Now they have left our quarters ;

A registrer they have,
Who can preserve their charters;
A man both wife and grave.

50

An hundred of their merry pranks

By one that I could name

Are kept in store, con twenty thanks
To William for the fame.

56

To William Churne of Staffordshire
Give laud and praises due,

THE BIRTH OF ST. GEORGE.

The incidents in this, and the other ballad of ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON, are chiefly taken from the old fory-book of the Seven Champions of Christendome; which, tho' now the play-thing of children, was once in high repute. Bp. Hall in his fatires, published in 1597, ranks

"St. George's forell, and his cross of blood"

among the most popular ftories of his time: nor did Spenfer bimfelf difdain to borrow hints from it, as an ingenious critic has lately fhewn. See Mr. Warton's new edit. of his Obfervations.

The author of this romance was one Richard Johnson, who lived in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, as we collect from VOL. I.

P 3

bis.

66

bis other publications; viz.-" The nine worthies of London: 1592. 410. The pleafant walks of Moor-fields: 1607. 4to." A crown garland of Goulden Rofes, gathered, c. 1612. Evo." The life and death of Rob. Cecill, E. of Salifbury: 1612. 4to.---" The hift. of Tom of Lincoln, 4to." is also by R. J. who likewife reprinted Don Flores of Greece, 4to." The Seven Champions, tho' written in a wild inflated style, contains fome ftrong Gothic painting; which feems, for the most part, copied from the metrical romances of former ages. At leaft the ftory of St. George and the fair Sabra, is taken almoft verbatim from the old poetical legend of " Syr Bevis of Hampton."

This very antique poem was in great fame in Chaucer's time, [fee above pag. 104.] and fo continued till the introduction of printing, when it ran thro' feveral editions; tro of which are in black letter, 4to, "imprinted by Wyllam Copland" without date; containing great variations. As a Specimen of the portic powers of this very old rhimift, proof how clofely the author of the Seven Champions has followed him, take a description of the dragon flair by fir Bevis.

and as a

Whan the dragon, that foule is,

"Had a fight of fyr Bevis

"He caft up a loude cry,

any

bras:

"As it had thondred in the sky;
He turned his bely towarde the fon;
"It was greater than any tonne:
"His fcales was bryghter then the glas,
"And harder they were than
"Bet-wene his feulder and his tayle,
Was forty fete withoute fayle.
"He altred out of his denne,
"And Bevis pricked his fede then,
"And to bym a fpere be thrafte
"That all to fbyvers be it brafte;
"The dragon then gan Bevis affayle,
"And fmcte fyr Bevis with his tayle,
"Then downe went horse and man,
"And two rybbes of Bevis brufed than.

After

After a long fight, at length, as the dragon was preparing

to fly, fir Bevis

Hit him under the wynge

"As he was in his flyenge,

"There he was tender without fcale,

"And Bevis thought to be his bale.
"He fmote after, as I you faye,
"With his good word Morglaye.
Up to the hiltes Merglay yode

66

Through barte, lyver, bone, and bloude;
"To the ground fell the dragon,

"Great joye fyr Bevis begon.
"Under the fcales al on hight
"He fmote off his head forth right,
"And put it on a Spere: &c.

Sign. K. iv. Sir Bevis's dragon is evidently the parent of that in the Seven Champions, fee Chap. III. viz. "The dragon no fooner had a fight of him [St. George] but he gave fuch "a terrible peal, as though it had thundered in the elements.

....

"Betwixt his fhoulders and his tail were fifty feet in "diftance, his fcales gliftering as bright as filver, but far more hard than brass; his belly of the colour of gold, but bigger than a tun. Thus weltered he from his den, &c.

.66

The champion ... gave the dragon fuch a thrust with "his fpear, that it shivered in a thousand pieces: whereat "the furious dragon fo fiercely fmote him with his venomous "tail, that down fell man and horse; in which fall two "of St. Georges ribs were fore bruifed, &c. At length

St. George "fmote the dragon under the wing where "it was tender without fcale, whereby his good fword Afca"lon with an eafie paffage went to the very hilt through both "the dragon's heart, liver, bone and blood-Then St. George -cut off the dragon's head and pitcht it upon the truncheon of a spear, &c."

-

The Hiftory of the Seven Champions being written just before the decline of books of chivalry was never, I believe, tranflated into any foreign language: But" Le Roman de "Beuves of Hantonne,' was published at Paris in 1502, 4to. Let. Gothique.

66

P 4

The

The learned Selden tells us that about the Norman inva fion was Bevis famous with the title of Earl of Southampton, whofe refidence was at Dunton in Wiltshire; but obferves that the monkifh enlargements of his ftory, have made his very exifteyce doubted. See Notes on Poly-Olbion, Song III.

As for the martial Hiftory of St. George, it is given up, as entirely apocryphal. The equeftrian figure, worn by the knights of the garter, has been understood to be an emblem of the chriftian warrior, in his spiritual armour, vanquishing the old ferpent. But a learned writer has lately fhewn that it is neither more nor less, than a charm or amulet borrowed from fome eastern hereticks; which having been originally worn as a protection from the malignity of the air, at length was confidered, as a prefervative from wounds, and a means to infure victory in battle. For it seems the ancient orientals reprefented the fun by a man on horseback; the fun's rays by a fpear; and any noxious exhalation by a ferpent. See Petingall's differtation, 4to.

It cannot be denied, but that a great part of the following ballad is modern: for which reafon it would have been thrown to the end of the volume, had not its fubject procured it a place bere.

LISTEN, lords, in bower and hall,

I fing the wonderous birth

Of brave St. George, whofe valorous arm
Rid monfters from the earth: