Towe bettar captayns wear nat in Christiantè,
Then that day slain wear ther.

An archar off Northomberlonde
Say slean was the lord Persè,
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;

A dynt, that was both sad and soar,

80

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.*

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;

Many hade no strenght for to stande,
In Chyviat the hyllys aboun.

Of fifteen hondrith archars of Ynglonde
Went away but fifti and thre;

90

95

100

V. 80, Say, i. e. Sawe. V. 84, haylde. P. C. V. 87, sar. P. C. V. 102, abou. P. C.

*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. Crawfurd's Peerage.

Of twenty hondrith spear-men of Skotlonde,
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 Roger the hinde Hartly,

Sir Wyllyam the bolde Hearone.

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.

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

Sir Davye Lwdale, that worthè was,
His sistars son was he:

Sir Charles a Murrè, 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.

115, lóule. P. C.

105

110

116

120

125

130

V. 121,

V. 108, strenge... hy. P. C. V. in to, i. e. in two. V. 122, kny. P. C. V. 132, gay. P. C. For the Names in this page, see the remarks at the end of the next Ballad.

* A common pleonasm; see the next poem, Fit. 2d. V. 155. So

Tivydale may carpe off care,

Northombarlond may mayk grat mone,
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,

135

140

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,"
He sayd, "y-feth shuld never be."

Worde ys commyn to lovly Londone
Till the fourth Harry our kyng,

That lord Persè, leyff-tennante of the Merchis,
He lay slayne Chyviat within.

145

150

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

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

But Persè, 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 Persè,

He dyd the battel of Hombyll-down:

155

160

V. 136, mon. P. C. V. 138, non. P. C. V. 146, ye seth. P. C. V. 149, cheyff tennante. P. C.

Harding in his Chronicle, chap. 140, 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..

Wher syx and thritte Skottish knyghtes

On a day wear beaten down:
Glendale glytteryde on ther armor bryght,
Over castill, towar, and town.

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.

At Otterburn began this spurne
Uppon a monnyn day :

Ther was the dougghté Doglas slean,
The Persè never went away.

Ther was never a tym on the march partes
Sen the Doglas and the Persè met,

170

But yt was marvele, and the redde blude ronne not,
As the reane doys in the stret.

Jhesue Christ our balys bete,

And to the blys us brynge!

Thus was the hountynge of the Chevyat:

God send us all good ending!

176

180

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 Earl 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.

THE only battle, wherein an Earl of Douglas was slain fighting with a Percy, was that of Otterbourn, which is the subject of this ballad. It is here related with the allowable partiality of an English poet, and much in the same manner as it is recorded in the English Chronicles. The Scottish writers have, with a partiality at least as excusable, related it no less in their own favour. Luckily we have a very circumstantial narrative of the whole affair from Froissart, a French historian, who appears to be unbiassed. Froissart's relation is prolix; I shall therefore give it, with a few corrections, as abridged by Carte, who has however had recourse to other authorities, and differs from Froissart in some things, which I shall note in the margin.

In the twelfth year of Richard II., 1388, "The Scots taking advantage of the confusions of this nation, and falling with a party into the West-marches, ravaged the country about Carlisle, and carried off 300 prisoners. It was with a much greater force, headed by some of the principal nobility, that, in the beginning of August, they invaded Northumberland; and, having wasted 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, surnamed Hotspur, son to the Earl of Northumberland. In their retreat home, they attacked a castle near Otterbourn: and, in the evening of August 9 (as the English writers say, or rather, according to Froissart, August 15), after an unsuccessful assault, were surprised in their camp, which was very strong, by Henry, who at the first onset put them into a good deal of confusion. But James Earl of Douglas rallying his men, there ensued one of the best-fought

*Froissart speaks of both parties (consisting in all of more than 40,000 men) as entering England at the same time; but the greater part by way of Carlisle.

† And, according to the ballad, that part of Northumberland called Bamboroughshire; a large tract of land so named from the town and castle of Bamborough; formerly the residence of the Northumbrian kings.

This circumstance is omitted in the ballad. Hotspur and Douglas were two young warriors much of the same age.