whole family of Douglas was attainted, and forced into exile. Well might Lyndsay, alluding to their fate, exclaim,
"Quhare bene the douchtie Erlis of Dowglas,
Quhilkis royallie, into this regioun rang?
Forfalt and slane! quhat neidith mair process,
Dame Curia thame dulfullie down thrang."[1]
Of the personal history of the author, whose name was Holland, no kind of information has been discovered. We are even left in ignorance of his christian name; but the poem carries with it the most convincing proof that he was a strenuous adherent of the noble and powerful family of Douglas. The sirname of Holland is, however, so uncommon, and the coincidence of situation and attachment so remarkable, as almost to place it beyond suspicion that the author of the Howlat may have been the Sir Richard Holland, whose name occurs in an Act of Parliament, March 1482, in which a reward is offered for the apprehension of those cummyn of gentill blude,
- ↑ Lyndsay's Works, vol. 1. p. 319. "Dame Curia," says Mr Chalmers, "is an allegorical personage of Lyndsay's creation; and frequently brought forward by him. She guided the destinies of the court, and is frequently employed in hurling down courtiers from their eminence."
