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The king he tooke him up by the legge;

The tanner a f** lett fall.

Nowe marrye, good fellowe, fayd the kyng,

Thy courtesye 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 fteede faw the cows taile wagge, 125 And eke the blacke cowe-horne ;

He ftamped, and ftared, and awaye he ranne,

As the devill had him borne.

The tanner he pulld, the tanner he fweat,

And held by the pummil faft:

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

130

Take thy horfe again with a vengeance, he fayd, With mee he shall not byde.

"My horfe 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."

140 What

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."

"Here's twentye groates out of my purse;
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 :

145

150

And foone came lords, and foone came knights,

Faft ryding over the hille.

Nowe, out alas! the tanner he cryde,

That ever I fawe this daye!

Thou art a ftroug 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, a coller, here: fayd the king, 165
A coller he loud did crye:

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:

After a coller comes a halter,

And I shall be hanged to-morrowe.`

"Awaye with thy feare, thou jolly tannèr,

For the sport thou haft fhewn to me,

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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 thou haft me showne;
If ever thou comeft to merry Tamwòrth,
Neates leather shall clout thy fhoen.

170

175

180

*A collar was, I believe, anciently used in the ceremony of conferring knighthood. Or perhaps the King used the French word Acoller, fignifying to give the Acolade, or blow that was to dub bim a knight. This Ne Tanner ignorantly mistakes for A collar.

XVI. A S

XVI.

AS YE CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PILGRIM AND TRAVELLER.

The Scene of this fong is the fame, as in Num. XIV. The pilgrimage to Walfingham fuggefted the plan of many popular pieces. In the Pepys collection, Vol. I. p. 226, is a kind of Interlude in the old ballad ftyle, of which the firft ftanza 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, avere 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," At 2. jc. ult. and in another old play, called," Hans Beer-pot, his inwifible Comedy, &c." 4to, 1618; A&t I.-The copy beloro was communicated to the Editor by the late Mr. Shenstone as corrected by him from an ancient MS, and supplied with a concluding ftanza.

We

*Even in the time of Langland, pilgrimages to Walfingham were not unfavourable to the rites of Venus. Thus in bis Vifions of Pierce

Plowman, fo. I.

Hermets on a heape, with hoked staves,

Wenten to Walsingham, and her † wenches after.

‡ i, e. their.

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.

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"How should 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;

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There is none hath her form divine,

Either in earth, or ayre.

"Such an one did I meet, good fir,

"With an angelicke face;

"Who like a nymphe, a queene appeard
"Both in her gait, her grace."

15

Yes: fhe hath cleane forfaken me,

And left me all alone;

Who fome time loved me as her life,

And called me her owne.

* fc. pale.

20

"What

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