more an affectation bordering upon heresy". What good effects followed from this ecclesiastical censure, I do not find; it is, however, evident, that the Scottish act of parliament against long tails was as little observed, as that against muzzling. Probably the force of the poet's satire effected a more speedy reformation of such abuses, than the menaces of the church, or the laws of the land. But these capricious vanities were not confined to Scotland alone. In England, as we are informed by several antiquaries, the women of quality first wore trains in the reign of Richard the Second: a novelty which induced a well meaning divine, of those times, to write a tract Contra caudas dominarum, against the Tails of the Ladies". Whether or no this remonstrance operated so far, as to occasion the contrary extreme, and even to have been the distant cause of producing the short petticoats of the present age, I cannot say. As an apology, however, for the English ladies, in adopting this fashion, we should in justice remember, as was the case of the Scotch, that it was countenanced by Anne, Richard's queen: a lady not less enterprising than successful in her attacks on established forms; and whose authority and example were so powerful, as to abolish, even in defiance of France, the safe, commodious, and natural mode of riding on horseback, hitherto practised by the women of England, and to introduce side-saddles*. An anonymous Scotch poem has lately been communicated to me, belonging to this period: of which, as it was never printed, and as it contains capital touches of satirical humour, not inferior to those of Dunbar and Lyndesay, I am tempted to transcribe a few stanzas. It appears to have been written soon after the death of James the Fifth. The poet mentions the death of James the Fourth, who was killed in the battle of Flodden-field, fought in the year 15132. It is entitled DUNCANE LAIDER, or MACGREGOR'S TESTAMENT. The Scotch poets were fond of conveying invective, under the form of an assumed character writing a will. In the poem before us, the writer exposes the ruinous policy, and the general corruption of public manners, prevailing in Scotland, under the personage of the STRONG MAN', that is, tyranny or oppression. Yet there are some circumstances which seem to point out a particular feudal lord, famous for his exactions and insolence, and who at length was outlawed. Our testator introduces himself to the reader's acquaintance, by describing his own character and way of life, in the following expressive allegories. a v. 78. My maister houshold was heich Oppressioun, Were my prime counsalouris, leve" and deare; And common Thift tuke on tham sa the steir", 8 that scrupled to do no wrong. The pages of my bed-chamber; gates; yates, yattis. • theft. call n beloved. steer, steerage; the management. enmity, hatred. brought loyalty to death. Oppressioun clikit Gude Reules be the hair, Qhuill Innocence was murthurit in that thrang". And bad me neither god nor man to feir. Y At length, in consequence of repeated enormities and violations of justice, Duncane supposes himself to be imprisoned, and about to suffer the extreme sentence of the law. He therefore very providently makes his last will, which contains the following witty bequests. To my CURAT Negligence I resigne, To the VICAR I leif Diligence and Care * furnished it well with much ill- proscribed as a coarse indelicate word, gotten wealth. y v. 15. seq. a as good. C to be bleached; rified. z parishioners. b seldom. 4 till they be washed clean. Part of the pall, taken as a fee at funerals. The kirk-kow, or cow, is an ecclesiastical perquisite which I do not un It often occurs in our Translation of the Bible: and is used, somewhat singularly, in a chapter-act of Westminster-abbey, so late as the year 1628. The prebendaries vindicate themselves from the imputation of having reported, that their dean, bishop Williams, repaired the abbey, "out of the diet, and BELLIES of the prebendaries, and revenues of our His thocht is mair upon the pasche fynis, said church, and not out of his own re- iHe thinks more of his Easter-offerings, than of the souls in purgatory. Pasche is paschal. PAIS, Easter. I leave Oppression to the PARSON, the proprietor of the great, or rectorial tythes. To keep the corn of the poor in the rig, or rick. [The rig is the ridge of the open field, where the Parson is so oppressive as to detain the whole of the poor people's corn, till he thinks fit to draw his title.-RITSON.] m Until he get the tythe all at his will. Suppose the children should beg their bread. Barins, or Bearns. To build no churches. P So fair a harvest. : The choir, or chancel, which, as the rector, he is obliged to keep in repair. The more tythe he receives, the less willing he is to return a due proportion of it to the church. without doubt. * A fine for adultery. MAILIS is duties, rents. MAILE-MEN, MAILLERIS, persons who pay rent. Male is Saxon for tribute or tax Whence Maalman, Saxon, for one paying tribute. See Spelman and Dufresne, in VV. If a man give a maid one kiss. Chaucer says of his SOMPNOUR, or Apparitor, PROL. Urr. p. 6. v. 651. He would suffer for a quart of wine "If he does not get his fine, they will not be saved. GEIR is properly goods, chattels, his profits, in the spiritual court. * surely in the sanie manner. y With far better will to drink ane quart', I leif the ABBOT Pride and Arrogance, Of ten thousand markis may not him suffice. To the BISCHOP his Free will I alleges, And weill ye wat the pape is fur fra hamei: an English gallon. z to read one chapter. a unto death. bfeign themselves poor. to ride on a mule with rich trappings. Cavendish says, that when Cardinal Wolsey went ambassador to France, he rode through London with more than twenty sumpter-mules. He adds, that Wolsey "rode very sumptuouslie like a cardinal, on a mule; with his spare-mule, and his spare-horse, covered with crimson velvett, and gilt stirrops," &c. MEM. OF CARD. WOLSEY. edit. Lond. 1708. 8vo. p. 57. When he meets the king of France near Amiens, he mounts another mule, more superbly caparisoned. Ibid. p. 69. See also p. 192. [See a manuscript of this Life, MSS. LAUd. i. 66. MSS. ARCH. B. 44. Bibl. Bodl.] The same writer, one of the cardinal's domestics, says that he constantly rode to Westminster-hall, "on a mule trapped in crimson velvett with a saddle of the same. Ibid. p. 29. 30. In the Computus of Maxtoke priory, in Warwickshire, for the year 1446, this article of expenditure occurs, "Pro pabulo duarum mularum cum harnesiis domini PRIORIS hoc anno." Again in the same year, "Pro freno deaurato, cum sella et panno blodii coloris, mulæ PRIORIS." MS. penes me supr. citat. Wiccliffe describes a WORDLY PRIEST, "with fair hors and jolly, and gay saddles and bridles tinging by the way, and himself in costly clothes and pelure." Lewis's WICCL. p. 121. It f d continue. e look out for a bishoprick. marcs. give, assign. He will order tryal in his own court. is therefore unsafe to attack him. i You well know the pope is at a great distance. He had rather sit in parliament. |