[The following “Good Counsel” by Chaucer, freely modernised, is
said to have been composed in his last agonies. In a MS. in the
Cotton Library the verses are entitled, “a Ballade made by
Giffrey Chaucyer upon his dethe bedde, lying in grete
anguysse.”]
Fly from the crowd, and be to virtue true,
Content with what thou hast, though it be small;
To hoard brings hate; nor lofty things pursue;
He who climbs high endangers many a fall.
Envy’s a shade that ever waits on fame,
And oft the sun that raises it will hide:
Trace not in life a vast expensive scheme,
But be thy wishes to thy state ally’d.
Be mild to others, to thyself severe,
So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
Think not of binding all things to thy will,
Nor vainly hope that fortune shall befriend;
Inconstant she, but be thou constant still,
Whate’er betide, into an honest end.
Yet needless dangers never madly brave;
Kick not thy naked foot against a nail;
Or from experience the solution crave,
If wall and pitcher strive which shall prevail.
Be in thy cause, as in thy neighbour’s, clear,
So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
Whatever happens, happy in thy mind
Be thou, nor at thy lot in life repine;
He ’scapes all ill whoso bosom is resign’d;
Nor way, nor weather will be always fine:
Besides, thy home’s not here—a journey this,
A pilgrim thou—then hie thee on thy way;
Look up to God—intent on heavenly bliss,
Take what the road affords and praises pay:
Shun brutal lusts, and seek thy soul’s high sphere,
So truth shall shield thee or from hurt or fear.
----------------------------
_Varieties_.
Man to the plough,
Wife to the sow,
Son to the flail,
Daughter to the pail,
And your rents will be netted;
But, man tally ho,
Daughter piano,
Son Greek and Latin,
Wife silk and satin,
And you’ll soon be gazetted.
A SCENE IN A SCOTCH COURT OF JUSTICE IN 1757.—The Dean of Faculty at
that time was Mr Lockhart, afterwards Lord Covington, a man of learning,
but of a demeanour harsh and overbearing. It had ever been considered
the duty of the chief of the body of advocates, freely elected to
preside over them, to be particularly kind and protecting to beginners;
but Lockhart treated all who came in contact with him in a manner
equally offensive, although he had been engaged in a personal
altercation with a gentleman out of court, who threatened to inflict
personal chastisement upon him; and there were some circumstances in his
domestic life supposed to render his reputation vulnerable. At last,
four junior advocates, of whom Wedderburn, afterwards Lord Chancellor
Loughborough, was one, entered into a mutual engagement that he among
them who first had the opportunity should resent the arrogance of the
Dean, and publicly insult him. It was by mere accident that the
opportunity occurred to Wedderburn, who certainly made a good use of it.
In the very end of July, or beginning of August, 1757, (the exact day I
have not been able to ascertain), Wedderburn was opposed in the Inner
House as counsel to Lockhart, and was called by him “a presumptuous
boy,” experiencing from him even more than his wonted rudeness and
superciliciousness. When the presumptuous boy came to reply, he
delivered such a personal invective as never was before or since heard
at the Scottish bar. A lively impression still remains of its character;
but newspaper reporting was then unknown in Edinburgh, and oral
tradition has preserved only one sentence of that which probably was the
meditated part of the harangue:—“The learned Dean has confined himself
on this occasion to vituperation; I do not say that he is capable of
reasoning, but if tears would have answered his purpose, I am sure tears
would not have been wanting.” Lockhart here started up and threatened
him with vengeance. Wedderburn—“I care little, my Lords, for what may be
said or done by a man who has been disgraced in his person and
dishonoured in his bed.” Lord President Craigie, being afterwards asked
why he had not sooner interfered, answered, “because Wedderburn made all
the flesh creep on my bones.” But at last his Lordship declared in a
firm tone, that “this was language unbecoming an advocate, and
unbecoming a gentleman.” Wedderburn, now in a state of such excitement
as to have lost all sense of decorum and propriety, exclaimed that “his
Lordship had said as a judge what he could not justify as a gentleman.”
