Where being in short space arriv'd
260 Unto his native dwelling place,
Therein with his dear love he liv'd,
And fortune did his nuptials grace:
They many years of joy did see,
And led their lives at Coventry.
THE SEVEN CHAMPIONS OF CHRISTENDOM.
The Famous Historie of the Seven Champions of Christendom, is the work of Richard Johnson, a ballad maker of some note at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th century. All that is known of him may be seen in Chappel's Introduction to the Crown Garland of Golden Roses, of which Johnson was the compiler or the author. (Percy Society, vol. vi.) "The Story of St. George and the Fair Sabra," says Percy, "is taken almost verbatim from the old poetical legend of Sir Bevis of Hampton."
The Seven Champions is twice entered on the Stationers' Registers in the year 1596. It is here reprinted from A Collection of Old Ballads, 1723, vol. i. 28. The same copy is in Evans's collection, i. 372.
Now of the Seven Champions here
My purpose is to write,
To show how they with sword and spear
Put many foes to flight;
5 Distressed ladies to release,
And captives bound in chains,
That Christian glory to increase
Which evermore remains.
First, I give you to understand
10 That great Saint George by name,
Was the true champion of our land;
And of his birth and fame,
And of his noble mother's dream,
Before that he was born,
15 The which to her did clearly seem
Her days would be forlorn.
This was her dream; that she did bear
A dragon in her womb;
Which griev'd this noble lady fair,
20 'Cause death must be her doom.
This sorrow she could not conceal,
So dismal was her fear,
So that she did the same reveal
Unto her husband dear;