Of the numerous Ballads composed by 'The Monk of Bury,' this is
perhaps the most curious and the best known; and, from its presenting
a great deal of information relative to the Metropolis in the
fifteenth century, it is of considerable interest. Two copies exist in
MS. in the British Museum; one in the Harleian MS. 367, which is
printed in Noorthouck's and Dr. Pugh's History of London, as well as
in several other works; the other, in Stow's hand-writing, in the
Harleian MS. 542: and as they differ very materially from each other,
a copy of each is inserted. To this Ballad, it has been thought right
to add another, by the same writer, which has never been before
printed, on a very similar subject; namely,