NOTES.

CHEVY CHASE.

P. 1.

THE ancient heroic ballad of Chevy Chase has long been an universal favourite. The union which it presents of the sports of the field with the more striking incidents of warfare, the personal nature of the quarrel which leads to the catastrophe, the celebrity of its principal characters, and the domestic scene of its transactions, all contribute to give it a degree of interest far superior to that excited by most productions of a similar kind.

But independent of these considerations, a poem which has for so many centuries been the delight of the British nation, which is repeated by infancy, and retained in age, and which has equal attractions for all ranks of society, must have a considerable degree of poetical merit. It is this that obtained for it the high approbation of Sir Philip Sydney, who declared "that he never heard the old song of Percie and Douglas that he found not his heart moved more than with a trumpet; and that induced Addison to devote two of his Spectators to a critical examination of its beauties, in which he has raised it to the rank of an English Epic, and compared it with the celebrated productions of Greece and Rome.

It must not, however, be understood, that the approbation thus expressed by these eminent men, was applied to the same composition. Addison was mistaken in attributing the 'language of Sir Philip Sydney to the modern

ballad of Chevy Chase, of which he has himself given a critique. It might indeed have occurred to him that the poem which engaged his attention was not so obsolete in its language as to have been considered even in the reign of Elizabeth, as "evil apparelled in the dust and cobweb of an uncivil age." It is to Dr. Percy, the Editor of the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, that we are indebted for the recovery, or at least for the republication, of the original poem which moved the heart of Sir Philip Sydney, though 66 sung by some blind crowder with no rougher voice than rude style;" and which induces him to ask "what it would work trimmed in the gorgeous eloquence of Pindare?"

It is not indeed improbable, as Dr. Percy conjectures, that the modern ballad was written in consequence of the eulogium of Sir Philip Sydney upon the ancient poem. At all events he is not inclined to consider it as of higher antiquity than the time of Elizabeth, whilst he has given sufficient reasons to presume, that the ancient ballad cannot be placed later than the time of Henry VI.; "as on the other hand, the mention of James, the Scottish king, forbids us to assign it an earlier date."

That a contest between the two powerful border nobles, similar to that described in the poem actually occurred, may reasonably be conjectured, although the particular circumstances attending it are not authenticated by any historical records; unless we should consider it as having taken its origin from the Battle of Otterbourne, and been written subsequent to the Ballad on that subject, to which it bears a strong resemblance. However this may be, much must have been left to the invention of the writer to describe as he might think fit. Of this liberty the authors of the ballads have freely availed themselves, nor has the writer of the second thought himself bound to adhere very closely to the authority of the first. The early poem bears indeed much stronger marks of authenticity than the modern imitation. The circumstances are more strongly conceived, and more clearly described. It displays a greater air of sincerity and a deeper feeling, and at the same time it is free from several mistakes and anachronisms which appear in the more modern work.

In some respects, the foregoing attempt to modernize this ancient and favourite poem will be found materially to differ from the original ballad. One of the circumstances that seems to have contributed greatly to its interest, is the representation it gives of a kind of sylvan war, in which the hilarity of the sports of the field is interrupted and terminated by a serious. and destructive battle.-I have therefore availed myself of the opportunity thus afforded, of describing the preparations for the expedition, and the pleasures of the Chase, at some length; and for this part of my attempt, as I owe little to my predecessors, so I cannot plead their example as my excuse. That discrimination of character in the principal leaders, which is but slightly indicated in the ancient ballads, I have endeavoured to draw forth, as far as the brief nature of such a poem will admit; nor has it escaped my observation, that those ballads are indebted for a great portion of the high estimation in which they are held, to the generous sentiments which, amidst the heat and animosity of national and individual rivalship, are occasionally displayed by the two chieftains, and which, although I am aware that they cannot be improved upon, I have done all in my power to pre

serve.

There are two points in which I have deviated from the original ballad, which may require some explanation. The time, which in the latter comprises only a single day, is extended to two days; and the part which Witherington acts in breaking off the single combat between the Earls, is transferred to Sir Hugh Montgomery. There is the less occasion for apology, with regard to the extension of the time, as the modernized ballad is guilty of a great oversight in this respect, which is not found in the ancient one. The former narrates,

"This fight did last from break of day

"To setting of the sun."

Although it has before described the Hunt as taking place in the forenoon of the same day. It would have been quite correct if it had followed the ancient copy, which very consistently says,

The fight, according to the latter, which nearly agrees in this respect with the circumstances of the Battle of Otterbourne, was begun at noon and continued by moonlight. But as the battle is the principal feature of the poem, and as the hunting of the one baron, and the journey of the other, may be reasonably supposed to occupy one day, it seemed preferable to postpone the final meeting, and the decision of the quarrel, to the following morning. The interference, too, of a chieftain of influence and reputation, accounts more satisfactorily than that of a simple attendant, for the disobedience of the vassals in interrupting the duel between their lords; and from the nature of the arms which the two parties carried, it is more honourable and manly that this chieftain should be a Scot than an Englishman. An attack from the English archers would have been insidious and cowardly, as many of the enemy must have perished before they had notice of hostilities, whereas the advance of the spearmen was of itself a sufficient warning to their antagonists.

With these exceptions, I have adhered as strictly as possible to the facts and words of the ballad, which, in its ancient as well as its more recent form, is subjoined at the end of the notes.

The fierce Gyr-falcon leaves his mew.

P. 6.

"Girfalcus est avis rapax, major quam falco, et est magnæ virtutis et potentiæ mirabilisque audaciæ, adeo ut inventi sunt aliqui, audaci spiritu, aquilas insultasse." P. Crescentius de Agriculturâ.