Book of Old English Ballads | Page 8

was brought to Eddenborrow,
Where Scotlands king did
raigne,
That brave Erle Douglas suddenlye
Was with an arrow
slaine.
"O heavy newes," King James did say;
"Scottland can witnesse bee,


I have not any captaine more
Of such account as hee."
Like tydings to King Henry came,
Within as short a space,
That
Percy of Northumberland
Was slaine in Chevy-Chace.
"Now God be with him," said our king,
"Sith it will noe better bee;

I trust I have, within my realme,
Five hundred as good as hee.
"Yett shall not Scotts nor Scotland say,
But I will vengeance take,

I'll be revenged on them all,
For brave Erle Percyes sake."
This vow full well the king perform'd
After, at Humbledowne;
In
one day, fifty knights were slayne,
With lordes of great renowne.
And of the rest, of small account,
Did many thousands dye:
Thus
endeth the hunting in Chevy-Chace,
Made by the Erle Percy.
God save our king, and bless this land
In plentye, joy, and peace;

And grant henceforth, that foule debate
'Twixt noblemen may cease!
King Cophetua and the Beggar-Maid
I read that once in Affrica
A princely wight did raine,
Who had to
name Cophetua,
As poets they did faine.
From natures lawes he did
decline,
For sure he was not of my minde,
He cared not for
women-kind
But did them all disdaine.
But marke what hapned on
a day;
As he out of his window lay,
He saw a beggar all in gray.

The which did cause his paine.
The blinded boy that shootes so trim
From heaven downe did hie,

He drew a dart and shot at him,
In place where he did lye:
Which
soone did pierse him to the quicke,
And when he felt the arrow pricke,

Which in his tender heart did sticke,
He looketh as he would dye.

"What sudden chance is this," quoth he,
"That I to love must
subject be,
Which never thereto would agree,

But still did it defie?"

Then from the window he did come,
And laid him on his bed;
A
thousand heapes of care did runne
Within his troubled head.
For
now he meanes to crave her love,
And now he seekes which way to
proove
How he his fancie might remoove,
And not this beggar wed.

But Cupid had him so in snare,
That this poor begger must prepare

A salve to cure him of his care,
Or els he would be dead.
And as he musing thus did lye,
He thought for to devise
How he
might have her companye,
That so did 'maze his eyes.
"In thee,"
quoth he, "doth rest my life;
For surely thou shalt be my wife,
Or
else this hand with bloody knife,
The Gods shall sure suffice."
Then
from his bed he soon arose,
And to his pallace gate he goes;
Full
little then this begger knowes
When she the king espies.
"The gods preserve your majesty,"
The beggers all gan cry;

"Vouchsafe to give your charity,
Our childrens food to buy."
The
king to them his purse did cast,
And they to part it made great haste;

This silly woman was the last
That after them did hye.
The king
he cal'd her back againe,
And unto her he gave his chaine;
And said,
"With us you shal remaine
Till such time as we dye.
"For thou," quoth he, "shalt be my wife,
And honoured for my queene;

With thee I meane to lead my life,
As shortly shall be seene:
Our
wedding shall appointed be,
And every thing in its degree;
Come
on," quoth he, "and follow me,
Thou shalt go shift thee cleane.

What is thy name, faire maid?" quoth he.
"Penelophon, O King,"
quoth she;
With that she made a lowe courtsey;
A trim one as I
weene.
Thus hand in hand along they walke
Unto the king's pallace:
The
king with courteous, comly talke
This begger doth embrace.
The
begger blusheth scarlet red,
And straight againe as pale as lead,
But
not a word at all she said,
She was in such amaze.
At last she spake
with trembling voyce,
And said, "O King, I doe rejoyce
That you

wil take me for your choyce,
And my degree so base."
And when the wedding day was come,
The king commanded strait

The noblemen, both all and some,
Upon the queene to wait.
And
she behaved herself that day
As if she had never walkt the way;
She
had forgot her gowne of gray,
Which she did weare of late.
The
proverbe old is come to passe,
The priest, when he begins his masse,

Forgets that ever clerke he was
He knowth not his estate.
Here you may read Cophetua,
Through long time fancie-fed,

Compelled by the blinded boy
The begger for to wed:
He that did
lovers lookes disdaine,
To do the same was glad and faine,
Or else
he would himselfe have slaine,
In storie, as we read.
Disdaine no
whit, O lady deere,
But pitty now thy servant heere,
Least that it
hap to thee this yeare,
As to that king it did.
And thus they led a quiet life
During their princely raine,
And in a
tombe were buried both,
As writers sheweth plaine.
The lords they
tooke it grievously,
The ladies tooke it heavily,
The commons cryed
pitiously,
Their death to them was paine.
Their fame did sound so
passingly,
That it did pierce the starry sky,
And throughout all the
world did flye
To every princes realme.
King Leir and his Three Daughters
King Leir once ruled in this land
With princely power