Chapter XIV: Part III: , p. 24, Part IV, p. xxxi, taken down from James Olver, (1)

Launceston (an improved copy). =e.= Buchan’s MSS, II, 390, 414. =f.= Motherwell’s MS., p. 392, and Note-Book, p. 50, from the recitation of Agnes Lyle, 24th August, 1825. =g.= Macmath MS., p. 80, from the recitation of Miss Agnes Macmath, 1893; learned at Airds of Kells, Kirkcudbrightshire.

1
‘I have a ship in the North Countrie,
And she goes by the name of The Golden Vanity;
I’m afraid she will be taken by some Turkish gallee,
As she sails on the Low Lands Low.’

2
Then up starts our little cabin-boy,
Saying, Master, what will you give me if I do them destroy?
‘I will give you gold, I will give you store,
You shall have my daughter when I return on shore,
If ye sink them in the Low Lands Low.’

3
The boy bent his breast and away he jumpt in;
He swam till he came to this Turkish galleon,
As she laid on the Low Lands Low.

4
The boy he had an auger to bore holes two at twice;
While some were playing cards, and some were playing dice,
He let the water in, and it dazzled in their eyes,
And he sunk them in the Low Lands Low.

5
The boy he bent his breast and away he swam back again,
Saying, Master take me up, or I shall be slain,
For I have sunk them in the Low Lands Low.

6
‘I’ll not take you up,’ the master he cried;
‘I’ll not take you up,’ the master replied;
‘I will kill you, I will shoot you, I will send you with the tide,
I will sink you in the Low Lands Low.’

7
The boy he swam round all by the starboard-side;
They laid him on the deck, and it’s there he soon died;
Then they sewed him up in an old cow’s-hide,
And they threw him overboard, to go down with the tide,
And they sunk him in the Low Lands Low.

* * * * *

=A.=

Sir Walter Raleigh sailing in the Low-lands: Shewing how the famous ship called The Sweet Trinity was taken by a false gally, and how it was again restored by the craft of a little sea-boy, who sunk the galley: as the following song will declare. To the tune of The Sailing of the Low-land.

(End.) This may be printed. R. L. S. (Sir R. L’Estrange was licenser from 1663 to 1685.)

Printed for J. Conyers at the Black-Raven, the first shop in Fetter-Lane next Holborn. (J. Conyers, 1682-91. Chappell.)

=a.=

7^1. at somt dice.

=B. a.=

8^1. Oh.

=b.=

_The variations are but trifling._

7.
And awa, and awa, and awa swam he,
Till he swam up to.

8^2. He just took out a gimlet and bored sixty holes and thrice.

9^2. But they couldna run awa from the saltwater drops.

10.
Then awa, and awa, and awa swam he,
Till he swam back to.

12^1. I’ll na: rope, I’ll na.

12^2. I’ll na: unto thee: my word.

13.
An ye na throw me oer a rope an ye na pull me up aboard,
I’ll just sink ye.

14^2. And they proved unto him as good as their word.

=c.=

1
There was an auncient ship, and an auncient ship was she,
Eee eedle ee, in the Lowlands so low
And the name of the ship was The Golden Vanitie.
As she sailed from the Lowlands so low

2
She had not sailed a league, no, not a league but three,
Until that shee spied a French galley.

3
‘It’s master, O master, what’ll ye gie me,
If I go and sink yon French galley?’

4
O then said the master, I will gie till ye
The half of my lands in the South Countrie.

5
‘It’s I’ll gie ye meat, and I’ll gie ye fee,
And my eldest daughter your bride for to be.’

6
‘It’s wrap me up tight in a gude bull’s-skin,
And throw me over deck-board, sink I or swim.’

7
So they wrapt him tight in a gude bull’s-skin,
And they’ve thrown him over deck-board, sink he or swim.

8
And about, and about, and about went he,
Until that he came to the French galley.

9
It’s some were playing at cards, and some were playing at dice,
But he struck her with an instrument, bored thirty holes at twice.

10
Some ran wi hats, and some ran wi caps,
All for to stop the salt-waters draps.
As they, etc.

3^1, 4^1. oh, Oh.

=d.=

1
There was an ancient ship, and an ancient ship was she,
Italy and the Lowlands low
And her name it was The Golden Vanity.
As she sailed for the Lowlands low

2
She had not sailed a mile, a mile but barely three,
When she hove in sight of a French galley.

3
Up spak the prentice-boy; What’ll ye gie me,
If I gang and sink yon French galley?
As she sails, etc.

4
Up spak the captain; What’ll I gie ye,
. . . . . . . .
As she sails, etc.

_5 forgotten._

6
‘It’s row me up in a tough bull’s-skin,
And throw me overboard, let me sink or swim.’
As we sail, etc.

7
They’ve rowed him up tight in a tough bull’s-skin,
And they’ve thrown him overboard, let him sink or swim.
As they sailed, etc.

8
Then about, and about, and about went he,
Until that he reached that French galley.
As she sailed, etc.

9
. . . . . . . . .
And three-score holes he scuttled in a trice.
As she sailed, etc.

10
‘Now throw me owre a rope and pull me up on board,
And prove unto me as gude as yere word.’
As we sail, etc.

11
‘I’ll not throw ye owre a rope, nor pull ye up on board,
Nor prove unto ye as guid as my word.’
As we sail, etc.

12
‘Throw me owre a rope and pull me up on board,
Or I’ll do to ye as I did the French galley.’
As she sailed, etc.

13
Then they threw him owre a rope and pulled him up on board,
And proved unto him far better than their word.
As they sailed, etc.

=e.=

1
O she was an English ship, an an English ship was she,
Hey diddie dee for the Lowlands low
And her name it was The Golden Victorie.
As she sailed for the Lowlands low.

