Page:Hutting (sic) of Chevy-chase.pdf/3



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To view the fallow deer; Quoth he, Earl Douglas promised This day to meet me here; But if I thought he would not come No longer would I stay. With that a brave young gentleman, Thus to the Earl did say-- Lo! yonder doth Earl Douglas come, His men in armour bright; Full fifteen hundred Scottish spears, All marching in our sight; All pleasant men of Tiviotdale, Dwell on the river Tweed. Then cease your sport, Earl Percy said, And take your arms with speed: And now with me, my countrymen. Your courage to advance; For there was ne'er a champion yet, In Scotland or in France, That ever did on horseback come, But, if my hap it were, I durst encounter man for man, With him to break a spear. Lord Douglas on a milk-white steed, Most like a Baron bold, Rode foremost of his company, His armour shone like gold. Shew me, said he, whose men ye be, That hunt so boldly here That, without my consent, do chase And kill my fallow deer. The first man that did answer make Was noble Percy he, Who said, we list not to declare