XXVI.JEMMY DAWSON.

FOOTNOTES:[882]An ingenious correspondent informs the Editor, that this ballad hath been also attributed to the late Lord Bath.[883]Admiral Vernon's ship.

[882]An ingenious correspondent informs the Editor, that this ballad hath been also attributed to the late Lord Bath.

[883]Admiral Vernon's ship.

JamesDawsonwas one of the Manchester rebels, who was hanged, drawn, and quartered, on Kennington-common, in the county of Surrey, July 30, 1746.—This ballad is founded on a remarkable fact, which was reported to have happened at his execution. It was written by the lateWilliam Shenstone, Esq; soon after the event, and has been printed amongst his posthumous works, 2 vols. 8vo. It is here given from a MS. which contained some small variations from that printed copy.

[Captain James Dawson was one of eight officers belonging to the Manchester regiment of Volunteers in the service of the young Chevalier, who were executed on Kennington Common.The following ballad is founded upon a narrative first published in a periodical entitledThe Parrot, Saturday, 2d August, 1746, three days after the occurrence. In theWhitehall Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1746, the same story is told with the addition, that "upon enquiry every circumstance was literally true." Another ballad is said to have been written upon Dawson's fate, and sung about the streets. It is reprinted in theEuropean Magazine, April, 1801, p. 248, and begins as follows:

[Captain James Dawson was one of eight officers belonging to the Manchester regiment of Volunteers in the service of the young Chevalier, who were executed on Kennington Common.

The following ballad is founded upon a narrative first published in a periodical entitledThe Parrot, Saturday, 2d August, 1746, three days after the occurrence. In theWhitehall Evening Post, Aug. 7, 1746, the same story is told with the addition, that "upon enquiry every circumstance was literally true." Another ballad is said to have been written upon Dawson's fate, and sung about the streets. It is reprinted in theEuropean Magazine, April, 1801, p. 248, and begins as follows:

"Blow ye bleak winds around my head,Sooth my heart corroding care, &c."]

Come listen to my mournful tale,Ye tender hearts, and lovers dear;Nor will you scorn to heave a sigh,Nor will you blush to shed a tearAnd thou, dear Kitty, peerless maid,5Do thou a pensive ear incline;For thou canst weep at every woe,And pity every plaint, but mine.Young Dawson was a gallant youth,A brighter never trod the plain;10And well he lov'd one charming maid,And dearly was he lov'd again.One tender maid she lov'd him dear,Of gentle blood the damsel came,And faultless was her beauteous form,15And spotless was her virgin fame.But curse on party's hateful strife,That led the faithful youth astrayThe day the rebel clans appear'd:O had he never seen that day!20Their colours and their sash he wore,And in the fatal dress was found;And now he must that death endure,Which gives the brave the keenest wound.How pale was then his true love's cheek,25When Jemmy's sentence reach'd her ear!For never yet did Alpine snowsSo pale, nor yet so chill appear.With faltering voice she weeping said,Oh Dawson, monarch of my heart,30Think not thy death shall end our loves,For thou and I will never part.Yet might sweet mercy find a place,And bring relief to Jemmy's woes,O George, without a prayer for thee35My orisons should never close.The gracious prince that gives him lifeWould crown a never-dying flame,And every tender babe I boreShould learn to lisp the giver's name.40But though, dear youth, thou should'st be dragg'dTo yonder ignominious tree,Thou shalt not want a faithful friendTo share thy bitter fate with thee.O then her mourning coach was call'd,45The sledge mov'd slowly on before;Tho' borne in a triumphal car,She had not lov'd her favourite more.She followed him, prepar'd to viewThe terrible behests of law;50And the last scene of Jemmy's woesWith calm and stedfast eye she saw.Distorted was that blooming face,Which she had fondly lov'd so long:And stifled was that tuneful breath,55Which in her praise had sweetly sung:And sever'd was that beauteous neck,Round which her arms had fondly clos'd:And mangled was that beauteous breast,On which her love-sick head repos'd:60And ravish'd was that constant heart,She did to every heart prefer;For tho' it could his king forget,'Twas true and loyal still to her.Amid those unrelenting flames65She bore this constant heart to see;But when 'twas moulder'd into dust,Now, now, she cried, I'll follow thee.My death, my death alone can showThe pure and lasting love I bore:70Accept, O heaven, of woes like ours,And let us, let us weep no more.The dismal scene was o'er and past,The lover's mournful hearse retir'd;The maid drew back her languid head,75And sighing forth his name, expir'd.Tho' justice ever must prevail,The tear my Kitty sheds is due;For seldom shall she hear a taleSo sad, so tender, and so true.80

Come listen to my mournful tale,Ye tender hearts, and lovers dear;Nor will you scorn to heave a sigh,Nor will you blush to shed a tear

And thou, dear Kitty, peerless maid,5Do thou a pensive ear incline;For thou canst weep at every woe,And pity every plaint, but mine.

