The Ship of Fools | Page 8

Barclay, which, coming from a man who was
contemporary with two of them, may be accepted as generally accurate
representations.... Alexander Barclay, Dr Bullein calls Bartlet, in the
irregular spelling of those times; and, asserting that he was 'born
beyond the cold river of Tweed,' we see no sufficient reason for
disbelieving that he was a native of Scotland. Barclay, after writing his
pastorals, &c., did not die until 1552, so that Bullein was his
contemporary, and most likely knew him and the fact. He
observes:--'Then Bartlet, with an hoopyng russet long coate, with a
pretie hoode in his necke, and five knottes upon his girdle, after Francis
tricks. He was borne beyonde the cold river of Twede. He lodged upon
a swete bed of chamomill, under the sinamum tree; about hym many
shepherdes and shepe, with pleasaunte pipes; greatly abhorring the life
of Courtiers, Citizens, Usurers, and Banckruptes, &c., whose olde daies
are miserable. And the estate of shepherdes and countrie people he
accoumpted moste happie and sure." (Collier's "Bibliographical
Account of Early English Literature," Vol. 1., P. 97).
"The certainty with which Bulleyn here speaks of Barclay, as born
beyond the Tweed, is not a little strengthened by the accuracy with
which even in allegory he delineates his peculiar characteristics. 'He
lodged upon a bed of sweet camomile.' What figure could have been
more descriptive of that agreeable bitterness, that pleasant irony, which
distinguishes the author of the 'Ship of Fools?' 'About him many
shepherds and sheep with pleasant pipes, greatly abhorring the life of
courtiers.' What could have been a plainer paraphrase of the title of
Barclay's 'Eclogues,' or 'Miseries of Courtiers and Courtes, and of all
Princes in General.' As a minor feature, 'the five knots upon his girdle
after Francis's tricks' may also be noticed. Hitherto, the fact of Barclay
having been a member of the Franciscan order has been always
repeated as a matter of some doubt; 'he was a monk of the order of St
Benedict, and afterwards, as some say, a Franciscan. Bulleyn knows,
and mentions, with certainty, what others only speak of as the merest

conjecture. In short, everything tends to shew a degree of familiar
acquaintance with the man, his habits, and his productions, which
entitles the testimony of Bulleyn to the highest credit.'" (Lives of the
Scottish Poets, Vol. I., pt. ii., p. 77).
But there are other proofs pointing as decidedly to the determination of
this long-continued controversy in favour of Scotland, as the soil from
which this vagrant child of the muses sprung. No evidence seems to
have been hitherto sought from the most obvious source, his writings.
The writer of the memoir in the Biographia Brittanica, (who certainly
dealt a well-aimed, though by no means decisive, blow, in observing,
"It is pretty extraordinary that Barclay himself, in his several addresses
to his patrons should never take notice of his being a stranger, which
would have made their kindness to him the more remarkable [it was
very customary for the writers of that age to make mention in their
works of the countries to which they belonged, especially if they wrote
out of their own];[1] whereas the reader will quickly see, that in his
address to the young gentlemen of England in the 'Mirror of Good
Manners,' he treats them as his countrymen,") has remarked, "It seems
a little strange that in those days a Scot should obtain so great
reputation in England, especially if it be considered from whence our
author's rose, viz., from his enriching and improving the English tongue.
Had he written in Latin or on the sciences, the thing had been probable
enough, but in the light in which it now stands, I think it very far from
likely." From which it is evident that the biographer understood not the
versatile nature of the Scot and his ability, especially when caught
young, in "doing in Rome as the Romans do." Barclay's English
education and foreign travel, together extending over the most
impressionable years of his youth, could not have failed to rub off any
obvious national peculiarities of speech acquired in early boyhood, had
the difference between the English and Scottish speech then been wider
than it was. But the language of Barbour and Chaucer was really one
and the same. It will then not be wondered at that but few Scotch words
are found in Barclay's writings. Still, these few are not without their
importance in strengthening the argument as to nationality. The
following from "The Ship of Fools," indicate at once the clime to which
they are native, "gree," "kest," "rawky," "ryue," "yate," "bokest,"

"bydeth," "thekt," and "or," in its peculiar Scottish use.[2] That any
Englishman, especially a South or West of England Englishman,
should use words such as those, particularly at a