The pauky auld carle cam o'er the lea, Will ye lodge a silly auld man. 1 cold. 4 The night was cauld1, the carle was wat, 5 O wow, quoth he, were I as free And I would ne'er think lang. He grew canty and she grew fain"; The result of the adventure is well known, in the elopement of the old woman's daughter with the Gaberlunzie. Nothing can be more felicitously described than the consequences of the discovery. The picture of the auld wife's despair, when she finds that the beggar had decamped, the anticipation that some of their gear must have walked away with him, and the complacent awakening of her charitable feelings on finding all safe, are finely true to nature. Upon the morn the auld wife raise, To speer 12 for the silly puir man. She gaed to the bed where the beggar lay: • fire. 5 merrily. 10 13 straw. "wet. 3 beyond. 7 fond. 11 clothes. 8 mother. 12 inquire. • cheerful, busy. Some ran to coffers, and some to kists1; 3 Since naething's awa", as we can learn, Gae but the house, lass, and wauken the bairn, It is not too much to say that this picture, and the rest of the ballad, are, in point of humour, superior to anything of Dunbar's or of Lindsay's. From his zeal for the administration of strict justice to the lowest classes of his subjects, and his anxiety personally to inspect the conduct of his officers and judges, it was James's frequent practice to disguise himself and mingle much with the common people. The dangers of the wilderness,' says Pinkerton, in one of his Gibbonian flights, 'the gloom of night, the tempests of winter, could not prevent his patient exertions to protect the helpless, to punish the guilty, to enforce the observance of the laws. From horseback he often pronounced decrees worthy of the sagest seat of justice; and, if overtaken by night, in the progresses which he made through his kingdom, or separated by design or by accident from his company, he would share the meal of the lowest peasant with as hearty a relish as the feast of his highest noble.' It was on one of these occasions that the following pleasing anecdote is related of him: Being benighted when hunting, he entered a cottage, situated in the midst of a moor, at the foot of the Ochil hills, " 2 stolen. 3 danced alone. away. 6 churu. but, the outer apartment of the house. 8 1 chests. 5 4 honest. 7 curdle. 9 the inner. near Alloa, where, known only as a stranger who had lost his way, he was kindly received. To regale their unexpected guest, the gudeman desired the gudewife to fetch the hen that roosted nearest the cock, which is always the plumpest, for the stranger's supper. The king, highly pleased with his night's lodging and hospitable entertainment, told mine host at parting that he should be glad to return his civility, and requested that the first time he came to Stirling he would call at the Castle, and inquire for the gudeman of Ballangeich, when his astonishment at finding the royal rank of his guest afforded no small amusement to the merry monarch and his courtiers; whilst, to carry on the pleasantry, he was thenceforth desig nated by James with the title of King of the Moors, which name,' says Mr. Campbell, the intelligent minister, from whose account of the parish of Alloa this passage is taken, has descended from father to son ever since, the family having remained undisturbed proprietors of the identical spot where the unknown monarch was so hospitably treated.' · 6 From this short digression on the character and genius of his royal master and patron we return to the Lion King, whom we find aggravating his roar' against the extravagance of female ornament,' by his supplication to the King's Grace against the length of the trains worn by the ladies, and then known by the name of 'syde-tails.''Female attire has been the marked object of the poet's ridicule in every age. The English antiquaries trace the origin of high head-dresses and long trains to the luxurious reign of Richard II. Camden tells us that Anne, the wife of this monarch, brought in the fashion of high caps and long gowns. We learn from Hemingford that a zealous ecclesiastic of that age wrote a treatise, 'Contra Caudas Dominarum.' Chaucer's parson protests against the costlie claithing' both of men and women, especially reprehending the superfluity in ladies' gowns. Lydgate raises his voice against the high attire of women's heads; Hoccleve against waist claithing.' Dunbar lashes the splendour of the farthingaillis;' and, finally, Lindsay presents his supplication against ‘sydetaillis.* Your Majesty,' says he, has now introduced order and good government both into the highlands and border; there is yet ane small fault which requires reformation.' 6 6 6 Sir, tho your Grace has put great order To have some reformatioun Of ane small fault which is not treason, * Chalmers' Works of Lindsay, vol. ii. p. 196. Tho their robe-royals be upborne, In their clothing most triumphant In the same poem Lindsay complains violently of a fashion introduced by the Scottish ladies, in covering up their faces, so that nothing is seen but their eyes. Another fault, sir, may be seen, They get no more gude days fra me. These veiled faces of the women excited the indignation of the Parliament of James II., which published an ordinance, " that na woman come to the kirk or market with her face mussal'd, that she may not be kend, under the pain of escheit of the curch." Lindsay's concluding admonition to the king upon the long trains is brief and emphatic. Wad your Grace my counsel tak1, 2 make. 3 burghs. |