may of myself, much I have to write so long the same is. Send me word what you have determined hereupon, that we know by the one the others mind for marring of any thing. I am weary, and am asleep, and yet I cannot forbear scribbling as long as there is any paper. Cursed be this pocky fellow that troubleth me thus much, for I had a pleasanter matter to discourse unto you but for him. He is not much the worse, but he is ill arrayed. I thought I should have been killed with his breath, for it is worse 45 I cease not to scrible all thys paper inasmickle as restis thairoff.] In the English," as long as there is any paper." Je ne saurois que griffoner autant qu'y reste du papier. Instead of stopping for the night she finishes the sheet, and continues her letter on the paper containing her memorial or notes. 46 Waryed might this pokkish man be.] Maudit soit ce verolé, qui me cause tant de peine. 47 He is not overmickle deformit, yet he hes received very mickle.] Il n'est pas trop gâté, (il a le visage gâté de petite vérole) mais il a beaucoup reçu; in the extracts of the Scotch commissioners," He is not over mikle spilt, yet he hes gotten very mikle;" altered at Westminster from spilt, (spoilt) which was ambiguous or unintelligible, to deformit, and from gotten, to receivit, to accord with the original, which relates rather to the small pox than to poison. "Ill arrayed,” in the English version, is explained by the great resemblance then between r and v, c and t, from which the translator mistook rescu for vestu in the queen's hasty scrawl, of which he guessed the one half. 48 He hes almaist slayne me with his breth.] "I thought I should have been killed with his breath," Engl. Ila pensé me tuer de son haleine, of which Whitaker quotes the translation as proverbial Scotch, i, 228. uncles, and yet I cum na nearer unto him but in ane chayre at the beds fute 19, and he beyng at the uther end thairof. The massage of the father in the gait. The purpoise 50 of Sir James Hammeltoun. Of my estait, of my cumpany, of the occasioun of my cumming, and of Joseph. Item, the purpois that he and I had together. Of the desire that he hes to please me, and of hys repentance. Of the interpretatioun of his letter. Of Willie Hiegaittis matter of hys departing. I had almost forgot that Monsier de Levingstoun sayd in the lady Reres eare 54 at suppar, that he wald drink to the folke that I wist of, if I wald plege thame. And eftir suppar he sayd to me quhen I wes lenand upoun hym, warming me at the fyre, ye have fayr going to se sik folk 55, yit ye can not be sa welcum to thame, 49 At the beds fute.]" By his bolster, Eng. dans la ruelle, probably in the original, the narrow passage between the bed and the wall. 50 The purpoise.] Le propos, a French idiom that repeatedly occurs, and of which the English version preserves the "Of the ambassador," in the English version, is' omitted in the Scotch, as the allusion to Houston, perhaps, was not understood. sense. 51 Of that that the lord of Lusse shewd me.] De ce que le Sieur de Luss m'a montré, the very style and form of a French memorandum. 62 2 Of the demaundis that he askit.] A French idiom, les de than your uncle's breath, and yet I was set no nearer to him than in a chair by his bolster, and he lieth at the further side of the bed. The message of the father by the way. The talk of Sir James Hamilton of the ambassador. That the lord of Lusse hath told me of the delay. The questions that he asked of Ioachim, of my state, of my company, and of the cause of my coming, and of Joseph. The talk that he and I have had, and of his desire to please me, of his repentance, and of the interpretation of his letter, of Will Hiegate's doing, and of his departure, and of the L. of Livingstoun. I had forgotten of the L. of Livingstoun, that he at supper said softly to the lady Reres, that he drank to the persons I knew of, if I would pledge them. And after supper he said softly to me, when I was leaning mandes qu'il fit. To ask a demand, instead of a question, in the English version, is French not Scotch. 53 Of Monseur de Levingstoun.] For the Lord Livingston, an incidental mark of the French original. 