scue was made known, the whole
country was moved by it; and presents of all kinds, money, and offers of
marriage poured in upon Grace, who remained quite unmoved by it all, and
was still the gentle unassuming girl that she had always been. She
refused to leave her home, though she was offered twenty pounds a night
at the Adelphi if she would consent merely to sit in a boat for London
audiences to gaze upon her. Sad to say, she died of consumption about
two years afterwards, after having tried in vain to arrest the course of
her sickness by change of air at Wooler and Alnwick; and she sleeps in
Bamburgh churchyard, within sound of the sea by which she had spent her
short life.

"East and west and south acclaim her queen of England's maids.
Star more sweet than all their stars, and flower than all their flowers."

The actual boat in which the gallant deed was performed was long
preserved at Newton Hall, Stocksfield; but the owners have lately
presented it to the Marine Laboratory at Cullercoats.

[Illustration:]

CHAPTER XI.

BALLADS AND POEMS.

The ballads of Northumberland, as all true ballads should do, partake of
the characteristics of the district which is their home. As we should
expect, they treat chiefly of warlike themes, of the chieftain's doughty
deeds, the moss-trooper's daring and skill, of the knight's courtesies
and gallant feats of arms, and the feuds of rival clans; in fact, they
portray for us vividly the time of which they treat, and in a few
graphic touches bring before us the very spirit of the period. In direct
and simple phrases the narrative proceeds, giving with rare power just
the necessary expression to the tale.

These ballads fall naturally into three main divisions. The historical
ballad is at its best in the famous "Chevy-Chase," which has been the
delight of gentle and simple for centuries; and the oft-quoted
declaration of Sir Philip Sidney concerning it still finds an echo in
our own day.

Of the two best known versions of the ballad, the one here given is the
more poetical by far; the other, however, contains the account of the
courage of Hugh Widdrington which has made the gallant squire immortal.

The latter version is as evidently English as the former is Scottish; or
rather, each has grown to its present form as the reciters exercised
their art to please an English or a Scottish audience. In the one
version it is Douglas who takes the offensive, and challenge