StoryTitle("caps", "Chevy Chase") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God prosper long our noble king,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Our lives and safeties all;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A woeful hunting once there did", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In Chevy Chase befall.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To drive the deer with hound and horn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Earl Percy took the way;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The child may rue that is unborn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The hunting of that day.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The stout earl of Northumberland", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A vow to God did make,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His pleasure in the Scottish woods", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Three summer days to take—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The chiefest harts in Chevy Chase", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To kill and bear away.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "These tidings to Earl Douglas came", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In Scotland where he lay;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who sent Earl Percy present word", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He would prevent his sport.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The English earl not fearing that,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Did to the woods resort.", "") ?>
Page(111) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With fifteen hundred bowmen bold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All chosen men of might,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who knew full well in time of need", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To aim their shafts aright.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The gallant greyhound swiftly ran", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To chase the fallow deer;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On Monday they began to hunt", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ere daylight did appear;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And long before high noon they had", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A hundred fat bucks slain;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then having dined, the drovers went", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To rouse the deer again.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The bowmen mustered on the hills,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Well able to endure;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Their backsides all with special care", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That day were guarded sure.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The hounds ran swiftly through the woods,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The nimble deer to take,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That with their cries the hills and dales", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "An echo shrill did make.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lord Percy to the quarry went", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To view the tender deer;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Quoth he, \"Earl Douglas promised once", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "This day to meet me here.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"But if I thought he would not come,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "No longer would I stay\";", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With that a brave young gentleman", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thus to the earl did say:", "") ?>
Page(112) ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Lo, yonder doth Earl Douglas come,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His men in armour bright;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Full twenty hundred Scottish spears", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All marching in our sight;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"All men of pleasant Teviotdale,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Fast by the River Tweed.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"O cease your sports,\" Earl Percy said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "\"And take your bows with speed;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"And now with me, my countrymen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Your courage forth advance,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For there was never champion yet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In Scotland or in France,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"That ever did on horseback come,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And if my hap it were,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I durst encounter man for man", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With him to break a spear.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Earl Douglas on his milk white steed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Most like a baron bold,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Rode foremost of his company,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whose armour shone like gold.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Show me,\" said he, \"whose men you be,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That hunt so boldly here,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That, without my consent, do chase", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And kill my fallow deer.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The first man that did answer make,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Was noble Percy he,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who said, \"We list not to declare", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Nor show whose men we be:", "") ?>
Page(113) ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Yet will we spend our dearest blood", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Thy chiefest harts to slay.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then Douglas swore a solemn oath,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And thus in rage did say:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Ere thus I will out-braved be,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "One of us two shall die;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I know thee well, an earl thou art—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Lord Percy, so am I.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"But trust me, Percy, pity it were,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And great offence, to kill", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Any of these our guiltless men,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "For they have done none ill.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Let thou and I the battle try,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And set our men aside.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Accurst be he,\" Earl Percy said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"By whom it is denied.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then stept a gallant squire forth—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Witherington was his name—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who said, \"I would not have it told", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To Henry, our king, for shame,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"That e'er my captain fought on foot,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And I stood looking on.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "You be two earls,\" quoth Witherington,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"And I a squire alone;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"I'll do the best that do I may,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "While I have power to stand;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While I have power to wield my sword,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I'll fight with heart and hand.\"", "") ?>
Page(114) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Our English archers bent their bows—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their hearts were good and true;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At the first flight of arrows sent,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Full four score Scots they slew.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To drive the deer with hound and horn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Douglas bade on the bent,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Two captains moved with mickle might,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their spears to shivers went.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They closed full fast on every side,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "No slackness there was found,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But many a gallant gentleman", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Lay gasping on the ground.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O Christ! it was great grief to see", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "How each man chose his spear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And how the blood out of their breasts", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Did gush like water clear.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At last these two stout earls did meet", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Like captains of great might;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like lions wode, they laid on lode;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They made a cruel fight.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They fought until they both did sweat,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With swords of tempered steel,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till blood down their cheeks like rain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They trickling down did feel.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"O yield thee, Percy!\" Douglas said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"And in faith I will thee bring", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Where thou shalt high advanced be", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "By James, our Scottish king.", "") ?>
