Last night I dream'd a dreary dream,
And I ken the day's thy ain.

"My wound is deep; I fain would sleep;
Take thou the vanguard of the three,
And hide me by the braken1 bush,
That grows on yonder lilye lee.

"O bury me by the braken bush,
Beneath the blooming brier,

Let never living mortal ken,
That ere a kindly Scot lies here."

He lifted up that noble lord,

Wi' the saut tear in his ee;

He hid him in the braken bush,

That his merrie-men might not see.

The moon was clear, the day drew near,
The spears in flinders flew,
But mony a gallant Englishman
Ere day the Scotsmen slew.

The Gordons good, in English blood,
They steep'd their hose and shoon;

The Lindsays flew like fire about,
Till all the fray was done.

1 Braken-Fern.

1

The Percy and Montgomery met,
That either of other were fain;

They swapped swords, and they twa swat,
And aye the blood ran down between.

"Now yield thee, yield thee, Percy,” he said,
"Or else I vow I'll lay thee low!"-
"To whom must I yield," quoth Earl Percy,
"Now that I see it must be so?"-

"Thou shalt not yield to lord nor loun,
Nor yet shalt thou yield to me;
But yield thee to the braken bush,

That grows upon yon lilye lee!".

"I will not yield to a braken bush, Nor yet will I yield to a brier; But I would yield to Earl Douglas,

-

Or Sir Hugh the Montgomery, if he were here."

As soon as he knew it was Montgomery,1
He struck his sword's point in the gronde ;

[In one copy the line stands :

"As soon as he knew it was Sir Hugh."-ED.]

The Montgomery was a courteous knight,
And quickly took him by the honde.1

This deed was done at the Otterbourne
About the breaking of the day;

Earl Douglas was buried at the braken bush,
And the Percy led captive away.

1 Here the English ballad of Otterbourne has that exquisite verse, almost the same as in the elder Chevy Chase :

"Then on the morn they made them beeres

Of birch and hazell gray;

Mony a widow with weeping tears,

Their makes they fette away.”]

APPENDIX.

NOTE A.

He chose the Gordons.-P. 354, v. 2.

THE illustrious family of Gordon was originally settled upon the lands of Gordon and Huntly, in the shire of Berwick, and are, therefore, of Border extraction. The steps by which they removed from thence to the shires of Aberdeen and Inverness, are worthy of notice. In 1300, Adam de Gordon was Warden of the Marches.-RYMER, vol. ii. p. 870. He obtained, from Robert the Bruce, a grant of the forfeited estate of David de Strathbolgie, Earl of Athol; but no possession followed, the earl having returned to his allegiance. John de Gordon, his great grandson, obtained, from Robert II., a new charter of the lands of Strathbolgie, which had been once more and finally forfeited by David, Earl of Athol, slain in the battle of Kilblane. This grant is dated 13th July, 1376. John de Gordon, who was destined to transfer, from the Borders of England to those of the Highlands, a powerful and martial race, was himself a redoubted warrior, and many of his exploits occur in the annals of that turbulent period. In 1371-2, the English Borderers invaded and plundered the lands of Gordon, on the Scottish East March. Sir John of Gordon retaliated, by an incursion on Northumberland, where he collected much spoil. But as he returned with his booty, he was attacked, at unawares, by Sir John Lilburne, a Northumbrian, who, with

a superior force, lay near Carham in ambush, to intercept him. Gordon harangued and cheered his followers, charged the English gallantly, and, after having himself been five times in great peril, gained a complete victory, slaying many Southrons, and taking their leader and his brother captive. According to the Prior of Lochlevin, he was desperately wounded; but

"There rays a welle grete renowne,

And gretly prysyd wes gud Gordown."

Shortly after this exploit, Sir John of Gordon encountered and routed Sir Thomas Musgrave, a renowned English Marchman, whom he made prisoner. The Lord of Johnstone had, about the same time, gained a great advantage on the West Border; and hence, says Wyntoun,

"He and the Lord of Gordowne
Had a soverane gud renown,
Of ony that war of thare degré,

For full thai war of gret bounté."

Upon another occasion, Sir John of Gordon is said to have partially succeeded in the surprisal of the town of Berwick, although the superiority of the garrison obliged him to relinquish his enterprise.

The ballad is accurate, in introducing this warrior, with his clan, into the host of Douglas at Otterbourne. Perhaps, as he was in possession of his extensive northern domains, he brought to the field the northern broadswords, as well as the lances of his eastern Borderers. With his gallant leader, he lost his life in the deadly The English ballad commemorates his valour and pru

conflict. dence :

"The Yerle of Huntley, cawte and kene."

But the title is a premature designation. The Earldom of Huntly was first conferred on Alexander Seaton, who married the granddaughter of the hero of Otterbourne, and assumed his title from Huntly, in the north. Besides his eldest son Adam, who carried on the line of the family, Sir John de Gordon left two sons, known in tradition by the familiar names of Jock and Tam. The former.