Part 11
46. When my lord Howard saw Sir Andrew loose, Lord! in his heart that he was fain. ‘Strike on your drums, spread out your ancients; Sound out your trumpets, sound out amain!’
47. ‘Fight on, my men,’ says Sir Andrew Barton, ‘Weet, howsoever this gear will sway, It is my lord Admiral of England Is come to seek me on the sea.’
48. Simon had a son; with shot of a gun, Well Sir Andrew might it ken, He shot it at a privy place, And killed sixty more of Sir Andrew’s men.
49. Harry Hunt came in at the other side, And at Sir Andrew he shot then; He drove down his foremast tree, And killed eighty more of Sir Andrew’s men.
50. ‘I have done a good turn,’ says Harry Hunt, ‘Sir Andrew is not our king’s friend; He hoped to have undone me yesternight, But I hope I have quit him well in the end.’
51. ‘Ever alas!’ said Sir Andrew Barton, ‘What should a man either think or say? Yonder false thief is my strongest enemy, Who was my prisoner but yesterday.
52. ‘Come hither to me, thou Gordon good, And be thou ready at my call, And I will give thee three hundred pound If thou wilt let my beams down fall.’
53. With that he swarved the mainmast tree, So did he it with might and main; Horsley, with a bearing arrow, Strake the Gordon through the brain.
54. And he fell into the hatches again, And sore of this wound that he did bleed; Then word went through Sir Andrew’s men That the Gordon he was dead.
55. ‘Come hither to me, James Hamilton, Thou art my sister’s son, I have no more; I will give thee six hundred pound If thou will let my beams down fall.’
56. With that he swarved the mainmast tree, So did he it with might and main; Horsley, with another broad arrow, Strake the yeoman through the brain.
57. That he fell down to the hatches again; Sore of his wound that he did bleed. Covetousness gets no gain, It is very true as the Welshman said.
58. But when he saw his sister’s son slain, Lord! in his heart he was not well. ‘Go fetch me down my armour of proof, For I will to the top-castle myself.
59. ‘Go fetch me down my armour of proof, For it is gilded with gold so clear; God be with my brother, John of Barton! Amongst the Portingales he did it wear.’
60. But when he had his armour of proof, And on his body he had it on, Every man that looked at him Said, gun nor arrow he need fear none.
61. ‘Come hither, Horsley,’ says my lord Howard, ‘And look your shaft that it go right; Shoot a good shoot in the time of need, And for thy shooting thou’st be made a knight.’
62. ‘I’ll do my best,’ says Horsley then, ‘Your honour shall see before I go; If I should be hanged at your mainmast, I have in my ship but arrows two.’
63. But at Sir Andrew he shot then; He made sure to hit his mark; Under the spole of his right arm He smote Sir Andrew quite through the heart.
64. Yet from the tree he would not start, But he clinged to it with might and main; Under the collar then of his jack He strake Sir Andrew through the brain.
65. ‘Fight on, my men,’ says Sir Andrew Barton, ‘I am hurt, but I am not slain; I’ll lay me down and bleed awhile, And then I’ll rise and fight again.
66. ‘Fight on, my men,’ says Sir Andrew Barton, ‘These English dogs they bite so low; Fight on for Scotland and Saint Andrew Till you hear my whistle blow!’
67. But when they could not hear his whistle blow, Says Harry Hunt, ‘I’ll lay my head You may board yonder noble ship, my lord, For I know Sir Andrew he is dead.’
68. With that they boarded this noble ship, So did they it with might and main; They found eighteen score Scots alive, Besides the rest were maimed and slain.
69. My lord Howard took a sword in his hand, And smote off Sir Andrew’s head; The Scots stood by did weep and mourn, But never a word durst speak or say.
70. He caused his body to be taken down, And over the hatch-board cast into the sea, And about his middle three hundred crowns: ‘Wheresoever thou lands, it will bury thee.’
71. With his head they sailed into England again, With right good will and force and main, And the day before New Year’s Even Into Thames’ mouth they came again.
72. My lord Howard wrote to King Henry’s grace, With all the news he could him bring: ‘Such a New Year’s gift I have brought to your Grace As never did subject to any king.
73. ‘For merchandise and manhood, The like is not to be found: The sight of these would do you good, For you have not the like in your English ground.’
