LINDSAY, Sir David, a Scotish poet of high reputation, descended from a younger branch of the family of Lord Lindsay of Byres, was the eldest son of David Lindsay, who possessed the estate of Garmylton in the county of Haddington, and that of the Mount in the county of Fife. The honour of the poet’s birth belongs to Fifeshire,^[1. Andrew Robertson, in the preface to the Danish translation of Lindsay’s poems, informs us that he was born in the county of Fife. “Hand vaar födt i Skotland vdi Fyff Stict.” ] but the date has not hitherto been ascertained. It appears that a student of the same name was admitted at St Andrews in the year 1505: if we suppose this to be the same individual, and further suppose him to have been admitted at the age of fifteen, his birth is thus referred to the year 1490. This youth, whoever he may have been, was still a member of the university in 1508. Lindsay’s father was then dead, and had left five sons. One of his biographers has sent him, after completing his academical studies, to prosecute his travels through England, France, Italy, and Germany;^[2. Mackenzie’s Lives of Scots Writers, vol iii. p. 35. ] but this account seems to rest upon mere conjecture, rather than historical evidence. He himself informs us that he had travelled through divers countries, and he particularly mentions the appearance of the ladies in Italy; but that he had visited those countries in his youth, is neither stated by himself, nor by any early writer with whom we are acquainted. When first employed in the king’s household, he appears to have been still a very young man: in a poem addressed to James the Fifth, he takes occasion to state that he had entered into his majesty’s service on the very day of his nativity, that is, on the 12th of April 1512. In the following year, we find him described as a “special servant” to that prince’s father; whom he attended at Linlithgow when a supposed apparition warned the devoted monarch of his approaching fate.^[3. Buchanani Rerum Scoticarum Historia, p. 251. Lindsay’s History of Scotland, p. 111. ] The tutor of the young king was Gavin Dunbar, afterwards archbishop of Glasgow, and chancellor of the kingdom.^[4. The subsequent entry occurs in the Treasurer’s Accounts, 28th August 1517: “Item to Maister Gawan Dunbar, the kingis maister, for expensis maid be him in reparaling of the chalmer in the quhilk the king leris now in the castell, iij. li.” ] The situation of Lindsay was that of a superior attendant: he is first described as usher to the prince, and afterwards, for several successive years, as the king’s master usher. His wife, Janet Douglas, had for many years the charge of the king’s linen.^[5. The Treasurer’s Accounts contain many notices of Lindsay and his wife. Under the date of 1522, we find the following entry: “Item to Jonet Douglas, spous to Dauid Lindesay, maister ischeare to the king, for sewing of the kingis lvnning claithis, de mandato domini gubernatoris, xxiiij. li.” And under that of 1526; “Item gevin that samyn to Dauid Lyndsays wife to sew the kingis sarkis V dowble hankis gold, 1. s.” She is then mentioned as “Jonet Dowglas, semestair of the kingis lynyng claithis.” In 1537 she still had the charge of “the kingis sarkis;” for under that date occurs the subsequent “Item, to Jonet Douglas, the spous of Dauid Lindesay of the Month, at the kingis grace command, as the precept beris, xl. li.” ] In the dedication of his Dreme, he reminds James of the faithful services which he had rendered him in the tender years of his infancy; and in the “Complaynt directit to the Kingis Grace,” he prosecutes the same topics.

Lindsay was afterwards dismissed from his office; and this event is supposed to have taken place in the year 1524, when the earl of Angus, who had married the queen dowager, regained his influence at court, and introduced such changes as were most conducive to his private views. His former services were not however forgotten, for he acknowledges that his pension continued to be regularly [7:13:354] paid. Not satisfied with such a remuneration, be took occasion to bring his own merits under the king’s review, and to acquaint him with his disposition to accept of any better preferment. In the Complaynt to which we have already referred, he contrived to convey a hint how a peerage might be very suitably bestowed. It is therefore sufficiently evident that this poet was not deaf to the calls of ambition, and that any addition to his rank or fortune would have been very acceptable. As he seems to have inherited a competent estate, and was not burdened with the maintenance of a numerous family, it is not easy to feel any deep sympathy for his disappointments and mortifications. The wants of a courtier, placed in such circumstances, are of so artificial and factitious a kind, that he must generally be left to bewail his own misfortunes. His remonstrances were not however ineffectual; he at length obtained an office of some dignity and emolument, that of chief herald, quaintly denominated lion king at arms. He afterwards received the honour of knighthood. In his new capacity, he was connected with various embassies. In the year 1531, he was employed in a mission to the emperor Charles the Fifth, whom he found residing at Brussels: this mission had a reference to the commercial intercourse between Scotland and the Netherlands. When the king afterwards became anxious to find a suitable consort, Lindsay repeatedly visited the continent: in 1535 he was connected with one embassy, which solicited a princess of the imperial family, and in the ensuing year with another, which solicited a daughter of the duke of Vendôme; but neither of those negotiations was followed by a treaty of marriage. The young and handsome prince next repaired to France as the bearer of his own proposals; and having soon attracted the warm regard of the king’s daughter Magdalene, he married this sickly princess, who died within forty days after her arrival in Scotland.^[6. The Treasurer’s Accounts contain the following statement of “The Expensis debursate upoun the Quenis Saullines and Dirige quhom God assoilze.” Item to Sir Thomas Cragy and ane uther with him for making of iiij dosane of armes iiij li. Item to the bellman ..... xvn; d. Item to the powpenny deliverit to David Lindsay, Lyoun Herald, ane croun of wecht xx s∙ Item to chaiplanis being at the dirige and saullmes the tyme of the obsequyis, ilk chaiplane havand ĳ s. extending to vi; xx x, summa . . xv li. ] The public joy was thus converted into public mourning; and on this melancholy event Lindsay composed a poem entitled “The Deploratioun of the Deith of Quene Magdalene.” She died on the seventh of July 1537, and after an interval of eleven months James received another wife from the same country.

The reformation was now advancing with gradual steps; and Sir David Lindsay may certainly be classed among those who contributed to accelerate its progress: his writings tended to prepare the public mind for a systematic attempt to overthrow the papal superstition, and to introduce a more pure and rational form of worship. *A species of devotion which rather engages the senses than the understanding, and which substitutes unmeaning observances for the vital power of religion, must always be regarded as having proceeded through a pollutèd channel. But the lives of the ecclesiastics were not less exposed to animadversion than their creed; nor was Lindsay destitute of skill in selecting proper topics of ridicule. His satire, and particularly his dramatic satire, must have had no inconsiderable effect in fostering the rising spirit of contempt for the clergy and their doctrines; and the papists were long disposed to number him among their most formidable enemies.^[7. “Knoxii, Lindsayi, Buchanani, Villoxii, aliorum, impia scripta incautorum manibus teruntur: opus erat antidoto, ne latius venenum serperet.” (Dempsteri Scotia illustrior, p. 54.) ] Nor was his ridicule entirely confined to his compositions. The king being one day surrounded by a numerous train of nobility and prelates, Lindsay declared himself a candidate for an office that had lately become vacant. “I have,” said be, “servit your grace lang, and luik to be rewardit as others are; and now your maister taylor, at the pleasure of God, is departit; wherefore I wald desire of your grace to bestow this little benefite upon me.” The king replied that he was amazed at such an application from a person who could neither shape nor sew. “Sir,” rejoined the poet, “that maks nae matter; for you have given bishoprics and benefices to mony standing here about you, and yet they can nouther teach nor preach; and why may not I as weill be your taylor, tbocht I can nouther shape nor sew, seeing teaching and preaching are nae less requisite to their vocation than shaping and sewing to ane taylor.” James immediately perceived the object of his application, and did not scruple to amuse himself at the expense of the indignant prelates.^[8. H. Charteris’s pref, to the Warkis of the famous and worthie knight Sir Dauid Lyndsay of the Mont, alias Lyoun King of Armes. Edinb, 1582, 4to—Of this very rare edition there is a copy in the Advocates Library. It was “imprentit at Edinburgh be Henrie Charteris and contains the same poems as the edition of 1592. The table of contents on the reverse of the title includes the Historie of Squyer Meldrum, which is not however to be found in the volume. ]

Of the king he always speaks in terms of affection, though his admonitions are sometimes not very ceremonious. He was one of the few courtiers who witnessed the melancholy termination of his short career: oppressed by that sickness of heart which arises from a consciousness of fatal misconduct, James expired in the royal palace of Falkland on the 14th of December 1542, when he had only attained the thirty-first year of bis age. The earl of Arran was soon afterwards appointed regent of the kingdom; and Lindsay is enumerated among those who adhered to him while he continued to act in conformity to the principles which they avowed. He was a member of parliament for the borough of Cupar in 1543, and the three succeeding years; and in 1544 he was again sent on an embassy to the emperor, for the purpose of delivering into his hands the insignia and statutes of the order of the Golden Fleece, which had been conferred on the late king. After an interval of four years, we find him employed on an embassy to Christian king of Denmark, One of his biographers avers that at Copenhagen he became acquainted with his countryman Dr Machabaeus, and other men of learning,^[9. Chalmers’s Life of Lindsay, p. 37∙—The name of Machabaeus is otherwise connected with that of Lindsay. Ane Dialog betuix Experience and ane Courteour, oflf the miserabyll Estait of the Warld: compylit be Schir Dauid Lyndesay of the Mont, Knycht, alias Lyone Kyng of Armes, and is deuidit in foure partis, as eftir followis, &c. and imprentit at the command and expensis of Doctor Machabevs, in Copmanhouin, 1552, 4to. This first edition of the poem is however supposed to have been printed, not at Copenhagen, but at St Andrews by John Scott. John Machabaeus, whose family name was Macalpine, was driven from Scotland by the persecution (Knox, p. 20.), and having sought refuge in Germany, he prosecuted his studies at Wittemberg and Cologne. At the suggestion of Melanchthon he adopted the name of Machabaeus AÌpinas. He took the degree of B.D. at Cologne; and on being appointed professor of divinity at Copenhagen in 1542, he took the degree of D. D. Here he died in the year 1557∙ (Worms For-sog til et Lexico over Danske, Norske,. og Islandske laerde Maend, Bind ii. S. 2. Kiöbenhavn, 1771-84, 3 Bind. 8vo. Nyerups Al- ] nor is the supposition destitute of probability; [7:13:355]but it is always dangerous and always reprehensible to substitute mere conjecture for historical evidence.

Sir David Lindsay had decidedly espoused the cause of the reformers before they had become very formidable to the government; and it may perhaps be considered as remarkable that he escaped every species of persecution. In the year 1546, Cardinal Beaton, a prelate whose glaring vices were redeemed by very few virtues, was murdered in his own castle by a band of conspirators, who were partly instigated by private animosity, partly by public spirit, and who must all have been accustomed to contemplate without compunction this desperate method of inflicting punishment or perpetrating revenge. They were possessed of sufficient resources to garrison the castle of St Andrews, and to defend it against the royal forces for the space of fourteen months. To this strong hold John Knox repaired at Easter 1547; and at a conference which was there held, Lindsay was one of those who recommended the ordination of this distinguished individual,^[10. Knox’s Historie of the Reformatioun of Religioun, p. 67∙ ] in whom his penetration had doubtless discovered that energy of mind which qualified him for the arduous task that he was destined to perform.

The period of Lindsay’s decease has not been ascertained. On the 17th of January 1555 we find him holding a chapter of heralds, for the purpose of investigating certain charges against a messenger-at-arms. He appears, according to one account, to have died between this period and the year 1558. As he died without issue, his estates descended to his brother Alexander; and they have long ceased to be inherited by the family of Lindsay.

Beside his poetical works, the chief foundation of his fame, he composed several others of less general interest. The nature of his office directed his attention to a species of knowledge which human folly has dignified with the name of science; and on the subject of heraldry he has left two different productions, one of which still continues in manuscript,^[11. Both his MSS. are preserved in the Advocates Library. That which is still unpublished bears the following inscription in the hand-writing of Sir James Balfour: “Collectanea Domini Dauidis Lindesay de Mounthe, Militis, Leonis Armorum Regis.” Of this heraldic compilation a copious specimen has been inserted in Dr Leyden’s Dissertation on the Complaynt of Scotland, p. 55. There is another MS. which the catalogue ascribes to the same author, but which evidently belongs to one of his successors. ] and the other, a curious collection of Blazon-ings, has lately been given to the public.^[12. Fac-Similé of an ancient Heraldic Manuscript, emblazoned by Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, Lyon King of Armes, 1542. Edinb. 1822, fol. ] Bale informs us that he composed “Acta sui Temporis,”^[13. Balei Scriptores Britanniae, cent. xiv. p. 224. ] and Mackenzie affirms that he was the author of a history of Scotland. For this statement he quotes the authority of Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie; who however refers to Sir David Lindsay, the knight of the Mount, and other individuals, as those from whom he had derived private information. Dr Leyden supposes Lindsay to be the author of the Complaynt of Scotland; but we have never yet met with a single enquirer who professed to be convinced by his arguments.

It is the poetry of Lindsay that chiefly recommends him to our notice, and he appears with no inconsiderable distinction in the literary annals of his country. Vernacular poetry was most successfully cultivated in Scotland when it was in a great measure neglected in England. An English critic of unquestionable taste has remarked that “the interval between the reigns of Henry V. and Henry VIII. which comprehends near a century, although uncommonly rich in Scotch poets of distinguished excellence, does not furnish us with a single name among the natives of England deserving of much notice.’'^[14. δ Ellis’s Specimens of the Early English Poets, vol. i. p. 316. ] When England produced only obscure versifiers, Scotland could boast of King James, Henry the Minstrel, Henryson, Dunbar, Douglas, Lindsay, and various other writers of genius. Sir David Lindsay has written so many verses that they cannot always be expected to reach a very high standard: his works indeed exhibit considerable inequalities; but where they are not distinguished by any superior force of imagination, they are often entertaining by their strokes of humour, or instructive by their views of life and manners. He was evidently a man of sense and observation, with serious impressions of virtue and piety; nor was he destitute of those higher powers of mind which enable a writer to communicate his ideas with effect. He frequently displays no mean vivacity of fancy; and the extensive and continued popularity to which he attained, must have rested on some solid foundation. Many of his poems have a satirical tendency; and the freedom with which he exposes vice, even when it belongs to royalty, has stamped his works with the character of intrepid sincerity. Of the state of society and manners, Lindsay presents us with many curious pictures; and although his delineations are sometimes extremely coarse, they are not on that account to be considered as less faithful. In this respect, his writings possess a peculiar value, and ought to be carefully examined by those who particularly direct their attention to the history of that period. The author’s talents seem to have been cultivated with considerable assiduity: he was much conversant in history and divinity; and his knowledge of Latin writers, ancient as well as modern, was apparently respectable. His acquaintance with Grecian literature may perhaps be called in question: he denominates Hesiod the sovereign poet of Greece; a character which he could scarcely be expected to receive from any person acquainted with the language of Homer. Lindsay’s versification is generally distinguished by its ease and fluency. His style often rises to a considerable degree of elegance, but on many occasions is overloaded with extraneous terms. This vicious taste was indeed too prevalent in both kingdoms: Hoccleve, Lydgate, and other successors of Chaucer, who possessed but a small portion of Chaucer’s genius, endeavoured to render their diction poetical by the easy expedient of garnishing it with affected words, chiefly polysyllables of Latin origin; and the manner in which those words were applied, imparted a vague and tautological character to their most elaborate compositions. Dunbar, Douglas, and Lindsay were all infected with the prevailing taste, and have all exhibited specimens of this vitiated style. “It does not,” says Dr Nott, “occur so frequently in Lindsay as in his contemporaries, because perhaps his subjects were mostly those of common life. Still, as it is to be found in those passages which aspire to elevation of thought, we must conclude him to have considered it the proper language of the higher walks of poetry.”^[15. Nott’s Dissertation on the State of English Poetry before the Sixteenth Century, p. excii. ] This remark might be verified by many quotations from his poems; where we find mindeligt Litteraturlexico for Danmark, Norge, og Island, S. 367∙ Kiöbenhavn, 1820, 4to.) He was respected for his learning, and is the author of some professional tracts, which are enumerated by these literary historians. His son Christian Machabaeus, born at VVittemberg in 1541, published several Latin works in prose and verse. His last preferment was a prebend at Lund, where he died in 1598.
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such terms as formose, matutyne, mansweit, prepotent, consuetude, celsitude, pulchritude, immundicitie,and many others of a similar denomination.

The longest of his poems is entitled “Ane Dialog betwix Experience and ane Courteour, of the miserabill Estait of the Warld.” This poem, which is otherwise described as the Monarchie, is indeed of great length: it is not however, as has sometimes been asserted, a tedious detail of well-known events, but a work replete with various learning, and enlivened by the remarks of an acute and reflecting mind. It appears to have been composed when the author had reached an advanced age, and may therefore be regarded as the result of much reflection on human life. It has been unfaithfully characterized as a meagre compendium of universal history: the poet’s principal object is not to detail events, but, by referring to the great occurrences recorded in sacred and profane history, to illustrate general positions; and notwithstanding the great extent of his work, he can seldom be considered as languid or tedious. A Latin translation of the Monarchie was undertaken by David Carnegie of Aberdeen, who did not however live to complete the task.^[16. Gray, Oratio de illustrib*us Scotiae Scriptoribus, p. xxxi. ] The poem was translated into English, and repeatedly printed in London; and, along with other works of the author, was translated into Danish, and published at Copenhagen in the year 1591. The process of converting Lindsay’s compositions into this language was somewhat peculiar: they were first translated into Latin prose by Andrew Robertson, and were afterwards translated into Danish verse by Jacob Mattssön.^[17. Dialogvs, elfer en Samtale iinellom Forfarenhed oc en Hofftienere, om Verdens elendige Vaesen, oc begribis vdi fire Böger om Monarchier: fordum screffuen paa Skotske, aff velbyrdige Herre Herr Dauid Lyndsay, Ridder de Monte, etc. oc nu nylige transferent aff Skotske Maal paa Latine ved Anders Robertson, födt i Aberdijn i Skotland, oc siden aff Latine paa Danske Rijm ved Jacob Matteson Kiobenhaffn, o. s. v. Prentit i Kiobenliaffn, 1591, 4to This very curious volume includes a translation of the Monarchie, the Dreme, the Compiaynt, the Testament and Compiaynt of the Papingo, the Tragédie of the Cardinall, and the Deploratioun of Quene Magdalene. Robertson has prefixed a preface, which is chiefly derived from that of Charteris; and he has adopted the Scotish printer’s Adhortatioun, with some slight adaptations to the Danish public. From the peculiar process followed in this translation, we can scarcely expect it to be uniformly correct. Charteris, in his preface, mentions the execution of “the vicar of Dolour, Freir Kelour,” and others. Friar Kelour was no doubt translated by Robertson Frater Kelour; Mattssön has translated it “hans Broder Kelour,” and thus we have the vicar of Dollar and his brother. Andrew Robertson was a native of Aberdeen, and prosecuted his studies in the university of Copenhagen. He is the author of some Latin poems, which have escaped the notice of Nyerup. (Al-nιendeligt Litteraturlexico for Danmark, Norge, og Island, S. 499.) The name of Jacob Mattssön or Madsen occurs in the history of Danish poetry written by Nyerup and Rahbek. (Bidrag til den Danske Digtekunsts Historie, Bind ii. S. 88. Kiöbenhavn, 1800-19, 5 Bind. 8vo.) ]

Lindsay’s Dreme, which is supposed to be his earliest, has likewise been regarded as his most poetical composition. In the opinion of Warton, the prologue to this poem evinces strong talents for high description and rich imagery. His Compìaynt, which is likewise addressed to the king, is a valuable and interesting production: it exhibits some lively sketches of the author’s personal fortunes, of the prevalent manners of the times, and of the early history of James the Fifth. The mode in which the tender age of this hopeful prince was corrupted by the designing profligacy of his attendants, is painted in striking colours; and although the information is conveyed in rhyme, it seems to be nearly allied to historical accuracy. James was possessed of superior talents, and of a disposition capable of receiving a virtuous direction; but his education was interrupted at a critical period, and he was early initiated in vice by those who by every tie of decency were bound to inculcate the lessons of virtue. The king was himself a lover of poetry, and his court was frequented by poets: Lindsay and Bellenden belonged to the royal household; and he had sufficient discernment to appoint Buchanan the tutor of one of his natural sons. From Lindsay’s “Answer to the Kingis Flyting,” it appears that James was a writer of verses: he begins by stating that he had read his majesty’s ragment, and proceeds to compliment him on his “ornate meter,”-proclaiming him the prince of poetry.

The “Supplication directit to the Kingis Grace, in con-temptioun of side Taillis,” is at least conspicuous for the author’s zeal as a reformer of manners. He seems to have contemplated long trains and veiled faces with an unnecessary degree of alarm; but, like a good Christian, he recollected that a long train proceeds from pride, and pride from the devil. He is chiefly scandalized at observing nuns and other religious persons followed by train-bearers. Nor is he less offended with the “muzzled faces” of the ladies. The queen is the only female whom he proposes to exempt from the necessity of shewing her face and curtailing her gown. Kitteis Confession, another of his satirical poems, contains many happy strokes of humour. It is directed against auricular confession, a copious source of priestly influence; and the practice is exposed with equal pungency and good sense. The damsel remarks that her ghostly instructor gave her no injunctions to lead a holy life, and to confide in the merits of Christ, but only to follow certain external observances, of which she ventures to doubt the efficacy:

Botgave me pennance ilk ane day, And Ave Marie for to say, And frydayis fyve na fische to eit— Bot butter and eggis ar better meit; And with ane plak to by ane messe Fra drunkin Schir Jhone Latynlesse.

