With mickle joy and triumphing Into Thames mouth he came againe. Lord Howard then a letter wrote, And sealed it with seale and ring; 150 "Such a noble prize have I brought to your grace, As never did subject to a king: "Sir Andrewes shipp I bring with mee; A braver shipp was never none : Nowe hath your grace two shipps of warr, 155 Before in England was but one." King Henryes grace with royall cheere Welcomed the noble Howard home, And where, said he, is this rover stout, That I myselfe may give the doome? "The rover, he is safe, my leige, Full many a fadom in the sea; If he were alive as he is dead, I must have left England many a day; And 160 your grace may thank four men i' the ship 165 For the victory wee have wonne, These are William Horseley, Henry Hunt, To Henry Hunt, the king then sayd, In lieu of what was from thee tane, A noble a day now thou shalt have, Sir Andrewes jewels and his chayne. 170 And Horseley thou shalt be a knight, As Howards erst have beene before. Nowe, Peter Simon, thou art old, I will maintaine thee and thy sonne : But when they see his deadlye face, And eyes soe hollow in his head, 175 180 185 I wold give, quoth the king, a thousand markes, This man were alive as hee is dead : Yett for the manfull part hee playd, Which fought soe well with heart and hand, 190 His men shall have twelvepence a day, Till they come to my brother kings high land. V. 175, 6, .. Erle of Nottingham, And soe was never, &c. MS. XIII. Lady Anne Bothwell's Lament. A SCOTTISH SONG. THE subject of this pathetic ballad the Editor once thought might possibly relate to the Earl of Bothwell, and his desertion of his wife, Lady Jean Gordon, to make room for his marriage with the Queen of Scots: but this opinion he now believes to be groundless; indeed Earl Bothwell's age, who was upwards of 60 at the time of that marriage, renders it unlikely that he should be the object of so warm a passion as this elegy supposes. He has been since informed, that it entirely refers to a private story: A young lady of the name of Bothwell, or rather Boswell, having been, together with her child, deserted by her husband or lover, composed these affecting lines herself, which here are given from a copy in the Editor's folio MS., corrected by another in Allan Ramsay's Miscellany. BALOW, my babe, lye still and sleipe! Balow, my babe, ly stil and sleipe, 5 Whan he began to court my luve, Balow, &c. Lye still, my darling, sleipe a while, 10 15 Thy fatheris hart, and face to beire. 20 Balow, &c. I cannae chuse, but ever will Be luving to thy father still: Balow, &c. 25 When sugar was first imported into Europe, it was a very great dainty; and therefore the epithet sugred is used by all our old writers metaphorically, to express extreme and delicate sweetness. (See above, p. 189, v. 10.) Sugar at present cheap and common; and therefore suggests now a coarse and vulgar idea. But doe not, doe not, prettie mine, To faynings fals thine hart incline; Balow, &c. Bairne, sin thy cruel father is gane, He'll comfort me when cares doe grieve: And quite forgeit man's cruelty. Balow, &c. Fareweil, fareweil, thou falsest youth Balow, my babe, ly stil, and sleipe, 30 35 40 45 P VOL. II. |