To playe my wiffe and me a FITT, When abed together we bee. [Now 69] Now sell me, syr kyng, thy bryde soe gay, 245 As shee sitts laced in pall, And as many gold nobles I will give, As there be rings in the hall. And what wold ye doe with my bryde so gay, Iff I did sell her yee? 250 5 More seemelye it is for her fayre bodye 10 To lye by mee than thee. Hee played agayne both loud and shrille, "O ladye, this is thy owne true love; 255 "O ladye, this is thy owne true love, "And Ile rid thee of that foule paynìm, The ladye louked (Z. looked), the ladye blushte, And blushte and lookt agayne, 260 While Adler he hath drawne his brande, 265 25 F3 Up then rose the kemperye men, And loud they gan to crye: Ah! traytors, yee have slayne our kyng, [Kyng 70] Kyng Estmere threwe the harpe asyde, And swith he drew his brand; And Estmere he, and Adler yonge And aye their swordes soe sore can byte, 270 That soone they have slayne the kempery men, 275 Kyng Estmere tooke that fayre ladye, And marryed her to his wyfe, And brought her home to merrye Englànd With her to leade his lyfe. 280 **The word Gramarye occurs several times in the foregoing poem, and every where seems to signify Magic or some kind of supernatural science. I know not whence to derive it, unless it be from the word GRAMMAR: in those dark and ignorant ages when it was thought a high degree of learning to be able 5 to read and write; he who had made a little farther progress in literature might well pass for a conjurer or magician. †† TERMAGAUNT (p. 56) is the name given in the old Romances to the God of the Saracens. Thus in the Legend of SYR GUY the Soudan (Sultan) swears, "So helpe me Mahowne of might, Sign. P. iij. b. This word is derived by the very learned Editor of Junius, from the Anglo-Saxon Typ Very, and mazan Mighty. 10 15 After the times of the Crusades, both MAHOUND and TERMAGAUNT made their constant (1. frequent corr.) appearance in the Pageants [and 71] and religious Enterludes of the barbarous ages; in which they were exhibited with gestures 30 furious and frantic, as to become proverbial. Thus Skelton 20 speaks of Wolsey, "Lyke Mahound in a play, "No man dare him withsaye." Ed. 1736. p. 158. Hence we 25 And Bale in his Acts of English Votaries, pt. 2d. says "Grennyng like Termagauntes in a play." may conceive the force of Hamlet's expression in Shakespeare, where condemning a ranting player he says, "I could have "such a fellow whipt for ore-doing TERMAGANT: it out-Herod's "Herod." A. 3. sc. 3. By degrees the word came to be 30 applied to any outrageous turbulent persont, and at last to a violent brawling woman only; and this the rather as, I suppose, the ancient figure of TERMAGANT was represented, after the Eastern mode, with long robes or petticoats. 46 So Mr. Johns. in his Dict. VII. SIR PATRICK SPENCE, A SCOTTISH BALLAD, 35 is given from two MS copies transmitted from Scotland. In what age the hero of this ballad lived, or when this fatal 40 expedition happened that proved so destructive to the Scots nobles, I have not been able to discover; yet am of opinion that their catastrophe is not altogether without foundation in history, though it has escaped my researches. In the 5 infancy of navigation, such as used the northern seas, were very liable to shipwreck in the wintry months: hence a law was enacted in the reign of James the III, (a law which was frequently repeated afterwards) "That there be na schip "frauchted out of the realm with ony staple gudes, fra the 10 "feast of Simons day and Jude, unto the feast of the puri"fication of our Lady called Candelmess." Jam. III. Parlt 2. Ch. 15. [In 72] In some modern copies, instead of Patrick Spence hath been substituted the name of Sir Andrew Wood, a famous 15 Scottish admiral who flourished in the time of our Edw. IV. but whose story hath nothing in common with this of the ballad. As Wood was the most noted warrior of Scotland, it is probable that like the Theban Hercules, he hath engrossed the renown of other heroes. THE HE king sits in Dumferling toune, O quhar will I get guid sailòr, Up and spak an eldern knicht, Sir Patrick Spence is the best sailor, The king has written a braid lettèr, And sent it to sir Patrick Spence, The first line that Sir Patrick red, 35 O quha is this has don this deid, To send me out this time o' the zeir, To sail upon the se? 20 [Mak 73] Mak haste, mak haste, my mirry men all, 25 30 Our guid schip sails the morne. O say na sae, my master deir, For I feir a deadlie storme. Late late yestreen I saw the new moone O our Scots nobles wer richt laith O lang, lang, may thair ladies sit O lang, lang, may the ladies stand Wi' thair gold kems in their hair, Have owre, have owr to Aberdour, And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spence, [VIII. 74] VIII. ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE. The Reader has here a ballad of Robin Hood (from the Editor's folio MS) which was never before printed, and carries marks of much greater antiquity than any of the common popular songs on this subject. 5 10 15 20 25 30 The severity of those tyrannical forest-laws, that were introduced by our Norman kings, and the great temptation of breaking them by such as lived near the royal forests, at a time when the yeomanry of this kingdom were every where trained up to the long-bow, and excelled all other nations in 35 the art of shooting, must constantly have occasioned great numbers of outlaws, and especially of such as were the best marksmen. These naturally fled to the woods for shelter, and forming into troops, endeavoured by their numbers to protect themselves from the dreadful penalties of their delinquency. The ancient punishment for killing the king's deer, 5 was loss of eyes and castration: a punishment far worse than death. This will easily account for the troops of banditti, which formerly lurked in the royal forests, and from their superior skill in archery and knowledge of all the recesses of those unfrequented solitudes, found it no difficult matter 10 to resist or elude the civil power. Among all these, none ever was more famous than the hero of this ballad: the heads of whose story, as collected by Stow, are briefly these. "In this time [about the year 1190, in the reign of 15 “Richard I.] were many robbers, and outlawes, among the 2 ["which 75] "which Robert Hood, and Little John, renowned "theeves, continued in woods, dispoyling and robbing the goods "of the rich. They killed none but such as would invade "them, or by resistance for their own defence. 20 " The saide Robert intertained an hundred tall men and "good archers with such spoiles and thefts as he got, upon "whom four hundred (were they never so strong) durst not "give the onset. He suffered no woman to be oppressed, vio"lated, or otherwise molested: poore mens goods he spared, 25 "aboundantlie relieving them with that, which by theft he got "from abbeys and the houses of rich carles: whom Maior "(the historian) blameth for his rapine and theft, but of all "theeves he affirmeth him to be the prince and the most gentle "theefe." Annals, p. 159. 30 The personal courage of this celebrated outlaw, his skill in archery, his humanity, and especially his levelling principle of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, have in all ages rendered him the favourite of the common people: who not content to celebrate his memory by innumerable songs and 35 stories, have erected him into the dignity of an earl. Indeed it is not impossible, but our hero, to gain the more respect from his followers, or they to derive the more credit to their profession, may have given rise to such a report themselves: for we find it recorded in an epitaph, which a late antiquary 40 pretends was formerly legible on his tombstone near the nunnery of Kirk-lees in Yorkshire, where he is said to have been |