On this the bride all blushing did rise,

The pearlie dropps standing within her faire eyes;
"O pardon my father, grave nobles," quoth shee,
"That throughe blind affection thus doteth on mee."
"If this be thy father," the nobles did say,
"Well may he be proud of this happy day,
Yett by his countenance well may wee see,
His birth and his fortune did never agree.
"And therfore, blind man, we pray thee bewray,
(And looke that the truth thou to us doe say),
Thy birth and thy parentage what itt may bee,
For the love that thou bearest to pretty Bessee."
"Then give me leave, nobles and gentles, each one,
One song more to sing and then I have done;
And if that itt may not winn good report,
Then doe not give me a GROAT for my sport:

66

[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.

"When the barons in armes did King Henrye oppose,

Sir Simon de Montfort their leader they chose;

A leader of courage undaunted was hee,

And oft-times he made their enemyes flee.

"At length in the battle on Eveshame plaine

The barons were routed, and Montfort was slaine
Most fatall that battel did prove unto thee,
Thoughe thou wast not borne then, my prettye Bessee!
"Along with the nobles that fell at that tyde,
His eldest son Henrye, who fought by his side,
Was fellde by a blowe he receivde in the fight!
A blowe that deprivde him for ever of sight.
"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!

;

90

95

100

V. 81, The eight succeeding stanzas are conjectured to be the work of Robert Dodsley.-Editor.

104

"A barons faire daughter stept forth in the nighte
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,
While he throughe the realme was beleevd to be slaine;
At lengthe 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;
Her jewelles shee solde, and hither came wee;

110

All our comfort and care was our prettye Bessee.]

"And here have wee lived in fortunes despite,

Thoughe poore, yet contented, with humble delighte:
Full forty winters thus have I beene

115

A silly blind beggar of Bednall-greene.

"And here, noble lordes, is ended the song

Of one that once to your own ranke did belong;

And thus have you learned a secrette from mee,

That ne'er had beene knowne but for prettye Bessee."

Now when the faire companye everye one

121

Had heard the strange tale in the song he had showne,

They all were amazed, as well they might bee,

Both at the blinde beggar and pretty Bessee.

With that the faire bride they all did embrace,

125

Saying, "Sure thou art come of an honourable race;
Thy father likewise is of noble degree,

And thou art well worthy a lady to bee."

Thus was the feast ended with joye and delighte:

A bridegroome most happy then was the young knighte, 130 In joy and felicitie long lived hee,

All with his faire ladye, the pretty Bessee.

*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 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 country fellowes, that passe by them in the streete; or else by blind harpers, or such like taverne Minstrels, that give 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 old romances or historical rimes, made purposely 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 into neglect; but that it was not, even then, wholly excluded from more genteel assemblies, he gives us room to infer from another passage. "We ourselves," says this courtly writer, "have written for pleasure a little brief romance, or historical ditty, in the English tong, 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 company shal be desirous to heare of old adventures, 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 Editor's folio MS.

"When meate and drinke is great plentyè,

And lords and ladyes still wil bee,

And sitt and solace lythe ;5

Then itt is time for mee to speake,

Of keene knightes, and kempès great,

Such carping for to kythe."

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

He was one of Q. Elizabeth's gent. pensioners, at a time when the whole band consisted of men of distinguished birth and fortune.-Vide Ath. Ox. Perhaps "blythe."

VOL. I.

5

2 B

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. 366. 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. 68. 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 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, vol. i. p. 1, 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 vol. i. p. 18.) By degrecs 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 vol. i. pp. 113 & 118.) 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):

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 Alfred in his Boetius, having given a version of lib. 3, metr. 5, adds, pare piroom thar thar ritte arungen hærde, page 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 "poem." The reader will trace this old Saxon phrase in the application of the word fond, in the foregoing passage of Chaucer.-See Glossary.

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 Walt. Raleigh] Provoked me to play some pleasant FIT.

And when he heard the music which I made
He found himself full greatlye pleas'd at it," &c.

It is also used in the old ballad of King Estmere, vol. i. p. 51, v. 243.

From being applied to music, this word was easily transferred to dancing; thus in the old play of Lusty Juventus, (described in vol. i. p. 95, and p. 327,) Juventus says,

"By the masse I would fayne go daunce a FITTE."

And from being used as a part or division in a ballad, poem, &c., it is applied by Bale to a section or chapter in a book, though I believe in a sense of ridicule or sarcasm; for thus he entitles two chapters of his English Boraryes part ii. viz. fol. 49, "The fyrst FYTT of Anselme with Kynge Wyllyam Rufus."-fol. 50, "An other FYTT of Anselme with kynge Wyllyam Rufus."

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'

Who triumphs over me;

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 ascension day following, the kyng for mourning ware WHYTE," fol. 227, 228.

Edward, who was the 17th 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. Ooxn, &c.