_ on tree. - - 32^2. #b.# To the towne of. - - 32^3. we _after_ soe. - - 33^2. #b.# vppon the same _for_ againe. #c.# in same, _but_ on the - _for_ in, _in a later hand_. - - 33^3. side, syde, _for_ hande. - - 34^4. #b.# duke _for_ erle. - - 35^1. Synce: feelde, feylde. - - 35^2. #c.# thyne: theare, there _for_ deere. - - 35^4. awaye _for_ always. - - 36^3. #c.# therby _added by a later hand_. - - 37^3. #c.# myne. - - 37^4. #c.# art _altered to_ weart. - - 38^1. whileste that, whiles that. - - 38^2. schunte besides. - - 38^4. nowe _before_ that. - - 39^1. #b.# for _before_ coward, #b#, #c#. none _for_ neuer. - - 39^4. be my. - - 40^2. the _for_ that. - - 40^3. #b.# Sotheworthe. #c.# Sothewarke _altered to_ Sotheworthe. - - 41^3. #c.# whilest. - - 41^4. schunte. - - 42^1. #b.# Anderton. - - 42^3. leaue nowe. #b.# at _altered to_ of. - - 43^3. For whileste, For whiles. - - 43^4. wouldeste (#c# woulde) neuer beside the playne. - - 44^1. #b.# Bolde. - - 44^2. ye. - - 44^3. stylle, still. - - 44^4. Vnslayne nowe yf, (#b#) that you bee, (#c#) you had bee. - - 45^1. weighte, wighte. - - 45^3. #b.# whileste. - - 45^4. woldeste, wouldest: beside. - - 46^1. Done, Downe. - - 46^2. Ye. - - 46^4. #b.# woldeste. - - 47^1. #b.# Seton _altered to_ Fitton. - - 47^2. Other. - - 47^3. _Prefix_ For: whiles. - - 47^4. woldeste, wouldest. - - 48^3. ffor _wanting_. - - 49^2. #c.# tythands. - - 49^4. myne. - - 51^4. #c.# lawne. - - 52^2. beareste, bearest. - - 52^3. in the vtter. - - 53^2. whore. - - 53^4. Wyte. - - 54^2. ronnethe, renneth. #b.# besydes. - - 54^3. #b.# was I. - - 54^4. #b.# I will. - - 55^1. Berkenhede, Byrkhead _altered to_ Byrkenhead. - - 55^4. #c.# the _wanting_. - - 56^2. myn, myne. - - 56^3. gaue: p_ro_ (_or_ for) _wanting_. - - 57^2. mayeste, maiest. #c.# yt clayme. - - 57^3. #c.# call _after_ may, _in a later hand_. - - 58^1. bookes, bokes. - - 58^2. comentye, comyntie. - - 58^3. Hopesdalle. - - 58^4. Mouldesdalle, Mouldesdale. - - 58^5. take my: hevie, heavie _for_ sorry. - - 59^3. Iames: Garsye, Garsyde. - - 59^6. stycked, sticked. - - 60^1. #b.# And after. - - 60^3. #b.# Iames. - - 60^4, 66^3. #c.# tythandes. - - 61^2. hadeste, had. - - 61^4. wearte for, were for. - - 62^2. will nowe. - - 63^1. #b.# Fitzwaters. #c.# Feighwater _altered to_ Fitzwater. - - 63^3, 71^1. #c.# vp _for_ ap. - - 63^4. And all they spake. - - 64^1. standen. - - 64^3. But _wanting_. - - 65^1, 73^3, 74^3, 82^3. #b.# Iames. - - 65^1. #c.# send. - - 65^4. Amydeste. - - 66^1. #c.# soe _wanting_. - - 66^3. #b.# makes. - - 67^4. non. - - 68^1. #c.# Feighwater. #b.# he followed. - - 69^1. #b.# hied _for_ hoved. - - 69^3. #b.# Osboldstone. - - 69^4. #b.# come. - - 70^3. #b.# wighty. - - 71^2. came forthe even with. - - 71^3. #c.# bend. - - 71^4. gallowes. - - 72^1. When as. #b.# the king. - - 72^3. #b.# minge. - - 72^4. _Prefix_ Said: vnto. - - 73^1. _Prefix_ But. - - 73^2. #c.# our owne _altered to_ yondere. - - 74^2. #c.# waste. - - 74^4. lyke, like, _for_ please. - - 75^4. vpbrayded that I _for_ I vpbrayded. - - 77^1. tooke me. - - 77^2. #b.# kepte. - - 78^3. of vewe. - - 79^4. #b.# did flee. #c.# be _altered to_ flie. - - 80^{1,2}. #b.# Then I layd the bowe one his face, and bade him - gather vpe the bowe, _etc._ #c.# geder. - - 80^4. for _wanting_. - - 82^1. had lyuer, leaver. - - 83^2. #c.# whiles, #b.# Frenche. - - 83^3. ye. - - 83^4. #b.# word. - - 84^3. Our prince: a cry. - - 85^2. #b.# settethe one and. - - 85^3. Yf that. - - 85^5. rebuketh. #b.# and _for_ or. - - 86^1. stylle at rest. - - 86^2. #b.# as _wanting_. - - 87^1. #b.# prince for king. - - 87^2. #b.# kneene, _rhyming with_ 86^{2,4}. - - 87^3. prince _for_ king. - - 87^4. This owere (#c# our) noble kynge this (#c# thy) speede may - be. - - 87^5. greetes (#c# gretteth) yow well your lyffe and spouse (#c# - liking). - - 87^6. Your honorable: fair ladye. - - 88^1. for to. - - 88^2. #b.# in-law _wanting_. - - 89^2. And sayd. - - 89^3. vppon, vpon, the _for_ of the. - - 89^4. And who weare, were, _bis_. - - 91^1. #b.# on highe, _originally_; _altered in the same hand to_ - w_i_th ane highe word. - - 91^4. Ye, yea, _prefixed_: shalt thou. - - 92^2. As _for_ And. - - 92^3. #b.# thes _for_ the. #c.# tythands. #b.# _adds_ righte _at - the end_. - - 93^1. Brother _after_ hart. - - 93^2. #c.# tythandes. - - 93^3. #b.# this (_written upon_ thy) men cowards were they. #c.# - cowardes called _for_ called cowerds. - - 93^4. they _wanting_. - - 94^1. #b.# him _for_ the erle. - - 94^2. _adds_ trulye _at the end_. #b.# and lede him _for_ thus - they ledden. - - 94^5. haue from the taken. - - 94^6. agayne to thee. - - 95^1. #b.# marshallynge. #c.# manratten. #b.# men _for_ both. - - 95^2. for to. #b# _omits_ euer. - - 95^3. these. #b.# be. - - 95^4. #b.# be. - - 96^1. #b.# the earle saide. - - 96^4. for to. - - 97^1. #b.# our kinge sayd. - - 97^4. And _for_ If. - - 98^1. #b.# the earle nowe. - - 98^3. #b.# That I my selfe his iudgmente maye pronounce, #c.# But - that I gyve iudgment my selfe. - - 99^2. #b.# will I. #c.# that I shall. - - 99^3. shalt geue (gyue) the iudgment. - - 100^1. #b.# Then sayd the earle, saved is his lyfe. - - 100^3. If _wanting_. - - 101^1. #b.# our kyng sware. - - 101^2. remayneth: I thinke _wanting_. - - 101^4. #c.# the _wanting_. - - 102^1. #b.# they ganged. - - 102^3. #b# _adds_ batled _at the end_. - - 102^4. #b.# toweres. #c.# townes. #b#, #c#. w_i_thin. - - 103^5. #b.# weres. - - 103^6. #b.# And shewe thie mersye one the Earle of Derby. - - 104–121 _wanting._ - - - - - 169 - - JOHNIE ARMSTRONG - - #A. a.# ‘A Northern Ballet,’ Wit Restord in severall Select Poems not - formerly publisht, London, 1658, p. 30, in Facetiæ, London, 1817, I, - 132. #b.# ‘A Northern Ballad,’ Wit and Drollery, London, 1682, p. - 57. - - #B. a.# ‘John Arm-strongs last Good - Night,’ etc., Wood, 401, fol. 93 - b, Bodleian Library. #b.# Pepys Ballads, II, 133, No 117. #c.# - ‘Johnny Armstrongs last Good-Night,’ Old Ballads, 1723, I, 170. - - #C.# ‘Johnie Armstrang,’ The Ever Green, 1724, II, 190. - - -#A b# is not found in Wit and Drollery, 1661; it is literally repeated -in Dryden’s Miscellanies, 1716, III, 307. #B# is in the Roxburghe -collection, III, 513, the Bagford, I, 64, II, 94, and no doubt in -others. It was printed by Evans, 1777, II, 64, and by Ritson, English -Songs, 1783, II, 322. #C# was printed by Herd, 1769, p. 260, 1776 (with -spelling changed), I, 13; by Ritson, Scotish Songs, 1794, II, 7; by -Scott, 1802, I, 49, 1833, I, 407 (with a slight change or two). - -‘Ihonne Ermistrangis dance’ is mentioned in The Complaynt of Scotland, -1549, ed. Murray, p. 66. The tune of #C# is No 356 of Johnson’s Museum; -see further Stenhouse, in the edition of 1853, IV, 335 f. - -Of his copy #C#, Ramsay says: “This is the true old ballad, never -printed before.... This I copied from a gentleman’s mouth of the name of -Armstrang, who is the sixth generation from this John. He tells me this -was ever esteemd the genuine ballad, the common one false.” Motherwell -remarks, Minstrelsy, p. lxii, note 3: “The common ballad alluded to by -Ramsay [#A#, #B#] is the one, however, which is in the mouths of the -people. His set I never heard sung or recited; but the other -frequently.” A manuscript copy of #B#, entitled Gillnokie, communicated -to Percy by G. Paton, Edinburgh, December 4, 1778, which has some of the -peculiar readings of #B a#, introduces the 27th stanza of #C#[225] in -place of 12, and has ‘Away, away, thou traitor strong’ for 12^1. A copy -in Buchan’s MSS, I, 61, ‘The Death of John Armstrong,’ has the first -half of #C# 18 and also of #C# 19 (with very slight variations). Another -Scottish copy, which was evidently taken from recitation, introduces #C# -23 after 14.[226] - -Both forms of the ballad had been too long printed to allow validity to -any known recited copy. Besides the three already mentioned, there is -one in Kinloch’s MSS, V, 263, which intermixes two stanzas from Johnie -Scot. The Scottish copies naturally do not allow ‘Scot’ to stand in -17^3. Paton’s substitutes ‘chiell’; the others ‘man,’ and so a broadside -reprinted by Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs, Historical and -Traditionary, I, 130. - -The Armstrongs were people of consideration in Liddesdale from the end, -or perhaps from the middle, of the fourteenth century, and by the -sixteenth had become the most important sept, as to numbers, in that -region, not only extending themselves over a large part of the -Debateable Land,[227] but spreading also into Eskdale, Ewesdale, -Wauchopedale, and Annandale. The Earl of Northumberland, in 1528, puts -the power of the Armstrongs, with their adherents, above three thousand -horsemen. Mangerton, in Liddesdale, on the east bank of the Liddel, a -little north of its junction with the Kersope, was the seat of the -chief. John Armstrong, known later as Gilnockie, a brother of Thomas, -laird of Mangerton, is first heard of in 1525. Removing from Liddesdale -early in the century, as it is thought, he settled on the church lands -of Canonby, and at a place called The Hollows, on the west side of the -Esk, built a tower, which still remains.[228] - -Others of the Armstrongs erected strong houses in the neighborhood. Lord -Dacre, the English warden of the West Marches, essayed to surprise these -strengths in the early part of 1528, but was foiled by John and Sym -Armstrong, though he had a force of two thousand men. The Armstrongs, if -nominally Scots, were so far from being “in due obeysaunce” that, at a -conference of commissioners of both realms in November of the year last -named, the representatives of the Scottish king could not undertake to -oblige them to make redress for injuries done the English, though a -peace depended upon this condition. Perhaps the English border suffered -more than the Scottish from their forays (and the English border, we are -informed, was not nearly so strong as the Scottish, neither in -“capetayns nor the commynnaltie”), but how little Scotland was spared -appears from what Sym Armstrong, the laird of Whitlaugh, in the same -year again, told the Earl of Northumberland: that himself and his -adherents had laid waste in the said realm sixty miles, and laid down -thirty parish churches, and that there was not one in the realm of -Scotland dare remedy the same. Indeed, our John, Thomas of Mangerton, -Sym of Whitlaugh, and the rest, seem to be fairly enough described in an -English indictment as “enemies of the king of England, and traitors, -fugitives, and felons of the king of Scots.[229] - -Other measures having failed, King James the Fifth, in the summer of -1530, took the pacifying of his borders into his own hand, and for this -purpose levied an army of from eight to twelve thousand men. The -particulars of this noted expedition are thus given by Lindsay of -Pitscottie.[230] - -“The king ... made a convention at Edinburgh with all the lords and -barons, to consult how he might best stanch theiff and river within his -realm, and to cause the commons to live in peace and rest, which long -time had been perturbed before. To this effect he gave charge to all -earls, lords, barons, freeholders and gentlemen, to compeir at Edinburgh -with a month’s victual, to pass with the king to daunton the thieves of -Teviotdale and Annandale, with all other parts of the realm; also the -king desired all gentlemen that had dogs that were good to bring them -with them to hunt in the said bounds, which the most part of the -noblemen of the Highlands did, such as the earls of Huntly, Argyle, and -Athol, who brought their deer-hounds with them and hunted with his -majesty. These lords, with many other lords and gentlemen, to the number -of twelve thousand men, assembled at Edinburgh, and therefrom went with -the king’s grace to Meggat-land, in the which bounds were slain at that -time eighteen score of deer. After this hunting the king hanged John -Armstrong, laird of Kilnokie; which many a Scotsman heavily lamented, -for he was a doubtit man, and as good a chieftain as ever was upon the -borders, either of Scotland or of England. And albeit he was a -loose-living man, and sustained the number of twenty-four well-horsed -able gentlemen with him, yet he never molested no Scotsman.[231] But it -is said, from the Scots border to Newcastle of England, there was not -one, of whatsoever estate, but paid to this John Armstrong a tribute, to -be free of his cumber, he was so doubtit in England. So when he entered -in before the king, he came very reverently, with his foresaid number -very richly appareled, trusting that in respect he had come to the -king’s grace willingly and voluntarily, not being taken nor apprehended -by the king, he should obtain the more favor. But when the king saw him -and his men so gorgeous in their apparel, and so many braw men under a -tyrant’s commandment, throwardlie he turned about his face, and bade -take that tyrant out of his sight, saying, What wants yon knave that a -king should have? But when John Armstrong perceived that the king -kindled in a fury against him, and had no hope of his life, -notwithstanding of many great and fair offers which he offered to the -king—that is, that he should sustain himself, with forty gentlemen, ever -ready to await upon his majesty’s service, and never to take a penny of -Scotland nor Scotsmen; secondly, that there was not a subject in -England, duke, earl, lord, or baron, but within a certain day he should -bring any of them to his majesty, quick or dead—he, seeing no hope of -the king’s favor towards him, said very proudly, I am but a fool to seek -grace at a graceless face. But had I known, sir, that ye would have -taken my life this day, I should have lived upon the borders in despite -of King Harry and you both; for I know King Harry would down weigh my -best horse with gold to know that I were condemned to die this day. So -he was led to the scaffold, and he and all his men hanged.” - -Buchanan’s account is, that the king undertook an expedition for the -suppressing of freebooters in July, 1530, with an army of about eight -thousand men, and encamped at Ewes water, near which was the hold of -John Armstrong, a chief of a band of thieves, who had struck such terror -into the parts adjacent that even the English for many miles about paid -him tribute. Under enticement of the king’s officers, John set out to -pay a visit to the king with about fifty horsemen, both unarmed and -without a safe-conduct, and on his way fell in with a body of scouts, -who took him to their master as a pretended prisoner, and he and most of -his men were hanged. The authors of his death averred that Armstrong had -promised the English to put the neighboring Scots territory under their -sway, if they would make it for his interest; whereas the English were -extremely pleased at his death, because they were rid of a redoubtable -enemy.[232] - -Bishop Lesley says simply that in the month of June (apparently 1529) -the king passed to the borders with a great army, where he caused -forty-eight of the most noble thieves, with John Armstrong, their -captain, to be taken, who being convict of theft, reiff, slaughter, and -treason, were all hanged upon growing trees.[233] - -Another account gives us positively and definitely to understand that -the Armstrongs were not secured without artifice. “On the eighth of June -the principals of all the surnames of the clans on the borders came to -the king, upon hope of a proclamation proclaimed in the king’s name that -they should all get their lives if they would come in and submit -themselves in the king’s will. And so, upon this hope, John Armstrong, -who kept the castle of Langholm (a brother of the laird of Mangerton’s, -a great thief and oppressor, and one that kept still with him four and -twenty well-horsed men), came in to the king; and another called Ill -Will Armstrong, another stark thief, with sundry of the Scotts and -Elliotts, came all forward to the camp where the king was, in hope to -get their pardons. But no sooner did the king perceive them, and that -they were come afar off, when direction was given presently to enclose -them round about; the which was done, accordingly, and were all -apprehended, to the number of thirty-five persons, and at a place called -Carlaverock Chapel were all committed to the gallows.... The English -people was exceeding glad when they understood that John Armstrong was -executed, for he did great robberies and stealing in England, -maintaining twenty-four men in household every day upon reiff and -oppression.”[234] - -The place of execution is mentioned by no other historian than Anderson, -just quoted, and he gives it as Carlaverock Chapel. But this must be a -mistake for Carlenrig Chapel, Carlaverock not being in the line of the -king’s progress. James is known to have been at Carlenrig[235] on the -5th of July, and Johnie Armstrong not to have been alive on the eighth. -It has been popularly believed that Johnie and his band were buried in -Carlenrig churchyard (where the graves used to be shown), and their -execution made so deep an impression on the people[236] that it is not -unplausible that the fact should be remembered, and that the ballad #C#, -in saying that John was murdered at Carlenrig, has followed tradition -rather than given rise to it. - -It appears from Lindsay’s narrative that Johnie Armstrong came to the -king voluntarily, and that he was not “taken or apprehended.” Buchanan -says that he was enticed by the king’s officers, and Anderson that the -heads of the border-clans were induced to come in by a proclamation that -their lives should be safe. It is but too likely, therefore, that the -capture was not effected by honorable means, and this is the -representation of the ballads. There is no record of a trial,[237] and -the execution was probably as summary as the arrest was perfidious. - -The ballads treat facts with the customary freedom and improve upon them -greatly. In #A#, #B#, English ballads, Johnie is oddly enough a -Westmorland man,[238] though in #B# 11 he admits himself to be a subject -of the Scots king. The king writes John a long letter promising to do -him no wrong, #A# 4; a loving letter, to come and speak with him -speedily, #B# 4, #C# 2. Johnie goes to Edinburgh with the eight-score -men that he keeps in his hall, all in a splendid uniform, asks grace, -and is told that he and his eight-score shall be hanged the next -morning. They are not unarmed, and resolve to fight it out rather than -be hanged. They kill all the king’s guard but three, #B# 16, but all -Edinburgh rises; four-score and ten of Johnie’s men lie gasping on the -ground, #A# 14. A cowardly Scot comes behind Johnie and runs him -through; like Sir Andrew Barton, he bids his men fight on; he will bleed -awhile, then rise and fight again. Most of his company are killed, but -his foot-page escapes and carries the bad news to Giltnock Hall. His -little son, by or on the nurse’s knee, vows to revenge his father’s -death. - -#C# differs extensively from #A#, #B#, indeed resembles or repeats the -English ballad only in a few places: #C# 2==#A# 4, #B# 4; #C# 6==#B# 10; -#C# 7==#A# g, #B# 11; #C# 22^{3,4}==#A# 11^{3,4}, #B# 13^{3,4}. The -Eliots go with the Armstrongs according to #C# 3, and it is the -intention to bring the king to dine at Gilnockie. In #C# 9–17 Johnie -offers twenty-four steeds, four of them laden with as much gold as they -can carry, twenty-four mills, and as much wheat as their hoppers can -hold, twenty-four sisters-sons, who will fight to the utterance, tribute -from all the land between ‘here’ and Newcastle,—all this for his life. -The king replies to each successive offer that he never has granted a -traitor’s life, and will not begin with him. Johnie gives the king the -lie as to his being a traitor; he could make England find him in meal -and malt for a hundred years, and no Scot’s wife could say that he had -ever hurt her the value of a fly. Had he known how the king would treat -him, he would have kept the border in spite of all his army. England’s -king would be a blithe man to hear of his capture. At this point the -king is attracted by Johnie’s splendid girdle and hat, and exclaims, -What wants that knave that a king should have! Johnie bids farewell to -his brother, Laird of Mangerton (Thomas, here called Kirsty), and to his -son Kirsty, and to Gilnock-Hall, and is murdered at Carlenrig with all -his band. - -It will be observed that the substance, or at least the hint, of #C# -21^{3,4}, 17^{3,4}, 26, 15, 22^{3,4}, 23, 24^{1,2}, is to be found in -Lindsay’s narrative. - -In the last stanza of #A# and of #B#, Johnie Armstrong’s son (afterwards -known as Johnie’s Christy) sitting on his nurse’s knee, #B# (cf. #C# -30), or standing by his nurse’s knee, #A#, vows, if he lives to be a -man, to have revenge for his father’s death.[239] Not infrequently, in -popular ballads, a very young (even unborn) child speaks, by miracle, to -save a life, vindicate innocence, or for some other kindly -occasion;[240] sometimes again to threaten revenge, as here. So a child -in the cradle in ‘Frændehævn,’ Grundtvig, I, 28, No 4, #B# 34 (==#C# -63), and in ‘Hævnersværdet,’ I, 351, No 25, sts 29, 30; and Kullervo in -his third month, Kalevala, Rune 31, Schiefner, p. 194, vv. 109–112.[241] - -Johnie’s plain speech to the king in #C# 19, ‘Ye lied, ye lied, now, -king!’ is such as we have often heard before in these ballads: see I, -427, No 47, #A# 14; I, 446, No 50, #A# 8, 9; I, 452 f, No 52, #C# 10, -#D# 7; II, 25 f, No 58, #G# 7, #H# 10; II, 269 ff, No 83, #D# 13, #E# -16, #F# 22; II, 282, No 86, #A# 6; III, 62, 67, No 117, sts 114, 222. It -is not unexampled elsewhere. So Sthenelus to Agamemnon, II. iv, 204; -Ἀτρεΐδη, μὴ ψεύδε’, ἐπιστάμενος σάφα εἰπεῖν; and Bernardo del Carpio, on -much the same occasion as here, - - Mentides, buen rey, mentides, - que no decides verdad, - que nunca yo fuí traidor, - -Wolf & Hofmann, Primavera, I, 38 and 41; see also I, 186, II, 100, 376. - - -This ballad was an early favorite of Goldsmith’s: “The music of the -finest singer is dissonance to what I felt when our old dairymaid sung -me into tears with Johnny Armstrong’s Last Good Night, or the Cruelty of -Barbara Allen.” Essays, 1765, p. 14. - - -#C# is translated by Talvi, Versuch, u. s. w., p. 543; by Schubart, p. -179; by Loève-Veimars, p. 270. - - - A - - #a.# Wit Restord in severall Select Poems not formerly publisht, - London, 1658, p. 30, in Facetiæ, London, 1871, I, 132. - - #b.# Wit and Drollery, London, 1682, p. 57. - - 1 - There dwelt a man in faire Westmerland, - Ionnë Armestrong men did him call, - He had nither lands nor rents coming in, - Yet he kept eight score men in his hall. - - 2 - He had horse and harness for them all, - Goodly steeds were all milke-white; - O the golden bands an about their necks, - And their weapons, they were all alike. - - 3 - Newes then was brought unto the king - That there was sicke a won as hee, - That livëd lyke a bold out-law, - And robbëd all the north country. - - 4 - The king he writt an a letter then, - A letter which was large and long; - He signëd it with his owne hand, - And he promised to doe him no wrong. - - 5 - When this letter came Ionnë untill, - His heart it was as blythe as birds on the tree: - ‘Never was I sent for before any king, - My father, my grandfather, nor none but mee. - - 6 - ‘And if wee goe the king before, - I would we went most orderly; - Every man of you shall have his scarlet cloak, - Laced with silver laces three. - - 7 - ‘Every won of you shall have his velvett coat, - Laced with sillver lace so white; - O the golden bands an about your necks, - Black hatts, white feathers, all alyke.’ - - 8 - By the morrow morninge at ten of the clock, - Towards Edenburough gon was hee, - And with him all his eight score men; - Good lord, it was a goodly sight for to see! - - 9 - When Ionnë came befower the king, - He fell downe on his knee; - ‘O pardon, my soveraine leige,’ he said, - ‘O pardon my eight score men and mee!’ - - 10 - ‘Thou shalt have no pardon, thou traytor strong, - For thy eight score men nor thee; - For to-morrow morning by ten of the clock, - Both thou and them shall hang on the gallow-tree.’ - - 11 - But Ionnë looke’d over his left shoulder, - Good Lord, what a grevious look looked hee! - Saying, Asking grace of a graceles face— - Why there is none for you nor me. - - 12 - But Ionnë had a bright sword by his side, - And it was made of the mettle so free, - That had not the king stept his foot aside, - He had smitten his head from his faire boddë. - - 13 - Saying, Fight on, my merry men all, - And see that none of you be taine; - For rather then men shall say we were hange’d, - Let them report how we were slaine. - - 14 - Then, God wott, faire Eddenburrough rose, - And so besett poore Ionnë rounde, - That fowerscore and tenn of Ionnës best men - Lay gasping all upon the ground. - - 15 - Then like a mad man Ionnë laide about, - And like a mad man then fought hee, - Untill a falce Scot came Ionnë behinde, - And runn him through the faire boddee. - - 16 - Saying, Fight on, my merry men all, - And see that none of you be taine; - For I will stand by and bleed but awhile, - And then will I come and fight againe. - - 17 - Newes then was brought to young Ionnë Armestrong, - As he stood by his nurses knee, - Who vowed if ere he live’d for to be a man, - O the treacherous Scots revengd hee’d be. - - - B - - #a.# Wood, 401, fol. 93 b, London, printed for Francis Grove - (1620–55?). - - #b.# Pepys, II, 133, No 117, London, printed for W. Thackeray and T. - Passenger (1660–82?). - - #c.# A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, I, 170. - - 1 - Is there never a man in all Scotland, - From the highest state to the lowest degree, - That can shew himself now before the king? - Scotland is so full of their traitery. - - 2 - Yes, there is a man in Westmerland, - And John Armstrong some do him call; - He has no lands nor rents coming in, - Yet he keeps eightscore men within his hall. - - 3 - He has horse and harness for them all, - And goodly steeds that be milk-white, - With their goodly belts about their necks, - With hats and feathers all alike. - - 4 - The king he writ a lovely letter, - With his own hand so tenderly, - And has sent it unto John Armstrong, - To come and speak with him speedily. - - 5 - When John he looked the letter upon, - Then, Lord! he was as blithe as a bird in a tree: - ‘I was never before no king in my life, - My father, my grandfather, nor none of us three. - - 6 - ‘But seeing we must [go] before the king, - Lord! we will go most valiantly; - You shall every one have a velvet coat, - Laid down with golden laces three. - - 7 - ‘And you shall every one have a scarlet cloak, - Laid down with silver laces five, - With your golden belts about your necks, - With hats [and] brave feathers all alike.’ - - 8 - But when John he went from Guiltknock Hall! - The wind it blew hard, and full sore it did rain: - ‘Now fare you well, brave Guiltknock Hall! - I fear I shall never see thee again.’ - - 9 - Now John he is to Edenborough gone, - And his eightscore men so gallantly, - And every one of them on a milk-white steed, - With their bucklers and swords hanging down to the knee. - - 10 - But when John he came the king before, - With his eightscore men so gallant to see, - The king he moved his bonnet to him; - He thought he had been a king as well as he. - - 11 - ‘O pardon, pardon, my soveraign leige, - Pardon for my eightscore men and me! - For my name it is John Armstrong, - And a subject of yours, my leige,’ said he. - - 12 - ‘Away with thee, thou false traitor! - No pardon I will grant to thee, - But, to-morrow before eight of the clock, - I will hang thy eightscore men and thee.’ - - 13 - O how John looked over his left shoulder! - And to his merry men thus said he: - I have asked grace of a graceless face, - No pardon here is for you nor me. - - 14 - Then John pulld out a nut-brown sword, - And it was made of mettle so free; - Had not the king moved his foot as he did, - John had taken his head from his body. - - 15 - ‘Come, follow me, my merry men all, - We will scorn one foot away to fly; - It never shall be said we were hung like doggs; - No, wee’l fight it out most manfully.’ - - 16 - Then they fought on like champions bold— - For their hearts was sturdy, stout, and free— - Till they had killed all the kings good guard; - There was none left alive but onely three. - - 17 - But then rise up all Edenborough, - They rise up by thousands three; - Then a cowardly Scot came John behind, - And run him thorow the fair body. - - 18 - Said John, Fight on, my merry men all, - I am a little hurt, but I am not slain; - I will lay me down for to bleed a while, - Then I’le rise and fight with you again. - - 19 - Then they fought on like mad men all, - Till many a man lay dead on the plain; - For they were resolved, before they would yield, - That every man would there be slain. - - 20 - So there they fought couragiously, - ‘Till most of them lay dead there and slain, - But little Musgrave, that was his foot-page, - With his bonny grissell got away untain. - - 21 - But when he came up to Guiltknock Hall, - The lady spyed him presently: - ‘What news, what news, thou little foot-page? - What news from thy master and his company?’ - - 22 - ‘My news is bad, lady,’ he said, - ‘Which I do bring, as you may see; - My master, John Armstrong, he is slain, - And all his gallant company. - - 23 - ‘Yet thou are welcome home, my bonny grisel! - Full oft thou hast fed at the corn and hay, - But now thou shalt be fed with bread and wine, - And thy sides shall be spurred no more, I say.’ - - 24 - O then bespoke his little son, - As he was set on his nurses knee: - ‘If ever I live for to be a man, - My fathers blood revenged shall be.’ - - - C - - Allan Ramsay, The Ever Green, II, 190, “copied from a gentleman’s - mouth of the name of Armstrang, who is the 6th generation from this - John.” - - 1 - Sum speiks of lords, sum speiks of lairds, - And siclyke men of hie degrie; - Of a gentleman I sing a sang, - Sumtyme calld Laird of Gilnockie. - - 2 - The king he wrytes a luving letter, - With his ain hand sae tenderly: - And he hath sent it to Johny Armstrang, - To cum and speik with him speidily. - - 3 - The Eliots and Armstrongs did convene, - They were a gallant company: - ‘We’ill ryde and meit our lawful king, - And bring him safe to Gilnockie. - - 4 - ‘Make kinnen and capon ready, then, - And venison in great plenty; - We’ill welcome hame our royal king; - I hope he’ill dyne at Gilnockie!’ - - 5 - They ran their horse on the Langum howm, - And brake their speirs with mekle main; - The ladys lukit frae their loft-windows, - ‘God bring our men weil back again!’ - - 6 - When Johny came before the king, - With all his men sae brave to see, - The king he movit his bonnet to him; - He weind he was a king as well as he. - - 7 - ‘May I find grace, my sovereign liege, - Grace for my loyal men and me? - For my name it is Johny Armstrang, - And subject of yours, my liege,’ said he. - - 8 - ‘Away, away, thou traytor, strang! - Out of my sicht thou mayst sune be! - I grantit nevir a traytors lyfe, - And now I’ll not begin with thee.’ - - 9 - ‘Grant me my lyfe, my liege, my king, - And a bony gift I will give to thee; - Full four-and-twenty milk-whyt steids, - Were a’ foald in a yeir to me. - - 10 - ‘I’ll gie thee all these milk-whyt steids, - That prance and nicher at a speir, - With as mekle gude Inglis gilt - As four of their braid backs dow beir.’ - - 11 - ‘Away, away, thou traytor strang! - Out o’ my sicht thou mayst sune be! - I grantit nevir a traytors lyfe, - And now I’ll not begin with thee.’ - - 12 - ‘Grant me my lyfe, my liege, my king, - And a bony gift I’ll gie to thee; - Gude four-and-twenty ganging mills, - That gang throw a’ the yeir to me. - - 13 - ‘These four-and-twenty mills complete - Sall gang for thee throw all the yeir, - And as mekle of gude reid wheit - As all their happers dow to bear.’ - - 14 - ‘Away, away, thou traytor, strang! - Out of my sicht thou mayst sune be! - I grantit nevir a traytors lyfe, - And now I’ll not begin with thee.’ - - 15 - ‘Grant me my lyfe, my liege, my king, - And a great gift I’ll gie to thee; - Bauld four-and-twenty sisters sons, - Sall for the fecht, tho all sould flee.’ - - 16 - ‘Away, away, thou traytor, strang! - Out of my sicht thou mayst sune be! - I grantit nevir a traytors lyfe, - And now I’ll not begin with thee.’ - - 17 - ‘Grant me my lyfe, my liege, my king, - And a brave gift I’ll gie to thee; - All betwene heir and Newcastle town - Sall pay thair yeirly rent to thee.’ - - 18 - ‘Away, away, thou traytor, strang! - Out of my sicht thou mayst sune be! - I grantit nevir a traytors lyfe, - And now I’ll not begin with thee.’ - - 19 - ‘Ye lied, ye lied, now, king,’ he says, - ‘Althocht a king and prince ye be, - For I luid naithing in all my lyfe, - I dare well say it, but honesty; - - 20 - ‘But a fat horse, and a fair woman, - Twa bony dogs to kill a deir: - But Ingland suld haif found me meil and malt, - Gif I had livd this hundred yeir! - - 21 - ‘Scho suld half found me meil and malt, - And beif and mutton in all plentie; - But neir a Scots wyfe could haif said - That eir I skaithd her a pure flie. - - 22 - ‘To seik het water beneth cauld yce, - Surely it is a great folie; - I haif asked grace at a graceless face, - But there is nane for my men and me. - - 23 - ‘But had I kend, or I came frae hame, - How thou unkynd wadst bene to me, - I wad haif kept the border-syde, - In spyte of all thy force and thee. - - 24 - ‘Wist Englands king that I was tane, - O gin a blyth man wald he be! - For anes I slew his sisters son, - And on his breist-bane brak a tree.’ - - 25 - John wore a girdle about his midle, - Imbroiderd owre with burning gold, - Bespangled with the same mettle, - Maist beautifull was to behold. - - 26 - Ther hang nine targats at Johnys hat, - And ilk an worth three hundred pound: - ‘What wants that knave that a king suld haif, - But the sword of honour and the crown! - - 27 - ‘O whair gat thou these targats, Johnie, - That blink sae brawly abune thy brie? ’ - ‘I gat them in the field fechting, - Wher, cruel king, thou durst not be. - - 28 - ‘Had I my horse, and my harness gude, - And ryding as I wont to be, - It sould haif bene tald this hundred yeir - The meiting of my king and me. - - 29 - ‘God be withee, Kirsty, my brither, - Lang live thou Laird of Mangertoun! - Lang mayst thou live on the border-syde - Or thou se thy brither ryde up and doun. - - 30 - ‘And God be withee, Kirsty, my son, - Whair thou sits on thy nurses knee! - But and thou live this hundred yeir, - Thy fathers better thoult never be. - - 31 - ‘Farweil, my bonny Gilnock-Hall. - Whair on Esk-syde thou standest stout! - Gif I had lived but seven yeirs mair, - I wald haif gilt thee round about.’ - - 32 - John murdred was at Carlinrigg, - And all his galant companie: - But Scotlands heart was never sae wae, - To see sae mony brave men die. - - 33 - Because they savd their country deir - Frae Englishmen; nane were sae bauld, - Whyle Johnie livd on the border-syde, - Nane of them durst cum neir his hald. - - * * * * * - -#A. a.# - - 3^3. syke a. - - 17^4. O th’ the. - -#b.# - - 3^2. sick a man. - - 5^2. it _wanting_. - - 6^1. And therefore if. - - 7^4. and white. - - 8^4. an it: for _wanting_. - - 9^1. Johnnee. - - 10^2. Ne for. - - 11. There Johnne. - - 11^3. Said he. - - 11^4. yee. - - 12^2. the _wanting_. - - 13^4. that we. - - 14^3. Johnnee’s. - - 15^4. thorough. - -#B. a.# - - Iohn Arm-strongs last good night. Declaring How John Arm-strong - and his eightscore men fought a bloody bout with a Scottish king - at Edenborough. To a pretty northern tune called, Fare you well, - guilt Knock-hall. - - 6^1. we must before; _perhaps rightly_. - - 8^{1,3}, 21^1. guilt Knock-hall. - - _Signed_ T. R. - - London, Printed for Francis Grove on S[n]owhill. - - Entered according to order. - -#b.# - - _Title_: with the Scottish. To a pretty new northern tune: called, - _&c._, _omitted_. - - 1^2. estate. - - 1^4. of treachery. - - 2^2. Jonny: they do. - - 4^1. writes a loving. - - 4^2. And with. - - 4^3. hath. - - 5^1. this letter. - - 5^1. Good Lord. - - 5^2. he lookt. - - 5^3. a king. - - 6^1. must go. - - 6^2. most gallantly. - - 7^1. And ye. - - 7^4. hats and. - - 8^{1,3}, 21^1. guilt Knock-hall. - - 8^2. full fast. - - 8^3. fare thee well thou guilt. - - 9^1. Johnny. - - 9^4. to their. - - 10^1. he _wanting_. - - 12^3. to morrow morning by eight. - - 12^4. hang up. - - 13^1. Johnny. - - 14^1. out his. - - 15^3. It shall ne’r. - - 15^4. We will. - - 16^2. were. - - 16^4. but two or. - - 17^{1,2}. rose. - - 17^3. Then _wanting_. - - 18^2. little wounded but am. - - 19^2. up on. - - 20^3. Musgrove. - - 21^1. up _wanting_. - - 22^3. Johnny Armstrong is. - - 23^2. been fed with. - - 24^1. bespake. - - 24^3. for _wanting_. - - 24^4. father’s death. - - _Signed_ T. R. - - London, Printed for W. Thackeray and T. Passenger. - -#c.# - - Johnny Armstrongs, last Good-night, shewing how John Armstrong, - with his Eightscore Men, fought a bloody Battle with the Scotch - King at Edenborough. To a Northern Tune. - - 1^1. ever. - - 1^2. estate. - - 1^3. our king. - - 1^4. full of treachery. - - 2^2. Johnny: they do. - - 3^1. horses. - - 4^1. writes a loving. - - 4^2. And with. - - 4^3. hath: Johnny. - - 5^1. this letter. - - 5^2. He lokd as blith. - - 5^3. a king. - - 6^1. must go. - - 6^2. most gallantly. - - 6^3. Ye. - - 7^1. And every one shall. - - 6^4. hats and feathers. - - 8^1. Johnny went: Giltnock. - - 8^2. full fast. - - 8^3. fare thee well thou Giltnock. - - 9^1. Johnny. - - 9^2. With his. - - 9^4. hanging to their. - - 10^1. he _wanting_. - - 11^3. Johnny. - - 11^4. a _wanting_. - - 12^2. will I. - - 12^3. to-morrow morning by eight. - - 12^4. hang up. - - 13^1. Then Johnny. - - 13^4. there is: you and. - - 14^1. his good broad sword. - - 14^2. That was made of the. - - 14^4. his fair. - - 15^2. foot for to. - - 15^3. shall never be: hangd. - - 15^4. We will. - - 16^2. were. - - 16^4. were: but one, two or three. - - 17^{1,2}. rose. - - 17^3. Then _wanting_. - - 17^4. through. - - 18^2. little wounded but am. - - 18^3. for _wanting_. - - 21^1. up _wanting_. - - 21^1. Giltnock. - - 22^3. Iohnny Armstrong is. - - 23^2. hast been fed with corn. - - 24^1. bespake. - - 24^2. he sat on. - - 24^3. for _wanting_. - - 24^4. fathers death. - -#C.# - - _Printed in stanzas of eight lines._ - - Zours, zeir, _etc._, _are here printed_ yours, yeir, etc.; quhair, - quheit, _here_, whair, wheit. - - 5^1. hown. - - 11, 14, 16, 18, _only_ Away, away thou traytor, etc., _is - printed_. - - 19^4. sayit. - - - - - 170 - - THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE - - #A.# Percy papers, 1776. #B.# ‘Queen Jeanie,’ Kinloch’s Ancient - Scottish Ballads, p. 116. #C. a.# Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, - 182.[242] #b.# Herd’s MSS, I, 103. #D.# ‘The Death of Queen Jane,’ - Bell’s Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England, - p. 113. #E.# ‘Queen Jeanie,’ Macmath MS., p. 68. #F.# Notes and - Queries, Second Series, XI, 131. #G.# A fragment from William - Motherwell’s papers. - - -This threnody is said to have been current throughout Scotland. There is -another, not in the popular style, in the Crowne Garland of Golden -Roses, 1612, Percy Society, vol. vi, p. 29: The Wofull Death of Queene -Jane, wife to King Henry the Eight, and how King Edward was cut out of -his mother’s belly. This is reprinted in Old Ballads, 1723, II, 115, and -Evans’s Collection, 1777, 1784, II, 54, and is among Pepys’s Penny -Merriments, vol. iii. ‘A ballett called The Lady Jane’ and another piece -entitled The Lamentation of Quene Jane were licensed in 1560; -Stationers’ Registers, Arber, I, 151 f. - -Jane Seymour gave birth to Prince Edward October 12, 1537, and by a -natural process, but, in consequence of imprudent management, died -twelve days after. There was a belief that severe surgery had been -required, under which the queen sank. The editor of Old Ballads, II, 116 -f, cites Sir John Hayward as saying: “All reports do constantly run that -he [Prince Edward] was not by natural passage delivered into the world, -but that his mother’s belly was opened for his birth, and that she died -of the incision the fourth day following.” And Du Chesne: “Quand ce vint -au terme de l’accouchement, elle eut tant de tourment et de peine qu’il -lui fallut fendre le costé, par lequel on tira son fruit, le douzième -jour d’Octobre. Elle mourut douze jours après.” But Echard again: -“Contrary to the opinion of many writers,” the queen “died twelve days -after the birth of this prince, having been well delivered, and without -any incision, as others have maliciously reported.” - - * * * * * - - - A - - Communicated to Percy by the Dean of Derry, as written from memory - by his mother, Mrs. Bernard, February, 1776. - - 1 - Queen Jane was in labour full six weeks and more, - And the women were weary, and fain would give oer: - ‘O women, O women, as women ye be, - Rip open my two sides, and save my baby!’ - - 2 - ‘O royal Queen Jane, that thing may not be; - We’ll send for King Henry to come unto thee.’ - King Henry came to her, and sate on her bed: - ‘What ails my dear lady, her eyes look so red?’ - - 3 - ‘O royal King Henry, do one thing for me: - Rip open my two sides, and save my baby!’ - ‘O royal Queen Jane, that thing will not do; - If I lose your fair body, I’ll lose your baby too.’ - - 4 - She wept and she waild, and she wrung her hands sore; - O the flour of England must flurish no more! - She wept and she waild till she fell in a swoond, - They opend her two sides, and the baby was found. - - 5 - The baby was christened with joy and much mirth, - Whilst poor Queen Jane’s body lay cold under earth: - There was ringing and singing and mourning all day, - The princess Eliz[abeth] went weeping away. - - 6 - The trumpets in mourning so sadly did sound, - And the pikes and the muskets did trail on the ground. - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - - B - - Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 116. - - 1 - Queen Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, traveld six weeks and more, - Till women and midwives had quite gien her oer: - ‘O if ye were women as women should be, - Ye would send for a doctor, a doctor to me.’ - - 2 - The doctor was called for and set by her bedside: - ‘What aileth thee, my ladie, thine eyes seem so red?’ - ‘O doctor, O doctor, will ye do this for me, - To rip up my two sides, and save my babie?’ - - 3 - ‘Queen Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, that’s the thing I’ll neer do, - To rip up your two sides to save your babie:’ - Queen Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, traveld six weeks and more, - Till midwives and doctors had quite gien her oer. - - 4 - ‘O if ye were doctors as doctors should be, - Ye would send for King Henry, King Henry to me:’ - King Henry was called for, and sat by her bedside, - ‘What aileth thee, Jeanie? what aileth my bride?’ - - 5 - ‘King Henry, King Henry, will ye do this for me, - To rip up my two sides, and save my babie?’ - ‘Queen Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, that’s what I’ll never do, - To rip up your two sides to save your babie.’ - - 6 - But with sighing and sobbing she’s fallen in a swoon, - Her side it was ript up, and her babie was found; - At this bonie babie’s christning there was meikle joy and mirth, - But bonnie Queen Jeanie lies cold in the earth. - - 7 - Six and six coaches, and six and six more, - And royal King Henry went mourning before; - O two and two gentlemen carried her away, - But royal King Henry went weeping away. - - 8 - O black were their stockings, and black were their bands, - And black were the weapons they held in their hands; - O black were their mufflers, and black were their shoes, - And black were the cheverons they drew on their luves. - - 9 - They mourned in the kitchen, and they mournd in the ha, - But royal King Henry mournd langest of a’: - Farewell to fair England, farewell for evermore! - For the fair flower of England will never shine more. - - - C - - #a.# Jamieson’s Popular Ballads, I, 182; “from two fragments, one - transmitted from Arbroath and another from Edinburgh.” #b.# Herd’s - MSS, I, 103. - - 1 - Queen Jeany has traveld for three days and more, - Till the ladies were weary, and quite gave her oer: - ‘O ladies, O ladies, do this thing for me, - To send for King Henry, to come and see me.’ - - 2 - King Henry was sent for, and sat by her bedside: - ‘Why weep you, Queen Jeany? your eyes are so red.’ - ‘O Henry, O Henry, do this one thing for me, - Let my side straight be opend, and save my babie!’ - - 3 - ‘O Jeany, O Jeany, this never will do, - It will leese thy sweet life, and thy young babie too.’ - She wept and she wailed, till she fell in a swoon: - Her side it was opened, the babie was found. - - 4 - Prince Edward was christened with joy and with mirth, - But the flower of fair England lies cold in the earth. - O black was King Henry, and black were his men, - And black was the steed that King Henry rode on. - - 5 - And black were the ladies, and black were their fans, - And black were the gloves that they wore on their hands, - And black were the ribbands they wore on their heads, - And black were the pages, and black were the maids. - - * * * * * - - 6 - The trumpets they sounded, the cannons did roar, - But the flower of fair England shall flourish no more. - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - - D - - Robert Bell’s Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of - England, p. 113; “taken down from the singing of a young gipsy girl, - to whom it had descended orally through two generations.” - - 1 - Queen Jane was in travail for six weeks or more, - Till the women grew tired and fain would give oer: - ‘O women, O women, good wives if ye be, - Go send for King Henrie, and bring him to me!’ - - 2 - King Henrie was sent for, he came with all speed, - In a gownd of green velvet from heel to the head: - ‘King Henrie, King Henrie, if kind Henrie you be, - Send for a surgeon, and bring him to me!’ - - 3 - The surgeon was sent for, he came with all speed, - In a gownd of black velvet from heel to the head; - He gave her rich caudle, but the death-sleep slept she, - Then her right side was opened, and the babe was set free. - - 4 - The babe it was christened, and put out and nursed, - While the royal Queen Jane she lay cold in the dust. - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - 5 - So black was the mourning, and white were the wands, - Yellow, yellow the torches they bore in their hands; - The bells they were muffled, and mournful did play, - While the royal Queen Jane she lay cold in the clay. - - 6 - Six knights and six lords bore her corpse through the grounds, - Six dukes followed after, in black mourning gownds; - The flower of Old England was laid in cold clay, - Whilst the royal King Henrie came weeping away. - - - E - - Macmath MS., p. 68. “From my aunt, Miss Jane Webster, 1886–1887. She - learned it at Airds of Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire, over fifty years - ago, from the singing of James Smith.” - - 1 - ‘Ye midwives and women-kind, do one thing for me; - Send for my mother, to come and see me.’ - - 2 - Her mother was sent for, who came speedilie: - ‘O Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, are ye gaun to dee?’ - - 3 - ‘O mother, dear mother, do one thing for me; - O send for King Henry, to come and see me.’ - - 4 - King Henry was sent for, who came speedilie: - ‘O Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, are ye gaun to dee?’ - - 5 - ‘King Henry, King Henry, do one thing for me; - O send for a doctor, to come and see me.’ - - 6 - The doctor was sent for, who came speedilie: - ‘O Jeanie, Queen Jeanie, are ye gaun to dee?’ - - 7 - ‘O doctor, oh doctor, do one thing for me; - Open my left side, and let my babe free.’ - - 8 - He opened her left side, and then all was oer, - And the best flower in England will flourish no more. - - - F - - Notes and Queries, Second Series, XI, 131; sung by an illiterate - nursemaid “some forty years since” (1861). - - 1 - Queen Jane lies in labour six weeks or more, - Till the women were tired, go see her no more: - ‘Oh women, oh women, if women you be, - You’ll send for King Henry, to come and see me. - - 2 - ‘Oh King Henry, King Henry, if King Henry you be, - You’ll send for the doctor, to come and see me: - Oh doctor, oh doctor, if a doctor you be, - You’ll open my right side, and save my baby.’ - - 3 - They churchd her, they chimed her, they dug her her grave, - They buried her body, and christend her babe. - - - G - - In pencil, in Motherwell’s handwriting, inside of the cover of what - appears to be a sketch of his Introduction to his Minstrelsy; - communicated by Mr Macmath. - - 1 - Queen Jeanie was in labour full three days and more, - Till a’the good women was forced to gie her oer: - ‘O guide women, gude women, gude women,’ quo she, - ‘Will ye send for King Henry, to come and see me?’ - Wi weeping and wailing, lamenting full sore, - That the flower of all Engl_and_ should flourish no more. - - 2 - K_ing_ H_enry_ was sent for, wh_o_ came in g_reat_ speed, - Stand_ing_ weep_ing_ and wail_ing_ at Q_ueen_ Jeanie’s bedside; - Stand_ing_ weep_ing_ and wail_ing_, etc. - - 3 - ‘O King H_enry_, Ki_ng_ H_enry_, K_ing_ H_enry_,’ quo she, - ‘Will ye send for my mothe_r_.... - - * * * * * - -#B.# - - 3^1, 5^3. do _is to be pronounced_ dee. - -#C. b.# - - _Only six lines_: 2^{3,4}, 4^{1,2}, 5^{1,2} - - 2^3. This thing. - - 2^4. Straight open my two sides: save your. - - 4^1. The babie was. - - 4^2. But royal Queen Jeany lay low. - - 5^1. Then black were their mournings. - -#E.# - - _The first seven stanzas taken down October 15, 1886, and the last - sent on February 3, 1887._ - - _24th March, 1887._ “I can never remember them, sitting thinking - about them. Yesterday I was humming away, not knowing what I - was singing, until I sung this: - - 8 - He opened her left side, Queen Jeanie’s life’s oer, - And the last rose of England will flourish no more.” - - - - - 171 - - THOMAS CROMWELL - - Percy MS., p. 55; Hales and Furnivall, I, 129. - - -June 10, 1540, Thomas Lord Cromwell, “when he least expected it,” was -arrested at the council-table by the Duke of Norfolk for high-treason, -and on the 28th of July following he was executed. Cromwell, says Lord -Herbert of Cherbury, judged “his perdition more certain that the duke -was uncle to the Lady Katherine Howard, whom the king began now to -affect.” Later writers[243] have asserted that Katherine Howard exerted -herself to procure Cromwell’s death, and we can understand nobody else -but her to be doing this in the third stanza of this fragment; -nevertheless there is no authority for such a representation. The king -had no personal interview with the minister whom he so suddenly struck -down, but he did send the Duke of Norfolk and two others to visit -Cromwell in prison, for the purpose of extracting confessions pertaining -to Anne of Cleves. Cromwell wrote a letter to the king, imploring the -mercy which, as well as confession, he refuses in stanza five. - -Percy inserted in the Reliques, 1765, II, 58, a song against Cromwell, -printed in 1540, and apparently before his death, and he observes, 1767, -II, 86, that there was a succession of seven or eight more, for and -against, which were then preserved, and of course are still existing, in -the archives of the Antiquarian Society. - - - * * * * * - - 1 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘Ffor if yo_u_r boone be askeable, - Soone granted it shalbe: - - 2 - ‘If it be not touching my crowne,’ he said, - ‘Nor hurting poore com_m_inaltye.’ - ‘Nay, it is not touching yo_u_r crowne,’ shee sayes, - ‘Nor hurting poore cominaltye, - - 3 - ‘But I begg the death of Tho_mas_ Cromwell, - For a false traitor to you is hee.’ - ‘Then feitch me hither the Earle of Darby - And the Earle of Shrewsbury, - - 4 - ‘And bidde them bring Thomas Cromawell; - Let’s see what he can say to mee;’ - For Thomas had woont to haue carryed his head vp, - But now he hanges it vppon his knee. - - 5 - ‘How now? How now?’ the k_ing_ did say, - ‘Thomas, how is it w_i_th thee?’ - ‘Hanging and drawing, O k_ing_!’ he saide; - ‘You shall neuer gett more from mee.’ - - * * * * * - - _Half of the page is gone before the beginning._ - - 2^3. it it is. - - - - - 172 - - MUSSELBURGH FIELD - - ‘Musleboorrowe ffeild,’ Percy MS., p. 54; Hales and Furnivall, I, 123. - - -The Protector Somerset, to overcome or to punish the opposition of the -Scots to the marriage of Mary Stuart with Edward VI, invaded Scotland at -the end of the summer of 1547 with eighteen thousand men, supported by a -fleet. The Scots mustered at Musselburgh, a town on the water five or -six miles east of Edinburgh, under the Earls of Arran, Angus, and -Huntly, each of whom, according to Buchanan, had ten thousand men, and -there the issue was tried on the 10th of September. The northern army -abandoned an impregnable position, and their superior, but ill-managed, -and partly ill-composed, force, after successfully resisting a cavalry -charge, was put to flight by the English, who had an advantage in cannon -and cavalry as well as generalship. A hideous slaughter followed; Leslie -admits that, in the chase and battle, there were slain above ten -thousand of his countrymen. Patten, a Londoner who saw and described the -fight, says that the one anxiety of the Scots was lest the English -should get away, and that they were so sure of victory that, the night -before the battle, they fell “to playing at dice for certain of our -noblemen and captains of fame” (cf. stanza 3), as the French diced for -prisoners on the eve of Agincourt. The dates are wrong in 1^{1,2}, 5^1; -Huntly is rightly said to have been made prisoner, 7^1. - -6, 8. When the Scots were once turned, says Patten, “it was a wonder to -see how soon and in how sundry sorts they were scattered; the place they -stood on like a wood of staves, strewed on the ground as rushes in a -chamber, unpassable, they lay so thick, for either horse or man.” Some -made their course along the sands by the Frith, towards Leith; some -straight toward Edinburgh; “and the residue, and (as we noted then) the -most, of them toward Dalkeith, which way, by means of the marsh, our -horsemen were worst able to follow.”[244] - -The battle is known also by the name of Pinkie or Pinkie Cleuch, -appellations of an estate, a burn and a hill (“a hill called -Pinkincleuche,” Leslie), near or within the field of operations. - -Percy remarks upon 3^3: “It should seem from hence that there was -somewhat of a uniform among our soldiers even then.” There are jackets -white and red in No 166, 29^3. Sir William Stanley has ten thousand red -coats at his order in ‘Lady Bessy,’ vv 593, 809–11, 937 f, Percy MS., -III, 344, 352, 358; Sir John Savage has fifteen hundred white hoods in -the same piece, v. 815. - - - 1 - On the tenth day of December, - And the fourth yeere of K_ing_ Edwards raigne, - Att Musleboorrowe, as I remember, - Two goodly hosts there mett on a plaine. - - 2 - All that night they camped there, - Soe did the Scotts, both stout and stubborne; - But “wellaway,” it was their song, - For wee haue taken them in their owne turne. - - 3 - Over night they carded for our English mens coates; - They fished before their netts were spunn; - A white for sixpence, a red f_or_ two groates; - Now wisdome wold haue stayed till they had been woone. - - 4 - Wee feared not but that they wold fight, - Yett itt was turned vnto their owne paine; - Thoe against one of vs _tha_t they were eight, - Yett w_i_th their owne weapons wee did them beat. - - 5 - On the twelfth day in the morne - The made a face as the wold fight, - But many a proud Scott there was downe borne, - And many a ranke coward was put to flight. - - 6 - But when they heard our great gunnes cracke, - Then was their harts turned into their hose; - They cast down their weapons, and turned their backes, - They ran soe fast _tha_t the fell on their nose. - - 7 - The Lo_rd_ Huntley, wee had him there; - W_i_th him hee brought ten thousand men, - Yett, God bee thanked, wee made them such a banquett - That none of them returned againe. - - 8 - Wee chased them to D[alkeith] - - * * * * * - - * * * * * - - 1^1. 10^{th}. - - 1^2. 4[th :]. - - 1^4. 2. - - 2^1. all night that. - - 2^4. horne _may be the reading_, _instead_ of turne. - - 3^3. 6[d :] p_ro_ 2. - - 4^3. 8[t :]. - - 5^1. 12[th :]. - - 7^2. 10000. - - 8^1. _Half a page gone._ - - - - - 173 - - MARY HAMILTON - - #A. a.# ‘Marie Hamilton,’ Sharp’s Ballad Book, 1824, p. 18. #b.# - Communicated by the late John Francis Campbell. #c.# Aungervyle - Society’s publications, No V, p. 18. - - #B.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 337; printed in part in - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 313 ff. - - #C.# ‘Mary Myles,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 265. - - #D.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 267; Motherwell’s - Minstrelsy, p. 316. - - #E.# ‘Lady Maisry,’ Buchan’s MSS, II, 186; Buchan’s Ballads of the - North of Scotland, II, 190. - - #F.# Skene MS., p. 61. - - #G.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ MS. of Scottish Songs and Ballads copied by a - granddaughter of Lord Woodhouselee, p. 51. - - #H.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 252. - - #I. a.# ‘The Queen’s Marie,’ Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, III, 294. #b.# - Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, II, 154, three stanzas. - - #J.# ‘Marie Hamilton,’ Harris MS., fol. 10 b. - - #K.# ‘The Queen’s Mary,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 96. - - #L.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 280. - - #M.# ‘Mary Hamilton,’ Maidment’s North Countrie Garland, p. 19. - Repeated in Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 164. - - #N.# ‘The Queen’s Maries,’ Murison MS., p. 33. - - #O.# ‘The Queen’s Marie,’ Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xix. - - #P.# Kinloch MSS, VII, 95, 97; Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. - 252. - - #Q.# ‘Queen’s Marie,’ Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, - ed. Allardyce, II, 272, two stanzas. - - #R.# Burns, Letter to Mrs Dunlop, 25 January, 1790, Currie, II, 290, - 1800, one stanza. - - -The scene is at the court of Mary Stuart, #A-N#, #Q#. The unhappy -heroine is one of the queen’s Four Maries, #A a# 18, #b# 14, #c# 1, 18, -23, #B# 19, #D# 21, #F# 3, 12, #G# 16, #H# 18, #I# 19, #J# 8, 10, #K# 8, -#M# 7, #N# 1; Mary Hamilton, #A a# 1, #b# 2, #c# 2, #B# 3, #D# 8, #G# 1, -#H# 4, #I# 1, #J# 6; Lady Mary, #F# 5, 6; Mary Mild, Myle, #C# 5, #M# 1, -#N# 1, also #A c# 6, Moil, #O#, but Lady Maisry, #E# 6. She gangs wi -bairn; it is to the highest Stewart of a’, #A a# 1, #A c# 2, #B# 3, #C# -5; cf. #D# 3, #G# 1–3, #I# 1–6, #L# 9, #P# 1. She goes to the garden to -pull the leaf off the tree, in a vain hope to be free of the babe, #C# -3; it is the savin-tree, #D# 4, the deceivin-tree, #N# 3, the Abbey-tree -(and pulled by the king), #I# 6.[245] She rolls the bairn in her apron, -handkerchief, and throws it in the sea, #A a# 3, #A b# 3, #A c# 4, #C# -4, #D# 5, 9, #I# 7, #K# 2, 4, #L# 5 (inconsistently), #O# 3; cf. #B# 7. -The queen asks where the babe is that she has heard greet, #A a# 4, #b# -4, #c# 6, #B# 4, 6, #C# 6, #D# 6, 8, #E# 6, 7, #F# 6, #G# 5, #H# 5, #I# -9, #J# 3, #L# 1, #M# 1; there is no babe, it was a stitch in the side, -colic, #A a# 5, #b# 5, #c# 7, #B# 5, #C# 7, #D# 7, #E# 8, #F# 7, #G# 6, -#H# 6, #I# 10, #J# 4, #L# 2, #M# 2; search is made and the child found -in the bed, dead, #E# 9, #F# 9, #H# 7, #J# 5, #L# 4, #M# 4 (and #A c# 8 -inconsistently). The queen bids Mary make ready to go to Edinburgh (_i. -e._, from Holyrood), #A a# 6, #A b# 6, #A c# 10, #C# 8, #D# 11, #E# 10, -#F# 12, #H# 8, #I# 11. The purpose is concealed in #A#, #a#, #b#, #c#, -and for the best effect should be concealed, or at least simulated, as -in #B#, #D#, #G#, #I#, where a wedding is the pretence, Mary Hamilton’s -own wedding in #D#. The queen directs Mary to put on black or brown, #A -a# 6, #A b# 6, #A c# 10; she will not put on black or brown, but white, -gold, red, to shine through Edinburgh town, #A a# 7, #A b# 7, #A c# 11, -#B# 9, #C# 9, #D# 13, #E# 11, #H# 10, #K# 6, #N# 5, #O# 5. When she went -up the Canongate, #A a# 8, #b# 8, #c# 13, #L# 6, up the Parliament -stair, #A a# 9, #b# 9, #c# 14, #D# 16, up the Tolbooth stair, #C# 12, -#E# 14, #H# 15, #I# 17, came to the Netherbow Port, #G# 10, #I# 18, #M# -6, she laughed loudly or lightly, #A a# 8, #b# 8, #c# 13, #D# 16, #E# -14, #G# 10, #H# 15, #I# 18, #L# 6, #M# 6; the heel, lap, came off her -shoe, #A a# 9, #b# 9, #c# 14, #C# 12, the corks from her heels did flee, -#I# 17; but ere she came down again she was condemned to die, #A a# 9, -#b# 9, #c# 14, #C# 12, #D# 16, #E# 14, #H# 15, #I# 17; but when she -reached the gallows-foot, #G# 10, #I# 18, #M# 6, ere she came to the -Cowgate Head, #L# 6, when she came down the Canongate, #A a# 8, #b# 8, -#c# 13, the tears blinded her eyes. She calls for a bottle of wine, that -she may drink to her well-wishers and they may drink to her, #A a# 12, -#b# 10, #c# 17, #B# 14; cf. #D# 19, 20, #G# 13. She adjures sailors, -travellers, not to let her father and mother get wit what death she is -to die, #A a# 14, #b# 12, #c# 19, #B# 15, #C# 13, #D# 20, #F# 15, #G# -13, #H# 21, #I# 23, #L# 7, #M# 8, or know but that she is coming home, -#A a# 13, #b# 11, #B# 16, #C# 14, #D# 19, #E# 15, #F# 16, #G# 14, #H# -20, #I# 22, #L# 8. Little did her mother think when she cradled her -(brought her from home, #F# 18) what lands she would travel and what end -she would come to, #A a# 15, #c# 21, #B# 17, 18, #C# 15, #D# 17, #G# 15, -#I# 25, #J# 9, #N# 9, #R#; as little her father, when he held her up, #A -a# 16, #c# 22, #C# 16, brought her over the sea, #F# 17. Yestreen the -queen had four Maries, to-night she’ll have but three (see above); -yestreen she washed Queen Mary’s feet, etc., and the gallows is her -reward to-day, #A a# 17, #b# 13, #B# 20, #C# 17, #G# 11, 12, #H# 19, #I# -20, 21, #N# 8. - -It is impossible to weave all the versions into an intelligible and -harmonious story. In #E# 10, #F# 12, #H# 8 the intention to bring Mary -to trial is avowed, and in #A c# 9, #B# 8^{5,6}, #F# 10, #K# 5, #M# 5 -she is threatened with death. In #D# 12, #H# 9, #J# 7, #N# 4, the queen -is made to favor, and not inhibit, gay colors. Mary may laugh when she -goes up the Parliament stair, but not when she goes up the Tolbooth -stair. She goes up the Canongate to the Parliament House to be tried, -but she would not go down the Canongate again, the Tolbooth being in the -High Street, an extension of the Canongate, and the Parliament House in -the rear. The tears and alaces and ohones as Mary goes by, #A a# 10, #c# -15, #B# 10, #C# 10, #D# 14, #E# 12, #F# 13, #H# 11, #I# 16, are a -sufficiently effective incident as long as Mary is represented to be -unsuspicious of her doom, as she is in #D# 15, #G# 9, #I# 15, 16; but in -#A a# 11, #c# 16, #B# 11, #C# 11, #H# 12, 22, she forbids condolement, -because she deserves to die for killing her babe, which reduces this -passage to commonplace. Much better, if properly introduced, would be -the desperate ejaculation, Seek never grace at a graceless face! which -we find in #E# 13, #F# 14, #H# 13, #N# 7. - -At the end of #B# the king tells Mary Hamilton to come down from the -scaffold, but she scorns life after having been put to public shame. So -in #D#, with queen for king. - -In #A a# 4, #b# 4, 13, #G# 5 the queen is “the auld queen,” and yet Mary -Stuart. - -#E#, from 16, #F#, from 19, are borrowed from No 95, ‘The Maid freed -from the Gallows:’ see II, 346. #G# 8 (and #I# 13, taken from #G#) is -derived from ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,’ #D a# 11, #e# 10, #g# 11: see -II, 187, 196, 197. The rejection of black and brown, #A# 7, #C# 9, #D# -13, etc., or of green, #K# 6, is found in the same ballad, #C# 10, #E# -16, #F# 12, 15, etc., #B# 20. #B# 21 is perhaps from ‘The Laird of -Waristoun:’ see further on, #A# 9, #B# 10, #C# 4. #I# 12, 14 look like a -souvenir of ‘Fair Janet,’ No 64. - -There are not a few spurious passages. Among these are the extravagance -of the queen’s bursting in the door, #F# 8; the platitude, of menial -stamp, that the child, if saved, might have been an honor to the mother, -#D# 10, #L# 3, #O# 4; the sentimentality of #H# 3, 16. - -Allan Cunningham has put the essential incidents of the story into a -rational order, that of #A#, for example, with less than usual of his -glistering and saccharine phraseology: Songs of Scotland, I, 348. -Aytoun’s language is not quite definite with regard to the copy which he -gives at II, 45, ed. 1859: it is, however, made up from versions -previously printed. - -When Mary Stuart was sent to France in 1548, she being then between five -and six, she had for companions “sundry gentlewomen and noblemen’s sons -and daughters, almost of her own age, of the which there were four in -special of whom every one of them bore the same name of Mary, being of -four sundry honorable houses, to wit, Fleming, Livingston, Seton, and -Beaton of Creich; who remained all four with the queen in France during -her residence there, and returned again in Scotland with her Majesty in -the year of our Lord 1561:” Lesley, History of Scotland, 1830, p. 209. -We still hear of the Four Maries in 1564, Calendar of State Papers -(Foreign), VII, 213, 230; cited by Burton, IV, 107. The ballad -substitutes Mary Hamilton and Mary Carmichael for Mary Livingston and -Mary Fleming; but #F# 3, 12 has Livingston. #N#, of late recitation, has -Heaton for Seton and Michel for Carmichael. - -#D# 4, etc. In ‘Tam Lin,’ No 39, Janet pulls the rose to kill or scathe -away her babe; #A# 19, 20, #F# 8, #I# 24, 25 (probably repeated from -#A#). In #G# 18, 19, the herb of 15 and the rose of 17 becomes the pile -of the gravil green, or of the gravil gray; in #H# 5, 6 Janet pulls an -unspecified flower or herb (I, 341 ff). - -We have had in ‘The Twa Brothers,’ No 49, a passage like that in which -Mary begs sailors and travellers not to let her parents know that she is -not coming home; and other ballads, Norse, Breton, Romaic, and Slavic, -which present a similar trait, are noted at I, 436 f, II, 14. To these -may be added Passow, p. 400, No 523; Jeannaraki, p. 116, No 118; -Sakellarios, p. 98, No 31; Puymaigre, 1865, p. 62, Bujeaud, II, 210 -(Liebrecht); also Guillon, p. 107, Nigra, No 27, #A, B#, pp. 164, 166, -and many copies of ‘Le Déserteur,’ and some of ‘Le Plongeur,’ ‘La ronde -du Battoir.’ - -Scott thought that the ballad took its rise from an incident related by -Knox as occurring in “the beginning of the regiment of Mary, Queen of -Scots.” “In the very time of the General Assembly,” says Knox, “there -comes to public knowledge a heinous murder committed in the court, yea, -not far from the queen’s own lap; for a French woman that served in the -queen’s chamber had played the whore with the queen’s own apothecary. -The woman conceived and bare a child, whom, with common consent, the -father and the mother murdered. Yet were the cries of a new-born bairn -heard; search was made, the child and mother was both deprehended, and -so were both the man and the woman damned to be hanged upon the public -street of Edinburgh.”[246] “It will readily strike the reader,” says -Scott, “that the tale has suffered great alterations, as handed down by -tradition; the French waiting-woman being changed into Mary Hamilton, -and the queen’s apothecary[247] into Henry Darnley. Yet this is less -surprising when we recollect that one of the heaviest of the queen’s -complaints against her ill-fated husband was his infidelity, and that -even with her personal attendants.” This General Assembly, however, met -December 25, 1563, and since Darnley did not come to Scotland until -1565, a tale of 1563, or of 1563–4, leaves him unscathed. - -Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, in his preface to #A#, Ballad Book, 1824, p. -18, observes: “It is singular that during the reign of the Czar Peter, -one of his empress’s attendants, a Miss Hamilton, was executed for the -murder of a natural child.... I cannot help thinking that the two -stories have been confused in the ballad, for if Marie Hamilton was -executed in Scotland, it is not likely that her relations resided beyond -seas; and we have no proof that Hamilton was really the name of the -woman who made a slip with the queen’s apothecary.” Sharpe afterwards -communicated details of the story[248] to Scott, who found in them “a -very odd coincidence in name, crime and catastrophe;” Minstrelsy, 1833, -III, 296, note. But Sharpe became convinced “that the Russian tragedy -must be the original” (note in Laing’s edition of the Ballad Book, 1880, -p. 129); and this opinion is the only tenable one, however surprising it -may be or seem that, as late as the eighteenth century, the popular -genius, helped by nothing but a name, should have been able so to -fashion and color an episode in the history of a distant country as to -make it fit very plausibly into the times of Mary Stuart. - -The published accounts of the affair of the Russian Mary Hamilton differ -to much the same degree as some versions of the Scottish ballad. The -subject has fortunately been reviewed in a recent article founded on -original and authentic documents.[249] - -When the Hamiltons first came to Russia does not appear. Artemon -Sergheievitch Matveief, a distinguished personage, minister and friend -of the father of Peter the Great, married a Hamilton, of a Scottish -family settled at Moscow, after which the Hamilton family ranked with -the aristocracy. The name of Mary’s father, whether William or Daniel, -is uncertain, but it is considered safe to say that she was niece to -Andrei Artemonovitch Matveief, son of the Tsar Alexei’s friend. Mary -Hamilton was created maid-of-honor to the Empress Catharine chiefly on -account of her beauty. Many of Catharine’s attendants were foreigners; -not all were of conspicuous families, but Peter required that they -should all be remarkably handsome. Mary had enjoyed the special favor of -the Tsar, but incurred his anger by setting afloat a report that -Catharine had a habit of eating wax, which produced pimples on her face. -The empress spoke to her about this slander; Mary denied that she was -the author of it; Catharine boxed her ears, and she acknowledged the -offence. Mary Hamilton had been having an amour with Ivan Orlof, a -handsome aide-de-camp of Tsar Peter, and while she was under the -displeasure of her master and mistress, the body of a child was found in -a well, wrapped in a court-napkin. Orlof, being sent for by Peter on -account of a missing paper, thought that his connection with Mary had -been discovered, and in his confusion let words escape him which Peter -put to use in tracing the origin of the child. The guilt was laid at -Mary’s door; she at first denied the accusation, but afterwards made a -confession, exonerating Orlof, however, from all participation in the -death of the babe; and indeed it was proved that he had not even known -of its birth till the information came to him in the way of -court-gossip. Both were sent to the Petropaulovsk fortress, Orlof on -April 4, Mary on April 10, 1718. Orlof was afterwards discharged without -punishment. Mary, after being twice subjected to torture, under which -she confessed to having previously destroyed two children,[250] was -condemned to death November 27, 1718, and executed on March 14, 1719, -the Tsar attending. She had attired herself in white silk, with black -ribbons, hoping thereby to touch Peter’s heart. She fell on her knees -and implored a pardon. But a law against the murder of illegitimate -children had recently been promulgated afresh and in terms of extreme -severity. Peter turned aside and whispered something to the executioner; -those present thought he meant to show grace, but it was an order to the -headsman to do his office. The Tsar picked up Mary’s head and kissed it, -made a little discourse on the anatomy of it to the spectators, kissed -it again, and threw it down. That beautiful head is said to have been -kept in spirits for some sixty years at the Academy of Sciences in St -Petersburg. - -It will be observed that this adventure at the Russian court presents -every material feature in the Scottish ballad, and even some subordinate -ones which may or may not have been derived from report, may or may not -have been the fancy-work of singers or reciters. We have the very name, -Mary Hamilton; she is a maid-of-honor; she has, as some versions run, an -intrigue with the king, and has a child, which she destroys; she rolls -the child in a napkin and throws it into a well (rolls the child in her -handkerchief, apron, and throws it in the sea); she is charged with the -fact and denies; according to some versions, search is made and -overwhelming proof discovered;[251] she is tried and condemned to die; -she finds no grace. The appeal to sailors and travellers in the ballad -shows that Mary Hamilton dies in a foreign land—not that of her -ancestors. The king’s coming by in #B# 22 (cf. #D# 22, 23) may possibly -be a reminiscence of the Tsar’s presence at the execution, and Mary’s -dressing herself in white, etc., to shine through Edinburgh town a -transformation of Mary’s dressing herself in white to move the Tsar’s -pity at the last moment; but neither of these points need be insisted -on. - -There is no trace of an admixture of the Russian story with that of the -French woman and the queen’s apothecary, and no ballad about the French -woman is known to have existed. - -We first hear of the Scottish ballad in 1790, when a stanza is quoted in -a letter of Robert Burns (see #R#). So far as I know, but one date can -be deduced from the subject-matter of the ballad; the Netherbow Port is -standing in #G#, #I#, #M#, and this gate was demolished in 1764. The -ballad must therefore have arisen between 1719 and 1764. It is -remarkable that one of the very latest of the Scottish popular ballads -should be one of the very best. - - -#I a# is translated by Gerhard, p. 149; Aytoun’s ballad by Knortz, -Schottische Balladen, p. 76, No 24. - - - A - - #a.# Sharpe’s Ballad Book, 1824, p. 18. #b.# Communicated by the - late John Francis Campbell, as learned from his father about 1840. - #c.# Aungervyle Society’s publications, No V, p. 5 (First Series, p. - 85); “taken down early in the present century from the lips of an - old lady in Annandale.” - - 1 - Word’s gane to the kitchen, - And word’s gane to the ha, - That Marie Hamilton gangs wi bairn - To the hichest Stewart of a’. - - 2 - He’s courted her in the kitchen, - He’s courted her in the ha, - He’s courted her in the laigh cellar, - And that was warst of a’. - - 3 - She’s tyed it in her apron - And she’s thrown it in the sea; - Says, Sink ye, swim ye, bonny wee babe! - You’l neer get mair o me. - - 4 - Down then cam the auld queen, - Goud tassels tying her hair: - ‘O Marie, where’s the bonny wee babe - That I heard greet sae sair?’ - - 5 - ‘There never was a babe intill my room, - As little designs to be; - It was but a touch o my sair side, - Come oer my fair bodie.’ - - 6 - ‘O Marie, put on your robes o black, - Or else your robes o brown, - For ye maun gang wi me the night, - To see fair Edinbro town.’ - - 7 - ‘I winna put on my robes o black, - Nor yet my robes o brown; - But I’ll put on my robes o white, - To shine through Edinbro town.’ - - 8 - When she gaed up the Cannogate, - She laughd loud laughters three; - But whan she cam down the Cannogate - The tear blinded her ee. - - 9 - When she gaed up the Parliament stair, - The heel cam aff her shee; - And lang or she cam down again - She was condemnd to dee. - - 10 - When she cam down the Cannogate, - The Cannogate sae free, - Many a ladie lookd oer her window, - Weeping for this ladie. - - 11 - ‘Ye need nae weep for me,’ she says, - ‘Ye need nae weep for me; - For had I not slain mine own sweet babe, - This death I wadna dee. - - 12 - ‘Bring me a bottle of wine,’ she says, - ‘The best that eer ye hae, - That I may drink to my weil-wishers, - And they may drink to me. - - 13 - ‘Here’s a health to the jolly sailors, - That sail upon the main; - Let them never let on to my father and mother - But what I’m coming hame. - - 14 - ‘Here’s a health to the jolly sailors, - That sail upon the sea; - Let them never let on to my father and mother - That I cam here to dee. - - 15 - ‘Oh little did my mother think, - The day she cradled me, - What lands I was to travel through, - What death I was to dee. - - 16 - ‘Oh little did my father think, - The day he held up me, - What lands I was to travel through, - What death I was to dee. - - 17 - ‘Last night I washd the queen’s feet, - And gently laid her down; - And a’the thanks I’ve gotten the nicht - To be hangd in Edinbro town! - - 18 - ‘Last nicht there was four Maries, - The nicht there’l be but three; - There was Marie Seton, and Marie Beton, - And Marie Carmichael, and me.’ - - - B - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 337. - - 1 - There were ladies, they lived in a bower, - And oh but they were fair! - The youngest o them is to the king’s court, - To learn some unco lair. - - 2 - She hadna been in the king’s court - A twelve month and a day, - Till of her they could get na wark, - For wantonness and play. - - 3 - Word is to the kitchen gane, - And word is to the ha, - And word is up to Madame the Queen, - And that is warst of a’, - That Mary Hamilton has born a bairn, - To the hichest Stewart of a’. - - 4 - ‘O rise, O rise, Mary Hamilton, - O rise, and tell to me - What thou did with thy sweet babe - We sair heard weep by thee.’ - - 5 - ‘Hold your tongue, madame,’ she said, - ‘And let your folly be; - It was a shouir o sad sickness - Made me weep sae bitterlie.’ - - 6 - ‘O rise, O rise, Mary Hamilton, - O rise, and tell to me - What thou did with thy sweet babe - We sair heard weep by thee.’ - - 7 - ‘I put it in a piner-pig, - And set it on the sea; - I bade it sink, or it might swim, - It should neer come hame to me.’ - - 8 - ‘O rise, O rise, Mary Hamilton, - Arise, and go with me; - There is a wedding in Glasgow town - This day we’ll go and see.’ - - 9 - She put not on her black clothing, - She put not on her brown, - But she put on the glistering gold, - To shine thro Edinburgh town. - - 10 - As they came into Edinburgh town, - The city for to see, - The bailie’s wife and the provost’s wife - Said, Och an alace for thee! - - 11 - ‘Gie never alace for me,’ she said, - ‘Gie never alace for me; - It’s all for the sake of my poor babe, - This death that I maun die.’ - - 12 - As they gaed up the Tolbuith stair, - The stair it was sae hie, - The bailie’s son and the provost’s son - Said, Och an alace for thee! - - 13 - ‘Gie never alace for me,’ she said, - ‘Gie never alace for me! - It’s all for the sake of my puir babe, - This death that I maun die. - - 14 - ‘But bring to me a cup,’ she says, - ‘A cup bot and a can, - And I will drink to all my friends, - And they ll drink to me again. - - 15 - ‘Here’s to you all, travellers, - Who travels by land or sea; - Let na wit to my father nor mother - The death that I must die. - - 16 - ‘Here’s to you all, travellers, - That travels on dry land; - Let na wit to my father nor mother - But I am coming hame. - - 17 - ‘Little did my mother think, - First time she cradled me, - What land I was to travel on, - Or what death I would die. - - 18 - ‘Little did my mother think, - First time she tied my head, - What land I was to tread upon, - Or whare I would win my bread. - - 19 - ‘Yestreen Queen Mary had four Maries, - This night she’ll hae but three; - She had Mary Seaton, and Mary Beaton, - And Mary Carmichael, and me. - - 20 - ‘Yestreen I wush Queen Mary’s feet, - And bore her till her bed; - This day she’s given me my reward, - This gallows-tree to tread. - - 21 - ‘Cast off, cast off my goun,’ she said. - ‘But let my petticoat be, - And tye a napkin on my face, - For that gallows I downa see.’ - - 22 - By and cum the king himsell, - Lookd up with a pitiful ee: - ‘Come down, come down, Mary Hamilton, - This day thou wilt dine with me.’ - - 23 - ‘Hold your tongue, my sovereign leige, - And let your folly be; - An ye had a mind to save my life, - Ye should na shamed me here.’ - - - C - - Motherwell’s MS. p. 265; from Mrs Crum, Dumbarton, 7 April, 1825. - - 1 - There lived a lord into the west, - And he had dochters three, - And the youngest o them is to the king’s court, - To learn some courtesie. - - 2 - She was not in the king’s court - A twelvemonth and a day, - Till she was neither able to sit nor gang, - Wi the gaining o some play. - - 3 - She went to the garden, - To pull the leaf aff the tree, - To tak this bonnie babe frae her breast, - But alas it would na do! - - 4 - She rowed it in her handkerchief, - And threw it in the sea: - ‘O sink ye, swim ye, wee wee babe! - Ye’ll get nae mair o me.’ - - 5 - Word is to the kitchen gane, - And word is to the ha, - That Mary Myle she goes wi child - To the highest Steward of a’. - - 6 - Down and came the queen hersell, - The queen hersell so free: - ‘O Mary Myle, whare is the child - That I heard weep for thee?’ - - 7 - ‘O hold your tongue now, Queen,’ she says, - ‘O hold your tongue so free! - For it was but a shower o the sharp sickness, - I was almost like to die.’ - - 8 - ‘O busk ye, busk ye, Mary Myle, - O busk, and go wi me; - O busk ye, busk ye, Mary Mile, - It’s Edinburgh town to see.’ - - 9 - ‘I’ll no put on my robes o black, - No nor yet my robes [o] brown; - But I’ll put on my golden weed, - To shine thro Edinburgh town.’ - - 10 - When she went up the Cannongate-side, - The Cannongate-side so free, - Oh there she spied some ministers’ lads, - Crying Och and alace for me! - - 11 - ‘Dinna cry och and alace for me! - Dinna cry o[c]h and alace for me! - For it’s all for the sake of my innocent babe - That I come here to die.’ - - 12 - When she went up the Tolbooth-stair, - The lap cam aff her shoe; - Before that she came down again, - She was condemned to die. - - 13 - ‘O all you gallant sailors, - That sail upon the sea, - Let neither my father nor mother know - The death I am to die! - - 14 - ‘O all you gallant sailors, - That sail upon the faem, - Let neither my father nor mother know - But I am coming hame! - - 15 - ‘Little did my mother know, - The hour that she bore me, - What lands I was to travel in, - What death I was to die. - - 16 - ‘Little did my father know, - When he held up my head, - What lands I was to travel in, - What was to be my deid. - - 17 - ‘Yestreen I made Queen Mary’s bed, - Kembed doun her yellow hair; - Is this the reward I am to get, - To tread this gallows-stair!’ - - - D - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 267; from the recitation of Miss Nancy Hamilton - and Mrs Gentles, January, 1825. - - 1 - There lives a knight into the north, - And he had daughters three; - The ane of them was a barber’s wife, - The other a gay ladie. - - 2 - And the youngest of them is to Scotland gane, - The queen’s Mary to be, - And a’that they could say or do, - Forbidden she woudna be. - - 3 - The prince’s bed it was sae saft, - The spices they were sae fine, - That out of it she couldna lye - While she was scarse fifteen. - - 4 - She’s gane to the garden gay - To pu of the savin tree; - But for a’that she could say or do, - The babie it would not die. - - 5 - She’s rowed it in her handkerchief, - She threw it in the sea; - Says, Sink ye, swim ye, my bonnie babe! - For ye’ll get nae mair of me. - - 6 - Queen Mary came tripping down the stair, - Wi the gold strings in her hair: - ‘O whare’s the little babie,’ she says, - ‘That I heard greet sae sair? ’ - - 7 - ‘O hold your tongue, Queen Mary, my dame, - Let all those words go free! - It was mysell wi a fit o the sair colic, - I was sick just like to die.’ - - 8 - ‘O hold your tongue, Mary Hamilton, - Let all those words go free! - O where is the little babie - That I heard weep by thee?’ - - 9 - ‘I rowed it in my handkerchief, - And threw it in the sea; - I bade it sink, I bade it swim, - It would get nae mair o me.’ - - 10 - ‘O wae be to thee, Marie Hamilton, - And an ill deid may you die! - For if ye had saved the babie’s life - It might hae been an honour to thee. - - 11 - ‘Busk ye, busk ye, Marie Hamilton, - O busk ye to be a bride! - For I am going to Edinburgh toun, - Your gay wedding to bide. - - 12 - ‘You must not put on your robes of black, - Nor yet your robes of brown; - But you must put on your yellow gold stuffs, - To shine thro Edinburgh town.’ - - 13 - ‘I will not put on my robes of black, - Nor yet my robes of brown; - But I will put on my yellow gold stuffs, - To shine thro Edinburgh town.’ - - 14 - As she went up the Parliament Close, - A riding on her horse, - There she saw many a cobler’s lady, - Sat greeting at the cross. - - 15 - ‘O what means a’ this greeting? - I’m sure its nae for me; - For I’m come this day to Edinburgh town - Weel wedded for to be.’ - - 16 - When she gade up the Parliament stair, - She gied loud lauchters three; - But ere that she came down again, - She was condemned to die. - - 17 - ‘O little did my mother think, - The day that she prinned my gown, - That I was to come sae far frae hame - To be hangid in Edinburgh town. - - 18 - ‘O what’ll my poor father think, - As he comes thro the town, - To see the face of his Molly fair - Hanging on the gallows-pin! - - 19 - ‘Here’s a health to the marineres, - That plough the raging main! - Let neither my mother nor father know - But I’m coming hame again! - - 20 - ‘Here’s a health to the sailors, - That sail upon the sea! - Let neither my mother nor father ken - That I came here to die! - - 21 - ‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - This night she’ll hae but three; - There was Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton, - And Mary Carmichael, and me.’ - - 22 - ‘O hald your tongue, Mary Hamilton, - Let all those words go free! - This night eer ye be hanged - Ye shall gang hame wi me.’ - - 23 - ‘O hald your tongue, Queen Mary, my dame, - Let all those words go free! - For since I have come to Edinburgh toun, - It’s hanged I shall be, - And it shall neer be said that in your court - I was condemned to die.’ - - - E - - Buchan’s MSS, II, 186. - - 1 - ‘My father was the Duke of York, - My mother a lady free, - Mysell a dainty damsell, - Queen Mary sent for me. - - 2 - ‘Yestreen I washd Queen Mary’s feet, - Kam’d down her yellow hair, - And lay a’night in the young man’s bed, - And I’ll rue t for evermair. - - 3 - The queen’s kale was aye sae het, - Her spice was aye sae fell, - Till they gart me gang to the young man’s bed, - And I’d a’the wyte mysell. - - 4 - ‘I was not in the queen’s service - A twelvemonth but barely ane, - Ere I grew as big wi bairn - As ae woman could gang. - - 5 - ‘But it fell ance upon a day, - Was aye to be it lane, - I did take strong travilling - As ever yet was seen.’ - - 6 - Ben it came the queen hersell, - Was a’ gowd to the hair; - ‘O where’s the bairn, Lady Maisry, - That I heard greeting sair?’ - - 7 - Ben it came the queen hersell, - Was a’ gowd to the chin: - ‘O where’s the bairn, Lady Maisry, - That I heard late yestreen.’ - - 8 - ‘There is no bairn here,’ she says, - ‘Nor never thinks to be; - ’Twas but a stoun o sair sickness - That ye heard seizing me.’ - - 9 - They sought it out, they sought it in, - They sought it but and ben, - But between the bolster and the bed - They got the baby slain. - - 10 - ‘Come busk ye, busk ye, Lady Maisdry, - Come busk, an go with me; - For I will on to Edinburgh, - And try the verity.’ - - 11 - She woud not put on the black, the black, - Nor yet wad she the brown, - But the white silk and the red scarlet, - That shin’d frae town to town. - - 12 - As she gaed down thro Edinburgh town - The burghers’ wives made meen, - That sic a dainty damsel - Sud ever hae died for sin. - - 13 - ‘Make never meen for me,’ she says, - ‘Make never meen for me; - Seek never grace frae a graceless face, - For that ye’ll never see.’ - - 14 - As she gaed up the Tolbooth stair, - A light laugh she did gie; - But lang ere she came down again - She was condemned to die. - - 15 - ‘A’ you that are in merchants-ships, - And cross the roaring faem, - Hae nae word to my father and mother, - But that I’m coming hame. - - 16 - ‘Hold your hands, ye justice o peace, - Hold them a little while! - For yonder comes my father and mother, - That’s travelld mony a mile. - - 17 - ‘Gie me some o your gowd, parents, - Some o your white monie, - To save me frae the head o yon hill, - Yon greenwood gallows-tree.’ - - 18 - ‘Ye’ll get nane o our gowd, daughter, - Nor nane o our white monie; - For we hae travelld mony a mile, - This day to see you die.’ - - 19 - ‘Hold your hands, ye justice o peace, - Hold them a little while! - For yonder comes him Warenston, - The father of my chile. - - 20 - ‘Give me some o your gowd, Warenston, - Some o your white monie, - To save me frae the head o yon hill, - Yon greenwood gallows-tree.’ - - 21 - ‘I bade you nurse my bairn well, - And nurse it carefullie, - And gowd shoud been your hire, Maisry, - And my body your fee.’ - - 22 - He’s taen out a purse o gowd, - Another o white monie, - And he’s tauld down ten thousand crowns, - Says, True love, gang wi me. - - - F - - Skene MS., p. 61. - - 1 - My father was the Duke of York, - My mother a lady free, - Mysel a dainty demosell, - Queen Mary sent for me. - - 2 - The queen’s meat, it was sae sweet, - Her clothing was sae rare, - It made me lang for Sweet Willie’s bed, - An I’ll rue it ever maer. - - 3 - Mary Beaton, and Mary Seaton, - And Lady Livinston, three, - We’ll never meet in Queen Mary’s bower, - Now Maries tho ye be. - - 4 - Queen Mary sat in her bower, - Sewing her silver seam; - She thought she heard a baby greet, - But an a lady meen. - - 5 - She threw her needle frae her, - Her seam out of her hand, - An she is on to Lady Mary’s bower, - As fast as she could gang. - - 6 - ‘Open yer door, Lady Mary,’ she says, - ‘And lat me come in; - For I hear a baby greet, - But an a lady meen.’ - - 7 - ‘There is na bab in my bower, madam, - Nor never thinks to be, - But the strong pains of gravel - This night has seized me.’ - - 8 - She pat her fit to the door, - But an her knee, - Baith of brass and iron bands - In flinders she gard flee. - - 9 - She pat a hand to her bed-head, - An ither to her bed-feet, - An bonny was the bab - Was blabbering in its bleed. - - 10 - ‘Wae worth ye, Lady Mary, - An ill dead sall ye die! - For an ye widna kept the bonny bab, - Ye might ha sen’t to me.’ - - 11 - ‘Lay na the wate on me, madam, - Lay na the wate on me! - For my fas love bare the brand at his side - That gared my barrine die.’ - - 12 - ‘Get up, Lady Beaton, get up, Lady Seton, - And Lady Livinstone three, - An we will on to Edinburgh, - An try this gay lady.’ - - 13 - As she came to the Cannongate, - The burgers’ wives they cryed - Hon ohon, ochree! . . . - . . . . . . . - - 14 - ‘O had you still, ye burgers’ wives, - An make na meen for me; - Seek never grace of a graceless face, - For they hae nane to gie. - - 15 - ‘Ye merchants and ye mariners, - That trade upon the sea, - O dinna tell in my country - The dead I’m gaen to die! - - 16 - ‘Ye merchants and ye mariners, - That sail upo the faeme, - O dinna tell in my country - But that I’m comin hame! - - 17 - ‘Little did my father think, - Whan he brought me our the sea, - That he wad see me yellow locks - Hang on a gallow’s tree. - - 18 - ‘Little did my mither think - Whan she brought me fra hame, - That she maught see my yellow loks - Han[g] on a gallow-pin. - - 19 - ‘O had your hand a while! - . . . . . . . - For yonder comes my father, - I’m sure he’l borrow me. - - 20 - ‘O some of your goud, father, - An of your well won fee, - To save me [frae the high hill] - [And] frae the gallow-tree!’ - - 21 - ‘Ye’s get nane of my goud, - Nor of my well won fee, - For I would gie five hundred pown - To see ye hangit hie.’ - - 22 - ‘O had yer hand a while! - . . . . . . . - Yonder is my love Willie, - Sure he will borrow me. - - 23 - ‘O some o your goud, my love Willie, - An some o yer well won fee, - To save me frae the high hill, - And fra the gallow-tree!’ - - 24 - ‘Ye’s get a’ my goud, - And a’ my well won fee, - To save ye fra the headin-hill, - And frae the gallow-tree.’ - - - G - - Manuscript of Scottish Songs and Ballads, copied by a granddaughter - of Lord Woodhouselee, 1840–50, p. 51. - - 1 - O Mary Hamilton to the kirk is gane, - Wi ribbons in her hair; - An the king thoct mair o Marie - Then onie that were there. - - 2 - Mary Hamilton’s to the preaching gane, - Wi ribbons on her breast; - An the king thocht mair o Marie - Than he thocht o the priest. - - 3 - Syne word is thro the palace gane, - I heard it tauld yestreen, - The king loes Mary Hamilton - Mair than he loes his queen. - - 4 - A sad tale thro the town is gaen, - A sad tale on the morrow; - Oh Mary Hamilton has born a babe, - An slain it in her sorrow! - - 5 - And down then cam the auld queen, - Goud tassels tied her hair: - ‘What did ye wi the wee wee bairn - That I heard greet sae sair?’ - - 6 - ‘There neer was a bairn into my room, - An as little designs to be; - ’Twas but a stitch o my sair side, - Cam owre my fair bodie.’ - - 7 - ‘Rise up now, Marie,’ quo the queen, - ‘Rise up, an come wi me, - For we maun ride to Holyrood, - A gay wedding to see.’ - - 8 - The queen was drest in scarlet fine, - Her maidens all in green; - An every town that they cam thro - Took Marie for the queen. - - 9 - But little wist Marie Hamilton, - As she rode oure the lea, - That she was gaun to Edinbro town - Her doom to hear and dree. - - 10 - When she cam to the Netherbow Port, - She laughed loud laughters three; - But when she reached the gallows-tree, - The tears blinded her ee. - - 11 - ‘Oh aften have I dressed my queen, - An put gowd in her hair; - The gallows-tree is my reward, - An shame maun be my share! - - 12 - ‘Oh aften hae I dressed my queen, - An saft saft made her bed; - An now I’ve got for my reward - The gallows-tree to tread! - - 13 - ‘There’s a health to all gallant sailors, - That sail upon the sea! - Oh never let on to my father and mither - The death that I maun dee! - - 14 - ‘An I charge ye, all ye mariners, - When ye sail owre the main, - Let neither my father nor mither know - But that I’m comin hame. - - 15 - ‘Oh little did my mither ken, - That day she cradled me, - What lands I was to tread in, - Or what death I should dee. - - 16 - ‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - The nicht she’ll hae but three; - There’s Marie Seaton, an Marie Beaton, - An Marie Carmichael, an me.’ - - - H - - Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 252; a North Country version. - - 1 - ‘Whan I was a babe, and a very little babe, - And stood at my mither’s knee, - Nae witch nor warlock did unfauld - The death I was to dree. - - 2 - ‘But my mither was a proud woman, - A proud woman and a bauld; - And she hired me to Queen Mary’s bouer, - When scarce eleven years auld. - - 3 - ‘O happy, happy is the maid, - That’s born of beauty free! - It was my dimpling rosy cheeks - That’s been the dule o me; - And wae be to that weirdless wicht, - And a’ his witcherie!‘ - - 4 - Word’s gane up and word’s gane doun, - An word’s gane to the ha, - That Mary Hamilton was wi bairn, - An na body kend to wha. - - 5 - But in and cam the queen hersel, - Wi gowd plait on her hair: - Says, Mary Hamilton, whare is the babe - That I heard greet sae sair? - - 6 - ‘There is na babe within my bouer, - And I hope there neer will be; - But it’s me wi a sair and sick colic, - And I’m just like to dee.’ - - 7 - But they looked up, they looked down, - Atween the bowsters and the wa, - It’s there they got a bonnie lad-bairn, - But its life it was awa. - - 8 - Rise up, rise up, Mary Hamilton, - Rise up, and dress ye fine, - For you maun gang to Edinbruch, - And stand afore the nine. - - 9 - ‘Ye’ll no put on the dowie black, - Nor yet the dowie brown; - But ye’ll put on the robes o red, - To sheen thro Edinbruch town.’ - - 10 - ‘I’ll no put on the dowie black, - Nor yet the dowie brown; - But I’ll put on the robes o red, - To sheen thro Edinbruch town.’ - - 11 - As they gaed thro Edinbruch town, - And down by the Nether-bow, - There war monie a lady fair - Siching and crying, Och how! - - 12 - ‘O weep na mair for me, ladies, - Weep na mair for me! - Yestreen I killed my ain bairn, - The day I deserve to dee. - - 13 - ‘What need ye hech and how, ladies? - What need ye how for me? - Ye never saw grace at a graceless face, - Queen Mary has nane to gie.’ - - 14 - ‘Gae forward, gae forward,’ the queen she said, - ‘Gae forward, that ye may see; - For the very same words that ye hae said - Sall hang ye on the gallows-tree.’ - - 15 - As she gaed up the Tolbooth stairs, - She gied loud lauchters three; - But or ever she cam down again, - She was condemnd to dee. - - 16 - ‘O tak example frae me, Maries, - O tak example frae me, - Nor gie your luve to courtly lords, - Nor heed their witchin’ ee. - - 17 - ‘But wae be to the Queen hersel, - She micht hae pardond me; - But sair she’s striven for me to hang - Upon the gallows-tree. - - 18 - ‘Yestreen the Queen had four Maries, - The nicht she’ll hae but three; - There was Mary Beatoun, Mary Seaton, - And Mary Carmichael, and me. - - 19 - ‘Aft hae I set pearls in her hair, - Aft hae I lac’d her gown, - And this is the reward I now get, - To be hangd in Edinbruch town! - - 20 - ‘O a’ye mariners, far and near, - That sail ayont the faem, - O dinna let my father and mither ken - But what I am coming hame! - - 21 - ‘O a’ye mariners, far and near, - That sail ayont the sea, - Let na my father and mither ken - The death I am to dee! - - 22 - ‘Sae, weep na mair for me, ladies, - Weep na mair for me; - The mither that kills her ain bairn - Deserves weel for to dee.’ - - - I - - #a.# Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, III, 294, made up from various - copies. #b.# Three stanzas (23, 18, 19) in the first edition of the - Minstrelsy, 1802, II, 154, from recitation. - - 1 - Marie Hamilton’s to the kirk gane, - Wi ribbons in her hair; - The king thought mair o Marie Hamilton - Than ony that were there. - - 2 - Marie Hamilton’s to the kirk gane, - Wi ribbons on her breast; - The king thought mair o Marie Hamilton - Then he listend to the priest. - - 3 - Marie Hamilton’s to the kirk gane, - Wi gloves upon her hands; - The king thought mair o Marie Hamilton, - Than the queen and a’her lands. - - 4 - She hadna been about the king’s court - A month, but barely one, - Till she was beloved by a’the king’s court, - And the king the only man. - - 5 - She hadna been about the king’s court - A month, but barely three, - Till frae the king’s court Marie Hamilton, - Marie Hamilton durstna be. - - 6 - The king is to the Abbey gane, - To pu the Abbey-tree, - To scale the babe frae Marie’s heart, - But the thing it wadna be. - - 7 - O she has rowd it in her apron, - And set it on the sea: - ‘Gae sink ye, or swim ye, bonny babe! - Ye’s get nae mair o me.’ - - 8 - Word is to the kitchen gane, - And word is to the ha, - And word is to the noble room, - Amang the ladyes a’, - That Marie Hamilton’s brought to bed, - And the bonny babe’s mist and awa. - - 9 - Scarcely had she lain down again, - And scarcely fa’en asleep, - When up then started our gude queen, - Just at her bed-feet, - Saying, Marie Hamilton, where’s your babe? - For I am sure I heard it greet. - - 10 - ‘O no, O no, my noble queen, - Think no such thing to be! - ’Twas but a stitch into my side, - And sair it troubles me.’ - - 11 - ‘Get up, get up, Marie Hamilton, - Get up and follow me; - For I am going to Edinburgh town, - A rich wedding for to see.’ - - 12 - O slowly, slowly raise she up, - And slowly put she on, - And slowly rode she out the way, - Wi mony a weary groan. - - 13 - The queen was clad in scarlet, - Her merry maids all in green, - And every town that they cam to, - They took Marie for the queen. - - 14 - ‘Ride hooly, hooly, gentlemen, - Ride hooly now wi me! - For never, I am sure, a wearier burd - Rade in your cumpanie.’ - - 15 - But little wist Marie Hamilton, - When she rade on the brown, - That she was gaen to Edinburgh town, - And a’to be put down. - - 16 - ‘Why weep ye so, ye burgess-wives, - Why look ye so on me? - O I am going to Edinburgh town - A rich wedding for to see!’ - - 17 - When she gaed up the Tolbooth stairs, - The corks frae her heels did flee; - And lang or eer she cam down again - She was condemnd to die. - - 18 - When she cam to the Netherbow Port, - She laughed loud laughters three; - But when she cam to the gallows-foot, - The tears blinded her ee. - - 19 - ‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - The night she’ll hae but three; - There was Marie Seaton, and Marie Beaton, - And Marie Carmichael, and me. - - 20 - ‘O often have I dressd my queen, - And put gold upon her hair; - But now I’ve gotten for my reward - The gallows to be my share. - - 21 - ‘Often have I dressd my queen, - And often made her bed; - But now I’ve gotten for my reward - The gallows-tree to tread. - - 22 - ‘I charge ye all, ye mariners, - When ye sail ower the faem, - Let neither my father nor mother get wit - But that I’m coming hame! - - 23 - ‘I charge ye all, ye mariners, - That sail upon the sea, - Let neither my father nor mother get wit - This dog’s death I’m to die! - - 24 - ‘For if my father and mother got wit, - And my bold brethren three, - O mickle wad be the gude red blude - This day wad be spilt for me! - - 25 - ‘O little did my mother ken, - That day she cradled me, - The lands I was to travel in, - Or the death I was to die!’ - - - J - - Harris MS., fol. 10 b; “Mrs Harris and others.” - - 1 - My mother was a proud, proud woman, - A proud, proud woman and a bold; - She sent me to Queen Marie’s bour, - When scarcely eleven years old. - - 2 - Queen Marie’s bread it was sae sweet, - An her wine it was sae fine, - That I hae lien in a young man’s arms, - An I rued it aye synsyne. - - 3 - Queen Marie she cam doon the stair, - Wi the goud kamis in her hair: - ‘Oh whare, oh whare is the wee wee babe - I heard greetin sae sair?’ - - 4 - ‘It’s no a babe, a babie fair, - Nor ever intends to be; - But I mysel, wi a sair colic, - Was seek an like to dee.’ - - 5 - They socht the bed baith up an doon, - Frae the pillow to the straw, - An there they got the wee wee babe, - But its life was far awa. - - 6 - ‘Come doon, come doon, Marie Hamilton, - Come doon an speak to me; - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 7 - ‘You’ll no put on your dowie black, - Nor yet your dowie broun; - But you’ll put on your ried, ried silk, - To shine through Edinborough toun.’ - - * * * * * - - 8 - ‘Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - The nicht she’ll hae but three; - There was Marie Bethune, an Marie Seaton, - An Marie Carmichael, an me. - - 9 - ‘Ah, little did my mother ken, - The day she cradled me, - The lands that I sud travel in, - An the death that I suld dee.’ - - 10 - Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - The nicht she has but three; - For the bonniest Marie amang them a’ - Was hanged upon a tree. - - - K - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 96; from Jean Macqueen, Largs. - - 1 - Queen Mary had four serving-maids, - As braw as braw could be, - But ane o them has fa’n wi bairn, - And for it she maun die. - - 2 - But whan the babie it was born, - A troubled woman was she; - She rowed it up in a handkerchief, - And flang it in the sea. - - 3 - Out then spoke a bonnie wee burd, - And it spak sharp and keen: - ‘O what did ye do wi your wee babie, - Ye had in your arms yestreen?’ - - 4 - ‘O I tyed it up in a napkin, - And flang it in the sea; - I bade it sink, I bade it soom, - ‘Twad get nae mair o me.’ - - 5 - Out and spak King Henrie, - And an angry man was he: - ‘A’for the drowning o that wee babe - High hanged ye shall be.’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - ‘I’ll no put on a goun o black, - Nor yet a goun o green, - But I’ll put on a goun o gowd, - To glance in young men’s een. - - 7 - ‘O gin ye meet my father or mother, - Ye may tell them frae me, - ’Twas for the sake o a wee wee bairn - That I came here to die. - - 8 - ‘Yestreen four Maries made Queen Mary’s bed, - This nicht there’ll be but three, - A Mary Beaton, a Mary Seaton, - A Mary Carmichael, and me. - - 9 - ‘O what will my three brithers say, - When they come hame frae see, - When they see three locks o my yellow hair - Hinging under a gallows-tree!’ - - - L - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 280; from the recitation of Mrs Trail of - Paisley. - - 1 - Doun and cam the queen hersell, - Wi the goud links in her hair: - ‘O what did you do wi the braw lad bairn - That I heard greet sae sair?’ - - 2 - ‘There was never a babe into my room, - Nor ever intends to be; - It was but a fit o the sair colic, - That was like to gar me die.’ - - 3 - Doun and cam the king himsell, - And an angry man was he: - ‘If ye had saved that braw child’s life, - It might hae been an honour to thee.’ - - 4 - They socht the chamer up and doun, - And in below the bed, - And there they fand a braw lad-bairn - Lying lapperin in his blood. - - 5 - She rowed it up in her apron green, - And threw it in the sea: - ‘Een sink or swim, you braw lad bairn! - Ye’ll neer get mair o me.’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - When she gaed up the Cannogate, - She gied loud lauchters three; - But or she cam to the Cowgate Head - The tears did blind her ee. - - 7 - ‘Come a’ye jovial sailors, - That sail upon the sea, - Tell neither my father nor mother - The death that I’m to die! - - 8 - ‘Come a’ye jovial sailors, - That sail upon the main, - See that ye tell baith my father and mother - That I’m coming sailing hame! - - 9 - ‘My father he’s the Duke of York, - And my mother’s a gay ladie, - And I mysell a pretty fair lady, - And the king fell in love with me.’ - - - M - - Maidment’s North Countrie Garland, p. 19. - - 1 - Then down cam Queen Marie, - Wi gold links in her hair, - Saying, Marie Mild, where is the child, - That I heard greet sae sair? - - 2 - ‘There was nae child wi me, madam, - There was nae child wi me; - It was but me in a sair cholic, - When I was like to die.’ - - 3 - ‘I’m not deceived,’ Queen Marie said, - ‘No, no, indeed not I! - So Marie Mild, where is the child? - For sure I heard it cry.’ - - 4 - She turned down the blankets fine, - Likewise the Holland sheet, - And underneath, there strangled lay - A lovely baby sweet. - - 5 - ‘O cruel mother,’ said the queen, - ‘Some fiend possessed thee; - But I will hang thee for this deed, - My Marie tho thou be!’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - When she cam to the Netherbow Port - She laught loud laughters three; - But when she cam to the gallows-foot, - The saut tear blinded her ee. - - 7 - ‘Yestreen the Queen had four Maries, - The night she’ll hae but three; - There was Marie Seton, and Marie Beaton, - And Marie Carmichael, and me. - - 8 - ‘Ye mariners, ye mariners, - That sail upon the sea, - Let not my father or mother wit - The death that I maun die! - - 9 - ‘I was my parents’ only hope, - They neer had ane but me; - They little thought when I left hame, - They should nae mair me see!’ - - - N - - Murison MS., p. 33; from recitation at Old Deer, 1876. - - 1 - The streen the queen had four Maries, - This nicht she’ll hae but three; - There’s Mary Heaton, an Mary Beaton, - An Mary Michel, an me, - An I mysel was Mary Mild, - An flower oer a’the three. - - 2 - Mary’s middle was aye sae neat, - An her clothing aye sae fine, - It caused her lie in a young man’s airms, - An she’s ruet it aye sin syne. - - 3 - She done her doon yon garden green, - To pull the deceivin tree, - For to keep back that young man’s bairn, - But forward it would be. - - 4 - ‘Ye winna put on the dowie black, - Nor yet will ye the broon, - But ye’ll put on the robes o red, - To shine through Edinburgh toon.’ - - 5 - She hasna pitten on the dowie black, - Nor yet has she the broon, - But she’s pitten on the robes o red, - To shine thro Edinburgh toon. - - 6 - When she came to the mariners’ toon, - The mariners they were playin, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 7 - ‘Ye needna play for me, mariners, - Ye needna play for me; - Ye never saw grace in a graceless face, - For there’s nane therein to be. - - 8 - ‘Seven years an I made Queen Mary’s bed, - Seven years an I combed her hair, - An a hansome reward noo she’s gien to me, - Gien me the gallows-tows to wear! - - 9 - ‘Oh little did my mither think, - The day she cradled me, - What road I’d hae to travel in, - Or what death I’d hae to dee!’ - - - O - - Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, I, xix, from recitation. - - 1 - There lived a lord into the south, - And he had dochters three, - And the youngest o them went to the king’s court, - To learn some courtesie. - - 2 - She rowd it in a wee wee clout - . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 3 - She rowd it in a wee wee clout - And flang’t into the faem, - Saying, Sink ye soon, my bonny babe! - I’ll go a maiden hame. - - 4 - ‘O woe be to you, ye ill woman, - An ill death may ye die! - Gin ye had spared the sweet baby’s life, - It might hae been an honour to thee.’ - - 5 - She wadna put on her gowns o black, - Nor yet wad she o brown, - But she wad put on her gowns o gowd, - To glance through Embro town. - - 6 - ‘Come saddle not to me the black,’ she says, - ‘Nor yet to me the brown, - But come saddle to me the milk-white steed, - That I may ride in renown.’ - - - P - - Kinloch’s MSS, VII, 95, 97. - - My father’s the Duke of Argyll, - My mither’s a lady gay, - And I mysel am a dainty dame, - And the king desired me. - - He schawd [me] up, he shawed me doun, - He schawd me to the ha; - He schawd me to the low cellars, - And that was waurst of a’. - - - Q - - Letters from and to Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, ed. Allardyce, 1888, - II, 272, in a letter from Sharpe to W. Scott [1823]. - - 1 - The Duke of York was my father, - My mother a lady free, - Myself a dainty damosell, - Queen Marie sent for me. - - 2 - The queen’s meat it was sae sweet, - Her cleiding was sae rare, - It gart me grien for sweet Willie, - And I’ll rue it evermair. - - - R - - Burns, in a letter to Mrs Dunlop, January 25, 1790; Currie, II, 290, - 1800. - - Little did my mother think, - That day she cradled me, - What land I was to travel in, - Or what death I should die! - - * * * * * - -#A. b.# - - 1. - There’s news is gaen in the kitchen, - There’s news is gaen in the ha, - There’s news is gaen in the laigh cellar, - And that was warst of a’. - - 2. - There’s news is gaen in the kitchen, - There’s news is gaen in the ha’, - That Mary Hamilton’s gotten a wean, - And that was warst of a’. - - 3^1. She’s rowed. - - 3^2. She’s cuist it. - - 3^3. My bonnie bairn ga sink or swim. - - 3^4. Ye’s no hear mair. - - 4^1. Then doon. - - 4^2. Wi tasslets. - - 4^3. Cri’n, M. H., whaur’s the bairn. - - 4^4. That _wanting_. - - 5^1. There’s no a bairn in a’ the toon. - - 5^2. Nor yet. - - 5^3. ’Twas but a steek in. - - 6^1. And ye maun. - - 6^4. And ye maun awa wi me the morn. - - 7^1. I’se no. - - 7^4. To see fair. - - 8^1. And when. - - 8^3. And when. - - 8^4. tear stood in. - - 9^1. And when. - - 9^2. heel slipped off. - - 9^3. And when she cam doon the Parliament stair. - - 10, 11 _wanting._ - - 12^1. But bring: she cried. - - 13^1, 14^1. And here’s to the jolly sailor lad. - - 13^2, 14^2. sails: faem. - - 13^3. And let not my father nor mother get wit. - - 13^4. that I shall come again. - - 14^3. But let, _as in_ 13^3. - - 14^4. O the death that I maun dee. - - 15, 16 _wanting._ - - 17^1. auld queen’s. - - 17^2. And I laid her gently. - - 17^3. I hae gotten the day. - - 17^4. Is to. - - 18^1. night the queen had. - - 18^2. This night she’ll hae. - - 18^4. M. Beton and M. Seton. - -#c.# - - _Begins_: - This nicht the queen has four Maries, - Each fair as she can be; - There’s Marie Seton, etc. - - 3^1. The bairn’s tyed. - - 3^2. And thrown intill. - - 4^3. O sink. - - _After 3_: - Oh I have born this bonnie wee babe - Wi mickle toil and pain; - Gae hame, gae hame, you bonnie wee babe! - For nurse I dare be nane. - - 4^1. Then down cam Queen Marie. - - 4^3. Saying, Marie mild, where is the babe. - - 5^1. There was nae babe. - - 5^2. There was na babe wi me. - - 5^3. o a sair cholic. - - _After_ 5 (_mostly spurious_): - The queen turned down the blankets fine, - Likewise the snae-white sheet, - And what she saw caused her many a tear, - And made her sair to greet. - - O cruel mither, said the queen, - A fiend possessed thee: - But I will hang thee for this deed, - My Marie though thou be. - - _After_ 7: - And some they mounted the black steed, - And some mounted the brown, - But Marie mounted her milk-white steed, - And rode foremost thro the town. - - 8^3. But when. - - _After_ 12: - Yestreen the queen had four Maries, - The nicht she’ll hae but three; - There was M. S., and M. B. - And M. C., and me. - - 13 _wanting._ - - 14^1. Ye mariners, ye mariners. - - 14^3. L[et] not my father and mother wit. - - 14^4. The death that I maun dee. - - _After_ 14: - I was my parents’ only hope, - They neer had ane but me; - They little thought, when I left hame, - They should nae mair me see. - - 17 _wanting._ - - 18^1. there were. - - _Largely taken from #a#, 1, 2, 6–12, 15, 16 being literally - repeated._ - -#B.# - - 3^3. us up. - - 8^{5,6}. _wrongly_: - And we’ll ride into Edinburgh town, - High hanged thou shalt be. - -#C.# - - 9^2. _Altered from_ I’ll put on my brown. _Var. between_ 9^2 _and_ - 9^3: - Nor I’ll no put on my suddling silks, - That I wear up and down. - - up and down _altered from_ ilka day. - - 10^1. went _altered from_ gaed. - - 13^1, 14^1. Oh. - -#D.# - - _From two reciters, which accounts for the alterations and - insertions._ - - 1^1. _Altered from_ There was a lord lived in the north. - - 2^1. _Altered from_ And the third. - - 2^3. _Altered from_ that he. - - 4^1. gay _added later_. - - 4^2. _Altered from_ And pued the saving tree. - - 4^3. for _inserted later_. - - 4^4. it _inserted later_. - - 7^3. a fit o _inserted later_. - - 7^4. _Altered from_ I am just. - - 9. _After 9, Motherwell wrote_ A stanza wanting, _and subsequently - added 10, 11_. - - 12^3. _Originally_, gold stars. - - 13. _Originally_, - - She did not put on her robes of black, - Nor yet her robes of brown, - But she put on her yellow gold stars (stays?). - - 14. _Originally_, - - And when she came into Edinborugh, (bad reading) - And standing at the cross, - There she saw all the coblers’ wifes, - Sat greeting at the cross. - - 15^{3,4}. _Originally_, For I am come to, etc., Weeded for to be. - - _A marginal note by Motherwell, opposite the last line, but - erased, has_ A rich wedding to sie. - - 16^1. stair _altered from_ close. - - 19, 20. _Written in the margin, after those_ which follow. - - 23^{3,4} _and_ And, 23^5, _are of later insertion_. - -#E.# - - _For the seven stanzas after_ 15, _see_ No 95, II, 346. - -#F.# - - 3. - Mary Beaton & Mary Seaton & Lady Livinston - Three we’ll [_or_ will] never meet - In queen Mary’s bower - Now Maries tho ye be. - - 13^2. then cryed. - - 14^1. had your. - - 18^4. pine. - - _For the six stanzas after_ 18, _see_ No 95, II, 346. - -#G.# - - 1^1. Oh. - -#H.# - - _3, 16, 17, 22 are put into smaller type as being evidently - spurious._ - -#I. a.# - - _24 is certainly spurious, and reduces the pathos exceedingly._ - -#b.# - - 18^4. tear. - - 23. - O ye mariners, mariners, mariners, - That sail upon the sea, - Let not my father nor mother to wit - The death that I maun die! - -#K.# - - From Jean Macqueen, Largo, _in the MS_. “More likely to be Largs, - which is on the Clyde, than Largo, on the east coast”: _note of - Mr J. B. Murdoch_. - - 4^1. Oh. - - 6 _is the last stanza but one in the MS._ - -#L.# - - 9 _might better be_ 1. - -#N.# - - _Variations._ - - 1^{3–6}. - There’s Mary Beaton, an Mary Seaton, - An Mary Carmichael, an me; - An I mysel, Queen Mary’s maid, - Was flower oer a’ the three. - - 2^1. sae jimp. - - 2^3. She loved to lie. - - 3^2. the savin tree. - - 3^{3,4}. - But the little wee babe came to her back, - An forward it would be. - - 8 _is_ _4 in the MS_. - -#O.# - - “The unfortunate heroine’s name is Mary Moil”: Finlay, p. xix. - - - - - 174 - - EARL BOTHWELL - - ‘Earle Bodwell,’ Percy MS., p. 272; Hales and Furnivall, II, 260. - - -Printed in Percy’s Reliques, with changes, 1765, II, 197, ‘The Murder of -the King of Scots;’ with some restorations of the original readings, -1794, II, 200. - -This ballad represents, 8, 13, that the murder of Darnley was done in -revenge for his complicity in the murder of Riccio; in which there may -be as much truth as this, that the queen’s resentment of Darnley’s -participation in that horrible transaction may have been operative in -inducing her assent—such assent as she gave—to the conspiracy against -the life of her husband. - -2. Darnley came to Scotland in February, 1565 (being then but just -turned of nineteen), not sent for, but very possibly with some hope of -pleasing his cousin, ‘the queen [dowager] of France,’ to whom he was -married in the following July. His inglorious career was closed in -February, 1567. - -5. On the fatal evening of the ninth of March, 1566, Riccio was sitting -in the queen’s cabinet with his cap on; “and this sight was perhaps the -more offensive that a few Scotsmen of good rank seem to have been in -attendance as domestics.”[252] - -6. The ballad should not be greatly in excess as to the number of the -daggers, since Riccio had fifty-six [fifty-two] wounds. - -7. After Riccio had been dragged out of the queen’s cabinet, Darnley -fell to charging the queen with change in her ways with him since “yon -fellow Davie fell in credit and familiarity” with her. In answer to his -reproaches and interpellations her Majesty said to him that he was to -blame for all the shame that was done to her; “for the which I shall -never be your wife nor lie with you, nor shall never like well till I -gar you have as sore a heart as I have presently.”[253] - -9–14. A large quantity of powder was fired in the room below that in -which “the worthy king” slept, but the body of Darnley and that of his -servant were found lying at a considerable distance from the house, -without any marks of having been subject to the explosion. One theory of -the circumstances was that the two had been strangled in their beds, and -removed before the train was lighted; another account is that Darnley, -who would naturally hear some stir in the house, made his escape with -his page, but “was intercepted and strangled after a desperate -resistance, his cries for mercy being heard by some women in the nearest -house.”[254] Bothwell, though the author of all these proceedings and -personally superintending the execution of them, did not openly appear. - -It will be observed that King James says that his father [MS. mother] -was hanged on a tree, in ‘King James and Brown,’ No 180, 8^2. - -Bothwell and Huntly, who by virtue of their offices had apartments in -the palace, not being in sympathy with the conspirators, are said in the -Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 90, to have broken through a window, in fear -of their lives, and to have let themselves down by a cord. Bothwell, as -the champion of the queen against the confederate lords, might naturally -be supposed by the minstrel to take a personal interest in revenging -Riccio. - -15, 16. The Regent Murray is here described as ‘bitterly banishing’ -Mary, wherefore she durst not remain in Scotland, but fled to England. -The queen escaped from Lochleven Castle on the second of May, 1568, and -took refuge in England on the sixteenth. We must suppose the ballad to -have been made not long after. - - -Translated by Bodmer, II, 51, from Percy’s Reliques. - - - 1 - Woe worth thee, woe worth thee, false Scottlande! - Ffor thou hast eu_er_ wrought by a sleight; - For the worthyest prince _tha_t euer was borne, - You hanged vnder a cloud by night. - - 2 - The Queene of France a letter wrote, - And sealed itt w_i_th hart and ringe, - And bade him come Scottland w_i_thin, - And shee wold marry him and crowne him k_ing_. - - 3 - To be a k_ing_, itt is a pleasant thing, - To bee a prince vnto a peere; - But you haue heard, and so haue I too, - A man may well by gold to deere. - - 4 - There was an Italyan in that place, - Was as wel beloued as euer was hee; - Lo_rd_ David was his name, - Chamberlaine vnto the queene was hee. - - 5 - Ffor if the king had risen forth of his place, - He wold haue sitt him downe in the cheare, - And tho itt beseemed him not soe well, - Altho the king had beene p_re_sent there. - - 6 - Some lords in Scottland waxed wonderous wroth, - And quarrelld w_i_th him for the nonce; - I shall you tell how itt beffell, - Twelue daggers were in him all att once. - - 7 - When this queene see the chamberlaine was slaine, - For him her cheeks shee did weete, - And made a vow for a twelue month and a day - The k_ing_ and shee wold not come in one sheete. - - 8 - Then some of the lo_rd_s of Scottland waxed wrothe, - And made their vow vehementlye, - ‘For death of the queenes chamberlaine - The k_ing_ himselfe he shall dye.’ - - 9 - They strowed his chamber ou_er_ w_i_th gunpowder, - And layd greene rushes in his way; - Ffor the traitors thought _tha_t night - The worthy king for to betray. - - 10 - To bedd the worthy k_ing_ made him bowne, - To take his rest, _tha_t was his desire; - He was noe sooner cast on sleepe, - But his chamber was on a blasing fyer. - - 11 - Vp he lope, and a glasse window broke, - He had thirty foote for to ffall; - Lo_rd_ Bodwell kept a priuy wach - Vnderneath his castle-wall: - ‘Who haue wee heere?’ sayd Lo_rd_ Bodwell; - ‘Answer me, now I doe call.’ - - 12 - ‘K_ing_ Henery the Eighth my vnckle was; - Some pitty show for his sweet sake! - Ah, Lo_rd_ Bodwell, I know thee well; - Some pitty on me I pray thee take!’ - - 13 - ‘I’le pitty thee as much,’ he sayd, - ‘And as much favor I’le show to thee - As thou had on the queene’s chamberlaine - _Tha_t day thou deemedst him to dye.’ - - 14 - Through halls and towers this k_ing_ they ledd, - Through castles and towers _tha_t were hye, - Through an arbor into an orchard, - And there hanged him in a peare tree. - - 15 - When the gou_er_nor of Scottland he heard tell - _Tha_t the worthye king he was slaine, - He hath banished the queene soe bitterlye - _Tha_t in Scottland shee dare not remaine. - - 16 - But shee is ffled into merry England, - And Scottland to a side hath laine, - And through the Queene of Englands good grace - Now in England shee doth remaine. - - * * * * * - - 6^2. noncett, _with_ tt _blotted out. (?) Furnivall_. - - 6^4, 7^3. 12. 10^3. sleepee. - - 11^2. 30. - - 12^1. 8[th .]. - - 13^1. _Partly pared away. Furnivall._ - - 16^2. to aside. - - - - - 175 - - THE RISING IN THE NORTH - - ‘Risinge in the Northe,’ Percy MS., p. 256; Hales and Furnivall, II, - 210. - - -Printed in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 250, “from two MS. copies, one of -them in the editor’s folio collection. They contained considerable -variations, out of which such readings were chosen as seemed most -poetical and consonant to history.” Bearing in mind Percy’s express -avowal that he “must plead guilty to the charge of concealing his own -share in amendments under some such general title as a modern copy, or -the like,” one would conclude without hesitation that there was but a -single authentic text in this case, as in others. Percy notes on the -margin of his manuscript: “N.B. To correct this by my other copy, which -seems more modern. The other copy in many parts preferable to this.” But -this note would seem to be a private memorandum. Or are we to suppose -that Percy might employ, from habit perhaps, the same formula, not to -say artifice, with himself as with the public? In notes in the Folio to -‘Northumberland betrayed by Douglas’ (No 176), Percy speaks of a second -copy of that ballad also as being in his possession, and describes it as -containing much which is omitted in the other, and as beginning like -‘The Earl of Westmoreland,’ (No 177). Of the beginning of this last he -says, in a note in the Folio, “these lines are given in one of my _old_ -copies to Lord Northumberland.” “Old copies” is staggering; for any one -who examines the variations of the texts in the Reliques from the texts -in the Folio will find them of the same character and style as Percy’s -acknowledged improvements of other ballads, and will be compelled to -impute them to the editor or his double.[255] - -The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, having for a time -succeeded, by exuberant professions, in allaying very sufficiently -grounded suspicions of their loyal dealing, at last, upon receiving the -Queen’s summons to London, found compliance unsafe, and went into -rebellion. They took this step with but half a heart and against their -judgment, overcome by the clamor and urgency of a portion of their -fellow-conspirators. The intent of the insurgents was, in -Northumberland’s own words, “the reformation of religion, and the -preservation of the Queen of Scots, whom they accounted by God’s law and -man’s law to be right heir, if want should be of issue of the Queen’s -Majesty’s body.” These two causes, they were confident, were favored by -the larger number of noblemen within the realm.[256] Protestantism had -no hold in the north, and the Queen’s officers in those parts were, for -the moment, not strong enough to make opposition. With leaders of energy -and military skill, and a good chest to draw upon,[257] the rising would -have been highly dangerous. As things were, it collapsed in five weeks -without the shedding of a drop of blood; but hundreds of simple people -were subsequently hanged. - -The earls, with others, among whom Richard Norton, then sheriff of York, -was the most conspicuous, entered Durham in arms on Sunday, the -fourteenth of November (1569). They went to the minster, overthrew the -communion-table, tore the Bible and service-books, replaced the old -altar (which had been thrown into a rubbish-heap), and had mass said. -The next day they turned southwards, with nobody to molest or stop them -in their rear or in front. The Earl of Sussex was collecting a force at -York, but it came in slowly, and it could not be trusted. “To get the -more credit among the favorers of the old Romish religion, they had a -cross, with a banner of the five wounds, borne after them, sometime by -old Norton, sometime by others” (Holinshed). They proceeded to Ripon, -Wetherby, and Clifford Moor (Bramham Moor) near Tadcaster. “Their main -body was at Wetherby and Tadcaster, their advanced horse were far down -across the Ouse.” Their numbers, according to Holinshed, never exceeded -about two thousand horse and five thousand foot. Tutbury, where Mary -Stuart was confined, was but a little more than fifty miles from their -advance; they proposed to release the Queen of Scots, and then to move -on London, or wait for a rising in the south. Mary Stuart, at the nick -of time, was removed to Coventry. On the twenty-fourth we hear that the -rebels were drawn back to Knaresborough and Boroughbridge; on the -thirtieth, that they are returned into the Bishopric. There they laid -siege to Barnard Castle, which Sir George Bowes was obliged to surrender -on December twelfth; on the fifteenth the earls were still at Durham. On -the thirteenth the earls of Warwick and Clinton, commanders of the Army -of the South, met at Wetherby with a combined force of eleven thousand -foot and above twelve hundred horse, “eager to encounter the rebels, if -they would abide.” But on the sixteenth the “lords rebels” warned their -footmen to shift for themselves, and fled with such horse as they had -left into Northumberland. The twenty-second of December, the Earl of -Sussex, qui cunctando restituit rem, Lord Hunsdon, who had been joined -with him in command, and Sir Ralph Sadler, who had been deputed to watch -him, write to the Queen: “The earls rebels, with their principal -confederates and the Countess of Northumberland, did the twentieth of -this present in the night, flee into Liddesdale with about a hundred -horse; and there remain under the conduction of Black Ormiston, one of -the murtherers of the Lord Darnley, and John of the Side and the Lord’s -Jock, two notable thieves of Liddesdale, and the rest of the rebels be -utterly scaled.”[258] - -The ballad, which is the work of a loyal but not unsympathetic minstrel, -gives but a cursory and imperfect account of “this geere.” Earl Percy -has come to the conclusion that he must fight or flee; his lady urges -him thrice over to go to the court, and right himself, but he tells her -that his treason is known well enough; if he follows her advice she will -never see him again. He sends a letter to Master Norton, urging that -gentleman to ride with him. Norton asks counsel of his son Christopher, -who advises him not to go back from the word he has spoken, and much -pleases his father thereby. He asks his nine sons how many of them will -take part with him. All but the eldest at once answer that they will -stand by him till death: Francis Norton, the eldest, will not advise -acting against the crown. Coward Francis, thou never tookest that of me! -says the father. Francis will go with his father, but unarmed, and he -wishes an ill death to them that strike the first stroke against the -crown. There is a muster at Wetherby, and Westmoreland and -Northumberland are there with their proper banners,[259] and with -another setting forth the Lord on the cross. Sir George Bowes “rising to -make a spoil,” they besiege him in a castle to which he retires, easily -win the outer walls, but cannot win the inner. Word comes to the Queen -of the rebels in the north; she sends thirty thousand men against them, -under the “false” Earl of Warwick, and they never stop till they reach -York. (A gap occurs here, which need not be a large one, considering the -leaps taken already.) Northumberland is gone, Westmoreland vanished, and -Norton and his eight sons fled. - -5–10. The Countess of Northumberland would have been the last person to -give such advice as is attributed to her. “His wife, being the stouter -of the two, doth encourage him to persevere, and rideth up and down with -the army, so as the grey mare is the better horse.” Hunsdon to Cecil, -November twenty-sixth, MS. cited by Froude. - -11–27. Richard Norton, miscalled Francis in 40, was a man of seventy-one -when he engaged in the rising, and the father of eleven sons and eight -daughters. Seven of the sons were involved in the rebellion. Francis, -the eldest son, so far from standing out, took a prominent part with his -father. But what is said of Francis is true of William, the fourth son. -Sir George Bowes says of him: “I neither heard or could perceive William -Norton to deal with any office or charge amongst the rebels, but, as I -have heard it affirmed, he both refused the taking charge of horsemen -when it was offered unto him, and also _would wear no armor_. Farther, -upon my departure from the castle [Barnard Castle], he came to me, and -in the way as he rode with me, he entered to declare that he greatly -misliked of all their doings and practices, saying that he was there -amongst them for his father’s sake, and to accompany him, and otherways -he never had been with them,” etc. MS. cited by Sharp, p. 284. - -Christopher Norton deserves the distinction accorded him in the ballad. -“Christopher had been among the first to enroll himself a knight of Mary -Stuart. His religion had taught him to combine subtlety with courage, -and through carelessness or treachery, or his own address, he had been -admitted into Lord Scrope’s guard at Bolton Castle. There he was allowed -to assist his lady’s escape, should escape prove possible; there he was -able to receive messages and carry them; there, to throw the castellan -off his guard, he pretended to flirt with her attendants, and twice at -least, by his own confession, closely as the prisoner was watched, he -contrived to hold private communications with her.” (Froude, Reign of -Elizabeth, III, 505, where follow lively particulars of these two -encounters.) Christopher was the only one of the Nortons who is known to -have suffered the death-penalty of treason; it was “after he had beheld -the death of his uncle, as well his quartering as otherwise, knowing and -being well assured that he himself must follow the same way.” (Sharp, p. -286.) Richard Norton, the father, fled to Flanders with his sons Francis -and Sampson, and all three seem to have died there. - -33 f. Sussex to Cecil: Dec. 6. “The rebels have shot three days together -at the wall of the outer ward, but they have done no hurt.” Dec. 8. “The -rebels have won the first ward.” Sir George Bowes’ men leaped the walls, -one day some eighty at a time, and the next day seven or eight score of -the best disposed, who had been appointed to guard the gates, suddenly -set them open, and went to the rebels; whereupon Sir George was driven -to composition, and there was no need to take the inner walls.[260] - - -A considerable number of “balletts” were called forth by the northern -rebellion, and a few of these have been preserved. See Arber, -Stationers’ Registers, I, 404–6, 407–9, 413–15; A Collection of -Seventy-Nine Blackletter Ballads, etc., 1870, pp. xxv, 1, 56, 231, 239. - -The copy in the Reliques is translated by Seckendorf, Musenalmanach, -1807, p. 103; by Doenniges, p. 102. - - - 1 - Listen, liuely lordings all, - And all _tha_t beene this place within: - If you’le giue eare vnto my songe, - I will tell you how this geere did begin. - - 2 - It was the good Erle of Westmorlande, - A noble erle was callëd hee, - And he wrought treason against the crowne; - Alas, itt was the more pittye! - - 3 - And soe itt was the Erle of Northumberland, - Another good noble erle was hee; - They tooken both vpon one p_ar_t, - Against the crowne they wolden bee. - - 4 - Earle Pearcy is into his garden gone, - And after walkes his awne ladye: - ‘I heare a bird sing in my eare - _Tha_t I must either ffight or fflee.’ - - 5 - ‘God fforbidd,’ shee sayd, ‘good my lord, - _Tha_t euer soe _tha_t it shalbee! - But goe to London to the court, - And faire ffall truth and honestye!’ - - 6 - ‘But nay, now nay, my ladye gay, - _Tha_t eu_er_ it shold soe bee; - My treason is knowen well enoughe; - Att the court I must not bee.’ - - 7 - ‘But goe to the court yet, good my lo_rd_, - Take men enowe w_i_th thee; - If any man will doe you wronge, - Yo_u_r warrant they may bee.’ - - 8 - ‘But nay, now nay, my lady gay, - For soe itt must not bee; - If I goe to the court, ladye, - Death will strike me, and I must dye.’ - - 9 - ‘But goe to the court yett, [good] my lord, - I my-selfe will ryde w_i_th thee; - If any man will doe you wronge, - Yo_u_r borrow I shalbee.’ - - 10 - ‘But nay, now nay, my lady gay, - For soe it must not bee; - For if I goe to the court, ladye, - Thou must me neuer see. - - 11 - ‘But come hither, thou litle foot-page, - Come thou hither vnto mee, - For thou shalt goe a message to M_aster_ Norton, - In all the hast _tha_t eu_er_ may bee. - - 12 - ‘Comend me to _tha_t gentleman; - Bring him here this letter from mee, - And say, I pray him earnestlye - _Tha_t hee will ryde in my companye.’ - - 13 - But one while the foote-page went, - Another while he rann; - Vntill he came to M_aster_ Norton, - The ffoot-page neuer blanne. - - 14 - And when he came to M_aster_ Nortton, - He kneeled on his knee, - And tooke the letter betwixt his hands, - And lett the gentleman it see. - - 15 - And when the letter itt was reade, - Affore all his companye, - I-wis, if you wold know the truth, - There was many a weeping eye. - - 16 - He said, Come hither, Kester Nortton, - A ffine ffellow thou seemes to bee; - Some good councell, Kester Nortton, - This day doe thou giue to mee. - - 17 - ‘Marry, I’le giue you councell, ffather, - If you’le take councell att me, - _Tha_t if you haue spoken the word, father, - _Tha_t backe againe you doe not flee.’ - - 18 - ‘God a mercy! Christopher Nortton, - I say, God a mercye! - If I doe liue and scape w_i_th liffe, - Well advanced shalt thou bee. - - 19 - ‘But come you hither, my nine good sonnes, - In mens estate I thinke you bee; - How many of you, my children deare, - On my p_ar_t _tha_t wilbe?’ - - 20 - But eight of them did answer soone, - And spake ffull hastilye; - Sayes, We wilbe on yo_u_r p_ar_t, ffather, - Till the day _tha_t we doe dye. - - 21 - ‘But God a mercy! my children deare, - And eu_er_ I say God a mercy! - And yett my blessing you shall haue, - Whether-soeuer I liue or dye. - - 22 - ‘But what sayst thou, thou Ffrancis Nortton, - Mine eldest sonne and mine heyre trulye? - Some good councell, Ffrancis Nortton, - This day thou giue to me.’ - - 23 - ‘But I will giue you councell, ffather, - If you will take councell att mee; - For if you wold take my councell, father, - Against the crowne you shold not bee.’ - - 24 - ‘But ffye vpon thee, Ffrancis Nortton! - I say ffye vpon thee! - When thou was younge and tender of age - I made ffull much of thee.’ - - 25 - ‘But yo_u_r head is white, ffather,’ he sayes, - ‘And yo_u_r beard is wonderous gray; - Itt were shame ffor yo_u_r countrye - If you shold rise and fflee away.’ - - 26 - ‘But ffye vpon thee, thou coward Ffrancis! - Thou neu_er_ tookest _tha_t of mee! - When thou was younge and tender of age - I made too much of thee.’ - - 27 - ‘But I will goe w_i_th you, father,’ q_uo_th hee; - ‘Like a naked man will I bee; - He _tha_t strikes the first stroake against the crowne, - An ill death may hee dye!’ - - 28 - But then rose vpp M_aster_ Nortton, _tha_t esq_uier_, - W_i_th him a ffull great companye; - And then the erles they comen downe - To ryde in his companye. - - 29 - Att Whethersbye the mustered their men, - Vpon a ffull fayre day; - Thirteen thousand there were seene - To stand in battel ray. - - 30 - The Erle of Westmoreland, he had in his ancyent - The dunn bull in sight most hye, - And three doggs w_i_th golden collers - Were sett out royallye. - - 31 - The Erle of Northumberland, he had in his ancyent - The halfe moone in sight soe hye, - As the Lo_rd_ was crucifyed on the crosse, - And set forthe pleasantlye. - - 32 - And after them did rise good S_i_r George Bowes, - After them a spoyle to make; - The erles returned backe againe, - Thought eu_er_ _tha_t k_nigh_t to take. - - 33 - This barron did take a castle then, - Was made of lime and stone; - The vttermost walls were ese to be woon; - The erles haue woon them anon. - - 34 - But tho they woone the vttermost walls, - Quickly and anon, - The innermust walles the cold not winn; - The were made of a rocke of stone. - - 35 - But newes itt came to leeue London, - In all the speede _tha_t eu_er_ might bee; - And word it came to our royall queene - Of all the rebells in the north countrye. - - 36 - Shee turned her grace then once about, - And like a royall queene shee sware; - Sayes, I will ordaine them such a breake-fast - As was not in the north this thousand yeere! - - 37 - Shee caused thirty thousand men to be made, - W_i_th horsse and harneis all quicklye; - And shee caused thirty thousand men to be made, - To take the rebells in the north countrye. - - 38 - They tooke w_i_th them the false Erle of Warwicke, - Soe did they many another man; - Vntill they came to Yorke castle, - I-wis they neu_er_ stinted nor blan. - - * * * * * - - 39 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘Spread thy ancyent, Erle of Westmoreland! - The halfe-moone ffaine wold wee see!’ - - 40 - But the halfe-moone is fled and gone, - And the dun bull vanished awaye; - And Ffrancis Nortton and his eight sonnes - Are ffled away most cowardlye. - - 41 - Ladds w_i_th mony are counted men, - Men w_i_thout mony are counted none; - But hold yo_u_r tounge! why say you soe? - Men wilbe men when mony is gone. - - * * * * * - - 3^4. their _for_ the. - - 7^4. they _altered in MS. from_ them. - - 18^1. amercy: _and afterwards_. - - 19^1. 9. - - 20^1. 8^{th}. - - 21^2. godamercy. - - 29^3. 13000. - - 30^2. Dum̄: m _for_ nn. _Furnivall._ - - 30^3. 3. - - 34^3. imermust. - - 35^2. all they. - - 36^4. 1000. - - 37^{1,3}. 30000. - - 38^2. _Only half the_ n _in many. Furnivall_. - - And _for_ & _throughout_. - - _Variations of the copy in_ Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 250. - - 1^{2–4}. - Lithe and listen unto mee, - And I will sing of a noble earle, - The noblest earle in the north countrie. - - 2, 3 _wanting._ - - 4^2. after him walkes his faire. - - 4^3. mine. - - 5^{1,2}. - Now heaven forefend, my dearest lord, - That eer such harm should hap to thee. - - 6^1, 8^1, 10^1, 24^1. Now _for_ But. - - 6^{2,3}. - Alas thy counsell suits not mee; - Mine enemies prevail so fast. - - 6^4. That at: I may. - - 7^1. O goe. - - 7^2. And take thy gallant men. - - 7^3. any dare to doe. - - 7^4. Then your warrant. - - 8^1. thou lady faire. - - 8^2. The court is full of subtiltie. - - 8^3. And if. - - 8^4. Never more I may thee see. - - 9^1. Yet goe to the court, my lord, she sayes. - - 9^2. And I: will goe wi. ryde _in ed._ 1794. - - 9^3. At court then for my dearest lord. - - 9^4. His faithfull borrowe I will. - - 10^1. lady deare. - - 10^{2–4}. - Far lever had I lose my life, - Than leave among my cruell foes - My love in jeopardy and strife. - - 11^1. come thou: my little. - - 11^3. To maister Norton thou must goe. - - 12^2. And beare this letter here fro mee. - - 12^3. And say that earnestly I praye. - - 12^4. That _wanting_. - - 13^1. But _wanting_: little footpage. - - 13^2. And another. - - 13^3. to his journeys end. - - 13^4. little footpage. - - 14^1. When to that gentleman he came. - - 14^2. Down he knelt upon. - - 14^{3,4}. - Quoth he, My lord commendeth him, - And sends this letter unto thee. - - _The reading of the Folio is restored in ed. 1794._ - - 15^2. Affore that goodlye. - - 15^3. you the truthe wold know. - - 16^1. thither, Christopher. - - 16^2. A gallant youth thou seemst. - - 16^{3,4}. - What doest thou counsell me, my sonne, - Now that good earle’s in jeopardy. - - 17. - Father, my counselle’s fair and free; - That earle he is a noble lord, - And whatsoever to him you hight, - I wold not have you breake your word. - - 18^{1–3}. - Gramercy, Christopher, my sonne, - Thy counsell well it liketh mee, - And if we speed, and - - 18^4. thou shalt. - - 19^1. But _wanting_. - - 19^2. Gallant men I trowe. - - 19^4. Will stand by that good earle and mee. - - 20^1. But _wanting_: answer make. - - 20^2. Eight of them spake hastilie. - - 20^{3,4}. - O father, till the daye we dye, - We’ll stand by that good earle and thee. - - 21^1. - Gramercy now, my children deare, - You showe yourselves right bold and brave; - And whethersoeer I live or dye, - A fathers blessing you shal have. - - 22^1. O Francis. - - 22^{2–4}. - Thou art mine eldest sonn and heire; - Somewhat lyes brooding in thy breast, - Whatever it bee, to mee declare. - - 23 _wanting, and instead, this stanza, like_ 25: - Father, you are an aged man, - Your head is white, your bearde is gray; - It were a shame, at these your yeares, - For you to ryse in such a fray. - - 24, 26. _For these_: - Now fye upon thee, coward Francis, - Thou never learnedst this of mee; - When thou wert yong and tender of age, - Why did I make soe much of thee? - - 27^{1,2}. - But, father, I will wend with you, - Unarmd and naked will I bee. - - 27^3. And he: the first stroake _wanting_. - - 27^4. Ever an. - - 28. - Then rose that reverend gentleman, - And with him came a goodlye band, - To join with the brave Earl Percy, - And all the flower o Northumberland. - - 29. - With them the noble Nevill came, - The earle of Westmorland was hee; - At Wetherbye they mustred their host, - Thirteen thousand faire to see. - - 30^{1,2}. - Lord Westmorland his ancyent raisde, - The dun bull he raysd on hye. - - 30^3. And _wanting_: collars brave. - - 30^4. Were there sett out most. - - 31. - Earl Percy there his ancyent spred, - The half moone shining all soe faire; - The Nortons ancyent had the crosse, - And the five wounds our Lord did beare. - - 32^1. Then Sir George Bowes he straitwaye rose. - - 32^2. some spoyle. - - 32^3. Those noble earles turnd. - - 32^4. And aye they vowed that. - - 33. - That baron he to his castle fled, - To Barnard castle then fled hee; - The uttermost walles were eathe to win, - The earles have wonne them presentlie. - - 34. - The uttermost walles were lime and bricke; - But thoughe they won them soon anone, - Long eer they wan the innermost walles, - For they were cut in rocke of stone. - - 35^1. Then newes unto leeve London came. - - 35^2. ever may. - - 35^3. word is brought. - - 35^4. Of the rysing in. - - 36^1. Her grace she turned her round about. - - 36^2. swore. - - 36^3. Sayes _wanting_. - - 36^4. As never was in the North before. - - 37^1. be raysd. - - 37^2. harneis faire to see. - - 37^3. And _wanting_: be raised. - - 37^4. the earles i th’. - - 38^{1,2}. - Wi them the false Earle Warwick went, - Th’ earle Sussex and the lord Hunsdèn. - - 38^3. to Yorke castle came. - - 38^4. stint ne. - - 39. - Now spread thy ancyent, Westmorland, - Thy dun bull faine would we spye; - And thou, the Earl o Northumberland, - Now rayse thy half moone up on hye. - - 40^1. the dun bulle is. - - 40^2. the half moone vanished. - - 40^{3,4}. - The Earles, though they were brave and bold, - Against soe many could not stay. - - 41. - Thee, Norton, wi thine eight good sonnes, - They doomd to dye, alas! for ruth! - Thy reverend lockes thee could not save, - Nor them their faire and blooming youthe. - - Wi them full many a gallant wight - They cruellye bereavd of life, - And many a childe made fatherlesse, - And widowed many a tender wife. - - - - - 176 - - NORTHUMBERLAND BETRAYED BY DOUGLAS - - ‘Northumberland betrayd by Dowglas,’ Percy MS., p. 259; Hales and - Furnivall, II, 217. - - -Printed in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 257, “from two copies [which -contained great variations, 1794, I, 297], one of them in the Editor’s -folio MS.” In this manuscript Percy makes these notes. “N. B. My other -copy is more correct than this, and contains much which is omitted here. -N. B. The other copy begins with lines the same as that in page 112 -[that is, the ‘Earl of Westmoreland’]. The minstrels often made such -changes.” - -See the preface to the foregoing ballad as to the probable character of -the copy, which “contains much that is omitted here.” - -The Earl of Sussex writes on December 22d that, the next morning after -Northumberland and Westmorland took refuge in Liddesdale, Martin Eliot -and others of the principal men of the dale raised a force against the -earls, Black Ormiston, and the rest of their company, and offered fight; -but in the end, Eliot, wishing to avoid a feud, said to Ormiston that -“he would charge him and the rest before the Regent for keeping of the -rebels of England, if he did not put them out of the country, and that -if they [the earls] were in the country after the next day, he would do -his worst against them and all that maintained them.” Whereupon the -earls were driven to quit Liddesdale and to fly to one of the Armstrongs -in the Debateable Land, leaving the Countess of Northumberland “at John -of the Sydes house, a cottage not to be compared to any dog-kennel in -England.” Three days later Sussex and Sadler write that “the Earl of -Northumberland was yesterday [the 24th], at one in the afternoon, -delivered by one Hector, of Harlaw wood, of the surname of the -Armstrongs, to Alexander Hume, to be carried to the Regent.”[261] The -Regent took Northumberland to Edinburgh, and on the second of January, -1570, committed him to the castle of Lochleven, attended by two -servants.[262] - -The sentiment of Scotsmen, and especially of borderers, was outraged by -this proceeding: “for generally, all sorts, both men and women, cry out -for the liberty of their country; which is, to succor banisht men, as -themselves have been received in England not long since, and is the -freedom of all countries, as they allege.”[263] - -Northumberland remained in confinement at Lochleven until June, 1572. -Meanwhile the Countess of Northumberland, who had escaped to Flanders, -had been begging money to buy her husband of the Scots, and had been -negotiating with Douglas of Lochleven to that effect. She was ready to -give the sum demanded, which seems to have been two thousand pounds, as -soon as sufficient assurance could be had that her husband would be -liberated upon payment of the money. Lord Hunsdon discussed the -surrender of Northumberland with the Earl of Morton and the Commendator -of Dunfermling, on the occasion of their coming to Berwick to treat -about the pacification of the troubles in Scotland. “They made recital -of the charges that the lord of Lochleven hath been at with the said -earl, and how the earl hath offered the lord of Lochleven four thousand -marks sterling, to be paid presently to him in hand, to let him go. -Notwithstanding, both he and the rest shall be delivered to her Majesty -upon reasonable consideration of their charges.” (November 22, 1571.) -Political considerations turned the scale, and on the seventh of June -Lord Hunsdon paid the two thousand pounds which the countess had -offered, and Northumberland was put into his hands. Hunsdon had the earl -in custody at Berwick until the following August. He was then made over -to Sir John Forster, Warden of the Middle Marches, taken to York and -there beheaded (August 27th, 1572).[264] - -The ballad-minstrel acquaints us with circumstances concerning the -surrender of Northumberland which are not known to any of the -historians. One night, when many gentlemen are supping at Lochleven -Castle, William Douglas, the laird of the castle, rallies the earl on -account of his sadness; there is to be a shooting in the north of -Scotland the next day, and to this Douglas has engaged his word that -Percy shall go. Percy is ready to ride to the world’s end in Douglas’s -company. Mary Douglas, William’s sister, interposes: her brother is a -traitor, and has taken money from the Earl [Morton?] to deliver Percy to -England. Northumberland will not believe this; the surrender of a -banisht man would break friendship forever between England and Scotland. -Mary Douglas persists; he had best let her brother ride his own way, and -he can tell the English lords that he cannot be of the party because he -is in an isle of the sea (an obstacle which must appear to us not -greater for one than for the other); and while her brother is away she -will carry Percy to Edinburgh Castle, and deliver him to Lord Hume, who -has already suffered loss in his behalf. But if he will not give -credence to her, let him come on her right hand, and she will shew him -something. Percy never loved witchcraft, but permits his chamberlain to -go with the lady. Mary Douglas’s mother was a witch-woman, and had -taught her daughter something of her art. She shows the chamberlain -through the belly of a ring many Englishmen who are on the await for his -master, among them Lord Hunsdon, Sir William Drury, and Sir John -Forster, though at that moment they are thrice fifty mile distant. The -chamberlain goes back to his lord weeping, but the relation of what he -has seen produces no effect. Percy says he has been in Lochleven almost -three years and has never had an ‘outrake’ (outing); he will not hear a -word to hinder him from going to the shooting. He twists from his finger -a gold ring—left him when he was in Harlaw wood—and gives it to Mary -Douglas, with an assurance that, though he may drink, he will never eat, -till he is in Lochleven again. Mary faints when she sees him in the -boat, and Percy once and again proposes to go back to see how she fares; -but William Douglas treats the fainting very lightly; his sister is -crafty enough to beguile thousands like them. When they have sailed the -first fifty mile (it will be borne in mind that the Douglas castle is -described as being on an isle of the sea), James Swynard, the -chamberlain,[265] asks how far it is to the shooting, and gets an -alarming answer: fair words make fools fain; whenever they come to the -shooting, they will think they have come soon enough! Jamie carries this -answer to his master, who finds nothing discouraging in it; it was meant -only to try his mettle. But after sailing fifty miles more, Percy -himself calls to Douglas and asks what his purpose is. “Look that your -bridle be strong and your spurs be sharp,” says Douglas (but 49^1 is -probably corrupted). “This is mere flouting,” replies Percy; “one -Armstrong has my horse, another my spurs and all my gear.” Fifty miles -more of the sea, and they land Lord Percy at Berwick, a deported, -“extradited” man! - -14. The Countess of Northumberland was sheltered for some time at Hume -Castle (Sir C. Sharp’s Memorials, pp. 143, 146, 150, 344, ff). The -castle was invested, and by direction of Lord Hume, then absent in -Edinburgh, was surrendered without resistance, in the course of Sussex’s -destructive raid in April, 1570. Cabala, ed. 1663, p. 175. See also -Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 170. - -19. Witchcraft was rife at the epoch of this ballad, nor was the -imputation of it confined to hags of humble life. The Lady Buccleuch, -the Countess of Athole, and the Lady Foullis were all accused of -practising the black art. Nothing in that way was charged upon Lady -Douglas of Lochleven, the mother of William Douglas and of the Regent -Murray; but Lady Janet Douglas, sister of the Earl of Angus, had been -burnt in 1537 for meditating the death of James V by poison or -witchcraft, and it is possible, as Percy has suggested, that this -occurrence may have led to the attribution of sorcery to Lady Douglas of -Lochleven.[266] - -Mary Douglas shows Northumberland’s chamberlain, through the hollow of -her ring, the English lords who are waiting for his master “thrice fifty -mile” distant, at Berwick. In a Swiss popular song the infidelity of a -lover is revealed by a look through a finger-ring. People on the -Odenberg hear a drum-beat, but see nothing. A wizard makes one after -another look through a ring made by bowing the arm against the side; -they see armed men going into and coming out of the hill. So Biarco is -enabled to see Odin on his white horse by looking through Ruta’s bent -arm.[267] - -32, 33. The day after Northumberland was put into his hands, Hunsdon -writes to Burghley: “For the earl, I have had no great talk with him; -but truly he seems to follow his old humours, readier to talk of hawks -and hounds than anything else.” (Sharp, p. 330.) - -51. It was their old manner, as Robin Hood says, to leave but little -behind; but what is recorded is that, when “the earls were driven to -leave Liddesdale and to fly to one of the Armstrongs upon the -Bateable, ... the Liddesdale men stole my lady of Northumberland’s -horse, and her two women’s horses, and ten other horses.” Sussex to -Cecil, Sharp, p. 114 f. - -52. Percy “left Lochleven with joy, under the assurance that he should -be conveyed in a Scottish vessel to Antwerp. To his surprise and dismay -he found himself, after a short voyage, at Coldingham.” Lingard’s -History, VI, 137, London, 1854. - - -The copy in the Reliques is translated by Doenniges, p. 111. - - - 1 - Now list and lithe, you gentlemen, - And I’st tell you the veretye, - How they haue dealt w_i_th a banished man, - Driuen out of his countrye. - - 2 - When as hee came on Scottish ground, - As woe and wonder be them amonge! - Ffull much was there traitorye - The wrought the Erle of Northumberland. - - 3 - When they were att the supp_er_ sett, - Beffore many goodly gentlemen, - The ffell a fflouting and mocking both, - And said to the Erle of Northumberland: - - 4 - ‘What makes you be soe sad, my lord, - And in yo_u_r mind soe sorrowffullye? - In the north of Scottland to-morrow there’s a shooting, - And thither thou’st goe, my Lo_rd_ Percye. - - 5 - ‘The buttes are sett, and the shooting is made, - And there is like to be great royaltye, - And I am sworne into my bill - Thither to bring my Lord Pearcy.’ - - 6 - ‘I’le giue thee my hand, Douglas,’ he sayes, - ‘And be the faith in my bodye, - If _tha_t thou wilt ryde to the worlds end, - I’le ryde in thy companye.’ - - 7 - And then bespake the good ladye, - Marry a Douglas was her name: - ‘You shall byde here, good English lo_rd_; - My brother is a traiterous man. - - 8 - ‘He is a traitor stout and stronge, - As I’st tell you the veretye; - For he hath tane liuerance of the Erle, - And into England he will liuor thee.’ - - 9 - ‘Now hold thy tounge, thou goodlye ladye, - And let all this talking bee; - Ffor all the gold _tha_t’s in Loug Leuen, - William wold not liuor mee. - - 10 - ‘It wold breake truce betweene England and Scottland, - And freinds againe they wold neu_er_ bee, - If he shold liuor a bani[s]ht erle, - Was driuen out of his owne countrye.’ - - 11 - ‘Hold yo_u_r tounge, my lo_rd_,’ shee sayes, - ‘There is much ffalsehood them amonge; - When you are dead, then they are done, - Soone they will part them freinds againe. - - 12 - ‘If you will giue me any trust, my lord, - I’le tell you how you best may bee; - You’st lett my brother ryde his wayes, - And tell those English lords, trulye, - - 13 - ‘How _tha_t you cannot w_i_th them ryde, - Because you are in an ile of the sea; - Then, ere my brother come againe, - To Edenborrow castle I’le carry thee. - - 14 - ‘I’le liuor you vnto the Lo_rd_ Hume, - And you know a trew Scothe lo_rd_ is hee, - For he hath lost both land and goods - In ayding of yo_u_r good bodye,’ - - 15 - ‘Marry, I am woe, woman,’ he sayes, - ‘_Tha_t any freind fares worse for mee; - For where one saith it is a true tale, - Then two will say it is a lye. - - 16 - ‘When I was att home in my [realme], - Amonge my tennants all trulye, - In my time of losse, wherin my need stoode, - They came to ayd me honestlye. - - 17 - ‘Therfore I left a many a child ffatherlese, - And many a widdow to looke wanne; - And therfore blame nothing, ladye, - But the woeffull warres w_hi_ch I began.’ - - 18 - ‘If you will giue me noe trust, my lo_rd_, - Nor noe credence you will give mee, - And you’le come hither to my right hand, - Indeed, my lorid, I’le lett you see.’ - - 19 - Saies, I neuer loued noe witchcraft, - Nor neu_er_ dealt w_i_th treacherye, - But euermore held the hye way; - Alas, _tha_t may be seene by mee! - - 20 - ‘If you will not come yo_u_r selfe, my lo_rd_, - You’le lett yo_u_r chamberlaine goe w_i_th mee, - Three words _tha_t I may to him speake, - And soone he shall come againe to thee.’ - - 21 - When Iames Swynard came _tha_t lady before, - Shee let him see thorrow the weme of her ring - How many there was of English lords - To wayte there for his m_aster_ and him. - - 22 - ‘But who beene yonder, my good ladye, - _Tha_t walkes soe royallye on yonder greene?’ - ‘Yonder is Lo_rd_ Hunsden, Iamye,’ she saye[d], - ‘Alas, hee’le doe you both tree and teene!’ - - 23 - ‘And who beene yonder, thou gay ladye, - _Tha_t walkes soe royallye him beside?’ - ‘Yond is S_i_r W_illia_m Drurye, Iamy,’ shee sayd, - ‘And a keene capt_ain_ hee is, and tryde.’ - - 24 - ‘How many miles is itt, thou good ladye, - Betwixt yond English lord and mee?’ - ‘Marry, thrise fifty mile, Iamy,’ shee sayd, - ‘And euen to seale and by the sea. - - 25 - ‘I neu_er_ was on English ground, - Nor neu_er_ see itt w_i_th mine eye, - But as my witt and wisedome serues, - And as [the] booke it telleth mee. - - 26 - ‘My mother, shee was a witch woman, - And p_ar_t of itt shee learned mee; - Shee wold let me see out of Lough Leuen - What they dyd in London cytye.’ - - 27 - ‘But who is yonde, thou good laydye, - _Tha_t comes yonder w_i_th an osterne fface?’ - ‘Yond’s S_i_r Iohn Forster, Ia_m_ye,’ shee sayd; - ‘Methinkes thou sholdest better know him then I.’ - ‘Euen soe I doe, my goodlye ladye, - And eu_er_ alas, soe woe am I!’ - - 28 - He pulled his hatt ouer his eyes, - And, Lord, he wept soe tenderlye! - He is gone to his m_aster_ againe, - And euen to tell him the veretye. - - 29 - ‘Now hast thou beene w_i_th Marry, Iamy,’ he sayd, - ‘Euen as thy tounge will tell to mee; - But if thou trust in any womans words, - Thou must refraine good companye.’ - - 30 - ‘It is noe words, my lord,’ he sayes; - ‘Yonder the men shee letts me see, - How many English lords there is - Is wayting there for you and mee. - - 31 - ‘Yonder I see the Lo_rd_ Hunsden, - And hee and you is of the third degree; - A greater enemye, indeed, my Lord, - In England none haue yee.’ - - 32 - ‘And I haue beene in Lough Leven - The most p_ar_t of these yeeres three: - Yett had I neuer noe out-rake, - Nor good games _tha_t I cold see. - - 33 - ‘And I am thus bidden to yonder shooting - By William Douglas all trulye; - Therfore speake neu_er_ a word out of thy mouth - That thou thinkes will hinder mee.’ - - 34 - Then he writhe the gold ring of his ffingar - And gaue itt to _tha_t ladye gay; - Sayes, _Tha_t was a legacye left vnto mee - In Harley woods where I cold bee. - - 35 - ‘Then ffarewell hart, and farewell hand, - And ffarwell all good companye! - _Tha_t woman shall neuer beare a sonne - Shall know soe much of yo_u_r priuitye.’ - - 36 - ‘Now hold thy tounge, ladye,’ hee sayde, - ‘And make not all this dole for mee, - For I may well drinke, but I’st neu_er_ eate, - Till againe in Lough Leuen I bee.’ - - 37 - He tooke his boate att the Lough Leuen, - For to sayle now ou_er_ the sea, - And he hath cast vpp a siluer wand, - Saies, Fare thou well, my good ladye! - The ladye looked ouer her left sholder; - In a dead swoone there fell shee. - - 38 - ‘Goe backe againe, Douglas!’ he sayd, - ‘And I will goe in thy companye, - For sudden sicknesse yonder lady has tane, - And euer, alas, shee will but dye! - - 39 - ‘If ought come to yonder ladye but good, - Then blamed sore _tha_t I shall bee, - Because a banished man I am, - And driuen out of my owne countrye.’ - - 40 - ‘Come on, come on, my lord,’ he sayes, - ‘And lett all such talking bee; - There’s ladyes enow in Lough Leuen - And for to cheere yonder gay ladye.’ - - 41 - ‘And you will not goe yo_u_r selfe, my lord, - You will lett my chamberlaine go w_i_th mee; - Wee shall now take our boate againe, - And soone wee shall ou_er_take thee.’ - - 42 - ‘Come on, come on, my lord,’ he sayes, - ‘And lett now all this talking bee; - Ffor my sister is craftye enoughe - For to beguile thousands such as you and mee.’ - - 43 - When they had sayled fifty myle, - Now fifty mile vpon the sea, - Hee had fforgotten a message _tha_t hee - Shold doe in Lough Leuen trulye: - Hee asked, how ffarr it was to _tha_t shooting - _Tha_t W_illia_m Douglas p_ro_mised mee. - - 44 - ‘Now faire words makes fooles faine, - And _tha_t may be seene by thy m_aster_ and thee; - Ffor you may happen think itt soone enoughe - When-eu_er_ you _tha_t shooting see.’ - - 45 - Iamye pulled his hatt now ou_er_ his browe, - I wott the teares fell in his eye; - And he is to his m_aster_ againe, - And ffor to tell him the veretye. - - 46 - ‘He sayes fayre words makes fooles faine, - And _tha_t may be seene by you and mee, - Ffor wee may happen thinke itt soone enoughe - When-eu_er_ wee _tha_t shooting see. - - 47 - ‘Hold vpp thy head, Iamye,’ the erle sayd, - ‘And neu_er_ lett thy hart fayle thee; - He did itt but to proue thee w_i_t_h_, - And see how thow wold take w_i_th death trulye.’ - - 48 - When they had sayled other fifty mile, - Other fifty mile vpon the sea, - Lo_rd_ Peercy called to him, himselfe, - And sayd, Douglas, what wilt thou doe w_i_th mee? - - 49 - ‘Looke _tha_t yo_u_r brydle be wight, my lord, - _Tha_t you may goe as a shipp att sea; - Looke _tha_t yo_u_r spurres be bright and sharpe, - _Tha_t you may pricke her while shee’le awaye.’ - - 50 - ‘What needeth this, Douglas,’ he sayth, - ‘_Tha_t thou needest to ffloute mee? - For I was counted a horsseman good - Before _tha_t eu_er_ I mett w_i_th thee. - - 51 - ‘A ffalse Hector hath my horsse, - And eu_er_ an euill death may hee dye! - And Willye Armestronge hath my spurres - And all the geere belongs to mee.’ - - 52 - When the had sayled other fifty mile, - Other fifty mile vpon the sea, - The landed low by Barwicke-side; - A deputed lord landed Lo_rd_ Percye. - - * * * * * - - 6^1. my Land. - - 15^4. 2. - - 16^1. _This line is partly pared away. Furnivall._ - - 18^4. Lorid, _or_ Lou_e_rd; _or_ Lord, _with one stroke too many_. - _Furnivall._ - - 20^3. 3. - - 22^1. ny _for_ my. - - 24^3. 3^{se} 50. - - 31^2. 3^d. - - 32^2. 3. - - 33^4. _Partly cut away by the binder. Furnivall._ - - 43^{1,2}, 48^{1,2}, 52^{1,2}. 