Chapter IV: Part 4

Altogether, though not of the era-making order, and though comparatively limited in quantity, the poetry of Bellenden is worthy of more attention than it has hitherto received. In allegoric method and in form of verse it follows the fashion of its day, and it shares that fashion’s faults; but, these drawbacks apart, it is marked by great skill and smoothness of versification, by no small descriptive charm, and by a certain happy vividness of imagery which again and again surprises and delights the reader. One can almost feel the breath of

Notus brim, the wind meridiane,
With wingis donk, and pennis full of rane;

and a seascape rises instantly before the eye at mention of the

Carvell ticht, fast tending throw the se.

Beyond this, Bellenden shows himself a careful student of human nature, with more than one significant word to say upon the subject.

VIRTEW AND VYCE.

_The Proheme of the Cosmographé prefixed to Boece’s History._

Quhen silvir Diane, ful of bemis bricht,
Fra dirk[587] eclips wes past, this othir nicht,
And in the Crab, hir propir mansion, gane;
Artophilax contending at his micht
In the gret eist to set his visage richt,
I mene the ledar of the Charle-wane,
Abone[588] our heid wes the Ursis twane;
Quhen sterris small obscuris in our sicht
And Lucifer left twinkland him allane;

The frosty nicht with hir prolixit houris
Hir mantill quhit spred on the tender flouris;
Quhen ardent lauboure hes addressit me
Translait the story of our progenitouris,
Thair gret manheid, hie wisdome, and honouris;
Quhen we may cleir as in ane mirroure se
The furius end, sum-time, of tirannie,
Sum-time the glore of prudent governouris
Ilk stait apprisit[589] in thair faculte;

My wery spreit desiring to repres
My emptive pen of frutles besines,
Awalkit furth to tak the recent aire;
Quhen Priapus, with stormy weid oppres,
Raqueistit me in his maist tendernes
To rest ane quhile amid his gardingis bare.
Bot I no maner couth[590] my mind prepare
To set aside unplesand hevines,
On this and that contempling solitare.

And first occurrit to my remembring
How that I wes in service with the King,
Put to his Grace in yeris tenderest,
Clerk of his Comptis, thoucht I wes inding[591],
With hart and hand and every othir thing
That micht him pleis in ony maner best;
Quhill[592] hie invy me from his service kest
Be thaim that had the Court in governing,
As bird but plumes heryit[593] of the nest.

Our life, our giding, and our aventuris
Dependis from thir hevinlie creaturis
Apperandlie be sum necessite.
For thoucht[594] ane man wald set his besy curis[595],
So far as laboure and his wisdome furis,
To fle hard chance of infortunite;
Thoucht he eschew it with difficulte,
The cursit weird yit ithandlie enduris[596],
Gevin to him first in his nativitie.

Of erdlie[597] stait bewaling thus the chance,
Of fortoun gud I had na esperance.
So lang I swomit[598] in hir seis deip
That sad avising[599] with hir thochtful lance
Couth find na port to ankir hir firmance;
Quhill Morpheus, the drery god of sleip,
For very reuth did on my curis weip,
And set his sleuth[600] and deidly contenance
With snorand vanis throw my body creip.

Me-thocht I was in-to ane plesand meid,
Quhare Flora maid the tender blewmis spreid
Throw kindlie dew and humouris nutrative,
Quhen goldin Titan, with his flammis reid,
Abone the seis rasit up his heid,
Diffounding[601] down his heit restorative
To every frute that nature maid on live,
Quhilk wes afore in-to the winter deid,
For stormis cald and frostis penitrive[602].

Ane silver fontane sprang of watter cleir
In-to that place quhare I approchit neir,
Quhare I did sone espy ane fellown reird[603]
Of courtly gallandis in thair best maneir
Rejosing thaim in season of the yeir,
As it had bene of Mayis day the feird[604].
Thair gudlie havingis maid me nocht affeird;
With thaim I saw are crownit King appeir,
With tender downis rising on his beird.

Thir courtlie gallandis settand thair intentis
To sing, and play on divers instrumentis,
According to this Princis appetit;
Two plesand ladyis come pransand ouir the bentis[605];
Thair costlie clethin schew thair michty rentis[606].
Quhat hart micht wis, thay wantit nocht ane mit;
The rubeis schone apone thair fingaris quhit;
And finalie I knew, be thair consentis,
This ane Virtew, that other hecht[607] Delite.

Thir goddesses arrayit in this wise,
As reverence and honoure list devise,
Afore this Prince fell down apon thair kneis,
Syne dressit thaim in-to thair best avise[608],
So far as wisdome in thair power lyis,
To do the thing that micht him best appleis,
Quhare he rejosit in his hevinly gleis[609];
And him desirit, for his hie empryis[610],
Ane of thaim two unto his lady cheis[611].

And first Delite unto this Prince said thus,
“Maist vailyeant knicht, in dedis amorus,
And lustiest[612] that evir nature wrocht,
Quhilk[613] in the floure of youth mellifluus,
With notis sweit and sang melodius
Awalkis heir amang the flouris soft,
Thow hes no game bot in thy mery thocht.
My hevinly blis is so delicius,
All welth in erd[614], bot it, avalis nocht.

“Thoucht thow had France, and Italie also,
Spane, Inglande, Pole, with othir realmes mo,
Thoucht thow micht regne in stait maist glorius,
Thy pissant[615] kingdome is nocht worth ane stro
Gif it unto thy pleseir be ane fo,
Or trubill thy mind with curis dolorus.
Thair is na-thing may be so odius
To man, as leif[616] in miserie and wo,
Defraudand God of nature genius.

“Dres thé thairfore with all thy besy cure,
That thow in joy and pleseir may indure,
Be sicht of thir[617] four bodyis elementar;
Two hevy and grosse, and two ar licht and pure.
Thir elementis, be wirking of nature,
Douth change in othir; and thocht thay be richt far
Fra othir severit, with qualiteis contrar,
Of thaim ar maid all levand creature,
And finalie in thaim resolvit ar.

“The fire in air, the air in watter cleir,
In erd the watter turnis without weir[618],
The erd in watter turnis ouir agane,
So furth in ordour; na-thing consumis heir.
Ane man new borne beginnis to appeir
In othir figure than afore wes tane[619];
Quhen he is deid the mater dois remane,
Thoucht it resolve in-to sum new maneir;
No-thing new, nocht bot the forme is gane.

