Be bad aspect quhilk wirkis vengeance, Quhilk hes sa lang in service bene, I wald sum wise man did me teiche, For thouch the last men first war servit, And rub the roust off my ingine, Quhilk bin for langour like to tyne: And now I am na mair despaird, I tak the Quenis grace, thy mother, My lord chancellar, and mony uther, Thy nureis, and thy auld maistress, I tak thame all to beir witness; Old Willie Dillie wer he on lyve, My life full weill he culd diseryve, How as ane chapman beiris his pack, I bure thy grace upon my back: And sum times strydlingis on my nek, Dansand with mony bend and bek. The first syllabis that thow did mute Was Pa Da Lyn upon the lute. Than playit I twenty springis perqueir, Quhilk was greit plesure for to heir. Fra play thow let me never rest; But Gynkertoun thow luifit ay best. And ay quhen thow came from the scule, Then I behuiffit to play the fule: As I at lenth into my DREME, My sindrie service did expreme. Thoch it bene better, as sayis the wise, Hap at the court nor gude service;" I wait thow luiffit me better than, To yow, my lordis, that standis by, I sall yow schaw the causis quhy; Gif ye list tary, I sall tell How my infortune thus befell. I prayit daylie on my kné, My young maister that I micht sé, Havand power imperiall; The quhilk war langsum till declair. Imprudently, like witles fules, Thay tuke the young prince from the sculis, Quhilk first devisit that counsell; SUPPLICATION IN CONTEMPTION OF SIDE TAILS. Sovereign, I mean of their side tails, Whilk through the dust and dubs trails, Three quarters lang behind their heels, Express agane all commonweals: Though bishops in their pontificals Have men for to bear up their tails, For dignity of their office; Richt so ane queen or ane emprice, Howbeit they use sic gravity, Comformand to their majesty, Though their robe-royals be upborne, I think it is ane very scorn, That every lady of the land Should have her tail so side trailand; Howbeit they been of high estate, The queen they should not counterfeit. Wherever they go it may be seen How kirk and causay they soop clean. The images into the kirk May think of their side tails great irk; Gif they could speak, they wald them wary. Poor claggocks clad in Raploch white, Then when they step furth through the street Of tails I will no more indite, For dread some duddron me despite. Notwithstanding, I will conclude, That of side tails can come nae gude, Sider nor may their ankles hide, The remanent proceeds of pride, And pride proceeds of the devil: Thus always they proceed of evil. Ane other fault, sir, may be seen, They hide their face all bot the een; When gentlemen bid them gude day Without reverence they slide away. Without their faults be soon amended, My flyting, sir, shall never be ended. But wad your grace my counsel tak, Ane proclamation ye should mak, Baith through the land and burrowstouns, To shaw their face, and cut their gowns. Women will say, this is nae bourds, To write sic vile and filthy words; But wald they clenge their filthy tails, Whilk over the mires and middings trails, Then should my writing clengit be, None other mends they get of me. Quoth Lindsay, in contempt of the side tails, That duddrons and duntibours through the dubs trails. That when the sun is at the hicht THE BUILDING OF THE TOWER OF BABEL. (FROM THE MONARCHIE.) Their great fortress then did they found, Ane fathom then, as some men says, The translator of Orosius Intil his chronicle writes thus, At noon, when it doth shine maist bricht, Then the great God omnipotent, Constrained were they for till depart, RICHARD MAITLAND. BORN 1496-DIED 1586. SIR RICHARD MAITLAND, a poet, lawyer, and | business. In 1562 he was made lord privystatesman, was born in 1496. He was the seal and a member of the privy-council. He son of William Maitland of Lethington, and continued a Lord of Session during the reign Martha, daughter of George, lord Seaton. of Queen Mary and the minority of her son Having received the usual university education James VI. In July, 1584, his great age comat the College of St. Andrews, he went to pelled him to resign his seat on the bench, France to study law. On his return to Scot- previous to which time he had relinquished the land he was employed in various public offices office of lord privy-seal to his second son John, by James V., and afterwards by the Regent afterwards Lord Thirlstane, Lord High-chanArran and Mary of Guise. In the year 1551 cellor of Scotland. Sir Richard died March he was appointed Lord of Session, and soon 20, 1586, at the age of ninety, leaving seven after he was knighted. In his sixty-fourth sons, the eldest of whom, Sir William, hisyear he had the misfortune to lose his sight, torically known as Secretary Lethington, was but his blindness did not incapacitate him for | accounted the ablest statesman of his age; and one who in his day played many parts, being "anything by fits, but nothing long." With the single exception of a passage in Knox's History, which imputes to him having accepted bribes to aid Cardinal Beaton in effecting his escape from imprisonment, a charge which is not generally credited, Maitland is uniformly spoken of by contemporary writers with great respect. Many of his manuscript decisions are preserved in the Advocates' Library of Edinburgh. His collections of Early Scottish Poetry, in two vols., a folio and a quarto, were, with other MSS., presented by the Duke of Lauderdale to Samuel Pepys, the Sir | founder of the Pepysian Library at Cambridge, where they are still preserved. A selection from these may be seen in Pinkerton's valuable collection of Ancient Scottish Poems. Richard's own poems were for the first time printed in 1830, in a handsome quarto volume, for the Maitland Club, which derives its name from him. His History and Chronicle of the Hous and Surename of Seytoun was printed for the Maitland Club in 1829. His principal poetical pieces are the "Satyres," "Ballet of the Creatioun of the World," "The Blind Baron's Comfort," and a supplication "Agains Oppressioun of the Comouns." |