5

Al left alone, alas! he foughte in vayne;
For cruelly among them ther he was slayne.
Alas for pite! that Percy thus was spylt
The famous erle of Northumberland:

Of knyghtly prowès the sword pomel and hylt,
The myghty lyon doutted by se and lande!

105

O dolorous chaunce of fortunes froward hande! 110
What man remembryng howe shamfully he was slaine,
From bitter weping himself can restrain?

10 [O cruell 113] O cruell Mars, thou dedly god of war!
O dolorous tewisday, dedicate to thy name,
When thou shoke thy sworde so noble a man to mar! 115
O ground ungracious, unhappy be thy fame,
Which wert endyed with rede bloud of the same!

15

20

25

80

365

Most noble erle! O foule mysuryd ground

Where on he gat his finall dedely wounde!

O Atropos, of the fatall systers thre

120

Goddes most cruel unto the lyfe of man,

All merciles in the is no pitè!

O homicide, which sleest all that thou can,
So forcibly upon this erle thou ran,
That with thy sword enharpit of mortall drede,
Thou kit asonder his perfight vitall threde!
My wordes unpullysht be nakide and playne,
Of aureat poems they want ellumynynge;
But by them to knowlege ye may attayne

125

130

Of this lordes dethe and of his murdrynge.
Which whils he lyved had fuyson of every thing,
Of knights, of squyers, chyf lord of toure and towne
Tyl fykkell fortune began on hym to frowne.
Paregall to dukes, with kynges he might compare,
Surmountinge in honor all erles he did excede, 135
To all countries aboute hym reporte me I dare.
Lyke to Eneas benigne in worde and dede,
Valiant as Hector in every marciall nede,
Prudent, discrete, circumspect and wyse,

Tyll the chaunce ran agayne bym of fortunes duble dyse. 140
[What 114] What nedeth me for to extoll his fame
With my rude pen enkankered all with rust?

I

Whose noble actes show worshiply his name,

Transendyng 'far' myne homely muse, that muste
145 Yet somewhat wright supprised with herty lust,
Truly reportyng his right noble estate,
Immortally whiche is immaculate.

His noble blode never destayned was,

Trew to his prince for to defend his ryght, 150 Dobleness hatyng, fals maters to compas,

Treytory and treson he banysht out of syght,
With truth to medle was al his holl delyght,
As all his countrey can testyfy the same:
To sle suche a lorde, alas, it was great shame

155 If the hole quere of the musis nyne

In me all onely wer set and comprysed,
Enbrethed with the blast of influence devyne,

As perfytly as could be thought or devised;
To me also all though it were promised
160 Of laureat Phebus holy the eloquence,
All were to lytell for his magnificence.

O yonge lyon, but tender yet of age,

Grow and encrease, remembre thyn estate,
God the assyst unto thyn herytage,

165 And geve the grace to be more fortunate, Agayn rebellyones arme to make debate, And, as the lyone, whiche is of bestes kynge, 3 Unto thy subjectes be curteis and benynge.

[I pray 115] I pray God sende the prosperous lyfe and long' 170 Stable (7. Stabille corr.) thy mynde constant to be and fast, Ryght to mayntayn, and to resyst all wronge, All flatteryng faytors abhor and from the cast, Of foule detraction God kepe the from the blast, Let double delyng in the have no place,

175 And be not lyght of credence in no case.

With hevy chere, with dolorous hart and mynd,
Eche man may sorow in his inward thought,
This lords death, whose pere is hard to fynd

Al gife Englond and Fraunce were thorow saught. 180 Al kynges, all princes, al dukes, well they ought

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

5

10

15

20

25

Both temporall and spiritual for to complayne
This noble man, that crewelly was slayne.
More specially barons, and those knygtes bold,
And all other gentilmen with him enterteyned
In fee, as menyall men of his housold,
Whom he as lord worshyply mainteyned:

To sorowful weping they ought to be constreined,
As oft as they call to theyr remembraunce,

185

Of ther good lord the fate and dedely chaunce.
Perlese (7. O perlese corr.) prince of heven emperyall, 190
That with one worde formed al thing of noughte;
Heven, hell, and erthe obey unto thy call;

Which to thy resemblance wondersly hast wrought
All mankynd, whom thou full dere hast bought,
With thy bloud precious our finaunce thou did pay 195
And us redemed, from the fendys pray:

[To 116] To the pray we, as prince incomparable, As thou art of mercy and pyte the well,

Thou bring unto thy joye eterminable

The soul of this lorde from all daunger of hell, 200
In endles blys with the to byde and dwell
In thy palace above the orient,

Where thou art lord, and God omnipotent.

