[Illustration]
PERCY'S RELIQUES.
[Illustration]
RELIQUES OF
ANCIENT ENGLISH
POETRY
CONSISTING OF OLD HEROIC BALLADS, SONGS AND
OTHER PIECES OF OUR EARLIER POETS
TOGETHER WITH SOME FEW
OF LATER DATE
BY
THOMAS PERCY, D.D.
BISHOP OF DROMORE
EDITED, WITH A GENERAL INTRODUCTION, ADDITIONAL
PREFACES, NOTES, GLOSSARY, ETC.
BY
HENRY B. WHEATLEY, F.S.A.
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. II
LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD.
RUSKIN HOUSE 40 MUSEUM STREET, W.C.1
First Published by Swan Sonnenschein _April 1885_
Reprinted _August 1891_
" _August 1899_
" _December 1909_
" _January 1927_
PRINTED BY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
GREAT BRITAIN
[Illustration]
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THE SECOND
BOOK THE FIRST.
Page
1. Richard of Almaigne 3
2. On the Death of K. Edward the First 10
3. An original Ballad by Chaucer 14
4. The Turnament of Tottenham 17
5. For the Victory at Agincourt 29
6. The Not-Browne Mayd 31
7. A balet, by the Earl Rivers 48
8. Cupid's Assault: by Lord Vaux 50
9. Sir Aldingar 54
Copy from the Folio MS. 61
10. The Gaberlunyie man. A Scottish Song 67
11. On Thomas Lord Cromwell 71
12. Harpalus. An Ancient English Pastoral 75
13. Robin and Makyne. An Ancient Scottish Pastoral 79
14. Gentle Herdsman, tell to me 86
15. K. Edward IV. and the Tanner of Tamworth 92
16. As ye came from the Holy Land 101
Copy from the Folio MS. 104
17. Hardyknute. A Scottish Fragment 105
BOOK THE SECOND.
1. A Ballad of Luther, the Pope, a Cardinal, and a Husbandman 125
2. John Anderson my Jo. A Scottish Song 131
3. Little John Nobody 133
4. Q. Elizabeth's Verses, while Prisoner at Woodstock 137
5. The Heir of Linne 138
Copy from the Folio MS. 147
6. Gascoigne's Praise of the fair Bridges, afterwards Lady
Sandes 150
7. Fair Rosamond. By Thomas Delone 154
8. Queen Eleanor's Confession 164
9. The Sturdy Rock 169
10. The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall-Green 171
Extract from the Folio MS. 181
An Essay on the Word _Fit_, and the ancient Ballad-singing 182
11. Fancy and Desire. By the Earl of Oxford 185
12. Sir Andrew Barton 188
Copy from the folio MS. 201
13. Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament. A Scottish Song 209
14. The Murder of the King of Scots 213
15. A Sonnet by Q. Elizabeth 218
16. King of Scots and Andrew Browne. By W. Elderton 221
17. The Bonny Earl of Murray. A Scottish Song 226
18. Young Waters. A Scottish Song 228
19. Mary Ambree 231
Copy from the Folio MS. 235
20. Brave Lord Willoughbey 238
21. Victorious Men of Earth. By James Shirley 242
22. The Winning of Cales 243
23. The Spanish Lady's Love 247
24. Argentile and Curan. By W. Warner 252
25. Corin's Fate 262
26. Jane Shore 263
27. Corydon's doleful Knell 274
BOOK THE THIRD.
1. The Complaint of Conscience 279
2. Plain Truth and Blind Ignorance 285
3. The Wandering Jew 291
4. The Lye. By Sir Walter Raleigh 297
5. Verses (viz. two Sonnets) by K. James I. 300
6. K. John and the Abbot of Canterbury 303
Copy from the Folio MS. 308
7. You Meaner Beauties. By Sir Henry Wotton 312
8. The Old and Young Courtier 314
9. Sir John Suckling's Campaigne 318
10. To Althea from Prison. By Col. Lovelace 321
11. The Downfall of Charing-Cross 323
12. Loyalty Confined 326
13. Verses, by King Charles I. 329
14. The Sale of Rebellious Houshold Stuff 332
15. The Baffled Knight, or Lady's Policy 336
16. Why so Pale? By Sir John Suckling 343
17. Old Tom of Bedlam. Mad Song the First 344
18. The Distracted Puritan. Mad Song the Second 347
19. The Lunatic Lover. Mad Song the Third 351
20. The Lady Distracted with Love. Mad Song the Fourth 354
21. The Distracted Lover. Mad Song the Fifth 355
22. The Frantic Lady. Mad Song the Sixth 357
23. Lilliburlero. By the Marquis of Wharton 358
24. The Braes of Yarrow. In imitation of the ancient
Scots manner. By Wm. Hamilton 362
25. Admiral Hosier's Ghost. By Richard Glover 367
26. Jemmy Dawson. By William Shenstone 371
APPENDIX.
On the Alliterative Metre, without Rhyme, in Pierce Plowman's
Visions 377
INDEX.
Of Ballads and Poems in the Second Volume 395
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
RELIQUES OF ANCIENT POETRY, ETC.
SERIES THE SECOND.
BOOK 1.
[Illustration]
"Though some make slight of Libels, yet you may see by them how the
wind sits: As, take a straw and throw it up into the air, you may see
by that which way the wind is, which you shall not do by casting up a
stone. More solid things do not shew the complexion of the times so
well as Ballads and Libels."--Selden's _Table-Talk_.
[Illustration]
I.
RICHARD OF ALMAIGNE,
"A ballad made by one of the adherents to Simon de Montfort, Earl of
Leicester, soon after the battle of Lewes, which was fought May 14,
1264,"
--affords a curious specimen of ancient satire, and shews that the
liberty, assumed by the good people of this realm, of abusing their
kings and princes at pleasure, is a privilege of very long standing.
To render this antique libel intelligible, the reader is to understand
that just before the battle of Lewes, which proved so fatal to the
interests of Henry III., the barons had offered his brother Richard,
King of the Romans, 30,000_l._ to procure a peace upon such terms, as
would have divested Henry of all his regal power, and therefore the
treaty proved abortive. The consequences of that battle are well-known:
the king, prince Edward his son, his brother Richard, and many of his
friends, fell into the hands of their enemies: while two great barons
of the king's party, John, Earl of Warren, and Hugh Bigot, the king's
justiciary, had been glad to escape into France.
In the first stanza the aforesaid sum of thirty thousand pounds is
alluded to, but with the usual misrepresentation of party malevolence,
is asserted to have been the exorbitant demand of the king's brother.
With regard to the second stanza the reader is to note that Richard,
along with the earldom of Cornwall, had the honours of Walingford and
Eyre confirmed to him on his marriage with Sanchia, daughter of the
Count of Provence, in 1243. Windsor Castle was the chief fortress
belonging to the king, and had been garrisoned by foreigners: a
circumstance which furnishes out the burthen of each stanza.
The third stanza alludes to a remarkable circumstance which happened
on the day of the battle of Lewes. After the battle was lost, Richard,
king of the Romans, took refuge in a windmill, which he barricaded, and
maintained for some time against the barons, but in the evening was
obliged to surrender. See a very full account of this in the _Chronicle
of Mailros_, Oxon. 1684, p. 229.[1]
The fourth stanza is of obvious interpretation: Richard, who had been
elected king of the Romans in 1256, and had afterwards gone over to
take possession of his dignity, was in the year 1259 about to return
into England, when the barons raised a popular clamour, that he was
bringing with him foreigners to over-run the kingdom: upon which he was
forced to dismiss almost all his followers, otherwise the barons would
have opposed his landing.
In the fifth stanza the writer regrets the escape of the Earl of
Warren, and in the sixth and seventh stanzas insinuates that if he and
Sir Hugh Bigot once fell into the hands of their adversaries, they
should never more return home; a circumstance which fixes the date
of this ballad, for, in the year 1265, both these noblemen landed in
South Wales, and the royal party soon after gained the ascendant. See
Holinshed, Rapin, &c.
The following is copied from a very ancient MS. in the British
Museum. (Hart. MSS. 2253, fol. 58 v°.) This MS. is judged, from the
peculiarities of the writing, to be not later than the time of Richard
II.; _th_ being everywhere expressed by the character þ; the _y_ is
pointed after the Saxon manner, and the _i_ hath an oblique stroke over
it.
* * * * *
[The date of the MS. in which this ballad occurs is usually placed
at an earlier period than that fixed upon by Percy. Mr. Thomas
Wright, who prints it in his volume of _Political Songs of_
_England_ (Camden Society), with several other poems in French,
Anglo-Norman, and Latin, on Simon de Montfort and the Barons' Wars,
assigns it to the reign of Edward II. It will be seen from Percy's
note to verse 44, that the last stanza was printed for the first
time in the fourth edition of the _Reliques_. This is explained by
the fact that these lines are written on a new folio of the MS.,
and must therefore have been overlooked by the original copyist.
This little poem is without rival as an early exhibition of English
popular feeling in the vernacular; and it also stands alone as the
first dated English historical ballad in existence. It was probably
written during the first flush of enthusiasm after the memorable
battle of Lewes, because, before a year had gone by, victory had
passed to the other side, and at the battle of Evesham, fought on
the 4th of August, 1265, Simon, his eldest son Henry, and a host of
distinguished men, fell on the fatal field. As Drayton sang:
"Great Lester here expired with Henry his brave sonne,
When many a high exploit they in that day had done."
Prince Edward, who had passed his boyhood in Henry's company and
was much attached to him, personally attended his funeral.
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., was elected King
of the Romans on the 13th of January, 1256-7, at Frankfort, and is
styled in Latin documents _Rex Alemanniæ_. In earlier times Richard
had been a leader of malecontents, and "all from the child to the
old man heaped frequent blessings upon him," but Montfort (then a
courtier) gained him over to the King's side, and the insurgents
were in consequence dispersed.
Richard was probably not so base a man as the writer of the ballad
would wish us to believe, and a good action is recorded of him
which was very ill returned. He interceded for the life of De
Montfort's second son Simon, when that youth surrendered to the
royal party at Northampton in 1266, and he was successful in his
suit. In 1271, Simon and his brother Guy assassinated Henry,
Richard's son, then in the suite of Philip of France, on his return
from the Holy Land, while he was at mass in the church of St.
Lawrence, at Viterbo. Richard himself died in this same year at
Berkhampstead, and his estates descended to his son Edmond, Earl of
Cornwall.
The uncertain manner in which biographic honours are apportioned is
noteworthy, and a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ (vol. cxix. p.
26) very justly points out a deficiency in English literature, when
he writes that Simon de Montfort V., second Earl of Leicester, "the
founder of the English House of Commons, has had no biographer."[2]
Mr. Freeman, however, promises to do full honour to his memory in a
forthcoming volume of his history.
This is not the place to give any detailed account of De
Montfort, but a few words on the great leader may be allowable,
more particularly as Percy's introduction does injustice to the
anti-royalist party.
Simon de Montfort, fourth son of Simon de Montfort IV., fourth
Comte de Montfort,[3] married Eleanor, Countess of Pembroke,
the daughter of King John. She had made a vow of widowhood, and
although her brother Henry III. gave her away when she was married,
by one of the royal chaplains, in the king's private chapel at
Westminster, 6th January, 1238, Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury,
remonstrated strongly against the marriage. It is said that when
the prelate left England, he stood on a hill which commanded a view
of London, and, extending his hands towards the city, pronounced a
parting blessing on his country, and a curse on the countess and
the offspring of her unholy union.
