For houses and churches were to him geese | Hair black as sloe, skin white as snow,

Sighing and sobbing, came to his lodging, Where he did think, this dragon would drink,

Our politick knight, on the other side,
Crept out upon the brink,
And gave the dragon such a douse,
He knew not what to think:

**A description of the supposed scene of the foregoing ballad, which was communica115 ted to the Editor in 1767, is here given in the words of the relator:

By cock, quoth he, say you so, do you see?
And then at him he let fly

"In Yorkshire, six miles from Rotherham, With hand and with foot, and so they went is a village, called Wortley, the seat of the to 't; late Wortley Montague, Esq. About a mile And the word it was, Hey boys, hey! 120 from this village is a Lodge, named Warn

Your words, quoth the dragon, I don't understand;

Then to it they fell at all, Like two wild boars so fierce, if I may Compare great things with small. Two days and a night, with this dragon did fight 125

Our champion on the ground;

cliff Lodge, but vulgarly called Wantley: here lies the scene of the song. I was there above forty years ago: and it being a woody rocky place, my friend made me clamber over rocks and stones, not telling me to what end, till I came to a sort of cave; then asked my opinion of the place, and pointing to one end, says, Here lay the Dragon killed by Moor of Moor-Hall: here lay his head; here

Though their strength it was great, their lay his tail; and the stones we came over on

skill it was neat,

They never had one wound.

At length the hard earth began to quake,

The dragon gave him a knock,

130

the hill, are those he could not crack; and yon white house you see half a mile off, is Moor-Hall. I had dined at the lodge, and knew the man's name was Matthew, who was a keeper to Mr. Wortley, and, as he endeavoured to persuade me, was the same Mat

Which made him to reel, and straitway he thew mentioned in the song: in the house is thought,

To lift him as high as a rock,

the picture of the Dragon and Moor of Moor

And thence let him fall. But More of More-Hall, and near it a well, which, says he, is

the one described in the ballad.

Since the former editions of this humorous old song were printed, the following "Key to the Satire," hath been communicated by Godfrey Bosville, Esq., of Thorp, near Malton, in Yorkshire; who, in the most obliging manner, gave full permission to subjoin it to the poem.

Wancliffe Lodge, and Warncliffe Wood (vulgarly pronounced Wantley), are in the parish of Penniston, in Yorkshire. The rectory of Penniston was part of the dissolved

With the thing at thy foot, thou hast prick'd monastery of St. Stephen's, Westminster; and

my a . . . gut,

And I'm quite undone for ever.

Murder, murder, the dragon cry'd,

Alack, alack, for grief:

Had you but mist that place, you could

Have done me no mischief.

was granted to the Duke of Norfolk's family: who therewith endowed an hospital, which he built at Sheffield, for women. The trustees 145 let the impropriation of the great tithes of Penniston to the Wortley family, who got a great deal by it, and wanted to get still more: for Mr. Nicholas Wortley attempted to take

Then his head he shaked, trembled and the tithes in kind, but Mr. Francis Bosville

quaked,

And down he laid and cry'd;

150

First on one knee, then on back tumbled he,
So groan'd, kickt, s ..., and dy'd.

opposed him, and there was a decree in favour of the modus in 37th Eliz. The vicarage of Penniston did not go along with the rectory, but with the copyhold rents, and was

part of a large purchase made by Ralph Bos-house hard by it." The keepers belonging ville, Esq., from Queen Elizabeth, in the 2d year of her reign: and that part he sold in 12th Eliz. to his elder brother Godfrey, the father of Francis; who left it, with the rest of his estate, to his wife, for her life, and then to Ralph, 3d son of his uncle Ralph. The widow married Lyonel Rowlestone, lived eighteen years, and survived Ralph.

