When the middle watch was on, There she swings an empty hulk, But the best of friends must part, And don't forget your old shipmate, etc. NOTES P. 1. The Battle of Sluys. From Joseph Hall's edition of the Poems of Lawrence Minot, p. 14. The following explanations of references and words are from Mr. Hall's notes :- Line 1. Lithes=listen. Stanza 1.-Suth=true; sad serious; salue=greet; bute (bote) remedy, benefit. Stanza 2.-Sir Hugh Kyret Hugues Quiéret, Seigneur de Tours en Vimieu; leve-believe; lare teaching; brin (bren) = burn; unkind=unnatural; sowed=smarted; lered=taught. Stanza 3-Buriase=burgesses; sone soon; mekill=much, great; grame=hurt. Stanza 4.-Sergantes sergeants, soldiers; snell quick. Stanza 5.-Dight=ready; kene bold; byfor-before; Blankebergh Blanckenberghe, in West Flanders; sary=wretched; waniand waning (moon). Stanza 6.-Sir Robard, &c. =Sir Robert Morley, Marshal of Ireland; wonnen captured; oway gone, worthless. Stanza 7-Erle of Northamton = William de Bohun; wede armour; Sir Walter the Mawnay=Sir W. Manny; bede= offer. Stanza 8.-The duc of Lankaster Henry of Derby; drive= rush, dash on; mody courageous, proud; stint=stopped; strive a conflict; fone=few. Stanza 9.-Eth-easy; raw line, order of battle; fer=far; bud = behoved. Stanza 10.-Earl of Glowcester Hugh de Audley; glade= gladden; biker=fight; baldely bravely; brim=sea, flood; at=to. Stanza 11.-Prest-ready. Stanza 12.-John of Aile=Jan van Eyle or Heylle; scheltron squadron; schene-bright; Cagent=Cadzant, in Zeeland; cantly cagerly; tene=sorrow. Stanza 13-Swith quickly; skrith-escape; kouth=knew ; kith show. Stanza 14. Kogges=cogs, or cocks, ships of burden; stound time, short time. Stanza 15.-Wall-choice; flude (flode)=sea; confort= cheer. Stanza 16.-Gert=caused; blin=cease. P. 3. Les Espagnols sur Mer. From Joseph Hall's edition of the Poems of Lawrence Minot, p. 33. Stanza 1.-Spede=cause to prosper; wight=stout; dale= earth, grave; fele=many; fare=brag. Stanza 2.-Taburns tabours, small drums; weremen= warriors; holl=hull. Stanza 3-Hurdis-bulwark; on here on high; neghed= approached; snaper=stumble; ferr=farther; fine=come to an end, die; tyne=lose; reved=carried off. Stanza 4.-Boy with thi blac berd-Barbenoire or BoccaNegra, pirate of Genoa; rede advise; blin=cease; were on= fight against; domp=plunge; lout-bow low to. P. 4. The Pilgrims' Sea Voyage. From a MS. in the library of Trinity College, Cambridge. Edited by J. F. Furnivall for the Early English Text Society in 1867; also printed in Halliwell's Early Naval Ballads, p. 1. Date of MS. temp. Henry VI. A translation is given by Clowes, The Royal Navy, i. 344. On p. 5, line 15, 'lyle' is a misprint for 'lyke.' Stanza 1-Gramys troubles. Stanza 2.-Hissa hoist away: French 'hissez'; crake=talk. Stanza 3.-Taylia=haul aft the sheet. Stanza 4.-No nere=steer no nearer the wind. The note of interrogation is clearly wrong. Stanza 5.-Trussa=haul on the truss; probably the French 'troussez.' Wartake French 'uretacque' (Jal); defined by Falconer as 'the preventer fore tack.' Cf. Inventories of Henry VII., p. 71. Stanza 6.-Pery=a squall; Thou canst no whery=thou understandest not a ship. P. 6. Sir Andrew Barton. Text in Hales and Furnivall, Bishop Percy's Folio MS., iii. 399, and in Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, iii. 334. There is also a later broadside version which is printed in A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, i. 159, and in Roxburghe Ballads, i. 10. Percy's Reliques contains a composite version. Bishop Percy's MS. is said to belong to the reign of Charles I., but the version of this ballad it contains probably belongs to an earlier period. It apparently attributes to Charles, Lord Howard of Effingham, who died in 1624, the exploit of his kinsman, Sir Edward Howard, who died in 1513, a kind of confusion which is not uncommon in ballads handed down by tradition. Contemporary narratives give no account of Sir Edward 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 Roncière in his Histoire de la Marine Française, 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, And to-morrowe, I sweare, by nine of the clocke 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 Song. From the Comedy of Common Conditions, circa 1570. Printed by J. P. Collier, English Dramatic Poetry, ed. 1879, ii. 293; also in Stone's Sea Songs and Ballads, p. 4. P. 18. The Obtaining of the Great Galleazzo. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 384. Also printed in Arber's Tudor Tracts, p. 485, and in J. P. Collier's Broadside Black-Letter Ballads, 1868, p. 79, which gives some variants. By Thomas Deloney. P. 21. The Winning of Cales. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 402. Printed also in Hales and Furnivall, Bishop Percy's Folio MS., iii. 453, which gives some variants. Written by Thomas Deloney, and probably first appeared in his Garland of Good Will, about 1596, soon after the capture of Cadiz. P. 23. The Sailor's Onely Delight. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 408. A version with variants is given by Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v. 133. In Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen, the jailor's daughter sings a fragment of an earlier version : The George Alow came from the South From the coast of Barbary-a; And there he met with brave gallants of war Well hail'd, well hail'd, you jolly gallants, And whither now are you bound-a? O let me have your company Till [I] come unto the Sound-a. The second part of the ballad was licensed in 1611: the first part is not entered, but the tune is that of a ballad registered in March 161 (Arber, Stationers' Register, iii. 206, b.). The ballad may refer to an historical event. 'In 1596 letters of reprisal were granted to Diggory Piper in the Sweepstakes of London . . . He was authorised to attack Spanish and Portuguese ships; he commenced with some Flemings, continued with two French traders, and finished with a Dane having goods worth 3,000l. on board.' (Oppenheim, The Administration of the Royal Navy, p. 180). P. 25. The Seaman's Song of Captain Ward. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 784. Date of first publication July 3, 1609 (Arber, Stationers' Register, iii. 185, b.). P. 27. The Song of Danseker. 423. Same date as the preceding. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. P. 30. Captain Ward and the Rainbow. Roxburghe Ballads, vi. 426. The earliest printed editions of this ballad belong to the latter half of the seventeenth century. It was reprinted as a broadside by J. Pitts in the early part of the nineteenth century. See Logan, A Pedlar's Pack, p. 7. The ballad is possibly a legendary version of Rainborow's expedition |