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

INTRODUCTION.
lv
POSTSCRIPT.
Since my former edition of the Kingis Quair was issued
(in 1884), a searching criticism of the poem has been pub¬
lished, with the title—“ The Authorship of the Kingis
Quair; a New Criticism; by J. T. T. Brown. Glasgow,
Jas. MacLehose & Sons, 1896.” Pp. xii, 99. I have no
space for replying in full to the various arguments there
adduced,1 which for the most part challenge the almost
universally received belief—viz., that the author of the
Kingis Quair was no other than King James I. of Scotland.
I can only indicate briefly how it is that most of his
arguments fail to convince me.
The most important points which he seeks to establish
are the following :—
1. That the Kingis Quair copies the Court of Love.
2. That the Kingis Quair is of comparatively late date,
and may be compared with the Quair of Jelousy, a poem
extant in the same MS.
3. That the Kingis Quair misrepresents historical facts.
On these three points I offer a few remarks:—
1. The attitude of critics towards the Court of Love
is usually a mistaken one. It is often deplorably mis¬
understood. It was once attributed to Chaucer, and on
that account has received most absurdly exaggerated
praise. Owing to its late date, the language is easy;
and this fact has probably appealed to many who have
1 It is the less necessary because Mr Brown’s Criticism has been admirably
answered at least twice by others. See Jacques Premier d’fxosse, fut-il
poete? Etude sur 1’authenticite du ‘Cahier du Roi ’; par J. J. Jusserand.
Extrait de la Revue historique, Tome Ixiv, annee 1897. Paris, 1897. Also
‘ The Kingis Quair ’ and the New Criticism. By Robert Sangster Rail.
Aberdeen, A. Brown & Co., 1898.