CHEVY CHASE. THE beautiful ballad which bears this title had its origin in one of those border feuds, which constantly took place between the rival nobles of England and Scotland, before the union of that country with our own. In the fourteenth century, the warlike and rival families of Douglas and Percy, possessed the lands on the opposite sides of the Cheviot hills, and, when opportunities offered, the one invaded and destroyed the territories of his opponent. According to this practice, when Henry IV. was engaged in suppressing the rebellion which followed his usurpation of the English throne, the Scotch marched as far as Newcastle. To repel this invasion, the Earl of Northumberland sent his two son's Ralph and Henry, to oppose the Scotch, whilst Douglas and his men retreated to their own country with the spoil they had gained. They had arrived within six miles of the border, when they were overtaken by Percy, who attacked the camp by night with great fury, but having made the assault on the quarter belonging to the common men, it gave time to the Scotch to equip themselves, when they rushed furiously against the English. Douglas himself forgetting or not waiting to put on his helmet, ran forth with bare head, but with a ponderous mace in his hand, with which he struck down all before him, till he was at length overpowered and B |