50. - - 52^4. land _for_ lord. - - And _for_ & _throughout_. - - * * * * * - - _Variations of_ Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 258. - - 1–3. _Cf. the next ballad_, 1–3. - How long shall fortune faile me nowe, - And harrowe me with fear and dread? - How long shall I in bale abide, - In misery my life to lead? - - To fall from my bliss, alas the while! - It was my sore and heavye lott; - And I must leave my native land, - And I must live a man forgot. - - One gentle Armstrong I doe ken, - A Scot he is much bound to mee; - He dwelleth on the border-side, - To him I’ll goe right privilie. - - Thus did the noble Percy ‘plaine, - With a heavy heart and wel-away, - When he with all his gallant men - On Bramham moor had lost the day. - - But when he to the Armstrongs came, - They dealt with him all treacherouslye; - For they did strip that noble earle, - And ever an ill death may they dye! - - False Hector to Earl Murray sent, - To shew him where his guest did hide, - Who sent him to the Lough-levèn, - With William Douglas to abide. - - And when he to the Douglas came, - He halched him right courteouslie; - Sayd, Welcome, welcome, noble earle, - Here thou shalt safelye bide with mee. - - When he had in Lough-leven been - Many a month and many a day, - To the regent the lord-warden sent, - That bannisht earle for to betray. - - He offered him great store of gold, - And wrote a letter fair to see, - Saying, Good my lord, grant me my boon, - And yield that banisht man to mee. - - Earle Percy at the supper sate, - With many a goodly gentleman; - The wylie Douglas then bespake, - And thus to flyte with him began. - - 4^{3 4}. - To-morrow a shootinge will bee held - Among the lords of the North countrye. - - 5^1. sett, the shooting’s. - - 5^2. there will be. - - 6^1. hand, thou gentle Douglas: he sayes _wanting_. - - 6^2. And here by my true faith, quoth hee. - - 6^3. If thou: worldes. - - 6^4. I will. - - 7^1. bespake a lady faire. - - 8^2. As I tell you in privitie. - - 8^3. he has. hath, 1794. - - 8^4. Into England nowe to ‘liver. - - 9. - Now nay, now nay, thou goodly lady, - The regent is a noble lord; - Ne for the gold in all Englànd - The Douglas wold not break his word. - - When the regent was a banisht man, - With me he did faire welcome find; - And whether weal or woe betide, - I still shall find him true and kind. - - 10^1. Tween England and Scotland ‘twold break truce. Betweene: it, - 1794. - - 10^3. If they. - - 11, 12. - Alas! alas! my lord, she sayes, - Nowe mickle is their traitorìe; - Then let my brother ride his ways, - And tell those English lords from thee. - - 13^1. with him. - - 14–17. - ‘To the Lord Hume I will thee bring; - He is well knowne a true Scots lord, - And he will lose both land and life - Ere he with thee will break his word.’ - - ‘Much is my woe,’ Lord Percy sayd, - ‘When I thinke on my own countrìe; - When I thinke on the heavye happe - My friends have suffered there for mee. - - ‘Much is my woe,’ Lord Percy sayd, - ‘And sore those wars my minde distresse; - Where many a widow lost her mate, - And many a child was fatherlesse. - - ‘And now that I, a banisht man, - Shold bring such evil happe with mee, - To cause my faire and noble friends - To be suspect of treacherie, - - ‘This rives my heart with double woe; - And lever had I dye this day - Then thinke a Douglas can be false, - Or ever will his guest betray.’ he will, 1794. - - 18. - ‘If you’ll give me no trust, my lord, - Nor unto mee no credence yield, - Yet step one moment here aside, - Ile showe you all your foes in field.’ - - 19^{1,2}. - Lady, I never loved witchcraft, - Never dealt in privy wyle. - - 19^4. Of truth and honoure, free from guile. - - 20^1. If you’ll. - - 20^2. Yet send your chamberlaine with. - - 20^3. Let me but speak three words with him. - - 20^4. And he. - - 21^1. James Swynard with that lady went. - - 21^3. She showed him through. - - 21^3. many English lords there were. - - 21^4. Waiting for. - - 22^1. And who walkes yonder. - - 22^2. That walkes _wanting_. - - 22^3. O yonder is the lord Hunsdèn. - - 22^4. you drie and teene. - - 23^1. who beth. - - 23^2. so proudly. - - 23^3. That is: Iamy _wanting_. - - 23^4. And _wanting_. - - 24^1. itt, madàme. - - 24^2. lords. - - 24^{3,4}. - Marry, it is thrice fifty miles, - To sayl to them upon the sea. - - 25^2. Ne never sawe. - - 25^{3,4}. - But as my book it sheweth mee, - And through my ring I may descrye. - - 26^1. witch ladye. - - 26^2. And of her skille she. - - 27^1. thou lady faire. - - 27^2. That looketh with sic an. - - 27^{3,4}. - Yonder is Sir John Foster, quoth shee, - Alas! he’ll do ye sore disgrace. - - 27^{5,6} _wanting_. - - 28^1. downe over his browe. - - 28^2. And in his heart he was full woe. He wept; his heart he was - full of woe, 1794. - - 28^{3,4}. - And he is gone to his noble lord, - Those sorrowfull tidings him to show. - - 29. - Now nay, now nay, good James Swynàrd, - I may not believe that witch ladìe; - The Douglasses were ever true, - And they can neer prove false to mee. - - 30, 31 _wanting._ - - 32^1. I have now in Lough-leven been. - - 32^3. And I have never had. Yett have I never had, 1794. - - 32^4. Ne no good. - - 33. - Therefore I’ll to yond shooting wend, - As to the Douglas I have hight; - Betide me weale, betide me woe, - He neer shall find my promise light. - - 34^1. He writhe a gold ring from. - - 34^2. that faire ladìe. that gay ladìe, 1794. - - 34^3. Sayes, It was all that I cold save. - - 35. - And wilt thou goe, thou noble lord? - Then farewell truth and honestìe! - And farewell heart, and farewell hand! - For never more I shall thee see. - - 36 _wanting._ - - 37^{1,2}. - The wind was faire, the boatmen calld, - And all the saylors were on borde; - Then William Douglas took to his boat, - And with him went that noble lord. - - 37^{3–6}. - Then he cast up a silver wand, - Says, Gentle lady, fare thee well! - The lady fett a sigh soe deepe, - And in a dead swoone down shee fell. - - 38, 39. - Now let us goe back, Douglas, he sayd, - A sickness hath taken yond faire ladìe; - If ought befall yond lady but good, - Then blamed for ever I shall bee. - - 40^2. Come on, come on, and let her bee. - - 40^4. For to: that gay. - - 41. - ‘If you’ll not turne yourself, my lord, - Let me goe with my chamberlaine; - We will but comfort that faire lady, - And wee will return to you againe. - - 42^{2–4}. - ‘Come on, come on, and let her bee; - My sister is crafty, and wold beguile - A thousand such as you and mee. - - 43^2. Now _wanting_: _restored_, 1794. - - 43^{3,4} _wanting._ - - 43^{5–6}. - Hee sent his man to ask the Douglas - When they shold that shooting see. - - 44^1. Faire words, quoth he, they make. - - 44^2. And that by thee and thy lord is seen. - - 44^3. You may hap to. - - 44^4. Ere you that shooting reach, I ween. - - 45^1. his hatt pulled over. - - 45^{2–4}. - He thought his lord then was betrayd; - And he is to Earle Percy againe, - To tell him what the Douglas sayd. - - 46 _wanting._ - - 47^1. head, man, quoth his lord, - - 47^{2–4}. - Nor therfore let thy courage fail; - He did it but to prove thy heart, - To see if he cold make it quail. - - 48^1. had other fifty sayld. - - 48^3. calld to the Douglas himselfe. to D., 1794. - - 48^4. Sayd, What wilt thou nowe doe. - - 49^2. And your horse goe swift as ship. - - 50^1. sayd. sayth, 1794. - - 50^2. What needest thou to flyte with mee. - - 51^1. he hath. hath, 1794. - - 51^2. Who dealt with mee so treacherouslìe. - - 51^3. A false Armstrong he hath. hath, 1794. - - 51^4. geere that. geere, 1794. - - 52^3. landed him at Berwick towne. _MS. reading restored_, 1794. - - 52^4. The Douglas landed Lord Percie. - - _MS. reading restored with_ ‘laird’ _for_ land. - - Then he at Yorke was doomde to dye, - It was, alas! a sorrowful sight; - Thus they betrayed that noble earle, - Who ever was a gallant wight. - - - - - 177 - - THE EARL OF WESTMORELAND - - ‘Earle of Westmorlande,’ Percy MS., p. 112; Hales and Furnivall, I, - 292. - - -“These lines,” says Percy in a note in his MS. to 1^1, “are given in one -of my old copies to Lord Northumberland; they seem here corrupted.” The -first three stanzas, with extensive variations, begin ‘Northumberland -betrayed by Douglas,’ as printed in the Reliques, I, 258, 1765. It will -be remarked that Percy does not allege that he has an old copy of this -ballad, though he implies he has one of the other, ‘Northumberland -betrayed by Douglas.’ - -The earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, as has been seen, upon -being forced to leave Liddesdale, took refuge for a short time with one -of the Armstrongs, John of the Side (cf. st. 3). They parted company, -and Westmoreland, Lady Northumberland, Francis Norton, and others, were -received by Sir Thomas Ker at Fernihurst, near Jedburgh; Old Norton, -Markenfield, and others, by Buccleuch at Branxholm. Lady Northumberland -shortly after removed to Hume Castle. The Regent Murray sent a secret -messenger to persuade Fernihurst and Buccleuch to render into his hands -the “Earl of Westmoreland and the other her Majesty’s principal rebels -being in their bounds,” Jan. 14, 1570 (cf. st. 9). Westmoreland escaped -to Flanders in the autumn of 1570, “with very slight means.” He was very -desirous to make his peace with Elizabeth, but the efforts he made were -unsuccessful, and he wore out thirty-one years in the Low Countries, a -pensioner of Spain, dying at Newport in November, 1601. The countess, -his wife, daughter of the poet Surrey, a highly educated and in every -way admirable woman, was treated by Elizabeth as innocent of treason -(she was a zealous Protestant), and was granted a decent annuity for the -support of herself and her three daughters. The Countess of -Northumberland fled to Flanders in 1570, and lived on the King of -Spain’s bounty, separated from her children, and with no consolation but -such as she derived from her intense religious and theological -convictions, until 1596.[268] - -The ballad-story is that after the flight (as it is described) from -Bramham (‘Bramaball’) Moor, Westmoreland sought refuge with Jock -Armstrong on the west border, who also “took”[269] or sheltered Old -Norton and other of the rebels. Neville does not think the Debateable -Land safe, and goes to Scotland, to Hume Castle, where all the banished -men find welcome. The Regent is minded to write to Lord Hume to see -whether he can be brought to surrender the fugitives, but on second -thoughts, being at deadly feud with Hume, he concludes that writing will -serve no purpose. (10^4 is not very intelligible.) He will rather send -for troops from Berwick, and take the men by force. Lord Hume gets -knowledge of the Regent’s intention, and removes his guests to the -castle of ‘Camelye.’ But still Neville sees that there is no biding even -in Scotland, and he and his comrades take a noble ship, to be mariners -on the sea. - -So far the ballad, it will be perceived, has an historical substratum, -though details are incorrect; what follows is pure fancy work, or rather -an imitation of stale old romance. - -After cruising three months, a large ship is sighted. Neville calls -Markenfield to council. The latter, who knows every banner that is -borne, knows whether any man that he has once laid eyes on is friend or -foe, knows every language that is spoken, and who has besides (st. 39) a -gift of prophecy. By the serpent and the serpent’s head and the mole in -the midst, Markenfield is able to say that the ship is Don John of -Austria’s, and he advises flight. This counsel (which would have lost -Neville much glory and a hundred pounds a day) does not please the earl; -he orders his own standard of the Dun Bull to be displayed. Don John -sends a pinnace, with a herald, to fetch the name of the master of the -ship he has met. Neville refuses to give up his name until he knows the -master of the other vessel; the herald informs him that it is Duke John -of Austria, who lives in Seville; then says the Briton, Charles Neville -is my name, and in England I was Earl of Westmoreland. The herald makes -his report, and is sent back to invite the nobleman to Don John’s ship; -for Don John had read in the ‘Book of Mable’ that a Briton, Charles -Neville, ‘with a child’s voice,’ should come over the sea. Neville is -courteously received; Don John desires to see his men; it is but a small -company, says the earl, and calls in Markenfield the prophet, Dacres, -Master Norton and four sons, and John of Carnabye. These are all my -company, says Neville; when we were in England, our prince and we could -not agree. The duke says Norton and his sons shall go to France, and -also Dacres, who shall be a captain; Neville and Markenfield shall go to -Seville, and the two others (there is but one other, John of Carnabye) -are to go with Dacres. Neville will not part with men who have known him -in weal and woe, and the duke says that, seeing he has so much manhood, -he shall part with none of them. Both ships land at Seville, where the -duke recommends Neville to the queen as one who wished to serve her as -captain. The queen, first acquainting herself with his name, makes -Neville captain over forty thousand men, to keep watch and ward in -Seville, and to war against the heathen soldan. The soldan, learning in -Barbary that a venturesome man is in Seville, sends him, through the -queen, a challenge to single combat, both lands to be joined in one -according to the issue of the fight. The queen declines this particular -challenge, but promises the soldan a fight every day for three weeks, if -he wishes it. Neville overhears all this and offers the queen to fight -the soldan; she thinks it great pity that Neville should die, though he -is a banished man. Don John informs the queen that he has read in the -Book of Mable that a Briton was to come over the sea, Charles Neville by -name, with a child’s voice, and that this man there present hath heart -and hand. (62 is corrupted.) The queen’s council put their heads -together, and it is determined that Neville shall fight with the soldan. -The battle is to come off at the Headless Cross. Neville wishes to see -the queen’s ensign. In the ensign is a broken sword, with bloody hands -and a headless cross. The all-knowing Markenfield pronounces that these -are a token that the prince has suffered a sore overthrow. Neville -orders his Dun Bull to be set up and trumpets to blow, makes Markenfield -captain over his host during his absence, and rides to the headless -cross, where he finds the soldan, a foul man to see. The soldan cries -out, Is it some kitchen-boy that comes to fight with me? Neville replies -with a commonplace: thou makest[270] so little of God’s might, the less -I care for thee. After a fierce but indecisive fight of an hour, the -soldan, with a glance at his antagonist, says, No man shall overcome me -except it be Charles Neville. Neville, without avowing his name, waxes -bold, and presently strikes off the soldan’s head. The queen comes out -of the city with a procession, takes the crown from her head, and wishes -to make him king on the spot, but Neville informs her that he has a wife -in England. So the queen calls for a penman and writes Neville down for -a hundred pound a day, for which he returns thanks, and proffers his -services as champion if ever her Grace shall stand in need. - -4. Martinfield is Thomas Markenfield of York, one of the most active -promoters of the rising. He had been long a voluntary exile on account -of religion, but returned to England the year before the rebellion. He -fled to the continent with Westmoreland and the Nortons, and had a -pension of thirty-six florins a month from Spain. - -By Lord Dakers should be meant Edward, son of William, Lord Dacre, for -he is in the list of fugitive rebels demanded of the Regent Murray by -Lord Sussex. He fled to Flanders. But Leonard Dacre may be intended, -who, though he did not take part with the earls, engaged in a rebellion -of his own in February, 1570, fought and lost a battle, and like the -rest fled to Flanders. - -5. Only two of Richard Norton’s sons went to the Low Countries with -their father, Francis and Sampson. John Carnaby of Langley is in a list -of persons indicted for rebellion. (Sharp, p. 230.) No reason appears -why he should be distinguished. - -11. Captain Reed, one of the captains of Berwick, was suspected of -having to do with the rebels, and on one occasion was observed to be in -company with some of the Nortons, in arms. He was committed to ward, but -Lord Hunsdon stood his friend and brought him through safely. Sharp, p. -15 f. - -21 ff. Don John’s sole connection with the rebels seems to have been the -paying of their pensions for the short time during which he was governor -of the Netherlands, 1576–78. Westmoreland’s pension was two hundred -florins a month. (Sharp, p. 223, note.) - - - 1 - ‘How long shall fortune faile me now, - And keepe me heare in deadlye dreade? - How long shall I in bale abide, - In misery my life to leade? - - 2 - ‘To ffall from my rose, it was my chance; - Such was the Queene of England free; - I tooke a lake, and turned my backe, - On Bramaball More shee caused me flye. - - 3 - ‘One gentle Armstrong _tha_t I doe ken, - Alas, w_i_th thee I dare not mocke! - Thou dwellest soe far on the west border, - Thy name is called the Lo_rd_ Iocke.’ - - 4 - Now hath Armstrong taken noble Nevill, - And as one Martinfield did p_ro_fecye; - He hath taken the Lo_rd_ Dakers, - A lords sonne of great degree. - - 5 - He hath taken old M_aster_ Nortton, - And sonnes four in his companye; - Hee hath taken another gentleman, - Called Iohn of Carnabie. - - 6 - Then bespake him Charles Nevill; - To all his men, I wott, sayd hee, - Sayes, I must into Scottland fare; - Soe nie the borders is noe biding for me. - - 7 - When he came to Humes Castle, - And all his noble companye; - The Lo_rd_ Hume halched them right soone, - Saying, Banished men, welcome to mee! - - 8 - They had not beene in Humes Castle - Not a month and dayes three, - But the regent of Scottland and he got witt - _Tha_t banished men there shold be. - - 9 - ‘I’le write a letter,’ sayd the regent then, - ‘And send to Humes Castle hastilye, - To see whether Lo_rd_ Hume wilbe soe good - To bring the banished men vnto mee. - - 10 - ‘_Tha_t lord and I haue beene att deadlye fuyde, - And hee and I cold neu_er_ agree; - Writting a letter, _tha_t will not serue; - The banished men must not speake w_i_th me. - - 11 - ‘But I will send for the garrison of Barwicke, - _Tha_t they will come all w_i_th speede, - And w_i_th them will come a noble captaine, - W_hi_c_h_ is called Capt_ain_ Reade.’ - - 12 - Then the Lo_rd_ Hume he got witt - They wold seeke vnto Nevill, where he did lye; - He tooke them out of the castle of Hume, - And brought them into the castle of Camelye. - - 13 - Then bespake him Charles Nevill, - To all his men, I wott, spoke hee, - Sayes, I must goe take a noble shippe, - And wee’le be marriners vpon the sea. - - 14 - I’le seeke out fortune where it doth lye; - In Scottland there is noe byding for mee; - Then the tooke leaue w_i_th fayre Scottland, - For they are sealing vpon the sea. - - 15 - They had not sayled vpon the sea - Not one day and monthes three, - But they were ware of a Noble shippe, - _Tha_t fiue topps bare all soe hye. - - 16 - Then Nevill called to Martinfeeld, - Sayd, Martinffeeld, come hither to mee; - Some good councell, Martinfeeld, - I pray thee giue it vnto mee. - - 17 - Thou told me when I was in England fayre, - Before _tha_t I did take the sea, - Thou neu_er_ sawst noe banner borne - But thou wold ken it w_i_th thine eye. - - 18 - Thou neu_er_ saw noe man in the face, - Iff thou had seene before w_i_th thine eye, - [But] thou coldest haue kend thy freind by thy foe, - And then haue told it vnto mee. - - 19 - Thou neu_er_ heard noe speeche spoken, - Neither in Greeke nor Hebrewe, - [But] thou coldest haue answered them in any language, - And then haue told it vnto mee. - - 20 - ‘M_aster_, m_aster_, see you yonder faire ancyent? - Yonder is the serpent and the serpents head, - The mould-warpe in the middest of itt, - And itt all shines w_i_th gold soe redde. - - 21 - ‘Yonder is Duke Iohn of Austria, - A noble warryour on the sea, - Whose dwelling is in Ciuill land, - And many men, God wot, hath hee.’ - - 22 - Then bespake him Martinfeelde, - To all his fellowes, I wot, said hee, - Turne our noble shipp about, - And _tha_t’s a token _tha_t wee will flee. - - 23 - ‘Thy councell is not good, Martinfeeld; - Itt falleth not out fitting for mee; - I rue the last time I turnd my backe; - I did displease my prince and the countrye.’ - - 24 - Then bespake him noble Nevill, - To all his men, I wott, sayd hee, - Sett me vp my faire Dun Bull, - W_i_th gilden hornes hee beares all soe hye. - - 25 - And I will passe yonder noble Duke, - By the leaue of mild Marye; - For yonder is the Duke of Austria, - _Tha_t trauells now vpon the sea. - - 26 - And then bespake this noble Duke, - Vnto his men then sayd hee, - Yonder is sure some nobleman, - Or else some youth _tha_t will not flee. - - 27 - I will put out a pinace fayre, - A harold of armes vpon the sea, - And goe thy way to yonder noble shippe, - And bring the m_aste_rs name to mee. - - 28 - When the herald of armes came before noble Nevill, - He fell downe low vpon his knee: - ‘You must tell me true what is yo_u_r name, - And in what countrye yo_u_r dwelling may bee.’ - - 29 - ‘_Tha_t will I not doe,’ sayd noble Nevill, - ‘By Mary mild, _tha_t mayden ffree, - Except I first know thy m_aste_rs name, - And in what country his dwelling may bee.’ - - 30 - Then bespake the herald of armes, - O _tha_t he spoke soe curteouslye! - Duke Iohn of Austria is my m_aste_rs name, - He will neuer lene it vpon the sea. - - 31 - He hath beene in the citye of Rome, - His dwelling is in Ciuillee: - ‘Then wee are poore Brittons,’ the Nevill can say, - ‘Where wee trauell vpon the sea. - - 32 - ‘And Charles Nevill itt is my name, - I will neu_er_ lene it vpon the sea; - When I was att home in England faire, - I was the Erle of Westmoreland,’ sayd hee. - - 33 - Then backe is gone this herald of armes - Whereas this noble duke did lye; - ‘Loe, yonder are poore Brittons,’ can he say, - ‘Where the trauell vpon the sea. - - 34 - ‘And Charles Nevill is their m_aste_rs name, - He will neuer lene it vpon the sea; - When he was at home in England fayre, - He was the Erle of Westmoreland, said hee.’ - - 35 - Then bespake this noble duke, - And euer he spake soe hastilye, - And said, Goe backe to yonder noble-man, - And bid him come and speake w_i_th me. - - 36 - For I haue read in the Booke of Mable, - There shold a Brittaine come ou_er_ the sea, - Charles Nevill w_i_th a childs voice: - I pray God _tha_t it may be hee. - - 37 - When these two nobles they didden meete, - They halched eche other right curteouslye; - Yett Nevill halched Iohn the sooner - Because a banished man, alas! was hee. - - 38 - ‘Call in yo_u_r men,’ sayd this noble duke, - ‘Faine yo_u_r men _tha_t I wold see;’ - ‘Euer alas!’ said noble Nevill, - ‘They are but a litle small companye.’ - - 39 - First he called in Martinfield, - _Tha_t Martinffeeld _tha_t cold p_ro_phecye; - He call[ed] in then Lo_rd_ Dakers, - A lords sonne of high degree. - - 40 - Then called he in old M_aster_ Nortton, - And sonnes four in his companye; - He called in one other gentleman, - Called Iohn of Carnabye. - - 41 - ‘Loe! these be all my men,’ said noble Nevill, - ‘And all _tha_t’s in my companye; - When we were att home in England fayre, - Our prince and wee cold not agree.’ - - 42 - Then bespake this noble duke: - To try yo_u_r manhood on the sea, - Old M_aster_ Nortton shall goe ou_er_ into France, - And his sonnes four in his companye. - - 43 - And my lo_rd_ Dakers shall goe over into Ffrance, - There a captaine ffor to bee; - And those two other gentlemen wold goe w_i_th him, - And for to fare in his companye. - - 44 - And you yo_u_r-selfe shall goe into Ciuill land, - And Marttinffeild _tha_t can p_ro_phecye; - ‘_Tha_t will I not doe,’ sayd noble Nevill, - ‘By Mary mild, _tha_t mayden free. - - 45 - ‘For the haue knowen me in wele and woe, - In neede, scar[s]nesse and pouertye; - Before I’le p_ar_t w_i_th the worst of them, - I’le rather p_ar_t w_i_th my liffe,’ sayd hee. - - 46 - And then bespake this noble duke, - And euer he spake soe curteouslye; - Sayes, You shall p_ar_t w_i_th none of them, - There is soe much manhood in y_ou_r bodye. - - 47 - Then these two noblemen labored together, - Pleasantlye vpon the sea; - Their landing was in Ciuill land, - In Ciuilee that ffaire citye. - - 48 - Three nights att this dukes Nevill did lye, - And serued like a nobleman was hee; - Then the duke made a supplication, - And sent it to the queene of Ciuilee. - - 49 - Saying, Such a man is yo_u_r citye w_i_thin, - I mett him pleasantlye vpon the sea; - He seemes to be a noble man, - And captaine to yo_u_r Grace he faine wold bee. - - 50 - Then the queene sent for [these] noble men - For to come into her companye; - When Nevill came before the queene, - Hee kneeled downe vpon his knee. - - 51 - Shee tooke him vp by the lilly-white hand, - Said, Welcome, my lo_r_d, hither to me; - You must first tell me yo_u_r name, - And in what countrye thy dwelling may bee. - - 52 - He said, Charles Nevill is my name; - I will neu_er_ lene it in noe countrye; - When I was att home in England fayre, - I was the Erle of Westmorland trulye. - - 53 - The queene made him captaine ou_er_ forty thousand, - Watch and ward w_i_thin Ciuill land to keepe, - And for to warr against the heathen soldan, - And for to helpe her in her neede. - - 54 - When the heathen soldan he gott witt, - In Barbarye where he did lye, - Sainge, Such a man is in yonder citye w_i_thin, - And a bold venturer by sea is hee. - - 55 - Then the heathen soldan made a letter, - And sent it to the queene instantlye, - And all that heard this letter reade - Where it was rehersed in Ciuillee. - - 56 - Saying, Haue you any man yo_u_r land w_i_thin - Man to man dare fight w_i_th mee? - And both our lands shalbe ioyned in one, - And cristened lands they both shalbe. - - 57 - Shee said, I haue noe man my land w_i_thin - Man to man dare fight w_i_th thee; - But euery day thou shalt haue a battell, - If it be for these weekes three. - - 58 - All beheard him Charles Nevill, - In his bedd where he did lye, - And when he came the queene before, - He fell downe low vpon his knee. - - 59 - ‘Grant me a boone, my noble dame, - For Chrissts loue _tha_t dyed on tree; - Ffor I will goe fight w_i_th yond heathen soldan, - If you will bestowe the manhood on mee.’ - - 60 - Then bespake this curteous queene, - And eu_er_ shee spoke soe curteouslye: - Though you be a banished man out of yo_u_r realme, - It is great pitye _tha_t thou shold dye. - - 61 - Then bespake this noble duke, - As hee stood hard by the queenes knee: - As I haue read in the Booke of Mable, - There shall a Brittone come ou_er_ the sea, - - 62 - And Charles Nevill shold be his name; - But a childs voyce, I wott, hath hee, - And if he be in Christendome; - For hart and hand this man hath hee. - - 63 - Then the queenes councell cast their heads together, - . . . . . . . - _Tha_t Nevill shold fight w_i_th the heathen soldan - _Tha_t dwelt in the citye of Barbarye. - - 64 - The battell and place appointed was - In a fayre greene, hard by the sea, - And they shood meete att the Headless Crosse, - And there to fight right manfullye. - - 65 - Then Nevill cald for the queenes ancient, - And faine _tha_t ancient he wold see; - The brought him forth the broken sword, - W_i_th bloodye hands therein trulye. - - 66 - The brought him forth the headless crosse, - In _tha_t ancyent it was seene; - ‘O this is a token,’ sayd Martinfeeld, - ‘_Tha_t sore ouerthrowen this prince hath beene. - - 67 - ‘O sett me vp my fayre Dun Bull, - And trumpetts blow me farr and nee, - Vntill I come w_i_thin a mile of the Headlesse Crosse, - _Tha_t the Headlesse Crosse I may see.’ - - 68 - Then lighted downe noble Nevill, - And sayd, Marttinffeeld, come hither to me; - Heere I make thee choice cap_tain_ over my host - Vntill againe I may thee see. - - 69 - Then Nevill rode to the Headless Crosse, - W_hi_ch stands soe fayre vpon the sea; - There was he ware of the heathen soldan, - Both fowle and vglye for to see. - - 70 - Then the soldan began for to call; - Twise he called lowd and hye, - And sayd, What is this? Some kitchin boy - _Tha_t comes hither to fight w_i_th mee? - - 71 - Then bespake him Charles Nevill, - But a childs voice, I wott, had hee: - ‘Thou spekest soe litle of Gods might, - Much more lesse I doe care for thee.’ - - 72 - Att the first meeting _tha_t these two mett, - The heathen soldan and the christen man, - The broke their speares quite in sunder, - And after _tha_t on foote did stand. - - 73 - The next meeting _tha_t these two mett, - The swapt together w_i_th swords soe fine; - The fought together till they both swett, - Of blowes _tha_t were both derf and dire. - - 74 - They fought an houre in battell strong; - The soldan marke[d] Nevill w_i_th his eye; - ‘There shall neuer man me ouercome - Except it be Charles Nevill,’ sayd hee. - - 75 - Then Nevill he waxed bold, - And cunning in fight, I wott, was hee; - Euen att the gorgett of the soldans iacke - He stroke his head of p_re_sentlye. - - 76 - Then kneeled downe noble Nevill, - And thanked God for his great grace, - _Tha_t he shold come soe farr into a strang[e] land, - To ouercome the soldan in place. - - 77 - Hee tooke the head vpon his sword-poynt, - And carryed it amongst his host soe fayre; - When the saw the soldans head, - They thanked God on their knees there. - - 78 - Seuen miles from the citye the queene him mett, - W_i_th p_ro_cession _tha_t was soe fayre; - Shee tooke the crowne beside her heade, - And wold haue crowned him k_ing_ there. - - 79 - ‘Now nay! Now nay! my noble dame, - For soe, I wott, itt cannott bee; - I haue a ladye in England fayre, - And wedded againe I wold not bee.’ - - 80 - The queene shee called for her penman, - I wot shee called him lowd and hye, - Saying, Write him downe a hundred pound a day, - To keepe his men more merrylye. - - 81 - ‘I thanke yo_u_r Grace,’ sayd noble Nevill, - ‘For this worthy gift you haue giuen to me; - If euer yo_u_r Grace doe stand in neede, - Champion to yo_u_r Highnesse again I’le bee.’ - - * * * * * - - 1^1. feare _for_ dreade. - - 2^2. fayre _for_ free. - - 2^4. my _for_ me. - - 5^2, 40^2, 42^4. 4. - - 5^4. Carnakie: _cf._ 40^4. - - 8^2, 15^2, 48^1, 57^4. 3. - - 8^3. he & god. - - 14^1. fortume. - - 15^4. 5. - - 20^3. middest ffitt. - - 35. The Second Part. - - 37^1, 43^3, 47^1, 72^1, 73^1. 2. - - 48^4. Ciuilee. _In this and the like names following, the_ u _has - only one stroke in the MS., as often happens. The letter is not - meant for_ c, _clearly, as it has not the accent or beak of a_ - c. _Furnivall._ - - 53^1. 40000. - - 55^3. all they? all these? - - 62^3. ben. - - 70^2. 2[se :]. - - 78^1. 7. - - 80^2. 100[li :]. - - And _for_ & _always_. - - - - - 178 - - CAPTAIN CAR, OR, EDOM O GORDON - - #A.# Cotton MS. Vespasian, A. xxv, No 67, fol. 187, of the last - quarter of the 16th century,[271] British Museum; Ritson’s Ancient - Songs, 1790, p. 137; Böddeker, in Jahrbuch für romanische und - englische Sprache und Literatur, XV, 126, 1876 (very incorrectly); - Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 1880–86, Appendix, p. - 52[B], edited by F. J. Furnivall. - - #B.# Percy MS., p. 34; Hales and Furnivall, I, 79. - - #C.# Percy Papers, from a servant of Rev. Robert Lambe’s, 1766. - - #D.# ‘Edom of Gordon,’ an ancient Scottish Poem. Never before printed. - Glasgow, printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755, small - 4º, 12 pages. Ritson, Scotish Songs, II, 17. - - #E.# ‘Edom o Gordon,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 384. - - #F.# The New Statistical Account of Scotland, V, 846, 1845; ‘Loudoun - Castle,’ The Ballads and Songs of Ayrshire, J. Paterson and C. Gray, - 1st Series, p. 74, Ayr, 1846. - - #G.# ‘The Burning o Loudon Castle,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 543. - - -First printed by the Foulises, Glasgow, 1755, after a copy furnished by -Sir David Dalrymple, “who gave it as it was preserved in the memory of a -lady.” This information we derive from Percy, who inserted the Dalrymple -ballad in his Reliques, 1765, I, 99, “improved, and enlarged with -several fine stanzas recovered from a fragment ... in the Editor’s folio -MS.” Seven stanzas of the enlarged copy were adopted from this MS., with -changes; 16^{2,4}, 30, 35, 36, are Percy’s own; the last three of the -Glasgow edition are dropped. Herd’s copy, The Ancient and Modern Scots -Songs, 1769, p. 234, is from Percy’s Reliques; so is Pinkerton’s, -Scottish Tragic Ballads, 1781, p. 43, with the omission of the seventh -stanza and many alterations. Ritson, Scotish Songs, 1794, II, 17, -repeats the Glasgow copy; so the Campbell MSS, I, 155, and Finlay, I, -85. The copy in Buchan’s Gleanings, p. 180, is Percy’s, with one stanza -from Ritson. Of twelve stanzas given in Burton’s History of Scotland, V, -70 f., 3–6 are from Percy’s Reliques (modified by #E#, a fragment -obtained by Burton), the rest from #D#, - -During the three wretched and bloody years which followed the -assassination of the regent Murray, the Catholic Earl of Huntly, George -Gordon, was one of the most eminent and active of the partisans of the -queen. Mary created him her lieutenant-governor, and his brother, Adam -Gordon, a remarkably gallant and able soldier, whether so created or -not, is sometimes called the queen’s deputy-lieutenant in the north. Our -ballad is concerned with a minor incident of the hostilities in -Aberdeenshire between the Gordons and the Forbeses, a rival but much -less powerful clan, who supported the Reformed faith and the regency or -king’s party.[272] - -“The queen’s lieutenant-deputy in the north, called Sir Adam Gordon of -Auchindown, knight, was very vigilant in his function; for suppressing -of whom the Master of Forbes was directed, with the regent’s commission. -But the first encounter, which was upon the ninth day of October [1571], -Auchindown obtained such victory that he slew of the Forbeses a hundred -and twenty persons, and lost very few of his own.” This was the battle -of Tulliangus, on the northern slope of the hills of Coreen, some thirty -miles northwest of Aberdeen. Both parties having been reinforced, an -issue was tried again on the twentieth of November at Crabstane, in the -vicinity of Aberdeen, where Adam Gordon inflicted a severe defeat on the -Forbeses.[273] - -“But what glory and renown,” says the contemporary History of King James -the Sixth, “he [Gordon] obtained of these two victories was all cast -down by the infamy of his next attempt; for immediately after this last -conflict he directed his soldiers to the castle of Towie, desiring the -house to be rendered to him in the queen’s name; which was obstinately -refused by the lady, and she burst forth with certain injurious words. -And the soldiers being impatient, by command of their leader, Captain -Ker, fire was put to the house, wherein she and the number of -twenty-seven persons were cruelly burnt to the death.” - -Another account, reported by a contemporary who lived in Edinburgh, is -that “Adam Gordon sent Captain Ker to the place of Toway, requiring the -lady thereof to render the place of Carrigill to him in the queen’s -name, which she would noways do; whereof the said Adam having knowledge, -moved in ire towards her, caused raise fire thereintill, wherein she, -her daughters, and other persons were destroyed, to the number of -twenty-seven or thereby.”[274] This was in November, 1571. - -We have a third report of this outrage from Richard Bannatyne, also a -contemporary, a man, it may be observed, bitterly hostile to the queen’s -party. “Adam of Gordon ... went to the house of Towie, which he burnt -and twenty four persons in the same, never one escaping but one woman -that came through the corns and hather which was cast to the -house-sides, whereby they were smothered. This was done under assurance; -for the laird of Towie’s wife, being sister to the lady Crawfurd (and -also died within the house), sent a boy to the laird in time of the -truce (which was for the space of twelve hours) to see on what -conditions they should render the house. In the mean time, Adam Gordon’s -men laid the corns and timbers and hather about the house, and set all -on fire.”[275] - -Buchanan puts the incident which mainly concerns us between the fights -of Tulliangus and Crabstone; so does Archbishop Spottiswood. “Not long -after” the former, says the archbishop, who was a child of six when the -affair occurred, Adam Gordon “sent to summon the house of Tavoy, -pertaining to Alexander Forbes. The lady refusing to yield without -direction from her husband, he put fire unto it and burnt her therein -with children and servants, being twenty-seven persons in all. This -inhuman and barbarous cruelty made his name odious, and stained all his -former doings; otherwise he was held both active and fortunate in his -enterprises.”[276] - -Buchanan dispatches the burning of the house in a line: Domus Alexandri -Forbosii, cum uxore pregnante, liberis et ministris, cremata. Ed. 1582, -fol. 248 b. - -Towie was a place of no particular importance; judging both by the -square keep that remains, which is described as insignificant, and by -the number of people that the house contained, it must have been a small -place. It is therefore more probable that Captain Ker burnt Towie while -executing a general commission to harry the Forbeses than that this -house should have been made a special object. But whether this were so -or not, it is evident from the terms in which the transaction is spoken -of by contemporaries, who were familiarized to a ferocious kind of -warfare,[277] that there must have been something quite beyond the -common in Captain Ker’s proceedings on this occasion, for they are -denounced even in those days as infamous, inhuman, and barbarously -cruel, and the name of Adam Gordon is said to have been made odious by -them. - -It is not to be disguised that the language employed by Spottiswood -might be so interpreted as to signify that Ker did not act in this -dreadful business entirely upon his own responsibility; and the second -of the four writers who speak circumstantially of the affair even -intimates that Ker applied to his superior for instructions. On the -other hand, the author of the History of James the Sixth says distinctly -that the house was fired by the command of Ker, whose soldiers were -rendered impatient by an obstinate refusal to surrender, accompanied -with opprobrious words. The oldest of the ballads, also, which is nearly -coeval with the occurrence, speaks only of Captain Car, knows nothing of -Adam Gordon. On the other hand, Bannatyne knows nothing, or chooses to -say nothing, of Captain Car: Adam Gordon burns the house, and even does -this during a truce. It may be said that, even if the act were done -without the orders or knowledge of Adam Gordon, he deserves all the ill -fame which has fallen to him, for not punishing, or at least -discharging, the perpetrator of such an outrage. But this would be -applying the standards of the nineteenth century (and its very best -standards) to the conduct of the sixteenth. It may be doubted whether -there was at that time a man in Scotland, nay, even a man in Europe, who -would have turned away a valuable servant because he had cruelly -exceeded his instructions.[278] - -A favorable construction, where the direct evidence is conflicting, is -due to Adam Gordon because of his behavior on two other occasions, one -immediately preceding, and the other soon following, the burning of the -house of Towie. We are told that he used his victory at Crabstone “very -moderately, and suffered no man to be killed after the fury of the fight -was past. Alexander Forbes of Strath-gar-neck, author of all these -troubles betwixt these two families, was taken at this battle, and as -they were going to behead him Auchindown caused stay his execution. He -entertained the Master of Forbes and the rest of the prisoners with -great kindness and courtesy, he carried the Master of Forbes along with -him to Strathbogie, and in end gave him and all the rest leave to -depart.”[279] And again, after another success in a fight called The -Bourd of Brechin, in the ensuing July, he caused all the prisoners to be -brought before him, they expecting nothing but death, and said to them: -“My friends and brethren, have in remembrance how God has granted to me -victory and the upper hand of you, granting me the same vantage [‘vand -and sching’] to punish you wherewith my late father and brother were -punished at the Bank of Fair; and since, of the great slaughter made on -the Queen’s Grace’s true subjects, and most filthily of the hanging of -my soldiers here by the Earl of Lennox; and since, by the hanging of ten -men in Leith, with other unlawful acts done contrary to the laws of -arms; and I doubt not, if I were under their dominion, as you are under -mine, that I should die the death most cruelly. Yet notwithstanding, my -good brethren and countrymen, be not afraid nor fear not, for at this -present ye shall incur no danger of your bodies, but shall be treated as -brethren, and I shall do to you after the commandment of God, in doing -good for evil, forgetting the cruelty done to the queen and her faithful -subjects, and receiving you as her faithful subjects in time coming. Who -promised to do the same, and for assurance hereof each found surety. -After which the Regent past hastily out of Sterling to Dundee, charging -all manner of man to follow him, with twenty days victuals, against the -said Adam Gordon. But there would never a man in those parts obey the -charge, by reason of the bond made before and of the great gentleness of -the said Adam.”[280] - -After the Pacification of February, 1573, Adam Gordon obtained license -to go to France and other parts beyond sea, for certain years, on -condition of doing or procuring nothing to the hurt of the realm of -Scotland; but for private practices of his, contrary to his promise, in -conjunction with Captain Ker and others, he was ordered to return home, -12th May, 1574. His brother, the Earl of Huntly, upon information of -these unlawful practices in France, was committed to ward, and when -released from ward had to give security to the amount of £20,000. Adam -Gordon returned in July, 1575, “at the command of the regent,” with -twenty gentlemen who had gone to France with him, and was in ward in -1576. He died at St. Johnston in October, 1580, “of a bleeding.” As he -was of tender age in 1562, he must still have been a young man.[281] - -Thomas Ker was a captain “of men of war”; that is, a professional -soldier. As such he is mentioned in one of the articles of the -Pacification, where it is declared that Captain Thomas Ker, Captain -James Bruce, and Captain Gilbert Wauchop, with their respective -lieutenants and ensigns, and two other persons, “shall be comprehended -in this present pacification, as also all the soldiers who served under -their charges, for deeds of hostility and crimes committed during the -present troubles.” He was accused of being engaged in practices against -the regency, as we have already seen, in 1574. He was released from ward -upon caution in February, 1575. 1578, 26th July, he was summoned to -appear before the king and council to answer to such things as should be -inquired of him. He is mentioned as a burgher of Aberdeen 1588, 1591. -1593, 3d March, he is required to give caution to the amount of 1000 -merks that he will not assist the earls of Huntly and Errol. His -“counsail and convoy was chiefly usit” in an important matter at -Balrinnes in 1594, at which battle he “behavit himself so valiantly” -that he was knighted on the field. November 4, 1594, Captain Thomas Ker -and James Ker, his brother, are ordered to be denounced as rebels, -having failed to appear to answer touching their treasonable assistance -to George, sometime Earl of Huntly; and this seems to be the latest -notice of him that has been recovered.[282] - -In the Genealogy of the family of Forbes drawn up by Matthew Lumsden in -1580, and continued to 1667 by William Forbes, p. 43 f., ed. 1819, we -read: “John Forbes of Towie married —— Grant, daughter to John Grant of -Bandallach, who did bear to him a son who was unmercifullie murdered in -the castle of Corgaffe; and after the decease of Bandallach’s daughter, -the said John Forbes married Margaret Campbell, daughter to Sir John -Campbell of Calder, knight, who did bear him three sons, Alex. Forbes of -Towie, John Forbes, thereafter of Towie, and William Forbes.... The said -John Forbes of Towie, after the murder of Margaret Campbell, married —— -Forbes, a daughter to the Reires,” by whom he had a son, who, as also a -son of his own, died in Germany. Alexander and William, sons of Margaret -Campbell, died without succession, and by the death of an only son of -John, junior, the house of Towie became extinct. “The rest of the said -Margaret Campbell’s bairns, with herself, were unmercifullie murdered in -the castle of Corgaffe.”[283] - -According to the Lumsden genealogy, then, Margaret Campbell, with her -younger children, and also a son of her husband, John Forbes of Towie, -by a former marriage, were murdered at the castle of Corgaffe. Corgarf -is a place “exigui nominis,” some fifteen miles west of Towie, and, so -far as is known, there is nothing to connect this place with the Forbes -family.[284] Three sixteenth-century accounts, and a fourth by an -historian who was born before the event, make Towie to be the scene of -the “murder,” and Towie we know to have been in the possession of a -member of the house of Forbes for several generations. Since Lumsden -wrote only nine years after the event, and was more particularly -concerned with the Forbes family than any of the other writers referred -to, his statement cannot be peremptorily set aside. But we may owe -Corgarf to the reviser of 1667, although he professes not to have -altered the substance of his predecessor’s work. - -Reverting now to the ballad, we observe that none of the seven versions, -of which one is put towards the end of the sixteenth century, one is of -the seventeenth century, two are of the eighteenth, and the remainder -from tradition of the present century, lay the scene at Towie. #E#, -which is of this century, has Cargarf. #A#, #B#, the oldest copies (both -English), give no name to the castle. Crecrynbroghe in #A#, -Bittonsborrow in #B#, are not the name of the castle that is burned, but -of a castle suggested for a winter retirement by one of Car’s men, and -rejected by the captain. The fragment #C# (English again) also names no -place. #D# transfers the scene from the north to the house of Rodes, -near Dunse, in Berwickshire, and #F#, #G# to Loudoun castle in Ayrshire; -the name of Gordon probably helping to the localizing of the ballad in -the former case, and that of Campbell, possibly, in the other. - -Captain Car is the leader of the bloody band in #A#, #B#; he is lord of -Eastertown #A# 6, 13, of Westertown #B# 5, 9; but ‘Adam’ is said to fire -the house in #B# 14. Adam Gordon is the captain in #C-G#. The sufferers -are in #A# Hamiltons,[285] in #F#, #G#, Campbells. The name Forbes is -not preserved in any version. - -#A#, #B#. Martinmas weather forces Captain Car to look for a hold. -Crecrynbroghe, #A#, Bittonsborrow, #B#, is proposed, but he knows of a -castle where there is a fair lady whose lord is away, and makes for -that. The lady sees from the wall a host of men riding towards the -castle, and thinks her lord is coming home, but it was the traitor -Captain Car. By supper-time he and his men have lighted about the place. -Car calls to the lady to give up the house; she shall lie in his arms -that night, and the morrow heir his land. She will not give up the -house, but fires on Car and his men. [Orders are given to burn the -house.] The lady entreats Car to save her eldest son. Lap him in a sheet -and let him down, says Car; and when this is done, cuts out tongue and -heart, ties them in a handkerchief, and throws them over the wall. The -youngest son begs his mother to surrender, for the smoke is smothering -him. She would give all her gold and fee for a wind to blow the smoke -away; but the fire falls about her head, and she and her children are -burned to death. Captain Car rides away, #A#. The lord of the castle -dreams, learns by a letter, at London, that his house has been fired, -and hurries home. He finds the hall still burning, and breaks out into -expressions of grief, #A#. In #B#, half of which has been torn from the -manuscript, after reading the letter he says he will find Car wherever -Car may be, and, long ere day, comes to Dractonsborrow, where the -miscreant is. If nine or ten stanzas were not lost at this point, we -should no doubt learn of the revenge that was taken. - -In the short fragment #C#, upon surrender being demanded, reply is made -by a shot which kills seven of the beleaguerers. An only daughter, -smothered by the reek, asks her mother to give up the house. Rather -would I see you burnt to ashes, says the mother. The boy on the nurse’s -knee makes the same appeal; her mother would sooner see him burnt than -give up her house to be Adam of Gordon’s whore. - -#D# makes the lady try fair speeches with Gordon, and the lady does not -reply with firearms to the proposal that she shall lie by his side. -Nevertheless she has spirit enough to say, when her youngest son -beseeches her to give up the house, Come weal, come woe, you must take -share with me. The daughter, and not the eldest son, is wrapped in -sheets and let down the wall; she gets a fall on the point of Gordon’s -spear. Then follow deplorable interpolations, beginning with st. 19. -Edom o Gordon, having turned the girl over with his spear, and wished -her alive, turns her owr and owr again! He orders his men to busk and -away, for he cannot look on the bonnie face. One of his men hopes he -will not be daunted with a dame, and certainly three successive -utterances in the way of sentiment show that the captain needs a little -toning up. At this point the lord of the castle is coming over the lea, -and sees that his castle is in flames. He and his men put on at their -best rate; lady and babes are dead ere the foremost arrives; they go at -the Gordons, and but five of fifty of these get away. - - And _round and round_ the wae’s he went, - _Their ashes for to view_: - _At last_ into the flames he flew, - And bad the world adieu. - -This is superior to turning her owr and owr again, and indeed, in its -way, not to be improved. - -Nothing need be said of the fragment #E# further than that the last -stanza is modern. - -#F# is purely traditional, and has one fine stanza not found in any of -the foregoing: - - Out then spake the lady Margaret, - As she stood on the stair; - The fire was at her goud garters, - The lowe was at her hair. - -There is no firing at the assailants (though the lady wishes that her -only son could charge a gun). Lady Margaret, with the flame in her hair, -would give the black and the brown for a drink of the stream that she -sees below. Anne asks to be rowed in a pair of sheets and let down the -wall; her mother says that she must stay and die with her. Lord Thomas, -on the nurse’s knee, says, Give up, or the reek will choke me. The -mother would rather be burned to small ashes than give up the castle, -her lord away. And burnt she is with her children nine. - -#G# has the eighteen stanzas of #F#,[286] neglecting slight variations, -and twenty more (among them the bad #D# 21), nearly all superfluous, and -one very disagreeable. Lady Campbell, having refused to “come down” and -be “kept” (caught) on a feather-bed, 5, 6, is ironically asked by Gordon -to come down and be kept on the point of his sword, 7. Since you will -not come down, says Gordon, fire your death shall be. The lady had -liefer be burnt to small ashes than give up the castle while her lord is -from home, 10. Fire is set. The oldest daughter asks to be rolled in a -pair of sheets and flung over the wall. She gets a deadly fall on the -point of Gordon’s sword, and is turned over and over again, 18, over and -over again, 19. Lady Margaret cries that the fire is at her garters and -the flame in her hair. Lady Ann, from childbed where she lies, asks her -mother to give up the castle, and is told that she must stay and dree -her death with the rest. The youngest son asks his mother to go down, -and has the answer that was given Gordon in 10. The waiting-maid begs to -have a baby of hers saved; her lady’s long hair is burnt to her brow, -and how can she take it? So the babe is rolled in a feather-bed and -flung over the wall, and gets a deadly fall on the point of Gordon’s -ever-ready sword. Several ill-connected stanzas succeed, three of which -are clearly recent, and then pity for Lady Ann Campbell, who was burnt -with her nine bairns. Lord Loudon comes home a “sorry” man, but comforts -himself with tearing Gordon with wild horses. - -A slight episode has been passed over. It is a former servant of the -family that breaks through the house-wall and kindles the fire, #A# 21, -#D# 12–14, #F# 5, 6, #G# 13, 14. In all but #A# he makes the excuse that -he is now Gordon’s man, and must do or die. - -There is a Danish ballad of about 1600 (communicated to me by Svend -Grundtvig, and, I think, not yet printed) in which Karl grevens søn, an -unsuccessful suitor of Lady Linild, burns Lady Linild in her bower, and -taking refuge in Maribo church, is there burned himself by Karl -kejserens søn, Lady Linild’s preferred lover. See also ‘Liden Engel,’ -under ‘Fause Foodrage,’ No 89, II, 298. - -The copy in Percy’s Reliques is translated by Bodmer, I, 126, and by -Doenninges, p. 69; Pinkerton’s copy by Grundtvig, No 9, and by -Loève-Veimars, p. 307; Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 13, apparently -translates Allingham’s. - - - A - - Cotton MS. Vespasian, A. xxv, No 67, fol. 187; Furnivall, in - Transactions of the New Shakspere Society, 1880–86, Appendix, p. - 52†. - - 1 - It befell at Martynmas, - When wether waxed colde, - Captaine Care said to his me_n_, - We must go take a holde. - - Syck, sike, and to-towe sike, - And sike and like to die; - The sikest nighte that eu_er_ I abode, - God lord haue m_er_cy on me! - - 2 - ‘Haille, m_aste_r, and wether you will, - And wether ye like it best;’ - ‘To the castle of Crecrynbroghe, - And there we will take o_ur_ reste.’ - - 3 - ‘I knowe wher is a gay castle, - Is builded of lyme and stone; - Within their is a gay ladie, - Her lord is riden and gone.’ - - 4 - The ladie she lend on her castle-walle, - She loked vpp and downe; - There was she ware of an host of me_n_, - Come riding to the towne. - - 5 - ‘Se yow, my meri men all, - And se yow what I see? - Yonder I see an host of me_n_, - I muse who they bee.’ - - 6 - She thought he had ben her wed lord, - As he comd riding home; - Then was it trait_ur_ Captaine Care - The lord of Ester-towne. - - 7 - They wer no son_er_ at supper sett, - Then after said the grace, - Or Captaine Care and all his men - Wer lighte aboute the place. - - 8 - ‘Gyue ou_er_ thi howsse, thou lady gay, - And I will make the a bande; - To-nighte thou shall ly w_i_t_h_in my arm_es_, - To-morrowe thou shall ere my lande.’ - - 9 - The_n_ bespacke the eldest sonne, - That was both whitt and redde: - O mother dere, geue ou_er_ y_our_ howsse, - Or ell_es_ we shalbe deade. - - 10 - ‘I will not geue ou_er_ my hous,’ she saithe, - ‘Not for feare of my lyffe; - It shalbe talked throughout the land, - The slaughter of a wyffe. - - 11 - ‘Fetch me my pestilett, - And charge me my gonne, - That I may shott at yonder bloddy butcher, - The lord of Easter-towne.’ - - 12 - Styfly vpon her wall she stode, - And lett the pellett_es_ flee; - But then she myst the blody bucher, - And she slew other three. - - 13 - ‘[I will] not geue ou_er_ my hous,’ she saithe, - ‘Netheir for lord nor lowne; - Nor yet for traito_ur_ Captaine Care, - The lord of Easter-towne. - - 14 - ‘I desire of Captine Care, - And all his bloddye band, - That he would saue my eldest sonne, - The eare of all my lande.’ - - 15 - ‘Lap him in a shete,’ he sayth, - ‘And let him downe to me, - And I shall take him in my armes, - His waran shall I be.’ - - 16 - The captayne sayd unto him selfe: - Wyth sped, before the rest, - He cut his tonge out of his head, - His hart out of his brest. - - 17 - He lapt them in a handkerchef, - And knet it of knot_es_ three, - And cast them ouer the castell-wall, - At that gay ladye. - - 18 - ‘Fye vpon the, Captayne Care, - And all thy bloddy band! - For th_o_u hast slayne my eldest sonne, - The ayre of all my land.’ - - 19 - Then bespake the yongest sonne, - Th_a_t sat on the nurses knee, - Sayth, Mother gay, geue ouer your house; - It smoldereth me. - - 20 - ‘I wold geue my gold,’ she saith, - ‘And so I wolde my ffee, - For a blaste of the westryn wind, - To dryue the smoke from thee. - - 21 - ‘Fy vpo_n_ the, John Hamleton, - That euer I paid the hyre! - For th_o_u hast broken my castle-wall, - And kyndled in the ffyre.’ - - 22 - The lady gate to her close p_ar_ler, - The fire fell aboute her head; - She toke vp her childre_n_ thre, - Seth, Bab_es_, we are all dead. - - 23 - Then bespake the hye steward, - Th_a_t is of hye degree; - Saith, Ladie gay, you are in close, - Wether ye fighte or flee. - - 24 - Lord Hamleto_n_ dremd in his dream, - In Caruall where he laye, - His halle were all of fyre, - His ladie slayne or daye. - - 25 - ‘Busk and bowne, my mery me_n_ all, - Eve_n_ and go ye with me; - For I dremd th_a_t my haal was on fyre, - My lady slayne or day.’ - - 26 - He buskt him and bownd hym, - And like a worthi knighte; - And when he saw his hall burni_n_g, - His harte was no dele lighte. - - 27 - He sett a tru_m_pett till his mouth, - He blew as it plesd his grace; - Twe_n_ty score of Ha_m_lentons - Was light aboute the place. - - 28 - ‘Had I knowne as much yesternighte - As I do to-daye, - Captaine Care and all his me_n_ - Should not haue gone so quite. - - 29 - ‘Fye vpon the, Captaine Care, - And all thy blody band_e_! - Thou haste slayne my lady gay, - More w_u_rth the_n_ all thy lande. - - 30 - ‘If th_o_u had ought eny ill will,’ he saith, - ‘Thou shoulde haue taken my lyffe, - And haue saved my children thre, - All and my louesome wyffe.’ - - - B - - Percy MS., p. 34; Hales and Furnivall, I, 79. - - 1 - ‘Ffa_i_th, m_aster_, whither you will, - Whereas you like the best; - Vnto the castle of Bittons-borrow, - And there to take yo_u_r rest.’ - - 2 - ‘But yonder stands a castle faire, - Is made of lyme and stone; - Yonder is in it a fayre lady, - Her lord is ridden and gone.’ - - 3 - The lady stood on her castle-wall, - She looked vpp and downe; - She was ware of an hoast of men, - Came rydinge towards the towne. - - 4 - ‘See you not, my merry men all, - And see you not what I doe see? - Methinks I see a hoast of men; - I muse who they shold be.’ - - 5 - She thought it had beene her louly l_ord_, - He had come ryding home; - It was the traitor, Captaine Carre, - The lord of Westerton-towne. - - 6 - They had noe sooner sup_er_ sett, - And after said the grace, - But the traitor, Captaine Carre, - Was light about the place. - - 7 - ‘Giue over thy house, thou lady gay, - I will make thee a band; - All night w_i_t_h_-in mine armes thou’st lye, - To-morrow be the heyre of my land.’ - - 8 - ‘I’le not giue over my house,’ shee said, - ‘Neither for ladds nor man, - Nor yet for traitor Captaine Carre, - Vntill my lord come home. - - 9 - ‘But reach me my pistoll pe[c]e, - And charge you well my gunne; - I’le shoote at the bloody bucher, - The lord of Westerton.’ - - 10 - She stood vppon her castle-wall - And let the bulletts flee, - And where shee mist . . - . . . . . . - - 11 - But then bespake the litle child, - That sate on the nurses knee; - Saies, Mother deere, giue ore this house, - For the smoake it smoothers me. - - 12 - ‘I wold giue all my gold, my childe, - Soe wold I doe all my fee, - For one blast of the westerne wind - To blow the smoke from thee.’ - - 13 - But when shee saw the fier - Came flaming ore her head, - Shee tooke then vpp her children two, - Sayes, Babes, we all beene dead! - - 14 - But Adam then he fired the house, - A sorrowfull sight to see; - Now hath he burned this lady faire - And eke her children three. - - 15 - Then Captaine Carre he rode away, - He staid noe longer at that tide; - He thought that place it was to warme - Soe neere for to abide. - - 16 - He calld vnto his merry men all, - Bidd them make hast away; - ‘For we haue slaine his children three, - All and his lady gay.’ - - 17 - Worde came to louly London, - To London wheras her lord lay, - His castle and his hall was burned, - All and his lady gay. - - 18 - ‘Soe hath he done his children three, - More dearer vnto him - Then either the siluer or the gold, - That men soe faine wold win. - - 19 - But when he looket this writing on, - Lord, in is hart he was woe! - Saies, I will find thee, Captaine Carre, - Wether thou ryde or goe! - - 20 - Buske yee, bowne yee, my merrymen all, - W_i_th tempered swords of steele, - For till I haue found out Captaine Carre, - My hart it is nothing weele. - - 21 - But when he came to Dractons-borrow, - Soe long ere it was day, - And ther he found him Captaine Carre; - That night he ment to stay. - - * * * * * - - - C - - Communicated to Percy by Robert Lambe, Norham, October 4, 1766, - being all that a servant of Lambe’s could remember. - - - * * * * * - - 1 - ‘Luk ye to yon hie castel, - Yon hie castel we see; - A woman’s wit’s sun oercum, - She’ll gie up her house to me.’ - - 2 - She ca’d to her merry men a’, - ‘Bring me my five pistols and my lang gun;’ - The first shot the fair lady shot, - She shot seven of Gordon’s men. - - 3 - He turned round about his back, - And sware he woud ha his desire, - And if that castel was built of gowd, - It should gang a’to fire. - - 4 - Up then spak her doughter deere, - She had nae mair than she: - ‘Gie up your house, now, mither deere, - The reek it skomfishes me.’ - - 5 - ‘I d rather see you birnt,’ said she, - ‘And doun to-ashes fa, - Ere I gie up my house to Adam of Gordon, - And to his merry men a’. - - 6 - ‘I’ve four and twenty kye - Gaing upo the muir; - I’d gie em for a blast of wind, - The reek it blaws sae sour.’ - - 7 - Up then spak her little young son, - Sits on the nourrice knee: - ‘Gie up your house, now, mither deere, - The reek it skomfishes me.’ - - 8 - ‘I’ve twenty four ships - A sailing on the sea; - I’ll gie em for a blast of southern wind, - To blaw the reek frae thee. - - 9 - ‘I’d rather see you birnt,’ said she, - ‘And grund as sma as flour, - Eer I gie up my noble house, - To be Adam of Gordon’s hure.’ - - * * * * * - - - D - - Robert and Andrew Foulis, Glasgow, 1755; “as preserved in the memory - of a lady.” - - 1 - It fell about the Martinmas, - When the wind blew schrile and cauld, - Said Edom o Gordon to his men, - We maun draw to a hald. - - 2 - ‘And what an a hald sall we draw to, - My merry men and me? - We will gae to the house of the Rhodes, - To see that fair lady.’ - - 3 - She had nae sooner busket her sell, - Nor putten on her gown, - Till Edom o Gordon and his men - Were round about the town. - - 4 - They had nae sooner sitten down, - Nor sooner said the grace, - Till Edom o Gordon and his men - Were closed about the place. - - 5 - The lady ran up to her tower-head, - As fast as she could drie, - To see if by her fair speeches - She could with him agree. - - 6 - As soon he saw the lady fair, - And hir yates all locked fast, - He fell into a rage of wrath, - And his heart was aghast. - - 7 - ‘Cum down to me, ye lady fair, - Cum down to me; let’s see; - This night ye’s ly by my ain side, - The morn my bride sall be.’ - - 8 - ‘I winnae cum down, ye fals Gordon, - I winnae cum down to thee; - I winnae forsake my ane dear lord, - That is sae far frae me.’ - - 9 - ‘Gi up your house, ye fair lady, - Gi up your house to me, - Or I will burn yoursel therein, - Bot and your babies three.’ - - 10 - ‘I winnae gie up, you fals Gordon, - To nae sik traitor as thee, - Tho you should burn mysel therein, - Bot and my babies three.’ - - 11 - ‘Set fire to the house,’ quoth fals Gordon, - ‘Sin better may nae bee; - And I will burn hersel therein, - Bot and her babies three.’ - - 12 - ‘And ein wae worth ye, Jock my man! - I paid ye weil your fee; - Why pow ye out my ground-wa-stane, - Lets in the reek to me? - - 13 - ‘And ein wae worth ye, Jock my man! - For I paid you weil your hire; - Why pow ye out my ground-wa-stane, - To me lets in the fire?’ - - 14 - ‘Ye paid me weil my hire, lady, - Ye paid me weil my fee, - But now I’m Edom of Gordon’s man, - Maun either do or die.’ - - 15 - O then bespake her youngest son, - Sat on the nurses knee, - ‘Dear mother, gie owre your house,’ he says, - ‘For the reek it worries me.’ - - 16 - ‘I winnae gie up my house, my dear, - To nae sik traitor as he; - Cum weil, cum wae, my jewels fair, - Ye maun tak share wi me.’ - - 17 - O then bespake her dochter dear, - She was baith jimp and sma; - ‘O row me in a pair o shiets, - And tow me owre the wa.’ - - 18 - They rowd her in a pair of shiets, - And towd her owre the wa, - But on the point of Edom’s speir - She gat a deadly fa. - - 19 - O bonny, bonny was hir mouth, - And chirry were her cheiks, - And clear, clear was hir yellow hair, - Whereon the reid bluid dreips! - - 20 - Then wi his speir he turnd hir owr; - O gin hir face was wan! - He said, You are the first that eer - I wist alive again. - - 21 - He turned hir owr and owr again; - O gin hir skin was whyte! - He said, I might ha spard thy life - To been some mans delyte. - - 22 - ‘Busk and boon, my merry men all, - For ill dooms I do guess; - I cannae luik in that bonny face, - As it lyes on the grass.’ - - 23 - ‘Them luiks to freits, my master deir, - Then freits will follow them; - Let it neir be said brave Edom o Gordon - Was daunted with a dame.’ - - 24 - O then he spied hir ain deir lord, - As he came owr the lee; - He saw his castle in a fire, - As far as he could see. - - 25 - ‘Put on, put on, my mighty men, - As fast as ye can drie! - For he that’s hindmost of my men - Sall neir get guid o me.’ - - 26 - And some they raid, and some they ran, - Fu fast out-owr the plain, - But lang, lang eer he coud get up - They were a’deid and slain. - - 27 - But mony were the mudie men - Lay gasping on the grien; - For o fifty men that Edom brought out - There were but five ged heme. - - 28 - And mony were the mudie men - Lay gasping on the grien, - And mony were the fair ladys - Lay lemanless at heme. - - 29 - And round and round the waes he went, - Their ashes for to view; - At last into the flames he flew, - And bad the world adieu. - - - E - - Kinloch MSS, V, 384, in the handwriting of John Hill Burton. - - 1 - It fell about the Martinmas time, - When the wind blew shrill and cauld, - Said Captain Gordon to his men, - We’ll a’draw to som hauld. - - 2 - ‘And whatena hauld shall we draw to, - To be the nearest hame?’ - ‘We will draw to the ha o bonny Cargarff; - The laird is na at hame.’ - - 3 - The lady sat on her castle-wa, - Beheld both dale and down; - And she beheld the fause Gordon - Come halycon to the town. - - 4 - ‘Now, Lady Cargarff, gie ower yer house, - Gie ower yer house to me; - Now, Lady Cargarff, gie ower yer house, - Or in it you shall die.’ - - 5 - ‘I’ll no gie ower my bonny house, - To lord nor yet to loun; - I’ll no gie ower my bonny house - To the traitors of Auchindown.’ - - * * * * * - - 6 - Then up and spak her youngest son, - Sat at the nourice’s knee: - ‘O mother dear, gie ower yer house, - For the reek o’t smothers me.’ - - 7 - ‘I would gie a’my goud, my child, - Sae would I a’my fee, - For ae blast o the westlan win, - To blaw the reek frae thee.’ - - 8 - Then up and spak her eldest heir, - He spak wi muckle pride: - ‘Now mother dear, keep weel yer house, - And I’ll fight by yer side.’ - - - F - - The New Statistical Account of Scotland, V, 846, Parish of Loudoun, - by Rev. Norman Macleod: “known among the peasantry from time - immemorial.” - - 1 - It fell about the Martinmas time, - When the wind blew snell and cauld, - That Adam o Gordon said to his men, - Where will we get a hold? - - 2 - See [ye] not where yonder fair castle - Stands on yon lily lee? - The laird and I hae a deadly feud, - The lady fain would I see. - - 3 - As she was up on the househead, - Behold, on looking down, - She saw Adam o Gordon and his men, - Coming riding to the town. - - 4 - The dinner was not well set down, - Nor the grace was scarcely said, - Till Adam o Gordon and his men - About the walls were laid. - - 5 - ‘It’s fause now fa thee, Jock my man! - Thou might a let me be; - Yon man has lifted the pavement-stone, - An let in the low unto me.’ - - 6 - ‘Seven years I served thee, fair ladie, - You gave me meat and fee; - But now I am Adam o Gordon’s man, - An maun either do it or die.’ - - 7 - ‘Come down, come down, my lady Loudoun, - Come down thou unto me! - I’ll wrap thee on a feather-bed, - Thy warrand I shall be.’ - - 8 - ‘I’ll no come down, I’ll no come down, - For neither laird no[r] loun; - Nor yet for any bloody butcher - That lives in Altringham town. - - 9 - ‘I would give the black,’ she says, - ‘And so would I the brown, - If that Thomas, my only son, - Could charge to me a gun.’ - - 10 - Out then spake the lady Margaret, - As she stood on the stair; - The fire was at her goud garters, - The lowe was at her hair. - - 11 - ‘I would give the black,’ she says, - ‘And so would I the brown, - For a drink of yon water, - That runs by Galston Town.’ - - 12 - Out then spake fair Annie, - She was baith jimp and sma - ‘O row me in a pair o sheets, - And tow me down the wa!’ - - 13 - ‘O hold thy tongue, thou fair Annie, - And let thy talkin be; - For thou must stay in this fair castle, - And bear thy death with me.’ - - 14 - ‘O mother,’ spoke the lord Thomas, - As he sat on the nurse’s knee, - ‘O mother, give up this fair castle, - Or the reek will worrie me.’ - - 15 - ‘I would rather be burnt to ashes sma, - And be cast on yon sea-foam, - Before I’d give up this fair castle, - And my lord so far from home. - - 16 - ‘My good lord has an army strong, - He’s now gone oer the sea; - He bad me keep this gay castle, - As long as it would keep me. - - 17 - ‘I’ve four-and-twenty brave milk kye, - Gangs on yon lily-lee; - I’d give them a’ for a blast of wind, - To blaw the reek from me.’ - - 18 - O pittie on yon fair castle, - That’s built with stone and lime! - But far mair pittie on Lady Loudoun, - And all her children nine! - - - G - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 543, from the recitation of May Richmond, at - the Old Kirk of Loudon. - - 1 - It was in and about the Martinmas time, - When the wind blew schill and cauld, - That Adam o Gordon said to his men, - Whare will we get a hauld? - - 2 - ‘Do ye not see yon bonnie castell, - That stands on Loudon lee? - The lord and I hae a deadlie feed, - And his lady fain wuld I see.’ - - 3 - Lady Campbell was standing in the close, - A preenin o her goun, - Whan Adam o Gordon and his men - Cam riding thro Galston toun. - - 4 - The dinner was na weel set doun, - Nor yet the grace weel said, - Till Adam o Gordon and a’his men - Around the wa’s war laid. - - 5 - ‘Come doun, come down, Ladie Campbell,’ he said, - ‘Come doun and speak to me; - I’ll kep thee in a feather bed, - And thy warraner I will be.’ - - 6 - ‘I winna come doun and speak to thee, - Nor to ony lord nor loun; - Nor yet to thee, thou bloody butcher, - The laird o Auchruglen toun.’ - - 7 - ‘Come doun, come doun, Ladye Campbell,’ he said, - ‘Cum doun and speak to me; - I’ll kep thee on the point o my sword, - And thy warraner I will be.’ - - 8 - ‘I winna come doun and speak to thee, - Nor to ony lord or loun, - Nor yet to thee, thou bludie butcher, - The laird o Auchruglen toun.’ - - 9 - ‘Syne gin ye winna come doun,’ he said, - ‘A’ for to speak to me, - I’ll tye the bands around my waist, - And fire thy death sall be.’ - - 10 - ‘I’d leifer be burnt in ashes sma, - And cuist in yon sea-faem, - Or I’d gie up this bonnie castell, - And my gude lord frae hame. - - 11 - ‘For my gude lord’s in the army strong, - He’s new gane ower the sea; - He bade me keep this bonnie castell, - As lang’s it wuld keep me.’ - - 12 - ‘Set fire to the house,’ said bauld Gordon, - ‘Set fire to the house, my men; - We’ll gar Lady Campbell come for to rew - As she burns in the flame.’ - - 13 - ‘O wae be to thee, Carmichael,’ she said, - ‘And an ill death may ye die! - For ye hae lifted the pavement-stane, - And loot up the lowe to me. - - 14 - ‘Seven years ye war about my house, - And received both meat and fee:’ - ‘And now I’m Adam o Gordon’s man, - I maun either do or dee.’ - - 15 - ‘Oh I wad gie the black,’ she said, - ‘And I wuld gie the brown, - All for ae cup o the cauld water - That rins to Galstoun toun.’ - - 16 - Syne out and spak the auld dochter, - She was baith jimp and sma: - ‘O row me in a pair o sheets, - And fling me ower the wa!’ - - 17 - They row’t her in a pair o sheets, - And flang her ower the wa, - And on the point o Gordon’s sword - She gat a deadlie fa. - - 18 - He turned her ower, and ower again, - And oh but she looked wan! - ‘I think I’ve killed as bonnie a face - As ere the sun shined on.’ - - 19 - He turned her ower, and ower again, - And oh but she lookt white! - ‘I micht hae spared this bonnie face, - To hae been some man’s delight!’ - - 20 - Syne out and spak Lady Margaret, - As she stood on the stair: - ‘The fire is at my gowd garters, - And the lowe is at my hair.’ - - 21 - Syne out and spak fair Ladie Ann, - Frae childbed whare she lay: - ‘Gie up this bonnie castell, mother, - And let us win away.’ - - 22 - ‘Lye still, lye still, my fair Annie, - And let your talking be; - For ye maun stay in this bonnie castell - And dree your death wi me.’ - - 23 - ‘Whatever death I am to dree, - I winna die my lane: - I’ll tak a bairn in ilka arm - And the third is in my wame.’ - - 24 - Syne out and spak her youngest son, - A bonnie wee boy was he: - ‘Gae doun, gae doun, mother,’ he said, - ‘Or the lowe will worry me.’ - - 25 - ‘I’d leifer be brent in ashes sma - And cuist in yon sea-faem, - Or I’d gie up this bonnie castell, - And my guid lord frae hame. - - 26 - ‘For my gude lord’s in the army strong, - He’s new gane ower the sea; - But gin he eer returns again, - Revenged my death sall be.’ - - 27 - Syne out and spak her waitin-maid: - Receive this babe frae me, - And save the saikless babie’s life, - And I’ll neer seek mair fee. - - 28 - ‘How can I tak the bairn?’ she said, - ‘How can I tak’t?’ said she, - ‘For my hair was ance five quarters lang, - And ’tis now brent to my bree.’ - - 29 - She rowit it in a feather-bed, - And flang it ower the wa, - But on the point o Gordon’s sword - It gat a deidlie fa. - - 30 - ‘I wuld gie Loudon’s bonnie castell, - And Loudon’s bonnie lee, - All gin my youngest son Johnnie - Could charge a gun to me. - - 31 - ‘Oh, I wuld gie the black,’ she said, - ‘And sae wuld I the bay, - Gin young Sir George could take a steed - And quickly ride away.’ - - 32 - Syne out and spak her auldest son, - As he was gaun to die: - ‘Send doun your chamber-maid, mother, - She gaes wi bairn to me.’ - - 33 - ‘Gin ye were not my eldest son, - And heir o a’ my land, - I’d tye a sheet around thy neck, - And hang thee with my hand. - - 34 - ‘I would gie my twenty gude milk-kye, - That feed on Shallow lee, - A’for ae blast o the norland wind, - To blaw the lowe frae me.’ - - 35 - Oh was na it a pitie o yon bonnie castell, - That was biggit wi stane and lime! - But far mair pity o Lady Ann Campbell, - That was brunt wi her bairns nine. - - 36 - Three o them war married wives, - And three o them were bairns, - And three o them were leal maidens, - That neer lay in men’s arms. - - 37 - And now Lord Loudon he’s come hame, - And a sorry man was he: - ‘He micht hae spared my lady’s life, - And wreakit himsell on me! - - 38 - ‘But sin we’ve got thee, bauld Gordon, - Wild horses shall thee tear, - For murdering o my ladie bricht, - Besides my children dear.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _Stanzas 1–15 have been revised, or altered, in another hand._ - - 2^1. m_aste_r _in my copy_: m_ary_, Furnivall. - - 3^1. wher is _is inserted_. - - 3^2. ed _in_ builded _has been run through with a line_. - - 3^4. riden & gone _struck out, and_ ryd from hom _written over_. - - 4^1. she _struck out_. - - 5^1. Se yow _changed to_ Com yow hether: merimen _in MS._ - - 5^2. _Changed to_ And look what I do see. And (&), _both in the - original text and in the revised, is rendered_ O _in my copy_. - - 5^3. _Changed to_ Yonder is ther. - - 5^4. musen, _as a correction: Furnivall_. - - 6^1. own wed, _as a correction: Furnivall_. - - 6^2. y^t had _for_ As he. - - 8^3. thou shall ly in _altered to_ thoust ly w^tin. - - 10^2. Not _is a correction: Furnivall. My copy has_ no. - - 11^3. this _substituted for_ yonder. - - 12^1. _Changed to_ She styfly stod on her castle wall. - - 12^3. but then _struck out_. - - 12^4. she _struck out_. - - 13^1. I will: _MS. torn._ - - 15^3. arme, _Furnivall_: _my copy_, armes. - - 15^4. wyll _substituted for_ shall. - - 19^4. _Editors supply_ The smoke _at the beginning of the line_. - - 20^3. westeyn: _Furnivall_. - - 21^4. _MS. has_ thee. - - 23^3. Saith: no close, _Furnivall_. South: in close, _my copy_. to - chose, _Böddeker_. - - 24^2. _Perhaps_ carnall: _Furnivall_. - - 25^1. Bush _in my copy_: merymen _in MS._ - - 25^3. dreme, hall _in my copy_: _Furnivall as printed_. - - 26^1. busht _in my copy_: buskt, _Furnivall_. - - 26^{2,3}. _My copy renders_ And (&) O: _Furnivall as printed._ - - 28^4. _Editors supply_ awaye _at the end of the line. Böddeker - reads_ so gai. - - 29^2. bande _looks like_ baides, _one stroke of the_ n _wanting_. - - 30^1. _Should we not read_ me _for_ eny? she _for_ he _in my - copy_: he, _Furnivall._ - - And _for_ & _throughout_. - - Finis p_er_ me Will_elmu_m Asheton, cleri_cu_m. - - _By_ my copy _is meant a collation made for me by Miss Lucy - Toulmin Smith_. - -#B.# - - 13^3. 2. - - 14^4, 16^3, 18^1. 3. - - 10^3, 21^4. _Half a page gone._ - - And _for_ &. - -#D.# - - 27^1, 28^1. Mudiemen, Mudie men. - - Quhen, ze, zour, _etc._, _are here spelled_ when, ye, your, _etc._ - -#F.# - - 5^4. the loun to: _cf._ #G# 13^4. - -#G.# - - 6^4. _Another recitation gave_ Auchindown. - - - - - 179 - - ROOKHOPE RYDE - - The Bishopric Garland, or Durham Minstrel [edited by Joseph Ritson], - 2d ed., Newcastle, 1792; here, from the reprint by Joseph Haslewood, - 1809, p. 54, in Northern Garlands, London, 1810. “Taken down from - the chanting of George Collingood the elder, late of Boltsburn, in - the neighborhood of Ryhope,” who died in 1785. - - -Printed in Bell’s Rhymes of Northern Bards, 1812, p. 276; Minstrelsy of -the Scottish Border, 1833, II, 101; [Sir Cuthbert Sharp’s] Bishoprick -Garland, 1834, p. 14. - -The date of this ryde, or raid, may be precisely ascertained from the -ballad itself; it is shown by 13^4, 11 to be December 6, 1569. - -The thieves of Thirlwall (Northumberland) and Williehaver, or Willeva -(Cumberland), avail themselves of the confusion incident to the Rising -in the North and of the absence of a part of the fencible men (some of -whom were with the earls, others with Bowes in Barnard castle) to make a -foray into Rookhope, in Weardale, Durham. In four hours they get -together six hundred sheep. But the alarm is given by a man whose horses -they have taken; the cry spreads through the dale; word comes to the -bailiff, who instantly arms, and is joined by his neighbors to the -number of forty or fifty. The thieves are a hundred, the stoutest men -and best in gear. - -When the Weardale men come up with them, the marauders get fighting -enough. The fray lasts an hour; four of the robbers are killed, a -handsome number wounded, and eleven taken prisoners, with the loss of -only one of those who fought for the right. - -Rookhope is the name of a valley, about five miles in length, at the -termination of which Rookhope burn empties itself into the river Wear. -Rookhope-head is the top of the vale. (Ritson.) - -The Weardale man who was killed was Rowland Emerson, perhaps a kinsman -of the bailiff. The family of Emerson of Eastgate, says Surtees, long -exercised the offices of bailiff of Wolsingham (the chief town and -borough of Weardale) and of forester, etc., etc., under successive -prelates. (Surtees to Scott, Memoir by Taylor and Raine, p. 33.) - -34. The thieves bare ‘three banners’ against the Weardale men. They -choose three captains in 9. - - - 1 - Rookhope stands in a pleasant place, - If the false thieves wad let it be; - But away they steal our goods apace, - And ever an ill death may they die! - - 2 - And so is the men of Thirlwa ‘nd Williehaver, - And all their companies thereabout, - That is minded to do mischief, - And at their stealing stands not out. - - 3 - But yet we will not slander them all, - For there is of them good enough; - It is a sore consumed tree - That on it bears not one fresh bough. - - 4 - Lord God! is not this a pitiful case, - That men dare not drive their goods to t’fell, - But limmer thieves drives them away, - That fears neither heaven nor hell? - - 5 - Lord, send us peace into the realm, - That every man may live on his own! - I trust to God, if it be his will, - That Weardale men may never be overthrown. - - 6 - For great troubles they’ve had in hand, - With borderers pricking hither and thither, - But the greatest fray that eer they had - Was with the ‘men’ of Thirlwa’nd Williehaver. - - 7 - They gatherd together so royally, - The stoutest men and the best in gear, - And he that rade not on a horse, - I wat he rade on a weil-fed mear. - - 8 - So in the morning, before they came out, - So well, I wot, they broke their fast; - In the [forenoon they came] unto a bye fell, - Where some of them did eat their last. - - 9 - When they had eaten aye and done, - They sayd some captains here needs must be: - Then they choosed forth Harry Corbyl, - And ‘Symon Fell,’ and Martin Ridley. - - 10 - Then oer the moss, where as they came, - With many a brank and whew, - One of them could to another say, - ‘I think this day we are men enew. - - 11 - ‘For Weardale men is a journey taen; - They are so far out-oer yon fell - That some of them’s with the two earls, - And others fast in Barnard castell. - - 12 - ‘There we shal get gear enough, - For there is nane but women at hame; - The sorrowful fend that they can make - Is loudly cries as they were slain.’ - - 13 - Then in at Rookhope-head they came, - And there they thought tul a had their prey, - But they were spy’d coming over the Dry Rig, - Soon upon Saint Nicholas’ day. - - 14 - Then in at Rookhope-head they came, - They ran the forest but a mile; - They gatherd together in four hours - Six hundred sheep within a while. - - 15 - And horses I trow they gat - But either ane or twa, - And they gat them all but ane - That belanged to great Rowley. - - 16 - That Rowley was the first man that did them spy; - With that he raised a mighty cry; - The cry it came down Rookhope burn, - And spread through Weardale hasteyly. - - 17 - Then word came to the bailif’s house, - At the East Gate, where he did dwell; - He was walkd out to the Smale Burns, - Which stands above the Hanging Well. - - 18 - His wife was wae when she heard tell, - So well she wist her husband wanted gear; - She gard saddle him his horse in haste, - And neither forgot sword, jack, nor spear. - - 19 - The bailif got wit before his gear came - That such news was in the land; - He was sore troubled in his heart, - That on no earth that he could stand. - - 20 - His brother was hurt three days before, - With limmer thieves that did him prick; - Nineteen bloody wounds lay him upon; - What ferly was’t that he lay sick? - - 21 - But yet the bailif shrinked nought, - But fast after them he did hye, - And so did all his neighbours near, - That went to bear him company. - - 22 - But when the bailiff was gathered, - And all his company, - They were numberd to never a man - But forty [or] under fifty. - - 23 - The thieves was numberd a hundred men, - I wat they were not of the worst - That could be choosed out of Thirlwa’nd Williehaver, - . . . . . . . . - - 24 - But all that was in Rookhope-head, - And all that was i Nuketon Cleugh, - Where Weardale men oertook the thieves, - And there they gave them fighting eneugh. - - 25 - So sore they made them fain to flee, - As many was ‘a’’ out of hand, - And, for tul have been at home again, - They would have been in iron bands; - - 26 - And for the space of long seven years, - As sore they mighten a had their lives; - But there was never one of them - That ever thought to have seen their ‘wives.’ - - 27 - About the time the fray began, - I trow it lasted but an hour, - Till many a man lay weaponless, - And was sore wounded in that stour. - - 28 - Also before that hour was done, - Four of the thieves were slain, - Besides all those that wounded were, - And eleven prisoners there was taen. - - 29 - George Carrick and his brother Edie, - Them two, I wot, they were both slain; - Harry Corbyl and Lennie Carrick - Bore them company in their pain. - - 30 - One of our Weardale men was slain, - Rowland Emerson his name hight; - I trust to God his soul is well, - Because he ‘fought’ unto the right. - - 31 - But thus they sayd: ‘We’ll not depart - While we have one; speed back again!’ - And when they came amongst the dead men, - There they found George Carrick slain. - - 32 - And when they found George Carrick slain, - I wot it went well near their ‘heart;’ - Lord, let them never make a better end - That comes to play them sicken a ‘part!’ - - 33 - I trust to God, no more they shal, - Except it be one for a great chance; - For God wil punish all those - With a great heavy pestilence. - - 34 - Thir limmer thieves, they have good hearts, - They nevir think to be oerthrown; - Three banners against Weardale men they bare, - As if the world had been all their own. - - 36 - Thir Weardale men, they have good hearts, - They are as stif as any tree; - For, if they’d every one been slain, - Never a foot back man would flee. - - 36 - And such a storm amongst them fell - As I think you never heard the like, - For he that bears his head so high, - He oft-times falls into the dyke. - - 37 - And now I do entreat you all, - As many as are present here, - To pray for [the] singer of this song, - For he sings to make blithe your cheer. - - * * * * * - - 2^3. mischief hither _in Bell_, _who, however, prints from - Ritson_. - - 2^4. as: at _in Scott, who had his copy, as printed in 1792, from - Ritson’s nephew_. at _also in Bell_. - - 9^3, 29^3. Corbyl, _it is thought, should be_ Corbyt, _which is a - northern name. Both_ Corbyl _and_ Carrick _were new to Surtees_. - - 10^3. _Bell reads_ would, _not understanding that could means_ - did. - - 11^1. _Scott, wrongly_, have _for_ is: _Bell, who aims at - grammar_, are. - - 17^3. He had, _Bell, for improvement again_. - - 23^4. _The reciter, from his advanced age, could not recollect - this line: Ritson._ - - 25^2. _Bell_, land _for_ hand. - - 30^3. _Bell_, in _for_ to. - - _Ritson’s emendations, indicated by ’ ‘, have necessarily been - allowed to stand._ - - - - - 180 - - KING JAMES AND BROWN - - ‘Kinge James and Browne,’ Percy MS., p. 58; Hales and Furnivall, I, - 135. - - -As the minstrel is walking by himself, he hears a young prince -lamenting. The prince says to him, Yonder comes a Scot who will do me -wrong. Douglas comes with armed men, who beset the king with swords and -spears. Are you lords of Scotland, come for council, asks the king, or -are you traitors, come for my blood? They say that they are traitors, -come for his blood. Fie on you, false Scots! exclaims the king; you have -slain my grandfather, caused my mother to flee, and hanged my father. -[About nine stanzas are lost here.] Douglas offers Brown his daughter in -marriage to betray the king; Brown will never be a traitor. Douglas is -making off fast, but Brown takes him prisoner and conducts him to the -king. Douglas prays for pardon. The king replies that Douglas has sought -to kill him ever since he was born. Douglas swears to be a true subject -if pardoned. The king pardons him freely, and all traitors in Scotland, -great and small. Douglas mutters to himself (we may suppose), If I live -a twelvemonth you shall die, and I will burn Edinburgh to-morrow. This -irredeemable traitor hies to Edinburgh with his men, but the people shut -the gates against him. Brown is always where he is wanted, and takes -Douglas prisoner again; the report that Douglas is secured goes to the -king, who demands his taker to be brought into his presence, and -promises him a thousand pound a year. So they call Brown; we may imagine -that the distance is no greater than Holyrood. How often hast thou -fought for me, Brown? asks James. Brown’s first service was in -Edinburgh; had he not stood stoutly there, James had never been king. -The second was his killing the sheriff of Carlisle’s son, who was on the -point of slaying his Grace. The third was when he killed the Bishop of -St Andrews, who had undertaken to poison the king. James had already -made the faithful Englishman (for such he is) knight; now he makes him -an earl, with professions of fidelity to the English queen. - -This third service of Brown is the subject of a poem by William -Elderton, here given in an appendix. The bishop is about to give the -king (then a child) a poisoned posset. The lady nurse calls for aid. -Brown, an Englishman, hears, goes to help, meets the bishop hurrying off -with the posset in his hand, and forces him to drink it, though the -bishop makes him handsome offers not to interfere. The venom works -swiftly, the bishop’s belly bursts. The king knights Brown, and gives -him lands and livings. - -John Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, must be the person whom Brown -slays in the ballad for an attempt to poison the young king. He was, -however, hanged by his political enemies, April 7, 1571. This prelate -was credited with being an accomplice to the murder of Darnley and to -that of the Regent Murray. His elder brother was heir to the throne -after the progeny of Mary Stuart, and both of these persons were more or -less in the way. Mary Stuart’s son was a step on which the Hamiltons -must “fall down or else oerleap,” and the archbishop is said to have -sneered at the Duke of Chatelheraut for letting an infant live between -him and the throne. A report that the archbishop had undertaken to -poison this infant would readily be believed. Sir William Drury thought -it worth his while to write to Cecil that Queen Mary had done the same -before her son was a year old.[287] - -Of Browne’s two previous performances, his standing stoutly for the king -at Edinburgh, st. 26, and his killing the son of the sheriff of -Carlisle, st. 27, we are permitted to know only that, since these -preceded the killing of the bishop, they occurred at some time before -James was five years old. The epoch of the adventure with Douglas, which -is the principal subject of the ballad, could be determined beyond -question if we could ascertain when Brown was made an earl. It falls -after the murder of the Regent Lennox, 8^1, that is, later than -September, 1571, and the king is old enough to know something of the -unhappy occurrences in his family, to forget and forgive, and to make -knights and earls. There are correspondences between the ballad and the -proceedings by which the Earl of Morton, after his resignation of the -regency, obtained possession of the young king’s person and virtually -reëstablished himself in his former power. This was in April, 1578, when -James was not quite twelve years old. Morton was living at Lochleven -“for policie, devysing the situation of a fayre gardene with allayis, to -remove all suspicion of his consavit treason.” James was in the keeping -of Alexander Erskine, his guardian, at Stirling Castle, of which Erskine -was governor; and the young Earl of Mar, nephew of the governor, was -residing there. This young man became persuaded, perhaps through -Morton’s representations, that he himself was entitled to the custody of -the castle, and incidentally of the king. Early in the morning of the -26th of April, before the garrison were astir, Mar (who was risen under -pretence of a hunting-party), supported by two Abbot Erskines, his -uncles, and a retinue of his own, demanded the castle-keys of the -governor. An affray followed, in which a son of Alexander Erskine lost -his life. The young king, wakened by the noise, rushed in terror from -his chamber, tearing his hair. Mar overpowered resistance and seized the -keys. Shortly after this, he and his uncle the governor came to terms at -the instance of the king, Mar retaining Stirling Castle and the -wardenship of the king, and the uncle being made keeper of the castle of -Edinburgh. Morton was received into Stirling Castle, and resumed his -sway. All this did not pass without opposition. The citizens of -Edinburgh rose in arms against Morton (cf. sts 21, 22), and large forces -collected from other parts of the country for the liberation of the -king. A civil war was imminent, and was avoided, it would seem, chiefly -through the influence of the English minister, Bowes, who offered -himself as peacemaker, in the name of his queen (cf. sts 31, 32).[288] - -The Douglas of this ballad is clearly William Douglas of Lochleven, who -joined Mar at Stirling as Morton’s intermediary. He was afterwards -engaged in the Raid of Ruthven. - -It may be added that Robert Brown, a servant of the king’s, played a -very humble part, for the defence of his master, in the Gowrie -Conspiracy, but that was nearly twenty years after Andrew Brown was -celebrated by Elderton, and when James was no young prince, but in his -thirty-fifth year. - - - 1 - As I did walke my selfe alone, - And by one garden greene, - I heard a yonge prince make great moane, - W_hi_ch did turne my hart to teene. - - 2 - ‘O Lord!’ he then said vntou me, - ‘Why haue I liued soe long? - For yonder comes a cruell Scott,’ - Q_uo_th hee, ‘_tha_t will doe me some ronge.’ - - 3 - And then came traitor Douglas there, - He came for to betray his king; - Some they brought bills, and some they brought bowes, - And some the brought other things. - - 4 - The king was aboue in a gallery, - W_i_th a heauy heart; - Vnto his body was sett about - W_i_th swords and speares soe sharpe. - - 5 - ‘Be you the lordes of Scotland,’ he said, - ‘_Tha_t hither for councell seeke to me? - Or bee yoe traitors to my crowne, - My blood _tha_t you wold see?’ - - 6 - ‘Wee are the l_ord_s of Scottland,’ they said, - ‘Nothing we come to craue of thee; - But wee be traitors to thy crowne, - Thy blood that wee will see.’ - - 7 - ‘O fye vpon you, you false Scotts! - For you neuer all trew wilbe; - My grandfather you haue slaine, - And caused my mother to flee. - - 8 - ‘My grandfather you haue slaine, - And my owne father you hanged on a tree; - And now,’ q_uot_h he, ‘the like treason - You haue now wrought for me. - - 9 - ‘Ffarwell hart, and farwell hand! - Farwell all pleasures alsoe! - Farwell th . . . my head - . . . . . . . - - 10 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘If thou wilt . . . . - And soe goe away w_i_th mee.’ - - 11 - ‘Goe marry thy daughter to whome thou wilt,’ - Q_uot_h Browne; ‘thou marrys none to me; - For I’le not be a traitor,’ q_uot_h Browne, - ‘For all the gold that euer I see.’ - - 12 - This Douglas, hearing Browne soe say, - Began to flee away full fast; - ‘But tarry a while,’ saies lusty Browne, - ‘I’le make you to pay before you passe.’ - - 13 - He hath taken the Douglas prisoner, - And hath brought him before the k_ing_; - He kneeled low vpon his knee, - For pardon there prainge. - - 14 - ‘How shold I pardon thee,’ saith the k_ing_, - ‘And thou’le remaine a traitor still? - For euer since that I was borne,’ - Q_uot_h he, ‘thou hast sought my blood to spill.’ - - 15 - ‘For if you will grant me my pardon,’ he said, - ‘Out of this place soe free, - I wilbe sworne before yo_u_r Grace - A trew subiect to bee.’ - - 16 - ‘God for-gaue his death,’ said the k_ing_, - ‘When he was nayled vpon a tree; - And as free as euer God forgaue his death, - Douglas,’ q_uot_h he, ‘I’le forgiue thee. - - 17 - ‘And all the traitors in Scottland,’ - Q_uo_th he, ‘both great and small; - As free as euer God forgaue his death, - Soe free I will forgiue them all.’ - - 18 - ‘I thanke you for yo_u_r pardon, king, - _Tha_t you haue granted forth soe plaine; - If I liue a twelue month to an end, - You shall not aliue remaine. - - 19 - ‘Tomorrow yet, or ere I dine, - I meane to doo thee one good turne; - For Edenborrow, that is thine owne,’ - Q_uo_th he, ‘I will both h[arry] and [burne].’ - - 20 - Thus Douglas hied towards Edenborrow, - And many of his men were gone beffore; - And after him on euery side, - W_i_th him there went some twenty score. - - 21 - But when that they did see him come, - They cryed lowd w_i_th voices, saying, - ‘Yonder comes a false traitor, - That wold haue slaine our k_ing_.’ - - 22 - They chaynd vp the gates of Edenborrow, - And there the made them wonderous fast, - And there Browne sett on Douglas againe, - And quicklye did him ouer cast. - - 23 - But worde came backe againe to the k_ing_, - W_i_th all the speed that euer might bee, - _Tha_t traitor Douglas there was taken, - And his body was there to see. - - 24 - ‘Bring me his taker,’ q_uo_th the k_ing_, - ‘Come, quickly bring him vnto me! - I’le giue a thousand pound a yeere, - What man soeuer he bee.’ - - 25 - But then they called lusty Browne; - Sayes, ‘Browne, come thou hither to mee. - How oft hast thou foughten for my sake, - And alwayes woone the victory?’ - - 26 - ‘The first time that I fought for you, - It was in Edenborrow, k_ing_; - If there I had not stoutly stood, - My leege, you neuer had beene k_ing_. - - 27 - ‘The second time I fought for you, - Here I will tell you in this place; - I killd the sheriffs sonne of Carlile,’ - Q_uot_h he, ‘that wold haue slaine yo_u_r Grace. - - 28 - ‘The third time t_ha_t I fought for you, - Here for to let you vnderstand, - I slew the Bishopp of S^t Andrew[s],’ - Q_uo_th he, ‘w_i_th a possat in [his hand].’ - - 29 - . . . . . q_uo_th hee, - ‘_Tha_t euer my manhood I did trye; - I’le make a vow for Englands sake - _Tha_t I will neuer battell flee.’ - - 30 - ‘God amercy, Browne,’ then said the k_ing_, - ‘And God amercy heartilye! - Before I made thee but a knight, - But now an earle I will make thee. - - 31 - ‘God saue the queene of England,’ he said, - ‘For her blood is verry neshe; - As neere vnto her I am - As a colloppe shorne from the fleshe. - - 32 - ‘If I be false to England,’ he said, - ‘Either in earnest or in iest, - I might be likened to a bird,’ - Q_uot_h he, ‘that did defile it nest.’ - - * * * * * - - 5^3. yoe bee. - - 5^4. by my: _cf._ 6^4. - - 6^1. are they. - - 8^2. mother _for_ father. - - 9^4. _Half a page torn away._ - - 18^3. a 12. - - 20^4. 20 score. - - 24^3. a 1000. - - 28^1. the 3[d :]. - - 28^4. possat? MS. _rubbed_: _Hales_. - - - APPENDIX - - THE KING OF SCOTS AND ANDREW BROWNE - -A new Ballad, declaring the great treason conspired against the young -King of Scots, and how one Andrew Browne, an Englishman, which was the -king’s chamberlaine, preuented the same. To the tune of Milfield, or els -to Greenesleeues. - -This piece, which is contained in a collection of ballads and -proclamations in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, London, is -signed W. Elderton, and was “imprinted at London for Yarathe Iames, -dvvelling in Nevvgate Market, ouer against Christes Church.” It was -licensed to James, May 30, 1581: Arber II, 393. Reprinted by Percy, -Reliques, 1765, II, 204; here from the original. There is an imperfect -and incorrect copy in the Percy MS., p. 273; Hales and Furnivall, II, -265. - -Morton was beheaded only three days after these verses were licensed, -and had been in durance for several months before at the castle of -Edinburgh. Elderton cannot be supposed to have the last news from -Scotland, and he was not a man to keep his compositions by him nine -years. The exhortation of Morton to his confederate, Douglas, in the -last stanza but one is divertingly misplaced. The fictions of the privie -banket and the selling of the king beyond seas are of the same mint as -those in the ballad. - - Jesus, God! what a griefe is this, - That princes subiects cannot be true, - But still the deuill hath some of his - Will play their parts, whatsoeuer ensue; - Forgetting what a greeuous thing - It is to offend the annointed kinge. - Alas for woe! why should it be so? - This makes a sorowfull heigh ho. - - In Scotland is a bonie kinge, - As proper a youthe as neede to be, - Well giuen to euery happy thing - That can be in a kinge to see; - Yet that vnluckie countrie still - Hath people giuen to craftie will. - Alas for woe! etc. - - On Whitson eue it so befell - A posset was made to give the kinge, - Whereof his ladie-nurse hard tell, - And that it was a poysoned thing. - She cryed, and called piteouslie, - ‘Now helpe, or els the king shall die!’ - Alas for woe! etc. - - One Browne, that was an English man, - And hard the ladies piteous crye, - Out with his sword, and besturd him than - Out of the doores in haste to flie; - But all the doores were made so fast, - Out of a window he got at last. - Alas for woe! etc. - - He met the bishop comming fast, - Hauing the posset in his hande; - The sight of Browne made him agast, - Who bad him stoutly staie and stand. - With him were two that ranne away, - For feare that Browne would make a fray. - Alas for woe! etc. - - ‘Bishop,’ quoth Browne, ‘what hast thou there?’ - ‘Nothing at all, my freend,’ sayde he, - ‘But a posset to make the king good cheere.’ - ‘Is it so?’ sayd Browne, ‘that will I see. - First I will haue thy selfe begin, - Before thou goe any further in; - Be it weale or woe, it shall be so.’ - This makes a sorrowfull heigh ho. - - The bishop saide, Browne, I doo know - Thou art a young man poore and bare; - Liuings on thee I will bestowe; - Let me go on, take thee no care. - ‘No, no,’ quoth Browne, ‘I will not be - A traitour for all Christiantie. - Happe weal or woe, it shall be so: - Drinke now, with a sorrowfull heigh ho.’ - - The bishop dranke, and by and by - His belly burst and he fell downe: - A iust reward for his traytery. - ‘This was a posset in deede!’ quoth Browne. - He serched the bishop, and found the keyes - To come to the kinge when he did please. - Alas for woe! etc. - - As soone as the king gat word of this, - He humbly fell vppon his knee, - And praysed God that he did misse - To tast of that extremity: - For that he did perceaue and know - His clergie would betray him so. - Alas for woe! etc. - - ‘Alas,’ he said, ‘vnhappy realme! - My father and godfather slaine, - My mother banished, O extreame - Vnhappy fate, and bitter bayne! - And now like treason wrought for me. - What more vnhappy realme can be!’ - Alas for woe! etc. - - The king did call his nurse to his grace, - And gave her twentie pound a yeere; - And trustie Browne to, in like case, - He knighted him, with gallant geere, - And gaue him . . . liuings great, - For dooing such a manly feat - As he did sho[w]e, to the bishops woe, - Which made, etc. - - When all this treason don and past - Tooke not effect of traytery, - Another treason at the last - They sought against his Maiestie; - How they might make their kinge away - By a priuie banket on a daye. - Alas for woe! etc. - - Wherat they ment to sell the king - Beyonde the seas, it was decreede: - Three noble earles heard of this thing, - And did preuent the same with speede. - For a letter came, with such a charme, - That they should doo they[r] king no harme, - For further woe, if they did so; - Which made a sorrowfull heigh ho. - - The Earle Mourton told the Douglas then, - ‘Take heede you doo not offend the kinge: - But shew your selues like honest men, - Obediently in euery thing; - For his godmother will not see - Her noble childe misvsde to be - With any woe; for if it be so, - She will make a sorrowfull heigh ho’ - - God graunt all subiects may be true, - In England, Scotland, and euerie where, - That no such daunger may ensue, - To put the prince or state in feare; - That God, the highest king, may see - Obedience as it ought to be. - In wealth or woe, God graunt it be so! - To auoide the sorrowfull heigh ho. - - - - - 181 - - THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY - - #A.# ‘The Bonny Earl of Murray,’ Ramsay’s Tea-Table Miscellany, 11th - ed., London, 1750, p. 356 (vol. iv). - - #B.# ‘The Bonnie Earl o Murray,’ Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 11. - - -#A# is not in the ninth edition of the Tea-Table Miscellany, 1733, but -may be in the tenth (1736? 1740?), which I have not seen. It is printed -in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, II, 210, and in many subsequent collections: -Herd’s Scots Songs, 1769, p. 32; Ritson’s Scottish Songs, 1794, II, 29; -Johnson’s Museum, No 177; etc. - -James Stewart, son of Sir James Stewart of Doune, became Earl of Murray -in consequence of his marriage with the oldest daughter and heiress of -the Regent Murray. “He was a comely personage, of a great stature, and -strong of body like a kemp.”[289] There was a violent hostility between -Murray and the Earl of Huntly. The occurrence which is the subject of -the ballad may be narrated in the least space by citing the account -given by Spottiswood. After his assault on Holyrood House in December -(or September), 1591, “Bothwell went into the north, looking to be -supplied by the Earl of Murray, his cousin-german; which the king -suspecting, Andrew Lord Ochiltrie was sent to bring Murray unto the -south, of purpose to work a reconcilement betwixt him and Huntly. But a -rumor being raised in the mean while that the Earl of Murray was seen in -the palace with Bothwell on the night of the enterprise, the same was -entertained by Huntly (who waited then at court) to make him suspected -of the king, and prevailed so far as he did purchase a commission to -apprehend and bring Murray to his trial. The nobleman, not fearing that -any such course should be used, was come to Donibristle, a house -situated on the north side of Forth, and belonging to his mother the -lady Doune. Huntly, being advertised of his coming, and how he lay there -secure, accompanied only with the Sheriff of Murray and a few of his own -retinue, went thither and beset the house, requiring him to render. The -Earl of Murray refusing to put himself in the hands of his enemy, after -some defence made, wherein the sheriff was killed, fire was set to the -house, and they within forced by the violence of the smoke and flame to -come forth. The earl staid a great space after the rest, and, the night -falling down, ventured among his enemies, and, breaking through the -midst of them, did so far outrun them all as they supposed he was -escaped; yet searching him among the rocks, he was discovered by the tip -of his head-piece, which had taken fire before he left the house, and -unmercifully slain. The report went that Huntly’s friends, fearing he -should disclaim the fact (for he desired rather to have taken him -alive), made him light from his horse and give some strokes to the dead -corpse.... The death of the nobleman was universally lamented, and the -clamors of the people so great ... that the king, not esteeming it safe -to abide at Edinburgh, removed with the council to Glasgow, where he -remained until Huntly did enter himself in ward in Blackness, as he was -charged. But he staid not there many days, being dimitted, upon caution, -to answer before the justice whensoever he should be called. The corpses -of the Earl and Sheriff of Murray were brought to the church of Leith in -two coffins, and there lay divers months unburied, their friends -refusing to commit their bodies to the earth till the slaughter was -punished. Nor did any man think himself so much interested in that fact -as the Lord Ochiltrie, who had persuaded the Earl of Murray to come -south; whereupon he fell afterwards away to Bothwell, and joined with -him for revenge of the murder.” - -This outrage was done in the month of February, 1592. Huntly sheltered -himself under the king’s commission, and was not punished. He was no -doubt a dangerous man to discipline, but the king, perhaps because he -believed Murray to be an abettor of Bothwell, showed no disposition that -way. - -According to Sir James Balfour, “the queen, more rashly than wisely, -some few days before had commended” Murray, “in the king’s hearing, with -too many epithets of a proper and gallant man.” Balfour may have had -gossip, or he may have had a ballad, for his authority (see #A# 5); the -suggestion deserves no attention.[290] - -In #B# the Countess of Murray is treated as the sister of Huntly. - -#A# is translated by Grundtvig, Engelske og skotske Folkeviser, No 8, p. -52; by Herder, II, 71. #B# by Arndt, Blütenlese, p. 196. - - - A - - Ramsay’s Tea-Table Miscellany, 1763, p. 356. - - 1 - Ye Highlands, and ye Lawlands, - Oh where have you been? - They have slain the Earl of Murray, - And they layd him on the green. - - 2 - ‘Now wae be to thee, Huntly! - And wherefore did you sae? - I bade you bring him wi you, - But forbade you him to slay.’ - - 3 - He was a braw gallant, - And he rid at the ring; - And the bonny Earl of Murray, - Oh he might have been a king! - - 4 - He was a braw gallant, - And he playd at the ba; - And the bonny Earl of Murray - Was the flower amang them a’. - - 5 - He was a braw gallant, - And he playd at the glove; - And the bonny Earl of Murray, - Oh he was the Queen’s love! - - 6 - Oh lang will his lady - Look oer the castle Down, - Eer she see the Earl of Murray - Come sounding thro the town! - Eer she, etc. - - - B - - Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 11; from recitation. - - 1 - ‘Open the gates, - and let him come in; - He is my brother Huntly, - he’ll do him nae harm.’ - - 2 - The gates they were opent, - they let him come in, - But fause traitor Huntly, - he did him great harm. - - 3 - He’s ben and ben, - and ben to his bed, - And with a sharp rapier - he stabbed him dead. - - 4 - The lady came down the stair, - wringing her hands: - ‘He has slain the Earl o Murray, - the flower o Scotland.’ - - 5 - But Huntly lap on his horse, - rade to the king: - ‘Ye’re welcome hame, Huntly, - and whare hae ye been? - - 6 - ‘Whare hae ye been? - and how hae ye sped?’ - ‘I’ve killed the Earl o Murray, - dead in his bed.’ - - 7 - ‘Foul fa you, Huntly! - and why did ye so? - You might have taen the Earl o Murray, - and saved his life too.’ - - 8 - ‘Her bread it’s to bake, - her yill is to brew; - My sister’s a widow, - and sair do I rue. - - 9 - ‘Her corn grows ripe, - her meadows grow green, - But in bonny Dinnibristle - I darena be seen.’ - - - - - 182 - - THE LAIRD O LOGIE - - #A.# ‘The Laird o Logie,’ Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, III, 128. The - same, with the insertion of one stanza from recitation, Motherwell’s - Minstrelsy, p. 56. - - #B.# ‘The young Laird of Ochiltrie,’ Herd, The Ancient and Modern - Scots Songs, 1769, p. 240; ed. 1776, I, 21. Repeated in Campbell - MSS, I, 142. - - #C.# ‘The Laird of Logie,’ a stall-copy printed by M. Randall, - Stirling. The same in Motherwell’s MS., p. 504, and in Maidment’s - Scotish Ballads and Songs, p. 8, ‘The young Laird of Logie.’ - - #D.# ‘Young Logie,’ Harris MS., fol. 16. - - #E.# ‘The Laird o Logie, or, May Margaret,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, - p. 56, one stanza. - - -Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, a madcap cousin of the king, had been -guilty of a violent assault upon Holyrood House in December (or -September), 1591, and in June, 1592, had “conspired the apprehension of -the king’s person” while James was residing at Falkland. In August -following he attempted to force himself into the king’s presence to -“make his reconciliation.” - -“The lairds of Burlie and Logie, delated to [have] had intelligence with -the Earl Bothwell, were taken and apprehended by the Duke of Lennox the -ninth day of August, 1592, and committed to ward within Dalkeith; where -being examined they both confessed the same. Burley gat his life for -telling the truth, but Logie, being a great courtier with the king, and -dealer with the Earl Bothwell in Bothwell’s enterprise which should -[have] been done at Dalkeith, to wit, that they should come in at the -back gate through the yard and [have] gotten the king in their hands, -the said laird of Logie was ordained to be tried by an assize and -executed to the death. But the same night that he was examined, he -escaped out by the means of a gentlewoman whom he loved, a Dane, who -conveyed him out of his keepers’ hands, through the queen’s chamber, -where his Majesty and the queen were lying in their beds, to a window in -the backside of the place, where he went down upon a tow [rope], and -shot three pistols in token of his onlouping [mounting his horse] where -some of his servants, with the laird of Niddry, were awaiting him.” -(Moysie’s Memoirs, p. 95.) - -Another account may be added, from The Historie of King James the Sext -(p. 253 f.): - -“It fortuned that a gentleman called Wemyss of Logie, being also in -credence at court, was delated as a trafficker with Francis Earl -Bothwell; and he, being examined before king and council, confessed his -accusation to be of verity; that sundry times he had spoken with him, -expressly against the king’s inhibition proclaimed in the contrary; -which confession he subscribed with his hand.... - -“Queen Anne, our noble princess, was served with divers gentlewomen of -her own country, and namely with one called Mistress Margaret Twynstoun, -to whom this gentleman, Wemyss of Logie, bore great honest affection, -tending to the godly band of marriage; the which was honestly requited -by the said gentlewoman, yea, even in his greatest mister (need). For -how soon she understood the said gentleman to be in distress, and -apparently by his confession, to be punisht to the death, and she having -privilege to lie in the queen’s chamber that same very night of his -accusation, where the king was also reposing that same night, she came -forth of the door privily, both the princes being then at quiet rest, -and past to the chamber where the said gentleman was put in custody to -certain of the guard, and commanded them that immediately he should be -brought to the king and queen; whereunto they giving sure credence -obeyed. But how soon she was come back to the chamber-door, she desired -the watches to stay till he should come forth again; and so she closed -the door and conveyed the gentleman to a window, where she ministered a -long cord unto him to convey himself down upon, and so, by her good -charitable help, he happily escaped, by the subtlety of love.” - -Calderwood gives the following account: “Upon Monday the seventh of -August, the king being in Dalkeith, the young laird of Logie and Burlie -promised to Bothwell to bring him in before the king to seek his pardon. -The king was forewarned, and Bothwell, howbeit brought in quietly within -the castle, was conveyed out again. Burlie was accused and confessed; -Logie denied, and therefore would have suffered trial. The night before, -one of the queen’s dames, Mistress Margaret, a Dutchwoman, came to the -guard and desired that he might be suffered to come to the queen, who -had something to inquire of him. Two of the guard brought him to the -king’s chamber-door, and staid upon his coming forth, but she conveyed -him in the mean time out at a window in a pair of sheets.... Logie -married the gentlewoman after, when he was received into the king’s -favor again.”[291] Logie, according to Calderwood, was “a varlet of the -king’s chamber.” - -Spottiswood says: John Weymis younger of Logie, gentleman of his -Majesty’s chamber, and in great favor both with the king and queen, was -discovered to have the like dealing with Bothwell, and, being committed -to the keeping of the guard, escaped by the policy of one of the Dutch -maids, with whom he entertained a secret love. The gentlewoman, named -Mistress Margaret Twinslace, coming one night, whilst the king and queen -were in bed, to his keepers, shewed that the king called for the -prisoner, to ask of him some question. The keepers, suspecting nothing, -for they knew her to be the principal maid in the chamber, conveyed him -to the door of the bed-chamber, and making a stay without, as they were -commanded, the gentlewoman did let him down at a window, by a cord that -she had prepared. The keepers, waiting upon his return, staid there till -the morning, and then found themselves deceived. This, with the manner -of the escape, ministered great occasion of laughter; and not many days -after, the king being pacified by the queen’s means, he was pardoned, -and took to wife the gentlewoman who had in this sort hazarded her -credit for his safety.[292] - -The lady, called by Calderwood and Spottiswood a Dutchwoman, but rightly -by Moysie a Dane, was one of a train of her countrywomen who attended -Queen Anne when she came to Scotland in May, 1590. She is called -Mistress Margaret Vinstar in a letter of Robert Bowes to Lord Burghley -of August 12, 1592;[293] Margaret Weiksterne in a charter dated 25th -December, 1594.[294] - -Young Logie cannot have received a complete pardon within a few days of -his escape. At a council meeting, September 14, 1592, it is ordered that -Wemyss of Logie the younger, having failed to appear this day to answer -touching the ‘intercommuning and having intelligence with Francis, -sometime Earl Bothwell,’ be denounced rebel.[295] - -#A.# Young Logie is a prisoner, in Carmichael’s[296] keeping, and May -Margaret, who is enamored of him, is weeping for his expected death. The -queen can do nothing, and tells her that she must go to the king himself -to beg the life of her lover. She goes, accordingly, but gets an ill -answer: all the gold in Scotland shall not save Young Logie. In this -strait she steals the king’s comb and the queen’s knife, and sends them -to Carmichael as tokens that Logie is to be discharged. She provides the -young man with money, and gives him a pair of pistols, which he is to -fire in sign that he is at liberty. The king hears the ‘volley’ from his -bed, and by his peculiar sagacity recognizes the shot of Young Logie. He -sends for Carmichael, and learning that the prisoner was set free in -virtue of a royal token, says, You will make his place good tomorrow. -Carmichael hurries to Margaret, and wants a word with Logie. Margaret, -with a laugh, tells him that the bird is flown. The young pair severally -take ship and are married. - -In #B#, the queen, instead of referring Margaret to the king as the only -resource, herself undertakes to save the young man’s life. She asks it -of her consort as her first boon; the king makes her the same answer -which he gives Margaret in #A#, All the gold in Scotland will not buy -mercy. Margaret, in desperation, wishes to kill herself, but the queen -will put her in a better way to save her lover. The queen steals the -prison-keys, and the story proceeds as before. The king threatens to -hang all his gaolers, to the number of thirty and three. The gaolers -plead that they received the keys (which are also thirty and three) with -a strict command to enlarge the prisoner. The queen says that, if the -gaolers are to hang, a beginning must be made with her. - -#B# substitutes Ochiltrie for Logie. Andrew Stewart, Lord of Ochiltrie, -was an active partisan of Bothwell (see the preceding ballad), and at a -council-meeting on May 2, 1594 (the same meeting at which a caution of -three hundred merks was required for Young Logie), was ordered to be -denounced rebel for not appearing to answer touching his “tressounable -attemptattis”; that is, for having been Bothwell’s main helper in the -Raid of Leith, April 3 preceding.[297] So far his case resembles Young -Logie’s, and it may be that the two became confounded in tradition -earlier than the middle of the eighteenth century, about which time #B# -was taken down. But an interchange of names is of the commonest -occurrence in traditional ballads, and perhaps Ochiltrie’s appearance -here no more requires to be accounted for than his figuring, as he does, -in one of the versions of ‘The Broom of Cowdenknows.’ - -Although the queen had no hand in the freeing of Young Logie, and is not -known even to have winked at it, she stood by Mistress Margaret, and -refused to give her up when requested.[298] - -#C# agrees with #B# as to the part taken by the queen in the rescue. -There are but three keepers, and presumably but three keys to steal from -under the king’s head, and the queen sends her wedding-ring with the -keys, as a warrant to the keepers. In 5, Anne is queen of England as -well as queen of Scotland; but we cannot expect that a stall-ballad of -this century should be nice about a matter of eleven years. - -The offence for which Young Logie is to die in #D# is the stealing of a -kiss “from the queen’s marie,” which shows a high appreciation of the -discipline at James’s court. The queen counterfeits the king’s hand and -steals his right glove, and sends the forged paper and the glove to -“Pitcairn’s walls” as authority for the liberation of the prisoner. The -king, looking over his castle-wall, sees Young Logie approaching, and -his exclamation at the sight brings the queen to an instantaneous -confession of what she has done. The king very good-naturedly overlooks -the offence and absolves the lover for whom it was committed. - - -Translated from Motherwell by Wolff, Halle der Völker, I, 73. - - - A - - Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, III, 128, “as recited by a gentleman - residing near Biggar.” - - 1 - I will sing, if ye will hearken, - If ye will hearken unto me; - The king has taen a poor prisoner, - The wanton laird o Young Logie. - - 2 - Young Logie’s laid in Edinburgh chapel, - Carmichael’s the keeper o the key; - And May Margaret’s lamenting sair, - A’ for the love of Young Logie. - - 3 - ‘Lament, lament na, May Margaret, - And of your weeping let me be; - For ye maun to the king himsell, - To seek the life of Young Logie.’ - - 4 - May Margaret has kilted her green cleiding, - And she has curld back her yellow hair: - ‘If I canna get Young Logie’s life, - Farewell to Scotland for evermair!’ - - 5 - When she came before the king, - She knelit lowly on her knee: - ‘O what’s the matter, May Margaret? - And what needs a’ this courtesie?’ - - 6 - ‘A boon, a boon, my noble liege, - A boon, a boon, I beg o thee, - And the first boon that I come to crave - Is to grant me the life of Young Logie.’ - - 7 - ‘O na, O na, May Margaret, - Forsooth, and so it mauna be; - For a’ the gowd o fair Scotland - Shall not save the life of Young Logie.’ - - 8 - But she has stown the king’s redding-kaim, - Likewise the queen her wedding knife, - And sent the tokens to Carmichael, - To cause Young Logie get his life. - - 9 - She sent him a purse o the red gowd, - Another o the white monie; - She sent him a pistol for each hand, - And bade him shoot when he gat free. - - 10 - When he came to the Tolbooth stair, - There he let his volley flee; - It made the king in his chamber start, - Een in the bed where he might be. - - 11 - ‘Gae out, gae out, my merrymen a’, - And bid Carmichael come speak to me; - For I’ll lay my life the pledge o that - That yon’s the shot o Young Logie.’ - - 12 - When Carmichael came before the king, - He fell low down upon his knee; - The very first word that the king spake - Was, Where’s the laird of Young Logie? - - 13 - Carmichael turnd him round about, - I wot the tear blinded his ee: - ‘There came a token frae your Grace - Has taen away the laird frae me.’ - - 14 - ‘Hast thou playd me that, Carmichael? - And hast thou playd me that?’ quoth he; - ‘The morn the Justice Court’s to stand, - And Logie’s place ye maun supplie.’ - - 15 - Carmichael’s awa to Margaret’s bower, - Even as fast as he may dree: - ‘O if Young Logie be within, - Tell him to come and speak with me.’ - - 16 - May Margaret turnd her round about, - I wot a loud laugh laughed she: - ‘The egg is chippd, the bird is flown, - Ye’ll see nae mair of Young Logie.’ - - 17 - The tane is shipped at the pier of Leith, - The tother at the Queen’s Ferrie, - And she’s gotten a father to her bairn, - The wanton laird of Young Logie. - - - B - - Herd, The Ancient and Modern Scots Songs, 1769, p. 240. - - 1 - O listen, gude peopell, to my tale, - Listen to what I tel to thee; - The king has taiken a poor prisoner, - The wanton laird of Ochiltrie. - - 2 - When news came to our guidly queen, - Sche sicht, and said right mournfullie, - ‘O what will cum of Lady Margret! - Wha beirs sick luve to Ochiltrie.’ - - 3 - Lady Margret tore hir yellow hair - When as the queen tald hir the saim: - ‘I wis that I had neir bin born, - Nor neir had knawn Ochiltrie’s naim!’ - - 4 - ‘Fie, na!’ quoth the queen, ‘that maunna be; - Fie, na! that maunna be; - I’ll fynd ye out a better way - To saif the lyfe of Ochiltrie.’ - - 5 - The queen sche trippit up the stair, - And lowlie knielt upon hir knie: - ‘The first boon which I cum to craive - Is the life of gentel Ochiltrie.’ - - 6 - ‘O iff you had askd me castels or towirs, - I wad hae gin thaim, twa or thrie; - Bot a’ the monie in fair Scotland - Winna buy the lyfe of Ochiltrie.’ - - 7 - The queen sche trippit down the stair, - And down she gade richt mournfullie: - ‘It’s a’ the monie in fair Scotland - Winna buy the lyfe of Ochiltrie!’ - - 8 - Lady Margaret tore her yellow hair - When as the queen tald hir the saim: - ‘I’ll tak a knife and end my lyfe, - And be in the grave as soon as him!’ - - 9 - ‘Ah, na! Fie, na!’ quoth the queen, - ‘Fie, na! Fie, na! this maunna be; - I’ll set ye on a better way - To loose and set Ochiltrie frie.’ - - 10 - The queen sche slippit up the stair, - And sche gaid up richt privatlie, - And sche has stoun the prison-keys, - And gane and set Ochiltrie frie. - - 11 - And sche’s gien him a purse of gowd, - And another of whyt monie; - Sche’s gien him twa pistoles by ’s syde, - Saying to him, Shute, when ye win frie. - - 12 - And when he cam to the queen’s window, - Whaten a joyfou shute gae he! - ‘Peace be to our royal queen, - And peace be in hir companie!’ - - 13 - ‘O whaten a voyce is that?’ quoth the king, - ‘Whaten a voyce is that?’ quoth he; - ‘Whaten a voyce is that?’ quoth the king; - ‘I think it’s the voyce of Ochiltrie. - - 14 - ‘Call to me a’ my gaolours, - Call thaim by thirtie and by thrie; - Whairfoir the morn, at twelve a clock, - It’s hangit schall they ilk ane be.’ - - 15 - ‘O didna ye send your keyis to us? - Ye sent thaim be thirtie and be thrie, - And wi thaim sent a strait command - To set at lairge young Ochiltrie.’ - - 16 - ‘Ah, na! Fie, na!’ quoth the queen, - ‘Fie, my dear luve, this maunna be! - And iff ye’re gawn to hang thaim a’, - Indeed ye maun begin wi me.’ - - 17 - The tane was schippit at the pier of Leith, - The ither at the Queen’s Ferrie, - And now the lady has gotten hir luve, - The winsom laird of Ochiltrie. - - - C - - A stall-copy, printed by M. Randall, Stirling. - - 1 - The young laird of Logie is to prison cast; - Carmichael’s the keeper of the key; - Lady Margaret, the queen’s cousin, is very sick, - And it’s all for love of Young Logie. - - 2 - She’s into the queen’s chamber gone, - She has kneeld low down on her knee; - Says she, You must go to the king yourself; - It’s all for a pardon to Young Logie. - - 3 - The queen is unto the king’s chamber gone, - She has kneeld low down on her knee: - ‘O what is the matter, my gracious queen? - And what means all this courtesie? - - 4 - ‘Have I not made thee queen of fair Scotland? - The queen of England I trow thou be; - Have not I made thee my wedded wife? - Then what needs all this courtesie?’ - - 5 - ‘You have made me queen of [fair] Scotland, - The queen of England I surely be; - Since you have made me your wedded wife, - Will you grant a pardon for Young Logie?’ - - 6 - The king he turned him right round about, - I think an angry man was he: - ‘The morrow, before it is twelve o’clock, - O hangd shall the laird of Logie be.’ - - 7 - The queen she’s into her chamber gone, - Amongst her maries, so frank and free; - ‘You may weep, you may weep, Margaret,’ she says, - ‘For hanged must the laird of Logie be.’ - - 8 - She has torn her silken scarf and hood, - And so has she her yellow hair: - ‘Now fare you well, both king and queen, - And adieu to Scotland for ever mair!’ - - 9 - She has put off her goun of silk, - And so has she her gay clothing: - ‘Go fetch me a knife, and I’ll kill myself, - Since the laird of Logie is not mine.’ - - 10 - Then out bespoke our gracious queen, - And she spoke words most tenderlie; - ‘Now hold your hand, Lady Margaret,’ she said, - ‘And I’ll try to set Young Logie free.’ - - 11 - She’s up into the king’s chamber gone, - And among his nobles so free; - ‘Hold away, hold away!’ says our gracious king, - ‘No more of your pardons for Young Logie. - - 12 - ‘Had you but askd me for houses and land, - I would have given you castles three; - Or anything else shall be at your command, - But only a pardon for Young Logie.’ - - 13 - ‘Hold your hand now, my sovereign liege, - And of your anger let it be; - For the innocent blood of Lady Margret - It will rest on the head of thee and me.’ - - 14 - The king and queen are gone to their bed, - But as he was sleeping so quietly, - She has stole the keys from below his head, - And has sent to set Young Logie free. - - 15 - Young Logie he’s on horseback got, - Of chains and fetters he’s got free; - As he passd by the king’s window, - There he has fired vollies three. - - 16 - The king he awakend out of his sleep, - Out of his bed came hastilie; - Says, I’ll lay all my lands and rents - That yonder’s the laird of Logie free.’ - - 17 - The king has sent to the prison strong, - He has calld for his keepers three; - Says, How does all your prisoners? - And how does the young laird of Logie? - - 18 - ‘Your Majesty sent me your wedding-ring, - With your high command to set him free;’ - ‘Then tomorrow, before that I eat or drink, - I surely will hang you keepers three.’ - - 19 - Then out bespoke our gracious queen, - And she spoke words most tenderlie; - ‘If ever you begin to hang a man for this, - Your Majesty must begin with me.’ - - 20 - The one took shipping at [the pier of] Leith, - The other at the Queen’s Ferrie; - Lady Margaret has gotten the man she loves, - I mean the young laird of Logie. - - - D - - Harris MS., fol. 16; from Mrs Harris’s recitation. - - 1 - Pretty is the story I hae to tell, - Pretty is the praisin o itsel, - An pretty is the prisner oor king’s tane, - The rantin young laird o Logie. - - 2 - Has he brunt? or has he slain? - Or has he done any injurie? - Oh no, no, he’s done nothing at all, - But stown a kiss frae the queen’s marie. - - 3 - Ladie Margaret cam doon the stair, - Wringin her hands an tearin her hair; - Cryin, Oh, that ever I to Scotland cam, - Aye to see Young Logie dee! - - 4 - ‘Had your tongue noo, Lady Margaret, - An a’ your weepin lat a bee! - For I’ll gae to the king my sell, - An plead for life to Young Logie.’ - - 5 - ‘First whan I to Scotland cam, - You promised to gie me askens three; - The first then o these askens is - Life for the young laird o Logie.’ - - 6 - ‘If you had asked house or lands, - They suld hae been at your command; - But the morn, ere I taste meat or drink, - High hanged sall Young Logie be.’ - - 7 - Lady Margaret cam doon the stair, - Wringin her hands an tearin her hair; - Cryin, Oh, that ever I to Scotland cam, - A’ to see Young Logie dee! - - 8 - ‘Haud your tongue noo, Lady Margaret, - An a’ your weepin lat a bee! - For I’ll counterfiet the king’s hand-write, - An steal frae him his richt hand gloe, - An send them to Pitcairn’s wa’s, - A’ to lat Young Logie free.’ - - 9 - She counterfieted the king’s hand-write, - An stole frae him his richt hand gloe, - An sent them to Pitcairn’s wa’s, - A’ to let Young Logie free. - - 10 - The king luikit owre his castle-wa, - Was luikin to see what he cald see: - ‘My life to wad an my land to pawn, - Yonder comes the young laird o Logie!’ - - 11 - ‘Pardon, oh pardon! my lord the king, - Aye I pray you pardon me; - For I counterfieted your hand-write, - An stole frae you your richt hand gloe, - An sent them to Pitcairn’s wa’s, - A’ to set Young Logie free.’ - - 12 - ‘If this had been done by laird or lord, - Or by baron of high degree, - I’se mak it sure, upon my word, - His life suld hae gane for Young Logie. - - 13 - ‘But since it is my gracious queen, - A hearty pardon we will gie, - An for her sake we’ll free the loon, - The rantin young laird o Logie.’ - - - E - - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 56, the third stanza; from recitation. - - May Margaret sits in the queen’s bouir, - Knicking her fingers ane be ane, - Cursing the day that she ere was born, - Or that she ere heard o Logie’s name. - - * * * * * - - #B.# - - 6^1. and towirs _in ed._ 1776. - - Qu _in_ what, etc., _is rendered by_ w, _and_ z _in_ ze, _etc., - by_ y. - -#C.# - - _Maidment’s copy has some slight variations, such as often occur - in different issues of stall-prints._ - - 1^3. very very. - - 1^4. the love. - - 3^1. into. - - 4^2. you be. - - 6^4. It’s hanged. - - 7^1. her own. - - 7^2. and so free. - - 7^3. Lady Margret. - - 8^1. tore. - - 8^2, 9^2. she has. - - 8^3. ye. - - 11^1. up to. - - 14^2. beds. - - 18^2. commands. - - 19^3. you do hang. - - 20^1. at the pier of. - -#D.# - - 2^1. _Perhaps_ brent. - - 6^1. _Perhaps_ houses. - - 10^2. _Perhaps_ culd. - - - - - 183 - - WILLIE MACINTOSH - - #A.# ‘Burning of Auchindown.’ #a.# The Thistle of Scotland, p. 106. b. - Whitelaw, The Book of Scottish Ballads, p. 248. - - #B.# ‘Willie Mackintosh,’ Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 89. - - -The murder of the “Bonny Earl of Murray” was the occasion of serious -commotions in the North Highlands. Towards the end of the year 1592, the -Macintoshes of the Clan Chattan, who of all the faction of Murray “most -eagerly endeavored to revenge his death,” invaded the estates of the -Earl of Huntly, and killed four gentlemen of the surname of Gordon. -Huntly retaliated, “and rade into Pettie (which was then in the -possession of the Clan Chattan), where he wasted and spoiled all the -Clan Chattan’s lands, and killed divers of them. But as the Earl of -Huntly had returned home from Pettie, he was advertised that William -Macintosh with eight hundred of Clan Chattan were spoiling his lands of -Cabrach: whereupon Huntly and his uncle Sir Patrick Gordon of -Auchindown, with some few horsemen, made speed towards the enemy, -desiring the rest of his company to follow him with all possible -diligence, knowing that if once he were within sight of them they would -desist from spoiling the country. Huntly overtook the Clan Chattan -before they left the bounds of Cabrach, upon the head of a hill called -Stapliegate, where, without staying for the rest of his men, he invaded -them with these few he then had. After a sharp conflict he overthrew -them, chased them, killed sixty of their ablest men, and hurt William -Macintosh with divers others of his company.”[299] - -Two William Macintoshes are confounded in the ballad. The burning of -Auchindown is attributed, rightly or wrongly, to an earlier William, -captain of the clan, who, in August, 1550, was formally convicted of -conspiracy against the life of the Earl of Huntly, then lieutenant in -the north, sentenced to lose his life and lands, and, despite a pledge -to the contrary, executed shortly after by the Countess of Huntly.[300] - -Auchindown castle is on the banks of the Fiddich, #B# 1. By Cairn Croom, -#A# 4, is meant, I suppose, the noted Cairngorm mountain, at the -southern extremity of Banffshire. - - - A - - #a.# The Thistle of Scotland, p. 106, 1823. #b.# Whitelaw, The Book - of Scottish Ballads, p. 248; from an Aberdeen newspaper of about - 1815. - - 1 - ‘Turn, Willie Macintosh, - Turn, I bid you; - Gin ye burn Auchindown, - Huntly will head you.’ - - 2 - ‘Head me or hang me, - That canna fley me; - I’ll burn Auchendown, - Ere the life lea me.’ - - 3 - Coming down Deeside, - In a clear morning, - Auchindown was in flame, - Ere the cock-crawing. - - 4 - But coming oer Cairn Croom, - And looking down, man, - I saw Willie Macintosh - Burn Auchindown, man. - - 5 - ‘Bonny Willie Macintosh, - Whare left ye your men?’ - ‘I left them in the Stapler, - But they’ll never come hame.’ - - 6 - ‘Bonny Willie Macintosh, - Whare now is your men?’ - ‘I left them in the Stapler, - Sleeping in their sheen.’ - - - B - - Finlay’s Scottish Ballads, II, 89, 1808, as recollected by a lady - and communicated by Walter Scott. - - 1 - As I came in by Fiddich-side, - In a May morning, - I met Willie Mackintosh, - An hour before the dawning. - - 2 - ‘Turn again, turn again, - Turn again, I bid ye; - If ye burn Auchindown, - Huntly he will head ye.’ - - 3 - ‘Head me, hang me, - That sall never fear me; - I’ll burn Auchindown - Before the life leaves me.’ - - 4 - As I came in by Auchindown, - In a May morning, - Auchindown was in a bleeze, - An hour before the dawning. - - * * * * * - - 5 - Crawing, crawing, - For my crowse crawing, - I lost the best feather i my wing - For my crowse crawing. - - * * * * * - -#A. b.# - - 1^2. Turn, turn. - - 1^3. If you. - - 2^2. That winna. - - 3 _wanting._ - - 4^1. But _wanting_. - - _After_ 4: - Light was the mirk hour - At the day-dawing, - For Auchindoun was in flames - Ere the cock-crawing. - - 5, 6 _wanting._ - - - - - 184 - - THE LADS OF WAMPHRAY - - Glenriddell MSS, XI, 34, 1791. - - -‘Lads of Wamphray, ane old ballad, sometimes called The Galiard,’ is the -superscription in the manuscript. Printed in Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 208, -1802, II, 148, 1833; with the omission of 4 and 36, the insertion of -four verses after 8, two transpositions, and some changes of language. - -“The following song celebrates the skirmish, in 1593, betwixt the -Johnstones and Crichtons, which led to the revival of the ancient -quarrel betwixt Johnstone and Maxwell, and finally to the battle of -Dryffe Sands, in which the latter lost his life. Wamphray is the name of -a parish in Annandale. Lethenhall was the abode of Johnstone of -Wamphray, and continued to be so till of late years. William Johnstone -of Wamphray, called the Galliard, was a noted freebooter. A place near -the head of Teviotdale retains the name of the Galliard’s Faulds -(folds), being a valley, where he used to secrete and divide his spoil -with his Liddesdale and Eskdale associates. His _nom de guerre_ seems to -have been derived from the dance called the galliard. The word is still -used in Scotland to express an active, gay, dissipated character. Willie -of the Kirkhill, nephew to the Galliard, and his avenger, was also a -noted Border robber.” - -“Leverhay, Stefenbiggen, Girth-head, etc., are all situated in the -parish of Wamphray. The Biddes-burn, where the skirmish took place -betwixt the Johnstones and their pursuers, is a rivulet which takes its -course among the mountains on the confines of Nithesdale and Annandale. -The Wellpath is a pass by which the Johnstones were retreating to their -fastnesses in Annandale. Ricklaw-holm is a place upon the Evan water, -which falls into the Annan below Moffat. Wamphray-gate was in these days -an alehouse.” Scott’s Minstrelsy, I, 208 ff., ed. 1802. - -This affair is briefly noticed in the Historie of King James the Sext in -the following terms: “Sum unbrydlit men of Johnestons ... hapnit to ryd -a steiling in the moneth of Julij this present yeir of God 1593, in the -lands and territoreis pertening to the Lord Sanquhar and the knyghtis of -Drumlanryg, Lag and Closburne, upon the watter of Nyth; whare, attoure -the great reaf and spulye that thay tuik away with violent hand, thay -slew and mutilat a great nomber of men wha stude for defence of thair -awin geir and to reskew the same from the hands of sik vicious -revers.”[301] P. 297. - -It is hard to determine whether the first eight stanzas of the ballad -are anything more than a prelude, and whether 5, 7 note the customary -practice of the Lads of Wamphray, or anticipate, as is done in 3, -certain points in the story which follows. The gap after 8 is filled by -Scott with verses which describe the Galliard as incapable of keeping -his hands from another man’s horse, and as having gone to Nithsdale to -steal Sim Crichton’s dun. The Galliard makes an unlucky selection from -the Crichton stable, and takes a blind horse instead of the coveted dun. -Under the impression that he has the right beast, he calls out to Sim to -come out and see a Johnstone ride. The Crichtons mount for pursuit; the -Galliard sees that they will be up with him, and tries to hide behind a -willow-bush. Resistance is vain, for there is no other man by but Will -of Kirkhill; entreaties and promises are bootless; the Crichtons hang -the Galliard high. Will of Kirkhill vows to avenge his uncle’s death, -and to this end goes back to Wamphray and raises a large band of riders, -who proceed to Nithsdale and drive off the Crichtons’ cattle. On the -return the Johnstones are followed or intercepted by the Crichtons; a -fight ensues, and the Crichtons suffer severely. Will of Kirkhill boasts -that he has killed a man for every finger of the Galliard. The -Johnstones drive the Crichtons’ nout to Wamphray.[302] - - -There is a story, not sufficiently authenticated, that Lord Maxwell, -while engaged in single combat with Johnstone, at the battle of -Dryfesands, “was slain behind his back by the cowardly hands of Will of -Kirkhill.” The New Statistical Account of Scotland, IV, 148, note[B]. - - - 1 - Twixt the Girthhead and Langwood-end - Livd the Galiard and Galiard’s men. - - 2 - It is the lads of Lethenha, - The greatest rogues among them a’. - - 3 - It is the lads of Leverhay, - That drove the Crichtons’ gier away. - - 4 - It is the lads o the Kirkhill, - The gay Galiard and Will o Kirkhill, - - 5 - But and the lads o Stefenbiggin, - They broke the house in at the riggin. - - 6 - The lads o Fingland and Hellbackhill, - They were neer for good, but aye for ill. - - 7 - Twixt the Staywood Bass and Langside Hill, - They stelld the broked cow and branded bull. - - 8 - It is the lads o the Girthhead, - The diel’s in them for pride and greed. - - 9 - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . - - 10 - The Galiard is to the stable gane; - Instead of the Dun, the Blind he’s taen. - - 11 - ‘Come out now, Simmy o the Side, - Come out and see a Johnston ride! - - 12 - ‘Here’s the boniest horse in a’Nithside, - And a gentle Johnston aboon his hide.’ - - 13 - Simmy Crichton’s mounted then, - And Crichtons has raised mony a ane. - - 14 - The Galiard thought his horse had been fleet, - But they did outstrip him quite out o sight. - - 15 - As soon as the Galiard the Crichton he saw, - Beyond the saugh-bush he did draw. - - 16 - The Crichtons there the Galiard hae taen, - And nane wi him but Willy alane. - - 17 - ‘O Simmy, Simmy, now let me gang, - And I vow I’ll neer do a Crichton wrang! - - 18 - ‘O Simmy, Simmy, now let me be, - And a peck o goud I’ll gie to thee! - - 19 - ‘O Simmy, Simmy, let me gang, - And my wife shall heap it wi her hand!’ - - 20 - But the Crichtons wadna let Willy bee, - But they hanged him high upon a tree. - - 21 - O think then Will he was right wae, - When he saw his uncle guided sae. - - 22 - ‘But if ever I live Wamphray to see, - My uncle’s death revenged shall be!’ - - 23 - Back to Wamphray Willy’s gane, - And riders has raised mony a ane. - - 24 - Saying, My lads, if ye’ll be true, - Ye’s a’be clad in the noble blue. - - 25 - Back to Nidsdale they are gane, - And away the Crichtons’ nout they hae taen. - - 26 - As they came out at the Wallpath-head, - The Crichtons bad them light and lead. - - 27 - And when they came to the Biddess-burn, - The Crichtons bad them stand and turn. - - 28 - And when they came to the Biddess-strand, - The Crichtons they were hard at hand. - - 29 - But when they cam to the Biddess-law, - The Johnstons bad them stand and draw. - - 30 - Out then spake then Willy Kirkhill: - ‘Of fighting, lads, ye’s hae your fill.’ - - 31 - Then off his horse Willy he lap, - And a burnishd brand in his hand he took. - - 32 - And through the Crichtons Willy he ran, - And dang them down both horse and man. - - 33 - O but these lads were wondrous rude, - When the Biddess-burn ran three days blood! - - 34 - ‘I think, my lads, we’ve done a noble deed; - We have revengd the Galiard’s blood. - - 35 - ‘For every finger o the Galiard’s hand, - I vow this day I’ve killed a man.’ - - 36 - And hame for Wamphray they are gane, - And away the Crichtons’ nout they’ve taen. - - 37 - ‘Sin we’ve done na hurt, nor we’ll take na wrang, - But back to Wamphray we will gang.’ - - 38 - As they came in at Evanhead, - At Reaklaw-holm they spred abread. - - 39 - ‘Drive on, my lads, it will be late; - We’ll have a pint at Wamphray Gate. - - 40 - ‘For where eer I gang, or eer I ride, - The lads o Wamphr[a]y’s on my side. - - 41 - ‘For of a’the lads that I do ken, - The lads o Wamphr[a]y’s king o men.’ - - * * * * * - - _Not divided into stanzas in the MS. Scott makes stanzas of four - lines._ - - 3^1. Leuerhay. - - _After 8 Scott inserts_: - - For the Galliard, and the gay Galliard’s men, - They neer saw a horse but they made it their ain. - - The Galliard to Nithside is gane, - To steal Sim Crichton’s winsome dun. - - 20^1. let Willy bee, _in the text_: or the Galiard, _in the - margin_. - - 21^1. _In the margin_: Will of Kirkhill. - - 38^2. Breaklaw: _changed in the MS. to_ Reaklaw. - - - - - 185 - - DICK O THE COW - - #a.# ‘An excelent old song cald Dick of the Cow.’ Percy Papers, 1775. - #b.# Caw’s Poetical Museum, p. 22, 1784. #c.# Campbell, Albyn’s - Anthology, II, 31, 1818. - - -#a# seems to have been communicated to Percy by Roger Halt in 1775. #b# -was contributed to Caw’s Museum by John Elliot of Reidheugh, a -gentleman, says Scott, well skilled in the antiquities of the western -border. #c# was taken down “from the singing and recitation of a -Liddesdale-man, namely, Robert Shortreed, sheriff-substitute of -Roxburghshire, in the autumn of 1816;” but it differs from #b# in no -important respect except the omission of thirteen stanzas, 17, 18, 24, -32, 35–38, 51, 52, 56–58. - -Scott’s copy, I, 137, 1802, II, 63, 1833, is #c# with the deficient -stanzas supplied from #b#. A copy in the Campbell MSS, I, 204, is #b#. - -Ritson pointed out to Scott a passage in Nashe’s Have with you to -Saffren Walden which shows that this ballad was popular before the end -of the sixteenth century: “Dick of the Cow, that mad demi-lance northren -borderer, who plaied his prizes with the lord Jockey so bravely,” 1596, -in Grosart’s Nashe, III, 6. - -An allusion to it likewise occurs in Parrot’s Laquei Ridiculosi, or -Springes for Woodcocks, London, 1613, Epigr. 76. - - Owenus wondreth, since he came to Wales, - What the description of this isle should be, - That nere had seen but mountains, hills, and dales; - Yet would he boast, and stand on pedigree - From Rice ap Richard, sprung from Dick a Cow; - Be cod, was right gud gentleman, look ye now! - - Scott’s Minstrelsy, II, 62, 1833. - -In a list of books printed for and sold by P. Brooksby, 1688, occurs -Dick-a-the-Cow, containing north-country songs: Ritson, in Scott’s -Minstrelsy, I, 223, 1833. - -Two stanzas are cited in Pennant’s Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the -Hebrides in 1772, Part II, p. 276, ed. 1776. - - Then Johnie Armstrong to Willie gan say, - ‘Billie, a riding then will we; - England and us have been long at feud; - Perhaps we may hit on some bootie.’ - - Then they’re come on to Hutton-Ha; - They rade that proper place about; - But the laird he was the wiser man, - For he had left na geir without. - -Fair Johnie Armstrong[303] and Willie his brother, having lain long in, -ride out on the chance of some booty. They come to Hutton Hall, but find -no gear left without by the experienced laird, except six sheep, which -they scorn to take. Johnie asks Willie who the man was that they last -met, and learning that it was Dick o the Cow, a fool whom he knows to -have three as good kine as are in Cumberland, says, These kine shall go -with me to Liddesdale. They carry off Dick’s three kine, and also three -coverlets from his wife’s bed. When daylight reveals the theft, Dick’s -wife raises a wail; he bids her be still, he will bring her three cows -for one. Dick goes to his master and makes his loss known, and asks -leave to go to Liddesdale to steal; his troth is required that he will -steal from none but those who have stolen from him. Dickie goes on to -Puddingburn, where there are three and thirty Armstrongs, and complains -to the Laird’s Jock of the wrong which Fair Johnie Armstrong and Willie -have done him. Fair Johnie is for hanging Dick, Willie for slaying him, -and another young man for tossing him in a sheet, beating him, and -letting him go. The Laird’s Jock, who is a better fellow than the rest, -tells Dick that if he will sit down he shall have a bit of his own cow. -Dick observes that a key has been flung over the doorhead by lads who -have come in late. With this key he opens the stable where are the -Armstrongs’ three and thirty horses. He ties all but three with a triple -knot,[304] leaps on one, takes another in his hand, and makes off. Fair -Johnie discovers in the morning that his own horse and Willie’s have -been stolen, borrows the Laird’s-Jock’s, which Dick (for improvement of -the story) happens not to have tied, arms himself, and sets out in -pursuit. Overtaking Dick on Canoby lee, Johnie sends a spear at him, -which only pierces the innocent’s jerkin. Dick turns on Johnie, and has -the good fortune to fell him with the pommel of his sword. He strips -Johnie of armor and sword, takes the third horse, and goes home to his -master, who threatens to hang him for his thieving. The fool plants -himself upon the terms his master had made with him: he had stolen from -none but those that had stolen from him. His having the Laird Jock’s -horse requires explanation; but Dick is able to give such satisfaction -on that point that his master offers twenty pound and one of his best -milk-kye for the horse. Dick exacts and gets thirty, and makes the same -bargain with his master’s brother for Fair Johnie Armstrong’s horse. So -he goes back to his wife, and gives her threescore pound for her three -coverlets, two kye as good as her three, and has the third horse over -and above. But Dick sees that he cannot safely remain on the border -after this reprisal upon the Armstrongs, and removes to Burgh (Brough) -under Stainmoor, in the extreme south of Cumberland.[305] - -Henry Lord Scroop of Bolton was warden of the West Marches for thirty -years from 1563, and his son Thomas for the next ten years, down to the -union of the crowns. Which of the two is intended in this ballad might -be settled beyond question by identifying my lord’s brother, Ralph -Scroop, Bailif Glazenberrie, or Glozenburrie, st. 54 f.; but the former -is altogether more probable. - -The Laird’s Jock, in the opinion of Mr R. B. Armstrong, was a son of -Thomas of Mangerton, the elder brother of Gilnockie. There are notices -of him from 1569 to 1599. In 1569 Archibald Armstrong of Mangerton -declined to be pledge for John Armstrong, called the Lardis Jok, Reg. P. -Council; in 1599 he and other principal Armstrongs executed a bond,[306] -and he is mentioned (in what fashion will presently appear) at various -intermediate dates. - -Jock, the Laird’s son, an Armstrong of Liddesdale, had a brother called -John,[307] MS. General Register House, 1569. (He is not called Fair John -in any document besides the ballad.) In a later MS. there is an entry of -the marriage of John Armstrong, called the Lord’s John. John Armstrong, -son to the laird of Mangerton, is witness to two bonds in which John of -the Syde is a party, in 1562, 1563: R. B. Armstrong, History of -Liddesdale, etc., Appendix, pp. ciii, civ. In a London MS. the Lord’s -John is said to have been executed. - -The Laird’s Jock, his father the laird of Mangerton, Sim’s Thom, and -their accomplices, are complained of in November, 1582, by Sir Simon -Musgrave for burning of his barns, wheat, etc., worth £1,000 sterling: -Nicolson and Burn, History of Westmoreland and Cumberland, I, xxxi. The -commendation of the Laird’s Jock’s honesty in st. 47, as Scott says, -seems but indifferently founded; “for in July, 1586, a bill was fouled -against him, Dick of Dryup, and others, by the deputy of Bewcastle, at a -warden-meeting, for four hundred head of cattle taken in open foray from -the Drysike in Bewcastle; and in September, 1587, another complaint -appears, at the instance of one Andrew Rutledge of the Nook, against the -Laird’s Jock and his accomplices, for fifty kine and oxen, besides -furniture to the amount of one hundred merks sterling:” Nicolson and -Burn, as above. To be sure, we find the laird of Mangerton, on the next -page, making complaints of the same kind against various persons, but it -is to be feared that the Laird’s Jock, at least, did not keep to the -innocent’s golden rule, ‘to steal frae nane but them that sta from -thee.’ Sir Richard Maitland gives him his character: - - Thay spuilye puire men of thair pakis, - Thay leife tham nocht on bed nor bakis; - Baith henne and cok, - With reill and rok, - The Lairdis Jok all with him takis. (MS.) - -Hutton Hall, 3, being more than twenty miles from the border, seems -remote for the Armstrongs’ first _reconnaissance_, and it is no wonder -that Fair Johnie stickled at driving six sheep to such a distance. We -might ask how Dick, who evidently lives near Carlisle (for, besides -other reasons, he is intimately acquainted with the Armstrongs), should -have been met so far from home. - -Harribie, 14, mentioned also in ‘Kinmont Willie,’ was the place of -execution at Carlisle. - -Puddingburn House, 16, according to Chambers, Scottish Ballads, p. 48, -was a strong place on the side of the Tinnis Hill, about three miles -westward from the Syde (and therefore a very little further from the -house of Mangerton), of which the ruins now serve for a sheepfold. A MS. -cited by Mr R. B. Armstrong says: “Joke Armestronge, called the Lord’s -Joke, dwelleth under Denys Hill besides Kyrsoppe in Tenisborne;” and in -another MS. the Lord Jock of Tennesborne is stated to have lived a mile -west from Kersopp-foote. The name Puddingburn has not been found on any -map.[308] - -Cannobei, 34, is on the east of the Esk, just above its juncture with -the Liddel. Mattan, 52, 58 (Morton in #b#), is perhaps the small town a -few miles east of Whitehaven. There were cattle-fairs at Arlochden, -which is very nigh, in the early part of this century: Lysons, -Cumberland, p. 10. - -The Cow in Dick’s name can have no reference to his cattle, for then his -style would have been Dick o the Kye. Cow may possibly denote the hut in -which he lived; or bush, or broom. - - -Translated by Knortz, Schottische Balladen, No 15, p. 42. - - - 1 - Now Liddisdale has lain long in, - Fa la - There is no rideing there a ta; - Fa la - Their horse is growing so lidder and fatt - That are lazie in the sta. - Fa la la didle - - 2 - Then Johnë Armstrang to Willie can say, - Billie, a rideing then will we; - England and us has been long at a feed; - Perhaps we may hitt of some bootie. - - 3 - Then they’r comd on to Hutton Hall, - They rade that proper place about; - But the laird he was the wiser man, - For he had left nae gear without. - - 4 - Then he had left nae gear to steal, - Except six sheep upon a lee; - Says Johnie, I’de rather in England die - Before their six sheep good to Liddisdale with me. - - 5 - ‘But how cald they the man we last w_i_t_h_ mett, - Billie, as we came over the know?’ - ‘That same he is an innocent fool, - And some men calls him Dick o the Cow.’ - - 6 - ‘That fool has three as good kyne of his own - As is in a’ Cumberland, billíe,’ quoth he: - ‘Betide my life, betide my death, - These three kyne shal go to Liddisdaile with me.’ - - 7 - Then they’re comd on to the poor fool’s house, - And they have broken his wals so wide; - They have loosd out Dick o the Cow’s kyne three, - And tane three coerlets off his wife’s bed. - - 8 - Then on the morn, when the day grew light, - The shouts and crys rose loud and high: - ‘Hold thy tongue, my wife,’ he says, - ‘And of thy crying let me bee. - - 9 - ‘Hald thy tongue, my wife,’ he says, - ‘And of thy crying let me bee, - And ay that where thou wants a kow, - Good sooth that I shal bring the three.’ - - 10 - Then Dick’s comd on to lord and master, - And I wate a drerie fool [was] he: - ‘Hald thy tongue, my fool,’ he says, - ‘For I may not stand to jest with thee.’ - - 11 - ‘Shame speed a your jesting, my lord,’ quo Dickie, - ‘For nae such jesting grees with me; - Liddesdaile has been in my house th_i_s last night, - And they have tane my three kyne from me. - - 12 - ‘But I may nae langer in Cumberland dwel, - To be your poor fool and your leel, - Unless ye give me leave, my lord, - To go to Liddisdale and steal.’ - - 13 - ‘To give thee leave, my fool,’ he says, - ‘Thou speaks against mine honour and me; - Unless thou give me thy trouth and thy right hand - Thou’l steal frae nane but them th_a_t sta from thee.’ - - 14 - ‘There is my trouth and my right hand; - My head shal hing on Hairibie, - I’le never crose Carlele sands again, - If I steal frae a man but them th_a_t sta frae me.’ - - 15 - Dickie has tane leave at lord and master, - And I wate a merrie fool was he; - He has bought a bridle and a pair of new spurs, - And has packed them up in his breek-thigh. - - 16 - Then Dickie’s come on for Puddinburn, - Even as fast as he may drie; - Dickie’s come on for Puddinburn, - Where there was thirty Armstrongs and three. - - 17 - ‘What’s this comd on me!’ quo Dickë, - ‘What meakle wae’s th_i_s happend on me,’ quo he, - ‘Where here is but ae innocent fool, - And there is thirty Armstrongs and three!’ - - 18 - Yet he’s comd up to the hall among th_e_m all; - So wel he became his courtisie: - ‘Well may ye be, my good Laird’s Jock! - But the deil bless all your companie. - - 19 - ‘I’m come to plain of your man Fair Johnie Armstrong, - And syne his billie Willie,’ quo he; - ‘How they have been in my house th_i_s last night, - And they have tane my three ky frae me.’ - - 20 - Quo Johnie Armstrong, We’ll him hang; - ‘Nay,’ thain quo Willie, ‘we’ll him slae;’ - But up bespake another young man, We’le nit him in a four-nooked - sheet, - Give him his burden of batts, and lett him gae. - - 21 - Then up bespake the good Laird’s Jock, - The best falla in the companie: - Fitt thy way down a little while, Dickë, - And a peice of thine own cow’s hough I’l give to thee. - - 22 - But Dicki’s heart it grew so great - That never a bitt of it he dought to eat; - But Dickie was warr of ane auld peat-house, - Where there al the night he thought for to sleep. - - 23 - Then Dickie was warr of that auld peat-house, - Where there al the night he thought for to ly; - And a’the prayers the poor fool prayd was, - ‘I wish I had a mense for my own three kye!’ - - 24 - Then it was the use of Puddinburn, - And the house of Mangertoun, all haile! - These that came not at the first call - They gott no more meat till the next meall. - - 25 - The lads, that hungry and aevery was, - Above the door-head they flang the key; - Dickie took good notice to that; - Says, There’s a bootie younder for me. - - 26 - Then Dickie’s gane into the stable, - Where there stood thirty horse and three; - He has ty’d them a’with St Mary knot, - All these horse but barely three. - - 27 - He has ty’d them a’with St Mary knott, - All these horse but barely three; - He has loupen on one, taken another in his hand, - And out at the door and gane is Dickie. - - 28 - Then on the morn, when the day grew light, - The shouts and cryes rose loud and high; - ‘What’s that theife?’ quo the good Laird’s Jock; - ‘Tel me the truth and the verity. - - 29 - ‘What’s that theife?’ quo the good Laird’s Jock; - ‘See unto me ye do not lie:’ - ‘Dick o the Cow has been in the stable this last night, - And has my brother’s horse and mine frae me.’ - - 30 - ‘Ye wad never be teld it,’ quo the Laird’s Jock; - ‘Have ye not found my tales fu leel? - Ye wade never out of England bide, - Till crooked and blind and a’wad steal.’ - - 31 - ‘But will thou lend me thy bay?’ Fair Johnë Armstrong can say, - ‘There’s nae mae horse loose in the stable but he; - And I’le either bring ye Dick o the Kow again, - Or the day is come that he must die.’ - - 32 - ‘To lend thee my bay,’ the Laird’s Jock can say, - ‘He’s both worth gold and good monie; - Dick o the Kow has away twa horse, - I wish no thou should no make him three.’ - - 33 - He has tane the Laird’s jack on his back, - The twa-handed sword th_a_t hang lieugh by his thigh; - He has tane the steel cap on his head, - And on is he to follow Dickie. - - 34 - Then Dickie was not a mile off the town, - I wate a mile but barely three, - Till John Armstrang has oertane Dick o the Kow, - Hand for hand on Cannobei lee. - - 35 - ‘Abide th[e], bide now, Dickie than, - The day is come that thow must die;’ - Dickie looked oer his left shoulder; - ‘Johnie, has thow any mo in thy company? - - 36 - ‘There is a preacher in owr chapell, - And a’the lee-lang day teaches he; - When day is gane, and night is come, - There’s never a word I mark but three. - - 37 - ‘The first and second’s Faith and Conscience; - The third is, Johnie, Take head of thee; - But what faith and conscience had thow, traitor, - When thou took my three kye frae me? - - 38 - ‘And when thou had tane my three kye, - Thou thought in thy heart thou was no wel sped; - But thou sent thi billie Willie oer the know, - And he took three coerlets of my wife’s bed.’ - - 39 - Then Johne lett a spear fa leaugh by his thigh, - Thought well to run the innocent through; - But the powers above was more than his, - He ran but the poor fool’s jerkin through. - - 40 - Together they ran or ever they blan— - This was Dickie, the fool, and hee— - Dickie could not win to him w_i_t_h_ the blade of the sword, - But he feld [him] with the plummet under the eye. - - 41 - Now Dickie has [feld] Fair Johnë Armstrong, - The prettiest man in the south countrey; - ‘Gramercie,’ then can Dickie say, - ‘I had twa horse, thou has made me three.’ - - 42 - He has tane the laird’s jack off his back, - The twa-handed sword th_a_t hang leiugh by his thigh; - He has tane the steel cape off his head: - ‘Johnie, I’le tel my master I met with thee.’ - - 43 - When Johnë wakend out of his dream, - I wate a dreiry man was he: - ‘Is thou gane now, Dickie, than? - The shame gae in thy company! - - 44 - ‘Is thou gane now, Dickie, than? - The shame go in thy companie! - For if I should live this hundred year, - I shal never fight with a fool after thee.’ - - 45 - Then Dickie comed home to lord and master, - Even as fast as he may driee: - ‘Now Dickie, I shal neither eat meat nor drink - Till high hanged that thou shall be!’ - - 46 - ‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dickie, - ‘That was no the promise ye made to me; - For I’d never gane to Liddesdale to steal - Till that I sought my leave at thee.’ - - 47 - ‘But what gart thow steal the Laird’s-Jock’s horse? - And, limmer, what gart thou steal him?’ quo he; - ‘For lang might thow in Cumberland dwelt - Or the Laird’s Jock had stoln ought frae thee.’ - - 48 - ‘Indeed I wate ye leed, my lord, - And even so loud as I hear ye lie; - I wan him frae his man, Fair Johnë Armstrong, - Hand for hand on Cannobie lee. - - 49 - ‘There’s the jack was on his back, - The twa-handed sword that hung lewgh by his thigh; - There’s the steel cap was on his head; - I have a’these takens to lett you see.’ - - 50 - ‘If that be true thou to me tels— - I trow thou dare not tel a lie— - I’le give thee twenty pound for the good horse, - Wel teld in thy cloke-lap shall be. - - 51 - ‘And I’le give thee one of my best milk-kye, - To maintain thy wife and children three; - [And that may be as good, I think, - As ony twa o thine might be.’] - - 52 - ‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dicke, - ‘Trow ye ay to make a fool of me? - I’le either have thirty pound for the good horse, - Or els he’s gae to Mattan fair wi me:’ - - 53 - Then he has given him thirty pound for the good horse, - All in gold and good monie; - He has given him one of his best milk-kye, - To maintain his wife and children three. - - 54 - Then Dickie’s come down through Carlile town, - Even as fast as he may drie: - The first of men that he with mett - Was my lord’s brother, Bailife Glazenberrie. - - 55 - ‘Well may ye be, my good Ralph Scrupe!’ - ‘Welcome, my brother’s fool!’ quo he; - ‘Where did thou gett Fair Johnie Armstrong’s horse?’ - ‘Where did I get him but steall him,’ quo he. - - 56 - ‘But will thou sell me Fair Johnie Armstrongś horse? - And, billie, will thou sel him to me?’ quo he: - ‘Ay, and tel me the monie on my cloke-lap, - For there’s not one fathing I’le trust thee.’ - - 57 - ‘I’le give thee fifteen pound for the good horse, - Wel teld on thy cloke-lap shal be; - And I’le give [thee] one of my best milk-kye, - To maintain thy wife and thy children three.’ - - 58 - ‘The shame speed the liars, my lord!’ quo Dickë, - ‘Trow ye ay to make a fool of me?’ quo he: - ‘I’le either have thirty pound for the good horse, - Or else he’s to Mattan Fair with me.’ - - 59 - He has given him thirty pound for the good horse, - All in gold and good monie; - He has given him one of his best milk-kye, - To maintain his wife and children three. - - 60 - Then Dickie lap a loup on high, - And I wate a loud laughter leugh he: - ‘I wish the neck of the third horse were browken, - For I have a better of my own, and onie better can be.’ - - 61 - Then Dickie comd hame to his wife again; - Judge ye how the poor fool he sped; - He has given her three score of English pounds - For the three auld coerlets was tane of her bed. - - 62 - ‘Hae, take thee there twa as good kye, - I trow, as al thy three might be; - And yet here is a white-footed naigg; - I think he’le carry booth thee and me. - - 63 - ‘But I may no langer in Cumberland dwell; - The Armstrongs the’le hang me high:’ - But Dickie has tane leave at lord and master, - And Burgh under Stanemuir there dwels Dickie. - - * * * * * - -#a.# - - 4^4. _Over_ good _is written_ went. - - 10^2. I wats: _cf._ 15^2, 34^2, 43^2. - - 21^3. Fitt: _Caw_, Sit. _I take_ fitt _in the sense of_ fettle. - - 23^4. a mense. - - 38^3. Sent y^e. - - 47^2. steal the Laird Jock horse _erroneously repeated from the - line above: corrected from Caw_. - - 51^{3,4} _wanting: supplied from #b#._ - - 55^1. Srcupe. - - 62^2. _for_ thy, thyee, _corrected from_ three. - -#b.