Young Dawson was a gallant youth,A brighter never trod the plain;10And well he lov'd one charming maid,And dearly was he lov'd again.

One tender maid she lov'd him dear,Of gentle blood the damsel came,And faultless was her beauteous form,15And spotless was her virgin fame.

But curse on party's hateful strife,That led the faithful youth astrayThe day the rebel clans appear'd:O had he never seen that day!20

Their colours and their sash he wore,And in the fatal dress was found;And now he must that death endure,Which gives the brave the keenest wound.

How pale was then his true love's cheek,25When Jemmy's sentence reach'd her ear!For never yet did Alpine snowsSo pale, nor yet so chill appear.

With faltering voice she weeping said,Oh Dawson, monarch of my heart,30Think not thy death shall end our loves,For thou and I will never part.

Yet might sweet mercy find a place,And bring relief to Jemmy's woes,O George, without a prayer for thee35My orisons should never close.

The gracious prince that gives him lifeWould crown a never-dying flame,And every tender babe I boreShould learn to lisp the giver's name.40

But though, dear youth, thou should'st be dragg'dTo yonder ignominious tree,Thou shalt not want a faithful friendTo share thy bitter fate with thee.

O then her mourning coach was call'd,45The sledge mov'd slowly on before;Tho' borne in a triumphal car,She had not lov'd her favourite more.

She followed him, prepar'd to viewThe terrible behests of law;50And the last scene of Jemmy's woesWith calm and stedfast eye she saw.

Distorted was that blooming face,Which she had fondly lov'd so long:And stifled was that tuneful breath,55Which in her praise had sweetly sung:

And sever'd was that beauteous neck,Round which her arms had fondly clos'd:And mangled was that beauteous breast,On which her love-sick head repos'd:60

And ravish'd was that constant heart,She did to every heart prefer;For tho' it could his king forget,'Twas true and loyal still to her.

Amid those unrelenting flames65She bore this constant heart to see;But when 'twas moulder'd into dust,Now, now, she cried, I'll follow thee.

My death, my death alone can showThe pure and lasting love I bore:70Accept, O heaven, of woes like ours,And let us, let us weep no more.

The dismal scene was o'er and past,The lover's mournful hearse retir'd;The maid drew back her languid head,75And sighing forth his name, expir'd.

Tho' justice ever must prevail,The tear my Kitty sheds is due;For seldom shall she hear a taleSo sad, so tender, and so true.80

THE END OF THE THIRD BOOK.

APPENDIX.

Welearn from Wormius[884], that the ancient Islandic poets used a great variety of measures: he mentions 136 different kinds, without including rhyme, or a correspondence of final syllables, yet this was occasionally used, as appears from the Ode of Egil, which Wormius hath inserted in his book.

He hath analysed the structure of one of these kinds of verse, the harmony of which neither depended on the quantity of the syllables, like that of the ancient Greeks and Romans; nor on the rhymes at the end, as in modern poetry; but consisted altogether in alliteration, or a certain artful repetition of the sounds in the middle of the verses. This was adjusted according to certain rules of their prosody,one of which was, that every distich should contain at least three words beginning with the same letter or sound. Two of these correspondent sounds might be placed either in the first or second line of the distich, and one in the other: but all three were not regularly to be crowded into one line. This will be best understood by the following examples[885]:

"Meire ogMinneMogu heimdaller.""GabGinugaEnnGras huerge."

"Meire ogMinneMogu heimdaller."

"GabGinugaEnnGras huerge."

There were many other little niceties observed by the Islandic poets, who, as they retained their original language and peculiarities longer than the other nations of Gothic race, had time to cultivate their native poetry more, and to carry it to a higher pitch of refinement, than any of the rest.

