And I defy thee, do thy worst.'

Ha, ha, (quoth Tarquin tho)

One of us two shall end our lives,

Before that we do

go.

If thou be Lancelot du Lake,
Then welcome shalt thou be ;
Wherefore see thou thyself defend,
For now I dèfy thee.'

They hurled then together fast,

Like two wild boars so rashing
And with swords and shields they ran
At one another slashing:

The ground besprinkled was with blood, Tarquin began to faint;

For he had back'd, and bore his shield So low, he did repent.

Which soon espied Lancelot tho ;
He leap'd upon him then,

He pull❜d him down upon his knee,
And rushed off his helm;

And then [he] struck his neck in two : And, when he had done so,

From prison threescore knights and four Lancelot deliver'd tho.

BALLAD XIX.

SIR GUY OF WARWICK.*

WAS ever knight, for lady's sake,
So toss'd in love, as I, Sir Guy ;
For Phillis fair, that lady bright

As ever man beheld with eye?
She gave me leave myself to try,

The valiant knight with shield and spear,
Ere that her love she would grant me ;
Which made me venture far and near.

The proud Sir Guy, a baron bold,

In deeds of arms the doughty knight,
That every day in England was,

With sword and spear in field to fight ;
An English man I was by birth,

In faith of Christ a Christian true;
The wicked laws of infidels

I sought by power to subdue.

Two hundred twenty years and odd,
After our Saviour Christ his birth,
When king Athelstan wore the crown,
I lived here upon the earth:

* The full title is, 'A pleasant song of the valiant deeds of chivalry atchieved by that noble knight, Sir Guy of Warwick; 'who for the love of Fair Phillis became a hermet, and died in a 6 cave of a craggy rock a mile distant from Warwick.-Tune, Was 6 ever Man, &c.'

Sometime I was of Warwick earl,
And, as I said, on very truth,
A lady's love did me constrain

To seek strange ventures in my youth:

To try my fame by feats of arms,
In strange and sundry heathen lands;
Where I atchieved, for her sake,

Right dangerous conquests with my hands. For first I sail'd to Normandy,

And there I stoutly won in fight, The emperor's daughter of Almain, From many a valiant worthy knight.

Then passed I the seas of Greece,
To help the emperor to his right,
Against the mighty soldan's host
Of puissant Persians for to fight:
Where I did slay of Saracens,

And heathen pagans, many a man;
And slew the soldan's cousin dear,
Who had to name, doughty Colbròn.

Ezkeldered, that famous knight,
To death likewise I did pursue ;
And Almain, king of Tyre, also,
Most terrible too in fight to view :
I went into the soldan's host,

Being thither on ambassage sent,
And brought away his head with me,
I having slain him in his tent.

There was a dragon in the land,
Which I also myself did slay,
As he a lion did pursue,

Most fiercely met me by the way.
From thence I pass'd the seas of Greece,
And came to Pavy land aright;
Where I the duke of Pavy kill'd,
His heinous treason to requite.

And after came into this land,
Towards fair Phillis, lady bright;
For love of whom I travel'd far,
To try my manhood and my might.
But when I had espoused her,

I stay'd with her but forty days,
But there I left this lady fair,

And then I went beyond the seas.

All clad in gray, in pilgrim sort,
My voyage from her I did take,
Unto that blessed holy land,

For Jesus Christ my Saviour's sake: Where I earl Jonas did redeem,

And all his sons, which were fifteen,

Who with the cruel Saracen,

In prison for long time had been.

I slew the giant Amarant,

In battle fiercely hand to hand :· And doughty Barknard killed I,

The mighty duke of that same land.

Then I to England came again,

And here with Colbron fell I fought, An ugly giant, which the Danes

Had for their champion hither brought.

I overcame him in the field,

And slew him dead, right valiantly; Where I the land did then redeem

From Danish tribute utterly:

And afterwards I offered up

The use of weapons solemnly, At Winchester, whereas I fought, In sight of many far and nigh.

In Windsor-forest I did slay

A boar of passing might and strength; The like in England never was,

For hugeness, both in breadth and length. Some of his bones in Warwick, yet, Within the castle there, do lie; One of his shield-bones, to this day, Hangs in the city of Coventry.

On Dunsmore-heath I also slew

A monstrous, wild, and cruel beast,
Call'd the dun-cow of Dunsmore-heath;
Which many people had oppress'd :
Some of her bones in Warwick, yet,
Still for a monument doth lie ;
Which, unto every looker's view,

As wond'rous strange, they may espy.