The sanctified lasciviousness of the father confessor is. depicted with no unskilful pencil. But the impurities of the Romish church were exposed to a more formidable attack, in “The Testament and Compiaynt of our So-verane Lordis Papingo;” a singular performance, in which he admonishes the king and his courtiers, and exposes the corrupt doctrines and vicious lives of the clergy. “In the course of the poem before us,” says Mr Warton, “an allegory on the corruptions of the church is introduced, not destitute of invention, humour, and elegance; but founded on one of the weak theories of Wickliffe, who, not considering religion as reduced to a civil establishment, and because Christ and his apostles were poor, imagined that secular possessions were inconsistent with the simplicity of the gospel.”^[18. Warton’s History of English Poetry, vol. iii. p. 149. ] But if we recollect what precious fruits both Wycliffe and Lindsay had seen produced by this civil establishment of religion, it is by no means wonderful that they should have adopted such a theory. The clergy enjoyed a very large proportion of the wealth of both kingdoms, and they doubtless exhibited different degrees of piety and learning; but it cannot be denied that their profligacy bore some proportion to their opulence, and that true and vital religion, that religion which affects the heart and influences the conduct, was in a great measure supplanted by idle and unavailing ceremonies. In the Tragédie of the Cardinall, this zealous reformer still prosecutes the same design. The plan of the poem [7:13:357]bears some resemblance to that which was afterwards adopted in the Myrrour for Magistrates. As the author, after the hour of prime, is sitting in his oratory and reading the work of Boccaccio De Casibus Virorum illustrium, be suddenly perceives the figure of a wounded man, with pale visage and deadly cheer. This visitor, who proves to be the ghost of Cardinal Beaton, entreats him to commit his tragic story to writing; and on his assenting to this proposal, the woe-begone cardinal begins a relation of the principal events of his wicked life; but the story is not told with much elegance or energy.

Lindsay has evinced his humour and good sense in ridiculing practices of another kind. One of the most barbarous usages connected with chivalry was the exhibition of tournaments, in which it frequently happened that the valiant knights displayed their courage and address at the expense of their lives; and the ladies of the middle ages attended these spectacles with nearly as little compunction as the ladies of the present age attend the representation of a tragedy at Drury Lane. It was however during the decline of chivalry that Lindsay produced his facetious account of “The Justing betwix Watsoun and Barbour.” He represents this justing to have taken place at St Andrews between two gentlemen of the king’s household: they are both described as adepts in physic; and as envy is apt to arise among those who follow the same calling, the subject of the poem was probably suggested by the feuds and jealousies which subsisted between these gentle leeches.

