and the same party was taken by the other corps about Carlisle."

Such is the account collected by Carte, in which he seems not to be free from partiality: for prejudice must own that Froissart's circumstantial account carries a great appearance of truth, and he gives the victory to the Scots. He however does justice to the courage of both parties; and represents their mutual generosity in such a light, that the present age might edify by the example. "The Englysshmen on the one partye, and Scottes on the other party, are good men of warre, for whan they mete, there is a hard fighte without sparynge. There is no hoo betwene them as long as speares, swordes, axes, or dager wyll endure; but lay on eche upon other and whan they be well beaten, and that the one party hath obtayned the victory, they than glorifye so in 13eir dedes of armes, and are so joyfull, that suche as be taken, they shall be ransomed or they go out of the feldet; so that shortely eche of them is so contente with other, that at their departynge curtously they will saye, God thanke you. But in fyghtynge one with another there is no playe, nor sparynge." Froissart's Cronycle (as translated by Sir Johan Bourchier Lord Berners), cap. cxlij.

The following Ballad is (in this present edition) printed from an old MS. in the Cotton Library (Cleopatra, c. iv.) and contains many stanzas more than were in the former copy, which was transcribed from a MS. in the Harleian Collection [No. 293. fol. 52.] In the Cotton MS. this poem has no title, but in the Harleian copy it is thus inscribed, " A songe made in R. 2. his tyme of the battele of Otterburne, betweene Lord Henry Percye, Earle of Northomberlande, and the Earle Douglas of Scotlande, Anno 1388."-But this title is erroneous, and added by some ignorant transcriber of after-times: for, 1. The battle was not fought by the Earl of Northumberland, who was absent, but by his son Sir Henry Percy, Knt. surnamed Hotspur, (in those times they did not usually give the title of lord to an earl's eldest son.) 2. Although the battle was fought in Richard II.'s time, the song is evidently of later date, as appears from the poet's quoting the chronicles in Pt. II. ver. 26; and speaking of Percy in the last stanza as dead. It was however written in all likelihood as early as the foregoing song, if not earlier. This perhaps may be inferred from the minute circumstances with which the story is related, many of which are recorded in no chronicle, and were probably preserved in the memory of old people. It will be observed that the authors of these two poems have some lines in common; but which of them was the original proprietor must depend upon their priority; and this the sagacity of the reader must determine.

Yr felle abowght the Lamasse tyde,
When husbonds wynn ther have,
The dowhtye Dowglass bowynd hym to ryde,
In Ynglond to take a praye:

V. 2, winn their heaye, Harl. MS. This is the Northumberland phrase to this day: by which they always express "getting in their hay."

So in Langham's letter concerning Q. Elizabeth's entertainment at Killingworth Castle, 1575, 12mo. p. 61. "Heer was no ho in devout drynkyng."

ti. e. They scorn to take the advantage, or to keep them lingering in long captivity.

The notice of this MS. I must acknowledge with many other obligations, owink to the friendship of Thomas Tyrwhitt, Esq. late Clerk of the House of Commons.

The yerlle of Fyffe, withowghten stryffe,
He bowynd hym over Sulway+:
The grete wolde ever together ryde;
That race they may rue for aye.

Over 'Ottercap' hyll they‡ came in,
And so dowyn by Rodelyffecragge,
Upon Grene Leyton' they lighted dowyn,
Styrande many a stagge;

And boldely brente Northomberlonde,
And haryed many a towyn;
They dyd owr Ynglyssh men grete wrange,
To battell that were not bowyn.

Than spake a berne upon the bent,

Of comforte that was not colde, And sayd, We have brent Northomberlond, We have all welth in holde.

Now we have haryed all Bamboroweshyre,
All the welth in the worlde have wee;
I rede we ryde to Newe Castell,
So styll and stalwurthlye.

Uppon the morowe, when it was daye,
The standards schone fulle bryght;
To the Newe Castelle the toke the waye,
And thether they cam fulle ryght.

Sir Henry Percy laye at the Newe Castelle,
I telle yow withowtten drede;
He had byn a march-mang all bys dayes,
And kepte Barwyke upon Twede.

To the Newe Castell when they cam,

The Skottes they cryde on hyght,
Syr Harye Percy, and thow byste within,
Com to the fylde, and fyght:

For we have brente Northomberlonde,
Thy eritage good and ryght;
And syne my logeyng I have take,
With my brande dubbyd many a knyght.

Sir Harry Percy cam to the walles,
The Skottyssh oste for to se;
"And thow hast brente Northomberlond,
Full sore it rewyth me.

V. 12 This line is corrupt iu both the MSS. viz. ' Many a styrande stage.'-Stags have been killed within the present century on some of the large wastes in Northumberland. V. 39, syne seems here to mean since.

• Robert Stewart, second son of King Robert II.

i. e. "over Solway frith." This evidently refers to the other division of the Scottish army, which came in by way of Carlisle. Bowynd, or Bounde him: i. e. hied him. Vid. Gloss.

They sc. the Earl of Douglas and his party.---The several stations here mentioned are well-known places in Northumberland. Ottercap-hill is in the parish of KirkWhelpington, in Tynedale-ward. Rodeliffe- (or as it is more usually pronounced Rodeley-) Cragge is a noted cliff near Rodeley, a small village in the parish of Hartburn, in Morpeth ward it lies south-east of Ottercap, and has, within these few years, been distinguished by a small tower erected by Sir Walter Blacket, Bart., which, in Armstrong's map of Northumberland, is pompously called Rodeley-castle. Green Leyton is another sinall village in the same parish of Hartburn, and is south-east of Rodeley.--Both the original MSS. read here corruptly, Hoppertop and Lynton.

Marche-man. i. e. a scowrer of the marches.