“Thus is no-thing in erd bot fugitive,
Passand and cumand be spreiding successive.
And as ane beist, so is ane man consave
Of seid infuse in membris genitive,
And furth his time in pleseir dois ouir-drive,
As chance him ledis, quhill he be laid in grave.
Thairfore thy hevin and pleseir now ressave
Quhill thow art heir in-to this present live;
For eftir deith thow sall na pleseir have.

“The rose, the lillyis, and the violet,
Unpullit, sone ar with the wind ouirset,
And fallis doun but[620] ony frut, I wis:
Thairfore I say, sen that no-thing may let[621],
Bot thy bricht hew mon[622] be with yeris fret[623],
(For every-thing bot for ane season is,)
Thow may nocht have ane more excellent blis
Than ly all nicht in-to min armis plet[624],
To hals and brais[625] with mony lusty kis,

“And have my tender body be thy side,
So propir, fet, quhilk nature hes provide
With every pleseir that thow may devine,
Ay quhill my tender yeris be ouir-slide.
Than gif it pleis that I thy bridill gide
Thow mon alway fra agit men decline;
Sine dres thy hart, thy curage, and ingine[626]
To suffir nane into thy hous abide
Bot gif thay will unto thy lust[627] incline.

“Gif thow desiris in the seis fleit[628]
Of hevinly blis, than me thy lady treit;
For it is said be clerkis of renoun
Thair is na pleseir in this eird so gret
As quhen ane luffar dois his lady meit,
To quikin his life of mony deidly swon.
As hiest pleseir but comparison
I sall thé geif, into thy yeris swete,
Ane lusty halk with mony plumis broun,

“Quhilk sal be found so joyus and plesant,
Gif thow unto hir mery flichtis hant[629],
Of every blis that may in erd appeir,
As hart will think, thow sall no plente want,
Quhill yeris swift, with quhelis properant[630],
Consume thy strenth and all thy bewte cleir.”
And quhen Delite had said on this maneir,
As rage of youtheid thocht maist relevant
Than Virtew said as ye sall eftir heir.

“My landis braid, with mony plentuus schire[631],
Sall gif thy Hienes, gif thou list desire,
Triumphant glore, hie honoure, fame devine,
With sic pissance that thaim na furius ire,
Nor werand[632] age, nor flame of birnand fire,
Nor bitter deith, may bring unto rewine.
Bot thow mon first insuffer mekill pine[633],
Abone thy-self that thow may have empire;
Than sall thy fame and honoure have na fine[634].

“My realme is set among my fois all;
Quhilkis hes with me ane weir[635] continewall,
And evir still dois on my bordour ly;
And, thoucht thay may no wayis me ouirthrall[636],
Thay ly in wait, gif ony chance may fall
Of me sum-time to get the victory.
Thus is my life ane ithand chevalry[637]:
Laubour me haldis strang as ony wall
And no-thing brekis[638] me bot slogardy.

“Na fortoun may aganis me availl
Thoucht scho with cludy stormis me assaill.
I brek the streme of scharp adversite.
In weddir louin[639], and maist tempestius haill,
But ony dreid, I beir ane equall saill,
My schip so strang that I may nevir de.
Wit, reason, manheid, governis me so hie,
No influence nor sterris may prevaill
To regne on me with infortunite.

“The rage of youtheid may nocht dantit be[640]
But gret distres and scharp adversite;
As be this reason is experience--
The finest gold or silver that we se
May nocht be wrocht to our utilite
But flammis kene and bitter violence.
The more distres the more intelligence.
Quhay salis lang in hie prosperitie
Ar sone ouirset be stormy violence.

“This fragill life, as moment induring,
But dout sall thé and every pepill bring
To sickir[641] blis or than eternal wo.
Gif thow be honest lauboure dois ane thing,
Thy panefull laubour sall vanes but tarying[642],
Howbeit thy honest werkis do nocht so.
Gif thow be lust dois ony thing also,
The schamefull deid, without dissevering,
Remanis ay, quhen pleseir is ago[643].

“As carvell ticht, fast tending throw the se,
Levis na prent amang the wallis hie;
As birdis swift, with mony besy plume,
Peirsis the aire, and wait[644] nocht quhare thay fle;
Siclik[645] our life, without activite,
Giffis na frut, howbeit ane schado blume.
Quhay dois thair life into this erd consume
Without virtew, thair fame and memorie
Sall vanis soner than the reky[646] fume.

“As watter purgis and makis bodyis fair,
As fire be nature ascendis in the aire
And purifyis with heitis vehement,
As floure dois smell, as frute is nurisare,
As precius balme revertis thingis sare[647]
And makis thaim of rot impacient,
As spice maist swete, as ros maist redolent,
As stern of day[648], be moving circulare,
Chasis the nicht with bemis resplendent;

“Siclik my werk perfitis[649] every wicht
In fervent luf of maist excellent licht,
And makis man into this erd but peir[650],
And dois the saule fra all corruptioun dicht[651]
With odoure dulce, and makis it more bricht
Than Diane full, or yit Appollo cleir,
Sine rasis it unto the hiest speir[652],
Immortaly to schine in Goddis sicht,
As chosin spous and creature most deir.

“This othir wenche, that clepit[653] is Delite,
Involvis man, be sensuall appetite,
In every kind of vice and miserie;
Becaus na wit nor reason is perfite
Quhan scho is gide, bot skaithis[654] infinite,
With doloure, schame, and urgent poverte.
For sche wes get of frothis of the see,
Quhilk signifies, hir pleseir vennomit
Is midlit[655] ay with scharp adversite.

“Duke Hanniball, as mony authouris wrait,
Throw Spanye come, be mony passage strait,
To Italy in furour bellicall[656];
Brak doun the wallis, and the montanis slait[657],
And to his army maid ane oppin gait,
And victoryis had on the Romanis all.
At Capua, be pleseir sensuall,
This Duk wes maid so soft and diligait[658]
That with his fois he wes sone ouirthrall.

“Of feirs Achill the weirlie[659] dedis sprang
In Troy and Grece quhill he in virtew rang[660];
How lust him slew it is bot reuth to heir.
Siclik the Trojanis, with thair knichtis strang
The vailyeant Grekis fra thair roumes dang[661],
Victoriuslie exercit mony yeir;
That nicht thay went to thair lust and pleseir
The fatall hors did throw thair wallis fang[662],
Quhais prignant sidis wer full of men of weir.

