VII.

Take thy Old Cloak about thee.

And Ile have a new cloake about mee.

SHE.

It is four and fortye yeeres agoe

-is supposed to have been originally a Scotch | It will neither hold out winde nor raine; 31 ballad. The reader here has an ancient copy in the English idiom, with an additional stanza (the 2d) never before printed. This curiosity is preserved in the Editor's folio MS., but not without corruptions, which are here removed by the assistance of the Scottish Edition. Shakspeare, in his Othello, act ii., has quoted one stanza, with some variations, which are here adopted: the old MS. readings of that stanza are however given in the margin.

Since the one of us the other did ken, And we have had betwixt us towe

35

Of children either nine or ten;
Wee have brought them up to women and

men;

In the feare of God I trow they bee;
And why wilt thou thyselfe misken?

Man, take thine old cloake about thee. 40

V. 41, flyte, MS. V. 49, King Harry.. ..a very good king, MS. V. 50, I trow his hose cost but, MS. V. 51, He thought them 12d. to deere, MS. V. 52, clowne, MS. V. 53, He was king and ware the crowne, MS.

VIII.

Willow, Willow, Willow.

mone.

O willow, &c.

20

It is from the following stanzas that Shak- | Her heart's hard as marble; she rues not my speare has taken his song of the "Willow," in his Othello, act iv. sc. 3, though somewhat varied and applied by him to a female character. He makes Desdemona introduce it in this pathetic and affecting manner:

"My mother had a maid call'd Barbara:
She was in love; and he she lov'd prov'd
mad,

And did forsake her. She had a song of-
Willow.

An old thing 'twas, but it express'd her for-
tune,

Aud she died singing it."

Ed. 1793, vol. xv. p. 613.

This is given from a black-letter copy in the Pepys collection, thus entitled, "A Lover's Complaint, being forsaken of his Love." To a pleasant tune.

A POORE Soule sat sighing under a sicamore tree;

O willow, willow, willow!

With his hand on his bosom, his head on his

knee:

O willow, willow, willow!

O willow, willow, willow!

Sing, O the greene willow, &c.

The cold streams ran by him, his eyes wept

5

O that beauty should harbour a heart that's
so hard!
Sing willow, &c.

Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garlånd.

He sigh'd in his singing, and after each grone, My true love rejecting without all regard. Come willow, &c.

O willow, &c.

I am dead to all pleasure, my true-love is Sing, O the greene willow, &c.

gone;

O willow, &c.

Sing, O the greene willow shall be my garland.

bower;
O willow, &c.
For women

40

10

Let love no more boast him in palace or

are trothles, and flote in an

My love she is turned; untrue she doth prove;
O willow, &c.

She renders me nothing but hate for my love.
O willow, &c.

Sing, O the greene willow, &c.

O pitty me, (cried he), ye lovers, each one;
O willow, &c.

houre.

O willow, &c.

But what helps complaining? In vaine I

complaine :

O willow, &c.

I must patiently suffer her scorne and dis- | Of all that doe knowe her, to blaze her untrue.

The willow wreath weare I, since my love did Though she thus unkindly hath scorned my

love,

O willow, &c.

A garland for lovers forsaken most meete.
O willow, &c.

Sing, O the greene willow shall be my gar- Sing, O the greene willow, &c.

land!

PART THE SECOND.

I cannot against her unkindly exclaim,
O willow, &c.

Lowe lay'd by my sorrow, begot by disdaine; Cause once well I loved her, and honoured

O willow, willow, willow!

Against her to cruell, still still I complaine,

O willow, willow, willow!

O willow, willow, willow!

5

ber name:

Sing, O the greene willow shall be my gar- The name of her sounded so sweete in mine

O love too injurious, to wound my poore It rays'd my heart lightly, the name of my

heart!

As here it doth bid to despair and to dye,
O willow, &c.

15

So hang it, friends, ore me in grave where I Farewell, faire false hearted: plaints end

lye:

O willow, &c.

20

with my breath!
O willow, willow, willow!

Sing, O the greene willow shall be my gar- Thou dost loath me, I love thee, though cause

XI.

Sir Lancelot du Lake.

THIS ballad is quoted in Shakspeare's | He said he wold goe prove himselfe second part of Henry IV., act ii. The sub- In some adventurous sort. ject of it is taken from the ancient romance of King Arthur (commonly called Morte Arthur), being a poetical translation of chap. cviii., cix., cx., in part 1st, as they stand in ed. 1634, 4to. In the older editions the chapters are differently numbered.-This song is given from a printed copy, corrected in part by a fragment in the editor's folio MS.

In the same play of 2 Henry IV., Silence hums a scrap of one of the old ballads of Robin Hood. It is taken from the following stanza of "Robin Hood and the Pindar of Wakefield:"

All this beheard three wighty yeomen,
Twas Robin Hood, Scarlet, and John:
With that they espy'd the jolly Pindàr

As he sate under a throne.

That ballad may be found on every stall, and therefore is not here reprinted.

WHEN Arthur first in court began,
And was approved king,

By force of armes great victorys wanne,
And conquest home did bring.

Then into England straight he came
With fifty good and able

Knights, that resorted unto him,

And were of his round table:

And he had justs and turnaments,

Wherto were many prest,

Wherein some knights did far excell
And eke surmount the rest.

He armed rode in a forrest wide,
And met a damsell faire,
Who told him of adventures great,
Wherto he gave great eare.

Such wold I find, quoth Lancelott:
For that cause came I hither.
Thou seemst, quoth shee, a knight full good,
And I will bring thee thither.

Wheras a mighty knight doth dwell,

That now is of great fame:
Therfore tell me what wight thou art,
And what may be thy name.

"My name is Lancelot du Lake."

Quoth she, it likes me than:
Here dwells a knight who never was
Yet matcht with any man:

Who has in prison threescore knights
And four, that he did wound;
Knights of King Arthurs court they be,
And of his table round.

30

35

40

Who was approved well,

He for his deeds and feats of armes
All others did excell.

When he had rested him a while,
In play, and game, and sportt,

V. 18, to sportt, MS.

Soe far as thou art able,

V. 29, Where is often read by our old writers for whereas; here it is just the contrary.

Bring me that horse-load hither,

50

And lay him downe, and let him rest;
Weel try our force together:

For, as I understand, thou hast,

But one Sir Lancelot du Lake,