# - - _Burden, after the first and fourth line_, Fala, fala, fala, - faliddle. - - 1^3. horses are grown sae lidder fat. - - 1^4. They downa stur out o the sta. - - 2^2. then we’ll gae. - - 2^4. Ablins we’ll hit on. - - 3^2. rade the. - - 4^3. Quo J. - - 4^4. Ere thir: gae. - - 5^1. with _wanting_. - - 5^4. men ca. - - 6^{1,4}, 11^4, 19^4. ky. - - 6^2. As there’s. - - 6^3. me _for_ my, _twice_. - - 7^3. three ky. - - 8^1. day was. - - 8^3, 9^1. O had. - - 9^4. In good sooth I’ll. - - 10^1. on for ’s. - - 10^2. was he. - - 10^3. Now had. - - 11^3. this _wanting_. - - 13^1. I gi. - - 13^2. speakest: my. - - 13^3. right _wanting_. - - 13^4. but wha sta frae. - - 14^2. hang. - - 14^4. but wha sta. - - 16^2. might. - - 16^3. Now Dickie’s. - - 16^4. were. - - 17^1. O what’s this comd o me now. - - 18^2. Sae weil’s. - - 19^2. o his. - - 19^3. the last. - - 20^3, 21^1. up and. - - 20^3. We’ll nit him in a four-nooked sheet _wanting_. - - 20^4. We’ll gie im his batts. - - 21^2. in a’the. - - 21^3. Sit thy ways: Dickie. - - 21^4. thy: gi thee. - - 22^3. Then Dickie. - - 22^4, 23^2. there _wanting_. - - 23^1. o an auld. - - 23^3. was _wanting_. - - 23^4. a mense. - - 24^3. came na. - - 24^4. t’the. - - 25^1. weary _for_ aevery: were. - - 25^2. Aboon: hang _for_ flang. - - 25^3. Dickie he. - - 26^1. Then D. into the stable is gane. - - 26^2, 27^2. horses. - - 26^3, 27^1. Mary’s. - - 27^3. tane: his _wanting_. - - 28^3, 29^1. O where’s. - - 29^2. dinna. - - 29^3. Dickie’s been: this _wanting_. - - 30^1. it _wanting_. - - 31^1. But lend me thy bay, Johnie. - - 31^2. mae _wanting_. - - 31^3. ye _wanting_. - - 31^4. he shall. - - 32^2. worth baith. - - 32^4. na thou may make. - - 33^2. lieugh _wanting_. - - 33^4. he gane. - - 34^1. was na. - - 34^3. Till he’s oertane by Johnie A. - - 35^1. Abide, abide. - - 35^2. maun die. - - 35^3. Then _wanting_. - - 35^4. thy _wanting_. - - 36^4. neer ae. - - 37^2. third, neer let a traitor free. - - 37^3. But Johnie: hadst: traitor _wanting_. - - 38^1. tane away. - - 38^3. But sent thy. - - 39^2. to hae slain the innocent, I trow. - - 39^3. were mair than he. - - 39^4. For he. - - 40^4. But feld ’im. - - 41^1. has feld. - - 42^2. leiugh _wanting_. - - 43^1. Johnie. - - 43^3, 44^1. And is. - - 44^3. years. - - 44^4. I neer shall. - - 45^1. come. - - 45^3. I’ll neither eat nor. - - 45^4. hanged thou shalt. - - 46^4. Till I had got my. - - 47^2. gard thou steal him, quo he. - - 47^4. Ere: stawn frae. - - 48^3. Johnie. - - 49^3. And there’s. - - 49^4. let thee. - - 50^2. dare na. - - 50^3, 52^3, 53^1, 57^1, 58^3, 59^1. punds. - - 51^{3,4}. And that may be as good, I think, As ony twa o thine - might be. - - 52^4. els _wanting_: Mortan. - - 53^1. He’s gien. - - 54^1. Dickie came. - - 54^2. he might. - - 54^3. met with. - - 54^4. Glozenburrie. - - 56^{1,2}. wilt. - - 56^4. no ae fardin. - - 57^3. gi thee. - - 57^4. thy _wanting_. - - 58^4. Or he’s gae: Mortan. - - 60^1. fu hie. - - 60^2. laugh laughed. - - 60^4. if better can be. - - 61^1. Dickie’s. - - 61^2. fool sped. - - 62^1. these _for_ there. - - 62^3. a _accidentally wanting_: nagie. - - 63^1. bide _for_ dwell. - - 63^4. dwells he. - - _Simple Scotticisms and ordinary contractions have generally not - been noted._ - -#c.# - - _Reading of #b# are not repeated._ - - _Burden: after the first and the second verse_, Lal de ral, - _thrice_, la lal de; _at the end of the stanza_: - Lal lal de ridle la di, fal lal de ridle la di, - Fal lal di lal la, fal lal di ridle la. - - 2^1. Fair Johnie. - - 2^2. riding we will. - - 2^3. have been: at feid. - - 2^4. we’ll light. - - 3^1. they are come. - - 3^2. that proper, _as_ #a#. - - 4^1. For he. - - 5^1. ca. - - 5^4. And men they call. - - 6^2. there are. - - 7^1. they have come. - - 7^4. frae his. - - 8^2. rase. - - 9^2. ay where thou hast lost ae. - - 9^4. suith I shall. - - 10^1. Now Dickie’s gane to the gude Lord Scroop. - - 11^1. Shame fa your. - - 11^4. hae awa. - - 12^3. you. - - 13^4. Thou’lt. - - 15^1. leave o. - - 15^2. And _wanting_. - - 16^1. on to Pudding-burn house. - - 16^3. Then: on to. - - 17, 18 _wanting._ - - 19^3. house last. - - 20^1. Ha quo fair. - - 20^2. then _wanting_. - - 20^3. Then up and spak: young Armstrang. - - 21^1. But up and spak. - - 21^3. down thy ways. - - 21^4. gie ye. - - 22^2. the neer. - - 22^3. Then was he aware. - - 23^4. Were I: amends: my gude. - - 24 _wanting._ - - 25^2. they threw. - - 25^3. o that. - - 25^4. There will be a bootie for. - - 26^1. has into the stable gane. - - 27^4. And away as fast as he can hie. - - 28^1. But. - - 28^2. raise. - - 28^3. Ah, whae has done this. - - 29^1. Whae has done this deed. - - 29^2. See that to me. - - 29^4. has taen. - - 31^1. But lend me thy bay, Fair Johnie can say. - - 31^2. save he. - - 31^3. either fetch. - - 32 _wanting._ - - 33^2. A: to hang by. - - 33^3. a _for_ the. - - 33^4. And galloped on to. - - 34^1. Then _wanting_: frae aff. - - 34^3. When he was: Fair J. A. - - 35–38 _wanting._ - - 39^1. fu _for_ fa: _misprint?_ - - 40^3. at him. - - 41^1. Thus. - - 41^4. hast. - - 42^1. the steil-jack aff Johnie’s back. - - 42^2. hang low. - - 43^4. The shame and dule is left wi me. - - 44^2. The deil. - - 44^3. these h. years. - - 45^1. hame to the good Lord Scroop. - - 45^2. he might hie. - - 46^4. Had I not got my leave frae. - - 47^1. garrd thee. - - 47^2. garrd ye. - - 47^3. thou mightst. - - 48^3. wan the horse frae Fair. - - 48^4. Hand to. - - 49^2. This: sword hang. - - 49^4. brought a’. - - 50^2. And I think thou dares. - - 50^3. fifteen pounds for the horse. - - 50^4. on thy. - - 51, 52 _wanting._ - - 53^1. twenty pounds. - - 54^2. could drie. - - 55^1. Well be ye met. - - 55^3. didst. - - 56, 57, 58 _wanting._ - - 59^1. twenty punds. - - 59^2. Baith in. - - 60^4. If ony of the twa were better than he. - - 61^1. Dickie’s come. - - 61^2. had sped. - - 61^3. twa score. - - 61^4. was _wanting_. - - 62^1. And tak. - - 63^2. they would. - - 63^3. So D. - - 63^4. And at. - - - - - 186 - - KINMONT WILLIE - - Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, I, 111, 1802; II, 32, 1833. - - -This ballad celebrates a bold and masterly exploit of Sir Walter Scott -of Branxholm, laird of Buccleuch, which is narrated as follows by a -contemporary, Archbishop Spotiswood:[309] - -“The Lord Scroop being then Warden of the West-Marches of England, and -the Laird of Bacleugh having the charge of Lidisdale, they sent their -deputies to keep a day of truce for redress of some ordinary matters. -The place of meeting was at the Dayholme of Kershop, where a small brook -divideth England from Scotland, and Lidisdale from Bawcastle. There met, -as deputy for the Laird of Bacleugh, Robert Scott of Hayninge, and for -the Lord Scroop, a gentleman within the West-Wardenry called Mr Salkeld. -These two, after truce taken and proclaimed, as the custom was, by sound -of trumpet, met friendly, and, upon mutual redress of such wrongs as -were then complained of, parted in good terms, each of them taking his -way homewards. Meanwhile it happened one William Armstrong, commonly -called Will of Kinmouth, to be in company with the Scottish deputy; -against whom the English had a quarrel for many wrongs he had committed, -as he was indeed a notorious thief. This man having taken his leave of -the Scots deputy, and riding down the river of Liddell on the Scottish -side, towards his own house, was pursued by the English that espied him -from the other side of the river, and after a chase of three or four -miles taken prisoner, and brought back to the English deputy, who -carried him away to the castle of Carlile. - -“The Laird of Bacleugh complaining of the breach of truce (which was -always taken from the time of meeting unto the next day at sun-rising) -wrote to Mr Salkeld and craved redress. He excused himself by the -absence of the Lord Scroop. Whereupon Bacleugh sent to the Lord Scroop, -and desired the prisoner might be set at liberty, without any bond or -condition, seeing he was unlawfully taken. Scroop answered that he could -do nothing in the matter, it having so happened, without a direction -from the queen and council of England, considering the man was such a -malefactor. Bacleugh, loath to inform the king of what was done, lest it -might have bred some misliking betwixt the princes, dealt with Mr Bowes, -the resident ambassador of England, for the prisoner’s liberty: who -wrote very seriously to the Lord Scroop in that business, advising him -to set the man free, and not to bring the matter to a farther hearing. -But no answer was returned; the matter thereupon was imparted to the -king, and the queen of England solicited by letters to give direction -for his liberty; yet nothing was obtained. Which Bacleugh perceiving, -and apprehending both the king, and himself as the king’s officer, to be -touched in honor, he resolved to work the prisoner’s relief by the best -means he could. - -“And upon intelligence that the castle of Carlile, wherein the prisoner -was kept, was surprisable, he employed some trusty persons to take a -view of the postern-gate, and measure the height of the wall, which he -meant to scale by ladders; and if those failed, to break through the -wall with some iron instruments, and force the gates. This done so -closely as he could, he drew together some two hundred horse, assigning -the place of meeting at the tower of Morton,[310] some ten miles from -Carlile, an hour before sun-set. With this company passing the water of -Esk about the falling, two hours before day he crossed Eden beneath -Carlile bridge (the water through the rain that had fallen being thick), -and came to the Sacery [Sacray], a plain under the castle. There making -a little halt at the side of a small bourn which they call Cadage -[Caday, Caldew], he caused eighty of the company to light from their -horses, and take the ladders and other instruments which he had prepared -with them. He himself, accompanying them to the foot of the wall, caused -the ladders to be set to it; which proving too short, he gave order to -use the other instruments for opening the wall, nigh the postern, and -finding the business like to succeed, retired to the rest whom he had -left on horseback, for assuring those that entered upon the castle -against any eruption from the town. With some little labor a breach was -made for single men to enter, and they who first went in brake open the -postern for the rest. The watchmen and some few the noise awaked made a -little restraint, but they were quickly repressed and taken captive. -After which they passed to the chamber wherein the prisoner was kept, -and having brought him forth, sounded a trumpet, which was a signal to -them without that the enterprise was performed. My Lord Scroop and Mr -Salkeld were both within the house, and to them the prisoner cried a -good-night. The captives taken in the first encounter were brought to -Bacleugh, who presently returned them to their master, and would not -suffer any spoil, or booty, as they term it, to be carried away. He had -straightly forbidden to break open any door but that where the prisoner -was kept, though he might have made prey of all the goods within the -castle and taken the warden himself captive; for he would have it seen -that he did intend nothing but the reparation of his Majesty’s honor. By -this time the prisoner was brought forth, the town had taken the alarm, -the drums were beating, the bells ringing, and a beacon put on the top -of the castle to give warning to the country. Whereupon Bacleugh -commanded those that entered the castle, and the prisoner, to horse, and -marching again by the Sacery, made to the river at the Stony bank, on -the other side whereof certain were assembled to stop his passage; but -he, causing sound the trumpet, took the river, day being then broken; -and they choosing to give him way, he retired in order through the -Grahams of Esk (men at that time of great power and his unfriends) and -came back into Scottish ground two hours after sun-rising, and so -homewards. This fell out the thirteenth of April, 1596.” (History of the -Church of Scotland, 1639, in the second edition, 1666, p. 413 ff.) - -Lord Scroope, on the morning after, wrote thus to the Privy Council of -England: - -“Yesternight, in the dead time thereof, Walter Scott of Hardinge and -Walter Scott of Goldylands, the chief men about Buclughe, accompanied -with five hundred horsemen of Buclughe and Kinmont’s friends, did come, -armed and appointed with gavlocks and crows of iron, hand-picks, axes, -and scaling-ladders, unto an outward corner of the base-court of this -castle, and to the postern-door of the same, which they undermined -speedily and quickly, and made themselves possessors of the base-court, -brake into the chamber where Will of Kinmont was, carried him away, and, -in their discovery by the watch, left for dead two of the watchmen, hurt -a servant of mine, one of Kinmont’s keepers, and were issued again out -of the postern before they were descried by the watch of the inner ward, -and ere resistance could be made. The watch, as it should seem, by -reason of the stormy night, were either on sleep or gotten under some -covert to defend themselves from the violence of the weather, by means -whereof the Scots achieved their enterprise with less difficulty.... If -Buclughe himself have been thereat in person, the captain of this proud -attempt, as some of my servants tell me they heard his name called upon -(the truth whereof I shall shortly advertise) then I humbly beseech that -her Majesty may be pleased to send unto the king to call for and -effectually to press his delivery, that he may receive punishment as her -Majesty shall find that the quality of his offence shall demerit.”[311] -MS. of the State Paper Office, in Tytler’s History, IX, 436. - -Kinmont’s rapacity made his very name proverbial. “Mas James Melvine, in -urging reasons against subscribing the act of supremacy, in 1584, asks -ironically, Who shall take order with vice and wickedness? The court and -bishops? As well as Martine Elliot and Will of Kinmont with stealing -upon the borders!” Scott, Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 46. - -Accordingly, when James was taking measures for bringing the refractory -ministers and citizens of Edinburgh into some proper subjection, at the -end of the year 1596, a report that Kinmont Willie was to be let loose -upon the city caused a lively consternation; “but too well grounded,” -says Scott, “considering what had happened in Stirling ten years before, -when the Earl of Angus, attended by Home, Buccleuch, and other border -chieftains, marched thither to remove the Earl of Arran from the king’s -councils: the town was miserably pillaged by the borderers, particularly -by a party of Armstrongs, under this very Kinmont Willie, who not only -made prey of horses and cattle, but even of the very iron grating of the -windows.” Minstrelsy, II, 45. - -The ballad gives Buccleuch only forty men, and they are all of the name -of Scott except Sir Gilbert Elliot of Stobs: st. 16. A partial list of -the men who forced the castle was obtained by Lord Scroope. It includes, -as might be expected, not a few Armstrongs, and among them the laird of -Mangerton, Christy of Barngleish (son of Gilnockie), and four sons of -Kinmont Willie (he had at least seven); two Elliots, but not Sir -Gilbert; four Bells.[312] Scott of Satchells, in his History of the Name -of Scott, 1688, makes Sir Gilbert Elliot one of the party, but may have -taken this name from the ballad. (Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 43.) -Dick of Dryhope, 24, 25, was an Armstrong.[313] The ballad, again, after -cutting down Buccleuch’s men to thirty (st. 33) or forty (18, 19), -assigns the very liberal garrison of a thousand to the castle, 33; the -ladders are long enough, Buccleuch mounts the first,[314] the castle is -won, and Kinmont Willie, in his irons, is borne down the ladder on Red -Rowan’s[315] shoulders: all of which is as it should be in a ballad. And -so with the death of the fause Sakelde, though not a life seems to have -been lost in the whole course of the affair. - -“This ballad,” says Scott, “is preserved by tradition in the West -Borders, but much mangled by reciters, so that some conjectural -emendations have been absolutely necessary to render it intelligible. In -particular, the Eden has been substituted for the Esk [in 26^2], the -latter name being inconsistent with geography.” It is to be suspected -that a great deal more emendation was done than the mangling of reciters -rendered absolutely necessary. One would like, for example, to see -stanzas 10–12 and 31 in their mangled condition.[316] - -1. William Armstrong, called Will of Kinmonth, lived in Morton Tower, a -little above the Marchdike-foot. He appears, says Mr R. B. Armstrong, to -have been a son of Sandy, _alias_ Ill Will’s Sandy. Haribee is the place -of execution outside of Carlisle. 3. The Liddel-rack is a ford in that -river, which, for a few miles before it empties into the Esk, is the -boundary of England and Scotland. 8. Branxholm, or Branksome, is three -miles southwest, and Stobs, 16, some four miles southeast, of Hawick. -19. Woodhouselee was a house on the Scottish border, a little west of -the junction of the Esk and Liddel, “belonging to Buccleuch,” says -Scott. - - - 1 - O have ye na heard o the fause Sakelde? - O have ye na heard o the keen Lord Scroop? - How they hae taen bauld Kinmont Willie, - On Hairibee to hang him up? - - 2 - Had Willie had but twenty men, - But twenty men as stout as he, - Fause Sakelde had never the Kinmont taen, - Wi eight score in his companie. - - 3 - They band his legs beneath the steed, - They tied his hands behind his back; - They guarded him, fivesome on each side, - And they brought him ower the Liddel-rack. - - 4 - They led him thro the Liddel-rack, - And also thro the Carlisle sands; - They brought him to Carlisle castell, - To be at my Lord Scroope’s commands. - - 5 - ‘My hands are tied, but my tongue is free, - And whae will dare this deed avow? - Or answer by the border law? - Or answer to the bauld Buccleuch?’ - - 6 - ‘Now haud thy tongue, thou rank reiver! - There’s never a Scot shall set ye free; - Before ye cross my castle-yate, - I trow ye shall take farewell o me.’ - - 7 - ‘Fear na ye that, my lord,’ quo Willie; - ‘By the faith o my bodie, Lord Scroop,’ he said, - ‘I never yet lodged in a hostelrie - But I paid my lawing before I gaed.’ - - 8 - Now word is gane to the bauld Keeper, - In Branksome Ha where that he lay, - That Lord Scroope has taen the Kinmont Willie, - Between the hours of night and day. - - 9 - He has taen the table wi his hand, - He garrd the red wine spring on hie; - ‘Now Christ’s curse on my head,’ he said, - ‘But avenged of Lord Scroop I’ll be! - - 10 - ‘O is my basnet a widow’s curch? - Or my lance a wand of the willow-tree? - Or my arm a ladye’s lilye hand? - That an English lord should lightly me. - - 11 - ‘And have they taen him Kinmont Willie, - Against the truce of Border tide, - And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch - Is keeper here on the Scottish side? - - 12 - ‘And have they een taen him Kinmont Willie, - Withouten either dread or fear, - And forgotten that the bauld Bacleuch - Can back a steed, or shake a spear? - - 13 - ‘O were there war between the lands, - As well I wot that there is none, - I would slight Carlisle castell high, - Tho it were builded of marble-stone. - - 14 - ‘I would set that castell in a low, - And sloken it with English blood; - There’s nevir a man in Cumberland - Should ken where Carlisle castell stood. - - 15 - ‘But since nae war’s between the lands, - And there is peace, and peace should be, - I’ll neither harm English lad or lass, - And yet the Kinmont freed shall be!’ - - 16 - He has calld him forty marchmen bauld, - I trow they were of his ain name, - Except Sir Gilbert Elliot, calld - The Laird of Stobs, I mean the same. - - 17 - He has calld him forty marchmen bauld, - Were kinsmen to the bauld Buccleuch, - With spur on heel, and splent on spauld, - And gleuves of green, and feathers blue. - - 18 - There were five and five before them a’, - Wi hunting-horns and bugles bright; - And five and five came wi Buccleuch, - Like Warden’s men, arrayed for fight. - - 19 - And five and five like a mason-gang, - That carried the ladders lang and hie; - And five and five like broken men; - And so they reached the Woodhouselee. - - 20 - And as we crossd the Bateable Land, - When to the English side we held, - The first o men that we met wi, - Whae sould it be but fause Sakelde! - - 21 - ‘Where be ye gaun, ye hunters keen?’ - Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’ - ‘We go to hunt an English stag, - Has trespassd on the Scots countrie.’ - - 22 - ‘Where be ye gaun, ye marshal-men?’ - Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell me true!’ - ‘We go to catch a rank reiver, - Has broken faith wi the bauld Buccleuch.’ - - 23 - ‘Where are ye gaun, ye mason-lads, - Wi a’your ladders lang and hie?’ - ‘We gang to herry a corbie’s nest, - That wons not far frae Woodhouselee.’ - - 24 - ‘Where be ye gaun, ye broken men?’ - Quo fause Sakelde; ‘come tell to me!’ - Now Dickie of Dryhope led that band, - And the nevir a word o lear had he. - - 25 - ‘Why trespass ye on the English side? - Row-footed outlaws, stand!’ quo he; - The neer a word had Dickie to say, - Sae he thrust the lance thro his fause bodie. - - 26 - Then on we held for Carlisle toun, - And at Staneshaw-bank the Eden we crossd; - The water was great, and meikle of spait, - But the nevir a horse nor man we lost. - - 27 - And when we reachd the Staneshaw-bank, - The wind was rising loud and hie; - And there the laird garrd leave our steeds, - For fear that they should stamp and nie. - - 28 - And when we left the Staneshaw-bank, - The wind began full loud to blaw; - But ’twas wind and weet, and fire and sleet, - When we came beneath the castel-wa. - - 29 - We crept on knees, and held our breath, - Till we placed the ladders against the wa; - And sae ready was Buccleuch himsell - To mount the first before us a’. - - 30 - He has taen the watchman by the throat, - He flung him down upon the lead: - ‘Had there not been peace between our lands, - Upon the other side thou hadst gaed. - - 31 - ‘Now sound out, trumpets!’ quo Buccleuch; - ‘Let’s waken Lord Scroope right merrilie!’ - Then loud the Warden’s trumpets blew - ‘O whae dare meddle wi me?’ - - 32 - Then speedilie to wark we gaed, - And raised the slogan ane and a’, - And cut a hole thro a sheet of lead, - And so we wan to the castel-ha. - - 33 - They thought King James and a’ his men - Had won the house wi bow and speir; - It was but twenty Scots and ten - That put a thousand in sic a stear! - - 34 - Wi coulters and wi forehammers, - We garrd the bars bang merrilie, - Untill we came to the inner prison, - Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie. - - 35 - And when we cam to the lower prison, - Where Willie o Kinmont he did lie, - ‘O sleep ye, wake ye, Kinmont Willie, - Upon the morn that thou’s to die?’ - - 36 - ‘O I sleep saft, and I wake aft, - It’s lang since sleeping was fleyd frae me; - Gie my service back to my wyfe and bairns, - And a’gude fellows that speer for me.’ - - 37 - Then Red Rowan has hente him up, - The starkest men in Teviotdale: - ‘Abide, abide now, Red Rowan, - Till of my Lord Scroope I take farewell. - - 38 - ‘Farewell, farewell, my gude Lord Scroope! - My gude Lord Scroope, farewell!’ he cried; - ‘I’ll pay you for my lodging-maill - When first we meet on the border-side.’ - - 39 - Then shoulder high, with shout and cry, - We bore him down the ladder lang; - At every stride Red Rowan made, - I wot the Kinmont’s airns playd clang. - - 40 - ‘O mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie, - ‘I have ridden horse baith wild and wood; - But a rougher beast than Red Rowan - I ween my legs have neer bestrode. - - 41 - ‘And mony a time,’ quo Kinmont Willie, - ‘I’ve pricked a horse out oure the furs; - But since the day I backed a steed - I nevir wore sic cumbrous spurs.’ - - 42 - We scarce had won the Staneshaw-bank, - When a’the Carlisle bells were rung, - And a thousand men, in horse and foot, - Cam wi the keen Lord Scroope along. - - 43 - Buccleuch has turned to Eden Water, - Even where it flowd frae bank to brim, - And he has plunged in wi a’his band, - And safely swam them thro the stream. - - 44 - He turned him on the other side, - And at Lord Scroope his glove flung he: - ‘If ye like na my visit in merry England, - In fair Scotland come visit me!’ - - 45 - All sore astonished stood Lord Scroope, - He stood as still as rock of stane; - He scarcely dared to trew his eyes - When thro the water they had gane. - - 46 - ‘He is either himsell a devil frae hell, - Or else his mother a witch maun be; - I wad na have ridden that wan water - For a’the gowd in Christentie.’ - - - - - 187 - - JOCK O THE SIDE - - #A.# ‘John a Side,’ Percy MS., p. 254; Hales and Furnivall, II, 203. - - #B.# ‘Jock o the Side.’ #a.# Caw’s Poetical Museum, 1784, p. 145. #b.# - Campbell, Albyn’s Anthology, II, 28, 1818. - - #C.# ‘John o the Side,’ Percy Papers, as collected from the memory of - an old person in 1775. - - #D.# Percy Papers, fragment from recitation, 1774. - - -The copy in Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, I, 154, 1833, II, 76, is #B b#, -with the insertion of three stanzas (6, 7, 23) from #B a#. Neither -Campbell nor Scott has the last stanza of #B a#. Campbell says, in a -note to his copy: The melody and particularly the words of this -Liddesdale song were taken down by the editor from the singing and -recitation of Mr Thomas Shortreed, who learnt it from his father. As to -the words (except in the omission of four stanzas), #b# does not differ -significantly from #a#, and it may, with little hesitation, be said to -have been derived from #a#. Campbell seems to have given this copy to -Scott, who published it sixteen years before it appeared in the -Anthology, with the addition already mentioned.[317] The copy in the -Campbell MSS, I, 220, is #B a#. - -The earliest appearance of John o the Side is, perhaps, in the list of -the marauders against whom complaint was made to the Bishop of Carlisle -“presently after” Queen Mary Stuart’s departure for France; not far, -therefore, from 1550: “John of the Side (Gleed John).” - -Mr R. B. Armstrong has printed two bonds in which John Armstrong of the -Syde is a party, with others, of the date 1562 and 1563. History of -Liddesdale, etc., Appendix, pp ciii, civ, Nos LXV, LXVI. - -The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, after the failure of the -Rising in the North, fled first to Liddesdale, and thence “to one of the -Armstrongs,” in the Debateable Land. The Liddesdale men stole the -Countess of Northumberland’s horses, and the earls, continuing their -flight, left her “on foot, at John of the Syde’s house, a cottage not to -be compared to any dog-kennel in England.” At his departing, “my lord of -Westmoreland changed his coat of plate and sword with John of the Syde, -to be the more unknown:” Sussex to Cecil, December 22, 1569, printed in -Sharp’s Memorials of the Rebellion, p. 114 f. - -John is nephew to the laird of Mangerton in #B# 1, 3, 4, #C# 1, 3, and -therefore cousin to the Laird’s Jock and the Laird’s Wat:[318] but this -does not appear in #A#. - -Sir Richard Maitland commemorates both John of the Syde and the Laird’s -Jock in his verses on the thieves of Liddesdale: - - He is weill kend, Johne of Syde, - A greater theife did never ryd: - He never tyres - For to brek byres, - Our muire and myres our guid ane gyde. - - (MS., fol. 4, back, line 13.) - -An Archie Armstrang in Syde is complained of, with others, in 1596, for -burning eleven houses (Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, V, -294), and Christie of the Syde is “mentioned in the list of border -clans, 1597” (Scott). - -In Blaeu’s map of Liddesdale, “Syid” is on the right bank of the Liddel, -nearly opposite Mangerton, but a little higher up the stream. - -#A.# John a Side has been taken in a raid[319] and carried prisoner to -Newcastle. Sybill o the Side (his mother, 20) runs by the water with the -news to Mangerton, where lords and ladies are ready to sell all their -cattle and sheep for John’s ransom. But Hobby Noble says that with five -men he would fetch John back. The laird offers five thousand, but Hobby -will take only five. They will not go like men of war, but like poor -corn-dealers, and their steeds must be barefoot. When they come to -Chollerton, on the Tyne, the water is up. Hobby asks an old man the way -over the ford. The old man in threescore years and three has never seen -horse go over except a horse of tree; meaning, we may suppose, a -foot-bridge. In spite of the old man they find a way where they can -cross in pairs. In Howbram wood they cut a tree of three-and-thirty -foot, and with help of this, or without it, they climb to the top of the -castle, where John is making his farewells to his mother, the lord of -Mangerton, Much the Miller’s son, and “Lord Clough.” Hobby Noble calls -to John to say that he has come to loose him;[320] John fears that it -will not be done. Two men keep the horses, and four break the outer door -(John himself breaking five doors within) and come to the iron door. The -bell strikes twelve. Much the Miller fears they will be taken, and even -John despairs of success. Hobby is not daunted; he files down the iron -door and takes John out. John in his bolts can neither sit nor stride; -Hobby ties the chains to John’s feet, and says John rides like a bride. -As they go through Howbram town John’s horse stumbles, and Much is again -in a panic, which seems to show that John’s commendation of him in 22 -applies rather to his capacity as a thief than to his mettle. In Howbram -wood they file off John’s bolts at the feet. Now, says Hobby, leap over -a horse! and John leaps over five. They have no difficulty in fording -the Tyne on their return, and bring John home to Mangerton without -further trouble. - -It is Hobby Noble, then, that looses John in #A#, as he is said to have -done in his own ballad, st. 27; but in #B#, #C# the Laird’s Jock takes -the lead, and Hobie plays a subordinate part. The Laird’s Wat replaces -the faint-hearted Much (who, however, is again found in the fragment -#D#); Sybil of the Side becomes Downie (in #D# Dinah); the liberating -party is but three instead of six. - -The laird in #B# orders the horses to be shod the wrong way,[321] -whereas in #A# the shoes were taken off; and the party must not seem to -be gentlemen, Heaven save the mark! but look like corn-cadgers, as in -#A#. At Cholerford they cut a tree with fifteen nags, #B# 11, #C# with -fifty nags, on each side, #D# twenty snags, and three long ones on the -top; but when they come to Newcastle it proves to be too short, as the -ladders are in the historical account of the release of Kinmont Willie. -The Laird’s Jock says they must force the gate. A proud porter -withstands them; they wring his neck, and take his keys, #B# 13, 14, #C# -10 (cf. No 116, st. 65, No 119, 70, 71, and III, 95 note [86]). When -they come to the jail, they let Jock know that they mean to free him; he -is hopeless; the day is come he is to die; fifteen stone of iron (fifty, -#C#) is laid on him. Work thou within and we without, says the Laird’s -Jock. One door they open and one they break. The Laird’s Jock gets John -o the Side on his back and takes him down the stair, declining help from -Hobie. They put the prisoner on a horse, with the same jest as before; -the night is wet, as it was when Kinmont Willie was loosed, but they hie -on merrily. They had no trouble in crossing the Tyne when they were -coming, but now it is running like a sea. The old man had never seen it -so big; the Laird Wat says they are all dead men. Set the prisoner on -behind me, cries the gallant Laird’s Jock, and they all swim through. -Hardly have they won the other side when twenty Englishmen who are -pursuing them reach the river. The land-sergeant says that the water -will not ride, and calls to them to throw him the irons; they may have -the rogue. The Laird’s Jock answers that he will keep the irons to shoe -his grey mare.[322] They bring John to Liddesdale, and there they free -him of his irons, #B#. Now, John, they say, ‘the day was come thou wast -to die;’ but thou’rt as well at thy own fireside. - -In #D# 5 they cut their mares’ tails before starting, and never stop -running till they come to Hathery Haugh. Tyne is running like a sea when -they come to Chollerton, on their way to the rescue, as in #A#. They cut -their tree in Swinburn wood. When they are to re-cross the river, Much -says his mare is young and will not swim; the Laird’s Jock (?) says, -Take thou mine, and I’ll take thine. - -The ballad is one of the best in the world, and enough to make a -horse-trooper of any young borderer, had he lacked the impulse. In -deference to history, it is put after Kinmont Willie, for it may be a -free version of his story. - - - A - - Percy MS., p. 254; Hales and Furnivall, II, 203. - - * * * * * - - 1 - Peeter a Whifeild he hath slaine, - And Iohn a Side, he is tane, - And Iohn is bound both hand and foote, - And to the New-castle he is gone. - - 2 - But tydinges came to the Sybill o the Side, - By the water-side as shee rann; - Shee tooke her kirtle by the hem, - And fast shee runn to Mangerton. - - 3 - . . . . . . . . - The lord was sett downe at his meate; - When these tydings shee did him tell, - Neu_er_ a morsell might he eate. - - 4 - But lords, the wrunge their fingars white, - Ladyes did pull themselues by the haire, - Crying, Alas and weladay! - For Iohn o the Side wee shall neu_er_ see more. - - 5 - ‘But wee’le goe sell our droues of kine, - And after them our oxen sell, - And after them our troopes of sheepe, - But wee will loose him out of the New Castell.’ - - 6 - But then bespake him Hobby Noble, - And spoke these words wonderous hye; - Sayes, Giue me fiue men to my selfe, - And I’le feitch Iohn o the Side to thee. - - 7 - ‘Yea, thou’st haue fiue, Hobby Noble, - Of the best _tha_t are in this countrye; - I’le giue thee fiue thousand, Hobby Noble, - _Tha_t walke in Tyuidale trulye.’ - - 8 - ‘Nay, I’le haue but fiue,’ saies Hobby Noble, - ‘_Tha_t shall walke away w_i_th mee; - Wee will ryde like noe men of warr; - But like poore badgers wee wilbe.’ - - 9 - They stuffet vp all their baggs w_i_th straw, - And their steeds barefoot must bee; - ‘Come on, my bretheren,’ sayes Hobby Noble, - ‘Come on yo_u_r wayes, and goe w_i_th mee.’ - - 10 - And when they came to Culerton ford, - The water was vp, they cold it not goe; - And then they were ware of a good old man, - How his boy and hee were at the plowe. - - 11 - ‘But stand you still,’ sayes Hobby Noble, - ‘Stand you still heere at this shore, - And I will ryde to yonder old man, - And see w[h]ere the gate it lyes ore. - - 12 - ‘But Christ you saue, father!’ q_uo_th hee, - ‘Crist both you saue and see! - Where is the way ou_er_ this fford? - For Christ’s sake tell itt mee!’ - - 13 - ‘But I haue dwelled heere three score yeere, - Soe haue I done three score and three; - I neu_er_ sawe man nor horsse goe ore, - Except itt were a horse of tree.’ - - 14 - ‘But fare thou well, thou good old man! - The devill in hell I leave w_i_th thee, - Noe better comfort heere this night - Thow giues my bretheren heere and me.’ - - 15 - But when he came to his brether againe, - And told this tydings full of woe, - And then they found a well good gate - They might ryde ore by two and two. - - 16 - And when they were come ou_er_ the fforde, - All safe gotten att the last, - ‘Thankes be to God!’ sayes Hobby Nobble, - ‘The worst of our perill is past.’ - - 17 - And then they came into Howbrame wood, - And there then they found a tree, - And cutt itt downe then by the roote; - The lenght was thirty ffoote and three. - - 18 - And four of them did take the planke, - As light as it had beene a fflee, - And carryed itt to the New Castle, - Where as Iohn a Side did lye. - - 19 - And some did climbe vp by the walls, - And some did climbe vp by the tree, - Vntill they came vpp to the top of the castle, - Where Iohn made his moane trulye. - - 20 - He sayd, God be w_i_th thee, Sybill o the Side! - My owne mother thou art, q_uo_th hee; - If thou knew this night I were here, - A woe woman then woldest thou bee. - - 21 - And fare you well, Lo_rd_ Mangerton! - And eu_er_ I say God be w_i_th thee! - For if you knew this night I were heere, - You wold sell your land for to loose mee. - - 22 - And fare thou well, Much, Millers sonne! - Much, Millars sonne, I say; - Thou has beene better att merke midnight - Then eu_er_ thou was att noone o the day. - - 23 - And fare thou well, my good Lord Clough! - Thou art thy ffathers sonne and heire; - Thou neu_er_ saw him in all thy liffe - But w_i_th him durst thou breake a speare. - - 24 - ‘Wee are brothers childer nine or ten, - And sisters children ten or eleven. - We neu_er_ came to the feild to fight, - But the worst of us was counted a man.’ - - 25 - But then bespake him Hoby Noble, - And spake these words vnto him; - Saies, Sleepest thou, wakest thou, Iohn o the Side, - Or art thou this castle w_i_thin? - - 26 - ‘But who is there,’ q_uo_th Iohn oth Side, - ‘_Tha_t knowes my name soe right and free?’ - ‘I am a bastard-brother of thine; - This night I am comen for to loose thee.’ - - 27 - ‘Now nay, now nay,’ q_uo_th Iohn o the Side; - ‘Itt ffeares me sore _tha_t will not bee; - Ffor a pecke of gold and silver,’ Iohn sayd, - ‘In faith this night will not loose mee.’ - - 28 - But then bespake him Hobby Noble, - And till his brother thus sayd hee; - Sayes, Four shall take this matter in hand, - And two shall tent our geldings ffree. - - 29 - Four did breake one dore w_i_thout, - Then Iohn brake fiue himsell; - But when they came to the iron dore, - It smote twelue vpon the bell. - - 30 - ‘Itt ffeares me sore,’ sayd Much, the Miller, - ‘_Tha_t heere taken wee all shalbee;’ - ‘But goe away, bretheren,’ sayd Iohn a Side, - ‘For eu_er_ alas! this will not bee.’ - - 31 - ‘But ffye vpon thee!’ sayd Hobby Noble; - ‘Much, the Miller, fye vpon thee! - ‘It sore feares me,’ said Hobby Noble, - ‘Man _tha_t thou wilt neu_er_ bee.’ - - 32 - But then he had Fflanders files two or three, - And hee fyled downe _tha_t iron dore, - And tooke Iohn out of the New Castle, - And sayd, Looke thou neu_er_ come heere more! - - 33 - When he had him fforth of the New Castle, - ‘Away w_i_th me, Iohn, thou shalt ryde:’ - But eu_er_ alas! itt cold not bee; - For Iohn cold neither sitt nor stryde. - - 34 - But then he had sheets two or three, - And bound Iohns boults fast to his ffeete, - And sett him on a well good steede, - Himselfe on another by him seete. - - 35 - Then Hobby Noble smiled and loug[h]e, - And spoke these worde in mickle pryde: - Thou sitts soe finely on thy geldinge - _Tha_t, Iohn, thou rydes like a bryde. - - 36 - And when they came thorrow Howbrame towne, - Iohns horsse there stumbled at a stone; - ‘Out and alas!’ cryed Much, the Miller, - ‘Iohn, thou’le make vs all be tane.’ - - 37 - ‘But fye vpon thee!’ saies Hobby Noble, - ‘Much, the Millar, fye on thee! - I know full well,’ sayes Hobby Noble, - ‘Man _tha_t thou wilt neu_er_ bee.’ - - 38 - And when the came into Howbrame wood, - He had Fflanders files two or three - To file Iohns bolts beside his ffeete, - _Tha_t hee might ryde more easilye. - - 39 - Sayes, ‘Iohn, now leape ou_er_ a steede!’ - And Iohn then hee lope ou_er_ fiue: - ‘I know well,’ sayes Hobby Noble, - ‘Iohn, thy ffellow is not aliue.’ - - 40 - Then he brought him home to Mangerton; - The lo_rd_ then he was att his meate; - But when Iohn o the Side he there did see, - For faine hee cold noe more eate. - - 41 - He sayes, Blest be thou, Hobby Noble, - _Tha_t euer thou wast man borne! - Thou hast feitched vs home good Iohn oth Side, - _Tha_t was now cleane ffrom vs gone. - - - B - - #a.# Caw’s Poetical Museum, 1784, p. 145; “from an old manuscript - copy.” #b.# Campbell’s Albyn’s Anthology, II, 28; “taken down from - the recitation of Mr Thomas Shortreed,” of Jedburgh, “who learnt it - from his father.” - - 1 - ‘Now Liddisdale has ridden a raid, - But I wat they had better staid at hame; - For Mitchel o Winfield he is dead, - And my son Johnie is prisner tane.’ - With my fa ding diddle, la la dow diddle. - - 2 - For Mangerton House auld Downie is gane; - Her coats she has kilted up to her knee, - And down the water wi speed she rins, - While tears in spaits fa fast frae her eie. - - 3 - Then up and bespake the lord Mangerton: - ‘What news, what news, sister Downie, to me?’ - ‘Bad news, bad news, my lord Mangerton; - Mitchel is killd, and tane they hae my son Johnie.’ - - 4 - ‘Neer fear, sister Downie,’ quo Mangerton; - ‘I hae yokes of oxen four and twentie, - My barns, my byres, and my faulds, a’weel filld, - And I’ll part wi them a’ere Johnie shall die. - - 5 - ‘Three men I’ll take to set him free, - Weel harnessd a’wi best o steel; - The English rogues may hear, and drie - The weight o their braid swords to feel. - - 6 - ‘The Laird’s Jock ane, the Laird’s Wat twa, - Oh, Hobie Noble, thou ane maun be; - Thy coat is blue, thou has been true, - Since England banishd thee, to me.’ - - 7 - Now Hobie was an English man, - In Bewcastle-dale was bred and born; - But his misdeeds they were sae great, - They banishd him neer to return. - - 8 - Lord Mangerton them orders gave, - ‘Your horses the wrang way maun a’ be shod; - Like gentlemen ye must not seem, - But look like corn-caugers gawn ae road. - - 9 - ‘Your armour gude ye maunna shaw, - Nor ance appear like men o weir; - As country lads be all arrayd, - Wi branks and brecham on ilk mare.’ - - 10 - Sae now a’their horses are shod the wrang way, - And Hobie has mounted his grey sae fine, - Jock his lively bay, Wat’s on his white horse behind, - And on they rode for the water o Tyne. - - 11 - At the Choler-ford they a’light down, - And there, wi the help o the light o the moon, - A tree they cut, wi fifteen naggs upo ilk side, - To climb up the wa o Newcastle town. - - 12 - But when they cam to Newcastle town, - And were alighted at the wa, - They fand their tree three ells oer laigh, - They fand their stick baith short and sma. - - 13 - Then up and spake the Laird’s ain Jock, - ‘There’s naething for’t, the gates we maun force;’ - But when they cam the gates unto, - A proud porter withstood baith men and horse. - - 14 - His neck in twa I wat they hae wrung, - Wi hand or foot he neer playd paw; - His life and his keys at anes they hae tane, - And cast his body ahind the wa. - - 15 - Now soon they reach Newcastle jail, - And to the prisner thus they call: - ‘Sleips thou, wakes thou, Jock o the Side? - Or is thou wearied o thy thrall?’ - - 16 - Jock answers thus, wi dolefu tone: - Aft, aft I wake, I seldom sleip; - But wha’s this kens my name sae weel, - And thus to hear my waes do[es] seik? - - 17 - Then up and spake the good Laird’s Jock, - ‘Neer fear ye now, my billie,’ quo he; - ‘For here’s the Laird’s Jock, the Laird’s Wat, - And Hobie Noble, come to set thee free.’ - - 18 - ‘Oh, had thy tongue, and speak nae mair, - And o thy tawk now let me be! - For if a’Liddisdale were here the night, - The morn’s the day that I maun die. - - 19 - ‘Full fifteen stane o Spanish iron - They hae laid a’right sair on me; - Wi locks and keys I am fast bound - Into this dungeon mirk and drearie.’ - - 20 - ‘Fear ye no that,’ quo the Laird’s Jock; - ‘A faint heart neer wan a fair ladie; - Work thou within, we’ll work without, - And I’ll be bound we set thee free.’ - - 21 - The first strong dore that they came at, - They loosed it without a key; - The next chaind dore that they cam at, - They gard it a’in flinders flee. - - 22 - The prisner now, upo his back, - The Laird’s Jock’s gotten up fu hie; - And down the stair him, irons and a’, - Wi nae sma speed and joy brings he. - - 23 - ‘Now, Jock, I wat,’ quo Hobie Noble, - ‘Part o the weight ye may lay on me;’ - ‘I wat weel no,’ quo the Laird’s Jock, - ‘I count him lighter than a flee.’ - - 24 - Sae out at the gates they a’ are gane, - The prisner’s set on horseback hie; - And now wi speed they’ve tane the gate, - While ilk ane jokes fu wantonlie. - - 25 - ‘O Jock, sae winsomely’s ye ride, - Wi baith your feet upo ae side! - Sae weel’s ye’re harnessd, and sae trig! - In troth ye sit like ony bride.’ - - 26 - The night, tho wat, they didna mind, - But hied them on fu mirrilie, - Until they cam to Cholerford brae, - Where the water ran like mountains hie. - - 27 - But when they came to Cholerford, - There they met with an auld man; - Says, Honest man, will the water ride? - Tell us in haste, if that ye can. - - 28 - ‘I wat weel no,’ quo the good auld man; - ‘Here I hae livd this threty yeirs and three, - And I neer yet saw the Tyne sae big, - Nor rinning ance sae like a sea.’ - - 29 Then up and spake the Laird’s saft Wat, - The greatest coward in the company; - ‘Now halt, now halt, we needna try’t; - The day is comd we a’maun die!’ - - 30 - ‘Poor faint-hearted thief!’ quo the Laird’s Jock, - ‘There’ll nae man die but he that’s fie; - I’ll lead ye a’right safely through; - Lift ye the prisner on ahint me.’ - - 31 - Sae now the water they a’hae tane, - By anes and twas they a’swam through; - ‘Here are we a’safe,’ says the Laird’s Jock, - ‘And, poor faint Wat, what think ye now?’ - - 32 - They scarce the ither side had won, - When twenty men they saw pursue; - Frae Newcastle town they had been sent, - A’English lads, right good and true. - - 33 - But when the land-sergeant the water saw, - ‘It winna ride, my lads,’ quo he; - Then out he cries, Ye the prisner may take, - But leave the irons, I pray, to me. - - 34 - ‘I wat weel no,’ cryd the Laird’s Jock, - ‘I’ll keep them a’, shoon to my mare they’ll be; - My good grey mare, for I am sure. - She’s bought them a’ fu dear frae thee.’ - - 35 - Sae now they’re away for Liddisdale, - Een as fast as they coud them hie; - The prisner’s brought to his ain fire-side, - And there o’s aims they make him free. - - 36 - ‘Now, Jock, my billie,’ quo a’the three, - ‘The day was comd thou was to die; - But thou’s as weel at thy ain fire-side, - Now sitting, I think, tween thee and me.’ - - 37 - They hae gard fill up ae punch-bowl, - And after it they maun hae anither, - And thus the night they a’hae spent, - Just as they had been brither and brither. - - - C - - Percy Papers. “The imperfect copy sent me from Keelder, as collected - from the memory of an old person by Mr William Hadley, in 1775.” - - 1 - ‘Now Liddisdale has ridden a rade, - But I wat they had a better staid at home; - For Michel of Windfield he is slain, - And my son Jonny, they have him tane.’ - With my fa dow diddle, lal la dow didle - - 2 - Now Downy’s down the water gone, - With all her cots unto her arms, - And she gave never over swift running - Untill she came to Mengertown. - - 3 - Up spack Lord Mengertown and says, - What news, what news now, sister Downy? what news hast thou to me? - ‘Bad news, bad news, Lord Mengertown, - For Michal of Windfield he is slain, and my son Jonny they have him - tain.’ - - 4 - Up speaks Lord Mengertown and says, I have four and twenty yoke of - oxen, - And four and twenty good milk-ky, - And three times as mony sheep, - And I’ll gie them a’before my son Jonny die. - - 5 - I will tak three men unto myself; - The Laird’s Jack he shall be ane, - The Laird’s Wat another, - For, Hobbie Noble, thow must be ane. - - 6 - . . . . . . . . - . . thy cot is of the blue; - For ever since thou cam to Liddisdale - To Mengertown thou hast been true. - - 7 - Now Hobbie hath mounted his frienged gray, - And the Laird’s Jack his lively bey, - And Watt with the ald horse behind, - And they are away as fast as they can ride. - - 8 - Till they are come to the Cholar foord, - And there they lighted down; - And there they cut a tree with fifty nags upo each side, - For to clim Newcastle wall. - - 9 - And when they came there . . . - It wad not reach by ellish three; - ‘There’s nothing for’t,’ says the Laird’s Jack, - ‘But forceing o New Castle gate.’ - - 10 - And when they came there, - There was a proud porter standing, - And I wat they were obliged to wring his neck in twa. - - 11 - Now they are come to New Castle gile: - Says they, Sleep thou, wakes thou, John o the Side? - - 12 - Says he, Whiles I wake, but seldom sleep; - Who is there that knows my name so well? - - 13 - Up speaks the Laird’s Jack and says, - . . . . . . . . - Here is Jack and Watt and Hobby Noble, - Come this night to set thee free. - - 14 - Up speaks John of the Side and says, - O hold thy tongue now, billy, and of thy talk now let me be; - For if a’Liddisdale were here this night, - The morn is the day that I must die. - - 15 - For their is fifty stone of Spanish iron - Laid on me fast wee lock and key, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 16 - Then up speaks the Laird’s Jack and says, - A faint heart neer wan a fair lady; - Work thou within and we without, - And this night we’el set the free. - - 17 - The first door that they came at - They lowsed without either lock or key, - . . . . . . . . - And the next they brock in flinders three. - - 18 - Till now Jack has got the prisner on his back, - And down the tolbooth stair came he; - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 19 - Up spack Hobby Noble and says, - O man, I think thou may lay some weight o the prisner upo me; - ‘I wat weel no,’ says the Laird’s Jack, - ‘For I do not count him as havy as ane poor flee.’ - - 20 - So now they have set him upo horse back, - And says, O now so winsomly as thou dost ride, - Just like a bride, wee beth thy feet - Unto a side. - - 21 - Now they are away wee him as fast as they can heye, - Till they are come to the Cholar foord brae head; - And they met an ald man, - And says, Will the water ride? - - 22 - ‘I wat well no,’ says the ald man, - ‘For I have lived here this thirty years and three, - . . . . . . . . - And I think I never saw Tyne running so like a sea.’ - - 23 - Up speaks the Laird’s Watt and says— - The greatest coward of the companie— - . . . . . . . . - ‘Now, dear billies, the day is come that we must a’die.’ - - 24 - Up speaks the Laird’s Jack and says, Poor cowardly thief, - They will never one die but him that’s fee; - . . . . . . . . - Set the prisner on behind me. - - 25 - So they have tain the water by ane and two, - Till they have got safe swumd through. - - 26 - Be they wan safe a’through, - There were twenty men pursueing them from New Castle town. - - 27 - Up speaks the land-sergant and says, - If you be gone with the rog, cast me my irons. - - 28 - ‘I wat weel no,’ says the Laird’s Jack, - ‘For I will keep them to shew my good grey mere; - . . . . . . . . - For I am sure she has bought them dear.’ - - 29 - ‘Good sooth,’ says the Laird’s Jack, - ‘The worst perel is now past.’ - - 30 - So now they have set him upo hoseback, - And away as fast as they could hye, - Till they brought him into Liddisdale, - And now they have set him down at his own fireside. - - 31 - And says, now John, - The day was come that thou was to die, - But thou is full as weel sitting at thy own fireside. - . . . . . . . . - - 32 - And now they are falln to drink, - And they drank a whole week one day after another, - And if they be not given over, - They are all drinking on yet. - - - D - - Percy Papers. “These are scraps of the old song repeated to me by Mr - Leadbeater, from the neighborhood of Hexham, 1774.” - - 1 - Liddisdaill has ridden a raid, - But they had better ha staid at hame; - For Michael a Wingfield he is slain, - And Jock o the Side they hae taen. - - 2 - Dinah’s down the water gane, - Wi a’her coats untill her knes, - . . . . . . . . - To Mangerton came she. - - 3 - . . . . . . . . . - How now? how now? What’s your will wi me? - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 4 - To the New Castle h[e] is gane. - - 5 - They have cuttin their yad’s tailes, - They’ve cut them a little abune the hough, - And they nevir gave oer s....d running - Till they came to Hathery Haugh. - - 6 - And when they came to Chollerton ford - Tyne was mair running like a sea. - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 7 - And when they came to Swinburne wood, - Quickly they ha fellen a tree; - Twenty snags on either side, - And on the top it had lang three. - - 8 - ‘My mare is young, she wul na swim,’ - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 9 - . . . . . . . - ‘Now Mudge the Miller, fie on thee! - Tak thou mine, and I’ll tak thine, - And the deel hang down thy yad and thee.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - 1^1. whifeild: _the first_ i _may be_ t: _Furnivall._ - - 6^3, 7^1, 8^1. 5. - - 7^3. 5000. - - 13^1, 13^2. 3. - - 13^4. 3: _Percy queries_, tree? - - 15^4. 2 and 2. - - 17^4. 30: 3. - - 18^1. 4. - - 19^2. by. _MS. eaten through by ink: Furnivall._ - - 20^3. knight _for_ night. - - 24^1. 9: or: 10:. - - 24^2. 10: or: 11:. _The first and the second line might be - transposed to the advantage of the rhyme._ - - 25^1. hobynoble. - - 27^4. infaith. - - 28^3. 4. - - 28^4. 2. - - 29^1. for 4. - - 29^2. 5. - - 29^4. 12. - - 32^1, 34^1, 38^2. 2 or 3. - - 39^2. 5. - -#B. a.# - - 13^2. wi’maun. - - 16^4. do seik (==dos seik). - - 34^3. grey mare, _but_ bay _in 10^3. #b# has bay in both._ - -#b.# - - _Burden after the first and the fourth line_: - Wi my fa ding diddle, lal low dow diddle. - - 1^2. hae staid. - - 1^3, 3^4. Michael. - - 1^4. And Jock o the Side. - - 2^1. Lady Downie has. - - 2^4. the _wanting_. - - 3^1. and spoke our gude auld lord. - - 3^4. and they hae taen. - - 4^2. ousen eighty and three. - - 5^1. I’ll send. - - 5^2. A’harneist wi the. - - 5^3. louns _for_ rogues. - - 6, 7 _wanting._ - - 8^1. then _for_ them. - - 8^2. maun be. - - 8^3. ye mauna. - - 8^4. the road. - - 9^1. you. - - 9^2. yet _for_ ance. - - 9^4. on each. - - 10^1. a’ _wanting_: the wrang way shod. - - 10^3. Jock’s on his. - - 11^3. nogs on each. - - 13^3. the gate untill. - - 14^1. twa the Armstrangs wrang. - - 14^2. Wi fute or hand. - - 14^4. cast the. - - 15^4. Art thou weary. - - 16^4. to mese my waes does. - - 17^1. out and. - - 17^2. Now fear ye na. - - 17^3. here are. - - 18^1. Now haud thy tongue, my gude Laird’s Jock. - - 18^2. For ever alas this canna be. - - 18^3. was. - - 19^4. dark and. - - 20^4. be sworn we’ll. - - 21^4. a’ to. - - 22^2. Jock has. - - 23 _wanting._ - - 28^2. I hae lived here threty. - - 29^1. out and. - - 29^4. come. - - 30^1. cried the Laird’s ane Jock. - - 30^2. but him. - - 30^3. I’ll guide thee. - - 31^1. Wi that: they hae. - - 31^3. quo the. - - 32^1. the other brae. - - 32^4. lads baith stout. - - 33^2. says he. - - 33^3. Then cried aloud, The prisoner take. - - 33^4. the fetters. - - 34^1. quo the. - - 34^3. bay mare. - - 34^4. She has: right dear. - - 35^1. are onto. - - 36^2. is comd. - - 36^3. ingle side. - - 36^4. twixt thee. - - 37 _wanting._ - - _Scott changes Campbell’s readings for Caw’s now and then, and Caw’s - for his own._ - -#C.# - - _Written continuously after the first stanza, and mostly without - punctuation. The end of a stanza is indicated after 3 by the - insertion of the burden. Some one, probably Percy, has attempted - to show the proper separation by marks between the lines. #B# - has been taken as a guide for the divisions here adopted._ - - 9^1. And when they came there _ends_ 8^4 _in the MS_. - - 11^2. Jnº _for_ John. - - 14^2. And of thy talk, etc., _is a line by itself in the MS._ - - 16^3. And me. - - 19^2. _Two lines in the MS._ - - 20^2. _Perhaps_ dos’. - - 20^3. Unto ℰ. - - 21^{2,3}, 24, 28. The lines are run together. - - 31. And says now John the day _continues_ 30^4 _in the MS._ - -#D.# - - 5^3. s....d, _illegible_. - - 7^1. _Perhaps_ Swinburin. - - 9^3. gang _has been changed to_ hang, _or_ hang _to_ gang: - _neither is quite intelligible_. - - 1, 2, 3 _are in the MS._ 2, 3, 1. - - - - - 188 - - ARCHIE O CAWFIELD - - #A.# ‘Archie of the Cawfield,’ communicated to Percy by Miss Fisher of - Carlisle, 1780. - - #B. a.# ‘Archie of Cafield,’[323] Glenriddell MSS, XI, 14, 1791; - Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1802, I, 177. #b.# ‘Archie of Ca’field,’ Scott’s - Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 116. - - #C.# ‘The Three Brothers,’ Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, - I, 111. - - #D.# ‘Billie Archie,’ Motherwell’s MS., p. 467, communicated by - Buchan, and by him derived from James Nicol of Strichen; - Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 335. - - #E.# Macmath MS., p. 76, fragments. - - #F.# Communicated by Mr J. M. Watson, of Clark’s Island, Plymouth - Harbor, Massachusetts. - - -#B a# was printed by Scott in the first edition of his Minstrelsy, with -the omission of stanzas 11, 13, 15^{3–6} (15^{3,4}, 16^{1,2}, of the -MS.), 17^{3,4} (18^{1,2} of the MS.), 27, 28, and with many editorial -improvements, besides Scotticising of the spelling. Of #B b#, the form -in which the ballad appears in the later edition of the Minstrelsy, the -editor says that he has been enabled to add several stanzas obtained -from recitation, of which he remarks that, “as they contrast the brutal -indifference of the elder brother with the zeal and spirit of his -associates, they add considerably to the dramatic effect of the whole.” -The new stanzas are ten, and partly displace some of #a#. None of the -omitted stanzas are restored, and the other changes previously made are -retained, except of course where new stanzas have been introduced. - -This ballad is in all the salient features a repetition of ‘Jock o the -Side,’ Halls playing the parts of Armstrongs. The Halls are several -times complained of for reif and away-taking of ky, oxen, etc., in 1579. -There is a Jok Hall of the Sykis, Jok Hall, called Paitti’s Jok, a Jokie -Hall in the Clintis, and the name Archie Hall occurs, which is, to be -sure, a matter of very slight consequence. See the Register of the Privy -Council of Scotland, III, 236 f., 354 f. Cafield is about a mile west of -Langholm, in Wauchopedale. The Armstrongs had spread into Wauchopedale -in the sixteenth century, and Jock Armstrong of the Caffeild appears in -the Registers of the Privy Council, III, 43, 85, 133, 535. I have not -found Halls of Caffeild, and hope not to do them injustice by holding -that some friend or member of that sept has substituted their name, for -the glory of the family.[324] - -From a passage in A History of Dumfries, by William Bennet, in The -Dumfries Monthly Magazine, III, 9 f., July, 1826 (kindly brought to my -attention by Mr Macmath), there appears to have been a version of this -ballad in which the Johnstones played the part of the Halls, or -Armstrongs; but against their enemies the Maxwells, not against the -public authority. A gentleman of Dumfries informed Bennet that he had -“often, in early life, listened to an interesting ballad, sung by an old -female chronicle of the town, which was founded upon the following -circumstance. In some fray between the Maxwells and Johnstones, the -former had taken the chief of the latter prisoner, and shut him up in -the jail of Dumfries, in Lochmaben gate; for in Dumfries they possessed -almost the same power as in the Stewartry of Annandale, Crichton of -Sanquhar, who was then hereditary sheriff of Nithsdale, being their -retainer. In a dark night shortly afterwards, a trusty band of the -Johnstones marched secretly into Dumfries, and, surprising the -jail-keepers, bore off their chief, manacled as he then was, and, -placing him behind one of their troopers, galloped off towards the head -of Locher, there to regain the Tinwald side and strike into the -mountains of Moffat before their enemies should have leisure to start in -pursuit. A band of the Maxwells, happening to be in town, and instantly -receiving the alarm, started in pursuit of the fugitives, and overtook -them about the dawn of morning, just as they had suddenly halted upon -the banks of the Locher, and seemed to hesitate about risking its -passage; for the stream was much swollen by a heavy rain which had -lately fallen, and seemed to threaten destruction to any who should dare -to enter it. On seeing the Maxwells, however, and reflecting upon the -comparative smallness of their own party, they plunged in, and, by -dextrous management, reached in safety the opposite bank at the moment -their pursuers drew up on the brink of that which they had left. The -Johnstones had now the decided advantage, for, had their enemies -ventured to cross, they could, while struggling against the current, -have been easily destroyed. The bloodthirsty warriors raged and shook -their weapons at each other across the stream; but the flood rolled on -as if in mockery of their threatenings, and the one party at length -galloped off in triumph, while the other was compelled to return in -disgrace.” - -There are three Halls in #A#, #B#, #C#, brothers, of whom Archie is a -prisoner, condemned to die. The actors in #D# are not said to be -brothers or Halls; the prisoner is Archie, as before. In #A#, Jock the -laird and Dickie effect the rescue, assisted by Jocky Ha, a cousin. Dick -is the leader, Jocky Ha subordinate, and Jock the laird is the -despondent and repining personage, corresponding to Much in Jock o the -Side, #A#, #D#, and to the Laird’s Wat, #B#, #C#. In #B#, Dick is the -only brother named; he and Jokie Hall from Teviotdale effect the rescue; -Jokie Hall is prominent, and Dickie has the second place; Archie the -prisoner is faint-hearted, but, properly speaking, that part is omitted. -Jokie Hall represents Hobie Noble, who is the leader in #A# of the other -ballad, as Jokie is here in #B#, and also #C#; whereas Dick is the -leader in #A#, #D# of the ballad before us, and represents the Laird’s -Jock, who is principal in #B#, #C# of the other. In #B#, #C#, only two -are concerned in breaking the jail. In #C#, Dick loses heart, or has the -place of Much; in #D#, Caff o Lin. - -In #A# 38, Jock the laird says his colt will drown him if he attempts to -cross the river; so Dick in #B# 23 (for it can be no other, though Dick -is not named) and in #C# 24, and Caff o Lin in #D# 14. They have not two -attacks of panic, as Much has in ‘Jock o the Side,’ #A#, with such -excellent effect in bringing out Hobie Noble’s steadiness. To make up -for this, however, the laird has an unheroic qualm after all is well -over, in #A# 44: the dearsome night has cost him Cawfield! It is a -fine-spirited answer that Dick makes: ‘Light o thy lands! we should not -have been three brothers.’ In one of the stanzas which Scott added in #B -b#, “coarse Ca’field,” that is, the laird again, is addressed -(inconsecutively, as the verses stand) with the like reproach: ‘Wad ye -even your lands to your born billy!’ - -Archie is prisoner at Dumfries in #A#, #B#, at Annan in #C#; in #D# no -place is mentioned. The route followed in #A# is Barnglish,[325] only -two or three miles westward, where the horseshoes are turned, 8; Bonshaw -wood, where they take counsel, 10; over the Annan at Hoddam, 12, to -Dumfries, 13; back by Bonshaw Shield, where they again take counsel, 29; -over the Annan at Annan Holm (Annan Bank?), opposite Wamphray (where the -Johnstones would be friendly), 31, to Cafield. Bonshaw Shield would have -to be somewhere between Dumfries and Annan Water; it seems to be an -erroneous repetition of the Bonshaw on the left of the Annan. - -The route in #B# is The Murraywhat, where shoes are turned, 6; Dumfries, -8; back by Lochmaben, 17; The Murraywhat, where they file off the -shackles, 18; to and across the Annan. Here we may ask why the shoes are -not changed earlier; for The Murraywhat is on the west side of the -Annan. The route in #C# is not described; there is no reason, if they -start from Cafield (see 23), why they should cross the Annan, the town -being on the eastern side. All difficulties are escaped in #D# by giving -no names. - -The New England copy, #F#, naturally enough, names no places. There are -three brothers, as in #A#, #B#, #C#, and Dickie is the leader. The -prisoner, here called Archer, gives up hope when he comes to the river; -his horse is lame and cannot swim; but horses are shifted, and he gets -over. His spirits are again dashed when he sees the sheriff in pursuit. - -#A#, 6^2, 14^2, 16^4, ‘for leugh o Liddesdale cracked he,’ is explained -by #B a#, 10^2, ‘fra the laigh of Tiviotdale was he;’ he bragged for -lower Liddesdale, was from lower Liddesdale; it seems to be a sort of -εὔχετο εἶναι. #B b# reads (that is, Scott corrects), ‘The luve of -Teviotdale was he.’ #B a#, 16^4, ‘And her girth was the gold-twist to -be,’ is unintelligible to me, and appears to be corrupt, #b# reads, And -that was her gold-twist to be, an emendation of Scott’s, gold-twist -meaning “the small gilded chains drawn across the chest of a war-horse.” -The three stanzas introduced in #B b# after 7 (the colloquy with the -smith) are indifferent modern stuff. This and something worse are #C# -14, where Johnny Ha takes the prisoner on his back and _leads_ the mare, -the refreshments in 16, 17, and the sheriff in 19–21, 28, 29. - - - A - - Communicated to Percy by Miss Fisher of Carlisle, 1780. - - 1 - Late in an evening forth as I went, - ’Twas on the dawning of the day; - I heard two brothers make their moan, - I listend well what they did say. - - 2 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . - We were three born brethren, - There[s] one of us condemnd to die. - - 3 - Then up bespake Jock the laird: - ‘If I had but a hundre men, - A hundred o th best i Christenty, - I wad go on to fair Dumfries, I wad loose - my bro_the_r and set him free.’ - - 4 - So up bespak then Dicky Ha, - He was the wisest o the three: - ‘A hundre men we’ll never get, - Neither for gold nor fee, - But some of them will us betray; - They’l neither fight for gold nor fee. - - 5 - ‘Had I but ten well-wight men, - Ten o the best i Christenty, - I w_a_d gae on to fair Dumfries, - I w_a_d loose my bro_th_er and set him free. - - 6 - ‘Jocky Ha, our cousin, ’s be the first man’ - (For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he); - ‘An ever we come till a pinch, - He’ll be as good as ony three.’ - - 7 - They mounted ten well-wight men, - Ten o the best i Christenty; - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 8 - There was horsing and horsing of haste, - And cracking o whips out oer the lee, - Till they came to fair Barngliss, - And they ca’d the smith right quietly. - - 9 - He has shod them a’ their horse, - He’s shod them siccer and honestly, - And he as turnd the cawkers backwards oer, - Where foremost they were wont to be. - - 10 - And there was horsing, horsing of haste, - And cracking of whips out oer the lee, - Until they came to the Bonshaw wood, - Where they held their council privately. - - 11 - Some says, We’ll gang the Annan road, - It is the better road, s_ai_d they; - Up bespak then Dicky Ha, - The wisest of that company. - - 12 - ‘Annan road’s a publick road, - It’s no the road that makes for me; - But we will through at Hoddam ford, - It is the better road,’ said he. - - 13 - And there was horsing, horsing o haste, - And cracking of whips out oer the lea, - Until they came to fair Dumfries, - And it was newly strucken three. - - 14 - Up bespake then Jocky Ha, - For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he: - ‘I have a mare, they ca her Meg, - She is the best i Christenty; - An ever we come till a pinch, - She’ll bring awa both thee and me.’ - - 15 - ‘But five we’ll leave to had our horse, - And five will watch, guard for to be; - Who is the man,’ said Dicky then, - ‘To the prison-door will go with me?’ - - 16 - Up bespak then Jocky Ha, - For leugh o Liddesdale cracked he: - ‘I am the man,’ said Jocky than, - ‘To the prison-door I’ll go with thee.’ - - 17 - They are up the jail-stair, - They stepped it right soberly, - Until they came to the jail-door; - They ca’d the prisoner quietly. - - 18 - ‘O sleeps thou, wakest thou, Archie, my billy? - O sleeps thou, wakes thou, dear billy?’ - ‘Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I wake; - But who’s that knows my name so well?’ [said he.] - ‘I am thy brother Dicky,’ he says; - ‘This night I’m come to borrow thee.’ - - 19 - But up bespake the prisoner then, - And O but he spake woefully! - ‘Today has been a justice-court, - . . . . . . . - And a’ Liddesdale were here the night, - The morn’s the day at I’se to die.’ - - 20 - ‘What is thy crime, Archie, my billy? - What is the crime they lay to thee?’ - ‘I brake a spear i the warden’s breast, - For saving my master’s land,’ said he. - - 21 - ‘If that be a’ the crime they lay to thee, Archie, my billy, - If that be the crime they lay to thee, - Work thou within, and me without, - And thro good strength I’ll borrow thee.’ - - 22 - ‘I cannot work, billy,’ he says, - ‘I cannot work, billy, with thee, - For fifteen stone of Spanish iron - Lyes fast to me with lock and key.’ - - 23 - When Dicky he heard that, - ‘Away, thou crabby chiel!’ cried he; - He’s taen the door aye with his foot, - And fast he followd it with his knee. - Till a’ the bolts the door hung on, - O th’ prison-floor he made them flee. - - 24 - ‘Thou’s welcome, welcome, Archy, my billy, - Thou’s aye right dear welcome to me; - There shall be straiks this day,’ he said, - ‘This day or thou be taen from me.’ - - 25 - He’s got the prisoner on o his back, - He’s gotten him irons and aw, - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 26 - Up bespake then Jocky Ha, - ‘Let some o th’ prisoner lean on me;’ - ‘The diel o there,’ quo Dicky than, - ‘He’s no the wightdom of a flea.’ - - 27 - They are on o that gray mare, - And they are on o her aw three, - And they linked the irons about her neck, - And galloped the street right wantonly. - - 28 - ‘To horse, to horse,’ then, ‘all,’ he says, - ‘Horse ye with all the might ye may, - For the jailor he will waken next; - And the prisoners had a’ wan away.’ - - 29 - There was horsing, horsing of haste, - And cracking o whips out oer the lea, - Until they came to the Bonshaw Shield; - There they held their council privately. - - 30 - Some says, ‘We’ll gang the Annan road; - It is the better road,’ said they; - But up bespak than Dicky Ha, - The wisest of that company: - - 31 - ‘Annan road’s a publick road, - It’s not the road that makes for me; - But we will through at Annan Holme, - It is the better road,’ said he; - ‘An we were in at Wamfrey Gate, - The Johnstones they will a’ help me.’ - - 32 - But Dicky lookd oer his left shoulder, - I wait a wiley look gave he; - He spied the leiutenant coming, - And a hundre men of his company. - - 33 - ‘So horse ye, horse ye, lads!’ he said, - ‘O horse ye, sure and siccerly! - For yonder is the lieuten_an_t, - With a hundred men of his company.’ - - 34 - There was horsing, horsing of haste, - And cracking o whips out oer the lea, - Until they came to Annan Holme, - And it was running like a sea. - - 35 - But up bespake the lieutenant, - Until a bonny lad said he, - ‘Who is the man,’ said the leiuten_an_t, - ‘Rides foremost of yon company?’ - - 36 - Then up bespake the bonny lad, - Until the lieuten_an_t said he, - ‘Some men do ca him Dicky Ha, - Rides foremost of yon company.’ - - 37 - ‘O haste ye, haste ye!’ said the leiuten_an_t, - ‘Pursue with a’ the might ye may! - For the man had needs to be well saint - That comes thro the hands o Dicky Ha.’ - - 38 - But up bespak Jock the laird, - ‘This has been a dearsome night to me; - I’ve a colt of four years old, - I wait he wannelld like the wind; - If ever he come to the deep, - He will plump down, leave me behind.’ - - 39 - ‘Wae light o thee and thy horse baith, Jock, - And even so thy horse and thee! - Take thou mine, and I’ll take thine, - Foul fa the warst horse i th’ company! - I’ll cast the prisoner me behind; - There’ll no man die but him that’s fee.’ - - 40 - There they’ve a’taen the flood, - And they have taen it hastily; - Dicky was the hindmost took the flood, - And foremost on the land stood he. - - 41 - Dicky’s turnd his horse about, - And he has turnd it hastilly: - ‘Come through, come thro, my lieuten_an_t, - Come thro this day, and drink wi me, - And thy dinner’s be dressd in Annan Holme, - It sall not cost thee one penny.’ - - 42 - ‘I think some witch has bore the, Dicky, - Or some devil in hell been thy daddy; - I w_ou_d not swum that wan water double-horsed, - For a’ the gold in Christenty. - - 43 - ‘But throw me thro my irons, Dicky, - I wait they cost me full dear;’ - ‘O devil be there,’ quo Jocky Hall, - ‘They’l be good shoon to my gray mare.’ - - 44 - O up bespoke then Jock the laird, - ‘This has been a dearsome night to me; - For yesternight the Cawfield was my ain, - Landsman again I neer sall be.’ - - 45 - ‘Now wae light o thee and thy lands baith, Jock, - And even so baith the land and thee! - For gear will come and gear will gang, - But three brothers again we never were to be.’ - - - B - - #a.# Glenriddell MSS, XI, 14, 1791, “an old West Border ballad.” - #b.# Scott’s Minstrelsy, 1833, II, 116. - - 1 - As I was walking mine alane, - It was by the dawning o the day, - I heard twa brothers make their maine, - And I listned well what they did say. - - 2 - The eldest to the youngest said, - ‘O dear brother, how can this be! - There was three brethren of us born, - And one of us is condemnd to die.’ - - 3 - ‘O chuse ye out a hundred men, - A hundred men in Christ[e]ndie, - And we’ll away to Dumfries town, - And set our billie Archie free.’ - - 4 - ‘A hundred men you cannot get, - Nor yet sixteen in Christendie; - For some of them will us betray, - And other some will work for fee. - - 5 - ‘But chuse ye out eleven men, - And we ourselves thirteen will be, - And we’ill away to Dumfries town, - And borrow bony billie Archie.’ - - 6 - There was horsing, horsing in haste, - And there was marching upon the lee, - Untill they came to the Murraywhat, - And they lighted a’ right speedylie. - - 7 - ‘A smith, a smith!’ Dickie he crys, - ‘A smith, a smith, right speedily, - To turn back the cakers of our horses feet! - For it is forward we woud be.’ - - 8 - There was a horsing, horsing in haste, - There was marching on the lee, - Untill they came to Dumfries port, - And there they lighted right manfulie. - - 9 - ‘Thereś six of us will hold the horse, - And other five watchmen will be; - But who is the man among you a’ - Will go to the Tolbooth door wi me?’ - - 10 - O up then spake Jokie Hall - (Fra the laigh of Tiviotdale was he), - ‘If it should cost my life this very night, - I’ll ga to the Tollbooth door wi thee.’ - - 11 - ‘O sleepst thou, wakest thow, Archie laddie? - O sleepst thou, wakest thow, dear billie?’ - ‘I sleep but saft, I waken oft, - For the morn’s the day that I man die.’ - - 12 - ‘Be o good cheer now, Archie lad, - Be o good cheer now, dear billie; - Work thow within and I without, - And the morn thou’s dine at Cafield wi me.’ - - 13 - ‘O work, O work, Archie?’ he cries, - ‘O work, O work? ther’s na working for me; - For ther’s fifteen stane o Spanish iron, - And it lys fow sair on my body.’ - - 14 - O Jokie Hall stept to the door, - And he bended it back upon his knee, - And he made the bolts that the door hang on - Jump to the wa right wantonlie. - - 15 - He took the prisoner on his back, - And down the Tollbooth stairs came he; - Out then spak Dickie and said, - Let some o the weight fa on me; - ‘O shame a ma!’ co Jokie Ha, - ‘For he’s no the weight of a poor flee.’ - - 16 - The gray mare stands at the door, - And I wat neer a foot stirt she, - Till they laid the links out oer her neck, - And her girth was the gold-twist to be. - - 17 - And they came down thro Dumfries town, - And O but they came bonily! - Untill they came to Lochmaben port, - And they leugh a’ the night manfulie. - - 18 - There was horsing, horsing in haste, - And there was marching on the lee, - Untill they came to the Murraywhat, - And they lighted a’ right speedilie. - - 19 - ‘A smith, a smith!’ Dickie he cries, - ‘A smith, a smith, right speedilie, - To file off the shakles fra my dear brother! - For it is forward we wad be.’ - - 20 - They had not filtt a shakle of iron, - A shakle of iron but barely three, - Till out then spake young Simon brave, - ‘Ye do na see what I do see. - - 21 - ‘Lo yonder comes Liewtenant Gordon, - And a hundred men in his company:’ - ‘O wo is me!’ then Archie cries, - ‘For I’m the prisoner, and I must die.’ - - 22 - O there was horsing, horsing in haste, - And there was marching upon the lee, - Untill they came to Annan side, - And it was flowing like the sea. - - 23 - ‘I have a colt, and he’s four years old, - And he can amble like the wind, - But when he comes to the belly deep, - He lays himself down on the ground.’ - - 24 - ‘But I have a mare, and they call her Meg. - And she’s the best in Christendie; - Set ye the prisoner me behind; - Ther’ll na man die but he that’s fae!’ - - 25 - Now they did swim that wan water, - And O but they swam bonilie! - Untill they came to the other side, - And they wrang their cloathes right drunk[i]lie. - - 26 - ‘Come through, come through, Lieutenant Gordon! - Come through, and drink some wine wi me! - For ther’s a ale-house neer hard by, - And it shall not cost thee one penny.’ - - 27 - ‘Throw me my irons, Dickie!’ he cries, - ‘For I wat they cost me right dear;’ - ‘O shame a ma!’ cries Jokie Ha, - ‘For they’ll be good shoon to my gray mare.’ - - 28 - ‘Surely thy minnie has been some witch, - Or thy dad some warlock has been; - Else thow had never attempted such, - Or to the bottom thow had gone. - - 29 - ‘Throw me my irons, Dickie!’ he cries, - ‘For I wot they cost me dear enough;’ - ‘O shame a ma!’ cries Jokie Ha, - ‘They’ll be good shakles to my plough.’ - - 30 - ‘Come through, come through, Liewtenant Gordon! - Come throw, and drink some wine wi me! - For yesterday I was your prisoner, - But now the night I am set free.’ - - - C - - Buchan’s Ballads of the North of Scotland, I, 111. - - 1 - As I walked on a pleasant green— - ’Twas on the first morning of May— - I heard twa brothers make their moan, - And hearkend well what they did say. - - 2 - The first he gave a grievous sigh, - And said, Alas, and wae is me! - We hae a brother condemned to death, - And the very morn must hanged be. - - 3 - Then out it speaks him Little Dick, - I wat a gude fellow was he: - ‘Had I three men unto mysell, - Well borrowed shoud Bell Archie be.’ - - 4 - Out it speaks him Johnny Ha, - A better fellow by far was he: - ‘Ye shall hae six men and yoursell, - And me to bear you companie. - - 5 - ‘Twa for keepers o the guard, - See that to keep it sickerlie, - And twa to come, and twa to gang, - And twa to speak wi Bell Archie. - - 6 - ‘But we winna gang like men o weir, - Nor yet will we like cavalliers; - But we will gang like corn-buyers, - And we’ll put brechens on our mares.’ - - 7 - Then they are to the jail-house doors, - And they hae tirled at the pin: - ‘Ye sleep ye, wake ye, Bell Archie? - Quickly rise, lat us come in.’ - - 8 - ‘I sleep not aft, I lie not saft; - Wha’s there that knocks and kens my name?’ - ‘It is your brothers Dick and John; - Ye’ll open the door, lat us come in.’ - - 9 - ‘Awa, awa, my brethren dear, - And ye’ll had far awa frae me; - If ye be found at jail-house door, - I fear like dogs they’ll gar ye die.’ - - 10 - ‘Ohon, alas! my brother dear, - Is this the hearkning ye gie to me? - If ye’ll work therein as we thereout, - Well borrowd shoud your body be.’ - - 11 - ‘How can I work therein, therein, - Or yet how can I work thereout, - When fifty tons o Spanish iron - Are my fair body round about?’ - - 12 - He put his fingers to the lock, - I wat he handled them sickerlie, - And doors of deal, and bands of steel, - He gart them all in flinders flee. - - 13 - He’s taen the prisoner in his arms, - And he has kissd him cheek and chin: - ‘Now since we’ve met, my brother dear, - There shall be dunts ere we twa twine.’ - - 14 - He’s taen the prisoner on his back, - And a’ his heavy irons tee, - But and his marie in his hand, - And straight to Annan gate went he. - - 15 - But when they came to Annan water, - It was roaring like the sea: - ‘O stay a little, Johnny Ha, - Here we can neither fecht nor flee. - - 16 - ‘O a refreshment we maun hae, - We are baith dry and hungry tee; - We’ll gang to Robert’s at the mill, - It stands upon yon lily lee.’ - - 17 - Up in the morning the jailor raise, - As soon’s ’twas light that he coud see; - Wi a pint o wine and a mess sae fine, - Into the prison-house went he. - - 18 - When he came to the prison-door, - A dreary sight he had to see; - The locks were shot, the doors were broke, - And a’ the prisoners won free. - - 19 - ‘Ye’ll gae and waken Annan town, - Raise up five hundred men and three; - And if these rascals may be found, - I vow like dogs I’ll gar them die. - - 20 - ‘O dinna ye hear proud Annan roar, - Mair loud than ever roard the sea? - We’ll get the rascals on this side, - Sure they can neither fecht nor flee. - - 21 - ‘Some gar ride, and some gar rin, - Wi a’ the haste that ye can make; - We’ll get them in some tavern-house, - For Annan water they winna take.’ - - 22 - As Little Dick was looking round, - All for to see what he could see, - Saw the proud sheriff trip the plain, - Five hundred men his companie. - - 23 - ‘O fare ye well, my bonny wife, - Likewise farewell, my children three! - Fare ye well, ye lands o Cafield! - For you again I neer will see. - - 24 - ‘For well I kent, ere I came here, - That Annan water woud ruin me; - My horse is young, he’ll nae lat ride, - And in this water I maun die.’ - - 25 - Out it speaks him Johnny Ha, - I wat a gude fellow was he: - ‘O plague upo your cowardly face! - The bluntest man I eer did see. - - 26 - ‘Gie me your horse, take ye my mare, - The devil drown my mare and thee! - Gie me the prisoner on behind, - And nane will die but he that’s fay.’ - - 27 - He quickly lap upo the horse, - And strait the stirrups siccarlie, - And jumpd upo the other side, - Wi the prisoner and his irons tee. - - 28 - The sheriff then came to the bank, - And heard its roaring like the sea; - Says, How these men they hae got ower, - It is a marvel unto me. - - 29 - ‘I wadna venture after them, - For a’ the criminals that I see; - Nevertheless now, Johnny Ha, - Throw ower the fetters unto me.’ - - 30 - ‘Deil part you and the fetters,’ he said, - ‘As lang as my mare needs a shee; - If she gang barefoot ere they be done, - I wish an ill death mat ye die.’ - - 31 - ‘Awa, awa, now Johnny Ha, - Your talk to me seems very snell; - Your mither’s been some wild rank witch, - And you yoursell an imp o hell.’ - - - D - - Motherwell’s MS., p. 467, “received in MS. by Buchan from Mr Nicol, - of Strichen, who wrote as he had learned early in life from old - people:” Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, p. 335. - - 1 - ‘Seven years have I loved my love, - And seven years my love’s loved me, - But now to-morrow is the day - That billy Archie, my love, must die.’ - - 2 - O then out spoke him Little Dickie, - And still the best fellow was he: - ‘Had I but five men and my self, - Then we would borrow billy Archie.’ - - 3 - Out it spoke him Caff o Lin, - And still the worst fellow was he: - ‘You shall have five men and yourself, - And I will bear you companye.’ - - 4 - ‘We will not go like to dragoons, - Nor yet will we like grenadiers, - But we will go like corn-dealers, - And lay our brechams on our meares. - - 5 - ‘And twa of us will watch the road, - And other twa will go between, - And I will go to jail-house door, - And hold the prisoner unthought lang.’ - - 6 - ‘Who is this at jail-house door, - So well as they do know the gin?’ - ‘It’s I myself,’ [said] him Little Dickie, - ‘And oh sae fain ’s I would be in!’ - - 7 - ‘Away, away, now, Little Dickie! - Away, let all your folly be! - If the Lord Lieutenant come on you, - Like unto dogs he’ll cause you die.’ - - 8 - ‘Hold you, hold you, billy Archie, - And now let all your folly be! - Tho I die without, you’ll not die within, - For borrowed shall your body be.’ - - 9 - ‘Away, away, now, Little Dickie! - Away, let all this folly be! - An hundred pounds of Spanish irons - Is all bound on my fair bodie.’ - - 10 - Wi plough-culters and gavellocks - They made the jail-house door to flee; - ‘And in God’s name,’ said Little Dickie, - ‘Cast you the prisoner behind me!’ - - 11 - They had not rode a great way off, - With all the haste that ever could be, - Till they espied the Lord Lieutenant, - With a hundred men in’s companie. - - 12 - But when they came to wan water, - It now was rumbling like the sea; - Then were they got into a strait, - As great a strait as well could be. - - 13 - Then out did speak him Caff o Lin, - And aye the warst fellow was he: - ‘Now God be with my wife and bairns! - For fatherless my babes will be. - - 14 - ‘My horse is young, he cannot swim; - The water’s deep, and will not wade; - My children must be fatherless, - My wife a widow, whateer betide.’ - - 15 - O then cried out him Little Dickie, - And still the best fellow was he: - ‘Take you my mare, I’ll take your horse, - And Devil drown my mare and thee!’ - - 16 - Now they have taken the wan water, - Tho it was roaring like the sea, - And whan they got to the other side, - I wot they bragged right crouselie. - - 17 - ‘Come thro, come thro now, Lord Lieutenant! - O do come thro, I pray of thee! - There is an alehouse not far off, - We’ll dine you and your companye.’ - - 18 - ‘Away, away, now, Little Dickie! - O now let all your taunting be! - There’s not a man in the king’s army - That would have tried what’s done by thee. - - 19 - ‘Cast back, cast back my fetters again! - Cast back my fetters! I say to thee; - And get you gane the way you came, - I wish no prisoners like to thee.’ - - 20 - ‘I have a mare, she’s called Meg, - The best in all our low countrie; - If she gang barefoot till they are done, - An ill death may your lordship die!’ - - - E - - Macmath MS, p. 76. “Taken down by me, September, 1886, from my aunt, - Miss Jane Webster: heard by her in her youth, at Airds.” - - 1 - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘We’ll awa to bonnie Dundee, - And set our brither Archie free.’ - - * * * * * - - 2 - They broke through locks, and they broke through bars, - And they broke through everything that cam in their way, - Until they cam to a big iron gate, - And that’s where brother Archie lay. - - [Little John says] - - 3 - . . . . . . . - ‘O brither Archie speak to me, - . . . . . . . - For we are come to set ye free.’ - - 4 - . . . . . . . - ‘Such a thing it canna be, - For there’s fifty pund o gude Spanish airn - Atween my neckbane and my knee.’ - - - F - - Communicated by Mr J. M. Watson, of Clark’s Island, Plymouth Harbor, - Massachusetts, April 10, 1889, as remembered by him from the singing - of his father. - - 1 - As I walked out one morning in May, - Just before the break of day, - I heard two brothers a making their moan, - And I listened a while to what they did say. - I heard, etc. - - 2 - ‘We have a brother in prison,’ said they, - ‘Oh in prison lieth he! - If we had but ten men just like ourselves, - The prisoner we would soon set free.’ - - 3 - ‘Oh no, no, no!’ Bold Dickie said he, - ‘Oh no, no, no, that never can be! - For forty men is full little enough - And I for to ride in their companie. - - 4 - ‘Ten to hold the horses in, - Ten to guard the city about, - Ten for to stand at the prison-door, - And ten to fetch poor Archer out.’ - - 5 - They mounted their horses, and so rode they, - Who but they so merrilie! - They rode till they came to a broad river’s side, - And there they alighted so manfullie. - - 6 - They mounted their horses, and so swam they, - Who but they so merrilie! - They swam till they came to the other side, - And there they alighted so manfullie. - - 7 - They mounted their horses, and so rode they, - Who but they so merrilie! - They rode till they came to that prison-door, - And then they alighted so manfullie. - - 8 - . . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - ‘For I have forty men in my companie, - And I have come to set you free.’ - - 9 - ‘Oh no, no, no!’ poor Archer says he, - ‘Oh no, no, no, that never can be! - For I have forty pounds of good Spanish iron - Betwixt my ankle and my knee.’ - - 10 - Bold Dickie broke lock, Bold Dickie broke key, - Bold Dickie broke everything that he could see; - He took poor Archer under one arm, - And carried him out so manfullie. - - 11 - They mounted their horses, and so rode they, - Who but they so merrilie! - They rode till they came to that broad river’s side, - And there they alighted so manfullie. - - 12 - ‘Bold Dickie, Bold Dickie,’ poor Archer says he, - ‘Take my love home to my wife and children three; - For my horse grows lame, he cannot swim, - And here I see that I must die.’ - - 13 - They shifted their horses, and so swam they, - Who but they so merrilie! - They swam till they came to the other side, - And there they alighted so manfullie. - - 14 - ‘Bold Dickie, Bold Dickie,’ poor Archer says he, - ‘Look you yonder there and see; - For the high-sheriff he is a coming, - With an hundred men in his companie.’ - - 15 - ‘Bold Dickie, Bold Dickie,’ High-sheriff said he, - ‘You’re the damndest rascal that ever I see! - Go bring me back the iron you’ve stole, - And I will set the prisoner free.’ - - 16 - ‘Oh no, no, no!’ Bold Dickie said he, - ‘Oh no, no, no, that never can be! - For the iron ‘twill do to shoe the horses, - The blacksmith rides in our companie.’ - - 17 - ‘Bold Dickie, Bold Dickie,’ High-sheriff says he, - ‘You’re the damndest rascal that ever I see!’ - ‘I thank ye for nothing,’ Bold Dickie says he, - ‘And you’re a damned fool for following me.’ - - * * * * * - -#A.# - - _Written in long lines, without division into stanzas, excepting a - few instances._ - - 1^1. folk I saw went. - - 13^2. And cracking, etc. - - 13^4. 3. - - 29^2. o whips, etc. - - 42^3. one water. - - 42^4. Xtenty. - - 43^1. _Perhaps we should read_, But throw me, throw me. - -#B. a.# - - 12^4. Capeld. - - 15^{5,6} _are_ 16^{1,2}: 16^{1,2} _are_ 16^{3,4}: 16^{3,4}, - 17^{1,2}: 17^{1,2}, 17^{3,4}: 17^{3,4}, 18^{1,2}: 18^{1–4}, - 18^{3–6}. - -#b.# - - 1^1. a-walking. - - 1^4. weel to what. - - 2^{1,2}. The youngest to the eldest said, Blythe and merrie how - can we be. - - 2^3. were. - - 3–5. - ‘An ye wad be merrie, an ye wad be sad, - What the better wad billy Archie be? - Unless I had thirty men to mysell, - And a’to ride in my cumpanie. - - ‘Ten to hald the horses’ heads, - And other ten the watch to be, - And ten to break up the strong prison - Where billy Archie he does lie.’ - - Then up and spak him mettled John Hall - (The luve of Teviotdale aye was he); - ‘An I had eleven men to mysell, - It’s aye the twalt man I wad be.’ - - Then up bespak him coarse Ca’field - (I wot and little gude worth was he); - ‘Thirty men is few anew, - And a’ to ride in our companie.’ - - 6^2. on the. - - 6^3. the _wanting_. - - 6^4, 18^4. there _for_ a’. - - 7^3. shoon _for_ feet. - - 7^4. it’s unkensome. - - _After 7_: - ‘There lives a smith on the water-side - Will shoe my little black mare for me, - And I’ve a crown in my pocket, - And every groat of it I wad gie.’ - - ‘The night is mirk, and it’s very mirk, - And by candle-light I canna weel see; - The night is mirk, and it’s very pit mirk, - And there will never a nail ca right for me.’ - - ‘Shame fa you and your trade baith! - Canna beet a good fellow by your mystery; - But leeze me on thee, my little black mare! - Thou’s worth thy weight in gold to me.’ - - 8^1. a _wanting_. - - 8^2. And there: upon. - - 8^4. And they lighted there right speedilie. - - 9^1. There’s five. - - 9^2. will watchmen be. - - 9^3. ye a’. - - 10^1. spak him mettled John Hall. - - 10^2. of _wanting_. - - 11 _wanting._ - - 12^3. and we. - - 12^4. Ca’field. - - 13 _wanting._ - - 14^2. bended low back his knee. - - 14^3. that _wanting_. - - 14^4. Loup frae the. - - 15^2. stair. - - 15^{3–6} _wanting._ - - 16^1. The black mare stood ready at. - - 16^2. And _wanting_: I wot a foot neer stirred she. - - 16^3. Till _wanting_. - - 16^4. And that was her gold. - - 17^2. And wow: speedilie. - - 17^{3,4} _wanting._ - - 18^{1,2}. The live-lang night these twelve men rade, And aye till - they were right wearie. - - 18^4. lighted there right. - - 19^1. then Dickie. - - 19^3. file the irons frae. - - 19^4. For forward, forward. - - 20^1. hadna filed. - - 20^3. When out and spak. - - 20^4. O dinna you see. - - 21^2. Wi a. - - 21^{3,4}. This night will be our lyke-wake night, The morn the day - we a’ maun die. - - 22^1. was mounting, mounting. - - 22^3. Annan water. - - 23, 24. - ‘My mare is young and very skeigh, - And in o the weil she will drown me;’ - ‘But ye’ll take mine, and I’ll take thine, - And sune through the water we sall be.’ - - Then up and spak him coarse Ca’field - (I wot and little gude worth was he): - ‘We had better lose ane than lose a’ the lave; - We’ll lose the prisoner, we’ll gae free.’ - - ‘Shame fa you and your lands baith! - Wad ye een your lands to your born billy? - But hey! bear up, my bonnie black mare, - And yet thro the water we sall be.’ - - 25^2. And wow. - - 25^4. drunkily. - - 26^3. there is an ale-house here. - - 26^4. thee ae. - - 27, 28 _wanting._ - - 29^1. irons, quo Lieutenant Gordon. - - 29^2. For _wanting_. - - 29^3. The shame a ma, quo mettled John Ha. - - 30^3. Yestreen I was. - - 30^4. now this morning am I free. - -#C.# - - 5^2. Sae that? - -#D.# - - _Slightly changed by Motherwell in printing._ - - 2^1, 15^1, 18^2. Oh. - -#E.# - - The ancient and veritable ballad of ‘Bold Dickie,’ as sung by A. - M. Watson, and remembered and rendered by his son, J. M. Watson. - - - - - ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS - - - VOL. I. - - - 1. Riddles Wisely Expounded. - -P. 1 a. Guess or die. A grim kemp, an unco knicht, asks nine riddles of -a young man; all are guessed; wherefore the kemp says it shall go well -with him. Kristensen, Skattegraveren, II, 97 ff., 154 f., Nos 457, 458, -724; V, 49, No 454. - - - 2. The Elfin Knight. - -P. 6. Nigra, No 118, p. 483, ‘Che mestiere è il vostro?’ A sempstress to -make a shirt without stitch or seam; a mason to make a room without -bricks and mortar. - -7 b, second paragraph. Add: ‘Store Fordringer,’ Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, II, 8, No 6. - - - 3. The Fause Knight upon the Road. - -P. 20. ‘Kall og svein ungi,’ Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, p. 283, No -36 (three versions), is another piece of this kind. The boat is in all -the copies, Scottish, Swedish, and Färöe. - -M. Gaidoz, Mélusine, IV, 207, cites a passage from Plutarch’s life of -Numa, c. 15, which is curiously like this ballad. The question being -what is the proper expiatory sacrifice when divine displeasure has been -indicated by thunderbolts, Zeus instructs Numa that it must be made with -heads. Onions’? interposes Numa. With _men’s_—says Zeus. Hairs? suggests -Numa. With LIVE—says Zeus. Sardines? puts in Numa. - - - 4. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight. - -P. 22. #E# is given from singing and recitation in Shropshire Folk-Lore, -edited by Charlotte Sophia Burne, 1883–86, p. 548. - -Mr W. H. Babcock has recently printed the following version, as sung in -a Virginian family from “the corner between the Potomac and the Blue -Ridge:” The Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 28. - - WILSON. - - 1 - Wilson, sitting in his room one day, - With his true-love on his knee, - Just as happy as happy could be, be, be, - Just as happy as happy could be, - - 2 - ‘Do you want for fee?’ said she, - ‘Or do you want for gold? - Or do you want a handsome ladye, - More handsomer than me?’ - - 3 - ‘I do want for fee,’ said he, - ‘And I do want for gold; - But I don’t want a handsomer ladye, - More handsomer than thee. - - 4 - ‘Go get some of your father’s fee, - And some of your father’s gold, - And two of the finest horses he has, - And married we will be, be, be, - And married we will be.’ - - 5 - She mounted on the milk-white steed, - And he the iron-grey, - And when they got to the broad waterside - It was six hours and a half till day. - - 6 - ‘Get down, get down! my pretty fair maid, - Get down, get down!’ said he; - ‘For it’s nine of the king’s daughters I’ve drowned here, - And the tenth one you shall be. - - 7 - ‘Take off, take off that costly silk, - For it is a costly thing; - It cost your father too much bright gold - To drown your fair body in. - - 8 - ‘In stooping down to cut the cords round, - Sing, Turn your back on me;’ - And with all the strength this lady had, - She pushed him right into the sea. - - 9 - ‘Help me out! my pretty fair miss, - O help me out!’ said he, - ‘And we’ll go down to the Catholic church, - And married we will be.’ - - 10 - ‘Lie there, lie there! you false-hearted man, - Lie there, lie there!’ said she, - ‘For it’s nine of the king’s daughters you’ve drowned here, - But the tenth one’s drowned thee.’ - - 11 - She mounted on the milk-white steed, - And led the iron-grey, - And when she got to her own father’s house - It was three hours and a half till day. - - 12 - While she was walking in the room, - Which caused the parrot to wake, - Said he, What’s the matter, my pretty fair miss, - That you’re up so long before day? - - 13 - ‘Hush up, hush up! my pretty little parrot, - Don’t tell no tales on me; - Your cage shall be lined with sweet may gold, - And the doors of ivorie.’ - - 14 - While they were talking all of this, - Which caused the old man to wake, - Said, What’s the matter, my pretty little parrot, - That you chatter so long before day? - - 15 - ‘The cat she sprung against my cage, - And surely frightened me, - And I called for the pretty fair miss - To drive the cat away.’ - -(1 lacks the third verse; in 2^{1,2}, 3^{1,2}, 4^{1,2}, _fee_ and _gold_ -should be exchanged; in 12^2, 14^2, _wake_ should perhaps be _say_.) - -26 b. Add these Danish copies: Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 210 ff., -Nos 1198, 1199. (Some stanzas of ‘Kvindemorderen’ are inserted in No -932, III, 177.) - -29, 34 f. #O#, #P#. #O# is repeated in Lütolf, Sagen, Bräuche u. -Legenden, u. s. w., p. 71, No 29, ‘Schön Anneli;’ #P# in Kurz, Aeltere -Dichter, u. s. w., der Schweizer, I, 117. ‘Schön Anneli,’ Töbler, -Schweizerische Volkslieder, II, 170, No 6, is an edited copy, mainly -#O#, with use of #P#. - -42. A variety of #A# in Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 293, -communicated by A. Gittée, Chanson wallonne, de Bliquy, environs d’Ath. - -42 f. A robber has his hand cut off by a girl. Later he marries her. The -day after the marriage they go on horseback to see his relations. On -coming to a wood he says, Do you remember the night when you cut off my -hand? It is now my turn. He orders her to strip, threatening her with -his dagger. When she is in her shift, she begs him to turn away his -eyes, seizes the dagger, and cuts his throat. ‘Le Voleur des Crêpes,’ -Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 341, No 62. (G. L. K.) - -43 b. ‘La Fille de Saint-Martin,’ etc. Add: Roland, II, 171, obtained by -Nérée Quépat. - -44 a. Nigra, Canti popolari del Piemonte, 1888, p. 90 ff., No 13, ‘Un’ -Eroina,’ gives five unpublished versions (#B-F#), ‘La Monferrina,’ #D#, -being #A# of this large and beautiful collection. - -Add also: Giannini, Canti p. della Montagna Lucchese, 1889, p. 143, ‘La -Liberatrice;’ Finamore, Storie p. abruzzesi, in Archivio, I, 207, ‘Lu -Pringepe de Meláne.’ - -44 b. ‘Il Corsaro,’ in Nigra’s collection, No 14, p. 106 ff., with the -addition of another version. For ‘La Monferrina incontaminata,’ see -Nigra again, ‘La Fuga,’ No 15, pp. 111 ff.; Finamore, in Archivio, I, -87, ‘La Fandell’ e lu Cavaljiere’ (mixed). - -#Spanish#, Nos 38–41, ‘Venganza de Honor,’ No 42, ‘La Hija de la -Viudina,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, have the incident of the girl’s -killing with his own sword or dagger a caballero who offers her -violence. The weapon is dropped in the course of a struggle in all but -No 40; in this the damsel says, Give me your sword, and see how I would -wear it. - -It is a commonplace for a pair on horseback to go a long way without -speaking. So Pidal, pp. 114, 115, 130, 133, 135, 159: - - Siete leguas anduvieron - sin hablar una palabra. - -60 a. #A.# Burden. The song in the Tea-Table Miscellany and the music -are found in John Squair’s MS., fol. 22, Laing collection, library of -the University of Edinburgh, handwriting about 1700. (W. Macmath.) - - - 5. Gil Brenton. - -P. 65 b. A ballad from Normandy, published by Legrand, Romania, X, 367, -III, which I am surprised to find that I have not mentioned, is a very -interesting variety of ‘Gil Brenton,’ more particularly of the Danish -‘Peder og Malfred.’ It has the attempt at substitution (a sister); the -wife acknowledges that she had been forced (par ses laquais les bras il -me bandit); the husband reveals, and proves, that he was the ravisher. -The beginning of the Norman ballad, which is lost, would probably have -had the feature of the information given the husband by the shepherdess. -Another French ballad, corrupted (environs de Redon, Ille-et-Vilaine), -has this and the attempt to pass off the sister; the husband kills his -wife. Music is ordered in the last stanza. Rolland, IV, 70. An Italian -and a Breton ballad which begin like the Danish, but proceed -differently, are spoken of under ‘Fair Janet,’ No 64, II, 102 f.. See -now Nigra’s ‘Fidanzata infedele’ in his collection, No 34, p. 197. - - - 6. Willie’s Lady. - -P. 82. ‘Hustru og mands moder,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 73, No -436, VII, 97, No 651; ‘Barselkvinden,’ the same, II, 10, No 7. (The -tale, p. 83 b, is reprinted by inadvertence, I, 73, No 234.) - - - 7. Earl Brand. - -P. 88 a. #B.# “The copy principally used in this edition of the ballad -was supplied by Mr Sharpe.” Scott. “The Douglas Tragedy was taught me by -a nurserymaid, and was so great a favorite that I committed it to paper -as soon as I was able to write.” Sharpe’s Letters, ed. Allardyce, I, -135, August 5, 1802. Sharpe was born in 1781. - -88 b. ‘Hr. Kibolt,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VI, 17, No 257, is a -good copy of ‘Ribold og Guldborg.’ It has the testaments at the end, -like several others (see I, 144 b). - -89–91 a. ‘Stolt Hedelil,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, 68, No 231, is -another version of ‘Hildebrand og Hilde,’ closely resembling #G#. So is -‘Den mislykkede flugt,’ the same, VIII, 17, No 24, with the proper -tragic conclusion. Both are inferior copies. - -92 a and 489 b. Add: #K#, ‘Kung Vallemo ock liten Kerstin,’ Bergström -ock Nordlander, Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., p. 101. - -95 b, 96, 489. I have omitted to mention the effect of _naming_ on -‘Clootie’ in No 1, #C# 19, I, 5: - - As sune as she the fiend did name, - He flew awa in a blazing flame. - -The Alpthier loses its power to harm and appears in its proper shape, as -this or that person, if called by name: Wuttke, Der deutsche -Volksaberglaube der Gegenwart, 2d ed., p. 257. Were-wolves appear in -their proper human shape on being addressed by their name: Wilhelm -Hertz, Der Werwolf, pp. 61, 84, Ulrich Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern u. -Rügen, pp. 386–7. An enchanted prince is freed when his name is -pronounced: Meier, No 53, p. 188 and n., p. 311. “There was in the -engagement a man [on the side of Hades] who could not be vanquished -unless his name could be discovered:” Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, I, -167, as quoted by Rhys, Celtic Mythology, Hibbert Lectures, p. 244. (G. -L. K.) - -96 ff., 489, II, 498. Plants from lovers’ graves. - -Add: #Portuguese#, Roméro, II, 157, two pines. - -#Italian#, Nigra, No 18, ‘Le due Tombe,’ p. 125 ff. - -#A.# The lovers are buried apart, one in the church, one outside, a -pomegranate springs from the man’s grave, an almond-tree from the -maid’s; they grow large enough to shade three cities! #B.# A pomegranate -is planted on the man’s grave, a hazel on the maid’s; they shade the -city, and interlock. #C.# An almond-tree is planted on the maid’s grave, -and is cut down. #D.# The lovers are buried as in #A# (and #C#), an -almond-tree grows from the grave of the man, a jessamine from the -maid’s. See also No 19, ‘Fior di Tomba,’ where, however, there is but -one grave, which is to contain the maid’s parents as well as her lover. -The same phenomenon in the fragments #E#, #F#. ‘Il Castello d’Oviglio,’ -Ferraro, Canti p. monferrini, No 45, p. 64, is another version of this -ballad. A pomegranate springs up at the maid’s feet, and shades three -cities. Cf. ‘La Mort des deux Amants,’ Rolland, I, 247, No 125. - -#Roumanian.# ‘Ring and Handkerchief’ also in Marienescu, Balade, p. 50: -cited in Mélusine, IV. 142. - -97 b and 489 f., II, 498 a. #Bulgarian#, Miladinof, Bùlgarski narodni -pěsni, p. 455, No 497, translated by Krauss, Sagen u. Märchen der -Südslaven, II, 427; the youth as rose-tree, the maid as grape-vine. -Cited by G. Meyer in Mélusine, IV, 87. #Little-Russian#, plane-trees of -the two sexes; cited by J. Karlowicz, _ib._, 87 f. Ruthenian (mother -attempting to poison her son’s wife poisons both wife and son), -Herrmann, Ethnologische Mittheilungen, 205 f.; buried on different sides -of the church, plants meet over the roof of the church, the mother tries -to cut them down, and while so engaged is turned into a pillar. - -#Servian.# Vuk, I, No 342, II, No 30; youth, pine, maid, grape-vine. -Krasić, p. 105, No 21, p. 114, No 26; vine and pine, vine twines round -pine. #Bulgarian#, Miladinof, p. 375, No 288, rose and vine. -#Magyar-Croat#, Kurelac, p. 147, No 444, grape-vine and rose; No 445, -youth behind the church, maid before, grape-vine and rose; p. 154, No -454, rosemary and a white flower (aleluja?). (W. W.) - -#Breton.# Mélusine, III, 453 f. A tree springs from over the young man’s -heart (but this is an insertion, and not quite beyond suspicion), a rose -from the maid’s. There is another version of the ballad at p. 182 f., in -which une fleur dorée grows over the man’s grave, nothing being said of -his mistress’s grave, or even of her death. - -#Italo-Albanian.# Also in Vigo, Canti p. siciliani, 1857, p. 345, V, and -the edition of 1870–74, p. 698: cited in Mélusine, IV, 87. - -#Gaelic.# Of Naisi (Naois) and Deirdre. King Conor caused them to be -buried far apart, but for some days the graves would be found open in -the morning and the lovers found together. The king ordered stakes of -yew to be driven through the bodies, so that they might be kept asunder. -Yew trees grew from the stakes, and so high as to embrace each other -over the cathedral of Armagh. Transactions of the Gaelic Society of -Dublin, I, 133, 1808. - -In a Scotch-Gaelic version recently obtained, after Naois is put into -his grave, Deirdre jumps in, lies down by his side and dies. The bad -king orders her body to be taken out and buried on the other side of a -loch. Firs shoot out of the two graves and unite over the loch. The king -has the trees cut down twice, but the third time his wife makes him -desist from his vengeance on the dead. The original in Transactions of -the Gaelic Society of Inverness, XIII, 257; a translation in The Celtic -Magazine, XIII, 138. (All of these cited by Gaidoz, Mélusine, IV, 12, -and 62, note.) - - - 8. Erlinton. - -107 b, and also No 53, ‘Young Beichan,’ I, 463 b. For the Magyar ballads -of Szilágyi and Hagymási, see Herrmann, Ethnologische Mittheilungen, -cols 65–66; also col. 215. (A Transylvanian-Saxon ballad, a Roumanian -tale, and a Transylvanian-Gipsy ballad, which follow, are of more or -less questionable authenticity: Herrmann, col. 216.) - -109. #C#, as well as ‘Robin Hood and the Pedlars,’ III, 170, are found -in a manuscript pretended to be of about 1650, but are written in a -forged hand of this century. I do not feel certain that the ballads -themselves, bad as they are, are forgeries, and accordingly give the -variations of Gutch’s Robin Hood from the manuscript, not regarding -spelling. - - 3^2. hold good. - - 3^4. thou will. - - 7^1. thus he. - - 10^1. Thorough: I run. - - 11^1. [kine?] - - 16^3. while. - - 19^1. Ile. - - 21^3. he lent. - - 24^3. be not. - - 25^3. eldest. - - 28^1. leant. - - 29^2. wield. No “Finis” at the end. - - - 9. The Fair Flower of Northumberland. - -P. 113. The Servian hero Marko Kraljević is guilty of the same -ingratitude. The daughter of the Moorish king releases him from a long -captivity and makes him rich gifts. He promises to marry her and they go -off together. During a halt the princess embraces him, and he finds her -black face and white teeth so repulsive that he strikes off her head. He -seeks to atone for his sin by pious foundations. Servian, Vuk, II, No 44 -[Bowring, p. 86]; Croat, Bogišić, p. 16; Bulgarian, Miladinof, No 54, -Kačanofskij, No 132. (W. W.) - - - 10. The Twa Sisters. - -P. 119. A Danish fragment of nine stanzas in Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, IV, 161, No 509. - -119 b. Three copies of the Swedish ballad are printed by Wahlfisk, -Bidrag till Södermanlands äldere Kulturhistoria, No VI, p. 33 f. - -124 b, 493 b, II, 498 b. - -Rudchenko, South Russian Popular Tales, I, No 55: murder of brother -revealed by a flute made from a reed that grows from his grave (No 56, -flute from a willow). II, No 14, murder of a boy killed and eaten by his -parents revealed by a bird that rises from his bones. (W. W.) - -In a Flemish tale reported in the Revue des Traditions populaires, II, -125, Janneken is killed by Milken for the sake of a golden basket. The -murder is disclosed by a singing rose. In ‘Les Roseaux qui chantent’ a -sister kills her brother in a dispute over a bush covered with -_pain-prunelle_. Roses grow from his grave. A shepherd, hearing them -sing, cuts a stem of the rose-bush and whistles in it. The usual words -follow. Revue des Traditions populaires, II, 365 ff.; cf. Sébillot’s -long note, p. 366 ff. Das Flötenrohr (two prose versions), U. Jahn, -Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen, No 510, pp. 399–401. (G. L. K.) - - - 11. The Cruel Brother. - -Pp. 142 b, 496 a. ‘Rizzardo bello,’ #E#, ‘Ruggiero,’ in Mazzatinti, -Canti p. umbri, p. 286, Bologna, 1883. - -143 b. ‘Hr. Adelbrant og jomfru Lindelil,’ with a testament, again in -Skattegraveren, I, 5, No I, and V, 17, No 12. - -144 a, 496 b. Testaments. A wife who has been gone from home in pursuit -of her pleasure is so beaten by her husband on her return that she dies. -She leaves valuable legacies to her children and a rope to him. Nigra, -No 25, ‘Testamento della Moglie,’ p. 159. - -144 b. ‘Rævens Arvegods,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, II, 192 ff, Nos -774–78, and VIII, 209, No 810. - - - 12. Lord Randal. - -Pp. 152, 498. #Italian.# Add #G#, #H#, #I#, Nigra, No 26, #A#, #B#, #C#, -‘Testamento dell’ Avvelenato.’ #J.# ‘L’Amante avvelenato,’ Giannini, No -27, p. 199. #K.# ‘Mamma e Figghiolo,’ Nerucci, in Archivio, II, 526. - -154 b, 498 b. ‘A megetétt János’ in Arany and Gyulai, III, 7, Kriza. - -156 a. ‘Donna Lombarda’ is now No 1 of Nigra’s collection, where it is -given in sixteen versions. - -156 b, 499 a, II, 499 a. Slavic ballads of the sister that poisons her -brother, etc. Add: Servian, Rajkowić, No 251. Compare, Bulgarian, -Miladinof, No 262; Croat, Mažuranić, p. 152, Sammlung der Zeitschrift -‘Naša Sloga,’ II, No 158; Slovenian, Koritko, IV, No 47.—In Golovatsky, -II, 584, a mother asks her son whether he supped with the widow. He -supped with her, the witch. What did she cook for him? A small fish. -Where did she catch it, dress it? Did she eat any of it? No, her head -ached. Did the children? No, they went to bed.—In Verković, No 317, p. -350, the fair Stana is poisoned by her husband’s parents with a snake -given as a fish. (W. W.) - -A Ruthenian ballad of a mother attempting to poison her son’s wife, and -poisoning the pair, Herrmann, in Ethnologische Mittheilungen, col. 205 -f. - -A Slovak ballad of this sort in Kollár, Narodnie Zpiewanky, II, 32, -translated by Herrmann, 91 f., No 3; and another version of the same -col. 204 f., No 7. Roumanian versions, cols 206, 207 f., 209 f., Nos 9, -10, 12, the last with another story prefixed. See also Herrmann, col. -90, No 1, 92 f., Nos 4, 5, 208 f., No 11, for poisoning-ballads, and his -references at the top of col. 211. - - - 13. Edward. - -Pp. 167 b, 501 b. Another copy of ‘Sven i Rosengård,’ #F#, is printed by -Aminson in Bidrag till Södermanlands äldere Kulturhistoria, No V, p. 12, -eleven stanzas. The swain has killed his sister. - -168 b. #Danish.# Four concluding stanzas (When?) in Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, II, 100, No 459. - - - 14. Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie. - -P. 170. Add: - - - F - - “In Gipsy Tents,” by Francis Hindes Groome, p. 143. - - 1 - There were three sisters going from home, - All in a lea and alony, oh - They met a man, and he made them stand, - Down by the bonny banks of Airdrie, oh. - - 2 - He took the first one by the hand, - He turned her round, and he made her stand. - - 3 - Saying, Will you be a robber’s wife? - Or will you die by my penknife? - - 4 - ‘Oh, I wont be a robber’s wife, - But I will die by your penknife.’ - - 5 - Then he took the second by her hand, - He turned her round, and he made her stand. - - 6 - Saying, Will you be a robber’s wife? - Or will you die by my penknife? - - 7 - ‘Oh, I wont be a robber’s wife, - But I will die by your penknife.’ - - 8 - He took the third one by the hand, - He turned her round, and he made her stand. - - 9 - Saying, Will you be a robber’s wife? - Or will you die by my penknife? - - 10 - ‘Oh, I wont be a robber’s wife, - And I wont die by your penknife. - - 11 - ‘If my two brothers had been here, - You would not have killed my sisters two.’ - - 12 - ‘What was your two brothers’ names?’ - ‘One was John, and the other was James.’ - - 13 - ‘Oh, what did your two brothers do?’ - ‘One was a minister, the other such as you.’ - - 14 - ‘Oh, what is this that I have done? - I have killed my sisters, all but one. - - 15 - ‘And now I’ll take out my penknife, - And here I’ll end my own sweet life.’ - -P. 173, II, 499. Add to the French ballad: ‘Le Passage du Bois,’ V. -Smith, Chants p. du Velay et du Forez, Romania, X, 205; ‘La Doulento,’ -Arbaud, I, 120; Poésies p. de la France, MS., IV, fol. 442, printed in -Rolland, III, 55. With these belong ‘La Ragazza assassinata,’ Nigra, No -12, three versions, p. 85 ff.; ‘La Vergine uccisa,’ Ferraro, Canti p. -monferrini, p. 17. - - - 15. Leesome Brand. - -P. 179 a. #Danish#, II. ‘Rosenelle og hr. Agervold,’ Kristensen, -Skattegraveren, I, 65, No 230, is an important variety of Redselille og -Medelvold. Another version, III, 82, No 260, ‘Rosenelle og hr. -Medervold.’ In both of these the knight is the lady’s brother. - -#Swedish#, II. A copy of ‘Lilla Lisa och Herr Nedervall’ is printed by -Aminson, Bidrag, o. s. v., No 5, p. 17. - - - 16. Sheath and Knife. - -P. 185. Mr Macmath has found the following ballad in Motherwell’s -handwriting, on a half-sheet of paper. It is not completely intelligible -(why should Lady Ann be left in the death-throe, to bury herself?), but -undoubtedly belongs here. The first stanza agrees with #D#. - - - E - - 1 - One king’s daughter said to anither, - Brume blumes bonnie and grows sae fair - ‘We’ll gae ride like sister and brither.’ - And we’ll neer gae down to the brume nae mair - - 2 - ‘We’ll ride doun into yonder valley, - Whare the greene green trees are budding sae gaily. - - 3 - ‘Wi hawke and hounde we will hunt sae rarely, - And we’ll come back in the morning early.’ - - 4 - They rade on like sister and brither, - And they hunted and hawket in the valley thegether. - - 5 - ‘Now, lady, hauld my horse and my hawk, - For I maun na ride, and I downa walk. - - 6 - ‘But set me doun be the rute o this tree, - For there hae I dreamt that my bed sall be.’ - - 7 - The ae king’s dochter did lift doun the ither, - And she was licht in her armis like ony fether. - - 8 - Bonnie Lady Ann sat doun be the tree, - And a wide grave was houkit whare nane suld be. - - 9 - The hawk had nae lure, and the horse had nae master, - And the faithless hounds thro the woods ran faster. - - 10 - The one king’s dochter has ridden awa, - But bonnie Lady Ann lay in the deed-thraw. - - _Some words are difficult to read._ - - 2. sae _wanting in burden_ 1. - - 3^1. hunt? growis fair _in burden_ 1. - - 5^1. _Originally_ Oh hauld my bridle and stirrup. Ann, _or_ come, - _is written over_ Oh. - - 9^2. faithless? - -The lost knife here in #A# 8–10, #B# 5, and in ‘Leesome Brand,’ No 15, -36–41, appears in ‘The Squire of Low Degree,’ Percy Folio, III, 267, vv. -117–126 (not in the version printed by Ritson and by Hazlitt). - - ‘Daughter,’ he sais, ‘ffor whose sake - Is _tha_t sorrow _tha_t still thou makes?’ - ‘Ffather,’ shee sais, ’as I doe see, - Itt is ffor no man in Christentye; - Ffather,’ shee sayes, ’as I doe thriue, - Itt is ffor noe man this day aliue. - Ffor yesterday I lost my kniffe; - Much rather had I haue lost my liffe!’ - ‘My daughter,’ he sayes, ‘if itt be but a blade, - I can gett another as good made.’ - ‘Ffather,’ shee sais, ‘there is neuer a smith but one - _Tha_t [can] smith you such a one.’ - - (G. L. K.) - - - 17. Hind Horn. - -P. 193 (2). ‘Hr. Lovmand’ in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, VIII, 49, No -115. - -194 ff., 502 f., II, 499 b. - -According to a Devonshire tradition given by Mrs Bray, Traditions of -Devonshire, II, 172 (II, 32, of the new ed. of 1879, which has a fresh -title, The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy), Sir Francis Drake, having -been abroad seven years, was apprised by one of his devils that his wife -was about to marry again. He immediately discharged one of his great -guns up through the earth. The cannon-ball “fell with a loud explosion -between the lady and her intended bridegroom,” who were before the -altar. In another version, known to Southey and communicated by him to -Mrs Bray (as above, II, 174; new ed., II, 33, 34), the marriage is -broken off by a large stone (no doubt a gun-stone) which falls on the -lady’s train as she is on her way to church. Drake, in this version, -returns in disguise, but is recognized by his smile. See for various -stories of the same kind, ‘Iouenn Kerménou,’ Luzel, Contes pop. de -Basse-Bretagne, I, 416; ‘Der todte Schuldner,’ Zingerle, Zeitschrift für -deutsche Mythologie, II, 367; ‘De witte Swâne,’ Woeste, the same, III, -46, translated from the Markish dialect by Simrock, ‘Der gute Gerhard,’ -u. s. w., p. 75; Vernaleken, Mythen u. Bräuche des Volkes in -Oesterreich, p. 372; Vernaleken, Kinder- u. Hausmärchen, No 54, p. 315 -f.; J. H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 184 f.; Prym u. Socin, -Syrische Sagen u. Märchen, No 20, II, 72. (G. L. K.) - -Pp. 198 b, 502 b, II, 499 b. An Italian form of ‘Le Retour du Mari’ is -‘Il Ritorno del Soldato,’ Nigra, No 28^b, p. 174. - -Another Italian ballad has some of the points in the story of Horn. A -man goes off for seven years immediately after marriage; the woman -looking out towards the sea perceives a pilgrim approaching; he asks for -charity, and makes what seems an impudent suggestion, for which she -threatens him with punishment. But how if I were your husband? Then you -would give me some token. He pulls out his wedding-ring from under his -cloak. ‘Il finto [falso] Pellegrino,’ Bernoni, ix, no 7, Ferraro, C. p. -monferrini, p. 33, Giannini, p. 151 (nearly the same in Archivio, VI, -361); ‘La Moglie fedele,’ Wolf, p. 59, No 81, Ive, p. 334; ‘Bennardo,’ -Nerucci, in Archivio, III, 44. - -To the Portuguese ballads, I, 502 b, add ‘A bella Infanta,’ Bellermann, -p. 100. - -Add to the Polish ballads, p. 502 b: Roger, p. 13, Nos 25, 26. - -With the Slavic ballads belong: Servian, Vuk, III, No 25; Bulgarian, -Miladinof, Nos 65, 66, 111, 573, Kačanovskiy, Nos 68–73, 112. (W. W.) - - -202 a. The three singing laverocks in #B# 3, #F# 4, (cf. #A# 3,) are to -be taken as curiosities of art. Artificial singing-birds are often -mentioned in the earlier times, (by Sir John Mandeville for instance): -see Liebrecht, Volkskunde, p. 89 f., No 5. Such birds, and artificially -hissing snakes, occur in the Great-Russian bylina of Djuk Stepanović; -cf. Wollner, Untersuchungen ü. d. grossr. Volksepik, p. 134 f. (W. W.) - -205. #G# would have been printed as it stands in Kinloch MSS VII, 117, -had the volume been in my possession. The copy principally used in -Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 138, was derived from the -editor’s niece, M. Kinnear. Readings of another copy are written in -pencil over the transcript of the first in places, and as the name -“Christy Smith” is also written at the beginning in pencil, it may be -supposed that these readings were furnished by this Christy Smith. -Kinloch adopted some of these readings into the copy which appears in -his book, and he introduced others which seem to be his own. The -readings of the Kinnear copy not retained by Kinloch will now be given -under #a#, and those supplied (as may be supposed) by Christy Smith -under #b#. - -#a.# - - 1^2. Whare was ye born? or frae what cuntrie? - - 3^1. a gay gowd wand. - - 4^1. a silver ring. - - 5^1. Whan that ring. - - 6^1. Whan that ring. - - 7^2. Till he cam. - - 8^1. Whan he lookit to. - - 8^2. Says, I wish. - - 9^2. Until he cam till. - - 10^1. met with. - - 10^2. It was with. - - 11^1. my puir auld man. - - 13^1. to me. - - 13^2. I’ll lend you. - - 15^1. He has changed wi the puir auld. - - 16^1. What is the way that ye use. - - 16^2. words that. - - 18^1, 22^1. to yon town end. - - 19^2. your Hynde (your _struck out_). - - 23^2. his Hynde (his _struck out_). - - 24^1. he took na frae ane. - - 27^1. But he drank his glass. - - 27^2. Into it he dropt. - - 30^2. to your. - - 34^2. him evermair. - - 36^1. The red: oure them aw. - -#b.# - - 1^2. in what. - - 2^1. greenwud’s. - - 2^2. have left. - - 3^1. a silver wand. - - 4^1. And my love gave me a gay gowd ring. - - 5^1. As lang as that ring. - - 7^2. Till that he cam. - - 9^2. Until that. - - 10^2. a jolly beggar man. - - 15^1. _struck out in pencil._ - - 18^1. And whan: yonder down. - - 20^2. Unless it be frae. - - 22^1. yonder down. - - 24^1. But he wad tak frae nane. - - 34^2. for evermair. - - - 19. King Orfeo. - -P. 217. The first half of the Norse burden is more likely to have been, -originally, what would correspond to the Danish Skoven [er] herlig grön, -or, Skoven herlig grönnes. In the other half, grün forbids us to look -for hjort in giorten, where we are rather to see Danish urt (English -wort), Icelandic jurt: so that this would be, in Danish, Hvor urten hun -grönnes herlig. (Note of Mr. Axel Olrik.) - - - 20. The Cruel Mother. - -P. 218 b. #Danish.# ‘I dølgsmål,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, V, 98, No -644; corrupted. - -(#N#, #O# should be #O#, #P#, II, 500: see I, 504.) - - - Q - -‘The Cruel Mother,’ Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia -Burne, 1883–86, p. 540; “sung by Eliza Wharton and brothers, children of -gipsies, habitually travelling in North Shropshire and Staffordshire, -13th July, 1885.” - - 1 - There was a lady, a lady of York, - Ri fol i diddle i gee wo - She fell a-courting in her own father’s park. - Down by the greenwood side, O - - 2 - She leaned her back against the stile, - There she had two pretty babes born. - - 3 - And she had nothing to lap ’em in, - But she had a penknife sharp and keen. - - 4 - . . . . . . . . - There she stabbed them right through the heart. - - 5 - She wiped the penknife in the sludge; - The more she wiped it, the more the blood showed. - - 6 - As she was walking in her own father’s park, - She saw two pretty babes playing with a ball. - - 7 - ‘Pretty babes, pretty babes, if you were mine, - I’d dress you up in silks so fine.’ - - 8 - ‘Dear mother, dear mother, [when we were thine,] - You dressed us not in silks so fine. - - 9 - ‘Here we go to the heavens so high, - You’ll go to bad when you do die.’ - -219 b, 504 a, II, 500 a. (#M# at this last place should be #O#.) Add: -#P#, ‘Die Schäferstochter,’ as sung in the neighborhood of Köslin, -Ulrich Jahn, Volkssagen aus Pommern u. Rügen, No 393, p. 310 f. (G. L. -K.) - - -A Magyar-Croat ballad of the same tenor as the German, Kurelac, p. 150, -No 451. (W. W.) - - - 21. The Maid and the Palmer. - -P. 228 a. #Danish.# Another copy of ‘Synderinden ’ in Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, VII, 81, No 505. - -230 b. #Slavic.# Sušil, No 3, p. 2, closely resembles Moravian #A#; the -woman is turned to stone. In a variant, p. 3, she has had fifty -paramours, and again in a Little-Russian ballad, Golovatsky, I, 235, No -68, seventy. In this last, after shrift, the sinner is dissipated in -dust. (W. W.) - -231. #French.# Add: Victor Smith, Chants du Velay et du Forez, Romania -IV, 439 (the conversion, p. 438); Chabaneau, Revue des Langues Romanes, -XXIX, 265, 267, 268. - -#Catalan.# ‘Santa Magdalena,’ conversion and penance, Miscelánea -Folk-Lórica, 1887, p. 119, No 8. The Samaritan Woman, simply, p. 118, No -7. - - - 22. St Stephen and Herod. - -P. 234 a. ‘Rudisar vísa’ is now No 11 of Hammershaimb’s Færøsk -Anthologi, p. 39. There are two other copies. - -237. ‘Skuin over de groenelands heide,’ Dykstra en van der Meulen, p. -121, resembles the Breton stories, but lacks the miracle of the capon. - -239. Miracle of the roasted cock. Jesus visits a Jew on Easter Sunday -and reproaches him with not believing in the resurrection. The Jew -replies that Jesus having been put to death it was as impossible for him -to come to life again as it would be for a roast chicken which lies -before them. Faith can do anything, says Jesus. The fowl comes to life -and lays eggs; the Jew has himself baptized. Kostomarof, Monuments of -the older Russian Literature, I, 217. In a note, a Red-Russian ballad is -mentioned which seems to be identical with Golovatsky, II, 6, No 8. A -young Jewess, who was carrying water, was the first to see Jesus after -his resurrection. She tells her father, as he sits at meat, that the God -of the Russians is risen from the dead. “If you were not my daughter, I -would have you drowned,” says the father. “The God of the Russians will -not rise again till that capon flies up and crows.” The capon does both; -the Jew is turned to stone. (W. W.) - - - 25. Willie’s Lyke-Wake. - -Pp. 247–49 a. #Danish.# Add: ‘Vågestuen,’ in Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, II, 17, No 17; IV, 17, 115, Nos 26, 285. - -249 b and 506 a. #Swedish.# Bröms Gyllenmärs’ visbok has been printed in -Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., 1887, and the ballad of Herr Carl is No 77, p. -252. There is an imperfect copy in Bergström ock Nordlander, Nyare -Bidrag, p. 102, No 9. - -250. ‘Il Genovese’ is given in eight versions, one a fragment, by Nigra, -No 41, p. 257. - -250, 506 a, II, 502 a. #Bulgarian.# Stojan, who wants to carry off -Bojana, does, at his mother’s advice, everything to bring her within his -reach. He builds a church, digs a well, plants a garden. All the maids -come but her. He then feigns death; she comes with flowers and mourns -over him; he seizes her; the priest blesses their union. Miladinof, p. -294, No 185. An old woman, in a like case, advises a young man to feign -death, and brings Bojana to see the body. “Why,” asks Bojana, “do his -eyes look as if they had sight, his arms as if they would lay hold of -me, his feet as if ready to jump up?” “That is because he died so -suddenly,” says the beldam. The youth springs up and embraces Bojana. -Verković, p. 334, No 304. A Magyar-Croat version begins like this last, -but has suffered corruption: Kurelac, p. 148, No. 447. (W. W.) - - - 28. Burd Ellen and Young Tamlane. - -P. 256. The first paragraph was occasioned by a misprint in Motherwell -(corrected at p. cv of his Introduction), and may be dropped. In -Pitcairn’s MS. it is noted that this fragment was obtained from Mrs -Gammell. - - - 29. The Boy and the Mantle. - -Pp. 268 ff., 507, II, 502. - -On going to war a king gives each of his two daughters a rose. “Si vous -tombez en faute, quoi que ce soit,” says he, “vos roses flétriront.” -Both princesses yield to the solicitations of their lovers, so that the -king, on returning, finds both roses withered, and is grieved thereat. -Vinson, Folk-Lore du Pays Basque, p. 102. - -Wer ein ausgelöschtes Licht wieder anblasen kann ist noch Jungfrau oder -Junggeselle. Wer ein ganz volles Glas zum Munde führen kann, ohne einen -Tropfen su verschütten, ist Junggeselle. Zingerle, Sitten der Tiroler, -p. 35. - -There is a shield in Perceval le Gallois which no knight can wear with -safety in a tournament if he is not all that a knight should be, and if -he has not, also, “bele amie qui soit loiaus sans trecerie.” Several of -Arthur’s knights try the shield with disastrous results; Perceval is -more fortunate. (See 31805–31, 31865, 32023–48, 32410 ff., Potvin, IV, -45 ff..) - - “Vpon the various earth’s embrodered gowne - There is a weed vpon whose head growes downe; - Sow-thistle ’tis ycleepd; whose downy wreath - If any one can blow off at a breath, - We deeme her for a maid.” - - (William Browne, Britannia’s Pastorals, Book I, Song 4, Works, ed. - Hazlitt, p. 103.) - -Eodem auxilii genere, Tucciae virginis Vestalis, incesti criminis reae, -castitas infamiae nube obscurata emersit. Quae conscientia certae -sinceritatis suae spem salutis ancipiti argumento ausa petere est. -Arrepto enim cribro, ‘Vesta,’ inquit, ‘si sacris tuis castas semper -admovi manus, effice ut hoc hauriam e Tiberi aquam et in aedem tuam -perferam.’ Audaciter et temere iactis votis sacerdotis rerum ipsa natura -cessit. Valerius Maximus, viii, 1, 5. Cf. also Pliny, Hist. Nat., -xxviii, 2 (3), and the commentators. - -There was a (qualified) test of priestesses of Ge at Æegæ by drinking -bull’s blood, according to Pausanias, VIII, xxv, 8; cited by H. C. Lea, -Superstition and Force, 3d ed., 1878, p. 236 f. (All the above by G. L. -K.) - -A spring in Apollonius Heinrichs von Neustadt blackens the hand of the -more serious offender, but in a milder case only the ring-finger, “der -die geringste Befleckung nicht erträgt.” W. Grimm’s Kleinere Schriften, -III, 446. (C. R. Lanman.) - - - 30. King Arthur and King Cornwall. - -P. 274. That this ballad is a traditional variation of Charlemagne’s -Journey to Jerusalem and Constantinople, was, I am convinced, too -hastily said. See M. Gaston Paris’s remarks at p. 110 f. of his paper, -Les romans en vers du cycle de la Table Ronde (Extrait du tome xxx de -l’Histoire Littéraire de la France). The king who thinks himself the -best king in the world, etc., occurs (it is Arthur) also in the romance -of Rigomer: the same, p. 92. - - - 34. Kemp Owyne. - -P. 307 b. Add ‘Linden,’ Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, V, 50, No 455. - -A princess in the form of a toad is kissed three times and so -disenchanted: Revue des Traditions populaires, III, 475–6. A princess in -the form of a black wolf must be kissed thrice to be disenchanted: -Vernaleken, Alpensagen, p. 123. A princess persuades a man to attempt -her release from enchantment. Three successive kisses are necessary. On -the first occasion she appears as a serpent; he can kiss her but once. -The second attempt is also unsuccessful; she appears as a salamander and -is kissed twice. The third time she takes the form of a toad, and the -three kisses are happily given. Luzel, in the Annuaire de la Soc. des -Traditions populaires, II, 53. (G. L. K.) - - - 35. Allison Gross. - -P. 314 a. Hill-maid’s promises. Add: ‘Bjærgjomfruens frieri,’ -Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, II, 100, No 460. - - - 37. Thomas Rymer. - -P. 319 b, last paragraph. In a Breton story, ‘La Fleur du Rocher,’ -Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 31, Jean Cate addresses -the fairy, when he first sees her, as the Virgin Mary. (G. L. K.) - - - 39. Tam Lin. - -P. 335. Mr Macmath has found an earlier transcript of #B# in -Glenriddel’s MSS, VIII, 106, 1789. The variations (except those of -spelling, which are numerous) are as follows: - - 1^2. that wears. - - 1^3. go. - - 3^3. has snoded. - - 3^5. is gaen. - - 5^1. had not. - - 6^3. comes. - - 7^2. give. - - 8^{2,4}, 16^{2,4}, 35^{2,4}. above. - - 11^1. Out then: gray-head. - - 11^3. And ever alas, fair Janet, he says. - - 13^3. fair Janet. - - 13^4. thow gaes. - - 14^1. If I. - - 14^3. Ther’e not. - - 14^4, 34^4. bairns. - - 15^4. ye nae, _wrongly_. - - 16^5. she is on. - - 19^2. groves green. - - 20^1. Thomas. - - 20^2. for his. - - 20^3. Whether ever. - - 22^3. from the. - - 22^4. Then from. - - 23^3. The Queen o Fairies has. - - 23^4. do dwell. - - 23^6. Fiend, _wrongly_. - - 24^1. is a Hallow-een. - - 24^3. And them. - - 25^3. Amongst. - - 27^1. ride on. - - 27^6. gave. - - 30^4. wardly. - - 31^3. Hald me. - - 34^2. then in. - - 37^4. And there. - - 38^3. Them that hes. - - 38^4. Has. - - 40^{3,4}. eyes. - - 41^1. I kend. - - 41^3. I’d. - - - J. - -‘The Queen of the Fairies,’ Macmath MS., p. 57. “Taken down by me 14th -October, 1886, from the recitation of Mr Alexander Kirk, Inspector of -Poor, Dalry, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, who learned it about -fifty years ago from the singing of David Ray, Barlay, Balmaclellan.” - -This copy has been considerably made over, and was very likely learned -from print. The cane in the maid’s hand, already sufficiently occupied, -either with the Bible or with holy water, is an imbecility such as only -the “makers” of latter days are capable of. (There is a cane in another -ballad which I cannot at this moment recall.) - - 1 - The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall, - Clad in her robes so black, - She has to yon garden gone, - For flowers to flower her hat. - - 2 - She had not pulled the red, red rose, - A double rose but three, - When up there starts a gentleman, - Just at this lady’s knee. - - 3 - Says, Who’s this pulls the red, red rose? - Breaks branches off the tree? - Or who’s this treads my garden-grass, - Without the leave of me? - - 4 - ‘Yes, I will pull the red, red rose, - Break branches off the tree, - This garden in Moorcartney wood, - Without the leave o thee.’ - - 5 - He took her by the milk-white hand - And gently laid her down, - Just in below some shady trees - Where the green leaves hung down. - - 6 - ‘Come tell to me, kind sir,’ she said, - ‘What before you never told; - Are you an earthly man?’ said she, - ‘A knight or a baron bold?’ - - 7 - ‘I’ll tell to you, fair lady,’ he said, - ‘What before I neer did tell; - I’m Earl Douglas’s second son, - With the queen of the fairies I dwell. - - 8 - ‘When riding through yon forest-wood, - And by yon grass-green well, - A sudden sleep me overtook, - And off my steed I fell. - - 9 - ‘The queen of the fairies, being there, - Made me with her to dwell, - And still once in the seven years - We pay a teind to hell. - - 10 - ‘And because I am an earthly man, - Myself doth greatly fear, - For the cleverest man in all our train - To Pluto must go this year. - - 11 - ‘This night is Halloween, lady, - And the fairies they will ride; - The maid that will her true-love win - At Miles Cross she may bide.’ - - 12 - ‘But how shall I thee ken, though, sir? - Or how shall I thee know, - Amang a pack o hellish wraiths, - Before I never saw?’ - - 13 - ‘Some rides upon a black horse, lady, - And some upon a brown, - But I myself on a milk-white steed, - And I aye nearest the toun. - - 14 - ‘My right hand shall be covered, lady, - My left hand shall be bare, - And that’s a token good enough - That you will find me there. - - 15 - ‘Take the Bible in your right hand, - With God for to be your guide, - Take holy water in thy left hand, - And throw it on every side.’ - - 16 - She’s taen her mantle her about, - A cane into her hand, - And she has unto Miles Cross gone, - As hard as she can gang. - - 17 - First she has letten the black pass by, - And then she has letten the brown, - But she’s taen a fast hold o the milk-white steed, - And she’s pulled Earl Thomas doun. - - 18 - The queen of the fairies being there, - Sae loud she’s letten a cry, - ‘The maid that sits in Katherine’s Hall - This night has gotten her prey. - - 19 - ‘But hadst thou waited, fair lady, - Till about this time the morn, - He would hae been as far from thee or me - As the wind that blew when he was born.’ - - 20 - They turned him in this lady’s arms - Like the adder and the snake; - She held him fast; why should she not? - Though her poor heart was like to break. - - 21 - They turned him in this lady’s arms - Like two red gads of airn; - She held him fast; why should she not? - She knew they could do her no harm. - - 22 - They turned him in this lady’s arms - Like to all things that was vile; - She held him fast; why should she not? - The father of her child. - - 23 - They turned him in this lady’s arms - Like to a naked knight; - She’s taen him hame to her ain bower, - And clothed him in armour bright. - -338 a, 507, II, 505 b. - -A king transformed into a nightingale being plunged three times into -water resumes his shape: Vernaleken, K.-u. H. Märchen, No 15, p. 79. In -Guillaume de Palerne, ed. Michelant, v. 7770 ff., pp. 225, 226, the -queen who changes the werewolf back into a man takes care that he shall -have a warm bath as soon as the transformation is over; but this may be -merely the bath preliminary to his being dubbed knight (as in Li -Chevaliers as Deus Espees, ed. Förster, vv. 1547–49, p. 50, and L’Ordene -de Chevalerie, vv. 111–124, Barbazan-Méon, I, 63, 64). A fairy maiden is -turned into a wooden statue. This is burned and the ashes thrown into a -pond, whence she immediately emerges in her proper shape. She is next -doomed to take the form of a snake. Her lover, acting under advice, cuts -up a good part of the snake into little bits, and throws these into a -pond. She emerges again. J. H. Knowles, Folk-Tales of Kashmir, p. 468 -ff.. (G. L. K.) - -339 b, II, 505 b. - -Fairy salve and indiscreet users of it. See also Sébillot, Contes pop. -de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 41, 42, cf. I, 122–3; the same, Traditions et -Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne, I, 89, 109; the same, Litt. orale de -la Haute-B., pp. 19–23, 24–27, and note; Mrs Bray, Traditions of -Devonshire, 1838, I, 184–188, I, 175 ff. of the new ed. called The -Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy; “Lageniensis” [J. O’Hanlon], Irish -Folk-Lore, Glasgow, n. d., pp. 48–49. In a Breton story a fairy gives a -one-eyed woman an eye of crystal, warning her not to speak of what she -may see with it. Disregarding this injunction, the woman is deprived of -the gift. Sébillot, Contes pop. de la Haute-Bretagne, II, 24–25. (G. L. -K.) - -340. The danger of lying under trees at noon. “Is not this connected -with the belief in a δαιμονιόν μεσημβρινόν (LXX, Psalm xci, 6)? as to -which see Rochholz, Deutscher Unsterblichkeitsglaube, pp. 62 ff., 67 -ff., and cf. Lobeck, Aglaophamus, pp. 1092–3.” Kittredge, Sir Orfeo, in -the American Journal of Philology, VII, 190, where also there is -something about the dangerous character of orchards. Of processions of -fairy knights, see p. 189 of the same. - -Tam o Lin. Add: Tom a Lin, Robert Mylne’s MS. Collection of Scots Poems, -Part I, 8, 1707. (W. Macmath.) - - - 40. The Queen of Elfan’s Nourice. - -P. 358 f., II, 505 b. - -Mortal women as midwives to fairies, elves, water-sprites, etc. Further -examples are: Sébillot, Littérature orale de la Haute-Bretagne, pp. -19–23; the same, Traditions et Superstitions de la Haute-Bretagne, I, -89, 109; Vinson, Folk-Lore du Pays Basque, pp. 40, 41; Meier, Deutsche -Sagen, u. s. w., aus Schwaben, pp. 16–18, 59, 62; Mrs Bray, Traditions -of Devonshire, 1838, I, 184–188 (in the new ed., which is called The -Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy, I, 174 ff.); “Lageniensis” [J. -O’Hanlon], Irish Folk Lore, Glasgow, n. d., pp. 48, 49; U. Jahn, -Volkssagen aus Pommern und Rügen, pp. 50, 72; Vonbun, Die Sagen -Vorarlbergs, p. 16, cf. p. 6; Vernaleken, Alpensagen, p. 183.—Mortal -woman as nurse for fairy child. Sébillot, Contes populaires de la -Haute-Bretagne, I, 121. (G. L. K.) - - - 41. Hind Etin. - -P. 361 f. #Danish.# Add: ‘Jomfruen og dværgen,’ Kristensen, -Skattegraveren, III, 98, No 393. A fragment of four stanzas, IV, 193, No -570. - -364. #Danish.# Add: ‘Angenede og havmanden,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, -III, 17, No 34. - - - 42. Clerk Colvill. - -P. 379 a, II, 506. Breton #F# is now printed entire (twenty-one stanzas -instead of eleven) by Gaidoz, in Mélusine, IV, 301 ff. (The language -appears to be Cornish.) - -380, II, 506. #A# is printed by Rolland, III, 39; #P#, #Q#, _ib._, p. -41, p. 37; #T#, _ib._, p. 32, and in Revue des Traditions pop., #I#, 33; -#X#, by Rolland, III, 45; #GG#, in Revue des T. p., III, 195. The five -stanzas in Poés. pop. de la F., MS., VI, 491 (#MM#), by Rolland, III, -36. - -Add: #NN#, 38 verses, without indication of place, by C. de Sivry in -Rev. des T. p., II, 24; #OO#, ‘Le roi Léouis,’ Haute-Bretagne, 60 -verses, P. Sébillot, in the same, III, 196. - -A Basque version, with a translation, in Rev. des Trad. pop., III, 198. - -382 a. #Italian.# #C-F#, #H-K# now in Nigra’s collection, ‘Morte -Occulta,’ #A-G#, No 21, p. 142, in a different order. #C#, #D#, #E#, -#F#, #H#, #I#, #K# are in Nigra now #A#, #C#, #D#, #E#, #G#, #F#, #B#. -The fragment spoken of p. 383 b is now Nigra’s No 22, p. 149, ‘Mal -ferito.’ The tale which follows this is given p. 148 f. - -384 a. There are two good Asturian versions in Pidal, ‘Doña Alda,’ Nos -46, 47, pp. 181, 183. The editor mentions a copy in the second number of -Folk-Lore Betico-Extremeño, much injured by tradition, which is more -like the Catalan than the Asturian versions. - - - 43. The Broomfield Hill. - -P. 392 b. Sleep-thorns. - -Sleep-thorns, or something similar, occur in the West Highland tales. In -a story partly reported by Campbell, I, xci, “the sister put gath nimh, -a poisonous sting or thorn, into the bed, and the prince was as though -he were dead for three days, and he was buried. But Knowledge told the -other two dogs what to do, and they scraped up the prince and took out -the thorn, and he came alive again and went home.” So in “The Widow’s -Son,” Campbell, II, 296: “On the morrow he went, but the carlin stuck a -bior nimh, spike of hurt, in the outside of the door post, and when he -came to the church he fell asleep.” In another version of The Widow’s -Son, II, 297, a “big pin” serves as the “spike of hurt.” Cf. the needle -in Haltrich, Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen, -3d ed., p. 141, No 32. (G. L. K.) - -393. Italian ballad. Add: Righi, p. 33, No 96; Nigra, No 77, p. 393, ‘La -Bevanda sonnifera,’ #A-H#; Giannini, ‘Il Cavaliere ingannato,’ p. 157; -Ferrari, Biblioteca di Lett. pop. italiana, I, 218, ‘La bella Brunetta;’ -Finamore, in Archivio, I, 89, La Fandell’ e lu Cavaljiere (mixed); -Nerucci, in Archivio, II, 524, ‘La Ragazza Fantina;’ Julia, in Archivio, -VI, 244, ‘La ‘nfantina e lu Cavalieri;’ Rondini, in Archivio, VII, 189. - -Ricordi, Canti p. Lombardi, No 9, ‘La Moraschina,’ gives the first half -of the story, with a slight alteration for propriety’s sake. - - - 44. The Twa Magicians. - -P. 400 a, II, 506 b. #E#, #F#, partly, in Revue des Traditions -populaires, I, 104 f. (#Q# was previously cited as #J#.) #Q.# ‘Les -Transformations,’ Avenay, Marne, Gaston Paris, in Rev. des Trad. pop., -I, 98; #R#, Haute-Bretagne, Sébillot, the same, p. 100; #S#, Le Morvan, -Tiersot, p. 102; #T#, Tarn-et-Garonne, the same, II, 208. #U.# ‘Les -Métamorphoses,’ Finistère, Rolland, IV, 32, _c_; #V#, environs de Brest, -the same, p. 33, _d_. #E# is printed by Rolland, IV, 30, _b_. - -#Italian.# A ballad in Nigra, No 59, p. 329, ‘Amore inevitabile.’ - -401 a. Vuk, I, No 602, is translated in Bowring’s Servian Popular -Poetry, p. 195. - -In a Magyar-Croat ballad the lover advises the maid, who has been -chidden by her mother on his account, if her mother repeats the -scolding, to turn herself into a fish, then he will be a fisherman, etc. -Kurelac, p. 309, XV, 2. (W. W.) - -401 b, last two paragraphs. - -Other specimens of the first kind (not in Köhler’s note to Gonzenbach, -II, 214) are: - -Luzel, Annuaire de la Société des Traditions populaires, II, 56; -Baissac, Folk-Lore de l’Île Maurice, p. 88 ff.; Wigström, Sagor ock -Äfventyr uppt. i Skåne, p. 37; Luzel, Revue des Traditions populaires, -I, 287, 288; Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, II, 13, 41 ff., cf. -64–66; Vernaleken, Kinder- u. Hausmärchen, No 49, p. 277; Bladé, Contes -pop. de la Gascogne, II, 26–36; Carnoy, Contes populaires picards, -Romania, VIII, 227. Cf. also Ortoli, Contes pop. de l’Île de Corse, pp. -27–29, and Cosquin’s notes (which do not cite any of the above-mentioned -places), Contes pop. de Lorraine, I, 105 ff. - -Other specimens of the second kind: - -Luzel, Contes pop. de Basse-Bretagne, II, 92–95, and note; Haltrich, -Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem Sachsenlande, u. s. w., 3d ed., 1882, No -14, p. 52 f.. (G. L. K.) - -402 a, last paragraph. “The pursuit in various forms by the witch lady -has an exact counterpart in a story of which I have many versions and -which I had intended to give if I had room. It is called ‘The Fuller’s -Son,’ ‘The Cotter’s Son,’ and other names, and it bears a strong -resemblance to the end of the Norse tale of ‘Farmer Weathersky.’” -Campbell, Pop. Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 297. (G. L. K.) - - - 46. Captain Wedderburn’s Courtship. - -P. 415, note [391]. A version from Scotland has been printed in the -Folk-Lore Journal, III, 272, ‘I had six lovers over the sea.’ (G. L. K.) - -417, note [396], II, 507 b. - -The _one_ stake with no head on it occurs also in Wolfdietrich B. The -heathen, whom Wolfdietrich afterwards overcomes at knife-throwing, -threatens him thus: - - “Sihstu dort an den zinnen fünf hundert houbet stân, - Diu ich mit mînen henden alle verderbet hân? - Noch stât ein zinne lære an mînem türnlîn: - Dâ muoz dîn werdez houbet ze einem phande sîn.” - - (St. 595, Jänicke, Deutsches Heldenbuch, III, 256.) - -Two cases in Campbell’s Pop. T. of the West Highlands. “Many a leech has -come, said the porter. There is not a spike on the town without a -leech’s head but one, and may be it is for thy head that one is.” (The -Ceabharnach, I, 312.) Conall “saw the very finest castle that ever was -seen from the beginning of the universe till the end of eternity, and a -great wall at the back of the fortress, and iron spikes within a foot of -each other, about and around it; and a man’s head upon every spike but -the one spike. Fear struck him and he fell a-shaking. He thought that it -was his own head that would go on the headless spike.” (The Story of -Conall Gulban, III, 202.) In Crestien’s Erec et Enide, Erec overcomes a -knight in an orchard. There are many stakes crowned with heads, but one -stake is empty. Erec is informed that this is for _his_ head, and that -it is customary thus to keep a stake waiting for a new-comer, a fresh -one being set up as often as a head is taken. Ed. by Bekker in Haupt’s -Ztschr., X, 520, 521, vv. 5732–66. (G. L. K.) - - - 49. The Twa Brothers. - -P. 435. There is a copy in Nimmo, Songs and Ballads of Clydesdale, p. -131, made from #D#, #E#, with half a dozen lines for connection. - -437 b. It is #E# (not #A#) that is translated by Grundtvig; and #D# by -Afzelius, Grimm, Talvj, Rosa Warrens. - -436 f. In one of the older Croat ballads Marko Kraljević and his brother -Andrija, who have made booty of three horses, quarrel about the third -when they come to dividing, and Marko fells Andrija with a stab. Andrija -charges Marko not to tell their mother what took place, but to say that -he is not coming home, because he has become enamored of a girl in a -foreign country. Bogišić p. 18, No 6. There is a Magyar-Croat variant of -this, in which two brothers returning from war fall out about a girl, -and the older (who, by the way, is a married man) stabs the younger. The -dying brother wishes the mother to be told that he has staid behind to -buy presents for her and his sisters. The mother asks when her son will -come home. The elder brother answers, When a crow turns white and a -withered maple greens. The (simple) mother gets a crow and bathes it -daily in milk, and irrigates the tree with wine; but in vain. Other -Slavic examples of these hopeless eventualities: Little-Russian, -Golovatsky, I, 74, No 30, 97, No 7, 164, No 12, 173, No 23, 229, No 59; -II, 41, No 61, 585, No 18, 592, No 27; III, 12, No 9, 136, No 256, 212, -No 78; Bohemian, Erben, p. 182, No 340; Polish, Roger, p. 3, No 2; -Servian, Vuk, I, No 364, Herzegovine, p. 209, No 176, p. 322, No 332; -Bulgarian, Verković, No 226; Dozon, p. 95; Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 11, -No 61, p. 130, No 430, p. 156, No 457 (and note), p. 157, No 459, p. -244, No 557. (W. W.) - - - 53. Young Beichan. - -P. 454. The modern street or broadside ballad #L# (see II, 508) is given -from singing by Miss Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, p. 547. - -459 b. The Färöe ballad (of which there are four copies) is printed in -Hammershaimb’s Færøsk Anthologi, p. 260, No 33, ‘Harra Pætur og -Elinborg.’ - -462 a. ‘Gerineldo,’ also in Pidal, Asturian Romances, p. 90 f. - -462 a, b. ‘Moran d’ Inghilterra,’ with a second version, in Nigra, No -42, p. 263. - - - VOL. II. - -55. The Carnal and the Crane. - -P. 7 f., 510 a. Legend of the Sower. Catalan (with the partridge), -Miscelánea Folk-Lórica, 1887, p. 115, No 6. - -Moravian, Sušil, p. 19, No 16; Little-Russian, Golovatsky, II, 9, No 13. -(W. W.) - - - 56. Dives and Lazarus. - -P. 10 b. ‘Il ricco Epulone,’ Nigra, No 159, p. 543, with Jesus and the -Madonna for Lazarus. - -Little-Russian, Golovatsky, II, 737, No 5; III, 263, No 1, and 267, No -2. Lazarus and the rich man are represented as brothers. (W. W.) - - - 57. Brown Robyn’s Confession. - -P. 13 b, 5th line. #A# is not a manuscript of the ‘fifteenth’ century, -but of the date 1590 or 1591. (Note of Mr Axel Olrik.) - - - 59. Sir Aldingar. - -Pp. 37–43. The first adventure of the fragmentary romance of Joufrois -affords this story. Count Richard of Poitiers has a son Joufrois. The -boy begs his father to send him to the English court, that King Henry -may knight him. The English king receives him well, but he remains a -_vaslet_ for some time. The seneschal of the court endeavors to win the -queen’s _amisté_, but fails. He tells the king that he has seen the -queen in bed with a kitchen-boy, and Henry swears that she shall hang or -burn. The vaslet Joufrois offers to prove the seneschal a liar, and begs -to be knighted for that purpose. Everybody thinks him mad to undertake -battle with the seneschal, who is an unmatched man-at-arms: li biaus -vaslet estoit enfens. The fight takes place at Winchester. Joufrois’ -sword is broken, but he picks up a piece of a huge lance and disables -his adversary with a blow on the arm. Joufrois then threatens to cut off -the felon’s head if he does not retract, and as the seneschal prefers -death to eating his words, this is done. Joufrois, Altfranzösisches -Rittergedicht, ed. Hofmann und Muncker, vv. 91–631, pp. 3–18. (G. L. K.) - - - 60. King Estmere. - -Pp. 51, 510 b. Mr Kittredge has noted for me some twenty other cases in -metrical romances of knights riding into hall. - -Aiol’s steed is stabled in the hall, Aiol et Mirabel, ed. Förster, vv. -1758–61, p. 51. So Gawain’s horse in the ‘Chevalier à l’Espée,’ vv. -224–236, Méon, Nouveau Recueil, I, 134. Cf. ‘Perceval le Gallois,’ ed. -Potvin, II, 255 ff., vv. 16803–42. In ‘Richars li Biaus,’ the hero -evidently has his horse with him while at dinner in the hall of the -robber-castle: ed. Förster, v. 3396, p. 93; cf. the editor’s note, p. -182. In ‘Perceval le Gallois,’ a knight takes his horse with him into a -bedchamber and ties him to a bed-post: ed. Potvin, III, 34, v. 21169 f.. -Cf. Elie de Saint Gille, ed. Förster, pp. 377, 379, 380, vv. 2050–55, -2105, 2129–42. (G. L. K.) - - - 61. Sir Cawline. - -P. 56 b. Amadas, while watching at the tomb of Ydoine, has a terrific -combat with a highly mysterious stranger knight, whom he vanquishes. The -stranger then informs Amadas that Ydoine is not really dead, etc., etc. -He gives sufficient evidence of his elritch character, and the author -clinches the matter by speaking of him as “the maufé” (v. 6709). Amadas -et Ydoine, ed. Hippeau, vv. 5465 ff., p. 189 ff.. (G. L. K.) - -60. Stanzas 42 ff.. It might have been remarked that this feat of -tearing out a lion’s heart belongs to King Richard (see Weber’s -Romances, II, 44), hence, according to the romance, named Cœur de Lion, -and that it has also been assigned to an humbler hero, in a well-known -broadside ballad, ‘The Honour of a London Prentice,’ Old Ballads, 1723, -I, 199 (where there are two lions for one). - - - 63. Child Waters. - -P. 83. #Italian.# ‘Ambrogio e Lietta,’ Nigra, No 35, p. 201. The -Piedmontese ballad, though incomplete, has the rough behavior of the man -to the woman, the crossing of the water, the castle and the mother, the -stable, and twins brought forth in a manger. - -84 b. #Danish.# ‘Hr. Peders stalddreng,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, I, -121, No 441; ‘Liden Kirsten som stalddreng,’ V, 98, No 645. - -‘Hr. Grönnevold,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VII, 49, No 177, is an -imperfect copy of the second sort of Scandinavian ballads. - - - 64. Fair Janet. - -P. 103, note. ‘La Fidanzata Infedele’ is now No 34 of Nigra’s -collection. See above the addition to No 5, I, 65 b. - - - 65. Lady Maisry. - -P. 113 a, last paragraph. Burning, etc. See Amis e Amiloun (the French -text), v. 364, p. 134, ed. Kölbing; Elie de St Gille, ed. Förster, vv. -2163–69, p. 381. Amadis de Gaule, Nicolas de Herberay, Anvers, 1573, I, -8 f., book 1, chap. 2, maid or wife; but Venice, 1552, I, 6 b, and -Gayangos, Libros de Caballerias, p. 4, wife. (G. L. K.) - -113 b. Only certain copies, and those perverted, of Grundtvig Nos 108, -109 have the punishment of burning for simple incontinence. This is -rather the penalty for incest: cf. Syv, No 16,==Kristensen, I, No 70, -II, No 49,==Grundtvig, No 292, and many other ballads. (Note of Mr Axel -Olrik.) - -Note §. ‘Galanzuca,’ ‘Galancina,’ Pidal, Asturian Romance, Nos 6, 7, pp. -92, 94, belong here. They have much of the story of ‘Lady Maisry,’ with -a happy ending. - - - 66. Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet. - -P. 127 a, 9th line of the second paragraph. A copy of ‘Fru Margaretha’ -in Harald Oluffsons Visbok. Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., p. 36, No 16, -stanzas 21, 22. - -127 b, 511 b. In a Breton ballad, Mélusine, III, 350 f., a priest jumps -a table, at the cry of his sister, who is in a desperate extremity. - -But the greatest achievements in this way are in Slavic ballads. A -bride, on learning of her bridegroom’s death, jumps over four tables and -lights on the fifth, rushes to her chamber and stabs herself: Moravian, -Sušil, p. 83. According to a variant, p. 84, note, she jumps over nine. -A repentant husband who had projected the death of his wife, on hearing -that she is still living, leaps nine tables without touching the glasses -on them: Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 184, No 479. (W. W.) - -Mr Kittredge has given me many cases from romances. - -127 b, note. Sword reduced to a straw: add Nigra, No 113, etc. -‘Gerineldo:’ add Pidal, Asturian Romances, Nos 3, 4, 5. - - - 67. Glasgerion. - -P. 137 b. ‘Poter del Canto’ is now No 47, p. 284, of Nigra’s collection. - - - 68. Young Hunting. - -P. 142. A copy in A. Nimmo’s Songs and Ballads of Clydesdale, ‘Young -Hyndford,’ p. 155, is made up (with changes) from Scott, Kinloch, -Buchan, Motherwell and Herd, #E#, #J#, #B#, #K#, #F#, #G#. - -143, 512 a. Discovery of drowned bodies. See Revue des Traditions -populaires, I, 56; Mélusine, III, 141. - - - 69. Clerk Saunders. - -P. 157. There are four copies of the Färöe ‘Faðir og dóttir,’ and -Hammershaimb has printed a second (with but slight variations) in his -Færøsk Anthologi: p. 253, No 31. - -158. Spanish. Add: ‘La Esposa infiel,’ Pidal, Asturian Romances, No 33, -p. 154. - - - 71. The Bent Sae Brown. - -P. 170. Nine versions of ‘Jomfruens Brødre’ in Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, II, 145 ff., Nos 717–23, V, 81 ff., Nos 633, 634. - - - 72. The Clerk’s Twa Sons o Owsenford. - -Pp. 174, 512. Add to the French ballads one from Carcassonne, first -published in a newspaper of that place, Le Bon Sens, August 10, 1878, -and reprinted in Mélusine, II, 212. The occurrence which gave rise to -the ballad is narrated by Nigra, C. p. del Piemonte, p. 54 f., after -Mary Lafon, and the Italian version is No 4 of that collection, ‘Gli -Scolari di Tolosa.’ The ballad is originally French, the scene Toulouse. - - - 73. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet. - -P. 179 f. #D.# The Roxburghe copy of ‘Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor,’ -III, 554, is printed by Mr J. W. Ebsworth in the Ballad Society’s -edition of the Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 647. (Mr Ebsworth notes that the -broadside occurs in the Bagford Ballads, II, 127; Douce, I, 120 v., III, -58 v., IV, 36; Ouvry, II, 38; Jersey, III, 88.) ‘The Unfortunate -Forrester,’ Roxburghe, II, 553, is printed at p. 645 of the same volume. -A copy from singing is given (with omissions) in Miss Burne’s Shropshire -Folk-Lore, 1883–86, p. 545; another, originally from recitation, in Mr -G. R. Tomson’s Ballads of the North Countrie, 1888, p. 82. Both came, -traditionally, from print. Still another, from the singing of a -Virginian nurse-maid (helped out by her mother), was communicated by Mr -W. H. Babcock to the Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 33, 1889, and may be -repeated here, both because it is American and also because of its -amusing perversions. - - THE BROWN GIRL - - 1 - ‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me, - And regulate all as one, - Whether I shall wed fair Ellinter or no, - Or fetch you the brown girl home.’ - - 2 - ‘Fair Ellinter she has houses and wealth, - The brown girl she has none; - But before I am charged with that blessing, - Go fetch me the brown girl home.’ - - 3 - He dressed himself in skylight green, - His groomsmen all in red; - And every town as he rode through - They took him to be some king. - - 4 - He rode and he rode until he came to fair Ellinter’s door; - He knocked so loud at the ring; - There was none so ready as fair Ellinter herself - To rise and let him in. - - 5 - ‘O what is the news, Lord Thomas?’ she said, - ‘O what is the news to thee?’ - ‘I’ve come to invite you to my wedding, - And that is bad news to thee.’ - - 6 - ‘God forbid, Lord Thomas,’ she said, - ‘That any such thing should be! - For I should have been the bride myself, - And you should the bridegroom be. - - 7 - ‘O mother, O mother, come read this to me, - And regulate all as one, - Whether I shall go to Lord Thomas’ wed, - Or stay with you at home.’ - - 8 - ‘Here you have one thousand friends, - Where there you would but one; - So I will invite you, with my blessing, - To stay with me at home.’ - - 9 - But she dressed herself in skylight red, - Her waiting-maids all in green, - And every town as she rode through - They took her to be some queen. - - 10 - She rode and she rode till she came to Lord Thomas’s door; - She knocked so loud at the ring; - There was none so ready as Lord Thomas himself - To rise and let her in. - - 11 - He took her by her lily-white hand, - He led her across the hall; - Sing, ‘Here are five and twenty gay maids, - She is the flower of you all.’ - - 12 - He took her by her lily-white hand, - He led her across the hall, - He sat her down in a big arm-chair, - And kissed her before them all. - - 13 - The wedding was gotten, the table was set, - . . . . . . . - The first to sit down was Lord Thomas himself, - His bride, fair Ellinter, by his side. - - 14 - ‘Is this your bride, Lord Thomas?’ she said; - ‘If this is your bride, Lord Thomas, she looks most wonderfully - dark, - When you could have gotten a fairer - As ever the sun shone on.’ - - 15 - ‘O don’t you despise her,’ Lord Thomas said he, - ‘O don’t you despise her to me; - Yes, I like the end of your little finger - Better than her whole body.’ - - 16 - The brown girl, having a little penknife, - And being both keen and sharp, - Right between the long and short ribs, - She pierced poor Ellinter’s heart. - - 17 - ‘O what is the matter, fair Ellinter,’ said he, - ‘That you look so very dark, - When your cheeks used to have been so red and rosy - As ever the sun shined on?’ - - 18 - ‘Are you blind, or don’t you see, - My heart-blood come trickling down to my knee?’ - - 3^{1,2}. green _and_ red _should be interchanged: cf. 9_. - - 13, 14. _Rearranged._ - - 15^1. said she. - -181. Add to the French ballads, ‘La Délaissée,’ V. Smith, Romania, VII, -82; Legrand, Romania, X, 386, No 32; ‘La triste Noce,’ Thiriat, -Mélusine, I, 189; and to the Italian ballad, Nigra, No 20, p. 139, -‘Danze e Funerali.’ - - - 75. Lord Lovel. - -P. 205 b. Other copies of ‘Den elskedes Død’ (‘Kjærestens Død’), -Kristensen, Skattegraveren, VII, 1, 2, Nos 1, 2; Bergström ock -Nordlander, in Nyare Bidrag, o. s. v., pp. 92, 100; and ‘Olof Adelen,’ -p. 98, may be added, in which a linden grows from the common grave, with -two boughs which embrace. - -Note. With the Scandinavian-German ballads belongs ‘Greven og lille -Lise,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, V, 20, No 14. - -206, 512 b. To the southern ballads which have a partial resemblance may -be added: French, Beaurepaire, p. 52, Combes, Chants p. du Pays -castrais, p. 139, Arbaud, I, 117, Victor Smith, Romania, VII, 83, No. -32; Italian, Nigra, ‘La Sposa morta,’ No 17, p. 120 ff. (especially -#D#). - -215. I ought not to have omitted the σήματα by which Ulysses convinces -Penelope, Odyssey, xxiii, 181–208; to which might be added those which -convince Laertes, xxiv, 328 ff. See also the romance of Don Bueso, -Duran, I, lxv: - - ¿Qué señas me dabas - Por ser conocida? et cét. - - - 76. The Lass of Roch Royal. - -II, 213. There is a version of this ballad in the Roxburghe collection, -III, 488, a folio slip without imprint, dated in the Museum Catalogue -1740. I was not aware of the existence of this copy till it was printed -by Mr Ebsworth in the Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 609. He puts the date of -issue _circa_ 1765. It is here given from the original. Compare #H#. - - THE LASS OF OCRAM - - 1 - I built my love a gallant ship, - And a ship of Northern fame, - And such a ship as I did build, - Sure there never was seen. - - 2 - For her sides were of the beaten gold, - And the doors were of block-tin, - And sure such a ship as I built - There sure never was seen. - - 3 - And as she was a sailing, - By herself all alone, - She spied a proud merchant-man, - Come plowing oer the main. - - 4 - ‘Thou fairest of all creatures - Under the heavens,’ said she, - ‘I am the Lass of Ocram, - Seeking for Lord Gregory.’ - - 5 - ‘If you are the Lass of Ocram, - As I take you for to be, - You must go to yonder island, - There Lord Gregory you’ll see.’ - - 6 - ‘It rains upon my yellow locks, - And the dew falls on my skin; - Open the gates, Lord Gregory, - And let your true-love in!’ - - 7 - ‘If you’re the Lass of Ocram, - As I take you not to be, - You must mention the three tokens - Which passd between you and me.’ - - 8 - ‘Don’t you remember, Lord Gregory, - One night on my father’s hill, - With you I swaft my linen fine? - It was sore against my will. - - 9 - ‘For mine was of the Holland fine, - And yours but Scotch cloth; - For mine cost a guinea a yard, - And yours but five groats.’ - - 10 - ‘If you are the Lass of Ocram, - As I think you not to be, - You must mention the second token - That passd between you and me.’ - - 11 - ‘Don’t you remember, Lord Gregory, - One night in my father’s park, - We swaffed our two rings? - It was all in the dark. - - 12 - ‘For mine was of the beaten gold, - And yours was of block-tin; - And mine was true love without, - And yours all false within.’ - - 13 - ‘If you are the Lass of Ocram, - As I take you not to be, - You must mention the third token - Which past between you and me.’ - - 14 - ‘Don’t you remember, Lord Gregory, - One night in my father’s hall, - Where you stole my maidenhead? - Which was the worst of all.’ - - 15 - ‘Begone, you base creature! - Begone from out of the hall! - Or else in the deep seas - You and your babe shall fall.’ - - 16 - ‘Then who will shoe my bonny feet? - And who will close my hands? - And who will lace my waste so small, - Into a landen span? - - 17 - ‘And who will comb my yellow locks, - With a brown berry comb? - And who’s to be father of my child - If Lord Gregory is none?’ - - 18 - ‘Let your brother shoe your bonny feet, - Let your sister close your hands, - Let your mother lace your waist so small, - Into a landen span. - - 19 - ‘Let your father comb your yellow locks, - With a brown berry comb, - And let God be father of your child, - For Lord Gregory is none.’ - - 20 - ‘I dreamt a dream, dear mother, - I could wish to have it read; - I saw the Lass of Ocram - A floating on the flood.’ - - 21 - ‘Lie still, my dearest son, - And take thy sweet rest; - It is not half an hour ago, - The maid passd this place.’ - - 22 - ‘Ah! cursed be you, mother! - And cursed may you be, - That you did not awake me, - When the maid passd this way! - - 23 - ‘I will go down into some silent grove, - My sad moan for to make; - It is for the Lass of Ocram - My poor heart now will break.’ - - (4^1. Perhaps the reading was: The fairest, etc.) - -Mr W. H. Babcock has printed a little ballad as sung in Virginia, in -which are two stanzas that belong to ‘The Lass of Roch Royal:’ The -Folk-Lore Journal, VII, 31. - - ‘Come along, come along, my pretty little miss, - Come along, come along,’ said he, - ‘And seat yourself by me.’ - - ‘Neither will I come, and neither sit down, - For I have not a moment’s time; - For I heard that you had a new sweetheart, - And your heart is no more mine.’ - - ‘It never was, and it never shall be, - And it never was any such a thing; - For yonder she stands, in her own father’s garden, - The garden of the vine, - Mourning for her own true love, - Just like I’ve mourned for mine.’ - - I laid my head in a little closet-door, - To hear what my true love had to say, - So that I might know a little of his mind - Before he went away. - - I laid my head on the side of his bed, - My arms across his breast; - I made him believe, for the fall of the year, - The sun rose in the west. - - ‘I’m going away, I’m coming back again, - If it is ten thousand miles; - It’s who will shoe your pretty little feet? - And who will glove your hand? - And who will kiss your red, rosy lips, - While I’m in a foreign land?’ - - ‘My father will shoe my pretty little feet, - My mother glove my hand, - My babe will kiss my red, rosy lips, - While you’re in a foreign land.’ - -Mr James Mooney, of the Bureau of Ethnology, obtained two very similar -stanzas in the ‘Carolina Mountains.’ - - ‘O who will shoe your feet, my dear? - Or who will glove your hands? - Or who will kiss your red rosy cheeks, - When I’m in the foreign lands?’ - - ‘My father will shoe my feet, my dear, - My mother will glove my hands, - And you may kiss my red rosy cheeks - When you come from the foreign lands.’ - - - 78. The Unquiet Grave. - -P. 234. - - - E - - ‘In Gipsy Tents,’ by Francis Hindes Groome, 1880, p. 141, as sung by - an old woman. - - 1 - ‘Cold blows the wind over my true love, - Cold blows the drops of rain; - I never, never had but one sweet-heart, - In the green wood he was slain. - - 2 - ‘But I’ll do as much for my true love - As any young girl can do; - I’ll sit and I’ll weep by his grave-side - For a twelvemonth and one day.’ - - 3 - When the twelvemonth’s end and one day was past, - This young man he arose: - ‘What makes you weep by my grave-side - For twelve months and one day?’ - - 4 - ‘Only one kiss from your lily cold lips, - One kiss is all I crave; - Only one kiss from your lily cold lips, - And return back to your grave.’ - - 5 - ‘My lip is cold as the clay, sweet-heart, - My breath is earthly strong; - If you should have a kiss from my cold lip, - Your days will not be long.’ - - 6 - ‘Go fetch me a note from the dungeon dark, - Cold water from a stone; - There I’ll sit and weep for my true love - For a twelvemonth and one day. - - 7 - ‘Go dig me a grave both long, wide and deep; - I will lay down in it and take one sleep, - For a twelvemonth and one day; - I will lay down in it and take a long sleep, - For a twelvemonth and a day.’ - - - F - - ‘Cold blows the wind,’ Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte - Sophia Burne, 1883–86, p. 542; “sung by Jane Butler, Edgmond, - 1870–80.” - - ‘Cold blows the wind over my true love, - Cold blow the drops of rain; - I never, never had but one true love, - And in Camvile he was slain. - - ‘I’ll do as much for my true love - As any young girl may; - I’ll sit and weep down by his grave - For twelve months and one day.’ - - But when twelve months were come and gone, - This young man he arose: - ‘What makes you weep down by my grave? - I can’t take my repose.’ - - ‘One kiss, one kiss, of your lily-white lips, - One kiss is all I crave; - One kiss, one kiss, of your lily-white lips, - And return back to your grave.’ - - ‘My lips they are as cold as my clay, - My breath is heavy and strong; - If thou wast to kiss my lily-white lips, - Thy days would not be long. - - ‘O don’t you remember the garden-grove - Where we was used to walk? - Pluck the finest flower of them all, - ‘Twill wither to a stalk.’ - - ‘Go fetch me a nut from a dungeon deep, - And water from a stone, - And white milk from a maiden’s breast - [That babe bare never none].’ - - - G - - From the singing of a wandering minstrel and story-teller of the - parish of Cury, Cornwall. After the last stanza followed “a stormy - kind of duet between the maiden and her lover’s ghost, who tries to - persuade the maid to accompany him to the world of shadows.” Hunt, - Popular Romances of the West of England, First Series, 1865, p. xvi. - - 1 - ‘Cold blows the wind to-day, sweetheart, - Cold are the drops of rain; - The first truelove that ever I had - In the green wood he was slain. - - 2 - ‘’Twas down in the garden-green, sweetheart, - Where you and I did walk; - The fairest flower that in the garden grew - Is witherd to a stalk. - - 3 - ‘The stalk will bear no leaves, sweetheart, - The flowers will neer return, - And since my truelove is dead and gone, - What can I do but mourn?’ - - 4 - A twelvemonth and a day being gone, - The spirit rose and spoke: - . . . . . . . - . . . . . . . - - 5 - ‘My body is clay-cold, sweetheart, - My breath smells heavy and strong, - And if you kiss my lily-white lips - Your time will not be long.’ - -235 f. Add: Gaspé, Les anciens Canadiens, Québec, 1877, I, 220 ff.; -cited by Sébillot, Annuaire des Traditions populaires, 1887, p. 38 ff.. - -236. #A# 5, etc. So Nigra, ‘La Sposa morta,’ p. 122, No 17, #D# 12: ‘Mia -buca morta l’à odur di terra, ch’a l’era, viva, di roze e fiur.’ - -Little-Russian tale, Trudy, II, 416, No 122. A girl who is inconsolable -for the death of her mother is advised to hide herself in the church -after vespers on Thursday of the first week in Lent, and does so. At -midnight the bells ring, and a dead priest performs the service for a -congregation all of whom are dead. Among them is the girl’s godmother, -who bids her begone before her mother remarks her. But the mother has -already seen her daughter, and calls out, You here too? Weep no more for -me. My coffin and my grave are filled with your tears; wretched it is to -bathe in them! (W. W.) After this the mother’s behavior is not quite -what we should expect. Cf. the tale in Gaspé, just cited. - - - 79. The Wife of Usher’s Well. - -II, 238. - - - C - - ‘The Widow-Woman,’ Shropshire Folk-Lore, edited by Charlotte Sophia - Burne, 1883–86, p. 541; “taken down by Mr Hubert Smith, 24th March, - 1883, from the recitation of an elderly fisherman at Bridgworth, who - could neither read nor write, and had learnt it some forty years - before from his grandmother in Corve Dale.” - - “The West and South Shropshire folk say _far_ for _fair_.” - - 1 - There was a widow-woman lived in far Scotland, - And in far Scotland she did live, - And all her cry was upon sweet Jesus, - Sweet Jesus so meek and mild. - - 2 - Then Jesus arose one morning quite soon, - And arose one morning betime, - And away he went to far Scotland, - And to see what the good woman want. - - 3 - And when he came to far Scotland, - . . . . . . . - Crying, What, O what, does the good woman want, - That is calling so much on me? - - 4 - ‘It’s you go rise up my three sons, - Their names, Joe, Peter, and John, - And put breath in their breast, - And clothing on their backs, - And immediately send them to far Scotland, - That their mother may take some rest.’ - - 5 - Then he went and rose up her three sons, - Their names, Joe, Peter, and John, - And did immediately send them to far Scotland, - That their mother may take some rest. - - 6 - Then she made up a supper so neat, - As small, as small, as a yew-tree leaf, - But never one bit they could eat. - - 7 - Then she made up a bed so soft, - The softest that ever was seen, - And the widow-woman and her three sons - They went to bed to sleep. - - 8 - There they lay; about the middle of the night, - Bespeaks the youngest son: - ‘The white cock he has crowed once, - The second has, so has the red.’ - - 9 - And then bespeaks the eldest son: - ‘I think, I think it is high time - For the wicked to part from their dead,’ - - 10 - Then they laid [==led] her along a green road, - The greenest that ever was seen, - Until they came to some far chaperine, - Which was builded of lime and sand; - Until they came to some far chaperine, - Which was builded with lime and stone. - - 11 - And then he opened the door so big, - And the door so very wide; - Said he to her three sons, Walk in! - But told her to stay outside. - - 12 - ‘Go back, go back!’ sweet Jesus replied, - ‘Go back, go back!’ says he; - ‘For thou hast nine days to repent - For the wickedness that thou hast done.’ - - 13 - Nine days then was past and gone, - And nine days then was spent, - Sweet Jesus called her once again, - And took her to heaven with him. - - - 80. Old Robin of Portingale. - -P. 240 a. ‘Sleep you, wake you.’ Add: ‘Young Beichan,’ No 53, #B# 5; -Duran, Romancero, I, 488, Nos 742, 743. - -240 a, II, 513 a. - -The very wicked knight Owen, after coming out of St Patrick’s Purgatory, -lay in his orisons fifteen days and nights before the high altar, - - “And suþþe in is bare flech þe holi crois he nom, - And wende to þe holi lond, and holi mon bicom.” - -Horstmann, Altengl. Legenden, 1875, p. 174, vv. 611–612; also p. 208, v. -697, and p. 209, v. 658. In a mediæval traveller’s tale the Abyssinians -are said to burn the cross in their children’s foreheads. “Vort wonent -da andere snoide kirsten in deme lande ind die heischent Ysini; wan man -yr kinder douft ind kirsten macht, dan broet der priester yn eyn cruce -vor dat houft.” Ein niederrheinischer Bericht über den Orient, ed. -Röhricht u. Meier, in Zacher’s Zeitschrift, XIX, 15. (G. L. K.) - - - 83. Child Maurice. - -P. 272. #F.# - -Mr Macmath has found the edition of 1755, and has favored me with a -copy. Substitute for #F. a.#, p. 263: Gill Morice, An Ancient Scottish -Poem. Second Edition. Glasgow, Printed and sold by Robert and Andrew -Foulis, 1755. (Small 4º, 15 pages.) The copy mentioned p. 263 b, note, -is a reprint of this or of the first edition; it has but two variations -of reading. The deviations from the text of 1755 will be put in the list -of things to be corrected in the print. - - - 84. Bonny Barbara Allen. - -P. 276. In Miss Burne’s Shropshire Folk-Lore, 1883–86, p. 543, there is -a copy, taken from singing, which I must suppose to be derived -ultimately from print. - - - 85. Lady Alice. - -P. 279. The following version is printed by Mr G. R. Tomson in his -Ballads of the North Countrie, 1888, p. 434, from a MS. of Mrs Rider -Haggard. - - GILES COLLINS AND LADY ANNICE - - 1 - Giles Collins said to his own mother, - ‘Mother, come bind up my head, - And send for the parson of our parish, - For to-morrow I shall be dead. - - 2 - ‘And if that I be dead, - As I verily believe I shall, - O bury me not in our churchyard, - But under Lady Annice’s wall.’ - - 3 - Lady Annice sat at her bower-window, - Mending of her night-coif, - When passing she saw as lovely a corpse - As ever she saw in her life. - - 4 - ‘Set down, set down, ye six tall men, - Set down upon the plain, - That I may kiss those clay-cold lips - I neer shall kiss again. - - 5 - ‘Set down, set down, ye six tall men, - That I may look thereon; - For to-morrow, before the cock it has crowd, - Giles Collins and I shall be one. - - 6 - ‘What had you at Giles Collins’s burying? - Very good ale and wine? - You shall have the same to-morrow night, - Much about the same time.’ - - 7 - Giles Collins died upon the eve, - This fair lady on the morrow; - Thus may you all now very well know - This couple died for sorrow. - -Lt-Col. Prideaux has sent me this copy, from Fly-Leaves, London, John -Miller, 1854, Second Series, p. 98. - - GILES COLLINS - - 1 - Lady Annis she sat in her bay-window, - A-mending of her night-coif; - As she sat, she saw the handsomest corpse - That ever she saw in her life. - - 2 - ‘Who bear ye there, ye four tall men? - Who bear ye on your shouldyers?’ - ‘It is the body of Giles Collins, - An old true lovyer of yours.’ - - 3 - ‘Set’n down, set’n down,’ Lady Annis she said, - ‘Set’n down on the grass so trim; - Before the clock it strikes twelve this night, - My body shall lie beside him.’ - - 4 - Lady Annis then fitted on her night-coif, - Which fitted her wondrous well; - She then pierced her throat with a sharp-edgd knife, - As the four pall-bearers can tell. - - 5 - Lady Annis was buried in the east church-yard, - Giles Collins was laid in the west, - And a lily grew out from Giles Collins’s grave - Which touched Lady Annis’s breast. - - 6 - There blew a cold north-westerly wind, - And cut this lily in twain; - Which never there was seen before, - And it never will again. - - - 89. Fause Foodrage. - -P. 298 a. Add, ‘Sönnens hævn,’ Kristensen, Skattegraveren, IV, 113, No -284; a fragment. - - - 90. Jellon Grame. - -Pp. 303 b, 513 b. Marvellous growth, etc. Ormr Stórólfsson very early -attained to a great size, and at seven was a match for the strongest -men: Flateyjarbok, I, 521, Fornmanna Sögur, III, 205, cited by Bugge in -Paul u. Braune’s Beiträge, XII, 58. Wolfdietrich gains one man’s -strength every year, and amazes everybody in his infancy even. -Wolfdietrich A, ed. Amelung, sts 31, 38–41, 45, 233, 234, pp. 84, 85, -86, 108. (Some striking resemblances to Robert le Diable.) Cf. also -Wigalois, ed. Pfeiffer, 36, 2 f.,==Benecke, 1226 f.: - - In einem jâre wuchs ez mêr - dan ein anderz in zwein tuo. - -Elias (afterwards the Knight of the Swan), who is to avenge his mother, -astonishes by his rapid growth the old hermit who brings him up: - - “A! Dieu! dist ly preudons, à qui est cest enfant? - Il est sy jouènes d’âge et s’a le corps sy grant: - S’il croist sy faitement, ce sera ung gaiant.” - -Chevalier au Cygne, ed. Reiffenberg, vv. 960–963, I, 45. “The little -Malbrouk grew fast, and at seven years old he was as tall as a tall -man.” Webster, basque Legends, 2d ed., p. 78; Vinson, Folk-Lore du Pays -basque, p. 81. The Ynca Mayta Ccapac “a few months after his birth began -to talk, and at ten years of age fought valiantly and defeated his -enemies.” Markham, Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the Yncas, -Hakluyt Society, p. 83. A Tête-Rasée infant in four days grows to the -full size of man. Petitot, Traditions Indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest, -pp. 241–243. (G. L. K.) - - - 91. Fair Mary of Wallington. - -P. 310. #Danish.# Another copy of ‘Malfreds Død,’ Kristensen’s -Skattegraveren, VI, 195, No 804. - - - 93. Lamkin. - -P. 320. The negroes of Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, have -this ballad, orally transmitted from the original Scottish settlers of -that region, with the stanza found in #F# (19) and #T# (15): - - Mr Lammikin, Mr Lammikin, - oh, spare me my life, - And I’ll give you my daughter Betsy, - and she shall be your wife. - -“They sang it to a monotonous measure.” (Mrs Dulany.) - - - 94. Young Waters. - -P. 343. By the kindness of Mr Macmath, I have now a copy of the original -edition. - -Young Waters, an Ancient Scottish Poem, never before printed. Glasgow, -Printed and sold by Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1755. (Small 4º, 8 pages.) -The few differences of reading will be given with corrections to be made -in the print. - - - 95. The Maid Freed from the Gallows. - -P. 346. Mr Alfred Nutt has communicated to the Folk-Lore Journal, VI, -144, 1888, the outline of a ballad in which, as in some versions of the -European continent, the man has the place of the maid. But this may be a -modern turn to the story, arising from the disposition to mitigate a -tragic tale. The ballad was obtained “from a relative of Dr Birbeck -Hill’s, in whose family it is traditional. Mother, father, and brethren -all refuse him aid, but his sweetheart is kinder, and buys him off.” For -the burden see #C# 6, which, as well as #B# 12, might better have been -printed as such. - - 1 - ‘Hold up, hold up your hands so high! - Hold up your hands so high! - For I think I see my own mother coming - Oer yonder stile to me. - Oh the briars, the prickly briars, - They prick my heart full sore; - If ever I get free from the gallows-tree, - I’[ll] never get there any more. - - 2 - ‘Oh mother hast thou any gold for me, - Any money to buy me free, - To save my body from the cold clay ground, - And my head from the gallows-tree?’ - - 3 - ‘Oh no, I have no gold for thee, - No money to buy thee free, - For I have come to see thee hanged, - And hangëd thou shalt be.’ - -Struppa’s text of ‘Scibilia Nobili’ is repeated in Salomone-Marino’s -Leggende p. siciliane in Poesia, p. 160, No 29. The editor supplies -defects and gives some varying readings from another version, in which -Scibilia is the love, not the wife, of a cavalier.—Mango, Calabria, in -Archivio, I, 394, No 75 (wife).—‘La Prigioniera,’ Giannini, No 25, p. -195, two copies, reduces the story to four or five stanzas. The sequel, -No 26, p. 197, is likely to have been originally an independent ballad. -It is attached to ‘Scibilia Nobili,’ but is found separately in Bernoni, -XI, No 3, ‘La Figlia snaturata,’ Finamore, Archivio, I, 212, ‘Catarine.’ - -347 b. ‘Frísa vísa’ is reprinted by Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, p. -268, No 34. The editor expressly says that the ballad is used as a -children’s game, like the English #F#. So also are Danish #A#, and a -Magyar ballad of like purport, to be mentioned presently. - -348 b. #Danish.# #A#, in Kristensen’s Skattegraveren, ‘Jomfruens -udløsning,’ II, 49, No 279, 1884; #B#, III, 5, No 3, 1885. From -tradition. Both versions agree with the Swedish in all important points, -and the language of #B# points to a Swedish derivation. - -349 a. Ransom for maid refused by father, mother, brother, sister, and -paid by lover: Little-Russian, Golovatsky, I, 50, No 11; II, 245, No 7. -(W. W.) - -349 b, 514 a. Man redeemed by maid when abandoned by his own blood: -Little-Russian, Golovatsky, I, 250, No 26; Servian, Vuk, III, 547, No -83; Magyar-Croat, Kurelac, p. 254, No 61, p. 352, No 96. (W. W.) - -In a Slovak ballad in Kollár, Národnie Zpiewanky, II, 13, translated by -Herrmann, Ethnologische Mittheilungen, col. 42 f., John, in prison, -writes to his father to ransom him; the father asks how much would have -to be paid; four hundred pieces of gold and as many of silver; the -father replies that he _has not_ so much, and his son must perish. An -ineffectual letter to mother, brother, sister, follows; then one to his -sweetheart. She brings a long rope, with which he is to let himself down -from his dungeon. If the rope proves too short, he is to add his long -hair (cf. I, 40 b, line 2, 486 b); and if it be still too short, he may -light upon her shoulders. John escapes. Nearly the same is the Polish -ballad translated in Waldbrühl’s Balalaika, which is referred to II, 350 -b. - -A fragment of a Székler ransom-ballad is found in Arany and Gyulai’s -collection, III, 42: Herrmann, as above, col. 49. Another form of -love-test is very popular in Hungary, of which Herrmann gives eight -versions. In one of these, from a collection made in 1813, Arany and -Gyulai, I, 189 (Herrmann’s IV), the story is told with the conciseness -of the English ballad. A snake has crept into a girl’s bosom: she -entreats her father to take it out; he dares not, and sends her to her -mother; the mother has as little devotion and courage as the father, and -sends her to her brother; she is successively passed on to -sister-in-law, brother-in-law, sister; then appeals to her lover, who -instantly does the service. This is the kernel, and perhaps all that is -original, in versions, I (of Herrmann), col. 34 f., contributed by -Kálmány; II, 36 f., contributed by Szabó; V, col. 38, Kálmány, Koszorúk -az Alföld vad Virágaiból, I, 21, translated into German by Wlislocki, -Ungarische Revue, 1884, p. 344; VIII, col. 39, Kálmány, Szeged Népe, II, -13. In Herrmann, VI, col. 38, Kálmány, Koszorúk, II, 62; VII, col. 38 -f., Kálmány, Szeged Népe, II, 12; and III, col. 37 (a fragment), young -man and maid change parts. In I, III, V (?), VI, VII, the father says he -can better do without a daughter (son) than without one of his hands, -and the youth (maid) would rather lose one of his (her) hands than his -(her) beloved.[326] In I the snake has been turned to a purse of gold -when the maid attempts to take it out; in II, according to a prose and -prosaic comment of the reciter, there was no snake, but the girl had put -a piece of gold in her bosom, and calls it a yellow adder to experiment -upon her family; in VII, again, there is no snake, but a rouleau of -gold, and the snake is explained away in like manner in a comment to -VIII. Even the transformation in I is to be deprecated; the money in the -others is a modern depravation. - -A brief ballad of the Transylvania Gipsies, communicated and translated -by Wlislocki, Ungarische Revue, 1884, p. 345 f., agrees with the second -series of those above. A youth summons mother and sister to take a -reptile from his breast; they are afraid; his sweetheart will do it if -she dies. A very pretty popular Gipsy tale to the same effect is given -by Herrmann, col. 40 f. - -A Roumanian ballad, ‘Giurgiu,’ closely resembling the Magyar I, VII, -from Pompiliu Miron’s Balade populare române, p. 41, is given in -translation by Herrmann, col. 106 ff.; a fragment of another, with parts -reversed, col. 213. - -A man, to make trial of his blood-relations, begs father, mother, etc., -to take out a snake from his breast, and is refused by all. His wife -puts in her hand and takes out a pearl necklace, which she receives as -her reward: Servian, Vuk, I, No 289, Herzegovine, No 136, Petranović, -Serajevo, 1867, p. 191, No 20; Slavonian, Stojanović, No 20. (W. W.) - -There are many variations on this theme, of which one more may be -specified. A drowning girl given over by her family is saved by her -lover: Little-Russian, Golovatsky, II, 80, No 14, 104, No 18, 161, No -15, 726, No 11; Servian, Vuk, I, Nos 290, 291; Bulgarian, Dozon, p. 98, -No 61; Polish, Kolberg, Lud, 1857, I, 151, 12^a. Again, man is saved by -maid: Little-Russian, Golovatsky, I, 114, No 28; Waclaw z Oleska, p. -226. (W. W.) - - - 96. The Gay Goshawk. - -P. 356 a. (1.) (2.) (4.) are now printed in Mélusine, II, 342, III, 1, -II, 341. (15.) (16.) ‘La Fille dans la Tour,’ Victor Smith, Chansons du -Velay et du Forez, Romania, VII, 76, 78. (17.) Bladé, Poésies p. rec. -dans l’Armagnac, etc., p. 23, ‘La Prisonnière.’ - -There is an Italian form of ‘Belle Isambourg’ in Nigra, No 45, p. 277, -‘Amor costante.’ - -356 b. For other forms of ‘Les trois Capitaines,’ see, French, -Puymaigre, I, 131, 134 and note; Tiersot, in Revue des Traditions -populaires, III, 501, 502; Rolland, III, 58 ff., _a_, _b_, _d_; Italian, -Marcoaldi, p. 162, ‘La Fuga e il Pentimento;’ Nigra, No 53, p. 309, -‘L’Onore salvato.’ - -357 b, second paragraph. - -On messenger-birds, see Nigra, p. 339 f., and note. - -A girl feigns death simply to avoid a disagreeable suitor. Proof by -fire, etc.; cf. #C# 23 f., #D# 7 f., #E# 27 f., #F# 1–3, #G# 36–38. -Servian. (1.) Mara, promised to the Herzog Stephen, and wishing for good -reasons to escape him, pretends death. Stephen is incredulous; puts live -coals into her bosom, then a snake; she does not flinch. He then tickles -her face with his beard; she does not stir. Stephen is convinced and -retires; Mara springs from the bier. Her mother asks her what had given -her most trouble. She had not minded the coals or the snake, but could -hardly keep from laughing when tickled with the beard. Vuk, I, 551, No -727. (2.) The suitor tests the case by thrusting his hands into the -girl’s bosom, fire, snake. The first is the worst. Vuk, Herzegovine, No -133. (3.) The same probation, with the same verdict (in this case the -girl loves another), Petranović, Srpske n. pjesme, Serajevo, 1867, No -362. Cf. Rajković, p. 176, No 211.—Bulgarian. Proofs by snow and ice -laid on the heart; a snake. She stands both. Miladinof, No 68, cf. No -468. In the same, No 660, the girl holds out under ice and snake, but -when kissed between the eyes wakes up.—Bohemian, Erben, p. 485, No 20, -‘The Turk duped,’ and Moravian, Sušil, No 128, the tests are lacking. -(W. W.) - -Three physicians from Salerno pour melted lead in the hands of Fenice, -who is apparently dead. (She has taken a drug which makes her -unconscious for a certain time. Her object is to escape from her husband -to her lover, Cligés.) The lead has no effect in rousing Fenice. -Crestien de Troies, Cligés, ed. Förster, vv. 6000–6009, pp. 246, 247. -Förster cites Solomon and Morolf (Salman und Morolf, st. 133, ed. F. -Vogt, Die deutschen Dichtungen v. Salomon und Markolf, I, 27, _molten -gold_), and other parallels. Einleitung, pp. xix-xx. Cf. Revue de -Traditions pop., II, 519. (G. L. K.) - - - 100. Willie o Winsbury. - -P. 398. There is a ‘Lord Thomas of Wynnesbury ’ in the Murison MS., p. -17, which was derived from recitation in Aberdeenshire, but it seems to -me to have had its origin in the stalls, resembling #I#, which is of -that source. - - - 101. Willie o Douglas Dale. - -Pp. 407, 409, #A# 14^2, #B# 12^2, ‘An lions gaed to their dens,’ ‘And -the lions took the hill.’ “Lions we have had verie manie in the north -parts of Scotland, and those with maines of no less force than they of -Mauritania are sometimes reported to be; but how and when they were -destroied as yet I doo not read:” Holinshed, I, 379. - - - 102. Willie and Earl Richard’s Daughter. - -P. 412 b. #A# is translated by Anastasius Grün, Robin Hood, p. 57; -Doenniges, p. 166; Knortz, L. u. R. Altenglands, No 18; Loève-Veimars, -p. 252. - - - 105. The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington. - -II, 426 b, 428. The tune of 105 #b# is, I have a good old woman at home: -of #f#, I have a good old wife at home. - -#Italian.# ‘La Prova,’ Nigra, No 54, p. 314, #A-D#. ‘Il Ritorno,’ -Giannini, p. 154. - - - 106. The Famous Flower of Serving-Men. - -P. 428. The Roxburghe copy, III, 762, Aldermary Church-Yard, is in the -Ballad Society’s edition, VI, 567. The Euing copy, printed for John -Andrews, is signed L. P., for Laurence Price: Mr J. W. Ebsworth, at p. -570. - - - 109. Tom Potts. - -P. 441 b. #B. b.# Ritson’s copy was “compared with another impression, -for the same partners, without date.” - -I have failed to mention, but am now reminded by Mr Macmath, that the -ballad of ‘Jamie o Lee’ is given, under the title ‘James Hatelie,’ by -Robert Chambers in the Romantic Scottish Ballads, their Epoch and -Authorship, 1859, p. 37, Lord Phenix appearing as simple Fenwick. - - - 112. The Baffled Knight. - -P. 480 b. Spanish #C#, ‘El Caballero burlado,’ is now printed in full in -Pidal, Asturian Romances, No 34, p. 156. - -481 b. Add: ‘La Marchande d’Oranges’ in Rolland, V, 10. (Say Rolland, I, -258.) - -Tears. Add: Rolland, II, 29, _e, g, h_. - -Varieties. There may be added: Mélusine I, 483==Revue des Traditions -pop., III, 634 f.; Romania, X, 379 f., No 18; Bladé, Poésies p. de la -Gascogne, II, 208. - -482 a. #Italian.# Nigra, No 71, p. 375, ‘Occasione mancata,’ #A-F#. See -also ‘La Monacella salvata,’ No 72, p. 381, and ‘Il Galante burlato,’ No -75, p. 388. - -482 b. The ballad, it seems, is by _Madame_ Favart: see Rolland, II, 33, -_k_. Add: _l_, _ib._, p. 34, and Poésies pop. de la France, MS., III, -493. - -483 b. Danish #A# is translated by Prior, III, 182, No 126. - - - 113. The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry. - -P. 494. - -“On the west coast of Ireland the fishermen are loth to kill the seals, -which once abounded in some localities, owing to a popular superstition -that they enshrined ‘the souls of thim that were drowned at the flood.’ -They were supposed to possess the power of casting aside their external -skins and disporting themselves in human form on the sea-shore. If a -mortal contrived to become possessed of one of these outer coverings -belonging to a female, he might claim her and keep her as his bride.” -Charles Hardwick, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore, chiefly -Lancashire and the North of England, p. 231. (G. L. K.) - -506 a, last paragraph but one. So in Douns Lioð, Strengleikar, ed. -Kayser and Unger, p. 52 ff. (G. L. K.) - - - VOL. III. - - - 116. Adam Bell, etc. - -P. 17 b. I have omitted to mention the Norwegian ballad ‘Hemingjen aa -Harald kungen’ in Bugge’s Gamle Norske Folkeviser, No 1, p. 1. - -44. ‘A Robynhode,’ etc. - -In the Convocation Books of the Corporation of Wells, Somerset, vol. ii, -“under the 13th Henry 7, Nicholas Trappe being master, there is the -following curious entry, relative, apparently, to a play of Robin Hood, -exhibitions of dancing girls, and church ales, provided for at the -public expense. - -“‘Et insuper in eadem Convocatione omnes et singuli burgenses unanimi -assensu ad tunc et ibidem dederunt Magistro Nicolao Trappe potestatem -generalem ad inquirendum in quorum manibus pecuniæ ecclesiæ ac -communitatis Welliæ sunt injuste detentæ; videlicet, provenientes ante -hoc tempus de Robynhode, puellis tripudiantibus, communi cervisia -ecclesiæ, et hujusmodi. Atque de bonis et pecuniis dictæ communitati -qualitercunque detentis, et in quorumcunque manibus existentibus. Et -desuper, eorum nomina scribere qui habent hujusmodi bona, cum summis, -etc.’” H. T. Riley in the First Report of the Historical MSS Commission, -1874, Appendix, p. 107. - -The passage in the Wells Convocation Records is perhaps illustrated by -an entry in the Churchwardens’ Accounts of the Parish of -Kingston-upon-Thames, cited by Ritson, Robin Hood, 2d ed., I, cxviii, -from Lysons, Environs of London, 1792, I, 228: - - “16 Hen. 8. Rec^d at the church-ale and Robynhode all things - deducted - - 3 10 6.” - -With this may be compared the following: - - “Anno MDLXVI, or 9 of Eliz., payde for setting up Robin Hoodes bower - - 0 18” - -(Churchwardens’ Accompts of St. Helen’s [at Abingdon, Berks], -Archæologia, I, 18). This latter entry is loosely cited by Ritson, I, -cxiv, 2d ed., as dating from 1556. Ibidem may be found his opinion as to -R. H.’s bower (n. *). Hampson, Medii Ævi Kalendarium, I, 265, quotes -this entry, also with the wrong year. He has no doubt about the Bower: -“An arbour, called Robin Hood’s Bower, was erected in the church-yard, -and here maidens stood gathering contributions.” I, 283. (All the above -by G. L. K.) - - - 117. A Gest of Robyn Hode. - -P. 46 b, note. The Sloane MS. cited by Ritson as No 715 is No 780 (which -is bound up with 715) and is “paper, early xviith century:” Ward, -Catalogue of Romances, etc., I, 517. This correction is also to be made -at p. 121 b, note; pp. 129 a, 173 b, 175 b. - -51 b, sts 62–66. - -The late Miss Hamilton McKie, New Galloway, told me this story: - -A sturdy beggar, or luscan, came to a farm-house among the hills and -asked quarters for the night. The gudewife, before entrusting him with -the bedclothes in which to sleep in one of the outhouses, required a -pledge or security for their return. He said he had none to offer but -his Maker, and got his night’s lodging. In the morning he walked off -with the bedclothes, but, becoming bewildered in a mist, he wandered -about the whole day, and in the evening, seeing the light of a house, -made towards it and knocked at the door. A woman opened it and said, -“Your Cautioner has proved gude!” He had come back to the same house. - -Mactaggart gives the story in his Gallovidian Encyclopedia, p. 325, but -without the trait of the security. (W. Macmath.) - - - 147. Robin Hood’s Golden Prize. - -P. 210. The signature to a, L. P., is for Laurence Price: Ebsworth, -Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 64. - - - 150. Robin Hood and Maid Marian. - -P. 218 (and 43–46). - -Mr H. L. D. Ward, in his invaluable Catalogue of Romances, etc., while -treating of Fulk Fitz-Warine, has made the following important remarks -concerning the literary history of Maid Marian (p. 506 f.). - -“There were three Matildas who were popularly supposed to have been -persecuted by King John. The most historical of these was Matilda de -Braose. She was imprisoned, with her son and her son’s wife, in 1210, -some (Matthew Paris and others) say at Windsor, but another chronicler -says at Corfe Castle (see a volume published by the Soc. de l’Hist. de -France in 1840), and they were all starved to death. The second was -Fulk’s wife Mahaud, who was the widow of Theobald Walter. The third was -the daughter of Robert Fitz-Walter. The only authority that can be -quoted for the story of the third Matilda is the Chronicle of Dunmow, of -which one copy of the 16th century remains, in the Cotton MS., -Cleopatra, C. iii. (ff. 281–7), but which was probably begun by Nicholas -de Brumfeld, a canon of Dunmow in the latter part of the 13th century. -It is there stated that, when Robert Fitz-Walter fled to France in 1213, -his daughter took refuge in Dunmow Priory, where John, after a vain -attempt at seduction, poisoned her. Now all these three Matildas may be -said to appear in the two plays known as _The Downfall_ and _The Death -of Robert Earle of Huntington_, by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, -which are first mentioned in Henslowe’s _Diary_ in February and -November, 1598. Two of them indeed appear in their own names, Matilda de -Braose (or Bruce) and Matilda Fitz-Walter; and the one is starved at -Windsor and the other is poisoned at Dunmow in the second play. But in -the first play Matilda Fitz-Walter escapes the solicitations of John by -joining her newly-married husband in Sherwood, where they are called -Robin Hood and Maid Marian. This is clearly owing to a combination of -the second and third Matildas. It may have been effected by the course -of tradition, or it may have been the arbitrary work of a single author. -But if the romance of Fulk Fitz-Warin had been known to either Munday or -Chettle, other portions of it would almost certainly have appeared in -plays or novels or ballads. Now Munday introduces the piece as a -rehearsal, conducted by John Skelton the poet, who himself plays Friar -Tuck, with a view to performing it before Henry VIII. And it is not at -all unlikely that it was really founded upon a May-day pageant devised -by Skelton, but not important enough to be specified in the list of his -works in his _Garlande of Laurell_. We know that Skelton did write -Interludes, of which one still remains, _Magnyfycence_: and Anthony Wood -tells us that at Diss in Norfolk, where Skelton was rector, he was -‘esteemed more fit for the stage than the pew or pulpit.’ Thus there was -no man more likely than Skelton to devise a new Robin Hood pageant for -his old pupil, Henry VIII. And again, there was no man more likely to -celebrate the story of Matilda Fitz-Walter, for the patron of his living -was Robert Lord Fitz-Walter, who was himself a Ratcliffe, but who had -inherited the lordship of Diss through his grandmother, the last of the -old Fitz-Walters.[327] But whether Skelton may have read the then -accessible poem about Fulk, afterwards described by Leland, or whether -either he or Munday may have received the story in its composite form, -it is pretty evident that the two reputed objects of King John’s desire, -Matilda Walter and Matilda Fitz-Walter, have become blended together -into the Maid Marian of the play.” - - - 155. Sir Hugh, or, The Jew’s Daughter. - -P. 235 a. Bells ringing of themselves (in ballads). Pidal, Asturian -Romances, ‘Il Penitente,’ Nos 1, 2, pp. 82, 84; Nigra, ‘Sant’ Alessio,’ -No 148, A, B, p. 538 ff., and see p. 541. - - - 161. The Battle of Otterburn. - -P. 294. St George our Lady’s knight. - - A nemnede sein Gorge our leuedi kniȝt: - -Sir Beues of Hamtoun, ed. Kölbing, v. 2817, p. 129; Maitland Club ed., -v. 2640. (G. L. K., who also gave me the case in Roister Doister.) - - “Now holy St George, myne only avower, - In whom I trust for my protection, - O very Chevalier of the stourished Flower, - By whose Hands thy Sword and Shield hast wone, - Be mediator, that she may to her Sone - Cause me to hear Rex splendens songen on hye, - Before the Trinitye, when that I shall dye.” - -Poem on the Willoughbies of Eresby, in the form of a prayer to St George -put into the mouth of one of the Willoughby family, Dugdale, Baronage of -England, 1676, II, 85, 86. Dugdale does not date the MS. The male line -of the Willoughbies became extinct in 1525. - - (3. flourished? 4. thou thy?) (G. L. K.) - - - 169. Johnie Armstrong. - -P. 371 f. #B# #a#, #b# are signed T. R., the initials of a purveyor or -editor of ballads for the popular press. #B# #a# of ‘Robin Hood and the -Butcher,’ No 122, and #a# of ‘Robin Hood and the Beggar,’ I, No 133, -bear the same signature: see pp. 116, 156 of this volume. No such -rhymster as T. R. shows himself to be in these two last pieces could -have made ‘Johnie Armstrong,’ one of the best ballads in English. - - - 178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon. - -P. 423. “The Donean Tourist,” by Alexander Laing, Aberdeen, 1828, p. -100, has a very bad copy, extended to fifty-nine stanzas. - - - 182. The Laird o Logie. - -P. 449. ‘Young Logie’ is among the ballads taken down by Mrs Murison in -Aberdeenshire, p. 88 of the collection. The copy is imperfect, and -extremely corrupted. Lady Margaret is the daughter of the king (who is -not called by that name), but is confused with her mother, who -counterfeits her consort’s han-write and steals his right-han glove, as -is done in #D#. Three ships at the pier of Leith, and three again at -Queen’s Ferry. - - - 184. The Lads of Wamphray. - -P. 458. Mr Macmath has pointed out to me a case in Pitcairn’s Criminal -Trials, I, 397 f., in which “Jok Johnstoun, callit the Galzeart, Jok J., -bruþer to Wille of Kirkhill,” with a Grahame, a couple of Armstrangs, -and their accomplices, are accused of the theft of twelve score sheep -from James Johnstoune, in February, 1557. We can make no inference as to -the relation of Jok the Galliard to the Galliard of our ballad. There -were generations of Jocks and Wills in these families, and the sobriquet -of The Galliard, as Pitcairn has remarked, “was very prevalent.” He -cites a “Gilbert Ellote, callit Gib the Galzart,” III, 441, under the -date 1618. - - - To be Corrected in the Print. - - I, 7 b, last line but three of text. _Read_ Fordringer. - - 71 a, 33^2. tell thee, ed. 1802; tell to thee, ed. 1833. - - 132 b, 7^2. _Read_ Lord John. - - 159 a, 3^{1,2}. to your, in the MS. - - 186 a, Notes to #A b#. _Add_ 2^2. slung at. - - 256 a, 1^4. _Read_ Machey _for_ May-hay. - - 274 b, note [261]. _Read_ Romania IX. - - 356 b, #D c# 1^3. _Read_ O go not. - - 400 a, #I.# _Read_ II, 360. - - 469 a, 22^3. _Read_ your _for_ yonr. - - 482 a, #D# 16, 17, 5th line. _Read_ Hine. - - 489 a, between 67 a and 84 b. _Insert_ 6. Willie’s Lady. - - 503 a. The title of #I# is ‘Hynd Horn.’ - - 504 b, between 226 a and 231. _Insert_ 21. The Maid and the - Palmer. - - II, 70 a, 18^4. Fall, ed. 1802; fell, ed. 1833. - - 104 a, 19^{1,2}. _Read_ pat. - - 129 a, 11^1. _Read_ ‘O here I am’ the boy says. - - 135 a, #A. a.# 11^1. _Drop._ - - 176 b, 11^3. _Read_ Gae. - - 179 b, note to #B# 7^2. _Drop._ - - 192 a, 7^4. _Read_ maun. 8^2. _Read_ Ye’r seer. 9^2. _Drop_ the - brackets. - - 193 a, 20^4. _Read_ ye never gat. 22^2. _Drop_ the brackets. 25^2. - _Read_ dreams. - - 193 b, 28^1. _Read_ Ge (==Gae) _for_ Ye. - - 226 a, 229 a, ‘Sweet William’s Ghost,’ #A.# _Read_ 1750 _for_ - 1763. - - 239 a, #B# 3^1. _Read_ O she. - - 272 f. _Read_ (_according to the text of 1755_): 2^1. will I. 7^4. - gar thy. - - 10^2. to thy. - - 18^3. maun cum. - - 22^1. _Note_: “perhaps fetchie” nurse. - - 23^4. hes he. - - 26^1. sits. - - 26^3. means a’ those folks. - - 26^4. mother she. - - 27^1. And when he cam to gude grene wod. - - 27^3. first saw. - - 27^4. Kemeing down. - - 28^2. Than, _misprint for_ That. - - 34^4. they lay. - - 35^4. hip was. - - 39^2. ill deed. - - 275 b. _Read, v._ 17, You see his heid upon my. v. 20, that did, - _apparently a misprint for_ that thocht. - -The only variations in the other copy are: 26^3, these _for_ those; -thocht _for_ did, in v. 20 of p. 275 b. - - 276 a. #A. a.# _Read_ 1750 _for_ 1763 _twice_. - - 276 b, 4th line of the preface. _Read_ Annandale. 13th line of the - preface. _Read_ our old. 2^1. _Read_ man (ed. 1750). - - 310 a, third paragraph, line seven. _Read_ authenticatable. - - 343. _Read_ (ed. 1755): 2^3. And there. 3^3. And mantel. 12^1. I - have. (_Drop_ the notes to 3^3, 5^1.) - - 348 b, #G#, #H#. _Read_ Reifferscheid. - - 352 b, #D# 5^4. MS. has And free. - - 378 a, last line. _Read_ Andrew Small. - - 381 b, 20^3. _Read_ Scotch. - - 393 a, 14^2. _Read_ shook. - - 405 b, notes. 16 belongs to #I# and should be on p. 406. - - 437 b, translations. _Read_ #E# is translated by Grundtvig, etc.; - #D# by Afzelius, etc. - - 462 a, 26^4. _Read_ sned _for_ sued. - - 478, first line after the title. _Read_ 56 b _for_ 27 b. - - 481 b, third paragraph, sixth line. _Read_, 27. - - 500, #20#, first line. _Read_ #O# _for_ #M#. English #N#, #O# - should be #O#, #P#. - - 502 b, #34#, first line. _Read_ Decurtins _for_ Decurtius. - - 506 b, #44#, 400 a. _Drop_ #Q#, etc.. Note to 401, _drop_ Revue - des Traditions, etc.. - - 513 a, seventh line from bottom. _Read_ quam. - -III, 6 a, 12^1. _Read_ Braidisbauks. - - 11, #M.# _Say_: Reminiscences by Thomas Carlyle, II, 171, 1881, - Froude’s Life of Carlyle, II, 416, 1882. In line 2, _read_, O - busk and go with me, me. - - 46 b, line 9. _Read_ S. S. _for_ S. G. - - 95 b, note [86]. _Say_: Jock o the Side, #B# 13, 14, #C# 10, III, - 480, 482. - -(The following are mostly trivial variations from the spelling of the -text.) - - I, 71 b, 51^1. Oh, ed. 1802; O, ed. 1883. - - 80 b, 14^1. _Read_ f[e]ast. - - 132 a, 5^1. _Read_ father[s]. - - 133 a, #M#. _Read_ Deer. - - 137 b, #S# 4^2. _Read_ cam. - - 256 b, 3^2. _Read_ O. 4^2. _Read_ rocked. - - 302 a, #B#^{1,2}. _Read_ Whare. - - 321 b, 7^4. _Read_ doun. - - 325 a, 3^3. _Read_ Heavn. 6^2. _Read_ danton. - - 331 a, #C# 2^4. _Read_ thrie. #D# 2^3. _Read_ micht. - - 441 a, 1^6. _Read_ warsell. 4^3. _Read_ bloody. - - 468 a, 4^1. _Read_ stock. 10^2. _Read_ saftly. b 13^2. MS. has - bone. 16^3. _Read_ Beachen. - - 481 a, 31^2. _Read_ dazled. - - 500 a, 10^4. _Read_ down. - - 508 a, 7^4. _Read_ by. - -II, 32 a, #P# 1^4. _Read_ aboon. - - 70 a, 19^4. _Read_ cheik. 20^2. _Read_ smil’d. b, 30^4. _Read_ - tine. - - 90 b, 26^1. _Read_ won, _twice_. - - 108 a, 2^4. _Read_ die. b, 11^3. _Read_ mony. - - 130 a, 3^3. _Read_ Gil. 4^3. _Read_ Jill. - - 131 a, 17^3. _Read_ han. b, 19^3. _Read_ ain. - - 152 a, 4^3, 5^1. _Read_ grene. - - 153 b, 22^3. _Read_ grene. - - 161 a, 7^1, 8^1. _Read_ tane. - - 192 a, 5^4. _Read_ An. 7^3. _Read_ askin. - - 193 b, 26^1. _Read_ bour. - - 240 a, note. _Read_ Madden. - - 272 f. _Read_ (ed. 1755): 1^1. Gill Morice. 5^2. said. 6^3. red. - 8^3, 16^3, 17^3, 24^3, 26^1, 36^3. guid grene wod. 9^2, 18^2. - slive. 10^2, 15^2. Tho. 11^1. micht. 11^2. near. 11^2, 20^2. - coud. 12^3. I’s. 13^3. whar he. 14^2. woud. 15^8. stracht. 17^4. - Even. 21^4. welcom. 21^4, 39^4. me. 22^2. lie. 22^4. she. 23^2. - he. 24^4. with. 26^1. Gill. 26^2. whistld. 26^4. tarrys. 27^2, - 36^2. miekle. 27^2. cair. 28^2. well. 29^4, 31^1, 31^4, 33^3, - 34^1. heid. 30^3. bodie. 33^4. town. 34^4. there. 35^3. ance. - 37^1. credle. 39^2. die. - - 275 a, last line but three. _Read_ Wi, pearce. L. l. but one, - naithing, heid. Last line, coud. b, v. 3. day[s]. 7. been. 8. - me. 15. teirs, wensom. 18. bluid. 22. comly. 25. driry. - - 321 b, note [152]. _Read_ Balcanqual. - - 331 b, 3^1. _Read_ nurice. - - 343. _Read_ (ed. 1755): 1^4, favord. 5^1. spack. 6^3. bot. 7^3. - bin. 9^1. coud. 9^4, 14^4. die. - - 352 b, 3^3. _Read_ pown. - - 363 b, 11^1. _Read_ ladie’s. - - 364 a, 20^1. _Read_ ladye’s. - - 389 a, 8^3. _Read_ You’r. - - 390 b, 29^2. _Read_ hir. 51. _Read_ bouer. - - 391 a, 12^1. _Read_ Whan. - - 396 a, 1^2. _Read_ blithe. - - 404 b, 9^1. _Read_ Whan. - - 473 b, 17^3. _Read_ mony. - - 475 a, 11^3. _Read_ down, _twice_. - - 478. _Read_: 1^2, on _for_ an. 4^1. s_ir_. 6^2. do. 14^1. a[t] - London. 15^1. medans. 17^1. leyne. - - 483, 1^3. _Read_ wel. 6^4. _Read_ beene. - -III, 2 a, note, line 5. _Read_ Bennet. - - 5 a, #D# 5^2. _Read_ Lincolm. b, 10^1. _Read_ there. - - 8 b, 24^1. _Read_ betide. - - 253 b, #R#, v. 3. _Read_ dochter. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - This manuscript, which Fry bought in Glasgow in 1810, contained - several other ballads, “but written so corruptly as to be of little or - no authority.” It did not occur to Fry that the illiteracy of the - drummer gave his ballads the best of authority. I have done what I - could to recover the manuscript, but in vain, though I had the kindest - assistance in Bristol from the Rev. J. Percivall, Mr Francis Fry, and - Mr J. F. Nicholls. - -Footnote 2: - - See Motherwell’s apt remarks, Minstrelsy, p. 1. - -Footnote 3: - - “It is sometimes said that this outlaw possessed the old Castle of - Morton in Dumfriesshire, now ruinous.... The mention of Durisdeer, a - neighboring parish, adds weight to the tradition.” Minstrelsy of the - Scottish Border, 1833, III, 114 f. Mr W. Bennett, writing in 1826 in - The Dumfries Monthly Magazine, III, 250, of which he was editor, - speaks of a field a little to the southwest of Lochmaben as still - showing the trace of a circular tower, which was “called Cockiesfield, - from one John Cock, or O’Cock, who had there his residence, and who - during his lifetime was one of the most renowned freebooters in - Annandale.” Mr Macmath, who pointed out the passage to me, observes - that in Thomson’s map of Dumfriesshire, 1828, the name is given - “Cocketfield,” and that there is also a Cocket Hill. - -Footnote 4: - - Colophon: [P]rynted at London, in Fletestrete, at [the si]gne of the - Sonne, by me Iohn [By]ddell. In the yere of our lord god - m.ccccc.xxxvj. The seconde daye of June. Iohn̄ Byddell. - - Eight lines wanting: 120^{3,4}; 121; 168^{3,4}. Mutilated at the - beginning: 169; 170. Mutilated at the end: 164^1; 165^3; 167^1. - -Footnote 5: - - Eleven lines wanting: 60^{2,3,4}; 67^4; 68^{1,2}; 100^3; 104^4; - 105^{1,2}; 110^4. Mutilated at the beginning: 61–64^1; 64^3–67^3; - 75^4–83^1; 90^{4,5,6}; 96^4; 105^3–110^3; 111^{1,2}. Mutilated at the - end: 60^1; 101^3; 102^3; 103^1; 104^{2,3}. Elsewhere: 97^{2,3}; 104^1. - -Footnote 6: - - Colophon. Imprinted at London, in Lothburye, by Wyllyam Copeland. - -Footnote 7: - - “Two leaves, discovered in the pasteboard or fly-leaves of a book - received from abroad.” - -Footnote 8: - - #b# was kindly copied for me by Mr J. P. Collier in 1857. Mr Collier - described his fragment as “a scrap which once formed the fly-leaf of a - book.” Hazlitt says that the type is clearly older than Copland’s, and - very like Wynkyn de Worde’s. - -Footnote 9: - - This old woman gives the title ‘Auld Matrons’ to a ballad in Buchan’s - larger collection, II, 238, in which kitchen-tradition has made over - some of the incidents in the First Fit of Adam Bell. - -Footnote 10: - - Vischer, Die Sage von der Befreiung der Waldstädte, pp 33, 36 f; - Rochholz, Germania, XIII, 56 f. “Wa er das nit hette gethan, so hette - er selbs müssen darumb sterben:” Russ’s Chronicle, 1482, Vischer, p. - 50. - -Footnote 11: - - Liliencron, Die historischen Volkslieder der Deutschen, II, 109, No - 147; Böhme, p. 47, No 10; Vischer, p. 46; Rochholz, Tell u. Gessler, - p. 180; Tobler, p. 3. This or a like song was known to Russ, 1482. - Tschudi, about a hundred years later, c. 1570, says that the child was - five or six, not more than six, years old: Vischer, p. 122. There is - another, but later and even worse, “song” about William Tell and the - confederacy: Böhme, No 11, p. 49; Wunderhorn, 1808, II, 129; etc. - -Footnote 12: - - Müllenhoff, Sagen, u. s. w., der Herzogthümer Schleswig Holstein u. - Lauenburg, p. 57, No 66. The story is localized at another place in - Holstein, with the change of apple to pear: Lütolf, Germania, VIII, - 213. - -Footnote 13: - - Torfæus, in his history of Norway, III, 371, speaks of a ballad about - Heming sung in his time, c. 1700, which would seem to have been the - same as this, only somewhat fuller. Landstad, p. 187. - - These ballads represent the king as regarding himself as quite - unapproachable in athletic exercises. The little boy of ballads, - smádrengin, kongins lítil svein, Norwegian #B#, Färöe #A#, or, in a - Färöe variation (Hammershaimb, p. 161), Harald’s queen, intimates - knowledge of an equal or superior. Harald answers, in true ballad - style, in Färöe #A# 6, If he is not my better, you shall burn for it. - In Norwegian #B#, Färöe #A#, the king immediately sets out to find his - rival. Cf. Charlemagne and King Arthur, I, 275, 279, and the beginning - of ‘King Estmere,’ II, 51, and Landstad, p. 177, note 1. - -Footnote 14: - - The Witches’ Hammer was composed in 1486, and Punker is there recorded - to have exercised his devil’s craft sixty years before. Elsewhere - Punker [Pumper] is said to have been torn to pieces by oppressed - peasants in 1420. The name is spelled Puncler in the edition of 1620, - pp 248 f, and Puncher in the edition followed by Grimm. See Rochholz - in Germania, XIII, 48–51. - -Footnote 15: - - The Tell story, complete, Apfelschuss, Felsensprung und Tyrannenmord, - is said to occur among the Finns and the Lapps: E. Pabst, cited by - Pfannenschmid, Germania, IX, 5. Particulars’, which are very - desirable, are not given. This would not add much to the range of the - story. - -Footnote 16: - - In the prose Hemings Ðáttr, the intent to take vengeance appears from - Hemingr’s wish that the king should stand close to the mark; in the - ballads he reserves an arrow. In the Ólafs Saga, Eindriði openly - announces his purpose; in all but this version (treating the prose - Hemings Ðáttr and the ballads as one), the archer provides himself - with two arrows, or three. - -Footnote 17: - - Such as the penalty for missing, as above said; or Tell’s shooting at - a hundred and twenty paces, and bearing Cloudesly’s name, William. If - the coincidence as to the distance should be held to be very - important, I, for one, should have no objection to admitting that this - part of the ballad may be derived from the Tell story. - - J. Grimm remarked in 1813, Gedanken über Mythos, Epos und Geschichte - (Kleinere Schriften, IV, 77), that the similarity of the names Tell, - Bell, Velent, Bellerophon (see a little further on, p. 21), could - hardly fail to strike even a superficial observer, and also pointed to - the identity of Tell’s and Cloudesly’s Christian name. In his Deutsche - Mythologie, I, 317, ed. 1875, it is simply said that the surname Bell, - as well as Cloudesly’s Christian name, is suggestive of William Tell. - -Footnote 18: - - The poet is Mohammed ben Ibrahim, 1119–c. 1230, and he bore the - honorary title of Furîd Uddîn (Pearl of Religion), and the sobriquet - of Attâr, perfumer. The title of the poem is The Language of Birds. - Garcin de Tassy, La Poésie Philosophique et Religieuse chez les - Persans, Extrait de la Revue Contemporaine, t. xxiv, pp. 4, 35. “Nur - den Apfel treffen wir hier.... Es bleibt also weiter nichts übrig als - anzunehmen dass die persische Sage ... in die grauesten Urzeiten des - arischen Alterthums hinaufreichen muss.” (Pfannenschmid, in Germania, - X, 26 f.) A rapid inference. - -Footnote 19: - - Eindriði also had accomplished a harder shot before he tried the - chessman. But Hemingr, having done what was thought a masterly thing - in cleaving a nut, is compelled to knock the same nut, shooting at the - same distance, from his brother’s head. - -Footnote 20: - - Das Inland, No 39, p. 630, cited by Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, p. 40 - f. Gerhard’s Wila, I, 147 f, cited by Rochholz, p. 39 f. Eustathius to - Iliad, xii, 101, first cited by Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (who says, - “Es stimmt auch theilweise,” p. 317, ed. 1875); by others later. - -Footnote 21: - - To Virgil, Ecl. v, 11, cited by Ideler, Die Sage von dem Schuss des - Tell, p. 59, note 3. - -Footnote 22: - - Hisely, Recherches Critiques sur l’Histoire de Guillaume Tell, p. 590. - -Footnote 23: - - Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 25; Rochholz, Tell und Gessler, p. 41 - f. - -Footnote 24: - - T. B. Thorpe, Reminiscences of the Mississippi, in Harper’s New - Monthly Magazine, XII, 30. A story is there related of a famous Mike - Fink’s striking an apple from a man’s head by shooting between it and - the skull, like the Scandinavian marksmen. In Captain Mayne Reid’s - Scalp Hunters, or Romantic Adventures in Northern Mexico, ch. 22, we - are told of an Indian’s shooting a prairie-gourd from the head of his - sister, which may or may not be an invention. The title of the chapter - is A Feat à la Tell, and this may perhaps be the only foundation for - an assertion that the Tell story had been found in Mexico; at least, - inquiries have not brought to light any other. - -Footnote 25: - - For the interpretation which has been put upon the Tell story, see, - among many, Pfannenschmid, in Germania, X, 1–40; Rochholz, Tell und - Gessler, in Sage und Geschichte. - - The mildew of myth spreads, of course, from William to his comrades. - J. Grimm, in his Gedanken über Mythos, etc., 1813, interprets Clim, - Cloudesly, and Clough all in the sense of nail, sharp point, arrow; - and as Bell is βέλος, Tell is telum, Toko τόξον, and Egil is igel, - hedgehog, and therefore the spine of the hedgehog, and therefore dart, - the names are all one as to meaning. But Grimm appears to have been - less confident about these etymologies in later days. Sir G. W. Cox, - on the other hand, says that Cloudesly’s name marks him as an - inhabitant of Cloudland. (Meanwhile, every likelihood favors the - derivation of Cloudesly from clúd, rock, and leáh, lea, and the - interpretation of Clim as Clem and of Clough as ravine.) Cloudesly and - his mates are all the more mythical because they are three, and - because, as it is asserted, Robin Hood is mythical, with whom they - are, one and all, assumed to be identical. - -Footnote 26: - - Camden, Britannia, II, 175, ed. 1772. King Edward the First, when - hunting in this forest, is said to have killed two hundred bucks in - one day. For Arthur’s hunting there, see Robson, Three Early English - Metrical Romances, p. 26, LV^7, p. 59, V^1; Madden’s Syr Gawayne, p. - 298, v. 16; this book, I, 294, st. 9, etc. - -Footnote 27: - - Cronykil of Scotland, Book vii, v. 3523 f, ed. Laing, II, 263. - -Footnote 28: - - John Bell robbed the Chamberlain’s men of cattle, 1337: Exchequer - Rolls of Scotland, II, 437. The Bells are included with the Grahams, - Armstrongs, and others, among the bad and more vagrant of the great - surnames of the border, by the Lord Warden of the Marches of England, - 1593 (Rymer’s Fœdera, XVI, 183, ed. 1727, cited by Bishop Percy), and - had no better estimation in Scotland. - -Footnote 29: - - #a# preserves stanzas 1–83^4, 118^4–208^3, 314^2–349^3; with defects - at 2^{2,3}, 7^1, 123^4–127^3, 133–136^3. It has therefore about 200 - stanzas out of 456. - - #c# preserves 26^4–60^3; #d#, 280–350, very much mutilated; #e#, - 435^4–450^1, very much mutilated. #e#, inserted among the Douce - fragments, was presented by Mr Halliwell-Phillips. - -Footnote 30: - - Dr Farmer considered these leaves to be of Rastell’s printing, and - older by some years than #b#; which is not quite intelligible, since - Rastell’s work is put at 1517–38. #c# is cited under Rastell’s name in - Ritson’s second edition as well as his first. - -Footnote 31: - - 9^4, #a#, allther moste: #b#, all other moste. (#f#, #g#, of all - other; #b#, 283^3, all ther best; 284^1, all theyre best; #f#, #g#, al - of the best.) 61^4, #a#, Muche in fere: #b#, Much also. 68^4, #a#, By - xxviii (eight and twenty) score: #b# (#f#, #g#), By eyghtene score, - which gives no meaning. 138^3, #a#, frembde bested: #b# (#f#, #g#), - frend. 173^4, #a#, same nyght: #b#, same day. 176^4, #a#, wode hore: - #b# (#f#, #g#), wode tre. 333^2, #a#, on rode: #b# (#f#, #g#), on a - tre. 343^2, #a#, The sherif: #b# (#f#, #g#), The knyght. - -Footnote 32: - - 13^3, #a#, #b#, husbonde: #f#, #g#, husbandeman. 256^1, #b#, in yonder - other corser: #f#, on the other courser: #g#, in the other coffer. - 274^4, 286^2, 387^4, 412^2, #b#, trystell-tre: #f#, #g#, trusty tre. - 385^1, #b#, “tarpe”: #f#, #g#, seale. 371^4, #b#, blyve: #f#, #g#, - blythe, etc. - -Footnote 33: - - 111^2, That all this worldë wrought; 163^2, The whilë that he wolde; - 316^4, To metë can they gone; 72^4, But his bowë tree; 29^1, They - brought hym to the lodgë dore. - - 255^4, To seke a monkës male; 360^3, He shall haue the knyghtës - londys; 369^1, And I wyll be your ledës man; 376^1, Robyn toke the - kyngës hors; 366^3, 367^2, 368^4, etc. 336^3, For our derë lady loue. - - 31^1, With wordës fayre and fre; 34^4, Of all these wekÿs thre; 210^2, - Or a man that myrthës can; 318^4, The wallës all aboute; 60^2, 331^4, - 332^2, 371^2, etc. 433^4, And all his mennës fe. - - 21^2, By a dernë strete; 25^1, Welcome be thou to grenë wode; 298^1, - But had I the in grenë wode; 327^3, 373^3, 374^3. - - 56^4, Ouer the saltë see; 173^4, That ylkë samë nyght; 213^2, By the - hyë way; 235^2, Of all this longë day; 241^1, 292^4, 303^2, 305^1, - 393^2, 455^4, etc. 25^2, Hendë knyght & fre; 113^3, Out, he sayd, thou - falsë knyght; 242^3, Therfore I cun the morë thanke. - - 47^2, 100^2, By God that madë me; 80^4, To walkë by his syde; 222^2, - And that shall rewë the; 297^4, Other wyse thou behotë me; 426^1, So - God me helpë, sayd our kynge. #d#, 282^2, 317^2, herkeneth. - -Footnote 34: - - Ritson had seen, among Peck’s collections for the history of - Premonstratensian monasteries, a Latin poem with the title Prioris - Alnwicensis de bello Scotico apud Dunbar, tempore regis Edwardi I, - dictamen, sive rithmus Latinus, quo de Willielmo Wallace, Scotico illo - Robin Whood, plura sed invidiose canit, and in the margin the date 22 - Julii, 1304; whence he concluded that Robin Hood was both mentioned, - and compared with Wallace, in 1304. The date refers to matters in the - poem. The MS. (Sloane, 4934, pars II, ff 103–106) is of the eighteenth - century, Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue, etc., III, 279, No 503. The - title was supplied by Peck, one of whose marks is the spelling Whood. - -Footnote 35: - - Either Randle the second, earl from 1128 to 1153, or Randle the third, - earl from 1181 and for fifty years, would be likely to be the subject - of ballads, but especially the latter. He figures in the story of Fulk - Fitz Warine: Wright, p. 149. - -Footnote 36: - - Cited by Ritson. I have not found the writs. - -Footnote 37: - - Cited in the Edinburgh Review, 1847, LXXXVI, 134, note; and by Hunter, - 1852, The Ballad-Hero, Robin Hood, p. 58 (where the year is wrongly - given as 1432). It appears from many cases that the name was very - often pronounced Róbinhode. - -Footnote 38: - - “Robertus Hode et Litill-Johanne, cum eorum complicibus, de quibus - stolidum vulgus hianter in comœdiis et in tragœdiis prurienter festum - faciunt, et præ ceteris romanciis mimos et bardanos cantitare - delectantur.” - - “Of whom the foolish vulgar in comedies and tragedies make lewd - entertainment, and are delighted to hear the jesters and minstrels - sing them above all other ballads:” Ritson, whose translation may - pass. Ritson rightly observes that comedies and tragedies here are not - to be understood as plays. Then follows this abstract of one of the - ‘tragedies.’ - - “De quo etiam quædam commendabilia recitantur, sicut patuit in hoc, - quod cum ipse quondam in Barnisdale, iram regis et fremitum principis - declinans, missam, ut solitus erat, devotissime audiret, nec aliqua - necessitate volebat interrumpere officium, quadam die, cum audiret - missam, a quodam vicecomite et ministris regis, eum sæpius perprius - infestantibus, in illo secretissimo loco nemorali ubi missæ interfuit - exploratus, venientes ad eum qui hoc de suis perceperunt ut omni - annisu fugeret suggesserunt. Quod, ob reverentiam sacramenti, quod - tunc devotissime venerabatur, omnino facere recusavit. Sed, ceteris - suis ob metum mortis trepidantibus, Robertus, in tantum confisus in - eum quem coluit, inveritus, cum paucis qui tunc forte ei affuerunt - inimicos congressus eos de facili devicit, et, de eorum spoliis ac - redemptione ditatus, ministros ecclesiæ et missas in majore - veneratione semper et de post habere præelegit, attendens quod - vulgariter dictum est: - - Hunc deus exaudit qui missam sæpius audit.” - - Scotichronicon, ed. Goodall, II, 104. - -Footnote 39: - - Major was in extreme old age in 1524: see Moir’s Wallace, I, iv. - “Robertus Hudus Anglus et Paruus Ioannes, latrones famatissimi in - nemoribus latuerunt, solum opulentorum virorum bona diripientes. - Nullum nisi eos inuadentem, vel resistentem pro suarum rerum tuitione, - occiderunt Centum sagittarios ad pugnam aptissimos Robertus - latrociniis aluit, quos 400 viri fortissimi inuadere non audebant. - Rebus huius Roberti gestis tota Britannia in cantibus utitur. Fœminam - nullam opprimi permisit, nec pauperum bona surripuit, verum eos ex - abbatum bonis ablatis opipare pauit.” Historia Maioris Britanniæ, fol. - 55 b. - - It will be observed that Wyntoun, Bower, and Mair are Scots. - -Footnote 40: - - Because comic and not heroic, and because Robin is put at a - disadvantage. In the other ballads Robin Hood is “evermore the best.” - Though there is humor in the Gest, it is kept well under, and never - lowers Robin’s dignity. - -Footnote 41: - - The only one of these ballads entered in the Stationers’ Registers, or - known to have been printed, at a date earlier than the seventeenth - century is No 124, ‘Of Wakefylde and a Grene,’ 1557–58. - - The earliest known copy of Robin Hood’s Garland is one in the Bodleian - Library, Wood, 79, printed for W. Gilbertson, 1663. This contains - seventeen ballads. An edition of 1670, in the same library, Douce, H. - 80, for Coles, Vere and Wright, omits the first of these, a version of - Robin Hood and Queen Katherine which is found nowhere else. There is - an edition, printed by J. M. for J. Clarke, W. Thackeray, and T. - Passinger, among Pepys’s Penny Merriments, vol. iii, and Gutch had a - copy, printed for the same, to which he gives the date 1686. Garlands - of the eighteenth century increase the number of ballads to - twenty-seven. - -Footnote 42: - - In the Stationers’ Registers, 1562–63, Arber, I, 204, ‘a ballett of - Robyn Hod’ is licensed to John Alde. The best one would expect of this - would be a better copy of some later broadside. ‘Robyn Hode in - Barnysdale stode’ is the first line of a mock-song introduced into the - Morality of the Four Elements (which alludes to the discovery of - America “within this xx. yere”): Halliwell, Percy Society, vol. xxii, - p. 51. It is mentioned (“As R. H.,” etc.) in Udall’s translation of - Erasmi Apothegmata, 1542: Hazlitt, Handbook, pp 513 f. This line, - Ritson observes, has been repeatedly cited, singularly enough, in - law-cases (and always misquoted: in Barnwood stood, in Barnwell stood, - upon Greendale stood): Ritson’s Robin Hood, 1832, I, lxxxix ff. We - find “Robyn stode in Bernesdale,” Gest, 3^1; also, “As Robin Hood in - the forest stood,” No 138, 2^1; “When Robin Hood in the greenwood - stood,” No 141, 1^1, both texts very much later than the interlude. It - is not strictly necessary to assume, as Ritson does, that the line - belongs to a lost ballad; it may be from some older text of one that - we have. - -Footnote 43: - - Knights and squires are exempted in the Gest, 14, inconsistently with - 7, and, as to knights, with the tenor of what follows. - -Footnote 44: - - Bower, as above. The writer in the L. & W. Review does not distinguish - Fordun and Bower. - -Footnote 45: - - Lieut.-Col. Prideaux states the resemblances between the story of Fulk - Fitz Warine and that of Robin Hood, in an interesting article in Notes - and Queries, 7th series, II, 421 ff, and suggests that the latter has - borrowed from the former. Undoubtedly this might be, but both may have - borrowed from the common stock of tradition. - -Footnote 46: - - The Pinder of Wakefield became, according to his ballad, one of Robin - Hood’s men, but is not heard of in any other. Will Stutly is also one - in No 141; Clifton, No 145; David of Doncaster, No 152. Robin Hood - assumes the name Locksley in No 145, and by a blunder Locksley is made - one of his men in 147 and 153. Scarlet and Scathlock are made two in - the Earl of Huntington plays. Grafton says that the name of William of - Goldesborough was graven, among others, with that of Robin Hood on - Robin’s tombstone: Chronicle, I, 222, ed. 1809. Ritson says that - Munday makes Right-hitting Brand one of the band: I have not observed - this. - -Footnote 47: - - Robin Hood presents the friar with a “lady free,” not named, who may - be meant for a degraded Maid Marian, such as Falstaff refers to in 1 - Henry IV, III, iii, 129. - -Footnote 48: - - Stow, Survay of London, 1598, p. 72, in Ritson’s excellent note EE, - Robin Hood, I, cix ff, ed. 1832, which contains almost all the - important information relative to the subject. Stow adds that in - consequence of a riot on Mayday, 1517, the great Mayings and May-games - were not after that time “so freely used as afore.” - -Footnote 49: - - These are the people’s sports. Hall, fol. lvi, b, cited by Ritson, - gives an account of a Maying devised by the guards for the - entertainment of Henry VIII and his queen, in 1516. The king and - queen, while riding with a great company, come upon a troop of two - hundred yeomen in green. One of these, calling himself Robin Hood, - invites the king to see his men shoot, and then to an - outlaws-breakfast of venison. The royal party, on their return home, - were met by a chariot drawn by five horses, in which sat “the Lady May - accompanied with Lady Flora,” who saluted the king with divers songs. - -Footnote 50: - - Lysons, The Environs of London, I, 225–32. - -Footnote 51: - - The last two lines are to be understood, I apprehend, exclusively of - the May, and the lord and lady mean Lord and Lady of the May. The Lord - of Misrule, “with his hobby-horses, dragons, and other ántiques,” used - to go to church: Stubbes, Anatomy of Abuses, ed. Furnivall, p. 147. - -Footnote 52: - - Myselfe remembreth of a childe, in contreye native mine, - A Maygame was of Robyn Hood, and of his traine, that time, - To traine up young men, stripplings, and eche other younger childe, - In shooting; yearely this with solempne feast was by the guylde - Or brotherhood of townsmen don, etc. - - Richard Robinson, 1553, in Ritson, p. cxii f, ed. 1832. - -Footnote 53: - - A Christmas game of very modern date is described in The Mirror, XXVI, - 42, in which there was a troop of morris-dancers with Robin Hood and - Maid Marian; and also Beelzebub and his wife. Cited by Kuhn, Haupt’s - Zeitschrift, V, 481. - -Footnote 54: - - The entries in the Kingston accounts for 28 and 29 Henry VIII, if they - refer to the morris-dance only, would show the morris to be - constituted as follows: - - (28 Henry VIII.) Four dancers, fool, Maid Marian, friar, and piper. A - minstrel is also mentioned. - - (29 Henry VIII.) Friar, Maid Marian, Morian (Moor?), four dancers, - fool. This entry refers to the costume of the characters, which may - account for the omission of the piper. Lysons, Environs of London, I, - 228 f. - -Footnote 55: - - It need hardly be remarked that the morris was neither an exclusively - English dance nor exclusively a May-game dance. A Flemish morris, - delineated in an engraving dated 1460–70, has for personages a lady, - fool, piper, and six dancers: Douce, p. 446 f. In Robert Laneham’s - description of a bride-ale at Kenilworth, 1575, there is a - morris-dance, “according to the ancient manner,” in the which the - parties are Maid Marian, the fool, and six dancers: Furnivall, Captain - Cox, p. 22 f. A painting of about 1625 has a morris-dance of seven - figures, a Maid Marian, fool, piper, hobby-horse, and three dancers. A - tract, of Elizabeth’s time, speaks of “a quintessence, beside the fool - and the Maid Marian, of all the picked youth, footing the morris about - a Maypole,” to the pipe and tabor, and other music; and a poem of 1614 - describes a country morris-dance of a fool, Maid Marian, hobby-horse, - and piper: Ellis’s Brand, p. 206 f. - -Footnote 56: - - The well-to-do Codrus says to the starving Menalcas, who has been - venting his spleen against “rascolde” rivals, - - ‘Yet would I gladly heare some mery fit - Of Maide Marian, _or els_ of Robin Hood.’ - - Codrus is here only suggesting themes which would be agreeable to him. - We are not to deduce from his words that there were ballads about Maid - Marian. But if there had been, they would have been distinct from - ballads about Robin Hood. - -Footnote 57: - - See Monmerqué et Michel, Théatre Français au Moyen Age, 1842, Notice - sur Adam de la Halle, pp 27 ff, the songs, pp 31 ff, the play, pp 102 - ff; Ducange, Robinetus. Henryson’s Robin and Ma’kyne was undoubtedly - suggested by the French pastorals. - -Footnote 58: - - I must invoke the spirit of Ritson to pardon the taking of no very - serious notice of Robin Hood’s noble extraction. The first mention of - this seems to be in Grafton’s Chronicle, 1569. Grafton says: In an - olde and auncient pamphlet I finde this written of the sayd Robert - Hood. This man, sayth he, discended of a noble parentage; or rather, - beyng of a base stocke and linage, was for his manhoode and chiualry - aduaunced to the noble dignitie of an erle.... But afterwardes he so - prodigally exceeded in charges and expences that he fell into great - debt, by reason whereof so many actions and sutes were commenced - against him, wherevnto he aunswered not, that by order of lawe he was - outlawed, etc.: I, 221, ed. 1809. (Some such account furnished a - starting-point for Munday.) Leland also, Ritson adds, has expressly - termed him “nobilis” (Ro: Hood, nobilis ille exlex), Collectanea, I, - 54, ed. 1770, and Warner, in Albion’s England (1586), p. 132, ed. - 1612, calls him a “county”: - - Those daies begot some mal-contents, the principall of whom - A countie was, that with a troop of yeomandry did roam. - - Ritson also cites the Sloane MS., 715, “written, as it seems, toward - the end of the sixteenth century;” and Harleian MS., 1233, which he - does not date, but which is of the middle of the seventeenth century. - Against the sixteenth-century testimony, so to call it, we put in that - of the early ballads, all of which describe Robin as a yeoman, the - Gest emphasizing the point. - -Footnote 59: - - The Edinburgh Review, LXXXVI, 123 (with a slight correction in one - instance), mostly from Ritson, I, cix, cxxvi ff, 1832, and from - Wright’s Essays, etc., II, 209 f, 1846. Of course the list might be - extended: there are some additions in The Academy, XXIV, 231, 1883, - and four Robin Hood’s wells in Yorkshire alone are there noted. - -Footnote 60: - - A Robin Hood’s Stone, near Barnsdale, of what description we are not - told, is mentioned in an account of a progress made by Henry VII, and - Robin Hood’s Well, in the same region, in an account of a tour made in - 1634: Hunter’s Robin Hood, p. 61. The well is also mentioned by - Drunken Barnaby. A Robin Hood’s Hill is referred to in Vicars’ account - of the siege of Gloucester in 1643: The Academy, XXIV, 231. - -Footnote 61: - - Gough, in the Gentleman’s Magazine, March 8, 1793, cited by Gutch. - Wright has, somewhat naively, furnished his own refutation: “A large - tumulus we know well in our own county, near Ludlow in Shropshire, - which is also called Robin Hood’s But, and which affords us a curious - instance how new stories were often invented to account for a name - whose original import was forgotten. The circumstances, too, in this - case, prove that the story was of late invention. The barrow, as - regarded superstitiously, had borne the name of Robin Hood. On the - roof of one of the chancels of the church of Ludlow, which is called - Fletchers’ chancel, as having been, when ‘the strength of England - stood upon archery,’ the place where the fletchers held their - meetings, and which is distant from the aforesaid barrow two miles, or - two miles and a half, there stands an iron arrow, as the sign of their - craft. The imagination of the people of the place, after archery and - fletchers had been forgotten, and when Robin Hood was known only as an - outlaw and a bowman, made a connection between the barrow (from its - name) and the chancel (from the arrow on its roof), and a tale was - invented how the outlaw once stood upon the former and took aim at the - weathercock on the church steeple; but the distance being a little too - great, the arrow fell short of its mark, and remained up to the - present day on the roof of the chancel.” (Essays, I, 209 f.) - - A correspondent of The Academy, XXIV, 181, remarks that one of the - Anglo-Saxon charters in Kemble’s Codex Diplomaticus mentions a “place” - in Worcestershire called Hódes ác (now Hodsoak), that there is a - village in Nottinghamshire called Hodsock, that it is improbable that - two men living in districts so widely apart should each have given his - name to an oak-tree, and that therefore we may safely conclude Hód to - be a mythical personage. Somebody’s tree is given as a boundary mark - more than thirty times in these charters, somebody’s thorn at least - ten times, somebody’s oak at least five times. How often such a mark - might occur in connection with any particular name would depend upon - the frequency of the name. Hód or Hóde is cited thirteen times by - Kemble, and few names occur oftener. The name, we may infer, was - relatively as common then as it is in our century, which has seen - three Admiral Hoods (who, by virtue of being three, may be adjudged as - mythical by and by) and one poet Hood alive together. Why may not - three retired wícings and one scóp, of the name, have been living in - Berks, Hants, Wilts, and Worcestershire in the tenth century? - -Footnote 62: - - Plot’s History of Staffordshire, p. 434, cited in Ellis’s Brand, I, - 383; The Mirror, XX, 419, cited by Kuhn, Haupt’s Zeitschrift, V, 474 - f. The Kentish sport is also described in the Rev. W. D. Parish’s - Dictionary of the Kentish Dialect, p. 77, under Hoodening. - -Footnote 63: - - In West Worcestershire _h_ is put for _w_, “by an emphatic speaker,” - in such words as wood, wool: Mrs Chamberlain’s Glossary. Hood for wood - occurs in East Sussex; also in Somerset, according to Halliwell’s - Dictionary. The derivation of Hood from wood has often been suggested: - as by Peele, in his Edward I, “Robin of the Wood, alias Robin Hood,” - Works, Dyce, I, 162. The inventive Peck was pleased always to write - Robin Whood. - -Footnote 64: - - The Hobby-Horse, Schimmel, Fastnachtspferd, Herbstpferd, Adventspferd, - Chevalet, Cheval Mallet, is maintained by Mannhardt to be figurative - of the Corn-Sprite, Korndämon; nichts anderes als das Kornross, - Vegetationsross, nicht aber eine Darstellung Wodans, wie man nach - Kuhns Vorgang jetzt allgemein annimmt: Mannhardt, Mythologische - Forschungen, in Quellen u. Forschungen, LI, p. 165. “Man sieht den - Ungrund der bei deutschen Mythologen so beliebten Identifizierung von - Robin Hood und Wodan:” Mannhardt, Wald- u. Feldkulte, I, 546, note 3. - -Footnote 65: - - The reasoning, in the instance of Robin Hood, has been signally loose - and incautious; still, the general conclusion finds ready acceptance - with mythologists, on one ground or another, and deductions are made - with the steadiness of a geometer. Robin Hood, being one of the “solar - heroes,” “has his faint reflection in Little John, who stands to him - in the same relation as Patroclus to Achilles,” etc. “Maid Marian will - therefore be the dawn-maiden, to be identified with Briseis,” etc. - “Friar Tuck is one of the triumvirate who appear also in the Cloudesly - and Tell legends,” etc. And again, by an interpreter of somewhat - different views: “though a considerable portion of this story is - ultimately derived from the great Aryan sun-myth, there is the - strongest reason for believing that the Anglian Hód was not originally - a solar personage, but a degraded form of the God of the Wind, - Hermes-Woden. The thievish character of this divinity explains at once - why his name should have been chosen as the popular appellation of an - outlaw chief.” (The Academy, XXIV, 250, 384.) - - The Potter in the later Play of Robin Hood (not in the corresponding - ballad) wears a rose garland on his head. So does a messenger in the - history of Fulk Fitz Warine, Wright, p. 78, not to mention other cases - referred to by Ritson, Robin Hood, II, 200, ed. 1832. Fricke, Die - Robin-Hood Balladen, p. 55, surmises that the rose garland worn by the - Potter may be a relic of the strife between Summer and Winter; and - this view, he suggests, would tend to confirm “the otherwise - well-grounded hypothesis” that Robin Hood is a mythological personage. - -Footnote 66: - - “Desde la última década del siglo xvi hasta pocos años hace, no eran - ya los héroes del pueblo ni los Bernardos, ni los Cides, ni los - Pulgares, ni los Garcilasos, ni los Céspedes, ni los Paredes, porque - su pueblo estaba muerto ó trasformado en vulgo, y este habia - sustituido á aquellos los guapos Francisco Estéban, los Correas, los - Merinos, los Salinas, los Pedrajas, los Montijos.” (Duran, p. 389, - note.) - -Footnote 67: - - Bernardo del Montijo, Duran, No 1342, kills an alcalde at the age of - eighteen, “con bastante causa:” upon which phrase Duran observes, - “para el vulgo era bastante causa, sin duda, el ser alcalde.” - Beginning with so much promise of spirit, he afterwards, in carrying - off his mistress, who was about to be wedded against her will, kills - six constables, a corregidor, the bridegroom, and a captain of the - guard. For differences, compare the English broadside R. H. and - Allen-a-Dale, No 138. - -Footnote 68: - - “Doch sind sie meist ohne grossen poetischen Werth, nur als Zeugniss - für die Denkweise des Volkes über die ‘armen Bursche,’ die es lange - nicht für so grosse Verbrecher hält als der Staat, und die es, ihre - Vorurtheile theilend, im Gegentheile oft als kühne Freiheitshelden - betrachtet, die gegen grössere oder kleinere Tyrannen sich zu erheben - und denselben zu trotzen wagen, und als ungerecht verfolgte Söhne - seines Stammes in Schutz nimmt gegen die fremden Gesetzvollstrecker.” - (Aigner, Ungarische Volksdichtungen, p. xxvi f.) - -Footnote 69: - - J. Hunter (Critical and Historical Tracts, No IV), whom I follow here, - shows that Barnsdale was peculiarly unsafe for travellers in Edward - the First’s time. Three ecclesiastics, conveyed from Scotland to - Winchester, had a guard, sometimes of eight archers, sometimes of - twelve, or, further south, none at all; but when they passed from - Pontefract to Tickhill, the number was increased to twenty, _propter - Barnsdale_: p. 14. - -Footnote 70: - - Hunter suspects that the Nottinghamshire knight, Sir Richard at the - Lee, in the latter half of the Gest, was originally a different person - from the knight in the former half, “the knight of the Barnsdale - ballads,” p. 25. Fricke makes the same suggestion, Die Robin-Hood - Balladen, p. 19. This may be, but the reasons offered are not quite - conclusive. - -Footnote 71: - - And so, as to Nottingham and Barnsdale, in No 118; and perhaps No 121, - for the reference to Wentbridge, st. 6, would imply that Robin Hood is - in Barnsdale rather than Sherwood. - -Footnote 72: - - I say Barnsdale, though the place is not specified, and though - Sherwood would remove or reduce the difficulty as to distance. We have - nothing to do with Sherwood in the Gest: a rational topography is out - of the question. In the seventh fit the king starts from Nottingham, - 365, walks “down by yon abbey,” 368, and ere he comes to Nottingham, - 370, falls in with Robin, 375. - -Footnote 73: - - This was a custom of Arthur’s only upon certain holidays, according to - the earlier representation, but in later accounts is made general. For - romances, besides these mentioned at I, 257, in which this way of - Arthur’s is noted (Rigomer, Jaufré, etc.), see Gaston Paris, Les - Romans en vers du Cycle de la Table Ronde, Histoire Litt. de la - France, XXX, 49. - -Footnote 74: - - Pothouis Liber de Miraculis S. D. G. Mariæ, c. 33, p. 377; Vincentius - B., Speculum Hist., vii. c. 82. Mussafia, Sitzungsberichte der Wiener - Akad., Phil.