Their brethren, the Anglo-Saxon poets, occasionally used the same kind of alliteration, and it is common to meet, in their writings, with similar examples of the foregoing rules. Take an instance or two in modern characters[886]:

"Skeop tha andSkyredeSkyppend ure.""Ham andHeahsetlHeofena rikes."

"Skeop tha andSkyredeSkyppend ure."

"Ham andHeahsetlHeofena rikes."

I know not, however, that there is anywhere extant an entire Saxon poem all in this measure. But distichs of this sort perpetually occur in all their poems of any length.

Now if we examine the versification of Pierce Plowman'sVisions, we shall find it constructed exactly by these rules; and therefore each line, as printed, is in reality a distich of two verses, and will, I believe, be found distinguished as such, by some mark or other in all the ancient MSS. viz.:

"In aSomerSeason, | when 'hot'[887]was theSunne,IShope me intoShroubs, | as I aShepe were;InHabite as anHarmet | unHoly of werkes,WentWyde in thys world |Wonders to heare, &c."

So that the author of this poem will not be found to have invented any new mode of versification, as some have supposed, but only to have retained that of the old Saxon and Gothic poets; which was probably never wholly laid aside, but occasionally used at different intervals: though the ravages of time will not suffer us now to produce a regular series of poems entirely written in it.

There are some readers whom it may gratify to mention, that theseVisions of Pierce(i.e.Peter)thePlowman, are attributed to Robert Langland, a secular priest, born at Mortimer's Cleobury in Shropshire, and fellow of Oriel College in Oxford, who flourished in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II., and published his poem a few years after 1350. It consists of xx.passusor breaks[888], exhibiting a series of visions which, he pretends, happened to him on Malvern hills in Worcestershire. The author excells in strong allegoric painting, and has with great humour, spirit, and fancy, censured most of the vices incident to the several professions of life; but he particularly inveighs against the corruptions of the clergy, and the absurdities of superstition. Of this work I have now before me four different editions in black-letter quarto. Three of them are printed in 1550, "by Robert Crowley, dwelling in ElyeRentes in Holburne." It is remarkable that two of these are mentioned in the title-page as both of the second impression, though they contain evident variations in every page[889]. The other is said to be "newlye imprynted after the authors olde copy ... by Owen Rogers," Feb. 21, 1561.

As Langland was not the first, so neither was he the last that used this alliterative species of versification. To Rogers's edition of theVisionsis subjoined a poem, which was probably writ in imitation of them, intitledPierce the Ploughman's Crede. It begins thus:

"Cros, andCurteisChrist, this beginning spedeFor theFadersFrendshipe, thatFourmed heaven,And through theSpecialSpirit, thatSprong of hem tweyne,And al in one godhed endles dwelleth."

The author feigns himself ignorant of his Creed, to be instructed in which he applies to the four religious orders, viz., the gray friers of St. Francis, the black friers of St. Dominic, the Carmelites or white friers, and the Augustines. This affords him occasion to describe in very lively colours the sloth, ignorance, and immorality of those reverend drones. At length he meets with Pierce, a poor ploughman, who resolves his doubts, and instructs him in the principles of true religion. The author was evidently a follower of Wiccliff, whom he mentions (with honour) as no longer living[890]. Now that reformer died in 1384. How long after his death this poem was written, does not appear.

In the Cotton library is a volume of ancient English poems[891], two of which are written in this alliterative metre, and have the division of the lines into distichs distinctly marked by a point, as is usual in old poetical MSS. That which stands first of the two (though perhaps the latest written) is entitledThe Sege of I'erlam, (i.e.Jerusalem), being an old fabulous legend composed by some monk, and stuffed with marvellous figments concerning the destruction of the holy city and temple. It begins thus:

"InTyberiusTyme. theTrewe emperourSyrSesar hymself. beSted in RomeWhyllPylat wasProvoste. under thatPrynce rycheAndJewesJustice also. ofJudeas londeHerode under empere. asHerytage woldeKyng, &c."

The other is intitledChevalere Assigne(or De Cigne), that is,The Knight of the Swan, being an ancient Romance, beginning thus:

"All-Weldynge God.Whene it is hisWylleWele heWereth hisWerke.With his owene hondeFor ofteHarmes wereHente. thatHelpe we ne myȝteNere theHyȝnes ofHym. that lengeth inHeveneFor this, &c."

