"A boone, a boone;" quoth Earl Marshall, And fell on his bended knee; 10 "That whatsoever Queene Elianor saye, No harme therof may bee." "Ile pawne my landes," the king then cryd, My sceptre, crowne, and all, That whatsoere Queen Elianor sayes, No harme thereof shall fall. 15 "Do thou put on a fryars coat, And Ile put on another; And we will to Queen Elianor goe, 20 Thus both attired then they goe: When they came to Whitehall, The bells did ring, and the quiristers sing, When that they came before the queene, 25 "A boone, a boone, our gracious queene, That you sent so hastilee." "Are you two fryars of France," she sayd, "As I suppose you bee? 30 But if you are two Englishe fryars, You shall hang on the gallowes tree." "We are two fryars of France," they sayd, "As you suppose we bee; We have not been at any masse 35 Sith we came from the sea." "The first vile thing that ever I did, I will to you unfolde; Earl Marshall had my maidenhed, Beneath this cloth of golde." "Thats a vile sinne," then sayd the king; "May God forgive it thee!" "Amen, amen," quoth Earl Marshall; With a heavye heart spake hee. 40 "The next vile thing that ever I did, I made a boxe of poyson strong, "Thats a vile sinne," then sayd the king, 66 May God forgive it thee!" 66 Amen, amen," quoth Earl Marshall; "And I wish it so may bee." "The next vile thing that ever I did, To you I will discover; I poysoned fair Rosamonde, All in fair Woodstocke bower." "Thats a vile sinne," then sayd the king; "May God forgive it thee!" 45 50 55 Amen, amen," quoth Earl Marshall; "And I wish it so may bee." 60 A catching of the balle? That is King Henryes youngest sonne, "His head is fashyon'd like a bull, His nose is like a boare, 70 "No matter for that," King Henrye cryd, "I love him the better therfore." The king pulled off his fryars coate, And appeared all in redde; She shrieked, and cryd, and wrung her hands, 75 And sayd she was betrayde. Ver. 63, 67. She means that the eldest of these two was by the Earl Marshall, the youngest by the king. The king lookt over his left shoulder, And a grimme look looked hee; "Earl Marshall," he sayd, "but for my oathe, 80 IX. The Sturdy Rock. This poem, subscribed M. T. [perhaps invertedly for T. Marshall'] is preserved in The Paradise of Daintie Devises. The two first stanzas may be found accompanied with musical notes in "An howres recreation in musicke, &c., by Richard Alison, Lond. 1606, 4to:" usually bound up with three or four sets of "Madrigals set to music by Tho. Weelkes, Lond. 1597, 1600, 1608, 4to." One of these madrigals so complete an example of the Bathos, that I cannot forbear presenting it to the reader. Thule, the period of cosmographie, Doth vaunt of Hecla, whose sulphureous fire These things seeme wondrous, yet more wondrous I, The Andelusian merchant, that returnes Laden with cutchinele and china dishes, Amidst an ocean full of flying fishes: These things seeme wondrous, yet more wondrous I, Whose heart with feare doth freeze, with love doth fry. Mr. Weelkes seems to have been of opinion, with many of his brethren of later times, that nonsense was best adapted to display the powers of musical composure. THE sturdy rock for all his strength By raging seas is rent in twaine : 1 Vide Athen. Ox. pp. 152, 316. The stately stagge, that seemes so stout, Is caught at length in fowlers net : Yea man himselfe, unto whose will All things are bounden to obey, 10 15 There is nothing but time doeth waste; The heavens, the earth consume at last. But vertue sits triumphing still 20 Upon the throne of glorious fame: Yet hurts he not his vertuous name: By life or death what so betides, X. The Beggar's Daughter of Bednall-Green. This popular old ballad was written in the reign of Elizabeth, as appears not only from ver. 23, where the arms of England are called the "Queenes Armes," but from its tunes being quoted in other old pieces, written in her time.-See the ballad on Mary Ambree in this volume. The late Mr. Guthrie assured the Editor, that he had formerly seen another old song on the same subject, composed in a different measure from this; which was truly beautiful, if we may judge from the only stanza he remembered. In this it was said of the old beggar, that "down his neck his reverend lockes In comelye curles did wave; The following ballad is chiefly given from the Editor's folio MS. compared with two ancient printed copies; the concluding stanzas, which contain the old beggar's discovery of himself, are not, however, given from any of these, being very different from those of the vulgar ballad. Nor yet does the Editor offer them as genuine, but as a modern attempt to remove the absurdities and inconsistencies which so remarkably prevailed in this part of the song as it stood before: whereas, by the alteration of a few lines, the story is rendered much more affecting, and is reconciled to probability and true history. For this informs us, that at the decisive battle of Evesham (fought August 4, 1265), when Simon de Montfort, the great Earl of Leicester, was slain at the head of the barons, his eldest son Henry fell by his side, and, in consequence of that defeat, his whole family sunk for ever, the king bestowing their great honours and possessions on his second son, Edmund, Earl of Lancaster. PART THE FIRST. ITT was a blind beggar, had long lost his sight, And though shee was of favor most faire, Wherefore in great sorrow faire Bessy did say, Then Bessy, that was of bewtye soe bright, Shee went till shee came to Stratford-le-Bow, 5 10 15 goe; 5 Shee kept on her journey untill it was day, |