-Hist. Classe, CXIII, 960–91, notes nine Latin copies, - besides that attributed to Potho, in MSS mostly of the 13th century. - Gautier de Coincy, ed. Poquet, cols. 543–52; Adgar’s Marienlegenden, - Neuhaus, p. 176, No 29; Miracles de Nostre Dame par Personnages, G. - Paris et U. Robert, VI, 171–223, No 35; Romania, VIII, 16, No 3 - (Provençal). Berceo, in Sanchez, II, 367, No 23. Unger, Mariu Saga, No - 15, pp. 87–92, 1064–67. Mone’s Anzeiger, VIII, col. 355, No 8, as a - broadside ballad. Afanasief, Skazki, vii, No 49, as a popular tale, - the Jew changed to a Tartar, and the Cross taken as surety, Ralston, - Russian Folk-Tales, p. 27. “God-borg” in Alfred’s Laws, c. 33, Schmid, - Gesetze der Angelsachsen, p. 88 f., was perhaps only an asseveration - with an invocation of the Deity, like the Welsh “briduw.” And so “Ich - wil dir got ze bürgen geben,” “Got den wil ich ze bürgen han,” in the - Ritter v. Staufenberg, vv. 403, 405, Jänicke, Altdeutsche Studien. - -Footnote 75: - - Le Doctrinal de Sapience, fol. 67 b, cited by Legrand, is not to the - purpose. Scala Celi refers to a Speculum Exemplorum. - - In Peele’s Edward I, the friar, having lost five nobles at dice to St - Francis, pays them to St Francis’ receiver; but presently wins a - hundred marks of the saint, and makes the receiver pay. (The story has - in one point a touch of the French _fabliau_.) Peele’s Works, ed. - Dyce, I, 157–61. - -Footnote 76: - - hey hoy. - -Footnote 77: - - 435. The three in 433, as in 416, is for rhyme, and need not be taken - strictly. - -Footnote 78: - - Critical and Historical Tracts, No IV, Robin Hood, p. 28 ff. - -Footnote 79: - - Think of Robin as light porter,—Robin who had been giving and taking - buffets that might fell an ox. Think of him as worn out with the work - in eleven months, and dropped for disability. Think of his being put - on threepence a day, after paying his yeomen at thrice the rate, 171, - not to speak of such casual gratuities as we hear of in 382. “There is - in all this, perhaps, as much correspondency as we can reasonably - expect between the record and the ballad,” says Hunter, p. 38. - -Footnote 80: - - Hunter asks if it is not possible to find in this Robert Hood of - Wakefield, near Barnsdale, “the identical person whose name has been - so strangely perpetuated.” This Robert Hood would be a person of some - consideration, and he would thus be qualified “for his station among - the vadlets of the crown,”—three-penny vadlets, Great Hob, Little - Coll, Robert _Trash_, and their fellows. The Wakefield Robert’s wife - was named Matilda, “and the ballad testimony is—not the Little Gest, - but other ballads of uncertain antiquity,—that the outlaw’s wife was - named Matilda, which name she exchanged for Marian when she joined him - in the green-wood.” (Pp 46–48.) Hunter has made a trivial mistake - about Matilda: she belongs to Munday’s play, and not to the ballads - (ballad) he has in mind. - -Footnote 81: - - The sheriff flees from Barnsdale “towards his house in Nottingham,” in - stanza 57. In fact, though these places are fifty miles apart, this - ballad treats them as adjacent. See p. 50 f. - -Footnote 82: - - Formerly among Sir John Fenn’s papers (for the history of which see - Gairdner, Paston Letters, I, vii. ff); now in the possession of Mr - William Aldis Wright, of Trinity College, Cambridge. The fragment, Mr - Wright informs me, is written on a paper which was evidently the last - half-leaf of a folio MS. On the back are various memoranda, and among - them this: It^m. R^d of Rechard Wytway, penter [_or_ peuter], for hes - hosse rent, in full payment, lx [ix?] s’, the vij day of November, aº - Ed. iiij^{ti} xv \[1475]. The grammatical forms of themselves warrant - our putting the composition further back. This interesting relic has - already been printed in Notes and Queries, First Series, XII, 321, - from a very incorrect copy made by Dr Stukely. It is given here from a - transcript made for me by Henry Bradshaw, of honored memory. Mr Wright - has compared this with the original, and given me the history of the - paper, so far as known. - - This paper, as far as we can see, came into Sir John Fenn’s hands in - company with the Paston Letters. In a letter of the date 1473, Sir - John Paston writes: W. Woode, whyche promysed ... he wold never goo - fro me, and ther uppon I have kepyd hym thys iii yer to pleye Seynt - Jorge, and Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Nottyngham, and now, when I - wolde have good horse, he is gone into Bernysdale, and I without a - keeper. Fenn, Original Letters, etc., 1787, II, 134, cited by Ritson; - Gairdner, Paston Letters, III, 89. The play cited above might be - called one of Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham, and may - possibly have been the very one in which William Wood was used to - perform, before he went “into Barnysdale,” that is, ran away from - service. - -Footnote 83: - - The [d]oo in the last line is not quite certain. I am not sure that - the parts are always rightly assigned in the third dialogue. - -Footnote 84: - - Norray should be Nornee, or Norny, the name of a court fool. He is - mentioned in James IV’s Treasurer’s Accounts, 1503–12. See Laing’s - Dunbar, II, 307 f. Allan Bell being sly at shot, it is probable that - Allan is miswritten in the MS. for Adam. - -Footnote 85: - - The gap at 30^2 occurs between two pages, and is peculiarly - regrettable. The former reading of “Robyns men” in 30^1 made matters - much worse, since there was no way of accounting for the appearance of - his men at this point. We must suppose that some one of Robin’s many - friends carries the news of his capture to his band, and not simply - that; with this there must have come information that their leader was - to be held to await knowledge of the king’s pleasure, otherwise delay - would be dangerous, and summary measures for his deliverance be - required. - -Footnote 86: - - The porter or warden, in such cases, may commonly look to have his - neck wrung, to be thrown over the wall, into a well, etc.: compare - Adam Bell, st. 65; Jock o the Side, sts 13, 14; the Tale of Gamelyn, - Skeat, v. 303–05; Fulk Fitz Warine, Wright, pp 44, 82 f; King Horn. - ed. Wissmann, vv 1097–99; Romance de don Gaiferos, F. Wolf, Ueber eine - Sammlung spanischer Romanzen, p. 76, Wolf y Hofmann, Primavera, II, - 148, No 174; etc. - -Footnote 87: - - En le temps de Averyl e May, quant les prees e les herbes - reverdissent, et chescune chose vivaunte recovre vertue, beaute e - force, les mountz e les valeys retentissent des douce chauntz des - oseylouns, e les cuers de chescune gent, pur la beaute du temps e la - sesone, mountent en haut e s’enjolyvent, etc.: Wright, Warton Club, - 1855, p. 1; Stevenson, Radulphi de Coggeshall Chronicon Anglicanum, - etc., p. 277. - -Footnote 88: - - Already cited at p. 41. Bower wrote 1441–47, and died 1449: Skene, - Johannis de Fordun Chronica, pp xv, xli. - -Footnote 89: - - Par cest exemple bien veons - Que li dous Deux en qui creons - Ame et chierist et honneure - Celui qui volentiers demeure - Pour oïr messe en sainte eglise, etc. - - ‘Du chevalier qui ooit la messe, et Notre-Dame estoit pour lui au - tournoiement,’ Barbazan et Méon, Fabliaux, 1808, I, 86. - -Footnote 90: - - These resemblances are noted by Fricke, Die Robin Hood Balladen, a - dissertation, reprinted in Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen - (vol. 69), in which the relations of the ballads in question are - discussed with sagacity and vigilance. - -Footnote 91: - - “You shall never hear more of me” might mean something stronger, but - it is unlikely that Will is so touchy as to throw up fealty for a - testy word from a sick man. A stanza or more seems to be lost here. - Arthur is equally hasty with Gawain. He makes his vow to be the bane - of Cornwall King. It is an unadvised vow, says Gawain. - - And then bespake him noble Arthur, - And these were the words said he: - Why, if thou be afraid, Sir Gawaine the gay, - Goe home, and drink wine in thine own country. - - I, 285, sts 33–35. - -Footnote 92: - - John is again his sole companion when Robin goes in search of Guy of - Gisborne. The yeoman in stanza 3 should be Red Roger; but a suspicion - has more than once come over me that the beginning of this ballad has - been affected by some version of Guy of Gisborne. - -Footnote 93: - - I can make nothing of “give me mood,” in 23^{1,2}. ‘Give me God’ or - ‘Give me my God,’ seems too bold a suggestion: at any rate I have no - example of God used simply for housel. - -Footnote 94: - - A few verses are wanting at the end. The “met-yard” of the last line - is one of the last things we should think Robin would care for. - -Footnote 95: - - It seemed to me at one time that there was a direction to shoot an - arrow to determine the place of a grave also in No 16, #A# 3, #I#, - 185. - - Now when that ye hear me gie a loud cry, - Shoot frae thy bow an arrow, and there let me lye. - - But upon considering the corresponding passage in 16 #B#, #C#, and in - 15 #B#, the idea seems rather to be, that the arrow is to leave the - bow at the moment when the soul shoots from the body. - -Footnote 96: - - Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 46, who cites #B# 17, 18. Mr - Ralston observes that most of the so-styled Robber Songs of the - Russians are reminiscences of the revolt of the Don Cossacks against - Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich. Stenka Razín, the chief of the insurgents, - after setting for several years the forces of the Tsar at defiance, - was put to a cruel death in 1672: p. 45, as above. - -Footnote 97: - - The personage may have been varied in the broadside ballads to catch - the pence of tanners, tinkers, and the rest; or possibly some member - of the respective fraternities might do this for the glory of his - craft. A parallel case seems to be afforded by the well-known German - ballad, ‘Der Zimmergesell und die junge Markgräfin,’ which is also - sung of a journeyman shoemaker, tailor, locksmith, etc.; as remarked - by A. Grün, Robin Hood, Ein Balladenkranz, p. 47 f. - -Footnote 98: - - Fricke, Die Robin-Hood-Balladen, p. 20 f, suggests a ballad of Robin - Hood and the Sheriff (How Robin took revenge for the sheriff’s setting - a price on his head), which may have been blended with another, of the - Rescue of a Knight, to form the sixth fit of The Gest; and points to - st. 329 of the Gest, ‘Robyn Hode walked in the forest,’ etc., as the - probable beginning of such a ballad. - -Footnote 99: - - #b# would have taken precedence of #a#, having been printed earlier - (1607–41), but I am at liberty only to collate Pepys copies. The Wood - copies of Robin Hood ballads are generally preferable to the Pepys. - -Footnote 100: - - “A wet weary man,” #A# 7^1, should probably be “wel weary.” Why should - R. H. be wet? And if wet, he may as well be a little wetter. - -Footnote 101: - - Like terms are assured the cook by John in the Gest, sts 170, 171, and - offered the Tanner by Robin Hood, R. H. and the Tanner, st. 26. Cf. - Adam Bell, sts 163–65. - - The ‘Life’ in the Sloane MS., which is put not much before 1600, says: - He procurd the Pynner of Wakefeyld to become one of his company, and a - freyr called Muchel; though some say he was an other kynd of religious - man, for that the order of freyrs was not yet sprung up. - -Footnote 102: - - Curtilarius (Old English curtiler) qui curtile curat aut incolit: - Ducange. - -Footnote 103: - - I suppose that it must already have been pointed out that the story of - King Ramiro, versified by Southey from the Portuguese, Poetical Works, - 1838, VI, 122, is a variety of that of Solomon. There are curious - points of resemblance between ‘R. H. rescuing Three Squires’ and the - conclusion of the story of Solomon. - -Footnote 104: - - Dodsley’s Old Plays, 4th ed., by W. C. Hazlitt, VIII, 195, 232. - -Footnote 105: - - A very serious offence: see E. Peacock, Hales and Furnivall, Percy - Folio Manuscript, I, lxii, note to p. 34. - -Footnote 106: - - Further on, Brathwayte alludes to a difference between Robin Hood and - the Shoemaker of Bradford, which had been treated of by stage-poets. - This refers to the fight that Robin Hood and George a Green have with - the shoemakers, in chap. xii of the History (Thoms, p. 52 f), which is - introduced into Robert Greene’s play (Dyce, p. 199 f), but only George - does the fighting there. It is mere carelessness when Munday, - ‘Downfall,’ etc., applies the name of George a Greene to the Shoemaker - of Bradford (Hazlitt, as above, p. 151). In the same play and the same - scene he makes Scathlock and Scarlet two persons. - -Footnote 107: - - Robin Hood Newly Revived (which, by the way, is in the same bad style - as Robin Hood and Little John) is directed to be sung ‘to a delightful - new Tune.’ The tune, as is seen from the burden, was that of Arthur a - Bland, etc., called in Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon (the Second - Part of Robin Hood Newly Revived) Robin Hood, or Hey down, down a - down. The earliest printed copy of the air is preserved in the - ballad-opera of The Jovial Crew, 1731 (Rimbault, in Gutch’s Robin - Hood, II, 433, Chappell’s Popular Music, p. 391), and the song which - is there sung to it has middle rhyme in the first line as well as the - third, which is the case with no Robin Hood ballad except Robin Hood - and the Peddlers. - - Robin Hood and Maid Marian, which has the middle rhyme in the third - line, is directed to be sung to Robin Hood Revived. Robin Hood and the - Scotchman, as already said, has middle rhyme in the third line; so - have The King’s Disguise, etc., R. H. and the Golden Arrow, R. H. and - the Valiant Knight; but the tune assigned to the last is Robin Hood - and the Fifteen Foresters, that is, Robin Hood’s Progress to - Nottingham. - - It ought to be added that Robin Hood Newly Revived is found in the - Garland of 1663, in company with R. H. and the Bishop, R. H. and the - Butcher, etc., and that Robin Hood and Little John is not there; but I - do not consider this circumstance sufficient to offset the probability - in favor of the supposition, that by Robin Hood and the Stranger is - meant Robin Hood and Little John. - -Footnote 108: - - Fourteen foot, as proved by his bones, preserved, according to Hector - Boece, in the kirk of Pette, in Murrayland. See Ritson’s Robin Hood, - 1832, I, cxxxii f; and Gutch, II, 112, note *. - -Footnote 109: - - The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood, No 132, is a traditional variation of - Robin Hood Revived. - -Footnote 110: - - Though Mr W. C. Hazlitt, in his Handbook to the Popular, Poetical, and - Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, p. 514, No 25, has: “Robin Hood - and the Stranger. In two parts. [Col.] London: printed by and for W. - O., and to be sold at the booksellers. Roxb. and Wood Colls.” This - colophon belongs only to Robin Hood, Will Scadlock, and Little John, - otherwise Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon, which see. The title - Robin Hood and the Stranger is adopted from Ritson. - -Footnote 111: - - ‘Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon,’ in Thackeray’s list, Ballad - Society, I, xxiv, and in the late Garlands, 1749, etc. - -Footnote 112: - - Remarked by Fricke, p. 88 f. - -Footnote 113: - - Mr E. Maunde Thompson, Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British - Museum, in an obliging letter to Harvard College Library, and in The - Academy, 1885, March 7, p. 170. No 8 C of this collection is in this - manuscript. - -Footnote 114: - - A verse in the passage from Drayton’s Polyolbion, Song xxvi, cited by - Ritson, I, viii of Robin Hood, 1795, may refer to this version of the - ballad: “The widow in distress he graciously relievd.” - -Footnote 115: - - In st. 2 Robin is in his proper Lincoln green. He wears scarlet red - again in No. 141, st. 6 and in No 145, st. 18, his men being in green. - -Footnote 116: - - Fricke has observed this, pp 59, 69, and at p. 58 the resemblance to - Wallace. - -Footnote 117: - - Even the author of #A# seems not to be aware that Much, the Miller’s - Son, is the standing name of one of Robin Hood’s men, and therefore - would not answer for a disguise. In #B#, #C#, nothing is expressly - said about the change of names, and in fact this arrangement seems not - to be understood, since in #B# 21^1 Clifton is spoken of as _one_ - Clifton. Comparing #B# 33, 34, 37, we see that Clifton should be - Little John, but Midge, the Miller’s Son, himself, not Scathlock, - still less John. - -Footnote 118: - - Also says Ritson, Robin Hood, II, 97, by Francis Coule, 13th June, - 1631; but the ballad there entered is The Noble Fisherman. - -Footnote 119: - - Robin Hood, ed. 1832, p. xxxvi, note, p. lxxxvii. - -Footnote 120: - - The mutilated parts are supplied, to a slight extent, from a copy in - the Bodleian Library (L. 78. Art., 5th tract), which happens to be - injured on the right side of the title-page in nearly the same places - as the Museum copy, and also has the lower portion cut off, to the - loss of the printer’s name; the rest from an edition printed for J. - Clark, W. Thackeray, and T. Passinger, 1686. Mr J. P. Collier - possessed a copy with the same imprint as that of the Museum, which he - lent Gutch, and which Gutch says he used for his text. If Gutch - followed the Collier copy, then that was not identical with the Museum - copy. Ritson reprinted the text of 1686. - -Footnote 121: - - “Now, under this precise gentleman’s favor, one would be glad to know - what these same superstitious words were; there not being anything of - the kind in Dr Gale’s copy, which seems to be the original, and which - is shorter by two lines than the above. Thirteen should be thirty.” - Ritson, Robin Hood, ed. 1832, II, 127 f. For the epitaph and the - gravestone, see the same volume, pp. liv-lvii. - -Footnote 122: - - Percy: “As for Mirryland Town, it is probably a corruption of Milan - (called by the Dutch Meylandt) town; the Pa is evidently the river Po, - although the Adige, not the Po, runs through Milan.” #B#, 1 is - unintelligible. Do the lads run down the Pa? - -Footnote 123: - - In #J#, 4, he will be beaten for losing his ball. In the Irish #F#, 8, - the mother takes a little rod in her hand, meaning to bate him for - staying so long: cf. #J# 10, #N# 4, 12,and the last verse of T. Hood’s - ‘Lost Heir.’ - -Footnote 124: - - Dem Volke war die Glocke nicht herzlos; sie war ihm eine beseelte - Persönlichkeit, und stand als solche mit dem Menschen in lebendigem - Verkehr.... Die Glocken ... scheinen auch von höheren Mächten berührt - zu werden; sie sprechen wie Gottesstimmen, ertönen oft von selbst, als - Mahnung von oben, als Botschaft vom Tode bedeutender Personen, als - Wahrzeichen der Unschuld eines Angeklagten, zur Bewährung der - Heiligkeit eines von Gott erwählten Rüstzeugs. Uhland, Schriften zur - Geschichte der Dichtung u. Sage, VIII, 588 f. - -Footnote 125: - - Annales Monastici, ed. Luard, II, 346 ff. “From 1219 to 1266 the MS. - was written contemporaneously with the events described, from year to - year:” p. xxxvi. - -Footnote 126: - - Chronica Majora, ed. Luard, V, 516–19. Matthew Paris died in 1259. - -Footnote 127: - - Seventy-one were thus reserved, but escaped, by the use of money or by - the intercession of the Franciscans, or both. See the same volume, p. - 546; but also the account which follows, from the Annals of Burton. - -Footnote 128: - - Annales de Burton, in Annales Monastici, Luard, I, 340–48. Hugh of - Lincoln is commemorated in the Acta Sanctorum, July (27), VI, 494. - -Footnote 129: - - Michel, Hugues de Lincoln, etc., from a MS. in the “Bibliothèque - royale, No 7268, 3. 3. A. Colb. 3745, fol. 135, rº, col. 1.” Reprinted - by Halliwell, Ballads and Poems respecting Hugh of Lincoln, p. 1, and - from Halliwell by Hume, Sir Hugh of Lincoln, etc., p. 43 ff. In - stanzas 13, 75, there is an invocation in behalf of King Henry (Qui - Deu gard et tenge sa vie!), which implies that he is living. The - ballad shows an acquaintance with the localities. - -Footnote 130: - - “A la gule de aust.” The day, according to the Annals of Burton, was - the _vigil_ of St Peter ad vincula. We find in Henschel’s Ducange, “ad - festum S. Petri, in gula Augusti,” and “le jour de feste S. Pere, en - goule Aoust.” Strictly taken, goule should be the first day, Lammas. - - Peitevin was actually resident in Lincoln at the time. “He was called - Peitevin the Great, to distinguish him from another person who bore - the appellation of Peitevin the Little. The Royal Commission issued in - 1256 directs an inquisition to be taken of the names of all those who - belonged to the school of Peytevin Magnus, who had fled on account of - his implication in the crucifixion of a Christian boy.” London - Athenæum, 1849, p. 1270 f. - -Footnote 131: - - The site of the Jewry was on the hill and about the castle: London - Athenæum, 1849, p. 1271. - -Footnote 132: - - These renegades play a like part in many similar cases. - -Footnote 133: - - Les Jus, 82^1; but this is impossible, and we have li justis in 91^1. - -Footnote 134: - - “Canwick is pleasantly situated on a bold eminence, about a mile - northward of Lincoln.” Allen, History of the County of Lincoln, I, - 208. - -Footnote 135: - - I do not find this story in the Basel edition of c. 1475. - -Footnote 136: - - A case cited by Eisenmenger, Entdecktes Judenthum, 2^r Theil, p. 220, - from Socrates, Ecclesiastical History, l. vii, 16, differs from later - ones by being a simple extravagance of drunkenness. Some Jews in - Syria, “A. D. 419,” who were making merry after their fashion, and - indulging in a good deal of tomfoolery, began, as they felt the - influence of wine, to jeer at Christ and Christians; from which they - proceeded to the seizing of a Christian boy and tying him to a cross. - At first they were contented to make game of him, but, growing crazy - with drink, they fell to beating him, and even beat him to death; for - which they were properly punished. - -Footnote 137: - - See the ballads ‘Vom Judenmord zu Deggendorf,’ 1337, ‘Von den Juden zu - Passau,’ 1478, in Liliencron, I, 45, No 12, II, 142, No 153. - -Footnote 138: - - Nothing could be more just than these words of Percy: “If we consider, - on the one hand, the ignorance and superstition of the times when such - stories took their rise, the virulent prejudices of the monks who - record them, and the eagerness with which they would be catched up by - the barbarous populace as a pretence for plunder; on the other hand, - the great danger incurred by the perpetrators, and the inadequate - motives they could have to excite them to a crime of so much horror, - we may reasonably conclude the whole charge to be groundless and - malicious.” Reliques, 1795, I, 32. - -Footnote 139: - - Read the indictment against Christians filed by Zunz, Die synagogale - Poesie des Mittelalters, pp 19–58, covering the time from the eleventh - century to the middle of the sixteenth. It is regrettable that Zunz - has not generally cited his authorities. See also Stobbe, Die Juden in - Deutschland, p. 183 ff., and notes, p. 280 ff., where the authorities - are given. - -Footnote 140: - - In vol. viii, pp 225, 344, 476, 598, 730, vol. ix, 107, 219, 353, 472, - 605, the confessions of the defendants are given from the original - minutes of the trial; and it fully appears from these confessions that - blood is requisite for a proper performance of the Paschal ceremonies, - and also that the blood must be got from a boy, and from a boy while - he is undergoing torment. Only it is to be remembered that the - inducements to these confessions were the same as those which led the - Jews of Passau to acknowledge that blood exuded from the Host when it - was stabbed, and that when two bits of the wafer were thrown into an - oven two doves flew out: Train, as above, p. 116, note 57. - -Footnote 141: - - For other pictures of these martyrdoms, see the Nuremberg Chronicle, - 1493, fol. ccliiii, vº, for Simon of Trent; Lacroix, Mœurs, Usages, - etc., 1875, p. 473, for Richard of Pontoise, p. 475, for Simon, - repeated from the N. Chron.; that of Munich, 1285, and the children of - Ratisbon, reproduced in Cosmos, March 30, 1885 (according to Drumont, - II, 418, note). See also Michel, Hugues de Lincoln, p. 54, note 41. - -Footnote 142: - - The extraordinary occurrence in Damascus in the same year, 1840, which - excited the indignation, sympathy, and active interposition of nearly - all the civilized world, requires but the briefest allusion. A - capuchin friar was in this instance the victim immolated, and for - blood to mix with the Paschal bread. The most frightful torture was - used, under the direction of the Turkish pacha, assisted by the French - consul, under which three unhappy men succumbed. See Illgen’s detailed - account of this persecution in the periodical and article above cited, - pp. 153 ff. Drumont is of the same mind as he would have been four or - five hundred years ago: “les faits étaient prouvés, démontrés, - indiscutables” (La France Juive, II, 411). - -Footnote 143: - - The threat implied in #E# 3^4 has no motive; and the phrase “haly - spark” in 5^4 is an unadvised anticipation. - -Footnote 144: - - Found also in the ballad, A Warning-Piece to England against Pride and - Wickedness: Being the Fall of Queen Eleanor, Wife to Edward the First, - King of England, who, for her Pride, by God’s Judgments, sunk into the - Ground at Charing-Cross and rose at Queen-Hithe. A Collection of Old - Ballads, I, 97. - -Footnote 145: - - There attributed to Jacques de Vitry, but not found in his Exempla. - Professor Crane informs me that, though the Scala Celi cites Jacques - de Vitry sixty-two times, only fourteen of such _exempla_ occur among - J. de V.’s. - -Footnote 146: - - The story does not occur in Doni’s Marmi, iii, 27, as has been said. - What is there found is somewhat after the fashion of ‘The Baffled - Knight,’ No 112. - -Footnote 147: - - Cunningham, in his loose way, talks of several fragments which he had - endeavored to combine, but can spare room for only one couplet: - - Though lame of a leg and blind of an ee, - You’re as like William Wallace as ever I did see. - - But this is the William of ‘The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter,’ - No 110. - -Footnote 148: - - #A# 15, #B# 12, #D# 12, are somewhat corrupted. In #F# 14 Wallace says - he never _had_ a better bode. In #E# 10 Wallace’s reply is, Pay down, - for if your answer be not good you shall have the downfall of Robin - Hood; and in #G# 30, Tell down, and ye shall see William Wallace with - the downcome of Robin Hood; that is, I suppose, you shall be knocked - down as if by Robin Hood. - -Footnote 149: - - Post enim conflictum de Roslyn, Wallace, ascensa navi, Franciam petit, - ubi quanta probitate refulsit, tam super mare a piratis quam in - Francia ab Anglis perpessus est discrimina, et viriliter se habuit, - nonnulla carmina, tam in ipsa Francia quam Scotia, attestantur. - Scotichronicon, Goodall, II, 176, note. - -Footnote 150: - - “Thou hadst twenty ships hither, thou’st have twenty away,” #B# 37. It - would be more in the ballad-way were the second twenty doubled. - -Footnote 151: - - In the London Athenæum, about twenty-five years ago, there was (I - think) a story of an Englishman in Russia resembling Hugh Spencer’s. I - have wrongly noted the number as 1871, and have not recovered the - story after much rummaging. This ballad is not very unlike Russian - _bylinas_. - -Footnote 152: - - Presbyteri, fratres et clerici, sutores et mechanici, Bower; agricolæ - ac pastores, et capellani imbecilles et decrepiti, Knyghton; miseri - monachi, improbi presbyteri, porcorum pastores, sutores et pelliparii, - Chronicon de Lanercost; clericos et pastores, Walsingham, Hist. Angl. - -Footnote 153: - - It is very doubtful whether there was an Earl of Buchan in 1346. Henry - de Beaumont, according to the peerages, died in 1341. He was an - Englishman, had fought against the Scots at Duplin, 1332, and was - after that in the service of Edward III. - -Footnote 154: - - ‘Famous,’ the MS. reading in 14^1, may probably be an error for James, - which occurs so often in 28–33. William Douglas, the Knight of - Liddesdale, had a brother James, but this James had been killed in - 1335. He had also a brother John, Scotichronicon and Chronicon de - Lanercoste, and the latter, as has been mentioned, puts John in - Murray’s division. Knyghton, col. 2590, gives as among the prisoners - dominus Willielmus Duglas et frater ejusdem Willielmi. - -Footnote 155: - - When William Douglas, in the Chronicle of Lanercost, tells the king - that the English are at hand, and David replies, there is nothing in - England but monks, priests, swineherds, etc., Douglas says, ‘aliter - invenietis; sunt varii validi viri.’ - -Footnote 156: - - Froissart says that the English force was in four battalions: the - first commanded by the Bishop of Durham and Lord Percy; the second by - the Archbishop of York and Lord Neville; the third by the Bishop of - Lincoln and Lord Mowbray; the fourth by Edward Balliol and the - Archbishop of Canterbury. - -Footnote 157: - - Crécy, 26 August, 1346; Durham, 17 October, 1346; Poitiers, 19 - September, 1356. - -Footnote 158: - - “Froissart describes a Scottish host of the same period as consisting - of ‘.iiii. M. of armes, knightis and squiers, mounted on good horses, - and other .x. M. men of warre, armed after their gyse, right hardy and - firse, mounted on lytle hackeneys, the whiche were never tyed nor kept - at hard meate, but lette go to pasture in the feldis and busshes.’” - Happily cited by Scott, in illustration of #C# 16: Lord Berners’ - translation, cap. xvii, Pynson, 1523, fol. viii. - -Footnote 159: - - A consolation as old as wise. So Paris, for himself: νίκη δ’ - ἐπαμείβεται ἄνδρας, Iliad, vi, 339. - -Footnote 160: - - Buchanan has these numbers, with the exception of 1840, for 1860, - killed: ed. 1582, fol. 101. “That there was a memorable slaughter in - this affair, a slaughter far beyond the usual proportion to the - numbers engaged, cannot be doubted; nor was there ever bloodshed more - useless for the practical ends of war. It all came of the capture of - the Percy’s pennon. The Scots might have got clear off with all their - booty; the English forgot all the precautions of war when they made a - midnight rush on a fortified camp without knowledge of the ground or - the arrangements of their enemy. It was for these specialties that - Froissart admired it so. He saw in it a fight for fighting’s sake, a - great passage at arms in which no bow was drawn, but each man fought - hand to hand; in fact, about the greatest and bloodiest tournament he - had to record. Hence his narrative is ever interrupted with bursts of - admiration as his fancy contemplates the delightful scene raised - before it.” Burton, History of Scotland, II, 364, ed. 1873 (who, - perhaps by an error of the press, makes the losses of the English in - killed eight hundred and forty, in place of Buchanan’s eighteen - hundred and forty). - -Footnote 161: - - Bower and Barry say St Oswald’s day, Wednesday, the 5th, - Scotichronicon, II, 405, 407; Knyghton also; the continuator of - Higden’s Polychronicon, August 12, Wednesday. The ballad, #A# 18^4, - gives the day as Wednesday. There was a full moon August 20, which - makes the 19th of itself far more probable, and Froissart says the - moon was shining. See White, Battle of Otterburn, p. 133. - -Footnote 162: - - Walsingham writes in the vein of Froissart: “Erat ibidem cernere - pulchrum spectaculum, duos tam præclaros juvenes manus conserere et - pro gloria decertare.” Walsingham says that the English were few. - Malverne puts the Scots at 30,000, and here, as in the ballad #A# 35, - the cronykle does not layne (indeed, the ballad is all but accurate), - if the main body of the Scots be included, which was at first supposed - to be supporting Douglas. - -Footnote 163: - - ‘The perssee and the mongumrye met, that day, that day, that gentil - day,’ which I suppose to be either a different reading from any that - has come down, or a blending of a line from Otterburn with one from - The Hunting of the Cheviot, #A# 24^1; indicating in either case the - present ballad only, for The Hunttis of Cheuet had been cited before. - Furnivall holds that the second line means another ballad: Captain - Cox, p. clix. - -Footnote 164: - - The History of the Houses of Douglas and Angus, 1644, p. 104. - -Footnote 165: - - For Motherwell’s views, see his Minstrelsy, li, lii, and lxxi, note - 30. - -Footnote 166: - - #B# 20. - Ingen iomfru maa ieg loffue, - huerchen lønlig eller aaben-bahre; - det haffuer ieg iomfru Maria loffuet - hindis tienere skall ieg verre. - -Footnote 167: - - The burden is ‘O kiennicheinn Maria’ in the first, ‘Hilf Maria’ in the - second; in both George declines the king’s daughter, and orders a - church to be built ‘mit Mariabeild,’ or to himself and Mary. This, and - perhaps the hint for St George’s addiction to Mary altogether, is from - the Golden Legend, where the king “in honorem beatæ Mariæ et beati - Georgii ecclesiam miræ magnitudinis construxit”: Grässe, p. 261. - -Footnote 168: - - Following in part Buchanan, who, however, says nothing of Melrose, or - of the prophecy, which is the point here. Illa vero a vobis postrema - peto: primum, vt mortem meam et nostros et hostes cœletis; deinde, ne - vexillum meum dejectum sinatis; demum, vt meam cædem vlciscamini. Hæc - si sperem ita fore, cætera æquo animo feram. Fol. 101, ed. 1582. - -Footnote 169: - - I have not resorted to the MS. in this case, for the reason that I - could not expect to get a transcript which would merit the confidence - which must attach to one made by the hand of Professor Skeat. - -Footnote 170: - - British Bibliographer, IV, 99 f; Wright, Songs and Ballads, p. viii; - etc. - -Footnote 171: - - The grammatical forms of the Hunting of the Cheviot are, however, - older than those of the particular copy of Otterburn which has been - preserved. The plural of the noun is very often in -ës or -ys, as - lordës, 23^1; longës, 37^1; handdës, 60^1; sydis, 8^2; bowys, 13^2, - 25^1, 29^1, etc., at least sixteen cases. We find, also, sydë at 6^2, - and possibly should read fayllë at 9^3. The plural in -ës is rare in - The Battle of Otterburn: starrës, 45^4; swordës, 54^2; Skottës, 59^1, - 62^1. Probably we are to read swordës length in 55^3. - -Footnote 172: - - See the passage in the Memoirs of Carey, Earl of Monmouth, referred to - in Percy’s Reliques, 1765, I, 235, and given at length in Hales and - Furnivall, II, 3 f. - -Footnote 173: - - The minstrel was not too nice as to topography either: Otterburn is - not in Cheviot. - -Footnote 174: - - Tytler, History of Scotland, III, 293, though citing only the - Scotichronicon, says Sir Robert Ogle, and also Scott, I, 270; for - reasons which do not appear. - -Footnote 175: - - An Apologie for Poetrie, p. 46 of Arber’s reprint of the first - edition, 1595. For the date of the writing, 1581–85, see Arber, p. 7 - f. - -Footnote 176: - - The courtly poet deserves much of ballad-lovers for avowing his - barbarousness (one doubts whether he seriously believed that the - gorgeous Pindar could have improved upon the ballad), but what would - he not have deserved if he had written the blind crowder’s song down! - -Footnote 177: - - Popular Music, I, 198. Chevy Chase is entered in the Stationers’ - Registers, among a large parcel of ballads, in 1624, and clearly was - no novelty: Arber, IV, 131. “Had it been printed even so early as - Queen Elizabeth’s reign,” says Percy, “I think I should have met with - some copy wherein the first line would have been, God prosper long our - noble queen.” “That it could not be much later than that time appears - from the phrase _doleful dumps_, which in that age carried no ill - sound with it, but to the next generation became ridiculous. We have - seen it pass uncensured in a sonnet that was at that time in request, - and where it could not fail to have been taken notice of had it been - in the least exceptionable; see above, Book ii, song v, ver. 2 [by - Richard Edwards, 1596?]. Yet, in about half a century after, it was - become burlesque. Vide Hudibras, Pt. I, c. 3, v. 95.” Reliques, 1794, - I, 268, note, 269. - - The copy in the Percy MS., #B a#, though carelessly made, retains, - where the broadsides do not, two of the readings of #A#: bade on the - bent, 28^2; to the hard head haled he, 45^4. - -Footnote 178: - - Addison was not behind any of us in his regard for traditional songs - and tales. No 70 begins: “When I travelled, I took a particular - delight in hearing the songs and fables that are come from father to - son and are most in vogue among the common people of the countries - through which I passed; for it is impossible that anything should be - universally tasted and approved by a multitude, tho they are only the - rabble of a nation, which hath not in it some peculiar aptness to - please and gratify the mind of man. Human nature is the same in all - reasonable creatures, and whatever falls in with it will meet with - admirers amongst readers of all qualities and conditions.” - -Footnote 179: - - A Description of the Parish of Melrose [by the Revd. Adam Milne], - Edinburgh, 1743, p. 21. Scott cites the epitaph, with some slight - variations (as “English louns”), Appendix to The Eve of St. John, - Minstrelsy, IV, 199, ed. 1833. The monument was “all broken in pieces” - in Milne’s time; seems to have been renewed and again broken up (The - Scotsman, November 12, 1873); but, judging from Murray’s Handbook of - Scotland, has again been restored. - - Squire Meldrum’s valor was inferior to nobody’s, but as his fortune - was happier than Witherington’s and Lilliard’s, a note may suffice for - him. “Quhen his schankis wer schorne in sunder, vpon his knees he - wrocht greit wounder:” Lindsay, ed. 1594, Cv. recto, v. 30 f, Hall, p. - 358, v. 1349 f. But really he was only “hackit on his hochis and - theis,” or as Pittscottie says, Dalyell, p. 306, “his hochis war - cutted and the knoppis of his elbowis war strikin aff,” and by and by - he is “haill and sound” again, according to the poet, and according to - the chronicler he “leived fyftie yeires thairefter.” - -Footnote 180: - - As stanch as some of these was a Highlander at the battle of Gasklune, - 1392, who, though nailed to the ground by a horseman’s spear, held - fast to his sword, writhed himself up, and with a last stroke cut his - foeman above the foot to the bone, “through sterap-lethire and the - bute, thre ply or foure”: Wyntoun’s Chronicle, B. ix, ch. 14, Laing, - III, 59. - -Footnote 181: - - Legally just: Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs, Historical and - Traditionary, I, 349 ff. - -Footnote 182: - - And afterwards, 1748, by Robert Foulis, Glasgow: “Two old Historical - Scots Poems, giving an account of the Battles of Harlaw and the - Reid-Squair.” - -Footnote 183: - - Ane Catalogue of the Books, Manuscripts and Pamphlets Belonging to - Robert Mylne, Wryter in Ed[r .], 1709: Advocates Library. Mr Macmath, - who has come to my aid here, writes: “So far as I can make out, this - catalogue contains no MSS. It is in two divisions: 1st, Printed Books; - 2d, Pamphlets. The following is in the second division, and I - understand the reference to be, year of publication, volume, or bundle - of pamphlets, number of piece in bundle or volume: - - “Harlaw The Battle yrof An: 1411 ... 1668, 79, 5.” - - Mylne died in 1747, at the age, it is said, of 103 or 105: [Maidment], - A Book of Scotish Pasquils, p. 423. - -Footnote 184: - - He talks like a canny packman: - - I wist nocht quha was fae or freind; - Yet quietly I did me carrie, - . . . . . . . - And thair I had nae tyme to tairie, - For bissiness in Aberdene. - -Footnote 185: - - So with The Battle of Balrinnes and The Haughs of Cromdale. The first - line of The Battle of Balrinnes is, ‘Betuixt Dunother and Aberdein.’ - -Footnote 186: - - Not only were these long and affectionately remembered, but their - heirs were exempted from certain feudal taxes, because the defeat of - the Celts was regarded as a national deliverance: Burton’s History, - II, 394. - -Footnote 187: - - A macaronic ascribed to Drummond of Hawthornden. - - Interea ante alios dux piperlarius heros - Præcedens, magnamque gestans cum burdine pipam, - Incipit Harlai cunctis sonare Batellum. - - (Poems, Maitland Club, p. 413, after the first - dated edition of 1684.) - -Footnote 188: - - 3^2. Away and away and away, #e#, #f#, #i#, #k#. 12^1. The first that - fired it was the French, #f#, #g#, #h#. 12^4. were forced to flee, - #f#, #i#, #m# (first to flee, #e#). 14^3. in all French land, #e#, - #f#, #g#, (in our) #h#, #m#. Etc. - -Footnote 189: - - English balls again in #m#, tennis-balls in #i#, #k#. - -Footnote 190: - - Whose work was printed in 1850, ed. Benjamin Williams. I am for the - most part using Sir Harris Nicolas’s excellent History of the Battle - of Agincourt, 2d ed., 1832, here; see pp. 8–13, 301 f. - -Footnote 191: - - Nicolas, p. 302 f, slightly corrected; much the same in another copy - of the poem, _ib._, Appendix, p. 69 #f.# The jest in Henry’s reply is - carried out in detail when he comes to Harfleur, _ib._, pp. 308–310. - -Footnote 192: - - Nicolas, p. 10, as corrected by Hales and Furnivall, II, 161, and in - one word emended by me. By several of the above writers the Dauphin - Louis is called Charles, through confusion with his father or his - younger brother. - -Footnote 193: - - The gifts are a whip (σκῦτος), a ball, and a casket of gold. In Julius - Valerius’s version, Müller, as above, σκῦτος is rendered habena, whip - or reins; in Leo’s Historia de Preliis, ed. Landgraf, p. 54, we have - virga for habena; in Lamprecht’s Alexander, Weismann, I, 74, - 1296–1301, the habena is a pair of shoe-strings. The French romance, - Michelant, p. 52, 25 ff, to make sure, gives us both rod (verge) and - reins; the English Alexander, Weber, I, 75, 1726–28, has a top, a - scourge, and a small purse of gold. Weber has noticed the similarity - of the stories, Romances, III, 299, and he remarks that in ‘The Famous - Victories of Henry Fifth’ a carpet is sent with the tun of - tennis-balls, to intimate that the prince is fitter for carpet than - camp. - -Footnote 194: - - Cheshire, Lancashire, and _the Earl of_ Derby are made to carry off - the honors in ballad-histories of Bosworth and Flodden: see the - appendix to No 168. Perhaps the hand of some minstrel of the same clan - as the author or authors of those eulogies may be seen in this - passage. - -Footnote 195: - - Henry of Monmouth, or Memoirs of the Life and Character of Henry the - Fifth, II, 121, 197. Jewitt, Derbyshire Ballads, p. 2, says that there - is a tradition in the Peak of Derby that Henry V would take no married - man or widow’s son, when recruiting for Agincourt; but he goes on to - say that the ballad is not unfrequently sung by the hardy sons of the - Peak, which adequately accounts for the tradition. - -Footnote 196: - - _Cf._ #g# 6 and ‘Lord Bateman,’ 14, II, 508. - -Footnote 197: - - Vol. cxiii, fol. 14, Bodleian Library: cited (p. 303 f.) in Beamont’s - Annals of the Lords of Warrington, Chetham Society, 1872, where may be - found the fullest investigation yet attempted of this obscure matter. - I have freely and thankfully used chapters 17–19 of that highly - interesting work. - -Footnote 198: - - For Lord Grey’s making the suit void, and his lady’s resolution to be - buried near Sir John, see Beamont, p. 319 f, pp. 297–99. - -Footnote 199: - - Beamont, p. 304. - -Footnote 200: - - Pennant, in the second half of the last century, heard that both Sir - Thomas and his lady were murdered in his house by assassins, who, in - the night, crossed the moat in leathern boats. Again, Sir Peter Legh, - simply, was said to have slain Sir Thomas Butler. Sir Thomas died - quietly in his bed, and Sir Peter, who had turned priest, administered - ghostly consolations to him not long before his decease. - -Footnote 201: - - See Beamont, p. 308; and also p. 296 for another hypothesis. - -Footnote 202: - - Beamont, pp. 259, 321. - -Footnote 203: - - These are duly interpreted in Hales and Furnivall. - -Footnote 204: - - Lord Strange’s hair-breadth escape is, however, perhaps apocryphal: - see Croston, County Families of Lancashire and Cheshire, 1887, p. 25 - f. - -Footnote 205: - - #B# begins vilely, but does not go on so ill. The forty merchants - coming ‘with fifty sail’ to King Henry on a mountain top, 3^{1,2}, - requires to be taken indulgently. - -Footnote 206: - - “God’s curse on his hartt,’ saide William, - ‘Thys day thy cote dyd on; - If it had ben no better then myne, - It had gone nere thy bone.’ - - (Vol. iii, 23, st. 27.) - -Footnote 207: - - An approach to sense may be had by reading ‘either in hach-bord or in - hull,’ that is, by striking with his beam either the side or the body - of the vessel; but I do not think so well of this change as to venture - it. - -Footnote 208: - - The letters granted to the Bartons authorized them to seize all - Portuguese ships till repaid 12,000 ducats of Portugal. Pinkerton, - whose excellent account, everywhere justified by documents, I have - been indebted to above, remarks: “The justice of letters of reprisal - after an interval of thirty years may be much doubted. At any rate, - one prize was sufficient for the injury, and the continuance of their - captures, and the repeated demands of our kings, even so late as 1540, - cannot be vindicated. Nay, these reprisals on Portugal were found so - lucrative that, in 1543, Arran, the regent, gave similar letters to - John Barton, grandson of the first John. In 1563 Mary formally revoked - the letters of marque to the Bartons, because they had been abused - into piracy.” Pinkerton’s History of Scotland, II, 60 f, 70. - -Footnote 209: - - Robert was skipper of the Great Michael, a ship two hundred and forty - feet long, with sides ten feet thick, and said to be larger and - stronger than any vessel in the navy of England or of France. - -Footnote 210: - - A mistake of Edmund for Edward and an anticipation. Sir Edward Howard - was not made admiral till the next year. Edmund was his younger - brother. Lesley has Edmund again; Stowe has Edward. - -Footnote 211: - - Britanus. “Breton, whom our chroniclers call Barton,” says Lord - Herbert of Cherbury, Life of Henry VIII, 1649, p. 15. - -Footnote 212: - - Another anticipation. Sir Thomas Howard became admiral only after his - brother Edward’s death, in 1513. The expedition of the Howards against - Barton appears to have been a private one, though with the consent of - the king. - -Footnote 213: - - The commissioners met, and “the wrongs done unto Scotland many ways, - specially of the slaughter of Andrew Barton and taking of his ships, - were conferred,” but the commissioners of England would not consent to - make any redress or restitution till after a certain date when they - expected to know the issue of their king’s invasion of France. - Hereupon a herald was sent to King Henry in France, with a letter from - King James, rehearsing the great wrongs and unkindnesses done to - himself and his lieges, and among these the slaughter of Andrew Barton - by Henry’s own command, though he had done no offence to him or his - lieges; and no satisfaction being obtained, the herald, according to - his instructions, “denounced war to the king of England,” August, - 1513. (Lesley, pp. 87–91.) - -Footnote 214: - - #B# 63^3, “Lord Howard shall Earl Bury hight.” Admiral Thomas Howard, - for his good service at Flodden and elsewhere, was created Earl of - Surrey in 1514. Bury is, one would suppose, a corruption of Surrey, - and if so, Surrey may have been the reading of earlier copies, and - perhaps Thomas again, instead of Charles. - -Footnote 215: - - By reading midwinter in #A# 17^3 this difficulty would be removed. - -Footnote 216: - - These beams, Henry Hunt intimates in 32, would be dangerous to - boarders, which is conceivable should they chance to hit the right - heads; but they are evidently meant to be dropped on the adversary’s - vessel, and this by a process which is not distinctly described, and - was, I fear, not perfectly grasped by the minstrel. The veriest - landsman must think that a magazine of heavy timbers stowed in either - castle (there is an upper and a lower in the pictures of Henry VII’s - Great Harry and of Henry VIII’s Grace de Dieu, and the lower is well - up the mast) would not be favorable to sailing; but this is a minor - difficulty. Stones and fire-balls were sometimes thrown from the - topcastle, which, properly, should be a stage at the very tip of the - mast, as we find it in old prints: see Nicolas’s History of the Royal - Navy, II, 170. Stones and iron bars thrown from the high decks of - Spanish ships did much harm to the English in a fight in 1372: - Froissart, Buchon, V, 276. An intelligible way of operating the - ancient “dolphins,” heavy masses of metal dropped from the end of a - yard, is suggested in Graser, De veterum re navali, 1864, p. 82 f. - -Footnote 217: - - A better, but defective, copy is in the second volume of Chetham - Miscellanies, edited by Dr J. Robson, 1855. - -Footnote 218: - - Harleian MS. No 3526, date of about 1636; a printed copy of 1664, from - which the poem was edited by Weber, Edinburgh, 1808; a printed copy of - 1755–62, from a different source, excellently edited by Charles A. - Federer, Manchester, 1884. See further this last, pp. 134–37. - -Footnote 219: - - Articles of the bataill betwix the Kinge of Scottes and the Erle of - Surrey in Brankstone Feld, the 9 day of September: State Papers, vol. - iv, King Henry the Eighth, Part iv, p. 2, 1836. - -Footnote 220: - - Hall’s Chronicle, p. 564. - -Footnote 221: - - Who are celebrated also in three other pieces, ‘Scottish Field,’ - ‘Bosworth Field,’ and ‘Lady Bessie:’ Percy MS., Hales and Furnivall, - I, 212, III, 235, 321. - -Footnote 222: - - “He never loved thee, for thy uncle [that is, Sir William Stanley] - slew his father” [the Duke of Norfolk]; which, however, is not true. - -Footnote 223: - - Sir Ralph Egerton is made marshal in st. 91; but this Rowland is - really Ralph over again. Ralph was knighted at Tournay, and was - granted the manor of Ridley in February of the next year. - -Footnote 224: - - “Where they lay a long time, and left the town as they found it:” - Hall, p. 861. - -Footnote 225: - - ‘Where got thou these targits, Jony, - That hings so low down by thy knee?’ - ‘I got them, cukel king, in the field, - Where thow and thy men durst not come see.’ - -Footnote 226: - - This copy I have in MS. and have not noted, neither can I remember, - how I came by it, but it is probably a transcript from recent print. - It diverges from the ordinary text more than any that I have seen. - After 17 comes this stanza (cf. ‘Robin Hood rescuing Three Squires,’ - No 140, #B# 29): - - They took the gallows frae the slack, - An there they set it on a plain, - An there they hanged Johnnie Armstrong, - Wi fifty of his warlike men. - - 18–20, 23 are wanting. A “pretty little boy,” in what corresponds to - 21, 22, says, ‘Johnnie Armstrong you’ll never see,’ and the lady ends - the ballad with: - - If that be true, my pretty little boy, - Aye the news you tell to me, - You’ll be the heir to a’my lands, - You an your young son after thee. - -Footnote 227: - - A tract on the extreme western border, beginning between the mouths of - the Sark and Esk and stretching north and east eight miles, with a - greatest breadth of four miles. The particulars of the boundaries are - given from an old roll in Nicolson and Burn’s Westmorland and - Cumberland, I, xvi, and as follows by Mr T. J. Carlyle, The Debateable - Land, Dumfries, 1868, p. 1: “bounded on the west by the Sark and - Pingleburn, on the north by the Irvine burn, Tarras, and Reygill, on - the east by the Mereburn, Liddal, and Esk, and on the south by the - Solway Frith.” The land was parted between England and Scotland in - 1552, with no great gain to good order for the half century - succeeding. - -Footnote 228: - - It has been maintained that there was a Gilnockie tower on the eastern - side of the Esk, a very little lower than the Hollows tower. “We can - also inform our readers that Giltknock Hall was situate on a small - rocky island on the river Esk below the Langholm, the remains of which - are to be seen:” Crito in the Edinburgh Evening Courant, March 8, - 1773. “Many vestiges of strongholds can be traced within the parish, - although there is only one, near the new bridge already described, - that makes an appearance at this point, its walls being yet entire:” - Statistical Account of Canoby, Sinclair, XIV, 420. - - Sir John Sinclair, 1795, says, in a note to this last passage, that - the spot of ground at the east end of “the new bridge” is, “indeed, - called to this day, Gill-knocky, but it does not exhibit the smallest - vestige of mason-work.” Mr. T. J. Carlyle, The Debateable Land, p. 17, - gives us to understand that the foundations of the tower were - excavated and removed when the bridge was built; but this does not - appear to be convincingly made out. - -Footnote 229: - - The History of Liddesdale, Eskdale, Ewesdale, Wauchopedale, and The - Debateable Land, by Robert Bruce Armstrong, 1883, pp 177 f, 227 f, - 245, 259 f; Appendix, pp. xxvi, xxxi. - -Footnote 230: - - The Cronicles of Scotland, etc., edited by J. G. Dalyell, 1814, II, - 341 ff. (partially modernized, for more comfortable reading). - -Footnote 231: - - Wherein, if this be true, John differed much from Sym. - -Footnote 232: - - Rerum Scoticarum Historia, 1582, fol. 163 b, 164. - -Footnote 233: - - History of Scotland, Bannatyne Club, 1830, p. 143. - -Footnote 234: - - Anderson’s History, MS., Advocates Library, I, fol. 153 f. Anderson - flourished about 1618–35. He gives the year both as 1527 and 1528. - Cited by Armstrong, History of Liddesdale, etc., p. 274 f. For what - immediately follows, Armstrong, pp. 273, 279. - -Footnote 235: - - A place two miles north of Mosspaul, on the road from Langholm to - Hawick. - -Footnote 236: - - Scott remarks that the “common people of the high parts of Teviotdale, - Liddesdale, and the country adjacent, hold the memory of Johnie - Armstrong in very high respect.” “They affirm, also,” he adds, “that - one of his attendants broke through the king’s guard, and carried to - Gilnockie Tower the news of the bloody catastrophe:” but that is in - the English ballad, #B# 20. - -Footnote 237: - - Dr Hill Burton has made a slight slip here, III, 146, ed. 1863; - compare Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, I, 154. - -Footnote 238: - - He lived in the West March, if that helps to an explanation. - -Footnote 239: - - Found also in one copy of Hugh the Græme, Buchan’s MSS, I, 63, st. 15. - Borrowed by Sir Walter Scott in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto I, - ix. - -Footnote 240: - - See many cases in Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, p. 210 f, to which may be - added: Milà, Romancerillo, No 243, pp. 219–21; Briz, II, 222; Amador - de los Rios, Historia de la Lit. Esp., VII, 449; El Folk-Lore Andaluz, - 1882, pp. 41, 77; Almeida-Garrett, II, 56, note; Nigra, C. P. del - Piemonte, No I, E-I, N, O; ‘Le serpent vert,’ Poésies p. de la France, - MS., III, fol. 126, 508, now printed by Rolland, III, 10; Kolberg, - Pieśni ludu polskiego, No 18, p. 208; Luzel, I, 81, II, 357, 515; - Brewer, Dictionary of Miracles, pp. 205, 355 f.; Gaidoz, and others, - Mélusine, IV, 228 ff., 272 ff., 298, 323 f., 405. - -Footnote 241: - - Grundtvig, No 84, ‘Hustru og Mands Moder,’ is not so good a case, - though a boy just born announces that he will revenge his mother, - because the boy is born nine years old; II, 412, #D# 30, #E# 18. This - again in Kristensen, I, 202 f, No 74, #B# 12, #C# 11, and II, 113 ff, - No 35, #A# 18, #B# 14, #C# 11. The stanza cited by Dr Prior, I, 37, - from ‘Hammen von Reystett,’ Wunderhorn, 1808, II, 179, is hardly to - the purpose. - -Footnote 242: - - Jamieson cites the first two verses in The Scots Magazine, October, - 1803, and says: Of this affecting composition I have two copies, both - imperfect, but they will make a pretty good and consistent whole - between them. - -Footnote 243: - - Burnet; Rapin-Thoyras, 1724, V, 401. - -Footnote 244: - - W. Patten, The Expedicion into Scotlande, etc., reprinted in Dalyell’s - Fragments of Scottish History, pp. 51, 66. - -Footnote 245: - - Deceivin, Abbey, are of course savin misunderstood. One of the - reciters of #D# (4^2) gave ‘saving.’ - -Footnote 246: - - History of the Reformation, Knox’s Works, ed. Laing, II, 415 f. Knox - continues: “But yet was not the court purged of whores and whoredom, - which was the fountain of such enormities; for it was well known that - shame hasted marriage betwix John Semple, called the Dancer, and Mary - Livingston, surnamed the Lusty. What bruit the Maries and the rest of - the dancers of the court had, the ballads of that age did witness, - which we for modesty’s sake omit.” This Mary Livingston is one of the - Four Marys, but, as already said, is mentioned in version #F# only of - our ballad. - -Footnote 247: - - “In this set of the ballad” [#D#], says Motherwell, “from its direct - allusion to the use of the savin tree, a clue is perhaps afforded for - tracing how the poor mediciner mentioned by Knox should be implicated - in the crime of Mary Hamilton.” Maidment goes further: “The reference - to the use of the savin tree in Motherwell induces a strong suspicion - that the lover was a mediciner.” Maidment should have remembered that - there is a popular pharmacopœia quite independent of the professional. - No apothecary prescribes in ‘Tam Lin.’ - -Footnote 248: - - In an extract from Gordon’s History of Peter the Great, Aberdeen, - 1755, II, 308 f. - -Footnote 249: - - ‘Maid-of-Honor Hamilton,’ by M. I. Semefsky, in Slovo i Dyelo (Word - and Deed), 1885, St Petersburg, 3d edition, p. 187. I am indebted to - Professor Vinogradof, of the University of Moscow, for pointing out - this paper, and to Miss Isabel Florence Hapgood for a summary of its - contents. - -Footnote 250: - - The parentage of these was not ascertained. Some accounts make Mary - Hamilton to have been Peter’s mistress: for example [J. B. Schérer’s], - Anecdotes intéressantes et secrètes de la cour de Russie, London, - 1792, II, 272 ff. See also Mélanges de Littérature, etc., par - François-Louis, comte d’Escherny, Paris, 1811, I, 7 f. (The white gown - with black ribbons is here.) - -Footnote 251: - - “Hamilton, imperturbable, niait. Menzikoff engagea l’empereur à faire - une perquisition dans les coffres d’Hamilton, ou l’on trouva le corps - du délit, l’arrière-faix et du linge ensanglanté.” Schérer, Anecdotes, - p. 274. - -Footnote 252: - - Bedford and Randolph to the Council, Wright’s Queen Elizabeth, etc., - p. 227; Burton, History of Scotland, IV, 145. - -Footnote 253: - - Ruthven’s Relation, p. 30 f, London, 1699. - -Footnote 254: - - The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 6; Diurnal of Occurrents, p. - 105 f; Tytler’s History, VII, 83. - -Footnote 255: - - To save appearances, we may understand “old copies” to mean copies - restored or brought nearer to what is imagined to have been the - original form. The variations will be given in notes as _pièces - justificatives_. - -Footnote 256: - - Sir Cuthbert Sharp, Memorials of the Rebellion of 1569, p. 202; a - collection of many original papers pertaining to this rising, with - much subsidiary information. But the story should be read in the - eighteenth chapter of Mr Froude’s Reign of Elizabeth. Both works have - been used here _passim_; Froude in the edition of New York, 1870. - -Footnote 257: - - Northumberland, on being asked how much money he spent in the quarrel, - says, “about one hundred and twenty pound.” The Queen’s proclamation, - Nov. 24, declares that the earls were two persons as ill chosen for - the reformation of any great matters as any could lie in the realm, - for they were both in poverty, etc. Sharp, pp. 208, 66; also 290. - -Footnote 258: - - Sharp, p. 113. - -Footnote 259: - - The dun-bull of the Nevilles is given in Sharp, p. 87, and _one_ - greyhound’s head, with what may pass for a golden collar, at p. 316; - the _three_ dogs are not warranted. Percy’s half-moon is improperly - mixed up with the banner of the five wounds in 31. - -Footnote 260: - - Sharp, pp. 92, 95, 97 f. - -Footnote 261: - - Sharp, pp. 114 f, 118. “My lord Regent convened with Martin Eliot that - he should betray Thomas, Earl of Northumberland, who was fled in - Liddesdale out of England for refuge, in this manner: that is to say, - the said Martin caused Heckie Armstrong desire my lord of - Northumberland to come and speak with him under trust, and caused the - said earl believe that, after speaking, if my lord Regent would pursue - him, that he and his friends should take plain part with the Earl of - Northumberland. And when the said earl came with the same Heckie - Armstrong to speak the said Martin, he caused certain light-horsemen - of my lord Regent’s, with others his friends, to lie at await, and - when they should see the said earl and the said Martin speaking - together, that they should come and take the said earl; and so as was - devised, so came to pass.” Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 154. - -Footnote 262: - - From a letter of January 6, we learn that the Earl of Northumberland - was then in Edinburgh, attended by James Swyno, William Burton, and - others. James Swyno is apparently the chamberlain of the ballad. - Sharp, p. 139. - -Footnote 263: - - Lord Hunsdon, Sharp, p. 125. - -Footnote 264: - - Sharp, pp. 324–29. To whom the money went, if to anybody besides - William Douglas, we are not distinctly told. Tytler intimates that - Morton had a share: “this base and avaricious man sold his unhappy - prisoner to Elizabeth,” VII, 395. There was baseness enough without - the addition of avarice: “The Earl of Northumberland was rendered to - the Queen of England, forth of the castle of Lochleven, by a certain - condition made betwix her and the Earl of Morton for gold.... And - indeed this was unthankfully remembered, for when Morton was banisht - from Scotland he found no such kind man to him in England as this earl - was.” Historie of King James the Sext, p. 106 f. Sir Richard Maitland, - who spares Morton and Lochleven no epithets in his spirited invective - against those who delivered the Earl of Northumberland, says that they - “of his bluide resavit the pygrall pryce,” but does not charge Morton - with an act of ingratitude. - -Footnote 265: - - Stanza 43 is corrupted. - -Footnote 266: - - Kirkpatrick Sharpe’s Historical Account of Witchcraft in Scotland, pp. - 38–54, ed. 1884. - -Footnote 267: - - Rochholz, Schweizersagen aus dem Aargau, II, 162; Grimm, Deutsche - Mythologie, p. 783 f, ed. 1876, and Saxo Grammaticus (p. 34, ed 1576, - Holder, p. 66), quoted by Grimm. These citations are furnished by - Liebrecht, Göttingen Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1868, p. 1899, who finds - hydromancy in st. 26, where, however, all that seems to be meant is - that the mother would let her daughter see _from_ Lochleven what was - doing in London. Of dactyliomancy proper there is something in Delrio, - IV, ii, 6, 4, 5, p. 547, ed. 1624. - -Footnote 268: - - Sharp’s Memorials, pp. 138, 142, 298 ff, 346 ff. - -Footnote 269: - - The most favorable interpretation has been given to ‘Now hath - Armstrong taken.’ The meaning is rather, perhaps, that Armstrong has - detained Neville and his followers. - -Footnote 270: - - 71^3. ‘spekest soe litle.’ - -Footnote 271: - - This is the date given me. It is very near to that of the event. - -Footnote 272: - - Lieut.-Col. H. W. Lumsden has very kindly allowed me a discretional - use of an unpublished paper of his upon the historical basis of this - ballad, and I freely avail myself of his aid, all responsibility - remaining, of course, with me. - -Footnote 273: - - The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 95 ff. The History of the - Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans, etc., p. 51 ff, in Miscellanea - Scotica, vol. I. Diurnal of Occurrents, pp. 251, 253, 255. - -Footnote 274: - - Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 255. What place is meant by Carrigill here - is of no present consequence, since it was Towie that was burnt. Many - writers, as Tytler, VII, 367, following Crawfurd’s spurious Memoirs, - p. 240, 1706, make the number that perished in the house - _thirty_-seven. - -Footnote 275: - - Journal of the Transactions in Scotland during the contest between the - adherents of Queen Mary and those of her son, 1570, 1571, 1572, 1573, - p. 302 f., Edinburgh, 1806. - -Footnote 276: - - History of the Church of Scotland, ed. 1666, p. 259. - -Footnote 277: - - “For many miserable months Scotland presented a sight which might have - drawn pity from the hardest heart: her sons engaged in a furious and - constant butchery of each other; ... nothing seen but villages in - flames, towns beleagured by armed men, women and children flying from - the cottages where their fathers or husbands had been massacred; ... - prisoners tortured, or massacred in cold blood, or hung by forties and - fifties at a time.” Tytler, VII, 370. - -Footnote 278: - - These are nearly the words of Lieut.-Col. Lumsden, upon whom I am very - glad to lean. That Ker was a valuable officer is well known. - -Footnote 279: - - The History of the Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans, p. 54 f. - -Footnote 280: - - Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 304 f. Also The Historie of King James the - Sext, p. 111. - - As to the ‘Bank of Fair,’ otherwise called Corrichie, the Earl of - Huntly and two of his sons, John and Adam, were made prisoners at the - battle there in 1562. The father, a corpulent man, “by reason of the - throng that pressed him, expired in the hands of his takers.” John was - executed, but Adam was spared because of his tender age. (Spottiswood, - p. 187.) - - Tytler observes of Adam Gordon: “In his character we find a singular - mixture of knightly chivalry with the ferocity of the highland - freebooter.... Such a combination as that exhibited by Gordon was no - infrequent production in these dark and sanguinary times.” VII, 367. - But it would have been a good thing to cite other instances. - -Footnote 281: - - Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, II, 355 f., 420, 480, 720. - Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 350. Chronicle of Aberdeen, in The - Miscellany of the Spalding Club, II, 53. - -Footnote 282: - - Register of the Privy Council, II, 199, 725; III, 10; V, 46, 187. - Register of the Great Seal, No 1554, vol. V. Miscellany of the - Spalding Club, III, 163. Historie of King James the Sext, pp 339 f., - 342. The so-called ballad in Dalzell’s Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth - Century, II, 347, which was in circulation as a broadside. - -Footnote 283: - - That a Margaret Campbell was the wife of John Forbes of Towie in - 1556–63 appears from the Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, Nos - 1124, 1404, 1469. But Lieut.-Col. Lumsden remarks that Sir John - Campbell of Calder had no daughter of the name of Margaret, and that - there is no record of such a marriage in the Cawdor papers. It may be - observed in passing that Buchanan’s and Spottiswood’s error (as it - seems to be) of substituting Alexander Forbes for John might easily - arise, since, according to the Genealogy, John’s father, one of his - brothers, a son, and a grandson, all bore the name Alexander. - -Footnote 284: - - “After making considerable researches upon the subject, I am come to - the conclusion that it was Towie House that was burnt. Cargarf never - was in possession of a Forbes.” (Joseph Robertson, Kinloch MSS, VI, - 28.) What is said of Corgarf in the View of the Diocese of Aberdeen, - 1732, Robertson, Collections for a History of the Shires of Aberdeen - and Banff, pp. 611, 616, is derived from Lumsden. Robert Gordon, - writing about 1654, says, “Non procul a fontibus [Donæ] jacet Corgarf, - exigui nominis.” A description of the parish of Strathdon, written - about 1725, in Macfarlane’s Geographical Collections, MS., says of - Curgarf, “This is an old castle belonging to the earls of Mar, but - nothing remarkable about it:” pp. 26, 616, of the work last cited. The - Statistical Accounts of Scotland give no light; the older tells the - story of Corgarf, the later of both Corgarf and Towie, and the one is - as uncritical as the other. - - John Forbes of Towie (Tolleis) is one of a long list of that name in - an order of the Lords of Council concerning an action of the Forbes - clan against the Earl of Huntly in 1573; and in another paper, dated - July, 1578, which has reference to the same action, the Forbeses - complain that “sum of thair housiss, wyiffis and bairnis being - thairin, were all uterlie wraikit and brount.” (Robertson, - Illustrations, etc., IV, 762, 765.) Bearing in mind the latitude of - phraseology customary in indictments, we are perhaps under no - necessity of thinking that the atrocity of Towie was but one of - several instances of houses burnt, wives (women) and bairns being - therein. There may be those who will think it plausible that - “Carrigill” in the Diurnal of Occurrents should be Corgarf, and that - both were burnt. - -Footnote 285: - - The making Gordon burn a house of the Hamiltons, who were of the - queen’s party, is a heedless perversion of history such as is to be - found only in ‘historical’ ballads. The castle of Hamilton had been - burnt in 1570, “and the toun and palice of Hamiltoun thairwith,” more - than a year before the burning of Towie, but by Lennox and his English - allies. (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 177.) - - “The old castle of Loudoun,” says the Rev. Norman Macleod, “was - destroyed by fire about 350 years ago [that is, about 1500]. The - current tradition regarding the burning of the old castle ascribes - that event to the clan Kennedy at the period above mentioned, and the - remains of an old tower at Achruglen, on the Galston side of the - valley, is still pointed out as having been their residence.” - -Footnote 286: - - #F.# 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. - #G.# 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 5, 6, 30, 20, 15, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 34, 35. - -Footnote 287: - - “At the queen last being at Stirling, the prince being brought unto - her, she offered to kiss him, but he would not, but put her away, and - did to his strength scratch her. She offered him an apple, but it - would not be received of him, and to a greyhound bitch having whelps - was thrown, who eat it, and she and her whelps died presently. A - sugar-loaf also for the prince was brought at the same time; it is - judged to be very ill compounded.” Calendar of State Papers, Foreign, - May 20, 1567, p. 235: cited by Burton. Considering that the prince had - only just passed his eleventh month, it would seem that the apple or - the sugar-loaf might have served without any compounding. - -Footnote 288: - - Historie of King James the Sext, p. 165 ff; Tytler’s History, VIII, 35 - ff; Burton, V, 163 ff. - -Footnote 289: - - Historie of King James the Sext, p. 246. - -Footnote 290: - - Spottiswood’s History, ed. 1666, p. 387. See also The Historie of King - James the Sext, p. 246 ff.; Moysie’s Memoirs, p. 88 ff.; Birrel’s - Diary, p. 26 f. - -Footnote 291: - - History of the Church of Scotland, published by the Wodrow Society, - Edinburgh, 1844, V, 173; in Maidment’s Scotish Ballads and Songs, - 1859, p. 8. - -Footnote 292: - - History of the Church of Scotland, ed. 1666, p. 389. - -Footnote 293: - - Calendar of the State Papers relating to Scotland, Thorpe, II, 611. - -Footnote 294: - - Carta Ioanni, filio natu maximo et heredi Andreæ Weymis de Myrecarny, - et Margarete Weiksterne, sue sponse, Terrarum de Myrecarny, etc. Fife, - 25 Dec^{rs}, 1594. Weymis de Myrecarny and Wemys de Logy are one, as - appears by a charter of July 25, 1564. Register of the Great Seal of - Scotland, Index, in the Signet Library, noted for me by Mr Macmath. - -Footnote 295: - - Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, V, 11. And again: 1594, - April 13. Caution in £2000 by ——Wemys, apparent of that Ilk, for - Johnne Wemyss, apparent of Logy, that he shall remain in ward with - David Wemys of that Ilk till relieved. - - May 2. Caution in 300 merks by Johnne Wemys, younger of that Ilk, for - Johnne Wemys of Logy, that he shall answer before the Privy Council at - Edinburgh upon 22d instant “to sic thingis as salbe inquirit of him.” - - September 27. Sir Johnne Wemys of Tullibrek, Michaell Balfour of - Monquhaine, and Andro Wemyss of Myrecairny, for Johnne Wemyss, son and - apparent heir of Andro, £20,000, to go abroad by the 15th October next - and not return without licence. Deleted by warrant subscribed by the - king and treasurer-depute at Haliruidhous 20th February, 1594. _Ib._, - pp 141 f., 144, 638. The entries in 1594 may have reference to later - offences. - -Footnote 296: - - Sir John Carmichael was appointed captain of the king’s guard in 1588, - and usually had the keeping of state criminals of rank. Scott. - -Footnote 297: - - The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 303 f.; Register of the Privy - Council of Scotland, V, 144. - -Footnote 298: - - Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland, Thorpe, II, 611, No 6. - -Footnote 299: - - The History of the Feuds and Conflicts among the Clans, etc., p. 41 f, - in Miscellanea Scotica, Spottiswood, ed. 1666, p. 390. - -Footnote 300: - - Lesley, History of Scotland, p. 235; Gregory, History of the Western - Highlands, ed. 1881, p. 184; Browne, History of the Highlands, IV, - 476. For the traditional story, Finlay, II, 95, note; Laing’s Thistle - of Scotland, p. 107 f.; Whitelaw, p. 248. - -Footnote 301: - - “In the end of this year [1593] there fell out great troubles in the - west marches. Some of the surname of Johnston having in the July - preceding made a great depredation upon the lands of Sanwhare and - Drumlanrig, and killed eighteen persons that followed for rescue of - their goods,” etc. Spottiswood, p. 400, ed. 1666. - -Footnote 302: - - 37 does not come in happily. Scott put this stanza after 29, omitting - ‘Sin’; but there is no rational sense gained, unless the Johnstones - are supposed to deny the cattle-lifting. Admitting a bold anacoluthon - in the first verse (a mixture of since—so and neither—nor), 37 might - stand as and where it is. The Johnstones have done no wanton injury; - they have only revenged in a proper way the death of the Galliard. But - even then the Johnstones would be made to blink the Galliard’s - horse-stealing. - -Footnote 303: - - As there was no great “routh” of Christian names among the clansmen of - the borders, to-names became necessary for the distinction of the - numerous Jocks, Christies, Watties and Archies. The name of parent, or - of parent and grandparent, was sometimes prefixed, as John’s Christie, - Agnes’ Christie, Peggie’s Wattie, Gibb’s Jack’s Johnie, Pattie’s - Geordie’s Johnie; sometimes the place of abode was added, as Jock o - the Side; sometimes there was distinction by personal peculiarities, - dress, or arms, as Fair Johnie, Red Cloak, John with the Jack, etc., - etc. See lists of all varieties in Mr R. B. Armstrong’s History of - Liddesdale, etc., p. 78 f. - -Footnote 304: - - Ties them with St Mary’s knot: hamstrings them, says Caw, and say - others after him. A St John’s knot is double, a St Mary’s triple. - Observe that in 31 it is simply said that there is only one horse - loose in the stable. - -Footnote 305: - - “The Armstrongs at length got Dick o the Cow in their clutches, and, - out of revenge, they tore his flesh from his bones with red-hot - pincers:” note in Caw’s Museum, p. 35. “At the conclusion of the - ballad, the singer used invariably to add that Dickie’s removal to - Burgh under Stainmuir did not save him from the clutches of the - Armstrongs. Having fallen into their power, several years after this - exploit, he was plunged into a large boiling pot, and so put to death. - The scene of this cruel transaction is pointed out somewhere in - Cumberland.” Chambers, Scottish Ballads, p. 55, note. No well-wisher - of Dick has the least occasion to be troubled by these puerile - supplements of the singers. - -Footnote 306: - - I am indebted to Mr R. B. Armstrong for all information not hitherto - published. - -Footnote 307: - - “It was not unusual to call two sons by a favorite name, and the - brother of Gilnockie would have probably called his sons by that - name:” R. B. A. - -Footnote 308: - - “The place which is alluded to by Scott was pointed out to me about - thirty years since. There then were the remains of a tower which stood - on a small plateau where the Dow Sike and the Blaik Grain join the - Stanygillburn, a tributary of the Tinnisburn. Some remains of the - building may still be traced at the northern angle of the sheepfold of - which it forms part. The walls that remain are 4 feet 3 inches thick, - and measured on the inside about 6 feet high. They extend about 18 - feet 6 inches in one direction and 14 feet in another, forming - portions of two sides with the angle of the tower.... There must have - been a considerable building of a rude kind.... This place, as the - crow flies, is quite two miles and a quarter from Kershope-foot, and - by the burn two miles and a half.... The Laird’s Jock’s residence is - marked on a sketch map of Liddesdale by Lord Burleigh, drawn when - Simon was laird of Mangerton. (Simon, son of Thomas, was laird in - 1578–9.) It is also marked at the mouth of the Tinnisburn on a ‘platt’ - of the country, of 1590.” R. B. A. - -Footnote 309: - - The Archbishop’s account is apparently based upon a more minute - “relation of the maner of surprizeing of the Castell of Cairlell by - the lord of Buccleugh,” given, from a manuscript of the period, in the - later edition of the Minstrelsy, II, 32. There is another account of - the rescue in The Historie of King James the Sext, p. 366 ff. - -Footnote 310: - - Near the water of Sark, in the Debateable Land, and belonging to - Kinmont Willie: “William Armstrong, in Morton Tower, called Will of - Kinmouth, 1569.” Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, II, 44. - -Footnote 311: - - “The queen of England, having notice sent her of what was done, - stormed not a little,” and her ambassador was instructed to say that - peace could not continue between the two realms unless Buccleuch were - delivered to England, to be punished at the queen’s pleasure. - Buccleuch professed himself willing to be tried, according to ancient - treaties, by commissioners of the respective kingdoms, and the Scots - made the proposal, but Elizabeth did not immediately consent to this - arrangement. At last, to satisfy the queen, Buccleuch was put in ward - at the castle of St Andrews. Spotiswood adds that he was “afterwards - entered in England, where he remained not long” (and Tytler to the - same effect, IX, 226). According to one of the MSS of The Historie of - King James the Sext, the king, to please and pleasure her Majesty, - entered Buccleuch in ward at Berwick with all expedition possible, and - the queen, of her courtesy, released him back in due and sufficient - time: p. 421. But Buccleuch seems to have been entered in England only - once, and that in 1597, and not for the assault on Carlisle castle, or - for a raid which he made in the next year, but because he did not - deliver his pledges, as he was under obligation to do according to a - treaty made by a joint commission in 1597. See Ridpath’s Border - History, 1848, pp. 473, 477. - -Footnote 312: - - Tytler’s History, IX, 437. “The greatest nomber whareof war ordinar - nycht-walkers” (H. of K. J. the Sext, p. 369). - -Footnote 313: - - “Dike Armestronge of Dryup dwelleth neare High Morgarton” (Mangerton). - Dike Armestronge of Dryup appears in a list of the principal men in - Liddesdale, drawn up when Simon Armstrong was laird of Mangerton, - among Simon’s uncles or uncles’ sons. Dick of Dryup is complained of, - with others, for reif and burning, in 1583, 1586, 1587, 1603, and his - name is among the outlaws proclaimed at Carlisle July 23, 1603. (Notes - of Mr R. B. Armstrong.) - -Footnote 314: - - “The informer saith that Buclughe was the fifth man which entered the - castle:” Lord Scroop’s letter, Tytler, IX, 437. But the MS. used by - Scott, Spotiswood’s account (founded chiefly or altogether upon that - MS.), and The Historie of King James the Sext agree in saying that - Buccleuch remained outside, “to assure the retreat of his awin from - the castell againe.” - -Footnote 315: - - “Red Rowy Forster” is one of the list complained of to the Bishop of - Carlisle, about 1550 (see ‘Hughie Grame’), and he is in company with - Jock of Kinmont, one of Will’s four sons, Archie of Gingles, Jock of - Gingles, and George of the Gingles, who may represent “The Chingles” - in the informer’s list already cited. Nicolson and Burn, I, lxxxii. - -Footnote 316: - - This is also to be observed: “There are in this collection no fewer - than three poems on the rescue of prisoners, the incidents in which - nearly resemble each other, though the poetical description is so - different that the editor did not think himself at liberty to reject - any one of them, as borrowed from the others. As, however, there are - several verses which, in recitation, are common to all these three - songs, the editor, to prevent unnecessary and disagreeable repetition, - has used the freedom of appropriating them to that in which they seem - to have the best poetic effect.” ‘Jock o the Side,’ Minstrelsy, II, - 76, ed. 1833. - -Footnote 317: - - Campbell “projected” his work as early as 1790, and he intimates in - his preface, p. viii (if I have rightly understood him), that he gave - help to Scott. - -Footnote 318: - - For the Laird’s Jock, see ‘Dick o the Cow,’ No 185. “I do not say - there never was a Laird’s Wat, but I do not recollect having met with - an Armstrong called Walter during the sixteenth century:” Mr R. B. - Armstrong. - -Footnote 319: - - If the text is right, John (or was it Hobbie Noble?) had killed Peeter - a Whifeild. See ‘Hobbie Noble,’ 9^4. - -Footnote 320: - - “I am a bastard brother of thine,” says Hobby in 26^3; cf. 28^2. But - in #B# 7 and ‘Hobie Noble,’ 3, he is an Englishman, born in Bewcastle, - and banished to Liddesdale. - -Footnote 321: - - This device, whether of great practical use or not, has much authority - to favor it: Hereward, De Gestis Herwardi, Michel, Chroniques A. - Normandes, p. 81; Fulk Fitz-Warin, Wright, p. 92; Eustache le Moine, - Michel, p. 55, vv. 1505 ff. (see Michel’s note, p. 104 f.); Robert - Bruce, Scotichronicon, Goodall, II, 226; other cases in Miss Burne’s - Shropshire Folk-Lore, pp. 16, 20, 93 note. It is repeated in ‘Archie o - Cawfield.’ - -Footnote 322: - - Bay and grey should be exchanged in #B# 10, #C# 7. - -Footnote 323: - - Miswritten Capeld; again in 12^4. - -Footnote 324: - - “Tradition says that his [Archie’s] name was Archibald Armstrong.” - (Note at the end of the MS.) - -Footnote 325: - - Belonging to John’s Christie, son of Johnie Armstrong. Christie of - Barnglish was in Kinmont Willie’s rescue. R. B. Armstrong, Appendix, - p. cii, No LXIV; T. J. Carlyle, The Debateable Land, p. 22. Tytler, - IX, 437. - -Footnote 326: - - The “white hand” in the Slovenian ballad, II, 350, is hard to explain - unless there is a mixture of a prison-ballad and a snake-ballad. - -Footnote 327: - - “The earldom of Huntingdon was vacant from about 1487 to 1529, and, as - the Fitz-Walters were lineally descended from the daughter of the - first Simon de St Liz, Earl of Huntingdon, this may have suggested to - Skelton the idea of giving that title to the husband of Matilda - Fitz-Walter.” - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES - - - 1. P. 204, changed "3. unto her lovely." to "3^3. unto her lovely.". - 2. P. 287, changed "25. 5 score" to "25^1. 5 score". - 3. Except as noted, all spelling errors were left uncorrected. - 4. All punctuation was left uncorrected, except as follows. - 5. A beginning or ending quote mark was added for obviously unbalanced - pairs of quotes. - 6. Full stops and commas were made consistent for the verse & line - references, for example, "12^1," was corrected to "12^1." - 7. Footnotes have been re-indexed using numbers and collected together - at the end of the last chapter. - 8. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - 9. Enclosed bold font in #number signs#. -10. Enclosed letter spaced font in _double angle quotation marks_. -11. Superscripts are denoted by a caret before a single superscript - character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in - curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}. -12. 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