Then leaving strife, Earl Percy took, The dead man by the hand; 'O Christ! my very heart doth bleed] Sir Patrick Spens.* The king sits in Dunfermline town, O up and spake an eldern knight, When that the lords o' Noroway 'Ye Scottishmen spend a' our king's goud, And a' our queenis fee.' "Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud! Fu' loud I hear ye lie; For I ha'e brought as much white monie As gane my men and me, And I ha'e brought a half-fou (2) of gude red goud, Out o'er the sea wi' me. 'Make ready, make ready, my merry men a'! Our gude ship sails the morn.' 'Now, ever alake, my master dear, I fear a deadly storm! 'I saw the new moon, late yestreen, Wi' the auld moon in her arm; And, if we gan to sea, master, I fear we'll come to harm.' They hadua sailed a league, a league, When the lift grew dark, and the wind blew loud, And gurly grew the sea. The ankers brak, and the top-masts lap, It was sic a deadly storm; And the waves cam o'er the broken ship, Till a' her sides were torn. 'O where will I get a gude sailor, Till I get up to the tall top-mast, 'O here am I, a sailor gude, * Supposed to refer to the incident thus related by Fordun: 'In the year 1281, Margaret, daughter of Alexander III. was married to the King of Norway; who leaving Scotland on the last day of July, was conveyed thither in noble style, in company with many knights and nobles. In returning home after the celebration of her nuptials. the Abbot of Balmerinoch, Bernard of Monte-Alto, and many other persons were drowned.' 1 Next, 2 Bushel. To take the helm in hand, He hadna gane a step, a step, A step but barely ane, When a boult flew out of our goodly ship, And the salt sea it came in. 'Gae fetch a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And wap them into our ship's side, And let nae the sea come in.' They fetched a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, But still the sea came in. O laith, laith were our gude Scots lords And mony was the feather-bed The ladyes wrang their fingers white, O lang, lang may the lades sit, And lang, lang may the maidens sit, Half owre, half owre to Aberdour, The long and interesting ballad of the Nut-brown Maid' was first printed in Arnold's Chronicle about 1502, then reprinted in The Muses' Mercury, 177, and afterwards formed the groundwork of Prior's Henry and Emma.' The object of the old anthor was to prove that the faith of woman is stronger than worldly men believe. I say not nay, but that all day That woman's faith is, as who sayeth, But, nevertheless, right good witness In this case might be laid, That they love true and continue, Which from her love, when her to prove He came to make his moan. Would not depart; for in her heart In order to try her affection, the lover said he was sentenced to die a shameful death, and had to withdraw as an outlaw to the greenwood. SHE. O, Lord, what is this world's bliss, I hear you say, Farewell: Nay, nay, Why say ye so? whither will ye go? HE. I can believe, it shall you grieve, Shall soon aslake; and ye shall take Why should ye ought, for to make thought? Your labour were in vain. For I must to the greenwood go, The Maid still maintains her constancy, on which the lover says he has ' purveyed' him of a maid whom he loves better than her, but even this does not shake her faith, and then the noble youth discloses himself to his faithful mistress. By tradition, assigned to James V. (1512-42), and supposed to describe one of his own roving adventures. The gaberlunzie was a travelling beggar, pedler, or tinker. The English reader acquainted with the works of Burns will have no difficulty with the Scottish words in this humorous descriptive ballad. The pawky auld carl came o'er the lea, Will ye lodge a silly poor man ?' 'O wow! quo' he, 'were I as free He grew canty, and she grew fain; When wooing they were sae thrang. 'And O!' quo' he, and ye were as black And awa wi' thee I'd gang.' 'And O!' quo' she, and I were as white And fast to the bent are they gane. To speir for the silly poor man. She gaed to the bed where the beggar lay; Since nathing's awa, as we can learn, The servant gued where the dochter lay; 'She's aff wi' the Gaberlunzie-man!' 'O fie gar ride, and fie gar rin, Meantime, far hind out owre the lea, Cut frae a new cheese a whang. The prieving was good, it pleased them baith; 'Oken'd my minny I were wi' you, After the Gaberlunzie-man.' 'My dear,' quod he, 'ye're yet owre young, And carry the Gaberlunzie on. 'Wi' kauk and keel I'll win your bread, To carry the Gaberlunzie on. PROSE LITERATURE. SIR JOHN FORTESCUE. The first prose writer of eminence after Mandeville and Wycliffe was SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, Chief-justice of the King's Bench under Henry VI. and a constant adherent of the fortunes of that monarch. He flourished between the years 1430 and 1480. Besides several Latin tracts, Chief justice Fort scue wrote one in the English language, entitled 'The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy as it more particularly regards the English Constitution,' in which he draws a striking, though perhaps exaggerated contrast between the condition of the French under an arbitrary monarch, and that of his own countrymen, who even then possessed considerable privileges as subjects. The French he describes as borne down by public burdens. They drink water, they eat apples, with bread, right brown, made of rye. They eat no flesh, but if it be seldom a little lard, or of the entrails or heads of beasts slain for the nobles and merchants of the land. They wear no woollen, but if it be a poor coat under their uttermost garment, made of great canvas, and passen not their knee; wherefore they be gartered and their thighs bare. Their wives and children gone barefoot.' And this, he exclaims, is the fruit of the French king's jus regale! Sir John is said to have died in 1485, · aged 90. English Courage. Original spelling.-It is cowardise and lack of hartes and corage that kepith the Frenchmen from rysyng, and not povertye; which corage no Frenche man hath like to the English mar. It hath ben often seen in Englond that iij or iv thefes, for povertie, hath sett upon vij or viij true men, and robbyd them al. But it hath not ben seen in Fraunce that vij or viij thefes have ben hardy to robbe iij or iv true men. It is cowardice and lack of hearts and courage that keepeth the Frenchmen from rising, and not poverty; which courage no Frenchman hath like to the Englishman. It hath been often seen in England that three or four thieves, for poverty, hath set upon seven or eight true men, and robbed them all. But it hath not been seen in France that seven or eight thieves have been hardy to rob three or four true men. Wherefore it is right seld that Frenchmen be hanged for robbery, for that they have |