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قراءة كتاب Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume III (of 3) Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected In the Southern Counties of Scotland; With a Few Of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition. In Three Volumes. Vol. III.
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Volume III (of 3) Consisting of Historical and Romantic Ballads, Collected In the Southern Counties of Scotland; With a Few Of Modern Date, Founded Upon Local Tradition. In Three Volumes. Vol. III.
says:
"What needs this courtesie?"
"Till a boon ye grant to me;
"To change your lass for this lad bairn,
"King Honour left me wi'.
"Right weel to breast a steed;
"And I sall learn your turtle dow[2]
"As weel to write and read.
"To wield baith bow and brand;
"And I sall learn your turtle dow
"To lay gowd[3] wi' her hand.
"We'll dare make nae avowe,
"But—'Dame, how does my gay goss hawk?'
"Madame, how does my dow?"
Wise William he thought lang;
And he has ta'en King Honour's son
A hunting for to gang.
Upon a simmer's day,
That they came by a fair castell,
Stood on a sunny brae.
"Wi' halls and towers sae fair?
"Gin ilka man had back his ain,
"Of it ye suld be heir."
"In sooth I canna see;
"For it belangs to Fause Foodrage,
"And he is na kin to me."
"You would do but what was right;
"For I wot he kill'd your father dear,
"Or ever ye saw the light.
"There is no man durst you blame;
"For he keeps your mother a prisoner,
"And she darna take ye hame."
Says—"What may a' this mean?"
"My boy, ye are King Honour's son,
"And your mother's our lawful queen."
"By Our Ladye I swear,
"This night I will that traitor slay,
"And relieve my mother dear!"
And leaped the castell wa';
And soon he has seized on Fause Foodrage,
Wha loud for help 'gan ca'.
"Frae me ye shanna flee."
Syne pierc'd him thro' the fause fause heart,
And set his mother free.
Wi' the best half of his land;
And sae has he the turtle dow,
Wi' the truth o' his right hand.
NOTES
ON
FAUSE FOODRAGE.
King Easter and King Wester were probably the petty princes of Northumberland and Westmoreland. In the Complaynt of Scotland, an ancient romance is mentioned, under the title, "How the king of Estmureland married the king's daughter of Westmureland," which may possibly be the original of the beautiful legend of King Estmere, in the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, Vol. I. p. 62 4th edit. From this it may be conjectured, with some degree of plausibility, that the independent kingdoms of the east and west coast were, at an early period, thus denominated, according to the Saxon mode of naming districts, from their relative positions; as Essex, Wessex, Sussex. But the geography of the metrical romances sets all system at defiance; and in some of these, as Clariodus and Meliades, Estmureland undoubtedly signifies the land of the Easterlings, or the Flemish provinces at which vessels arrived in three days from England, and to which they are represented as exporting wool.—Vide Notes on the Tale of Kempion. On this subject I have, since publication of the first edition, been favoured with the following remarks by Mr Ritson, in opposition to the opinion above expressed:—
"Estmureland and Westmureland have no sort of relation to Northumberland and Westmoreland. The former was never called Eastmoreland, nor were there ever any kings of Westmoreland; unless we admit the authority of an old rhyme, cited by Usher:—
"Slow the king Rothinger."
"There is, likewise, a 'king Estmere, of Spain,' in one of Percy's ballads.
"In the old metrical romance of Kyng Horn, or Horn Child, we find both Westnesse and Estnesse; and it is somewhat singular, that two places, so called, actually exist in Yorkshire at this day. But ness, in that quarter, is the name given to an inlet from a river. There is, however, great confusion in this poem, as Horn is called king sometimes of one country, and sometimes of the other. In the French original, Westir is said to have been the old name of Hirland, or Ireland; which, occasionally at least, is called Westnesse, in the translation, in which Britain is named Sudene; but here, again, it is inconsistent and confused.
"It is, at any rate, highly probable, that the story, cited in the Complaynt of Scotland, was a romance of King Horn, whether prose or verse; and, consequently, that Estmureland and Westmureland should there mean England and Ireland; though it is possible that no other instance can be found of those two names occurring with the same sense."