+The Text+ here given is that of a MS. in the Bodleian Library (Ashmole
48) of about the latter half of the sixteenth century. It was printed by
Hearne, and by Percy in the _Reliques_, and the whole MS. was edited by
Thomas Wright for the Roxburghe Club in 1860. In this MS. _The Hunting
of the Cheviot_ is No. viii., and is subscribed 'Expliceth, quod Rychard
Sheale.' Sheale is known to have been a minstrel of Tamworth, and it
would appear that much of this MS. (including certain poems, no doubt
his own) is in his handwriting--probably the book belonged to him. But
the supposition that he was author of the _Hunting of the Cheviot_,
Child dismisses as 'preposterous in the extreme.'
The other version, far better known as _Chevy Chase_, is that of the
Percy Folio, published in the _Reliques_, and among the Pepys, Douce,
Roxburghe, and Bagford collections of ballads. For the sake of
differentiation this may be called the broadside form of the ballad, as
it forms a striking example of the impairment of a traditional ballad
when re-written for the broadside press. Doubtless it is the one known
and commented on by Addison in his famous papers (Nos. 70 and 74) in the
_Spectator_ (1711), but it is not the one referred to by Sir Philip
Sidney in his _Apologie_. Professor Child doubts if Sidney's ballad,
'being so evill apparelled in the dust and cobwebbes of that uncivill
age,' is the traditional one here printed, which is scarcely the product
of an uncivil age; more probably Sidney had heard it in a rough and
ancient form, 'sung,' as he says, 'but by some blind crouder, with no
rougher voyce than rude stile.' 'The Hunttis of the Chevet' is mentioned
as one of the 'sangis of natural music of the antiquite' sung by the
shepherds in _The Complaynt of Scotland_, a book assigned to 1549.
+The Story.+--The _Hunting of the Cheviot_ is a later version of the
_Battle of Otterburn_, and a less conscientious account thereof.
Attempts have been made to identify the _Hunting_ with the Battle of
Piperden (or Pepperden) fought in 1436 between a Percy and a Douglas.
But the present ballad is rather an unauthenticated account of an
historical event, which made a great impression on the public mind. Of
that, its unfailing popularity on both sides of the Border, its constant
appearance in broadside form, and its inclusion in every ballad-book,
give the best witness.
The notable deed of Witherington (stanza 54) has many parallels. All
will remember the warrior who
'... when his legs were smitten off
He fought upon his stumps.'
Tradition tells an identical story of 'fair maiden Lilliard' at the
Battle of Ancrum Muir in 1545. Seneca mentions the feat. It occurs in
the Percy Folio, Sir Graysteel (in _Eger and Grine_) fighting on one
leg. Johnie Armstrong and Sir Andrew Barton both retire to 'bleed
awhile' after being transfixed through the body. Finally, in an early
saga, King Starkathr (Starkad) fights on after his head is cut off.