Specimens of English literature from the 'Ploughmans crede' to the ...

;394 NOTES.4, 5. These lines are too long, and clearly corrupt. The fourth lineshould almost certainly be'The fattest hartes in all cheviat he said that he wold sle.'To restore this ballad to its true old form is hopeless ; we must bethankful for what we have, and make the best of it.6. Danborowe, Bamborough, on the coast of Northumberland.Meany, company, suite.7. XV. C, fifteen hundred.Sbyars iij, three shires. This has been explained to mean threedistricts in Northumberland, called shires, all in the neighbourhood ofCheviot ; viz. Idandshire, named from Holy Island, Norhamshire, namedfrom Norham, and Bamhoroughshire, from Bamborough.8. He, high.9. In Nos. 70 and 74 of the Spectator, there is a curious critiqueby Addison upon the Ballad of Chevy Chase, which the reader shouldby all means consult. A few of his most * striking remarks I shall herequote for convenience, in their proper places. It must be remembered,however, that they apply to the later form of the poem. For instance,he remarks (Spect. No. 74),'What can be greater than either thethought or the expression in that stanza ?'" To drive the deer ^vith hound and hornEarl Piercy took his way ;The child may rue that is unborn"The hunting of that day !This way of considering the misfortunes which this battle would bringupon posterity, not only on those who were bom immediately after theb'attle, and lost their fathers in it, but on those also who perished infuture battles which took their rise from this quarrel of the two earls, iswonderfully beautiful, and confonnable tothe ancient poets" Audiet pugnas uitio parentumthe way of thinking amongRara inventus. " —Hor. [Carm. i.2].'10-13. These four lines form a complete stanza, with the rimes dear,cleare, shear, dear at the end, and the rimes went, bent, weiit, glent in themiddle. To this standard the whole poem may have been intended toconform, but the difficulty was too great ; or our copy is sadly imperfect.II. Bycharte, bickered. Falsely spelt; it should be bikkered ; butI think it best to leave the utterly vicious spelling alone.13. Greahondes, should he grehondes, i.e. grayhounds.Gravis, groves ; so in Chaucer.14. Tber, probably an error for :bei, they.