THE THREE ESTATES. Farewell, Falkland, the forteress of Fife, FROM "THE SATIRE OF THE THREE ESTATES." GRIEVANCES OF A SCOTTISH PEASANT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. Pauper. My father was an auld man and ane hoar," My father was sae waik of bluid and bane That he deit, wherefore my mother made great mane; And there began my poverty and wo. Our gude grey meir was baitand9 on the field, And our land's laird took her for his heryield.10 Incontinent, when my father was deid. And when the vicar heard tell how that my mother Was deid, fra hand, he took till him the other. Then Meg, my wife, did murn baith even and morrow, Till at the last she deit for verie sorrow; And when the vicar heard tell my wife was deid, The thrid cow he cleiket" by the head. Their upmest clais, that was of raploch12 grey, 1 The village and palace of Falkland lie at the foot of the Eastern Lomond in Fife. Law, a hill; Ang.-Sax, hleaw. battle. age. Range or walk in a row; see note 5, p. 38; on raw, in order: also in line of 3 Worst of all borough towns.-See note 7, p. 35. Cupar, as well as Falkland, comes under Lyndsay's lash for this defect in brew & Hoary. Mare. Often in Scotch intill; used for in.-See note 11, p. 32. Ky; kine. 8 Died. Feeding, pasturing; end or and, the old form of the termination ing; Ang.-Sax. batan; hence perhaps fat, and battan, to fatten by feeding. 10 The feudal tribute paid to the landlord on the death of a tenant. "It was the best horse, ox, cow, or other beast in the tenant's possession. It is the same as the heriot of English law. Spelman."-Chalmers. 11 Hooked, seized. 13 Coarse woollen cloth; probably from Ang.-Sax. roplic, ropy or stringy; or it may be a corruption of ray-cloth, which in old English meant cloth made in the natural colour of the wool.-Chalmers. When all was gane, I micht mak nae debeat,1 Diligence. How did the parson? was he not thy gude freend? Pauper. -he curst me for my tiend,2 And halds me yet under that same process, Diligence. Thou art the daftest fule" that e'er I saw. Pauper. Sir, by what law, tell me, wherefore or why? Diligence. They have nae law excepting consuetude, Pauper. Ane consuetude aganes the common weil, Diligence. It is their law; all that they have in use, Pauper. Sir I wad speir1o at you ane question; Behald some prelates of this region 1 Complaint, contest. 2 Excommunicated me for my tythe. 4 Easter; pronounced in Scotch pace. Remedy, satisfaction. 8 St. Giles is the patron saint of Edinburgh. 10 Ask. Forced. Maddest fool. 7 Dead. Gander, pig, or goose. SQUIRE MELDRUMS COMBAT. Diligence. Hald thy tongue man, it seems that thou were mangit.1 45 THE EXACTIONS AND DELAY OF A LAW SUIT SATIRIZED. Pauper. I lent my gossop3 my meir to fetch hame coals, An syne I gat-how call ye it?-ad replicandum; 13 Of pronunciandum1 they made me wonder fain; But I gat ne'er my gude grey meir again. SQUIRE MELDRUM'S COMBAT WITH THE ENGLISH KNIGHT TALBERT, WHEN thir15 twa noble men of weir16 1 Mad; literally mixed, confounded. Ang.-Sax. maengan, to mix. 2 Without. Gossip; syb (Gothic) is peace, alliance; gossipis Godsib; of kin in God; a sponsor: applied to the familiar connections of neighbourhood. 5 The ecclesiastical court. 6 Complain. 1 Quarry. 7 Group; assemblage; also household, retinue. Chaucer uses meiny in this sense; "They summoned up their meiny, straight took horse." ShakespeareK. Lear. The word seems connected with many, and derived apparently from Ang.Sax. maengan, to mix. 8 Caused. 9 Plack, one-third of a penny. 10 Way. 11 Devil. 12 Snare, stratagem. 13 These rooks they chattered wondrously fast. The rook is a cunning plundering bird. To rook, to cheat, however, is said to be connected with rogue. To rook is also to lie covered; to protect.-"The raven rooked her on the chimney top."Shakesp., 3 Hen. VI. 14 An idea of the law terms in the passage may be got from a Latin dictionary, if no better authority may be had. Their explanation would swell the notes too much. 15 These. 16 War. And in their handis strang bourdones,1 "Now, let them go !2-God schaw the richt!" That baith their spears in sindrie flaw;3 And straik at other with sae great ire, * 66 66 AND SPECYALLYE THE END OF CERTANE TYRANE PRINCIS. * * * * Behald how God, ay syne the warld began, When they had done perfurneis13 his intents, 1 Strong spears.-Chalmers. 2 "Laissez aller !" Ather; either; at each other. 9 Emperors. 10 Trusting; see note 5, p. 38. • Tough. 11 Seats. 12 Relatives and adjectives do not now take the sign of the plural; imperials above may be reckoned an adjective, like inobedients. 13 Finished to perform; completed the execution of; (French parfournir). Gane is the golden warld of Assyrians, The copper warld of Greekís now is thrall. Now is the world of iron mixt with clay,2 Tokens of dearth, hunger and pestilence, 47 HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY. THE merit of Lydgate has been vindicated; Occleve was esteemed down to the age of Elizabeth and James, but the interval between Chaucer and Henry VIII. is in general a dreary poetical void. In "Anderson's British Poets," the Earl of Surrey immediately follows Chaucer as the first name in an interval of about a century and a half that deserves a place among the "classical poetry" of England. The son of the Duke of Norfolk, the victor of Flodden in 1513, he was from his youth associated with the court of Henry VIII. in the capacity of companion to the Duke of Richmond, a natural son of that prince. In 1526, he was made cupbearer to the king, and in 1532, he accompanied the king in his famous visit to Boulogne. A clever but unprincipled writer of the Elizabethan 1 For the allusions in this stanza, see Daniel ii. For the pagan fable of the four ages, see Ovid, Met. i. 89-150. The "iron mixed with clay" (Daniel ii. 33) is commonly interpreted as descriptive of the mediaval kingdoms that sprung from the ruins of the Roman empire. The government of the infinitive by the generic verb do is assigned as the origin of the infinitive sign to. 4 Men in all ages of Christianity have been fond of viewing the remarkable phenomena of the period in which they lived as indications of the approaching judgment. Matth. xxiv. 6, 7; Luke xxi. 10, 11. Lyndsay had seen the great wars of Charles V. and Francis I.; the distractions of the reformation; and the quarrels with England. |