The fentimental beauties of this ancient ballad have always recommended it to Readers of tafte, notwithstanding the ruft of antiquity, which obfcures the ftyle and expreffion. Indeed if it had no other merit, than the having afforded the groundwork to Prior's HENRY AND EMMA, this ought to preserve. it from oblivion. That we are able to give it in fo correct a manner, is orving to the great care and exactness of the accurate Editor of the PROLUSIONS 8vo. 1760; ruho bas formed the text from two copies found in two different edi tions of Arnolde's Chronicle, a book fuppofed to be firft printed about 1521. From the Copy in the Prolufions the following is printed, with a few additional improvements gathered from another edition of Arnolde's book preferved in the public Library at Cambridge. All the various readings of this Copy will be found here, either received into the text, or noted in the margin. The references to the Prolufions will fhew where they occur. In our ancient folio MS. defcribed in the preface, is a very corrupt and defective copy of this ballad, which yet afforded a great improvement in one passage. fer v. 310. /22 It has been a much easier task to fettle the text of this poem, than to afcertain its date. The Ballad of the NUTBROWNE MAYD was first revived in " The Mufes Mercury for June, 1707." 4to. being prefaced with a little " Efay on the dd English Poets and Poetry :" in which this poem is concluded to be 66 near 300 years old," upon reafons, which, though they appear inconclufive to us now, were fufficient to determine Prior; who there first met with it. However, this opinion had the approbation of the learned WANLEY, an excellent judge of ancient books. For that whatever related to the reprinting of this old piece was referred to Wanley, * This (which my friend Mr. Farmer supposes to be the firft Edition) is in folio: the folios are numbered at the bottom of the leaf: the Song begins at folio 75. In flied Edit the poem be collated with a very fine copy that was in the collection of the late James Weft, E'qi the readings extracted thence are denoted thus Mr. W? Wanley, appears from two letters of Prior's preferved in the British Museum [Harl. MSS. N° 3777.1 The Editor of the Prolufions thinks it cannot be older than the year 1500, because in Sir Thomas More's tale of THE SERJEANT, &c. which was written about that time, there appears a fameness of rhythmus and orthography, and a very wear afhnity of words and phrafes, with thofe of this ballad. But this reafoning is not conclufive; for if Sir Thomas More made this ballad his model, as is very likely, that will account for the fameness of measure, and in fome respect for that of words and phrafes, even tho' this had been avritten long before: and as for the orthography, it is well known that the old Printers reduced that of most books to the Standard of their own times. Indeed it is hardly probable that an antiquaria like Arnolde would have inferted it among his hiftorical Collections, if it had been then a modern piece; at least he would have been apt to have named its author. But to few how little can be inferred from a refemblance of rhythmus or ftyle, the editor of thefe volumes baş in his ancient folio MS. a poem on the Victory of Floddenfield, written in the fame numbers, with the fame alliterations, and in orthography, phraseology, and ftyle nearly reJembling the Vifions of Pierce Plowman, which are yet known to have been compofed above 160 years before that battle. As this poem is a great curiofity, we shall give a few of the introductory lines, "Grant gracious God, grant me this time, "That I may 'fay, or I ceafe, thy felven to please ; "And Mary his mother, that maketh this world; "And all the feemlie faints, that fitten in heaven; "I will carpe of kings, that conquered full wide, "That dwelled in this land, that was alyes noble; "Henry the feventh, that foveraigne lord, &c. With regard to the date of the following ballad, we have taken a middle course, neither placed it fo high as Wanley and Prior, nor quite fo low as the editor of the Prolufions: we fhould have followed the latter in dividing every other line into two, but that the whole would then have taken up more room, than could be allowed it in this volume. BE |