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

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INTRODUCTION,
these references are misleading; the eight instances here
alleged really amount to no more than two—viz., ane wofull
(28), and ane surcote (160). In st. 76, ane in the phrase
“ane cryit now” is not the indefinite article, but the word
“one” used emphatically and correctly. And in the re¬
maining five examples—viz., ane Jierte, an huke, an hell,
ane humble, ane hye—there is no objection to the use of ane
before the following h. Barbour’s Bruce (to which we are
referred for correct usage) has ane hill, vi. 527, ane hat, xii.
22, ane hye, xii. 24; we even retain an house in our modern
bibles; 2 Sam. vii. 11, 1 Kings ii. 24, &c. Even if there
are more than these two errors in the course of the poem,
the objection is not a strong one. Cf. ane salmound, Bruce,
xix. 663 (Edinb. MS.)
It is curious that, a few hours after writing the above, I
consulted the excellent little pamphlet by Mr R. S. Rait,
on ‘ The Kingis Quair and the New Criticism ’ (which I had
lost sight of for twelve years), and found there exactly the
same argument, at p. 20. It seems hardly worth while to
pursue a rather minute analysis of this kind ; my own
impression is certainly that, if it be pursued with suffi¬
cient accuracy, no reason will be found for dating the
original composition of the Kingis Quair any later than
1423.
It is indeed a strange suggestion that the author of
the Kingis Quair, a poem which is quite readable and
even pleasing, was capable of the dulness which makes
the perusal of the Quair of Jelousy a considerable
penance. There are, moreover, marked differences in
the language, establishing the greater antiquity of the
former, which was written when Chaucer’s use of the
final -e was much better remembered and understood.