SIR CAULINE.

Fair Christabelle to his chaumber goes,
Her maydens followyng nye:

my

O well, she sayth, how doth lord ?
O sicke, thou fayr ladyè.

Nowe ryse up wightlye,' man, for shame,
Never lye soe cowardlee;

For it is told in my father's halle,
You dye for love of mee.

Fayre ladye, it is for your love
That all this dill I drye:2

For if you wold comfort me with a kisse,
Then were I brought from bale3 to blisse,
No lenger wold I lye.

Sir Knighte, my father is a kinge,
I am his onlye heire;

Alas! and well you knowe, syr knighte,
I never can be youre fere.

O ladye, thou art a kinge's daughtèr,
And I am not thy peere;

But let me doe some deedes of armes

bacheleere.1

Some deedes of armes if thou wilt doe,
My bacheleere to bee,

But ever and aye my heart wold rue,

5

Giff harm shold happe to thee,

Upon Eldridge hill there groweth a thorne,
Upon the mores brodinge ;7

And dare ye, syr knighte, wake there all nighte
Until the fayre morninge?

For the Eldridge knighte, so mickles of mighte,
Will examine you beforne :9

And never man bare life away,

But he did him scath and scorne.

That knighte he is a foul paynìm,10
And large of limb and bone,
And but if heaven may be thy speede,"1
Thy life it is but gone.

1 Wightlye-vigorously. 2 Dill I drye-pain I suffer.

4 Bacheleere-knight.

3 Bale-woe.

5 Gill-if.

6 Eldridge-lonesome, spectral.

8 Mickle-great. 10 Paynim-pagan.

7 Mores brodinge-the wide downs or moors.
Beforne-before.
11 Speede-fortune, or luck.

Nowe on the Eldridge hills Ile walke,1
For thy sake, fair ladie;

And Ile either bring you a ready tokèn,
Or Ile never more you see.

The lady is gone to her own chaumbère,
Her maydens following bright;
Syr Cauline lope from care-bed soone,
And to the Eldridge hills is gone,
For to wake there all night.

Unto midnight, that the moone did rise,
He walked up and downe;

Then a lightsome bugle heard he blowe
Over the bents" soe browne;

Quoth hee, If cryance1 come till my heart,
I am ffar from any good towne.

And soone he spyde on the mores so broad,
A furious wight and fell;"

A ladye bright his brydle led,

Clad in a fayre kyrtèll :"

And soe fast he called on syr Caulìne,
O man, I rede thee flye,

For but if cryance comes till my heart,
I weenes but thou mun dye.

He sayth, No' cryance comes till my heart,
Nor, in faith, I wyll not flee;

For, cause thou minged not Christ before,
The less me dreadeth thee.

The Eldridge knighte, he pricked his steed;
Syr Cauline bold abode:

Then either shooke his trustye speare,
And the timber these two children" bare
Soe soone in sunder slode."

Then tooke they out theyr two good swordes,
And layden on full faste,

Till helme and hawberke, mail and sheelde,
They all were well-nye brast."

1 Walke-Percy suggests wake; but why not watchman walking the round.

3 Bents-fields.
A man angry and fierce.

8 Weene-I think.

11 Slode-split.

Cryance-if fear

7 Rede-I advise thee to fly.

9 Minged-mentioned.

walk, in the sense of a 2 Lope-leaped. come to my heart. 6 Kyrtèll-garment.

10 Children-knights.

12 Layden-luid. 13 Brast-well-nigh burst.