Chevy Chase

chev’i chas, a famous old English ballad of border warfare. The incidents recounted are not regarded as historical, although the story is probably founded on some actual encounter between Percy and Douglas. It has been confounded with the Scotch ballad, The Battle of Otterbourne, as the events celebrated are similar. There are two versions of the ballad. The older one is sometimes called The Hunting of the Cheviot. Both versions may be found in Percy's Reliques. The name Chevy Chase has been variously explained, as a corruption of a French word meaning a raid, and as derived from the name Cheviot Hills, and meaning the Cheviot hunting ground. See Ballad; Cheviot Hills

The old song of Chevy Chase is the favorite ballad of the common people of England; and Ben Jonson used to say he had rather have been the author of it than of all of his works.--Addison, Spectator.