English and Scottish Ballads, Volume VII

Ballads, English -- England -- Texts; Ballads, Scots -- Scotland -- Texts

"Horsley," sayd he, "I must with speede
      Go seeke a traytor on the sea,
    And now of a hundred bowemen brave
      To be the head I have chosen thee."                               60
    "If you," quoth hee, "have chosen mee
      Of a hundred bowemen to be the head,
    On your main-mast Ile hanged bee,
      If I miss twelvescore one penny bread."

    With pikes, and gunnes, and bowemen bold,                           65
      This noble Howard is gone to the sea;
    With a valyant heart and a pleasant cheare,
      Out at Thames mouth sayled he.
    And days he scant had sayled three,
      Upon the journey he tooke in hand,                                70
    But there he mett with a noble shipp,
      And stoutely made itt stay and stand.

    "Thou must tell me," Lord Howard said,
      "Now who thou art, and what's thy name;
    And shewe me where thy dwelling is,                                 75
      And whither bound, and whence thou came."
    "My name is Henry Hunt," quoth hee,
      With a heavye heart, and a carefull mind;
    "I and my shipp doe both belong
      To the Newcastle that stands upon Tyne."                          80

    "Hast thou not heard, nowe, Henrye Hunt,
      As thou hast sayled by daye and by night,
    Of a Scottish robber on the seas;
      Men call him Sir Andrew Barton, knight?"
    Then ever he sighed, and sayd "Alas!"                               85
      With a grieved mind, and well-away,
    "But over-well I knowe that wight;
      I was his prisoner yesterday.

    "As I was sayling uppon the sea,
      A Burdeaux voyage for to fare,                                    90
    To his hach-borde he clasped me,[L91]
      And robd me of all my merchant ware.
    And mickle debts, God wot, I owe,
      And every man will have his owne,
    And I am nowe to London bounde,                                     95
      Of our gracious king to beg a boone."

    "That shall not need," Lord Howard sais;
      "Lett me but once that robber see,
    For every penny tane thee froe
      It shall be doubled shillings three."                            100
    "Nowe Gode forefend," the merchant said,
      "That you shold seek soe far amisse!
    God keepe you out of that traitors hands!
      Full litle ye wott what a man hee is.

    "Hee is brasse within, and steele without,                         105
      With beames on his topcastle stronge;
    And eighteen pieces of ordinance
      He carries on each side along.
    And he hath a pinnace deerlye dight,
      St. Andrewes crosse, that is his guide;                          110
    His pinnace beareth ninescore men,
      And fifteen canons on each side.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

English and Scottish Ballads, Volume VII

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