To drive the deer with hound and horn,
Earl Percy took his way;
The child may rue that is unborn
The hunting of that day.
The stout Earl of Northumberland
A vow to God did make,
His pleasure in the Scottish woods
Three summer days to take;
The chiefest harts in Chevy Chase
To kill and bear away.
These tidings to Earl Douglas came,
In Scotland where he lay:
Who sent Earl Percy present word,
He would prevent his sport.
The English earl, not fearing that,
Did to the woods resort
With fifteen hundred bow-men bold;
All chosen men of might,
Who knew full well in time of need
To aim their shafts aright.
The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran,
To chase the fallow deer:
On Monday they began to hunt,
Ere day-light did appear;
And long before high noon they had
An hundred fat bucks slain;
Then having din'd, the drovers went
To rouse the deer again.
The bow-men mustered on the hills,
Well able to endure;
Their backsides all, with special care,
That day were guarded sure.