The prince of Great Parma heard of her renowne
Who long had advanced for Englands faire crowne;
Hee wooed her and sued her his mistress to bee,
And offerd rich presents to Mary Ambree.
But this virtuous mayden despised them all:
"Ile nere sell my honour for purple nor pall;
A mayden of England, sir, never will bee
The whore of a monarcke," quoth Mary Ambree.
Then to her owne country shee backe did returne,
Still holding the foes of faire England in scorne;
Therfore English captaines of every degree
Sing forth the brave valours of Mary Ambree.

80

85

XX.

Brave Lord Willoughbey.1

Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, had, in the year 1586, distinguished himself at the siege of Zutphen, in the Low Countries. He was, the year after, made general of the English forces in the United Provinces, in room of the Earl of Leicester, who was recalled. This gave him an opportunity of signalizing his courage and military skill in several actions against the Spaniards. One of these, greatly exaggerated by popular report, is probably the subject of this old ballad, which, on account of its flattering encomiums on English valour, hath always been a favourite with the people.

"My lord Willoughbie (says a contemporary writer) was one of the queenes best swordsmen: he was a great master of the art military I have heard it spoken, that had he not slighted the court, but applied himself to the queene, he might have enjoyed a plentifull portion of her grace and it was his saying, and it did him no good, that he was none of the Reptilia; intimating, that he could not creepe on the ground, and that the court was not his element; for, indeed, as he was a great souldier, so he was of suitable magnanimitie, and could not brooke the obsequiousnesse and assiduitie of the court.”(Naunton.)

Lord Willoughbie died in 1601. Both Norris and Turner were famous among the military men of that age.

The subject of this ballad (which is printed from an old black-letter copy, with some conjectural emendations), may possibly receive illustration from what Chapman says, in the dedication to his version of

Lord Willoughby was the son of the noble lady who figures as the heroine of the well-known ballad, The Duchess of Suffolk's Calamity.— Editor.

er's Frogs and Mice, concerning the brave and memorable retreat Sir John Norris, with only 1000 men, through the whole Spanish rmy under the Duke of Parma, for three miles together.

THE fifteenth day of July,

With glistering spear and shield,
A famous fight in Flanders
Was foughten in the field:
The most couragious officers
Were English captains three;
But the bravest man in battel

Was brave Lord Willoughbèy.

The next was Captain Norris,
A valiant man was hee;

The other Captain Turner,

From field would never flee.

With fifteen hundred fighting men,

Alas! there were no more,

They fought with fourteen thousand then,
Upon the bloody shore.

"Stand to it, noble pikemen,

And look you round about:
And shoot you right, you bow-men,
And we will keep them out.
You musquet and callìver men,
Do you prove true to me:
I'le be the formost man in fight,"
Says brave Lord Willoughbèy.

And then the bloody enemy

They fiercely did assail,

30

Yet nothing could the courage quell

Of brave Lord Willoughbèy.

For seven hours, to all mens view,
This fight endured sore,

Until our men so feeble grew

That they could fight no more;

This little moral sonnet hath such a pointed application to the heroes of the foregoing and following ballads, that I cannot help placing it here, though the date of its composition is of a much later period. It is extracted from "Cupid and Death, a masque by J. S. [James Shirley], presented Mar. 26, 1653," London, printed 1653, 4to.

VICTORIOUS Men of earth, no more

Proclaim how wide your empires are;
Though you binde in every shore,

And your triumphs reach as far

As night or day;

5

Yet you proud monarchs must obey,
And mingle with forgotten ashes, when

Death calls yee to the crowd of common men.

Devouring famine, plague, and war,

Each able to undo mankind,
Death's servile emissaries are;

Nor to these alone confin'd,
He hath at will

More quaint aud subtle wayes to kill:
A smile or kiss, as he will use the art,

Shall have the cunning skill to break a heart.

10

15

XXII

The Winning of Cales.

The subject of this ballad is the taking of the city of Cadiz (called by our sailors corruptly Cales), on June 21, 1596, in a descent made on the coast of Spain, under the command of the Lord Howard, admiral, and the Earl of Essex, general.

The valour of Essex was not more distinguished on this occasion than his generosity: the town was carried sword in hand, but he stopped the slaughter as soon as possible, and treated his prisoners with the greatest humanity, and even affability and kindness. The English made a rich plunder in the city, but missed of a much richer, by the resolution which the Duke of Medina, the Spanish admiral, took, of setting fire to the ships, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. It was computed, that the loss which the Spaniards sustained from this enterprise, amounted to twenty millions of ducats.-See Hume's History. The Earl of Essex knighted on this occasion not fewer than sixty persons, which gave rise to the following sarcasm :—

"A gentleman of Wales, a knight of Cales,
And a laird of the North country;

But a yeoman of Kent with his yearly rent
Will buy them out all three."

The ballad is printed, with some corrections, from the Editor's folio MS., and seems to have been composed by some person who was concerned in the expedition. Most of the circumstances related in it will be found supported by history.