Minstrelsy of the Scottish border - National Library of Scotland

THE SCOTTISH BORDER, 131
NOTE
THE FLOAVERS OF THE FOREST.
Atfair or at preaching, (^-c.—P. 129. v. 3.
These lines have been said to contain an anachronism ; tlie
supposed date of the lamentation being about the period of the
field of Flodden. The editor can see no ground for this charge.
Fairs were held in Scotland from the most remote antiquity ;
and are, from their very nature, scenes of pleasure and gal-
lantry. The preachings of the friars were, indeed, professed-
ly, meetings for a graver purpose ; but we have the authority
of the Wife of Bath (surely most unquestionable in such a
point,) that they were frequently perverted to places of ren-
dezvous :
1 had the better leisur for to pleie,
And for to see, and eke to be seie
Of lusty folk. What wist I where my grace
Was shapen for to be, or in what place ?
Therefore I made my visitations
To vigilies and to processions ;
To preachings ckc, and to thise pilgrimages,
To plays of miracles, and marriages, &c.
Canterhnry Tales.