“Sardanapall, the prince effeminat,
Fra knichtlie dedis wes degenerat;
Twinand the thredis of the purpur lint
With fingaris soft, amang the ladyis sat,
And with his lust couth nocht be saciat,
Quhill of his fois come the bitter dint.
Quhat nobill men and ladyis hes bene tint[663]
Quhen thay with lustis wer intoxicat,
To schaw at lenth, my toung suld nevir stint[664].

“Thairfore Camil, the vailyeant chevaleir,
Quhen he the Gallis had dantit be his weir[665],
Of heritable landis wald have na recompence;
For, gif his barnis[666] and his freindis deir
Wer virtewis, thay couth nocht fail ilk yeir
To have ineuch be Romane providence;
Gif thay wer gevin to vice and insolence
It wes nocht neidfull for to conques geir[667]
To be occasioun of thair incontinence.

“Sum nobill men, as poetis list declare,
Wer deifeit[668], sum goddis of the aire,
Sum of the hevin, as Eolus, Vulcan,
Saturn, Mercury, Appollo, Jupitare,
Mars, Hercules, and othir men preclare[669],
That glore immortall in thair livis wan.
Quhy wer thir peple callit goddis than?
Becaus thay had ane virtew singulare,
Excellent, hie abone ingine[670] of man.

“And otheris ar in reik sulphurius;
As Ixion, and wery Sisiphus,
Eumenides the Furyis richt odibill,
The proud giandis, and thristy Tantalus;
With huglie[671] drink and fude most vennomus,
Quhare flammis bald and mirknes[672] ar sensibill.
Quhy ar thir folk in panis so terribill?
Becaus thay wer bot schrewis vicius
Into thair life, with dedis most horribill.

“And thoucht na frute wer eftir consequent
Of mortall life, bot for this warld present
Ilk man to have allanerlie[673] respect,
Yit virtew suld fra vice be different
As quik fra deid, as rich fra indigent.
That ane to glore and honour ay direct,
This othir, saule and body, to neclect;
That ane of reason most intelligent,
This othir of beistis following the affect.

“For he that nold[674] aganis his lustis strive,
Bot leiffis as beist of knawlege sensitive[675],
Eildis[676] richt fast, and deith him sone ouir-halis[677].
Thairfore the mule is of ane langar live
Than stonit hors; also the barant wive[678]
Apperis young quhen that the brudie falis[679].
We se also, quhen nature nocht prevalis,
The pane and dolour ar sa pungitive
No medicine the pacient avalis.

“Sen thow hes hard baith our intentis thus,
Cheis of us two the maist delitius;
First, to sustene ane scharp adversite,
Danting the rage of youtheid furius,
And sine posseid[680] triumphe innumerus,
With lang empire and hie felicite;
Or haif, ane moment, sensualite
Of fuliche youth, in life voluptuous,
And all thy dayis full of miserie.”

Be than, Phebus his firy cart did wry
Fra south to west, declinand besaly
To dip his steidis in the occeane,
Quhen he began ouirsile[681] his visage dry
With vapouris thik, and cloudis full of sky,
And Notus brim[682], the wind meridiane
With wingis donk and pennis full of rane,
Awalkenit me, that I micht nocht aspy
Quhilk of thaim two was to his lady tane.

Bot sone I knew thay war the goddesses
That come in sleip to vailyeant Hercules
Quhen he was young and fre of every lore
To lust or honour, poverte or riches,
Quhen he contempnit lust and idilnes
That he in virtew micht his life decore[683],
And werkis did of maist excellent glore.
The more incressit his panefull besines,
His hie triumphe and loving[684] was the more.

Thair, throw this morall eruditioun
Quhilk come, as said is, in my visioun,
I tuke purpos, or I forthir went,
To write the story of this regioun,
With dedis of mony illuster campioun[685].
And, thoucht the pane apperis vehement,
To mak the story to the redaris more patent
I will begin at the discriptioun
Of Albion, in maner subsequent.

[587] From dark.

[588] Above.

[589] valued.

[590] could.

[591] unworthy.

[592] Till.

[593] harried.

[594] though.

[595] cares.

[596] doom yet constantly endures.

[597] earthly.

[598] swam.

[599] That grave deliberation.

[600] slothful.

[601] Diffusing.

[602] penetrative.

[603] loud noise.

[604] fourth.

[605] over the grasslands.

[606] revenues.

[607] was named.

[608] as they deemed best.

[609] splendour.

[610] enterprise.

[611] choose.

[612] most agreeable.

[613] Who.

[614] earth.

[615] powerful.

[616] live.

[617] By sight of these.

[618] doubt.

[619] was taken.

[620] without.

[621] prevent.

[622] must.

[623] devoured.

[624] folded.

[625] To caress and embrace.

[626] wit.

[627] pleasure.

[628] float.

[629] give practice.

[630] with forward-moving wheels.

[631] shires, _lit._ districts sheared off.

[632] vexing.

[633] much pain.

[634] end.

[635] war.

[636] overcome.

[637] constant warfare.

[638] makes breach in.

[639] serene.

[640] not be daunted.

[641] certain.

[642] shall vanish without delay.

[643] gone.

[644] know.

[645] In such fashion.

[646] smoky.

[647] converts sores.

[648] the day star, _i.e._ the sun.

[649] perfects.

[650] without peer.

[651] wipe, cleanse.

[652] sphere.

[653] called.

[654] hurts.

[655] mingled.

[656] warlike rage.

[657] slit.

[658] delicate.

[659] warlike.

[660] reigned.

[661] drove from their realms.

[662] bite.

[663] lost.

[664] stop.

[665] daunted by his war.

[666] children.

[667] acquire substance.

[668] deified.

[669] illustrious.

[670] high above genius.

[671] repulsive.

[672] darkness.

[673] solely.

[674] would not.

[675] lives as beast conscious of knowledge.

[676] ages.

[677] overhauls.

[678] barren wife.

[679] the prolific fails.

[680] And then possess.

[681] cover over.

[682] strong, raging.

[683] adorn.

[684] praise.

[685] champion.

NOBILNES.

_From the Proheme to the Translation of Boece’s History._

For nobilnes sum-time the loving is[686],
That cumis be meritis of our eldaris gone.
As Aristotill writis in his Rethorikis,
Amang nobillis, quhay castin thaim repone[687]
Mon[688] dres thair life and dedis one be one
To mak thaim worthy to have memore
For honour to thair prince or nation,
To be in glore to thair posterite.

