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Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: Consisting Of I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from National Library of Scotland http://www.archive.org/details/reliquesofancien1767perc (^y^g^*^j£^Q*"-&&&??>?sz^r THE GLEN COLLECTION OF SCOTTISH MUSIC Ruggles- Presented by Lady Dorothea of Scotland, Brise to the National Library Major Lord in memory of her brother, Watch, George Stewart Murray, Black in 1914. killed in action in France mh January 1927. H E L I Q^ U E S O F ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY. VOL. III. Qii^v //if J R E L I Q^U E S O F ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY: CONSISTING OF Old Heroic Ballads, Songs, and other Pieces of our earlier Poets, (Chiefly of the Lyric kind) Together with fome few of later Date. THE SECOND EDITION. VOLUME THE THIRD, LONDON: Printed for J. Dodsley in PatH-MsJL M PCCLXVIL * OF SCOTLAND • • - . 1 in CONTENTS OF VOLUME THE THIRtt BOOK THE FIRST. "VSSAT on the ancient Metrical Romances — fag, V — — I I : The Boy and the Mantle 2. The Marriage of Sir Gawaine — -—II 3. King Ryence's challenge — — 25 4. King Arthur's death. A Fragment — 2$ — 5> The Legend of King Arthur — 37 6. -^ Zty//;> *• H^i Donvne — — 42 •— 7. Glafgerion. — **¥ 43 8. Q/</ &> &>£/« ^ Portingale — — 48 9. * Child Waters — — — 54 10. Phillida and Corydon. By Ni*, Breton —? 62 11. Little Mufgrave and Lady Barnard — 63 12. 7£* Ew-bughts Marion. A Scottijh Song — 69 23* The -Knight and Shepherd's Daughter — 7 r%- The Shepherd's Addrefs to his Mufe — 76 1=5. Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor — — 78 26. D^& W Campafpe. By John Lilye 8» 17. %£ Zfl^ turned Sernjingman — — S£ 1-8. GilMorrice. A- Scottijh Ballad — — 89^ BOOK THE SECOND. I. Legend of Sir Guy — ~ — 99 2. (jU$ 9 The Quherknzie Man, fee in Vol. 2. fag* 59. , 9J1 ll CONTENTS. 2. Guy and Amarant — — — 1 of 3. The auld'good Mam AScottiJh Sbng ~ 1 16 4. Fd»V Margaret and Sweet William — 1 1 5. Barbara Allen's Cruelty — — 1 23 6. Sow*/ William''s Ghofi. A Scsttifh Ballad — 1 26 7. Sir John Grehme and Barbara Allen* ditto — 129 8. The Bailiff's Daughter of IJlington — 1 3 9. The Willow Tree. A Pajloral Dialogue — 134 10. The Lady's fall — — — 136 11. Waly, waly, L*<ve be bonny. A Seottijh Song — 143 12. The wanton Wife of Bath — 145 IJ. Dulcina — — — 151 14. Ladjf Ijabella's tragedy — — 154 15. A Hue and cry after Cupid. By Ben Jonfou — 159 1 6. The King of France's Daughter — — i6l 17. The fweet neglecl. By Ben. fonfon — 17a 18. The Children in the Wood — — 171 19. A Lever of late was I — .^1^9 20. The King and the Miller of Mansji'eld -*- 179 21. The Shepherd's Refoluticn. By Geo. Wither — lyo 22. The Wandering Prince of Troy — 193 53. The Witches Song,, By Ben. Jcnfon. — 199 24. Robin Good-fellow — — — 202 — — ! 2f The Fairy §>ueen - - — 207 26. ? he Fairies Farewell. By Dr. Corbet — 21a BOOK THE THIRD- I. The Birth St. ~* of George — 21 - 1 CONTENTS. ifi %. St. George ana the Dragon, — — 227 3. Love voillfind out the Way — — 238 * Lord'Thomas and Fair Annet. A Scottijh Ballad 4 ? 240 5. Unfading Beauty. By The. Carevj — 246 6. George Barn-ivell — — — 247 7. The Stedfaft Shepherd* intitled in the firft Edition " The afpiring Shepherd." — — 263 S. The Spanijh Virgin, or Ejecls of Jeatoujj — 266 9, Jealoujy Tyrant of the Mind — — 27 Z 10. Conftant Penelope -r~ — — 273 j I . To Lucafta ongoing to the Wars. By Lovelace *~ 27S 1 2. Valentine and Urfine — —* 279 13. The Dragon of Wantky — — 29S J 4. St. Georgefor England. Theftrjl Part — 306 15. St. Georgefor England. Thefecond Part «— 31 16. hucy and Colin. By Tkkel — — 32S 17. Margaret's Ghoft. By David Mallet — 33 J 8. The Boy and the MantU revifed, fcffr* ""535 Amour et Glyccre, ] 9. V Traduit de VAnglois . — '345 The GloJJary — — -""347 An * The Baffled Knight* or Ladfs Policy, and the Song u Wbyfofak.*' See in Vol. 2. p. 339. 347. An ordinary Song or Ballad, that is the delight of the common people, cannot fail to pleafe all fuch readers, as are not unqualified for the entertainment by their affectation or their ignorance ; and the reafon is plain, becaufe the fame paintings of nature which recommend it to the moft ordinary Reader, will appear beautiful to the moll refined. Addison, in Spectator, No: 7©, me%<$<®n<e& & b € a e sc SONGS and BALLADS, SERIES the THIRD. BOOK L BALLADS ON KING ARTHUR, ^ 7/foV 7£/n/ Volume being chiefly devoted to Romantic Sub- jects, may not be improperly introduced with a few flight Strictures on the eld e M t r i c a l Ro m a k c e 3 : afubjea the more worthy attention, asfuch as have written w the nature and origin of Books of