the
church. In the collection entitled 'Political Songs' we have some
reflecting on Henry III., some on the general administration. The famous
song on the battle of Lewes in 1264 is the earliest in English; but in
the reign of Edward I. several occur in that language. Others are in
French or in Latin; one complaining of the taxes is in an odd mixture of
these two languages; which, indeed, is not without other examples in
mediaeval poetry. These Latin songs could not, of course, have been
generally understood. But what the priests sung in Latin, they said in
English; the lower clergy fanned the flame, and gave utterance to what
others felt. It may, perhaps, be remarked, as a proof of general
sympathy with the democratic spirit which was then fermenting, that we
have a song of exultation on the great defeat which Philip IV. had just
sustained at Courtrai, in 1302, by the burgesses of the Flemish cities,
on whose liberties he had attempted to trample (p. 187). It is true that
Edward I. was on ill terms with France, but the political interests of
the king would not, perhaps, have dictated the popular ballad.

It was an idle exaggeration in him who said that, if he could make the
ballads of a people, any one might make their laws. Ballads, like the
press, and especially that portion of the press which bears most analogy
to them, generally speaking, give vent to a spirit which has been at
work before. But they had, no doubt, an influence in rendering more
determinate, as well as more active, that resentment of wrong, that
indignation at triumphant oppression, that belief in the vices of the
great, which, too often for social peace and their own happiness, are
cherished by the poor. In comparison, indeed, with the efficacy of the
modern press, the power, of ballads is trifling. Their lively
sprightliness, the humorous tone of their satire, even their metrical
form, sheathe the sting; and it is only in times when political
bitterness is at its height that any considerable influence can be
attached to them, and then it becomes undistinguishable from more
energetic motives. Those which we read in the collection above mentioned
appear to me rather the signs of popular discontent than greatly
calculated to enhance it. In that sense they are very interesting, and
we cannot but desire to see the promised continuation to the end of
Richard II.'s reign.[478] They are said to have become afterwards less
frequent, though the wars of the