74. But when he heard tell that they were come, Full royally he welcomed them home; Sir Andrew’s ship was the king’s New Year’s gift; A braver ship you never saw none.
75. Now hath our king Sir Andrew’s ship, Beset with pearls and precious stones; Now hath England two ships of war-- Two ships of war, before but one.
76. ‘Who holp to this?’ says King Henry, ‘That I may reward him for his pain.’ ‘Harry Hunt, and Peter Simon, William Horsley, and I the same.’
77. ‘Harry Hunt shall have his whistle and chain, And all his jewels, whatsoever they be, And other rich gifts that I will not name, For his good service he hath done me.
78. ‘Horsley, right thou’st be a knight, Lands and livings thou shalt have store; Howard shall be Earl of Nottingham, And so was never Howard before.
79. ‘Now Peter Simon, thou art old; I will maintain thee and thy son; Thou shalt have five hundred pound all in gold For the good service that thou hast done.’
80. Then King Henry shifted his room. In came the Queen and ladies bright; Other errands had they none But to see Sir Andrew Barton, knight.
81. But when they see his deadly face, His eyes were hollow in his head; ‘I would give a hundred pound,’ says King Henry, ‘The man were alive as he is dead!
82. ‘Yet for the manful part that he hath played, Both here and beyond the sea, His men shall have half a crown a day To bring them to my brother, King Jamie.’
[Annotations: 13.4, 16.4: ‘bread,’ breadth. 23.3: ‘arch-board,’ stern (?) Cp. 29.2 and ‘hatch-board,’ 70.2. 28.1: ‘dearly dight,’ handsomely fitted out. 29.2: Cp. 23.3 and note. 47.2: _i.e._ ‘wit [ye], howsoever this affair may turn out.’ 53.1: ‘swarved,’ swarmed, climbed. 53.3: ‘bearing arrow’: perhaps a light arrow for long-distance shooting, but see 56.3; and cf. _Adam Bell_, 150.3. 63.3: ‘spole,’ spauld, shoulder. 64.3: ‘jack,’ coat of mail. 66.4: ‘Till’ may mean ‘while.’]
HENRY MARTYN
+The Text+ is from a copy taken down from North Devon tradition by the Rev. S. Baring Gould, and printed by Child; since when other versions have been found still in circulation in England. A Sussex version, though perhaps derived from a Catnach broadside, is given in the _Journal_ of the Folk-Song Society, vol. i. 162.
+The Story.+--This ballad is undoubtedly a degenerate version of the preceding, _Sir Andrew Barton_, of which name, as Child says, Henry Martyn would be no extraordinary corruption. It is given here as an instance of the fate which awaits a popular ballad in the process of being sung to pieces.
HENRY MARTYN
1. In merry Scotland, in merry Scotland There lived brothers three; They all did cast lots which of them should go A robbing upon the salt sea.
2. The lot it fell on Henry Martyn, The youngest of the three; That he should go rob on the salt, salt sea To maintain his brothers and he.
3. He had not a-sailed a long winter’s night, Nor yet a short winter’s day, Before that he met with a lofty old ship, Come sailing along that way.
4. O when she came by Henry Martyn; ‘I prithee now, let us go!’ ‘O no, God wot! that, that will I not, O that will I never do.
5. ‘Stand off, stand off!’ said Henry Martyn, ‘For you shall not pass by me; For I am a robber all on the salt seas, To maintain us brothers three.
6. ‘How far, how far,’ cries Henry Martyn, ‘How far do you make it?’ said he; ‘For I am a robber all on the salt seas, To maintain us brothers three.’
7. For three long hours they merrily fought, For hours they fought full three; At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn, And down by the mast fell he.
8. ‘Twas broadside to a broadside then, And a rain and hail of blows, But the salt sea ran in, ran in, ran in, To the bottom then she goes.
9. Bad news, bad news for old England, Bad news has come to the town, For a rich merchant’s vessel is cast away, And all her brave seamen drown.
10. Bad news, bad news through London Street, Bad news has come to the king, For all the brave lives of the mariners lost, That are sunk in the watery main.
JOHN DORY
+The Text+ is from Ravenscroft’s _Deuteromelia_ (1609), the only text that has come down to us of a ‘three-man’s song’ which achieved extraordinary popularity during’ the seventeenth century.