Events so came about that the courtier and alien became the
representative leader of Englishmen, with the famous war-cry of
"England for the English." The battle of Lewes placed everything
in the power of Simon de Montfort, but in his prosperity many of
his followers fell away from him. The last scene of the great man's
life is truly pathetic. He lay at Evesham awaiting the troops which
his son was to bring from Kenilworth. He did not know, however,
that the garrison of that town had been surprised by Prince Edward,
who had escaped from confinement. The army that marched upon
Evesham bore the banners of Simon's son, but they were flying in
the van of an enemy. Simon's first words, when he saw the force
approach, were those of soldierly pride: "By the arm of St. James
they come on well; they learnt that order from me." Before he
spoke again, however, he had realized his position, and he cried
out: "May God have mercy on our souls, for our bodies are Prince
Edward's." When he died liberty seemed to have been crushed out of
existence, but it was not so, for his spirit lived though his body
died, and the real victory was with him.
The fate of Simon de Montfort was a subject of general lamentation,
but none of the songs upon it that have come down to us are in
English. In an Anglo-Norman lament he is likened to Thomas of
Canterbury, and described as "a precious flower." Priest and layman
united in his praise, and he was revered as a saint and martyr.
Prayers were said in his honour, and a hymn was sung at his shrine,
beginning:
"Salve Symon Montis-Fortis
Totius flos militiæ
Duras p[oe]nas passus mortis,
_Protector gentis Angliæ_."
Miracles were supposed to be worked by the power of his name,[4]
and the character of these miracles may be judged by the following
samples. The "old Countess of Gloucester" had a palfrey, which
was asthmatic for two years, until one day in journeying from
Tewkesbury to Evesham, it drank from the earl's well and was
restored to perfect health. The next instance of miraculous healing
is still more remarkable. A chick, which belonged to Agnes of
Selgrave, fell into a pond and was drowned. Its mistress pulled it
out and commended it to "blessed Simon," whereupon it got up and
walked as usual.
Simon had six children by his wife Eleanor, viz., Henry, Simon,
Guy, Amauri, Richard, and Eleanor. Henry was slain with his father,
but the countess and the other children escaped out of England.
Simon and Guy went to Tuscany; Amauri accompanied his mother to
France, was taken prisoner in 1276, and kept in confinement by
Edward for a time, but set at liberty in 1280; Richard went to
Bigorre, but nothing certain is known of his after career, and
it is said that he settled in England under the assumed name of
Wellysborne, an assertion founded on two or three deeds of doubtful
authenticity.[5] Eleanor was married to Llewellyn, Prince of Wales,
in 1279, Edward I. paying all the expenses of the ceremony, which
was performed with great pomp.]
* * * * *
Sitteth alle stille, ant herkneth to me;
The kyn[g] of Alemaigne,[6] bi mi leaute,[7]
Thritti thousent pound askede he
For te make the pees[8] in the countre,
Ant so he dude more. 5
Richard, thah[9] thou be ever trichard,[10]
Tricthen[11] shalt thou never more.
Richard of Alemaigne, whil that he wes kyng,
He spende al is tresour opon swyvyng,[12]
Haveth he nout of Walingford o ferl[.y]ng,[13] 10
Let him habbe,[14] ase he brew, bale to dryng,[15]
Maugre[16] Wyndesore.
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c.
The kyng of Alemaigne wende do[17] ful wel,
He saisede the mulne[18] for a castel, 15
With hare[19] sharpe swerdes he grounde the stel,[20]
He wende that the sayles were mangonel[21]
To helpe Wyndesore.
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c.
The kyng of Alemaigne gederede ys host, 20
Makede him a castel of a mulne post,
Wende with is prude,[22] ant is muchele bost,[23]
Brohte[24] from Alemayne mon[.y] sori gost
To store Wyndesore.
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c. 25
By God, that is aboven ous, he dude muche s[.y]nne,
That lette passen over see the erl of Warynne:
He hath robbed Engelond, the mores,[25] ant th[e] fenne,
The gold, ant the selver, and [.y]-boren henne,[26]
For love of Wyndesore. 30
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c.
Sire Simond de Mountfort hath suore bi [.y]s ch[.y]n,
Hevede[27] he nou here the erl of War[.y]n,
Shulde he never more come to is [.y]n,[28]
Ne with sheld, ne with spere, ne with other g[.y]n,[29] 35
To help of Wyndesore.
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c.
Sire Simond de Montfort hath suore bi ys cop,[30]
Hevede he nou here Sire Hue de Bigot:[31]
Al[32] he shulde quite here twelfmoneth scot[33][34] 40
Shulde he never more with his fot pot[35]
To helpe Wyndesore.
Richard, thah thou be ever, &c.
Be the luef, be the loht,[36] sire Edward,[37]
Thou shalt ride sporeles o thy lyard[38] 45
Al the ryhte way to Dovere-ward,
Shalt thou never more breke foreward;
Ant that reweth sore
Edward, thou dudest as a shreward,[39]
Forsoke thyn emes lore[40] 50
Richard, &c.
* * * * *
[***] This ballad will rise in its importance with the reader, when
he finds that it is even believed to have occasioned a law in our
statute book, viz. "Against slanderous reports or tales, to cause
discord betwixt king and people." (_Westm. Primer_, c. 34, anno
3 Edw. I.) That it had this effect is the opinion of an eminent
writer [the Hon. Daines Barrington], see _Observations upon the
Statutes_, &c. 4to. 2nd edit. 1766, p. 71.
However, in the Harl. Collection may be found other satirical and
defamatory rhymes of the same age, that might have their share in
contributing to this first law against libels.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] [Robert of Gloucester wrote: "The king of Alemaigne was in a
windmulle income."]
[2] [A German has taken upon himself the duty of an Englishman, but Dr.
Pauli's life of the hero has not yet been translated out of the German
language.]
[3] [Montfort is a small town between Paris and Chartres.]
[4] [See _Miracula Simonis de Montfort_. MS. Cotton. Vespas. A. vi.,
annexed to Mr. Halliwell's edition of William de Rishanger's _Chronicle
of the Barons' Wars_ (Camden Society), 1840.]
[5] [This tradition is possibly connected with the one to be found in
the _Beggar's Daughter of Bethnal Green_, where the Blind Beggar is
said to be Henry de Montfort, who was taken off the battlefield, blind
but not dead.]
[6] [Germany.]
[7] [loyalty.]
[8] [peace.]
[9] [though.]
[10] [treacherous.]
[11] [deceive (should be _trichen_).]
[12] [lechery.]
[13] [He has not of Wallingford one furlong. The MS. reads _oferlyng_,
and Percy and Warton explain that word to mean _superior_, in
opposition to underling, but it has not been met with elsewhere. Mr.
Wright's reading of "one furlong" is much more in accordance with the
context.]
[14] [have.]
[15] [evil to drink.]
[16] [in spite of.]
[17] [thought to do.]
[18] [he seized the mill.]
[19] [their.]
[20] [steel.]
[21] [a military engine for throwing great stones.]
[22] [pride.]
[23] [great boast.]
[24] [brought.]
[25] [moors.]
[26] [bore them away hence.]
[27] [had.]
[28] [house.]
[29] [engine.]
[30] [sworn by his head.]
[31] [The Hugh Bigod here mentioned, was the cousin of Hugh Bigod, who
took part with the barons, and was slain at Lewes.]
[32] [although.]
[33] [tax or revenue.]
[34] [Ver. 40. Percy prints _grante here_ (_i.e._ grant their), but the
MS. reads _qte here_ (_i.e._ quite or pay here).]
[35] [with his foot push on. Percy prints this _sot pot_, but it is
undoubtedly _fot_ in the MS.]
[36] [whether you like it or loathe it.]
[37] Ver. 44. This stanza was omitted in the former editions.
[38] [ride spurless on thy grey horse.]
[39] [male shrew.]
[40] [forsookest thy uncle's teaching. De Montfort was Prince Edward's
uncle.]
II.
ON THE DEATH OF K. EDWARD THE FIRST.
We have here an early attempt at elegy. Edward I. died July 7, 1307,
in the 35th year of his reign, and 69th of his age. This poem appears
to have been composed soon after his death. According to the modes
of thinking peculiar to those times, the writer dwells more upon his
devotion than his skill in government, and pays less attention to the
martial and political abilities of this great monarch, in which he had
no equal, than to some little weaknesses of superstition, which he had
in common with all his contemporaries. The king had in the decline
of life vowed an expedition to the Holy Land, but finding his end
approach, he dedicated the sum of _£_32,000 to the maintenance of a
large body of knights (140 say historians, eighty says our poet), who
were to carry his heart with them into Palestine. This dying command
of the king was never performed. Our poet, with the honest prejudices
of an Englishman, attributes this failure to the advice of the king
of France, whose daughter Isabel, the young monarch, who succeeded,
immediately married. But the truth is, Edward and his destructive
favourite, Piers Gaveston, spent the money upon their pleasures. To do
the greater honour to the memory of his heroe, our poet puts his eloge
in the mouth of the Pope, with the same poetic licence as a more modern
bard would have introduced Britannia or the Genius of Europe pouring
forth his praises.
This antique elegy is extracted from the same MS. volume as the
preceding article; is found with the same peculiarities of writing and
orthography; and tho' written at near the distance of half a century
contains little or no variation of idiom: whereas the next following
poem by Chaucer, which was probably written not more than fifty or
sixty years after this, exhibits almost a new language. This seems
to countenance the opinion of some antiquaries, that this great poet
made considerable innovations in his mother tongue, and introduced many
terms, and new modes of speech from other languages.
* * * * *
[When Henry III. died, highly laudatory songs were sung in honour
of the new king, but when Edward I. died the people were too
grieved at their loss to sing the praise of his successor. The
present song is printed by Mr. Thomas Wright in his _Political_
_Songs of England_ (Camden Society, 1839, p. 246), where he also
prints a French version, and points out that the one is clearly
translated from the other, adding that the French song was probably
the original. In verse 27, Percy printed hue (_i.e._ she) with a
capital H, under the impression that it was "the name of the person
who was to preside over the business."]
* * * * *
Alle, that beoth of huerte trewe,[41]
A stounde herkneth[42] to my song
Of duel,[43] that Deth hath diht[44] us newe,
That maketh me syke, ant sorewe among;
Of a knyht, that wes so strong, 5
Of wham God hath don ys wille;
Me-thuncheth[45] that deth hath don us wrong,
That he so sone shall ligge stille.[46]
Al Englond ahte[47] for te knowe
Of wham that song is, that y synge; 10
Of Edward kyng, that lith[48] so lowe,
Yent[49] al this world is nome con springe:[50]
Trewest mon of alle thinge,
Ant in werre war ant wys,[51]
For him we ahte oure honden wrynge,[52] 15
Of Christendome he ber the prys.
Byfore that oure kyng was ded,
He spek ase[53] mon that wes in care,
"Clerkes, knyhtes, barons, he sayde,
"Y charge ou by oure sware[54], 20
"That ye to Engelonde be trewe.
"Y deye, y ne may lyven na more;[55]
"Helpeth mi sone, ant crouneth him newe,
"For he is nest to buen y-core.[56]
"Ich biqueth myn herte aryht,[57] 25
"That hit be write at mi devys,[58]
"Over the see that hue be diht,[59]
"With fourscore knyhtes al of prys,
"In werre that buen war ant wys,
"Ayein the hethene for te fyhte, 30
"To wynne the croiz[60] that lowe lys,
"Myself y cholde yef[61] that y myhte."
Kyng of Fraunce, thou hevedest[62] 'sinne,'[63]
That thou the counsail woldest fonde,[64]
To latte[65] the wille of 'Edward kyng'[66] 35
To wende to the holy londe:
That oure kyng hede take on honde
All Engelond to yeme ant wysse,[67]
To wenden in to the holy londe
To wynnen us heve[n]riche[68] blisse. 40
The messager to the pope com,
And seyde that our kynge was ded:
Ys oune hond the lettre he nom,[69][70]
Ywis[71] his herte was full gret:[72]
The Pope him self the lettre redde, 45
Ant spec[73] a word of gret honour.