to the Wortley family were named, for many
generations, Matthew Northall: the last of
them left this lodge, within memory, to be
keeper to the Duke of Norfolk.
The present
owner of More-hall still attends Mr. Bos-
ville's Manor Court at Oxspring, and pays a
rose a year. More of More-hall, with no-
thing at all, slew the Dragon of Wantley."
He gave him, instead of tithes, so small a
modus, that it was in effect, nothing at all,
and was slaying him with a vengeance. "The
poor children three," &c., cannot surely mean
the three sisters of Francis Bosville, who
would have been coheiresses, had he made no
will? The late Mr. Bosville had a contest
with the descendants of two of them, the late
Sir Geo. Saville's father, and Mr. Copley, about
the presentation to Penniston, they supposing
Francis had not the power to give this part
of the estate from the heirs at law; but it was
decided against them. The Dragon (Sir
Francis Wortley) succeeded better with his
cousin Wordesworth, the freehold lord of the
manor (for it is the copyhold manor that be-
longs to Mr. Bosville) having persuaded him
not to join the refractory parishioners, under
a promise that he would let him his tithes
cheap: and now the estates of Wortley and
Wordesworth are the only lands that pay
tithes in the parish.

This premised, the ballad apparently relates to the lawsuit carried on concerning this claim of tithes made by the Wortley family. "Houses and churches were to him geese and turkeys:" which are titheable things, the Dragon chose to live on. Sir Francis Wortley, the son of Nicholas, attempted again to take the tithes in kind: but the parishioners subscribed an agreement to defend their modus. And at the head of the agreement was Lyonel Rowlestone, who is supposed to be one of the Stones, dear Jack, which the Dragon could not crack." The agreement is still preserved in a large sheet of parchment, dated 1st of James I., and is full of names and seals, which might be meant by the coat of armour, "with spikes all about, both within and without." More of More-hall was either the attorney, or counsellor, who conducted the suit. He is not distinctly remembered, but More-hall is still extant at the very bottom of Wantley [Warncliff] Wood, and lies so low, that it might be said to be in a well: N. B. The "two days and a night," menas the Dragon's den [Warncliff Lodge] was tioned in ver. 125, as the duration of the comat the top of the wood, "with Matthew's | bat, was probably that of the trial at law.

XIV.

St. George for England.

THE FIRST PART.

Part.

As the former song is in ridicule of the for the sake of connecting it with the Second extravagant incidents in old ballads and metrical romances; so this is a burlesque of their style; particularly of the rambling transitions and wild accumulation of unconnected parts, so frequent in many of them.

This ballad is given from an old black-letter copy in the Pepys Collection, "imprinted at London, 1612." It is more ancient than many of the preceding; but we place it here |

WHY doe you boast of Arthur and his knightes,

Knowing 'well' how many men have en

dured fightes?

For besides King Arthur, and Lancelot du lake,

Or Sir Tristram de Lionel, that fought for ladies sake;

Bevis conquered Ascapart, and after slew the boare,

And then he crost beyond the seas to com

bat with the moore:

Besides his famous actes done in the holy lande:

But St. George, St. George the dragon did withstande.

Sir Isenbras and Eglamore, they were St. George he was for England; St. Dennis

He slew the giant Brandimore, and after St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was the death

Of that most ghastly dun cowe, the divell

of Dunsmore heath;

Besides his noble deeds all done beyond

the seas:

But St. George, St. George the dragon did

appease.

St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was for France;

Sing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Richard Coeur-de-lion, erst king of this land,

He the lion gored with his naked hand:* The false Duke of Austria nothing did he feare;

But his son he killed with a boxe on the eare;

was for France;

Sing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.

St. David of Wales the Welsh-men much advance:

St. Jaques of Spaine, that never yet broke
lance:

St. Patricke of Ireland, which was St.
Georges boy,

Seven yeares he kept his horse, and then

stole him away:

For which knavish act, as slaves they doe remaine :

But St. George, St. George the dragon he hath slaine.

St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was for France;

Sing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.

XV

St. George for England,

THE SECOND PART,

-WAS written by John Grubb, M.A., of | had formed themselves into a Club, all the Christ Church, Oxford. The occasion of its being composed is said to have been as follows. A set of gentlemen of the university

*Alluding to the fabulous exploits attributed to this

members of which were to be of the name of George; their anniversary feast was to be held on St. George's day. Our Author solicited strongly to be admitted; but his name

king in the old romances. See the Dissertation prefixed to being unfortunately John, this disqualifica

the Third Series.

tion was dispensed with only upon this condi