Thy yeeares are young, thy face is faire, Thy witts are weake, thy thoughts are greene; Time hath not given thee leave, as yett, Yes, heardsman, yes, soe woldest thou say, I am not what I seeme to bee, My clothes and sexe doe differ farr: I am a woman, woe is me! Born to greeffe and irksome care. For my beloved, and well-beloved, He was the flower of noble wights, None ever more sincere colde bee; Of comely mien and shape hee was, And tenderlye hee loved mee. When thus I saw he loved me well, I grewe so proud his paine to see, That 1, who did not know myselfe, Thought scorne of such a youth as hee. *And grew soe coy and nice to please, As women's lookes are often soe, He might not kisse, nor hand forsooth, Unlesse I willed him soe to doe. 15 20 25 30 335 40 Three of the following stanzas have been finely paraphrased by Dr. Goldsmith, in his charming ballad of "Edwin and Emma;" the reader of taste will have a pleasure in comparing them with the original. Thus every day I fast and pray And ever will doe till I dye; And gett me to some secrett place, For soe did hee, and soe will I. Now, gentle heardsman, aske no more, But keepe my secretts I thee pray: Unto the towne of Walsingham Show me the right and readye way. 45 50 55 "Now goe thy wayes, and God before! **To show what constant tribute was paid to "Our Lady of Walsingham," I shall give a few extracts from the "Household Book of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland." Printed 1770, 8vo. Sect. XLIII., page 337, &c. ITEM, My Lorde usith yerly to send afor Michaelmas for his Lordschip's Offerynge to our Lady of Walsyngeham.-iiij d. ITEM, My Lorde usith ande accustumyth to sende yerely for the unholdynge of the Light of Wax which his Lordschip fyndith birnynge yerly befor our Lady of Walsyngham, contenynge xj lb. of Wax in it 'And' still I try'd each fickle art, Importunate and vain; And while his passion touch'd my heart, I triumph'd in his pain. "Till quite dejected with my scorn He left me to my pride; And sought a solitude forlorn, In secret, where he dy'd. But mine the sorrow, mine the fault, And well my life shall pay; I'll seek the solitude he sought, after vij d. ob. for the fyndynge of every lb. redy wrought by a covenaunt maid with the Channon by great, for the hole yere, for the fyndinge of the said Lyght byrnning,-vi s. viiij d. ITEM, My Lorde usith and accustomith to syende yerely to the Channon that kepith the Light before our Lady of Walsyngham, for his reward for the hole yere, for kepynge of the said Light, lightynge of it at all service tymes dayly thorowt the yere,-xij d. ITEM, My Lorde usith and accustomyth yerely to send to the Prest that kepith the Light, lyghtynge of it at all service tymes daily thorowt the yere,—iij s. iiij d. XV. King Edward IV. and the Tanner of Tamworth WAS a story of great fame among our ancestors. The author of the " Art of English Poesie," 1589, 4to., seems to speak of it as a real fact. Describing that vicious mode of speech, which the Greeks called ACYRON, i. e. "When we use a dark and obscure word, utterly repugnant to that we should express;" he adds, "Such manner of uncouth speech did the Tanner of Tamworth use to King Edward the Fourth; which Tanner, having a great while mistaken him, and used very broad talke with him, at length perceiving by his traine that it was the king, was afraide he should be punished for it, [and] said thus, with a certain rude repentance, "I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow,” for [I feare me] 1 shall be hanged; whereat the king laughed a good,* not only to see the Tanner's vaine feare, but also to heare his illshapen terme: and gave him for recompence of his good sport, the inheritance of Plumpton-parke. 