This fight did last from break of day For when they rung the evening-bell With the carl Percy there was flain And with fir George, and good fir James, And with earl Douglas there was flain Sir Charles Currèl, that from the field Sir Charles Murrèl of Ratcliffe too, And the lord Maxwell, in like wife, Of fifteen hundred Englishmen The reft were flain in Chevy-Chafe, Next day did many widows come, They wash'd their wounds in brinish tears, Their bodies, bath'd in purple blood, O heavy news! king James did fay; I have not any captain more Like tidings to king Henry came, I truft I have within my realm And be revenged on them all There is fomething peculiar in the metre of this eld ballad: it is not unusual to meet with redundant ftanzas of fix lines; but the occafional intertion of a double third or fourth line, as ver. 31, 44, &c. is an irregularity I do not remember to have feca elsewhere. It may be proper to inform the reader before he comes to Pt. 2. ver. 110, 111, that the ROUND TABLE was not peculiar to the reign of King Arthur, but was common in all the ages of Chivalry. The proclaiming a great tournament (probably with fome peculiar folemnities) was called holding a Round "Table." Dugdale tells us, that the great baron Roger de Mortimer "having procured the honour "of knighthood to be conferred on his three fons' "by King Edward I. he, at his own cofts, caused 66 a tourneament to be held at Kenilworth, where he fumptuously entertained an hundred knights, and as many ladies, for three days; the like where of "was never before in England; and there began "the ROUND TABLE (fo called by reafon that the place wherein they practifed those feats was "environed with a ftrong wall made in a round "form) and upon the fourth day, the golden lion, "in fign of triumph, being yielded to him, he "carried it (with all the company) to Warwick." It may further be added, that Matthew Paris frequently calls jufts and tournaments Haftiludia Merfæ Rotunde. As to what will be obferved in this ballad of the art of healing being practifed by a young princefs; it is no more than what is ufual in all the old remances, and was conformable to real manners: it being a practice derived from the earliest times among all the Gothic and Celtic nations, for women, even of the highest rank, to exercife the art of furgery. In the Northern Chronicles we always find the young damfels ftanching the wounds of their lovers, and the wives thofe of their hufbands. And even fo late as the time of Quees Elizabeth, it is mentioned among the accomplishments of the ladies of her court, that the "eldent "of them are SKILFUL IN SURGERY." See Harrifon's Defcription of England, prefixed to Hollingfhed's Chronicle, &c. The kinge had a lady to his daughter, In fathyon the hath no peere; Syr Cauline loveth her beft of all, Ne defcreeve his counfayl to no man, Great dill to him was dight; One while he fpred his arms him fro, One while he fpred them nye; That is wont to ferve the wyne ? Then aunfwerde him a courteous knighte, Fetche me downe my daughter deere, She is a leeche fulle fine : Goe take him doughe, and the baken bread, And ferve him with the wyne foe red; Lothe I were him to tine. Fair Christabelle to his chaumber goes, Nowe ryfe up wightlye, man, for sham Never lye foe cowardlee; Fayre ladye, it is for your love That all this dill I drye: For if you wold comfort me with a kiffe, Sir knighte, my father is a kinge, Alas! and well you knowe, fyr knighte, O ladye, thou art a kinges daughter, But let me doe fome deedes of armes Some deeds of armes if thou wilt doe, (But ever and aye my heart would rue, Upon Eldridge hill there groweth a thorne, Upon the mores brodinge; And dare ye, fyr knighte, wake there all nighte, Untill the fayre morninge? For the Eldridge knighte, fo mickle of mighte, Will examine you beforne; And never man bare life awaye, But he did him fcath and scorne. That knighte he is a foul paynìm, Nowe on the Eldridge hilles Ile walke, The lady is gone to her own chaumbère, For to wake there all night. Unto midnight, that the moone did rise, Then a lightfome bugle heard he blowe Quoth hee, If cryance come till my heart, And foone he spyde on the mores so broad A ladye bright his brydle led, And foe faft he called on fyr Cauline, He fayth, No cryance comes till my heart, The Eldridge knighte he pricked his fteed; Then either fhooke his truftye fpeare, Then took they out theyr two good fwordes, Till helme and hawberke, mail and fheelde, The Eldridge knight was mickle of might, But fyr Cauline with a backward stroke That foone he with paine and lacke of bloud Knights. Thea Then up fyr Cauline lift his brande All over his head fo hye: And here I fweare by the holy roode, For the maydens love, that moft you love, Now fweare to mee, thou Eldridge knighte, That thou wilt believe on Chrift his laye, And therto plight thy hand : And that thou never on Eldridge come To fporte, gamon, or playe; The Eldridge knighte gave up his armes Home then pricked fyr Cauline F-wys he neither fint ne blanne, Then downe he knelt upon his knee. ladye, I have been on the Eldridge hills: Now welcome, welcome, fyr Cauline, Thrice welcome unto mee, For now I perceive thou art a true knighte, O Indye, I am thy own true knighte, And mought I hope to winne thy love!