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LORD BATEMAN 
 
THE 
 
 ^LOVING BALLAD 
 
 OF 
 
 LORD BATEMA1N. 
 
 WITH ELEVEN PLATES BY 
 
 GEORGE CRUIKSHANK 
 
 METHUEN & CO. 
 LONDON 
 
 1903 
 

 £. 
 
 r TPHIS issue is printed from the Edition pub- 
 lished in 1839 by Charles Tilt, Fleet Street, 
 London, and Mustapha Syried, Constantinople. 
 [ ? The Verses by Thackeray and the Notes by 
 Dickens.] 
 
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aaiarnmg to tfje public 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 THE LOVING BALLAD 
 
 OF 
 
 LOED BATEMAN. 
 
 In some collection of old English Ballads, there is 
 an ancient ditty which I am told bears some remote 
 and distant resemblance to the following Epic Poem. 
 I beg to quote the emphatic language of my estimable 
 friend (if he will allow me to call him so), the Black 
 Bear in Piccadilly, and to assure all to whom these 
 presents may come, that "J am the original." This af- 
 fecting legend is given in the following pages, precisely 
 as I have frequently heard it sung on Saturday nights, 
 outside a house of general refreshment (familiarly 
 termed a wine vaults) at Battle-bridge. The singer 
 is a young gentleman who can scarcely have numbered 
 nineteen summers, and who before his last visit to the 
 
VI . PREFACE. 
 
 treadmill, where he was erroneously incarcerated for six 
 months as a vagrant (being unfortunately mistaken for 
 another gentleman), had a very melodious and plaintive 
 tone of voice, which, though it is now somewhat im- 
 paired by gruel and such a getting up stairs for so 
 long a period, I hope shortly to find restored. I have 
 taken down the words from his own mouth at different 
 periods, and have been careful to preserve his pro- 
 nunciation, together with the air to which he does so 
 much justice. Of his execution of it, however, and 
 the intense melancholy which he communicates to such 
 passages of the song as are most susceptible of such 
 an expression, I am unfortunately unable to convey 
 to the reader an adequate idea, though I may hint 
 that the effect seems to me to be in part produced by 
 the long and mournful drawl on the' last two or three 
 words of each verse. 
 
 I had intended to have dedicated my imperfect 
 illustrations of this beautiful Romance to the young 
 gentleman in question. As I cannot find, however, 
 that he is known among his friends by any other name 
 than "The Tripe-skewer," which I cannot but consider 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 as a soubriquet, or nick-name ; and as I feel that 
 
 it would be neither respectful nor proper to address 
 
 him publicly by that title, I have been compelled 
 
 to forego the pleasure. If this should meet his eye, 
 
 will he pardon my humble attempt to embellish with 
 
 the pencil the sweet ideas to which he gives such 
 
 feeling utterance 1 And will he believe me to remain 
 
 his devoted admirer 
 
 George Cruikshank ! 
 
 P.S. — The above is not my writing, nor the notes either, 
 nor am I on familiar terms (but quite the contrary) 
 with the Black Bear. Nevertheless I admit the ac- 
 curacy of the statement relative to the public singer 
 whose name is unknown, and concur generally in 
 the sentiments above expressed relative to him. 
 
• c 
 
THE 
 
 LOVING BALLAD 
 
 OF 
 
 Horfc 23ateman. 
 
 i. 
 Lord Bateman vos a noble Lord, 
 
 A noble Lord of high degree ; 
 He shipped his-self all aboard of a ship, 
 
 Some foreign country for to see. 1 * 
 
 For the notes to this beautiful Poem, see the end of the work. 
 
11 
 
 II. 
 He sail-ed east, he sail-ed vest, 
 
 Until he come to famed Tur-key, 
 Vere he vos taken, and put to prisin, 
 
 Until his life was quite wea-ry. 
 
 in. 
 All in this prisin there grew a tree, 
 
 ! there it grew so stout and strong, 
 Yere he vos chain-ed all by the middle 
 
 Until his life vos almost gone. 
 
1>wi*Me<i C!ckMl K Pi*-^ 5cffrftGvu*kc)i(n.te /S35 
 
 
13 
 
 IV. 
 
 This Turk 2 he had one ounly darter, 
 
 The fairest my two eyes e'er see, 
 She Steele the keys of her father's prisin, 
 
 And swore Lord Bateman she would let go free. 
 
 v. 
 she took him to her father's cellar, 
 
 And guv to him the best of wine ; 
 And ev'ry holth she dronk unto him, 
 
 Vos, " I vish Lord Bateman as you vos mine ! " 3 
 
r 
 
as J. err i Bife-Tna-n, wd^ n,er\S. 
 
