at I J J A* 
 
PR 
 
 ASf'2'f 
 
 OforneU IntnErottg Ethrarg 
 
 Jtlfata, KetD Sark 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 HENRY W. SAGE 
 
 1891 
 
Corner! University Library 
 PR 2265.A5P29 
 
 The life and poems of William Dunbar. 
 
 3 1924 013 120 823 
 
The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013120823 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND POEMS 
 
 WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 JAMES PATERSON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "WALLACE AND HIS TIMES," *' THE SEMPILLS OF BELTREES," 
 
 ETC. 
 
 '* The excellent poet, unrivalled by any which Scotland 
 has produced." — Scott, 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 WILLIAM P. NIMMO, 2 ST DAVID STREET. 
 
 LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. 
 i860. 
 
^■Sfii.s'' 
 
 Ballantyne &= Company, Printers, Edinburgh. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Little by way of preface, and still less of apo- 
 logy, is necessary in presenting such a work as this 
 to the public. It has long been a desideratum. 
 Hardly, since the days of "The Evergreen," has 
 any portion of the poems of Dunbar found their 
 way through the press in a style which the public 
 could appreciate. Throughout broad Scotland 
 scarcely a vestige of his works is to be found, unless 
 in the libraries of the wealthy who have a taste 
 for antiquarian literature. Even the very " chap " 
 press seems to have been afraid of grappling with 
 the antiquated dress in which the beauties of the 
 poet were hidden ; and thus he has been shut out 
 of those famous resting-places, the " boles " of 
 the farmer's and peasant's ingles, where, in days 
 gone by, selections from the writings of our best 
 authors might often be consulted. As illustrative 
 of this, it may be stated that Burns — certainly the 
 most intelligent and greatest of Scotland's peasant- 
 
IV PREFACE, 
 
 born — had not, apparently, an opportunity of mak- 
 ing himself acquainted with the works of Dunbar. 
 Ramsay and Fergusson he knew and studied ; but 
 in his day " The Evergreen " had become so rare 
 as to be limited to a class, so that he was not 
 aware of the giant, as Crabbe styled our poet, 
 that had gone before him. The name of Dunbar^ 
 no doubt, is extensively known, but his poems are 
 not; and it is with the view of rendering them 
 accessible to all, both as to price and intelligibility, 
 that the present publication has been undertaken. 
 
 Probably our greatest risk of censure lies in the 
 medium course adopted as to the orthography of 
 the poems. Those who stickle for the original 
 dress will declaim against any deviation from it, 
 while the popular reader will possibly be equally 
 dissatisfied that we have not gone far enough in 
 wholly discarding the old garb. We have attempted, 
 perhaps, what is impossible — to please, in so far, 
 all parties. A complete modernisation of Dunbar 
 could not be accomplished without rendering it a 
 paraphrase ; and as all attempts of this kind, as in 
 the MinstrePs "Wallace," and Ramsa/s "Gentle 
 Shepherd," have deservedly proved failures, such a 
 mutilation never once occurred to us. What we 
 have done is simply to modernise such words as 
 are generally understood by ordinary readers, but 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 rendered obscure in consequence of their antiquated 
 spelling, and so to smooth the way to persons not 
 in the habit of perusing the works of old authors. 
 There was no necessity, for example, for continu- 
 ing to spell common words like when in the old 
 form of quhen; but there were others, such as 
 culroun, which could not be altered unless by sub- 
 stituting words of similar import. Now, this is 
 what we have not done, and never intended doing, 
 because we would thereby have robbed the author 
 of that peculiar idiom which constitutes one of the 
 most interesting features of the olden poets. What 
 we have done is simply to render ordinary words 
 more intelligible, and explain such as have become 
 obsolete. 
 
 It may be necessary to remark, further, that in 
 Dunbar's time there seems to have been no fixed 
 standard of pronunciation. Words were frequently 
 lengthened or contracted, according to the measure 
 and rhythm. The rule we have followed in circum- 
 stances of this kind is very simple, as one or two 
 illustrations will explain : — 
 
 " Quhen that I schawe to him your markis, 
 He tumis to me again, and barkis." 
 
