Hen. Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, tenth baron in the pedigree. The more modern copy Jo. Rokeby, Esq. one of the Council. cretaries. Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slain, Se-This would rather seem to relate to one of the Nevilles Jo. Rokeby, Precentor of York. The family of De Rokeby came over with the Conqueror. proper. << There is something more to be found in our family in the Scottish history about the affairs of Dun-Bretion 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 that 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 fryars of Richmond with his felon swine, on which a jargon was 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, and the chase, the former, as in the tournament of Tottenham, introduced sumed circumstances of chivalry; or, as in the Bunting a set of clowns debating in the field, with all the asof the Hare (see Weber's Metrical Romances, vol. III. with all the grievous mistakes and blunders incident to persons of the same description following the chase, such unpractised sportsmen. The idea, therefore, of and brought out, was not perhaps in the abstract Don Quixote's frenzy, although inimitably embodied altogether original. One of the very best of these mock romances, and which has no small portion of comic humour, 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 animal 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 is mentioned as being this facetious baron's place of Morton, the Mertham of the text, composition itself. residence; accordingly Leland notices that « Mr Rokeby hath a place called Mortham, a little beneth Gretneybridge, almost on the mouth of Gretney. That no information may be lacking which is in my power to To what metrical Scottish tradition Parson Black-supply, I have to notice, that the Mistress Rokeby of wood alluded, it would he now in vain to inquire. But in Blind Harry's history of Sir William Wallace, we find a legend of one Rukbic, whom he makes keeper of Stirling Castle under the English usurpation, and whom Wallace slays with his own hand: made.»> The above is a quotation from a manuscript written by Ralph Rokeby: when he lived is uncertain. In the great press Wallace and Rukbie met, But his two sons scaped 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 Glendochart, 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 Chace, there is mentioned, among the English warriors, «Sir Raff the ryche Rugbe, which may apply to Sir Ralph Rokeby, the the romance, who so charitably refreshed the sow after 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 welljudged conjectural improvements. I have been induced to give a more authentic and full, though still an imperfect, edition of this humorous 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 lan- The Felon Sow of Rokeby and the Friars of Richmond. YE men that will of aunters' winne, 1 Both the MS. and Mr Whitaker's copy read ancestors, evidently a corruption of aunters, adventures, as corrected by Mr Evans. And of a sew that was sea2 strang, She was mares than other three, Her walk was endlong Greta side; There was no bren that durst ber bide, Ralph of Rokeby with good will, The fryers of Richmoud gave her till," Fryar Middleton by his name, With him took he wight men two, That ever was brim as bare;14 And well durst strike with sword and knife, These three men went at God's will, Liggan 1 under a tree, Rugg and rusty was her haire; She was so grisley for to meete, She rave the earth ap with her feete, These men of aunters that was so wight, 19 They would ask him noa mare. The sew was in the kiln hole down, Durst noe man neigh her with bis hand, 1 Rushed. Wist my brethren in this boure, That I was sett in such a stoure, 14 They would pray for me." This wicked beast that wrought this woe, The feild it was both lost and wonne; 15 When Ralph of Rokeby saw the rape, 4 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. 5 Evil device. Blessed, Fr. 1 Lost his colour. When Fryer Middleton came home, We gave him battell half a day, And Pater Dale would never blinn, The warden said, I am full woe, Fryer Middleton said soon, « Nay, And if it be as I weine." He look'd so griesly all that night, The warden waged" on the morne, The other was a bastard son of Spain, His dint hath gart them die. That they should boldly bide and fight, We shall for you pray, sing, and read Then the letters well was made, She made on them slike a rerd," She came roveing them againe; He braded out his brand; She would have riven his privich geare, On ber shoulder till she beld the swerd; When the blade brake in throng. And band her bame alone. The fryers on that day." They thanked God and St Francis, Nor Loth of Louthayne.1° If ye will any more of this, In the fryars of Richmond 't is In parchment good and fine; And bow Fryer Middleton that was so kend," At Greta-bridge conjured a fiend In likeness of a swine. It is well known to many a man, That Fryer Theobald was warden than, And this fell in his time; And Christ them bless both farre and neare, All that for solace list this to beare, 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: Note 4. Stanza x. The Filea of O'Neale was he. 