NOTES

The heavy-faced figures refer to pages, the ordinary figures to lines. Int. Eng. Lit. indicates the editor's Introduction to English Literature.

BALLADS

(OF VARIOUS AND UNCERTAIN DATES.)

CHEVY CHASE.

1. This ballad, like its companion the still older Battle of Otterbourne, is a famous expression in popular song of the fierce antagonism, the jealousy, and the daring fostered and kept alive among the dwellers in the Borders, or Marches, between England and Scotland, by frequent wars and continual forays. Percy says, speaking of the origin of the poem: "The ballad, without being historical, may have had some foundation in fact. The law of the Marches interdicted either nation from hunting on the borders of the other, without leave from the proprietors, or their deputies. The long rivalry between the martial families of Percy and Douglas must have burst into many sharp feuds and little incursions not recorded in history; and the old ballad of the Hunting a' the Cheviat,' which was the original title, may have sprung out of such a quarrel." (Reliques.) Chevy Chase, now one of the most familiar and representative ballads, easily won a high place in the popular esteem. In 1711, Addison (who, however, knew the poem only in an inferior and more modern version) wrote: "The old Song of Chevy-Chase is the favorite ballad of the common people of England: and Ben Jonson used to say that he had rather have been the author of it than of all of his works." He then quotes the now-familiar passage from Sir Philip Sidney's Defense of Poesie (1581?): "I never heard the old song of Piercy and Douglas, that I found not my heart more moved than with a trumpet, etc." (Spectator, LXX. and LXXIV.) Prof. Child remarks that Sidney's words are equally applicable to the Battle of Otterbourne, at least so far as the subject is concerned, that being also a song of Piercy and Douglas." Nevertheless, he thinks that the superior poetic quality of Chevy Chase makes it probable that

Sidney had that ballad in mind as is generally supposed. (Ballads, Pt. VI. 305.)

DATE. It has been thought that Chevy Chase is really a modified account of the Battle of Otterbourne, celebrated in the ballad of that name, which took place in 1388. Dr. Child holds that the differences in the story of the two ballads are not so great as to prevent us from holding this view. As James of Scotland is mentioned, we know that it was not before 1424, the date of the accession of James I. (Child, ib. p. 304.) The date of actual composition was of course an indefinite time after the occurrence of the event celebrated, while Sidney's allusion makes it clear that the ballad was well known in 1580. 1.-5. Magger = mauger in spite of, or against the will of. (0. F. malgré.)-10. Let prevent. (A. S. laet = slow. Hence to let is to make later or to hinder.)-12. Meany company, or following of retainers.

2.-20. Reas rouse.-21. Byckarte uppone the bent = skirmished upon the coarse grass, or the moor. Beaters ap

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pear to have been sent into the woods to drive the game into the open, where the hunters awaited them.-23. Wyld, i.e. the wild deer.-25. glent flashed. The word, which is related to glitter, glisten, etc., here includes the idea of rapid motion. -31. Mort the series of notes blown upon the horn to announce the death of the deer. (Fr. mort = death.)-32. Shear = in different directions. On sydis shear = on all sides.—33. Quyrry the slaughtered game. See Skeat's Etymol. Dict. 34. Bryttlynge the cutting, or, literally, the breaking up, of the deer. (A. S. brecan: = to break.)-37. Verament = truly. (Fr. vrai truth; vraiment : truly.)

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3.-43. Bylle

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bill, a battle-axe. Brande a sword, v. Skeat.-57. Glede a glowing coal. (A. S. glowan = to glow.) -72. Ton of us one of us.-78. Yerle earl.-81. Cors =

curse.

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5.-110. Wouche wrong, damage.-122. Basnites = basinet, a steel cap, originally of very simple form, named from its resemblance to a little basin." (Cent. Dict.)—123. Myneyeple "manople, a gauntlet covering hand and forearm (Skeat.)-125. Freyke = man, a warrior. (A. S. frecca = a bold man, analogous to Lat. vir. Fre free-born, generous.) 6.-129. Swapte struck, or slashed. (A. S. swappen, to strike.)-130. Myllan Milan steel.-133. Sprente (A. S. sprengan to spring.)-140. Hight promise. (A. S. Haten.)-148. Wane: according to Skeat the word means here a great number, hence "a single arrow out of a vast quantity." Gummere suggests that wane "might wone = one; & mighty one," but declares this also to be unsatisfactory.

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- sprang.

