For every lord as he thought best, everyone acquainted with Reformation true gospel to be seen", they may be Except the spiritualitie. geny; here, let it be noticed, too, at the These Ia "The Complaynt to the King," written in the year following, occur many interesting passages, descriptive of Lyndsay's early connection with the King, and of the King with the Anguses. are, occasionally even homely in their literalness, and might seem as if only meant for the eye of the writer's old pupil and playmate. No state or family papers, however, which I have seen, give a distincter idea of the miserable training of the young King; the high-handed tyranny of the Anguses; and the general lawlessness of the nation. Taken along with the two closing poems, "The Dreme," and "Ane Exhortatioun to the King's Grace," we have materials enough from which to draw a most sorry picture of Scotland under the minority of James V., and also a pretty sure prophecy of the character and reign of the future king. What Buchanan tells us of his wicked upbringing is abundantly supported by these, his tutor's own words; and what Knox says of the amours of his manhood is rendered more than probable by the same. Speaking of the general condition of the country, he charges the clergy with inordinate lust of authority and of being shamelessly worldly. Court and Session as well as Church they claim as the fit objects of their rule. Great evils are natural under all minorities; but hardly was it possible Some to their friends got benefices, parrot, after the manner of the poets of Doctrine and deid war both equivolent. They see nothing of that state of things volent." This degeneracy has naturally followed, she is bold to say, from the wicked alliance of the World and the Church, first made by Constantine; "one of the weak theories of Wickliffe," as old Warton thought.* Evil upon evil has steadily followed the unhallowed union, until now, in 1530. No marvell is, thocht we religious men I Degenerit be, and in our lyfe confusit; Gret plesour wer to heir ane Byschope preche, One Deane, or Doctour in Divinitie, One Abbot quhilk could weill his Convent teche, One Persoun flowing in phylosophie : History of English Poctry, vol. iii. 149. If any † I lose my time, to wish what will not be. War nocht the preaching of the Begging Frieris, Tynt war the faith among the Seculeris. I thame excuse, for quhy, thay bene so thrall which two opinions are impossible? Was he not merely rhyming words, spiteful words, in hope of pleasing his patron, King James V.? In answer to this as an historical student, I can honestly say - though not without irritation that it still needs to be said that every word of Lyndsay is true; and that in Church muniments, in State papers, in family records and regis That may nocht use no pastime spirituall; armyne; Thair lawe hartis exaltit ar so hie, To see thair Papale pomp, it is ane pyne, For now, be thay be weill cumin frome the scu- Thay fall to work as they ware commoun bullis. Now these passages, of which there are many more, were surely very bold words for a Catholic to write of his Church, and were villainous if not true; but if Lyndsay was only versifying openly known facts, as Burns did in Holy Willie's Prayer and The Holy Fair, then, of course, there was no gainsaying his words. The sort of creature here drawn must have been very numerous at that time in all Christian countries, if we take the abundance of his portraits as a proof.* In what literature will you not find them? Lyndsay, like his fellow satirists, generally drew the likeness, and left it to tell its own tale. There was no lofty noble scorn, so ill at all times to brook; no assumption of deeply offended moralities; least of all, no opinions." "The Complaynt of the Papingo," therefore, was not chargeable with heresy. It was worse to bear with than heresy, but could not be so easily dealt with, nor so thoroughly stamped out. new Was Lyndsay's description of his Church true, however? Are these lines warranted by facts which are undeniabie, and on Here is one taken at random from a well-known book. Wright's Suppression of Monasteries (Camden Society): "As for the Abbot, we found nothing suspect as touching his lyving, but it was detected that he laye much in his granges; that he delighted much in playing at dice and cards, and therein spent much money; and in building for his pleas ure. He did not preach openly. verted divers farms into copyholds... And it is Also that he conconfessed and proved that there was here such fre monastery as to no place more," p. 85. quence of women coming and resorting to this Lin the various items of the dark catalogue "covatyce, luste, and ambitioun," gard, the able Catholic historian, who will are much too abundantly verified. be accepted as an authority on this subject, is decisive on the point. "Of all the European Churches," he says, "there was, perhaps not one better prepared to receive the seed of the new gospel than that of Scotland. During a long course of years the highest dignities had, with few exceptions, been possessed by the illegitimate or younger sons of the most powerful families, men who, without learning or morality themselves, paid little attention to the learning or morality of their inferiors." Duly consider these words, my reader; let your mind dwell on them and give