As I Walked By A Forest Side

For Chrismas

Words and Music: Middle English Carol prior to the 16th Century
From Richard Hill's Common-place Book, Manuscript 354, folio. 178, pp. 374-375.
See: As I Walked By A Forest Side - Froude
Compare:  As I Came By A Grene Forest Syde

Source: Roman Dyboski, ed., Songs, Carols, and Other Miscellaneous Poems. From the Balliol MS. 354, Richard Hill's Commonplace-Book. (London: Published for the Early English Text Society by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Limited, 1907) (issued in 1908), pp. 103-104. Early English Text Society, Extra Series, No. CI. The manuscript is held in the Balliol College Library, Oxford.

87. How ! we shall have game & sport ynow !

(1)

As I walked by a forest side,
I met with a foster ; he bad me a-bid.
At a place wher he me sett, [leaf 178]
He bad me, what tyme an hart I met,
That I shuld let slyppe & say " go bett " ;
With " hay go bet, hay go bett, hay go bett,"
How ! we shall haue game & sport ynow.

(2)

I had not stond ther but a while,
Ye, not þe montenance of a myle,
But a gret hart cam rennyng, withowt any gile ;
With " þer he goth, þer he goth, þer he gothe " !
How ! we shall haue game & sport ynow.

(3)

I had no sonner my howndis lat goo,
But the hart was over-throwe,
Than euery man began to blowe,
With " trororo, trororo, trororo,"
How ! we shall haue game & sport ynow.

Note:

In his Glossary, p. 196, Dyboski gives this definition:

montenance (for montance, "appar. simulating the form of maintenance"), amount, space, extent (used of time).

Thus, 'not the montenance of a myle' is understood to be 'not the time it takes to go a mile.' See Chambers & Sidgwick, Early English Lyrics (1907), the note on p. 370 to Carol CXXVI, 'Lord, how shall I me complain.'

In Dyboski's Notes, p. 186, he also prints Wynkyn de Worde's text of 1521 as reprinted from the Douce Fragment 94b, Bodlein, in Anglia Vol. 12 (1889), p. 587 by Ew. Flügel (right)., and also in Flügel's Neuenglisches Lesebuch (Halle, 1895), p. 151.

A caroll of huntynge.

As I came by a grene forest syde
I met with a forster y' badde me abyde
w^t hey go bet /hey go bet /hey go howe[!]

Underneath a tre I dyde me set
And with a grete hert anone I met
I badde let slyppe/and sayd hey go bet
with hey go bet /hey go bet howe[!]

I had not stande there but a whyle
For the mountenaunce of a myle
There came a grete herte without gyle
There he gothe/ there he gothe[!] [hey go howe!]
We shall haue sporte and game ynowe[!]

Talbot my houde with a mery taste
All about the grene wode he gan cast
I toke my horne and blew him a blast
With tro / ro / ro / ro : tro / ro / ro / ro.
With hey go bet /hey go bet. [howe!]
There he gothe /there he goth [hey go howe!]
We shall haue sport and game ynowe.

Finis.

(Aus Wynkyn de Worde's Christmassu carolles 1521, Douce Fragm. 94B; Bodl. Lib. Oxford.)

Note:

Flügel prints this together with several other Forester carols. On pages 123-124, he also prints the Boar's Head Carols from Hill and de Worde. This volume contains a remarkable collection of English carols; those devoted to Weilhachtslieder (Winter Night Songs) are found on pp. 121-150. The full title of the volume is Neuenglisches Lesebuch. Zur Einführung In Das Studium Der Denkmäler Selbst Nach Den Handschriften Und Ältesten Drucken Herausgegeben Von Ewald Flügel (Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1895). A PDF of the scanned volume is available at Google Books, Neuenglisches Lesebuch-Google, and at the Internet Archive, Neuenglisches Lesebuch-IA.