CHEWY CHASE (probably a corruption of Fr. chevauchec, raid; scarcely connected with Engl. chery, chivy, to drive, front Gypsy chic, goad). The name of perhaps the most famous of British ballads. It has been preserved in two forms, known severally as the Scotch version and the English version. of which the former is the older and the more imaginative. To the Scotch ballad there is a reference in The Com p/ova of Scotland (1549), and apparently in Sidney's ..ipologie for Poetry (1595). The Eng lish poem, hest known in England, was praised by Addison for its naturalness and simplicity (Spectator, Nos. 70, 74, S5), and continues to be a favorite poem. It is impossible to reconcile its incidents with history, but the event which is meant to be commemorated appears to have been the battle of Otterburn. in August, 1388 a fight which Froissart declares to have been the bravest and most chivalrous which was fought in his day. According to the ballad, Percy, surnamed llotspur, vowed that he would enter Scotland. and take his pleasure for three days in the woods of his rival, and slay the deer therein at will. Douglas sent back word that he would prevent the sport. Accordingly, at the
time of the hay harvest. Percy, with stag-hounds and archers, passed into the domains of his foe, and slew a hundred fat bucks. After the English had hastily cooked their game, Douglas, clad in armor, and heading his Scottish spears, came on the scene. Haughty challenge and defiance passed between the captains, and the battle joined. In the centre of the fray the two leaders met, and during the fierce combat an English arrow struck Douglas to the heart. "Fight on, my merry t»en all!" cried he, and died. Percy, with all the chivalrous feeling of his race, took the dead man by the hand, and vowed that he would have given all his lands to save him. for a braver knight never fell by such a chance, Sir Hugh Mont gomery, having seen the fall of Douglas. clapped spurs to his horse, dashed on Percy, and struck his spear through his body a long cloth yard and more. When the battle ended, representatives of every noble family on either side of the Border lay on the bloody greensward. Consult "The Hunting of the Cheviot," in Child, English and Scottish Ballads, Vol. IiI. (Boston, 1878).