- The ladye blufhed fcarlette redde, Alas! fyr knighte, how may this bee, But fith thou haft hight, thou comely youth, Ile promife if thee I may not wedde I will have none other fere. Then thee held forthe her lilly-white hand Towards that knighte so free: He gave to it one gentill kiffe, His heart was brought from bale to bliffe, But keep my counfayl, fyr Cauline, From that day forthe that ladye fayre Part the Second. EVERYE white will have its blacke, For fo it befelle as fyr Cauline Was with that ladye faire, To reft his wearye feet, He found his daughter and fyr Cauline The kinge hee fterted forthe, i-wys, Then forthe fyr Cauline he was ledde, And the ladye into a towre fo bye, The queene fhe was fyr Caulines friend, I pray you fave fyr Caulines life, And let him banisht bee. Now, dame, that traitor fhall be fent Acrofs the falt fea fome: But here I will make with thee a band, And caft a wiftfulle eye: Faire Christabelle, that ladye brighte, Was had forthe of the towre: And ever thee doth lament and weepe Syr Cauline, thou little think'ft on mee, Manye a kinge, and manye a duke, When many a daye was paft and gone, And there came lords, and there came knightes, To break a fpere for theyr ladyes love And many a ladye there was sette But faire Chriftabelle foe woe-begone Then manye a knighte was mickle of might But a ftranger wight, whom no man knewe, His acton it was all of blacke, His hewberke and his fheelde, Ne noe man wift whence he did come, When they came out the feelde. When lo upon the fourth morninge And at his backe five heads he bare, Sir, quoth the dwarffe, and louted lowe, Behold thefe heads I bear with me! They are kings which he hath flain. But yette he will appease his wrath Or else within thefe lifts foe broad Is there never a knighte of my round table, Is there never a knighte amongst yee all But every knighte of his round tablè For whenever they lookt on the grim foldan, All woe-begone was that fayre ladyè, Ile fight for thee with this grimme foldan, And if thou wilt lend me the Eldridge fworde I trufte in Chrifte for to flay this fiende, Thoughe he be ftiffe in flowre. Goe fetch him downe the Eldridge fworde, The gyaunt he stepped into the lifts, I fweare, as I am the hend foldàn, "That this were my true knighte!" And nowe the gyaunt and knighte be mett Within the lifts fo broad: And now with fwordes fo tharpe of steele, The foldan ftrucke the knighte a stroke, And made the bloude to flowe: The foldan ftrucke a third fell ftroke, Which brought the knighte on his knee: And the thrickt loud frickings three. He He grafped his fword with mayne and mighte, That had refkewed her from thrall. And there all waltering in his gore, Lay lifeleffe on the grounde. onfet. He fuffered no woman to be oppreffed, violated, or otherwife molefted: poore mens goods he fpared, abundantlie relieving them with that, which by theft he got from abbeys and the houfes of rich earles: whom Maior (the hiftorian) blameth for his rapine and theft, but of all theeves he affirmeth him to be the prince and the most gentle theefe." Stowe's Annals, p. 159. WHAN fhaws beene theene, and shraddes fulf fayre, And leaves both large and longe, The woodweele fang, and wold not cease, Come downe, come downe, my daughter deare, So lowde, he wakened Robin Hood, Thou art a lecche of skille; And fhriekte and fwound awaye. Then giving her one partinge looke, But when the founde her comelye knighte In the greenwood where he lay. I dreamt me of tow wighty yemen, If I be Robin alive in this lande, As the wind blowes over the hill; Buske yee, bowne yee, my merry men all, grenes Untill they came to the merry greenwood, A fworde and a dagger he wore by his fide, To know what hee doth meane. 104. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. In this time [about the year 1190, in the reign of Richard I.] were many robbers, and outJawes, among the which Robin Hood, and Little John, renowned theeves, continued in woods, defpoyling and robbing the goods of the rich. They killed none but fuch as would invade them; or by refiftance for their own defence. "The faid Robert entertained an hundred tall It is no cunning a knave to ken, men and good archers with fuch fpoiles and Ah! John, by me thou fetteft noe fto:e, And a man but heare him fpeake; thefts as he got, upon whom four hundred And it were not for bursting of my bowe, (were they ever fo ftrong) durft not give the John, I thy head would breake. |