Which foon efpied Lancelot tho;

He leap'd upon him then,

He pull'd him down upon his knee,
And rushed off his helm ;

And then [he] ftruck his neck in two:
And, when he had done fo,

From prison threescore knights and four
Lancelot deliver'd tho.

BALLAD XIX.

SIR GUY OF WARWICK.

W

A S ever knight, for ladys fake,

So tofs'd in love, as I, Sir Guy,

For Phillis fair, that lady bright

As ever man beheld with eye?
She gave me leave myself to try,

The valiant knight with fhield and spear,
Ere that her love fhe would grant me;

Which made me venture far and near.

The full title is, "A pleasant fong of the valiant deeds of chivalry atchieved by that noble knight, Sir Guy of Warwick, who for the love of Fair Phillis became a hermet, and died in a cave of a craggy rock a mile diftant from Warwick, Tune, Was ever Man, &c."

The

The proud Sir Guy, a baron bold,
In deeds of arms the doughty knight,
That every day in England was,
With fword and fpear in field to fight;
An English man I was by birth,
In faith of Chrift a Chriftian true;
The wicked laws of infidels

I fought by power to fubdue.

Two hundred twenty years, and odd
After our faviour Chrift his birth,
When king Athèlftan wore the crown,
I lived here upon the earth.
Sometime I was of Warwick earl,
And, as I faid, on very truth,

A ladys love did me constrain

To feek strange ventures in my youth;

To try my fame by feats of arms,

In ftrange and fundry heathen lands; Where I atchieved, for her fake,

Right dangerous conquefts with my hands. For firft I fail'd to Normandy,

And there I ftoutly won in fight, The emperours daughter of Almain, From many a valiant worthy knight.

Then paffed I the feas of Greece,
To help the emperour to his right,
Aginft the mighty foldans hoft

Cf puiffant Perfians for to fight:

Where

Where I did flay of Saracens,

And heathen pagans, many a man, And flew the foldans coufin dear,

Who had to name, doughty Colbròn.

Ezkeldered, that famous knight,
To death likewife I did pursue,
And Almain, king of Tyre, alfo,
Moft terrible too in fight to view :
I went into the foldans hoft,
Being thither on ambassage fent,
And brought away his head with me,
I having flain him in his tent.

There was a dragon in the land,
Which I alfo myself did flay,
As he a lion did pursue,

Moft fiercely met me by the way.
From thence I pafs'd the feas of Greece,
And came to Pavy land aright,
Where I the duke of Pavy kill'd,
His heinous treafon to requite.

And after came into this land,
Towards fair Phillis, lady bright;

For love of whom I travel'd far,

To try my manhood and my might. But when I had efpoufed her,

I ftay'd with her but forty days, But there I left this lady fair,

And then I went beyond the feas.

All

All clad in gray, in pilgrim fort,
My voyage from her I did take,
Unto that bleffed holy land,

For Jefus Chrift my faviours fake:
Where I earl Jonas did redeem,

And all his fons, which were fifteen, Who with the cruel Saracen,

In prifon for long time had been.

I flew the giant Amarant,

In battle fiercely hand to hand : And doughty Barknard killed I,

The mighty duke of that fame land. Then I to England came again,

And here with Colbron fell I fought, An ugly giant, which the Danes

Had for their champion hither brought,

I overcame him in the field,

And flew him dead right valiantly;
Where I the land did then redeem
From Danish tribute utterly;

And afterwards I offered up
The ufe of weapons folemnly,
At Winchester, whereas I fought,
In fight of many far and nigh.

In Windfor-foreft I did flay

A boar of paffing might and ftrength; The like in England never was,

For hugenefs, both in breadth and length.

Some

Some of his bones in Warwick, yet,
Within the caftle there, do lie ;
One of his field-bones, to this day,
Hangs in the city of Coventry.

On Dunfmore-heath I also flew

A monftrous, wild, and cruel beaft, Call'd the dun-cow of Dunfmore-heath; Which many people had opprefs'd: Some of her bones in Warwick, yet, Still for a monument doth lie; Which, unto every lookers view, As wond'rous ftrange, they may efpy.

Another dragon in the land,

I alfo did in fight deftroy,

Which did both men and beasts opprefs,
And all the country fore annoy.
And then to Warwick came again,
Like pilgrim poor, and was not known,
And there I liv'd a hermits life,

A mile and more out of the town.

Where, with my hand, I hew'd a house,
Out of a craggy rock of ftone;
And lived like a palmer poor,
Within that cave, myfelf alone;
And dayly came to beg my food
Of Phillis, at my caftle-gate,
Not known unto my loving wife,
Who dayly mourned for her mate.