greene, "A poore beggars daughter did dwell on a 49 Who for her faireness might well be a queene: A blithe bonny lasse, and a daintye was shee, And many one called her pretty Bessee. "Her father hee had noe goods, nor noe land, But beggd for a penny all day with his hand; And yett to her marriage he gave thousands three,* 55 And still he hath somewhat for pretty Bessee. "And if any one here her birth doe disdaine, Her father is ready, with might and with maine, To proove shee is come of noble degree: Therfore never flout att prettye Bessee." 60 With that the lords and the companye round With harty laughter were readye to swound: Att last said the lords, Full well we may see, The bride and the beggar's behoulden to thee. "[Sir Simon de Montfort my subject shal bee; Once chiefe of all the great barons was hee, Yet fortune so cruelle this lorde did abase, Now loste and forgotten are hee and his race. 66 Among the dead bodyes all lifelesse he laye, Till evening drewe on of the following daye, When by a yong ladye discoverd was hee; And this was thy mother my prettye Bessee! "A barons faire daughter stept forth in the nighte 101 To search for her father, who fell in the fight, And seeing yong Montfort, where gasping he laye, Was moved with pitye, and brought him awaye. "In secrette she nurst him, and swaged his paine, 105 While he throughe the realme was beleevd to be slaine: At length his faire bride she consented to bee, And made him glad father of prettye Bessee. "And nowe lest oure foes our lives sholde betraye, We clothed ourselves in beggars arraye; 110 measures used by common rhymers; these, he says, “glut the eare, unless it be in small and popular musickes, sung by these Cantabanqui upon benches and barrels heads, where they have none other audience then boys or countrey fellowes, that passe by them in the streete; or else by blind harpers, or such like taverne Minstrels, that gave a fit of mirth for a groat, . their matter being for the most part stories of old time, as the tale of Sir Topas, the reportes of Bevis of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell and Clymme of the Clough, and such other And thus have you learned a secrette from old romances or historical rimes, made pur mee, That ne'er had beene knowne, but for prettye Bessee." 120 Now when the faire companye everye one, Had heard the strange tale in the song he had showne, posely for recreation of the common people at Christmasse dinners and brideales, and in tavernes and alehouses, and such other places of base resorte." P. 69. This species of entertainment, which seems to have been handed down from the ancient bards, was in the time of Puttenham falling They all were amazed, as well they might into neglect; but that it was not, even then, bee, wholly excluded more genteel assemblies, he Both at the blinde beggar, and pretty Bessee. gives us room to infer from another passage, With that the faire bride they all did embrace, 125 66 'We ourselves," says this courtly* writer, "have written for pleasure a little brief romance, or historical ditty in the English tong Saying, Sure thou art come of an honourable of the Isle of Great Britaine in short and long meetres, and by breaches or divisions [i. e. fits] to be more commodiously sung to the harpe in places of assembly, where the com de-pany shal be desirous to heare of old adven the 130 In joy and felicitie long lived hee, * * †† The word fit for part, often occurs in our ancient ballads and metrical romances; which being divided into several parts for the convenience of singing them at public entertainments, were in the intervals of the feast sung by fits, or intermissions. So Puttenham in his art of English Poesie, 1589, says, "the Epithalamie was divided by breaches into three partes to serve for three several fits, or times to be sung." P. 41. From the same writer we learn some curious particulars relative to the state of ballad-singing in that age, that will throw light on the present subject: speaking of the quick returns of one manner of tune in the short tures, and valiaunces of noble knights in times past, as are those of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table, Sir Bevys of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, and others like." P. 33. In more ancient times no grand scene of festivity was complete without one of these reciters to entertain the company with feats of arms, and tales of knighthood, or, as one of these old minstrels says, in the beginning of an ancient romance on Guy and Colbronde, in the Editors folio MS. "When meate and drinke is great plentyè, And lords and ladyes still wil bee, And sitt and solace lythe;† He was one of Queen Elizabeth's gent. pensioners, at a time when the whole band consisted of men of distinguished birth and fortune. Vid. Ath. Ox. † Perhaps "blythe." "Lo! lordis mine, here is a fitt; If ye woll any more of it, To tell it woll I fonde." The word fit indeed appears originally to have signified a poetic strain, verse, or poem: for in these senses it is used by the AngloSaxon writers. Thus King Elfred in his Boetius, having given a version of lib. 3, metr. 5, adds, Dare pirdom tha thar Fitte arungen hærde p. 65, i. e. "When wisdom had sung these [fitts] verses." And in the Proem to the same book Fon on fitte, "Put into [fitt] verse." So in Cedmon, p. 45, Feond on fitte, seems to mean "composed a song," or will trace this old Saxon phrase, in the applipoem." The reader cation of the word fond, in the foregoing passage of Chaucer. See Gloss. If we consider that a groat in the age of Elizabeth was more than equivalent to a shilling now, we shall find that the old harpers were even then, when their art was on the decline, upon a far more reputable footing than the ballad-singers of our time. The reciting of one such ballad as this of the Beggar of Bednall-green, in two parts, was rewarded with half a crown of our money. And that they made a very respectable appearance, we may learn from the dress of the old beggar, in the preceding ballad, p. 229, where he comes into company in the habit and character of one of these minstrels, being not known to be the bride's father, till after her speech, ver. 63. The exordium of his song, and his claiming a groat for his reward, ver. 80, are peculiarly characteristic of that profession. Most of the old ballads begin in a pompous manner, in order to captivate the attention of the audience, and induce them to purchase a recital of the song: and they seldom conclude the first part without large promises of still greater entertainment in the second. This was a necessary piece of art to incline the hearers to be at the expense of a second groat's worth.