Scottish Text Society publications > Third series > Works of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, 1490-1555 > Volume 4, 1936

BIBLIOGRAPHY
ICQ
back—Poetical Works j of j Sir David Lindsay / [short rule] /
LAING / [short rule] / Vol. I. [II.] / EDINBURGH / WILLIAM
PATERSON—included in the Early Scottish Poets Series
edited by David Laing, volumes uniformly bound and sized.
Some copies, of which I possess one, were bound in smooth
dark-maroon linen cloth without tooling, paper labels—
[double rule] / Poetical Works / of / Sir David Lyndsay /
Of The Mount. / [short rule] / New Edition. / [short rule] /
Vol. I. [II.] / [double rule]. In all other respects the editions
are identical.
The history of the publication of Laing’s editions is given by John
Small in the prefatory memoir prefixed to the second edition of Laing’s
Ancient Scottish Poetry (Edinburgh : Laing, 1822) rept. as Select Remains
of the Ancient Popular and Romance Poetry of Scotland (re-ed. J. Small.
Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1885), pp. xxiii-xxiv.: “For many years Dr
Laing had made collections for a complete edition of the Poetical Works
of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount, and the appearance of this work
was looked forward to with much interest by his antiquarian friends.
To their great disappointment he set aside the sheets of his elaborate
edition, and issued in 1871 one intended for popular use. This edition
was not well received, and many enquiries were made as to the time
when the larger edition, containing much new matter, would appear.
When hard pressed one day by an old friend to say when it would be
published, he only replied : ‘You know my name is D(e) La(y)ing.’ ”
. . . p. xxvi: “ After Laing’s death the edition of Lyndsay’s ‘ Poems’
which he had printed several years previously was published, with a
glossary prepared by the writer of this memoir. The numerous facsimiles
with which it is enriched render this one of the most beautifully illus¬
trated of his many works. In 1879 a new edition of Sir David Lyndsay’s
‘ Heraldic MS.,’ previously mentioned, was published.” Of this
‘ Heraldic MS.’ only fifty copies were printed.
There is a slight confusion of numbering between Laing’s edition
and the E.E.T.S. edition of The Monarche. The following arrangement
establishes the relation between the numbering of the two texts :—
(а) E.E.T.S. numbers three Latin verses, 11. 3371-3373. These are
not numbered by Laing. Down to 1. 3371 the numbering is the
same in both editions. Between 11. 3373 and 4522 add 3 to
Laing’s numbering to get the E.E.T.S. numbering.
(б) After 1. 4520 (E.E.T.S.) occur two Latin verses. These are not
numbered in Laing, but are numbered 4521-4522 in E.E.T.S.
But following these two Latin verses Laing has two lines of
verse translation, taken from 1568, which are omitted by
E.E.T.S. These two verses are not numbered by Laing, there¬
fore after 1. 4522 add 5 (that is including the original 3) to obtain
the E.E.T.S. numbering. The two verses of translation given by
Laing are as follows :—
Thow sal gang upon the eddar and the coketrice.
And thow sal tred down the lyoun and the dragoun.
L. 4522 (Laing corrected numbering) ends ' (That is,),’ which
is omitted by E.E.T.S. After 1. 4518 in Laing add 5 to get the
E.E.T.S. numbering.