For blamynge me, and my condicion, The holy decres have the condempned.

Thou ftryvest against my purgatory,
Because thou findest it not in fcripture;
As though I by myne auctorite

Myght not make one for myne honoure.
Knowest thou not, that I have power
To make, and mar, in heaven and hell,
In erth, and every creature?
Whatsoever I do it must be well.

As for fcripture, I am above it;

Am not I Gods hye vicare?
Shulde I be bounde to folowe it,
As the carpenter his ruler * ?
Nay, nay, hereticks ye are,

That will not obey my auctoritie.
With this SWORDE I wyll declare,
That ye

fhal al accursed be.

55

69

65

70

THE CARDINAL.

I am a Cardinall of Rome,

Sent from Chriftes hye vicary,

To graunt pardon to more, and fume,
That wil Luther refift strongiy:

75

He is a greate hereticke treuly, And regardeth to much the fcripture;

* i. e. bis rule.

For he thinketh onely thereby

To fubdue the popes high honoure.

Receive ye this PARDON devoutely,

And loke that ye agaynft him fight; Plucke up youre herts, and be manlye, For the pope fayth ye do but ryght: And this be fure, that at one flyghte, Allthough ye be overcome by chaunce,

Ye fhall to heaven go with greate myghte; God can make you no resistaunce.

85

Fearynge not our excommunicacion, Therefore shall they al be dampned.

95

II. JOHN

II.

JOHN ANDERSON MY JO.
A SCOTTISH SONG.

While in England verfe was made the vehicle of contreverfy, and Popery was attacked in it by logical argument, or ftinging fatire; we may be fure the zeal of the Scotti Reformers would not fuffer their pens to be idle, but many a pafquil was discharged at the Romish priests, and their enormous encroachments on property. Of this kind perhaps is the following, (preferved in Maitland's MS. Collection of Scottish poems in the Pepyfian library :)

Tak a Wobster, that is leill,

And a Miller, that will not fteill,
With ane Priest, that is not gredy,
And lay ane deid corpfe thame by,
And, throw virtue of thame three,

That deid corpfe fall qwyknit be.

Thus far all was fair: but the furious hatred of popery led them to employ their rhymes in a ftill more licentious manner. It is a received tradition in Scotland, that at the time of the Reformation, ridiculous and obfcene fongs were compofed to be fung by the rabble to the tunes of the most favourite hymns in the Latin fervice. Green fleeves and pudding pies (defigned to ridicule the popish clergy) is Jaid to have been one of thefe metamorphofed hymns: Maggy Lauder was another: John Anderfon my jo was a third. The original music of all thefe burlefque fonnets was very fine. To give a specimen of their manner, we have inferted

one

ne of the leaft offenfive. The Reader will pardon the meanness of the compofition for the fake of the anecdote, which frongly marks the fpirit of the times.

In the prefent Edition this fong is much improved by fome new readings communicated by a friend; who thinks by the "Seven Bairns," in ft. 2d are meant the Seven Sacraments; five of which were the Spurious offspring of Mother Church: as the firft ftanza contains a fatirical allufion to the luxury of the popish clergy.

The adaptation of folemn church mufic to thefe ludicrous pieces, and the jumble of ideas, thereby occafioned, will ac count for the following fact.-From the Records of the General Affembly in Scotland, called, "The Book of the Univerfal Kirk," p. 90, 7th July, 1568, it appears, that Thomas Baffendyne printer in Edinburgh, printed "a pfalme "buik, in the end whereof was found printit ane baudy "fang, called, "Welcome Fortunes*

WOMAN.

"

OHN Anderson my jo, cum in as ze gae bye,
And ze fall get a feips heid weel baken in a pye;

Weel baken in a pye, and the hagris in a pat:
John Anderfon my jo, cum in, .d ze's get that.

ΜΑΝ.

And how doe ze, Cummer? and how hae ze threven? And how mony bairns hae ze? Woм. Cummer, I hae feven. MAN. Are they to zour awin gude man? Woм. Na,

Cummer, na;

For five of tham were gotten, quhan he was awa’.

* See also Biograph. Britan. 1ft Edit. vol. I. p. 177.

III. LITTLE

III.

LITTLE JOHN NOBODY.

We have here a witty libel on the Reformation under king Edward VI. written about the year 1550, and preferved in the Pepys collection, British Museum, and Strype's Mem. of Cranmer. The author artfully declines entering into the merits of the caufe, and wholly reflects on the lives and actions of many of the Reformed. It is fo eafy to find flaws and imperfections in the conduct of men, even the best of them, and ftill easier to make general exclamations about the profligacy of the prefent times, that no great point is gained by arguments of that fort, unless the author could have proved that the principles of the Reformed Religion had a natural tendency to produce a corruption of manners: whereas he indirectly owns, that their REVEREND FATHER [archbishop Cranmer] had used the most proper means to ftem the torrent, by giving the people access to the fcriptures, by teaching them to pray with understanding, and by publishing homilies, and other religious tracts. It must however be acknowledged, that our libeller had at that time fufficient room for juft fatire For under the banners of the Reformed bad inlifted themselves, many concealed papifts, who had private ends to gratify; many that were of no religion; many greedy courtiers, who thirfted after the poffeffions of the church; and many diffolute perfons, who wanted to be exempt from all ecclefiaftical cenfures: And as thefe men were loudeft of all others in their cries for Reformation, fo in effect none obftructed the regular progress of it fo much, or by their vicious lives brought vexation and fhame more on the truly venerable and pious Reformers.