The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Oxford Book of Ballads, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Oxford Book of Ballads Author: Various Editor: Arthur Quiller-Couch Release Date: January 5, 2014 [EBook #44593] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OXFORD BOOK OF BALLADS *** Produced by Charlene Taylor, Ted Garvin, Paul Clark and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
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Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible. Some minor corrections of spelling and puctuation have been made.
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The
Oxford Book of
Ballads
Chosen & Edited by
Arthur Quiller-Couch
Oxford
At the Clarendon Press
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
TO
THE ONE SURVIVOR
OF THREE MEN
TO WHOM ALL LOVERS OF THE BALLAD
OWE MOST IN THESE TIMES
FRANCIS JAMES CHILD
FREDERICK JAMES FURNIVALL
AND
JOHN WESLEY HALES
As in The Oxford Book of English Verse I tried to range over the whole field of the English Lyric, and to choose the best, so in this volume I have sought to bring together the best Ballads out of the whole of our national stock. But the method, order, balance of the two books are different perforce, as the fates of the Lyric and the Ballad have been diverse. While the Lyric in general, still making for variety, is to-day more prolific than ever and (all cant apart) promises fruit to equal the best, that particular offshoot which we call the Ballad has been dead, or as good as dead, for two hundred years. It would seem to have discovered, almost at the start, a very precise Platonic pattern of what its best should be; and having exhausted itself in reproducing that, it declined (through a crab-apple stage of Broadsides) into sterility. Therefore this anthology cannot be brought down to the present day, and therefore the first half of it contains far finer poetry than the second.
But it may be objected that among Ballads no such thing as chronological order is possible; and that, if it were, I have not attempted it. ‘Why then did I not boldly mix up all my flowers in a heap and afterwards sit down to re-arrange them, disregarding history, studious only that one flower should set off another and the whole[Pg viii] wreath be a well-balanced circle?’ I will try to answer this, premising only that tact is nine-tenths of the anthologist’s business. It is very true that the Ballads have no chronology: that no one can say when Hynd Horn was composed, or assert with proof that Clerk Saunders is younger than Childe Maurice or Tam Lin older than Sir Patrick Spens, though that all five are older than The Children in the Wood no one with an ounce of literary sense would deny. Even of our few certainties we have to remember that, where almost everything depends on oral tradition, it may easily happen—in fact happens not seldom—that a really old ballad ‘of the best period’ has reached us late and in a corrupted form, its original gold overlaid with silver and bronze. It is true, moreover, that these pages, declining an impossible order, decline also the pretence to it. I have arranged the ballads in seven books: of which the first deals with Magic, the ‘Seely Court’, and the supernatural; the second (and on the whole the most beautiful) with stories of absolute romance such as Childe Waters, Lord Ingram, Young Andrew; the third with romance shading off into real history, as in Sir Patrick Spens, Hugh of Lincoln, The Queen’s Marie; the fourth with Early Carols and ballads of Holy Writ. This closes Part I. The fifth book is all of the Greenwood and Robin Hood; the sixth follows history down from Chevy Chase and the Homeric deeds of Douglas and Percy to less renowned if not less spirited Border feuds; while the seventh and last book presents the Ballad in[Pg ix] various aspects of false beginning and decline—The Old Cloak, which deserved a long line of children but in fact has had few; Barbara Allen, late but exquisite; Lord Lovel, which is silly sooth; and The Suffolk Tragedy, wherein a magnificent ballad-theme is ambled to market like so much butter. My hope is that this arrangement, while it avoids mixing up things that differ and keeps consorted those (the Robin Hood Ballads for example) which naturally go together, does ‘in round numbers’ give a view of the Ballad in its perfection and decline, and that so my book may be useful to the student as well as to the disinterested lover of poetry for whom it is chiefly intended.
This brings me to the matter of text. To make a ‘scientific’ anthology of the Ballads was out of the question. In so far as scientific treatment could be brought to them the work had been done, for many generations to come, if not finally, by the late Professor Child[1] in his monumental edition, to which at every turn I have been indebted for guidance back to the originals. Child’s method was to get hold of every ballad in every extant version, good, bad, or indifferent, and to print these versions side by side, with a foreword on the ballad’s history, packed with every illustration that could be contributed out of his immense knowledge of the folk-poetry of every race and country. His work, as I say, left no room for follower or imitator; but[Pg x] fortunately it lies almost as wide of my purpose as of my learning. My reader did not require Sir Patrick Spens or May Colvin in a dozen or twenty versions: he wanted one ballad, one Sir Patrick Spens, one May Colvin, and that the best. How could I give him the best in my power?
There is only one way. It was Scott’s way, and the way of William Allingham, who has been at pains to define it in the preface to his Ballad Book (Macmillan):—
The various oral versions of a popular ballad obtainable throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, are perhaps, even at this late day,[2] practically innumerable—one as ‘authentic’ as another. What then to do?... The right course has appeared to be this, to make oneself acquainted with all attainable versions of a ballad. Then (granting a ‘turn’ for such things, to begin; without which all were labour in vain) the editor may be supposed to get as much insight as may be into the origin and character of the ballad in question; he sees or surmises more or less as to the earliest version or versions, as to blunders, corruptions, alterations of every sort (national, local, personal) on the part of the reciters; he then comes to investigate the doings of former editors, adopting thankfully what he finds good, correcting at points whereupon he has attained better information, rejecting (when for the worse) acknowledged or obvious interpolations or changes. He has to give it in one form—the best according to his judgement and feeling—in firm black and white, for critics, and for readers cultivated and simple.
This fairly describes Scott’s method as well as Allingham’s own. But while I must claim along with[Pg xi] them ‘a “turn” for such things’ (the claim is implicit in my attempt), these two men were poets, and could dare more boldly than I to rewrite a faulty stanza or to supply a missing one. Of this ticklish license I have been extremely chary, and have used it with the double precaution (1) of employing, so far as might be, words and phrases found elsewhere in the text of the ballad, and (2) of printing these experiments in square brackets,[3] that the reader may not be misled. Maybe I should have resisted the temptation altogether but for the necessity—in a work intended for all sorts of readers, young and old—of removing or reducing here and there in these eight hundred and sixty-five pages a coarse or a brutal phrase. To those who deny the necessity I will only answer that while no literature in the world exercises a stronger or on the whole a saner fascination upon imaginative youth than do these ballads, it seems to me wiser to omit a stanza from Glasgerion, for example, or to modify a line in Young Hunting, than to withhold these beautiful things altogether from boy or maid.
