Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/361

"A satire levelled against the numerous train of Scotch adventurers who emigrated to England in the reign of James the First, in the expectation of being distinguished by the particular favour and patronage of their native sovereign. So much, indeed, was the king annoyed with these suppliants, that he issued a proclamation at Edinburgh, dated 10th of May, 1610, stating, that the daily resort of idle persons, of base sort and condition, was not only very unpleasant and offensive to his Majesty, since he was daily importuned with their suits and begging, and his royal Court almost filled with them, (they being, in the conceit of all beholders, but 'idle rascals and poor miserable bodies,') but their country was heavily disgraced by it, and many slanderous imputations given out against the same, as if there were no persons 'of good rank, comeliness, or credit within it;' therefore it was ordered that no captains of ships should transport any passenger to England without license of the Privy Council."—The Mirror, May 22nd, 1824.

The above is a note introductory to "Jockie is grown a Gentleman," published from Collet's "Relics of Literature," but we have chosen "The Songs of a, Fine Skott," as given also in The Mirror, which appears more likely to be from the original than that given by Collet, and regarding which is the following explanation, "extracted verbatim et literatim from the MS. diary of a Mr. John Sanderson, an English merchant, who, in the reign of Elizabeth, resided for many years in the East, as factor for the Turkey Company; he returned to England in 1602, and his diary, which embraces a period of fifty years, 1560 to 1610, is an interesting compendium of amusement and information, and is preserved among the Lansdown MSS. in the British Museum. . . . . At the top of the leaf which contains the ballad, he has written, 'A Songe of a Fine Skott, given me by Sir H. Boyer.' This, from its place in the MS., was probably in 1607, but there is no date on the page."