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To make the following narrative duly intelligible to readers who have paid little attention to the early character of Britons, it will be necessary to give some account of the gambols conducted by a very popular personage, known in England by the designation of the Lord of Misrule, and in Scotland called the Abbot of Unreason. The irregularities and outrages perpetrated under that disguise became so flagrant, that, by an act of the Scottish parliament, during the reign of Queen Mary, in 1555, the Abbot of Unreason and his sports incurred a heavy censure and rigid prohibition. Under James the Fifth, the sons of noblemen often assumed the lead in those revels; and it is said the king did not disdain to personate the game-some Abbot, who was always selected according to the advantages of commanding stature, inventive fancy, frolic, and enterprise; but his