"Yield thee, Lord Percy," Douglas said,
In faith I will thee bring

Where thou shalt high advanced be,

By James, our Scottish king :1

"Thy ransom I will freely give,
And this report of thee,
Thou art the most courageous knight
That ever I did see."

"No, Douglas," quoth Earl Percy then,
"Thy proffer I do scorn;
I will not yield to any Scot
That ever yet was born."

With that there came an arrow keen
Out of an English bow,

Which struck Earl Douglas to the heart,
A deep and deadly blow;

Who never spoke more words than these,
"Fight on my merry men2 all;
For why, my life is at an end;

Lord Percy sees my fall."3

Then leaving life, Earl Percy took
The dead man by the hand,

And said, "Earl Douglas, for thy life
Would I had lost my land!

(1) James our Scottish king-There is much difficulty in fixing the date of the hunting in Chevy Chace. Mention is here made of "James our Scottish king," and a little before, of "Henry our (the English) king." Now it appears that James I. of Scotland came to the throne in 1424, just two years after the accession of Henry VI. of England, so that, in accordance with these data, the hunting must have taken place after 1424, and yet reference is made in the poem to the subsequent battle of Homildon Hill, which we know was fought in 1402, in the reign of Henry IV., when Robert III., father of James I., was alive. The only possible way of reconciling these discrepancies is to suppose that the author of the ancient ballad mistook Robert for James.

(2) My merry men-a common expression in old ballads, nearly equivalent to "my brave fellows."

(3) Lord Percy sees my fall-The introduction of this aggravating circumstance is much commended by Addison, as also Earl Percy's taking the dead man by the hand.

"Ah me! my very heart doth bleed
With sorrow for thy sake;

For sure a more redoubted1 knight
Mischance did never take."

A knight amongst the Scots there was,
Which saw Earl Douglas die,
Who straight in wrath did vow revenge
Upon the Lord Percy :

Sir Hugh Montgomery was he called ;
Who with a spear most bright,
Well mounted on a gallant steed,
Ran fiercely through the fight;

And passed the English archers all,
Without all dread or fear:

And through Earl Percy's body then
He thrust his hateful spear:2

With such a vehement force and might
He did his body gore,

The spear went through the other side
A large cloth-yard, and more.

So thus did both these nobles die,
Whose courage none could stain:
An English archer then perceived
The noble earl was slain;

He had a bow bent in his hand,
Made of a trusty tree;
An arrow of a cloth-yard long
Up to the head drew he

Against Sir Hugh Montgomery
So right the shaft he set,
The grey-goose wing that was thereon

In his heart's blood was wet.

(1) Redoubted-formidable; from the French, redouter, to fear, dread. (2) Each earl died, it will be observed, by the national weapon of his enemy; the Scot by an English arrow, the Englishman by a Scottish spear.

This fight did last from break of day
Till setting of the sun,1

For when they rung the evening bell,
The battle scarce was done.

With stout Earl Percy there was slain
Sir John of Egerton,

Sir Robert Ratcliffe, and Sir John,
Sir James that bold baròn:

And, with Sir George, and stout Sir James,
Both knights of good account,
Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slain,
Whose prowess did surmount.

For Witherington needs must I wail,
As one in doleful dumps,2

For when his legs were smitten off,
He fought upon his stumps.

And with Earl Douglas there was slain
Sir Hugh Montgomery,

Sir Charles Murray, that from the field
One foot would never flee.

(1) From break of day, &c.—This is not consistent with the opening of the ballad, where we are told of the huntsmen having dined before the arrival of Douglas and his men. In the old song this inconsistency is absent:

"This battle begun in Cheviot

An hour before the none (noon),

And when even-song bell was rung,

The battle was not half done."

It would appear from this quotation that the evening bell, or curfew, was substituted by the moderniser, after the Reformation, for the vesper bell of the ancient writer.

This ex

(2) Doleful dumps-i. e. “I, as one in deep concern, must lament." pression, which has now become ludicrous, was formerly only employed in the sense given above. Dump is by some derived from dumb, and thought to express the silent grief which arises from deep affliction. It sometimes signifies a melancholy strain of music. The moderniser has not in this instance improved upon the pathetic simplicity of the original, which runs thus :

"For Witherington my heart is woe,

That ever he slain should be;

For when both his legs were hewn in two,

Yet he knelt and fought on his knee.'

Sir Charles Murray of Ratcliffe, too,
His sister's son was he;

Sir David Lamb, so well esteemed,
But saved he could not be.

And the Lord Maxwell, in like case,
Did with Earl Douglas die ;
Of twenty hundred Scottish spears,
Scarce fifty-five did fly.

Of fifteen hundred Englishmen,
Went home but fifty-three;
The rest in Chevy Chace were slain,
Under the greenwood tree.

Next day did many widows come,
Their husbands to bewail;

They washed their wounds in brinish tears,

But all would not prevail.

Their bodies, bathed in purple gore,

They bore with them away;

They kissed them dead a thousand times,
Ere they were clad in clay.

The news was brought to Edenborrow,
Where Scotland's king did reign,
That brave Earl Douglas suddenly
Was with an arrow slain :

"O heavy news!" King James did
"Scotland can witness be,

I have not any captain more
Of such account as he."

Like tidings to King Henry came,
Within as short a space,

That Percy of Northumberland

Was slain in Chevy Chace.

say,

"Now God be with him," said our king,

"Sith' 'twill no better be;

I trust I have within my realm,

Five hundred as good as he.

(1) Sith-since. Another form is sithence, whence came since.

"Yet shall not Scots nor Scotland say,
But I will vengeance take:
I'll be revenged on them all,

For brave Earl Percy's sake."

This vow full well the king performed,
After, at Humbledown;I

In one day fifty knights were slain,
With lords of high renown;

And of the rest of small account
Did many hundreds die.-

Thus endeth the hunting of Chevy Chace,
Made by the Earl Percy.

God save the king! and bless this land,
With plenty, joy, and peace;
And grant, henceforth, that foul debate3
"Twixt noblemen may cease.

FEMALE NAMES.

IN Christian world MARY the garland wears;
REBECCA Sweetens on a Hebrew's ear;
Quakers for pure PRISCILLA are more clear;
And the light Gaul by amorous NINON Swears.

(1) Humbledown-Humbleton, or Homildon Hill, in Northumberland, where a battle took place in 1402, in which the Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur gained a complete victory over the Scots.

(2) Thus endeth-This battle at Homildon Hill, which was occasioned by the hunting in Chevy Chace, is called the ending of the hunting.

(3) Debate-this word, formerly used to denote every kind of contest, has in course of time come to mean verbal strife only.

Having displayed in the beginning of this ballad the tributes of praise which its merits have elicited, it is but fair to add, at the close, a contrary opinion delivered by a great authority. Dr. Johnson, in his "Life of Addison," while ridiculing Addison for having praised the ballad in the "Spectator," speaks of the "chill and lifeless imbecility of the poem;" and adds-" the story cannot possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind:" an opinion which, when compared with Dr. Percy's, given in a former note, proves how widely "doctors" may "differ."