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Haill! bravest burgeoun brekking to the rose,
The deu of grace thy leivis mot vnclose;
The stalk of treuth mot grant the nurishing;
The air of faith support thy florishing;
Thy noble counsell, lyk trees about thy grace,
Mot plantit be, ilk ane into his place;
Quhais ruiting sure and toppis reaching he
Mot brek the storme, befor it come to the.
They of thy bluid mot grou about thy bordour,
To hold thy hedge into ane perfyt ordour,
As fragrant flouris of ane helthsome smell,
All venemous beistis from the to expell.
The preachers treu mot ay thy gardners b[e]
To clense thy root from weeds of heresie.
Thy gardene wall mak the Neu Testament;
So sall thou grou without impediment;
All lands about sall feir thy Excellence,
And come fra far to do thee reverence:
As I myself and all the rest ȝe se
From Turkie, Egypt, and from Arabie.

As for my self, I am ane German borne,
Quha ay this fasion, vhilk ȝe se, hes worne;
Quhilk lenth of tym culd nevir caus me change,
Thoght I haiv bene in mony cuntrey strange;
Thrugh all Europe, Afrik, and Asia,
And throu the neu fund out America.
All thair conditiouns I do vnderstand,
Baith of the peple, and also of the land;
Quhais trim attyre wer tedious to tell:
Something ȝour grace sall shortly sie ȝour sell:
In contrair clething, ȝour Excellence sall ke[n]
The Turk, the More, and the Egyptien.

Nou sall I shau vnto ȝour Majestie
Hou they and I fell first in company.

Constantinopil, sometym of Christendome,
Pertening to ane Empreour of Rome,
Quho, as we reid, wes callit Constantyn:
Eftir his name he callit the citie syn,
Becaus he lovit it best of tounis all.
Euen thair he sat into his tribunall,
As in the Metropolitan of Grece;
Quhilk his successours bruikit lang in peace,
Till tym that they, throu thair iniquitie,
Were givin ouer vnto the enemie,
As for ane prey, al hail to be devoird.
Thair ȝong men slayn, thair virgins war deflorde;
Thair tender babis, ȝit on the nurish knee,
Tane by the feet and cast into the see.
Let vther lands a mirrour of this mak,
And, by thair nichtbours, example let thame tak.
I will not judge vhairfor that God so did,
Becaus his secreits ar to all men hid:
Bot weill I wot the Lord did so permit;
For vhy? the Turk does bruik this citie ȝit,
And much of Grece he hes into his hands.
Bot for to tell ȝou hou the citie stands
Hard by the syde of the auld Pontus sea,
Fornent it lyis the land of Natalie.
Quha in these pairtis pleisis for to hant,
The Turkis pasport neids not for to want;
Sa I myself, as ane among the laiv,
Requyrit ane, vhilk he me glaidly gaiv,
That I micht come and sie this noble toun,
Quharof befor I hard so grit renoun.
Quhilk vhen I come, my fortun wes to be
Ludgit perchance with this same companie;
Soupit togither; in ane chalmer lay,
Crackand ouer heid, whill it wes neir hand [day.]
I speird at thame vhair that they last com[e fra,]
And eftirward, vhair they myndit to ga.
“We duell,” say they, “vnder the star Antart[ic:]
Nou wald we sie the Vrses and Pole Arti[c.]
We shaip to saill neir the Septentrion,
Touards the North, and helthsome regione
Nou callit Scotland, as we haif hard repor[t]
Of wandring fame, vhilk fleeth ay athort.
Quhair presently beginneth for to ring
So sapient a ȝing and godly King,
A Salomon for richt and judgiment:
In eviry langage he is eloquent.
All lands about do beir of him record,
He is the chosen vessell of the Lord.
To sie this King nou glaidly wald we go;
And, if ȝe pleis to tak ane pairt also,
Ȝe ar bothe welcome, and richt necessar,
Vnto his Grace our comming to declair;
Far ȝe haif travellit throu mony lands,
And eviry language also vnderstands.”—
“Content,” quod I; and so we wer agreit:
Fraughtit our ship, and syne our anker weyde.

