Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance. Various

hom both woo and wouche.

      27.

      The Dogglas partyd his ost in thre,

      lyk a cheffe cheften off pryde;

      With suar spears off myghttë tre,

      the cum in on every syde:

      28.

      Thrughe our Yngglyshe archery

      gave many a wounde fulle wyde;

      Many a doughetë the garde to dy,

      which ganyde them no pryde.

      29.

      29.⁴ ‘basnites,’ light helmets or skull-caps.

      The Ynglyshe men let ther boÿs be,

      and pulde owt brandes that wer brighte;

      It was a hevy syght to se

      bryght swordes on basnites lyght.

      30.

      30.¹ ‘myneyeple,’ = manople, a kind of long gauntlet.

      30.³ ‘freyke,’ man. So 32.¹, 47.¹, etc.

      Thorowe ryche male and myneyeple,

      many sterne the strocke done streght;

      Many a freyke that was fulle fre,

      ther undar foot dyd lyght.

      31.

      31.⁴ ‘myllan,’ Milan steel. Cp. ‘collayne,’ Battle of Otterburn, 54.⁴

      At last the Duglas and the Persë met,

      lyk to captayns of myght and of mayne;

      The swapte togethar tylle the both swat

      with swordes that wear of fyn myllan.

      32.

      Thes worthë freckys for to fyght,

      ther-to the wear fulle fayne,

      Tylle the bloode owte off thear basnetes sprente,

      as ever dyd heal or rayn.

      33.

      ‘Yelde the, Persë,’ sayde the Doglas,

      ‘and i feth I shalle the brynge

      Wher thowe shalte have a yerls wagis

      of Jamy our Skottish kynge.

      34.

      ‘Thou shalte have thy ransom fre,

      I hight the hear this thinge;

      For the manfullyste man yet art thowe

      that ever I conqueryd in filde fighttynge.’

      35.

      ‘Nay,’ sayd the lord Persë,

      ‘I tolde it the beforne,

      That I wolde never yeldyde be

      to no man of a woman born.’

      36.

      36.² ‘wane.’ One arrow out of a large number.—Skeat.

      With that ther cam an arrowe hastely,

      forthe off a myghttë wane;

      Hit hathe strekene the yerle Duglas

      in at the brest-bane.

      37.

      Thorowe lyvar and longës bathe

      the sharpe arrowe ys gane,

      That never after in all his lyffe-days

      he spayke mo wordës but ane:

      That was, ‘Fyghte ye, my myrry men, whyllys ye may,

      for my lyff-days ben gan.’

      38.

      38.³ Addison compared (Vergil, Aen. x. 823):— ‘Ingemuit miserans graviter dextramque tetendit,’ etc.

      The Persë leanyde on his brande,

      and sawe the Duglas de;

      He tooke the dede mane by the hande,

      and sayd, ‘Wo ys me for the!

      39.

      ‘To have savyde thy lyffe, I wolde have partyde with

      my landes for years thre,

      For a better man, of hart nare of hande,

      was nat in all the north contrë.’

      40.

      Off all that se a Skottishe knyght,

      was callyd Ser Hewe the Monggombyrry;

      He sawe the Duglas to the deth was dyght,

      he spendyd a spear, a trusti tre.

      41.

      41.³ ‘blane,’ lingered.

      He rod uppone a corsiare

      throughe a hondrith archery:

      He never stynttyde, nar never blane,

      tylle he cam to the good lord Persë.

      42.

      He set uppone the lorde Persë

      a dynte that was full soare;

      With a suar spear of a myghttë tre

      clean thorow the body he the Persë ber,

      43.

      A the tothar syde that a man myght se

      a large cloth-yard and mare:

      Towe bettar captayns wear nat in Cristiantë

      then that day slan wear ther.

      44.

      44.² ‘say,’ saw.

      An archar off Northomberlonde

      say slean was the lord Persë;

      He bar a bende bowe in his hand,

      was made off trusti tre.

      45.

      45.² i.e. till the point reached the wood of the bow.

      An arow, that a cloth-yarde was lang,

      to the harde stele halyde he;

      A dynt that was both sad and soar

      he sat on Ser Hewe the Monggombyrry.

      46.

      The dynt yt was both sad and sar,

      that he of Monggomberry sete;

      The swane-fethars that his arrowe bar

      with his hart-blood the wear wete.

      47.

      47.³ ‘whylle the myghte dre’ = while they might dree, as long as they could hold.

      Ther was never a freake wone foot wolde fle,

      but still in stour dyd stand,

      Heawyng on yche othar, whylle the myghte dre,

      with many a balfull brande.

      48.

      This battell begane in Chyviat

      an owar befor the none.

      And when even-songe bell was rang,