Thou, thou art not a Child of Time,

But Daughter of the Eternal Prime !"

The following is the full text of the first "note" to The White Doe in the quarto edition of 1815. The other notes to that edition are printed in this, at the foot of the pages where they occur :

"The Poem of the 'White Doe of Rylstone' is founded on a local tradition, and on the Ballad in Percy's Collection, entitled 'The Rising of the North.' The tradition is as follows:-'About this time,' not long after the Dissolution, 'a White Doe, say the aged people of the neighbourhood, long continued to make a weekly pilgrimage from Rylstone over the fells of Bolton, and was constantly found in the Abbey Churchyard during divine service; after the close of which she returned home as regularly as the rest of the congregation.'-DR WHITAKER'S History of the Deanery of Craven. Rylstone was the property and residence of the Nortons, distinguished in that ill-advised and unfortunate Insurrection, which led me to connect with this tradition the principal circumstances of their fate, as recorded in the Ballad which I have thought it proper to annex.

The Rising in the North.

"The subject of this ballad is the great Northern Insurrection in the 12th year of Elizabeth, 1569, which proved so fatal to Thomas Percy, the seventh Earl of Northumberland.

"There had not long before been a secret negociation entered into between some of the Scottish and English nobility, to bring about a marriage between Mary Q. of Scots, at that time a prisoner in England, and the Duke of Norfolk, a nobleman of excellent character. This match was proposed to all the most considerable of the English nobility, and among the rest to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, two noblemen very powerful in the North. As it seemed to promise a speedy and safe conclusion of the troubles in Scotland, with many advantages to the crown of England, they all consented to it, provided it should prove agreeable to Queen Elizabeth. The Earl of Leicester (Elizabeth's favourite) undertook to break the matter to her, but before he could find an opportunity, the affair had come to her ears by other hands, and she was thrown into a violent flame. The Duke of Norfolk, with several of his friends, was committed to the Tower, and summons were sent to the Northern Earls instantly to make their appearance at court. It is said that the Earl of Northumberland, who was a man of a mild and gentle nature,* was deliberating with himself whether he should

* Camden expressly says that he was violently attached to the Catholic Religion.

not obey the message, and rely upon the Queen's candour and clemency, when he was forced into desperate measures by a sudden report at midnight, Nov. 14, that a party of his enemies were come to seize his person. The Earl was then in his house at Topcliffe in Yorkshire. When, rising hastily out of bed, he withdrew to the Earl of Westmoreland at Brancepeth, where the country came in to them, and pressed them to take up arms in their own defence. They accordingly set up their standards, declaring their intent was to restore the ancient Religion, to get the succession of the crown firmly settled, and to prevent the destruction of the ancient nobility, &c. Their common banner (on which was displayed the cross, together with the five wounds of Christ) was borne by an ancient gentleman, Richard Norton, Esquire, who, with his sons (among whom, Christopher, Marmaduke, and Thomas, are expressly named by Camden), distinguished himself on this occasion. Having entered Durham, they tore the Bible, &c., and caused mass to be said there; they then marched on to Clifford-moor, near Whetherby, where they mustered their men. The two Earls, who spent their large estates in hospitality, and were extremely beloved on that account, were masters of little ready money; the E. of Northumberland bringing with him only 8000 crowns, and the E. of Westmoreland nothing at all, for the subsistence of their forces, they were not able to march to London, as they had at first intended. In these circumstances, Westmoreland began so visibly to despond, that many of his men slunk away, though Northumberland still kept up his resolution, and was master of the field till December 13, when the Earl of Sussex, accompanied with Lord Hunsden and others, having marched out of York at the head of a large body of forces, and being followed by a still larger army under the command of Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, the insurgents retreated northward towards the borders, and there dismissing their followers, made their escape into Scotland. Though this insurrection had been suppressed with so little bloodshed, the Earl of Sussex and Sir George Bowes, marshal of the army, put vast numbers to death by martial law, without any regular trial. The former of these caused at Durham sixty-three constables to be hanged at once. And the latter made his boast, that for sixty miles in length, and forty in breadth, betwixt Newcastle and Whetherby, there was hardly a town or village wherein he had not executed some of the inhabitants. This exceeds the cruelties practised in the West after Monmouth's rebellion.

