Though I be in my asking lidder,1
I pray thy Grace for to consider
Thou has made baith lordès and lairds,
And has given mony rich rewairds
To them that was full far to seek 2
When I lay nichtly by thy cheek.
I tak the Queenès grace, thy mother,
My lord Chancellor, and mony other,
Thy Nourice, and thine auld Maistress,4
I tak them all to bear witness;
Auld Willie Dillie, were he alive,
My life full weell he could descrive ;6–
How, as ane chapman' bears his pack,
I bore thy Grace upon my back,
And sometimes stridelings on my neck,
Dansand with mony bend and beck.9
The first syllables that thou did mute1o
Was "Pa-Da-Lin!" 11 Upon the lute,
Then played I twenty springs, perqueir,12
Whilk was great pleasure for to hear.
Frae play thou let me never rest,
But Ginkertoun 13 thou loved aye best.
And aye, when thou come frae the school,14
Then I behoved to play the fool.
I wat 15 thou loved me better than 16
Nor17 now some wife does her gude-man.
Then men till other did record,
"Said Lyndsay wad be made a lord."
Thou hast made lords, Sir, by Saint Geill,18
Of some that has nocht served so weell!
COMPLAINT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF SCOTLAND.
And thus, as we were talking to and fro,
We saw a bousteous berne 19 come o'er the bent,20
But 21 horse, on foot, as fast as he micht go;
Whose raiment was all ragged, riven, and rent;
With visage lean, as he had fasted Lent;
2 That were far from you. 5 Some aged servant of the king. 8 Astride.
11 Interpreted "Papa David Lindsay," the a in "David" pronounced Scottice; but surely the proper reading is "Play, Da-Lin." 12 Twenty times off-hand. 13 A Scotch tune, not now extant. 16 Then.
14 For schoolroom. 15 Wot. 18 St. Giles, the tutelar saint of Edinburgh. 20 Moor or fields. 21 Without
And forward fast his ways he did advance,
With ane richt melancolious countenance,
With scrip on hip, and pike-staff in his hand,
As he had purposit to pass frae hame.
Quoth I, "Gude man, I wald fain understand,
Gif that ye pleasit, to wit what were your name?"
Quoth he, "My son, of that I think great shame ;
But, sin thou wald of my name have ane feel,1
Forsooth, they call me John the Commonweal."
"Sir Commonweal, who has you so disguisit?"
Quoth I; "or what makes you so miserable?
I have marvél to see you so supprisit,2
The whilk that I have seen so honourable.
To all the warld ye have been profitable,
And weell honoured in everilk natióun ;
How happens now your tribulatióun?"
"Alas," quoth he, "thou sees how it does stand
With me; and how I am disherisit
Of all my grace, and maun pass of3 Scotland,
And go, afore where I was cherisit.*
Remain I here, I am but perisit ;5
For there is few to me that takès tent ;6-
That gars' me go so ragged, riven, and rent!
"My tender friends are all put to the flicht;
For Policy is fled again to France:
My sister, Justice, almaist hath tints her sicht,
That she can nocht hauld evenly the balance:
Plain Wrang9 is clean Captain of ordinance ;10
The whilk debarrès loyalty and reason :
And small remeid is found for open treason.
"Into the south, alas, I was near slain;
Ower all the land I could find no relief;
Almost betwix the Merse and Lochmabane 12
I could nocht knaw ane leal13 man by ane thief.
To shaw their reif,14 theft, murther, and mischief,
1 Knowledge, apprehension (feeling).
10 Cannon, artillery. 11 In.
12 The Merse is a district in Berwickshire, on the north of the Tweed; Loch
maben is a burgh in Dumfriesshire. The Scotland, where it borders England."
meaning is "all along the south of
13 Honest.
14 Robbery.
And vicious works, it wald infect the air,
And als langsome1 to me for till 2 declare.
"Into the Hieland3 I could find no remeid;
But suddenly I was put to exile ;
They sweir swingeours, they took of me none heed,
Nor amangs them let me remain ane while.
Als, in the Outè Isles, and in Argyle,
Unthrift, Sweirness, Falset, Poortie, and Strife,
Pat Policy in danger of her life.
"In the Lawland,9 I come to seek refuge,
And purposed there to mak my residence:
But Singular-Profit10 gart me soon disluge,11
And did me great injúries and offence;
And said to me, "Swithe, harlot ;12 hie thee hence,
And in this country see thou tak no cures,1
So lang as my authority indures ! "
"And now I may mak no langer debate ;
Nor I wat nocht whom-to I suld me mene ;14
For I have socht through all the Spiritual state,
Whilk took nae count for to hear me complene.
