Holde the, Persè, sayd the Doglas,

And i' feth I shall the brynge
Wher thowe shalte have a yerls wagis

Of Jamy our Scottish kynge.

35

Thoue shalte have thy ransom fre,

I hight the hear this thinge,
For the manfullyste man yet art thowe,

That ever I conqueryd in filde fightyng.

40

Nay “then’ sayd the lord Persè,

I tolde it the beforne,
That I wolde never yeldyde be

To no man of a woman born.

45

With that ther cam an arrowe hastely

Forthe off a mightie wane, *
Hit hathe strekene the yerle Duglas

In at the brest bane.

Thoroue lyvar and longs bathe
The sharp arrowe ys gane,

50 That never after in all his lyffe days

He spayke mo wordes but ane, [may, That was, † Fyghte ye, my merry men, whyllys ye

For my lyff days ben gan.

V. 33, helde. PC.

V. 49, throroue. PC. * Wane, i.e. ane. one, sc. man; an arrow came from a mighty one : from a mighty man.

+ This seems to have been a gloss added.

55

The Persè leanyde on his brande,

And sawe the Duglas de;
He tooke the dede man be the hande,

And sayd, Wo ys me for the !

To have savyde thy lyffe I wold have pertyd with
My landes for years thre,

60 For a better man of hart, nare of hande

Was not in all the north countrè.

Off all that se a Skottishe knyght,

Was callyd Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry, He sawe the Duglas to the deth was dyght;

He spendyd a spear a trusti tre:

65

He rod uppon a corsiare

Throughe a hondrith archery; He never styntyde, nar never blane

Tyll he came to the good lord Persè.

70

1

He set uppone the lord Persé

A dynte, that was full soare; With a suar spear of a myghtè tre

Clean thorow the body he the Persè bore,

Athe tothar syde, that a man myght se,

A large cloth yard and mare:
Towe bettar captayns wear nat in Cristiantè,
Then that day slain wear thare.

80

An archar of Northomberlonde

Say slean was the lord Persè,
He bar a bende-bow in his hande,

Was made off trusti tre :

An arow, that a cloth yarde was lang,

To th' hard stele halyde he;
A dynt, that was both sad and soar,

He sat on Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry.

85

The dynt yt was both sad and ó soar,'

That he of Mongon-byrry sete;
The swane-fethars, that his arrowe bar,

With his hart blood the wear wete.*

90

Ther was never a freake wone foot wolde fle,

But still in stour dyd stand,
Heawyng on yche othar, whyll the myght dre,

With many a bal ful brande.

95

This battell begane in Chyviat

An owar befor the none,
And when even-song bell' was rang

The battell was nat half done.

The tooke 'on' on ethar hand
Be the lyght off the mone;

100 V. 80, Say, i. e, sawe. V. 84, haylde. PC. V. 87, sar. PC.

This incident is taken from the battle of Otterbourn; in which Sir Hugh Montgomery, Knt. (son of John Lord Montgomery) was slain with an arrow. Vide Crawfurd's Peerage.

Many hade no strenght for to stande,

In Chyviat the hyllys abone.

1

Of fifteen hondrith archers of Ynglonde

Went away but fifti and thre;
Of twenty hondrith spear-men of Skotlonde, 105

But even five and fifti :

But all wear slayne Cheviat within :

The hade no strengthe to stand on he: The chylde may rue that is un-borne,

It was the mor pittè.

110

Thear was slayne with the lord Persè

Sir John of Agerstone,
Sir Roger the hinde Hartly,

Sir Wyllyam the bolde Hearone.

115

Sir Jorg the worthè Lovele

A knyght of great renowen, Sir Raff the ryche Rugbè

With dyntes wear beaten dowene.

For Wetharryngton my harte was wo,
That ever he slayne shulde be;

120 For when both his leggis wear hewyne in to,

He knyled and fought on hys kne.

Ther was slayne with the dougheti Douglas

Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry,
Sir Davye Lwdale, that worthè was,

His sistars son was he:

125

Sir Charles a Murrè, in that place,

That never a foot wolde fle;
Sir Hewe Maxwell, a lorde he was,

With the Duglas dyd he dey.

130

So on the morrowe the mayde them byears

Off byrch, and hasell so 'gray’; Many wedous with wepyng tears,*

Cam to fach ther makys a-way.

135

Tivydale may carpe off care,

Northombarlond may mayk grat mone,
For towe such captayns, as slayne wear thear,

On the march perti shall never be none.

V. 132, gay. PC.

V. 136, mon, PC. V. 138, non. PC. For the names in this and the foregoing page, see the remarks at the end of the next ballad.

* A common pleonasm, see the next poem, Fit 2nd, v. 155. So Harding in his Chronicle, chap. 140, fol. 148, describing the death of Richard 1., says,

He shrove him then unto Abbots thre

With great sobbyng. ... and wepyng teares. So likewise Cavendish, in his Life of Cardinal Wolsey, chap. 12, p. 31, 4to. “When the Duke heard this, he replied with weeping teares,” &c.