6 I never heard the old fong of Percie and Douglas, that I found not my heart moved more than with a trumpet: and yet it' is fung but by fome blinde crowder, with no rougher voice, than rude style; which beeing fo evill apparelled in the duft and cobweb of that uncivill age, what would it work, trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindare! SIR PHILIP SYDNEY'S DEFENCE OF POETRY. THE fine heroic fong of CHEVY-CHASE has ever been admired by competent judges. Thofe genuine ftrokes of nature and artless pafion, which have endeared it to the most fimple readers have recommended it to the most refined; and it has equally been the amufement of our childhood, and the favourite of our riper years. VOL. I. B Mr. Mr. Addifon has given an excellent critique* on this verÿ popular ballad, but is mistaken with regard to the antiquity of the common-received copy; for this, if one may judge from the ftyle, cannot be older than the time of Elizabeth, and was probably written after the elogium of Sir Philip Sidney: perhaps in confequence of it. I flatter myself, I have here recovered the genuine antique poem; the true original fong, which appeared rude even in the time of Sir Philip, and caufed him to lament, that it was fo evil-apparelled in the rugged garb of antiquity. This curiofity is printed, from an old manufcript, at the end of Hearne's preface to Gul. Newbrigienfis Hift. 1719, 8vo. vol. I. To the MS. copy is fubjoined the name of the author, RYCHARD SHEALE†; whom Hearne had fo little judgement as to fuppofe to be the fame with a R. Sheale, who was living in 1588. But whoever examines the gradation of language and idiom in the following volumes, will be convinced that this is the production of an earlier poet. It is indeed exprefly mentioned among fome very ancient fongs in an old book intituled, The Complaint of Scotland ‡ (fol. 42.), under the title of the HUNTIS OF CHEVET, where the two following lines are also quoted: The Perffee and the Mongumrye mette §, Which, tho' not quite the fame as they ftand in the ballad, yet differ not more than might be owing to the author's quoting from memory. Indeed whoever confiders the ftyle and orthography of this old poem will not be inclined to place it lower than the time of Henry VI: as on the other hand the mention of James the Scottifb King ¶, with one or two anachronisms, forbids us to affign it an earlier date. King *Spectator, N° 70. 74. + Subfcribed, after the ufual manner of our old poets, expliceth [explicit] quoth Rychard Sheale. One of the earliest productions of the Scottish prefs, now to be found. The title-page was wanting in the copy here quoted; but it is fuppofed to have been printed in 1540. See Ames. § See Pt. 2. V. 25. See Pt. 1. v. 104. ¶ Pt. 2. v. 36. 140. James James I. who was prifoner in this kingdom at the death of his father*, did not wear the crown of Scotland till the fecond year of onr Henry VI., but before the end of that long reign a third James had mounted the throne ‡. A fuc-. ceffion of two or three Jamefes, and the long detention of one of them in England, would render the name familiar to the English, and difpofe a poet in thofe rude times to give it to any Scottish king he happened to mention. So much for the date of this old ballad: with regard to its fubject, altho' it has no countenance from history, there is room to think it had originally fome foundation in fact. It was one of the Laws of the Marches frequently renewed between the two nations, that neither party fhould hunt in the other's borders, without leave from the proprietors or their deputies §. There had long been a rivalship between the two martial families of Percy and Douglas, which, heightened by the national quarrel, must have produced frequent challenges and ftruggles for Juperiority, petty invafions of their refpec tive domains, and sharp contefts for the point of honour which would not always be recorded in hiftory. Something of this kind, we may fuppofe, gave rife to the ancient ballad of the HUNTING A' THE CHEVIAT. Percy earl of Northumberland had vowed to hunt for three days in the Scottish border without condefcending to ask leave from earl Douglas, who was either lord of the foil, or lord warden of the marches. Douglas would not fail to refent the infult, and endeavour to repel the intruders by force: this would natu Who died Aug. 5, 1406, in the 7th year of our Hen. IV. James I. was crowned May 22, 1424; murdered Feb 21, 1436-7. In 1460.-Hen. VI. was depofed 1461: reforest and flain, 1471. Item... Concordatum eft, quod, ... NULLUS Cmus partis vel alterius ingrediatur terras, bofchas, forreftas, warrenas, loca, dominia quæcunque alicujus partis alterius fubditi. caufa venandi, pifcandi, aucupandi, difportum aut folatium in eifdem, aliave quacunque de caufa, ABSQUE LICENTIA ejus.... al quem ... loca pertinent, aut de deputatis fuis prius capt. & obtent. Vid. Ep. Nicolfon's Leges Marchiarum, 1705, 8vo pp. 27. 51. This was the original title. See the ballad, Pt. 1. v. 106. Pt. 2. v. 165. B 2 rally rally produce a fharp conflict between the two parties: fomething of which, it is probable, did really happen, tho' not attended with the tragical circumftances recorded in the bal、 lad: for thefe are evidently borrowed from the BATTLE OF OTTERBOURN * a very different event, but which aftertimes would easily confound with it. That battle might be owing to fome fuch previous affront as this of CHEVY CHASE, though it has escaped the notice of hiftorians. Our poet has evidently jumbled the two fubjects together: if indeed the lines, in which this miftake is made, are not rather fpurious, and the after-infertion of fome perfon, who did not diftinguish between the two ftories. Hearne has printed this ballad without any divifion of ftanzas, in long lines, as he found it in the old written copy: but it is ufual to find the diftinction of ftanzas neglected in ancient MSS; where, to fave room, two or three verfes are frequently given in one line undivided. See flagrant inftances in the Harleian Catalog. No. 2253. f. 29. 34. 61. 70. & paffim. THE FIRST FITT HE Perfé owt of Northombarlande, THE And a vowe to God mayd he, Off Chyviat within dayes thre, The fattifte hartes in all Cheviat He fayd he wold kill, and cary them away: I wyll let that hontyng yf that I may. 5 ΤΟ See the next ballad. + Vid. Pt. 2. v. 167. ‡ FIT. fee ver. 100. V. 5. magger in Hearne s PC. [Printed Copy.] Then |