The President appealed to his brethren as to what was fit to be done,
who unanimously resolved that Mr Wedderburn should retract his words and
make an humble apology, on pain of deprivation. All of a sudden
Wedderburn seemed to have subdued his passion, and put on an air of
deliberate coolness; when, instead of the expected retractation and
apology; he stripped off his gown, and holding it in his hands before
the Judge, he said, “My Lords, I neither retract nor apologise, but I
will save you the trouble of deprivation; there is my gown, and I will
never wear it more; virtute me involvo.” He then coolly laid his gown
upon the bar, made a low bow to the Judges, and before they had
recovered from their amazement he left the court, which he never again
entered. That very night he set off to London. I know not whether he had
any apprehension of the steps which the Judges might have taken to
vindicate their dignity, or whether he was ashamed to meet his friends
of the Parliament House, but he had formed a resolution, which he
faithfully kept, to abandon his native country, and never more to
revisit it.—‘Lord Campbell’s Lives of the Chancellors.’
ANTIQUITY OF THE INFLUENZA.—Of this now universally prevailing malady we
have (says the ‘Glasgow Constitutional’) the following account, in a
letter from Randolph, the English Ambassador at the Court of Mary, Queen
of Scots, to Cecil (afterwards Lord Burghley,) dated Edinburgh, 30th
November, 1562. “May it please your Honour. Immediately upon the Queen’s
arrival here she fell acquainted with a new disease that is common in
this town, called the ‘New Acquaintance,’ which passed also through her
whole Court, neither sparing lord, lady, nor damsel, nor so much as
French or English. It is a pain in their head that have it, and a
soreness in their stomachs, with a great cough; it remaineth with some
longer, with others shorter time, as it findeth apt bodies for the
nature of the disease. The Queen kept her bed six days; there was no
appearance of danger, nor many that die of the disease except some old
folks. My Lord of Murray is now presently in it, and I am ashamed to say
that I have been free of it, seeing it seeketh acquaintance at all men’s
hands.” The letter is printed pp. 105-7 of the “Selections from
Unpublished Manuscripts Illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of
Scotland,” presented to the Maitland Club, in 1837, by the late Mr
Kirkman Finlay, of Castle Toward. The last freak of the distemper,
according to the ‘Edinburgh Register,’ was the seizure of the master of
the Duddingston Mills, and at the same time all his millers, and the
mill stood still. To complete the adage that misfortunes never come
single, the millers’ wives were almost all ill, and unable to nurse
their husbands.
AIR, Oct. 3, 1772.—On the 23d ult. we had one of the most selemn
processions of free masons in this place, that I presume ever was made
in Scotland. The occasion of it was laying the foundation-stone of the
works for improving the harbour. The Earl of Dumfries, Grand Master for
Scotland, and upwards of 500 of the brethren, were present. They
assembled at the King’s-arms between ten and eleven o’clock forenoon.
From thence they went in procession to the church, attended by the Rev.
Mess. Dalrymple and M‘Gill, ministers in this place, decently habited in
their gowns, with their aprons under them, their hats below their arms
as the rest of the company, carrying the Bible open in their hands;
violins, and a variety of other music, playing before them. An elegant
sermon was there delivered them from Psal. civ. 15. The stone was then
presented, when his Lordship applied to it the plumb-rule and the
square, and gave it three strokes with the mallet. After that ceremony
was performed, it was handed over the quay with ropes, and his Lordship
solemnly poured upon it a handful of corn, and a cupful of wine and oil;
devoutly lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, and addressing the
Great Architect of heaven and earth, that the place might abound in
these articles. This gave occasion to three cheerful huzzas. Then the
Rev. Mr M‘Gill, having addressed himself to the brethren, which likewise
was followed with three cheers as before, he devoutly prayed; and the
whole ceremony was concluded with singing the masons’ anthem.—‘Weekly
Magazine.’
JAMES VI. WHEN A BOY.—The celebrated Andrew Melville and his nephew,
James, were introduced to the King at Stirling Castle, previous to his
entering his ninth year. The following is James Melville’s account of
him: “He was the switest sicht in Europe that day, for strange and
extraordinar gifts of ingyne, judgment, memorie, and language. I heard
him discourse walking up and down in the auld Lady Marr’s hand, of
knowledge and ignorance to my grait marvell and astonishment.”—
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnotes.
-----
Footnote 1:
Donald of the Lakes.
Footnote 2:
Ellen-nan-Gall, an island contiguous to Island Stalker.
Footnote 3:
Green Colin.
Footnote 4:
This is a good axe, Alexander, if you could whittle well with it.
Footnote 5:
Do you think but I can do so.
