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, And threwe it upon the king's fadèlle, That was foe fayrelye gilte. "Now help me up, thou fine fellòwe, 1 When I come home to Gyllian, my wife, The king he tooke him up by the legge; 110 115 Nowe marrye, good fellowe, fayd the king, When the tanner he was in the kinges fadèlle, He marvelled greatlye in his minde, 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, At length the tanner came tumbling downe ; 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, By the faith of my bodye, thou jolly tannèr, What boote wilt thou have, the tanner replyd, "Noe pence nor halfpence, fir, by my faye, 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 They are no thieves, the king replyde, I sweare, foe mote I thee: But they are the lords of the north countrèy, And foone before our king they came. 160 A coller, a coller*, here: fayd the king, 165 Then woulde he lever then twentye pound, 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 Plumpton-parke I will give thee, 'Tis worth three hundred markes by the yeare, Gramercye, my liege, the tanner replyde, 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, Now God you fave, you jolly palmer! "Oft have I fued to thee for love." 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, My love is neither white *, nor browne, There is none hath her form divine, Either in earth, or ayre. 5 10 |