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No, no, I am no angel,

The courteous young man faid, But born in famous England,

Where Gods word is obey'd; Affifted by the heavens,

Who did me thus befriend, Or else they had, moft cruelly, Brought here my life to end.

The king, in heart amazed,
Lift up his eyes to heaven,
And, for his foul offences

Did crave to be forgiven;
Believing that no land

Like England may be feen, No people better governed By virtue of a queen.

So, taking up this young man,
He pardon'd him his life,
And gave his daughter to him,
To be his wedded wife :
Where then they did remain,
And live in quiet peace,
In fpending of their happy days

In joy and loves increase.

BALLAD

BALLAD XXI.

THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY.

O'

LD ftories tell, how Hercules

A dragon flew at Lerna,

With feven heads, and fourteen eyes,

To fee and well difcern a :

But he had a club, this dragon to drub,
Or he had ne'er done it, I warrant ye :
But More of More-Hall, with nothing at all,
He flew the dragon of Wantley.

This dragon had two furious wings,
Each one upon each shoulder;

With a fting in his tail, as long as a flail,

Which made him bolder and bolder.
He had long claws, and in his jaws
Four and forty teeth of iron;
With a hide as tough as any buff,
Which did him round environ.

Have you not heard that the Trojan horse
Held feventy men in his belly?
This dragon was not quite fo big,

But very near, I'll tell ye.

Devoured he poor children three,

That could not with him grapple ; And, at one fup, he eat them up,

As one would eat an apple.

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All forts of cattle this dragon did eat;

Some fay he'd eat up trees,

And that the forefts fure he would

Devour up by degrees :

For houfes and churches were to him geefe and turkeys, He ate all, and left none behind,

But fome ftones, dear Jack, which he could not crack, Which on the hills you will find.

In Yorkshire, near fair Rotheram,
The place I know it well;

Some two or three miles, or thereabouts,

I vow I cannot tell ;

But there is a hedge, just on the hill edge,
And Mathews house hard by it;

O there and then was this dragons den,
You could not choose but spy it.

Some fay, this dragon was a witch,
Some fay, he was a devil,
For from his nose a smoke arofe,
And with it burning fnivel,

Which he caft off, when he did cough,
In a well that he did ftand by;
Which made it look just like a brook
Running with burning brandy.

Hard

Hard by a furious knight there dwelt,
Of whom all towns did ring;

For he could wrestle, play at quarter-ftaff, kick, cuff, box, buff,

Call fon of a whore, do any kind of thing:
By the tail and the main, with his hands twain,
He fwung a horse till he was dead;
And that which is ftranger, he, for very anger,
Eat him all up but his head.

These children, as I told, being eat,
Men, women, girls and boys,
Sighing and fobbing came to his lodging,
And made a hideous noise :

O fave us all, More of More-Hall,

Thou peerless knight of thefe woods;

Do but flay this dragon, who won't leave us a rag on, We'll give thee all our goods.

Tut, tut, quoth he, no goods I want ;
But I want, I want, in footh,
A fair maid of fixteen, that's brisk,
With fmiles about the mouth;

Hair black as a floe, both above and below,
With a blush her cheeks adorning;
To 'noint me o'er night, ere I go to fight,

And to drefs me in the morning.

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This being done, he did engage

To hew this dragon down;
But first he went new armour to
Befpeak at Sheffield town ;

With spikes all about, not within but without,
Of steel fo fharp and strong;

Both behind and before, arms, legs, all o'er ;
Some five or fix inches long.

Had you but feen him in this dress,
How fierce he look'd and big,
You would have thought him for to be
An Egyptian porcupig :

He frighted all, cats, dogs, and all;

Each cow, each horfe, and each hog, For fear did flee, for they took him to be Some ftrange outlandish hedge-hog.

To fee this fight all people there

Got up on trees and houses,

On churches fome and chimneys too;

But they put on their trowses,

Not to spoil their hofe. As foon as he rofe,

To make him ftrong and mighty,

He drank, by the tale, fix pots of ale,

And a quart of aqua-vitæ.

It

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