"Such is the account collected from Stow, Speed, Camden, Guthrie, Carte, and Rapin; it agrees, in most particulars, with the following Ballad, apparently the production of some northern minstrel.—

"LISTEN, lively lordings all,

Lithe and listen unto mee,

And I will sing of a noble earle,

The noblest earle in the north countrie.

Earle Percy is into his garden gone,
And after him walks his fair leddie;
I heard a bird sing in mine ear,

That I must either fight or flee.

Now heaven forfend, my dearest lord,

That ever such harm should hap to thee: But goe to London to the court,

And fair fall truth and honestie.

Now nay, now nay, my ladye gay,
Alas! thy counsell suits not mee;
Mine enemies prevail so fast,

That at the court I may not bee.

O goe to the court yet, good my lord,
And take thy gallant men with thee;
If any dare to do you wrong,

Then your warrant they may bee.

Now nay, now nay, thou ladye faire,
The court is full of subtiltie :
And if I goe to the court, ladye,
Never more I may thee see.

Yet goe to the court, my lord, she sayes
And I myselfe will ryde wi' thee:
At court then for my dearest lord,
His faithful borrowe I will bee.

Now nay, now nay, my ladye deare ;
Far lever had I lose my life,
Than leave among my cruell foes

My love in jeopardy and strife.

But come thou hither, my little foot-page, Come thou hither unto mee,

To Maister Norton thou must goe

In all the haste that ever may bee.

Commend me to that gentleman,

And beare this letter here fro mee;
And say that earnestly I praye,
He will ryde in my companie.

One while the little foot-page went,
And another while he ran ;
Untill he came to his journey's end,
The little foot-page never blan.

When to that gentleman he came,
Down he kneeled on his knee;
And took the letter betwixt his hands,
And lett the gentleman it see.

And when the letter it was redd,
Affore that goodlye companie,
I wis if you the truthe wold know,
There was many a weeping eye.

He sayd, Come thither, Christopher Norton,
A gallant youth thou seem'st to bee;
What dost thou counsell me my sonne,
Now that good earle's in jeopardy?

Father, my counselle's fair and free ;
That erle he is a noble lord,
And whatsoever to him you hight,

I would not have you breake your word.

Gramercy, Christopher, my sonne,

Thy counsell well it liketh mee,
And if we speed and 'scape with life,
Well advanced shalt thou bee.

Come you hither, my nine good sonnes,
Gallant men I trowe you bee:
How many of you, my children deare,
Will stand by that good erle and mee

Eight of them did answer make,

Eight of them spake hastilie,

O Father, till the day we dye

We'll stand by that good erle and thee.

Gramercy, now, my children deare,

You shew yourselves right bold and brave, And whethersoe'er I live or dye,

A father's blessing you shall have.

But what say'st thou, O Francis Norton,
Thou art mine eldest sonne and heire :
Somewhat lies brooding in thy breast;
Whatever it bee, to mee declare.

Father, you are an aged man,

Your head is white, your beard is gray ;

It were a shame at these your years

For you to ryse in such a fray.

Now fye upon thee, coward Francis,

Thou never learned'st this of mee; When thou wert young and tender of age, Why did I make soe much of thee?

But, father, I will wend with you,
Unarm'd and naked will I bee;
And he that strikes against the crowne,
Ever an ill death may he dee.

Then rose that reverend gentleman,
And with him came a goodlye band
To join with the brave Earle Percy,
And all the flower o' Northumberland.

With them the noble Nevill came,

The erle of Westmoreland was hee;
At Wetherbye they mustered their host,
Thirteen thousand fair to see.

Lord Westmorland his ancyent raisde,
The Dun Bull he rays'd on hye,
And three Dogs with golden collars
Were there set out most royallye.

Erle Percy there his ancyent spread,
The Half Moone shining all soe faire ;
The Nortons ancyent had the Crosse,

And the five wounds our Lord did beare.

Then Sir George Bowes he straitwaye rose,
After them some spoile to make :
Those noble erles turned back againe,
And aye they vowed that knight to take.

That baron he to his castle fled,

To Barnard castle then fled hee.
The uttermost walles were eathe to win,
The earles have wonne them presentlie.

The uttermost walles were lime and bricke ;
But though they won them soon anone,
Long ere they wan their innermost walles,
For they were cut in rocke and stone.

Then news unto leeve London came

In all the speed that ever might bee, And word is brought to our royall queene Of the rysing in the North countrie.