"My lord," says he, "if you have chosen me Of a hundred bowmen to be the head, Hang me at your main-mast tree, If I miss my mark past twelve pence bread." With pikes, and guns, and bowmen bold, This noble Howard is gone to the sea; (_bread_, breadth.) On the day before mid-summer even, And out at Thames mouth sailed they. They had not sailed days three, Upon their journey they took in hand, But there they met with a noble ship, And stoutly made it both stay and stand. "Thou must tell me thy name," says Charles, my lord Howard, "Or who thou art, or from whence thou came, Yea, and where thy dwelling is, To whom and where thy ship does belong." "My name," says he, "is Henry Hunt, With a pure heart, and a penitent mind; I and my ship they do belong Unto the Newcastle that stands upon Tyne." "Now thou must tell me, Harry Hunt, As thou hast sailed by day and by night, Hast thou not heard of a stout robber; Men calls him Sir Andrew Barton, knight?" But ever he sighed, and said, "Alas! Full well, my lord, I know that wight; He robbed me of my merchant's ware, And I was his prisoner but yesternight. "As I was sailing upon the sea, And [a] Bordeaux voyage as I did fare, He clasped me to his hatch-board, And robbed me of all my merchant ware. And I am a man, both poor and bare, And every man will have his own of me, And I am bound towards London to fare, To complain to my prince Henry." "That shall not need," says my Lord Howard; "If thou canst let me this robber see, For every penny he has taken thee froe Thou shalt be rewarded a shilling," quoth he. "Now God forefend," says Henry Hunt, "My lord, you should work so far amiss! God keep you out of that traitor's hands! For you wot full little what a man he is. "He is brass within, and steel without, And beams he bears in his topcastle strong; His ship hath ordinance clean round about, Besides, my lord, he is very well manned. He hath a pinnace, is dearly dight, St. Andrew's cross, that is his guide; His pinnace bears ninescore men and more, Besides fifteen canons on every side. "If you were twenty ships, and he but one, Either in hatchboard or in hall, He would overcome you every one, And if his beams they do down fall." "This is cold comfort," says my lord Howard, "To welcome a stranger thus to the sea: I'll bring him and his ship to shore, Or else into Scotland he shall carry me." "Then you must get a noble gunner, my lord, That can set well with his eye, And sink his pinnace into the sea, And soon then overcome will he be. And when that you have done this, If you chance Sir Andrew for to board, Let no man to his topcastle go And I will give you a glass, my lord. "And then you need to fear no Scot, Whether you sail by day or by night;