Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Volume 3Reginald Brimley Johnson Dent, 1894 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
arms Baron Barum beneath bird blood bold bower breast bride bright Ceridwen cheek Christabel CHRISTINA ROSSETTI Cockpen cried cross'd dead dream Earl eyes face fair fast father fear fell flew frae friar galloped gentle Geraldine Gilpin Gismond Gwenwynwyn hand hast hath head HEADPIECE heard heart Hell and Heaven Imogine John Barleycorn king knight lady lady's Little brother look look'd lord loud maid maidens Mary Mother Maude Clare Meggan merry Michael's gate mist moon Nautilus Nelly Gray never o'er pale pray quoth Ravelston ride Roland Roland de Vaux rose round sail Sally Brown sang shines ship sing Sir Leoline Sister Helen skipper smile song sorrow soul spake St Keyne steed stone stood sweet T. L. PEACOCK tears tell thee thou turn'd Twas voice weary wedding-guest ween wind young
Popular passages
Page 98 - Alas ! they had been friends in youth ; But whispering tongues can poison truth ; And constancy lives in realms above; And life is thorny; and youth is vain; And to be wroth with one we love Doth work like madness in the brain.
Page 7 - Good people all of every sort, Give ear unto my song, And if you find it wondrous short, It cannot hold you long. In Islington there was a man, Of whom the world might say, That still a godly race he ran, Whene'er he went to pray. A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes ! The naked every day he clad, When he put on his clothes. And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree.
Page 117 - Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-mare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold. The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice ; " The game is done ! I've won ! I've won ! " Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
Page 14 - He soon replied, I do admire Of womankind but one, And you are she my dearest dear, Therefore it shall be done, I am a linen-draper bold, As all the world doth know, And my good friend the calender Will lend his horse to go.
Page 114 - Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot; O Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea! About, about, in reel and rout, The death-fires danced at night: The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue, and white.
Page 127 - First Voice. But why drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind ? Second Voice. The air is cut away before, And closes from behind ! Fly, brother, fly ! more high, more high, Or we shall be belated ; For slow and slow that ship will go, When the Mariner's trance is abated.
Page 122 - The upper air burst into life, And a hundred fire-flags sheen To and fro they were hurried about ; And to and fro, and in and out The wan stars danced between. And the coming wind did roar more loud ; And the sails did sigh like sedge : And the rain poured down from one black cloud The moon was at its edge.
Page 21 - Until he came unto the Wash Of Edmonton so gay; And there he threw the Wash about On both sides of the way, Just like unto a trundling mop, Or a wild goose at play. At Edmonton his loving wife From the balcony spied Her tender husband, wondering much To see how he did ride. ' Stop, stop, John Gilpin ! — Here's the house I ' They all at once did cry; ' The dinner waits, and we are tired ; ' — Said Gilpin—' So am I ! ' But yet his horse was not a whit Inclined to tarry there ! For why?
Page 111 - Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken— The ice was all between. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!
Page 115 - How glazed each weary eye! When, looking westward, I beheld A something in the sky. At first it seemed a little speck, And then it seemed a mist, It moved and moved, and took at last A certain shape, I wist — A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!