Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Satirical poems of the time of the reformation > Volume 2, 1893

NOTES TO ANSR MAID TO SKLANDERARIS, ETC. (13-61). 57
13. Gude King Willia. William the Conqueror was the illegiti¬
mate son of Robert, surnamed le Diable, Duke of Normandy, by his
concubine Arietta. Drayton twice refers to him in connection with
his conquest of England—
“ This told: the Nymphs again, in nimble strains of wit,
Next neatly come about, the Englishmen to quit
Of that inglorious blot by Bastard William brought
Upon this conquered Isle.”
—' Polyolbion,’ iv. 11. 393-396.
‘ ‘ As Bastard William first by conquest hither came,
And brought the Norman Rule upon the English name :
So with a tedious war, and almost endless toils,
Throughout his troubled reign here held his hard-got spoils,
Deceasing at the last, through his unsettled State
Left, with his ill-got Crown, unnatural debate.”
—Ibid., xvii. 11. 111-116.
14. Ane carlingt fiett=a.n old crone’s pet, an old hag’s fondling.
Cf. Poem xlvi. 1. 35.
17. Be weill avisit—he well advised, take heed.
25. Meiss—settle, lay at rest. Ger. mdssigen.
27. Clippis = a common form—
“ Bot my askyng I gat ouer soun,
Because ane clips fell in the mone.”
—Lyndsay, ‘ The Complaynt to the
King,’ 11. 119, 120.
28. acquaintance, intimacy—
“ Than kissit he this gudle with plesance,
Syne hyr besocht rycht hartly of quentance.”
—‘ Wallace,’ Bk. v. 11. 671, 672.
31. Sweingeor = drone, sluggard. A.S. sweng.
37. rascality, dishonesty.
43. Kecking = kitchen.
46. /’i2/3ar/= dissembler, impostor, cheat. Lit. lewd person. Fr.
paillard. Cf. Lyndsay—
“ He pat the comoun peple in beleve
That blynd gat seycht, and crukit gat thare feit,
The quhilk that palyard no way can appreve.”
—‘ Ane Dialog,’ 11. 2690-2692.
55. /W/rt^=head. O.Fr. paid—
“ Hys pallat in the dust bedowyn stude.”
—Douglas, ‘ Eneados,’ x., vol. hi. p. 323, 1. 7.
60. Thow salbe viarrowit and 1 may = Thou shall meet thy match,
if it is in my power.
61. Maddie. See Poem iii. 1. [73, note. Gar mak \e boun = hz oft
with you at once.