NOTES.

P. 5, 1. 15.-Ere thou canst say" they're gone."] This line is printed as we found it, but the meaning seems obscured by the inverted commas. We would read the line as a parenthesis, and use the word say in the signification of speak, or utter an expression.

P. 22, 1. 24.—Grub.] An early instance of a cant term still used in the same sense.

P. 42.-A Dialogue between the Husband-man and the Serving-man.] In the third volume of the Roxburgh Collection is an ancient black-letter copy of this curious production. It is without date, or printer's name, and varies, but not materially, from our version. We give the title and rhyming argument." God speed the Plow, and bless the Corn-mow; a Dialogue between the Husband-man and the Serving-man.

"The Serving-man the Plow-man would invite

To leave his calling, and to take delight;
But he to that by no means will agree,
Lest he thereby should come to beggary:
He makes it plain appear a country life

Doth far excell,—and so they end their strife.

-The tune is, I am the Duke of Norfolk."

P. 52. The late Francis King.] This poor minstrel, from whose recitation two of our ballads were obtained, met his

R

death by drowning, in December 1844. He had been at a merry-making at Gargrave, in Craven, and it is supposed that, owing to the darkness of the night, he had mistaken his homeward road, and walked into the water. He was one in whose character were combined the mime and the minstrel; and his old jokes, and older ballads and songs, ever insured him a hearty welcome. His appearance was peculiar, and, owing to one leg being shorter than its companion, he walked in such a manner as once drew from a wag the remark "that few Kings had had more ups and downs in the world!" As a musician, his talents were creditable, and some of the dance-tunes that he was in the habit of composing, shewed that he was not deficient in the organ of melody. In the quiet church-yard of Gargrave may be seen the minstrel's grave.

"Aye, there he rests!—

There, where the daisy lifts its modest head

Above the trefoil green;—where glides the Aire,

Lapsing along in liquid music, far

O'er the romantic land he loved so well!"

P. 57, 1. 7.-Queen.] Quære, quean

P. 58, 1. 11.—Meet.] This word seems used in the sense of the French verb mettre, to put, or place.

P. 71.-The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood.] Though, as we have stated, this ballad is not in any collection, the subject is the same as that of the old ballad called Robin Hood newly reviv'd: or the Meeting and Fighting with his Cousin Scarlet. Vide Evans's Old Ballads, and Ritson's Robin

Hood.

P. 73, 1. 21.-Gamble Gold.] The stall copies read Gamble bold.

P. 74.—The Outlandish Knight.] In the Roxburgh Collection is a copy of this ballad, in which the catastrophe is

When the young

brought about in a different manner. lady finds that she is to be drowned, she very leisurely makes a particular examination of the place of her intended execution, and raises an objection to some nettles which are growing on the banks of the stream! these she requires to be removed, in the following very poetical manner:—

"Go fetch the sickle, to crop the nettle,

That grows so near the brim ;

For fear it should tangle my golden locks,

Or freckle my milk-white skin."

A request so elegantly made, is gallantly complied with by the treacherous knight, who, while engaged in "cropping," is pushed into the stream, and meets the just reward of his perfidy!

P. 80.-Lord Delaware.] The editor has recently met with a homely version of this ballad.

P. 89, 1. 10.-pine.] Grief.

P. 102, 1. 16.—Fight wi' me.] i.e. along with me.

P. 104, 1. 9.—Fankit.] Sheathed, or confined.

P. 109.-The King and the Tinkler.] The late Robert Anderson, the Cumbrian bard, in his song of the Clay Daubin, represents Deavie as singing The King and the Tinkler.

"He lilted The King and the Tinkler,
And Wully strack up Robin Hood;
Dick Mingins tried Hooly and Fairly,
And Martha the Babs o' the Wood."

P. 112.-The Keach the Creel.] i. e. the catch in the basket.

P. 126. Saddle to Rags.] Since we inserted this highwayman's ballad, we have been favoured by a correspondent with a highwayman's song, which looks like a composition of the reign of Charles II. From the carelessness of

printers the copy abounded with mistakes, which so obscure the meaning, that we could not have inserted it in the state in which it came to our hands. The following is the song alluded to, but it is given with several conjectural emendations, made by a friend who is better acquainted with such pop-ular literature than the editor.

THE TROTTING HORSE.

I CAN sport as fine a trotting horse as any swell in town,
To trot you fourteen miles an hour, I'll bet you fifty crown;
He is such a one to bend his knees, and tuck his haunches in,
And throw the dust in people's face, and think it not a sin.
For to ride away, trot away,

Ri, fa lar, la, &c.

He has an eye like any hawk, a neck like any swan,

A foot light as the stag's, the while his back is scarce a span ;
Kind Nature hath so formed him, he is everything that's good,-
Aye! everything a man could wish, in bottom, bone, and blood.
For to ride away, &c.

If you drop the rein, he'll nod his head, and boldly walk away,
While others kick and bounce about, to him it's only play;
There never was a finer horse e'er went on English ground,
He is rising six years old, and is all over right and sound.
For to ride away, trot away, &c.

If any frisk or milling match should call me out of town,

I can pass the blades with white cockades, their whiskers hanging down; With large jack-towels round their necks, they think they're first and fast, But, with their gapers open wide, they find that they are last.

Whilst I ride away, trot away, &c.

If threescore miles I am from home, I darkness never mind,
My friend is gone, and I am left, with pipe and pot behind;
Up comes some saucy kiddy, a scampsman on the hot,
But ere he pulls the trigger I am off just like a shot.
For I ride away, trot away, &c.