In my present volume I have given a selection of upwards of fifty ballads and songs, many of them extremely curious, and all highly interesting, which are purely Derbyshire, and relate entirely to that county, to events which have happened within its bounds, or to Derbyshire families. These I have collected together from every available source, and several amongst them have never before been reprinted from the old broad-sheets and garlands in which they are contained; while others, taken down from the lips of "old inhabitants," or from the original MSS., are for the first-time put into type. Knowing that in ballads it is next to, if not quite, impossible to accomplish a successful chronological arrangement, and feeling that, if accomplished, such an arrangement is open to grave objections, I have purposely avoided the attempt, and have contented myself with varying, as much as possible, the contents of my volume, and with giving to each ballad an introductory notice touching on the event commemorated, on the writer of the piece, or on the source from whence the ballad has been obtained. Having done this, the necessity for a long introduction here is obviated, and it only remains for me to announce my intention of following up my present volume with another similar one, as a "Second Series" of Derbyshire Ballads and Songs, and with others on the Poets and Poetry of Derbyshire; on the Political and Criminal songs of the county; and on its Folk-Lore and Traditions, etc. It is hoped that the present volume will find sufficient favour with the public to act as an encouragement to the early issue of the succeeding volumes, which will contain a vast amount of interesting and valuable information on points about which at present but little is known.

It will be seen that in the introductory notices to the ballads in the following pages I have acknowledged my obligations to various kind friends for the assistance they have rendered. I have now only in general terms to again tender them my thanks, and, in so doing, to ask them, and all who can in any way assist me in my labours, to continue their kind help to my future volumes, and so enable me to do justice to the rich and beautiful county which it has been my life-long study to illustrate.

As a frontispiece to my present volume, I give a fac-simile of an old portrait of a Derbyshire ballad-singer of the last century, "Singing Sam of Derbyshire" as he was called, which I copy from the curious plate etched by W. Williams in 1760, which appeared in the "Topographer" thirty years after that time. The man was a singular character—a wandering minstrel who got his living by singing ballads in the Peak villages, and accompanying himself on his rude single-stringed instrument. Doubtless "The Beggar's Ramble" and "The Beggar's Wells," and other similar rhymes, were the production of "Singing Sam" or his compeers, and recounted his own peregrinations through the country. His instrument was as quaint and curious as himself. It consisted of a straight staff nearly as tall as himself, with a single string tied fast around it at each end. This he tightened with a fully inflated cow's bladder, which assisted very materially the tone of the rude instrument. His bow was a rough stick of hazel or briar, with a single string; and with this, with the lower end of his staff resting on the ground, and the upper grasped by his right hand, which he passed up and down to tighten or slacken the string as he played, he scraped away, and produced sounds which, though not so musical as those of Paganini and his single string, would no doubt harmonize with Sam's rude ballad, and ruder voice. This portrait I believe has never been reproduced until now.

On the title-page I give a small vignette showing a ballad singer of an earlier date, from a sketch by Inigo Jones, made two hundred and thirty years ago, which belongs to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire. Unlike "Singing Sam of Derbyshire," who sang his ballads from memory, and probably composed many of them as he went on, so as to suit the localities and the tastes and habits of his hearers, the man here shown sings from a printed broad-sheet, of which he carries an armful with him to dispose of to such as cared to purchase them. He is literally a "running stationer," "such as use to sing ballads and cry malignant pamphlets in the streets," and indulged their hearers in town and country with "fond bookes, ballads, rhimes, and other lewd treatises in the English tongue."

In my next volume I shall give a portrait of "Hale the Piper," another Derbyshire "worthy," and shall then take occasion to speak of the origin of Hornpipes in the locality which gave him birth.

Derby, February, 1867.

Contents.