Ane-othir kind thair is of nobilnes
That cumis be infusion naturall,
And makis ane man sa full of gentilnes,
Sa curtes, plesand, and sa liberall,
That every man dois him ane nobill call.
The lion is sa nobill, as men tellis,
He cannot rage aganis the bestis small,
Bot on thaim quhilkis[689] his majeste rebellis.

The awfull[690] churle is of ane-othir strind[691].
Thoucht he be borne to vilest servitude
Thair may na gentrice[692] sink into his mind,
To help his friend or nichtbour with his gud.
The bludy wolf is of the samin stude[693];
He feris gret beistis and ragis on the small,
And leiffis in slauchter, tyranny, and blud,
But ony mercy, quhare he may ouirthrall[694].

This man is born ane nobill, thow will say,
And gevin to sleuth and lust immoderat:
All that his eldaris wan, he puttis away,
And fra thair virtew is degenerat;
The more his eldaris fame is elevat
The more thair life to honour to approche;
Thair fame and loving ay interminat,
The more is ay unto his vice reproche.

Amang the oist[695] of Grekis, as we hard,
Two knichtis war, Achilles and Tersete;
That ane maist vailyeand, this othir maist coward.
Better is to be, sayis Juvinall the poete,
Tersetis son, havand Achilles sprete,
With manly force his purpos to fulfill,
Than to be lord of every land and strete,
And syne maist cowart, cumin[696] of Achill.

Man, callit ay maist nobill creature,
Becaus his life maist reason dois assay,
Ay sekand honour with his besy cure[697],
And is na noble quhen honour is away.
Thairfore he is maist nobill man, thow say,
Of all estatis, under reverence,
That vailyeantly doith close the latter day,
Of native cuntre deand[698] in defence.

The glore of armis and of forcy dedis,[699]
Quhen thay ar worthy to be memoriall,
Na les be wit than manheid ay procedis.
As Plinius wrait in Story Naturall,
Ane herd of hertis is more strong at all,
Havand ane lion aganis the houndis foure,
Than herd of lionis arrayit in battall,
Havand ane hert to be thair governoure.

Quhen fers Achilles was be Paris slane,
Amang the Grekis began ane subtell plede,
Quhay was maist nobill and prudent capitane
Into his place and armour to succede;
Quhay couth[700] thaim best in every dangeir lede,
And sauf[701] thair honour as he did afore.
The vailyeant Ajax wan not for his manhede
Quhen wise Ulysses bure away the glore.

Manhede but prudence is ane fury blind,
And bringis ane man to schame and indegence.
Prudence but manhede cumis oft behind,
Howbeit it have na les intelligence
Of thingis to cum than gone, be sapience.
Thairfore quhen wit and manhede doith concurre
Hie honour risis with magnificence:
For glore to noblis is ane groundin spurre.

[686] the praise is.

[687] those who propose to take place.

[688] must.

[689] which.

[690] fearful.

[691] strain, race.

[692] courtesy.

[693] same stock.

[694] overcome.

[695] host.

[696] come, begotten.

[697] care.

[698] dying.

[699] powerful deeds.

[700] who could.

[701] save, preserve.

ADDRESS

TO BELLONA AND KING JAMES V.

_From the “Proloug apoun the Traduction of Titus Livius.”_[702]

Armipotent lady, Bellona serene,
Goddes of wisdome and jeoperdyis of were[703],
Sister of Mars, and ledare of his rene.
And of his batallis awfull messingere!
Thy werelyke trumpett thounder in mine ere--
The horribill battellis and the bludy harmes--
To write of Romanis, the nobil men of armes.

And bricht Appollo with thy cours eterne,
That makis the frutis spring on every ground,
And with thy mychty influence dois governe
The twynkland sternes about the mappamound[704]!
Thy fyry visage on my vers diffound[705],
And quikin the spretis of my dull ingine[706]
With rutiland[707] beme of thy low[708] divine.

And ye my soverane be line continewall,
Ay cum of kingis your progenitouris,
And writis in ornate stile poeticall
Quik-flowand vers of rethorik cullouris,
Sa freschlie springand in youre lusty flouris
To the grete comforte of all trew Scottismen,
Be now my muse and ledare of my pen!

That be youre helpe and favoure gracius
I may be abill, as ye commandit me,
To follow the prince of storie, Livius,
Quhais curious ressouns tonit ar so hie.
And every sens sa full of majeste
That so he passes uther stories all,
As silver Diane dois the sternis[709] small.

For I intend of this difficill werk
To mak ane end or I my lauboure stint[710],
War not the passage and stremes ar sa stark[711],
Quhare I have salit, full of crag and clynt[712],
That ruddir and takillis of my schip ar tynt[713];
And thus my schip, without ye mak support
Wil peris lang or[714] it cum to the port.

[702] The prologue consists of twenty stanzas, of which the first four and the last are here printed.

[703] hazards of war.

[704] map of the world.

[705] diffuse.

[706] the spirits of my dull intelligence.

[707] glittering.

[708] flame.

[709] stars.

[710] stop.

[711] strong, hard to encounter.

[712] hard rock.

[713] lost.

[714] perish long ere.

THE EXCUSATION OF THE PRENTAR.

_Prefixed to the Translation of Boece’s History._

Ingyne[715] of man be inclinatioun
In sindry wyse is geuin, as we se.
Sum men ar geuin to detractioun,
Inuy, displeseir, or malancolie,
And to thair nychbouris hes no cherite.
Sum ar so nobill and full of gentilnes,
Thay luf no-thing bot joy and merynes.

Sum ar at vndir[716], and sum maid vp of nocht:
Sum men luffis peace, and sum desiris weir[717].
Sum is so blyth in-to his mery thocht
He curis[718] nocht, so he may perseueir
In grace and fauour of his lady deir.
Sum boldin[719] at othir in maist cruell feid[720],
With lance and dagar rynnis to the deid[721].

Ane hes that mycht ane hundreth weil sustene,
And leiffis[722] in wo and pennance at his table,
And of gud fallois comptis nocht ane bene[723];
His wrechit mynd is so insaciable;
As heuin and hell wer no-thing bot ane fable
He birnis ay, but sycht[724] to gud or euil,
And rynnis with all his baggis to the deuil.

And I the prentar, that dois considir weil
Thir sindry myndis of men in thair leuing[725],
Desiris nocht bot on my laubour leil[726]
That I mycht leif, and of my just wynnyng
Mycht first pleis God, and syne our noble Kyng,
And that ye reders bousum and attent[727]
Wer of my laubour and besynes content.