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 supporters of the spirit of national independence, were much disposed to proscribe this race of poets, as Edward I is said to have done in Wales. Spenser, while he admits the merit of their wild poetry, as savouring 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 Souverigne lords entent was, that in maner, countenaunce, and apparell 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 lyst, and sayde nothyng to them, but folowed their owne appetytes; they wolde sytte at the table, and make countenance nother good nor fayre. Than I thought I shulde cause them to chaunge that maner; they wolde eause their mynstrells, their seruauntes, 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 countre was good, for they sayd in all thyngs (except their beddes) they were and lyved as So the fourthe day I ordayned other tables to be couered in the hall, after the usage of Englande, and I made these four kynges. to sytte at the hyghe table, and their mynstrels at another borde, and their seruauntes and varlettes at another byneth them, whereof by semynge they were displeased, and beheld each other, and wolde not cate, 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 kynge's pleasure they shulde do so, and how he was charged so to order them. Whan they harde that, they suffred it, bycause they had putte themselfe under the obeysance of the kynge of Englande, 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 countre, 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 caused them to leane many rude thynges, as well in clothyng as in other causes. Moche ado 1 comen. sylke, had at the fyrst to cause them to weare gownes of furred with myneuere and gray; for before these kynges thought themselfe well apparelled whan they had on a mantell. They rode always without saddles and styropes, and with great payne I made them to ride after our usage.»-LORD BERNERS' Froissart, Lond. 1812, 4to, II, 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 behaviour 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 bad 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 cheeks were all beblubbered with teares, the horsemen, namelie, such as understood not English, began to diuine what the lord-chancelor meant with all this long circumstance; some of them reporting that he was preaching a sermon, others said that he stood making of some heroical poetry in the praise of the Lord Thomas. And thus as every ideot shot his foolish bolt at the wise chancellor his discourse, who in effect did 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, bicause his horsemens jacks were gorgeously imbrodered with silke: and in the end he told him that he lingered there ouer long. Whereat the Lord Thomas being quickened,» as Hollinshed expresses it, bid defiance to the chancellor, threw down contemptuously the sword of office, which, in his father's absence, he held as deputy, and rushed forth to engage in open insurrection. Note 5. Stanza x. Ab, Clandeboy! thy friendly floor, Slieve-Donard's oak shall light no more. 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 bards mourned the decay of the mansions of their chiefs, in strains similar to the verses of the British Llywarch Ben on a similar occasion, which are affecting, even through the discouraging medium of a literal translation: Silent-breathing gale, long wilt thon be heard! Many a dog that scented well the prey, and aerial hawk, This bearth, ab, will it not be covered with nettles! More congenial to it was the foot of the needy petitioner. Hollinshed, Lond. 1808, 4to, vol. VI, p. 291. This hearth, will it not be covered with green sod! Its ample cauldron boiled the prey taken from the foe. This hearth, will it not be covered with toad-stools! This hearth, will it not be overgrown with spreading brambles! This hearth, will it not be covered with thorns! This hearth, will it not be covered over with the ants! This hearth, will it not be covered with dock-leaves! This hearth, will it not he turned up by the swine! Heroic Elegies of Llywarch Hen, by Owen. The hall of Cynddylan is gloomy this night, Without fire, without bed I must weep awhile, 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, The ball of Cynddylan, gloomy seems its roof, The hall of Cynddylan, art thou not ! ereft of thy appearance! Whilst he lived there was no broken roof! « Mac-Curtin, hereditary Ollamh of North Munster, and Filea to Donough, Earl of Thomond, and President of Munster. This 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, Mac-Curtin presented an adulatory poem to Mac-Carthy, chief of South Munster, and of the Eugenian line, who, with O'Neil, O'Donnel, Lacy, and others, were deeply engaged in protecting their violated country. In this poem he dwells with rapture on the courage and patriotism of Mac-Carthy; 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 Brien Boiromh cannot furnish me with a theme worthy the honour and glory of his exalted race! Lord Thomond, hearing this, vowed vengeance on the spirited bard, who tled 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 he 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. The 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, be- ¦ came once more his favourite.»—WALKER'S Memoirs of the Irish Bards, Lond. 1786, 4to. p. 141. |
