Dilligence.

They have nae law exceptand consuetude, Whilk law to them is sufficient and good.

Pauper.

Ane consuetude agains the common-weal Should be nae law, I think, by sweet Saint Geil.

Where will ye find that law, tell gif ye can ?

To take three kye frae ane poor husband

man :

Ane for my father and for my wife another, And the third cow, he took for Mald, my mother.

Dilligence.

Hald thy tongue, man, it seems that thou were manged; '

Speak thou of priests, but doubt thou will be hanged.

Pauper.

By Him that bore the cruel crown of thorn, I care not to be hanged even the morn.

Dilligence.

Be sure of priestis thou will get nae support.

Pauper.

Gif that be true, the fiend receive the sort ! 3

Sae sen I see I get no other grace,

I will lie down and rest me in this place. [PAUPER lies down in the field, and PARDONER enters.]

Pardoner.

Bona dies! Bona dies!

Devout people, good day, I say you. Now tarry ane little while, I pray you,

Till I be with you knowen : Wat ye weel how I am namèd? Ane noble man and undefamed,

Gif all the sooth were showen.

I Mad, deranged. 2 Without. 3 The order.

Admitted by the Pape:
Sirs, I shall show you for my wage,
My pardons and my pilgrimage,

Whilk ye shall see and grape:1
I give to the devil, with good intent,
This unsell2 wicked New Testament,
With them that it translated:
Sen layic men knew the verity,
Pardoners gets no charity

Without that they debate it.
Among the wives with wrinks and wiles,
As all my marrowis3 men beguiles
With our fair false flattery:
Yea all the crafts I ken, perqueir,
As I was teached by ane friar
Called Hypocrisy.

But now, alas! our great abusion
Is clearly knowen till our confusion;
That we may sore repent:

Of all credence now I am quite,
For ilk man holds me at despite

That reads the New Testament.
Dool fall the brain that has it wrought, a
Sae fall them that the book hame brought:
Als, I pray to the rood,

That Martin Luther, that false loun,4
Black Bullinger, and Melancthoun,

Had been smoorde 5 in their cud.
By Him that bore the crown of thorn,
I would Saint Paul had never been born,
And, als, I would his books

Were never read in kirk,

But, amongst friars into the mirk,
Or riven among rooks.

[Here shall he lay down his gear upon
ane board, and say:]

My patent pardons, ye may see,
Come frae the Kan of Tartary,
Well sealed with oyster shells.

Though ye have nae contrition,
Ye shall have full remission,

With help of books and bells.
Here is ane relict lang and braid,1
Of Fin Macoull the right chaft blade
With teeth and all together:
Of Collin's cow here is ane horn
For eating of MacConnal's corn

Was slain into Balquhidder.
Here is ane cord, both great and long,
Whilk hanged John the Armstrong,

Of good hemp soft and sound :
Good holy people, I stand for'd,
Whoever beis hangèd with this cord,
Needs never to be drowned.
The culum 3 of Saint Bride's cow,
The gruntil of Saint Antony's sow,

Whilk bare his holy bell:
Whoever he be hears this bell clink,
Give me ane ducat for till drink,

He shall never gang to hell, Without he be of Belial born; Maisters, trow ye that this be scorn?

Come win this pardon, come.

Who loves their wives not with their heart, I have power them for till part:

Me think you deaf and dumb. Has none of you crust wicked wives, That holds you untill sturt and strives,

Come take my dispensation :

Of that cumber 5 I shall make you quite, Howbeit yourselves be in the wyte,

And make ane false narration. Come, win the pardon; now let see, For meal, for malt or for money,

For cock, hen, goose, or gryce Of relicts, here I have ane hunder. Why come ye not? this is ane wonder I trow ye be not wise.

Come, win the pardon, and syne I shall

thee sain.

Pauper.

Will that pardon get me my kye again? Pardoner.

Carl, of thy kye I have nothing ado: Come, win my pardon, and kiss my relics

too.

[Here shall he sain him with his relics.]

Now lose thy purse, and lay down thy offrand,'

Pardoner.

Ane thousand year, I lay upon thy head, With totiens quotiens: now, make na mair plead : 1

Thou hast received thy pardon now already,

Pauper.

But I can see nothing, sir, by our lady: Forsooth, maister, I trow I be not wise To pay ere I have seen my merchandise. That ye have gotten my groat full sair I rue : Sir, whether is your pardon black or blue?

cunzie, 2

sunzie ;3

pain:

Now win the pardon, limmer, or thou art lost.

Pauper.
Nae, then gossip, give me my groat again.
What say ye maister, call ye this good
reason?

That he should promise me ane gay pardon,
And he receive my money in his stead,
Syne make me nae payment till I be dead.
When I am dead, I wat full sickerly,
My silly soul will pass to purgatory :
Declare me this: now God, nor Belial bind
thee,

When I am there, curst carl, where shall
I find thee?

Not into heaven, but rather into hell: When thou art there thou cannot help thysell;

When thou art come my dolours till abate, Or I thee find, my hips will get ane hait.

Trows thou, butcher, that I will buy blind lambs :

Give me my groat; the devil dryte in thy gams.

Pardoner.

Swith! stand aback! I trow this man be mangèd : 1

Thou gets not this, carl, though thou should be hanged.

Pauper.

Give me my groat weel bound intill ane clout,

Or, by God's bread, Robin shall bear ane rout.

[Here shall they fight, and PAUPER shall cast down the board and relics in the water.]

It was

probably during his temporary alienation from court that Lindsay, in the

Neither the date

nor the place of his birth are knownHaddington and Berwick shires are the only places even suggested. The date of his matriculation at St Andrews, 1508, gives the nearest approximation as data for estimating the time of his birth. He completed his education at the University of Paris, where he took his degree of doctor of divinity. He himself states that he was in the service of James V. from his infancy, as clerk of his accounts, but that he experienced the

him as

request of the King. For the former, which only extended to the first five books, he was paid £36, and for the latter £78.

But besides these payments, he was promoted to the Archdeaconry of Moray, and, about the same time, was made a Canon of Ross.

The translation of Boece was printed soon after it was written, but the year is not given in the title-page or elsewhere. Livy remained in MS. till 1822, when it was published in the complete edition of his works edited by | Maitland, from the MS. in the Advocate's Library. These two works, says Dr Irving, "exhibit the most ample specimen of ancient Scottish prose that

has descended to our times, and are distinguished beyond most others by their fluency and neatness of style; nor can we peruse these translations without being convinced that the writer's learning and talents had qualified him for original compositions." The "Epistle to James V.," which prefaces Boece's History, is written with a manly boldness and dignity, which is creditable to both the King and the author. It also conveys a high idea of his skill and taste in the art of poetical composition.

Bellenden was strenuously opposed to the Reformation; but having gone to Rome, he is said to have died there in 1550, before that mighty current of religious and political thought had swept away that ecclesiastical system which, if all its priesthood were Bellendens, would at least have presented a more venerable aspect to posterity.