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THE
TESTAMENT OF CRESEIDE.
For the Author of this supplement called the Testament of
Creseid, which may passe for the sixt & last booke of this
Tho:
story I haue very sufficiently bin informed by Sr James1
Eriskin late earle of Kelly & diuers aged schollers of the
Scottish nation, that it was made & written by one Mr Robert
Henderson sometimes cheife schoolemaster in Dumfermling
much about the time that Chaucer was first printed & dedi¬
cated to king Henry the 8th by Mr Thinne w^fch was neere the
end of his raigne: This Mr Henderson wittily obseruing, that
Chaucer in his 5th booke had2 related the death of Troilus, but
made no mention what became of Creseid, he learnedly takes
vppon him in a fine poeticall way to expres the punishment &
end due to a false vneonstant whore, which commonly terminates
in extreme misery, about, or a litle after his time the most
famous of the Scottish poets 3 Gawen Douglas made his learned
& excellent translation of Virgils Hineids, who was bishop of
Dunkeld, & made excellent prefaces to euery one of the twelue
bookes : For this Mr Robert Henderson he was questionles a
learned & a witty man, & it is pitty we haue no more of his
works being very old he dyed of a diarrhea or fluxe, of whome
there goes this merry, though somewhat unsauory tale, that all
phisitians hauing giuen him ouer & he lying drawing his last
breath there came an old woman vnto him, who was held a
witch, & asked him whether he would be cured, to whome he
sayed very willingly. then quod she there is a whikey tree 4 in
the lower end 5 of yo&r orchard, & if you will goe and walke but
thrice about it, & thrice repeate theis wordes whikey tree whikey
tree take away this fluxe from me you shall be presently cured,
he told her that beside he was extreme faint & weake it was
extreme frost & snow & that it was impossible for him to go :
1 Waldron inserts “Jatnes is striken out by a pen, and over it is written
ThoThe correction (Tho :) is in another hand.
2 A doubtful ‘d.’ The word may be ‘has’ corrected to ‘had.’
3 The MS. reads: “Scottish poets 4e—Esgiish Gawen Douglas.” The
deletion is apparently in the hand of the original scribe.
4 The quickenberry or wicken-tree, or rowan-tree, or mountain ash.
8 MS. Towerend.’
THE
TESTAMENT OF CRESEIDE.
For the Author of this supplement called the Testament of
Creseid, which may passe for the sixt & last booke of this
Tho:
story I haue very sufficiently bin informed by Sr James1
Eriskin late earle of Kelly & diuers aged schollers of the
Scottish nation, that it was made & written by one Mr Robert
Henderson sometimes cheife schoolemaster in Dumfermling
much about the time that Chaucer was first printed & dedi¬
cated to king Henry the 8th by Mr Thinne w^fch was neere the
end of his raigne: This Mr Henderson wittily obseruing, that
Chaucer in his 5th booke had2 related the death of Troilus, but
made no mention what became of Creseid, he learnedly takes
vppon him in a fine poeticall way to expres the punishment &
end due to a false vneonstant whore, which commonly terminates
in extreme misery, about, or a litle after his time the most
famous of the Scottish poets 3 Gawen Douglas made his learned
& excellent translation of Virgils Hineids, who was bishop of
Dunkeld, & made excellent prefaces to euery one of the twelue
bookes : For this Mr Robert Henderson he was questionles a
learned & a witty man, & it is pitty we haue no more of his
works being very old he dyed of a diarrhea or fluxe, of whome
there goes this merry, though somewhat unsauory tale, that all
phisitians hauing giuen him ouer & he lying drawing his last
breath there came an old woman vnto him, who was held a
witch, & asked him whether he would be cured, to whome he
sayed very willingly. then quod she there is a whikey tree 4 in
the lower end 5 of yo&r orchard, & if you will goe and walke but
thrice about it, & thrice repeate theis wordes whikey tree whikey
tree take away this fluxe from me you shall be presently cured,
he told her that beside he was extreme faint & weake it was
extreme frost & snow & that it was impossible for him to go :
1 Waldron inserts “Jatnes is striken out by a pen, and over it is written
ThoThe correction (Tho :) is in another hand.
2 A doubtful ‘d.’ The word may be ‘has’ corrected to ‘had.’
3 The MS. reads: “Scottish poets 4e—Esgiish Gawen Douglas.” The
deletion is apparently in the hand of the original scribe.
4 The quickenberry or wicken-tree, or rowan-tree, or mountain ash.
8 MS. Towerend.’
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Publications by Scottish clubs > Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Poems of Robert Henryson > Volume 1, 1914 > (113) |
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Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/107411531 |
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Shelfmark | SCS.STES1.64 |
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Attribution and copyright: |
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Description | Edited by G. Gregory Smith. |
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Shelfmark | SCS.STES1.64 and SCS.STES1.55 |
Additional NLS resources: | |
More information |
Description | A collection of over 100 Scottish texts dating from around 1400 to 1700. Most titles are in Scots, and include editions of poetry, drama, and prose by major Scottish writers such as John Barbour, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and George Buchanan. Edited by a key scholarly publisher of Scotland's literary history, and published from the late 19th century onwards by the Scottish Text Society. Available here are STS series 1-3. |
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