Scottish Text Society publications > New series > Kingis quair; together with A ballad of good counsel
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THE KINGIS QUAIK.
9
Till Jupiter his merci list aduert,
And send confort in relesche of my smert.
26 Quhare as In ward full oft I wold bewaille
My dedely lyf, full of peyne and penance,
Saing ryg^t thus, “ quhat haue I gilt, to faille
My fredome in this warld and my plesance ?
Sen euery wight has thereof suffisance,
That I behold, and I a creature
Put from all this—hard Is myn auewture !
27 The bird, the beste, the fisch eke In the see,
They lyve in fredome, eumch In his kynd;
And I a man, and lakkith libertee;
Quhat schall I seyne, quhat resou« may I fynd,
That fortune suld do so ? ”—thaj In my mynd
My folk I wold argewe, bot all for no^t;
Was non that mygAt, that on my peynes rought.
28 Than wold I say, “gif god me had deuisit
To lyve my lyf in thraldome thus and pyne,
Quhat was the cause that he [me] more comprisit
Than othir folk to lyve in suich ruyne ?
I suffers allone amang the figum nyne,
Ane wofull wrecche that to no wight may spede,
And jit of euery lyvis help1 hath nede.”
29 The long[e] dayes and the nyghtis eke
I wold bewaille my fortune in this wise,
For quhich, agane distresse confort to seke,
My custum was on mornis for to ryse
Airly as day ; o happy excercise !
By the come I to loye out of torment.
Bot now to purpose of my first entent:—
1 In drede was written after help, but is crossed through.
9
Till Jupiter his merci list aduert,
And send confort in relesche of my smert.
26 Quhare as In ward full oft I wold bewaille
My dedely lyf, full of peyne and penance,
Saing ryg^t thus, “ quhat haue I gilt, to faille
My fredome in this warld and my plesance ?
Sen euery wight has thereof suffisance,
That I behold, and I a creature
Put from all this—hard Is myn auewture !
27 The bird, the beste, the fisch eke In the see,
They lyve in fredome, eumch In his kynd;
And I a man, and lakkith libertee;
Quhat schall I seyne, quhat resou« may I fynd,
That fortune suld do so ? ”—thaj In my mynd
My folk I wold argewe, bot all for no^t;
Was non that mygAt, that on my peynes rought.
28 Than wold I say, “gif god me had deuisit
To lyve my lyf in thraldome thus and pyne,
Quhat was the cause that he [me] more comprisit
Than othir folk to lyve in suich ruyne ?
I suffers allone amang the figum nyne,
Ane wofull wrecche that to no wight may spede,
And jit of euery lyvis help1 hath nede.”
29 The long[e] dayes and the nyghtis eke
I wold bewaille my fortune in this wise,
For quhich, agane distresse confort to seke,
My custum was on mornis for to ryse
Airly as day ; o happy excercise !
By the come I to loye out of torment.
Bot now to purpose of my first entent:—
1 In drede was written after help, but is crossed through.
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| Publications by Scottish clubs > Scottish Text Society publications > New series > Kingis quair; together with A ballad of good counsel > (87) |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/113909339 |
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| Description | By King James I. of Scotland ; edited by Walter W. Skeat. 2nd and revised edition. Edinburgh : Published for the Society by William Blackwood and Sons, 1911. |
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| Shelfmark | SCS.STES2.1 |
| Additional NLS resources: | |
| Attribution and copyright: |
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| Description | A collection of over 100 Scottish texts dating from around 1400 to 1700. Most titles are in Scots, and include editions of poetry, drama, and prose by major Scottish writers such as John Barbour, William Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and George Buchanan. Edited by a key scholarly publisher of Scotland's literary history, and published from the late 19th century onwards by the Scottish Text Society. Available here are STS series 1-3. |
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| Description | Full text versions of historical texts dating from the 12th to the 19th century. Edited by the Abbotsford, Bannatyne, Grampian, Hunterian, Spalding and New Spalding Clubs, and also the Scottish Text, Spottiswoode and Wodrow Societies. Critical printed editions of manuscripts, including church records, state papers, correspondence, memoirs, diaries, legends and literary texts. |
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