I, Robert, went yesterday
A monastery for to see;
But to my wishing they said nay,
Because my wife was not with me!
Among the Irish pieces there are several satirical productions by an Irish Earl Gerald, the fourth Earl of Desmond, directed against the fair sex.
The ruthless and vindictive spirit which at this time prevailed in Scotland may be gathered from the following verses of a battle-incitement on the eve of the invasion of the English, which ended on the fatal field of Flodden:—
Burn their women, lean and ugly!
Burn their children, great and small!
In the hut and in the palace,