 These lines we print thus : — 
 
 " When that I shaw to him your marks, 
 He turns to me again, and barks." 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 We omit the i in markis, turnis, and larkis, be- 
 cause the measure does not require it, and these 
 words could not have been so pronounced in the 
 days of Dunbar. But there are other cases, again, 
 in which the measure absolutely demands an addi- 
 tional syllable, and then the i is retained, as, for 
 example : — 
 
 " The streetzs were all hung with tapestrie ;" 
 
 Or as — 
 
 " When March had with variand wind/s past, 
 And April had, with her silver shours.'' 
 
 In the first of these lines the i is not only necessary 
 in windis, but the word variand must be pro- 
 nounced with three syllables, va-ri-and, distinctly 
 enunciated. So in the second line the i is not 
 necessary in shouris, because the word April was 
 pronounced Aperil. 
 
 But it is needless to load the memory with rules. 
 The intelligent reader will easily understand why 
 the same words are sometimes printed differently, 
 and with more syllables in one case than another ; 
 while the measure and rhythm will guide him 
 generally where no special rule is indicated. 
 
*,* It has not been considered necessary to append a Glossary 
 to this volume, the more difficult words and obscure passages being 
 amply explained in foot-notes. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE GOLDEN TARGE, 
 
 TO A LADY, 
 
 THE MERLE AND THE NIGHTINGALE, 
 BEST TO BE BLYTHF, .... 
 
 OF CONTENT, 
 
 NO TREASURE AVAILS WITHOUT GLADNESS, 
 
 ADVICE TO SPEND ANE'S AIN GUDE, 
 
 NONE MAY ASSURE IN THIS WARLD, 
 
 ERDLY JOY RETURNS IN PAIN, 
 
 OF THE WARLD'S VANITY, 
 
 OF THE CHANGES OF LIFE, 
 
 OF man's MORTALITY, . 
 
 OF THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST, 
 
 ANE ballad OF OUR LADY, . 
 
 THE MANNER OF PASSING TO CONFESSION, 
 
 THE TABLE OF CONFESSION, . 
 
 OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST, . 
 
 OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, 
 
 ANE ORISON, 
 
 PAGE 
 29 
 42 
 
 43 
 48 
 SO 
 SI 
 54 
 S6 
 60 
 62 
 63 
 6S 
 67 
 
 (>9 
 
 72 
 
 75 
 81 
 
 85 
 87 
 
VIU CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 OF LYFE, 87 
 
 GUID COUNSEL, 88 
 
 OF MEN EVIL TO PLEASE, 89 
 
 INCONSTANCY OF LOVE, 9° 
 
 ANE HIS AIN ENEMY, 9' 
 
 THE TWA CUMMERS, 93 
 
 THE devil's inquest, 95 
 
 BEAUTY AND THE PRISONER, 100 
 
 THE THISTLE AND THE ROSE, . . . . I18 
 
 TO THE MERCHANTS OF EDINBURGH, . . .127 
 
 OF SOLICITORS AT COURT, I33 
 
 NEW-YEAR'S GIFT TO THE KING, . . . . I34 
 
 OF THE LADIES SOLICITORS AT COURT, . . . I36 
 
 IN PRAISE OF WOMEN, I38 
 
 TIDINGS FRAE THE SESSION, I40 
 
 THE TESTAMENT OF MR ANDRO KENNEDY, . . I43 
 
 AGAINST TREASON, 150 
 
 DUNBAR'S DIRGE TO THE KING AT STIRLING, . 153 
 
 LEARNING VAIN WITHOUT GUID LYFE, . . .159 
 
 OF DEEMING, 160 
 
 ON HIS HEADACHE, 163 
 
 OF A DANCE IN THE QUEEN'S CHALMER, . . 164 
 
 OF SIR THOMAS NORRAY, I70 
 
 COMPLAINT AGAINST MURE, 1 73 
 
 OF JAMES DOIG, KEEPER OF THE QUEEN'S WARD- 
 ROBE, .175 
 
 OF THE SAID JAMES, . , . . , .177 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 WELCOME TO THE LORD TREASURER, . . .179 
 