Before leaving this subject of texts and their handling, I must express my thanks for the permission given me to make free use of the text of the Percy Folio MS., edited by Professors Hales and Furnivall some forty years ago. This was of course indispensable. In the history of our[Pg xii] ballad-literature the Reliques themselves are, if something more of a landmark, much less of a trophy than the three famous volumes so romantically achieved by Professor Child and their two editors, whose labour has been scarcely more honourable than their liberality which has ever laid its results open to men’s benefit. Mr. Child died in 1896; Mr. Furnivall a few months ago. To Mr. Hales, survivor of the famous three, I owe the permission given with a courtesy which set a fresh value on what was already beyond value. I must also thank the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould for leave to include The Brown Girl and other ballads from his Songs of the West and A Garland of Country Song (Methuen). It were idle to quote all the scholars—Ritson, Herd, Scott, Jamieson and the rest—to whose labours every ballad-editor must be indebted: but among younger men I wish to thank Mr. F. Sidgwick, whose method in his two volumes of Ballads (Bullen) I can admire the more unreservedly because it differs from mine.
I hope, at any rate, that in presenting each ballad as one, and reconstructing it sometimes from many versions, I have kept pretty constantly to the idea, of which Professor Ker[4] says—‘The truth is that the Ballad is an Idea, a Poetical Form, which can take up any matter, and does not leave that matter as it was before.’ If the reader interrogate me concerning this Idea of the Ballad, as[Pg xiii] Mr. Pecksniff demanded of Mrs. Todgers her Notion of a Wooden Leg, Professor Ker has my answer prepared:—
In spite of Socrates and his logic we may venture to say, in answer to the question ‘What is a ballad?’—‘A Ballad is The Milldams of Binnorie and Sir Patrick Spens and The Douglas Tragedy and Lord Randal and Childe Maurice, and things of that sort.’
There the reader has it, without need of the definition or of the historical account which this Preface must not attempt. Its author, no doubt, is destined to consign, some day, and ‘come to dust’ with more learned editors: but meanwhile, if one ask ‘What is a Ballad?’—I answer, It is these things; and it is
(Tam Lin)
and
(Sir Cawline)
It is
(Cospatrick)
and
(Fair Margaret and Sweet William)
and
(Robin Hood and the Monk)
and
(Archie of Cawfield)
It is even
(The Duke of Gordon’s Daughter)
Like the Clown in Twelfth Night, it can sing both high and low: but the note is unmistakable whether it sing high:
(Clerk Saunders)
(Sir Patrick Spens)
(Earl Brand)
or low
(Young Beichan)
(The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie)
(Dives and Lazarus)
or, merely flat and pedestrian:
(Otterburn)
But it is always unmistakable and like no other thing in poetry; in proof of which let me offer one simple, practical test. If any man ever steeped himself in balladry, that man was Scott, and once or twice, as in Proud Maisie and Brignall Banks, he came near to distil the essence. If any man, taking the Ballad for his model, has ever sublimated its feeling and language in a poem
that man was Coleridge and that poem his Ancient Mariner. If any poet now alive can be called a ballad-writer of genius, it is the author of Danny Deever and East and West. But let the reader suppose a fascicule of such poems bound up with the present collection, and he will perceive that I could have gone no straighter way to destroy the singularity of the book.
In claiming this singularity for the Ballad I do not seek to exalt it above any other lyrical form. Rather I am ready to admit, out of some experience in anthologizing,[Pg xvi] that when a ballad is set in a collection alongside the best of Herrick, Gray, Landor, Browning—to name four poets opposite as the poles and to say nothing of such masterwork as Spenser’s Epithalamion or Milton’s Lycidas—it is the ballad that not only suffers by the apposition but suffers to a surprising degree; so that I have sometimes been forced to reconsider my affection, and ask ‘Are these ballads really beautiful as they have always appeared to me?’ In truth (as I take it) the contrast is unfair to them, much as any contrast between children and grown folk would be unfair. They appealed to something young in the national mind, and the young still ramp through Percy’s Reliques—as I hope they will through this book—‘trailing clouds of glory,’ following the note in Elmond’s wood—
A. Q. C.
[1] A smaller edition of ‘Child’, excellently planned, by Helen Child Sargent and George Lyman Kittridge, is published in England by Mr. Nutt.
[2] 1864.
[3] This does not hold of small transpositions, elisions of superfluous words, or corrections of spelling. In these matters I have allowed myself a free hand.
[4] On the History of the Ballads, 1100-1500, by W. P. Ker, Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. iv.
Certainly, I must confesse my own barbarousnes, I neuer heard the olde song of Percy and Duglas that I found not my heart mooued more then with a Trumpet.
Sir Philip Sidney.
[5] ferlie = marvel.
[6] tett = tuft.
[7] harp and carp = play and recite (as a minstrel).
[8] weird = doom.
[9] leven =? lawn.
[10] dought = could.
[11] even cloth = smooth cloth.
[12] tae = toe.
[13] bree = eye-brow.
[14] twine = part, sunder.
[15] scathe = harm.
[16] sain’d = blessed, baptised.
[17] snell = keen, cold.
[18] teind = tithe.
[19] borrow = ransom.
[20] uncouth = unknown.
[21] aske = newt, lizard.
[22] make = mate, husband.
[23] loot = let.
[24] eldritch = unearthly.
[25] tree = wood.
[26] coft = bought.
[27] fashion = form, beauty.
[28] feere = mate, consort.
[29] discreeve = discover.
[30] may = maid.
[31] dill = dole, grief.
[32] dight = ordained.
[33] care-bed = sick-bed.
[34] bowne = made ready, gone.
[35] without and, &c. = unless he have a good leech, or physician.
[36] tine = lose.
[37] wightlye = briskly, stoutly.
[38] mores = moors.
[39] brodinge = growing, sprouting.
[40] examine = put to the test.
[41] beforne = before (morning).
[42] bents = rough grasses.
[43] cryance = yielding, cowardice.
[44] ming’d = mentioned, spoke the name of.
[45] slode = split.
[46] good loade = heavily.
[47] aukeward = back-handed.
[48] lay land = lea, land not under cultivation; here = ground.
[49] he’s never = he will never.
[50] middle-earth = this earth, as midway between heaven and hell.
[51] lay = law, faith.
[52] brent = smooth.
[53] betaken = given, made over.
[54] venison = i. e. deer-forests.
[55] brent = burnt.
[56] lodly = loathly.
[57] lome = thing.
[58] bett = kindled.
[59] swevens = dreams.
[60] grype = gryphon.
[61] tush = tusk, beak.
[62] merlion = merlin, a small falcon.
[63] bale = evil, trouble.
[64] boote = help, remedy.
[65] tunne = barrel.
[66] wrought = recked.
[67] fooder = tun.
[68] meete = matched, equal.
[69] bouted = bolted, sifted.
[70] paramour = meaning here uncertain.
[71] pall = fine cloth.
[72] yett = gate.
[73] into = in.
[74] lee = lie.
[75] carline = old woman.
[76] ban = band, hinge.
[77] laird or loun = squire or common fellow.
[78] kevils = lots.
[79] hende = courteous youth.
[80] high-coll’d, laigh-coll’d = high-cut, low-cut.
[81] carknet = necklace.
[82] flang = flung about, rummaged violently.
[83] rowe = roll, wrap.
[84] gar’d her drie = caused her to suffer.
[85] lighter = i. e. delivered of her child.
[86] tett = tuft.