Among Mr. Garrick's collection of old plays[892]is a prose narrative of the adventures of this same Knight of the Swan, "newly translated out of Frenshe into Englyshe, at thinstigacion of the puyssaunt and illustryous prynce, lorde Edward duke of Buckynghame." This lord it seems had a peculiar interest in the book, for, in the preface, the translator tells us, that this "highe dygne and illustryous prynce my lorde Edwarde by the grace of god Duke of Buckyngham, erle of Hereforde, Stafforde, and Northampton, desyrynge cotydyally to encrease andaugment the name and fame of such as were relucent in vertuous feates and triumphaunt actes of chyvalry, and to encourage and styre every lusty and gentell herte by the exemplyficacyon of the same, havyng a goodli booke of the highe and miraculous histori of a famous and puyssaunt kynge, named Oryant, sometime reynynge in the parties of beyonde the sea, havynge to his wife a noble lady; of whome she conceyved sixe sonnes and a daughter, and chylded of them at one only time; at whose byrthe echone of them had a chayne of sylver at their neckes, the whiche were all tourned by the provydence of god into whyte swannes, save one, of the whiche this present hystory is compyled, named Helyas, the knight of the swanne,of whome linially is dyscendedmy sayde lorde. The whiche ententifly to have the sayde hystory more amply and unyversally knowen in thys hys natif countrie, as it is in other, hath of hys hie bountie by some of his faithful and trusti servauntes cohorted mi mayster Wynkin de Worde[893]to put the said vertuous hystori in prynte ... at whose instigacion and stiring I (Roberte Copland) have me applied, moiening the helpe of god, to reduce and translate it into our maternal and vulgare english tonge after the capacitè and rudenesse of my weke entendement." A curious picture of the times! While in Italy literature and the fine arts were ready to burst forth with classical splendor under Leo X. the first peer of this realm was proud to derive his pedigree from a fabulous knight of the swan[894]!

To return to the metre of Pierce Plowman: In the folio MS. so often quoted in these volumes, are two poems written in that species of versification. One of these is an ancient allegorical poem intitledDeath and Life, (in 2 fitts or parts, containing 458 distichs) which, for ought that appears, may have been written as early, if not before, the time of Langland. The first forty lines are broke as they should be into distichs, a distinction that is neglected in the remaining part of the transcript, in order, I suppose, to save room. It begins:

"ChristChristen king,that on theCrosse tholed;HaddPaines andPassyonsto defend our soules;Give usGrace on theGroundtheGreatlye to serve,For thatRoyallRed bloodthatRann from thy side."

The subject of this piece is a vision, wherein the poet sees a contest for superiority between "our lady Dame Life," and the "ugly fiend Dame Death;" who with their several attributes and concomitants are personified in a fine vein of allegoric painting. Part of the description of Dame Life is:

"Shee wasBrighter of herBlee,then was theBright sonn:HerRuddRedder then theRose,that on theRise hangeth:Meekely smiling with herMouth,AndMerry in her lookes;EverLaughing forLove,as sheeLike would.And as shee came by theBankes,theBoughes eche oneTheyLowted to thatLadye,andLayd forth their branches;Blossomes, andBurgensBreathed full sweete;FlowersFlourished in theFrith,where sheeForth stepped;And theGrasse, that wasGray,Greened belive."

Death is afterwards sketched out with a no less bold and original pencil.

The other poem is that which is quoted in the 32nd page of this volume, and which was probably the last that was ever written in this kind of metre in its original simplicity unaccompanied with rhyme. It should have been observed above in page32, that in this poem the lines are throughout divided into distichs, thus:

"GrantGracious God,Grant me this time," &c.

It is intitledScottish Feilde(in 2 fitts, 420 distichs,) containing a very circumstantial narrative of the battle of Flodden, fought Sept. 9, 1513: at which the author seems to have been present from his speaking in the first person plural:

"Thenwe Tild downeour Tents,thatTold were a thousand."

In the conclusion of the poem he gives this account of himself:

"He was aGentleman byJesu,that thisGest[895]made:WhichSay but as heSayd[896]forSooth and noe other.AtBagily thatBearnehisBiding place had;And his ancestors of old timehave yearded[897]theire longe,Before WilliamConquerourthisCuntry did inhabitt.JesusBring 'them'[898]toBlisse,thatBrought us forth ofBale,That hathHearkned meHeareorHeard mytale."

