LORD EWRIE.

SIR RALPH EVRE, or Ewrie, or Evers, commemorated in the following lines, was one of the bravest men of a military race. He was son of the first, and father of the second Lord Ewrie; and was himself created a Lord of Parliament during his father's lifetime, in the 35th year of Henry VIII. The ballad is apparently a strain of gratulation upon that event. The poet, or more probably the reciter, has made some confusion in the lineage, by declaring that his hero was "married upon a Willoughbé." His mother, however, was of that family, and he was "kin to the Nevil and to the Percy." He was ennobled by Henry, on account of the vigour with which he prosecuted the Border warfare. But after "harrying the Mers and Tiviotdale, and knocking at Edinburgh gate," Lord Ewrie was slain in the battle of Ancram Moor, fought between him and the Earl of Angus, in 1546. See Note to the Eve of St John,-post.

1

1 [He was buried in Melrose Abbey, and his stone coffin may still be seen there a little to the left of the Great Altar.-ED.]

This song was written down by my obliging friend, Richard Surtees, Esq. of Mainsforth,1 from the recitation of Rose Smith, of Bishop Middleham, a woman aged upwards of ninety-one, whose husband's father and two brothers were killed in the affair of 1715.

1 [The author of the history of Durham.—ED.]

LORD EWRIE.

LORD EWRIE was as brave a man
As ever stood in his degree;
The King has sent him a broad letter,
All for his courage and loyalty.1

Lord Ewrie is of gentill blode,
A knighte's son sooth to say;
He is kin to the Nevill and to the Percy,
And is married upon a Willowbé.

A noble Knight him trained upp,

Sir Rafe Bulmer is the man I mean;2

At Flodden field, as men do say,

No better capten there was seen.

1 Patent letters of nobility.

2 Sir William Bulmer, of Burnspeth Castle, who is here said to have commanded the troops raised in the Bishopric, in the battle of Floddenfield, was descended from an ancient, and, at one period, noble family. The last who was summoned to Parliament as a Peer of the realm, was Ralph, from 1st till 23d Edward III. Sir

He led the men of Bishopricke,

When Thomas Ruthal bore the sway: Though the Scottish Habs1 were stout and true, The English bowmen wan that day.

And since he has kepte Berwick upon Tweed,
The town was never better kept I wot;
He maintained leal and order along the Border,
And still was ready to prick the Scot.

The country then lay in great peace,

And grain and grass was sown and won ; Then plenty fill'd the market crosse,

When Lord Ewrie kept Berwick town.

With our Queene's brother he hath been,2
And rode rough shod through Scotland of late;
They have burn'd the Mers and Tiviotdale,

And knocked full loud at Edinburgh gate.

William routed the Borderers, who, under the command of Lord Home, made an excursion into Northumberland, previous to the battle of Flodden. He is mentioned in the Metrical History of the Battle, v. 105, &c. In the present ballad, he is erroneously denominated Sir Ralph Bulmer.

1[Habs—i. e. halberts; spears.]

2 The Earl of Hertford, afterwards Duke of Somerset, and brother of Queen Jane Seymour, made a furious incursion into Scotland, in 1545. See Introduction.

Now the King hath sent him a broad letter,

A Lord of Parliament to be:

It were well if every nobleman

Stood like Lord Ewrie in his degree.