And with Earl Douglas there was slain
Sir Hugh Montgomery,

Sir Charles Murray, that from the field
One foot would never flee.

Sir Charles Murray of Ratcliffe, too,
His sister's son was he;

Sir David Lamb, so well esteemed,
But saved he could not be.

And the Lord Maxwell, in like case,
Did with Earl Douglas die;
Of twenty hundred Scottish spears,
Scarce fifty-five did fly.

Of fifteen hundred Englishmen,
Went home but fifty-three;

The rest in Chevy Chace were slain,

Under the greenwood tree.

Next day did many widows come,

Their husbands to bewail;

They washed their wounds in brinish tears,

But all would not prevail.

Their bodies, bathed in purple gore,

They bore with them away;

They kissed them dead a thousand times,

When they were clad in clay.

The news was brought to Edinburgh,
Where Scotland's king did reign,

That brave Earl Douglas suddenly

Was with an arrow slain :

"O heavy news" King James did say,
"Scotland can witness be,

signifies, a melancholy strain of music. The moderniser has not in this instance improved upon the pathetic simplicity of the original, which runs thus:

"For Witherington my heart is woe,

That ever he slain should be;

For when both his legs were hewn in two,
Yet he knelt and fought on his knee."

Sith-since.

I have not any captain more
Of such account as he."

Like tidings to King Henry came,
Within as short a space,

That Percy of Northumberland
Was slain in Chevy Chace:

"Now God be with him," said our king,

"Sith1 'twill no better be;

I trust I have, within my realm,
Five hundred as good as he.

"Yet shall not Scots nor Scotland say,
But I will vengeance take;

I'll be revenged on them all,

For brave Earl Percy's sake."

This vow full well the king performed,
After, at Humbledown ;2

In one day fifty knights were slain,
With lords of high renown;

And of the rest, of small account,
Did many hundreds die.

Thus ended the hunting of Chevy Chace,3
Made by the Earl Percy.

God save the king! and bless this land
With plenty, joy, and peace;

And grant, henceforth, that foul debate+
"Twixt noblemen may cease.

Another form is sithence, whence came since.

2 Humbledown-Humbleton, or Homildon Hill, in Northumberland, where a battle took place in 1402, in which the Earl of Northumberland and his son Hotspur gained a complete victory over the Scots.

3 Thus ended-this battle at Homildon Hill, which was occasioned by the hunting in Chevy Chace, is called the ending of the hunting.

Debate this word, formerly used to denote every kind of contest, has in course of time come to mean verbal strife only.

Having displayed in the beginning of this ballad, the tributes of praise which its merits have elicited, it is but fair to add, at the close, a contrary opinion delivered by a great authority. Dr. Johnson, in his "Life of Addison," while ridiculing Addison for having praised the ballad, in the "Spectator," speaks of the "chill and lifeless imbecility of the poem," and adds:-" The story cannot possibly be told in a manner that shall make less impression on the mind:"-an opinion, which, when compared with Dr. Percy's, given in a former note, proves how widely "doctors" may "differ."

FEMALE NAMES.

IN Christian world MARY the garland wears!
REBECCA Sweetens on a Hebrew's ear;

Quakers for pure PRISCILLA are more clear;
And the light Gaul by amorous NINON Swears.
Among the lesser lights how Lucy1 shines!
What air of fragrance ROSAMOND throws round!
How like a hymn doth sweet CECILIA Sound!
Of MARTHAS, and of ABIGAILS, few lines
Have bragged in verse.

Of coarsest household stuff

But can

Should homely JOAN be fashioned.
You BARBARA resist, or MARIAN?
And is not CLARE for love excuse enough?
Yet, by my faith in numbers, I profess,
These all, than Saxon EDITH, please me less.

Lamb.

1

SWIMMING.