[87] chess =? jess, strap.
[88] Billy Blind = a Brownie, or friendly House-spirit.
[89] pit = put.
[90] pat = did put.
[91] forbye = aside.
[92] kaims = combs.
[93] shee = shoe.
[94] greet = cry.
[95] ben = to the inner room.
[96] nourice = nurse.
[97] gang by the hauld = walk by holding on to the hand.
[98] gowans = daisies.
[99] kist = chest.
[100] niest = next.
[101] sark = shirt.
[102] wat = wetted.
[103] are = plough.
[104] ae tyne = one harrow-point.
[105] loof = palm.
[106] dow = dove.
[109] shathmont = measure from the point of the extended thumb to the extremity of the palm, six inches.
[110] thimber = stout.
[111] thie = thigh.
[112] lap = leapt.
[113] sheen = shining, beautiful.
[114] jimp = slim, slender.
[115] trysted = invited.
[116] lemman = sweetheart.
[117] haud = hold, keep.
[118] Seely Court = the Happy Court (of the Fairies).
[119] gowany = daisied.
[120] dee = do.
[121] craig = rock.
[122] Kemp = champion, knight.
[123] borrow = ransom.
[124] siccan = such.
[125] biggit = built.
[126] gar’d = made.
[127] stythe = place, station.
[128] louted = bowed.
[129] gid = went.
[130] into = in.
[131] won = dwell.
[132] laily = loathly.
[133] aste = east.
[134] Scowan &c. = Early green’s the wood.
[135] giorten &c. = Where the hart goes yearly.
[136] noy = grief.
[137] göd gabber reel = the rollicking dance-tune.
[138] wir = our.
[139] wis = us.
[140] routh = plenty.
[141] burd-alone = lone as a maid.
[142] jelly = jolly, jovial.
[143] bierly = stout, handsome.
[144] fleer = floor.
[145] hat = hit.
[146] mot = might.
[147] hap = cover.
[148] lingcan for lycam = body.
[149] teather stakes = tether pegs.
[150] mell = mallet.
[151] wons = dwells.
[152] ye’se gae = you shall go.
[153] waught = draught.
[154] ahin’ = behind.
[155] streak = stretch.
[156] co’ld = could, knew.
[157] bedone = adorned.
[158] hett = bid.
[159] potener = pouch, purse.
[160] care = bethink him.
[161] bed = bid, offered.
[162] new fangle = capricious.
[163] gaule = gules, red.
[164] wadded = of woad colour, blue.
[165] blee = hue.
[166] can = did.
[167] walker = fuller.
[168] rudd = complexion.
[169] For why = because.
[170] dinne = noise, i. e. ado.
[171] crowt = pucker.
[172] shreeven = shriven, confessed.
[173] werryed = worried.
[174] birtled = brittled, cut up.
[175] ronge = rung, resounded.
[176] sheede = shed, spill.
King Arthur of Little Britain unwisely boasts the beauty of his famous Round Table.
After travelling in many strange lands they arrive at the castle of King Cornwall, not a great way from home.
King Cornwall questioning the strangers, they happen to speak of a certain shrine of Our Lady, from which he gathers that they have been in Little Britain. This leads him to question them concerning King Arthur.
After showing them other of his possessions, King Cornwall has the strangers conducted to bed; but first takes the precaution to conceal the Burlow Beanie, or Billy Blind—friendly household spirit—in a rubbish-barrel by the bedside, to listen and overhear their conversation.
While they lie talking, an unguarded movement of the sprite in the barrel leads to his discovery. Then follows a great combat.
With this book of Evangiles Sir Bredbittle, otherwise the Green Knight, overcomes the sprite, and having conjured him into a wall of stone, returns with report to King Arthur.
But now with the aid of the book Sir Bredbittle has the fiend wholly at command. He is sent first to fetch the steed.
Then Sir Tristram requires a horn. At Sir Bredbittle’s command the sprite fetches it; but the horn will not sound until anointed with a certain powder. This also the sprite is sent to fetch.
So King Arthur fulfils his vow; and, if the rest of the Ballad had been preserved, no doubt it would have told us how his companions fulfilled theirs.
[177] rived = arrived, travelled.
[178] tranckled = travelled.
[179] ghesting = guesting, lodging.
[180] gleed = live coal.
[181] lodly = loathly.
[182] rub-chadler = rubbish-tub.
[183] pay = satisfaction.
[184] Collen brand = sword of Cologne steel.
[185] Millaine = Milanese.
[186] element = sky.
[187] gleede = live coal.
Soon after Christmas the King chanced to ride by Tarn Wadling[190], in the forest of Inglewood, when he was met by a fierce baron armed with a club, who offered him choice between fighting and ransom. For ransom, the King must return on New Year’s Day—
Arthur, having collected and written down many answers to the baron’s riddle, was true to his promise, thus—
The hag thereupon gave him the right answer and he rode forward.
The King, having returned home, told his knights that he had in the forest a bride for one of them, and a number rode out in his company to find her.
At length Sir Gawain, for Arthur’s sake, consented. The ugly bride was taken home and bedded, when to Gawain’s delight in his arms she turned to a beautiful woman. She then offered him a choice.—
Being thus given what a woman most desires (that is, her will) she is released from the spell and becomes beautiful at all times: and Sir Gawain leads his lady in triumph among the knights, to present her to the King and Queen.
[188] blee = hue, complexion.
[189] stowre = strong or perhaps we should read ‘stiff in stowre’ = sturdy in fight.
[190] Tarn Wadling = The place—near Hesketh in Cumberland, on the road from Carlisle to Penrith—keeps its name to this day. But the tarn has been drained and its site is now a pasture for sheep.
[191] hollen = holly-tree.
[192] halch upon = salute.
[193] sckill = wit, judgement.
[194] swire = neck.
[195] feires = mates.
[199] kevels = lots.
[200] twinn’d = robbed, deprived.
[201] cleed = clothe.
[202] sabelline = sable.
[203] twine = twine-cloth, shroud.
[204] twin’d = robbed, deprived.
[205] my warldis make = my one mate in the world.
[206] soummin’ = swimming.
[207] by lane = alone, of itself.
[208] trysts = assignations.
[209] ear = early.
[210] broom-cow = branch of broom.
[211] wittering = information, token.
[212] coft = bought.
[213] howm = holm, river-mead.
[224] jimp = slim, slender.
[225] wall = well.
[226] weel-faur’d may = well-favoured maiden.
[227] leugh = laughed.
[228] win on = continue.
[229] gare = gore, strip.
[230] row = roll, wrap.
[231] war’ = worse.
[232] deid = death.
[233] fleed = flood.
[234] dowie = dolefully.
[235] birl’d = poured.
[236] gare = gore, in the skirt.
[237] cleiding = clothing.
[238] daws = dawns.
[239] rigg = ridge.
[240] sackless = innocent.
[241] linn = stream, pool.
[242] wyte = blame.
[243] May = Maid.
[244] hollins = holly.
[245] nourrice = nurse.
