And to church they went:.

190

So well his needs he has fped,

That deare Tibbe he fhall wed;,

The cheefemen that her hither lead, were of the turnament.

To the rich feaft come many for the nonce;

Some come hop - halte, and fome tripping thither on the

ftones;

195

Some with a staffe in his hand, and fome two at once;
Of some were the heads broken; of fome the fhoulderbones:
With forrow come they thither :

Wo was Hawkin; wo was Harry :

Wo was Tymkin; wo was Tirry;

200

And fo was all the company, but yet they come togither.

At that feaft were they ferved in rich aray;
Every five and five had a cokeney;

And fo they fat in jollity all the long day:
Tibbe at night, I trowe, had a fimple aray;
Mickle mirth was them among:

In every corner of the house

Was melody delicious,'

For to hear precious of fix mens fong.

205

V.

FOR THE VICTORY AT AGINCOURT.

That our plain and martial ancestors could wield their Swords much better than their pens will appear from the following homely Rhymes, which were drawn up by Some poet laureat of those days to celebrate the immortal victory gained at Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415. This fong or hymn is given meerly as a curiofity, and is printed from a MS. copy in

the Pepys collection, vol. I. folio.

It is there accompanied

with the musical notes, which are capied in a small plate ak the end of this volume,

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria !

OWRE kynge went forth to Normandy,

With grace and myzt of chivalry;
The God for hym wrouzt marvelously,
Wherfore Englonde may calle, and cry
Deo gratias:

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria,

He fette a fege, the fothe for to fay,
To Harflu toune with ryal aray ;
That toune he wan, and made a fray,
That Fraunce fhall rywe tyl domes day.
Deo gratias, &c.

Then went owre kynge, with alle his ofte,
Thorowe Fraunce for all the Frenfhe bofte;
He fpared no drede of lefte, ne moft,
Tyl he come to Agincourt cofte.

Deo gratias, &c.

Than for fothe that knyzt comely
In Agincourt feld he fauzt manly,
Thorow grace of God moft myzty
He had bothe the felde, and the victory.

Deo gratias, &c.

Ther dukys, and erlys, lorde and barone,
Were take, and flayne, and that wel fone,

And fome were ledde in to Lundone
With joye, and merthe, and grete renone.
Deo gratias,

25

Now gracious God he fave owre kynge
His peple, and all his wel wyllynge,
Gef hym gode lyfe, and gode endynge,
That we with merth move favely fynge,
Deo gratias:

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria,

39

VI.

THE NOT-BROWNE MAYD.

The Sentimental beauties of this ancient ballad have always recommended it to Readers of taste, notwithstanding the rust of antiquity, which obfcures the style and expreffion. Indeed if it had no other merit, than the having afforded the groundwork to Prior's HENRY AND EMMA, this ought to preferve it from oblivion. That we are able to give it in a more correct manner than almost any other Poem in these volu mes, is owing to the great care and exactneß of the accurate Editor of the PROLUSIONS 8vo. 1760; who has formed the text from two copies found in two different editions of Arnolde's Chronicle a book fuppofed to be first printed about 1521. From the correct copy in the Prolufions the following is printed, with a few additional improvements gathered from another edition of Arnolde's book * preserved in the pu

* This (which a learned friend foppofes to be the first Edition) is in folio: the folios are numbered at the bottom of the leaf: the Song begins at folio 75,

ΟΥ

blic Library at Cambridge. All the various reading of this Copy will be found here, either received into the text, noted in the margin. The references to the Prolufions will Shew where they occur. It does honour to the critical fagacity of that gentleman, that almost all his conjectural readings, are found to be the established ones of this edition. In our ancient folio MS. described in the preface is a very corrupt and defective copy of this ballad, which yet afforded a great improvement in one line that will be found in its due place.

It has been a much easier task to Settle the text of this poem, than to afcertain its date. Mat. Prior published it in the folio edition of his poems, 1718, as then “300 years old." In making this decifion he was probably guided by the learned Wanley, whofe judgment in matters of this nature was most confummate. For that whatever related to the reprinting of this old piece was referred to Wanley, appears from two letters of Prior's, preferved in the Brittish Mufeum [Harl. MSS. No. 3777.] The Editor of the Prolufions thinks it cannot be older than the year 1500, because in Sir Thomas More's tale of THE SERJEANT &c. which was written about that time, there appears a fameneß of rhythmus and orthography, and a very near affinity of words and phrafes with those of this ballad. But this reasoning is not conclufive; for if Sir Thomas More made this ballad his model, as is very likely, that will account for the fameneß of meaSure, and in fome respect for that of words and phrases, even tho' this had been written long before: and as for the orthography it is well known that the old Printers reduced that of moft books to the standard of their own times. Indeed it is hardly probable that an antiquarian like Arnolde would have inferted it among his historical Collections if it had been then a modern piece; at least he would have been apt to have

named

named its author. But to Shew how little can be inferred from a resemblance of rhythmus or style, the editor of these volumes has in his ancient folio MS. a poem on the Victory of Floddenfield, written in the fame numbers, with the fame alliterations, and in orthography, phraseology and style nearly resembling the Vifions of Pierce Plowman, which are yet known to have been composed above 160 years before that battle. As this poem is a great curiofity, we shall give a few of the introductory lines,

"Grant gracious God, grant me this time
"That I may 'say, or I cease, thy felven to please;
"And Mary his mother, that maketh this world;
"And all the feemlie faints, that fitten in heaven;
"I will carpe of kings, that conquered full wide,
"That dwelled in this land, that was alyes noble;

ふ

"Henry the Seventh, that foveraigne lord, &c. With regard to the date of the following ballad we have taken a middle course, neither placed it So high as Wanley and Prior, nor quite so low as the editor of the Prolufions: we Should have followed the latter in dividing every other line into two but that the whole would then have taken up more room, than could be allowed it in this volume.

BE it ryght, or wrong, these men among

On women do complayne;

Affyrmynge this, how that it is

A labour spent in vayne,

To love them wele; for never a dele

They love a man agayne:

For late a man do what he can,

Theyr favour to attayne

Ver. 2. Woman, Prolufions,

Yet,