The Book of Scottish Poems: Ancient and Modern

Aye to defend their realm and liberty.
That they nought, by their sleuth and
cowartry,

The fame and honour of their elders tine;'
Apprise ilk state into their ain degree,
Aye as they live in moral discipline.

XXVIII.

a churchman-such another as the
author of "King Berdock."
It was
first published in "Early Metrical
Tales," by Dr Laing, Edinburgh, 1826.]

Wha doubtis Dreamis are but fantasy?
My spreit was reft, and had in ecstacy,

Show forth ilk king, till thou come to the My head lay laich2 into this Dream but3

prince

That reignis now in great felecity;
Whose ancient blood by high pre-emi-Me

nence,

Decorit 2 is in maist excellent degree
(Without compare) of high nobility;
With giftis mo of nature to him given,
(Gif nane abused in his youthhead be),
Than ever was given to noble under heaven.

XXIX.

doubt;

At my foretop my five wittis flew out.
I murned, and I made a felon mane :
thought the King of Faiery had me
tane, 4

And band me in ane prison, foot and hand,
Withouten ruth, in ane lang raip5 of sand:
To pierce the prison wall it was not eith,"
For it was mingit,7 and made with mussel
teeth;

And in the mids of it ane mine of flint;

Though thou pass forth, as bird implume I sank therein till I was near-hand tynt.8

to light,

His gracious earis to my work implore,
Where he may see as in ane mirror bright,
So notable stories, baith of vice and glore,
Whilk never was seen into his tongue

afore;

Where through he may, by prudent
governing,

As weel his honour as his realm decore,
And be ane virtuous and ane noble King!

LICHTOUN'S DREAM.

And when I saw there was none other re-
meid,9

Iflychtered up with ane feddrem" of lead;
For that I thought me ferys of my youth,
I took my little tae into my mouth,
And cast myself right with ane mighty
bend,

Out through the vault and pierced not the
pend ; 12

And thus, I thought into my dooly Dream,
I break my head upon ane knowe of ream;13
That I should hurt myself I had despite,
And, in all tene, 14 I turned up full tyte, 15
Drank of ane well that was gane dry seven
year,

["This very whimsical production," Syne lap three loups, 16 and I was haile

as Dr Laing calls it, has been preserved in both the Bannatyne and Maitland manuscripts in the latter without the author's name; and that omission is all that the former MS. enables us to supply, with the addition of Monicus, from which it is inferred that the author was

and feir. '7

My spirit was

snatched and held.10 Fluttered.

2 Low.

3 Without.
4 Taken.

5 Long rope.
6 Easy.

7 Mixed.

8 Lost.

9 Remedy.

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And would have climben, but it was in ane 'clips;

Shortly I slade, and fell upon my hips Down in ane meadow, beside ane bush of mint;

I sought myself, and I was seven year tint,1
Yet in ane mist I found me on the morn.
I heard ane Pundler2 blow ane elrich3 horn;
And syne beside me in ane meadow green,
I saw three white whalis, seemly to be
seen;

Their tethers were of green grasshoppers' hair,

Of midges' shanks both clean, white and fair;

Their tetheris were made weel grit to graip With silken shackles, and sowlis of white saip.5

This Pundler ran fast, feignand for to find Thir whalis three upon his gerss to poind;" He had ane cloak weel made and wonder

And there he lived on limpets in her wame,' Till harvest time, that herdis drave them hame.

By this was done, the tother twa returned To swallow me; great dool I made and murnèd :

Down in ane henslaik,' and got ane felon fall,

And lay betwixt ane pitcher and the wall! As wiffis commands, this Dream I will conclude,

claims

God and the Rood mot turn it all to good! Methought I fled, and through a park Gar fill the cup, for thir auld carlings could pass, And wakened syne; where trow ye that That gentle ale is oft the cause of I was? dreams.

JAMES V.

1512-1542.

JAMES THE FIFTH's title to the authorship of "The Gaberlunzie Man" and "The Jolly Beggar " is not so well established as to justify our unhesitatingly ascribing them to him. That they refer to adventures in his life is very probable; and we are not aware of their being attributed to any other author. That James wrote poetry himself, and was a generous patron of poets, is placed beyond dispute by Lindsay and Bellenden; yet, curiously enough, while they both praise his poetical gifts, neither of them specifies the title of any of his pieces; nor do they give such indications of their contents as enable us to decide whether the poems in question were known to them. Drummond of Hawthornden also bears testimony to James's poetical gifts, as, he says, "many of his works yet extant testify." But, as Chalmers remarks, it is easier to prove James a poet than to produce specimens of his poetry. Lindsay's answer to "The King's Flyting"

Belly.

shows what the character of that poem was, and that its loss is not a matter of popular regret. Bishop Percy, and Mr Callander of Craigforth, concur in recognising "The Gaberlunzie Man" as James's; and Ritson and Lord Orford credit him with "The Jolly Beggar," which Sir Walter Scott described as the best comic ballad in any language; but Chalmers and Sibbald dispute his right to either. In giving these two ballads under his name, we are not supposed to have decided the question of their authorship, beyond placing them under the only name with which they have been popularly associated. It is very obvious that the versions we have got are much modernized,—a fact which renders the question of authorship doubly puzzling.

