When Johnny cam before the king To this day the tradition of the country has preserved many recollections of this regal expedition against the border thieves. The wild and romantic pass through which James penetrated into Ettrick is still known by the appellation of the King's Road; the ruins of the castle of Henderland are pointed out in the vale of Megget; and near it the Dow's Linn, a romantic waterfall, at the side of which is a wild natural cavern. To this spot, it is said, the unhappy wife of the border freebooter retreated whilst her husband was manacled before his own gate. In the valley of the Ettrick, opposite to Rankleburn, is seen the dark tower of Tuschielaw, where Adam Scott, the King of the Border, so long kept the neighbourhood in terror, and levied his black mail from the trembling inhabitants. It is to this famous expedition of James that Lindsay alludes in these encomiastic verses: Now Justice holds her sword on high, nathing want; Policy and Peace begin to plant, Lindsay concludes this piece by some admirable advice to the young king on the subject of his duties and his responsibility, not neglecting a prudent hint that if his Majesty made provision for his old servant, or, at least, lent him Of gold ane thousand pound or tway, it would be for the credit and advantage of both: 'If not,' says he, in a tone of calm Christian philosophy, My God 6 Shall cause me stand content It is pleasing to find, that soon after the presentation of this poem to his sovereign, the same affection which prompted the punctual payment of Lindsay's pension induced James to promote the servant of his early years to the honourable office of Lion King at Arms, -a situation the duties of which were probably of as high antiquity as the bearing of coats armorial, but which under this name does not appear earlier than the reign of Robert the Second. At the coronation of this monarch, as it is described in a manuscript quoted 1 fellows. *Poems, vol. i., pp. 273, 274. † Ibid. P. 279. ( by Chalmers, the Lion King at Arms was called in by the Lord Marshal, attended by the heralds, who came in their coats or tabards, those awful vestments' of which Sir David speaks in his Lament for Queen Magdalen; the Lion then sat down at the king's feet, and the heralds went to the stage prepared for them; after which, the Marshal, by the mouth of the Bishop of St. Andrew's, did swear the Lion, who, being sworn, put on his crown ordained him to wear for the solemnity. The coronation of the Lion himself, when he was appointed to this dignity, was a matter of great state and solemnity. The ancient crown of Scotland was placed on his head by the hand of the king himself, and it was his privilege, on the day of his enthronization, to dine at the royal table, wearing the crown during the continuance of the feast t. " Shortly after his promotion, Lindsay appears to have written the Complaint of the King's Papingo,' a satirical poem, which may be regarded as his first open declaration of war against the abuses of the Romanist religion in Scotland. In the concluding verses of his Complaint,' he had congratulated the king upon the happy circumstance that all things throughout the realm had been reduced into good order except 'the spirituality,' and he now introduces the Papingo,'to expose the ignorance, avarice, and licentiousness which, as he alleges, then disgraced the church. The fiction of throwing his observations into the *Chalmers' Life, prefixed to his edition of Lindsay's Poems, vol. i. p. 13. + Ibid. p. 51. mouth of this feathered satirist, so well known for its petulance, garrulity, and licentiousness of remark, was ingenious and prudent: ingenious, because it enabled him to be severe under the dis-. guise of being natural; and prudent, as in case of any threatened ecclesiastical persecution, it permitted him to substitute the papingo for the poet. To give anything like a complete analysis of the poem is impossible within our limits; but some passages may be quoted, which are remarkable for their light and graceful spirit. After lamenting, in his initiatory stanzas, that his genius does not permit him to soar so high as his elder and more illustrious brethren of the lyre, he warns the reader that since in the garden of eloquence and poetry every rich and resplendent flower hath been already plucked by these master-spirits, he must be contented with a lower theme, The Complaint of a wounded Parrot :-' And syne I find nane other new sentence, · As for the rudeness of my composition,' he adds, I can only say, it was addressed to rural. folk, and must hide itself far from the eyes of men of learning. Should they, however, search it out, and run it down as idle and foolish, my defence is, that it was made in sport for country lasses :-' Then shall I swear, I made it but in mows1 Although thus deprecating the severity of sport. 1 2 cows and sheep. learned criticism, and addressing himself to less fastidious readers, nothing can be more graceful or pleasing than our first introduction to the papingo: -- Ane papingo, right plesand and perfyte', Of quhome his Grace ane lang tyme had delyte,- 3 To learn her language artificial, > To play platfute and quhissill' futebefore*; Sche counterfeit all fowlis less or more Of hir curage. She wald, without my lore, Blait like ane hog, and buller like ane bull, 14 With scarce any alteration these graceful lines may be made easy to an English reader : A parrot once most pleasant and perfyte, s who. 1 2 accomplished. elegant. 4 popular games and tunes. 5 of her own self. 9 jackdaw. sheep. 10 cuckoo. 11 sorry. 14 went. |