632 TraiisacUoiiH. 



In several verses even the Eomance is exceeded : — 



(19.) " Leave ofif the brytlyng of the dear,"' he sayde, 

 " And to your bowys look ye tayk good heed ; 

 For never sithe ye wear on your mothars borne 

 Had ye never so mickle need." 



(Part i, stanza 13.) 



This " Battle of Chevy Chase " is a stirring, rugged old Ballad ; and the 

 jorocess of forcing to type is clearly seen when the foregoing stanzas are 

 compared with the parallel stanzas in the later version, given by Percy 

 as " the more improved edition of that fine Heroic ballad." He says 

 the bard of the latter has " everywhere improved the versification " — that 

 is, he has brought it into strict conformity with type. In this " improved 

 edition " quotation No. (13) becomes — 



(20.) " Noe, Douglas," quoth Erl Percy then, 

 " Thy proffer I doe scorne ; 

 1 will not 3'eelde to any Scott 

 That ever yett was borne." 



(Stanza 38.) 



Quotation No. (16) becomes — 



(21.) With stout Earle Percj% there was slaine 

 Sir John of Egerton, 

 Sir Robert Ratcliff, and Sir John, 

 Sir James that bold Barron : 



And with Sir George and stout Sir James, 



Both knights of good account, 

 ( >ood Sii Ralph Raby there was slaine. 



Whose prowesse did surmount. 



(Stanzas 51, 52.) 



Here Procrustes has been lengthening the limbs of his victims without a 

 doubt. Quotation No. (17) becomes — 



(22.) Ei'le Douglas on his milke- white steede, 

 jNIost like a baron bold. 

 Rode foremost of his company. 

 Whose armour shone like gold. 



(Stanza 17.) 



And, lastly, c|Uotation No. (19) becomes the second verse of— 



(23.) All men of jjleasant Tivydale, 

 Fast by the river Tweede : " 

 " O, cease your sports," Erie Percy said, 

 " And take j^our bowes with speede : 



Ail the ruggedness, and. much of the life, have disappeared in the^course 

 of " improvement,'' and we may be quite certain that our smoothest 

 ballads have resulted from a similar process. It is possible that even in 

 the older form the process is seen at work in a verse like — 



(24.) That day, that day, that dreadfuU day : 

 The first Fit here I fynde. 



(Part i, last stanza.) 



— where an Alexandrine — 



(24a.) That day, that dreadfull day: 

 The first Fit here I fynde. 



— has been swelled to the full Ballad by the insertion of another " that 

 <lay." Such verses are of very frequent occurrence in the old ballads ; in 



