Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance | Page 6

the naïve, delightful ballads from the
Percy Folio, and in general style may be compared with _The Lord of
Learne_ in the Second Series (p. 182).
IV
Little is to be said of _The Gardener_ or _The Whummil Bore_, the
former being almost a lyric, and the latter presumably a fragment.
_Waly, waly_, is not a ballad at all, and is only included because it has
become confused with _Jamie Douglas_.
_The Jolly Juggler_ seems to be a discovery, and I commend it to the
notice of those better qualified to deal with it. The curious fifth line
added to each verse may be the work of some minstrel--a humorous
addition to, or comment upon, the foregoing stanza. Certain Danish
ballads exhibit this peculiarity, but I cannot find any Danish
counterpart to the ballad in Prior's three volumes.
THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT
+The Text+ here given is that of a MS. in the Bodleian Library
(Ashmole 48) of about the latter half of the sixteenth century. It was
printed by Hearne, and by Percy in the _Reliques_, and the whole MS.
was edited by Thomas Wright for the Roxburghe Club in 1860. In this
MS. _The Hunting of the Cheviot_ is No. viii., and is subscribed
'Expliceth, quod Rychard Sheale.' Sheale is known to have been a
minstrel of Tamworth, and it would appear that much of this MS.
(including certain poems, no doubt his own) is in his
handwriting--probably the book belonged to him. But the supposition

that he was author of the _Hunting of the Cheviot_, Child dismisses as
'preposterous in the extreme.'
The other version, far better known as _Chevy Chase_, is that of the
Percy Folio, published in the _Reliques_, and among the Pepys, Douce,
Roxburghe, and Bagford collections of ballads. For the sake of
differentiation this may be called the broadside form of the ballad, as it
forms a striking example of the impairment of a traditional ballad when
re-written for the broadside press. Doubtless it is the one known and
commented on by Addison in his famous papers (Nos. 70 and 74) in the
_Spectator_ (1711), but it is not the one referred to by Sir Philip Sidney
in his _Apologie_. Professor Child doubts if Sidney's ballad, 'being so
evill apparelled in the dust and cobwebbes of that uncivill age,' is the
traditional one here printed, which is scarcely the product of an uncivil
age; more probably Sidney had heard it in a rough and ancient form,
'sung,' as he says, 'but by some blind crouder, with no rougher voyce
than rude stile.' 'The Hunttis of the Chevet' is mentioned as one of the
'sangis of natural music of the antiquite' sung by the shepherds in _The
Complaynt of Scotland_, a book assigned to 1549.
+The Story.+--The _Hunting of the Cheviot_ is a later version of the
_Battle of Otterburn_, and a less conscientious account thereof.
Attempts have been made to identify the _Hunting_ with the Battle of
Piperden (or Pepperden) fought in 1436 between a Percy and a Douglas.
But the present ballad is rather an unauthenticated account of an
historical event, which made a great impression on the public mind. Of
that, its unfailing popularity on both sides of the Border, its constant
appearance in broadside form, and its inclusion in every ballad-book,
give the best witness.
The notable deed of Witherington (stanza 54) has many parallels. All
will remember the warrior who
'... when his legs were smitten off
He fought upon his stumps.'
Tradition tells an identical story of 'fair maiden Lilliard' at the Battle of
Ancrum Muir in 1545. Seneca mentions the feat. It occurs in the Percy
Folio, Sir Graysteel (in _Eger and Grine_) fighting on one leg. Johnie

Armstrong and Sir Andrew Barton both retire to 'bleed awhile' after
being transfixed through the body. Finally, in an early saga, King
Starkathr (Starkad) fights on after his head is cut off.
THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT
1.
The Persë owt off Northombarlonde,
and avowe to God mayd he

That he wold hunte in the mowntayns
off Chyviat within days thre,

In the magger of doughtë Dogles,
and all that ever with him be.
2.
The fattiste hartes in all Cheviat
he sayd he wold kyll, and cary
them away:
'Be my feth,' sayd the dougheti Doglas agayn,
'I wyll let
that hontyng yf that I may.'
3.
Then the Persë owt off Banborowe cam,
with him a myghtee
meany,
With fifteen hondrith archares bold off blood and bone;
the
wear chosen owt of shyars thre.
4.
This begane on a Monday at morn,
in Cheviat the hillys so he;

The chylde may rue that ys vn-born,
it wos the mor pittë.
5.
The dryvars thorowe the woodës went,
for to reas the dear;

Bomen byckarte vppone the bent
with ther browd aros cleare.
6.
Then the wyld thorowe the woodës went,
on every sydë shear;

Greahondës thorowe the grevis glent,
for to kyll thear dear.
7.
This