2
. . . . . . . .
And she fell in wi a French galee.
As she sailed, etc.

3
‘O what’ll ye gie me, captain, what’ll ye gie me,
If I go an sink yon French galee?’
As she sails, etc.

4
‘O I’ll gie thee goud, an I’ll gie thee fee,
An my eldest daughter your wife shall be.’
As we sail, etc.

5
‘Then wrap me up tight in tough bull-hide,
An to sink or swim ye’ll pitch me ower the side.’
As we sail, etc.

6
They wrapt him up tight in tough bull-hide,
An to sink or swim they pitchd him ower the side,
As they sailed, etc.

7
He swam, an he swam, an he better swam,
Until he to the French galley cam.
As she sailed, etc.

8
O some were playin cards, an some were playin dice,
But he struck her wi an auger thirty three and thrice.
As she sailed, etc.

9
Aboot, an aboot, an aboot went she,
Until she cam to the bottom of the sea.
As she sailed, etc.

=f.=

_Sir Walter Scott’s recollections here seem not trustworthy, and of this he was himself aware._

1
The George-a-Low eame down the strait,
Hey low and the Lowlands so low
And she will be lost, both vessel and freight,
For the chasing of a French galerie O

5
‘Row me in a good bull-skin,
And fling me overboard, for to sink or to swim,’
For the sinking of yon French galerie O

6
They row him, etc.

8
Some were playing at cards and dice,
When the sea came gushing in a trice.
For the sinking, etc.

=C.= =b.=

1
Our ship she was called The Golden Vanitie;
We had sailed from our port about miles fifty-three,
When up came with us a Spanish gallee,
To sink us in the Lowlands low.

2
Our master wrung his hands, but our little cabin-boy
Said, What will you give me, master, if I do them destroy?
‘Oh I will give you gold, and my daughter too, with joy,
If you sink them,’ etc.

3
The boy gave a nod, and then jumped into the sea,
And he swam till he came to the Spanish gallee;
He climbed up aboard, and below to work went he,
To sink them, etc.

4
For this boy he had an auger that bored twenty holes in twice,
And while some were playing cards, and some were playing dice,
Through the bottom of the ship he bored it in a trice,
And he sunk them, etc.

5
The galley she went down, but the boy swam back again,
Crying, Master, pick me up, or I shall soon be slain;
Pray heave to me a rope, or I shall sink in the main;
For I’ve sunk them, etc.

6
‘I will not pick you up,’ the master loudly cried,
‘I will not heave a rope,’ the master he replied;
‘I will kill you, I will sink you, I will leave you in the tide,
I will sink you,’ etc.

7
The boy he swam around the ship from side to side,
But he could not get aboard, so he sank, and he died,
And they left him where he was, to go down with the tide;
So they sunk him, etc.

=c.=

1
There was a good ship from the North Countrie,
Sailing low in the Lowlands low
There was, etc.
And that ship’s name was The Golden Vanity.
Sailing low in the Lowlands, low in the sea,
Sailing low in the Lowlands low

The master said, I fear for my good ship Vanity,
Oh, I fear for my good ship, The Golden Vanity,
That she will be taken by the pirate Targalley,
As she sails in, etc.

2^2
‘Oh, master, good master, what will you give me
If I sink yon Targalley low in the sea?’

10 _stanzas_.

=d.=

1
A ship I have got in the North Country,
And she goes by the name of The Golden Vanity;
O I fear she’ll be taken by a Spanish Galalie,
As she sails by the Lowlands low.

8 _stanzas_.

=e.= Buchan; MSS, II, 390.

1
Our ship sailed to the North Country,
Sing, How the Lowlands lo[w]
Our ship sailed on to the North Countrie,
And the name o her was The Gold Pinnatree,
She was as fine a vessel as ever sailed the sea,
And she sails by the Lowlands lo[w]

2
We hadna sailed leagues but only three,
Till the captain from the maindeck fixed an ee;
He spied a lofty frigate was sailing closely tee,
And her name was The French Gallio.

3
Then out it speaks the pilot, by the mainyard did stand,
Says, O my pretty boys, we are all undone;
We must prepare to fight or be sunk to the sand,
For yonder comes the French gallio.

4
Then spoke the little cabin-boy, [where stood he,]
Said, O my loving master, what will ye gie me
And I will sink this proud Gallio in the sea,
And I will sink the French gallio?

5
‘I will gie you gold, boy, and I will gie you fee,
Besides a rarer gift that I will give thee;
Ye’se have my eldest daughter your wedded wife to be,
If ye will sink the French gallio.’

6
The boy bent his breast, and away swam he,
And took a bold venture thro the stormy sea,
And cam close by his enemy, as sly as he could be,
It was to sink the French gallio.

7
Some there were at cards, and some there were at dice,
But the little cabin-boy was at the best device,
He was sinking the French gallio in the sea,
He was sinking the French gallio.

8
This boy had a case o fine instruments,
He ca’d fifty holes, and drove them a’ at once,
And he soon sank the French gallio in the sea,
And he soon sank the French gallio.

9
Then the boy bent his breast, and back swam he,
Till that he cam to The Gold Pinnatree;
Says, Now, my loving master, what will ye gie me?
For I have sunk the French gallio.

10
‘Now give to me my gold, master, [give to me my fee,]
Or give to me the other rare gifts ye promised me;
It was your eldest daughter, my wedded wife to be;
For the sinking o the French gallio.’

11
‘Ye shall have no gold, boy, ye shall have no fee;
I wadna ware my daughter on ony such as thee;
For as you’ve done to her, boy, so wad you do to me,
By the sinking o the French [gallio].’

