XXII. THE WINNING OF CALES. THE subject of this ballad is the taking of the city of Cadiz (called by our sailors corruptly Cales) on June 21, 1596, in a descent made on the coast of Spain, under the command of the Lord Howard, admiral, and the Earl of Essex, general. The valour of Essex was not more distinguished on this occasion than his generosity: the town was carried sword in hand, but he stopped the slaughter as soon as possible, and treated his prisoners with the greatest humanity, and even affability and kindness. The English made a rich plunder in the city, but missed of a much richer, by the resolution which the Duke of Medina, the Spanish admiral, took, of setting fire to the ships, in order to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. It was computed that the loss which the Spaniards sustained from this enterprise amounted to twenty millions of ducats. See Hume's History. The Earl of Essex knighted on this occasion not fewer than sixty persons, which gave rise to the following sarcasm : "A gentleman of Wales, a knight of Cales, The ballad is printed, with some corrections, from the Editor's folio MS., and seems to have been composed by some person who was concerned in the expedition. Most of the circumstances related in it will be found supported by history. The beacons were fyred, as need then required; To hyde their great treasure they had little space. Dub a dub, etc. Wee marched in presentlye, decking the walls on hye, With English colours which purchased renowne. Dub a dub, etc. There you might see their ships, how they Entering the houses then, of the most were fyred fast, And how their men drowned themselves in the sea; richest men, For gold and treasure we searched eche day; There might you hear them cry, wayle In some places wè did find, pyes baking and weep piteously, When they saw no shift to scape thence away. Dub a dub, etc. The great St. Phillip, the pryde of the Spaniards, Was burnt to the bottom, and sunk in the sea; But the St. Andrew, and eke the St. Matthew, Wee took in fight manfullye and brought away. Dub a dub, etc. The Earl of Essex most valiant and hardye, With horsemen and footmen marched up to the town; The Spanyards, which saw them, were greatly alarmed, Did fly for their savegard, and durst not come down. Dub a dub, etc. Now, quoth the noble Earl, courage my soldiers all, Fight and be valiant, the spoil you shall have ; And be well rewarded all from the great to the small; But looke that the women and children you save. Dub a dub, etc. The Spaniards at that sight, thinking it vain to fight, Hung upp flags of truce and yielded the towne; left behind, Meate at fire rosting, and folkes run away. Dub a dub, etc. Full of rich merchandize, every shop catched our eyes, Damasks and sattens and velvets full fayre; Which soldiers measur'd out by the length of their swords; Of all commodities eche had a share. Thus Cales was taken, and our brave general March'd to the market-place, where he did stand: There many prisoners fell to our several shares, Many crav'd mercye, and mercye they fannd. Dub a dub, etc. When our brave General saw they delayed all, And wold not ransome their towne as they said, With their fair wanscots, their presses and bedsteds, Their joint-stools and tables a fire we made; And when the town burned all in flame, With tara, tantara, away wee all came, XXIII. THE SPANISH LADY'S LOVE. THIS beautiful old ballad most probably took its rise from one of those descents made on the Spanish coasts in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and in all likelihood from that which is celebrated in the foregoing ballad. It was a tradition in the west of England, that the person admired by the Spanish lady was a gentleman of the Popham family, and that her picture, with the pearl necklace mentioned in the ballad, was not many years ago preserved at Littlecot, near Hungerford, Wilts, the seat of that respectable family. Another tradition hath pointed out Sir Richard Leveson, of Trentham, in Staffordshire, as the subject of this ballad, who married Margaret, daughter of Charles, Earl of Nottingham, and was eminently distinguished as a naval officer and commander in all the expeditions against the Spaniards in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, particularly in that to Cadiz in 1596, when he was aged 27. He died in 1605, and has a monument, with his effigy in brass, in Wolverhampton church. It is printed from an ancient black-letter copy, corrected in part by the Editor's folio MS. XXIV.-ARGENTILE AND CURAN Is extracted from an ancient historical poem in thirteen books, entitled, Albion's England, by William Warner. The story of Argentile and Curan is, I believe, the poet's own invention; it is not mentioned in any of our chronicles. It was, however, so much admired, that not many years after he published it, came out a larger poem on the same subject in stanzas of six lines, entitled, The most pleasant and delightful historie of Curan, a prince of Danske, and the fayre princesse Argentile, daughter and heyre to Adelbright, sometime king of Northumberland, etc., by William Webster, London 1617, in eight sheets 4to. An indifferent paraphrase of the following poem. Though here subdivided into stanzas, Warner's metre is the old-fashioned Alexandrine of fourteen syllables. The reader therefore must not expect to find the close of the stanzas consulted in the pauses. |