There is somewhat more to be found in o family in the Scottish history about the affairs of Dun-Bretton town, but what it is, and in what time, I know not, nor can have convenient leisure to search. But Parson Blackwood, the Scottish chaplain to the Lord of Shrewsbury, recited to me once a piece of a Scottish song, wherein was mentioned, that William Wallis, the great deliverer of the Scots from the English bondage, should, at Dun-Bretton, have been brought up under a Rokeby, captain then of the place; and as he walked on a cliff, should thrust him on a sudden into the sea, and thereby have gotten that hold, which, I think, was about the 33d of Edw. I. or before Thus, leaving our ancestors of record, we must also with them leave the Chronicle of Malmesbury Abbey, called Eulogium Historiarum, out of which Mr. Leland reporteth this history, and coppy down unwritten story, the which have yet the testimony of later times, and the fresh memory of men yet alive, for their warrant and creditt, of whom I have learned it, that in K. Henry the 7th's reign, one Ralph Rokeby, Esq., was owner of Morton, and I guess that this was he that deceived the fry ars of Richmond with his felon swine, on which a jargon was made."

The above is a quotation from a manuscript written by Ralph Rokeby; when he lived is uncertain.

To what metrical Scottish tradition Parson Blackwood alluded, it would be now in vain to inquire. But in Blind Harry's History of Sir William Wallace, we find a legend of one Rukbie, whom he makes keeper of Stirling Castle under the English usurpation, and whom Wallace slays with his own hand :

"In the great press Wallace and Rukbie met,
With his good sword a stroke upon him set;
Derfly to death the old Rukbie he drave,

But his two sons escaped among the lave."

These sons, according to the romantic Minstrel, surrendered the castle on conditions, and went back to England, but returned to Scotland in the days of Bruce, when one of them became again keeper of Stirling Castle. Immediately after this achievement follows another engagement, between Wallace and those Western Highlanders who embraced the English interest, at a pass in Glendonchart, where many were precipitated into the lake over a precipice. These circumstances may have been confused in the narrative of Parson Blackwood, or in the recollection of Mr. Rokeby.

In the old ballad of Chevy Chase, there is mentioned, among the English warriors, "Sir Raff the ryche Rugbe," which may apply to Sir Ralph Rokeby, the tenth baron in the pedigree. The more modern copy of the ballad runs thus:

"Good Sir Ralph Raby ther was slain,
Whose prowess did surmount."

This would rather seem to relate to one of the Nevilles of Raby. But, as the whole ballad is romantic, accuracy is not to be looked for.

NOTE 3 B.

The Felon Sow.-P. 334.

The ancient minstrels had a comic as well as a serious strain of romance; and although the examples of the latter are by far the most numerous, they are, perhaps, the less valuable. The comic romance was a sort of parody upon the usual subjects of minstrel poetry. If the latter described deeds of heroic achievement, and the events of the battle, the tourney,

Both the MS. and Mr. Whitaker's copy read ancestors, evidently a correption of aunters, adventures, as corrected by Mr. Evans.-2 Sow, wording to provincial pronunciation.-3 So: Yorkshire dialect. Fele,

and the chase, the former, as in the Tournament of Totten ham, introduced a set of clowns debating in the field, with all the assumed circumstances of chivalry; or, as in the Hunting of the Hare (see Weber's Metrical Romances, vol. iii.), persons of the same description following the chase, with all the grievous mistakes and blunders incident to such unpractised sportsmen. The idea, therefore, of Don Quixote's phrensy, although inimitably embodied and brought out, was not, perhaps, in the abstract, altogether original. One of the very best of these mock romances, and which has no sma!! portion of comic humor, is the Hunting of the Felon Sow of Rokeby by the Friars of Richmond. Ralph Rokeby, who (for the jest's sake apparently) bestowed this intractable auimal on the convent of Richmond, seems to have flourished in the time of Henry VII., which, since we know not the date of Friar Theobald's wardenship, to which the poem refers us, may indicate that of the composition itself. Morton, the Mortham of the text, is mentioned as being this facetious baron's place of residence; accordingly, Leland notices, that "Mr. Rokeby hath a place called Mortham, a little beneath Grentey-bridge, almost on the mouth of Grentey." That no information may be lacking which is in my power to supply, I have to notice, that the Mistress Rokeby of the romance, who so charitably refreshed the sow after she had discomfited Friar Middleton and his auxiliaries, was, as appears from the pedigree of the Rokeby family, daughter and heir of Danby of Yatforth.