12
Then they put out their long-boat and catched him by the side,
And rowed him into ane auld cow’s-hide,
And tossed him overboard, to float on the tide,
For sinking the French gallio.

Gallio _may be surmised to be properly_ galley O.

_The other copy in Buchan’s MSS_, II, 414, _is only the foregoing a little retouched or regulated_. _It has throughout_ Gallolee _for_ Gallio. _The first line of the burden is_, Sing, Low, the Lowlands low.

4^1. where stood he.

6^3. could dee.

10^1. give to me my fee.

=f.=

1
I spied a ship, and a ship was she,
Sing, Oh, the low and the Lowlands low
And she was called the Turkish Galley,
She was sailing in the Lowlands, low, low, low,
She was sailing in the Lowlands low.

2
‘Master, master, what wud ye gie me
Gin I wud sink yon Turkish galley?
She’s sailing, etc.’

3
‘I’ll gie you gold, I’ll gie you fee,
Gin ye wud sink yon Turkish galley,
That is sailing,’ etc.

4
He bent his breast, and awa swam he,
Till he cam to yon Turkish galley,
That’s sailing, etc.

5
He had an instrument, made for the use,
He bored nine holes in her water-sluice,
Left her sinking, etc.

6
Some took their hats, and some took their caps,
All for to stop her watery leaks.
She was sinking, etc.

7
They took him up by their ship-side,
They sewed him in an auld cow’s-hide,
Left him sinking, etc.

_Motherwell sent this copy to C. K. Sharpe in a letter dated October 8, 1825, in which he says_: I also send rather a curious song, which perchance you may have seen, entitled ‘The Turkish Galley,’ the air of which pleased me much. But as I learn there are two other different sets of the words more complete than my copy, and with different airs, I shall defer sending the musick till I can send also that which belongs to the other copies.

=g.=

1
There was a ship of the North Countrie,
And the name of the ship was The Golden Trinitie.
She was sailing in the Lowlands low, low, low,
She was sailing in the Lowlands low.

2
. . . . . . . . . .
And the name of the ship was The Turkish Gallee,
And she was sailing in the Lowlands low, low, low,
She was sailing, etc.

3
‘O captain, O captain,’ said the young cabin-boy,
‘What will you give me if yon ship I do destroy?
And sink her in,’ etc.

4
‘I’ll give you gold, and I’ll give you fee,
And my eldest daughter your wedded wife shall be,
If you sink her in,’ etc.

5
The boy bent his bow, and away swam he,
Until that he came to the Turkish gallee.
She was sailing in, etc.

6
The boy had an auger, right fitted for the use,
And into her bottom he bored a watery sluice.
She is sinking in, etc.

7
The boy bent his bow, and back swam he,
Until that he came to the Golden Trinitie.
She is sailing in, etc.

8
‘O captain, O captain, take me on board,
And O be as good, as good as your word,
For I’ve sunk her in the Lowlands low, low, low,
I’ve sunk,’ etc.

9
They threw him a rope oer the larboard side,
And sewed him up in an auld cow’s-hide,
And threw him out to a fair wind and tide,
And sunk him in, etc.

FOOTNOTES:

[102] Scott says at the end, “I will not swear to the accuracy of the above.”

287

CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW

Bagford Ballads, I, 65.

Other black-letter copies are Pepys, IV, 202, No 195; Roxburghe, III, 56; Euing, No 108; British Museum, 112. f. 44 (19). This copy is printed in Halliwell’s Early Naval Ballads, p. 59, Bell’s Early Ballads, p. 167, Ebsworth’s Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 426.

There are Aldermary Churchyard copies, as Roxburghe Ballads, III, 652, 861; Scottish stall-copies, as Greenock, W. Scott, Stirling, M. Randall; English, by Pitts, Seven Dials, one of which is printed in Logan’s Pedlar’s Pack, p. 1.

A copy in Buchan’s MSS, II, 245, is nearly the old broadside; another, II, 417, is the stall-copy. Kinloch, MSS, V, 109, II, 265, has the stall-copy from oral transmission (with Weir for Ward). Rev. S. Baring-Gould has recently taken down this ballad (much changed by tradition) in the west of England.

Captain Ward, a famous rover, wishes to make his peace with the king, and offers thirty ton of gold as “ransom” for himself and his men. The king will not trust a man who has proved false to France and to Spain, and sends the Rainbow, with five hundred men, against Ward. The Rainbow has easy work with Dutch, Spaniards, and French, but her fifty brass pieces have no effect on Ward; though the Rainbow is brass without, he is steel within, 8^2 (suggested by ‘Sir Andrew Barton,’ =A= 27^1, =B= 25^1, ‘He is brass within and steel without).’ The Rainbow retires, and reports to the king that Ward is too strong to be taken. The king laments that he has lost three captains, any one of whom would have brought Ward in: George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, †1605, Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, †1606 (both of whom had a part in the defeat of the Armada), and Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, †1601.

The Rainbow was the name of one of Drake’s four ships in his expedition against Cadiz in 1587. The Rainbow is mentioned very often from 1589; as in The Manuscripts of the Earl Cowper, vol. i, Hist. MSS Commission, XIIth Report, Appendix, Part I; Index in Part III of the same, p. 296.

John Ward, an Englishman of Kent, is said to have commenced ‘rover’ about 1604, by inducing the crew of a king’s ship in which he had some place to turn pirates under his command. His race, though eventful, was, naturally enough, not long. He seems not to be heard of after 1609, in which year Ward and his colleague, Dansekar, are spoken of as the “two late famous pirates.” See Mr Ebsworth’s preface to the ballad, VI, 423 ff., founded on Andrew Barker’s book about Ward and Dansekar, published in the year last named.

Two other ballad-histories, ‘The Seamen’s Song of Captain Ward’ and ‘The Seamen’s Song of Dansekar’ (i. e. Dansekar and Ward), entered in the Stationers’ Registers July 3, 1609, are given by Mr Ebsworth, VI, 784, 423.

1
Strike up, you lusty gallants, with musick and sound of drum,
For we have descryed 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 ransome full thirty tun of gold.’

3
‘O nay! O nay!’ then said our king, ‘O nay! this may not be,
To yield to such a rover my self will not agree;
He hath deceivd the French-man, 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 she is called, if you would know her name;
Now the gallant Rainbow she rowes upon the sea,
Five hundred gallant seamen to bear her company.

5
The Dutch-man and the Spaniard she made them for to flye,
Also the bonny French-man, as she met him on the sea:
When as this gallant Rainbow did come where Ward did lye,
‘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 lye,
And if thou art the king’s fair ship, thou art welcome unto me:’
‘I’le tell thee what,’ says Rainbow, ‘our king is in great grief
That thou shouldst lye upon the sea and play the arrant thief,

7
‘And will not let our merchants ships pass as they did before;
Such tydings 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, charged on every side.

8
And yet these gallant shooters prevailed not a pin,
Though they were brass on the out-side, 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 wrongd an English ship, but Turk and King of Spain,
For and the jovial Dutch-man as I met on the main.
If I had known your king but one two years before,
I would have savd brave Essex life, whose death did grieve me sore.

10
‘Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me,
If he reign 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 returnd home again.

11
‘Our royal king of England, your ship’s returnd again,
For Ward’s ship is so strong it never will be tane:’
‘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 a gone unto the seas and brought proud Ward to me.’

* * * * *

The Famous Sea-Fight between Captain Ward and the Rainbow. To the tune of Captain Ward, etc. Licensed and entered.

London, Printed by and for W. Onley, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of Pye-corner and London-bridge. _Dated at the British Museum 1680 at the earliest._

11^3. Everlasting shame, _in the Scottish stall-copies_.

_A collation of Roxburghe_, III, 56, _shows only variations too trivial to note_.

288

THE YOUNG EARL OF ESSEX’S VICTORY OVER THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY

=A.= ‘Queen Elizabeth’s Champion, or, Great Britain’s Glory,’ etc. =a.= Douce Ballads, III, fol. 80 b. =b.= Roxburghe, III, 416, in Ebsworth’s Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 405.

=B.= ‘Earl of Essex’, Kinloch MSS, I, 113.

=A= is printed also in Evans’s Old Ballads, 1777, II, 110, with slight variations from both Douce and Roxburghe.

No printer’s name is given in either copy of =A=. From the use of a peculiar ornament between the columns in =a= (and perhaps in =b=), such as occurs in ballads printed at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by John White, the broadside may plausibly be attributed to him. White died in 1769.

=A.= Queen Elizabeth fits out a powerful fleet to go in search of a vast navy under command of the emperor of Germany. The fleets sight each other after a week or ten days. The emperor, amazed at the splendid show made by the English, asks his officers who this can be that is sailing toward him, and is told that it is the young Earl (third earl) of Essex, the queen’s lieutenant. The emperor has heard enough of the father to make him fear a fight with the son, and proposes to tack and sail away; but the son asks his father to put the ships into his hands and let him fight with Essex. The emperor consents with a warning; if the young Essex shall prove like his father, farewell to their honor. Young Essex takes the emperor’s son prisoner; the emperor offers as a ransom three keys of gold, one of which shall be the key of High Germany. Essex cares not for the three keys; the emperor’s son must go to England and be exhibited to the queen. The emperor declares that, if it must be so, his fifty good ships shall go as well for company.

All this is, no doubt, as foolish as it is fictitious, but the ballad-maker’s independence, in fact unconsciousness, of history and common sense, beginning with the title, in which young Essex is made Queen Elizabeth’s champion, is amusing and not unpleasing. The ballad belongs undoubtedly to the eighteenth century, when High Germany had become familiar to the humble English.

=B.= The traditional copy begins with a prologue of half a dozen stanzas in the form of a colloquy between Billy, who is to be of the expedition, and Nelly, his sweetheart. This prologue must be derived from some other ballad or song. Nelly reminds her lover of the fate of old Benbow, who lost at least one of his legs in a fight with a French fleet in 1702, and died of the consequences, and of that of “proud Shawfield, that honoured knight,” under which name is disguised Sir Cloudesley Shovell, “who came with his navy to the Spanish shore” in 1705, and whose ship went on the rocks off the Scilly Isles (‘Salem’), and sank with all on board, some eight hundred men, in 1707. We then make connection with the broadside.

A

=a.= Douce Ballads, III, fol. 80 b. =b.= Roxburghe, III, 416, in Ebsworth’s Roxburghe Ballads, VI, 405.

1
Come, sound up your trumpets and beat up your drums,
And let’s go to sea with a valiant good cheer,
In search of a mighty vast navy of ships,
The like has not been for these fifty long year.
Raderer two, tandaro te,
Raderer, tandorer, tan do re.

2
The queen she provided a navy of ships,
With sweet flying streamers, so glorious to see,
Rich top and top-gallants, captains and lieutenants,
Some forty, some fifty, brass-pieces and three.

3
They had not saild past a week on the seas,
Not passing a week and days two or three,
But they were aware of the proud emperor,
Both him and all his proud company.

4
When he beheld our powerful fleet,
Sailing along in their glory and pride,
He was amazed at their valour and fame,
Then to his warlike command[er]s he cry’d.

