By the faith of my bodye, thou proude fel- | But when his steede saw the cows taile wagge, lowe, 126 And eke the blacke cowe-horne: He stamped, and stared, and awaye he ranne, As the devill had him borne. 105 And I have one more, which we will spend Together at the wine." 'Tis time that I were gone: When I come home to Gyllian my wife, 115 Thou art a strong thiefe, yon come thy fel lowes They are no thieves, the king replyde, I sweare, soe mote I thee: But they are the lords of the north countrèy, Here come to hunt with mee. 160 And soone before our king they came, And knelt downe on the grounde: Then might the tanner have beene awaye, And had lever than twentye pounde, A coller, a coller, here: sayd the king, 165 | Lo here I make thee the best esquire Then woulde he lever then twentye pound, That is in the North countrie.* For Plumpton-parke I will give thee, With tenements faire beside: 175 XVI. As ye came from the Holy Land. DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PILGRIM AND TRAVELLER. THE scene of this song is the same as in Num. XIV. The pilgrimage to Walsingham suggested the plan of many popular pieces. In the Pepys collection, vol. I., p. 226, is a kind of interlude in the old ballad style, of which the first stanza alone is worth reprinting. As I went to Walsingham, To the shrine with speede, In a pilgrimes weede. Now God you save, you jolly palmer! Oft have I sued to thee for love." -Oft have I said you nay. invisible Comedy, &c." 4to. 1618: Act I. The copy below was communicated to the Editor by the late Mr. Shenstone as corrected by him from an ancient copy, and supplied with a concluding stanza. We have placed this, and “ Gentle Herdsman," &c., thus early in the work, upon a presumption that they must have been written, if not before the dissolution of the monasteries, yet while the remembrance of them was fresh in the minds of the people. As ye came from the holy land * This stanza is restored from a quotation of this Ballad in Selden's "Titles of Honour," who produces it as a good authority to prove, that one mode of creating Esquires at that time, was by the imposition of a collar. His words are. "Nor is that old pamphlet of the Tanner of Tamworth and King Edward the Fourth so contemptible, but that wee may thence note also an observable passage, wherein the use of making Esquires, by giving collars, is expressed." (Sub Tit. Esquire; & vide in Spelmanni Glossar. Armiger.) This form of creating Esquires actually exists at this day among the Sergeants at Arms, who are invested with a collar (which they wear on Collar Days) by the King himself. This information I owe to Samuel Pegge, Esq., to whom the Public is indebted for that curious work, the "Curi alia," 4to. be modern. The lady did in a manner acknowledge it to be so. Being desired to show an additional stanza, as a proof of this, she produced the two last, beginning with "There's nae light," &c., which were not in the copy that was first printed. The late Lord President Forbes, and Sir Gilbert Elliot, of Minto (late Lord Justice Clerk for Scotland), who had believed it ancient, contributed to the expense of publishing the first Edition, As this fine morsel of heroic poetry hath | composition. Some able judges asserted it to generally passed for ancient, it is here thrown to the end of our earliest pieces; that such as doubt of its age, may the better compare it with other pieces of genuine antiquity. For after all, there is more than reason to suspect, that it owes most of its beauties (if not its whole existence) to the pen of a lady, within the present century. The following particulars may be depended on. Mrs. Wardlaw, whose maiden name was Halket (aunt to the late Sir Peter Halket, of Pitferran, in Scot-in folio, 1719. This account was transmitted land, who was killed in America, along with General Braddock, in 1755), pretended she had found this poem, written on shreds of paper, employed for what is called the bottoms of clues. A suspicion arose that it was her own sc. pale. from Scotland by Sir David Dalrymple, the late Lord Hailes, who yet was of opinion, that part of the ballad may be ancient; but retouched and much enlarged by the lady above mentioned. Indeed he had been in sc. Angels. 40 35 25 formed, that the late William Thompson, the | Landed in fair Scotland the isle The Poem is here printed from the original Edition, as it was prepared for the press with the additional improvements. (See below, page 208.) With mony a hardy knight. VI. "To horse, to horse, my royal liege, A trustier beast in a' the land A Scots king nevir try'd. VII. Go little page, tell Hardyknute, To draw his sword, the dread of faes, And haste and follow me. The little page flew swift as dart 10 Flung by his master's arm, "Come down, come down, lord Hardyknute, Then red red grew his dark brown cheeks, His looks grew keen as they were wont In dangers great to do; He's ta'en a horn as green as glass, And gi'en five sounds sae shill, That trees in green wood shook thereat, IX. 56 60 65 His sons in manly sport and glee, We've other sport to bide. And soon they hy'd them up the hill, And soon were at his side. X. 70 Waefu' I trow to kyth and kin, V. The King of Norse in summer tyde, "Late late the yestreen I ween'd in peace 75 |