[246] silkie = seal.
[247] aught = own.
[248] his lane = alone, without assistance.
[249] carline = old woman.
[250] fashes = troubles.
[251] syke = marsh.
[252] sheugh = trench.
[253] channerin’ = fretting.
[254] fleet = floor. Other readings are ‘sleet’ and ‘salt’.
[255] laverocks = larks.
[256] weed = clothes.
[257] cloutie = full of clouts, patched.
[258] stown = stolen.
[259] loot = let.
[260] tae = toe.
[261] spier = ask.
[262] reet = root.
[263] hallow seat = holy man’s or hermit’s cave.
[264] stown = stolen.
[265] stratlins =? stragglings.
[266] yate = gate.
[267] ben = further in.
[268] blint = blinded.
[269] boun = go.
[270] wear’d her in = led her into.
[271] chapp’d = knocked.
[272] gin = trick, or sleight, of the door-latch.
[273] wake (obscure).
[274] wane = dwelling, arbor.
[275] glo’ = glove.
[276] our lane = we alone.
[277] warldis meed = world’s reward, most precious thing in the world: or perhaps corrupted from warldis make, mate.
[278] aik = oak.
[279] tide = time, season.
[280] lee-lang = live-long.
[281] yett = gate.
[282] all-by-dene = all together.
[283] glent = gleam.
[286] wood = crazy, wild with delight.
[287] blin = stint, cease.
[288] lither = rascally, vile.
[289] tirl’d = rattled.
[290] yode = went.
[291] renisht = perhaps for ‘revisht’, dressed, arrayed.
[292] weeds = garments.
[293] rearing = leaning.
[294] nickèd = refused.
[295] pall = fine cloth.
[296] kempès = fighting-men.
[297] blanne = halted.
[298] My reade shall ryse = my counsel shall arise, or spring, from thee.
[299] yate = gate.
[300] lither = naughty.
[301] neigh = come nigh, approach.
[302] till = entice.
[303] fitt = strain of music.
[304] swith = swiftly.
[305] stour = press of fighting.
[309] jimp = slim.
[310] kame = comb.
[311] haw bayberry =? a corruption for ‘braw ivory’: or bayberry may = laurel-wood.
[312] cramoisie = crimson.
[313] reiver = robber.
[314] jawing = surging.
[315] dow = can.
[316] deid = death.
[317] gore = skirt, waist.
[318] borrow = ransom.
[319] but = out.
[320] ben = in.
[321] rottons = rats.
[322] royal bone = ivory.
[323] Or than = Or else.
[325] marys = maids.
[326] bierly = stately.
[327] stown = stolen.
[328] kye = kine, cattle.
[329] tirlèd = rattled.
[330] won = win, get.
[331] dreed = suffered.
[332] fountain-stone = font.
[333] yeard-fast = fast in earth.
[334] Dries = endures.
[335] pine = pain.
[336] skilly = wise, knowledgeable.
[337] monand = moaning.
[338] row = wrap.
[339] kell = hair-net, i. e. give her as many greetings as there are meshes in a net.
[340] leeve = lovely.
[341] silver-gris = a fur of silver-grey.
[342] yode = walked.
[343] blan = stopped, stayed.
[344] kepp’d = caught.
[345] ezar =? for ‘mazer,’ maple.
[346] weed = clothing.
[347] lease = leash, thong.
[348] ly’ed = lived.
[349] tak’ = take, catch.
[352] wee know = little hillock.
[362] unbethought = bethought.
[363] ding = smite.
[364] sikt = sighed.
[365] againe = in return.
[366] deemèd = doomed.
[367] thye = thrive.
[368] palle = fine cloth.
[369] ginne = gin, contrivance, here a door-latch.
[370] quicke = alive.
[371] hart-roote = heart-root, dear one.
[372] woode = mad.
[373] shope = shaped, made.
[374] tocherless = without a dowry.
[375] lee = calm, pleasant.
[376] rede = counsel.
[377] straik = stroke, as one might smooth over the top of a bushel of corn to make it bare measure.
[378] fur’ = furrow.
[379] owsen = oxen.
[380] yae = each.
[381] tett = tuft.
[382] tift = puff, whiff.
[383] bedone = adorned.
[384] deas = daïs, pew.
[385] cleiding = clothing.
[386] wame = womb.
[387] wood-wroth = mad with rage.
[388] bigly = commodious, habitable.
[389] makes = means.
[390] bruik = brook enjoy.
[391] mane = moan.
[392] abune their bree = above their brows.
[393] hight = was called.
[394] Roun = roan, red.
[395] knave-bairn = man-child.
[396] pine = pain.
[397] dreed = endured.
[398] wons = dwells.
[399] fell = kill.
[400] bale = harm.
[401] douce = quiet.
[402] wicht = sturdy.
[403] virr = vigour.
[404] her till = to her.
[405] houkit = dug.
[406] auld = eldest, first-born.
[407] shool’d = shovelled.
[408] mools = mould.
[409] twyned = taken away, bereaved.
[410] roudès = hag-like.
[411] draught = picture.
[412] may = maid.
[413] fett = fetch.
[414] breaden = braided.
[415] billaments = habiliments.
[416] couth = word.
[417] marys = maidens.
[418] shot-window here = bow-window.
[419] the streen = yestreen.
[420] bigly = commodious.
[421] make = mate, lover.
[422] sheave = slice.
[425] warsle = wrestle.
[426] rive = tear.
[427] gare = gore.
[428] aiblins = perhaps.
[429] cleiding = clothing.
[430] row = wrap.
[431] speers = asks.
[432] hooly = slowly, softly.
[433] dule ye dree = grief you suffer.
[438] make = mate.
[439] never a dele = never a bit.
[440] than = then.
[441] in fere = in company, together.
[442] rede I can = counsel I know.
[443] distrain = distress.
[444] part with = share with.
[445] tho = those.
[446] hele = health.
[447] yede = went.
[448] on the splene = in haste.
[455] aught = owed.
[456] forlorn = lost to you.
[457] baed = abode, tarried.
[458] chap = knock.
[459] biggins = buildings.
[460] gleed = glowing fire, embers.
[464] skeely = skilful.
[465] lift = sky.
[466] lap = sprang.
[467] wap = wrap.
[468] flatter’d = tossed afloat.
[469] kames = combs.
[470] hend = courteous.
[471] cordinant = of Cordovan leather.
[472] kelter = of undyed wool.
[473] bewrail = rail at.
[474] wroken = revenged.
[475] hauld = place of shelter.
[476] town = stead.
[477] buskit = attired.
[478] dree = suffer.
[479] wud = mad.
[480] grund-wa’ = ground-wall.
[481] jimp = slender, trim.
[482] row = wrap.
[483] Busk and boun = trim up and prepare to go.
[484] freits = ill omen.
[485] lowe = flame.
[486] wighty = sturdy, active.
[487] wroken = avenged.
[488] limmer = wretch, jade.
[489] shot-window = a window opening on a hinge.
[490] gare = a seam of the skirt.