"Alas! he seid, is Edward ded?
"Of Christendome he ber the flour."
The Pope to is chaumbre wende,
For dol[74] ne mihte he speke na more; 50
Ant after cardinals he sende,
That muche couthen[75] of Cristes lore,
Bothe the lasse,[76] ant eke the more,
Bed hem bothe rede ant synge:
Gret deol me myhte se thore,[77][78] 55
Mony mon is honde wrynge.
The Pope of Peyters[79] stod at is masse
With ful gret solempnetè,
Ther me con[80] the soule blesse:[78]
"Kyng Edward honoured thou be: 60
"God lene[81] thi sone come after the,
"Bringe to ende that thou hast bygonne,
"The holy crois y-mad of tre,[82]
"So fain thou woldest hit hav y-wonne.
"Jerusalem, thou hast i-lore[83] 65
"The flour of al chivalrie
"Now kyng Edward liveth na more:
"Alas! that he yet shulde deye!
"He wolde ha rered up ful heyye[84]
"Oure banners, that bueth broht[85] to grounde;
"Wel longe we mowe clepe[86] and crie 71
"Er we a such kyng han y-founde."
Nou is Edward of Carnarvan
King of Engelond al aplyht,[87]
God lete him ner be worse man 75
Then his fader, ne lasse of myht,
To holden is pore men to ryht,
And understonde good counsail,
Al Engelond for to wysse ant dyht;[88]
Of gode knyhtes darh[89] him nout fail 80
Thah[90] mi tonge were mad of stel,
Ant min herte y-yote[91] of bras,
The godness myht y never telle,
That with kyng Edward was:
Kyng, as thou art cleped[92] conquerour, 85
In uch[93] bataille thou hadest prys;
God bringe thi soule to the honour,
That ever wes, ant ever ys.
* * * * *
[***] Here follow in the original three lines more, which, as
seemingly redundant, we chuse to throw to the bottom of the page,
viz.:
"That lasteth ay withouten ende,
Bidde we God, ant oure Ledy to thilke blisse
Jesus us sende. Amen."
FOOTNOTES:
[41] [are of true heart.]
[42] [for a while hearken ye.]
[43] [grief.]
[44] [wrought.]
[45] [methinketh.]
[46] [lie still.]
[47] [ought.]
[48] [lieth.]
[49] [through.]
[50] [his name spread abroad.]
[51] [in war wary and wise.]
[52] [hands wring.]
[53] [as.]
[54] [I charge you by your oath.]
[55] [I die, I may not live more.]
[56] [next to be chosen.]
[57] [rightly.]
[58] [devise.]
[59] [she be sent (see Glossary).]
[60] [cross.]
[61] [I would if.]
[62] [hadst.]
[63] Ver. 33. sunne, MS.
[64] [try.]
[65] [hinder.]
[66] Ver. 35. kyng Edward, MS.
[67] [govern and teach.]
[68] [heavenly.]
[69] [took.]
[70] Ver. 43. _ys_ is probably a contraction of _in hys_ or _yn his_.
[71] [verily.]
[72] [grieved.]
[73] [spake.]
[74] [grief.]
[75] [knew.]
[76] [less.]
[77] [great grief might be seen there.]
[78] Ver. 55, 59. _Me_, _i.e._ Men, so in Robert of Gloucester,
_passim_.
[79] [Peter's.]
[80] [there they began.]
[81] [give.]
[82] [cross made of wood.]
[83] [lost.]
[84] [high.]
[85] [are brought.]
[86] [very long we may call. Percy printed this incorrectly, Well
longe.]
[87] [entirely.]
[88] [to govern and order.]
[89] [need.]
[90] [though.]
[91] [cast.]
[92] [called.]
[93] [each.]
III.
AN ORIGINAL BALLAD BY CHAUCER.
This little sonnet, which hath escaped all the editors of Chaucer's
works, is now printed for the first time from an ancient MS. in the
Pepysian Library, that contains many other poems of its venerable
author. The versification is of that species, which the French call
_rondeau_, very naturally Englished by our honest countrymen _round
O_. Tho' so early adopted by them, our ancestors had not the honour
of inventing it: Chaucer picked it up, along with other better things,
among the neighbouring nations. A fondness for laborious trifles hath
always prevailed in the dark ages of literature. The Greek poets
have had their wings and axes: the great father of English poesy may
therefore be pardoned one poor solitary _rondeau_.--Geofrey Chaucer
died Oct. 25, 1400.
* * * * *
[These verses are printed in Morris's _Aldine Edition of Chaucer_
(vol. vi. pp. 304-5), but there is no conclusive evidence that they
are really by Chaucer. Mr. Furnivall writes (_Trial Forewords_,
Chaucer Society, 1871, p. 32):--"With the _Pity_ I should like much
to class the _Roundel_ ... as one of the poet's genuine works,
though it is not assigned to him (so far as I know), by any MS.
of authority. It exactly suits the _Compleynte of Pite_; there is
nothing in it (so far as I can see), to make it not Chaucer's,
and it is of the same form as his Roundel in the _Parliament of
Foules_." Mr. Hales suggests to me that the poem may have been
written by one of Chaucer's followers, and refers to verse 260 of
the _Knight's Tale_:
"The freissche beauté sleeth me sodeynly,"
as having probably given the hint to the writer of this _rondeau_.]
* * * * *
I. 1.
Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly,
I may the beaute of them not sustene,
So wendeth it thorowout my herte kene.
2.
And but your words will helen hastely
My hertis wound, while that it is grene,
Youre two eyn will sle me sodenly.
3.
Upon my trouth I sey yow feithfully,
That ye ben of my liffe and deth the quene;
For with my deth the trouth shal be sene.
Youre two eyn, &c.
II. 1.
So hath youre beauty fro your herte chased
Pitee, that me n' availeth not to pleyn;[94]
For daunger halt[95] your mercy in his cheyne.
2.
Giltless my deth thus have ye purchased;
I sey yow soth,[96] me nedeth not to fayn:
So hath your beaute fro your herte chased.
3.
Alas, that nature hath in yow compassed
So grete beaute, that no man may atteyn
To mercy, though he sterve for the peyn.
So hath youre beaute, &c.
III. 1.
Syn I fro love escaped am so fat,
I nere thinke to ben in his prison lene;
Syn I am fre, I counte hym not a bene.[97]
2.
He may answere, and sey this and that,
I do no fors,[98] I speak ryght as I mene;
Syn I fro love escaped am so fat.
3.
Love hath my name i-strike out of his sclat,
And he is strike out of my bokes clene:
For ever mo 'ther'[99] is non other mene.
Syn I fro love escaped, &c.
FOOTNOTES:
[94] [complain.]
[95] [holdeth.]
[96] [I tell you truth.]
[97] [bean, a term of contempt.]
[98] [I do not care.]
[99] This, MS.
IV.
THE TURNAMENT OF TOTTENHAM:
OR, THE WOOEING, WINNING, AND WEDDING OF
TIBBE, THE REEV'S DAUGHTER THERE.
It does honour to the good sense of this nation, that while all Europe
was captivated with the bewitching charms of chivalry and romance, two
of our writers in the rudest times could see thro' the false glare
that surrounded them, and discover whatever was absurd in them both.
Chaucer wrote his _Rhyme of Sir Thopas_ in ridicule of the latter;
and in the following poem we have a humorous burlesque of the former.
Without pretending to decide, whether the institution of chivalry was
upon the whole useful or pernicious in the rude ages, a question that
has lately employed many good writers,[100] it evidently encouraged a
vindictive spirit, and gave such force to the custom of duelling, that
there is little hope of its being abolished. This, together with the
fatal consequences which often attended the diversion of the turnament,
was sufficient to render it obnoxious to the graver part of mankind.
Accordingly the Church early denounced its censures against it, and the
State was often prevailed on to attempt its suppression. But fashion
and opinion are superior to authority: and the proclamations against
tilting were as little regarded in those times, as the laws against
duelling are in these. This did not escape the discernment of our poet,
who easily perceived that inveterate opinions must be attacked by other
weapons, besides proclamations and censures: he accordingly made use of
the keen one of ridicule. With this view he has here introduced, with
admirable humour, a parcel of clowns, imitating all the solemnities
of the tourney. Here we have the regular challenge--the appointed
day--the lady for the prize--the formal preparations--the display of
armour--the scucheons and devices--the oaths taken on entering the
lists--the various accidents of the encounter--the victor leading off
the prize--and the magnificent feasting--with all the other solemn
fopperies that usually attended the pompous turnament. And how acutely
the sharpness of the author's humour must have been felt in those days,
we may learn from what we can perceive of its keenness now, when time
has so much blunted the edge of his ridicule.
The _Turnament of Tottenham_ was first printed from an ancient MS.
in 1631, 4to., by the Rev. William Bedwell, rector of Tottenham, who
was one of the translators of the Bible. He tells us, it was written
by Gilbert Pilkington, thought to have been some time parson of the
same parish, and author of another piece, intitled, _Passio Domini
Jesu Christi_. Bedwell, who was eminently skilled in the Oriental and
other languages, appears to have been but little conversant with the
ancient writers in his own, and he so little entered into the spirit of
the poem he was publishing, that he contends for its being a serious
narrative of a real event, and thinks it must have been written before
the time of Edward III. because turnaments were prohibited in that
reign. "I do verily beleeve," says he, "that this turnament was acted
before this proclamation of K. Edward. For how durst any to attempt to
do that, although in sport, which was so straightly forbidden, both by
the civill and ecclesiasticall power? For although they fought not with
lances, yet, as our authour sayth, 'It was no childrens game.' And what
would have become of him, thinke you, which should have slayne another
in this manner of jeasting? Would he not, trow you, have been _hang'd
for it in earnest? yea, and have bene buried like a dogge_?" It is,
however, well known that turnaments were in use down to the reign of
Elizabeth.
In the first editions of this work, Bedwell's copy was reprinted
here, with some few conjectural emendations; but as Bedwell seemed to
have reduced the orthography at least, if not the phraseology, to the
standard of his own time, it was with great pleasure that the Editor
was informed of an ancient MS. copy preserved in the Museum (Harl.
MSS. 5396), which appeared to have been transcribed in the reign of
K. Hen. VI. about 1456. This obliging information the Editor owed to
the friendship of Tho. Tyrwhitt, Esq., and he has chiefly followed
that more authentic transcript, improved however by some readings from
Bedwell's book.
* * * * *
[A writer in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ (July, 1794, p. 613),
calls attention to the fact that this ballad is "a burlesque upon
the feudal custom of marrying an heiress to the knight who should
vanquish all his opponents at a solemn assembly holden for the
purpose."
Bedwell's MS. is now in the Cambridge public library (Ff. 5, 48),
and Mr. Thomas Wright, who has printed it in a miniature volume,
believes it to have been written as early as the reign of Edward II.
Bedwell was chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton in his embassy to Venice,
where he is said to have assisted the celebrated Father Paul in
the composition of his _History of the Council of Trent_. The
following is a copy of the inscription on Bedwell's monument in the
chancel of Tottenham church:--"Here lyes interred in this chancel
Mr. William Bedwell, sometime vicar of this church and one of King
James's translators of the Bible, and for the Easterne tongues as
learned a man as most lived in these moderne times. Aged 70. Dyed
May the 5th, 1632."]
* * * * *
Of all thes kene conquerours to carpe[101] it were kynde;
Of fele feyytyng[102] folk ferly[103] we fynde;
The Turnament of Totenham have we in mynde;
It were harme sych hardynes were holden byhynde,
In story as we rede 5
Of Hawkyn, of Herry,
Of Tomkyn, of Terry,
Of them that were dughty[104]
And stalworth[105] in dede.