O quene of mercy, O lady full of grace,
Mayden most pure, and goddes moder dere,
To sorowful hartes chef comfort and solace,
Of all women O flowre without pere,
Pray to thy son above the sterris clere,
He to vouchesaf by thy mediacion

205

To pardon thy servant, and bringe to salvacion.

210

35

In joy triumphaunt the hevenly yerarchy,
With all the hole sorte of that glorious place,
His soul mot receyve into theyr company

Thorow bounty of hym that formed all solace:
Wel of pite, of mercy, and of grace,
The father, the sonn, and the holy ghost
In Trinitate one God of myghts moste.

THE END OF THE FIRST BOOK.

215

12

Kupferstich: rechts ein Harfner, neben ihm ein
Kind, eine Broadside Ballade in Händen und
singend; in der Mitte ein Postament, auf dem
einige Broadsides Ballad of the Jew, Robin
Hood, Constant Susannah liegen, links daran

gelehnt ein Dichter (Shakspere) lauschend.

Our great dramatic poet having occasionally quoted many ancient ballads, and even taken the plot of one, if not more, 13 of his plays from among them, it was judged proper to pre[serve 118] serve as many of these as could be recovered, and 10 that they might be the more easily found, to exhibit them in one collective view. This SECOND BOOK is therefore set apart for the reception of such ballads as are quoted by SHAKESPEARE, or contribute in any degrce to illustrate his writings: this being the principal point in view, the candid reader will 15 pardon the admission of some pieces, that have no other kind of merit.

The design of this BOOK being of a Dramatic tendency, it may not be improperly introduced with a few observations ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH STAGE, and ON THE CONDUCT OF 20 Our First DramaTIC POETS: a subject, which though not unsuccessfully handled by several good writers already*, will yet perhaps admit of some farther illustration.

ON

THE ORIGIN OF THE ENGLISH STAGE,

&c.

It is well known that dramatic poetry in this and most 5 other nations of Europe owes its origin, or at least its revival, to those religious shows, which in the dark ages were usually exhibited on the more solemn festivals. At those times they were wont to represent in the churches the lives and miracles of the saints, or some of the more important 10 stories of scripture. And as the most mysterious subjects were frequently chosen, such as the Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection of Christ, &c. these exhibitions acquired the general name of MYSTERIES. At first they were probably a kind of dumb shews, intermingled, it may be, with a few short 15 speeches; at length they grew into a regular series of connected dialogues, formally divided into acts and scenes. Specimens of these in their most improved state (being at best but poor artless compositions) [may 119] may be seen among Dodsley's OLD PLAYS and in Osborne's HARLEYAN MISCEL. 20 How they were exhibited in their most simple form, we may learn from an ancient novel (often quoted by our old dramatic poets *) intitled ... a merye Jest of a man that was called Howleglast, &c. being a translation from the Dutch language, in which he is named Ulenspiegle. Howleglas, whose waggish 25 tricks are the subject of this book, after many adventures comes to live with a priest, who makes him his parish-clark. This priest is described as keeping a LEMAN or concubine, who had but one eye, to whom Howleglas owed a grudge for revealing his rogueries to his master. The story thus pro30 ceeds,.... “And than in the meane season, while Howleglas 'was paryshe clarke, at Easter they should play the resur"rection of our lorde: and for because than the men wer not "learned, nor could not read, the priest toke his leman, and "put her in the grave for an Aungell: and this seing Howle35 "glas, toke to hym iij of the symplest persons that were in "the towne, that played the iij Maries; and the Person [i. e. "Parson or Rector] played Christe, with a baner in his hand. *See Ben Jonson's Poetaster, Act. 3. sc. 4. and his Masque of the Fortunate Isles.

40

Howleglas is said in the Preface to have died in M.CCCC.L, At the end of the book, in M.CCC.L.