[491] bore = hole, crevice.
[492] greeting = wailing, crying.
[493] dowie = heavy, sorrowful.
[494] cham’er = chamber.
[495] lamer = amber.
[496] ava’ = of all.
[497] ba’ = ball, football.
[498] doen = betaken.
[499] play-feres = playfellows.
[500] row’d = wrapped.
[501] downa = cannot, have not the force to.
[502] well-faur’d = well favoured.
[503] yetts = gates.
[504] causey = causeway, pavement.
[505] blin = stint, check.
[506] sheave = slice.
[507] in fere = together.
[508] God’s pennye = earnest or luck-penny.
[509] lair = lying-in.
[510] gate = way.
[511] lake-wake = lyke-wake, corpse-watching.
[512] scope = bandage, gag.
[513] wyte = blame, cause of trouble.
[516] scale = drive away, get rid of.
[517] row’d = wrapped.
[518] greet = wail, cry.
[519] hooly = gently.
[520] bigg’d = built.
[521] hollin = holly.
[522] bree = brow.
[523] courtrie = courtiers.
[524] rede = advise.
[525] frith = wood.
[526] whidderand = whizzing.
[527] Soudron = Southron, English.
[528] rad = afraid.
[529] graith = harness.
[530] siccan = such.
[531] Forfaulted = forfeited.
[532] brent = straight, smooth.
[533] biggit = built.
[534] bandit = bound.
[535] aiken = oaken.
[536] cramasie = crimson.
[537] auld = eldest.
[538] lichtlie = slight, treat with disrespect.
[539] weel-far’d = well-favoured.
[540] lave = rest.
[541] fere = mate.
[542] spier’d = asked.
[543] haik ye up = hold you in suspense.
[544] settle ye by = keep you waiting aside.
[545] kinnen = rabbits.
[546] nicker = neigh.
[547] gilt = gold.
[548] dow = are able to.
[549] ganging = going.
[550] happers = mill-hoppers.
[551] skaith’d = hurt, wronged.
[552] targats = round ornaments.
[553] blink sae brawlie = glance so bravely.
[554] brie = brow.
[555] malison = curse.
[556] dowie = dismal, gloomy.
[557] fley’d = frightened.
[558] sowm = swim.
[559] queet = ankle.
[560] plea = quarrel.
[561] sets = befits.
[562] linn = stream.
[563] dang = overcome.
[564] lykewake = corpse-watching.
[565] streikit = stretched out.
[566] thraw = twist, writhe.
[567] gravat = cravat, collar.
[568] drie = endure.
[569] scug = screen, expiate.
[570] gate = way.
[571] wadded = wagered.
[572] drumly = turbid.
[573] stey = steep.
[574] water-kelpy = water-sprite.
[575] dapperpy = diapered.
[576] frush = brittle.
[577] saugh = willow.
[578] heght = promised.
[579] twin’d = deprived.
[580] marrow = mate.
[581] clifting = cleft.
[585] laigh = low.
[586] greeting = crying, lamenting.
[587] Reaving = tearing.
[588] bigg = build.
[589] toom = empty.
[590] Scere-thorsday = Thursday before Easter.
[591] ure loverd = our lord.
[592] bugge = buy.
[593] platen = plates, i. e. coins, pieces.
[594] rugge = ridge, back.
[595] tunesmen = townsmen.
[596] Imette = being met.
[597] swikele = treacherous.
[598] wrthè = worthy.
[599] me stende, &c. = men stoned thee.
[600] leve = dear.
[601] wreke = avenged.
[602] wode = mad.
[603] brede = become (mad).
[604] weed = clothing.
[605] Risit, leadit, stonit = imperatives.
[617] tabard = short coat.
[618] flagat = flask.
[619] taid = tied.
[620] braid = time.
[621] yode = went.
[622] hode = hood.
[623] ferly = marvellous.
[624] hat = am hight, called.
[625] horn = prow.
[626] In fere = in company.
[627] endris = last.
[628] ying = young.
[629] slone = slay.
[630] lay = law.
[631] By dene = at once, or all together.
[636] carpyng = talking, tale.
[637] hende = gracious, courteous.
[638] He = they.
[639] ageyn evyn = towards evening.
[640] He comyn ayon = came over against them, in their path.
[641] on = one.
[642] flo = arrow.
[643] a to = in two.
[644] i-flawe = flayed.
[645] schrewde = sharp.
[646] He clepyn = whom they call.
[647] Trusyd = trussed, bound up.
[648] thrumme = end of a warp.
[649] gyst = gettest.
[650] Mysaunter = misadventure.
[651] Ho = who.
[652] yeve = give.
[653] sanchothis = fork.
[654] bryk = breeches.
[655] yovyn me on = given me one.
[656] certyl = kirtle.
[657] yelpe = brag.
[660] Clym of the Clough = Clement of the Cliff.
[661] Englyshe-wood = Inglewood, near Carlisle.
[662] lith = hearken.
[663] fere = mate.
[664] pryme = six in the morning.
[665] found = provided for.
[666] fayne = rejoiced.
[667] wode = wild, savage.
[668] prece = press, crowd.
[669] dampned = condemned.
[670] teene = sorrow.
[671] borowe = ransom, redeem.
[672] thronge = hastened.
[673] lordane = dolt.
[674] wode = mad.
[675] wende = weened, thought.
[676] round = i. e. not frayed.
[677] stound = time.
[678] swerers = swearers, jurymen.
[679] voyded = gave room, ran off.
[680] out-horne = a horn blown to call citizens to help the law.
[681] stowre = press of fight.
[682] braide = sudden spring.
[683] letteth = hindereth.
[684] lynde = linden.
[685] meynye = company.
[686] trysty tre = trysting tree.
[687] launde = forest-park.
[688] of greece = of grease, fat.
[689] lease = lying.
[690] tow = two.
[691] wightmen = stout fellows.
[692] presyd prestly = pressed quickly.
[693] shent = ruined.
[694] lettyng = delay.
[695] belyfe = straightway.
[696] pay = satisfaction.
[697] lefe = dear.
[698] forthynketh = repenteth.
[699] fosters of the fe = foresters of the lordship.
[700] buttes = targets.
[701] buske them = busked, made them ready.
[702] blyve = belyfe supra, straightway.
[703] prycke = mark.
[704] bearyng arowe = a long arrow, tapered to carry far.
[705] out-met = measured out.
[706] rydère = ranger.
How Robin Hood befriended a poor Knight, Sir Richard at the Lee
How the Knight paid his Creditors against their will
How Little John robbed the Sheriff of Nottingham and delivered him into Robin Hood’s hands
How Robin Hood was repaid his Loan
How at Archery in Nottingham Robin Hood was treacherously attacked, but escaped into Sir Richard’s Castle
How Sir Richard was cast by the Sheriff into Prison, and rescued by Robin Hood
How the King rode out to punish Robin Hood, and how he was entertained
How Robin Hood lived a while at the King’s Court, but returned to the Green-wood
[707] Meiny = retinue.
