[Footnote 7: A good notion of the way in which the old ballads
plunge _in medias res_ may be obtained by reading the Index of First
Lines.]
'The Perse owt off Northombarlonde
And avowe to God mayd he,
That he wold hunte in the mowntayns
Off Chyviat within days thre,
In the magger of doughte Dogles;
And all that ever with him be.'