them shape, so as fully to comprehend all they mean You will have no need, if you do so, to give the rein either to conjecture or imagination to enable you to see a social state quite as bad as Lyndsay or Knox have described it. Why should these things have to be reiterated over and over again? I am not aware of the existence of any satisfactory evidence of the falseness of these poems. There was some wrath over them in Lyndsay's generation, as there was over Burns' terrible satires in his; but there was no proof shown that they were baseless calumnies. The first edition of them appeared in 1538; in the next twenty years other three editions were printed. Now, who read them? Among which class did they circulate? It was not an age of books nor of reflection either; yet it is clear Lyndsay was bought, dear as he was, and there is no doubt he was read as the few popular books of those days were; as Tyndale's New Testament, for one, was, by a copy of it being circulated in a neighbourhood and read to groups of listeners, by the way and round the fireside. his poems had been rhyming gossip, like the chap books which were the delight of our forefathers, they would never have seen so many editions. But they were no tions of the men and things of the hour, rhyming nonsense. They were descripvivid and clear to every eye, and equal to the plainest comprehension, in which every If one saw his own mind and experience, and play are allowed an immunity denied to the spirit of the time reflected and ex- those spoken in the name of the writer; pressed, as no other man had expressed it. and bolder, because under this privilege he Their truth was felt at once, and like all could hit the heaviest blows, while it told such books, they became dear to the heart sooner upon the public. In two years, of the people. They were read to be en- therefore, after the spectacle given at St. joyed; they could not be denied. The Andrews, his famous Satire, the earliest bishop read them or heard them read or known attempt in Scotland at a Drama, quoted, to think mostly of Lyndsay's har- was played, for the first time, before the dihood in using such plain speech about Court at Linlithgow, during the Feast of things which he had no business, he Epiphany. It must have been a surprise thought, with; the bishop's cellarer to to most of the audience. In its form it is, wink or shrug his shoulders. The cour- as was to be expected, not much unlike the tier slyly chaffed his friends the Clergy Moralities of the time, the Vices and Virover the "wicked" exposure. The coun- tues, as usual, being represented; but in try folk in their remote peels and stead- its spirit and subject it is altogether unlike ings "considered" the matter. The best them. First of all, it could never have bits were read over and over again, and been meant for mere amusement. carried away in the memories of most; which nobody does with lies or slander. Scott was, therefore, only describing a genuine trait of the old Scotch lowlander, which originated in such ways, when he made Andrew Fairservice, in "Rob Roy," swear so stoutly by the wit of " Davie Lyndsay," and snub young Osbaldiston's attempts at poetry by the saucy remark, that "twa lines o' Davie Lyndsay wald ding a' he ever clerkit." He was the predecessor of Burns in fame and popular power.* It is throughout pervaded by an earnest practical spirit, which expresses itself on the chief evils in the land in a fearlessly free way, and demands or counsels reform. All that he had written before on the condition of the Church and the Clergy, is told over again, with some additions; the miseries and oppression of the commons coming in for their full share of his notice. In short, it is the sum of all his other satires, blow following blow in language which could have been permitted only on one supposition its undeniable and half-acknowledged truth. Our astonishment is that, even in spite of this, it was permitted at all. Such plainness of speech to King and Bishop was a new thing in Scotland; and to this is due the following well-known incident, which has given a special historical interest to its first representation. For the most decided proof of his influence as a popular poet, and for the fullest illustration of his power as a delineator of contemporary manners, we must look to the most remarkable of his writings "Ane pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis." This satire, unlike his other writings, is dramatic in form. Lyndsay, as Lyon King, was required to provide for the royal so- James, unaware of what was coming, lace and entertainment as occasion called was apparently quite surprised; and alfor it; and the plays and spectacles, the though as the Gudeman o' Ballengeich, he Miracle Plays and Moralities, then every- was given to mix with his peasantry and where common in Christendom, were mat- commons on errands of his own, and so ters he had professionally much to do with. must have been pretty well acquainted with Lyndsay of Pitscottie tells us of his skill their customs, yet I dare say what he then in devising one of these at St. Andrews, in heard as to his people and country alto1538, in honour of the arrival of Mary of gether passed his belief. The version of the Guise, which had this special feature, that Satire was not the one we have; but it hit it