Luke Huttons lamentation: which he wrote the day before his death, being | condemned to be hanged at Yorke this last assises for his robberies and | trespasses committed. To the tune of Wandering and wauering &c.

I am a poore prisoner condemned to dye,
   ah woe is me woe is me for my great folly,
Fast fettred in yrons in place where I lie
   Be warned yong wantons, hemp passeth green holly.1
My parents were of good degree2
   by whom I would not counselled be,
Lord Iesu forgiue me with mercy releeue me,
Receiue O sweet sauiour my spirit vnto thee.
¶My name is Hutton, yea Luke of bad life
   ah woe is me woe is me for my great folly:
Which on the highway robd man and wife,
   be warned yong wantons, &c.
Inticed by many a gracelesse mate,
Whose counsel I repent too late.
	Lord, &c.
¶Not twentie yeeres old alas was I
   ah woe is me woe is me, &c.
When I began this fellonie
   be warned yong wantons, &c.
With me went stil twelue yeomen, tall
Which I did my twelue Apostles call.
	Lord, &c.
¶There was no Squire nor barron bold
   ah woe is me woe is me for my great folly:
That rode the way with siluer or gold,
   be warned yong wantons, &c.
But I and my twelue Apostles gaie,
would lighten their load ere they went away,
	lord, &c.
¶This newes procured my kins-folkes griefe,
   ah woe is me woe is me
They hearing I was a famous theefe
   be warned yong wantons,
They wept they wailde they wrong their hands
that thus I should hazard life and lands.3
	lord, &c.
¶They made me a Iaylor a little before,
   ah woe, &c.
to keep in prison offenders store,
   be warned, &c.
But such a Iaylor was neuer none,
I went and let them out euerie one.
	 lord, &c.
¶I wist their sorrow sore grieued me
   ah woe is mee, &c.
Such proper men should hanged be
   be warned yong, &c.
My office then I did defie
And ran away for company.
	 lord, &c.
Three yeeres I liued vpon the spoile
   ah woe is me, &c.
Giuing many a carle the foile4
   be warned yong &c.
Yet neuer did I kil man nor wife
though lewdly long I led my life.
	 lord, &c.
¶But all too bad my deedes hath been,
   ah woe is me, &c.
Offending my country and my good queene,
   be warned yong, &c.
All men in Yorke-shire talke of me,
A stronger theefe there could not be.
   lord, &c.
¶Vpon S. Lukes day was I borne,
   ah woe, &c.
whom want of grace hath made a scorne.
   bewar, &c.
   in honor of my birth day then,
I robd in a brauery nineteene men.
   Lord, &c.
¶The country weary to beare this wrong,
   ah woe is me, &c.
With hue and cries pursude me long:5
   bewar, &c.
Though long I scapt, yet loe at last,
London I was in newgate cast.
There did I lye with a grieued [mi]nde,
   ah woe is me, &c.
Although the keeper was gentle and kinde,
   be warned yong, &c.
Yet was he not so kinde as I,
to let me [out] at libertie. 	lord, &c.
¶At last the shiriffe of Yorke-shire came,
   ah woe is me, &c.
And in a warrant he had my name,
   be warned yong, &c.
[Said] he at Yorke thou must be tride,
With me therefore hence must thou ride,
 	 lord &c.
¶Like the pangues of death his words did sound,
   ah woe is me, &c.
My hands and armes ful fast he bound,
   be warned, &c.
Good sir quoth I, I had rather stay,
I haue no heart to ride that way.
 	 lord, &c.
¶When no intreaty might preuaile,
   ah woe is me, &c.
I calde for beere, for wine and ale,
   be warned, &c.
And when my heart was in wofull case,
I drunke to my friends with a smiling face.
 	 lord, &c.
¶With clubs and staues I was garded then,
   ah woe is me, &c.
I neuer before had such waiting men
   be warned, &c.
If they had ridden before amaine,
Beshrew me if I had calde them againe.
   lord, &c.
¶And when vnto Yorke that I was come,
   ah, &c.
Each one on me did passe their doome.
   bewar, &c.
and whilst you liue this sentence note,
Euill men can neuer haue good report.
   lord, &c.
¶Before the iudges when I was brought,
   ah woe is me, &c.
Be sure I had a carefull thought,
   be, &c.
Nine score inditements and seauenteene,
against me there was read and seene. 	
   lord, &c.
¶And each of these was fellony found,
   ah woe is me, &c.
which did my heart with sorrow wound,
   be, &c.
What should I heerin longer stay,
For this I was condemned that day. 	
   lord, &c.
¶My death each houre I do attend,
   ah woe is me:
In prayer and teares my time I spend,
   be, &c.
And all my louing friends this day,
I do intreate for me to pray. 	
   Lord &c.
¶I haue deserued long since to die,
 	 ah woe, &c.
A viler sinner liude not then I:
On friends I hopte my life to saue,6
But I am fittest for my graue:
   Lord, &c.
¶Adue my louing frends each one,
   ah woe is me woe is me for my great folly,
Thinke on my words when I am gone,
   be warned young wantons, &c.
When on the ladder you shal me view,
thinke I am neerer heauen then you.
 	 Lord &c.

               FINIS.     Hutton.7

Printed at London for Thomas | Millington. 1598.

Context

Luke Hutton was an Elizabethan highwayman who turned author in gaol. However, it is fairly certain that he did not write this ballad, either the day before his execution or at any other time. His two undoubted works are a lengthy verse repentance and a pamphlet on the abuses of Newgate officers called The Black Dog of Newgate. The date of the ballad is uncertain. It was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 22 December 1595. At that point Hutton was in Newgate gaol. He was still alive in gaol on 16 February 1596, when the justices recommitted him for further investigation. After this, it appears he was sent to York; where he was presumably hanged, as it says in the ballad. However, the earliest extant copy of the ballad, the text of which is here followed, bears the date 1598. There are thus two puzzles connected with Luke Huttons Lamentation. The first question is, what relation did the ballad registered in 1595 bear to the extant text? It cannot have told of Hutton’s being remanded to York, or of his execution there, since those events had not yet happened. The second question is, when was Hutton hanged? In 1596? Or was he kept in gaol until 1598, and only then tried and executed? Whatever were the actual events of Hutton’s final months or years, the ballad itself is one of the liveliest, as well as one of the earliest, of the surviving execution ballads. It was several times reprinted in Restoration England, at a time when Hutton and his crimes had become a distant memory.

Textual Note

Words in square brackets conjectured by Collman. However, the Restoration copies have ‘goe’ where he conjectures ‘out’ (‘to let me goe at libertie’) and ‘Quoth’ where he conjectures ‘Said’.

Notes

• hemp passeth green holly: ‘hemp’ here alludes to the hempen rope of the hangman, as ‘green holly’ to the flexible peeled holly suckers that were used to beat children.  [return]
• My parents were of good degree: according to some accounts, Hutton was the son of the Archbishop of York.  [return]
• hazard life and lands: the property of a convicted felon was forfeit to the Crown.  [return]
• carle: rich man of non-gentle birth; miser; farmer. | foile: defeat, disgrace.  [return]
• hue and cries: the official pursuits that were set in motion after a robbery was reported.  [return]
• On friends I hopte my life to saue: ‘I hoped that my relatives would intervene and obtain a pardon for me.’  [return]
• Hutton: so in original; but this ballad is most unlikely to be by Hutton himself. The style of his two surviving poems is both more pretentious and a good deal less lively than this.  [return]