'I am afraid,'" concludes this sagacious writer, "the poets of our times that speake more finely and correctedly, will come too short of such a reward,'" p. 214. The phrase here referred to, is not found in this ballad at present,† but occurs with some variation in another old poem, entitled, “John the Reeve," described in the following volume (see the Preface to "The King and the Miller"), viz.: "Nay, sayd John, by Gods grace, And Edward wer in this place, * Vid. Gloss. + Nor in that of the Barker mentioned below. Hee shold not touch this tonne : The following text is selected (with such other corrections as occurred) from two copies in black letter. The one in the Bodleyan library, entitled, “A merrie, pleasant, and delectable historie betweene King Edward the Fourth, and a Tanner of Tamworth, &c., printed at London, by John Danter, 1596.” This copy, ancient as it now is, appears to have been modernized and altered at the time it was published; and many vestiges of the more ancient readings were recovered from another copy (though more recently printed) in one sheet folio, without date, in the Pepys collection. But these are both very inferior in point of antiquity to the old ballad of "The King and the Barker," reprinted with other “Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry from Authentic Manuscripts, and old Printed Copies, &c., London, 1791, 8vo.". As that very antique Poem had never occurred to the Editor of the Reliques, till he saw it in the above collection, he now refers the curious reader to it, as an imperfect and incorrect copy of the old original ballad. In summer time, when leaves grow greene, King Edward wolde a hunting ryde, With hawke and hounde he made him bowne, By the faith of my bodye, thou proude fel- | But when his steede saw the cows taile wagge, lowe, 126 And eke the blacke cowe-horne: He stamped, and stared, and awaye he ranne, As the devill had him borne. "Here's twentye groates out of my purse; And twentye I have of thine: 105 And I have one more, which we will spend Together at the wine.” 110 And threwe it upon the king's sadèlle, That was soe fayrelye gilte. "Now help me up, thou fine fellòwe, 'Tis time that I were gone: That ever I sawe this daye! When I come home to Gyllian my wife, 115 Thou art a strong thiefe, yon come thy fel Nowe, out alas! the tanner he cryde, lowes A coller, a coller, here: sayd the king, 165 | Lo here I make thee the best esquire Then woulde he lever then twentye pound, That is in the North countrie.* For Plumpton-parke I will give thee, With tenements faire beside: 175 XVI. As ye came from the Holy Land. DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PILGRIM AND TRAVELLER. THE scene of this song is the same as in Num. XIV. The pilgrimage to Walsingham suggested the plan of many popular pieces. In the Pepys collection, vol. I., p. 226, is a kind of interlude in the old ballad style, of which the first stanza alone is worth reprinting. As I went to Walsingham, To the shrine with speede, In a pilgrimes weede. Now God you save, you jolly palmer! Oft have I sued to thee for love." -Oft have I said you nay. The pilgrimages undertaken on pretence of religion, were often productive of affairs of gallantry, and led the votaries to no other shrine than that of Venus.* The following ballad was once very popular; it is quoted in Fletcher's "Knight of the burning pestle," Act. II., sc. ult., and in another old play, called, "Hans Beer-pot, his *Even in the time of Langland, pilgrimages to Walsingham were not unfavourable to the rites of Venus. Thus in his Visions of Pierce Plowman, fo. I. "Hermets on a heape, with hoked staves, Wenten to Walsingham, and her † wenches after." ti. e. their. invisible Comedy, &c." 4to. 1618: Act I. The copy below was communicated to the Editor by the late Mr. Shenstone as corrected by him from an ancient copy, and supplied with a concluding stanza. We have placed this, and "Gentle Herdsman," &c., thus early in the work, upon a presumption that they must have been written, if not before the dissolution of the monasteries, yet while the remembrance of them was fresh in the minds of the people. As ye came from the holy land *This stanza is restored from a quotation of this Ballad in Selden's "Titles of Honour," who produces it as a good authority to prove, that one mode of creating Esquires at that time, was by the imposition of a collar. His words are, "Nor is that old pamphlet of the Tanner of Tamworth and King Edward the Fourth so contemptible, but that wee may thence note also an observable passage, wherein the use of making Esquires, by giving collars, is expressed." (Sub Tit. Esquire; & vide in Spelmanni Glossar. Armiger.) This form of creating Esquires actually exists at this day among the Sergeants at Arms, who are invested with a collar (which they wear on Collar Days) by the King himself. This information I owe to Samuel Pegge, Esq., to whom the Public is indebted for that curious work, the "Curi alia," 4to. |