Who never spake more words than these: 'Fight on, my merry men all; For why, my life is at an end; Lord Percy sees my fall.' Then leaving life, Earl Percy took 'O sad! my very heart doth bleed A knight among the Scots there was Who straight in wrath did vow revenge Sir Hugh Montgomery was he called, And past the English archers all, With such vehement force and might The staff went through the other side So thus did both these nobles die, And with Sir George and stout Sir James, For Witherington needs must I wail As one in doleful dumps ; 10 For when his legs were smitten off And with Earl Douglas there was slain Sir Charles Murray, that from the field Sir Charles Murray, of Ratcliff, too, Sir David Lamb, so well esteemed, And the Lord Maxwell in like case Of fifteen hundred Englishmen, Next day did many widows come, They washed their wounds in brinish tears; Their bodies, bathed in purple gore, They bare with them away; They kissed them dead a thousand times, "Now God be with him,' said our king, 'Since it will no better be; I trust I have, within my realm, Five hundred as good as he : 142 CHEVY CHASE. 'Yet shall not Scots nor Scotland say For brave Earl Percy's sake.' This vow full well the king performed, 14 In one day fifty knights were slain, And of the rest, of small account, Thus ending the hunting of Chevy Chase, God save our king, and bless this land, 1 Chevy Chase. This spirited ballad commemorates the Battle of Otterburn, fought on the 19th August 1388 between James, Earl of Douglas, and Sir Henry Percy, the renowned Hotspur. Douglas fell in the hour of victory; and the English leader, along with his brother, Sir Ralph Percy, were taken captive. The writer of this ballad is unknown, but its majestic stanzas have frequently elicited the admiration of our best writers. Ben Jonson used to say that he would rather have been author of it than of all his own works; and Addison was so professed an admirer of it that he carefully scrutinises it, verse by verse, and compares it, so far as it goes, in sentiment and diction, with the immortal productions of Homer and Virgil. The author, whoever he may have been, sides with the English, but gives the Scots credit for their valour. A like partiality is shewn in the Scottish version of the same conflict. See Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. 2 Rue, regret. 3 Quarry, a heap of dead game. 4 List, wish, choose. 5 Out-braved, defied, bullied. 6 Yet bides Earl Douglas on the bent. Earl Douglas still keeps his ground. 7 Lay on loud, strike with loud blows. 8 And through Earl Percy's body then he thrust his hateful spear. This stanza is historically incorrect; Hotspur was not slain at Otterburn, but the fate of a soldier awaited him in a more important field. He fell as leader of the rebel army at the battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. 9 Surmount, excel. 10 Doleful dumps, a sad state of mind. 11 Ere they were clad in clay. Ere they were buried. 12 O heavy news!' King James did say. The poet's historical knowledge is seriously at fault with regard to the monarchs of the two kingdoms towards the end of the 14th century. James I. did not succeed to the Scottish sceptre till his return from captivity in 1424; and Robert II., his grandfather, was king when the events narrated in the ballad occurred. 13 King Henry. Richard II. was king of England for eleven years before 14 At Humbledown. The battle of army of Scots, led by Earl Doug- ALEXANDER'S FEAST; OR, THE POWER OF MUSIC. AN ODE FOR ST CECILIA'S DAY.1 'Twas at the royal feast, for Persia won By Philip's warlike son: Aloft, in awful state, The godlike hero sate On his imperial throne : 2 His valiant peers were placed around, Their brows with roses and with myrtle bound; The lovely Thaïs 3 by his side Sat, like a blooming Eastern bride, In flower of youth and beauty's pride. Happy, happy, happy pair; None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair. Timotheus, placed on high Amid the tuneful choir, With flying fingers touched the lyre : The trembling notes ascend the sky, The song began from Jove, Who left his blissful seat above, |