+The Text+ is from Arnold's _Chronicle_, of the edition which, from
typographical evidence, is said to have been printed at Antwerp in 1502
by John Doesborowe. Each stanza is there printed in six long lines.
Considerable variations appear in later editions. There is also a
Balliol MS. (354), which contains a contemporary version, and the Percy
Folio contains a corrupt version.
This should not be considered as a ballad proper; it is rather a
'dramatic lyric.' Its history, however, is quite as curious as that of
many ballads. It occurs, as stated above, in the farrago known as the
_Chronicle_ of Richard Arnold, inserted between a list of the 'tolls'
due on merchandise entering or leaving the port of Antwerp, and a table
giving Flemish weights and moneys in terms of the corresponding English
measures. Why such a poem should be printed in such incongruous
surroundings, what its date or who its author was, are questions
impossible to determine. Its position here is perhaps almost as
incongruous as in its original place.
From 3.9 to the end of the last verse but one, it is a dialogue between
an earl's son and a baron's daughter, in alternate stanzas; a prologue
and an epilogue are added by the author.
Matthew Prior printed the poem in his works, in order to contrast it
with his own version, _Henry and Emma_, which appealed to contemporary
taste as more elegant than its rude original.