+The Story.+--‘Good King John of France’ is presumed to be John II., who was taken prisoner at the battle of Poictiers and died in 1364. But the earliest literary reference to this ballad occurs in the play of _Gammar Gurton’s Needle_, acted in 1566, where the song ‘I cannot eat but little meat’ is to be sung ‘to the tune of John Dory.’ From Carew’s _Survey of Cornwall_ (1602) we learn a little more: ‘Moreover, the prowess of one Nicholas, son to a widow near Foy [Fowey], is descanted upon in an old three-man’s song, namely, how he fought bravely at sea with John Dory (a Genowey, as I conjecture), set forth by John, the French king, and, after much bloodshed on both sides, took, and slew him, in revenge of the great ravine and cruelty which he had fore committed upon the Englishmen’s goods and bodies.’
JOHN DORY
1. As it fell on a holy-day, And upon a holy-tide-a, John Dory bought him an ambling nag To Paris for to ride-a.
2. And when John Dory to Paris was come, A little before the gate-a, John Dory was fitted, the porter was witted To let him in thereat-a.
3. The first man that John Dory did meet Was good king John of France-a; John Dory could well of his courtesie, But fell down in a trance-a.
4. ‘A pardon, a pardon, my liege and my king, For my merry men and for me-a, And all the churles in merry England, I’ll bring them all bound to thee-a.’
5. And Nicholl was then a Cornish man A little beside Bohide-a, And he manned forth a good black bark With fifty good oars on a side-a.
6. ‘Run up, my boy, unto the main-top, And look what thou canst spy-a.’ ‘Who ho, who ho! a goodly ship I do see; I trow it be John Dory-a.’
7. They hoist their sails, both top and top, The mizzen and all was tried-a, And every man stood to his lot, What ever should betide-a.
8. The roaring cannons then were plied, And dub-a-dub went the drum-a; The braying trumpets loud they cried To courage both all and some-a.
9. The grappling-hooks were brought at length, The brown bill and the sword-a; John Dory at length, for all his strength, Was clapped fast under board-a.
CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW
+The Text+ is from a broadside in the Bagford collection (i. 65); other broadsides, very similar, are to be found in the Pepys, Roxburghe, and other collections. The ballad has often been reprinted; and more than one oral version has been recovered--much corrupted in transmission.
+The Story+ is apocryphal, as has been shown by research undertaken since Child annotated the ballad; so also are other broadsides, _The Seamen’s Song of Captain Ward_ and _The Seamen’s Song of Dansekar_, which deal with Ward. He was a Kentish fisherman, born at Feversham about 1555, who turned pirate after a short service aboard the _Lion’s Whelp_ man-of-war. The _Rainbow_ was the name of a ship then in the navy, often mentioned in reports from 1587 onwards; but Professor Sir J. K. Laughton has pointed out that she never fought with Ward. Possibly _Rainbow_ is a corruption of _Tramontana_, a small cruiser which _may_ have chased him once in the Irish Channel. The fullest account of Ward may be found in an article, unsigned, but written by Mr. John Masefield, in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for March, 1906, pp. 113-126.
CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW
1. Strike up, you lusty gallants, With music and sound of drum, For we have descried a rover Upon the sea is come; His name is Captain Ward, Right well it doth appear, There has not been such a rover Found out this thousand year:
2. For he hath sent unto our King, The sixth of January, Desiring that he might come in With all his company. ‘And if your King will let me come Till I my tale have told, I will bestow for my ransom, Full thirty ton of gold.’
3. ‘O nay, O nay,’ then said our King, ‘O nay, this may not be, To yield to such a rover, Myself will not agree: He hath deceived the Frenchman, Likewise the King of Spain, And how can he be true to me, That hath been false to twain?’
4. With that our King provided A ship of worthy fame, Rainbow is she called, If you would know her name: Now the gallant Rainbow She rows upon the sea, Five hundred gallant seamen To bear her company.
5. The Dutchman and the Spaniard, She made them for to fly, Also the bonny Frenchman, As she met him on the sea. When as this gallant Rainbow Did come where Ward did lie, ‘Where is the captain of this ship?’ This gallant Rainbow did cry.