Page(115) ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Thy ransom I will freely give,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And this report of thee,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thou art the most courageous knight", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That ever I did see.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"No, Douglas,\" quoth Earl Percy then,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"Thy proffer I do scorn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I will not yield to any Scot", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That ever yet was born.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With that there came an arrow keen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Out of an English bow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Which struck Earl Douglas on the breast", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A deep and deadly blow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who never said more words than these:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"Fight on, my merry men all!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For why, my life is at an end,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Lord Percy sees my fall.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then leaving life, Earl Percy took", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The dead man by the hand;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who said, \"Earl Douglas, for thy life", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Would I had lost my land!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"O Christ! my very heart doth bleed", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "For sorrow for thy sake,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For sure a more redoubted knight", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Mischance could never take.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A knight amongst the Scots there was", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Which saw Earl Douglas die,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who straight in heart did vow revenge", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Upon the Lord Percy.", "") ?>
Page(116) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Hugh Montgomery was he called,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Who, with a spear full bright,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Well mounted on a gallant steed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ran fiercely through the fight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And past the English archers all,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Without all dread or fear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And through Earl Percy's body then", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He thrust his hateful spear.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With such a vehement force and might", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His body he did gore,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The staff ran through the other side", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "A large cloth-yard, and more.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thus did both those nobles die,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whose courage none could stain;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "An English archer then perceived", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The noble earl was slain.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He had a good bow in his hand", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Made of a trusty tree;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "An arrow of a cloth-yard long", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To the hard head haled he.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Against Sir Hugh Montgomery", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His shaft full right he set;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The gray-goose-wing that was thereon", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In his heart's blood was wet.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "This fight from break of day did last", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Till setting of the sun,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For when they rang the evening-bell", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The battle scarce was done.", "") ?>
Page(117) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With stout Earl Percy there was slain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Sir John of Egerton,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Robert Harcliff and Sir William,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Sir James, that bold baron.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with Sir George and Sir James,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Both knights of good account,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Good Sir Ralph Raby there was slain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Whose prowess did surmount.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For Witherington needs must I wail", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As one in doleful dumps.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For when his legs were smitten off,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "He fought upon his stumps.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And with Earl Douglas there was slain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Sir Hugh Montgomery,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And Sir Charles Morrell, that from field", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "One foot would never flee;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir Roger Heuer of Harcliff, too,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "His sister's son was he;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sir David Lambwell, well esteemed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "But saved he could not be.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the Lord Maxwell, in like case,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "With Douglas he did die;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of twenty hundred Scottish spears,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Scarce fifty-five did fly.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of fifteen hundred Englishmen", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Went home but fifty-three;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The rest in Chevy Chase were slain,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Under the greenwood tree.", "") ?>
Page(118) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Next day did many widows come", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Their husbands to bewail;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They washed their wounds in brinish sears.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "But all would not prevail.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Their bodies, bathed in purple blood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They bore with them away;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They kissed them dead a thousand times", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Ere they were clad in clay.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The news was brought to Edinburgh,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Where Scotland's king did reign,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That brave Earl Douglas suddenly", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Was with an arrow slain.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"O heavy news!\" King James can say,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2SQ", "", "\"Scotland may witness be", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I have not any captain more", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Of such account as he.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like tidings to King Henry came", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Within as short a space,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That Percy of Northumberland", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Was slain at Chevy Chase.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Now God be with him!\" said our king,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Since it will no better be;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I trust I have within my realm", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Five hundred as good as he.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0SQ", "", "\"Yet shall not Scots nor Scotland say", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But I will vengeance take,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And be revenged on them all", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For brave Earl Percy's sake.\"", "") ?>
Page(119) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "This vow the king did well perform", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "After on Humble-down;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In one day fifty knights were slain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With lords of great renown.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And of the rest, of small account,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Did many hundreds die:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thus endeth the hunting in Chevy Chase", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Made by the Earl Percy.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God save our king, and bless this land", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With plenty, joy, and peace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And grant henceforth that foul debate", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Twixt noble men may cease!", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>