Dedication [vii]
Introduction [ix]
King Henry V., His Conquest of France, in Revenge for the Affront offered by the French King, in sending him (instead of a Tribute) a Ton of Tennis-balls[1]
A Ballad of Derbyshire. By Sir Aston Cokain [6]
The Most Pleasant Song of Lady Bessy, the Eldest Daughter of King Edward the Fourth, and how she married King Henry the Seventh, of the House of Lancaster [12]
Devonshire's Noble Duel with Lord Danby in the Year 1687 [55]
The Unconsionable Batchelors of Darby: or the Young Lasses Pawn'd by their Sweet-hearts, for a large Reckning, at Nottingham Goose Fair, when poor Susan was forc'd to pay the Shot. [58]
The Humours of Hayfield Fair [61]
On the Strange and Wonderful Sight that was seen in the Air on the 6th of March, 1716 [64]
The Drunken Butcher of Tideswell [66]
A New Ballad of Robin Hood: showing his Birth, Breeding, Valour, and Marriage, at Titbury Bull-running: Calculated for the Meridian of Staffordshire, but may serve for Derbyshire or Kent [73]
Robin Hood and Little John [85]
Little John's End [91]
The Lay of the Buckstone [96]
Sir Richard Whittington's Advancement: Being an Historical Account of his Education, Unexpected Fortune, Charity, &c. [104]
The Derbyshire Miller [110]
Tideswell in an Uproar, or the Prince in the Town, and the Devil in the Church [111]
The Prince at Tideswell [114]
The Derby Ram [115]
The Blink-Ey'd Cobler [119]
A Strange Banquet; or the Devil's Entertainment by Cook Laurel, at the Peak in Darby-shire; with an Account of the several Dishes served to Table [125]
The Taylor's Ramble, or the Blues' Valour Displayed [129]
Squire Vernon's Fox-Chace [131]
The Trusley Hunting Song [136]
Squire Frith's Hunting Song [142]
Derbyshire Men [145]
An Elegy upon the Death of the greatest Gentry in Darley Dale, who loved Hunting and Hawking, and several other Games [146]
Cocktail Reel[153]
Lines Occasioned by a Yorkshire Pye sent as a Present from Sir William St. Quintin to His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, at Bath, on Christmas Day, 1762 [157]
The Agricultural Meeting [160]
The Complainte of Anthonie Babington [164]
A New Song in Praise of the Derbyshire Militia [182]
The Florists' Song [184]
The Sorrowful Lamentation, last Dying Speech and Confession of Old Nun's Green [187]
A Traveller's Dream [188]
A Poem Found by Mr. * * * and Dedicated To Major Trowel [190]
The Quadrupeds, &c., or Four-footed Petitioners against the Sale of Nun's Green [193]
Paving and Lighting [196]
The Nun's Green Rangers; or the Triple Alliance, Consisting of an old Sergeant, a Tinker, and a Bear [199]
A Birch Rod for the Presbytarians [201]
Lost and Dead [204]
Song (satirical, on the Choir of All Saints' Church, Derby) [206]
Sir Francis Leke; or the Power of Love [210]
The True Lover's Knot Untied: Being the right path whereby to advise princely Virgins how to behave themselves, by the example of the renowned Princess, the Lady Arabella and the second son of the Lord Seymour, late Earl of Hertford [222]
An Address To "Dickie" [226]
The Driving of the Deer [230]
The Ashupton Garland; or a day in the Woodlands [237]
Derbyshire Hills [243]
Derbyshire Dales [246]
A Rhapsody on the Peak of Derbyshire [248]
The Derby Hero [249]
A New Song on the great Foot Race that was contested on the London Road, near Derby, betwixt Jas. Wantling, of Derby, and Shaw, the Staffordshire Hero, for 2 Hundred Guineas [252]
On the Death of the late Rev. Bache Thornhill, M.A. [255]
A Journey into the Peak. To Sir Aston Cokaine [257]
Epistle to John Bradshaw, Esq. [259]
Hugh Stenson and Molly Green [263]
The Beggar's Ramble [266]
""[271]
Henry and Clara [274]
The Gipsies Song [280]
The Flax-Dresser's Wife of Spondon, and the Pound Of Tea [281]
The Ashborne Foot-Ball Song [284]
The Parson's Torr [286]
Index of Titles, First Lines, Names, &c. [294]