The village of Bagily or Baguleigh is in Cheshire, and had belonged to the ancient family of Legh for two centuries before the battle of Flodden. Indeed that the author was of that county appears from other passages in the body of the poem, particularly from the pains he takes to wipe off a stain from the Cheshiremen, who it seems ran away in that battle, and from his encomiums on the Stanleys, earls of Derby, who usually headed that county. He laments the death of James Stanley, bishop of Ely, as what had recently happened when this poem was written; which serves to ascertain its date, for that prelate died March 22, 1514-5.

Thus have we traced the alliterative measure so low as the sixteenth century. It is remarkable that all such poets as used this kind of metre, retained along with it many peculiar Saxon idioms, particularly such as were appropriated to poetry: this deserves the attention of those who are desirous to recover the laws of the ancient Saxon poesy, usually given up as inexplicable: I am of opinion that they will find what they seek in the metre of Pierce Plowman[899].

About the beginning of the sixteenth century this kind of versification began to change its form: the author ofScottish Field, we see, concludes his poem with a couplet in rhyme: this was an innovation that did but prepare the way for the general admission ofthat more modish ornament; till at length the old uncouth verse of the ancient writers would no longer go down without it. Yet when rhyme began to be superadded, all the niceties of alliteration were at first retained along with it; and the song ofLittle JohnNobodyexhibits this union very clearly. By degrees the correspondence of final sounds engrossing the whole attention of the poet, and fully satisfying the reader, the internal imbellishment of alliteration was no longer studied, and thus was this kind of metre at length swallowed up and lost in our common burlesque Alexandrine, or Anapestic verse[900], now never used but in ballads and pieces of light humour, as in the song ofConscience, and in that well-known doggerel,

"A cobler there was, and he lived in a stall."

But although this kind of measure hath with us been thus degraded, it still retains among the Frenchits ancient dignity; their grand heroic verse of twelve syllables[901]is the same genuine offspring of the old alliterative metre of the ancient Gothic and Francic poets, stript like our Anapestic of its alliteration, and ornamented with rhyme: but with this difference, that whereas this kind of verse hath been applied by us only to light and trivial subjects, to which by its quick and lively measure it seemed best adapted, our poets have let it remain in a more lax unconfined state[902], as a greater degree of severity and strictness would have been inconsistent with the light and airy subjects to which they have applied it. On the other hand, the French having retained this verse as the vehicle of their epic and tragic flights, in order to give it a stateliness and dignity were obliged to confine it to more exact laws of scansion: they have therefore limited it to the number of twelve syllables; and by making the cæsura or pause as full anddistinct as possible, and by other severe restrictions, have given it all the solemnity of which it was capable. The harmony of both however depends so much on the same flow of cadence and disposal of the pause, that they appear plainly to be of the same original; and every French heroic verse evidently consists of the ancient distich of their Francic ancestors: which, by the way, will account to us why this verse of the French so naturally resolves itself into two complete hemistics. And indeed by making the cæsura or pause always to rest on the last syllable of a word, and by making a kind of pause in the sense, the French poets do in effect reduce their hemistics to two distinct and independent verses: and some of their old poets have gone so far as to make the two hemistics rhyme to each other.[903]

After all, the old alliterative and anapestic metre of the English poets being chiefly used in a barbarous age, and in a rude unpolished language, abounds with verses defective in length, proportion, and harmony; and therefore cannot enter into a comparison with the correct versification of the best modern French writers; but making allowances for these defects, that sort of metre runs with a cadence so exactly resembling the French heroic Alexandrine, that I believe no peculiarities of their versification can be produced, which cannot be exactly matched in the alliterative metre. I shall give by way of example a few lines from the modern French poets accommodated with parallels from the ancient poem ofLifeand Death; in these I shall denote the cæsura or pause by a perpendicular line, and the cadence by the marks of the Latin quantity.