It befel in Totenham on a dere[106] day, 10
Ther was mad a shurtyng[107] be the hy-way:
Theder com al the men of the contray,
Of Hyssylton,[108] of Hy-gate, and of Hakenay,
And all the swete swynkers.[109]
Ther hopped Hawkyn, 15
Ther daunsed Dawkyn,
Ther trumped Tomkyn,
And all were trewe drynkers.
Tyl the day was gon and evyn-song past,
That thay schuld reckyn ther scot and ther counts cast;[110] 20
Perkyn the potter into the press past,
And sayd Randol the refe,[111] a doyter[112] thou hast,
Tyb the dere:
Therfor faine wyt wold I,[113]
Whych of all thys bachelery 25
Were best worthye
To wed hur to hys fere.[114]
Upstyrt thos gadelyngys[115] wyth ther lang staves,
And sayd, Randol the refe, lo! thys lad raves;
Boldely amang us thy doyter he craves; 30
We er rycher men then he, and mor gode haves
Of cattell and corn;
Then sayd Perkyn, To Tybbe I have hyyt[116]
That I schal be alway redy in my ryyt,
If that it schuld be thys day sevenyyt, 35
Or elles yet to morn.[117]
Then sayd Randolfe the refe, Ever be he waryd,[118]
That about thys carpyng lenger wold be taryd:
I wold not my doyter, that scho[119] were miscaryd,
But at hur most worschip I wold scho were maryd, 40
Therfor a Turnament schal begynne
Thys day sevenyyt,--
Wyth a flayl for to fyyt:
And 'he,' that is most of myght
Schal brouke hur wyth wynne.[120] 45
Whoso berys[121] hym best in the turnament,
Hym schal be granted the gre[122] be the comon assent,
For to wynne my doyter wyth 'dughtynesse' of dent,[123][124]
And 'coppell' my brode-henne 'that' was broyt out of Kent:[125]
And my dunnyd kowe 50
For no spens[126] wyl I spare,
For no cattell wyl I care,
He schal have my gray mare,
And my spottyd sowe.
Ther was many 'a' bold lad ther bodyes to bede:[127] 55
Than thay toke thayr leve, and homward they yede;[128]
And all the weke afterward graythed ther wede,[129][130]
Tyll it come to the day, that thay suld do ther dede.
They armed ham[131] in matts;
Thay set on ther nollys,[132] 60
For to kepe ther pollys,[133]
Gode blake bollys,[134]
For batryng of bats.[135]
Thay sowed tham in schepeskynnes, for thay schuld not brest:[136]
Ilk-on[137] toke a blak hat, insted of a crest: 65
'A basket or a panyer before on ther brest,'[138]
And a flayle in ther hande; for to fyght prest,[139]
Furth gon thay fare:[140]
Ther was kyd[141] mekyl fors,[142]
Who schuld best fend hys cors:[143] 70
He that had no gode hors,
He gat hym a mare.[144]
Sych another gadryng[145] have I not sene oft,
When all the gret company com rydand to the croft:[146]
Tyb on a gray mare was set up on loft 75
On a sek ful of fedyrs,[147] for scho schuld syt soft,[148]
And led 'till the gap.'[149]
For cryeng of the men
Forther wold not Tyb then,
Tyl scho had hur brode hen 80
Set in hur Lap.
A gay gyrdyl Tyb had on, borowed for the nonys,[150]
And a garland on hur hed ful of rounde bonys,[151][152]
And a broche on hur brest ful of 'sapphyre' stonys,[153]
Wyth the holy-rode tokenyng,[154] was wrotyn[155] for the
nonys;[156] 85
For no 'spendings' thay had spared.[157]
When joly Gyb saw hur thare,
He gyrd so hys gray mare,
'That scho lete a fowkin'[158] fare[159]
At the rereward. 90
I wow to God, quoth Herry, I schal not lefe behynde,
May I mete wyth Bernard on Bayard the blynde,
Ich man kepe hym out of my wynde,
For whatsoever that he be, before me I fynde,
I wot I schall hym greve. 95
Wele sayd, quoth Hawkyn.
And I wow, quoth Dawkyn,
May I mete wyth Tomkyn,
Hys flayle I schal hym reve.[160]
I make a vow, quoth Hud, Tyb, son schal thou se, 100
Whych of all thys bachelery 'granted' is the gre:[161]
I schal scomfet[162] thaym all, for the love of the;
In what place so I come thay schal have dout[163] of me,
Myn armes ar so clere:
I bere a reddyl,[164] and a rake, 105
Poudred wyth a brenand drake,[165]
And three cantells[166] of a cake
In ycha[167] cornere.
I vow to God, quoth Hawkyn, yf 'I' have the gowt,[168][169]
Al that I fynde in the felde 'thrustand' here aboute,[170] 110
Have I twyes or thryes redyn thurgh the route,
In ycha stede ther thay[171] me se, of me thay schal have doute,
When I begyn to play.
I make avowe that I ne schall,
But yf Tybbe wyl me call,[172] 115
Or I be thryes don fall,[173]
Ryyt onys[174] com away.
Then sayd Terry, and swore be hys crede;
Saw thou never yong boy forther hys body bede,[175]
For when thay fyyt fastest and most ar in drede, 120
I schall take Tyb by the hand, and hur away lede:
I am armed at the full;
In myn armys I bere wele
A doy trogh[176] and a pele,[177]
A sadyll wythout a panell, 125
Wyth a fles of woll.[178]
I make a vow, quoth Dudman, and swor be the stra,
Whyls me ys left my 'mare,' thou gets hurr not swa;[179][180]
For scho ys wele schapen, and liyt as the rae,[181]
Ther is no capul[182] in thys myle befor hur schal ga;[183] 130
Sche wul ne noyt begyle:
Sche wyl me bere, I dar say,
On a lang somerys day,
Fro Hyssylton to Hakenay,
Noyt other half myle. 135
I make a vow, quoth Perkyn, thow speks of cold rost,
I schal wyrch 'wyselyer'[184] withouten any bost:[185]
Five of the best capulys, that ar in thys ost,
I wot I schal thaym wynne, and bryng thaym to my cost,
And here I grant thaym Tybbe. 140
Wele boyes here ys he,
That wyl fyyt, and not fle,
For I am in my jolyte,
Wyth so forth, Gybbe.
When thay had ther vowes made, furth can thay hie, 145
Wyth flayles, and hornes, and trumpes mad of tre:[186]
Ther were all the bachelerys of that contre;
Thay were dyyt[187] in aray, as thaymselfes wold be:
Thayr baners were ful bryyt
Of an old rotten fell;[188] 150
The cheveron of a plow-mell;[189][190]
And the schadow of a bell,
Poudred wyth the mone lyyt.[191]
I wot yt 'was' no chylder[192] game, whan thay togedyr met,[193]
When icha freke[194] in the feld on hys feloy[195] bet, 155
And layd on styfly, for nothyng wold thay let,
And foght ferly[196] fast, tyll ther horses swet,
And few wordys spoken.
Ther were flayles al to slatred,[197]
Ther were scheldys al to flatred, 160
Bollys and dysches al to schatred,
And many hedys brokyn
There was clynkyng of cart-sadellys, & clatteryng of cannes;[198]
Of fele frekys[199] in the feld brokyn were their fannes;
Of sum were the hedys brokyn, of sum the braynpannes,[200] 165
And yll were thay besene,[201] or thay went thanns,
Wyth swyppyng of swepyls:[202]
Thay were so wery for-foght,[203]
Thay myyt not fyyt mare oloft,[204]
But creped about in the 'croft,'[205] 170
As thay were croked crepyls.
Perkyn was so wery, that he began to loute;[206]
Help, Hud, I am ded in thys ylk rowte:
An hors for forty pens, a gode and a stoute!
That I may lyytly come of my noye[207] oute, 175
For no cost wyl I spare.
He styrt up as a snayle,
And hent[208] a capul be the tayle,
And 'reft' Dawkin hys flayle,[209]
And wan there a mare. 180
Perkyn wan five, and Hud wan twa:
Glad and blythe thay ware, that they had done sa;
Thay wold have tham to Tyb, and present hur with tha:[210]
The Capulls were so wery, that thay myyt not ga,
But styl gon thay stond.[211] 185
Alas! quoth Hudde, my joye I lese;[212]
Mee had lever then a ston of chese,
That dere Tyb had al these,
And wyst it were my sond.[213][214]
Perkyn turnyd hym about in that ych thrang,[215] 190
Among thos wery boyes he wrest and he wrang;
He threw tham doun to the erth, and thrast tham amang,
When he saw Tyrry away wyth Tyb fang,[216]
And after hym ran;
Off his horse he hym drogh,[217] 195
And gaf hym of hys flayl inogh:
We te he! quoth Tyb, and lugh,
Ye er a dughty man.
'Thus' thay tugged, and rugged, tyl yt was nere nyyt:[218]
All the wyves of Tottenham came to se that syyt 200
Wyth wyspes, and kexis,[219] and ryschys[220] there lyyt,
To fetch hom ther husbandes, that were tham trouth plyyt;
And sum bróyt gret harwos,[221]
Ther husbandes hom to fetch,[222]
Sum on dores, and sum on hech,[223] 205
Sum on hyrdyllys, and som on crech.[224]
And sum on whele-barows.
Thay gaderyd Perkyn about, 'on' everych syde,[225]
And grant hym ther 'the gre,' the more was hys pryde:[226]
Tyb and he, wyth gret 'mirth,' homward con thay ryde,[227] 210
And were al nyyt togedyr, tyl the morn tyde;
And thay 'to church went:'[228]
So wele hys nedys he has sped,
That dere Tyb he 'hath' wed;[229]
The prayse-folk,[230] that hur led,[231] 215
Were of the Turnament.
To that ylk fest com many for the nones;
Some come hyphalte,[232] and some trippand 'thither' on the
stonys;[233]
Sum a staf in hys hand, and sum two at onys;
Of sum where the hedes broken, of some the schulder bonys: 220
With sorrow come thay thedyr.
Wo was Hawkyn, wo was Herry,
Wo was Tomkyn, wo was Terry.
And so was all the bachelary,
When thay met togedyr. 225
[234]At that fest thay wer servyd with a ryche aray,
Every fyve & fyve had a cokenay;[235]
And so thay sat in jolyte al the lung day;
And at the last thay went to bed with ful gret deray:[236]
Mekyl myrth was them among; 230
In every corner of the hous
Was melody delycyous
For to here precyus
Of six menys song.[237]
FOOTNOTES:
[100] See (Mr. Hurd's) _Letters on Chivalry_, 8vo. 1762, _Memoires de
la Chevalerie, par M. de la Curne de Sainte-Palaye_, 1759, 2 tom.
12mo. &c.
[101] [talk.]
[102] [fierce fighting.]
[103] [wonder.]
[104] [doughty.]
[105] [stout.]
[106] [dire or sad.]
[107] [sport.]
[108] [Islington.]
[109] [labourers.]
[110] Ver. 20. It is not very clear in the MS. whether it should be
_conts_, or _conters_.
[111] [bailiff.]
[112] [daughter.]
[113] [know would I.]
[114] [to wed her for his mate.]
[115] [idle fellows.]
[116] [promised.]
[117] [it be to-morrow.]
[118] [accursed.]
[119] [she.]
[120] [shall have possession of her with joy.]
[121] [beareth.]
[122] [prize.]
[123] [blow.]
[124] Ver. 48. Dozty, MS.
[125] V. 49. coppeld. We still use the phrase "a copple-crowned hen."
[126] [expense.]
[127] [bid or offer.]
[128] [went.]
[129] [made ready their clothing.]
[130] V. 57. gayed, _PC._
[131] [them.]
[132] [heads.]
[133] [polls.]
[134] [bowls.]
[135] [cudgels.]
[136] [burst.]
[137] [each one.]