This curious poem was first published in Mr. Whitaker's History of Craven, but, from an inaccurate manuscript, not corrected very happily. It was transferred by Mr. Evans to the new edition of his Ballads, with some weil-judged conjectural improvements. I have been induced to give a more authentic and full, though still an imperfect, edition of this humorsome composition, from being furnished with a copy from a manuscript in the possession of Mr. Rokeby, to whom I have acknowledged my obligations in the last Note. It has three or four stanzas more than that of Mr. Whitaker, and the language seems, where they differ, to have the more ancient and genuine readings.

The Felon Sow of Rokeby and the Friars of Richmond.
Ye men that will of aunters! winne,
That late within this land hath beene,

Of one I will you tell;

And of a sew that was sea3 strang, Alas! that ever she lived sae lang, For fell folk did she whell.5

She was mares than other three,
The grisliest beast that ere might be,
Her head was great and gray:
She was bred in Rokeby wood,
There were few that thither goed,7
That came on live away.

Her walk was endlong Greta side;
There was no bren10 that durst her bide,
That was froell heaven to hell;
Nor never man that had that might,
That ever durst come in her sight,
Her force it was so fell.

Ralph of Rokeby, with good will,
The Fryers of Richmond gave her till,12
Full well to garre13 them fare
Fryar Middleton by his name,
He was sent to fetch her hame,

That rude him sine14 full sare.

many Sax.-5 A corruption of quell, to kill.-6 More, greater.-7 Weni -8 Alive.-9 Along the side of Greta.-10 Barn, child, man in general.— 11 From.-12 To.-13 Make.-14 Since.

1 Fierce as a bear. Mr. Whitaker's copy reads, perhaps in consequence of mistaking the MS., "T'other was Bryan of Bear."-2 Need

were.

Mr. Whitaker reads musters.-3 Lying.-4 A fierce counteDance or manner.- Saw.-6 Wight, brave. The Rokeby MS. reads counters, and Mr. Whitaker, auncestors.-7 Boldly.-8 On the beam above.-9 To prevent.-10 Assaulted.-11 Rope.-12 Watling Street. See the sequel.-13 Dare.-14 Rushed.-15 Leave it.-16 Pulls.-17 This line is wanting in Mr. Whitaker's copy, whence it has been conjectured that something is wanting after this stanza, which now there is no occasion to suppose.-18 Evil device.-19 Blessed. Fr.-20 Lost his color.-21 Sheltered himself.-22 Fierce.-3 The MS. reads, to labour weere. The text peers to mean, that all their labor to obtain their intended meat was mɔ use to them. Mr. Whitaker reads,

"She was brim as any boar, And gave a grisly hideous roar, To them it was no boot."

Besides the want of connection between the last line and the two formez, the second has a very modern sound, and the reading of the Rokeby MS. with the slight alteration in the text, is much better.

24 Mad.-25 Torn, pulled.- Knew.-27 Combat, perilous fightThis stanza, with the two following, and the fragment of a fourth, are not in Mr. Whitaker's edition.-29 The rope about the sow's neck.

30 Knew.

This line is almost illegible.-2 Each one.-3 Since then, after that. -4 The above lines are wanting in Mr. Whitaker's copy.-5 Cease, stop. -6 Run.-7 Warlock, or wizard.-8 Harm.-9 Need.-10 Beat, The copy Mr. Whitaker's History of Craven reads, perhaps better,

"The fiend would ding you down ilk one."

11" Yon guest," may be yon gat, i. e., that adventure; or it may mean yon gaist, or apparition, which in old poems is applied & metimes to what supernaturally hideous. The printed copy reads, "The beast hath,"

And this fell in his time;

And Christ them bless both farre and neare,
All that for solace list this to heare,
And him that made the rhime.

Ralph Rokeby with full good will,
The Fryers of Richmond he gave her till,
This sew to mend their fare;
Fryar Middleton by his name,
Would needs bring the fat sew hame,
That rued him since full sare.

NOTE 3 C.

The Filea of O'Neale was he.-P. 334.

