William Stanley Braithwaite, ed. The Book of Restoration Verse. 1910.
The Hunting of the CheviotAnonymous
T
And a vow to God made he,
That he would hunt in the mountains
Of Cheviot within days three,
In the magger of doughtè Douglas,
And all that ever with him be.
He said he would kill, and carry them away:
‘By my faith,’ said the doughty Douglas again,
‘I will let that hunting if that I may.’
With him a mighty meany;
With fifteen hundrith archers bold of blood and bone,
They were chosen out of shires three.
In Cheviot the hillys so he;
The child may rue that is un-born,
It was the more pity.
For to raise the deer;
Bowmen byckarte upon the bent
With their broad arrows clear.
On every sydë shear;
Greyhounds thorow the grevis glent,
For to kill their deer.
Early on a Monnyn day;
By that it drew to the hour of noon,
A hundrith fat harts dead there lay.
They sembled on sydës shear;
To the quarry the Persè went,
To see the brittling of the deer.
This day to meet me here;
But I wist he would fail, verament:’
A great oath the Persè swear.
Looked at his hand full nigh;
He was ware o’ the doughty Douglas coming,
With him a mighty meany;
It was a mighty sight to see;
Hardier men, both of heart nor hand,
Were not in Christiantè.
Withowtè any fail;
They were born along the water o’ Twyde,
Ith’ bounds of Tividale.
‘And to your bows look ye take good heed;
For never sith ye were on your mothers born
Had ye never so mickle need.’
He rode all his men beforne;
His armour glittered as did a glede;
A bolder bairn was never born.
‘Or whose men that ye be:
Who gave you leave to hunt in this Cheviot chase,
In the spite of mine and me?’
It was the good lord Persè:
‘We will not tell thee whose men we are,’ he says,
‘Nor whose men that we be;
But we will hunt here in this chase,
In the spite of thine and thee.
We have killed, and cast to carry them away:’
‘Be my troth,’ said the doughty Douglas again,
‘Therefore the one of us shall die this day.’
Unto the lord Persè:
‘To kill all these guiltless men,
Alas, it were a great pity!
I am an Earl called within my contrèe;
Let all our men upon a party stand,
And do the battle of thee and of me.’
‘Whosoever there-to says nay;
By my troth, doughty Douglas,’ he says,
‘Thou shalt never see that day.
Nor for no man of a woman born,
But, and fortune be my chance,
I dare meet him, one man for one.’
Richard Wytharyngton was him name;
‘It shall never be told in South-England,’ he says,
‘To king Harry the fourth for shame.
I am a poor squire of land;
I will never see my captain fight on a field,
And stand myself, and lookè on,
But while I may my weapon wield,
I will not fail both heart and hand.’
The first fit here I find;
And you will hear any more a’ the hunting a’ the Cheviot,
Yet is there more behind.
Their hearts were good enough;
The first of arrows that they shot off,
Seven score spear-men they slough.
A captain good enough,
And that was seenè verament,
For he wrought home both woe and wouche.
Like a cheffe chieftan of pride,
With sure spears of mighty tree,
They come in on every side:
Gave many a wound full wide;
Many a doughty they gard to die,
Which gained them no pride.
And pulled out brands that were bright;
It was a heavy sight to see
Bright swords on basnets light.
Many sterne the stroke down straight;
Many a freyke that was full free,
There under foot did light.
Like to captains of might and of main;
They swept together till they both swat,
With swords that were of fine myllán.
There-to they were full fain,
Till the blood out of their basnets sprent,
As ever did hail or rain.
‘And i’ faith I shall thee bring
Where thou shalt have a earl’s wages
Of Jamy our Scottish king.
I hight thee here this thing,
For the manfullest man yet art thou,
That ever I conquered in field fighting.’
‘I told it thee beforne,
That I would never yielded be
To no man of a woman born.’
Forth of a mighty wane;
It hath striken the earl Douglas
In at the breast bane.
The sharp arrow is gane,
That never after in all his life-days,
He spake mo words but ane:
That was, ‘Fight ye, my merry men, whiles ye may,
For my life-days ben gane.’
And saw the Douglas dee;
He took the dead man by the hand,
And said, ‘Woe is me for thee!
My landes for years three,
For a better man, of heart nor of hand,
Was not in all the north centrè.’
Was called Sir Hew the Monggombyrry;
He saw the Douglas to the death was dight,
He spended a spear, a trusty tree:—
Through a hundrith archery:
He never stinted, nor never blane,
Till he came to the good lord Persè.
A dint that was full sore;
With a sure spear of a mighty tree
Clean thorow the body he the Persè bare,
A large cloth yard and mair:
Two better captains were not in Christiantè,
Than that day slain were there.
Sae slain was the lord Persè;
He bare a bend-bow in his hand,
Was made of trusty tree.
To th’ hard steel haled he;
A dint that was both sad and sore,
He set on Sir Hewe the Monggomberry.
That he of Monggomberry set;
The swan-feathers, that his arrow bore,
With his heart-blood they were wet.
But still in stour did stand,
Hewing on each other, while they might dree,
With many a baleful brand.
An hour befor the noon,
And when even-song bell was rang,
The battle was not half done.
By the light of the moon;
Many had no strength for to stand,
In Cheviot the hills aboun.
Went away but seventy and three;
Of twenty hundrith spear-men of Scotland,
But even five and fifty:
They had no strength to stand on high;
The child may rue that is unborn,
It was the more pity.
Sir John of Agerstone,
Sir Roger, the hind Hartly,
Sir William, the bold Hearone.
A knight of great renown,
Sir Raff, the rich Rugbè,
With dints were beaten down.
That ever he slain should be;
For when both his legs were hewn in two,
Yet he kneeled and fought on his knee.
Sir Hew the Monggomberry,
Sir Davy Lydale, that worthy was,
His sister’s son was he:
That never a foot would flee;
Sir Hew Maxwell, a lord he was,
With the Douglas did he dee.
Of birch and hazel so grey;
Many widows with weeping tears
Came to fetch their makes away.
Northumberland may make great moan,
For two such captains as slain were there,
On the March-party shall never be none.
To Jamy the Scottish king,
That doughty Douglas, lieu-tenant of the Merches
He lay slain Cheviot with-in.
He said, ‘Alas, and woe is me!’
Such an other captain Scotland within,
He said, i-faith should never be.
Till the fourth Harry our king,
That Lord Persè, lieu-tenant of the Marches
He lay slain Cheviot within.
‘Good lord, if thy will it be!
I have a hundrith captains in England,’ he said,
‘As good as ever was he:
But Persè, and I brook my life,
Thy death well quit shall be.’
Like a noble prince of renown,
For the death of the lord Persè
He did the battle of Hombyll-down:
On a day were beaten down:
Glendale glittered on their armour bright,
Over castle, tower, and town.
That tear began this spurn:
Old men that knowen the ground well enough,
Call it the battle of Otterburn.
Upon a Monnyn day:
There was the doughty Douglas slain,
The Persè never went away.
Sen the Douglas and the Persè met,
But it was marvel, and the red blude ran not,
As the rain does in the street.
And to the bliss us bring!
Thus was the Hunting of the Cheviot:
God send us all good ending!