[708] Lithe = hearken.
[709] Barnèsdale = a forest region between Pontefract and Doncaster.
[710] groom = man.
[711] lest = lust, desire.
[712] uncouth = unknown, strange.
[713] were = might be.
[714] alder = of all.
[715] doubt = fear.
[716] reave = plunder.
[717] force = matter, account.
[718] husband = husbandman.
[719] shaw = grove.
[720] lere = learn.
[721] far days = late in the day.
[722] the Sayles = a small farm near Pontefract.
[723] Watling Street = the great North road.
[724] Upchance = perchance.
[725] dight = prepared.
[726] dernè = hidden, retired.
[727] street = road.
[728] semblaunt = aspect.
[729] And set him, &c. = and knelt down.
[730] Hendè = gracious.
[731] fere = company.
[732] Blyth = near E. Retford.
[733] careful cheer = sad countenance.
[734] leer = cheek.
[735] numbles = inwards, tripe.
[736] brere = briar.
[737] dear-worth = precious.
[738] let = desist.
[739] have part of thee = side with thee, aid thee.
[740] counsel = secret.
[741] of force = by force.
[742] of yeomanry = from the yeoman class.
[743] a sorry husband = a wretched manager.
[744] okerer = usurer.
[745] lecher = an unchaste man.
[746] disgrate = fallen in fortune.
[747] kenn’d = knew.
[748] lorn = lost.
[749] set to wed = put to pledge, mortgaged.
[750] told = counted.
[751] fall of = become of.
[752] busk = make ready to go.
[753] raw = row.
[754] borrows = sureties.
[755] Do way thy japès = away with thy jests.
[756] to = for.
[757] shope = created.
[758] But if = unless.
[759] lap = wrap.
[760] mete = meted, measured.
[761] met = measured.
[762] palfrey = a saddle-horse.
[763] teen = trouble.
[764] knave = servant.
[765] come = came.
[766] But = unless.
[767] fee = property.
[768] ilkè = same.
[769] shand = shame.
[770] in my beard = contradicting, or thwarting me.
[771] deemèd = judged.
[772] wonder sore = monstrous severely.
[773] Until = unto.
[774] corsèd = bodied.
[775] salued = saluted.
[776] shrewd = cursed.
[777] But = if not.
[778] fend = defend.
[779] fone = foes.
[780] gree = satisfaction.
[781] But I have = unless I have.
[782] canst = knowest.
[783] put myself ... in press = adventured myself.
[784] release = quittance.
[785] ellès = else.
[786] Take = give.
[787] Ne had not been = had it not been for.
[788] With peacock ... y-dight = fitted with peacock feathers.
[789] lancegay = a javelin-lance.
[790] his mail = his bag or trunk.
[791] roden = they rode.
[792] y-pight = placed, fixed.
[793] far and frembd bestad = in the plight of one from far and a stranger.
[794] shende = shame.
[795] wete = know.
[796] shete = shoot.
[797] fet = fetched.
[798] wight = strong, brave.
[799] woning wane = usual dwelling-place.
[800] I-wis = assuredly.
[801] meed = reward.
[802] lewtè = loyalty.
[803] yede = went.
[804] livery = allowance of food.
[805] Sith = since.
[806] hind = knave, servant.
[807] lent = gave.
[808] mountenance = extent, space.
[809] fette = fetched.
[810] masars = maple-bowls.
[811] cou’d = knew.
[812] bedene = in company, together.
[813] tyndès = tines, antlers.
[814] sloo = slay.
[815] courtepy = a short coat or cloak.
[816] lap = wrap.
[817] smerte = smart.
[818] anchor = hermit.
[819] frere = friar.
[820] to-morne = to-morrow.
[821] brand = sword.
[822] await = plan, plot.
[823] scathe = harm.
[824] hip = the fruit of the wild rose.
[825] trest = trusty.
[826] that mirthès can = that can crack a joke.
[827] tray and teen = grief and trouble.
[828] a Black Monk = a Benedictine.
[829] wed = wager.
[830] seker and sad = sure and steady.
[831] somers = pack-horses.
[832] But = unless.
[833] press = crowd.
[834] hend = hands.
[835] thrift = thriving, luck.
[836] bolt = a blunt arrow.
[837] Rathely = quickly.
[838] set ... to-fore = hit upon.
[839] gan gon = did go.
[840] lief = glad.
[841] Maugre in his teeth = in spite of him.
[842] no force = no matter.
[843] ray = striped cloth.
[844] avowè = founder, patron.
[845] So ... mote I the = so may I prosper.
[846] eftsoons = soon.
[847] borrowhood = surety.
[848] Dame = Mother.
[849] mark = 13s. 4d.
[850] myster = need.
[851] cast = throw, as in dice.
[852] hend = gracious.
[853] moot = meeting, assembly.
[854] seek = search.
[855] mail = wallet, bag.
[856] forcèr = coffer, strong-box.
[857] sith = then.
[858] For better cheap = more cheaply.
[859] brook = enjoy, use.
[860] overtold = counted over.
[861] alder-best = best of all.
[862] law = low.
[863] fynly = goodly.
[864] wete = know.
[865] tackles = arrows.
[866] worth thee = be to thee.
[867] behotè = didst promise.
[868] wed = pledge, security.
[869] blive = quickly.
[870] bushment = ambush.
[871] meeds = wages.
[872] dead = certain, sure.
[873] rawe = row.
[874] win = go, attain.
[875] behote = promise.
[876] wonest = dwellest.
[877] up to rout = to assemble in a band, to call to arms.
[878] dight = done, performed.
[879] leasing = lying.
[880] yede = went.
[881] whole = healed.
[882] wood = furious, mad.
[883] bidene = together.
[884] took = gave.
[885] ren = run.
[886] pass = limits, extent.
[887] There = where.
[888] unneth = scarcely.
[889] fay = faith.
[890] That ye will = to whom you wish.
[891] halk = nook, hiding-place.
[892] forstèr = forester.
[893] lede = following, retinue.
[894] leadès-man = guide.
[895] convent = company of monks.
[896] mail-horse = baggage-horse.
[897] lind = linden, lime tree.
[898] stide = stead, place.
[899] lording = gentleman.
[900] Halfen-deal = half.
[901] targe = disk (seal).
[902] dightànd = making preparations.
[903] pine = pain, passion.
[904] hennès = hence.
[905] lend = dwell.
[906] shent = put to shame, hurt.
[907] yards = rods.
[908] tine = forfeit.
[909] falls = is proper.
[910] frere = friar.
[911] But me like = unless I like.
[912] pluck-buffet = ‘app. a competition between archers, in which he who missed or failed “caught” a buffet from his competitor’ (N.E.D.).
[913] lere = learn.
[914] hippèd = hopped, limped.
[915] laid down = spent money.
[916] By then = by the time that.
[917] therefro = turned from it.
[918] woolward = in a rough woollen shirt (as penance).
[919] hight = promised.
[920] Me list = it pleases me.
[921] throw = interval of time.
