At length the hard earth began to quake,

The dragon gave him a knock,

130

Which made him to reel, and straitway he thought,

To lift him as high as a rock,

And thence let him fall. But More of More-hall,

Like a valiant son of Mars,

As he came like a lout, so he turn'd him about, 135 And hit him a kick on the a...

Oh, quoth the dragon, with a deep sigh,
And turn'd six times together,
Sobbing and tearing, cursing and swearing

Out of his throat of leather;

More of More-hall! O thou rascal!

Would I had seen thee never;

140

With the thing at thy foot, thou hast prick'd my a..gut,

And I'm quite undone for ever.

Murder, murder, the dragon cry'd,

Alack, alack, for grief;

Had you but mist that place, you could

Have done me no mischief.

145

Then his head he shaked, trembled and quaked,

And down he laid and cry'd;

First on one knee, then on back tumbled he,

So groan'd, kickt, s..., and dy'd.

150

**A description of the supposed scene of the foregoing Ballad, which was communicated to the Editor in 1767, is here given in the words of the relater:

"In Yorkshire, 6 miles from Rotherham, is a vil << lage, called WORTLEY, the seat of the late WORTLEY "MONTAGUE, Esq. About a mile from this village is a

Lodge, named WARNCLIFF LODGE, but vulgarly cal"led WANTLEY: here lies the scene of the Song. I "was there above forty years ago: and it being a woody "rocky place, my friend made me clamber over rocks and "stones, not telling me to what end, till I came to a "sort of a cave; then asked my opinion of the place, "and pointing to one end, says, Here lay the Dragon "killed by MoOR of MOOR-HALL: here lay his head; "here lay his tail; and the stones we came over on the "hill, are those he could not crack; and yon white "house you see half a mile off, is MOOR-HALL. I had ❝ dined at the lodge, and knew the man's name was "MATTHEW, who was a keeper to Mr. Wortley, and, "as he endeavoured to persuade me, was the same "Matthew mentioned in the Song: in the house is the picture of the Dragon and Moor of Moor-hall, and "near it a Well, which, says he, is the Well described " in the Ballad."

+++ Since the former Editions of this humorous old Song were printed, the following KEY TO THE SATIRE hath been communicated by GODFREY BOSVILLE, Esq. of Thorp, near Malton, in Yorkshire; who, in the most obliging manner, gave full permission to subjoin it to

the Poem.

WARNCLIFFE Lodge, and WARNCLIFFE Wood (vulgarly pronounced WANTLEY), are in the parish of Penniston, in Yorkshire. The rectory of Penniston was part of the dissolved monastery of St. Stephen's, Westminster; and was granted to the Duke of Norfolk's family: who therewith endowed an hospital, which he built at Sheffield, for women. The trustees let the impropriation of the great tithes of Penniston to the Wortley family, who got a great deal by it, and wanted to get still more: for Mr. Nicholas Wortley attempted to take the

tithes in kind, but Mr. Francis Bosville opposed him, and there was a decree in favour of the modus in 37th Eliz. The vicarage of Penniston did not go along with the rectory, but with the copyhold rents, and was part of a large purchase made by Ralph Bosville, Esq. from Queen Elizabeth, in the 2d year of her reign: and that part he sold in 12th Eliz. to his elder brother Godfrey, the father of Francis; who left it, with the rest of his estate, to his wife, for her life, and then to Ralph, 3d son of his uncle Ralph. The widow married Lyonel Rowlestone, lived eighteen years, and survived Ralph. This premised, the Ballad apparently relates to the lawsuit carried on concerning this claim of Tithes made by the Wortley family. "Houses and Churches were

to him Geese and Turkeys": which are titheable things, the Dragon chose to live on. Sir Francis Wortley, the son of Nicholas, attempted again to take the Tithes in kind: but the parishioners subscribed an agreement to defend their modus. And at the head of the agreement was Lyonel Rowlestone, who is supposed to be one of " the Stones, dear Jack, which the Dragon' "could not crack." The agreement is still preserved in a large sheet of parchment, dated 1st of James I. and is full of names and seals, which might be meant by the coat of armour, "with spikes all about, both within " and without." MORE of MORE-HALL was either the attorney, or counsellor, who conducted the suit. He is not distinctly remembered, but More-hall is still extant at the very bottom of Wantley [Warncliff] Wood, and lies so low, that it might be said to be in a well as the Dragon's den [Warncliff Lodge] was at the top of the wood, "with Matthew's house hard by it." The Keepers belonging to the Wortley family were named, for many generations, Matthew Northall: the last of them left this lodge, within memory, to be Keeper to the Duke of Norfolk. The present owner of More-hall still attends Mr. Bosville's Manor-Court at Ox-spring, and pays a Rose a year. "More of More-hall, with nothing

"at all, slew the Dragon of Wantley." He gave him, instead of tithes, so small a modus, that it was in effect nothing at all, and was slaying him with a vengeance. "The poor children three," &c. cannot surely mean the three sisters of Francis Bosville, who would have been coheiresses, had he made no will? The late Mr. Bosville had a contest with the descendants of two of them, the late Sir Geo. Saville's father, and Mr. Copley, about the presentation to Penniston, they supposing Francis had not the power to give this part of the estate from the heirs at law; but it was decided against them. The Dragon (Sir Francis Wortley) succeeded better with his cousin Wordesworth, the freehold lord of the manor (for it is the copyhold manor that belongs to Mr. Bosville) having persuaded him not to join the refractory parishioners, under a promise that he would let him his tythes cheap and now the estates of Wortley and Wordesworth are the only lands that pay tithes in the parish.

N. B. The "two days and a night," mentioned in ver. 125, as the duration of the combat, was probably that of the trial at law.

XIV.

ST. GEORGE FOR ENGLAND.

THE FIRST PART.

As the former song is in ridicule of the extravagant incidents in old ballads and metrical romances; so this is a burlesque of their style; particularly of the rambling transitions and wild accumulation of unconnected parts, so frequent in many of them.

This ballad is given from an old black-letter copy in the Pepys collection, "imprinted at London, 1612." It is more ancient than many of the preceding; but we place it here for the sake of connecting it with the SECOND PART.

WH

HY doe you boast of Arthur and his knightes, Knowing 'well' how many men have endured fightes? For besides king Arthur, and Lancelot du lake, Or sir Tristram de Lionel, that fought for ladies sake; Read in old histories, and there you shall see How St. George, St. George the dragon made to flee. St. George he was for England; St. Dennis was for France; Sing, Honi soit qui mal y pense.

Mark our father Abraham, when first he resckued Lot Onely with his household, what conquest there he got: