the Scottish poets of that period, the most worthy are precisely those whose works have been preserved. This impression may, however, be an incorrect one; and we have the evidence of contemporary writers that some at least of Dunbar's Makars were as highly esteemed in their own age as himself. William Dunbar was born in East Lothian,1 of the family of the Earls of March. He graduated at St. Andrews in 1479; joined the mendicant order of St. Francis; travelled in England and abroad in the service of that order; and appears likewise to have performed on many occasions the office of clerk or notary in King James's foreign missions. He was pensioned by the King in 1500, and during James's life his home was almost entirely in Edinburgh, and near to the King's person. Here we may picture him in his friar's habit, living on his pension, which is augmented from time to time, and writing to the delight of the King and his courtiers no end of verses on all kinds of topics, humorous, satirical, and imaginative. Dunbar was remarkable for his habit of taking note of all that was passing in the courtly life around him. Almost everything he wrote appears to have been suggested by some incident of court or of city life. And no matter what is the incident, whether a royal marriage, a dance in the Queen's chamber, his own dangerous illness, or the gossip of old wives over their wine, his verse is always vivacious, his animal spirits prodigious. The boisterous levity of his less dignified compositions contrasts curiously at times with his sound but somewhat worldly wisdom; and, in spite of his unequivocal begging for a benefice from the King, which forms the subject of a number of his poems, there are not wanting in others of them strains of a higher and more reflective mood, with here and there luscious Chaucerian scene-painting, or an overflow of fun that is thoroughly human and pleasant. Dunbar's chief poems are The Thrissel and the Rose, and The Golden Targe. These are his works of greatest effort, and represent him very dis 1 He was probably a grandson of Sir Patrick Dunbar of Beill, in East Lothian, younger son of George, 10th Earl of March, and one of the hostages for tinctly as a student of Chaucer and of medieval literature. In his minor pieces we come upon a great variety of metres, and some of Dunbar's lyric cadences are almost perfectly musical. With the disaster of Flodden and the death of James IV. in 1513, the records of Dunbar's life come to an abrupt end. We know nothing of him in the troubled years which followed. The date and place of his death are forgotten; and it is only from references to his memory in the writings of his contemporaries that we infer his death to have taken place about 1520. FROM THE THRISSEL AND THE ROSE.1 DAME NATURE CROWNS THE SCOTTISH LION KING OF BEASTS.' All present were in twinkling of an ee, Baith beast and bird and flower, before the Queen. And first the Lion, greatest of degree, Was callit there; and he, most fair to seen, This awful beast full terrible was of cheer,2 Red of his colour as is the ruby glance; This Lady liftit up his cluvis clear, Of radious stones, most royal for to see; 1 This poem was written in honour of the marriage of James IV. of Scotland to Margaret, daughter of Henry VII. of England, 1503. 2 Face. "Exerce1 justice with mercy and conscience; THE KING AND QUEEN OF FLOWERS. Then callit she all flowers that grew on field, A radious crown of rubies she him gave, Then to the ROSE she turnit her visage, 14 From the stalk royal rising fresh and ying,1 A costly crown, with clarified stonès bricht, This comely Queen did on her head inclois, Wherefore, methocht, the Flowers did rejoice, 1 Exercise. 5 Dame Nature. 2 Power. 6 Qualities. 9 Defend the rest. 10 If. 3 Goblin. 7 Protected. 11 Perfect. 4 Plough-ox. 8 Wars. 12 Benign. 13 The English rose was of more illustrious growth than the French lily. This was in allusion to a former treaty of marriage between James IV. and a French princess. 15 Without. 16 Blemish (Latin, macula). 14 Young. THE TWA CUMMERS.1 Richt early on Ash-Wednesday, "My fair sweet Cummer," quoth the tother,' 9 This lang Lentren maks me lean!" Cummer, be glad both even and morrow ;11 Frae ower lang 12 fasting ye you refrene ;13 "Your counsel, Cummer, is good,” quoth she; My husband is not worth a bean; Of wine out of ane choppin-stoup 17 18 Of drouth sic excess did them constrein. FROM THE GOLDEN TARGE. A MAY-DAY DREAM. Bright as the starn1 of day begouth 2 to shine, 8 Full angel-like thir 10 birdès sang their hours 12 For mirth of May, with skippès and with hops,14 With curious notes, as Venus' chapel-clerks : Down through the rik 16 a River ran with streams, That all the land as lamp did leam of licht; 9 In a morning. 10 These. 3 Rose. 7 Before. 11 Flow. 12 Weep. 4 Rose-bush. 8 Reclothed. 14 This line was read, "with skippis and with hoppis," and the rhymes of this stanza were all double,-hoppis, croppis, knoppis, droppis, etc. Such rhymes are, however, so ungraceful to modern ears that we have sacrificed the reading of the first line for the sake of rendering the entire verse pleasant. |