Of fifteen hundred Englishmen
Went home but fifty-three;
The rest in Chevy Chase 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 blood,
They bore with them away;
They kissed them dead a thousand times
Ere they were clad in clay.
This 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 may witness be
I have not any captain more
Of such account as he!"
Like tidings to King Henry came
Within as short a space,
That Piercy of Northumberland
Was slain in Chevy Chase.
"Now God be with him!" said our king,
"Sith '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,
And be reveng-ed on them all
For brave Earl Piercy's sake."
This vow the king did well perform
After on Humble Down;
In one day fifty knights were slain,
With lords of great renown,
And of the rest of small account,
Did many hundreds die:
Thus ended the hunting in Chevy Chase
Made by the Earl Piercy.
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