(Vol. ii., pp. 104. 158.; Vol. v., p. 243.)
As I have reason to believe that several of your readers are interested
in this old ballad, I send you an exact transcript of the oral version
contained in Mr. Lyle's (not _Lyte's_, as incorrectly printed in my
former communication) now rare little volume.
Your correspondent C. W. G. thinks that it relates to some transaction
much later than 1622; and possibly he may be right. It may be as well,
however, to mention that Mr. J. H. Dixon, who inserted the ballad in his
_Ancient Poems, Ballads, and Songs of the Peasantry of England_ (Percy
Society, No. LXII.), thinks otherwise, and, indeed, claims for it an
antiquity as high as the reign of Edward III., A.D. 1377. He suggests
that for De la Ware we should read De la Mare, and believes Sir Thomas
De la Mare, Speaker of the House of Commons, to have been the hero. Mr.
Dixon says:
"All historians are agreed in representing him as a person using
'great freedom of speech,' and which, indeed, he carried to such
an extent as to endanger his personal liberty. As bearing somewhat
upon the subject of the ballad, it may be observed that De la Mare
was a great advocate of popular rights, and particularly protested
against the inhabitants of England being subject to 'purveyance;'
asserting that 'if the royal revenue was faithfully administered,
there could be no necessity for laying burdens on the people.'"
The title of the "Welsh lord, the brave Duke of Devonshire," offers some
opposition to Mr. Dixon's hypothesis, as no _Duke_ of Devonshire was
created before 1694; but, as Sir Walter Scott observed, upon a friend
pointing out an inaccuracy in his "Bonnets of bonnie Dundee," "We cannot
always be particular in a ballad." Possibly the name of some other
country or place should be substituted for that of "Devonshire." Indeed
I remember, some ten years ago, hearing a version of this ballad sung at
a village in Staffordshire, where the "minstrel" (for he was a true
descendant of the wandering tribe) used _Hereford_ in the place of
Devonshire.
There is an old ballad in Deloney's _Garland of Good Will_, upon the
quarrel between the two Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, in the reign of
Richard II. See Hume's _Hist. of Eng._, chap. xvii., A.D. 1398, for a
full account of the transaction. There seems to be some "relationship"
between this "combat" and that of the Lord Delaware. At any rate, the
following ballad smacks wonderfully (allowing for the march of time, and
Mr. Lyle's "smoothing down") of the style of the "ballading
silk-weaver," and his cotemporary poetasters.
"LORD DELAWARE.
"In the Parliament House, a great rout has been there,
Betwixt our good King and the Lord Delaware:
Says Lord Delaware to his Majesty full soon,
Will it please you, my Liege, to grant me a boon?
"What's your boon, says the King, now let me understand?
It's, give me all the poor men we've starving in this land;
And without delay, I'll hie me to Lincolnshire,
To sow hemp seed and flax seed, and hang them all there.
"For with hempen cord it's better to stop each poor man's breath,
Than with famine you should see your subjects starve to death.
Up starts a Dutch Lord, who to Delaware did say,
Thou deservest to be stabb'd! then he turned himself away:
"Thou deservest to be stabb'd, and the dogs have thine ears,
For insulting our King in this Parliament of peers;
Up sprang a Welsh Lord, the brave Duke of Devonshire,
In young Delaware's defence, I'll fight this Dutch Lord, my sire.
"For he is in the right, and I'll make it so appear:
Him I dare to single combat, for insulting Delaware.
A stage was soon erected, and to combat they went,
For to kill, or to be kill'd, it was either's full intent.
"But the very first flourish, when the heralds gave command,
The sword of brave Devonshire bent backward on his hand;
In suspense he paused awhile, scann'd his foe before he strake,
Then against the King's armour, his bent sword he brake.
"Then he sprang from the stage, to a soldier in the ring,
Saying, Lend your sword, that to an end this tragedy we bring:
Though he's fighting me in armour, while I am fighting bare,
Even more than this I'd venture, for young Lord Delaware.
"Leaping back on the stage, sword to buckler now resounds,
Till he left the Dutch Lord a-bleeding in his wounds:
This seeing, cries the King to his guards without delay,
Call Devonshire down: take the dead man away!
"No, says brave Devonshire, I've fought him as a man,
Since he's dead, I will keep the trophies I have won;
For he fought me in your armour, while I fought him bare,
And the same you must win back, my Liege, if ever you them wear.
"God bless the Church of England, may it prosper on each hand,
And also every poor man now starving in this land;
And while I pray success may crown our King upon his throne,
I'll wish that every poor man may long enjoy his own."