Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/574

 476 NOTES AND QUERIES. tio* s. iv. DEC. 9, iocs. JAMES V.'s POEMS (10th S. iv. 368).—When it is said that certain poems have been attributed to James V. there is practically nothing to be added. All else is either courageous surmise or argument. Tradition makes the king a poet, and Drummond of Hawthornden, in his ' History of Scotland,' p. 346, indicates familiarity with his writings. " James V.," he observes, " was naturally given to poesie; as many of his works, yet extant, testifie." What these "works" exactly were has not been discovered to the present day, and the efforts made to identify them, and definitely name even some of them, have been productive of much controversy. 'Peblis to the Play' and ' Christis Kirk of the Grene' have been assigned both to James I. and James V., and external evidence, as far as it goes, seems to favour the author- ship of the earlier monarch. The Peebles poem begins with the lines. At Beltane when each body bownis To Pebu's to the play ; and to this opening strain there seems to be a reference in John Major's 'De Gestis Scotorum," which was published at Paris in 1521. Speaking of James I. on p. 135, Major credits the king with " that blithe and in- genious song 'At Beltayne,'" which, of course, may not be the poem in question, although it is just possible that it is. In one of the Maitland MSS. of Magdalene College, Cam- bridge, Bishop Percy discovered the only ancient copy of 'Peblis to the Play "known to be in existence, and although this is anony- mous, it may be assumed to be the lyric eulogized by Major until other evidence is forthcoming. Percy, Ilitson, and other eminent compilers and critics have agreed in assigning ' Peblis to the Play ' to James I., although there are others who would claim it along with ' Christis Kirk of the Grene' for James V. The latter poem seems to have been first attributed to the King of the Commons, as James V. was called, by Dempster in his ' Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Sco- torum,' p. 382. Although he wrote at the beginning of the seventeenth century, and was manifestly inaccurate in his reference to the poem, his lead has been followed by Gibson, Tanner, Warton, Percy, Ilitson, and others, down to the present day. The whole subject is fully discussed, and both poems claimed for James L, by Dr. David Irving in his 'Lives of the Scotish Poets,' i. 304, arid his 'History of Scotish Poetry,' p. 142 et seq. Till Irving's arguments are refuted his con- clusions will have to be regarded as at least constructively true. Bishop Percy in the ' Reliques' assigns the 'Gaberlunzie Man' and'The Jolly Beggar to James V., apparently concurring in the ascription given to them by Lord Orford in his ' Catalogue of lloyal and Noble Authors,' ii. 203. Ilitson, in his acute and occasionally acrid introduction to ' Scottish Songs,' follows Percy's example, and seems satisfied with Orfprd's assumption without raising any question of evidence. He includes both lyrics in his anthology, while Percy, who gives only ' The Gaberlunzie Man,' seems to think it quite likely that James V., from his reputation for promiscuous wooing, was the author. " He was noted," he says, " for strolling about his dominions in disguise and for his frequent gallantries with country girls." While this is undeniable, it is not conclusive proof that the king wrote the ballads, and tradition is the only witness that Percy adduces in support of his contention. As James I. also went to various places of his kingdom incognito, he might well have written these two pieces if he was the author of the longer poems on country life. Their comparatively modern style, however, seems to favour the authorship of the later monarch, if, indeed, it does not militate against the claims of both. It would be perfectly relevant to argue that an unknown poet pro- duced the two ballads with reference to escapades characteristic of the King of the Commons. THOMAS BAYNE. Mr. T. F. Henderson, in his excellent ' History of Scottish Vernacular Literature,' says :— " In the Bannatyne MSS. ' Christis Kirk ' is attributed to James I. True, a later tradition grew up that it was written by James V., and it is assigned to him by Bishop Gibson and by Wateon : but if we trace back that tradition we find that it derives solely from the fabling Dempster (1627)."— P. 107. The writer also states at p. 236 of the same volume that, "although James V. enjoyed some repute in his day as a poet, no verses with his colophon survive, and his title to the authorship of ' The Gaberlunzie Man' and ' The Jolly Beggar' is baaed on mere unverified tradition." W. E. WILSON. Hawick. Discussed in my preface to ' The Kingis Quair' (Scottish Text Society, 1884), pp. xix- xxiii. WALTER W. SKEAT. It is unnecessary to say that the question whether James V. was the author of ' Christ's Kirk of the Green ' and ' Peblis to the Play' is no new one, but it may be, I think, correctly stated that they were not the pro- duction of that king, but of James I. George