The chief events of the King's life, so far as they bear upon his poetical genius and the cultivation of it, are referred to in Lindsay's life. Although his forma education may be said to have been

Fowl's crib (?)

THE GABERLUNZIE MAN.

The pawky' auld carle came o'er the lee,
Wi' many good e'ens and days to me,
Saying, Goodwife, for your courtesie,

Will you lodge a silly poor man?
The night was cauld, the carle was wat,
And down ayont the ingle2 he sat ;
My daughter's shoulders he 'gan to clap,
And cadgily ranted 3 and sang.

II.

discontinued at the age of twelve, yet,
possessed as he was of a vigorous mind,
and a hereditary love of literature,
which, during his juvenile years, must
have been stimulated by the precept
and example of his tutor, Gavin Dun-
bar, and Lindsay and Bellenden, it is
but what we would expect to find,-
when he came to be his own master,
-his encouraging and promoting those
friends of his youth. But considering
the counter-influences that were ex-
erted to lead his taste in other direc-
tions, it is much to the credit of his char-
acter that he preferred to encourage
such as Buchanan, and those other
literary men whose works are an honour
to their age and country. His establish-
ment of a permanent and organized
judicature, his vigorous and enlightened
measures for the proper conduct of pub-
lic affairs, and the promoting the public |
welfare, all heighten our respect for the
memory of a king whose premature
death was a great loss to his subjects.
In estimating his character, much allow-
ance has to be made for the transitional
condition of his age, and the inevitably
intriguing circumstances, if not disposi
tions, of many of the men through whom
he had to govern; yet the unfortunate
war, whose failure and disgrace he was
unable to bear up against, must be
placed to the discredit of his own judg-Up in the morn the auld wife raise,
Solway Moss was as fatal to
James V., although he died in his bed
at Falkland, as Flodden was to his
father. He died on the 14th December
1642, in the thirtieth year of his age.

O wow! quo' he, were I as free
As first when I saw this countrie,
How blythe and merry wad I be!

And I wad never think lang.
He grew canty,4 and she grew fain,
But little did her auld minny 5 ken
What thir slee twa thegither were say'ng,
When wooing they were sae thrang."

ment.

III.

And O, quo' he, an' ye were as black
As e'er the croun of my daddy's hat,
'Tis I wad lay thee by my back,

And awa' wi' me thou shou'd gang.
And O, quo' she, an I were as white
As e'er the snaw lay on the dike,
I'd cleed me braw and lady-like,

And awa' wi' thee I would gang.

IV.

Between the twa was made a plot ;
They rose a wee before the cock,
And wilily they shot the lock,

And fast to the bent are they gane.

And at her leisure pat on her claise;

Syne to the servant's bed she gaes,

To speer9 for the silly poor man.

Knowing and wag-
gish.

2 Beyond the fireside.

3 Merrily chanted.

4 Merry.

5 Mother. 6 Busily.

7 Clad.

8 Afield.

9 Inquire.

She gaed to the bed where the beggar lay;
The strae was cauld, he was away,
She clapt her hands, cry'd Waladay,

For some of our gear will be gane!
Some ran to coffer, and some to kist,
But nought was stown' that could be mist;
She danc'd her lane, cry'd Praise be blest,
I have lodged a leal poor man!

VI.

Since naething's awa', as we can learn,
The kirn's to kirn, and milk to earn ;
Gae but the house, lass, and waken my
bairn,

And bid her come quickly ben.
The servant gaed where the daughter lay,
The sheets were cauld, she was away,
And fast to her goodwife did say,

She's aff with the gaberlunzie man.
VII.

O fy gar ride, and fy gar rin,
And haste ye find these traitors again;
For she's be burnt, and he's be slain,
The wearifu' gaberlunzie man.
Some rade upo' horse, some ran a-fit,
The wife was wud,3 and out o' her wit,
She could na gang, nor yet cou'd she sit,
But she curs'd ay, and she bann'd.

Sic a poor man she'd never trow,

After the gaberlunzie man. My dear, quo' he, ye're yet o'er young, And hae na learn'd the beggar's tongue, To follow me frae town to town,

And carry the gaberlunzie on.

Wi' cauk and keel I'll win your bread, And spindles and whorles for them wha need,

Whilk is a gentle trade indeed,

To carry the gaberlunzie on.
I'll bow my leg, and crook my knee,
And draw a black clout o'er my ee;
A cripple or blind they will ca' me,

While we shall be merry and sing.

THE JOLLY BEGGAR.

There was a jollie beggar,
And a begging he was boun,
And he took up his quarters
Into a landart town:
He wadna lie into the barn,
Nor wad he in the byre,
But in ahint the ha' door,
Or else afore the fire.

And we'll go no more a roving,
A roving in the night;
We'll go no more a roving,

Let the moon shine e'er so bright.

II.

The beggar's bed was made at e'en, Wi' gude clean straw and hay, And in ahint the ha' door

'Twas there the beggar lay. Up gat the gudeman's daughter, All for to bar the door,

And there she saw the beggar-man Standing in the floor.

Chalk and red clay.

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