And in this wark, that I haue heir assailyeit
To bring to lycht, maist humely I exhort
Yow nobill reders, quhare that I haue failyeit
In letter, sillabe, poyntis lang or schort,
That ye will of your gentrice it support[728],
And tak the sentence[729] the best wyse ye may;
I sall do better, will God, ane-othir day.

[715] Spirit.

[716] Some are deep-thinking.

[717] war.

[718] cares.

[719] rage.

[720] feud.

[721] death.

[722] lives.

[723] of good fellows counts not a bean.

[724] He burns, without regard.

[725] living.

[726] loyal.

[727] compliant and attentive.

[728] of your courtesy forbear with it.

[729] composition.

ANNO DOMINI.

_The opening stanzas of “The Benner of Pietie.”_

Quhen goldin Phebus movit fra the Ram
Into the Bull to mak his mansioun,
And hornit Dean in the Virgin cam
With visage paill in hir assentioun,
Approcheand to hir oppositioun;
Quhen donk Awrora with hir mistie schowris,
Fleand of skyis the bricht reflexioun,
Hir siluer teiris skalit[730] on the flouris;

The sesoun quhen the greit Octauian
Baith erd[731] and seis had in his gouernance
With diademe as roy Cesarian
In maist excellent honor and plesance,
With every gloir that micht his fame advance;
Quhen he the croun of hie triumphe had worne,
Be quhais peax and royell ordinance
The furious Mars wes blawin to the horne[732];

The samyne[733] tyme quhen God omnipotent
Beheld of man the greit callamitie,
And thocht the tyme wes than expedient
Man to redeme fra thrald captiuite,
And to reduce him to felicitie
With body and sawle to be glorificat
Quhilk wes condempnit in the lymb[734] to bie
Fra[735] he wes first in syn prevaricat;

Before the Fader, Mercye than appeiris
With flude of teris rainnand fra hir ene,
Said, “Man hes bene in hell fyve thowsand yeiris,
Sen he wes maid in feild of Damascene,
And cruwall tormentis dayly dois sustene
But ony confort, cryand for mercie.
How may thy grace nocht with thy pietie mene[736]
Off thy awin[737] werk the greit infirmitie?”

“And be the contrare,” then said Veretie,
“Thy word eterne but end is permanent,
Vnalterat, but mvtabilitie,
Withowttin slicht of ony argument;
Quhen Adame wes fund inobedient
In Paradice thruche his ambitioun,
Perpetualy, be richtous jugement,
Off thy blist visage tynt[738] fruisioun.”

Than Pece said, “Lord haif in thy memorie
That man, thy wark, was creat to that fyne[739],
That he micht haif perfyte felicitie
With thé aboif the hevynis cristellyne--
Quhilk Lucifer did thrwch his foly tyne--
Sumtyme maid to thy image worthiest:
It wes said than be prophecie devyne
That thow sowld sleip and in my bosom rest.”

And Justice said, “His odius offence
Contrare thy hie excellent dignitie,
His oppin syn and wilfull negligence,
Befoir thy sicht sowld mair aggregit[740] bie,
Sen thow art Alpha, O, and Veretie:
Be richtous dome, Adame and all his seid,
For tressone done agane thy maiestie,
Condempnit is to thoill[741] the bitter deid[742].”

Thir ladeis foure, contending beselie
With argumentis and mony strong repplyis,
Beffoir the blissit Fader equalie,
Sum for justice, and sum for mercie cryis.
The Fader wret ane sentence in this wyiss,
“For tressone done aganis oure maiestie,
The bittir deid salbe are sacrifyiss
The grit offence of man to satisfie.”

[730] scattered.

[731] earth.

[732] declared rebel. See note, p. 97.

[733] same.

[734] limbo.

[735] From the time when.

[736] lament.

[737] own.

[738] lost.

[739] end.

[740] aggravated.

[741] suffer.

[742] death.

KING JAMES THE FIFTH.

More romance is associated in the popular mind of Scotland with the career of James the Fifth than with that of any other of the romantic race of Stuart, except perhaps the last of the line, the hero of the ’45. For three centuries stories of the amours and escapades of “the Gudeman of Ballengeich” have formed the familiar tradition of the countryside; his exploits have been the subject of innumerable songs, ballads, and minstrel lays, from “The Jolly Beggar” itself, to “The Lady of the Lake”; and even at the present day the eye of a Scotsman kindles with lively reminiscence; at mention of the kindly “King of the Commons.”

Son of that gallant James who fell at Flodden, and of Margaret, the hot-blooded sister of Henry VIII., he might have been predicted to make for himself a life more eventful than that of most men. His time, besides, fell at a crisis in Scottish history--the meeting of the counter currents of the old order and the new in the Reformation. Whatever the causes, the fact remains that from his birth at Linlithgow on 10th April, 1512, till his death at Falkland on 14th December, 1542, the career of James V. presents a continuous series of personal episodes as dramatic as anything on the historic stage. Dating his reign from the most tragic disaster in Scottish history, he was crowned King of Scotland before he could speak, a month after his father’s death on the battlefield. Smiled on by the Muses in his cradle, his childish gambols have been made a sunny picture for all time by the verses of his childhood’s companion, one of the greatest of the national poets. Invested with the sceptre at twelve years of age, at sixteen he suddenly astonished his enemies by proving that he could wield it, making himself at one stroke and in a few hours absolute master of Scotland.

Nothing, perhaps, shows one side of the character of James--his decision, daring, and resolute energy--better than the transaction of the night in May, 1528, when, slipping the Douglas leash at Falkland, he galloped through the defiles of the Ochils with Jockie Hart, and appeared at once as unquestioned king among his nobles at Stirling. As energetic, however, and almost as dramatic were the young monarch’s measures for restoring order in his disordered realm. Under the Douglas usurpation every abuse had been rampant, might had everywhere overridden right, and outrage had everywhere scorched the land with sorrow and fire. Such a state of things was only to be righted by an iron hand, and if the acts of James have sometimes appeared severe to modern eyes, there can be no doubt that severity was needed. In particular, the young king’s descent upon the Border has been remembered in story and song.[743] Shutting up the Border lords beforehand in Edinburgh, he swept suddenly through Ettrick Forest, Eskdale, and Teviotdale, surprising freebooters like Cockburn of Henderland, Scott of Tushielaw, and Johnnie Armstrong, in their own fastnesses, and by the execution of swift, sharp justice reduced these lawless regions forthwith to tranquillity. Rebellions in the Orkneys and the Western Isles were quelled with tact and promptitude; the attempts of the Douglases upon the marches were met and defeated by superior force, and the insidious approaches of Henry VIII. were checkmated by sending a force of seven thousand Highlanders over seas to assist O’Donnel, the Irish chief, in his efforts to shake off the English yoke.

