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 King Henry rode to take the air; O! ye are welcome, rich Merchants, They swore by the rood, they were sailors good, King Henry frowned, and turned him round, I thought he had not been in the world Durst have wrought England such unright. The merchants sighed, and said, Alas! The King looked over his left shoulder, Yea, that dare I with heart and hand; 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. Or before my Prince I will never appear. To guide the Great Ship on the sea. The first man that Lord Howard chose To bring home a traitor, 'live or dead, Of a hundred gunners to be at the head. If you, my Lord, have chosen me, Of a hundred gunners to be the head, Horseley, said he, I must with speed 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, 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? But over well I know that wight;— 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, Of our gracious King to beg a boon. That shall not need, Lord Howard says, For every penny ta'en thee fro, It shall be doubled shillings three.— He is brass within, and steel without, He carries on each side along- Were ye twenty ships, and he but one, If once his beams they do down fall. To welcome a stranger thus to sea; Then a noble gunner you must have, Or else he never o'ercome will be. 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 H |