[138] V. 66 is wanting in MS. and supplied from _PC._
[139] [ready.]
[140] [they began to go forth.]
[141] [shown.]
[142] [much strength.]
[143] [best defend his body.]
[144] V. 72. He borrowed him, _PC._
[145] [gathering.]
[146] [riding to the inclosure.]
[147] [sackfull of feathers.]
[148] Ver. 76. The MS. had once _sedys_, _i.e._ seeds, which appears to
have been altered to _fedyrs_, or feathers. Bedwell's copy has _Senvy_,
_i.e._ Mustard-seed.
[149] V. 77. and led hur to cap, MS.
[150] [nonce or occasion.]
[151] [Chaucer uses the expression "rowel boon" in his _Tale of Sir
Thopas_, which is explained as _round bone_.]
[152] V. 83. Bedwell's _PC._ has "Ruel-Bones."
[153] V. 84. safer stones, MS.
[154] [token.]
[155] [wrought.]
[156] V. 85. _wrotyn_, _i.e._ wrought. _PC._ reads, written.
[157] V. 86. No catel (perhaps chatel) they had spared, MS.
[158] [crepitus ventris.]
[159] V. 89. Then ... faucon, MS.
[160] [deprive.]
[161] Ver. 101. grant, MS.
[162] [discomfit.]
[163] [fear.]
[164] [riddle or sieve.]
[165] [sprinkled over with firebrands.]
[166] [pieces.]
[167] [each.]
[168] [though I have the gout.]
[169] V. 109. yf he have, MS.
[170] V. 110. the MS. literally has _th^r. sand_, here.
[171] [in each place where they.]
[172] [unless Tib will call me.]
[173] [ere I be thrice made to]
[174] [even once.]
[175] [engage.]
[176] [dough trough.]
[177] [a baker's long-handled shovel.]
[178] [fleece of wool.]
[179] [so.]
[180] V. 128. merth, MS.
[181] [roe.]
[182] [horse.]
[183] [go.]
[184] [work more wisely.]
[185] Ver. 137. fwyselier, MS.
[186] V. 146. flailes and harnisse, _PC._
[187] [dressed.]
[188] [hide.]
[189] [a small wooden hammer occasionally fixed to the plough.]
[190] Ver. 151. The chiefe, _PC._
[191] [moonlight.]
[192] [child's.]
[193] V. 154. yt ys, MS.
[194] [man.]
[195] [fellow.]
[196] [wonderfully.]
[197] [splintered.]
[198] V. 163. The boyes were, MS.
[199] [many men.]
[200] [skulls.]
[201] [dressed.]
[202] [striking fast of the staffs of the flails.]
[203] [over-fought.]
[204] [on horseback.]
[205] V. 170. creped then about in the croft, MS.
[206] [stoop.]
[207] [hurt.]
[208] [laid hold of.]
[209] Ver. 179. razt, MS.
[210] [them.]
[211] V. 185. stand, MS.
[212] [lose.]
[213] [knew it were my sending.]
[214] V. 189. sand, MS.
[215] V. 190. the _PC._ reads, ilk throng.
[216] [make off.]
[217] [drew.]
[218] Ver. 199. Thys, MS.
[219] [elder sticks used for candles.]
[220] [rushes.]
[221] [harrows.]
[222] V. 204. hom for to fetch, MS.
[223] [half door of a cottage.]
[224] [crutch.]
[225] V. 208. about everych side, MS.
[226] V. 209. the gre, is wanting in MS.
[227] V. 210. mothe, MS.
[228] V. 212. and thay ifere assent, MS.
[229] V. 214. had wed, MS.
[230] [singing men and women.]
[231] V. 215. The cheefemen, _PC._
[232] [lame in the hip.]
[233] V. 218. trippand on, MS.
[234] In the former impressions this concluding stanza was only given
from Bedwell's printed edition, but it is here copied from the old MS.
wherein it has been since found separated from the rest of the poem, by
several pages of a money account, and other heterogeneous matter.
[235] [a lean chicken.]
[236] [a confusion.]
[237] Six-men's song, _i.e._ a song for six voices. So Shakespeare uses
three-man song-men, in his _Winter's Tale_, act iii. sc. 3, to denote
men that could sing catches composed for three voices. Of this sort
are Weelkes's madrigals mentioned below, book ii. song 9. So again
Shakespeare has three-men beetle; _i.e._ a beetle or rammer worked by
three men, _2 Hen. IV._ act i. sc. 3.
* * * * *
[Illustration: _The Notes referred to Vol. ii. page 29._
_Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria_
Owr Kynge went forth to Normandy with grace and
myzt of Chyvalry, the God for hym wrouzt marvelusly
Wherefore Englonde may call and cry, _Deo gratias_.
CHORUS
Deo Gratias. Anglia redde pro Victoria.]
V.
FOR THE VICTORY AT AGINCOURT.
That our plain and martial ancestors could wield their swords much
better than their pens, will appear from the following homely rhymes,
which were drawn up by some poet laureat of those days to celebrate
the immortal victory gained at Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415. This song or
hymn is given meerly as a curiosity, and is printed from a MS. copy in
the Pepys collection, vol. i. folio. It is there accompanied with the
musical notes, which are copied on the opposite page.
* * * * *
[When the news of this great victory arrived in England, the people
"were literally mad with joy and triumph," and although Henry V.
on his entrance into London after the battle, commanded that no
"ditties should be made and sung by minstrels or others" in praise
of Agincourt, "for that he would whollie have the praise and
thankes altogether given to God," several songs have come down to
us on this soul-inspiring theme. Besides the present ballad there
are,
1. _Agincourte Battell_, beginning--
"A councell brave our King did hold,"
in the Percy Folio MS. (see Hales and Furnivall's edition, vol. ii.
p. 166).
2. _Agincourt, or the English Bowman's Glory_, a spirited ballad
quoted in Heywood's _King Edward IV._, the first stanza of which is
as follows--
"Agincourt, Agincourt!
Know ye not Agincourt?
Where English slue and hurt
All their French foemen?
With our pikes and bills brown,
How the French were beat downe,
Shot by our bowman."
3. _King Henry V., his Conquest of France_, commencing--
"As our King lay musing on his bed."
4. _The Cambro-Briton's Ballad of Agincourt_, by Michael Drayton.
Besides these ballads there is a poem attributed to Lydgate, and
Drayton's _Battaile of Agincourt_. For further information on
the subject the reader should see Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas's
_History_ of the Battle, and Hales and Furnivall's edition of the
Percy Folio MS. (vol. ii. pp. 158, 595).
Dr. Rimbault describes the music attached to the present ballad
"as the first English regular composition of which we have any
remains."]
* * * * *
_Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria!_
Owre kynge went forth to Normandy,
With grace and myyt of chivalry;
The God for hym wrouyt marvelously,
Wherefore Englonde may calle, and cry 5
_Deo gratias_:
_Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria_.
He sette a sege, the sothe for to say,
To Harflue[238] toune with ryal aray;
That toune he wan, and made a fray, 10
That Fraunce shall rywe tyl domes day.
_Deo gratias, &c._
Then went owre kynge, with alle his oste,
Thorowe Fraunce for all the Frenshe boste;
He spared 'for' drede of leste, ne most, 15
Tyl he come to Agincourt coste.[239]
_Deo gratias, &c._
Than for sothe that knyyt comely
In Agincourt feld he fauyt manly,
Thorow grace of God most myyty 20
He had bothe the felde, and the victory.
_Deo gratias, &c._
Ther dukys, and erlys, lorde and barone,
Were take, and slayne, and that wel sone,
And some were ledde in to Lundone 25
With joye, and merthe, and grete renone.
_Deo gratias, &c._
Now gracious God he save owre kynge,
His peple, and all his wel wyllynge,
Gef him gode lyfe, and gode endynge, 30
That we with merth mowe savely synge
_Deo gratias_:
_Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria_.
FOOTNOTES:
[238] [Harfleur.]
[239] [region.]
VI.
THE NOT-BROWNE MAYD.
The sentimental beauties of this ancient ballad have always recommended
it to readers of taste, notwithstanding the rust of antiquity which
obscures the style and expression. Indeed if it had no other merit
than the having afforded the groundwork to Prior's _Henry and Emma_,
this ought to preserve it from oblivion. That we are able to give it
in so correct a manner, is owing to the great care and exactness of
the accurate editor of the _Prolusions_, 8vo. 1760; who has formed
the text from two copies found in two different editions of Arnolde's
_Chronicle_, a book supposed to be first printed about 1521. From
the copy in the _Prolusions_ the following is printed, with a few
additional improvements gathered from another edition of Arnolde's
book[240] preserved in the public library at Cambridge. All the various
readings of this copy will be found here, either received into the
text, or noted in the margin. The references to the _Prolusions_ will
shew where they occur. In our ancient folio MS.[241] described in the
preface, is a very corrupt and defective copy of this ballad, which yet
afforded a great improvement in one passage. See v. 310.
It has been a much easier task to settle the text of this poem, than
to ascertain its date. The ballad of the _Nutbrowne Mayd_ was first
revived in _The Muses Mercury_ for June, 1707, 4to. being prefaced
with a little _Essay on the old English Poets and Poetry_; in which
this poem is concluded to be "near 300 years old," upon reasons
which, though they appear inconclusive to us now, were sufficient to
determine Prior, who there first met with it. However, this opinion
had the approbation of the learned Wanley, an excellent judge of
ancient books. For that whatever related to the reprinting of this
old piece was referred to Wanley, appears from two letters of Prior's
preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MSS. No. 3777). The editor of
the _Prolusions_ thinks it cannot be older than the year 1500, because,
in Sir Thomas More's tale of _The Serjeant_, &c., which was written
about that time, there appears a sameness of rhythmus and orthography,
and a very near affinity of words and phrases with those of this
ballad. But this reasoning is not conclusive, for if Sir Thomas More
made this ballad his model, as is very likely, that will account for
the sameness of measure, and in some respect for that of words and
phrases, even tho' this had been written long before; and as for the
orthography, it is well known that the old printers reduced that of
most books to the standard of their own times. Indeed it is hardly
probable that an antiquary like Arnolde would have inserted it among
his historical collections, if it had been then a modern piece; at
least he would have been apt to have named its author. But to shew
how little can be inferred from a resemblance of rhythmus or style,
the Editor of these volumes has in his ancient folio MS. a poem on
the victory of Flodden-field, written in the same numbers, with the
same alliterations, and in orthography, phraseology, and style nearly
resembling the _Visions of Pierce Plowman_, which are yet known to
have been composed above 160 years before that battle. As this poem is
a great curiosity, we shall give a few of the introductory lines:
"Grant gracious God, grant me this time,
That I may say, or I cease, thy selven to please;
And Mary his mother, that maketh all this world;
And all the seemlie saints, that sitten in heaven;
I will carpe of kings, that conquered full wide,
That dwelled in this land, that was alyes noble;
Henry the seaventh, that soveraigne lord," &c.[242]
With regard to the date of the following ballad, we have taken a middle
course, neither placed it so high as Wanley and Prior, nor quite so low
as the editor of the _Prolusions_; we should have followed the latter
in dividing every other line into two, but that the whole would then
have taken up more room than could be allowed it in this volume.
* * * * *
[The edition of Richard Arnold's _Chronicle_ (1521) mentioned
above, is the second; and the first, which is undated, was printed
at Antwerp in 1502. This edition is described in Brydges' _Censurä_
_Literaria_ (vol. vi. p. 114), where the _Nut-Brown Maid_ is
printed. A copy from the Balliol MS. 354, of about the same date,
is printed in Percy's folio manuscript, ed. Hales and Furnivall,
vol iii. p. 174. Warton will not allow that the poem was written
before the beginning of the sixteenth century, but as Percy says,
it is highly improbable that an antiquary would insert a modern
piece in his miscellany of curiosities.
