HISTORY OF SIR JOHN ELAND, OF ELAND, AND HIS ANTAGONISTS.
The origin of this quarrel is not very clear, neither is it certain the time when this ballad was written. It is said that one Exley had killed the brother's son of sir John Eland, and that a relative, sir Robert Beaumont, screened him from the resentment of sir John, also that the affair was, in some measure, made up, sir John Eland having accepted of a compensation in lieu of justice being done upon the murderer, but that he afterwards violated the agreement; whereupon sir John got together a considerable number of armed men, and in one night, in the month of May, put to death the said sir Robert, and two old gentlemen, his near relatives, Hugh de Quarmby and John de Lockwood. This is so far confirmed by the Hopkinson MSS. in the possession of Mrs. Richardson Currer of Eshton hall, wherein it says, "that with sir Robert Beaumont were slain his brother William, and ... Exley, who had killed the brother's son of sir John Eland." This manner of executing private revenge, according to Brady, in his "History of the Reign of King Stephen," was brought from Normandy to England:—"If any earl, or great man, found himself aggrieved by another, they frequently got together all their men at arms, or knights that held of them, their other tenants and poor dependants, and as much assistance from their friends and confederates as they could, and burnt one another's castles and houses, &c."
No worldly wight can here attain
Always to have their will,
But now in grief, sometimes in pain,
Their course they must fulfil;
For when men live in worldly wealth,
Full few can have that grace,
Long in the same to keep themselves