THE RISING IN THE NORTH.
The subject of this ballad is the great Northern Insurrection in the 12th of Elizabeth, 1569. It happened thus:—
The zealous adherents of the Romish religion being dissatisfied at the change, formed the design of re-establishing that faith, restoring Mary of Scotland to her liberty, and placing her on the throne of England. The earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, who possessed great power in the north, having held together several conferences, orders were despatched by Elizabeth to these noblemen to appear at court, and answer for their conduct. This order from the queen precipitated the rising before they were fully prepared, for the leaders had already proceeded so far that they dare not trust themselves in the queen's hands. They determined to begin the insurrection without delay; and committed themselves irrevocably by entering Durham in arms, on the 14th November, 1569. This rising was speedily suppressed, and martial law having been proclaimed, great severity was exercised. The earl of Northumberland and many gentlemen were executed; sixty-six petty constables were hanged; and not less than eight hundred persons are said to have suffered by the hands of the executioner. Between Newcastle and Wetherby, a district of sixty miles in length by forty in breadth, there was not a town or village in which some of the inhabitants did not expire on the gibbet.
The following was first printed by Dr. Percy, in 1765, from two MS. copies.
Listen, lively lordings all,
Lithe and listen unto me,
And I will sing of a noble earle,
The noblest earle in the north countrie.
Earle Percy[111] is into the garden gone,
And after him walkes his faire ladie:[112]