Nae minstrels played to them but doubt,[142]
For gleemen there were halden out,
Be day, and eke by nicht;
Except a minstrel that slew a man,
So to his heritage he wan,
And enterit by brieve of richt.[143]
Then cried Mahoun for a Hieland Padyane:[144]
Syne ran a fiend to fetch Makfadyane,
Far northwast in a neuck;
Be he the coronach[145] had done shout,
Ersche men so gatherit him about,
In hell great room they took:
Thae tarmigants, with tag and tatter,
Full loud in Ersche begoud to clatter,
And roup like raven and rook.[146]
The Devil sae deaved[147] was with their yell;
That in the deepest pot of hell
He smorit[148] them with smoke!
[Footnote 110: Mahoun, or the devil, proclaimed a dance of sinners that
had not received absolution.]
[Footnote 111: The evening before Lent, usually a festival at the
Scottish court.]
[Footnote 112: go prepare a show in character.]
[Footnote 113: gambols.]
[Footnote 114: Holy harlots (hypocrites), in a haughty manner. The term
harlot was applied indiscriminately to both sexes.]
[Footnote 115: Names of spirits, like Robin Goodfellow in England, and
Brownie in Scotland.]
[Footnote 116: Pride, with hair artfully put back, and bonnet on side:
"vaistie wanis" is now unintelligible; some interpret the phrase as
meaning "wasteful wants", but this seems improbable, considering the
locality or scene of the poem.]
[Footnote 117: His cassock for the nonce or occasion.]
[Footnote 118: a cheat or impostor.]
[Footnote 119: groans.]
[Footnote 120: bear.]
[Footnote 121: Boasters, braggarts, and bullies.]
[Footnote 122: Arrayed in the accoutrements of war.]
[Footnote 123: In coats of armour, and covered with iron network to the
heel.]
[Footnote 124: Wild was their aspect.]
[Footnote 125: brands beat.]
[Footnote 126: many strong dissemblers.]
[Footnote 127: With feigned words fair or white.]
[Footnote 128: spreaders of false reports.]
[Footnote 129: usurers.]
[Footnote 130: Misers.]
[Footnote 131: a great quantity.]
[Footnote 132: gold of every coinage.]
[Footnote 133: his grunt.]
[Footnote 134: Many a lazy glutton.]
[Footnote 135: served with care.]
[Footnote 136: loins.]
[Footnote 137: quicker of apprehension.]
[Footnote 138: neighing like an entire horse.]
[Footnote 139: corpse.]
[Footnote 140: grease.]
[Footnote 141: Their reward, or their desire not diminished.]
[Footnote 142: No minstrels without doubt--a compliment to the poetical
profession: there were no gleemen or minstrels in the infernal
regions.]
[Footnote 143: letter of right.]
[Footnote 144: Pageant.]
[Footnote 145: By the time he had done shouting the coronach or cry of
help, the Highlanders speaking Erse or Gaelic gathered about him.]
[Footnote 146: croaked like ravens and rooks.]
[Footnote 147: deafened.]
[Footnote 148: smothered.]