late Sir D. Dalrymple communicated (subsequent to the account drawn up above in p. 113.) extracts of a letter from Sir John Bruce, of Kinross, to Lord Binning, which plainly proves the pretended discoverer of the fragment of Hardyknute to have been Sir John Bruce himself. His words are, " To perform my promise, I send you a true copy of the Manuscript I found some weeks ago in a vault at Dumferline. It is written on vellum in a fair Gothic character, but so much defaced by time, as you'll find that the tenth part is not legible." He then gives the whole fragment as it was first published in. 1719, save one or two stanzas, marking several passages as having perished by being illegible in the cd MS. Hence it appears that Sir John was the author of Hardyknute, but afterwards used Mrs. Wardlaw to be the midwife of his Poetry, and suppressed the story of the vault; as is well observed by the Editor of the Tragic Ballads, and of Maitland's Scot. Poets, vol. I. p. cxxvii.

To this gentleman we are indebted for the use of the copy, whence the second edition was afterwards printed, as the same was prepared for the press by John Clerk, M.D. of Edinburgh, an intimate companion of Lord President Forbes.

The title of the first edition was, Hardyknute, a Fragment. Edinburgh, printed for James Watson, &c. 1719." folio, 12 pages.

Stanzas not in the first edition are, Nos. 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, 42.

In the present impression the orthography of Dr. Clerk's copy has been preserved, and his readings carefully followed, except in a few instances, wherein the common edition appeared preferable : viz. He had in ver. 20. but.—v. 56. of harm.-v. 6-4. every.-v. 67. lo down.-v. 83. That omitted.-v. 89. And omitted.-v. 143. With argument but vainly strave Lang.v. 148. say'd.-v. 155. incampit on the plain. v. 156. Norse squadrons.—v. 158. regand revers. v. 170. his strides he bent.-v. 171. minstrals play and Pibrochs fine.-v. 172. stately went.-v, 182. mon.-v. 196. sharp and fatal.—v. 219. which.-v. 241. stood wyld.-Stanza 39 preceded stanza 38.— v. 305. There.-v. 313. blew wrestling.—v. 336. had originally been, He fear'd a' cou'd be fear'd.

The editor was also informed, on the authority of Dr. David Clerk, M.D. of Edinburgh (son of the aforesaid Dr. John Clerk,) that between the present stanzas 36 and 37, the two following had been in. tended, but were on maturer consideration omitted, and do not now appear among the MS. additions: Now darts flew wavering through slaw speede, Scarce could they reach their aim;

Or reach'd, scarce blood the round point drew,
'Twas all but shot in vain :

Righ strengthy arms forfeebled grew,

Sair wreck'd wi' that day's toils:

E'en fierce-born minds now lang'd for peace,
And cur'd war's cruel broils.

Yet still wars horns sounded to charge, Swords clash'd and harness rang;

But saftly sae ilk blaster blew

The hills and dales fraemang.
Nae echo heard in double dints,

Nor the lang-winding horn,
Nae mair she blew out brade as she
Did eir that summers morn.

I.

In the former Book we brought down this second Series of poems as low as about the middle of the sixteenth century. We now find the Muses deeply engaged in religious controversy. The sudden revolution wrought in the opinions of mankind by the Reformation, is one of the most striking events in the history of the human mind. It could not but engross the attention of every individual in that age, and therefore no other writings would have any chance to be read, but such as related to this grand topic. The alterations made in the established religion by Henry VIII., the sudden changes it underwent in the three succeeding reigns within so short a space as eleven or twelve years, and the violent struggles between expiring Popery and growing Protestantism, could not but interest all mankind. Accordingly every pen was engaged in the dispute. The followers of the Old and New Profession (as they were called) had their respective ballad-makers; and every day produced some popular sonnet for or against the Reformation. The following ballad, and that intitled "Little John Nobody," may serve for specimens of the writings of each party. Both were written in the reign of Edward VI.; and are not the worst that were composed upon the occasion. Controversial divinity is no friend to poetic flights. Yet this ballad of "Luther and the Pope," is not altogether devoid of spirit; it is of the dramatic kind, and the characters are tolerably well sustained; especially that of Luther, which is made to speak in a manner not unbecoming the spirit and courage of that vigorous reformer It is printed from the original black-letter copy (in the Pepys collection, vol. I. folio,) to which is prefixed a large wooden cut, designed and executed by some eminent master.