5
These were the words of the old emperor:
Pray who is this that is sailing to me?
If he be king that weareth a crown,
Yet I am a better man than he.

6
‘It is not a king, nor lord of a crown,
Which now to the seas with his navy is come,
But the young Earl of Essex, the Queen’s lieutenant,
Who fears no foes in Christendom.’

7
‘Oh! is that lord then come to the seas?
Let us tack about and be steering away;
I have heard so much of his father before
That I will not fight with young Essex today.’

8
O then bespoke the emperor’s son,
As they were tacking and steering away,
‘Give me, royal father, this navy of s[h]ips,
And I will go fight with Essex today.’

9
‘Take them with all my heart, loving son,
Most of them are of a capital size;
But should he do as his father has done,
Farewel thine honour and mine likewise.’

10
With cannons hot and thundering shot,
These two gallants fought on the main,
And as it was young Essex’s lot,
The emperor’s son by him was taen.

11
‘Give me my son,’ the emperor cry’d,
‘Who you this day have taken from me,
And I’ll give to the[e] three keys of gold,
The one shall be of High Germany.’

12
‘I care not for thy three keys of gold,
Which thou hast profferd to set him free,
But thy son he shall to England sail,
And go before the queen with me.’

13
‘Then have I fifty good ships of the best,
As good as ever were sent to the sea,
And eer my son into England sail,
They shall go all for good company.’

14
They had not fought this famous battle,
They had not fought it hours three,
But some lost legs, and some lost arms,
And some lay tumbling in the sea.

15
Essex he got this battle likewise,
Tho’t was the hotest that ever was seen;
Home he returnd with a wonderful prize,
And brought the emperor’s son to the queen.

16
O then bespoke the prentices all,
Living in London, both proper and tall,
In a kind letter, sent straight to the queen,
For Essex’s sake they would fight all.

B

Kinloch MSS, I, 113. From Mary Barr, June, 1827.

1
‘’Tis, old England, old England, I bid thee adieu,
The drums and the trumpets command me frae shore;
And you lusty fellows, both valiant and true,
Will you venture with me where loud cannons roar?’

2
‘O Billy, O Billy, talk not of the seas,
But stay at home with me on the shore;
I’ll do my endeavour thy fancy to please,
And there’s others to go where loud cannons roar.’

3
‘O Nelly, O Nelly, I must to the seas,
For there is no gold to be had upon shore;
There’s honour, and gold, and riches likewise,
To the man that doth die where loud cannons roar.’

4
‘Remember the winds, love, remember the waves,
Remember the dangers that are upon seas;
Remember there is neither coffin nor grave
To the man that doth die where loud cannons roar.’

5
‘Remember old Benbow, and think on his blows;
Remember the dangers he felt upon seas;
He lost both his legs by one shot of his foes;
He lost his sweet life, yet his honour’s the more.’

6
‘Remember proud Shawfield, that honoured knight,
Who came with his navy to the Spanish shore;
At the rock of Salem his life took a flight,
And with him there died some hundreds more.’

7
‘Our queen she has builded a navy of ships,
And they are arrayed all right gloriously;
With top and top-gallant, with captain, lieutenant,
Some fifty, some sixty, brass pieces and three.’

8
‘Well, since you’ll go, may my blessing advance,
And carry you safely from Flanders to Spain;
And when you’ve conquered that tyrant in France,
Then my blessing return you to old England again.’

9
They had not sailed one hour upon sea,
Not one hour passing days two or three,
Till up came the bold emperour,
The bold emperour of High Germanie.

10
‘O who is this?’ the bold emperour cries,
‘Who is this that comes sailing to me?
I’m sure he’s a knight, or a king of crown,
Or I’m sure I am a far better fellow than he.’

11
‘I am neither a knight, nor a king of a crown,
But here, with my navy, on board I am come;
For I am Lord Essex, the Queen’s lieutenant,
Who never feard foe in all Christendom.’

12
Out and spoke the bold emperour’s son,
All as they were mounting and hyeing away;
‘O father, lend me your navy of ships,
And I’ll go fight with Lord Essex today.’

13
‘O son, I’ll lend thee my navy of ships,
And they are all of a capable size;
But if he be as good as his old father was,
Adieu to your honour, and mine likewise.’

14
O they have fought on at a terrible rate,
Until it drew nigh to the cool of the day,
And as it fell in young Essex’s lot,
The bold emperour’s son he’s taen prisoner away.

15
‘O give me my son,’ the bold emperour cried,
‘O give me my son thou hast taken from me,
And you shall have three keys of gold,
And one of them opens High Germanie.’

16
‘What value I thy three keys of gold,
Or any proud offer thou canst give to me?
For up to old England thy son he must go,
And stand before our queen’s high majesty.’

17
‘’T is I have fifteen ships of the best,
And other fifteen distant on sea;
Since up to old England my son he must go,
Then we’ll all go together for good companie.’

=A.= =a.=

Queen Elizabeth’s Champion, or, Great Britain’s Glory, Being a victory obtained by the young Earl of Essex over the old emperor of Germany by a fight at sea in which he took the emperor’s son and brought him a prisoner to Queen Elizabeth.

=b.=

_omits_ Being _after_ Glory _and_ a _before_ prisoner.

=a.=

_Burden_ ran do re _in second line after stanza_ 1. tandato _in first line after stanza_ 2. Rederer, _after_ 7. Raderer two _for_ Raderer _in second line after_ 9.

1^4. years.

8^1. Oh.

=b.=

1^2. gallant good.

1^4. for this.

4^4. commanders.

5^2. Praying.

5^3. be a.

14^2. hours but.

