Scottish Text Society publications > Old series > Poems of Alexander Montgomerie

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
211
[laing MS.
F- 33 Quhat thing ]jow willtt hawe hid, to nane declair,
in word or deid hewer of had I wist;
So spend }>ai gud J>at sum J>ow ever spair,
For freindis lyk halkzV dois soir frome emptie fist.1 20
Cutt outt }?ai cott according to }>ai claithe;
Suspectit persounes se ]?ow alwayis flie;
Beleue not him ]>at anes hes broken his treuth,2
Nor ^itt of gilt wft^out desert be fre.
Tyme quicklie slippis, be war how thow it spend ; 25
of wantoun jouth repentw ane panefull aige;
Begin na thing butt ane eye to }?e end,
nor bow l>ai eir frome counsell of ]?e saige.
gif thow to far lett out J>i fansie sleip,
and wittles will frome reasonnes rewle outstartt, 30
thy folie sell at lenthe be maid ]?i quhipp,
And soir >e stryippis of schame sell caus ]>e smartt.
To do to muche ffor auld men is bott lost;
Of freindschip had to wemen comes 3 lyik gane ;
Bestow not ]?ow on childrene to much cost, 35
For (\uhai ]?ow dois for thais is all [in] waine.
The auld man, or he can requyt, he deis;
Vnconstand is }>e womanis wauering mynd;
Full sone }>e boy thy freindschip will despyis,
And him for luif J>ow sell ingratfull find. 40
The agit man is lyik )?e barrane ground;
The woman lyik [>e reid ]>at waggis wind;
Thair my na trust in tender age be fund;
And of ]>e thre the boy is most vnkynd.
Iff ]?ow haif fund ane faithfull freind indeed, 45
Bewer ]x)w lose not loufe of suche a one;
He sell sumtyme stand )>e In better steid,
Than treasure greitt of gould or pretious stone.
1 I remember an old verse of Chaucer, ‘ With empty hand men should no
hawkis lure ’ (Maitland of Lethington to Cecil, Jan. 20, 1560).
2 English version, ‘ troath,’ to rhyme with ‘cloath.’
3 MS. comemes.