Their officers, they held me at disdene;
For Simony, he rules up all that rout,15
And Covetise, that carle, gart bar me out."
"Pride hath chased far from them Humility;
Devotioún is fled unto the Freres ;17
Sensual Pleasure hath banished Chastity;
Lords of Religion, they go like Seculeres,18
Taking more count in telling their deneres 19
Nor they do of their constitutioun :
Thus are they blinded by ambitioun.
Our gentlemen are all degenerate;
Liberality and lawtie 20 baith are lost;
And Cowardice with lords is laureate ;21
And Knightly-Courage turned in 22 brag and boast.
The Civil War misguidès everilk host;
16 That fellow, had me shut out.
14 Address myself.
17 Friars.
19 Money: denier, an old Anglo-French coin (name from the
15 Company. 18 Lay Lords. Latin denarius).
There is nocht else but ilk1 man for himself;-
That gars me go, thus banished, like ane elf!
"Therefore, adieu; I may no langer tarry."
"Fareweell," quoth I," and with Saint John to borrow! "2
But, wit ye weell,3 my heart was wonder sarry4
When Commonweal so soppit was in sorrow!
"Yet, after the nicht comès the glad morrow:
Wherefore, I pray you, shaw me, in certain,
When that ye purpose for to come again?”
"That questioun, it sall be soon decidit,"
Quoth he. "There sall nae Scot have comforting
Of me, till that I see the country guidit
By wisdom of ane gude auld prudent king;
Whilk sall delight him maist, aboon all thing,
To put Justice till executioún,
And on strang traitors mak punitioún.8
"Als yet, to thee I say ane other thing:
I see richt weell that proverb is full true,
Woe to the realm that has ower young ane king!"10
With that he turned his back, and said Adieu!"
Ower firth and fell richt fast frae me he flew ;
Whose départing to me was displeasánd:
With that, Remembrance took me by the hand.
2 "Farewell, and with Saint John for security" (?)-a curious old proverbial expression, or phrase of leave-taking, found in Chaucer, in the King's Quhair of James I., in Henryson, and in other poets, English and Scottish.
Know ye well. 4 Wondrous sorry. 5 Steeped. 6 Decided, answered.
8 To punish strong traitors.
7 To execute justice. 9 Yet also. 10 In 1528, when this was written, James V. was sixteen years of age. He had come to the throne as an infant by his father's death at Flodden in 1513. The same proverb (Væ terræ ubi puer rex est!) had been quoted and applied by Langland in the 1377 Text, or Edition, of his Piers Plowman Vision, with reference to Richard II., then just come to the English throne at the age of eleven.
FROM THE HISTORY AND TESTAMENT OF
SQUIRE MELDRUM.1
A DYING SQUIRE'S COMMANDS CONCERNING HIS FUNERAL.
Dool weeds 2 I think hypocrisy and scorn,
With hoodès heckled3 doun owerthort their een.
With men of arms my body sall be borne ;
Into that band see that no black be seen.
My livery sall be red, blue, and green;
The red for Mars, the green for fresh Venus,
The blue for love of God Mercurius.
About my bier sall ride ane multitude,
All of ane livery of my colours three ;
Earlès and lordès, knichtès and men of gude;
Ilk baron bearand in his hand on hie
Ane laurel branch, ensigne® of victorie;
Because I never fled out of the field,
Nor yet as prisoner to my foes me yield."
Again that day, fail not to warn and call
All men of music and of minstrelsy
About my bier, with mirthès musical,
To dance and sing with heavenly harmonie ;
Whase pleasand sound redound sall in the sky.
My spirit I wot sall be with mirth and joy;
Wherefore with mirth my corpse ye sall convoy..
After the Evangel and the Offertour,
Through all the temple gar3 proclaim silence :
Then to the pulpit gar ane Oratour
Pass up, and shaw in open audience,
Solempnetlie, with ornate eloquence,
At great leisure, the Legend 10 of my Life;
How I have stant in mony stalwart strife.
1 This poem was written about 1550. The subject is the life and adventures, together with the last will and testament, of a certain William Meldrum, laird of Cleish and Binns, near Loch Leven in Fifeshire. Meldrum was born about 1493; served in the Scottish wars with Ireland and France; obtained a great reputation for his bravery, gallantry, and misfortunes; and died about 1534. Sir David Lyndsay and the Fifeshire squire were neighbours and friends; and in this poem Lyndsay partly commemorates, partly idealises him. 3 Fastened. 4 Athwart. 5 Each. 8 Cause. 9 Solemnly.
2 Mourning garments. 6 Emblem.
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