Ballads of Scottish Tradition and Romance. Various
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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,