Lĕ sŭccēs fŭt toŭjoūrs|ŭn ĕnfānt dĕ l'ăudāceĂll shăll drȳe wĭth thĕ dīnts | thăt I dĕal wĭth my̆ hānds.L'hŏmmĕ prūdĕnt vŏit trōp|l'ĭllūsĭŏn lĕ sūit,Yōndĕr dāmsĕl ĭs dēath | thăt drēssĕth hĕr tŏ smīte.L'ĭntrĕpīdĕ vŏit mīeux|ĕt lĕ fāntōmĕ fūit.[904]Whĕn shĕ dōlefŭlly̆ sāw | hōw shĕ dāng dōwne hĭr fōlke.Mĕme aŭx yeūx dĕ l'injūste|ŭn ĭnjūste ĕst hŏrrīblĕ.[905]Thĕn shĕ cāst ŭp ă crȳe | tŏ thĕ hīgh kĭng ŏf heāvĕn.Dŭ mĕnsōngĕ toŭjoūrs|lĕ vrāi dĕmēurĕ māitrĕ,Thŏu shălt bīttĕrlyĕ bȳe | ŏr ēlse thĕ bōokĕ fāilĕth.Poŭr părōitre hōnnĕte hōmme|ĕn ŭn mōt, ĭl făut l'ētre.[906]Thŭs I fāred thrōugh ă frȳthe | whĕre thĕ flōwĕrs wĕre māny̆e.

Lĕ sŭccēs fŭt toŭjoūrs|ŭn ĕnfānt dĕ l'ăudāceĂll shăll drȳe wĭth thĕ dīnts | thăt I dĕal wĭth my̆ hānds.

L'hŏmmĕ prūdĕnt vŏit trōp|l'ĭllūsĭŏn lĕ sūit,Yōndĕr dāmsĕl ĭs dēath | thăt drēssĕth hĕr tŏ smīte.

L'ĭntrĕpīdĕ vŏit mīeux|ĕt lĕ fāntōmĕ fūit.[904]Whĕn shĕ dōlefŭlly̆ sāw | hōw shĕ dāng dōwne hĭr fōlke.

Mĕme aŭx yeūx dĕ l'injūste|ŭn ĭnjūste ĕst hŏrrīblĕ.[905]Thĕn shĕ cāst ŭp ă crȳe | tŏ thĕ hīgh kĭng ŏf heāvĕn.

Dŭ mĕnsōngĕ toŭjoūrs|lĕ vrāi dĕmēurĕ māitrĕ,Thŏu shălt bīttĕrlyĕ bȳe | ŏr ēlse thĕ bōokĕ fāilĕth.

Poŭr părōitre hōnnĕte hōmme|ĕn ŭn mōt, ĭl făut l'ētre.[906]Thŭs I fāred thrōugh ă frȳthe | whĕre thĕ flōwĕrs wĕre māny̆e.

To conclude: the metre of Pierce Plowman's Visions has no kind of affinity with what is commonly called blank verse; yet has it a sort of harmony of its own, proceeding not so much from its alliteration, as from the artful disposal of its cadence, and the contrivance of its pause; so that when the ear is a little accustomed to it, it is by no means unpleasing; but claims all the merit of the French heroic numbers, only far less polished; being sweetened, instead of their final rhymes, with the internal recurrence of similar sounds.

Sincethe foregoing essay was first printed, the Editor hath met with some additional examples of the old alliterative metre.

The first is in MS.[907]which begins thus:

"CristCrownedKyng, that onCros didest,[908]And artComfort of allCare, thow[909]kind go out ofCours,With thiHalwes inHevenHeried mote thu be,And thyWorshipfulWerkesWorshiped evre,That sucheSondrySignesShewest unto man,InDremyng, inDrecchyng,[910]and inDerke swevenes."

The Author from this proemium takes occasion to give an account of a dream that happened to himself: which he introduces with the following circumstances:

"Ones y meOrdayned, as y haveOfte doon,WithFrendes, andFelawes,Frendemen, and other;AndCaught me in aCompany onCorpusChristi even,Six, other[911]Seven myle, oute ofSuthampton,To takeMelodye, andMirthes, among myMakes;WithRedyng ofRomaunces, andRevelyng among,TheDym of theDerknesseDrewe me into the west;And beGon for to spryng in theGrey day.ThanLift y up myLyddes, andLoked in the sky,AndKnewe by theKendeCours, hit clered in the est:Blyve yBusked me down, and toBed went,For toComforte myKynde, andCacche a slepe."

