The older version of
"Chevy Chase" is in an Ashmole MS. in the Bodleian, from which it was
first printed in 1719 by Thomas Hearne in his edition of William of
Newbury's History. Its author turns the tables on the Scots with the
suggestion of the comparative wealth of England and Scotland in men of
the stamp of Douglas and Percy. The later version, which was once
known more widely, is probably not older than the time of James I.,
and is the version praised by Addison in Nos. 70 and 74 of "The
Spectator."
"The Nut-Brown Maid," in which we can hardly doubt that a woman pleads
for women, was first printed in 1502 in Richard Arnold's Chronicle.
Nut-brown was the old word for brunette. There was an old saying that
"a nut-brown girl is neat and blithe by nature."
"Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslie" was first
printed by Copland about 1550. A fragment has been found of an
earlier impression. Laneham, in 1575, in his Kenilworth Letter,
included "Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslie"
among the light reading of Captain Cox. In the books of the
Stationers' Company (for the printing and editing of which we are
deeply indebted to Professor Arber), there is an entry between July
1557 and July 1558, "To John kynge to prynte this boke Called Adam
Bell etc.
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