[191] _History of the Regality of Musselburgh_, p. 95.
[192]
Item, for xxxvj elnis and ane quarter blechit bertane canwes to be thre
albis, thre ametis, and thre altar towellis to oure Lady Chapell of
Laureit, price of the elne iijs. iiijd.; summa ... ... ... vj_li._ x_d._
Item, to be thre croces to the chesabillis and to paill the fruntale,
v-1/2 elnis quhite satyne, price of the elne xxxijs.; summa ... ... ...
viij_li._ xvj_s._
Item, to be armes apoun the thre chesabillis and fruntell, ane quarter
yallow satyne, price ... ... ... viij_s._
Item, to be frenzeis to the fruntell, ij unces silk, price thairof ...
... ... x_s._
Item, for bukrem, rubanis, making and uthir furnessing of the thre
vestimentis, fruntell, stoill and parolis ... ... ... iiij_li._ v_s._
Item, to the broidstar for brodering of the Kingis armes apoun the
saidis thre vestimentis and fruntell ... ... xxvj_s._ viij_d._
Item, for weving of the frenzeis to the fruntell, sewing of the albis,
and croces to the towellis ... ... ... xxvj_s._ viij_d._ --Vol. vi, pp.
200-1.
[193] _Accounts_, vol. vi, p. lxij.
[194] _Accounts_, p. 299.
[195] _Ane Dialog betuix Experience and ane Courteour_, ll. 2661, _et
seq._
[196] _Ibid._, l. 2665.
[197] _Ibid._, ll. 2690-2.
[198] "In these tymes there was besyde Mussilburgh, St. Allarit's
chapell, and in these tymes of ignorance and superstition, it was
believed that if women that were in hard labour did sent ane offering to
the Preist and Freirs there, they wold get easy delyverance."--_History
of the Regality of Musselburgh_, p. 101.
[199] Calderwood, _History of the Kirk of Scotland_, vol. i, pp. 101-2.
Another and less prejudiced account of this John Scott is given by Peder
Swave, who visited Scotland in 1535, as Ambassador from Christian II of
Denmark to James V: "On the 11th of May I met with a hermit, named John
Scott, a person of noble rank, who had quitted a beautiful wife, and
children, and all his household, and determined to live by himself in
solitude. He ate nothing but bread, and drank nothing save water or
milk. He is believed to have endured a fast of forty days and nights in
Scotland, England, and Italy. He also says that, when impelled by a
higher power, he could not perish by fasting, as by the kindness of the
Holy Virgin he has already been able to prove; if he should wish to do
this by way of wager or bargain, that he would fail. He declares that he
has no sensation of hunger when he fasts, that he loses neither his
strength nor his flesh, feels neither heat nor cold, goes about with
head and feet naked equally in summer and winter, and that his manner of
life does not induce the approaches of age. Asked by me why he left such
a beautiful wife, he replied that he wished to be a soldier of Heaven,
and that whether his wife determined to serve God or the world was a
matter of indifference to him. By chance there was amongst us a canon
regular who said that he had been asked by the hermit's wife to
reconcile them, but had taken the task upon him to no purpose."--Hume
Brown, _Early Travellers in Scotland_, p. 56.
[200] Row, _History of the Kirk of Scotland_, Woodrow Society's edition.
[201] _History of the Regality of Musselburgh_, p. 106.