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

i68
THE WORKS OF SIR DAVID LINDSAY
in iambics without pronounced alliteration, is used again in the play.
Cf. lines 214-226.
This type of opening, the benediction in alliterative verse, is in direct
descent from the opening stanzas of miracle plays and the earlier
moralities.
14. Hald %ow coy : keep quiet. O.F. quoi, coi, quiet.
21. Triumph and. Bann. MS., " trivmphant,” which is probably
correct. The error is similar to the more famous misreading, or mis¬
understanding, by the printer of the 1609 folio Fcerie Queene, I. iv. 16. 9,
“ Her glorious glitter and light doth all mens eyes amaze,” in error for
"... glitterand . . For another interesting printer’s error, see
note to line 2093.
28. ^oung oppressouris at the elder leiris. Proverb. Elder: Bann. MS.
elderis, which is correct.
32. Be him that ludas sauld. Chalmers, I. 360-62, amused himself by
extracting from Ane Satyre a long list of the oaths used, adding, " The
parliament, at length, interposed; and by an act, " Anent them that
swearis abhominable aithes," 5 pari. Mary [1551], ch. 16, this odious
practice, which continued, notwithstanding frequent preachings, was
prohibited, under severe penalties. A similar practice came down from
the old moralities [? miracle plays] to the dramas of England, till it
was prohibited by one of the first statutes of king James.”
33-41. I draw attention at this point to one of the characteristics of
Version II., its lapses into bad prosody. The two versions should be
compared. Cf. also the two texts of lines 340-625, and elsewhere.
52. Burgessis. A dissyllabic plural, as not infrequently in Middle Scots
verse, in the case of plurals the singulars of which end in -s, -ss. Cf.
Bann. MS., burges. Cf. Deploratioun, 117, " The honest Burges [= bur¬
gessis], cled, thow suld haue sene.”
61. Pitiouslie. Bann. MS. again gives the correct form for the metre,
petously. But cf. 63 ; 7602, pitious; Bann. MS., peteous.
70-77. Bann. MS. repeats these lines after line 1917, during the an¬
nouncement of the interval. Cf. also lines 1498-1503, and Comp. 200.
75. Our mistoinit sangis : our mistoned [= out of tune] songs. None
are actually given, but two places for songs are indicated, both for
singing by the lighter women, the first by Hamelines, Danger, and
Fund-Ionet, 294-326, the second by Sensualitie, Hamelines, Danger,
and Fund-Ionet, 1025.
78-101. The prayer of King Humanitie is typical of his kind. He is
depicted as ideal, a believer in God, peace, counsel, reason, and is the
earthly representative, for law, justice, and administration, of the