Have I twyes or thryes redyn thurgh the route, I make avowe that I ne schall, But yf Tybbe wyl me call, Or I be thryes don fall, Ryzt onys com away. [doute. 115 Ver. 77, And led hur to cap, MS. V. 83, Bedwell's PC. has, Ruel-Bones.' V. 84, safer stones, MS. V. 85, wrotyn, i. e. wrought, PC. reads, written. V. 86, No catel [perhaps chatel] they had spared, MS. V. 89. Then... faucon, MS. V. 101, grant, MS. V. 109, yf he have, MS. V. 110, the MS. literally has thr. sand here V. 128 merth, MS. And foght ferly fast, tyll ther horses swet, And few wordys spoken. Ther were flayles al to slatred, Ther were scheldys al to flatred, 160 There was clynkyng of cart-sade lys, and clatteryng of cannes; Of fele frekys in the feld brokyn were their fannes; Of sum were the hedys brokyn, of sum the brayn pannes, And yll were thay besene, or thay went thanns, 166 Thay were so wery for-foght, Perkyn was so wery, that he began to loute; He styrt up as a snale, And hent à capul be the tayle, Perkyn wan five, and Hud wan twa: 170 180 Glad and blythe thay ware, that they had don sa; Thay wold have tham to Tyb, and present hur with tha: The Capulls were so wery, that thay myzt not ga, Ver. 137, swyselior, MS. V. 146, flailes, and harnisse, PC. V. 151, The Chiefe, PC. V. 154, yt ys, MS. V. 169, The boyes were, MS. V. 170, creped then about in the croft, MS. V. 179, razt, MS. THAT Our plain and martial ancestors could wield their swords much better than their pens, will appear from the following homely rhymes, which were drawn up by some poet laureat of those days to celebrate the immortal victory gained at Agincourt, Oct. 25, 1415. This song or hymn is given merely as a curiosity, and is printed from a MS copy in the Pepys collection, vol. I. folio. Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria! Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria. Ver. 212, And thay ifere assent, MS. V. 214, had wed, MS. V. 215, The cheefemen, PC. V. 218, trippand on, MS. In the former impressions, this concluding stanza was only given from Bedwell's printed edition; but it is here copied from the old MS. wherein it has been since found separated from the rest of the poem, by several pages of a money-account, and other heterogeneous matter. + Six-men's song, i. e. a song for six voices. So Shakespeare uses Three-man song-men, in his Winter's Tale, A. III. sc. 3, to denote men that could sing catches composed for three voices. Of this sort are Weelkes's Madrigals mentioned below, Book II. Song 9. So again Shakespeare has Three-men Beetle; i. e. a Beetle or Rammer worked by three men. 2 Hen. IV. A. I. Sc. 3. VI. THE NOT-BROWNE MAYD. THE sentimental beauties of this ancient ballad have always recommended it to readers of taste, notwithstanding the rust of antiquity which obscures the style and expression. Indeed, if it had no other merit than the having afforded the ground-work to Prior's "Henry and Emma," this ought to preserve it from oblivion. That we are able to give it in so correct a manner, is owing to the great care and exactness of the accurate Editor of the "Prolusions," 8vo, 1760; who has formed the text from two copies found in two different editions of Arnolde's Chronicle, a book supposed to be first printed about 1521. From the copy in the Prolusions the following is printed, with a few additional improvements gathered from another edition of Arnolde's book* preserved 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 Prolusions will shew where they occur. In our ancient folio MS. described in the preface, is a very corrupt and defective copy of this ballad, which yet afforded a great improvement in one passage. See v. 310. It has been a much easier task to settle the text of this poem, than to ascertain its date. The ballad of the "Nutbrowne Mayd" was first revived in "The Muses Mercury for June, 1707." 4to. being prefaced with a little " Essay on the old English Poets and Poetry:" in which this poem is concluded to be near 300 years old," upon reasons which, though they appear inconclusive to us now, were sufficient 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, appears from two letters of Prior's preserved in the British Museum [Harl. MSS. No 3777.] The Editor of the Prolusions 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 sameness of rythmus and orthography, and a very near affinity of words and phrases, with those of this ballad. But this reasoning is not conclusive; for if Sir Thomas More made this ballad his model, as is very likely, that will account for the sameness of measure, and in some respect for that of words and phrases, even though this had been written 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 antiquary like Arnolde would have inserted it among his historical collections, if it had been then a modern piece; at least, he would have been apt to have named its author. But to show how little can be inferred from a resemblance of rhythmus or style, the editor of these This (which my friend Mr. Farmer supposes to be the first edition) is in folio: the folios are numbered at the bottom of the leaf; the Song begins at folio 75. The poem has since been collated with a very fine copy that was in the collection of the late James West, Esq.; the readings extracted thence are denoted thus, Mr. W.' volumes has in his ancient folio MS. a poem on the victory of Floddenfield, written in the same numbers, with the same alliterations, and in orthography, phraseology, and style nearly resembling the Visions of Pierce Plowman, which are yet known to have been composed above 160 years before that battle. As this poem is a great curiosity, we shall give a few of the introductory lines: "Grant gracious God, grant me this time, That I may 'say, or I cease, thy selven to please; And Mary his mother, that maketh this world; And all the seemlie saints, that sitten in heaven; I will carpe of kings, that conquered full wide, That dwelled in this land, that was alyes noble; Henry the seventh, that soveraigne lord, &c." With regard to the date of the following ballad, we have taken a middle course, neither placed it so high as Wanley and Prior, nor quite so low as the editor of the Prolusions: we should 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 it ryght, or wrong, these men among Á labour spent in vayne, To love them wele; for never a dele They love a man agayne: For late a man do what he can, Theyr favour to attayne, 10 Laboureth for nought: for from her thought |