Percy has inserted the following note in his folio MS.: "From the
concluding words of this last stanza--
['but men wold that men shold
be kind to them eche one,
yett I had rather, god to obay
and serve but him alone']
it should seem that the author was a woman."
Mr. Skeat remarks that the part of the fourth stanza before the
woman speaks, and the first two verses, are still more conclusive
on this point. On the other side it is noticeable that the author
speaks as a man at line 353:
"... that we may
To them be comfortable;"
but this may only be a blind.
Few readers will agree with Percy's estimate of Prior's poem, and
_Henry and Emma_ is now only remembered because of its connection
with the _Nut-Brown Maid_.
Warton justly points out how the simplicity of the original is
decorated, dilated, and consequently spoilt by Prior, who crowds
his verses with zephyrs, Chloe, Mars, the Cyprian deity, &c. Such
lay figures as these are quite out of keeping with the realities of
this most exquisite poem.
One instance of Prior's inability to appreciate the beauties of his
original will be sufficient. The tender allusion at v. 232-3:
"O my swete mother, before all other
For you I have most drede,"
followed by the reflection:
"But nowe adue! I must ensue
Where fortune doth me lede,"
is entirely omitted by the later poet, who changes
"To shorte my here, a bowe to bere,
To shote in tyme of nede,"
into
"Wanting the scissors, with these hands I'll tear
(If that obstructs my flight) this load of hair."
The _Nut-Brown Maid_ has always been highly popular (a proof of
the good taste of the people), and in consequence it figures in
Captain Cox's collection described by Laneham. Another proof of its
popularity is the existence of various parodies, one of which is of
very early date.
It was a common practice in the sixteenth century to turn ordinary
ballads into religious songs. _The New Nutbrowne Maid_, printed by
John Skot about 1520, reprinted by George Isted in 1820 for the
Roxburghe Club, and again reprinted by Dr. Rimbault for the Percy
Society (vol. iv.), 1842, is an instance of this practice. It is a
close parody of the original, and purports to be "upon the passion
of Cryste." The _he_ and _she_ are changed to _Maria the mayde_ and
_Jesus_.
Another version is given in the Percy folio MS. (ed. Hales and
Furnivall, vol. ii. p. 334), which is entitled _A Jigge_.
The incidents are vulgarized, "but," Mr. Hales observes, "the
beauty of the original is too great to be altogether destroyed,
however rude the hands that handle it. Something of the charm of
the _Nut Brown Maid_ lingers around this _Jig_."]
* * * * *
Be it ryght, or wrong, these men among[243]
On women do complayne:[244][245]
Affyrmynge this, how that it is
A labour spent in vayne,
To love them wele; for never a dele[246] 5
They love a man agayne:
For late a man do what he can,
Theyr favour to attayne,
Yet, yf a newe do them persue,
Theyr first true lover than 10
Laboureth for nought; for from her[247] thought[248]
He is a banyshed man.
I say nat nay, but that all day
It is bothe writ and sayd
That womans faith is, as who sayth, 15
All utterly decayd;
But, neverthelesse, ryght good wytnèsse
In this case might be layd,
That they love true, and continùe:
Recorde the Not-browne Mayde: 20
Which, when her love came, her to prove,
To her to make his mone,
Wolde nat depart; for in her hart
She loved but hym alone.
Than betwaine us late us dyscus 25
What was all the manere
Betwayne them two: we wyll also
Tell all the payne, and fere,[249]
That she was in. Nowe I begyn,
So that ye me answère; 30
Wherfore, all ye, that present be
I pray you, gyve an ere.
"I am the knyght; I come by nyght,
As secret as I can;
Sayinge, Alas! thus standeth the case, 35
I am a banyshed man."
And I your wyll for to fulfyll
In this wyll nat refuse;
Trustying to shewe, in wordès fewe,
That men have an yll use 40
(To theyr own shame) women to blame,
And causelesse them accuse:
Therfore to you I answere nowe,
All women to excuse,--
SHE.[250]
Myne owne hart dere, with you what chere? 45
I pray you, tell anone;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
It standeth so; a dede is do[251]
Wherof grete harme shall growe: 50
My destiny is for to dy
A shamefull deth, I trowe;
Or elles to fle: the one must be.
None other way I knowe,
But to withdrawe as an outlawe, 55
And take me to my bowe.
Wherfore, adue, my owne hart true!
None other rede I can:[252]
For I must to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man. 60
SHE.
O lord, what is thys worldys blysse,
That changeth as the mone!
My somers day in lusty may[253]
Is derked[254] before the none.
I here you say, farewell: Nay, nay 65
We dèpart[255] nat so sone.
Why say ye so? wheder[256] wyll ye go?
Alas! what have ye done?
All my welfàre to sorrowe and care
Sholde chaunge, yf ye were gone; 70
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
I can beleve, it shall you greve,
And somewhat you dystrayne;[257]
But, aftyrwarde, your paynes harde 75
Within a day or twayne
Shall sone aslake;[258] and ye shall take
Comfort to you agayne.
Why sholde ye ought? for, to make thought,
Your labour were in vayne. 80
And thus I do; and pray you to,
As hartely,[259] as I can;
For I must to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Now, syth that ye have shewed to me 85
The secret of your mynde,
I shall be playne to you agayne,
Lyke as ye shall me fynde.
Syth it is so, that ye wyll go,
I wolle not leve[260] behynde; 90
Shall never be sayd, the Not-browne Mayd[261]
Was to her love unkynde:
Make you redy, for so am I,
Allthough it were anone;[262]
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde 95
I love but you alone.
HE.
Yet I you rede[263] to take good hede
What men wyll thynke, and say:
Of yonge, and olde it shall be tolde,
That ye be gone away, 100
Your wanton wyll for to fulfill,
In grene wode you to play;
And that ye myght from your delyght
No lenger make delay.
Rather than ye sholde thus for me 105
Be called an yll womàn,
Yet wolde I to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Though it be songe of old and yonge,
That I sholde be to blame, 110
Theyrs be the charge, that speke so large
In hurtynge of my name:
For I wyll prove, that faythfulle love
It is devoyd of shame;
In your dystresse, and hevynesse, 115
To part with you, the same:
And sure all tho,[264] that do not so,[265]
True lovers are they none;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone. 120
HE.
I counceyle you, remember howe,
It is no maydens lawe,
Nothynge to dout, but to renne[266] out
To wode with an outlàwe:
For ye must there in your hand bere 125
A bowe, redy to drawe;
And, as a thefe, thus must you lyve,
Ever in drede and awe;
Wherby to you grete harme myght growe:
Yet had I lever than,[267] 130
That I had to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
I thinke nat nay, but as ye say,[268]
It is no maydens lore:
But love may make me for your sake, 135
As I have sayd before
To come on fote, to hunt, and shote
To gete us mete in store;[269]
For so that I your company
May have, I aske no more: 140
From which to part, it maketh my hart
As colde as ony stone;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
For an outlawe this is the lawe, 145
That men hym take and bynde;
Without pytè, hanged to be,
And waver with the wynde.
If I had nede, (as God forbede!)
What rescous[270] coude ye fynde?[271] 150
Forsoth, I trowe, ye and your bowe
For fere wolde drawe behynde:
And no mervayle; for lytell avayle
Were in your counceyle than:
Wherfore I wyll to the grene wode go, 155
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Ryght wele knowe ye, that women be
But feble for to fyght;
No womanhede it is indede
To be bolde as a knyght: 160
Yet, in such fere yf that ye were
With enemyes day or nyght,[272]
I wolde withstande, with bowe in hande,
To greve them as I myght,[273]
And you to save; as women have 165
From deth 'men' many one:
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
Yet take good hede; for ever I drede
That ye coude nat sustayne 170
The thornie wayes, the depe valèies,
The snowe, the frost, the rayne,[274]
The colde, the hete: for dry, or wete,
We must lodge on the playne;[275]
And, us above, none other rofe 175
But a brake bush, or twayne:
Which sone sholde greve you, I beleve;
And ye wolde gladly than
That I had to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man. 180
SHE.
Syth I have here bene partynère
With you of joy and blysse,
I must also parte of your wo
Endure, as reson is:
Yet am I sure of one plesùre; 185
And, shortely, it is this:
That, where ye be, me semeth, pardè,
I coude nat fare amysse.
Without more speche, I you beseche
That we were sone agone;[276] 190
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
If ye go thyder, ye must consyder,
Whan ye have lust to dyne,
There shall no mete be for you gete, 195
Nor drinke, bere, ale, ne wyne.[277]
No shetés clene, to lye betwene,
Made of threde and twyne;
None other house, but leves and bowes,
To cover your hed and myne, 200
O myne harte swete, this evyll dyéte[278]
Sholde make you pale and wan;
Wherfore I wyll to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Amonge the wylde dere, such an archère, 205
As men say that ye be,
Ne may nat fayle of good vitayle,[279]
Where is so grete plentè:
And water clere of the ryvére
Shall be full swete to me; 210
With which in hele[280] I shall ryght wele
Endure, as ye shall see;
And, or we go, a bedde or two
I can provyde anone;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde 215
I love but you alone.
HE.
Lo yet, before, ye must do more,
Yf ye wyll go with me:
As cut your here up by your ere,[281][282]
Your kyrtel by the kne;[283] 220
With bowe in hande, for to withstande
Your enemyes, yf nede be:
And this same nyght before day-lyght,[284]
To wode-warde wyll I fle.
Yf that ye wyll all this fulfill, 225
Do it shortely as ye can;
Els wyll I to the grene wode go,
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
I shall as nowe do more for you
Than longeth to womanhede; 230
To shorte my here,[285] a bowe to bere,
To shote in tyme of nede.
O my swete mother, before all other
For you I have most drede:
But nowe, adue! I must ensue,[286] 235
Where fortune doth me lede.
All this make ye: Now let us fle;
The day cometh fast upon;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone. 240
HE.
Nay, nay, nat so; ye shall nat go,
And I shall tell ye why,--
Your appetyght is to be lyght
Of love, I wele espy:
For, lyke as ye have sayed to me, 245
In lyke wyse hardely
Ye wolde answére whosoever it were,
In way of company.
It is sayd of olde, Sone hote, sone colde;
And so is a womàn. 250
Wherfore I to the wode wyll go,[287]
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Yf ye take hede, it is no nede[288]
Such wordes to say by me;
For oft ye prayed, and longe assayed, 255
Or[289] I you loved, pardè:[290]
And though that I of auncestry
A barons daughter be,
Yet have you proved howe I you loved
A squyer of lowe degrè; 260
And ever shall, whatso befall;
To dy therfore[291] anone;[292]
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
A barons chylde to be begylde! 265
It were a cursed dede;
To be felàwe with an outlawe!
Almighty God forbede!
Yet beter were, the pore squyère
Alone to forest yede,[293] 270
Than ye sholde say another day,
That, by my cursed dede,
Ye were betray'd: Wherfore, good mayd,
The best rede[294] that I can,
Is, that I to the grene wode go, 275
Alone, a banyshed man.
SHE.
Whatever befall, I never shall
Of this thyng you upbrayd:[295]
But yf ye go, and leve me so,
Than have ye me betrayd. 280
Remember you wele, howe that ye dele;
For, yf ye, as ye sayd,[296]
Be so unkynde, to leve behynde,[297]
Your love, the Not-browne Mayd,
Trust me truly, that I shall dy 285
Sone after ye be gone;
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
Yf that ye went, ye sholde repent;
For in the forest nowe 290
I have purvayed[298] me of a mayd,
Whom I love more than you;
Another fayrère, than ever ye were,
I dare it wele avowe;
And of you bothe eche sholde be wrothe 295
With other, as I trowe:
It were myne ese, to lyve in pese;
So wyll I, yf I can;
Wherfore I to the wode wyll go,
Alone, a banyshed man. 300
SHE.
