Kirkpatrick Sharpe of Hoddam is a descendant of the Closeburne family in the fourth generation; the name of Sharpe having been added, as attached, by the deed of the possessor, to the estate of Hoddam.
_For_ Jhonstoune _send, a man off gud degre:_ _Secund dochtir forsuth weddyt had he_ _Off Halidays, nere neuo to Wallace._--V. 1050.
This was the ancestor of the Marquisses of Annandale.
_Thai trew that he has found hys_ name _agayne._--MS. V. 1092.
_Than passit was_ wtass _off Feuiryher._--V. 1.
In MS., _wtast_; Edit. 1594, &c. _octaues_ of Februar; _octaves_, Edit. 1714.
_--Nympheus, in beldyn off his bour,_ _With oyle and balm fullfillit off suet odour,_ Faunis _materis, as thai war wount to gang_, &c.--V. 12.
In Edit. 1594, l. 14, it is thus given,--
_Canettis in trace_ as they wer wont to gang.
In Edit. 1620,--_Caneittis_, &c.; in that of 1714, _Famous_. In MS. it may be read either _Famus_ or _Faunis_. Although I cannot make sense of the line, there seems to be an allusion to the _Fawns_ of heathen mythology; as the illiterate Minstrel might allude to the _Nymphs_ in the term _Nympheus_.
_Begynnyng band, with graith witnes besyd,_ _Myn auctor sais, scho was his_ rychtwyss wyff.--V. 47.
After ver. 72, a whole stanza is found in Edit. 1594 and 1620, which does not appear in MS.
This vther maid wedded ane Squyar wicht, Quhilk was weill knawin cummin of Balliols blude, And thair airis be lyne succeeded richt To Lammintoun and vther landis gude. Of this mater the richt quha vnderstude, Heirof as now I will na mair proceid; Of my sentence schortlie to conclude, Of vther thing my purpois is to reid.
I hesitate very much as to the authenticity of this stanza. It would not of itself be a sufficient proof that it is wanting in MS., because we meet with similar deficiences; but it does not tally well with the stanza preceding, which speaks only of _a child_, that is, most probably, one to the exclusion of others. As little does it agree with the stanza immediately following in the copies which have adopted it; for it begins with these words;--
Rycht gudly men come of this lady ying, &c.
For this supposes either that there was but one young lady referred to, or that she, who is previously mentioned as having been married to Squire Shaw, had no family.