THE rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune,
Sae dois it doune the Pa:

Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune,
Quhan they play at the ba'.

Than out and cam the Jewis dochtèr,

Said, "Will ye cum in and dine?” "I winnae cum in, I cannae cum in, Without my play-feres nine."

Scho powd an apple reid and white
To intice the zong thing in:
Scho powd an apple white and reid,

And that the sweit bairne did win.

5

10

And scho has taine out a little pen-knife,

And low down by her gair,

A word he nevir spak mair.

Scho has twin'd the zong thing and his life;

15

And out and cam the thick thick bluid,

And out and cam the thin;

And out and cam the bonny herts bluid:
Thair was nae life left in.

Scho laid him on a dressing borde,

And drest him like a swine,

And laughing said, "Gae nou and pley

With zour sweit play-feres nine."

20

Scho rowd him in a cake of lead,

25

Bade him lie stil and sleip.

Scho cast him in a deip draw-well,

Was fifty fadom deip.

Quhan bells wer rung, and mass was sung,

And every lady went hame :

30

Than ilka lady had her zong sonne,

Bot lady Helen had nane.

Scho rowd hir mantil hir about,
And sair sair gan she weip:

And she ran into the Jewis castèl,
Quhan they wer all asleip.

35

"My bomy sir Hew, my pretty sir Hew,
I pray thee to me speik."

"O lady, rinn to the deip draw-well,
Gin ze zour sonne wad seik."

Lady Helen ran to the deip draw-well,
And knelt upon her kne:

"My bonny sir Hew, an ze be here,
I pray thee speik to me."

"The lead is wondrous heavy, mither,
The well is wondrous deip,

A keen pen-knife sticks in my hert,
A word I dounae speik.

Gae hame, gae hame, my mither deir,
Fetch me my windling sheet,
And at the back o' Mirry-land toun,
Its thair we twa sall meet."

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50

IV.

SIR CAULINE.

THIS old romantic tale was preserved in the editor's folio MS. but in so very defective and mutilated a condition (not from any chasm in the MS. but from great omission in the transcript, probably copied from the faulty recitation of some illiterate minstrel), and the whole appeared so far short of the perfection it seemed to deserve, that the editor was tempted to add several stanzas in the first part, and still more in the second, to connect and complete the story in the manner which appeared to him most interesting and affecting.

There is something peculiar in the metre of this old ballad: it is not unusual to meet with redundant stanzas of six lines; but the occasional insertion of a double third or fourth line, as ver. 31, &c. is an irregularity I do not remember to have seen elsewhere.

It may be proper to inform the reader before he comes to Pt. 2,

v. 110, 111, that the round table was not peculiar to the reign of K. Arthur, but was common in all the ages of Chivalry. The proclaiming a great turnament (probably with some peculiar solemnities) was called " holding a Round Table." Dugdale tells us, that the great baron Roger de Mortimer "having procured the honour of knighthood to be conferred on his three sons' by K. Edw. I. he, at his own costs, caused a tourneament to be held at Kenilworth; where he sumptuously entertained an hundred knights, and as many ladies, for three days; the like whereof was never before in England; and there began the round table, (so called by reason that the place wherein they practised those feats was environed with a strong wall made in a round form :) And upon the fourth day, the golden lion, in sign of triumph, being yielded to him; he carried it (with all the company) to Warwick."-It may further be added, that Matthew Paris frequently calls justs and turnaments "Hastiludia Mensæ Rotundæ."

As to what will be observed in this ballad of the art of healing being practised by a young princess; it is no more than what is usual in all the old romances, and was conformable to real manners: it being a practice derived from the earliest times among all the Gothic and Celtic nations, for women, even of the highest rank, to exercise the art of surgery. In the Northern Chronicles we always find the young damsels stanching the wounds of their lovers, and the wives those of their husbands. * And even so late as the time of Q. Elizabeth, it is mentioned among the accomplishments of the ladies of her court, that the "eldest of them are skilful in surgery." See Harrison's Description of England, prefixed to Holingshed's Chronicle, &c.

THE FIRST PART.

IN Ireland, ferr over the sea,
There dwelleth a bonnye kinge;

And with him a yong and comlye knighte,

Men call him syr Caulìne.

The kinge had a ladye to his daughter,
In fashyon she hath no peere;

And princely wightes that ladye wooed
To be theyr wedded feere.

*See "Northern Antiquities," &c vol. i. p. 318. vol. ii. p. 100. Memoires de la Chevalerie." Tom. i. p. 44.

5

Syr Cauline loveth her best of all,
But nothing durst he saye;
Ne descreeve his counsayl to no man,
But deerlye he lovde this may.

Till on a day it so beffell,

Great dill to him was dight;
The maydens love removde his mynd,
To care-bed went the knighte.

One while he spred his armes him fro,
One while he spred them nye:

"And aye! but I winne that ladyes love,
For dole now I mun dye."

And whan our parish-masse was done,
Our kinge was bowne to dyne:
"Where is syr Cauline,

He sayes,

10

15

20

That is wont to serve the wyne ?"

Then aunswerde him a courteous knighte,
And fast his handes gan wringe:

25

"Sir Cauline is sicke, and like to dye Without a good leechinge."

30

"Fetche me downe my daughter deere,

She is a leeche fulle fine:

Goe take him doughe, and the baken bread,
And serve him with the wyne soe red;
Lothe I were him to tine."

Fair Christabelle to his chaumber goes,
Her maydens followyng nye:

"O well," she sayth, "how doth my lord?"
"O sicke, thou fayr ladyè."

"Nowe ryse up wightlye, man, for shame,
Never lye soe cowardlee;

For it is told in my fathers halle,
You dye for love of mee."

"Fayre ladye, it is for your love

That all this dill I drye:

For if you wold comfort me with a kisse,
Then were I brought from bale to blisse,
No lenger wold I lye."

"Sir knighte, my father is a kinge,

I am his onlye heire ;

Alas! and well you knowe, syr knighte,
I never can be youre fere."

"O ladye, thou art a kinges daughtèr,
And I am not thy peere,

But let me doe some deedes of armes
To be your bacheleere."

"Some deedes of armes if thou wilt doe,

My bacheleere to bee,

(But ever and aye my heart wold rue,
Giff harm shold happe to thee,)

Upon Eldridge hill there groweth a thorne,
Upon the mores brodinge;

And dare ye, syr knighte, wake there all nighte
Untill the fayre morninge?

For the Eldridge knighte, so mickle of mighte,
Will examine you beforne:

And never man bare life awaye,

But he did him scath and scorne.

That knighte he is a foul paynìm,

And large of limb and bone ; .

And, but if heaven may be thy speede,
Thy life it is but gone."

"Nowe on the Eldridge hilles Ile walke,*
For thy sake, fair ladìe;

And Ile either bring you a ready tokèn,
Or Ile never more you see.

The lady is gone to her own chaumbère,
Her maydens following bright:

* Perhaps "wake," as above, in ver. 61.

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55

60

65

70