54 Sayd in the lady Reres eare.] From dit à l'oreille, the proper French phrase for whispering. 55 Fayr going to se sik folk.] Which the Latin translator, mistaking sik for sic, (such) has rendered bella hujusmodi hominum vistatio. By an unhappy conjecture, that Buchanan, the supposed translator, had also mistaken sair for fair, Goodall converts the passage into "sair going to seik folk," (i. 82.) which Tytler turns into a Scotch proverb, (i. 228.) as if Livingston's address to the queen in a Scotch phrase, could prove that the letter was in the same language. But the English version ascertains the original French phrase of which those writers were ignorant; c'est un beau venez y voir des gens malades, a familiar expression for a worthless sight. as he left sum body this day in regrait, that will nevir be blyth quhill he se you againe. I askit at hym quha that wes with that he thrustit 56 my body and sayd, that sum of hys folkes had seen you in fascherie, ye may gesse at the rest. I wrought thys day quhill it wes twa houris upoun thys bracelet, for to put the key of it wythin the lock thereof, quhilk is coupled undirneth with twa cordwinis 57. I haif had sa littil time that it is evill mayd: but I sall make ane fairer in the meane tyme. Take heid that nane that is heir se it, for all the warld will knaw it; because for haist it wes maid in their presence. I am now passand to my faschious purpoes 58. Ye gar me dissemble sa far that I haif horring thairat: and ye cause me do almost the office of a traitores. Remember how 59 gif it wer not to obey you, I had rather be deid or I dyd it; my heart bleides at it. Summa, he will not come with me, except upoun conditioun that I will promeise to him that I sall be at bed and bourde with hym as of befoyr, 56 Thrustit my body.] Pressed or embraced her with his arm, as in the English version, not as Whitaker supposes, (ii. 154.) punched her with his elbow. "He thirstis her hand agane full previlie." Pinkert. Anc. Scot. Poems, i. 71. That Livingston did not attend her from Callender, his own house, to Glasgow, is a gratuitous assertion. Whit. ib. 57 Quhill it wes twa houris-for to put the key of it wythin the lock thereof, quhilk is coupled with twa cordwines.] Jusqu'à deux heurs pour y mettre la clef dans le trou, (clift, Eng.) qui est attachée par deux cordons; a French word to be found no where else in Scotch. 58 I am now passand to my faschious purposes.] Je m'en vais à mon fascheux propos, in which, if the words are sepa upon him and warming myself, you may well go and see sick folk, yet can you not be so welcome unto them, as you have this day left some body in pain, who shall ne'er be merry till he hath seen you again. I asked him who it was; he took me about the body, and said one of his folk that hath left you this day. Guess you the rest. This day I have wrote till two of the clock upon this bracelet, to put the key in the clift of it, which is tied with two laces.. I have had so little time that it is very ill, but I will make a fairer, and in the meantime take heed that none of those that be here, do see it, for all the world would know it, for I have made it in haste in their presence. I go to my tedious talk. You make me dissemble so much, that I am afraid thereof with horrour, and you make me almost to play the part of a traitor. Remember that if it were not for obeying you, I had rather be dead. My heart bleedeth for it. To he short, he will not come but with condition that I shall promise to be with him as heretofore, at bed and ness; rately Scotch, the sense and idiom are strictly French. The same phrase occurs in Le Croc's letter on the queen's sick"Je n'ay point voulu escrire à M. le C. de Lorraine de si facheux propos." Keith, Append. 133. and in Mary's letter to Elizabeth, qui m'oste le subject de vous ecrire d'un si facheux stile. Haynes, 469. 59 Remember how.] A misprint for you; Souvenez-vous. In her letters to Elizabeth," Souvenez-vous que j'ay tenu promesses." Anderson, iv. 49. Souvenez-vous que je vous ay dit, Aug. 13, 1568. Calig. c. i. ; and in her letters to Norfolk, "I must remember you of your own (herself) at times." Hardwicke State Papers, i. 191. |