Phœbus nou rysing, with his laughing grace
Smylit on Neptuns still and calmit face.
Vp uent our saillis, tauntit to the huins;
The trumpets soundit tuentie mirrie tuins.
Vp went our boyis to the toppis abone,
And ouer the bordour shook our topsaill soon.
Some went before for to shaik out the blind.
Wp went our bonnets; our missens vp behind.
Some, to the gueit fattis for to bedeu the saills,
Bothe foir and eft, our taikle drauis and haillis.
Our bottismen our geir perfytlie neits.
Fair wes the wind, and roum betuene tua sheits.
Maisters and pilots, cunning in that arte,
Went to the compas for to prik the carte,
For to persaiv the dangers vhair they lay:
We passingers went to the chesse to play;
For in that airt we nothing vnderstude,
Thairfor we did thame nather ill nor good.

Our ship wes clene and saillit very fast.
Of Hellespont or we the straits had past,
We struik at Cestus, and at Abydon;
Quhair passing ships are rypit, euery one,
To sie if they haif goods that ar forbiddin;
So from thair presence ȝe may haif no thing hiddin;
For these tua Castells ar the only kees
Of all Turkie, and do divyde the sees—
Pontus Euxinus from the Mediterran.
On Asia syd, appeiris ȝit most plane
The walis of the old and famous Troy,
Quhilks long ago the Greekis did destroy.
The poets wryts that in that place also
Leander died, suimming to Hero.
Sik Pleonasmus figurs I refuse:
I shape a shorter syncopa till vse.
And, to my purpose quicklie for to cum,
We entred nixt in Mediterraneum.
Vnto the Rhods we saild the redy way;
Quhilk wes shortsyne of Christendome, they say.
To Creta nixt our course directit we,
Quhair that they mak this noble Malmesie.
Betuixt the Malt and Cicill lay our rout.
The wind come skant: we docht not double [out.]
Fra that we sau thair micht no better be,
We plungit vp the coast of Calabrie.
Our Maister soon his lyttil vhissell cheir[d;]
His mariners incontinent compeird;
And eviry man did by his taikling stand,
To haill and drau, as he gaiv them command.

“To saill vp Sigeum, mates, we ar assuir[d;]
Thairfor tak on ȝour babert luif abuird.
Out with ȝour boulings. The wind is south south west.
Wp with ȝour sheats, and haill them to the bes[t.]
Come no lauer, bot luif a lytill we;
For ȝon is Sicill with his headis thrie;
Quhais shape, ȝe sie, is lyk to Cerberus;
And, for to deall with, no les dangerous.
Ȝon is Mount Ætna whair the fyre comis out;
ȝon is Charybdis that vhirlis ay about;
And ȝon is Sylla, on the other shore,
Resisting Neptun, making him to rore.
Steir studdie, mate, fra ȝe ȝour self hes sene thame:
Thair is bot dead, or we mon throu betuene thame.”

Fra that we come this gredy gulph within,
We micht not heir ane other for the din.
On baburd syde, the vhirling of the sand;
On steirbuird syd, the roks lay off the land.
Betuixt the tua we tuik sik taillȝeweis,
At hank and buick we skippit syndrie seis.
As ane is done, another neu begins.
Quhill we war past our hair stude widdershins.
God saifd our ship, and ruled our noble ruther,
And helpt vs throu, as he hes mony vther.
Fra we wer past, I wot if we were fane.
We will not grene to gang that gait agane.

We entrit next in the Tyrrhenum sea,
And sailit to tua ylis in Italie—
Sardinia, not far from Corsica.
We wat ane anchor evin betuixt they tua.
We weyde fra thyn, and peyde our anchor custum,
And entrit nixt into the sea Liguscum,
By Minork and Majork, in the Mediterran;
And so alongis all the coast of Spane.
Gebraltars straits, at length, syn passit we,
And entred in the wyd and ocean sea;
Quhais moving maks, as writis Plutarc[hus,]
Into the mone ane face appeir to vs.
I will not dippe into Astronomie,
For feir I fall, in cace I clim so hie:
It is the arte that I did nevir leirne.
Belyve we left all Aragon asterne.

