To show what constant tribute was paid to "Our Lady of Walsingham," I shall give a few extracts from the “ Houshold-Book of Henry Algernon Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland." Printed 1770, 8vo.

Sect. XLIII. page 337, &c.

ITEM, My Lorde usith yerly to send afor Michaelmas for his Lordschip's Offerynge to our Lady of Walsyngeham.-iiij d.

ITEM, My Lorde usith ande accustumyth to sende yerely for the upholdynge of the Light of Wax which his Lordschip fyndith birnynge yerly befor our Lady of Walsyngham, contenynge j lb. of Wax in it after vij d. ob. for the fyndynge of every lb. redy wrought by a covenaunt maid with the Channon by great, for the hole yere, for the fyndinge of the said Lyght byrnning.- vi s. viiij d. ITEM, My Lord usith and accustomith to syende yerely to the Channon that kepith the Light before our Lady of Walsyngham, for his reward for the hole yere, for kepynge of the said Light, lightynge of it at all service tymes dayly thorowt the yere,― xij d.

ITEM, My Lord usith and accustomyth yerely to send to the Prest that kepith the Light, lyghtynge of it at all service tymes daily thorowt the yere,ijs. iij d.

But mine the sorrow, mine the fault,

And well my life shall pay;

I'll seek the solitude he sought,
And stretch me where he lay.

And there forlorn despairing hid,
I'll lay me down and die:
'Twas so for me that Edwin did,
And so for him will 1.

Was a story of great fame among our ancestors. The author of the "Art of English Poesie," 1589, 4to. seems to speak of it as a real fact.-Describing that vicious mode of speech, which the Greeks called ACYRON, i. e. "When we use a dark and obscure word, utterly repugnant to that we should express;" he adds, "Such manner of uncouth speech did the Tanner of Tamworth use to king Edward the Fourth; which Tanner, having a great while mistaken him, and used very broad talke with him, at length perceiving by his traine that it was the king, was afraide he should be punished for it, [and] said thus, with a certain rude repentance,

con

"I hope I shall be hanged to-morrow, "for [I feare me] I shall be hanged; whereat the king laughed a good*, not only to see the Tanner's vaine feare, but also to heare his illshapen terme : and gave him for recompence of his good sport, the inheritance of Plumpton-parke. 'I am afraid,' cludes this sagacious writer, "the poets of our times that speake more finely and correctedly, will come too short of such a reward.'" p. 214.-The phrase here referred to, is not found in this ballad at present, but occurs with some variation in another old poem, intitled " John the Reeve," described in the following volume, (see the Preface to "the King and the Miller,") viz.:

"Nay, sayd John, by Gods grace,
And Edward wer in this place,

Hee shold not touch this tonne :
He wold be wroth with John I hope,
Thereffore I beshrew the soupe,

That in his mouth shold come." Pt. 2. st. 24. The following text is selected (with such other corrections as occurred) from two copies in black letter. The one in the Bodleyan library, intitled, "A merrie, pleasant, and delectable historie betweene King Edward the Fourth, and a Tanner of Tamworth, &c. printed at London, by John Danter, 1596." This copy, ancient as it now is, appears to have been modernized and altered at the time it was published; and many vestiges of the more ancient readings were recovered from another copy, (though more recently printed,) in one sheet folio, without date, in the Pepys collection.

But these are both very inferior in point of antiquity to the old Ballad of "The King and the Barker," reprinted with other "Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry from Authentic Manuscripts, and old Printed Copies, &c. Lond. 1791, 8vo. As that very antique Poem had never occurred to the Editor of the Reliques, till he saw it in the above collection, he now refers the curious Reader to it, as an imperfect and incorrect copy of the old original Ballad.

In summer time, when leaves grow greene,
And blossoms bedecke the tree,
King Edward wolde a hunting ryde,
Some pastime for to see.

Vid. Gloss.

Nor in that of the Barker mentioned below.

With hawke and hounde he made him bowne,
With horne, and eke with bowe;

To Drayton Basset he tooke his waye,
With all his lordes a rowe.

And he had ridden ore dale and downe
By eight of clocke in the day,
When he was ware of a bold tanner,
Come ryding along the waye.

A fayre russet coat the tanner had on
Fast buttoned under his chin,
And under him a good cow-hide,

And a mare of four shilling*.