One of the author’s most entertaining works is the Historie of Squyer Meldrum, which is to be considered as a tale of chivalry, although the champion and the poet flourished at the same period. Lindsay professes to have derived some part of his information from the hero of his story; and the romantic adventures of William Meldrum were yet fresh in the recollection of his countrymen. By assimilating him to the heroes of classical antiquity and of more recent romance, he has imparted to his work a certain air of fiction. With the romantic he has occasionally blended a sufficient mixture of the ludicrous. It is nevertheless to be presumed that much of his narrative is substantially true; and some parts of it can be verified from other authorities. After the exploits of his youth, the heroic squire fixed his residence in Fife, where he possessed an estate, and was appointed the deputy of Patrick Lord Lindsay, sheriff of that county. Here he is said to have administered justice in an exemplary manner, and to have dispensed physic as well as law to the poor. The desperate wounds which he himself had received directed his attention to the healing art; and as ardour was the essence of his character, he seems to have engaged in this new pursuit with his wonted enthusiasm. It is therefore evident that the squire was a person of a very singular character, and his exploits have furnished his friend, the knight of the Mount, with materials for a long and entertaining poem. In the course of his adventures, Meldrum arrives at a castle in Stratherne, and falls in love with its beautiful! owner, a young widow, who had been married to his own relation, apparently a cousin. Being conducted to his bedchamber, he continues to meditate on her charms, and at length begins to vent his passion in loud ejaculations: from her own apartment the lady overhears this soliloquy of her heroic guest, and speedily arrives at the conclusion that such ardent love ought to be duly requited. We learn from Lindsay of Pitscottie that she bore him two children, and their marriage was only deferred till they should obtain a dispensation from the pope; for her deceased husband was related to the squire within the prohibited degrees.^[19. In the civil law there were various fluctuations with respect to the marriages of cousins-german; and the reader, who is desirous of prosecuting such researches, will find ample information in the dissertation of Gothofredus, De Nuptiis Consobrinorum, subjoined tohis edition of Philostorgii Historia Ecclesiastica, Genevae, 1G43, 4to, and in Otto’s Dissertationes Juris Publici et Privati, p. 79. Traj. ad Rhen. 1723, 4to. The law of Justinian stood thus: “Duorum autem fratrum vel sororum liberi, vel fratris et sororis, jungi possunt.” (Inst. lib. i. tit. 10. § 4.) The canon law has adopted a different doctrine: prohibitions introduce the necessity of dispensations; dispensations increase the influence and the emoluments of the church. It even prohibits the marriage of third-cousins; and, as we have seen in the case of Squire Meldrum, extends its rule to affinity as well as consanguinity. To this discrepancy between the civil and the canon law, as Dr Wood has suggested, we may trace the origin of a vulgar notion, still prevalent in this kingdom, that first-cousins may marry, but second-cousins may not. (Institute of the Civil Law, p. 47.) In computing the degrees of consanguinity in the transverse line, the civil and the canon law follow very different methods. The rule of the civil law is, that there are as many degrees as persons, exclusively of the common stock; that of the canon law, that degrees of consanguinity are to be reckoned by the number of descents in one line; and where the lines are unequal, the canonist takes the longer of the two. The canon law prohibits marriages in the fourth, the civil law permits them in the same degree; or, in other words, the one law prohibits the marriages of third-cousins, and the other permits the marriages of first-cousins. It may not be superfluous to mention that the earlier'canonists differed from each other in one point: “Alii namque patrem in primo gradu, filios in secundo ponunt. Alii primum gradum filios appellant.” (Decretum, p. 2. c. 35. qn. 2 & 3. § 21.) But the decision of pope Alexander the Second, that two degrees in the civil law make one in the canon law, has been generally adopted by later writers. “Qui tamen parens,” says Canisius, “graduni non efficit, sed ipsius filius et filia primum gradum constituunt; et ex his filius et filia secundum gradum.” (Sumina Juris Canonici, lib. ii. tit. xii. § 9.) This decision is however overlooked by Dr Taylor, who describes first-cousins as standing in the third degree of consanguinity, according to the computation of the canon law. (Elements of the Civil Law, p. 331.) ] It does not however appear that the dispensation was ever obtained; and in the mean time “a gentleman called Luke Stirling, envied this love and marriage betwixt thir two persons, thinking to have the gentlewoman to himself in marriage, because he knew the laird might not have the pope’s licence by the laws: therefore he solisted his brother’s son, the laird of Keir, with a certain company of armed men, to set upon the laird of Binns, to take this lady from him by way of deed; and, to that effect, followed him betwixt Leith and Edinburgh, and set on him beneath the Rood chapel with fifty armed men; and he again defended him -with five in number, and fought cruelly with them, and slew the laird of Keir’s principal servant before his face, defending himself, and hurt the laird, that he was in peril of his life, and twenty-six of his men hurt and slain; yet, through multiplication of his enemies, he was overset and driven to the earth, and left lying for dead, bought of his legs, and stricken through the body, and the knops of his elbows stricken from him. Yet, by the mighty power of God, he escaped the death, and all his men that were with him, and lived fifty years thereafter.”^[20. Lindsay’s Hist, of Scotland, p. 129. Edinb. 1723, fol—This fair lady was “called the Lady Gleneagies, who was daughter to Air. Richard Lawson of Humby, provost of Edinburgh; the which lady had born to this laird two bairns, and [he] intended to marry her, if he might have had the pope’s licence, because her husband before and he were sib.” ]

