the chefe prestes and scribes off the people, and demaunded off them where Christ shulde be borne. They sayde unto hym: in Bethleem a toune of Jury. For thus it is written be the prophet; and thou Bethleem in the lond of Jury, shalt not be the leest as perteyninge to the princes of Juda. For out of the shall come a captaine, whych shall govern my people Israhel.

(MATTHEW Vi. 7-14.)

When ye praye, bable not moche as the gentyls do; for they thincke that they shalbe herde ffor there moche bablynges sake. Be ye not lyke them therefore. For youre father knoweth wherof ye have neade before ye axe off him. After this maner therefore praye ye : O oure father which arte in heven, halowed be thy name. Let thy kingdom come. Thy wyll be fulfilled as well in erth as hit ys in heven. Geve us this daye our dayly breade. And forgeve us oure treaspases even as we forgeve them which treaspas us. Leede us not into temptacion, but delyvre us from yvell. AMEN.

SIR DAVID LYNDSAY.

SIR DAVID LYNDSAY of the Mount was the most popular of the early Scottish poets. He has been called the Langland of Scotland, and in his hatred of hypocrisy he may well compare with the author of 'Piers Plowman,' but in his merry wit and broad and often coarse humour he more resembles Chaucer. He was born in Fife, about 1490, was educated at St. Andrews, and the next name to his on the college roll is David Beaton, the future cardinal-archbishop.

In 1511 Lyndsay was in service at court, and in receipt of 401. a year, and in the palace accounts there is mention of a payment for a blue and yellow coat for 'David Lyndsay for the play, playit in the king and queen's presence in the abbey of Holyrood.' In 1512

James V. was born, and Lyndsay was appointed chief usher to the young prince. In his poem, 'The Dreme,' Lyndsay reminds James V. of the time when he sang and capered for his amusement.

Quhen thow wes young, I bure thee in myne arme

Full tenderlie, tyll thow begowth' to gang;

2

And in thy bed oft happit thee full warme,
With lute in hand, syne, sweitlie to thee sang;
Sumtyme, in dansing, feiralie 3 I flang;

And sumtyme, playand farsis on the flure.

And in a somewhat later poem he says:
As ane chapman beris his pak

I bure thy Grace upon my bak;

And sumtymes, strydlingis on my nek,
Dansand with mony bend and bek.

And ay, quhen thow come frome the scule,
Than I behuffit to play the fule.

When James IV. fell at Flodden in 1513, Lyndsay continued in attendance on the young king James V., and in 1522 he married Janet Douglas, who also was in the royal service, and who received 10l. a year for ‘sewing the Kingis sarkis.'

In 1524 changes took place at court: the Earl of Angus and the Douglases came into power, and Lyndsay retired to his home, and there wrote his Dreme' and some other poems. In The Dreme' the poet imagines himself under the guidance of Dame Remembrance,' who leads him.

Doun throw the Eird, in myddis of the center,

Or ever I wyste, in to the lawest Hell.

In to that cairfull cove quhen we did enter,

Yowtyng and yowlyng" we hard, with mony yell

In flame of fyre, rycht furious and fell,

Was cryand mony cairfull creature,
Blasphemand God, and waryand Nature.

Thare sawe we divers Papis and Empriouris,
Without recover, mony cairfull Kyngis;
Thare saw we mony wrangous conquerouris,
Withouttin rycht, reiffaris of utheris ryngis';
The men of Kirk lay boundin into byngis 2;
Thare saw we mony cairfull Cardinall
And Archebischopis, in thair pontificall.

Thare was the cursit Empriour Nero

Of everilk vice the horrabyll veschell ';
Thare was Pharo, with divers Prencis mo,
Oppressouris of the barnis of Israell;
Herode, and mony mo than I can tell,
Ponce Pylat was thare, hangit be the hals,'
With unjuste Jugis, for thair sentence fals.

Not only the punishment of the wicked but also the blessedness of the saints in heaven is described, and Remembrance leads the poet from planet to planet and then back again to earth.

In 1528 the young king banished the Douglases from court, and Lyndsay returned and was appointed chief herald, with the title of Lyon King of Arms,' and that honourable office he retained till his death in 1555.

In 1539 James V. married Mary of Guise, and the next year there was exhibited before the king and queen, at Linlithgow, Lyndsay's remarkable play of the Three Estatis.' This is a play of the kind called 'moralities,' in which the vices and virtues appear as persons, and Lyndsay vigorously scourges wrongdoers in Church and State.

A young king appears attended by Solace and Wan

1 kingdoms.

2 heaps.

3 slave.

• neck.

tonness, and they tell of a beautiful lady Sensuality, and he is eager that she should come :

Commend me to that sweitest thing,

And present hir with this same ring,
And say, I ly in languisching,

Except scho' mak remeid.

After Sensuality is welcomed, Good Counsel appears, but is not suffered to come near the king. Then Verity comes bearing the New Testament in her hand, but the bishops charge her with heresy, and till she can be tried she is put in the stocks. Chastity also comes, but she is scouted by monks and nuns, bishops and priests, and is sent to bear Verity company. At length appears Divine Correction, who drives the vices away and counsels the king to rule with righteousness.

Connected with this play there are some amusing interludes, The Sowtar and the Taylour and their Wives,' and 'The Poor Man and the Pardoner,' but the humour is very coarse. These interludes were intended for the amusement of the vulgar spectators of the play, while the king and queen and the nobles were taking refreshment between the acts.

In 1542 James V. died broken-hearted at Falkland, and within a few years the Reformation broke out in Scotland. In March 1546 Wishart was burnt at St. Andrews, and in May Cardinal Beaton was murdered. Lyndsay's sympathies were with the reformers, and he wrote a poem called the Tragedie of the Cardinall.'

The poet is sitting reading the Fall of Princes' of John Bochas, when the murdered cardinal appears and tells his dismal story.

she.

6

Behald my fatall infylicitie

I beand in my strenth incomparabyll,
That dreidfull dungeoun maid me no supplye,
My gret ryches, nor rentis profitabyll,
My sylver work, jowellis inestimabyll,

My Papall pompe, of golde my ryche thresoure,
My lyfe and all, I loste in half ane hour.
To the pepill wes maid ane spectakle

Of my dede and deformit carioun.
Sum said, it was ane manifeste myrakle;
Sum said it was Divine punitioun

So to be slane, in to my strang dungeoun :
Quhen every man had judgit as hym lyste,

Thay saltit me, syne closit me in ane kyste.'

In 1553 Lyndsay completed his last and greatest work, The Monarchie.' The poet sees in a park an aged manQuhose beird wes weill thre quarter lang;

His hair doun ouer his schulders hang,
The quhilk as ony snaw wes quhyte;
Quhome to behald I thocht delyte.

The aged man was named Experience, and the two sit down in the shadow of a tree, and in a long dialogue they trace the story of the world from the Creation to the Destruction of Jerusalem.

Then the Papal dominion is

spoken of, and then death, resurrection and the judgment to come. The sun is now setting and Experience departs. I sped me home, with heart syching 2 full sore,

And enterit in my quyet Oritore.

I tuke paper, and thare began to wryt

This Miserie, as ye have hard afore.

All gentyll Redaris hertlye I implore

For tyll excuse my rurall rude indyte,
Thoucht Phareseis wyll have at me dispyte,
Quhilkis wald not that thare craftynes wer kend,
Latt God be Juge! and so I mak ane end.

See Knox's account of the same transaction, page 49. 2 sighing.