Though in the wode I undyrstode
Ye had a paramour,
All this may nought remove my thought,
But that I wyll be your:
And she shall fynde me soft, and kynde, 305
And courteys every hour;
Glad to fulfyll all that she wyll
Commaunde me to my power:
For had ye, lo, an hundred mo,
'Of them I wolde be one;'[299] 310
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde
I love but you alone.
HE.
Myne owne dere love, I se the prove
That ye be kynde, and true;
Of mayde, and wyfe, in all my lyfe,[300] 315
The best that ever I knewe.
Be mery and glad, be no more sad,
The case is chaunged newe;
For it were ruthe, that, for your truthe,
Ye sholde have cause to rewe. 320
Be nat dismayed; whatsoever I sayd
To you, whan I began;
I wyll nat to the grene wode go,
I am no banyshed man.
SHE.
These tydings be more gladd to me,[301] 325
Than to be made a quene,
Yf I were sure they sholde endure:
But it is often sene,
Whan men wyll breke promyse, they speke
The wordés on the splene.[302] 330
Ye shape some wyle me to begyle,
And stele from me, I wene:
Than, were the case worse than it was,
And I more wo-begone:
For, in my mynde, of all mankynde 335
I love but you alone.
HE.
Ye shall nat nede further to drede;
I wyll nat dysparàge
You, (God defend)! syth ye descend
Of so grete a lynàge.[303] 340
Nowe undyrstande; to Westmarlande,
Which is myne herytage,
I wyll you brynge; and with a rynge,
By way of maryage
I wyll you take, and lady make, 345
As shortely as I can:
Thus have you won an erlys son,[304]
And not a banyshed man.[305]
AUTHOR.
Here may ye se, that women be
In love, meke, kynde, and stable; 350
Late[306] never man reprove them than,
Or call them variable;[307]
But, rather, pray God, that we may
To them be comfortable;
Which sometyme proveth such, as he loveth,[308] 355
Yf they be charytable.
For syth men wolde that women sholde[309]
Be meke to them each one;
Moche more ought they to God obey,
And serve but hym alone. 360
FOOTNOTES:
[240] This (which my friend Mr. Farmer supposes to be the first
edition) is in folio; the folios are numbered at the bottom of the
leaf, the song begins at folio 75. The poem has since been collated
with a very fine copy that was in the collection of the late James
West, Esq.; the readings extracted thence are denoted thus, "Mr. W."
[241] [Hales and Furnivall's edition, vol. iii. p. 174.]
[242] [Folio Manuscript, ed. Hales and Furnivall, vol. i. p. 212.]
[243] [at intervals, sometimes.]
[244] My friend Mr. Farmer proposes to read the first lines thus as a
Latinism:
"Be it right or wrong, 'tis men among,
On women to complayne."
[245] [Ver. 2. Woman, _Prolusions_ and Mr. West's copy.]
[246] [not a bit.]
[247] [their.]
[248] [V. 11. her, _i.e._ their.]
[249] [pain and fear. In the Balliol MS. 354, the reading is _in-fere_
(or in company with her lover).]
[250] [Percy printed the "She" at the beginning of this stanza.]
[251] [done.]
[252] [advice I know.]
[253] Ver. 63. The somers, _Prol._
[254] [darkened.]
[255] [separate.]
[256] [whither.]
[257] [afflict.]
[258] [abate.]
[259] [earnestly.]
[260] [remain.]
[261] Ver. 91. Shall it never, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[262] V. 94. Althought, Mr. W.
[263] [advise.]
[264] [those.]
[265] Ver. 117. To shewe all, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[266] [run.]
[267] [rather then.]
[268] V. 133. I say nat, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[269] Ver. 138. and store, Camb. copy.
[270] [rescue.]
[271] V. 150. succours, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[272] V. 162. and night, Camb. copy.
[273] V. 164. to helpe ye with my myght, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[274] Ver. 172. frost and rayne, Mr. W.
[275] V. 174. Ye must, _Prol._
[276] V. 190. shortley gone, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[277] Ver. 196. Neyther bere, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[278] V. 201. Lo myn, Mr. W.
[279] V. 207. May ye nat fayle, _Prol. Ib._ May nat fayle, Mr. W.
[280] [health.]
[281] [hair up by your ear.]
[282] V. 219. above your ere, _Prol._
[283] V. 220. above the kne, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[284] Ver. 223. the same, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[285] [shorten my hair.]
[286] [follow.]
[287] Ver. 251. For I must to the grene wode go, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[288] V. 253. yet is, Camb. copy. Perhaps for yt is.
[289] [ere.]
[290] [_par Dieu_.]
[291] _i.e._ for this cause; tho' I were to die for having loved you.
[292] V. 262. dy with him, Editor's MS.
[293] [went.]
[294] [advice.]
[295] Ver. 278. outbrayd, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[296] V. 282. ye be as, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[297] V. 283. Ye were unkynde to leve me behynde, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[298] [provided.]
[299] Ver. 310. So the Editor's MS. All the printed copies read, Yet
wold I be that one.
[300] V. 315. of all, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[301] V. 325. gladder, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[302] [in haste.]
[303] Ver. 340. grete lynyage, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[304] V. 347. Then have, _Prol._
[305] V. 348. And no banyshed, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[306] [let.]
[307] V. 352. This line wanting in _Prol._ and Mr. W.
[308] V. 355. proved--loved, _Prol._ and Mr. W. _Ib._ as loveth, Camb.
[309] V. 357. Forsoth, _Prol._ and Mr. W.
VII.
A BALET BY THE EARL RIVERS.
The amiable light in which the character of Anthony Widville, the
gallant Earl Rivers, has been placed by the elegant author of the
_Catal. of Noble Writers_ [Horace Walpole], interests us in whatever
fell from his pen. It is presumed, therefore, that the insertion of
this little sonnet will be pardoned, tho' it should not be found to
have much poetical merit. It is the only original poem known of that
nobleman's; his more voluminous works being only translations. And if
we consider that it was written during his cruel confinement in Pomfret
castle a short time before his execution in 1483, it gives us a fine
picture of the composure and steadiness with which this stout earl
beheld his approaching fate.
This ballad we owe to Rouse, a contemporary historian, who seems to
have copied it from the earl's own handwriting. "In tempore," says
this writer, "incarcerationis apud Pontem-fractum edidit unum _balet_
in anglicis, ut mihi monstratum est, quod subsequitur sub his verbis:
_Sum what musyng_, &c." Rossi, _Hist._ 8vo. 2 ed. p. 213. In Rouse the
second stanza, &c. is imperfect, but the defects are here supplied from
a more perfect copy printed in _Ancient Songs, from the time of King
Henry III. to the Revolution_, p. 87 [by Joseph Ritson].
This little piece, which perhaps ought rather to have been printed in
stanzas of eight short lines, is written in imitation of a poem of
Chaucer's, that will be found in Urry's ed. 1721, p. 555, beginning
thus:
"Alone walkyng, In thought plainyng,
And sore sighying, All desolate.
My remembrying Of my livyng
My death wishyng Bothe erly and late.
Infortunate Is so my fate
That wote ye what, Out of mesure
My life I hate; Thus desperate
In such pore estate, Doe I endure," &c.[310]
* * * * *
[This gallant and learned nobleman (brother of Edward IV.'s queen),
who was murdered in the forty-first year of his age, figures as a
character in Shakspere's _Richard III._, and as a ghost appears to
warn the tyrant on the eve of the battle of Bosworth:
"Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow,
Rivers that died at Pomfret! despair and die."]
* * * * *
Sumwhat musyng, And more mornyng,
In remembring The unstydfastnes;
This world being Of such whelyng,
Me contrarieng, What may I gesse?
I fere dowtles, Remediles, 5
Is now to sese My wofull chaunce.
[For unkyndness, Withouten less,
And no redress, Me doth avaunce,
With displesaunce, To my grevaunce,
And no suraunce Of remedy.] 10
Lo in this traunce, Now in substaunce,
Such is my dawnce, Wyllyng to dye.
Me thynkys truly, Bowndyn am I,
And that gretly, To be content:
Seyng playnly, Fortune doth wry[311][312] 15
All contrary From myn entent.
My lyff was lent Me to on intent,
Hytt is ny[313] spent. Welcome fortune!
But I ne went Thus to be shent,[314][315]
But sho[316] hit ment; Such is hur won.[317] 20
FOOTNOTES:
[310] [See Aldine edition of _Chaucer's Poetical Works_, ed. Morris,
vol. vi. p. 305. We ought, perhaps, to read "attributed to Chaucer."]
[311] [turn aside.]
[312] Ver. 15. That fortune, Rossi, _Hist._
[313] [it is near.]
[314] [abashed.]
[315] V. 19. went, _i.e._ weened.
[316] [she.]
[317] [wont or custom.]
VIII.
CUPID'S ASSAULT: BY LORD VAUX.
The reader will think that infant poetry grew apace between the times
of Rivers and Vaux, tho' nearly contemporaries; if the following song
is the composition of that Sir Nicholas (afterwards Lord) Vaux, who was
the shining ornament of the court of Henry VII., and died in the year
1523 [1524, see below].
And yet to this lord it is attributed by Puttenham in his _Art of
Eng. Poesie_, 1589, 4to., a writer commonly well informed. Take
the passage at large: "In this figure [Counterfait Action] the Lord
Nicholas Vaux, a noble gentleman and much delighted in vulgar making,
and a man otherwise of no great learning, but having herein a marvelous
facilitie, made a dittie representing the Battayle and Assault of
Cupide, so excellently well, as for the gallant and propre application
of his fiction in every part, I cannot choose but set downe the
greatest part of his ditty, for in truth it cannot be amended. _When
Cupid Scaled_," &c. p. 200. For a farther account of Nicholas, Lord
Vaux, see Mr. Walpole's _Noble Authors_, vol. i.
Since this song was first printed off, reasons have occurred which
incline me to believe that Lord Vaux, the poet, was not the Lord
Nicholas Vaux who died in 1523, but rather a successor of his in
the title. For, in the first place, it is remarkable that all the
old writers mention Lord Vaux, the poet, as contemporary, or rather
posterior, to Sir Thomas Wyat and the E. of Surrey, neither of which
made any figure till long after the death of the first Lord Nicholas
Vaux. Thus Puttenham, in his _Art of English Poesie_, 1589, in p.
48, having named Skelton, adds: "In the latter end of the same kings
raigne [Henry VIII.] sprong up a new company of courtly Makers [Poets],
of whom Sir Thomas Wyat th' elder, and Henry Earl of Surrey were the
two chieftaines, who having travailed into Italie, and there tasted
the sweet and stately measures and stile of the Italian poesie ...
greatly polished our rude and homely manner of vulgar poesie.... In
the same time, or not long after, was the Lord Nicholas Vaux, a man of
much facilitie in vulgar makings."[318] Webbe, in his _Discourse of
English Poetrie_, 1586, ranges them in the following order: "The E.
of Surrey, the Lord Vaux, Norton, Bristow." And Gascoigne, in the place
quoted in the first volume of this work [B. ii. No. 2.] mentions Lord
Vaux after Surrey. Again, the stile and measure of Lord Vaux's pieces
seem too refined and polished for the age of Henry VII., and rather
resemble the smoothness and harmony of Surrey and Wyat, than the rude
metre of Skelton and Hawes. But what puts the matter out of all doubt,
in the British Museum is a copy of his poem, _I lothe that I did love_
[vid. vol. i. _ubi supra_], with this title, "A dyttye or sonet made by
the Lord Vaus, in the time of the noble Quene Marye, representing the
image of Death." Harl. MSS. No. 1703, sec. 25.