 TO THE LORDS OF THE king's EXCHEQUER, . . l8l 
 
 TO A LADY, 182 
 
 THE VISITATION OF ST FRANCIS, . . . .184 
 
 THE BIRTH OF ANTICHRIST, 1 87 
 
 OF THE FENYEIT FREIR OF TUNGLAND, . . . I90 
 
 TO THE KING, WHEN MONY BENEFICES VAKIT, . 202 
 
 TO THE KING, 203 
 
 THE DANCE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, . . 2o6 
 
 THE JOUST BETWIXT THE TAILOR AND SOUTAR, . 214 
 
 AMENDS TO THE TAILORS AND THE SOUTARS, . 220 
 
 HOW SALL I GOVERN ME ? 222 
 
 DUNBAR'S COMPLAINT TO THE KING, . . . 224 
 
 DUNBAR'S REMONSTRANCE TO THE KING, . . 228 
 
 DUNBAR'S DREAM, .... . . 233 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN ASKING, . . . . 238 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN GIVING, . . • . . 240 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN TAKING, 242 
 
 MEDITATION IN WINTER, 245 
 
 LAMENT FOR THE MAKARS, 248 
 
 OF THE WARLD'S INSTABILITY, . . . .261 
 
 WELCOME TO BERNARD STEWART, .... 266 
 
 ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BERNARD STEWART, . 271 
 
 OF ANE BLACKAMOOR, 273 
 
 TO THE KING, 275 
 
 TO THE KING, 277 
 
 TO THE KING, zSl 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 TO THE KING, ........ 282 
 
 THE queen's reception AT ABERDEEN, . . 288 
 
 A GENERAL SATIRE, 29 1 
 
 TO THE QUEEN-DOWAGER, ..... 297 
 ANE ORISON WHEN THE GOYERNOUR PAST INTO 
 
 FRANCE, , 299 
 
 OP LOVE, ERDLY AND DIVINE, . . . 303 
 
 THE FLYTING OF DUNBAR AND KENNEDY. 
 
 DUNBAR TO SIR JOHN THE ROSS, . . . -313 
 
 KENNEDY TO DUNBAR, 314 
 
 DUNBAR TO KENNEDY, 315 
 
 KENNEDY TO DUNBAR, 32S 
 
LIFE AND POEMS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 Dunbar, the Poet-laureate, it may be said, of the 
 Court of James the Fourth, is admitted by the 
 best authorities, both EngHsh and Scotch, to have 
 been a poet of extraordinary merit, and that too at 
 a period when there were many able followers of 
 the Muse. He has been compared with Chaucer, 
 less pathetic, but richer in the variety and quality 
 of his imagination, humour, and powers of descrip- 
 tion. His pieces are not so lengthy as those of 
 Chaucer ; but it is generally allowed that a portion 
 only of his writings has been preserved — the smaller 
 and more epigrammatic. 
 
 The history of Dunbar and his works is, in short, 
 a melancholy illustration of the havoc to which the 
 literature of Scotland has been subjected, in conse- 
 quence of the invasions, burnings, and destruction 
 committed by " our auld enemies of England," and 
 the civil broils arising out of our own feuds. The 
 Reformation, too, however much it tended to the 
 A 
 
2 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 national advancement otherwise, must have swept 
 away much of the early writings of the country. 
 With the down-pulling of the monasteries — those 
 rookeries, as Knox expressed it, where the rooks 
 found shelter — must have perished numerous evi- 
 dences X){ the culture which shed a lustre on the 
 close of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth 
 centuri-es. The devouring flames, kindled by an 
 infuriated mob, destroyed in a few days the work 
 of ages, which would have been now the delight 
 and glory of the land. That the cartularies of the 
 larger religious houses did not wholly disappear, 
 we owe in some measure to the cupidity of the 
 neighbouring barons, who failed not to procure a 
 long lease or assignation of the best of the Church 
 lands, upon easy terms, from the despairing monks 
 prior to the final overturning. In this manner, 
 and by Crowii grants, the monastical charters 
 frequently found their way to the charter-chests of 
 the barons, and many of them have fortunately 
 been preserved.* 
 
 Of the numerous poets of the reign of James 
 the Fourth, with the exception of Dunbar, Walter 
 Kennedy, and Gawin Douglas, scarcely anything 
 is known beyond the fact that they existed, and 
 
