18

They fought until they both did sweat,
With swords of tempered steel;
Until the blood, like drops of rain,
They trickling down did feel.

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

Where thou shalt high advanced be

By James, our Scottish king:

Thy ransom I will freely give,
And this report of thee,

Thou art the most courageous knight
That ever I did see.'

'No, Douglas,' saith 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 spake more words than these :
'Fight on, my merry men all;

For why, my life is at an end;
Lord Percy sees my fall.'

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.

In truth! my very heart doth bleed
With sorrow for thy sake;
For sure a more redoubted knight
Mischance did never take.'

A knight amongst the Scots there was,
Who saw Earl Douglas die,

Who straight in wrath did vow revenge
Upon the Earl Percy :

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

And past the English archers all,
Without a dread or fear;

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

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

The staff ran 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
To the hard head haled he:

Against Sir Hugh Mountgomery
So right the shaft he set,

The gray goose wing that was thereon
In his heart's blood was wet.

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

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

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

Sir Robert Ratcliff, 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 my heart is woe
That ever he slain should be,
For when his legs were hewn in two,
He knelt and fought on his knee.*

*This stanza is from the old ballad, as being preferable in all respects to the corresponding one in the new:

'For Witherington I needs must wail,

As one in doleful dumps,

For when his legs were smitten off,

He fought upon his stumps.'

And with Earl Douglas there were slain
Sir Hugh Mountgomery,

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

Sir Charles Murray of Ratcliff, 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-Chase 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 blood,

They bore with them away;

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

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

'O heavy news,' King James did say,
'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-Chase :

'Now God be with him,' said our king,
'Since 'twill no better be;
I trust I have within my realm
Five hundred as good as he :

Yet shall not Scots or 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;

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-Chase,
Made by the Earl Percy.

God save the king, and bless this land,
With plenty, joy, and peace;

And grant, henceforth, that foul debate
'Twixt noblemen may cease.*

*The popular ballad of Chevy-Chase, here reprinted, is believed to have been written about the year 1600; but it was not an original composition. There was an older ballad of somewhat greater length, and more rudely constructed, as might be expected in a composition of earlier age. They are both printed in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. It is now believed that these ballads have no more than a foundation in fact. There certainly existed in the fourteenth century a strong feeling of rivalry between the English Earl of Northumberland and the Scottish Earl of Douglas, and this had in general ample occasion for display in the wars then carried on between the two countries. In 1388, during the reigns of Richard II. of England and Robert III. of Scotland, the Scots under Douglas invaded and ravaged the English border. They were met at Otterbourne by an English party under Henry Percy (surnamed Hotspur), son of the Earl of Northumberland, when a keen contest took place, which resulted in the captivity of Percy by the Scots, who, however, had their triumph saddened by the death of their brave commander. The known incidents of this fight furnish the chief materials of the ballad, both in its ancient and comparatively modern form: but here a difficulty meets us. There is no historical record of such an occasion for a battle as the hunting of Cheviot holds forth. It is nevertheless not improbable that, amidst the mutual jealousies of these great lords, a Percy might indulge in such a freak as hunting upon the grounds of his enemy, the Douglas, and that a battle might be the consequence; and indeed a fight did take place between these lords at Pepperden, not far from the Cheviot Hills, in 1436. This might be the battle which the poet meant to describe; but, writing perhaps a hundred years after even that later incident, he might easily confound the two conflicts, and give the transactions of the one in connection with the occasion of the other.

The modern version of Chevy-Chase is mainly an improvement upon the original; but it is scarcely so good in a few particular passages, and in one the meaning of the old writer has been mistaken. This ballad has for ages been admired by the learned and refined, as well as by the common people.

Chevy-Chase, the scene of the ballad, was the extensive hunting-ground afforded by the Cheviot Hills between Scotland and England-then partially covered with wood, and stocked with deer and roe, though now bare, and devoted to sheep-pasture alone.

THE BEGGAR'S DAUGHTER OF

BETHNAL-GREEN.*

FIT FIRST.

IT was a blind beggar had long lost his sight,
He had a fair daughter of beauty most bright:
And many a gallant brave suitor had she,
For none was so comely as pretty Bessie.

And though she was of favour most fair,
Yet seeing she was but a poor beggar's heir,
Of ancient housekeepers despised was she,
Whose sons came as suitors to pretty Bessie.

Wherefore in great sorrow fair Bessie did say :
'Good father and mother, let me go away
To seek out my fortune, whatever it be.'
This suit then they granted to pretty Bessie.

Then Bessie that was of beauty so bright,
All clad in gray russet, and late in the night,
From father and mother alone parted she,
Who sighed and sobbed for pretty Bessie.

*This popular English ballad is believed to have been written in the reign of Elizabeth. Like almost every other ballad which has been preserved principally by tradition, there are various versions of it, all less or more differing from each other. The version we have adopted is that which has appeared in The Book of British Ballads, a work of great elegance and taste, edited by Mr S. C. Hall, having been revised by him from the version in Dr Percy's Reliques of English Poetry and a black-letter copy preserved in the British Museum. The ballad in the British Museum is entitled The Rarest Ballad that ever was seen of the Blind Beggar's Daughter of Bednal-Green. Printed by and for W. Ouley; and are to be sold by C. Bates at the sign of the Sun and Bible in Pye Corner. With reference to one of the main events in the ballad, history mentions that at the decisive battle of Evesham, fought August 4, 1265, when Simon de Montfort, the great Earl of Leicester, was slain at the head of the barons, his eldest son, Henry, fell by his side; and in consequence of that defeat his whole family sunk for ever, the king bestowing their great honours and possessions on his second son, Edmund Earl of Lancaster. The angel,' a coin alluded to in the ballad, was of gold, and of the value of about ten shillings. It received its name from having on one side a representation of archangel Michael killing the dragon.