He had a bow bent in his hand,
Made of a trusty tree;
An arrow of a cloth-yard long
Up to the head drew hee:
Against Sir Hugh Mountgomerye,
So right the shaft he sett,

The grey goose-winge that was thereon,
In his harts bloode was wette.

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

For when they rung the evening-bell,1
The battel scarce was done.

With stout Erle Percy there was slaine
Sir John of Egerton,2

Sir Robert Ratcliff, and Sir John,

Sir James that bold barròn:

And with Sir George and stout Sir James,
Both knights of good account,
Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slaine,
Whose prowesse did surmount.

For Witherington needs must I wayle,
As one in doleful dumpes ;3

For when his leggs were smitten off,
He fought upon his stumpes.

And with Erle Douglas, there was slaine
Sir Hugh Montgomerye,

Sir Charles Murray, that from the feeld
One foote wold never flee.

Sir Charles Murray, of Ratcliff, too,
His sisters sonne was hee;

Sir David Lamb, so well esteem'd,
Yet saved cold not bee.

And the Lord Maxwell in like case
Did with Erle Douglas dye:

Of twenty hundred Scottish speres,
Scarce fifty-five did flye.

1 Sc. the Curfew bell, usually rung at 8 o'clock: to which the modernizer apparently alludes, instead of the "Evensong bell," or bell for vespers of the original author, before the Reformation.

2 For the surnames, see the notes at the end of the ballad.

8 i. e. "I, as one in deep concern, must lament." The construction here has generally been misunderstood. The old MS. reads wofull dumpes."

Of fifteen hundred Englishmen,
Went home but fifty-three;
The rest were slaine in Chevy-Chace,
Under the greene woode tree.
Next day did many widowes come,
Their husbands to bewayle;

They washt their wounds in brinish teares,
But all wold not prevayle.

Theyr bodyes, bathed in purple gore,
They bare with them away:

They kist them dead a thousand times,
Ere they were cladd in clay.

The news was brought to Eddenborrow,
Where Scottlands king did raigne,
That brave Erle Douglas suddenlye
Was with an arrow slaine:

O heavy newes, King James did say,
Scotland may witnesse bee,

I have not any captaine more
Of such account as hee.

Like tydings to King Henry came,
Within as short a space,

That Percy of Northumberland
Was slaine in Chevy-Chace :

Now God be with him, said our king,
Sith it will noe better bee;

I trust I have, within my realme,
Five hundred as good as hee:

Yett shall not Scotts nor Scotland say,
But I will vengeance take:

I'll be revenged on them all,

For brave Erle Percyes sake.

This vow full well the king perform'd
After, at Humbledowne;

In one day, fifty knights were slayne,
With lords of great renowne :

And of the rest, of small acount,
Did many thousands dye :

Thus endeth the hunting of Chevy-Chase,
Made by the Erle Percy.

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

And grant henceforth, that foule debate

'Twixt noblemen may cease.

Since the former impression of these volumes, hath been published a new edition of "Collins's Peerage," 1779, &c. nine vols. 8vo. which contains, in volume ii. p. 344, an historical passage, which may be thought to throw considerable light on the subject of the preceding ballad: viz.

"In this year, 1436, according to Hector Boethius, was fought the Battle of Pepperden, not far from the Cheviot Hills, between the Earl of Northumberland [2d Earl, son of Hotspur] and Earl William Douglas, of Angus, with a small army of about four thousand men each, in which the latter had the advantage. As this seems to have been a private conflict between these two great chieftains of the borders, rather than a national war, it has been thought to have given rise to the celebrated old ballad of Chevy-Chace; which to render it more pathetic and interesting, has been heightened with tragical incidents wholly fictitious." See Ridpath's Border Hist. 4to. p. 401.

The surnames in the foregoing ballad are altered, either by accident or design, from the old original copy, and in common editions extremely corrupted. They are here rectified, as much as they could be. Thus,

Ver. 202. "Egerton."] This name is restored (instead of Ogerton, com. ed.) from the Editor's folio manuscript. The pieces in that manuscript appear to have been collected, and many of them composed (among which might be this ballad), by an inhabitant of Cheshire: who was willing to pay a compliment here to one of his countrymen, of the eminent family de or of Egerton (so the name was first written) ancestors of the present Duke of Bridgewater; and this he could do with the more propriety, as the Percies had formerly great interest in that county at the fatal battle of Shrewsbury all the flower of the Cheshire gentlemen lost their lives fighting in the cause of Hotspur.