But the most remarkable of Lindsay’s productions still remains unnoticed; namely, his “Satyre of the thrie Estaits, in commendation of vertew and vituperation of vyce.” Of the genuine Scotish drama this is the earliest specimen that is now to be found. It does not appear that he was the author of any other work of this description, though it is probable that the same play was somewhat modified for different representations. This play is said to have been acted at Cupar in the year 1535; and it appears to have [7:13:358]been acted before the king and his court at Linlithgowin the year 1539. It was likewise “playit beside Edinburgh, in presence of the quene regent and ane greit part of the nobilitie, with ane exceiding greit nowmer of pepill, lestand fra nyne houris afoir none, till six houris at euin.” Spectators who retain their places for the space of nine hours, must certainly meet with no slight degree of entertainment; but it appears from one of the stage-directions that the play was divided into two parts, and that they had thus an opportunity of taking some refreshment during a short pause in the representation. Lindsay’s Satyre of the thrie Estaits is a morality, containing a mixture of real and allegorical characters, and cannot therefore be expected to exhibit a succession of very probable incidents. It however exhibits some curious germs of the dramatic art; and in reference to those to whom it was originally addressed, it must be regarded as a powerful satire. The principal burden of his satire falls upon the ecclesiastics. It contains an extraordinary mixture of piety and obscenity; and without approaching to the model of a regular drama, it furnishes many unequivocal proofs of the author’s ingenuity. As a dramatic composition, it is not necessary to specify its defects, which are indeed sufficiently obvious: Lindsay must however be compared, not with the poets of a later age, but with those of his own; the contemporary history of English poetry presents to us no dramatic work equal to the Satyre of the thrie Estaits. Of this play there is an appendage, apparently written by the same author, which yet remains to be noticed: it is entitled the “Proclamatioun of the Play, maid be Dauid Lindsay.” This proclamation is itself a dramatic entertainment, consisting of a few pages, and intended to announce that the play was to be acted on the castle-hill of Cupar on a particular day. Newspapersand play· bills were not then invented; and this was evidently a device for collecting a crowd of people on the market-day, in order to disperse the intelligence.

Sir David Lindsay has now maintained his popularity for the space of three hundred years, and his works have been printed in a great variety of forms. The last edition, which makes very extraordinary pretensions to general erudition and to particular accuracy, was published by Mr George Chalmers. Lond. 1806, 3 vols. 8vo. The editor displays a modesty of disposition and an elegance of taste, which are only surpassed by the suavity of his manner and the profundity of his learning. All these topics might afford scope for illustration, but we shall at present confine ourselves to the subject of his erudition, which has been highly extolled by writers nearly as learned as himself. The following line occurs in Ketteis Confession.

Thocht Codrus kyte suld cleue and birst.

“I know not,” says the accomplished editor, “if there be any allusion here to either of the Codruses, who are feigned by poets: Lindsay may have alluded to Urceus Codrus, an Italian professor, and poet, of a singular character, who died, in 1500.” Vol. ii. p. 214. But if his classical studies had ever proceeded so far as the seventh eclogue of Virgil, he would have had no difficulty in discovering to which “of the Codruses” the poet alludes.

Pastores, hedera crescentem ornate poetam, Arcades, invidia rumpantur ut ilia Codro.

In vol. i. p. 81. we find the subsequent remarks: “Coeburn’s Meditatio was printed at St Andrews, by Jhone Scot, in 1555. He calls himself Johannis Scot, in the titlepage, and Johannes Scott, in the colophon.” This change from Johannis to Johannes we can undertake to explain: the title bears “ex typographia Johannis Scot,” and the colophon, “excudebat Joannes Scott.” The numerous works of this writer betray such a radical ignorance of the Latin language, that we have no doubt of his intending to express his surprise at the variation of the genitive from the nominative case. In another publication, he enumerates “Cicero’s Epistles de Senectute, de Amicitio; Terence’s Comedies and Elegies; Ovid’s Tristium.” After meeting with these specimens of his scholarship, we are sufficiently prepared for his commentary on another passage of Lindsay, which alludes to the pretensions of the pope.

His style at lenth gif thow wald knaw, Thow moste ga luke the cannon law: Baith in the Sext and Clementene His staitlie style thair may be sene.

u The allusion,” he is pleased to inform his readers, “is to the Works of Pomponius Sextus, the great jurist of the 3d century.” Vol. iii. p. 89. Pomponius did not flourish in the third, but in the second century: if however he had actually written in the third century, how could he have illustrated the temporal power and splendour of the pope, before Christianity was established in the Roman empire? The Sext to which Lindsay alludes is “Liber sextus Decretalium,” a portion of the Corpus Juris Canonici. See above, vol. vi. p. 94. A further specimen of this editor’s acquaintance with literary and ecclesiastical history occurs in the following passage: “We may infer, that the Calvinists were not yet known, as a sect.” Vol. i. p. 425. Certainly we may infer that the Calvinists were utterly unknown as a sect in 1535, inasmuch as Calvin, the founder of that sect, did not become a minister and professor at Geneva till the ensuing year.^[21. Bayle, Dictionaire Historique et Critique, tom. i. p. 729. ] (x.)