'Cowe-hides! cowe-hides! what things are those? I marvell what they bee?'

'What, art thou a foole?' the tanner reply'd; 'I carry one under mee.'

'What craftsman art thou?' said the king,

'I praye thee tell me trowe.' 'I am a barker,1 sir, by my trade; Nowe tell me what art thou?'

'I am a poore courtier, sir,' quoth he, "That am forth of service worne; And faine I wolde thy prentise bee, Thy cunninge for to learne.'

'Marrye, heaven forfend,' the tanner replyde,

That thou my prentise were:

65

70

Thou woldst spend more good than I shold winne 75 By fortye shilling a yere.'

'Yet one thinge wolde I,' sayd our king,

If thou wilt not seeme strange:
Thoughe my horse be better than thy mare,
Yet with thee I faine wold change.'

'Why if with me thou faine wilt change,
As change full well maye wee,

By the faith of my bodye, thou proude fellòwe,
I will have some boot of thee.'

'That were against reason,' sayd the king,

'I sweare, so mote I thee:

My horse is better than thy mare,
And that thou well mayst see.'

1i.e. a dealer in bark.

'Yea, sir, but Brocke is gentle and mild,
And softly she will fare:

Thy horse is unrulye and wild, I wiss;
Aye skipping here and theare.'

'What boote wilt thou have?' our king reply'd;

'Now tell me in this stound.'

'Noe pence, nor half pence, by my faye, But a noble in gold so round.'

Here's twentye groates of white moneyè,
Sith thou will have it of mee.'

'I would have sworne now,' quoth the tanner,
Thou hadst not had one penniè.

But since we two have made a change,

A change we must abide,

Although thou hast gotten Brocke my mare,

Thou gettest not my cowe-hide.'

'I will not have it,' sayd the kynge, I sweare, so mought I thee;

If thou woldst give it to mee.'

100

105

Thy foule cowe-hide I wolde not beare,

The tanner hee tooke his good cowe-hide,

That of the cow was hilt;

110

And threwe it upon the king's sadèlle,

That was soe fayrelye gilte.

'Now help me up, thou fine felldwe,

"Tis time that I were gone:

When I come home to Gyllian my wife,

115

Sheel say I am a gentilmon.'

The king he tooke him up by the legge;

The tanner a f** lett fall.

'Nowe marrye, good fellowe,' sayd the kyng, "Thy courtesye is but small.'

When the tanner he was in the kinges sadèlle,
And his foote in the stirrup was;

He marvelled greatlye in his minde,
Whether it were golde or brass.

120

But when his steede saw the cows taile wagge, 125
And eke the blacke cowe-horne;

He stamped, and stared, and awaye he ranne,
As the devill had him borne.

The tanner he pulld, the tanner he sweat,

And held by the pummil fast:

At length the tanner came tumbling downe;
His necke he had well-nye brast.

130

Take thy horse again with a vengeance,' he sayd, 'With mee he shall not byde.'

'My horse wolde have borne thee well enoughe, 135 But he knewe not of thy cowe-hide.

Yet if againe thou faine woldst change,
As change full well may wee,

By the faith of my bodye, thou jolly tannèr,
I will have some boote of thee.'

'What boote wilt thou have,' the tanner replyd,

'Nowe tell me in this stounde?'

'Noe pence nor halfpence, sir, by my faye,

But I will have twentye pound.'

140

'Here's twentye groates out of my purse;
And twentye I have of thine:

And I have one more, which we will spend
Together at the wine.'

The king set a bugle horne to his mouthe,

And blewe both loude and shrille:

And soone came lords, and soon came knights,
Fast ryding over the hille.

'Nowe, out alas!' the tanner he cryde,

That ever I sawe this daye!

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150

Thou art a strong thiefe, yon come thy fellowes 155 Will beare my cowe-hide away.'

'They are no thieves,' the kinge replyde,

'I sweare, soe mote I thee:

But they are the lords of the north countrèy,
Here come to hunt with mee.'

And soone before our king they came,
And knelt downe on the grounde:
Then might the tanner have been awaye,
He had lever than twentye pounde.

'A coller, a coller, here:' sayd the king,
A coller' he loud gan crye:

Then woulde he lever then twentye pound,
He had not been so nighe.

'A coller, a coller,' the tanner he sayd, 'I trowe it will breede sorrowe:

After a coller commeth a halter,

I trow I shall be hang'd to-morrowe.'

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165

170

‘Be not afraid, Tanner,' said our king;
'I tell thee, so mought I thee,
Lo here I make thee the best esquire
That is in the North countrie.1

For Plumpton-parke I will give thee,
With tenements faire beside:

"Tis worth three hundred markes by the yeare,
To maintaine thy good cowe-hide.'

'Gramercye, my liege,' the tanner replyde,
For the favour thou hast me showne;
If ever thou comest to merry Tamworth,
Neates leather shall clout thy shoen.'

**
*

175

180

XVI.

AS YE CAME FROM THE HOLY LAND.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PILGRIM AND TRAVELLER.

The scene of this song is the same as in Num. XIV. The pilgrimage to Walsingham suggested the plan of many popular pieces. In the Pepys collection, Vol. I. p. 226, is a kind of Interlude in the old ballad style, of which the first stanza alone is worth reprinting.

1

6

As I went to Walsingham,

To the shrine with speede,
Met I with a jolly palmer
In a pilgrimes weede.

6

This stanza is restored from a quotation of this Ballad in Selden's Titles of Honour,' who produces it as a good authority to prove, that one mode of creating Esquires at that time, was by the imposition of a Collar. His words are, Nor is that old pamphlet of the Tanner of Tamworth and King Edward the Fourth so contemptible, but that wee may thence note also an observable passage, wherein the use of making Esquires, by giving Collars, is expressed.' (Sub Tit. Esquire; & vide in Spelmanni Glossar. Armiger.) This form of creating Esquires actually exists at this day among the Serjeants at Arms, who are invested with a Collar (which they wear on Collar Days) by the King himself. This information I owe to Samuel Pegge, Esq. to whom the public is indebted for that curious work the Curialia,' 4to.