Note 880 — KING JAMES THE FIFTH.

The Christ’s Kirk of the poem, in Tytler’s opinion, was that near Dunideer in Aberdeenshire. About the burial ground of the ancient kirk was a green where, so late as the end of last century, a yearly fair was still held on the 1st of May. “In former times,” says Tytler, “this fair was continued during the night, from which circumstance it was called by the country people Sleepy Market. On such occasions it was natural that such disorders as are so humorously described by the royal author should have taken place.”