We are not to wonder that the ballad-writers of that age should be inspired with the zeal of controversy, when the very stage teemed with polemic divinity. I have now before me two very ancient quarto black-letter plays: the one published in the time of Henry VIII, intitled "Every Man ;"the other called "Lusty Juventus," printed in the reign of Edward VI. In the former of these, occasion is taken to incultate great reverence for old mother church and her superstitions: in the other, the

Take a specimen from his high encomiums on the priesthood,

"There is no emperour, kyng, duke, ne baron
That of God hath commissyon,

As hath the leest preest in the world beynge.

poet, (one R. Wever) with great success attacks both. So that the stage in those days literally was, what wise men have always wished it-a supplement to the pulpit :-this was so much the case, that in the play of "Lusty Juventus," chapter and verse are every where quoted as formally as in a sermon ; take an instance:

• The Lord by his prophet Ezechiel sayeth in this
wise playnĺye,

As in the xxxiij chapter it doth appere:
Be converted, O ye children, &c."

From this play we learn that most of the young
people were New Gospellers, or friends to the Re-
formation, and that the old were tenacious of the
doctrines imbibed in their youth: for thus the devil
is introduced lamenting the downfal of superstition:
"The olde people would believe stil in my lawes,
But the yonger sort leade them a contrary way,
They wyl not beleve, they playnly say,
In olde traditions, and made by men, &c."
And in another place Hypocrisy urges,

"The worlde was never meri
Since chyldren were so boulde:
Now every boy will be a teacher,

The father a foole, the chyld a preacher."

Of the plays above mentioned, to the first is subjoined the following, Printer's Colophon, "Thus endeth this moral playe of Every Man. ¶ Imprynted at London in Powles chyrche yarde by me John Skot." In Mr. Garrick's collection is an imperfect copy of the same play, printed by Richarde Pynson.

The other is intitled, "An enterlude called Lufty Juventus" and is thus distinguished at the end:

God hath to them more power gyven,
Than to any aungell, that is in heven;
With v. words he may consecrate

Goddes body in flesshe, and blode to take,
And handeleth his maker bytwene his handes.
The preest byndeth and unbindeth all bandes,
Both in erthe and in heven.-

Thou ministers all the sacramentes seven.
Though we kyst thy fete thou were worthy;
Thou art the surgyan that cureth synne dedly:
No remedy may we fynde under God,
But alone on preesthode.

God gave preest that dignité,

And letteth them in his stede amonge us be,

Thus be they above aungels in degre."

See Hawkins's Orig. of Eng. Drama Vol. I. p. 61.

18

Finis. quod R. Wever. Imprynted at London in Paules churche yeard by Abraham Dele at the signe of the Lambe." Of this too Mr. Garrick has an imperfect copy of a different edition.

Of these two plays the reader may find some further particulars in Series the First, Book II. see "The Essay on the Origin of the English Stage;" and the curious reader will find the plays themselves printed at large in Hawkins's "Origin of the English Drama," 3 vols. Oxford, 1773, 12mo.

They spared not the fatherlesse,

The carefull, nor the pore wydowe; They wolde have somewhat more or lesse, If it above the ground did growe: But now we husbandmen do knowe Al their subteltye, and theyr false caste; For the Lorde hath them overthrowe With his swete word now at the laste.

DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER.

Thou antichrist, with thy thre crownes,
Has usurped kynges powers,
As having power over realmes and townes,
Whom thou oughtest to serve all houres
Thou thinkest by thy jugglyng colours
Thou maist lykewise Gods word oppresse;
As do the deceatful foulers,

20

When they theyr nettes craftelye dresse.

85

Thou flatterest every prince, and lord,

Thretening poore men with swearde and fyre;

All those, that do followe Gods worde,

35

Ye shall to heaven go with greate myghte; God can make you no resistaunce.

To make them cleve to thy destre, Theyr bokes thou burnest in flaming fire; Cursing with boke, bell, and candell, Such as to reade them have desyre, Or with them are wyllynge to meddell.

Thy false power wyl I bryng down,
Thou shalt not raygne many a vere,
I shall dryve the from citye and towne,
Even with this pen that thou seyste here:

i e. denied us the Cup, see below, ver. 94.

For they have not the popes blessynge,
Nor regard his holy pardon:
They thinke from all destruction
By Christes bloud to be saved,

Fearynge not our excommunicacion,
Therefore shall they al be dampned.

• i. e. Make thee knock under the table. ti. e. his rule.

95

119

While in England verse was made the vehicle of controversy, and Popery was attacked in it by logical argument, or stinging satire; we may be sure the zeal of the Scottish Reformers would not suffer their pens to be idle, but many a pasquil was discharged at the Romish priests, and their enormous encroachments on property. Of this kind perhaps is the following, (preserved in Maitland's MS Collection of Scottish poems in the Pepysian library :)

"Tak a Wobster, that is leill,

And a Miller, that will not steill,
With ane Priest, that is not gredy,
And lay ane deid corpse thame by,
And, throw virtue of thame three,

That deid corpse sall qwyknit be." Thus far all was fair: but the furious hatred of Popery led them to employ their rhymes in a still more licentious manner. It is a received tradition in Scotland, that at the time of the Reformation, ridiculous and obscene songs were composed to be sung by the rabble to the tunes of the most favourite hymns in the Latin service. Green sleeves and pudding pies (designed to ridicule the popish clergy) is said to have been one of these metamorphosed hymns: Maggy Lauder was another: John Anderson my jo was a third. The original music of all these burlesque sonnets was very fine. To give a specimen of their manner, we have inserted one of the least offensive. The Reader will pardon the meanness of the composition for the sake of the

anecdote, which strongly marks the spirit of the times.