Be we had saillit four and tuentie hours,
The lift begouth for to ouercast with shours.
The cludis blak ouerquhelmit all the skyis.
Neptunus ryders begouth also to ryis;
The bouand dolphin, tumbland lik a vhele:
Quharby our maister vnderstude right wei[ll]
That Eolus wes kindling vp in yre.
The heuins all vox rid as ony fyre.
The cludis rave in shours of grit hailstanis.
Doun, with a clappe, come all our saillis at an[is.]
From the northeist thair come an vgly blas[t.]
Maid vp our takill, and ouer buird went our [mast.]
The storme increst, four dayis, mair and ma[ir;]
Our maister also begouth for to dispair;
Quhill the fifth day, that it began to cleir:
Then, as we micht, we mendit vp our ge[ir;]
Quharof the leist pairt wes remanit haill;
Ȝit at the last we come to Portingaill.
Glaid wes our fellouis, fra that they sau the sho[re,]
And bettir hairted nor they wer before.
They tuik some curage, and begouth to crak.
First, the Egyptian, he began and spak:
“Wes it not heir vhair Pharaos dochter landit,
First of the Scots, as we do vnderstand it?”
The Turk alledgit Gathelus wes a Greke.
So everie man did his opinione speke.
Ȝit baith thair menings wes, I vnderstude,
Ȝour grace wes cumming of thair ancient blude:
Quhilk wes the caus that they so willinglie
Had cum so far, to se ȝour Majestie.
Thus cracking on, we did the way ouerdryve,
Quhill we, at lenth, in Ireland did aryve;
Quhilk wes begun, they said, be thair forbears.
Some held thame treu, and others held them lears;
Some wald say ȝea, and others some said nay.
With Pro and Contra, so shortnit we the way.

Of Osshane syne we passit soon the yle,
In Jarsay and Grinisay, within a pretie vhyle,
Alongst Ingland, within the Yle of Wight;
In at the Nedles our pilot tuke vs right;
Furth at Sanct Ilands; and entrit in pace
Then to the Douns, vhair that we raid a space.
Fra they persaivd the hillis hgih of calk,
One to another they begouth to talk:
“Thir ar the hillis, surely we suppone,
Quharthrou this land is callit Albion.”
They daskand farther:—What if the Quene war de[id?]
Quha suld be nixt, or to the croun succeid?
They follouit furth this argument so far;
Syndrie wes sibbe, bot ay ȝour Grace wes nar.
“Quha wat,” quod they, “bot his Grace may prete[nd?]
The thing is ȝit far of that God may send.
Becaus heirin we na thing vnderstand,
We will not haȝard for to go a land,
Leist they perchance micht find some falt in [vs;]
As Inglishmen ar very captious.
We weyd from thyn, and wald no langer b[yde,]
Bot saild alongst the Inglish haill cost sy[de;]
The vhilk to vs appeired very fair,
Thoght notwithstanding all wes ind and bair;
Ȝet fertill baith for bestiall and corne,
Houbeit, or than, that all wes win and shorn[e.]
Quharas no rare thing in our way we fand,
Quhill we aryvit hard heir at the hand;
Quhar that we sau, evin standing in the see,
The strongest craig, we thoght, in Christentie;
Baith high and stay, when we wer to it come;
Thair wes no way vharby it might be clum:
And als it stude tua mylis of from the land.
Euen thair perchance ane fisher boat we fa[nd;]
We speirit at them vhat kind of craig it w[es:]
They ansueird vs, that it wes cald The Basse.
They sheu us als, vha wes thairof the lord;
And hou that men went vp it in a corde;
And als, hou tua might keep it weil aneugh.
We said na mair, bot come our way, and leugh.
“Ȝe sall,” quod they, “sie mony stranger thing,
If that ȝe chance to trauell with our King.”

Then we come sailing to the Porte of Leith.
To come right in we thoght it very eith;
For other shippis, ather sax or sevin,
Had come befor ws thair, in to the hevin.
Becaus that we wer nevir thair afore,
We tuke the ludging nerest to the shore.
I haif bene far, bot ȝit in all my lyfe
I neuer sau a mirrier hartsum wyfe:
“Be blyth,” quod sho, “for ȝe sall se our King;
God blisse his Grace, and mak him long to ring!”
Becaus she saw that it wes groune lait,
Sho gart hir boyis come with vs all the gait;
Quho broght vs heir, vnto ȝour Highnes ȝett,
Quharas the court with torches all wes sett,
To shau the way vnto ȝour Graces hall,
That, eftir supper, we might sie the ball.
My fellouis comes nou:—I mon mak auay.
God blisse ȝour Grace! I haif no more to say.