Alexander Montgomerie
The 16th century poet, Alexander Montgomerie was a younger son of the Renfrewshire laird Hugh Montgomerie of Hessilheid (d. 1558), and related both to the Earl of Eglinton and to King James VI (later James I of England). Nothing is known about his life before about 1580, but contemporary or near-contemporary accounts suggest that he was brought up as a Protestant, spent some time in Argyll before leaving for the Continent, and was converted to Catholicism in Spain. He may have served in the Scottish forces in The Netherlands for a time in the later 1570s. He died between the years 1607 and 1611.
The range of his work is extensive, from elegant court songs to the bitter, sometimes contorted word-play of the sonnets associated with the dispute over his pension, from witty pieces addressed to the king to the profound religious sensibility of ‘A godly prayer'. Montgomerie is one of the finest of Middle Scots poets, and perhaps the greatest Scottish exponent of the sonnet form. Robert Burns was indebted to Alexander as is apparent from his imitating his style and adopting some of his quaint expressions.
The Cherrie and the Slae, which he probably revised and completed shortly before his death, is an ambitious religious allegory, employing a demanding, lyrical form which suggests that it was intended for singing, despite its considerable length. The Cherry and the Sloe in the title may derive from an illusion to the cherry being virtuous and the sloe being easily plucked but bitter to the taste and representing vice. His poetry reaches back to the earlier Makars, Robert Henryson, William Dunbar and Gavin Douglas, and some of his work invites comparison with Baroque writers. Alexander was one of the last court poets to write in Scots. A later poem was entitled a 'Spring Morning' and described one of the royal palaces, probably Linlithgow, on such a morning.
Alexander's son, also Alexander, was reportedly bewitched, together with his cousin, Mrs. Vallange. The case, and therefore the witch, went to trial, because of their 'trouble and sickness', but the court's verdict isn't recorded.
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