 * Some years ago, for example, the Earl of Panmure presented 
 the charters of the monastery of Arbroath to the authorities, to 
 be preserved in the town's archives. They are beautLTully writ- 
 ten, on fine vellum, and bound in three volumes octavo. They 
 have been since printed, adding another to the number of our 
 club books. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. q 
 
 scarcely a line of their inditing has been preserved. 
 But for the MS. collections of Bannatyne, Mait- 
 land, Reidpath, and Asloane, to whose gratuitous 
 labour and love of letters Scotland can never be too 
 grateful, the greater portions of even the works of 
 Dunbar would have been lost. No doubt, "The 
 Thrissill and the Rois," "The Goldyn Targe," 
 "The Flyting " of Dunbar and Kennedy, and 
 " The Lament for the Makaris," were printed in 
 the time of the authors, by Chepman and Myllar, 
 the first printers in Scotland, and might have had 
 a chance of survival in some obscure corner ; but 
 such was the effect of the religious furor into which 
 the nation was thrown by the first and second Re- 
 formations, not to speak of the Puritan war under 
 Cromwell, that the very name of Dunbar and his 
 contemporaries, as well as most of the profane 
 writers and their writings, had been studiously set 
 aside and forgotten. It was even attempted to 
 wed favourite airs to "godly sangs,'^ so that no 
 vestige of the popular lyrical muse of Scotland 
 should remain. 
 
 Until the time of Allan Ramsay, no attempt 
 had been made to evoke the spirit of Scottish poesy 
 from her unwholesome slumber. Ramsay was 
 not only a poet himself, but did much to revive 
 the taste of the people for the ancient muse. This 
 was chiefly done through the medium of " The 
 Evergreen," a collection of Scots poems written 
 before 1600, published in 1724. The Bannatyne 
 
4 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 MS. was the source from whence Ramsay drew 
 his stores ; but he had not sufficient experience in 
 deciphering the antiquated hand in which it is 
 written, and took considerable Hberties with the 
 original. Still, by his exertions, the names of 
 Dunbar, and other poets of the olden time, were 
 partially restored to popular favour, and the taste 
 revived for what was national in poetry, in place of 
 the cold, classical phantasies in which the learned 
 indulged towards the close of the seventeenth and 
 beginning of the eighteenth centuries. To this 
 revival by Allan Ramsay, besides his own inimitable 
 " Gentle Shepherd," we probably owe in a great 
 measure the national outpouring of a Ferguson, 
 a Burns, and a Scott. 
 
 Lord Hailes was the next to follow in the wake 
 of Ramsay, in 1770, by a volume entitled "An- 
 cient Scottish Poems. Published from the MS. of 
 George Bannatyne, 1568." He was more critical, 
 and no doubt better learned than his predecessor, 
 whose liberties, or errors, he fails not to expose, 
 though he himself falls into mistakes, rather sur- 
 prising in one apparently so wary. Notwithstand- 
 ing, Lord Hailes generally exhibits both good taste 
 and judgment in his renderings of obscure phrases 
 and the admirers of ancient Scottish literature are 
 in no small degree, indebted to him. His glossary 
 served as a good aid to Dr Jamieson, while labour- 
 ing at his truly national work, the " Dictionary of 
 the Scottish Language j" and his example stimu- 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. e 
 
 lated other labourers, such as Pinkerton, in the 
 same field. It remained, however, for Mr David 
 Laing, of the Signet Library, to collect and pub- 
 lish not only all the poems known to have been 
 written by Dunbar, but such as are ascribed to 
 him. In the performance of this task, which he 
 accomplished in 1834, he admits the obligation he 
 owes to Lord Hailes, and says, — " It has afforded 
 me much satisfaction in having been thus enabled 
 to follow the footsteps of an editor, who, for learn- 
 ing, research, and judgment, was one of the brightest 
 ornaments of our country during the last century." 
 Those who preceded Mr Laing only ventured to 
 give selections from the poems. By printing the 
 whole he, no doubt, conferred a boon on the curi- 
 ous; but some of them are so deeply tinged with 
 the proverbially " high-kilted " manners of the age, 
 that they might well have been spared, more espe 
 cially as those so defiled are by no means remark- 
 able as emanations of genius. The reverse, in fact, 
 is the case. " The Tua Maryit Wemen and the 
 Wedo," so gross as to place it outside the pale of 
 all respectable homes, is chiefly remarkable, because 
 it is composed in alliterative blank verse, a style 
 not known to have been used in Scotland at the 
 time; and because of the extreme immorality of 
 certain ladies who birl at the wine very freely under 
 the greenwood tree. Occasionally the author shews 
 his inherent powers of description, but, as a whole, 
 it has no pretensions to high poetical merit. By 
 
