I have hesitated whether this be not an erratum for _half_ or _halff_, frequently used by our old writers in the sense of quarter; but have retained the term as in MS. Edit. 1594 has,--
If _hald_ be the original term, it may lead us to the sense of the common termination in vulgar language, as in _Southilt_, _Wessilt_. V. EASSILT, Etym. Dict. Thus it might be resolved, “_Hald_,” or hold, “to the south of Falkirk.” Isl. _halld-a_ signifies, viam dirigere; Haldorsoni Lex.
_The lauch way till_ Enrawyn _thai ryd._--V. 622.
_Innerauyn_, Edit. 1594; _Inneravin_, Edit. 1648. More properly _Inveravon_, a village near the mouth of the river Avon in Stirlingshire, a little to the south of Kinneil. V. Nimmo’s Map of Stirlingshire. The rhyme requires that this should be pronounced as a word of four syllables.
_For weill thai wyst, that it was_ Jhon off Lyn, _Scottis to slay, he said, it was no syn._--V. 803.
It is not improbable that there might be, in that age, some dreaded English pirate, denominated perhaps from _Lynne_ in Norfolk, especially as it is said that his ship was not seen by Wallace and his companions till they were opposite to the mouth of the Humber. But I have not met with any historical traces of him.
_The_ Roman [bukis] _that than was in Scotland,_ _He gart be brocht to_ scham, _quhar thai thaim fand;_ _And, but radem, thai brynt thaim thar ilkan;_ Salysbery oyss _our clerkis than has tane._--V. 1003.
The Roman _buikes_ that then war in Scotland, He gart thame beir to _cume_ quhar thai thaim fand, &c.--Edit. 1594.
The Roman _bookes_, &c. Hee gart them beare to _Scone_ where they them fand.--Edit. 1620.
Although the essential term, _bukis_, has been omitted by Ramsay, the MS. alone makes sense of the passage. Hart’s emendation is equal in absurdity with the reading of Edit. 1594. By the _Salysbery oyss_, I need scarcely say, those missals are meant which were formed _secundum usum Sarisburiensem_. This agrees with the account given by Bellenden.
“He brint all the Cronikles of Scotland, with all maner of bukis als weill of deuyne seruyce as of othir materis; to that fyne that the memorye of Scottis suld peris. He gart the Scottis wryte bukis efter _the vse of Sarum_, and constranit thaym to say efter that _vse_.” Cronikle, Fol. CCIX, a. Libros sacros _Anglico ritu_ conscribi jussit. Boeth.