[A composite volume : containing The ballads and songs of Ayrshire ...

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THE PRAIS OF AIGE.
his nephew, David, afterwards Earl of Cassillis, to whom the office of
heritable Bailie of that district was ratified by charter in 1489. It is to
this the poet no doubt alludes when he says, in answer to Dunbar
" I am the Kingis blude, his trew speciall clerk."
His claim to royal blood was equally well founded—his grandfather,
Sir
James Kennedy of Dunure, having married Lady Mary Stewart, daughter
of Robert III. Prior to becoming Depute-Bailie of Carrick, Kennedy
was not unknown at Court, and had travelled on the Continent.
appears to have been an expectant of Church preferment. Speaking of
He
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James the Fourth, he says
" Trusting to have of his magnificence,
Guerdon, reward, and benefice dedene."
Mr Laing thinks It probable that he was appointed Provost of Maybole,
on the death of Sir David Robertson, about 1794—the patronage of the
collegiate church in that town, which was founded by Sir James Kennedy
of Dunure, in 1371, still continuing in the family. The period of Kennedy's
demise is quite uncertain. He was alive, though at the "pynt of
dede," when Dunbar penned his "Lament for the Makars," about 1508 ;
and he is spoken of by LjTidsay in 1530, as if he had been dead for a considerable
time
" Or quha can now the warkis countrefait.
Off Kennedie, with terms aureait."
The inference is that he did not survive the illness
alluded to by Dunbar.
It is rather curious that so few of the poems of Kennedy are extant.
Besides
the Flyting, there are only some four or five pieces known to exist.
These are " The Prais of Aige," " Ane Aigit Man's Invective," Ane
'•'
Ballat of Our Lady," " Pious Counsale," and " The Passioun of Christ,"
the latter of which, preserved in the Howard MSS., extends to 245 stanzas,
of 1715 lines. Mr Laing describes it as either presenting a '•' dry summary
of the chief events of our Saviour's life and sufferings, or tedious
episodical reflections, appropriate to the different hours of the Romish
Church service." The most favourable specimen of his poetical talent
which survives is unquestionably the song in " Prais of Aige."
From the
fame of Kennedy amongst his contemporaries, it is evident that the greater
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