348 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 128. 



Duke of Buckingham, the representative of 

 Charles, proposed as an equivalent, that of Groom 

 of the Stool (sic) " qui revlent assez bien a ce 

 qu'on appelerait dans notre langue, le gentilhomme, 

 ou la dame de la chaise-percee. Cette charge est 

 tres considerable; elle fait jouir de tres grands 

 privileges," &c. A natural expression of surprise 

 follows this portraiture of a high and regular 

 functionary, whose attributes not even majesty- 

 could ennoble or strip of indignity. The trans- 

 position of the name and duties of Groom of the 

 Stole has caused this most ridiculous blunder — a 

 double one, indeed, for the office does not belong 

 to female majesty, though it may, as of course at 

 present, form part of a royal consort's household. 

 The living editor of De Brienne, who dwells 

 on these " etranges usages de nos voisins d'outre- 

 mer," tells us, and it is confirmed by De Brienne 

 himself, that this nobleman felt proud and honoured 

 at the familiarity and confidence of Louis XIV., 

 who often conferred with him on state afiairs, en- 

 throned " sur sa chaise-percee." The Duchess of 

 Burgundy, mother of Louis XV., it is known, 

 never hesitated to administer to herself a relieving 

 remedy, not to be pronounced by name in English 

 society, in presence of Louis XIV. and his atten- 

 dant courtiers ; so that these violations of decorum, 

 falsely imputed to our court, were of historical 

 truth at Versailles. J. R. (Cork). 



May not groom be the literal English of the 

 French ecuyer, and have in the places quoted the 

 same meaning as esquire, which is evidently the 

 Anglicised French ? W. C. Treveltan. 



Wallington. 



BALLAD OF LORD DELAWARE. 



(Vol. ii., pp. 104. 158. ; Vol. v., p. 243.) 



As I have reason to believe that several of your 

 readei-3 are interested in this old ballad, I send 

 you an exact transcript of the oral version con- 

 tained in Mr. Lyle's (not Lyte's, as incorrectly 

 {)rinted in my former communication) now rare 

 ittle volume. 



Your correspondent C. W. G. thinks that it re- 

 lates to some transaction much later than 1622; 

 and possibly he may be right. It may be as well, 

 however, to mention that Mr. J. H. Dixon, who 

 inserted the ballad in his Ancient Poems, Ballads, 

 and Songs of the Peasantry of England (Percy 

 Society, No. LXII.), thinks otherwise, and, indeed, 

 claims for it an antiquity as high as the reign of 

 Edward III., a.d. 1377. He suggests that for 

 De la Ware we should read De la Mare, and be- 

 lieves Sir Thomas De la Mare, Speaker of the 

 House of Commons, to have been the hero. 

 Mr. Dixon says : 



" All historians are agreed in representing him as a 

 person using 'great freedom of speech,' and which, 



indeed, he carried to such an extent as to endanger his 

 personal liberty. As bearing somewhat upon the sub- 

 ject of the ballad, it may be observed that De la Mare 

 was a great advocate of popular rights, and particularly 

 protested against the inhabitants of England being 

 subject to ' purveyance ; ' asserting that ' if the royal 

 revenue was faithfully administered, there could be no 

 necessity for laying burdens on the people.'" 



The title of the " Welsh lord, the brave Duke 

 of Devonshire," oflfers some opposition to Mr. 

 Dixon's hypothesis, as no Duke of Devonshire was 

 created before 1694; but, as Sir Walter Scott ob- 

 served, upon a friend pointing out an inaccuracy 

 in his " Bonnets of bonnie Dundee," "We cannot 

 always be particular in a ballad." Possibly the 

 name of some other country or place should be 

 substituted for that of " Devonshire." Indeed I 

 remember, some ten years ago, hearing a version 

 of this ballad sung at a village in Staffordshire, 

 where the "minstrel" (for he was a true descen- 

 dant of the wandering tribe) used Hereford in the 

 place of Devonshire. 



There is an old ballad in Deloney's Garland of 

 Good Will, upon the quarrel between the two 

 Dukes of Hereford and Norfolk, in the reign of 

 Richard II. See Hume's Hist, of JEng., chap, xvii., 

 A.D. 1398, for a full account of the transaction. 

 There seems to be some " relationship " between 

 this " combat " and that of the Lord Delaware. 

 At any rate, the following ballad smacks wonder- 

 fully (allowing for the march of time, and Mr. Lyle's 

 " smoothing down " ) of the style of the " ballading 

 silk-weafer," and his cotemporary poetasters. 



" LORD DELAWARE. 



" In the Parliament House, a great rout has been 

 there, 

 Betwixt our good King and the Lord Delaware: 

 Says Lord Delaware to his Majesty full soon, 

 Will it please you, my Liege, to grant me a boon ? 

 « What's your boon, says the King, now let me under- 

 stand ? 

 It's, give me all the poor men we've starving in this 



land ; 

 And without delay, I'll hie me to Lincolnshire, 

 To sow hemp seed and flax seed, and hang them all 

 there. 

 " For with hempen cord it's better to stop each poor 

 man's breath, 

 Than with famine you should see your subjects 



starve to death. 

 Up starts a Dutch Lord, who to Delaware did say, 

 Thou deservest to be stabb'd 1 then he turned him- 

 self away : 

 " Thou deservest to be stabb'd, and the dogs have thine 

 ears, 

 For insulting our King in this Parliament of peers ; 

 Up sprang a Welsh Lord, the brave Duke of Devon- 

 shire, 

 In young Delaware's defence, I'll fight this Dutch 

 Lord, my sire. 