6. ‘O, that am I,’ says Captain Ward, ‘There’s no man bids me lie, And if thou art the King’s fair ship, Thou art welcome to me.’ ‘I’ll tell thee what,’ says Rainbow, ‘Our King is in great grief, That thou shouldst lie upon the sea, And play the arrant thief,
7. ‘And will not let our merchants’ ships Pass as they did before; Such tidings to our King is come, Which grieves his heart full sore.’ With that, this gallant Rainbow She shot, out of her pride, Full fifty gallant brass pieces Chargëd on every side.
8. And yet these gallant shooters Prevailëd not a pin, Though they were brass on the outside, Brave Ward was steel within; Shoot on, shoot on,’ says Captain Ward, ‘Your sport well pleaseth me, And he that first gives over, Shall yield unto the sea.
9. ‘I never wronged an English ship, But Turk and King of Spain, For and the jovial Dutchman, As I met on the main; If I had known your King But one-two years before, I would have saved brave Essex life, Whose death did grieve me sore.
10. ‘Go tell the King of England, Go tell him thus from me, If he reigns King of all the land, I will reign King at sea.’ With that the gallant Rainbow shot, And shot and shot in vain, And left the rover’s company, And return’d home again.
11. ‘Our royal King of England, Your ship’s returned again, For Ward’s ship is so strong It never will be ta’en.’ ‘O everlasting!’ says our King, ‘I have lost jewels three, Which would have gone unto the seas And brought proud Ward to me.
12. ‘The first was Lord Clifford, Earl of Cumberland; The second was the Lord Mountjoy As you shall understand; The third was brave Essex From field would never flee, Which would have gone unto the seas, And brought proud Ward to me.’
THE SWEET TRINITY
+The Text+ is taken from a broadside in the Pepys collection (iv. 196), which can be dated between 1682 and 1685, and is entitled _Sir Walter Raleigh sailing in the Low-lands_. Three other copies of the same edition of the broadside are known.
+The Story+ of the _Sweet Trinity_ has become confused with that of the _Golden Vanity_ (_Golden Victorie_, _Golden Trinitie_, _Gold Pinnatree_ are variants), which is probably a corrupted form of it; indeed the weak ending of the broadside challenges any singer to improve upon it. But again there are two distinct variations of the _Golden Vanity_ ballad. In the first class, the boy, having sunk the French galley, calls to the _Golden Vanity_ to throw him a rope, and when it is refused, threatens to sink her too; whereupon they take him aboard and carry out all their promises of reward (which vary considerably in the different versions). In the second class, the boy dies after he is taken up from the water; in one version he sinks from exhaustion before he can be saved.
The _Sweet Trinity_, however, has been taken by a ship of unspecified nationality (‘false’ might easily become corrupted into ‘French’); and thus this ballad deals with three ships, while the _Golden Vanity_ versions mention but two. The latter are still current in folk-song.
THE SWEET TRINITY
1. Sir Walter Raleigh has built a ship, _In the Netherlands_; Sir Walter Raleigh has built a ship, _In the Netherlands_; And it is called the Sweet Trinity, And was taken by the false gallaly. _Sailing in the Lowlands_.
2. ‘Is there never a Seaman bold _In the Netherlands_; Is there never a Seaman bold _In the Netherlands_; That will go take this false gallaly, And to redeem the Sweet Trinity? _Sailing in the Lowlands_.
3. Then spoke the little Ship-boy, _In the Netherlands_; Then spoke the little Ship-boy, _In the Netherlands_; ‘Master, master, what will you give me, And I will take this false gallaly, And release the Sweet Trinity? _Sailing in the Lowlands_.
4. ‘I’ll give thee gold, and I’ll give thee fee, _In the Netherlands_; I’ll give thee gold, and I’ll give thee fee, _In the Netherlands_; And my eldest daughter, thy wife shall be. _Sailing in the Lowlands_.’
5. He set his breast, and away he did swim, Until he came to the false gallaly.
6. He had an augur fit for the nonce, The which will bore fifteen good holes at once.
7. Some were at cards, and some at dice, Until the salt water flashed in their eyes.
8. Some cut their hats, and some cut their caps, For to stop the salt water gaps.
9. He set his breast, and away did swim, Until he came to his own ship again.
10. ‘I have done the work I promised to do, I have sunk the false gallaly, And released the Sweet Trinity.
11. ‘You promised me gold, and you promised me fee, Your eldest daughter my wife she must be.’
12. ‘You shall have gold, and you shall have fee, But my eldest daughter your wife shall never be.’
13. ‘Then fare you well, you cozening Lord, Seeing you are not so good as your word.’
