ROLLAND, JOHN (fl. 1560), Scottish poet, appears to have been a priest of the diocese of Glasgow, and to have been known in Dalkeith in 1555. He is the author of two poems, the Court of Venus and a translation of the Seven Sages. The former, which was printed by John Ros in 1575, may have been written before 1560. The latter was translated from a Scots prose version at the suggestion of an aunt (“ane proper wenche”), who had found his treatment of the courtly allegory involved and uninteresting.
The Court of Venus was edited by Walter Gregor for the S.T.S. in 1884. See W. A. Craigie’s long list of corrections of that edition in the Modern Language Quarterly (March 1898). The Seven Sages was printed in 1578, and frequently during the earlier decades of the 17th century. It was reprinted by David Laing for the Bannatyne Club (1837). Sibbald, in his Chronicle of Scottish Poetry (iii. 287), hinted that Rolland may be the author of the Thrie Priestis of Peblis. There is not a scrap of evidence in support of this; and there are many strong reasons against the ascription.