3
The bowmen muster'd on the hill,
Well able to endure,
Their backsides all with special care,
That day were guarded sure,
The lounds ran swiftly thro' the wood,
The nimble deer to take:
And with their cries the hills and dales
An echo shrill did make.
Earl Percy to the Quarry went,
To view the fallow deer;
Quoth the Earl, Douglas promis’d
This day to meet me here;
But if I thought he would not come,
No longer would I stay:
With that a brave young gentleman,
Thus to the Earl did say—
Lo yonder doth Earl Douglas come!
His men in armour bright,
Full fifteen hundred Scottish spears,
All marching in his sight:
All pleasant men of Teviotdale,
Dwell by the river Tweed,
Then cease your sport, Earl Percy said,
And take your bows with speed.
Lord Douglas on a milk-white steed,
Most like a baron bold,
Rode foremost of the company,
Whose armour shone like gold.
Shew me, said he, whose men ye be,
That hunt so boldly here,
That without my consent to chace,
And kill my fallow deer.
The first man that did answer make,
Was noble Percy he,
