“ KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY.
[Pg 165]
Away rode the abbot all sad at that word,
And he rode to Cambridge, and Oxenford;
But never a doctor there was so wise,
That could with his learning an answer devise.
Then home rode the abbot of comfort so cold,
And he met his shepherd a going to fold:
How now, my lord abbot, you are welcome home;
What news do you bring us from good king John?
Sad news, sad news, shepherd, I must give;
That I have but three days more to live:
For if I do not answer him questions three,
My head will be smitten from my body. ”

“ All a long summer's day rode the king pleasantly,
With all his princes and nobles each one;
Chasing the hart and hind, and the buck gallantly,
Till the dark evening forc'd all to turn home.
[Pg 215] Then at last, riding fast, he had lost quite
All his lords in the wood, late in the night.
Wandering thus wearily, all alone, up and down,
With a rude miller he met at the last:
Asking the ready way unto fair Nottingham;
Sir, quoth the miller, I mean not to jest,
Yet I think, what I think, sooth for to say,
You do not lightly ride out of your way. ”

“ And long sir Valentine besought
Her doleful tale to know.
Alas! young knight, she weeping said,
Condole my wretched fate;
A childless mother here you see;
A wife without a mate.
[Pg 205] These twenty winters here forlorn
I've drawn my hated breath;
Sole witness of a monster's crimes,
And wishing aye for death.
Know, I am sister of a king,
And in my early years
Was married to a mighty prince,
The fairest of his peers. ”

“ To the king's court again he repaired;
Showing unto his grace, merry and free,
The knight's most liberal gift and bounty.
When he was gone away, thus 'gan the miller say,
Here come expenses and charges indeed;
Now must we needs be brave, tho' we spend all we have;
For of new garments we have great need:
Of horses and serving-men we must have store,
With bridles and saddles, and twenty things more.
Tush, sir John, quo' his wife, why should you fret, or frown? ”

“ I am a poor courtier, sir, quoth he,
That am forth of service worn;
And fain I would thy prentice be,
Thy cunning for to learn.
Marry heaven forfend, the tanner replied,
That thou my prentice were:
Thou wouldst spend more good than I should win
By forty shilling a year.
[Pg 111]
Yet one thing would I, said our king,
If thou wilt not seem strange:
Though my horse be better than thy mare,
Yet with thee I fain would change. ”

“ Now are we in, said Adam Bell,
Whereof we are full fain;
But Christ he knowes, that harrowed hell,
How we shall come out again.
Had we the keys, said Clym of the Clough,
Right well then should we speed,
Then might we come out well enough
When we see time and need. ”

“ Whose fierce and mortal rage doth yield
Thy subjects dire annoy.
'Mong ruthless bears he sure was bred;
He lurks within their den:
With bears he lives, with bears he feeds,
And drinks the blood of men.
[Pg 193] To more than savage strength he joins
A more than human skill:
For arms, no cunning may suffice
His cruel rage to still:
Up then rose sir Valentine,
And claim'd that arduous deed.
Go forth and conquer, said the king,
And great shall be thy meed.
Well mounted on a milk-white steed,
His armour white as snow;
As well beseem'd a virgin knight,
Who ne'er had fought a foe ”

“ Here, lady, see the crimson mark
Upon his body grows!
Then clasping both her new-found sons
She bath'd their cheeks with tears:
And soon towards her brother's court
Her joyful course she steers.
What pen can paint king Pepin's joy,
His sister thus restor'd!
And soon a messenger was sent
To cheer her drooping lord:
[Pg 213] Who came in haste with all his peers,
To fetch her home to Greece;
Where many happy years they reign'd
In perfect love and peace.
To them sir Ursine did succeed,
And long the sceptre bear.
Sir Valentine he stay'd in France,
And was his uncle's heir. ”

“ Thou dost abuse me much, quoth the king, saying thus;
I am a gentleman; lodging I lack.
Thou hast not, quoth th' miller, one groat in thy purse;
All thy inheritance hangs on thy back.
I have gold to discharge all that I call; [133]
If it be forty pence, I will pay all.
If thou beest a true man, then quoth the miller,
I swear by my toll-dish, I'll lodge thee all night.
Here's my hand, quoth the king; that was I ever.
Nay, soft, quoth the miller, thou may'st be a sprite.
Better I'll know thee, ere hands we will shake;
With none but honest men hands will I take. ”

“ He smote down many a man.
There might no man abide his strokes,
So fiercely on them he ran:
Then they threw windows, and doors on him,
And so took that good yeomàn.
There they him bound both hand and foot,
And in deep dungeon him cast:
Now Cloudesly, said the justice,
Thou shalt be hanged in haste.
[Pg 40] A pair of new gallows, said the sheriff,
Now shall I for thee make;
And the gates of Carlisle shall be shut:
No man shall come in thereat.
Then shall not help Clym of the Clough,
Nor yet shall Adam Bell,
Though they came with a thousand more,
Nor all the devils in hell. ”

“ Men call him sir Andrew Barton, knight?
Then ever he sighed, and said alas!
With a grieved mind, and well away!
But over-well I know that wight,
I was his prisoner yesterday.
As I was sailing upon the sea,
A Bordeaux voyage for to fare;
To his hatchboard [116] he clasped me,
And robbed me of all my merchant ware:
[Pg 139] And mickle debts, God wot, I owe,
And every man will have his own,
And I am now to London bound,
Of our gracious king to beg a boon. ”

“ My liege, quoth the abbot, I would it were known,
I never spend nothing, but what is my own;
And I trust, your grace will do me no deer, [126]
For spending of my own true-gotten gear.
Yes, yes, father abbot, thy fault it is high,
And now for the same thou needest must die;
For except thou canst answer me questions three,
Thy head shall be smitten from thy body.
[Pg 164]
And first, quoth the king, when I'm in this stead, [127]
With my crown of gold so fair on my head,
Among all my liege-men so noble of birth,
Thou must tell me to one penny what I am worth. ”

“ Why if with me thou fain wilt change,
As change full well may we,
By the faith of my body, thou proud fellòw,
I will have some boot of thee.
That were against reason, said the king,
I swear, so mote I thee: [91]
My horse is better than thy mare,
And that thou well mayst see.
Yea, sir, but Brock is gentle and mild,
And softly she will fare:
Thy horse is unruly and wild, I wiss;
Aye skipping here and there.
[Pg 112]
What boot wilt thou have? our king replied,
Now tell me in this stound.
No pence, nor half-pence, by my faith,
But a noble in gold so round. ”

“ But tell him there truly what he does think.
Now cheer up, sire abbot, did you never hear yet,
That a fool he may learn a wise man wit?
Lend me horse, and serving-men, and your apparel,
And I'll ride to London to answer your quarrel. ”

“ We be two messengers, quoth Clym of the Clough,
Be come right from our king.
[Pg 45]
We have a letter, said Adam Bell,
To the justice we must it bring;
Let us in our message to do,
That we may again to the king.
Here cometh none in, said the porter,
By him that died on a tree,
Till a false thief be hanged up,
Called William of Cloudesly.
Then spake the good yeoman, Clym of the Clough,
And swore by Mary free,
And if that we stand long without,
Like a thief hanged thou shalt be.
Lo! here we have the king's seal:
What, Lurden, [50] art thou wood? ”

“ If he were alive as he is dead,
I must have left England many a day:
And your grace may thank four men i' the ship
For the victory which we have won,
These are William Horseley, Henry Hunt,
And Peter Simon, and his son.
To Henry Hunt, the king then said,
In lieu of what was from thee ta'en,
A noble a-day now thou shalt have,
Sir Andrew's jewels and his chain.
[Pg 153] And Horseley thou shalt be a knight,
And lands and livings shalt have store ”

“ Where they were seething of puddings and souse:
The miller first enter'd in; after him went the king;
Never came he in so smoky a house.
Now, quoth he, let me see here what you are.
Quoth our king, look your fill, and do not spare.
I like well thy countenance; thou hast an honest face;
With my son Richard this night thou shalt lie.
Quoth his wife, by my troth, it is a handsome youth;
Yet it's best, husband, to deal warily.
Art thou no runaway, prythee, youth, tell? ”

“ When Valentine was dubb'd a knight,
That he might glory win.
A boon, a boon, my gracious liege,
I beg a boon of thee!
The first adventure that befalls
May be reserv'd for me.
[Pg 192] The first adventure shall be thine,
The king did smiling say.
Nor many days, when lo! there came
Three palmers clad in gray.
Help, gracious lord, they weeping said;
And knelt, as it was meet:
From Artois forest we be come,
With weak and weary feet.
Within those deep and dreary woods
There wends a savage boy ”

“ The Frolicksome Duke; or, The Tinker's Good Fortune.
Now as fame does report, a young duke keeps a court,
One that pleases his fancy with frolicksome sport:
But amongst all the rest, here is one I protest,
Which will make you to smile when you hear the true jest:
A poor tinker he found, lying drunk on the ground,
As secure in a sleep as if laid in a swound. ”

“ At such a butt, sir, he said,
As men use in my country.
[Pg 68] William went into a field,
And with him his two brethren:
There they set up two hazel rods
Twenty score paces between.
I hold him an archer, said Cloudesly,
That yonder wand cleaveth in two.
Here is none such, said the king,
Nor none that can so do.
I shall assay, sir, said Cloudesly,
Or that I farther go.
Cloudesly with a bearyng [72] arrow
Clave the wand in two.
Thou art the best archer, then said the king,
For sooth that ever I see.
And yet for your love, said William,
I will do more mastery. ”

“ With pillows and pannels, as we shall provide.
In this most stately sort, rode they unto the court,
Their jolly son Richard rode foremost of all;
Who set up, for good hap, [135] a cock's feather in his cap,
And so they jetted [136] down to the king's hall;
The merry old miller with hands on his side;
His wife, like maid Marian, did mince at that tide.
The king and his nobles that heard of their coming,
Meeting this gallant knight with his brave train;
Welcome, sir knight, quoth he, with your gay lady:
Good sir John Cockle, once welcome again:
And so is the squire of courage so free. ”

“ I trow I've more nobles in my purse,
Than thou hast pence in thine.
[Pg 109] God give thee joy of them, said the king,
And send them well to priefe. [88]
The tanner would fain have been away,
For he weened he had been a thief.
Who art thou, he said, thou fine fellòw,
Of thee I am in great fear,
For the clothes thou wearest upon thy back,
Might beseem a lord to wear.
I never stole them, quoth our king,
I tell you, sir, by the rood,
Then thou playest, as many an unthrift doth
And standest in midst of thy good. [89]
What tidings hear you, said the king,
As you ride far and near? ”

“ And then the ladies preparèd to dance.
Old Sir John Cockle, and Richard, incontinent
Unto their places the king did advance.
Here with the ladies such sport they did make,
The nobles with laughing did make their sides ache. ”

“ I doubt, quoth Richard, to be hang'd at the least.
Nay, quoth the messenger, you do mistake;
Our king he provides a great feast for your sake.
Then said the miller, By my troth, messenger,
Thou hast contented my worship full well.
Hold, here are three farthings, to quite thy gentleness,
For these happy tidings which thou dost tell.
Let me see, hear thou me; tell to our king,
We'll wait on his mastership in everything.
[Pg 225] The pursuivant smiled at their simplicity,
And, making many legs, took the reward ”

“ Sir Andrew Barton.
PART THE FIRST.
When Flora with her fragrant flowers
Bedecked the earth so trim and gay,
And Neptune with his dainty showers
Came to present the month of May,
King Henry rode to take the air,
Over the river Thames past he;
When eighty merchànts of London came,
And down they knelt upon their knee.
O ye are welcome, rich merchants;
Good sailors, welcome unto me.
They swore by the rood, they were sailors good,
But rich merchànts they could not be:
[Pg 134] To France nor Flanders dare we pass,
Nor Bordeaux voyage dare we fare ”

“ Four nobles a week then I will give thee,
For this merry jest thou hast shown unto me;
And tell the old abbot when thou com'st home,
Thou hast brought him a pardon from good king John.
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Hurt.
[127] Place.
[128] St. Botolph.
[Pg 170]
Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar.
In the summer time, when leaves grow green,
And flowers are fresh and gay,
Robin Hood and his merry men
Were all disposed to play.
Then some would leap, and some would run,
And some would use artillery;
Which of you can a good bow draw,
A good archer for to be?
Which of you can kill a buck? ”

“ Here's dainty lightfoot! In faith, said the king,
I never before eat so dainty a thing.
I wis, quoth Richard, no dainty at all it is,
For we do eat of it every day.
In what place, said our king, may be bought like to this?
We never pay penny for it, by my fay:
From merry Sherwood we fetch it home here;
Now and then we make bold with our king's deer.
Then I think, said our king, that it is venison.
Each fool, quoth Richard, full well may know that:
Never are we without two or three in the roof,
Very well fleshed, and excellent fat:
[Pg 221] But, prythee, say nothing wherever thou go ”