15 
 
 VI. 
 
 "0 have you got houses, have you got land, 
 And does Northumberland belong to thee? 
 
 And what would you give to the fair young lady 
 As out of prisin would let you go free ? " 
 
 VII. 
 
 " I've got houses, and I've got land, 
 And half Northumberland belongs to me ; 
 
 And I vill give it all to the fair young lady 
 As out of prisin vould let me go free." 
 
 £bP 
 
t> «• vp.vi. SidbJ Jfc. Pj)' C <r e»»</ UtWu Kat, fr { M 
 
 7U- _ 'VYovr. 
 
17 
 
 VIII. 
 
 in sevin long years, I'll make a wow 
 
 For sevin long years, and keep it strong, 4 
 That if you'll ved no other voman, 
 
 I vill ve-e-ed no other man." 
 
 IX. 
 
 She took him to her father's harbour, 
 
 And guv to him a ship of fame, 
 Saying, " Farevell, Farevell to you, Lord Bateman, 
 
 1 fear I ne-e-ever shall see you agen." 
 
I 
 
fl. ftfrelxxtwui tW S>ue. vYtil Scdum, tto tntrrt ' — 
 
19 
 
 x. 
 
 Now sevin long years is gone and past, 
 And fourteen days veil known to me; 5 
 
 She packed up all her gay clouthing, 
 
 And swore Lord Bateman she would go see. 
 
 XI. 
 
 ven she arrived at Lord Bateman's castle, 
 
 How bouldly then she rang the bell, 
 
 " Who's there ! who's there ! " cries the proud youn< 
 porter, 
 
 " come unto me pray quickly tell." 
 
> 
 
 , 
 
^He, J rcru/d 1/oatrLG Jcrrter 
 answers JJt*, do err _ 
 
21 
 
 XII. 
 
 ! is this here Lord Bateman's castle 
 And is his lordship here vithin ? " 
 
 Yes ! yes ! " cries the proud young porter 
 He's just now takin' his young bride in." 
 
 XIII. 
 
 ! bid him to send me a slice of bread, 
 And a bottle of the wery best vine, 
 
 And not forgettin' the fair young lady 
 As did release him ven close confine." 
 
3>wij«A eWuAlPutkW-'j J*""** CWwhonK. <13V 
 
 ^fte. h-auiTjcntn^ Poster iu, 
 <Jord BatcTTtans Sfait OtjoArtTruervt 
 
23 
 
 XIV. 
 
 ! avay and avay vent this proud young porter, 
 ! avay and avay and avay vent he 6 
 
 Until he come to Lord Bateman's charmber, 
 Yen he vent down on his bended knee. 
 
 xv. 
 Vot news, vot news, my proud young porter, 7 
 
 Vot news, vot news, come tell to me ? " 
 there is the fairest young lady 
 
 As ever my two eyes did see. 
 
25 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " She has got rings on ev'ry finger, 
 
 And on one finger she has got three : 
 Yith as much gay gould about her middle 
 As would buy half Northumberlee. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 " she bids you to send her a slice of bread 
 And a bottle of the wery best vine, 
 And not forgettin' the fair young lady 
 As did release you-ven close confine." 
 
■Designs* iUitfi, k?ubLtUd.ty 4(mo t .(omJct'wnJC IJjo 
 
 (fo-rlhLfCrdhmzA to s\>uk treaty L- 
 
27 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Lord Bateman then in passion flew 
 
 And broke his sword in splinters three, 8 
 
 Saying, " I vill give half my father's land 
 If so be as Sophia 9 has crossed the sea.' 7 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Then up and spoke this young bride's mother, 
 Who never vos heerd to speak so free : 10 
 
 Saying, " You'll not forget my ounly darter,, 
 If so be as Sophia has crossed the sea." 
 
TiUlcnM <°JiW it PuiUAtd. U Ctartc GmiJttWc 'fc'3? 
 
 tf te l^ouutf Wicto COTTtes cm a. Kor<s e. 
 
hvL 6otsuom^ in- a. coack> 
 
SZrurnri tidied kf,J,UshU\y Q rorj t Q-rui.** hanic. iSOJ 
 
 
29 
 
 xx. 
 
 it's true I made a bride of your darter, 
 
 But she's neither the better nor the vorse for 
 me; 
 
 She came to me with a horse and saddle 
 
 But she may go home in a coach and three." 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Lord Bateman then prepared another marriage 
 With both their hearts so full of glee 
 
 Saying, " I vill roam no more to foreign countries 
 Now that Sophia has crossed the sea." 11 
 
NOTES 
 
 Some foreign country for to see. 
 