He then describes his dream:

"Methought that yHoved onHigh on anHill,And lokedDoun on aDaleDepest of othre;Ther ySawe in mySighte aSelcouthe peple;TheMultitude was soMoche, itMighte not be nombred:Methoughte y herd aCrownedKyng, of hisComunes axeASoleyne[912]Subsidie, toSusteyne his werres.* * * * *With that aClerkKneled adowne andCarped these wordes,LiegeLord, yif it youLike toListen a while,SomSawes ofSalomon y shall you shewe sone."

The writer then gives a solemn lecture to kings on the art of governing. From the demand of subsidies "to susteyne his werres," I am inclined to believe this poem composed in the reign of K. Henry V., as the MS. appears from a subsequent entry to have been written before the 9th of Henry VI. The whole poem contains but 146 lines.

The alliterative metre was no less popular among the old Scottish poets, than with their brethren on this side the Tweed. In Maitland's collection of ancient Scottish poems, MS. in the Pepysian library, is a very long poem in this species of versification, thus inscribed:

"Heirbegins the Tretis of the Twa Marriit Wemen, and the Wedo, compylit be MaisterWilliam Dunbar.[913]Upon theMidsummer evvenMirriest of nichtisIMuvit furth alane quhen asMidnight was pastBesyd aneGudlieGreneGarth,[914]full ofGay flourisHegeit[915]of aneHugeHicht withHawthorne treeisQuairon aneBird on aneBransche soBirst out hir notisThat nevir aneBlythfullerBird was on theBeuche[916]hard &c."

The Author pretends to overhear three gossips sitting in an arbour, and revealing all their secretmethods of alluring and governing the other sex; it is a severe and humorous satire on bad women, and nothing inferior to Chaucer's Prologue to hisWife ofBath's Tale. As Dunbar lived till about the middle of the sixteenth century, this poem was probably composed afterScottish Field(described above in p.384), which is the latest specimen I have met with written in England. This poem contains about five hundred lines.

But the current use of the alliterative metre in Scotland, appears more particularly from those popular vulgar prophecies, which are still printed for the use of the lower people in Scotland, under the names of Thomas the Rymer, Marvellous Merling, &c. This collection seems to have been put together after the accession of James I. to the crown of England, and most of the pieces in it are in the metre ofPierce Plowman's Visions, The first of them begins thus:

"Merling sayes in his book, who willReadRight,Although hisSayings be uncouth, theyShall be true found.In the seventh chapter, readWhosoWill,One thousand and more after Christ's birth, &c."

And the prophesie of Beid:

"Betwixt the chief ofSummer and theSad winter;Before theHeat of summerHappen shall a warThatEurop's landsEarnestly shall be wroughtAndEarnestEnvy shall last but a while, &c."

So again the prophesie of Berlington:

"When theRuby isRaised,Rest is there none,But muchRancour shallRise inRiver and plainMuchSorrow isSeen through aSuth-houndThat bearesHornes in hisHead like a wyldHart, &c."

In like metre is the prophesie of Waldhave:

"UponLowdonLaw alone as ILay,Looking to theLennox, as meLief thought,The firstMorning ofMay,Medicine to seekForMalice andMelody thatMoved me sore, &c."

And lastly, that intitled the prophesie of Gildas:

"When holy kirk isWracked andWill has noWitAndPastors arePluckt, andPil'd withoutPityWhenIdolatryIsInensandreAnd spiritual pastours are vexed away, &c."

It will be observed in the foregoing specimens, that the alliteration is extremely neglected, except in the third and fourth instances; although all the rest are written in imitation of the cadence used in this kind of metre. It may perhaps appear from an attentive perusal, that the poems ascribed to Berlington and Waldhave are more ancient than the others: indeed the first and fifth appear evidently to have been new modelled, if not intirely composed about the beginning of the last century, and are probably the latest attempts ever made in this species of verse.

In this and the foregoing essay are mentioned all the specimens I have met with of the alliterative metre without rhyme: but instances occur sometimes in old manuscripts, of poems written both with final rhymes and the internal cadence and alliterations of the metre of Pierce Plowman.

This Essay will receive illustration from another specimen in Warton'sHistory of English Poetry, vol. i. p. 309, being the fragment of a MS. poem on the subject ofAlexander the Great, in the Bodleian Library, which he supposes to be the same with No. 44 in the Ashmol. MSS. containing twenty-sevenpassus, and beginning thus:

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