6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 way of illustration, we may here quote a few pas- 
 sages. It begins, and we give it in the original 
 spelling — 
 
 " Upon the midsumer evin, mirriest of nichtis, 
 I muvit fufth allane, neir as midnicht was past, 
 Besyde ana gudlia grana garth,* full of gay flouris, 
 Hegait, of ane huga hicht, with hawthorna trais ; 
 Quhairon ane bird, on ana branche, so birst out his 
 
 notis 
 That never ana blythfuUar bird was on the bauche 
 
 harda : 
 Quhat through tha sugarat sound of his sang glaid, 
 And through tha savour sanative of the sueit flouris, 
 
 I draw in darna to the dyk to dirkin after myrthis ; t 
 The dew donkit^: the daill, and dynarit the foulis.§ 
 
 " I hard, under ana holynll havinlia green heuit, 
 Ane hie speicha, at my hand, with hautandlT wourdis ; 
 With that in haist to the hege so hard I inthrang 
 That I was heildit ** with hawthorna and with haynd 1 1 
 laivis : 
 
 * Garden. 
 
 ■|- To grope in darkness after mirth. J Wet. 
 
 § Mr Laing explains this to mean that ' ' the birds made a 
 cheerful din or noise ;" but this can hardly be the interpretation, 
 since it was past midnight, when all birds are mute, save, per- 
 haps, the nightingale. Nor does Jamieson's "Dictionary" help 
 us to a meaning. Dynarit seems to mean silenced. "The dew 
 wet the dale, and silenced the birds. 
 
 II The holly grows to a great height and thickness. A fine 
 specimen of the growth of such trees may be seen at Niddrie- 
 Merschell, near Craigmillar. 
 
 H Haughty. ** Covered. 
 
 •H" Perhaps hindberry leaves. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAK. J 
 
 Throw pykis of the plet thome I presandlie luikit, 
 Gif ony persoun wald approche within that plesand 
 
 garding. 
 " I saw three gay ladeis sit in ane grene arbeir, 
 All grathit in to garlandis of fresche gudelie flouris ; 
 So glitterit as the gold wer thair glorius gilt tressis , 
 Ouhill all the gressis did gleme of the glaid hewis ; 
 Kemmit was thair cleir hair, and curiouslie sched 
 Attour thair schulderis doun srhyre, schyning full 
 
 bricht ; 
 With curches, cassin thame abone, of kirsp cleir and 
 
 thin: 
 Thair mantillis grain war as the gress that grew in May 
 
 sessoun ; 
 Fetrit with thair quhyt fingaris about thair sydis : 
 Oft" ferliful fyne favour was thair faceis meik, 
 All fuU of flurist fairheid, as flouris in June ; 
 Quhyt, seimlie, and soft, as the sweit lillies ; 
 New up spred upon spray, as new spynist* rose, 
 AiTayit ryallie about with mony rich wardour. 
 That Nature, full nobillie, annamalit fine with flouris 
 Off alkin hewis under hevin, that ony heynd knew ; 
 Fragrant, all full of fresche odour, fynest of smell, 
 Ane marbre tabill coverit wes befoir thai three ladeis. 
 With ryale cowpis upon rawis full of ryche wynis : 
 And of thir fair wlonkes,t with tua that weddit war 
 
 with lordis, 
 Ane wes "ane wedow, I wist, wantoun of laitis. 
 And, as thai talket at the tabill of mony taill fund3, 
 
 * Full blown. f Women of rank. 
 
8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 They wauchtit at the wicht wyne, and warit out wourdis ; 
 And syne thai spak more spedehe, and sparit no 
 materis." 
 