-

V. 53, Roe-bucks were to be found upon the wastes not far from Hexham in the reign of Geo. I. Whitfield, Esq., of Whitfield, is said to have destroyed the last of them. V. 56, hye, MSS. V. 77, upon the best bent, MS.

• Otterbourn is near the old Watling-street road, in the parish of Elsdon. The Scots were encamped in a grassy plain near the river Read. The place where the Scots and English fought is still called Battle Riggs.

My lorde, your father he gretes yow well, Wyth many a noble knyght;

He desyres yow to byde

That he may see thys fyght.

V. 1, 13, Pearcy. al. MS. V. 4. I will hold to what I have promised. V. 10, hye, MSS. V. 11. the one. MS. The Earl of Menteith. + The Lord Buchan. He probably magnifies his strength to induce him to surrender.

All that follows, included in brackets. was not in the first edition.

35

V. 116, slayne, MSS. V. 124, i. e. He died that day. V. 143, Covelle, M.S.-For the names in this page sce the Remarks at the end of this ballad.

Being all in armour he could not know him.

Our old minstrel repeats these names, as Homer and Virgil do those of their heroes:

"fortemque Gyam, fortemque Cloanthum, &c. &c. Both the MSS. read here, "Sir James," but see, above, pt. I. ver. 112.

into Sir Hugh. So above, in No I. v. 90, Richard is contracted into Ric.

Ver. 109, Swynton,] i. e. The Laird of Swintone; a small village within the Scottish border, 3 miles from Norham. This family still subsists, and is very ancient.

Ver. 111, Scotte.] The illustrious family of Scot, ancestors of the Duke of Buccleugh, always made a great figure on the borders. Sir Walter Scot was at the head of this family when the battle was fought; but his great-grandson, Sir Davia Scot, was the hero of that house when the ballad was written.

Ibid, Stewarde.] The person here designed was probably Sir Walter Stewart, Lord of Dalswinton and Gairlies, who was eminent at that time. (See Doug.) From him is descended the present Earl of Galloway.

Ver. 112, Agurstone.] The seat of this family was sometimes subject to the Kings of Scotland. Thus Richardus Hagerstoun, miles, is one of the Scottish knights who signed a treaty with the English in 1249, temp. Hen. III. (Nicholson, p. 2,

note.) It was the fate of many parts of Northumberland often to change their masters, according as the Scottish or English arms prevailed.

Ver. 129, Morrey.] The person here meant was probably Sir Charles Murray of Cockpoole, who flourished at that time, and was ancestor of th Murrays some time Earls of Annandale. See Doug Peerage.

Ver. 139, Fitz-hughe.] Dugdale (in his Baron, vol. i. p. 403) informs us that John, son of Henry Lord Fitzhugh, was killed at the battle of Otterbourne. This was a Northumberland family. Vid. Dugd. p. 403, col. 1, and Nicholson, pp. 33, 60.

Ver. 141, Harebotell.] Harbottle is a village upon the river Coquet, about 10 miles west of Rothbury. The family of Harbottle was once considerable in Northumberland. (See Fuller, pp. 312, 313.) A daughter of Guischard Harbottle, Esq., married Sir Thomas Percy, knt. son of Henry, the fifth, and father of Thomas, the seventh, Earls of Northumberland.

Is founded upon the supposed practice of the Jews in crucifying or otherwise murthering Christian children, out of hatred to the religion of their parents: a practice which hath been always alleged in excuse for the cruelties exercised upon that wretched people, but which probably never happened in a single instance. For, if we consider, on the one hand, the ignorance and superstition of the times when such stories took their rise, the virulent prejudices of the monks who record them, and the eagerness with which they would be catched up by the barbarous populace as a pretence for plunder; on the other hand, the great danger incurred by the perpetrators, and the inadequate motives they could have to excite them to a crime of so much horror; we may reasonably conclude the whole charge to be groundless and malicious.

The following ballad is probably built upon some Italian Legend, and bears a great resemblance to the Prioresse's Tale in Chaucer: the poet seems also to have had an eye to the known story of Hugh of Lincoln, a child said to have been there murthered by the Jews in the reign of Henry III. The conclusion of this ballad appears to be wanting: what it probably contained may be seen in Chaucer. As for Mirryland Toun, it is probably a corruption of Milan (called by the Dutch Meylandt) Town: the Pa is evidently the river Po, although the Adige, not the Po, runs through Milan.

Printed from a MS. copy sent from Scotland.

THE rain rins doun through Mirry-land toune,
Sae dois it doune the Pa:
Sae dois the lads of Mirry-land toune,
Quhan they play at the ba'.

Than out and cam the Jewis dochter,
Said, Will ye cum in and dine?
"I winnae cum in, I cannae cum in,
Without my play-feres nine."

Scho powd an apple reid and white

To intice the zong thing in:
Scho powd an apple white and reid,

And that the sweit bairne did win.
And scho has taine out a little pen-knife,
And low down by her gair,
Scho has twin'd the zong thing and his life;
A word he nevir spak mair.

And out and cam the thick thick bluid,
And out and cam the thin;
And out and cam the bonny herts bluid:
Thair was nae life left in.

Scho laid him on a dressing borde,
And drest him like a swine,
And laughing said, Gae nou and pley
With zour sweit play-feres nine.
Scho rowd him in a cake of lead,

Bade him lie stil and sleip.
Scho cast him in a deip draw-well,
Was fifty fadom deip.

Quhan bells wer rung, and mass was sung,
And every lady went hame :
Than ilka lady had her zong sonne,
Bot Lady Helen had nane.

Scho rowd hir mantil hir about,
And sair sair gan she weip:

And she ran into the Jewis castèl,
Quhan they wer all asleip.