Footnote 6:
The following is another version of the manner in which Donald was
transferred to the protection of the smith. It is rot, however, so
consistent with the previous part of the narrative as the first:
Donald, the only son of Alexander, being an infant, was, at the death
of his father, carried away to Lochshiel side, in Moidart, to a
smith’s family, commonly known by the name of ‘An Gothan Muidartsich.’
The smith was a descendant of the Clanronald family, and had a tack of
both sides of Lochshiel, which, together with his trade, supported his
family. His work principally consisted in the making of arms, hence
the bye-word, when a warrior met with a sword that pleased him, ‘N’na
claimbh Mudairstach than seodh.’ The smith, notwithstanding his
mechanical employment, was considered a person in good circumstances;
and it being customary at that age for the Highland chiefs to send
their male family, in disguise, to farmers to rear them in hard hood
and fatigue, a number of the neighbouring gentry sent their sons, ‘Air
mhachaladh,’ to the smith to bring them up till the age of maturity.
The smith would have none except the heirs of property. The peculiar
family circumstances under which Donald was left to his protection,
his life being in danger, rendered the smith more careful of him. The
kindness thus shown by his supposed father, drew the attachment of the
child towards him. The smith at last got fonder of him than any of his
own family, and frequently brought him to the smithy to assist him in
making swords, axes, and such other warlike instruments as were used
in those times. As Donald grew up, his strength and intrepidity
increased with his years. He was reckoned a good swimmer, and by
diving, several times caught salmon in ‘Linidh Bhlathain,’ a pool
immediately below the smith’s house, in the water of Shiel. On one
occasion, he came up with one in each hand, and one in his teeth. One
day, the smith having a piece of work to execute, and no other
assistance being at hand, called upon Donald to aid him. The article
he was engaged with required a man to hold it on the study, and two
men, with hammers used by both hands, to beat it down. Donald seized
one of these large hammers in each hand, and beat it down with great
ease. The smith, admiring his strength and activity, could no longer
contain himself: and after consulting his wife, sent for ‘Mhac Mhic
Allen,’ the uncle of Donald, to reveal the secret. On the arrival of
the uncle, the smith told him he wanted to show him what one of his
sons, who was only eighteen years of age, could do. They went to the
smithy, and Donald, in order to please his supposed chief, exerted
himself in beating on the study with the two large hammers. They
afterwards proceeded to the pool, the smith at the same time taking a
sword with him, and telling Donald that he need not come ashore unless
he brought a salmon in each hand. Donald dived into the water, and
staying an unusual time, the smith drew nearer ‘Mhac Mhic Allen,’ and,
unsheathing his sword in a great fury, the young man came out with a
salmon in each hand. “What,” says ‘Mhac Mhic Allen,’ “are you going to
kill me.” The smith replied, that unless the young man had come out of
the water, he certainly would have been a dead man. Upon which ‘Mhac
Mhic Allen’ said, he would rather than a ‘ceud mbare Ferin,’ a hundred
marks of land, he had a son that could do the same thing. The smith,
elevated with the young man’s safety, and the exploit before his chief
and relation, revealed the secret of his birth, upon which ‘Mhac Mhic
Allen’ embraced the young man—telling him he was his uncle. Donald was
rather in a dilemma about the loss of his supposed father, whom he so
dearly loved, and who so fondly cherished him; but when he recovered
himself, he showed symptoms of indignation against the murderer of his
father, and craved the assistance of his uncle to redeem his lawful
possessions. His uncle considered him too young; but Donald said he
was determined, even single-handed, to attempt the attainment of his
rights. Upon which his uncle and the smith went to the smithy, made a
sword, tempered it well, and presenting it to him, told him not to
sheath it till he had redeemed his rights, and he revenged on his
father’s enemies. The smith likewise sent his own sons to assist him,
along with a party of select men from his uncle’s country, who were
greatly attached to him, he having been brought up among them. Donald
soon gained his rights, and returned to the smith to take farewell,
and thank him for his kindness and protection. The smith gave him a
bull and twelve cows, which Donald regarded as a high affront, knowing
that he gave twenty and a bull to each of the other heirs of property
that he reared. He asked the smith what was the reason, upon which the
latter replied, that he was now getting old, and intended to divide
his property between his own sons; but that he had as great a regard
for him as any of the other young men, notwithstanding that he only
gave him this number. Donald went to the fold and made out the twenty,
that it might not be said that he got less than the rest; but, upon
further consideration, returned them all, saying to the smith, he had
taught him to be a warrior, and he would find sufficient cattle among
the Campbells, his father’s enemies.
