The present work is a selection from the Ballads and Songs of my native county, and I trust the publication may not be deemed an unacceptable offering. In a polished age like the present, I am sensible that many of the productions of our county bards will require great allowances to be made for them. Yet have they, for the most part, a pleasing simplicity, and artless grace, which, in the opinion of such writers as Addison, Dryden, Percy, and others, have been thought to compensate for the want of higher beauties; and, in the words of the latter, "If they do not dazzle the imagination, they are frequently found to interest the heart."

Wherever I have had an opportunity, I have collated my copies with the earliest editions, retaining in the notes, in many places, the different readings, the text in modern editions being materially changed and frequently deteriorated. I have omitted pieces from the pens of Scott, Wordsworth, Rogers, and other modern writers, whose works may be assumed to be in the reader's possession. Another class, the last dying confessions of criminals, &c., have been, with few exceptions, left out, as more appropriate for a separate volume. I trust, however, in what is retained will be found every variety:—

"From grave to gay, from lively to severe."

And should the reader receive one half the pleasure in perusing the contents, that has been afforded in collecting, I shall be perfectly satisfied.

In the notes prefixed to the Ballads and Songs, I have acknowledged my obligations to the friends who have so kindly assisted me, but cannot allow this opportunity to pass without again expressing my sincere thanks to Edward Hailstone, esq., F.S.A., Charles Jackson, esq., and others who have manifested so great an interest in the work.

North Allerton,

May, 1860.

THE BALLADS AND SONGS OF
YORKSHIRE.

Table of Contents

THE DIRGE OF OFFA.

Table of Contents

By the Rev. Mr. Ball.

This ballad is supposed to be written by Mordrid, chief of the bards, in the reign of Edwin, king of Northumberland, whose son Offa was slain in the battle of Hatfield Wood, near Doncaster, A.D. 633. It concludes with the words of the bard. Rapin says, on Hatfield Heath a bloody battle was fought between Ceadwalla, king of the Britons, and Penda, the Pagan king of Mercia, against Edwin, the first Christian king of Northumberland, in which Edwin and Offrido his eldest son were slain.

See my son, my Offa, dies!

He who could chase his father's foes!

Where shall the king now close his eyes?

Where but in the tomb of woes.

'Tis there thy stony couch is laid,

And there the wearied king may rest—

But will not Penda's threats invade

The

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PREFACE.

THE BALLADS AND SONGS OF YORKSHIRE.

THE DIRGE OF OFFA.

THE BALLADS AND SONGS OF
YORKSHIRE.