"Thy yeeares are young, thy face is faire,

Thy witts are weake, thy thoughts are greene; Time hath not given thee leave, as yett,

For to committ so great a sinne."

Yes, heardsman, yes, soe woldest thou say,
If thou knewest soe much as I ;

My witts, and thoughts, and all the rest,
Have well deserved for to dye.

I am not what I seeme to bee,

My clothes and sexe doe differ farr:

I am a woman, woe is me!

Born to greeffe and irksome care.

For my beloved, and well-beloved,

My wayward cruelty could kill :

And though my teares will nought avail,
Most dearely I bewail him still.

He was the flower of noble wights,

None ever more sincere colde bee;

Of comely mien and shape hee was,
And tenderlye hee loved mee.

When thus I saw he loved me well,
I grewe so proud his paine to see,
That I, who did not know myselfe,

Thought scorne of such a youth as hee.

15

20

25

30

35

'And grew soe coy and nice to please,
As women's lookes are often soe,
He might not kisse, nor hand forsooth,
Unlesse I willed him soe to doe.

Thus being wearyed with delayes
To see I pittyed not his greeffe,
him to a secrett place,

He

gott

And there he dyed without releeffe.

And for his sake these weeds I weare,
And sacriffice my tender age;

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45

2 Three of the following stanzas have been finely paraphrased by Dr. Goldsmith, in his charming ballad of Edwin and Angelina; the reader of taste will have a pleasure in comparing them with the original.

'And' still I try'd each fickle art,
Importunate and vain;

And while his passion touch'd my heart,

I triumph'd in his pain.

'Till quite dejected with my scorn,

He left me to my pride;

And sought a solitude forlorn,
In secret, where he dy'd.

But mine the sorrow, mine the fault,
And well my life shall pay;

I'll seek the solitude he sought,
And stretch me where he lay.

And there forlorn despairing hid,
I'll lay me down and die:
'Twas so for me that Edwin did,
And so for him will I.

And every day Ile begg my bread,
To undergoe this pilgrimage.

Thus every day I fast and pray,
And ever will doe till I dye;

And gett me to some secrett place,

For soe did hee, and soe will I.

Now, gentle heardsman, aske no more,
But keepe my secretts I thee pray ;
Unto the towne of Walsingam

Show me the right and readye way.

"Now goe thy wayes, and God before!
For he must ever guide thee still:
Turne downe that dale, the right hand path,
And soe, faire pilgrim, fare thee well!"

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55

60

To show what constant tribute was paid to OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM, I shall give a few extracts from the " Household-Book of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland." Printed 1770, 8vo.

Sect. XLIII. page 337, &c.

ITEM, My Lorde usith yerly to send afor Michaelmas for his Lordschip's Offerynge to our Lady of Walsyngeham, iiij d.

ITEM, My Lorde usith ande accustumyth to sende yerely for the upholdynge of the Light of Wax which his Lordschip fyndith birnynge yerly befor our Lady of Walsyngham, contenynge xj lb. of Wax in it after vij d. ob. for the fyndynge of every lb. redy wrought by a covenaunt

maid with the Channon by great, for the hole yere, for the fyndinge of the said Lyght byrning,-vis.viiijd. ITEM, My Lord useth and accustomith to syende yerely to the Channon that kepith the Light before our Lady of Walsyngham, for his reward for the hole yere, for kepynge of the said Light, lightynge of it at all service tymes daily thorowt the yere,-rijd.

ITEM, My Lord usith and accustomyth yerely to send to the Prest that kepith the Light, lyghtynge of it at all service tymes daily thorowt the yere,-iij s. iiij d.

XV.

K. Edward E. and the Tanner of Tamworth WAS a story of great fame among our ancestors. The author of the Art of English Poesie, 1589, 4to, seems to speak of it as a real fact. Describing that vicious mode of speech, which the Greeks called Acyron, i. e. "When we use a dark and obscure word, utterly repugnant to that we should express;" he adds, "Such manner of uncouth speech did the Tanner of Tamworth use to King Edward the fourth; which Tanner, having a great while mistaken him, and used very broad talke with him, at length perceiving by his traine that it was the king, was afraide he should be punished for it, [and] said thus, with a certain rude repentance,

'I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow,'

for [I feare me] I shall be hanged; whereat the king laughed a good1, not only to see the Tanner's vaine feare, but also to heare his illshapen terme and gave him for

1 Vide Gloss.

recompence of his good sport, the inheritance of Plumpton-parke. I am afraid," concludes this sagacious writer, "the poets of our times that speake more finely and correctedly, will come too short of such a reward," p. 214. The phrase here referred to is not found in this ballad at present, but occurs with some variation in another old poem, entitled, John the Reeve, described in the following volume. (See the Preface to The King and the Miller,) viz.

"Nay, sayd John, by Gods grace
And Edward wer in this place,

Hee shold not touch this tonne :
He wold be wroth with John I HOPE,
Thereffore I beshrew the soupe,

That in his mouth shold come."

Pt. ii. st. 24.

The following text is selected (with such other corrections as occurred) from two copies in black letter. The one in the Bodleian library, entitled, “ A merrie, pleasant, and delectable historie betweene King Edward the Fourth, and a Tanner of Tamworth, &c., printed at London, by John Danter, 1596." This copy, ancient as it now is, appears to have been modernised and altered at the time it was published; and many vestiges of the more ancient readings were recovered from another copy, (though more recently printed,) in one sheet folio, without date, in the Pepys collection.

But these are both very inferior in point of antiquity to the old ballad of The King and the Barker, reprinted with other" Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry from Authentic Manuscripts, and old Printed Copies, edited by Ritson," Lond. 1791, 8vo. As that very antique poem had never occurred to the Editor of the Reliques, till he saw it in the above collection, he now refers the curious reader to it, as an imperfect and incorrect copy of the old original ballad.

2 Nor in that of the Barker mentioned below.