Ballads of Robin Hood and other Outlaws Part 45

4.

O when she came by Henry Martyn; 'I prithee now, let us go!'

'O no, G.o.d wot! that, that will I not, O that will I never do.

5.

'Stand off, stand off!' said Henry Martyn, 'For you shall not pa.s.s by me; For I am a robber all on the salt seas, To maintain us brothers three.

6.

'How far, how far,' cries Henry Martyn, 'How far do you make it?' said he; 'For I am a robber all on the salt seas, To maintain us brothers three.'

7.

For three long hours they merrily fought, For hours they fought full three; At last a deep wound got Henry Martyn, And down by the mast fell he.

8.

'Twas broadside to a broadside then, And a rain and hail of blows, But the salt sea ran in, ran in, ran in, To the bottom then she goes.

9.

Bad news, bad news for old England, Bad news has come to the town, For a rich merchant's vessel is cast away, And all her brave seamen drown.

10.

Bad news, bad news through London Street, Bad news has come to the king, For all the brave lives of the mariners lost, That are sunk in the watery main.

JOHN DORY

+The Text+ is from Ravenscroft's _Deuteromelia_ (1609), the only text that has come down to us of a 'three-man's song' which achieved extraordinary popularity during' the seventeenth century.

+The Story.+--'Good King John of France' is presumed to be John II., who was taken prisoner at the battle of Poictiers and died in 1364. But the earliest literary reference to this ballad occurs in the play of _Gammar Gurton's Needle_, acted in 1566, where the song 'I cannot eat but little meat' is to be sung 'to the tune of John Dory.' From Carew's _Survey of Cornwall_ (1602) we learn a little more: 'Moreover, the prowess of one Nicholas, son to a widow near Foy [Fowey], is descanted upon in an old three-man's song, namely, how he fought bravely at sea with John Dory (a Genowey, as I conjecture), set forth by John, the French king, and, after much bloodshed on both sides, took, and slew him, in revenge of the great ravine and cruelty which he had fore committed upon the Englishmen's goods and bodies.'

JOHN DORY

1.

As it fell on a holy-day, And upon a holy-tide-a, John Dory bought him an ambling nag To Paris for to ride-a.

2.

And when John Dory to Paris was come, A little before the gate-a, John Dory was fitted, the porter was witted To let him in thereat-a.

3.

The first man that John Dory did meet Was good king John of France-a; John Dory could well of his courtesie, But fell down in a trance-a.

4.

'A pardon, a pardon, my liege and my king, For my merry men and for me-a, And all the churles in merry England, I'll bring them all bound to thee-a.'

5.

And Nicholl was then a Cornish man A little beside Bohide-a, And he manned forth a good black bark With fifty good oars on a side-a.

6.

'Run up, my boy, unto the main-top, And look what thou canst spy-a.'

'Who ho, who ho! a goodly s.h.i.+p I do see; I trow it be John Dory-a.'

7.

They hoist their sails, both top and top, The mizzen and all was tried-a, And every man stood to his lot, What ever should betide-a.

8.

The roaring cannons then were plied, And dub-a-dub went the drum-a; The braying trumpets loud they cried To courage both all and some-a.

9.

The grappling-hooks were brought at length, The brown bill and the sword-a; John Dory at length, for all his strength, Was clapped fast under board-a.

CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW

+The Text+ is from a broadside in the Bagford collection (i. 65); other broadsides, very similar, are to be found in the Pepys, Roxburghe, and other collections. The ballad has often been reprinted; and more than one oral version has been recovered--much corrupted in transmission.

+The Story+ is apocryphal, as has been shown by research undertaken since Child annotated the ballad; so also are other broadsides, _The Seamen's Song of Captain Ward_ and _The Seamen's Song of Dansekar_, which deal with Ward. He was a Kentish fisherman, born at Feversham about 1555, who turned pirate after a short service aboard the _Lion's Whelp_ man-of-war. The _Rainbow_ was the name of a s.h.i.+p then in the navy, often mentioned in reports from 1587 onwards; but Professor Sir J. K. Laughton has pointed out that she never fought with Ward. Possibly _Rainbow_ is a corruption of _Tramontana_, a small cruiser which _may_ have chased him once in the Irish Channel. The fullest account of Ward may be found in an article, unsigned, but written by Mr. John Masefield, in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for March, 1906, pp. 113-126.

CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW

1.

Strike up, you l.u.s.ty gallants, With music and sound of drum, For we have descried a rover Upon the sea is come; His name is Captain Ward, Right well it doth appear, There has not been such a rover Found out this thousand year:

2.

For he hath sent unto our King, The sixth of January, Desiring that he might come in With all his company.

'And if your King will let me come Till I my tale have told, I will bestow for my ransom, Full thirty ton of gold.'

3.

'O nay, O nay,' then said our King, 'O nay, this may not be, To yield to such a rover, Myself will not agree: He hath deceived the Frenchman, Likewise the King of Spain, And how can he be true to me, That hath been false to twain?'

4.

With that our King provided A s.h.i.+p of worthy fame, Rainbow is she called, If you would know her name: Now the gallant Rainbow She rows upon the sea, Five hundred gallant seamen To bear her company.

5.

The Dutchman and the Spaniard, She made them for to fly, Also the bonny Frenchman, As she met him on the sea.

When as this gallant Rainbow Did come where Ward did lie, 'Where is the captain of this s.h.i.+p?'

This gallant Rainbow did cry.

6.

'O, that am I,' says Captain Ward, 'There's no man bids me lie, And if thou art the King's fair s.h.i.+p, Thou art welcome to me.'

'I'll tell thee what,' says Rainbow, 'Our King is in great grief, That thou shouldst lie upon the sea, And play the arrant thief,