138 SHEEP AMONG THE CHEVIOTS.
Doth change the sports of Chevy-Chase To conflict stern and dire.
Ye wist not that ye press the spot,
Where Percy held his way Across the marches, in his pride,
The " chiefest harts to slay ; " And where the stout Earl Douglas rode
Upon his milk-white steed, With " fifteen hundred Scottish spears,"
To stay the invaders deed.
Ye wist not, that ye press the spot
Where, with his eagle eye, King James, and all his gallant train,
To Flodden Field swept by.* The queen was weeping in her bower,
Amid her maids that day, And on her cradled nursling s face
Those tears like pearl-drops lay.
For madly gainst her native realm
Her royal husband went, And led his flower of chivalry
As to a tournament ;
- The great battle of Flodden Field was fought September
9,1513, between Henry VIII. and James IV. of Scotland, the latter having married Margaret, sister of the English king, and daughter of Henrv VII.
�� �
