An archer off Northomberlonde

Say slean was the lord Perse,
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;

80

A dynt, that was both sad and soar,

85

He sat on Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry.

The dynt yt was both sad and sar,

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.

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;

95

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. Vid. Crawford's Peerage. 17

VOL. I.

Many had no strenght for to stande,

In Chyviat the hyllys aboun.

Of fifteen hondrith archars 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 hie;

The chylde may rue that ys un-borne,

It was the mor pittè.

Thear was slayne with the lord Persè

Sir John of Agerstone,

Sir Roge the hinde Hartly,

Sir Wyllyam the bolde Hearone.

110

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;

For when both his leggis wear hewyne in to,

Yet he knyled and fought on hys kne.

115

120

Ther was slayne with the dougheti Douglas
Sir Hewe the Mongon-byrry,

Sir Davye Lwdale, that worthè was,

125

His sistars son was he:

Sir Charles a Murre, in that place,

That never a foot wolde fle;
Sir Hewe Maxwell, a lorde he was,
With the Duglas dyd he dey.

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.

Tivydale may carpe off care,

Northombarlond may mayk grat mone,

180

135

For towe such captayns, as slayne wear thear,
On the march perti shall never be none.

Word ys commen to Edden-burrowe,

To Jamy the Skottishe kyng,

140

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 2d. v. 155. So Harding, in his Chronicle, chap. 149. fol. 148. describing the death of Richard I, 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.

That dougheti Duglas, lyff-tenant of the Merches, He lay slean Chyviot with-in.

His handdes dyd he weal and wryng,
He sayd, Alas, and woe ys me!

Such another captayn Skotland within,

145

He sayd, y-feth shuld never be.

Worde ys commyn to lovly Londone
Till the fourth Harry our kyng,
That lord Perse, leyff-tennante of the Merchis,
He lay slayne Chyviat within.

150

God have merci on his soll, sayd kyng Harry, Good lord, yf thy will it be!

I have a hondrith captayns in Ynglonde, he sayd, As good as ever was hee:

But Perse, and I brook my lyffe,

Thy deth well quyte shall be.

As our noble kyng made his a-vowe,
Lyke a noble prince of renowen,
For the deth of the lord Perse,

He dyd the battel of Hombyll-down:

Wher syx and thritte Skottish knyghtes

On a day wear beaten down:

Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght,

Over castill, towar, and town.

V. 146. ye seth. PC. V. 149. cheyff tennante. PC.

155

160

This was the hontynge off the Cheviat;

That tear begane this spurn;

165

Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe,

Call it the Battell of Otterburn,

But yt was marvele, and the redde blude ronne

**The style of this and the following ballad is uncommonly rugged and uncouth, owing to their being writ in the very coarsest and broadest northern dialect,

The battle of Hombyll-down, or Humbledon, was fought Sept. 14, 1402 (anno 3 Hen. IV,) wherein the English, under the command of the E. of Northumberland, and his son Hotspur, gained a complete victory over the Scots. The village of HUMBLEDON is one mile north-west from Wooler, in Northumberland. The battle was fought in the field below the village, near the present Turnpike Road, in a spot called ever since Red-Riggs. Humbledon is in GLENDALE WARD, a district so named in this county, and mentioned above in ver. 163.