14. And thus I shall conclude my song, _Of the sailing in the Lowlands_, Wishing all happiness to all seamen both old and young, _In their sailing in the Lowlands_.
[Annotations: 5.1: ‘set his breast’: perhaps this simply means he breasted the water; but see _Glossary of Ballad Commonplaces_, First Series, xlvi.]
INDEX OF TITLES Page
Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough and William of Cloudesly 147
Captain Ward and the Rainbow 219
Gest of Robyn Hode, A 1
Henry Martyn 213
John Dory 216 Johnny o’ Cockley’s Well 177
Outlaw Murray, The 183
Robin and Gandeleyn 92 Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 128 Robin Hood and the Monk 96 Robin Hood and the Potter 113 Robin Hood’s Death 140
Sir Andrew Barton 196 Sweet Trinity, The 224
INDEX OF FIRST LINES Page
As it befell in midsummer-time 197 As it fell on a holy-day 216
Ettrick Forest is a fair forest 183
I heard a carping of a clerk 92 In merry Scotland, in merry Scotland 213 In summer, when the leavës spring 113 In summer, when the shaws be sheen 96 I will never eat nor drink, Robin Hood said 141
Johnny he has risen up i’ the morn 178
Lythe and listin, gentilmen 6
Mery it was in grene forest 148
Sir Walter Raleigh has built a ship 225 Strike up, you lusty gallants 219
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press
* * * * * * * * *
POPULAR BALLADS OF THE OLDEN TIME
Selected and Edited by FRANK SIDGWICK
FIRST SERIES.
Ballads of Romance and Chivalry. 1903.
‘It forms an excellent introduction to a sadly neglected source of poetry.’ --_Athenæum._
‘There can be nothing but praise for the selection, editing, and notes, which are all excellent and adequate. It is, in fine, a valuable volume of what bids fair to be a very valuable series.’ --_Academy._
‘The most serviceable edition of the ballads yet published in England.’ --_Manchester Guardian._
SECOND SERIES.
Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth. 1904.
‘It includes many beautiful and well-known ballads, and no pains have been spared by the editor in producing them, so far as may be, in their entirety.’ --_World._
‘The second volume . . . carries out the promise of the first. . . . Even after Professor Kittredge’s compressed edition of Child, . . . Mr. Sidgwick’s work abundantly justifies its existence.’ --_Manchester Guardian._
THIRD SERIES.
Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance. 1906.
‘This book is as good a model of fine and careful editing as the two earlier volumes. . . . Mr. Sidgwick’s selections could not be bettered, nor could he have arranged them more attractively.’ --_Manchester Guardian._
‘There can be no doubt that when the series is completed it will be the best cheap and popular and representative collection.’ --_Bookman._
_FROM SIDGWICK & JACKSON’S LIST_
+EARLY ENGLISH LYRICS: Amorous, Divine, Moral, and Trivial+. Chosen by E. K. CHAMBERS and F. SIDGWICK. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. net.
⁂ The purpose of this book is to provide an anthology of English lyrical poetry earlier than the advent of the Sonnet with Wyatt and Surrey during the sixteenth century. It includes 152 poems, ranging between 1225 and 1550 A.D., an essay on _Some Aspects of Mediæval Lyric_ by E. K. CHAMBERS, and full notes.
‘It is a work of true scholarship as well as of distinguished literary skill.’ --_Manchester Guardian._
‘A pleasant, scholarly, well-conceived book.’ --_The Bookman._
+THE FOOTPATH WAY: An Anthology for Walkers+. With an Introduction by HILAIRE BELLOC. [_Second Impression._
‘That delightful anthology.’ --_Evening News._
+IDEALS OF LIVING: An Anthology of Thoughts Concerning the Meaning and Purpose of Life+. Selected and edited by GRACE E. HADOW.
‘A charming and interesting anthology.’ --_Spectator._
+AN EASTER ANTHOLOGY.+ Selected and edited by WILLIAM KNIGHT, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, St. Andrews.
‘A most helpful gift.’ --_Evening Standard._
+MINIATURES: being Nature Essays+. By G. A. B. DEWAR.
‘We commend these little sketches to all who love and reverence Nature and the occupations of the soil.’ --_Pall Mall Gazette._
+HISTORICAL VIGNETTES.+ By BERNARD CAPES.