he calld then vp his litle foote page, & made him heyre of all his land, & he shope the crosse in his right sholder of the white flesh & the redd. 120 & he sent him into the holy land wheras Christ was quicke & dead.
[137] Ver. 19. _unbethought_, (properly _onbethought_) this word is still used in the Midland counties in the same sense as _bethought_.
[151] Every person who went on a _Croisade_ to the Holy Land, usually wore a cross on his upper garment, on the right shoulder, as a badge of his profession. Different nations were distinguished by crosses of different colours: The English wore white; the French red; &c. This circumstance seems to be confounded in the ballad. (V. Spelman, _Gloss_.)
_Child_ is frequently used by our old writers, as a Title. It is repeatedly given to Prince Arthur in the Fairie Queen: and the son of a king is in the same poem called "Child Tristram." (B. 5. c. 11. st. 8. 13.--B. 6. c. 2. st. 36.--_Ibid._ c. 8. st. 15.) In an old ballad quoted in Shakespeare's _K. Lear_, the hero of Ariosto is called _Child Roland_. Mr. Theobald supposes this use of the word was received along with their romances from the Spaniards, with whom _Infante_ signifies a "Prince." A more eminent critic tells us, that "in the old times of chivalry, the noble youth, who were candidates for knighthood, during the time of their probation were called _Infans_, _Varlets_, _Damoysels_, _Bacheliers_. The most noble of the youth were particularly called _Infans_." (Vid. Warb. Shakesp.) A late commentator on Spenser observes, that the Saxon word cniht, knight, signifies also a "child." (See Upton's gloss to the F. Q.)
The Editor's folio MS. whence the following piece is taken (with some corrections), affords several other ballads, wherein the word _Child_ occurs as a title: but in none of these it signifies "Prince." See the song intitled _Gil Morrice_, in this volume.
It ought to be observed, that the Word _Child_ or _Chield_ is still used in North Britain to denominate a Man, commonly with some contemptuous character affixed to him, but sometimes to denote Man in general.
[This ballad gives us a curious insight into ancient manners, and shows what were our forefathers' notions of the perfection of female character. They would have agreed with the propounder of the question--What is woman's mission? answer, sub-mission. Like patient Grissel, Ellen bears worse sufferings than the Nut-Brown Maid has to hear of, and in spite of the worst usage she never swerves from her devotion. This English version was the first published, but the story is the same as _Lai le Frêne_, preserved in English in the Auchinleck MS. and in Norman in the _Lais_ of Marie, which were written about the year 1250.