And I defy thee, do thy worst.' Ha, ha, (quoth Tarquin tho) One of us two shall end our lives, Before that we do go. If thou be Lancelot du Lake, They hurled then together fast, Like two wild boars so rashing The ground besprinkled was with blood, Tarquin began to faint; For he had back'd, and bore his shield So low, he did repent. Which soon espied Lancelot tho ; He pull❜d him down upon his knee, And then [he] struck his neck in two : And, when he had done so, From prison threescore knights and four Lancelot deliver'd tho. BALLAD XIX. SIR GUY OF WARWICK.* WAS ever knight, for lady's sake, As ever man beheld with eye? The valiant knight with shield and spear, The proud Sir Guy, a baron bold, In deeds of arms the doughty knight, With sword and spear in field to fight ; In faith of Christ a Christian true; I sought by power to subdue. Two hundred twenty years and odd, * The full title is, 'A pleasant song of the valiant deeds of chivalry atchieved by that noble knight, Sir Guy of Warwick; 'who for the love of Fair Phillis became a hermet, and died in a 6 cave of a craggy rock a mile distant from Warwick.-Tune, Was 6 ever Man, &c.' Sometime I was of Warwick earl, To seek strange ventures in my youth: To try my fame by feats of arms, Right dangerous conquests with my hands. For first I sail'd to Normandy, And there I stoutly won in fight, The emperor's daughter of Almain, From many a valiant worthy knight. Then passed I the seas of Greece, And heathen pagans, many a man; Ezkeldered, that famous knight, Being thither on ambassage sent, There was a dragon in the land, Most fiercely met me by the way. And after came into this land, I stay'd with her but forty days, And then I went beyond the seas. All clad in gray, in pilgrim sort, For Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake: Where I earl Jonas did redeem, And all his sons, which were fifteen, Who with the cruel Saracen, In prison for long time had been. I slew the giant Amarant, In battle fiercely hand to hand :· And doughty Barknard killed I, The mighty duke of that same land. Then I to England came again, And here with Colbron fell I fought, An ugly giant, which the Danes Had for their champion hither brought. I overcame him in the field, And slew him dead, right valiantly; Where I the land did then redeem From Danish tribute utterly: And afterwards I offered up The use of weapons solemnly, At Winchester, whereas I fought, In sight of many far and nigh. In Windsor-forest I did slay A boar of passing might and strength; The like in England never was, For hugeness, both in breadth and length. Some of his bones in Warwick, yet, Within the castle there, do lie; One of his shield-bones, to this day, Hangs in the city of Coventry. On Dunsmore-heath I also slew A monstrous, wild, and cruel beast, As wond'rous strange, they may espy. |