There he drew out a fair broad arrow,
His bow was great and long,
He set that arrow in his bow,

That was both stiff and strong.

He prayed the people that was there, That they would still stand,

"For he that shooteth for such a wager,

Behoveth a steadfast hand."

Much people prayed for Cloudeslé,
That his life saved might be,
And when he made him ready to
shoot

There was many a weeping eye.

Thus Cloudeslé cleft the apple in two That many a man might see; "Over-gods forbode," then said the king,

"That thou should shoot at me!

"I give thee eighteen pence a day,
And my bow shalt thou bear,
And over all the north country
I make thee chief rider."

THE HEIR OF LINNE.

PART THE FIRST.

LITHE and listen, gentlemen,
To sing a song I will beginne:
It is of a lord of faire Scotland,
Which was the unthrifty heire of
Linne.

His father was a right good lord,
His mother a lady of high degree;
But they, alas! were dead him froe,
And he lov'd keeping companie.

To spend the day with merry cheer,
To drink and revell every night,
To card and dice from eve to morn,
It was, I ween, his heart's delight.

To ride, to run, to rant, to roar,
To alway spend and never spare,
I wott, an' it were the king himself,
Of gold and fee he mote be bare.

So fares the unthrifty lord of Linne,
Till all his gold is gone and spent:
And he maun sell his landes so broad,
His house, and landes, and all his rent.

"Let's drink, and rant, and merry make,

And he that spares, ne'er mote be thee."

They ranted, drank, and merry made,

Till all his gold it waxèd thin; And then his friends they slunk away;

They left the unthrifty heir of Linne.

He had never a penny left in his purse,

Never a penny left but three,
And one was brass, another was lead,
And another it was white monéy.

"Now well-a-day" said the heir of Linne,

"Now well-a-day, and woe is me,
For when I was the lord of Linne,
I never wanted gold nor fee.

"But many a trusty friend have I,
And why should I feel dole or care?
I'll borrow of them all by turns,
So need I not be never bare."

But one I wis, was not at home; Another had paid his gold away; Another called him thriftless loon, And bade him sharply wend his way.

"Now well-a-day," said the heir of Linne,

"Now well-a-day, and woe is me; For when I had my landes so broad, On me they lived right merrily.

"To beg my bread from door to door,
I wis, it were a burning shame;
To rob and steal it were a sin;
To work, my limbs I cannot frame.

"Now I'll away to the lonesome lodge, For there my father bade me wend: When all the world should frown on

me

I there should find a trusty friend."

PART THE SECOND.

Away then hied the heir of Linne, O'er hill and holt, and moor and fen, Until he came to the lonesome lodge, That stood so low in a lonely glen.

He looked up, he looked down, In hope some comfort for to win; But bare and lothly were the walls; "Here's sorry cheer," quo' the heir of Linne.

The little window, dim and dark, Was hung with ivy, brere and yew; No shimmering sun here ever shone, No halesome breeze here ever blew.

No chair, ne table he mote spy,
No cheerful hearth, ne welcome bed,
Nought save a rope with renning
noose,

That dangling hung up o'er his head.

And over it in broad letters These words were written so plain to see:

"Ah! gracelesse wretch, hast spent thine all,

And brought thyself to penurie?

"All this my boding mind misgave, I therefore left this trusty friend: Let it now shield thy foul disgrace, And all thy shame and sorrows end."

Sorely shent wi' this rebuke,

Sorely shent was the heire of Linne: His heart I wis, was near to brast With guilt and sorrow, shame and sin.

Never a word spake the heir of Linne,

Never a word he spake but three: "This is a trusty friend indeed, And is right welcome unto me.'

Then round his neck the cord he drew,

And sprang aloft with his bodie,
When lo! the ceiling burst in twain,
And to the ground came tumbling he.

Astonyed lay the heir of Linne,
He knew if he were live or dead:
At length he looked, and sawe a bille,
And in it a key of gold so red.

He took the bill, and lookt it on, Straight good comfort found he there:

It told him of a hole in the wall,
In which there stood three chests in-

fere.