There came a lazar to the kings gate, Looke thou goe not hence away; Then went him forth sir Aldingar, And hyed him to our king: "If I might have grace, as I have space, Say on, say on, sir Aldingar, "If shee had chosen a right good knight, But she hath chose her a lazar man, If this be true, thou Aldingar, The tyding thou tellest to me, Rich both of golde and fee. But if it be false, sir Aldingar, As God nowe grant it bee! Thy body, I sweare by the holye rood, He brought our king to the queenes And opend to him the dore. A lodlye love, king Harry says, For our queene dame Elinore! If thou were a man, as thou art none, Forth then hyed our king, I wysse, And an angry man was hee; 173 Now God you save, our queene, madame, If you had chosen a right good knight, Therfore a fyer there shall be built, And brent all shalt thou bee,- Now out alacke! sayd our comlye queene, I had thought swevens had never been I had proved them true at last. I dreamt in my sweven on thursday eve, I dreamt a grype and a grimlic beast Saving there came a little 'gray' hawke, Which untill the grounde did strike the That dead he downe did fall. But a payre of new gallowes shall be Giffe I were a man, as now I am none, buil', And there shalt thou hang on hye. * He probably insinuates that the king should heal him by his power of touching for the king's evil. A battell wold I prove, To fight with that traitor Aldingar; But seeing Ime able noe battell to make, X. THE GABERLUNZIE MAN. A SCOTTISH SONG. TRADITION informs us that the author of this song was King James V. of Scotland. This prince (whose character for wit and libertinism bears a great resemblance to that of his gay successor Charles II.) was noted for strolling about his dominions in disguise, and for his frequent gallantries with country girls. Two adventures of this kind he hath celebrated with his own pen, viz. in the ballad of The Gaberlunzie Man; and in another, entitled The Jolly Beggar. Sir Walter Scott says of James V. that "he was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions often rendered his romantic freaks venial if not respectable, since from his anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most oppressed class of his subjects, he was popularly termed the King of the Commons. For the purpose of seeing that justice was regularly administered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, he used to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces in various disguises. The two excellent comic songs, entitled The Gaberlunzie Man, and We'll gae nae mair a-roving, are said to have been founded upon the success of his amorous adventures when travelling in the disguise of a beggar. The latter is perhaps the best comic ballad in any language." Some ran to coffer, and some to kist, Since naithings awa, as we can learn, And bid her come quickly ben. The servant gaed where the dochter lay, O fy gar ride, and fy gar rin, And hast ze, find these traitors agen; The wearyfou gaberlunzie-man. Mean time far hind out owre the lee, The twa, with kindlie sport and glee, To lo'e her for ay, he gae her his aith. O kend my minny I were wi' zou, And carrie the gaberlunzie on. Wi' kauk and keel, I'll win zour bread, And spindles and whorles for them wha need, Whilk is a gentil trade indeed The gaberlunzie to carrie—o. XI.-ON THOMAS, LORD CROMWELL. THE ballad seems to have been composed between the time of Cromwell's commitment to the Tower, June 11, 1540, and that of his being beheaded July 28 following. Notwithstanding our libeller, Cromwell had many excellent qualities: his great fault was too much obsequiousness to the arbitrary will of his master. The original copy, printed at London in 1540, is entitled, "A newe ballade made of Thomas Crumwel, called Trolle on away." To it is prefixed this distich by way of burthen: |