[922] Again = back.
[923] banis = bane, destruction.
[924] craftily = skilfully.
[925] springe = trap.
[926] shaws = woods.
[927] sheene = bright.
[928] shradds = coppices(?).
[929] woodweele = woodlark, thrush(?).
[930] sweaven = dream.
[931] wight = sturdy.
[932] wroken = revenged.
[933] Buske = dress.
[934] bowne = get ready.
[935] capull-hyde = horse-hide.
[936] farley = wondrous strange.
[937] gates = ways, paths.
[938] slade = hollow.
[939] fettl’d = prepared.
[940] boote = help.
[941] wilfull = astray.
[942] tyde = time of day.
[943] masteryes = trials of skill.
[944] unsett steven = time not appointed.
[945] shroggs = shrubs.
[946] threescore rood in twinne = sixty rods apart.
[947] prickes = marks.
[948] lyne = linden.
[949] reachles on = reckless, careless of.
[950] may = maid.
[951] aukward = back-handed.
[952] capull-hyde = horse-hide.
[953] lowe = hillock.
[954] steven = voice.
[955] belive = straightway.
[956] shawes = woods.
[957] sheyne = bright, beautiful.
[958] wyght yemèn = sturdy yeomen.
[959] slon = slay.
[960] shete a peny = shoot for a penny.
[961] lyne = linden.
[962] holde = wager.
[963] buske = bush.
[964] ferly = wondrous, strange.
[965] lyed = gave the lie to.
[966] ilkone = each one.
[967] layn = concealment.
[968] yatis = gates.
[969] sparred = barred.
[970] Buske = get ready.
[971] bowne = bound, ready.
[972] long of = along of, i. e. thy fault.
[973] radly = quickly.
[974] yare = ready.
[975] throly thrast = pressed stubbornly.
[976] gode wone = good number, plenty.
[977] But if = unless.
[978] wone = dwelt.
[979] rule = ‘taking on,’ lamenting.
[980] dughty = doughty.
[981] mone = moan.
[982] gyde = be the guide, take charge of.
[983] tristil-tre = trysting-tree, rendezvous.
[984] smale = small.
[985] on fere = in company.
[986] emys hows = uncle’s house.
[987] at a stage = on an upper floor.
[988] tithyngus = tidings.
[989] hende = civil.
[990] spyrred = spiered, inquired.
[991] golett = gullet, throat.
[992] of him agast = alarmed about him.
[993] hye = haste.
[994] bale = harm.
[995] ferd = fear.
[996] mot I the = I thrive.
[997] after = behind on.
[998] dere = injury.
[999] next = nighest.
[1000] yede = went.
[1001] ychon = each one.
[1002] sawten = assault.
[1003] did of his hode = took off his hat.
[1004] her = their.
[1005] comyn bell = town bell.
[1006] warison = reward.
[1007] stye = path, alley.
[1008] kepe I be = care I to be.
[1009] yete = ate.
[1010] grith = charter of peace.
[1013] lin = stop.
[1014] ballup = front, or flap.
[1015] list = inclination, desire for it.
[1016] slack = hollow, dell.
[1017] elephant = a weed of the scabious order.
[1018] brook = enjoy, or earn the name of Simon, as a fisherman.
[1019] forlorne = lost.
[1020] rede = advise.
[1021] in that ilk = in that same (moment), then and there.
[1022] ’leeve = believe.
[1023] buskèd = dressed.
[1024] bowne = ready.
[1025] stounde = time.
[1026] leeve = dear, pleasant.
[1027] hansell = foretaste.
[1028] Anguish = Angus.
[1029] Hambleton = Hamilton.
[1030] breeme = fierce.
[1031] buske = addressed.
[1032] bowne = ready.
[1033] thoe = those.
[1034] ancyents = ensigns.
[1035] may = maiden.
[1036] husbands = husbandmen.
[1037] Styrande = stirring, rousing.
[1038] brent = burned.
[1039] hale = whole.
[1040] berne = fighting-man.
[1041] bent = coarse grass.
[1042] rede = counsel.
[1043] tone = one of two.
[1044] rekeles = reckless, wild.
[1045] fend = provide for.
[1046] till = to.
[1047] pay = satisfaction.
[1048] pyght = pitched.
[1049] hoved = abode.
[1050] bent = grass.
[1051] pavilion = tent.
[1052] wynne = joy.
[1053] faynèd = feigned.
[1054] gar me to dine = give me my fill, entertain me (at fighting).
[1055] lease = leasing, falsehood.
[1056] eme = uncle.
[1057] vaward = vanguard.
[1058] cante = spirited.
[1059] bowne = ready.
[1060] that I have hyght = what I have promised.
[1061] schoote = thrust, sent quickly.
[1062] ryal in rowghte = royal in rout, a king amongst men.
[1063] layne = conceal.
[1064] them again = against them.
[1065] growende = ground.
[1066] rynde = riven, or flayed.
[1067] mickle may = mighty maid.
[1068] waryson = reward.
[1069] lucettes = luces, pikes (heraldic).
[1070] swapp’d = smote.
[1071] swet = sweated.
[1072] Collayne = Cologne steel.
[1073] bassonets = steel skull-caps.
[1074] roke = reek, mist.
[1075] bette = beat.
[1076] stounde = time.
[1077] stowre = press of battle.
[1078] brere = briar.
[1079] gryselye = in a grisly manner, terribly.
[1080] makes = mates.
[1081] fette = fetched.
[1082] maugre = despite.
[1083] let = hinder.
[1084] meinye = company.
[1085] bicker’d = attacked, skirmished.
[1086] bent = rough grass.
[1087] wild = game, deer.
[1088] shear = several.
[1089] grevès = groves.
[1090] glent = glanced, darted.
[1091] mort = death of the deer.
[1092] quarry = dead game.
[1093] brittling = cutting up.
[1094] boun’s = boundaries.
[1095] gleed = live coal.
[1096] bairn = fighting man.
[1097] on a party = apart.
[1098] fytte = division of a ballad.
[1099] wouche = evil.
[1100] tree = timber.
[1101] doughty = doughty man.
[1102] basnets = steel caps.
[1103] manoplie = long gauntlet.
[1104] stern = stern men, warriors.
[1105] freyke = bold fellow.
[1106] swapt = smote.
[1107] swat = sweated.
[1108] sprent = spurted.
[1109] hight = promise.
[1110] wane = host, multitude.
[1111] dight = done, doomed.
[1112] stint = stayed.
[1113] blint = stopped.
[1114] dint = stroke, lunge.
[1115] halèd = pulled.
[1116] stoure = press of battle.
[1117] dree = endure.
[1118] lee = fair, bright.
[1119] hendè = courteous, gentle.
[1120] makes = mates.
[1121] carp = talk.
[1122] weal = clench.
[1123] brook = retain.
[1124] Glendale = one of the six ‘wards’ of Northumberland. Homildon was here.
[1125] spurn = fray(?).
[1126] reane = gutter.
[1127] balès = woes.
