in the English text).
This deed was done at the Otterburn. (Herd.)
The fraye began at Otterburn. (English.)
Now what was the broken Ettrick stanza that Scott omitted in his
published Otterburne (1806)? It referred to Sir Hugh Montgomery, who,
in Herd, captured Percy after a fight; in the English version is a
prisoner apparently exchanged for Percy. In the Ettrick MS. the
omitted verse is
He left not an Englishman on the field
. . .
That he hadna either killed or taen
Ere his heart's blood was cauld.
Scott ended with Herd's last stanza; in the English version the last
but two.
Now the death, at Otterburn, of Sir Hugh, is recorded in an English
ballad styled The Hunting of the Cheviot. By 1540-50 it was among the
popular songs north of Tweed. The Complaynte of Scotland (1549)
mentions among "The Songis of Natural Music of the Antiquitie"
(volkslieder), The Hunttis of Chevet. Our copy of the English version
is in the Bodleian (MS. Ashmole, 48). It ends: "Expliceth, quod
Rychard Sheale," a minstrel who recited ballads and tales at Tamworth
(circ.
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