-Many of the old romances extend to eight or nine fits, which would afford a considerable profit to He found himselfe full greatlye pleas'd at the reciter. To return to the word fit; it seems at one time to have peculiarly signified the pause, or breathing-time, between the several parts (answering to Passus in the visions of Pierce Plowman): thus in the ancient ballad of "Chevy-Chase," (p. 55,) the first Part ends with this line, "The first fit here I fynde:" i. e. here I come to the first pause or intermission. (See also p. 58.) By degrees it came to signify the whole part or division preceding the pause. (See the concluding verses of the first and second parts of " Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly," in this work.) This sense it had obtained so early as the time of Chaucer: who thus concludes the first part of his rhyme of Sir Thopas (writ in ridicule of the old ballad romances): 66 Spenser has used the word fit to denote "a strain of music:" see his poem entitled "Collin Clout's come home again," where he says, The Shepherd of the ocean [Sir W. Raleigh.] m And when he heard the music which I made it, &c. It is also used in the old ballad of King Estmere, p. 16, v. 243. From being applied to music, this word was easily transferred to dancing; thus in the old play of "Lusty Juventus" (described in p. 117), Juventus says, By the masse I would fayne go daunce a fitte. And from being used as a part or divi- XI. Fancy and Desire. BY THE EARL OF OXFORD. EDWARD VERE, Earl of Oxford, was in high fame for his poetical talents in the reign of Elizabeth: perhaps it is no injury to his reputation that few of his compositions are preserved for the inspection of impartial posterity. To gratify curiosity, we have inserted a sonnet of his, which is quoted with great encomiums for its "excellencie and wit," in Puttenham's "Arte of Eng. Poesie;”* and found entire in the "Garland of Good-will." A few more of his sonnets (distinguished by the initial letters E. O.) may be seen in the "Paradise of Daintie Devises." One of these is entitled, "The Complaint of a Lover, wearing blacke and tawnie." The only lines in it worth notice are these, A crowne of baies shall that man beare' For black and tawnie will I weare, Which mourning colours be. We find in Hall's Chronicle, that when Queen Catharine of Arragon died, Jan. 8, 1536, "Queen Anne [Bullen] ware yellowe for the mourning." And when this unfortunate princess lost her head, May 19, the same year, "on the ascencion day following, the kyng for mourning ware whyte." Fol. 227, 228. Edward, who was the seventeenth Earl of Oxford, of the family of Vere, succeeded his father in his title and honours in 1562, and died an aged man in 1604. See Mr. Walpole's Noble Authors. Athen. Oxon. &c. XII. Sir Andrew Barton. I CANNOT give a better relation of the fact, which is the subject of the following ballad, than in an extract from the late Mr. Guthrie's Peerage; which was begun upon a very elegant plan, but never finished. Vol. I., 4to. p. 22. "The transactions which did the greatest honour to the Earl of Surrey* and his family at this time [A. D. 1511], was their behaviour in the case of Barton, a Scotch sea officer. This gentleman's father having suffered by sea from the Portuguese, he had obtained letters of marque for his two sons to make reprisals upon the subjects of Portugal. It is extremely probable, that the court of Scotland granted these letters with no very honest intention. The council board of England, at which the Earl of Surrey held the chief place, was daily pestered with complaints from the sailors and merchants, that Barton, who was called Sir Andrew Barton, under pretence of searching for Portuguese goods, interrupted the English navigation. Henry's situation at that time rendered him backward from breaking with Scotland, so that their complaints were but coldly received. The Earl of Surrey, however, could not smother his indignation, but gallantly declared at the council board, that while he had an estate that could furnish out a ship, or a son that was capable of commanding one, the narrow seas should not be infested. "Sir Andrew Barton, who commanded the two Scotch ships, had the reputation of being one of the ablest sea officers of his time. By his depredations, he had amassed great wealth, and his ships were very richly laden. Henry, notwithstanding his situation, could not refuse the generous offer made by the Earl of Surrey. Two ships were immediately fitted out, and put to sea with letters of marque, under his two sons, Sir Thomas† and Sir Ed ward Howard. After encountering a great deal of foul weather, Sir Thomas came up with the Lion, which was commanded by Sir Andrew Barton in person; and Sir Edward came up with the Union, Barton's other ship [called by Hall, the Bark of Scotland]. The engagement which ensued was extremely obstinate on both sides; but at last the fortune of the Howards prevailed. Sir Andrew was killed, fighting bravely, and encouraging his men with his whistle, to hold out to the last; and the two Scotch ships, with their crews, were carried into the River Thames. [Aug. 2, 1511.] "This exploit had the more merit, as the two English commanders were in a manner volunteers in the service, by their father's order. But it seems to have laid the foundation of Sir Edward's fortune; for, on the 7th of April, 1512, the king constituted him (according to Dugdale) admiral of England, Wales, &c. "King James 'insisted' upon satisfaction for the death of Barton, and capture of his ship: though' Henry had generously dismissed the crews, and even agreed that the parties accused might appear in his courts of admiralty by their attorneys, to vindicate themselves." This affair was in a great measure the cause of the battle of Flodden, in which James IV. lost his life. In the following ballad will be found perhaps some few deviations from the truth of history: to atone for which it has probably recorded many lesser facts, which history hath not condescended to relate. I take many of the little circumstances of the story to be real, because I find one of the most unlikely to be not very remote from the truth. In Part 2, v. 156, it is said, that England had before "but two ships of war." Now the "Great Harry" had been built only seven years before, viz., in 1504: which "was pro * Thomas Howard, afterwards created Duke of Nor- perly speaking the first ship in the English folk. Called by old historians Lord Howard, afterwards created Earl of Surrey in his father's lifetime. He was father of the poetical Earl of Surrey. navy. Before this period, when the prince wanted a fleet, he had no other expedient but hiring ships from the merchants." Hume. |