Scottish Text Society publications > New series > Kingis quair; together with A ballad of good counsel

INTRODUCTION.
xlvii
of the Jollie Beggar, of which it is remarked that it “is
surely not the composition of King James.” It contains one
correction of Tytler’s text—viz., in st. 161, where it is said
that “the MS. has Degoutit, from the French word, i.e.
spotted.” This is right; Tytler has the unmeaning form
Degontit.
C. In Sibbald’s Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, 4 vols.,
Edinburgh, 1802, a large portion of the Kingis Quair is
printed at pp. 14-54 v°l- He includes the whole of the
poem excepting st. 1-19, 116-120, 182-186, 188-193, I95> *96;
thus printing 160 stanzas out of 197. He numbers his
stanzas from 1 to 160 continuously, so that his number¬
ing does not agree with that of any other edition, nor does
it show which are the omitted stanzas. He tells us that
“ this is the first corrected copy ” ; but the claim is not to be
allowed. He attains, indeed, to the right reading list for
Tytler’s lefe in st. 178, 1. 4; he proposes to read “To pere
with peril,” i.e. to be a peer to pearl, in the last line of st.
no, which was an improvement; and he alters Tytler’s
satoure in st. 135 to feator, which is nearer to the MS.
spelling fatoure. But it is evident that all he did was to
send a copy of Tytler’s book to the press, since the pecu¬
liarities of the first edition in printing certain words (need¬
lessly and for no apparent reason) in italics are all repro¬
duced, as well as the very strange colophon beginning
“Explicit, ZIC, ZIC”; where ZIC is Tytler’s singular way
of printing &C. Indeed, he not only gives us again most of
Tytler’s errors, such as we for vs {2 f), father is for fetheris
(35). wester for minister (43),pent for present (106), tavartis
(wo), fund in for fundin (169); but he introduces fresh
errors of his own, such as cost for cast (60); bruckt (which
is nonsense) for gruch (91); trige (which is nonsense) for