CHEERED by the milder beam,2 the sprightly youth
Speeds to the well-known pool, whose crystal depth
A sandy bottom shows. Awhile he stands
Gazing the inverted landscape, half afraid
To meditate the blue profound below;
Then plunges headlong down the circling flood.
His ebon tresses and his rosy cheek

Instant emerge; and through the obedient wave,
At each short breathing by his lip repelled,
With arms and legs according well, he makes,
As humour leads, an easy winding path;
While, from his polished sides, a dewy light
Effuses on the pleased spectators round.

Lucy-from the Latin lux, lucis, light. The graceful ingenuity displayed in this and the next two lines well deserve attention. "Among the lesser lights how Lucy shines," is exceedingly apt, and scarcely less so, "what air of fragrance Rosamond (from the Latin rosa, rose, and munda, pure or sweet) throws round."

2 Milder beam-This passage is extracted from the "Summer" of Thomson's "Seasons."

3 Gazing-i. e. gazing at. This licence of leaving out words is very frequently employed by Thomson. See below, "headlong down the circling flood," i. e. into the flood; "the limbs knit," i. e. become knit or compacted into strength.

E

This is the purest exercise of health,

The kind refresher of the summer heats;

Nor, when cold Winter keens the brightening flood,
Would I, weak-shivering, linger on the brink.
Thus life redoubles; and is oft preserved,
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse1
Of accident disastrous. Hence the limbs
Knit into force; and the Roman arm

That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth,
First learned, while tender, to subdue the wave.
Even2 from the body's purity, the mind
Receives a secret sympathetic aid.

Thomson.

1

ON A TEAR.

OH! that the chemist's magic art
Could crystallize this sacred treasure!
Long should it glitter near my heart,
A secret source of pensive pleasure.

The little brilliant, ere it fell,

Its lustre caught from Chloe's eye;
Then, trembling, left its coral cell-
The spring of sensibility.

Sweet drop of pure and pearly light!
In thee the rays of virtue shine ;3
More calmly clear, more mildly bright,
Than any gem that gilds the mine.

Benign restorer of the soul,

Who ever fliest to bring relief,
When first we feel the rude control
Of love or pity, joy or grief.4

Illapse-sliding into, occurrence. This "swift illapse of accident disastrous," is a very pedantic and unpleasing expression.

2 Even the word "even" belongs to the next clause, though, for convenience' sake, placed here. The construction in prose would be, From the body's purity, even the mind, &c.

3 Rays of virtue shine-because tears are frequently the indication of repentance. 4 Love or pity, &c.—all of which passions, though so diverse in their character, find relief through the same natural channel.

The sage's and the poet's theme,1
In every clime, in every age;
Thou charm'st in fancy's idle dream,
In reason's philosophic page.

That very law2 which moulds a tear,
And bids it trickle from its source,
That law preserves the earth a sphere,
And guides the planets in their course.

Rogers.

66

RICHARD AND KATE.3

A SUFFOLK BALLAD.

COME, goody, stop your humdrum wheel,
Sweep up your orts,+ and get your hat;
Old joys revived once more I feel,

'Tis fair-day;-ay, and more than that:

"Have you forgot, Kate, prythee say,

How many seasons here we've tarried? 'Tis forty years, this very day,

Since you and I, old girl, were married!

"Look out;-the sun shines warm and bright,
The stiles are low, the paths all dry;
I know you cut your corns last night:
Come, be as free from care as I.

"For I'm resolved once more to see
That place where we so often met;
Though few have had more cares than we,
We've none just now, to make us fret."

The sage's, &c.—The tear which stimulates the poet's fancy, impels the philosopher to inquire scientifically into its origin, the cause of its shape, trickling down, &c.

2 Law-the law of gravitation.

The simple and natural tone of this Suffolk ballad-the author of which was a poor shoemaker-is a sufficient warrant for its introduction into this selection, in spite of occasional imperfections in style and metre.

Orts-scraps, fragments: here, the miscellaneous refuse of the spinning

wheel.