 The reader is here in six words artfully made acquainted with 
 Lord Bateman's character and temperament. — Of a roving, 
 wandering, and unsettled spirit, his Lordship left his native 
 country, bound he knew not whither. Some foreign country 
 he wished to see, and that was the extent of his desire ; any 
 foreign country would answer his purpose — all foreign countries 
 were alike to him. He was a citizen of the world, and upon the 
 world of waters, sustained by the daring and reckless impulses 
 of his heart, he boldly launched. For anything, from pitch - 
 and-toss upwards to manslaughter, his Lordship was prepared. 
 Lord Bateman's character at this time, and his expedition, 
 
32 NOTES. 
 
 would appear to have borne a striking resemblance to those of 
 
 Lord Byi 
 
 on. 
 
 His goblets brimmed with every costly wine, 
 
 And all that mote to luxury invite, 
 
 Without a sigh he left to cross the brine, 
 
 And traverse Paynim shores, and pass earth's central line. 
 
 Childe Harold, Canto I. 
 
 This Turk he had, &c. 
 
 The poet has here, by that bold license which only genius 
 can venture upon, surmounted the extreme difficulty of intro- 
 ducing any particular Turk, by assuming a fore-gone conclusion 
 in the reader's mind, and adverting in a. casual, careless way 
 to a Turk unknown, as to an old acquaintance. " This Turk 
 
 he had " We have heard of no Turk before, and yet this 
 
 familiar introduction satisfies us at once that we know him well. 
 He was a pirate, no doubt, of a cruel and savage disposition, 
 entertaining a hatred of the Christian race, and accustomed 
 to garnish his trees and vines with such stray professors of 
 
NOTES. 33 
 
 Christianity as happened to fall into his hands. " This Turk 
 
 he had " is a master-stroke— a truly Shakesperian touch. 
 
 There are few things like it in the language. 
 
 And every Tiolth she drunk unto Mm 
 
 Vos, "I vish Lord Bateman as you vos mine / " 
 
 A most affecting illustration of the sweetest simplicity, the 
 purest artlessness, and holiest affections of woman's gentle 
 nature. Bred up among the rough and savage crowds which 
 thronged her father's lawless halls, and meeting with no 
 responsive or kindred spirit among those fierce barbarians, 
 (many of whom, however, touched by her surpassing charms, 
 though insensible to her virtues and mental endowments, had 
 vainly sought her hand in marriage) this young creature had 
 spent the greater part of her life in the solitude of her own 
 apartments, or in contemplating the charms of nature arrayed 
 in all the luxury of eastern voluptuousness. At length she 
 hears from an aged and garrulous attendant, her only female 
 
o4 • NOTES. 
 
 adviser, (for her mother died when she was yet an infant) 
 of the sorrows and sufferings of the Christian captive. Urged 
 by pity and womanly sympathy, she repairs to his prison to 
 succour and console him. She supports his feeble and totter- 
 ing steps to her father's cellar, recruits his exhausted frame 
 with copious draughts of sparkling wine, and when his dim eye 
 brightens, and his pale cheek becomes flushed with the glow of 
 returning health and animation she, — unaccustomed to disguise 
 or concealment, and being by nature all openness and truth — 
 gives vent to the feelings which now thrill her maiden heart for 
 the first time, in the rich gush of unspeakable love, tenderness, 
 and devotion — 
 
 I vish Lord Bateman as you vos mine ! 
 
 IV. 
 
 Oh, in sevi?i long years I'll make a wow, 
 I'll make a wow, and I'll keep it strong. 
 
 Love has converted the tender girl into a majestic heroine ; 
 she cannot only make " a wow," but she can " keep it strong ;" 
 she feels all the dignity of truth and love swelling in her 
 
NOTES. 35 
 
 bosom. With the tiew'of possessing herself of the real state 
 of Lord Bateman's affections, and with no sordid or mercenary 
 motives, she has enquired of that nobleman what are his means 
 of subsistence, and whether all Northumberland belongs to 
 him. His Lordship has rejoined, with a noble regard for 
 truth, that half Northumberland is his, and that he will give 
 it freely to the fair young lady who will release him from his 
 dungeon. She, being thus assured of his regard and esteem, 
 rejects all idea of pecuniary reward, and offers to be a party 
 to a solemn wow — to be kept strong on both sides — that if for 
 seven years he will remain a bachelor, she, for the like period, 
 will remain a maid. The contract is made, and the lovers are 
 solemnly contracted. 
 
 v. 
 
 Now sevin long years is gone and past, 
 And fourteen days veil known to me. 
 
