And tell a tale of Gawain or Sir Guy,Of Robin Hood,or of good Clem of the Clough."
Ben Jonson,in his "Alchemist,"acted in 1610,also indicates the current popularity of this tale,when Face,the housekeeper,brings Dapper,the lawyer's clerk,to Subtle,and recommends him with--
"'slight,I bring you No cheating Clim o'the Clough or Claribel."
"Binnorie,"or "The Two Sisters,"is a ballad on an old theme popular in Scandinavia as well as in this country.There have been many versions of it.Dr.Rimbault published it from a broadside dated 1656.The version here given is Sir Walter Scott's,from his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,"with a few touches from other versions given in Professor Francis James Child's noble edition of "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads,"which,when complete,will be the chief storehouse of our ballad lore.
"King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid"is referred to by Shakespeare in "Love's Labour's Lost,"Act iv.sc I;in "Romeo and Juliet,"Act ii.
sc.I;and in "II.Henry IV.,"Act iii.sc.4.It was first printed in 1612in Richard Johnson's "Crown Garland of Goulden Roses gathered out of England's Royall Garden.Being the Lives and Strange Fortunes of many Great Personages of this Land,set forth in many pleasant new Songs and Sonnets never before imprinted."
"Take thy Old Cloak about thee,"was published in 1719by Allan Ramsay in his "Tea-Table Miscellany,"and was probably a sixteenth century piece retouched by him.Iago sings the last stanza but one--"King Stephen was a worthy peer,"etc.--in "Othello,"Act ii.sc.3.
In "Othello,"Act iv.sc.3,there is also reference to the old ballad of "Willow,willow,willow."
"The Little Wee Man"is a wee ballad that is found in many forms with a little variation.It improves what was best in the opening of a longer piece which introduced popular prophecies,and is to be found in Cotton MS.Julius A.v.It was printed by Thomas Wright in his edition of Langtoft's Chronicle (ii.452).
"The Spanish Lady's Love"was printed by Thomas Deloney in "The Garland of Goodwill,"published in the latter half of the sixteenth century.The hero of this ballad was probably one of Essex's companions in the Cadiz expedition,and various attempts have been made to identify him,especially with a Sir John Bolle of Thorpe Hall,Lincolnshire.
"Edward,Edward,"is from Percy's "Reliques."Percy had it from Lord Hailes.
"Robin Hood"is the "Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood,"printed in London by Wynken de Worde,and again in Edinburgh by Chepman and Myllar in 15O8,in the first year of the establishment of a printing-press in Scotland.
"King Edward IV.and the Tanner of Tamworth"is a ballad of a kind once popular;there were "King Alfred and the Neatherd,""King Henry and the Miller,""King James I.and the Tinker,""King Henry VII.and the Cobbler,"with a dozen more."The Tanner of Tamworth"in another,perhaps older,form,as "The King and the Barker,"was printed by Joseph Ritson in his "Ancient Popular Poetry."
"Sir Patrick Spens"was first published by Percy in his "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry"(1757).It was given by Sir Walter Scott in his "Minstrelsy of the Border,"and with more detail by Peter Buchan in his "Ancient Ballads of the North."Buchan took it from an old blind ballad-singer who had recited it for fifty years,and learnt it in youth from another very old man.The ballad is upon an event in Scottish history of the thirteenth century,touching marriage of a Margaret,daughter of the King of Scotland,to Haningo,son of the King of Norway.The perils of a winter sea-passage in ships of the olden time were recognised by an Act of the reign of James III.of Scotland,prohibiting all navigation "frae the feast of St.Simon's Day and Jude unto the feast of the Purification of our Lady,called Candlemas."
"Edom o'Gordon"was first printed at Glasgow by Robert and Andrew Foulis in 1755.Percy ascribed its preservation to Sir David Dalrymple,who gave it from the memory of a lady.The incident was transferred to the border from the North of Scotland.Edom o'Gordon was Sir Adam Gordon of Auchindown,Lieutenant-Depute for Queen Mary in the North in 1571.He sent Captain Ker with soldiers against the Castle of Towie,which was set on fire,and the Lady of Towie,with twenty-six other persons,"was cruelly brint to the death."Other forms of the ballad ascribe the deed,with incidents of greater cruelty,to Captain Carr,the Lord of Estertowne.
"The Children in the Wood"was entered in the books of the Stationers'