Chivalry, jeem not to have known • Vol, III. b thtt ii ANCIENT SONGS that the jirft compojitions of this kind were in Verfe, and ufually Jung to the Harp. O N the Ancient Metrical Romances, &c. I. '"THE firft attempts at compofition among all bar- barous nations are ever found to be Poetry and Song. The praifes of their Gods, and the achieve- ments of their heroes, are ufually chanted at their fef- tival meetings. Thefe are the firft rudiments of Hif- tory. It is in this manner that the favages of North America preferve the memory of pall events (a) : and the fame method is known to have prevailed among our Saxon Anceflors, before they quitted their Ger- man forefts (b). The ancient Britons had their Bards, and the Gothic nations theirScALDS or popular poets (c), whofe bufmefs it was to record the victories of their warriors, and the genealogies of their Princes, in a kind of narrative fongs, which were committed to me« mory, and delivered down from one Reciter to another. So long as Poetry continued a diflinft profeffion, and while the Bard, or Scald was a regular and Mated of- ficer in the Prince's court, thefe men are thought to have performed the fun&ions of the hiftorian pretty would be apt to re- faithfully ; for tho' their narrations ceive a good deal of embellifhment, they are fuppofed to (a) Vid. Lafiteau Moeurs de Sauvages, T. *. Dr. Browne's Hift. of the Rife and Progreis of Poetry. (b) German'i celebrant camnmbus antlquh (quod ttvum apud Uhr c. 2. memoria et annalium genus eft) Tujftonem &c. Tacit. Germ. " (c) Barth. Antiq. Dan. Lib. 1. Cap, 10.——Wcrmii Literature Runica. ad linera. AND BALLADS, ill to have had at the bottom fo much of truth as to ferve for the bafis of more regular annals. At leafi fucceed- ino- hiftorians have taken up with the relations of thefe rude men, and for want of more authentic records, have agreed to allow them the Credit of true hiftory (d), After letters began to prevail, and hiftory affumed a more {table form, by being committed to plain fim- ple profe ; thefe Songs of the Scalds or Bards began to be more amufing, than ufeful. And in proportion as chiefly it became their bufinefs to entertain and deligbt? they gave more and more into embellifnment, and fet oft their recitals with fuch marvelous fictions, as were calculated to captivate grofs and ignorant minds. Thus began ftories of adventures with Giants and Dragons, and Witches and Enchanters, and all the monflrous ex- travagances of wild imagination, unguided by judg- ment, and uncorrected by art (e.) THIS is the true origin of ihatfpecies of Romance, which fo long celebrated feats of Chivalry, and which at firil in metre and afterwards in profe, was the enter- tainment of our anceftors, in common with their con- temporaries on the continent, till the fatire of Cer- vantes, or rather the increafe of knowledge and claf- fical literature, drove them oiF the itage, to make room for a more refined fpecies of fiction, under the- name of French Romances, copied from the Greek (f). That our old Romances of Chivalry may be derived in a lineal defcent from the ancient hiftorical fongs of the Gothic bards and Scalds, will be mown below, and indeed appears the more evident as many of thofe Songs are ftill preferved in the north, which exhibit all b 2 the (d) See " A Defcription. of. the Manners, Cuftoms, &c. of the u ancient Danes and other northern nations, tranflated from the Ft, a of M. Mallet." 8vo. vol. i. p. 49. &c. (e) Vid. infra, p. iv, v, &e., (f) Viz, Astr/ea, CassaNvRa, Clelia, <Scc» iv ANCIENT SONGS the feeds of Chivalry before it became a folemn inftitu- tion^. "Chivalry, as a diftintt military order, con- " ferred in the way of inveftiture, and accompanied with " the folemnity of an oath, and other ceremonies," was of later date, and fprung out of the feudal conititution, as an elegant writer has lately fhown (h). But the ideas of Chivalry prevailed long before in all the Gothic na- tions, and may be discovered as in embrio in the cuf- toms, manners, and opinions, of every branch of that people (i). That fondnefs of going in quell of ad- ventures, that fpirit of challenging to fingle combat, and that refpe&ful complaifance fhewn to the fair fex, (fo different from the manners of the Greeks and Ro- mans), all are of Gothic origin, and may be traced up to the earlieft times among all the northern nations (k.) Thefe exifted long before the feudal ages, tho' they were called forth and ftrengthened in a peculiar man- ner under that conftitution, and at length arrived to fa their full maturity in the times of the Crufades, replete with romantic adventures (I).
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