I will not have it, fayd the kynge,

105

I sweare, so mote I thee;

Thy foule cowe-hide I wolde not beare,

If thou woldft give it to mee.

The tanner hee tooke his good cowe hide,
That of the cow was hilt,

And threwe it upon the king's fadèlle,

That was foe fayrelye gilte.

"Now help me up, thou fine fellòwe, 1
'Tis time that I were gone:

When I come home to Gyllian, my wife,
Sheel fay I am a gentilmon."

The king he tooke him up by the legge;
The tanner a f** lett fall.

110

115

Nowe marrye, good fellowe, fayd the king,
Thy courtefye is but small.

When the tanner he was in the kinges fadèlle,
And his foote in the ftirrup was:

He marvelled greatlye in his minde,
Whether it were golde or brass.

120

But when his steede saw the cows taile wagge, 128

And eke the blacke cowe-horne :

He stampt, and stared, and awaye he ranne,

As the devill had him borne.

VOL. II.

G

The

The tanner he pulld, the tanner he sweat,
And held by the pummil fast:

At length the tanner came tumbling downe ;
His necke he had well-nye braft.

Take thy horse again with a vengeance, he sayd,

With mee he shall not byde.

130

"My horse wolde have borne thee well enoughe, 135 But he knewe not of thy cowe hide.

Yet if againe thou faine woldft change,
As change full well may wee,

By the faith of my bodye, thou jolly tannèr,
I will have fome boote of thee."

What boote wilt thou have, the tanner replyd,
Nowe tell me in this ftounde?

"Noe pence nor halfpence, fir, by my faye,
But I will have twentye pound."

140

"Here's twentye groates out of my purfe; 145

And twentye I have of thine :

And I have one more, which we will spend

Together at the wine."

The king fet a bugle horne to his mouthe,

And blewe both loude and fhrille :

150

And foone came lords, and foone came knights,

Faft ryding over the hille.

Nowe,

Nowe, out alas! the tanner he cryde,

That ever I fawe this daye!

Thou art a ftrong thiefe, yon come thy fellowes 155
Will beare my cowe-hide away.

They are no thieves, the king replyde,

I sweare, foe mote I thee:

But they are the lords of the north countrèy,
Here come to hunt with mee.

And foone before our king they came.
And knelt downe on the grounde:
Then might the tanner have beene awaye,
He had lever than twentye pounde.

160

A coller, a coller*, here: fayd the king,
A coiler he loud did crye:

165

Then woulde he lever then twentye pound,
He had not beene fo nighe.

A coller, a coller, the tanner, he fayd,

I trowe it will breed forrowe :

179

After a coller comes a halter,

And I shall be hanged to-morrowe.

A collar was anciently used in the ceremony of conferring

knighthood.

"Awaye with thy feare, thou jolly tannèr,
For the fport thou haft fhewn to me,
I wote noe halter thou fhalt weare,
But thou shalt have a knight's fee.

For Plumpton-parke I will give thee,
With tenements faire befide:

'Tis worth three hundred markes by the yeare,
To maintaine thy good cowe hide."

Gramercye, my liege, the tanner replyde,
For the favour, which thou haft showne:
If ever thou comeft to merry Tamwòrth,
Neates leather shall clout thy fhoen.

XV.

AS YE CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PILGRIM AND TRAVELLER.

The Scene of this song is the fame, as in num. XIII. The pilgrimage to Walfingham Suggested the plan of many popu lar 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 Walfingham,
To the fhrine with speede,
Met I with a jolly palmer
In a pilgrimes weede.

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

"Oft have I fued to thee for love."
Oft have I faid you nay.

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

The following ballad was once very popular; it is quoted in Fletcher's Knt. of the burning pestle," Act. 2. jc. ult. and, in another old play, called, "Hans Beer-pot, his invifible Comedy &c." 4to, 1618; Act I.-The copy below was communicated to the Editor by the late Mr. Shenftone from an ancient MS, which being imperfect was supplied by him with a concluding ftanza.

We have placed this, and GENTLE HERDSMAN &c. thus early in the volume, upon a prefumption that they must have been written, if not before the diffolution of the monafteries, yet while the remembrance of them was fresh in the minds of the people.

S ye came from the holy land

A$

Of bleffed' Walfingham,

O met you not with my true love

As by the way ye came ?

"How fhould I know your true love,

"That have met many a one,
"As I came from the holy land,
"That have both come, and gone?"

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

There is none hath her form divine,

Either in earth, or ayre.

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