Footnote 7:
Donald the Hammerer.
Footnote 8:
Cailen Uaine was killed at the water of Lion, swimming over after
having been defeated by ‘Donul nan Ord,’ by one of Donald’s men. One
of Colin’s men who got safe to the other side said, that that was
clean blood he gave to the salmon of Lion, seeing the arrow quivering
in his breast. Upon which one of Donald’s men remarked, that he gave
cleaner blood to the crabs of Island Stalker, without a cause.
Footnote 9:
Donald the Hammerer, the smith’s step-son. The darling of the mail
coats. You lifted a hership from Lochow side that Argyle cannot
redeem, nor his son, nor his grandson, nor his great-grandson.
Footnote 10:
Grey, withered Argyle, you care little about me, and when I return, as
little I’ll care about you.
Footnote 11:
Dirty Laugh.
Footnote 12:
Dirty laugh they call the rock, and always that way remains; you will
the same get with yourself, if your wife’s face you would compare.
Footnote 13:
Yellow Stewarts of the locks, that would seize on the kail.
Footnote 14:
If we have the locks from ancestry, we have what will draw an arrow.
Footnote 15:
Transactions of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club.
Footnote 16:
This document was produced in a process depending before the Sheriff
of Glasgow, as a ‘genuine’ copy of an ‘original’ charter!
Footnote 17:
According to Balfour, Malcolm the Third, surnamed Canmore, the
successful opponent of Macbeth, “was crouned at Scone” in anno 1057.
This present important document shows that, whether crowned or
uncrowned, he was King of Scots in 1051.
Footnote 18:
This illustrious Earl is not mentioned in any of our peerage writings,
and was unknown until this interesting historical document turned up.
Hitherto, the first known Earl of Monteith was Murdoch, who flourished
in the reign of David I.
Footnote 19:
Andrew Hamilton, Bishop of Glasgow in the reign of Malcolm the Third,
has been brought to light by means of this charter. No doubt he ‘must’
have been of the family subsequently enobled, and now holding the
premier Dukedom of Scotland. The Hamiltons may therefore be supposed
to have preceded Queen Margaret, who brought so many English
“Pock-puddings,” as Andro’ Fairservice styles them, into Scotland, and
to have comfortably placed one of their name in the Episcopal chair
nineteen years before the espousals of their Majesties.
Footnote 20:
Mr Innes, in his edition of the ‘Chartulary of Glasgow,’ founding upon
what he supposed an “authentic instrument,” dated in 1116, fixes the
revival, or rather erection, of the Bishoprick in the reign of King
David I. This grant to the masons, however, shows decisively that the
learned antiquary was quite wrong.
Footnote 21:
What Records?
Footnote 22:
Author of a treatise entitled “Three excellent Points of Christian
Doctrine.” Edinburgh, 1621. He demitted the ministry about the year
1615.
Footnote 23:
Mr John Hall continued in the ministry until 1619, when he craved to
be “dismissed with the King’s favour, in respect of his age and
infirmitie of bodie, which he granted; yet he was not infirm but he
might have continued teaching; for there was no sensible decay found
in his gifts. The truth is, he would not offend the King by not
conforming for fear of loosing of his pension; and, on the other side,
would have the Godly believe that he was averse from the latest
inovation. But they interpreted this forsaking of his station, after
he had helped to set the house on fire, to proceed only from love of
ease, lasiness, and fear to lose some part of his reputation, when his
gifts should begin to fail. So he left his ministry of Edinburgh
without the people’s consent, resting only upon the King’s demission.”
Calderwood, 1678, folio, p. 723. These reasons, coming from an
opponent, are not entitled to much weight. The plea of age is
overlooked, and infirmity partially admitted. There certainly were
sufficient reasons for Mr Hall’s relinquishing his clerical duties.
Footnote 24:
Haddington Papers.
----------------------------------------------------------------
EDINBURGH: T. G. STEVENSON, 87, Prince’s Street; and JOHN MENZIES, 61,
Prince’s Street.
GLASGOW: THOMAS MURRAY, Argyle Street.