It is evident then that Lord Vaux, the poet, was not he that flourished
in the reign of Henry VII., but either his son or grandson; and yet,
according to Dugdale's _Baronage_, the former was named Thomas and the
latter William: but this difficulty is not great, for none of the old
writers mention the Christian name of the poetic Lord Vaux,[319] except
Puttenham; and it is more likely that he might be mistaken in that
lord's name, than in the time in which he lived, who was so nearly his
contemporary.
Thomas, Lord Vaux, of Harrowden, in Northamptonshire, was summoned to
parliament in 1531. When he died does not appear, but he probably lived
till the latter end of Queen Mary's reign, since his son William was
not summoned to parliament till the last year of that reign, in 1558.
This lord died in 1595. See Dugdale, vol. ii. p. 304. Upon the whole I
am inclined to believe that Lord Thomas was the poet.
The following copy is printed from the first edition of Surrey's
_Poems_, 1557, 4to. See another song of Lord Vaux's in the preceding
volume, B. ii. No. 2.
* * * * *
[Percy is correct in his supposition that the poet was Thomas,
second Lord Vaux, and not his father Nicholas, who died May 14th,
1524, only seventeen days after he was advanced to the peerage.]
* * * * *
When Cupide scaled first the fort,
Wherein my hart lay wounded sore;
The batry was of such a sort,
That I must yelde or die therfore.
There sawe I Love upon the wall, 5
How he his banner did display;
Alarme, alarme, he gan to call:
And bad his souldiours kepe aray.
The armes, the which that Cupide bare,
Were pearced hartes with teares besprent,[320] 10
In silver and sable to declare
The stedfast love, he alwayes ment.
There might you se his band all drest
In colours like to white and blacke,
With powder and with pelletes prest 15
To bring the fort to spoile and sacke.
Good-wyll, the maister of the shot,
Stode in the rampire[321] brave and proude,
For spence[322] of pouder he spared not
Assault! assault! to crye aloude. 20
There might you heare the cannons rore;
Eche pece discharged a lovers loke;
Which had the power to rent, and tore
In any place whereas they toke.
And even with the trumpettes sowne[323] 25
The scaling ladders were up set,
And Beautie walked up and downe,
With bow in hand, and arrowes whet.
Then first Desire began to scale,
And shrouded him under 'his' targe;[324][325] 30
As one the worthiest of them all,
And aptest for to geve the charge.
Then pushed souldiers with their pikes,
And halberdes with handy strokes;
The argabushe[326] in fleshe it lightes, 35
And duns the ayre with misty smokes.
And, as it is the souldiers use
When shot and powder gins to want,
I hanged up my flagge of truce,
And pleaded up for my livès grant. 40
When Fansy thus had made her breche,
And Beauty entred with her band,
With bagge and baggage, sely[327] wretch,
I yelded into Beauties hand.
Then Beautie bad to blow retrete, 45
And every souldier to retire,
And mercy wyll'd with spede to set
Me captive bound as prisoner.
Madame, quoth I, sith that this day
Hath served you at all assayes, 50
I yeld to you without delay
Here of the fortresse all the kayes.
And sith that I have ben the marke,
At whom you shot at with your eye;
Nedes must you with your handy warke, 55
Or salve my sore, or let me die.
FOOTNOTES:
[318] _i.e._ Compositions in English.
[319] In the _Paradise of Dainty Devises_, 1596, he is called simply
"Lord Vaux the elder."
[320] [besprinkled.]
[321] [rampart.]
[322] [expense.]
[323] [sound.]
[324] Ver. 30. her, ed. 1557, so ed. 1585.
[325] [shield.]
[326] [harquebuss, or old-fashioned musket.]
[327] [simple.]
IX.
SIR ALDINGAR.
This old fabulous legend is given from the Editor's folio MS. with
conjectural emendations, and the insertion of some additional stanzas
to supply and compleat the story.
It has been suggested to the Editor that the author of this poem seems
to have had in his eye the story of Gunhilda, who is sometimes called
Eleanor, and was married to the Emperor (here called King) Henry.
Percy's MS. note in his folio is as follows: "Without some
corrections this will not do for my _Reliques_." Readers will be
able to judge for themselves as to the relative beauties of the
two, now that the original is printed at the end of Percy's amended
copy. To make the interpolations more apparent, Percy's added
verses are placed between brackets, and it will be seen that these
contain much of the phraseology and many of the stock prettinesses
of the polite ballad-monger; some of the most vivid bits of the
old ballad being passed over. Percy keeps tolerably to the story,
except that he makes the second messenger one of the queen's
damsels instead of a man. Sir Walter Scott supposes _Sir Aldingar_
to be founded upon the kindred ballad of _Sir Hugh le Blond_, but,
as Professor Child says, without any reason. The story occurs in
most of the literatures of Europe.
* * * * *
Our king he kept a false stewàrde,
Sir Aldingar they him call;
[A falser steward than he was one,
Servde not in bower nor hall.]
He wolde have layne by our comelye queene, 5
Her deere worshippe to betraye:
Our queene she was a good womàn,
And evermore said him naye.
Sir Aldingar was wrothe in his mind,
With her hee was never content, 10
[Till traiterous meanes he colde devyse,]
In a fyer to have her brent.[328]
There came a lazar[329] to the kings gate,
A lazar both blinde and lame:
He tooke the lazar upon his backe, 15
Him on the queenes bed has layne.
"Lye still, lazàr, wheras thou lyest,
Looke thou goe not hence away;
Ile make thee a whole man and a sound
In two howers of the day."[330] 20
Then went him forth sir Aldingar,
[And hyed him to our king:]
"If I might have grace, as I have space,
["Sad tydings I could bring."]
Say on, say on, sir Aldingar, 25
Saye on the soothe[331] to mee.
"Our queene hath chosen a new new lòve,
And shee will have none of thee.
"If shee had chosen a right good knight,
The lesse had beene her shame; 30
But she hath chose her a lazar man,
A lazar both blinde and lame."
If this be true, thou Aldingar,
The tyding thou tellest to me,
Then will I make the a rich rich knight, 35
Rich both of golde and fee.
But if it be false, sir Aldingar,
[As God nowe grant it bee!
Thy body, I sweare by the holye rood,]
Shall hang on the gallows tree. 40
[He brought our king to the queenes chambèr,
And opend to him the dore.]
A lodlye[332] love, king Harry says,
For our queene dame Elinore!
If thou were a man, as thou art none, 45
[Here on my sword thoust dye;]
But a payre of new gallowes shall be built,
And there shalt thou hang on hye.
[Forth then hyed our king, I wysse,
And an angry man was hee; 50
And soone he found queene Elinore,
That bride so bright of blee.[333]]
Now God you save, our queene, madame,
And Christ you save and see;
Heere you have chosen a newe newe love, 55
And you will have none of mee.
If you had chosen a right good knight,
The lesse had been your shame:
But you have chose you a lazar man,
A lazar both blinde and lame. 60
[Therfore a fyer there shall be built,
And brent all shalt thou bee.----]
"Now out alacke!" said our comly queene,
"Sir Aldingar's false to mee.
Now out alacke!" sayd our comlye queene, 65
[My heart with griefe will brast.[334]]
I had thought swevens[335] had never been true,
I have proved them true at last.
I dreamt in my sweven on thursday eve,
In my bed wheras I laye, 70
I dreamt a grype[336] and a grimlie beast
Had carryed my crowne awaye;
My gorgett[337] and my kirtle[338] of golde,
And all my faire head-geere:
And he wold worrye me with his tush[339] 75
And to his nest y-beare:
Saving there came a litle 'gray' hawke,[340]
A merlin him they call,
Which untill the grounde did strike the grype,
That dead he downe did fall. 80
Giffe[341] I were a man, as now I am none,
A battell wold I prove,
To fight with that traitor Aldingar;
Att him I cast my glove.
But seeing Ime able noe battell to make, 85
My liege, grant me a knight
To fight with that traitor sir Aldingar,
To maintaine me in my right."
"Now forty dayes I will give thee
To seeke thee a knight therin: 90
If thou find not a knight in forty dayes
Thy bodye it must brenn."
[Then shee sent east, and shee sent west,
By north and south bedeene:[342]
But never a champion colde she find,] 95
Wolde fight with that knight soe keene.
[Now twenty dayes were spent and gone,
Noe helpe there might be had;
Many a teare shed our comelye queene
And aye her hart was sad. 100
Then came one of the queenes damsèlles,
And knelt upon her knee,
"Cheare up, cheare up, my gracious dame,
I trust yet helpe may be:
"And here I will make mine avowe,[343] 105
And with the same me binde;
That never will I return to thee,
Till I some helpe may finde."
Then forth she rode on a faire palfràye
Oer hill and dale about: 110
But never a champion colde she finde,
Wolde fighte with that knight so stout.
And nowe the daye drewe on a pace,
When our good queene must dye;
All woe-begone was that faire damsèlle, 115
When she found no helpe was nye.
All woe-begone was that faire damsèlle,
And the salt teares fell from her eye:]
When lo! as she rode by a rivers side,
She met with a tinye boye. 120
[A tinye boye she mette, God wot,
All clad in mantle of golde;]
He seemed noe more in mans likenèsse,
Then a childe of four yeere olde.
[Why grieve you, damselle faire, he sayd, 125
And what doth cause you moane?
The damsell scant wolde deigne a looke,
But fast she pricked on.]
Yet turn againe, thou faïre damsèlle,
And greete thy queene from mee: 130
When bale[344] is att hyest, boote[345] is nyest,
Nowe helpe enoughe may bee.
Bid her remember what she dreamt
In her bedd, wheras shee laye;
How when the grype and the grimly beast 135
Wolde have carried her crowne awaye,
Even then there came the litle gray hawke,
And saved her from his clawes:
Then bidd the queene be merry at hart,
[For heaven will fende[346] her cause.] 140
Back then rode that faire damsèlle,
And her hart it lept for glee:
And when she told her gracious dame
A gladd woman then was shee.
[But when the appointed day was come, 145
No helpe appeared nye:
Then woeful, woeful was her hart,
And the teares stood in her eye.
And nowe a fyer was built of wood;
And a stake was made of tree; 150
And now queene Elinor forth was led,
A sorrowful sight to see.
Three times the herault he waved his hand,
And three times spake on hye:
Giff any good knight will fende this dame, 155
Come forth, or she must dye.
No knight stood forth, no knight there came,
No helpe appeared nye:
And now the fyer was lighted up,
Queen Elinor she must dye. 160
And now the fyer was lighted up,
As hot as hot might bee;]
When riding upon a little white steed,
The tinye boy they see.
"Away with that stake, away with those brands, 165
And loose our comelye queene:
I am come to fight with sir Aldingar,
And prove him a traitor keene."
Forthe then stood sir Aldingar,
But when he saw the chylde, 170
He laughed, and scoffed, and turned his backe,
And weened[347] he had been beguylde.
"Now turne, now turne thee, Aldingar,
And eyther fighte or flee;
I trust that I shall avenge the wronge, 175
Thoughe I am so small to see."
The boye pulld forth a well good sworde
So gilt it dazzled the ee;
The first stroke stricken at Aldingar
Smote off his leggs by the knee. 180
"Stand up, stand up, thou false traitòr,
And fight upon thy feete,
For and thou thrive, as thou begin'st,
Of height wee shall be meete."
A priest, a priest, sayes Aldingàr, 185
While I am a man alive.
A priest, a priest, sayes Aldingàr,
Me for to houzle and shrive.[348]
I wolde have laine by our comlie queene,
Bot shee wolde never consent; 190
Then I thought to betraye her unto our kinge
In a fyer to have her brent.
There came a lazar to the kings gates,
A lazar both blind and lame:
I tooke the lazar upon my backe, 195
And on her bedd had him layne.
[Then ranne I to our comlye king,
These tidings sore to tell.]
But ever alacke! sayes Aldingar,
Falsing never doth well. 200