[743] The dramatic incidents of the raid have been immortalized in famous ballads like “Johnnie Armstrong,” “The Sang of the Outlaw Murray,” and “The Border Widow’s Lament.”

One incident in the life of James illustrates vividly the spirit of extravagant devotion which the character of the Stuarts from first to last seems to have been capable of exciting in their followers. During a royal progress through his dominions the young king was entertained by the Earl of Athole in a sumptuous palace of wood erected for the occasion on a meadow at the foot of Ben y Gloe. Hung with tapestries of silk and gold, and lit by windows of stained glass, this palace, surrounded by a moat and by towers of defence in the manner of a feudal castle, lodged the king more luxuriously than any of his own residences. Yet on the departure of the royal cavalcade the Earl, declaring that the palace which had lodged the sovereign should never be profaned by accommodating a subject, to the astonishment of the Papal legate who was present, ordered the whole fabric, with all that it contained, to be given to the flames.

It was at this period of his life that James engaged in most of those romantic adventures by which, under his assumed name of “the Gudeman of Ballengeich,” he is popularly remembered. He was as fearless as he was energetic, and upon tidings of misdeeds, however remote, he made no hesitation in getting instantly on horseback and spurring at the head of his small personal retinue to attack and punish the evil-doers. In these excursions he constantly shared extreme perils and privations with his followers. These and the perils of his too frequent intrigues with the fair daughters of his subjects form the burden of most of the traditions current regarding him. One of the most characteristic of these traditions is preserved by Scott in his _Tales of a Grandfather_, was used by the great romancist for the plot of “The Lady of the Lake,” and forms the subject of the favourite drama of “Cramond Brig.” Another, hardly less dramatic and amusing, also preserved by Scott, is that of James’s turning the tables upon Buchanan of Arnpryor, the bold “King of Kippen.”

None of his adventures, however, surpasses in romantic incident the weightier matter of the king’s own marriage. In the hope of withdrawing Scotland from the support of France in the great continental rivalry then going on, the Emperor Charles V. had in turn offered James alliance with his sister, the Queen of Hungary, his niece the daughter of the King of Denmark, and with a second niece the Princess Mary of Portugal; while Henry VIII. had offered his own daughter Mary to the young monarch. In one case the whole of Norway was offered by way of dowry. But James had a mind of his own on the subject, and was not to be tempted from the ancient policy of the country. Sir David Lyndsay was accordingly despatched to arrange a marriage with the daughter of the Duc de Vendôme, the head of the princely house of Bourbon. The treaty was all but concluded, when suddenly, among the attendants of some nobles freshly arrived from Scotland, the princess recognised James himself. Irking at his envoy’s delay he had hit upon this device for forming personal acquaintance with his bride, but his identity was betrayed by a portrait which he had previously sent her. For eight days he was sumptuously entertained by the Bourbons, but, dissatisfied in some way with the choice which had been made for him, he formed an excuse to visit the court of Francis I. There he fell in love with the king’s eldest daughter, the fragile Princess Magdalene. She, it appears, became also passionately attached to him, and, notwithstanding all obstacles--the warnings of the physicians and the reluctance of Francis to expose his daughter to an inhospitable climate, the two were married on 1st January, 1537, and after four months of rejoicings and utmost happiness sailed for Scotland. The gallant fleet of fifty ships sailed up the Firth of Forth on the 28th of May, and it is narrated that as she landed to pass to Holyrood the fair young queen stooped down and kissed the soil of her husband’s country.

This romantic method of royal match-making, however, must be considered to have cost James dear. His continued absence from the country had left room for the machinations of his enemies; his previous good fortune seemed, upon his return, to fail him; and worst of all, amid the increasing troubles of the time he seems to have been oppressed by a certain foreboding.

Forty days after landing, and while preparations were being made for her triumphal progress through the country, the seventeen-year-old queen died. “And,” says Lindsay of Pitscottie, “the king’s heavy moan that he made for her was greater than all the rest.” A second marriage, it is true, was, for political reasons, and with the approval of Francis, forthwith arranged for James, and in the summer of 1538 Marie, daughter of the Duc de Guise, was received with gallant display by her royal consort at St. Andrews. But three months later, news arrived from France that the daughter of the Duc de Vendôme had sickened of her disappointment, and was dead. “Quhairat,” to quote Pitscottie again, “when the King of Scotland got wit, he was highlie displeased (distressed), thinkand that he was the occasion of that gentlewoman’s death also.”

Meanwhile the intrigues of Henry VIII. and the banished Douglases had succeeded in corrupting a great part of the Scottish nobility. Twice was the life of James attempted; first by the Master of Forbes, a brother-in-law of the Earl of Angus, and next by Angus’s sister, Janet Douglas, Lady Glammis. With envious eyes and diminishing loyalty the Scottish nobles saw the English peers enriched by Henry’s distribution of the confiscated church lands, while James consistently refused to carry out the same plan of spoliation in Scotland. The climax of the young king’s troubles was reached in 1542. Hitherto Henry VIII., in his designs upon the independence of the northern kingdom, had confined himself to the arts of policy and bribery, suborning the trusted servants of the crown, and embroiling James between the rights of the church and the ambition of the nobles. Now, however, the time seemed ripe, and he sent the English forces openly across the Border. These were met and routed with courage and promptitude; and, overjoyed at his success, the Scottish king had made full preparations for retaliating, and was marching south at the head of his army, when at Fala his nobles suddenly refused to carry war into England, and forced him to abandon the campaign. This dishonour before his people, followed immediately by the disgraceful rout of a Scottish army at Solway Moss, broke the gallant young monarch’s heart. To add to his sorrows his two infant sons had died within a short time of each other. Upon hearing of the destruction of his troops he shut himself up in the palace of Falkland, where, overwhelmed with grief and despair, he sank under a burning fever. One hope still sustained him: the birth of an heir to the throne was hourly expected. On the 7th of December news arrived that the queen had been safely delivered. To the king’s eager question the messenger replied that the infant was “ane fair dochter.” “Is it so?” said James; “Fairweill! The crown cam with a lass, and it will gang with a lass.” Whereupon, in the quaint words of Pitscottie, “he commendit himselff to the Almightie God, and spak litle from thensforth, bot turned his back to his lords and his face to the wall.” On the 14th of December he passed away.