 In this may be recognized, though in a minor degree, the 
 same gifted hand that pourtrayed the Musselman, the pirate, 
 
 4 
 
36 NOTES. 
 
 the father, and the bigot, in two words. The time is gone, the 
 historian knows it, and that is enough for the reader. This is 
 the dignity of history very strikingly exemplified. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Avay and avay vent this proud young porter, 
 Avay and avay and avay vent he. 
 
 Nothing perhaps could be more ingeniously contrived to ex- 
 press the vastness of Lord Bateman's family mansion than this 
 remarkable passage. The proud young porter had to thread 
 courts, corridors, galleries, and staircases innumerable before 
 he could penetrate to those exquisite apartments in which Lord 
 Bateman was wont to solace his leisure hours, with the most 
 refined pleasures of his tims. We behold him hastening to the 
 presence of his lord : the repetition of the word " avay " causes 
 us to feel the speed with which he hastens — at length he ar- 
 rives. Does he appear before the chief with indecent haste ? 
 Is he described as rushing madly into his presence to impart his 
 message ? No ! a different atmosphere surrounds that remark- 
 
NOTES. 37 
 
 able man. Even this proud young porter is checked in his im- 
 petuous career which lasted only 
 
 Until he came to Lord Bateman's chamber, 
 Vere he vent down on his bended knee. 
 
 Lord Bateman's eye is upon him, and he quails. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Vot news ! vot news ! my proud young porter ? 
 A pleasant condescension on the part of his lordship, showing 
 that he recognized the stately youth, and no less stately pride 
 of office which characterized his follower, and that he was ac- 
 quainted with the distinguishing appellation which he appears 
 to have borne in the family. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 And broke his sword in splinters three. 
 Exemplifying in a highly poetical and striking manner, the 
 force of Lord Bateman's love, which he would seem to have 
 kept strong as his "wow." We have beheld him patient in 
 confinement, descending to no base murmurings against fortune, 
 even when chained by the middle to a tree, with the prospect 
 
38 NOTES. 
 
 of ending his days in that ignominious and unpleasant position. 
 He has borne all this and a great deal more, seven years and 
 a fortnight have elapsed, and at last, on the mere mention of 
 the fair young lady, he falls into a perfect phrenzy, and breaks 
 his sword, the faithful partner and companion of his glory, 
 into three splinters. Antiquarians differ respecting the intent 
 and meaning of this ceremony, which has been construed and 
 interpreted in many different ways. The strong probability is 
 that it was done "for luck" and yet Lord Bateman should 
 have been superior to the prejudices of the vulgar. 
 
 IX. 
 
 If my own Sophia. 
 So called doubtless from the mosque of St. Sophia, at Con- 
 stantinople : her father having professed the Mahomedan 
 religion. 
 
 x. 
 Then up and spoke this young bride's mother, 
 Who never vos heerd to speak so free. 
 This is an exquisite touch of nature, which most married 
 
NOTES. 39 
 
 men, whether of noble or plebeian blood, will quickly recognize. 
 During the whole of her daughter's courtship, the good old 
 lady had scarcely spoken, save by expressive smiles and looks 
 of approval. But now that her object is gained, and her 
 daughter fast married (as she thinks) she suddenly assumes 
 quite a new tone, " and never was heard to speak so free." It 
 would be difficult for poetry to comprehend any thing more 
 strictly true and life-like than this. 
 
 xr. 
 With loth their hearts so full of glee. 
 If any thing could add to the grace and beauty of the poem , 
 it would be this most satisfactory and agreeable conclusion. At 
 the time of the foreign lady's arrival on the shores of England, 
 we find Lord Bateman in the disagreeable dilemma of having 
 contracted another marriage ; to which his Lordship has 
 doubtless been impelled by despair of ever recovering his lost 
 Sophia, and a natural anxiety not to die without leaving an 
 heir to his estate. The ceremony has been performed, the 
 
40 NOTES. 
 
 Church has done its offi-ce, the bride and her mamma have 
 taken possession of the castle, when the lost Sophia suddenly 
 presents herself. An ordinary man would have been over- 
 whelmed by such a complication of perplexities — not so Lord 
 Bateman. Master of the human heart, he appeals to feminine 
 ambition and love of display ; and reminding the young lady 
 that she came to him on a saddle horse (with her revered parent 
 following no doubt on foot behind) offers to bestow upon her a 
 coach and three. The young lady closes with the proposition ; 
 her august mother having brought it about by her freedom of 
 speech, makes no objection ; Lord Bateman being a nobleman 
 of great power, and having plenty of superfluous wealth to 
 bestow upon the Church, orders another marriage, and boldly 
 declares the first one to be a nullity. Thereupon "another 
 marriage " is immediately prepared, and the- piece closes with 
 a picture of general happiness and hilarity. 
 
 THE END.