Dame Scotia appears to the narrator in a dream. She was a lady of "ancient genealogy", her hair was the colour of fine gold but untidy, and her gold crown was "like to fall down from her head to the cold earth." She held the shield of the red lion rampant but the lion had several wounds. Her dress was made in three fashions according to her three sons, embroidered with the precious stones of the nobility which were engraved with weapons, embroidered with the texts and books of the Spirituality, and the livestock, crops, merchandise, and tools of craftsmen, merchants and farmers. However this ancient fabric was worn with many losses. Merlin The English works it was aimed against included the pagan prophecies of Merlin to back up their claim of a united Great Britain, whilst the Complaynt stuck to Christian ideals. In Chapter 10, the author declares the English, lending more credence to Merlin's prophecies than the Gospel, justify their wars upon Scotland under the basis of nebulous prophecy that the two nations shall be ruled under one king: "the prophesies of Merlyne, to the quhilk the Inglishmen giffis more confidens nor thai gif to the evangel, by cause that there ald prophane prophesis sais, that ingland and scotland sal be baitht undir ane prince, on this misteous prophesis, thai have intendit weyris contrar Scotland.""misteous. 'misty'. obscure." () Monologue recreative The Complaynt is an important source for information on Border ballads and it contains some of the first references to important ballads such as Tam Lin, Froggy would a-wooing go and The Ballad of Chevy Chase. The names of these songs and poems are recited in Chapter 6, called the Monologue Recreative. This dream-like sequence introduces the main 'Dame Scotia' narration. In the Monologue Recreative the author describes putting his pen down and walking into a beautiful summer day. He hears shepherds speaking of poetry and astronomy, then sees a Scottish warship and its crew and hears their calls. This passage supplies a maritime vocabulary and an insight to seamanship of the period. The Complaynt is also a significant example of Middle Scots language, and the Oxford English Dictionary cites the Complaynt as the earliest source for numerous words, including: axis, barbarian, buffoon, cabinet, crackling, decadence, excrement, heroic, humid, imbecile, moo, parallel, robust, suffocation, superb, timid and water-lily. See also List of English words of Scots origin Explanatory