ended with certain orations and exhor- hard enough to sting, and to startle him out tations to the Queen, instructing her to of his indecision. For immediately after it serve her God according to God's will and was over, we are told, he called upon the commandments." The success of this ex-chief of his clergy, archbishop and bishops, periment probably decided Lyndsay in the adoption of the simple dramatic dialogue, as the most effective mode of expressing his matured views on men and manners. It was at once safer and bolder: safer because words spoken by a character in a *For a capital illustration of this as regards Lyndsay's general influence, see Row's Historie of the Kirk, quoted in M'Crie's Knox, Note K. and exhorted them "to reform their fashions and manners of living" threatening, "that unless they did so, he would send six of the proudest of them to his uncle of England!" The Cardinal, absent in France, on schemes of further aggrandisement, was not at hand to smoothe the sudden ruffle of the King or divert his attention; and while the fit was on him James seemed bent on genuine reform. The Englishman to whom we owe the story, was told that the King was minded to follow Henry's example. We know better, and see in this incident chiefly a proof of Lyndsay's power as a satirist. It was no trifle which so roused the easy, pleasureloving King of Scots, and shamed him into a momentary suspicion of his friends the bishops. This being done, we have the less ado; Without he be able for that office. Friend, where find you that we should preachers be? Gude Counsell. Look what St. Paul writes unto Timothy. Now, sir, by him that our Lord Jesus sold, And all their teinds ye have among your hands? Johne. What if King David were living in these days, From that time the "Satyre" was the great play of the country; and was at least twice acted during the regency of Mary of Guise. On these occasions it was played in the open field; and of the last one, which took place in 1554, we are told: "it was playit beside Edinburgh in the presence of the Quene Regent, a great part of the nobility, and an exceeding great Then before God, how can ye be excused? number of people, lasting from IX hours To have one office, and knows not how to use it. before noon till VI hours in the even.' One Wherefore were given you all the temporal wonders what gratification the Queen Relands gent could have found in Lyndsay's merciless exhibition of the wickedness of that Church to which she and all her family were so devoted; and that the impolicy of it, as a sure and powerful stimulus to the spread of the new opinions, was not evident to her. That it was a stimulus who can doubt? There was too much truth in it to allow of any just cavil; there was more than enough to quicken bitterness and slumbering dislike into hate, and to ripen thought into action. Think of what would be the burden of the gossip and the jests among the drinkers in the booths that day, and among the groups which thronged homewards that evening! Many and hard, we may be quite sure, were the words spoken of the Church; many sharp and shrewd things, which neither priest nor prelate would have cared to hear; and some prophecies of coming change too. If one of the nobles might venture to speak so, and in the presence of royalty and prelates, might not plain folk speak their mind, among their own at least, without fear? Gentle and simple read the signs of the times there and then, although they were of course in the dark as to when and whence the change would Abbasse. My Lord Bishop, I marvel how that ye Merchant. What be the cause of all the heresies But the abusion of the Prelacies? Second, as to the morals of the Clergy. You are a Prince of Spiritualite; My lords, when was there any Prelates wont I let you know my Lord, I am no fool, Scrybe. Father Abbott, this council bids me ask, Touching my office I say to you plainly, My Prior is a man of great devotion, As ony wench within the town of Ayr. I send my sons to Paris to the schools,* Third, as to the oppressiveness of some clerical customs. Correctioun. Johne, have ye any more debates Against the lords of Spiritual States ? Johne. Now, sir, I dare not speak one word: Flyt (scold) on thy fill till I desire thee; Johne First, to complain on the Vicar, The poor cottar, liking to die, The same was practised on me : False carle, to speak to me, stand'st not in awe? The Fiend receive them that first devised that law! Within an hour after my dad was dead, Spiritualitie. We will want nothing that we have in use, Kirtle nor cow, teind lamb, teind grice, nor goose. Do "the old times live again," my reader, in these verses? Does that old Scotland which our historians have yet to describe to us- that old Catholic Scotland, I mean, of which the Beatons, uncle and nephew, were the lords and the exemplars, become any more vivid from these brief touches of Lyndsay? Do you see and feel how thorougly depraved the moral condition of the Church must have been: how "rotten ripe for reformation? And do you see, too, that Lyndsay, next to Knox, must have forwarded the mighty change which so soon followed? Anyhow, we shall be agreed that Scott has marked Lyndsay's place and power as a poet with much exactness in his wellknown lines in "Marmion": In the glances of his eye, And broke the keys of Rome. |