The Filea, or Ollamh Re Dan, was the proper bard, or, as the name literally implies, poet. Each chieftain of distinction had one or more in his service, whose office was usually hereditary. The late ingenious Mr. Cooper Walker has assembled a curious collection of particulars concerning this order of men, in his Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards. There were itinerant bards of less elevated rank, but all were held in the highest veneration. The English, who considered them as chief rupporters of the spirit of national independence, were much disposed to proscribe this race of poets, as Edward I. is said to nave done in Wales. Spenser, while he admits the merit of their wild poetry, as "savoring of sweet wit and good invention, and sprinkled with some pretty flowers of their natural device," yet rigorously condemns the whole application of their poetry, as abased to "the gracing of wickedness and vice." The household minstrel was admitted even to the feast of the prince whom he served, and sat at the same table. It was one of the customs of which Sir Richard Sewry, to whose charge Richard II. committed the instruction of four Irish monarchs in the civilization of the period, found it most difficult to break his royal disciples, though he had also much ado to subject them to other English rules, and particularly to reconcile them to wear breeches. "The kyng, my souerevigne lord's entent was, that in maner, countenaunce, and apparel of clothyng, they sholde use according to the maner of Englande, for the kynge thought to make them all four knyghtes: they had a fayre house to lodge in, in Duvelyn, and I was charged to abyde styll with them, and not to departe; and so two or three dayes I suffered them to do as they list, and sayde nothyng to them, but folowed their owne appetytes: they wolde sitte at the table, and make countenances nother good nor fayre. Than I thought I shulde cause them to chaunge that maner; they wolde cause their mynstrells, their seruantes, and varlettes, to sytte with them, and to eate in their owne dyssche, and to drinke of their cuppes; and they shewed me that the usage of their cuntre was good, for they sayd in all thyngs (except their beddes) they were and lyved as comen. So the fourthe day I ordayned other tables to be couered in the hall, after the usage of Englande, and I made these four knyghtes to sytte at the hyghe table, and there mynstrels at another borde, and their seruauntes and varlettes at another byneth them, wherof by semynge they were displeased, and beheld each other, and wolde not eate, and sayde, how I wolde take fro them their good usage, wherein they had been norished. Then I answered them, smylyng, to apeace them, that it was not honourable for their estates to do as they dyde before, and that they must leave it, and use the custom of Englande, and that it was the bynge's pleasure they shulde so do, and how he was charged so to order them. When they harde that, they suffered it, bycause they had putte themselfe under the obesyance of the Kynge of England, and parceuered in the same as long as I was with them; yet they had one use which I knew was well used in their cuntre, and that was, they dyde were no breches; I caused breches of lynen clothe to be made for them. Whyle I was with them I used them to leaue many rude

thynges, as well in clothyng as in other causes. Moche ado J had at the fyrst to cause them to weare gownes of sylke, fur red with myneuere and gray; for before these kynges thought themselfe well apparelled whan they had on a mantell. They rode alwayes without saddles and styropes, and with great payne I made them to ride after our usage."-LORD BERNERS' Froissart. Lond. 1812, 4to. vol. ii. p. 621.

The influence of these bards upon their patrons, and their admitted title to interfere in matters of the weightiest concern, may be also proved from the behavior of one of them at an interview between Thomas Fitzgerald, son of the Earl of Kildare, then about to renounce the English allegiance, and the Lord Chancellor Cromer, who made a long and goodly oration to dissuade him from his purpose. The young lord had come to the council armed and weaponed," and attended by seven score horsemen in their shirts of mail; and we are assured that the chancellor, having set forth his oration with such a lamentable action as his cheekes were all beblubbered with teares, the horsemen, namelie, such as understood not English, began to diuine what the lord-chancellor meant with all this long circumstance; some of them reporting that he was preaching a sermon, others said that he stood making of some heroicall poetry in the praise of the Lord Thomas. And thus as every idiot shot his foolish bolt at the wise chancellor his discourse, who in effect had nought else but drop pretious stones before hogs, one Bard de Nelan, an Irish rithmour, and a rotten sheepe to infect a whole flocke, was chatting of Irish verses, as though his toong had run on pattens, in commendation of the Lord Thomas, investing him with the title of Silken Thomas, bica us his horsemens jacks were gorgeously imbroidered with silke: and in the end he told him that he lingered there ouer long, whereat the Lord Thomas being quickened," as Holinshed expresses it, bid defiance to the chancellor, threw down con temptuously the sword of office, which, in his father's absence he held as deputy, and rushed forth to engage in open insur rection.

NOTE 3 D.

Ah, Clandeboy! thy friendly floor

Slieve-Donard's oak shall light no more.-P. 335. Clandeboy is a district of Ulster, formerly possessed by the sept of the O'Neales, and Slieve-Donard, a romantic mountain in the same province. The clan was ruined after Tyrone's great rebellion, and their places of abode laid desolate, The ancient Irish, wild and uncultivated in other respects, did not yield even to their descendants in practising the most free and extended hospitality; and doubtless the barls mourned the decay of the mansion of their chiefs in strains similar to the verses of the British Llywarch Hen on a similar occasion, which are affecting, even through the discouraging mediam o a literal translation

"Silent-breathing gale, long wilt thou be heard! There is scarcely another deserving praise Since Urien is no more.

Many a dog that scented well the prey, and aërial hawk,
Have been train'd on this floor
Before Erlleon became polluted...

This hearth, ah, will it not be covered with nettles!
Whilst its defender lived,

More congenial to it was the foot of the needy petitioner.

This hearth, will it not be covered with green sod!
In the lifetime of Owain and Elphin,
Its ample caldron boiled the prey taken from the foe.

