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NOTES |
34i |
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Howard's tactics, and the details given are probably the invention of the author of the ballad. The reference to ' beams' in stanzas 7 and 9 on p. 9 has been explained in many different ways. One explanation is that it refers to some primitive form of ram, such as that described by De la Ronciere in his Histoire de la Marine Pranfaise, i. 256. Another is, that the ' beams,' also termed in the MS. ' beanes' or ' beaves,' were heavy weights designed to be dropped on the enemy's ship. It seems more likely that some apparatus for grappling the enemy's ship was meant. ' He clasped me to his archborde' says the merchant in stanza 3 on p. 9. 'Archborde' is explained by Hales and Furnivall in a note to mean the side of a ship, and to be the same as ' hatch-bord.' Bishop Percy's Folio MS., iii. 407.
The two following stanzas from Percy's Reliques, i. 335, ed. 1893, will serve to fill the gap on p. 10 of the text:
' And seven pieces of ordinance,
I pray your honour lend to mee, On each side of my ship along,
And I will lead you on the sea. A glasse He sett, that may be seene,
Whether you sayle by day or night; And to-morrowe, I sweare, by nine of the clocke
You shall meet with Sir Andrew Barton, knight.'
The Second Part.
' The merchant sett my lorde a glasse
So well apparent in his sight, And on the morrowe, by nine of the clocke,
He shewed him Sir Andrewe Barton, knight. •His hachebord it was gilt with gold,
So deerlye dight it dazzled the ee : " Nowe by my faith," lord Howarde sais, This is a gallant sight to see.'
P. 16. John Dory. Text in Ritson, Ancient Songs and Ballads, ed. 1877, p. 198, and in Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 131. The ballad was first printed in 1609, but is mentioned in 1575. Tune in Chappell, Old English Popular Music, i. 93, ed. Wooldridge. It refers to no known historical event, but is perhaps a traditional account of some incident in the Hundred Years' War. Carew, in his Survey of Cornwall, refers to the ballad as ' an old three-man's song' about ' one Nicholas, son to a widow near Foy' (ed. 1602, p. 135).
P. 17. The Mariner's Song1. From the Comedy of Common Conditions, circa 1570. Printed by J. P. Collier, English |
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