Mess John is the old epithet in Scottish ballad poetry for a priest, derived from the celebration of the mass, so that "Mess John" signified in irreverent phrase, John who celebrated the mass. The English have a kindred phrase, "Jack Priest".
- "The auld folk soon gied their consent,
- Syne for Mess John they quickly sent,
- Wha ty'd them to their heart's content,
- And now she's Lady Gowrie"
- (The Lass o' Gowrie by Carolina Nairne)
"Mess John" is the title of a poem by James Hogg (The Poems of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd).
References
- MacKay, Charles – A Dictionary of Lowland Scotch (1888)
- Hogg, James (1869). Thomson, Thomas (ed.). The works of the Ettrick shepherd. London: Blackie and Son. pp. 74-78.
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