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SIR ANDREW BARTON.

In the year 1511, the father of this Knight having suffered at sea from the Portuguese, obtained letters of marque from James V., for his two sons, to make reprisals on the ships of that nation; and under cover of this, they are said to have committed depredations on the English subjects; it is not improbable that it was by connivance of the Scottish Court. The Earl of Surrey was at that time president at the council-board, where he was constantly annoyed by complaints from the English merchants, of Sir Andrew Barton's piracies. On these complaints being coldly received by Henry VIII., who was averse to a rupture with Scotland, the Earl, with generous warmth, offered to equip two ships at his own expense, and that these should be commanded by his sons, Sir Thomas and Sir Edward Howard. This offer was accepted, and two ships were immediately fitted out and put to sea, under letters of marque, which, after meeting with much foul weather, encountered the two ships of Sir Andrew Barton, when Sir Thomas attacked the Lion, commanded by Sir Andrew himself, and Sir Edward attacked the other ship, the " Union," or otherwise, "The Bark of Scotland." After a desperate conflict, and the death of Sir Andrew, the two ships were captured, and, with their crews, carried into the Thames. The indignation excited in King's James's mind by this exploit, is said to have been a material incitement to that expedition which ended in the fatal battle of Flodden.

Dr. Percy considers this ballad, in its present state, to have been written in the time of Elizabeth; and, admitting that it contains some few deviations from the truth of history, he notices that it comprehends some lesser facts, omitted in the Chronicles, which he conceives to be real circumstances, more especially as one of them, which appears most unlikely, is confirmed by testimony; viz. there being, before this capture, only one ship of war in the royal navy of England.

WHEN Flora with her fragrant flowers
Bedecked the earth so trim and gay,
And Neptune with his dainty showers
Came to present the month of May,

King Henry rode to take the air;
Over the river of Thames past he, *
When eighty merchants of London came,
And down they knelt upon their knee.

O! ye are welcome, rich Merchants,
Good Sailors, welcome unto me.

They swore by the rood, they were sailors good,
But rich merchants they could not be :
To France nor Flanders dare we pass,
Nor Bourdeaux voyage dare we fare,
And all for a rover that lies on the seas,
Who robs us of our merchants' ware.

King Henry frowned, and turned him round,
And swore by the Lord that was mickle of might,

I thought he had not been in the world

Durst have wrought England such unright.

The merchants sighed, and said, Alas!
And thus they did their answer frame :
He is a proud Scot, that robs on the seas,
And Sir Andrew Barton is his name,

The King looked over his left shoulder,
And an angry look then looked he:
Have I never a Lord in all my realm
Will fetch yon traitor unto me?
Yea, that dare I, Lord Howard says,—

Yea, that dare I with heart and hand;
If it please your Grace to give me leave,

Myself will be the only man.

* Mr. Ritson has published a version of this ballad, rather different, and at the same tine inferior in consequence of his using a common printed copy, whereas Dr. Percy improved his, by comparing it with a MS. In this place, the former copy says

"Unto a mountain top, also,

Did walk some pleasure for to see." Probably intended to mean the hill, in Greenwich Park.

Thou art but young, the King replied,

Yon Scot hath numbered many a year.
Trust me, my liege, I'll make him quail,

Or before my Prince I will never appear.
Then bowmen and gunners thou shalt have,
And choose them over my realm so free,
Besides good mariners and ship-boys,

To guide the Great Ship on the sea.

The first man that Lord Howard chose
Was the ablest gunner in all the realm,
Though he was threescore years and ten,
Good Peter Simon was his name.
Peter, says he, I must to the sea,

To bring home a traitor, 'live or dead,
Before all others I have chosen thee,

Of a hundred gunners to be at the head.

If you, my Lord, have chosen me,

Of a hundred gunners to be the head,
Then hang me up on your main-mast tree,
If I miss my mark one shilling braid. *
My Lord then chose a bowman rare,
Whose active hands had gain'd him fame;
In Yorkshire was this gentleman born,
And William Horseley was his name.

Horseley, said he, I must with speed
Go seek a traitor on the sea;
And now, of a hundred bowmen brave
To be the head I have chosen thee.

If you, quoth he, have chosen me,

Of a hundred bowmen to be the head,

On your main-mast I'll hanged be,

If I miss twelvescore + one penny braid.

*Or brede, breadth.

+ At the distance of twelve score paces.

With pikes and guns, and bowmen bold,
The noble Howard is gone to sea,
With a valiant heart and a pleasant cheer,
Out at Thames' mouth sailed he.
And days he scant had sailed three,
Upon the voyage he took in hand,
But there he met with a noble ship,

And stoutly made it stay and stand.

Thou must tell me, Lord Howard said,

Now who thou art, and what's thy name,

And show me where thy dwelling is,

And whither bound, and whence thou came. My name is Henry Hunt, quoth he,

With a heavy heart and a careful mind; I and my ship do both belong

To the Newcastle, that stands upon Tyne.

Hast thou not heard, now, Henry Hunt,

As thou hast sailed by day and by night, Of a Scottish rover on the seas,

Men call him Sir Andrew Barton, knight?
Then ever he sighed, and said, Alas!
With grieved mind and well away,-

But over well I know that wight;—
I was his prisoner yesterday.

As I was sailing upon the sea,

A Bourdeaux voyage for to fare,

To his hatch-board he clasped me,

And robbed me of all my merchant-ware.

And mickle debts, God wot! I owe,
And every man will have his own,
And I am now to London bound,

Of our gracious King to beg a boon.

That shall not need, Lord Howard says,
Let me but once that robber see:

For every penny ta'en thee fro,

It shall be doubled shillings three.—
Now God forefend, the merchant said,
That you should seek so far amiss;
God keep you out of that traitor's hands,
Full little ye wot what a man he is!

He is brass within, and steel without,
With beams in his top-castle strong,
And eighteen pieces of ordinance

He carries on each side along-
And he hath a pinnace deerly dight,
St. Andrew's cross, that is his guide,
His pinnace beareth ninescore men,
And fifteen cannons on each side.

Were ye twenty ships, and he but one,
I swear by kirk and bower and hall,
He would overcome them every one,

If once his beams they do down fall.
This is cold comfort, said my lord,

To welcome a stranger thus to sea;
Yet I'll bring him and his ship to shore,
Or to Scotland he shall carry me!

Then a noble gunner you must have,
And he must aim well with his ee,
And sink his pinnace into the sea,

Or else he never o'ercome will be.
And, if you chance his ship to board,
This counsel I must give withal,

Let no man to his top-castle go,

To strive to let his beams down fall.*

Dr. Percy thinks that the mode of defence here alluded to, was the relic of an ancient invention of the Romans, called Dolphins, which were heavy weights of lead or iron, or, in the present instance, beams, suspended

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