Then they pulled out a ryng of gold, Layd itt on the porter’s arme, ‘And ever we will thee, proud porter, Thou wilt saye us no harme.’ Sore he looked on King Estmère, And sore he handled the ryng, Then opened to them the fayre hall gates, He lett for no kind of thyng. The lady, King Adlan’s daughter, for whose sake the ring is given, is thus described:-- The talents of gold were on her head sette, Hanged low down to her knee; And everye ring on her small fingèr Shone of the chrystall free. In the romance of ‘Earl Richard,’ we have another instance of a ring fee, or bribe, to a porter:-- She took a ring from her finger And gave’t the porter for his fee, Says, ‘tak you that, my good porter, And bid the queen speak to me.’ In the capital ballad of the ‘Baffled Knight,’ or ‘Lady’s Policy,’ the latter in answer to the overtures of her drunken wooer says:-- Oh, yonder stands my steed so free, Among the cocks of hay, sir; And if the pinner should chance to see He’ll take my steed away, sir. The Knight rejoins:-- Upon my finger I have a ring, It’s made of finest gold-a, And, lady, it thy steed shall bring Out of the pinner’s fold-a. Miller, in his ‘History of the Anglo-Saxons,’ relates a pretty story of a ‘bribe’ ring, an episode in the battles between Edmund Ironside and Canute. It was on the eve of one of these conflicts that a Danish chief, named Ulfr, being hotly pursued by the Saxons, rushed into a wood, in the hurry of defeat, and lost his way. After wandering about some time, he met a Saxon peasant, who was driving home his oxen. The Danish chief asked his name. ‘It is Godwin,’ answered the peasant; ‘and you are one of the Danes who were compelled yesterday to fly for your life.’ The sea-king acknowledged it was true, and asked the herdsman if he could guide him either to the Danish ships, or where the army was encamped. ‘The Dane must be mad,’ answered Godwin, ‘who trusts to a Saxon for safety.’ Ulfr entreated this rude Gurth of the forest to point him out the way, at the same time urging his argument by presenting the herdsman with a massive gold ring, to win his favour. Godwin looked at the ring, and after having carefully examined it he again placed it in the hand of the sea-king, and said: ‘I will not take this, but will show you the way.’ Ulfr spent the day at the herdsman’s cottage; night came, and found Godwin in readiness to be his guide. The herdsman had an aged father, who, before he permitted his son to depart, thus addressed the Danish chief: ‘It is my only son whom I allow to accompany you; to your good faith I entrust him, for remember that, there will no longer be any safety for him amongst his countrymen if it is once known that he has been your guide. Present him to your King, and entreat him to take my son into his service.’ Ulfr promised, and he kept his word. The humble cowherd, who afterwards married