56 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 
the difficulty is to choose from such abundance. In such a case we 
may forbear to quote in order of time or subject. The bee flits from 
blossom to blossom, and gathers honey, regardless of the order of 
his visitations, and our illustrations may be more pleasing from 
variety than from formal selection. 
The Cuckoo song is said to be the oldest song in the English 
language. Ritson places it third in chronological order in his list, 
and neither of the two which precede it is in English. The Latin 
convivial song of Walter Mapes stands first, and the second is the 
French song by Richard the First, written during his captivity in 
Germany on his return from the East. The MS. of the Cuckoo 
Song is in the British Museum, and is referred to the year 1250. 
Although not within the pale of ballads proper, its beauty and age 
both claim for it first place in English Lyric poetry. 
Summer is y-comen in, 
Loud sing, cuckoo ; 
Groweth seed, 
And bloweth mead 
And spring’th the wood now 
Sing cuckoo ! 
Ewe bleateth after lamb, 
Low’th after calf cow, 
Bullock sterteth, * 
Buck verteth, 
Merry sing cuckoo ! 
Cuckoo, cuckoo! 
Well sings thou, cuckoo ! 
Nor swiket thou never now. 
The best known of the old ballads is that called Chevy 
Chase. There are several ballads, some English, others Scottish, 
concerning battles on the border. The only fight in which a 
Douglas fell when battling with a Percy, was that of August 9th, 1388, 
at Otterburn, where the Earl of Douglas was slain on the field. In 
the ballads, victory is claimed for both sides, according to the nat- 
ional predilection of the singer. Froissart, the French chronicler, 
says the Scots were victorious. Chevy Chase is in an ancient 
and modern version, both of which are more recent than the 
Otterburn ballads. The minstrel opens with a hunting foray, which 
is soon merged in the battle given in the older ballads. But, anach- 
ronisms are no rarities in these old songs, and historical accuracy is 
* gambols + cease 