289

THE MERMAID

=A.= ‘The Seamen’s Distress,’ the second piece in The Glasgow Lasses Garland, British Museum, 11621. c. 3 (68). “Newcastle, 1765?”

=B. a.= ‘The stormy winds do blow,’ Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 742. =b.= The same, p. 743. =c.= Notes and Queries, 6th Series, VII, 276.

=C.= Communicated by Mr Chappell. Now printed in Old English Ditties, Oxenford and Macfarren, ‘The Mermaid,’ I, 206.

=D.= ‘The Mermaid.’ =a.= Long, Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect, 1886, p. 42. =b.= Broadside, H. Such, 177 Union St., Boro’.

=E. a.= Motherwell’s MS., p. 145. =b.= ‘The Bonnie Mermaid,’ Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiii, No XXX, one stanza.

=F.= ‘Greenland,’ Kinloch MSS, VII, 245.

This is the ballad referred to under ‘Sir Patrick Spens,’ II, 19. It is still common as a broadside.

=E a= 6 has taken a burlesque turn. It is scarcely worth while to attempt to account for the vagaries of =F=, in which ‘the kemp o the ship’ takes the place of the mermaid, and the kaim and glass are exchanged for the bottle and glass. The first stanza of =F= may not belong here, or possibly (but not probably) a voyage to Greenland may have been lost from the other copies.

In =B=, =C=, =D=, the ship sails on Friday, against all good rules.

‘The Sailor’s Caution,’ the third piece in The Sailing Trade, Glasgow, Printed by J. and M. Robertson, Saltmarket, 1801, begins like =A=, has a stanza (the fifth) representing =A= 4, 5, and concludes thus, after a stanza (the sixth) resembling =A= 3:

The mermaid on the rock doth sit,
With comb and glass in hand:
‘Cheer up, cheer up, bold mariners,
You are not far from land.

‘So now cheer up, bold mariners,
Or smother in the deep;
All this I do for a sailor’s sake,
Whilst losing of my sleep.

‘Here is a token, bold mariners,
A token of good will,
And if ever that you come this way,
’Tis here you’ll find me still.’

British Museum, 11621. b. 13 (15).

A

The Glasgow Lasses Garland, the second piece, British Museum, 11621. c. 3 (68). “Newcastle, 1765?”

1
As we lay musing in our beds,
So well and so warm at ease,
I thought upon those lodging-beds
Poor seamen have at seas.

2
Last Easter day, in the morning fair,
We was not far from land,
Where we spied a mermaid on the rock,
With comb and glass in hand.

3
The first came up the mate of our ship,
With lead and line in hand,
To sound and see how deep we was
From any rock or sand.

4
The next came up the boatswain of our ship,
With courage stout and bold:
‘Stand fast, stand fast, my brave lively lads,
Stand fast, my brave hearts of gold!’

5
Our gallant ship is gone to wreck,
Which was so lately trimmd;
The raging seas has sprung a leak,
And the salt water does run in.

6
Our gold and silver, and all our cloths,
And all that ever we had,
We forced was to heave them overboard,
Thinking our lives to save.

7
In all, the number that was on board
Was five hundred and sixty-four,
And all that ever came alive on shore
There was but poor ninety-five.

8
The first bespoke the captain of our ship,
And a well-spoke man was he;
‘I have a wife in fair Plymouth town,
And a widow I fear she must be.’

9
The next bespoke the mate of our ship,
And a well-bespoke man was he;
‘I have a wife in fair Portsmouth,
And a widow I fear she must be.’

10
The next bespoke the boatswain of our ship,
And a well-bespoke man was he;
‘I have a wife in fair Exeter,
And a widow I fear she must be.’

11
The next bespoke the little cabbin-boy,
And a well-bespoke boy was he;
‘I am as sorry for my mother dear
As you are for your wives all three.

12
‘Last night, when the moon shin’d bright,
My mother had sons five,
But now she may look in the salt seas
And find but one alive.’

13
‘Call a boat, call a boat, you little Plymouth boys,
Don’t you hear how the trumpet[s] sound?
[For] the want of our boat our gallant ship is lost,
And the most of our merry men is drownd.’

14
Whilst the raging seas do roar,
And the lofty winds do blow,
And we poor seamen do lie on the top,
Whilst the landmen lies below.

B

=a.= Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 742. =b.= The same, p. 743, one stanza and the burden, contributed by Mr Charles Sloman, in 1840. =c.= Notes and Queries, 6th Series, VII, 276, communicated from memory by Mr Thomas Bayne, Helensburgh, N. B., stanzas 1, 6.

1
One Friday morn when we set sail,
Not very far from land,
We there did espy a fair pretty maid
With a comb and a glass in her hand, her hand, her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
While the raging seas did roar,
And the stormy winds did blow,
While we jolly sailor-boys were up into the top,
And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below,
And the land-lubbers lying down below.

2
Then up starts the captain of our gallant ship,
And a brave young man was he:
‘I’ve a wife and a child in fair Bristol town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’
For the raging seas, etc.

3
Then up starts the mate of our gallant ship,
And a bold young man was he:
‘Oh! I have a wife in fair Portsmouth town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’
For the raging seas, etc.

4
Then up starts the cook of our gallant ship,
And a gruff old soul was he:
‘Oh! I have a wife in fair Plymouth town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’

5
And then up spoke the little cabin-boy,
And a pretty little boy was he;
‘Oh! I am more grievd for my daddy and my mammy
Than you for your wives all three.’

6
Then three times round went our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
For the want of a life-boat they all went down,
And she sank to the bottom of the sea.

C

Communicated by Mr W. Chappell, as noted down by him from the singing of men dressed as sailors, on Tower Hill. Subsequently printed, with a few variations, in Old English Ditties, Oxenford and Macfarren, I, 206.