 The scene here, past midnight at midsummer, 
 when no more than a hazy darkness prevails, is 
 beautifully described. The picture is complete; and 
 fancy at once portrays the group, " wauchting at 
 the wicht wyne.'^ From this specimen the reader 
 will easily comprehend what the alliterative style is. 
 Take the fourth line — 
 
 " Quhairon ane bird on ane bransche^ so birst out his 
 
 notis." 
 
 B'lrst, as applied to the singing of a bird, strikes 
 the ear as somewhat harsh. It is used for the sake 
 of alliteration ; yet it is perfectly correct. The bird 
 so pressed out his notes. 
 
 The widow starts the conversation — 
 
 " Bewrie, said the wedo, ye weddit wemen ying, 
 Ouhat mirth ye fand in maryage, sen ye war menis 
 
 wyffis ; 
 Reveill gif ye rewit that rakles conditioun ? 
 Or gif that ever ye loffit leyd upone lyf mair 
 Nor thame that ye your fayth hes festint for ever ? 
 Or gif ye think, had ye chois, that ye wald cheis better ? 
 Think yet it nocht ane Wist band that bindis so fast 
 That none unto it adew may say bot the deithe alane ?" 
 
 Then the ladies, one after the other, relate their 
 experiences. The first is sick of her old " walli- 
 drag." 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. g 
 
 " God gif matrimony were made to mail for ane yeir ! 
 It war bot monstrous to be mair, but gif our myndis 
 
 plesit : 
 It is agane the law of luif, of kynd, and of nature, 
 Togiddir hartis to strene,* that stryveis with uther : 
 Birdis has ane better law na barnis be meikill,t 
 That ilk yeir, with new joy, joyis ane maik."t 
 
 The second married lady follows up in a still 
 more fierce denunciation of her husband, whom she 
 describes as young, but wasted by a debauched life — 
 
 " He is for ladyis in luf a richt lusty schadow ;" 
 
 and blames her friends for casting her away on 
 " sic a craudoune.''' 
 
 " Anone quhen this amyable had endit hir spache. 
 Loudly lauchand the laif aUowit hir mekle : 
 Thir gay wiffis maid game amang the grena leififis ; 
 Thai drank, and did away dule, under derne bewis ; 
 Thai swapit of the sueit wyne, thai swan quit of hewis, 
 Bot all the pertlyar in plane thai put out thair vocis." 
 
 The widow then took up the tale, by admitting 
 that she was a shrew from the beginning, but full of 
 dissimulation, so that people thought her a saint — 
 
 " I schaw you, sisters in schrift,§ I wes a schrew evir, 
 Bot I was schene in my schrowd, an schew me innocent ; 
 And thought I dour wes, and dane, dispitois, and bald, 
 I was dissymblit suttelly in a Sanctis liknes : 
 
 * Strengthen. + Bemis that are meikle-men. 
 
 J Mate. § Confession. 
 
lO LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 I semyt sober, and sueit, and sempill without fraud, 
 Bot I couth sexty dissaif that suttillar wer haldin." 
 
 Her story is a very depraved one. She had been 
 twice married, and both husbands loved her, so well 
 did she manage her part. The first was " ane hair* 
 hogeart :" 
 
 " Weil couth I claw his cruke bak, and keme his cowit 
 noddiU." 
 
 Her second husband was "a merchand myghti of 
 gudis," but of middle age, and of less noble blood 
 than herself, upon which she rung the changes so 
 as to bring him thoroughly under her rule — 
 
 " Quhen I the cur had all clene, and him our cummyn 
 haill, 
 I crew abone that cradone, as cok that were victoir." 
 
 Still she modified her dislike, until she had "gottin 
 his biggingis to [her] barne, and his burrow landis ;" 
 and "quhen he had warit all on [her] his welth, 
 and his substance,'^ then she let loose her long 
 bottled-up dislike, dressing her own children " like 
 barronis sonnis, and maid bot fulis of the fry of his 
 first wyf," at the same time banishing from her 
 " boundis his brether ilk ane." And now, having 
 erded him also, she is on the look-out for a third 
 husband. The two married wives thanked her for 
 " her soverane teching." 
 
 * Hoary. 
 