In the present Edition this song is much improved by some new readings communicated by a friend; who thinks by the "Seven Bairns," in st. 2d. are meant the Seven Sacraments; five of which were the spurious offspring of Mother Church: as the first stanza contains a satirical allusion to the luxury of the popish clergy.

The adaptation of solemn church music to these ludicrous pieces, and the jumble of ideas, thereby occasioned, will account for the following fact.From the Records of the General Assembly in Scotland, called, "The Book of the Universal Kirk," p. 90, 7th July, 1568, it appears, that Thomas Bassendyne, printer in Edinburgh, printed “a psalme buik, in the end whereof was found printit ane baudy sang, called Welcome Fortunes *."

WOMAN.

Jony Anderson my jo, cum in as ze gae bye,
And ze sall get a sheips heid weel baken in a pre;
Weel baken in a pye, and the haggis in a pat;
John Anderson my jo, cum in, and ze's get that.

MAN.

And how doe ze, Cummer? and how hae ze threven? And how mony bairns hae ze? Woм. Cummer, I hae

seven.

MAN. Are they to zour awin gude man? Woм. Na Cummer, na;

For five of tham were gotten, quhan he was awa'.

We have here a witty libel on the Reformation under King Edward VI. written about the year 1550, and preserved in the Pepys collection, British Museum, and Strype's Memoirs of Cranmer. The author artfully declines entering into the merits of the cause, and wholly reflects on the lives and actions of many of the reformed. It is so easy to find flaws and imperfections in the conduct of men, even the best of them, and still easier to make general exclamations about the profligacy of the present times, that no great point is gained by arguments of that sort, unless the author could have proved that the principles of the reformed religion had a natural tendency to produce a corruption of manners; whereas he indirectly owns, that their Reverend Father [Archbishop Cranmer] had used the most proper means to stem the torrent, by giving the people access to the Scriptures, by teaching them to pray with understanding, and by publishing homilies, and other religious tracts. It must however be

acknowledged, that our libeller had at that time sufficient room for just satire. For under the banners of the reformed had enlisted themselves, many concealed papists, who had private ends to gratify; many that were of no religion; many greedy courtiers, who thirsted after the possessions of the church; and many dissolute persons, who wanted to be exempt from all ecclesiastical censures and as these men were loudest of all others in their cries for Reformation, so in effect none obstructed the regular progress of it so much, or by their vicious lives brought vexation and shame more on the truly venerable and pious Reformers.

The reader will remark the fondness of our satirist for alliteration in this he was guilty of no affectation or singularity; his versification is that of Pierce Plowman's Visions, in which a recurrence of similar letters is essential: to this he has only

See also Biograph. Briant. Ist. edit. vol. i p. 177.

For bribery was never so great, since born was our Lord, [rowed hel, And whoredom was never les hated, sith Christ harAnd poor men are so sore punished commonly through the world,

[tel. That it would grieve any one, that good is, to hear For al the holies and good books, yet their hearts be so quel, [wreake; That if a man do amisse, with mischiefe they wil him The fashion of these new fellows it is so vile and fell:

But that I little John Nobody dare not speake.

knave

Thus to live after their lust, that life would they
And in lechery to leyke al their long life; [have,
For al the preaching of Paul, yet many a proud
Twife
Wil move mischiefe in their mind both to maid and
To bring them in advoutry or else they wil strife,
And in brawling about baudery, Gods command-
ments breake:
[thrife;
But of these frantic il fellowes, few of them do
Though I little John Nobody dare not speake.

If thou company with them, they wil currishly carp,
and not care
[naught:
According to their foolish fantacy; but fast wil they
Prayer with them is but prating; therefore they it
forbear :
[thought:
Both almes deeds, and holiness, they hate it in their
Therefore pray we to that prince, that with his bloud
us bought,
[freyke

That he wil mend that is amiss: for many a manful Is sorry for these sects, though they say little or [speake

nought;

And that I little John Nobody dare not once

Thus in No place, this NOBODY, in no time I met, Where No man, 'ne' 源】 NOUGHT was, nor NOTHING did

appear;

Through the sound of a synagogue for sorrow I swett, That Aeolus t' through the eccho did cause me to hear.

Then I drew me down into a dale, whereas the dumb deer [freyke: Did shiver for a shower; but I shunted from a For I would no wight in this world wist who I were, But little John Nobody, that dare not once speake.