1
One Friday morn as we’d set sail,
And our ship not far from land,
We there did espy a fair mermaid,
With a comb and a glass in her hand, her hand, her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
While the raging seas did roar,
And the stormy winds did blow,
And we jolly sailor-boys were up, up aloft,
And the landsmen were lying down below,
And the landlubbers all down below, below, below,
And the landlubbers all down below.

2
Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
Who at once did our peril see;
I have married a wife in fair London town,
And tonight she a widow will be.’

3
And then up spoke the litel cabin-boy,
And a fair-haired boy was he;
‘I’ve a father and mother in fair Portsmouth town,
And this night she will weep for me.’

4
Now three times round goes our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
For the want of a life-boat they all were drownd,
As she went to the bottom of the sea.

D

=a.= Long, A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect, London, 1886, p. 142. =b.= H. Such, 177 Union St., Boro’.

1
’Twas a Friday morning when we set sail,
And our ship was not far from land,
When there we spied a fair pretty maid,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
Oh, the raging seas they did roar,
And the stormy winds they did blow,
While we poor sailor-boys were all up aloft,
And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below,
And the land-lubbers lying down below.

2
Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a mariner good was he;
‘I have married a wife in fair London town,
And this night a widow she will be.’

3
Then up spoke the cabin-boy of our gallant ship,
And a brave little boy was he;
‘I’ve a father and a mother in old Portsmouth town,
And this night they will both weep for me.’

4
Then up spoke a seaman of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken man was he;
‘For want of a long-boat we shall all be drowned,
And shall sink to the bottom of the sea.’

5
Then three times round went that gallant ship,
And down like a stone sank she;
The moon shone bright, and the stars gave their light,
But they were all at the bottom of the sea.

E

=a.= Motherwell’s MS., p. 145. =b.= Motherwell’s Minstrelsy, Appendix, p. xxiii, No XXX, the first stanza.

1
Up and spoke the bonny mermaid,
Wi the comb and the glass in her hand;
Says, Cheer up your hearts, my mariners all,
You are not very far from the land.
And the raging seas do foam, foam,
And the stormy winds do blow,
While we poor sailors must mount to the top,
When the landsmen they lye low.

2
Out and spoke the captain of our ship,
And a fine little man was he;
‘O I’ve a wife in fair London town,
And a widow this night she shall be.’

3
Out and spoke the mate of our ship,
And a tight little man was he;
‘O I’ve a wife in Dublin city,
And a widow this night she shall be.’

4
Out and spoke our second mate,
And a clever little man was he;
‘Oh I have a wife in Greenock town,
And a widow this night she shall be.’

5
Out and spoke our little prentice boy,
And a fine little boy was he;
‘Oh I am sorry for my mother,’ he said,
‘As you are for your wives all three.’

6
Out and spoke the cook of our ship,
And a rusty old dog was he;
Says, I am as sorry for my pats and my pans
As you are for your wives all three.

F

Kinloch MSS, VII, 245. From the recitation of a little boy from Glasgow, who sang it in Grove St., Edinburgh, July, 1826.

1
Greenland, Greenland, is a bonny, bonny place,
Whare there’s neither grief nor flowr,
Whare there’s neither grief nor tier to be seen,
But hills and frost and snow.

2
Up starts the kemp o the ship,
Wi a psalm-book in his hand:
‘Swoom away, swoom away, my merry old boys,
For you’ll never see dry land.’

3
Up starts the gaucy cook,
And a weil gaucy cook was he;
‘I wad na gie aw my pans and my kettles
For aw the lords in the sea.’

4
Up starts the kemp o the ship,
Wi a bottle and a glass intil his hand;
‘Swoom away, swoom away, my merry old sailors,
For you’ll never see dry land.’

5
O the raging seas they row, row, row,
The stormy winds do blow,
As sune as he had gane up to the tap,
As. .. .. low.

* * * * *

=A.=

6^2. _Qy_, that ever we did have?

7^{3,4}.
_Qy_, And in all, there was but poor ninety-five
That ever came alive on shore.?

14^1. Whilst we in the raging seas do blow.

14^2. And there lofty minds.

=B. b.=

2^1. Then up spoke.

2^{3,4}.
I have sixty gallant seamen aboard of my ship,
But none half so gallant as he, as he, as he,
But there’s none half so gallant as he.

_Burden_:

While the vivid lightnings flash,
And the stormy winds do blow,
While we poor seamen are up, up aloft,
And the landsmen are all down below, below, below,
And the landsmen are all down below.

=c.=

1^2. And our ship not far.

6^3. we all.

6^4. And sank.

=C.=

1^3. _Var._, a fair pretty maid.

_In_ Old English Ditties, _etc._ (_perhaps Oxenford’s changes_):

1^1. when we set.

1^3. a fair pretty maid.

2^4. this night.

3^4. they will.

4^1. Then three times round went.

4^3. they both went down.

4^4. As she sunk to.

_Burden_:

4. And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below.

5. And the landsmen were all down below.

_6. Wanting._

=D. b.=

1
On Friday morning as we set sail,
It was not far from land,
O there I espy’d a fair pretty girl,
With the comb and the glass in her hand.
O the stormy winds they did blow,
And the raging seas did roar,
While we poor sailors go up to the top,
And the land-lubbers lie down below.

2
Then up spoke a boy of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken boy was he;
‘I’ve a father and mother in fair Portsmouth town,
And this night they will weep for me.’

3
Then up spoke a man of our gallant ship,
And a well-spoken man was he;
‘I have married a wife in fair London town,
And this night a widow she shall be.’

