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, Did crave to be forgiven; Like England may be feen, No people better governed By virtue of a queen. So, taking up this young man, 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, This dragon had two furious wings, With a fting in his tail, as long as a flail, Which made him bolder and bolder. Have you not heard that the Trojan horse 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. 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, Some two or three miles, or thereabouts, I vow I cannot tell ; But there is a hedge, just on the hill edge, O there and then was this dragons den, Some fay, this dragon was a witch, Which he caft off, when he did cough, Hard Hard by a furious knight there dwelt, For he could wrestle, play at quarter-ftaff, kick, cuff, box, buff, Call fon of a whore, do any kind of thing: These children, as I told, being eat, 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 ; Hair black as a floe, both above and below, And to drefs me in the morning. This being done, he did engage To hew this dragon down; With spikes all about, not within but without, Both behind and before, arms, legs, all o'er ; Had you but feen him in this dress, 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 |