8.-194. Stour conflict, battle.-201. The tocke...

Something is wanting here in the MS., and various guesses have been made as to the missing word. Probably Skent's suggestion to supply "the fight" comes nearest. It may have been some equivalent expression as "hard strikes."--210. On hy upright.

9.-213-234. Thear was slayne with the lord Perse. Percy says that most of these here mentioned belonged to distinguished families in the North. John Agertoun, or Haggerstoun, is supposed to have been one of the Rutherfords, then retained by the house of Douglas; "ryche Rugbé" is said to have been Ralph Neville of Raby Castle, cousin-german to Hotspur, etc. (See Reliques.)-217. Loumle Lumley. There was a prominent family in Northumberland by this name, at least one of whom was a follower of the Percies. See Burke's Extinct Peerages; also Stephen's Dict. Nat. Biog.-236. Makys, or make, = mates.-237. Carpe sing, talk. (Carpen = to talk, to speak.)

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10.-242. Jamy, James I. (reigned 1424-1437.)-251. Lyff tenant of the marches = lieutenant, or deputy, to guard the marches or borders between Scotland and England. —257. Brook use, enjoy. See Cent. Dict.-262. Hombyll-doun Hamildon. There was a battle of Homildon Hill in 1402, between the English and the Scotch, in which the former were victorious. Percy, called Hotspur, commanded the English forces, and Douglas the Scotch. The reference to the occasion of this battle in the text is without historical foundation, as a careful examination of the chronology of the events referred to will show.-265. "Glendale is the district or ward in which Homildon is situated." (Percy.)

11.-279. Balys bete = remedy our evils. (Percy.)

SIR PATRICK SPENS (OR SPENCE.)

The question as to whether this famous ballad had any historical foundation, and if so, as to the precise events with which it is connected, has been much discussed. Various theories and opinions on these points will be found in Percy's Reliques, Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Child's Ballads, etc., but as the matter remains unsettled the conflicting views need not be here entered upon. Fortunately the determination of such questions is not necessary for readers who value the ballad as poetry, not as a topic for debate. On the whole Allingham's conclusion seems the sensible one: "There is no old MS. of the ballad. All the foundation which really seems attainable is this, that in old times there was much intercourse between Scotland and Norway, and between the royal courts of the two countries, and that some shipwreck

not altogether unlike this may probably have happened.” (The Ballad Book, 377.) Coleridge, who takes the motto of his ode Dejection from this poem, then refers to it as "the grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens." The great antiquity generally claimed for it has been unsuccessfully disputed, but the exact date is not known.

1. Dumferling = Dumfermline, a town in Fifeshire, some sixteen miles N.W. of Edinburgh. It was a favorite residence of the early Scottish kings and contained a royal palace.-3 Sailor, accented here on the second syllable, as is letter. The practice is common in the old ballads.-9. Braid letter = an open, or patent, letter; i.e. here, a public document under the royal seal.

12.-25. Late late yestreen, etc. Inwards quotes this in his Weather-Lore, and calls attention to the popular belief that the new moon holding the old moon in her arms, or with the entire disk visible, is a sign of storm.-32. Thair hats, etc. Motherwell gives this line: "They wat their hats aboun," and adds another reading, "Their hair was wat aboun," in a note. In any case the meaning is the same: loath to wet their shoes they were at last in over their heads.

13.-41. Aberdour, an old town on the Frith of Forth, about ten miles to the north of Edinburgh. It was half-way from Norway to this town that Sir Patrick was lost.

WALY WALY, LOVE BE BONNY.

This ancient song is said to have been first published in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany (1724), but it is thought to have been part of another ballad, Lord Jamie Douglas, which closely resembles it in some particulars. Allingham says that some have placed it about the middle of the sixteenth century.

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1. Waly = an interjection expressing grief, equivalent to alas. (See Wella way, of which it is an abbreviated form in Cent. Dict.)-8. Lichtlie make light of, to use with disrespect.-17. Arthur's-seat Arthur's Seat, a steep and rocky hill near Edinburgh. St. Anton's Well is about one third of the way up its side. (See description in Scott's Heart of Midlothian, Ch. VII.)

14.-32. Cramasie cramoisy crimson.

THE TWA SISTERS O'BINNORIE.

Dr. Child notes that this is one of the very few old ballads still alive in tradition in the British Isles. Under the title of The Miller and the King's Daughter it was printed as a broadside in 1656, and included in the miscellany Wit Restored

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