To the Reader. It is scarcely needful to disclaim anything like an antiquarian character for the present little work. It simply professes to be a Selection, within the compass of a pocket volume, of some of the more popular specimens of our Ballad Poetry ; and as such it is hoped it may be acceptable to those who do not possess, or have not leisure for the study of the more extended collections from which the compilation has been made. It may be added, that those copies of the ballads have been followed which seemed on the whole best adapted for general perusal; and in some cases, where the matter seemed unnecessarily prolix, slight abridgements have been made; not, however, in such a way as to injure the effect of the piece. The contents of the present volume are, with few exceptions, derived from British sources. Another little work, of a similar class, is intended to comprise translated specimens from the German and other continental languages. LONDON, January 1st, 1845. “Nowe sain thee and save thee, thou little foot-page, Nowe welcome art thou to me; Oh, tell me how does thy ladye gaye, "My lady she is all woe begone, And the teares they falle from her eyne; And aye she laments the deadlye feude Betweene her house and thine. "And here shee sends thee a silken scarfe, And biddes thee sometimes thinke on her, "And here she sends thee a ring of golde, "For, ah! her gentle heart is broke, And in grave soone must shee be, Sith her father hath chose her a new new love, "Her father hath brought her a churlish knighte, And within three dayes shee must him wedde, "Nowe hye thee backe, thou little foot-page, And tell her that I, her owne true love, "Nowe hye thee backe, thou little foot-page, This night will I bee at her bowre windowe, The boye he tripped, the boye he ranne, Until he came to fair Emmeline's bowre, |