C h i l l i n g h a m
GA S T L S .
prifoner. On the hill are feme marks of entrenchments, whicl
the Scots flung up before the battle. The face of this h i l l l
alfo. divided bv multitudes of terraces, refembling thofe abol
defcribed.
Ride through Wooler, a fmall town. Obferve feveral of tj
people wear the bonnet, the laft remains of the EngMJh drefs 1
the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary. The hills on the riJ
approach very near us, and the country rifes on both fides, al
forms a mixture of corn-land and fheep-walk. On the wel
appear the Cheviot hills, fmooth and verdant. Among them I
laid the fcene of the battle of Chevy-ehace, in the celebrated ball!
of that name. Notwithftanding there is nothing but ballad! K,] with thofe defcribed at Drumlanrig.
authority for -it, yet it is highly probable that fuch an affil
might have happened between two rival chieftains, jealous of tl
invafion of their hunting-grounds. The limits of the kingdom
were then unfettled; and even at this time, there are'debateabl
lands amidft thefe very hills. The poet has ufed a licence in liis
defcription of the fight, and mixed in it fome events of the batdej
of Otterboume, for neither a Percy nor a Douglas fell in this \vofl
hunting.
Turn three miles to the fouth-eaft to vifit Chillingham cattle,' th?J
antient property of the Greys, afterwards Lords of Werk, now of tig
Earl of Tankerville. . Theprefent building is large,, and of no great*
antiquity than the time of 'James I. Here are numbers of portraiB
almoft entirely mifnamed. In the hall is the picture of a toad, til
to have been found in the centre of the ftone it-is painted on; a»i
beneath are thefe vetfes,.
Iks
Heus Stagyrita,
T u o fi velis quid mirabilius Euripo,
Hue venito.
Fluant, refluantque maria, et fit Lunaticus
Q u i fuo triviam ipoliat honore :
En tijoi novi quid, quod non portai A frica ,
Ne c fabulofis Ntlus arenis,
Ignem, flammamque puram,
Aura tamen* vita li cafiam !
Coeco e receflu fciifi, quod vides, faxi,
Obftetrices lucem Lithotomi dedere Manus
V iv o Bufóni^
in the park are between thirty and forty wild cattle, of the fame
tafs over a dreary country, chiefly a fheep-walk, open, and
¡tout trees ; crols the 21//, a fmall river, and on Hegely moor fee
eftagonal ihaft of Percy’s profs, on whofe broader fides 'are
Ived the arms of the family, crefcents, and pikes. This was
Ifted in memory of Sir Ralph Percy, who was flainhere, in 1463,
iijbattle between the partizans of the houfe of Lancafter,. and Lord
Imute. Lord Hungerford, and the other leaders, fled at the firft
Ifet; he, with the fpirit of a Percy, kept his ground, and died, con-
iing himfelf, that he had faved the bird in his breaft ; meaning, that
Iflhad preferved his allegiance to Henry, never reflecting, as the un-
Wtinghiftorians * of old times remark, that he had abandoned that
ihappy prince in his greateft neceflity, and iubmitted to his rival,.
pear this crofs get on an ancient military road, mifealled the
* Hall, in his Reign of Edw* IV> P> 3‘ Holinjbtd, 666*
P e r c y ’ s Cross;
W attling