4
Then up spoke the captain of our gallant ship,
And a valiant man was he;
‘For want of a long-boat we shall all be drowned,’
So she sunk to the bottom of the sea.

5
The moon shone bright, and the stars gave light,
And my mother is looking for me;
She might look, she might weep, with watery eyes,
She might look to the bottom of the sea.

_A broadside by Birt, otherwise like Such’s, adds_:

Three times round went our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
Three times round went our gallant ship,
Then she sunk to the bottom of the sea.
British Museum, 11621. k. 5 (167).

=E. b.=

1
O up and spak the bonnie mermaid,
Wi the glass and the kaim in her hand;
‘Reek about, reek about, ye mariners all,
For ye’re not very far from the land.’

=F.=

3^2. was she.

290

THE WYLIE WIFE OF THE HIE TOUN HIE

=A.= ‘My lady ye shall be,’ “Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” Thomas Wilkie’s MS., p. 74, Abbotsford.

=B.= John Struthers, The British Minstrel, 1821, I, XXV.

=C.= ‘The Bonnie Lass o the Hie Toun End.’ Communicated by Mr David Louden, of Morham, Haddington, 1873.

=D.= ‘The Flowers of Edinburgh,’ Gibb MS., No 14, p. 57.

This ballad, which Motherwell pronounces to be “of some antiquity and of considerable popularity,” is of the same pernicious tenor as ‘The Broom o Cowdenknows,’ with the aggravation of treachery. The dénoûment is similar in ‘The Dainty Downby,’ Herd’s MSS, I, 45, printed in his Scottish Songs, 1776, II, 232, ‘The Laird o the Dainty Downby,’ Kinloch MSS, V, 145, and in ‘The Laird o Keltie,’ Kinloch MSS, I, 363, ‘The Young Laird o Keltie,’ III, 107, Motherwell MS., p. 21, both of one pattern, and that quite trashy.

A

“Scotch Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,” No 72, Thomas Wilkie’s MS., 1813-15, p. 74, Abbotsford; taken down from the recitation of a female friend, who sang it to a lively air.

1
It fell about the Martinmas,
When the gentlemen were drinking there wine,
And a’ the discourse that they had
Was about the ladies they gude fine.

2
It’s up an spake a tall young man,
The tallest o the companie;
‘The bonniest lass that I ken off
She lives into the hee toun hee.

3
‘O I would give a guinea of gold,
A guinea and a pint of wine,
I would give it to the hostler’s wife,
For to wile that bonny lassie in.’

4
The hostler’s wife gaed down the stair,
And she’s looked hersell round near by,
And there she spied the bonny handsom girl,
Coming walking down the hee town high.

5
‘Come in, come in, my bonny handsom girl,
Come speak one word with me;
Come taste a little of our wine,
For it’s new come out of Italie.’

6
So willillie she wil’d her up,
And so willillie she wil’d her in,
And so cunningly she’s locked the door,
And she’s comd down the stair again.

7
One of them took her by the milk-white hand,
And he’s laid her body on the ground,
And aye she sightd, and said, Alass,
’Tis a sin to do me wrong!

8
‘But since ye hae done sae muckle to me,
And brought me to so muckle shame,
O wad ye be so kind to me
As to tell to me your name.’

9
‘O if I tell to you my name,
It’s a thing I never did to none;
But I will tell to the, my dear;
I am the Earl of Beaton’s son.’

10
When two years were past and gone,
This gentleman came walking by,
And there he spied the bonny handsome girl,
Coming walking down the hie town high.

11
‘To whom belongs that pretty child,
That blinks with its pretty eye?’
‘His father’s from home and has left me alone,
And I have been at the fold milking my ky.’

12
‘You lie, you lie, my bonny handsome girl,
So loudlie I hear you lie;
O do not you mind that happie day
When ye was drinking the wine wi me?’

13
He’s lighted off his milk-white steed,
He’s kissd her both cheeck and chin;
He’s made a’ the servants in Beaton castle
To welcome this fair lady in.

B

Struthers’s British Minstrel, I, XXV., from recitation.

1
It fell about the Martinmas time,
When the nobles were drinking wine,
And the matter of their discourse it was,
‘O the ladies they go fine:’

2
Up then spake a brave gentleman,
The best in the companie;
‘The bonniest lass that eer I saw,
She dwells in the hie town hie.

3
‘I wad give a guinea of red gold,
Sae wad I a pint of wine,
To onie of the hostler-wives
That wad wyle to me the bonnie lassie in.’

4
Up then spake the hostler’s wife,
And an ill death may she die!
‘An ye’ll gie me a guinea of gold,
I will wyle the bonnie lassie in to thee.’

5
The hostler’s wife stood on the stair-head,
To see what she could see,
And there she saw this fair creature,
Coming down frae the hie town hie.

6
‘Come in, come in, my bonnie, bonnie lass,
Come in and speak with me;
Come in and drink a glass of wine,
That’s new come aff the raging sea.’

7
‘My father’s out upon the plain,
And I am waiting his incoming;
And I’m a girl so neat and trim
That I’m afraid of your merry men.’

8
‘My merry men are all gone out,
And they will not be in till nine,
And, if ye would my favour win,
Come in and drink a glass of wine.’

9
Sae cunningly she wyld her in,
And sae cunningly she led her round,
Till she wyld her to the room where he was,
And she locked the door the bonnie lass behind.

10
First he kissd her cherry cheeks,
And than he kissd her cherry chin,
And than he kissd her ruby lips,
Saying, Indeed ye’re a weel-faurd thing.

* * * * * * * *

11
‘O since ye’ve got your will o me,
And brought me unto public shame,
I pray, kind sir, ye’ll marry me,
Or that ye’ll tell me what’s your name.’