There exists an interesting description of James from the pen of Ronsard, who accompanied the queen from France and was a servant at the Scottish court.

Ce Roy d’Escosse etoit en la fleur de ses ans;
Ses cheveux non tondues, comme fin or luisans,
Cordonnez et crespez, flottans dessus sa face,
Et, sur son cou de lait, luy donnoit bon grace.
Son port etoit royal, son regard vigoureux,
De vertus et d’honneur et de guerre amoureux;
La douceur et la force illustroit son visage,
Si que Venus et Mars en avoient fait partage.

Not yet thirty-one years of age at his death, and notwithstanding the corrupting influences to which in early youth he had been purposely exposed by the Douglases, James had shown himself a noble and active prince. Had he gone with the tide and consented to gratify his courtiers with the plunder of the monasteries, like Henry VIII., his reign might have been less troubled and his memory less maligned by interested historians. He has been chiefly accused of an unrelenting severity towards members of the house of Douglas, and of cruelty in assenting to the death of Lady Glammis. Buchanan’s assertion, however, of the innocence of this lady, though followed by many historians, has been sufficiently answered by Tytler;[744] and James’s consistent refusal to show favour to the Douglases can be blamed by no one who takes into consideration the king’s early treatment by that house, the insult and ravage with which they met his assumption of power, their persistent attempts to undermine his authority and take his life, and the final success which, by his death in the prime of manhood, finally crowned their efforts. Like his ancestor, the first of his name, James succeeded for a time in making “the bush keep the cow” in Scotland, and had he only been moderately supported by those who should have been his lieutenants, there can be no doubt that he would presently have made his realm a model of just administration. As it is, his reign must be honourably remembered for what he accomplished in this direction, and for the wise laws which he made for the restraint of feudal violence. A monument of his administrative power exists in the establishment of the College of Justice, which, under the name of the Court of Session, remains the supreme tribunal of Scotland to the present day.

[744] _History of Scotland_, vol. ii., p. 361, and note z. The historian shows that the attempt to poison the king was by no means the first capital offence of which Lady Glammis had been convicted, though her youth and beauty were used by the reforming party to excite popular feeling against James.

But there is reason for believing that James the Fifth left evidence of genius in another field. Drummond of Hawthornden in his _History_ (p. 346) states that “James V. was naturally given to poesie, as many of his works yet extant testifie.” Bellenden in his prologue to Livy thus addresses the king:

And ye, my soverane, be line continewall
Ay cum of kingis youre progenitouris,
And writis in ornate stile poeticall
Quik-flowand vers of rethorik cullouris,
Sa freschlie springand in youre lusty flouris
To the gret comfort of all trew Scottismen,
Be now my Muse and ledare of my pen.

And one of Lyndsay’s poems, the “Answer maid to the Kingis Flyting” leaves no doubt on the subject. The writer begins by stating that he has read the monarch’s “ragment,” and he ends with a compliment on the royal verse:

Now, Schir, fairweill, because I can nocht flyte;
And thocht I could I wer nocht till avance,
Aganis your ornate meter to indyte.

The fame of James V.’s poetical talents is even understood to have spread as far as Italy, and to have led to his mention by Ariosto.[745]

[745] _Orlando Furioso_, canto xiii., stanzas 8 and 9.

Four separate poems attributed to James are extant at the present day--“Peblis to the Play,” “Christis Kirk on the Grene,” “The Gaberlunzieman,” and “The Jolly Beggar.” The authorship of the last two of these has at no time been seriously questioned. The authenticity of “Peblis to the Play” and “Christis Kirk,” however, has been the subject of considerable debate, some critics assigning these two poems to James the First. The evidence on both sides may be briefly stated.

John Mair, who wrote his history _De Gestis Scotorum_ in 1518, states that James I., among his other compositions, wrote a pleasant and skilful song, “At Beltayn,” which, since the original was inaccessible, certain persons had sought to counterfeit. It happens that the opening stanza of “Peblis to the Play” begins with “At Beltane.” This, with the fact of the poem’s mention in “Christis Kirk,” forms the chief plea for attributing “Peblis to the Play” to James I. Next, the earliest known copy of “Christis Kirk,” that in the Bannatyne MS. (1568), is subscribed “Quod K. James the First.” This is the only external evidence for ascribing the poem to that monarch. On the other hand, by those who dispute the authorship of James I., the slightness of Mair’s evidence regarding “Peblis to the Play,” and the presumption of Bannatyne’s blundering regarding “Christis Kirk,” have been dwelt upon. “At Beltayn,” it is remarked, was in the sixteenth century, by Mair’s own statement, a hackneyed opening to a poem; while, as for Bannatyne’s colophon, it is pointed out that in the title of the next poem but one in his collection he writes “James the Fyift,” or as some read it, “the Fyrst,” in mistake for James the Fourth, and he may have made a similar error in regard to “Christis Kirk.” In support of this view it is asserted[746] that by common tradition, previous to the discovery of the Bannatyne MS., these poems were invariably attributed to James V.; and this assertion is supported by the usage of the early writers, Dempster in the beginning of the seventeenth century, Bishop Gibson in 1691, and James Watson in 1706. The authority of these writers, however, no less than that of common tradition, has in turn been questioned by the supporters of the claim of James I.,[747] and it has been pointed out that in Maitland’s MS. (1585) no name is appended to “Peblis to the Play,” an omission which, it is suggested, could hardly have occurred had Maitland known James V. to be the author. But again, in support of James V. it may reasonably be urged that the important poem of “Christis Kirk” is mentioned in their histories neither by Mair nor by Bellenden when dealing with James I.; that that king is not even mentioned among the makars by Dunbar in his famous “Lament”; that none of the four poems is to be found in the MS. of John Asloan, written before James V.’s time, in 1515; and that while Lyndsay in his earlier composition, the prologue to the “Papyngo,” in 1530,[748] makes no mention of James I. as a reputed author, in 1538, in his “Justyng betuix Watsoun and Barbour,” he pays “Christis Kirk” the compliment of copying several conspicuous expressions,[749] the natural inference being that “Christis Kirk” was not composed before the former year. On the whole, therefore, the external evidence may be considered almost evenly balanced. The internal evidence is somewhat more delicate.