Nowe stand you still, my good lordes all,
Under the grene wood spraye;

And I will wend to yonder fellowe,
To weet what he will saye.

God speede, God speede thee, said our king.
Thou art welcome, sir, sayd hee.
"The readyest waye to Drayton Basset
I praye thee to shewe to mee."

"To Drayton Basset woldst thou goe,
Fro the place where thou dost stand?
The next payre of gallowes thou comest unto,
Turne in upon thy right hand."

That is an unreadye waye, sayd our king,
Thou doest but jest I see;

Nowe shewe me out the nearest waye,
And I pray the wend with mee.

Awaye with a vengeaunce! quoth the tanner: I hold thee out of thy witt:

All daye have I rydden on Brocke my mare, And I am fasting yett.

"Go with me downe to Drayton Basset, No daynties we will spare;

All daye shalt thou eate and drinke of the best, And I will paye thy fare."

Gramercye for nothing, the tanner replyde,
Thou payest no fare of mine:

I trowe I've more nobles in my purse,
Than thou hast pence in thine.

God give thee joy of them, sayd the king,
And send them well to priefe.
The tanner wolde faine have beene away,
For he weende he had beene a thiefe.

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In the reign of Edward IV. Dame Cecili, lady of Torboke, in her will, dated March 7, A.D. 1466, among many other bequests, has this, " Also I will that my sonne Thomas of Torboke have 13s. 4d. to buy him an horse." Vid. Harleian Catalog. 2176. 27.-Now if 138. 4d. would purchase a steed fit for a person of quality, a tanner's horse might reasonably be valued at four or five shillings.

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,

Met I with a jolly palmer

In a pilgrimes weede.

Now God you save, you jolly palmer!
"Welcome, lady gay,

Oft have I sued to thee for love."

-Oft have I said you nay.

The pilgrimages undertaken on pretence of religion, were often productive of affairs of gallantry, and led the votaries to no other shrine than that of Venus*.

The following ballad was once very popular; it is quoted in Fletcher's "Knight of the burning pestle," Act II. sc. ult. and in another old play, called, "Hans Beer-pot, his 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 works, 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

Of blessed Walsingham,

O met you not with my true love

As by the way ye came?

My love is neither white", nor browne,
But as the heavens faire;

There is none hath her form divine,
Either in earth, or ayre.

"Such an one did I meet, good sir,
With an angelicke face;
Who like a nymphe, a queene appeard
Both in her gait, her grace."

Yes she hath cleane forsaken me,

And left me all alone;

Who some time loved me as her life,
And called me her owne.

"What is the cause she leaves thee thus,

And a new way doth take,
That some times loved thee as her life,
And thee her joy did make?"

I that loved her all my youth,

Growe old now as you see;
Love liketh not the falling fruite,
Nor yet the withered tree.

For love is like a carelesse childe,
Forgetting promise past:

He is blind, or deaf, whenere he list;
His faith is never fast.

His fond desire is fickle found,

And yieldes a trustlesse joye; Wonne with a world of toil and care, And lost ev'n with a toye.

* 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 "Curialia," 4to. † sc. pale.

As this fine morsel of heroic poetry hath generally past 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 Scotland, who was killed in America, along with General Bradock, 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 composition. Some able judges asserted it to be modern. The lady did in a manner acknowledge it to be so. Being desired to shew 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 expence of publishing the first Edition, in folio, 1719. This account was transmitted 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 informed, that the late William Thompson, the Scottish musician, who published the Orpheus Caledonius," 1733, 2 vols. 8vo. declared he had heard Fragments of it repeated in his infancy, before Mrs. Wardlaw's copy was heard of.

The Poem is here printed from the original Edition, as it was prepared for the press with the additional improvements. (See below, page 116.)

"To horse, to horse, my royal liege,
Your faes stand on the strand,
Full twenty thousand glittering spears
The King of Norse commands."
Bring me my steed Mage dapple gray,
Our good king rose and cry'd,
A trustier beast in a' the land
A Scots king nevir try'd.

VII.

Go little page, tell Hardyknute,
That lives on hill sae hie,

To draw his sword, the dread of faes,
And haste and follow me.

The little page flew swift as dart

Flung by his master's arm,

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"Come, down, come down, lord Hardyknute, 55 And rid your king frae harm."