1 Hollinshed. Lond. 1808, 4to, vol. vi. p. 291.

This hearth, will it not be covered with toad-stools! Around the viand it prepared, more cheering was The clattering sword of the fierce dauntless warrior.

This earth, will it not be overgrown with spreading brambles!

Till now, logs of burning wood lay on it,
Accustom'd to prepare the gifts of Reged!

This hearth, will it not be covered with thorns!
More congenial on it would have been the mixed group
Of Owain's social friends united in harmony.

This hearth, will it not be covered with ants!

More adapted to it would have been the bright torches And harmless festivities!

This hearth, will it not be covered with dock-leaves!
More congenial on its floor would have been
The mead, and the talking of wine-cheer'd warriors.

This hearth, will it not be turned up by the swine!
More congenial to it would have been the clamor of men,
And the circling horns of the banquet."

Heroic Elegies of Llyware Hen, by OWEN.
Lond. 1792, 8vo. p. 41.

"The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night, Without fire, without bed

I must weep a while, and then be silent!

The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night,
Without fire, without candle-

Except God doth, who will endue me with patience!

The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night,
Without fire, without being lighted-
Be thou encircled with spreading silence!

The hall of Cynddylan, gloomy seems its roof

Since the sweet smile of humanity is no more

Woe to him that saw it, if he neglects to do good!

The hall of Cynddylan, art thou not bereft of thy appear

ance ?

Thy shield is in the grave;

Whilst he lived there was no broken roof!

The hall of Cynddylan is without love this night,
Since he that own'd it is no more-

Ah, death: it will be but a short time he will leave me!

The hall of Cynddylan is not easy this night,
On the top of the rock of Hydwyth,

Without its lord, without company, without the circling feasts!

The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night, Without fire, without songs

Tears afflict the cheeks!

The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night, Without fire, without family

My overflowing tears gush out!

The hall of Cynddylan pierces me to see it, Without a covering, without fire

My general dead, and I alive myself!

The hall of Cynddylan is the seat of chill grief this night, After the respect I experienced;

Without the men, without the women, who reside there!

The hall of Cynddylan is silent this night, After losing its master

The great merciful God, what shall I do!"

"MacCurtin, hereditary Ollamh of North Munster, an Filea to Donough, Earl of Thomond, and President of MunThis nobleman was amongst those who were prevailed upon to join Elizabeth's forces. Soon as it was known that he had basely abandoned the interests of his country, MacCurtin presented an adulatory poem to MacCarthy, chief of South Munster, and of the Eugenian line, who, with O'Neil, O'Donnel, Lacy, and others, were deeply engaged in protect ing their violated country. In this poem he dwelt with rapture on the courage and patriotism of MacCarthy; but the verse that should (according to an established law of the order of the bards) be introduced in the praise of O'Brien, he turns into severe satire:- How am I afflicted (says he) that the descendant of the great Brion Boiromh cannot furnish me with a theme worthy the honor and glory of his exalted race!' Lord Thomond, hearing this, vowed vengeance on the spirited bard, who fled for refuge to the county of Cork. One day, observing the exasperated nobleman and his equipage at a small distance, he thought it was in vain to fly, and pretended to be suddenly seized with the pangs of death; directing his wife to lament over him, and tell his lordship, that the sight of him, by awakening the sense of his ingratitude, had so much affected him that he could not support it; and desired her at the same time to tell his lordship, that he entreated, as a dying request, his forgiveness. Soon as Lord Thomond arrived, the feigned tale was related to him. That nobleman was moved to compassion, and not only declared that he most heartily forgave him, but, opening his purse, presented the fair mourner with some pieces to inter him. This instance of his lordship's pity and generosity gave courage to the trembling bard; who, suddenly springing up, recited an extemporaneous ode in praise of Donough, and, re-entering into his service, became once more his favorite."-WALKER'S Memoirs of the Irish Bards. Lond. 1786, 4to. p. 141.

NOTE 3 F.

The ancient English minstrel's dress.-P. 336. Among the entertainments presented to Elizabeth at Kenil worth Castle, was the introduction of a person designed to represent a travelling minstrel, who entertained her with a solemn story out of the Acts of King Arthur. Of this person's dress and appearance Mr. Laneham has given us a very accurate account, transferred by Bishop Percy to the preliminary Dissertation on Minstrels, prefixed to his Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. i.

NOTE 3 G.

Littlecote Hall.-P. 340.

The tradition from which the ballad is founded was supplied by a friend (the late Lord Webb Seymour), whose account I will not do the injustice to abridge, as it contains an admirable picture of an old English hall:

"Littlecote House stands in a low and lonely situation. On three sides it is surrounded by a park that spreads over the adjoining hill; on the fourth, by meadows which are wa tered by the river hennet. Close on one side of the house is a