[746] Sibbald’s _Chronicle of Scottish Poetry_.

[747] Irving’s _History of Scottish Poetry_, p. 145.

[748] The failure of Dunbar, Asloan, and Lyndsay to mention James I. upon the strength of “The Kingis Quair” may be accounted for by the situation of that poem, the only copy now known to exist being that contained in the Selden MS. in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. No such argument can account for the overlooking of popular pieces like “Christis Kirk” and “Peblis to the Play” had they been then in existence.

[749] In “Christis Kirk” occur the expressions--

“His lymmis wes lyk twa rokkis; ...
Ran vpoun vtheris lyk rammis; ...
Bet on with barrow trammis;”

and in “The Justyng” we find--

“Quod Jhone, ‘Howbeit thou thinkis my leggis lyke rokkis ...
Yit, thocht thy braunis be lyk twa barrow-trammis,
Defend thee, man!’ Than ran thay to, lyk rammis.”

The familiarity with peasant manners and character which both poems display had been made much of as an argument. This, however, can be held to prove nothing, since both James I. and James V. are said to have had the habit of wandering among their subjects in disguise. Neither can the language of the compositions be taken as of much account. The more antique words, as in the expressions, “Ye sall pay _at_ ye aucht,” “He hydis _tyt_,” and “On thame _swyth_,” are paralleled by James V.’s contemporaries, Douglas and Lyndsay, and probably lingered late in the use of the common people whom the poems describe; while, on the other hand, more modern words, like “ane,” “quha” (in the sense of “who”),[750] “began,” and “happenis” (halfpence), which might be used to support the claims of James V., may be accounted for by changes introduced in transcription. An ingenious argument has been adduced from the use, or rather misuse of archery in “Christis Kirk.”[751] James I., it appears, upon his return from captivity, made a law compelling the constant practice of the bow; and it has been suggested that that king, wishing to fortify the statutes of law by the aid of ridicule, wrote the poem as a satire upon the clumsiness of the Scottish peasantry in the use of the weapon. The same critics aver further that archery had become obsolete in the time of James V., hagbut and arquebus having taken its place. The argument, however, appears somewhat conjectural. According to Barbour’s _Bruce_ the bow was one of the chief Scottish weapons of war from the earliest times, and an island in Loch Lomond still bears the yew-trees said to have been planted by King Robert for its supply; while so late as the time of Queen Mary the bow remained a favourite weapon in the field of sport, if not in the field of battle.[752] A serious obstacle in the way of attributing these poems to James I. has been pointed out by Professor Skeat in the lateness of their style and metre. He remarks, as an instance, that in stanza 19 of “Peblis to the Play” we find _stokks_ rhymed with _ox_, whereas in the time of James I. the plural of _stok_ was _stokkis_.[753] Further, he remarks, “It will be found by no means easy to point out any undoubted example of the use of the rollicking metre (of these poems) anterior to the year 1450; whereas James I. died in 1437.” Another point might be made of the fact that poems of this burlesque description seem to have been greatly in vogue about James V.’s time. It is enough to cite “The Tournament of Tottenham” printed by Percy, Dunbar’s “Justis betuix the Tailyour and the Sowtar,” Lyndsay’s “Justing betuix James Watsoun and Jhone Barbour,” and Scot’s “Justing at the Drum.” The most cogent argument, however, should naturally be one derived from the general tone of the poems. On this point one writer, Guest, in his _English Rhythms_, has said, “One can hardly suppose those critics serious who attribute this song (‘Christis Kirk’) to the moral and sententious James I.”; and Professor Skeat has added that “while there is no resemblance to ‘The Kingis Quair’ discoverable (in these poems), there is a marked dissimilarity in the tone, in the vocabulary, and in the metre.” On the other hand, it is to be observed that the style and strain of humour, both of “Peblis to the Play” and of “Christis Kirk,” resemble as closely as possible those of “The Gaberlunzieman” and “The Jolly Beggar,” which have always been attributed to James V., while they are also in entire keeping with what is known of the actual humour and temper of that king.

[750] See Murray’s _Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland_, pp. 56 and 69.

[751] Rogers’ _Poetical Remains of King James I._, 1873.

[752] In 1526-27, according to the Treasurer’s Accounts, £13 6s. 8d. was paid “to Johne Murray the Kingis barbour, for corsbowis, windaiss, and ganzies” (crossbows, pulleys, and arrows). And Alexander Scot in his poem “Of May,” _circa_ 1550, describes the merry gathering of archers “To schute at buttis, at bankis, and brais.”

[753] Introduction to _The Kingis Quair_, Scottish Text Society, 1883-84.

Absolute proof of the authorship, it must be admitted, is wanting, but upon the whole the available evidence appears to favour James V.; the majority of the critics, from Warton and Ritson to Stopford Brooke, have favoured this view; and, to quote Sibbald, “it appears safer in this instance to trust to vulgar tradition than to the _ipse dixit_ of Bannatyne, who seems to have had but an indistinct notion of our different kings of the name of James.”

The earliest and best copy of “Christis Kirk on the Grene” is that contained in Bannatyne’s MS., now made available by the Hunterian Club. The poem is also contained in the Maitland MS., from which it was printed by Pinkerton in his _Ancient Scottish Poems_ (Appendix II., 444). “Peblis to the Play” is also contained in the Maitland folio, and was printed from it by Pinkerton in his _Select Scottish Ballads_ in 1783. Of both poems there have been many other editions. Most of these, however, contain texts very much corrupted, and none of the editors except Pinkerton appears to have seen the Maitland MS. “The Gaberlunzieman” and “The Jolly Beggar” have shared the haphazard fortune of their sister compositions, and in their case it is more difficult to ascertain a standard text. All four pieces are printed in the Perth edition of “The Works of James I.”, 1786, though the editor mentions that “The Gaberlunzieman” and “The Jolly Beggar” are commonly ascribed to James V. In the present volume “The Gaberlunzieman” follows the text given in Percy’s _Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_, while “The Jolly Beggar” follows that in Ritson’s _Scottish Songs_.

“Christis Kirk” has for several hundred years been one of the most popular of Scottish poems. Dr. Irving cites as a proof of its fame and popularity in the eighteenth century the lines of Pope:

One likes no language but the Faery Queen;
A Scot will fight for Christ’s Kirk o’ the Green.