42 1 Rode foremost of the company, Whose armour shone like gold.1 "Show me," said he, "whose men you be, That, without my consent, do chase And kill my fallow deer." The first man that did answer make, Who said, "We list2 not to declare, "Yet will we spend our dearest blood, Then Douglas swore a solemn oath, : "Ere thus I will out-braved be, I know thee well, an earl thou art, “But trust me, Percy, pity it were, "Let thou and I the battle try, Then stepped a gallant squire forth, “That e'er my captain fought on foot, You be two earls," quoth Witherington, "And I a squire alone: Whose armour-i. e. and his armour, who is, in old English, often used for and he, or and they. The Latin qui is constantly employed in the same way. 2 We list not-we care not-we are not disposed. "I'll do the best that do I may, Our English archers bent their bows, Yet bides Earl Douglas on the bent,1 His host he parted had in three, Throughout the English archery And throwing straight their bows away, They closed full fast on every side, Bent-hillside, declivity, field of battle. 2 Ware-wary, cautious. 3 The four preceding stanzas were introduced by Bishop Percy, from the ancient ballad, in the place of "the unmeaning lines" of the modernised edition, which are given here as a puzzle for the ingenious: "To drive the deer with hound and horn, Douglas bade on the bent; Two captains moved with mickle might And oh! it was a grief to see, At last these two stout earls did meet, They fought until they both did sweat, "Yield thee, Lord Percy," Douglas said, Where thou shalt high advanced be "Thy ransom I will freely give, Thou art the most courageous knight "No, Douglas," quoth Earl Percy then, "Thy proffer I do scorn; I will not yield to any Scot With that there came an arrow keen Out of an English bow, Which struck Earl Douglas to the heart, 1 Wode-mad, fierce, wild, It seems to be connected with the word wild. 2 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. Who never spoke more words than these, Then leaving life, Earl Percy took "Ah me! my very heart doth bleed A knight amongst the Scots there was, Sir Hugh Montgomery was he called; And passed the English archers all, And through Earl Percy's body then With such a vehement force and might The spear went through the other side 1 My merry men-a common expression in old ballads, nearly equivalent to "my brave fellows." 2 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. 3 Redoubted-formidable, from the French, redouter, to fear, dread. 4 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. So thus did both these nobles die He had a bow bent in his hand, Against Sir Hugh Montgomery The grey-goose wing that was thereon This fight did last from break of day For when they rung the evening-bell, With the Earl Percy there was slain Sir Robert Ratcliffe, and Sir John, And, with Sir George, and stout Sir James, For Witherington needs must I wail, 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,) 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. 2 Doleful dumps-i. e. "I, as one in deep concern, must lament." This expression, which has now become ludicrous, was formerly only employed in the sense given above. Dump is by some derived from dumb, and thought to xpress the silent grief which arises from deep affliction. It sometimes |