[1128] bete = better, relieve.
[1129] into my bill = on paper, in writing.
[1130] weme = inward.
[1131] wayte = wait in ambush.
[1132] tree and teene = injury and grief.
[1133] osterne = austere.
[1134] of third degree = third cousins.
[1135] out-rake = holiday.
[1136] wight = strong.
[1137] three pence bread = the breadth of a threepenny piece.
[1138] archèborde = hatch-board.
[1139] dearlye dight = expensively fitted or ornamented.
[1140] guide = guidon, signal flag.
[1141] hall = hull.
[1142] glass = a lantern to guide the man-of-war’s course by the merchantman’s.
[1143] ancients = ensigns.
[1144] stirr’d = moved, lowered.
[1145] can = ken, know.
[1146] Weate = wit ye, know.
[1147] geare = business, fighting.
[1148] sway = go, turn out.
[1149] swarm’d = climbed.
[1150] bearing arrow = a long arrow for distant shooting.
[1151] spole = shoulder, épaule.
[1152] jacke = jacket, short coat of mail.
[1153] shifted his room = made place.
[1154] swads = peascods, a cant term for soldiers.
[1155] sheen = shoes.
[1159] buss = bush, clump.
[1160] lap = leapt.
[1161] brittled = ‘broken’, cut up venison.
[1162] scroggs = stunted, or scraggy, trees.
[1163] twine = thread, texture.
[1164] well-wight = sturdy, here brave.
[1165] bree = brow.
[1166] belive = nimbly, at once.
[1167] Liddel-rack = a ford on the Liddel.
[1168] lawing = reckoning.
[1169] curch = kerchief, coif.
[1170] lightly = treat disrespectfully.
[1171] low = flame.
[1172] splent = split, or overlapping armour.
[1173] spauld = shoulder, épaule.
[1174] Bateable Land = debateable land; a stretch of frontier between the Solway Firth and Scots Dyke, claimed by both nations.
[1175] lear = lore.
[1176] row-footed = rough-footed.
[1177] stear = stir, commotion.
[1178] forehammers = sledge-hammers.
[1179] fley’d = scared.
[1180] spier = inquire.
[1181] mail = rent.
[1182] wood = mad.
[1183] furs = furrows.
[1184] trew = trust.
[1185] corn-caugers = corn hucksters.
[1186] branks = wooden halter.
[1187] brecham = straw collar.
[1188] laigh = low.
[1189] pa = paw.
[1190] mese = soothe.
[1191] billie = comrade.
[1192] tolbooth = gaol.
[1193] fie = fey, doomed.
[1194] seld = sold.
[1195] graith’d = clad in armour.
[1196] fringed = long-haired at fetlocks.
[1197] feiries = feres, comrades.
[1198] feid = feud.
[1199] pick = pitch.
[1200] houp = ‘hope,’ a hollow between two hills.
[1201] slough-hounds = sleuth-hounds.
[1202] eie = awe.
[1203] clock = lame one, hobbler.
[1204] forfoughen = out-wearied.
[1205] syke = ditch.
[1206] billy = brother, comrade.
[1207] well-wight = stout, sturdy.
[1208] For leugh, etc. = He boasted to be of lower Liddesdale. εὔχετο εἶναι.
[1209] caukers = calkins.
[1210] unkensome = unknown.
[1211] beet = abet, aid.
[1212] mystery = craft.
[1213] leeze me on = commend me to.
[1214] port = gate.
[1215] tolbooth = gaol.
[1216] skeigh = shy.
[1217] weil = eddy.
[1218] lave = rest.
[1219] e’en = even, count as equal.
[1220] shame a ma = devil a bit.
[1221] laigh = low.
[1222] peel = stronghold, keep.
[1223] rowing = rolling.
[1224] gryming = sprinkling.
[1225] fraye = fright, alarm.
[1226] ca’s = calves.
[1227] minnie = mother.
[1228] warn the water = raise the cry along the waterside.
[1229] outspeckle = laughing-stock.
[1230] layne = lie, falsen.
[1231] ware, &c. = spend, use my mother’s calf-skin whip.
[1232] toom = empty.
[1233] till ’t = to it.
[1234] knapscap = headpiece.
[1235] grat = wept.
[1236] lyart = grizzled.
[1237] lourd = liefer, rather.
[1238] wudspurs = hotspur, or madspur.
[1239] ryding = raiding.
[1240] lither = here an adverb, vilely.
[1241] aiblins = perchance.
[1242] know = knop of the hill.
[1243] Hairibee = the place of execution at Carlisle.
[1244] breek thie = thigh-pocket of his breeches.
[1245] dree = last, endure.
[1246] plain = complain.
[1247] batts = beating.
[1248] grit = great i. e. his heart swelled so.
[1249] dought to = could.
[1250] mends = amends.
[1251] tied wi’ St Mary’s knot = hamstrung.
[1252] jack = short coat of mail.
[1253] laigh = low.
[1254] blan = checked, stopped.
[1255] plummet = pommel.
[1256] lap a loup = leapt a leap.
[1257] thole = suffer, be capable of.
[1258] laigh = low.
[1259] carpit = sang, recited.
[1260] nicker and sneer = whinny and snort.
[1261] wad my hail fee = bet my whole wages.
[1262] fiend dought they do = the deuce could they do.
[1263] trapan’d = tampered with.
[1264] fey = doomed, having my fate on me.
[1265] wire-window = grated window.
[1266] twin = part.
[1267] Sophia Hay = wife of Lord John [Gordon], burned in this fire. She had jilted the young lord of Tolquhon to marry him, which explains the allusion in the last stanza.
[1268] stot = steer.
[1269] mort = death of the deer.
[1270] graith’d = harnessed, in armour.
[1271] fankit = entangled.
[1272] airt = direction.
[1275] dawin’ = dawn.
[1276] curn = pack.
[1277] widdifu’s = gallows-birds, fit to fill a ‘widdie’ or halter.
[1278] graith = harness, arms.
[1279] riving = tearing.
[1280] yate = gate.
[1281] lawin’ = reckoning.
[1282] marrow = married mate.
[1283] dowie = doleful.
[1284] houms = water-meads.
[1285] ousen = oxen.
[1286] my father’s deid = the death of my father.
[1287] twined = parted.
[1288] bangisters = lawless folk.
[1289] poin’d = made forfeit.
[1290] jow = beat, toll.
[1291] leal = true.
[1292] jimp = slender.
[1293] weed = clothing.
[1294] camovine = camomile.
[1295] cute = ankle.
[1296] brawn = calf.
[1297] blaewort = corn bluebottle.
[1300] puggish = tramp’s.
[1303] flyte = scold.
[1304] cloth in grain = scarlet cloth.
[1305] sigh clout = a rag for straining.
[1306] threap = argue.
[1307] safeguard = riding-skirt.
[1308] biggit = built.
[1309] theekit = thatched.
[1310] haugh = water-mead.
[1311] biek = bask.
The numbers are ballad numbers, not page numbers.
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