Ver. 203. "Ratcliff."] This was a family much distinguished in Northumberland. Edw. Radcliffe, mil. was sheriff of that county in 17 of Henry VII, and others of the same surname afterwards. (See Fuller, p. 313.) Sir George Ratcliff, Knt. was one of the commissioners of inclosure in 1552. (See Nicholson, p. 330.) Of this family was the late Earl of Derwentwater, who was beheaded in 1715. The Editor's folio manuscript, however, reads here, "Sir Robert Harcliffe and Sir William."

The Harcleys were an eminent family in Cumberland. (See Fuller, p. 224.) Whether this may be thought to be the same name, I do not determine.

"Baron."] This is apparently altered (not to say corrupted)

Ver. 204. from Hearone.

Ver. 207. "Raby."] This might be intended to celebrate one of the ancient possessors of Raby Castle, in the county of Durham. Yet it is

written Rebbye, in the fol. manuscript, and looks like a corruption of Rugby or Rokeby, an eminent family in Yorkshire. It will not be wondered that the Percies should be thought to bring followers out of that county, where they themselves were originally seated, and had always such extensive property and influence.

Ver. 215. Murray."] So the Scottish copy. In the com. edit. it is Carrel or Currel; and Morrell in the fol. manuscript.

Ver. 217. "Murray."] So the Scot. edit. The common copies read Murrel. The folio manuscript gives the line in the following peculiar

manner,

Sir Roger Heuer of Harcliffe too.

Ver. 219. "Lamb."] The folio manuscript has

Sir David Lambwell, well esteemed.

This seems evidently corrupted from "Lwdale" or "Liddell," in the old copy of the ballad.

II. DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST

These fine moral stanzas were originally intended for a solemn funeral song, in a play of James Shirley's, intitled, "The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses: no date, 8vo. Shirley flourished as a dramatic writer early in the reign of Charles I. but he outlived the Restoration. His death happened October 29, 1666, æt. 72.

This little poem was written long after many of those that follow, but is inserted here as a kind of Dirge to the foregoing piece. It is said to have been a favourite song with King Charles II.

THE glories of our birth and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate:
Death lays his icy hands on kings:
Scepter and crown

Must tumble down,

And in the dust be equal made

With the poor crooked scythe and spade.

Some men with swords may reap the field,
And plant fresh laurels where they kill;
But their strong nerves at last must yield;
They tame but one another still.
Early or late

They stoop to fate,

And must give up their murmuring breath,
When they pale captives creep to death.

The garlands wither on your brow,

Then boast no more your mighty deeds;
Upon death's purple altar now

See where the victor victim bleeds:
All heads must come

To the cold tomb,

Only the actions of the just

Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.

III. THE RISING IN THE NORTH

The subject of this ballad is the great northern insurrection in the 12th year of Elizabeth, 1569; which proved so fatal to Thomas Percy, the seventh Earl of Northumberland.

There had not long before been a secret negociation entered into between some of the Scottish and English nobility, to bring about a marriage between Mary Queen of Scots, at that time a prisoner in England, and the Duke of Norfolk, a nobleman of excellent character and firmly attached to the Protestant religion. This match was proposed to all the most considerable of the English nobility, and among the rest to the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, two noblemen very powerful in the north. As it seemed to promise a speedy and safe conclusion of the troubles in Scotland, with many advantages to the crown of England, they all consented to it, provided it should prove agreeable to Queen Elizabeth. The Earl of Leicester (Elizabeth's favourite) undertook to break the matter to her; but before he could find an opportunity, the affair had come to her ears by other hands, and she was thrown into a violent flame. The Duke of Norfolk, with several of his friends, was committed to the Tower, and summonses were sent to the northern Earls instantly to make their appearance at court. It is said that the Earl of Northumberland, who was a man of a mild and gentle nature, was deliberating with himself whether he should not obey the message, and rely on the queen's candour and clemency, when he was forced into desperate measures by a sudden report at midnight, Nov. 14, that a party of his enemies were come to seize on his person.1 The earl was then at his house at Topcliffe in Yorkshire. When rising hastily out of bed, he withdrew to the Earl of Westmoreland, at Brancepeth, where the country came in to them, and pressed them to take arms in their own defence. They accordingly set up their standards, declaring their intent was to restore the ancient religion, to get the succession to the crown firmly settled, and to prevent the destruction of the ancient nobility, &c. Their common banner? (on which was displayed the cross, together with the five wounds of Christ,) was borne by an ancient gentleman, Richard Norton, Esq. of Norton-Conyers: who with his sons (among whom Christopher, Marmaduke, and Thomas, are expressly named by Camden,) distin1 This circumstance is overlooked in the ballad.

2 Besides this, the ballad mentions the separate banners of the two noblemen