So on the morrowe the mayde them byears Many wedous with wepyng tears Tivydale may carpe off care, Northombarlond may mayk grat mone, Word ys commen to Edden-burrowe, To Jamy the Skottifle kyng, 139 140 V. 132. gay. PC. V. 136. mon PC. V 138. non. PC. For the Names in this and the foregoing page, fee the Remarks at the end of the next Ballad. A common pleonafm, fee the next poem, Fit. 2d. V. 155. fo Harding in his Chronicle, chap. 140. fol. 148. defcribing the death of Richard L fays, He fhrove him then unto Abbots thre and wepyng teares. So likewife Cavendish in his Life of Cardinal Wolfey, 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 flean Chyviot with-in. His handdes dyd he weal and wryng, Such another captayn Skotland within, 145 Worde y's commyn to lovly Londone That lord Perfè, leyff-tennante of the Merchis, God have merci on his foll, fayd kyng Harry, Good lord, yf thy will it be! 150 I have a hondrith captayns in Yynglonde, he fayd, As good as ever was hee: But Perfè, and I brook my lyffe, Thy deth well quyte fhall be. As our noble kyng made his a-vowe, 155 He dyd the battel of Hombyll-down: Wher fyx and thritte Skottifh knyghtes Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght, Over caftill, towar, and town. V. 146. ye feth. PC. V. 149. cheyff tennante. PC. 160 This was the hontynge off the Cheviat ; 165 Old men that knowen the grownde well yenoughe, Call it the Battell of Otterburn. At Otterburn began this fpurne Uppon a monnyn day: Ther was the dougghté Doglas flean, The Perfè never went away. Ther was never a tym on the march partes 170 But yt was marvele, and the redde blude ronne not, As the reane doys in the ftret. Jhefue Chrift our balys bete, And to the blys us brynge! Thus was the hountynge of the Chevyat: God fend us all good ending! 176 180 *** The ftyle of this and the following ballad is uncommonly rugged and uncouth, owing to their being writ in the very coarfeft and broadeft 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 fon Hotfpur, gained a compleat 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 prefent Turnpike Road, in a spot called ever fince Red-Riggs.-Humbledon is in GlenDALE WARD, a diftrict fo named in this county, and mentioned above in ver. 163. VOL. I. C II. THE The only battle, wherein an Earl of Douglas was flain fighting with a Percy, was hat of Otterbourn, which is the fubject of this ballad. It is here related with the allow able partiality of an English poet, and much in the fame manner as it is recorded in the English Chronicles. The Scottish writers have, with a partiality at least as excufable, related it no lefs in their own favour. Luckily we have a very circumftantial narrative of the whole affair from Froilart, a French hiftorian, who appears to be unbiased. Froiffart's relation is prolix; I shall therefore give it, with a few corrections, as abridged by Carte, who has however had recourfe to other authorities, and differs from Froilart in fome things, which I shall note in the margin. In the twelfth year of Richard II. 1388,"The Scots tak"ing advantage of the confufions of this nation, and falling "with a party into the Weft-marches, ravaged the country "about Carlisle, and carried off 300 prifoners. It was with "a much greater force, headed by fome of the principal no"bility, that, in the beginning of Auguft*, they invaded "Northumberland; and, having wafted part of the county "of Durham, advanced to the gates of Newcastle; where, "in a skirmish, they took a penon' or colours belonging to Henry lord Percy, furnamed Hotspur, fon to the earl of Froiffart fpeaks of both parties (confifling in all of more than 40,000 men) as entering England at the fame time: but the greater part by way of Carlille. And, according to the ballad, that part of Northumberland called Bamboroughfire; a large tract of land fo named from the town and caf tle of Bamborough; formerly the refidence of the Northumbrian Kings. This circumftance is omitted in the ballad. Hotspur and Douglas were two young warriors much of the fame age. "North 63 * Northumberland. In their retreat home, they attacked a caftle near Otterbourn: and, in the evening of Aug 9. (as "the English writers Jay, or rather, according to Froiffart, "Aug. 15.) after an unsuccessful affault were fuprized in "their camp, which was very strong, by Henry, who at "the firft onfet put them into a good deal of confufion But "James earl of Douglas rallying his men, there enfued one of the beft-fought actions that happened in that age both "armies fhewing the utmoft bravery: the carl Douglas "bimfelf being fain on the Spot; the earl of Murrey mortally wounded; and Hotspur, with his brother Ralph "Percy, taken prifoners. Thefe difafters on both fides have given occafion to the event of the engagement's being dif"puted; Froilart (who derives his relation from a Scotch "knight, two gentlemen of the fame country, and as many "of Foix) affirming that the Scots remained mafters of the "field; and the English writers infinuating the contrary. "Thefe laft maintain that the English had the better of the "day: but night coming on, fome of the northern lords, "coming with the bishop of Durham to their affiftance, kil"led many of them by mistake, fuppofing them to be Scots; "and the earl of Dunbar, at the fame time falling on an"other fide upon Hotspur, took him and his brother prison"ers, and carried them off while both parties were fight"ing. It is at leaft certain, that immediately after this "battle the Scots engaged in it made the best of their way *Froifart fays the English exceeded the Scots in number three to one, but that thefe had the advantage of the ground, and were also frefo from fleep, while the English were greatly fatigued with their previous march. By Henry L Percy, according to this ballad, and our old English biftorians as Stow, Speed, &c. but borne down by numbers, if we may believe Froiffart Hotspur (after a very starp conflict was taken prijiner by John lord Montgomery, whofe eldest fan, Sir Hugh, was flain in the fame action with an arrow, according to Crawfurd's Peerage (and feems alfo to be alluded to in the foregoing ballad, p. 13.), but taken prifener and exchanged for Hofpur, according to this ballad Froiffart (according to the Erg Tranflation) fays he had his account from two fquires of England, and from a knight and fquire of Scotland, foon after the battle. C 2 "bonie: |