ke to hym can not be
B y byrth borne to boldnes and audacyte
V nder the bolde planet of Mars the champyon
S urely to subdue his ennemyes echone."

There, we are convinced, speaks not the prejudiced, Scot-hating English
critic, but the heart beating true to its fatherland and loyal to its
native Sovereign.

That "he was born beyonde the cold river of Twede," about the year 1476, as
shall be shown anon, is however all the length we can go. His training was
without doubt mainly, if not entirely English. He must have crossed the
border very early in life, probably for the purpose of pursuing his
education at one of the Universities, or, even earlier than the period of
his University career, with parents or guardians to reside in the
neighbourhood of Croydon, to which he frequently refers. Croydon is
mentioned in the following passages in Eclogue I.:

"While I in youth in Croidon towne did dwell."

"He hath no felowe betwene this and Croidon,
Save the proude plowman Gnatho of Chorlington."

"And as in Croidon I heard the Collier preache"

"Such maner riches the Collier tell thee can"

"As the riche Shepheard that woned in Mortlake."

It seems to have become a second home to him, for there, we find, in 1552,
he died and was buried.

At which University he studied, whether Oxford or Cambridge, is also a
matter of doubt and controversy. Wood claims him for Oxford and Oriel,
apparently on no other ground than that he dedicates the "Ship of Fools" to
Thomas Cornish, the Suffragan bishop of Tyne, in the Diocese of Bath and
Wells, who was provost of Oriel College from 1493 to 1507. That the Bishop
was the first to give him an appointment in the Church is certainly a
circumstance of considerable weight in favour of the claim of Oxford to be
his _alma mater_, and of Cornish to be his intellectual father; and if the
appointment proceeded from the Provost's good opinion of the young
Scotchman, then it says much for the ability and talents displayed by him
during his College career. Oxford however appears to be nowhere mentioned
in his various writings, while Cambridge is introduced thus in Eclogue
I.:--

"And once in Cambridge I heard a scoller say."

From which it seems equally, if not more, probable that he was a student at
that university. "There is reason to believe that both the universities
were frequented by Scotish students; many particular names are to be traced
in their annals; nor is it altogether