Mess John

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).