\VILLTAM DUNBAR. n 
 
 " Than culit thai thair mouthis with confortable drinlds ; 
 And caipit full cummerlik, with cop going round." 
 
 The poet then describes the breaking up of the 
 company in the same glowing spirit displayed in 
 the introduction — 
 
 " Thus draif thai our that deir night, with danceis full 
 
 noble, 
 Quhill that the day did up daw, and dew donkit the 
 
 flouris ; 
 The morow myld wes and meik, the mavis did sing. 
 And all remuffit the myst, and the maid smellit ; 
 Silver schouris doune schuke, as the schene cristall, 
 And birdis schoutit in schaw, with thair schill notis ; 
 The goldin glitter and gleme so gladit thair hertis, 
 Thai maid a glorious glee amang the grene bewis. 
 The soft souch of the swyr,* and soune of the stremys, 
 The sueit savour of the sward, and singing of foulis, 
 Myght comfort ony creatur of the kyn of Adam ; 
 And kindill agane his curage thocht it were cold sloknyt. 
 
 " Than rais thir ryall roisis, in thair riche wedis. 
 And rakit hame to thair nest, through the rise t blumys ; 
 And I all prevely past to a plesand arber, 
 And with my pen did report thair pastance most mery." 
 
 With much archness the poet concludes — 
 
 " Of thir three wantoun wiffiis, that I half writtin heir, 
 Quhilk wald ye waill to your wif, gif ye suld wed one ?" 
 
 In printing the poems of Dunbar as full as he 
 found them, Mr Laing has shewn great research, if 
 
 * The neck or opening to a valley. + Brushwood. 
 
12, LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 not equal accuracy, and no doubt he has his re- 
 ward in the approval and thanks of the more rigidly 
 antiquarian world. 
 
 We do not, however, mean to follow his foot- 
 steps. Having carefully selected our material, and 
 collated the doubtful passages with the Bannatyne 
 MS., we have excluded the more indelicate pieces, 
 and so riddled the explanatory annotations of 
 Haiies and others as to bring the work within 
 something like its natural dimensions. At the 
 same time, we by no means wish it to be under- 
 stood that Dunbar was immoral. On the contrary, 
 there is every reason to believe that he was com- 
 paratively an amiable person. His looseness of 
 language, and, it may be, of conduct in some 
 instances, was the fault of the age, and by that 
 standard it is but right that he should be judged. 
 But there is no reason why the blemishes of bygone 
 times should be repeated in the present ; and still less 
 that, because of these objectionable poems — only 
 one or two in number — the remainder should be 
 shut out from that popularity to which their high 
 merit entitles them. In this spirit the present 
 work has been undertaken, so as at once to supply 
 a moderately-priced, intelligible, and accurate edi- 
 tion of the poems of one of the greatest of our 
 olden poets — the Burns, as he may be styled, of 
 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 
 
 And that they may the more readily find their 
 way to public favour, we have been at much pains 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I3 
 
 SO to modernise the orthography, that the reader 
 may have little more difficulty in their perusal than 
 he would experience with almost any of our mo- 
 dern Scottish poets. And this, we flatter ourselves, 
 has been accomplished without in any way marring 
 the peculiarities in language or style of the author. 
 Where the words are obsolete, the old spelling has 
 been adhered to, with explanatory notes. We know 
 that the mere literary antiquary will declaim against 
 this liberty, but it is no reason why, because of his 
 humour, the beauties of our ancient poets should 
 be locked up from the masses. As well might 
 there be no translations from the dead languages, 
 that all might be compelled to read in the original, 
 or remain without a knowledge of ancient litera- 
 ture. It is surely sufficient for the student of his- 
 tory, of language, or of literature, that such writings 
 do exist in their original form, and may be con- 
 sulted at convenience, without compelling all to 
 follow his example, or be deprived of one of the 
 greatest pleasures of which an intelligent mind can 
 be susceptible — a knowledge of what the genius of 
 his country has provided for his instruction and 
 gratification. 
 
 The research of all the annotators and biogra- 
 phers of William Dunbar, it may well be re- 
 marked, has done very little to penetrate the 
 obscurity in which the wars, the feuds, and the 
 Calvinism of the past have involved his memory. 
 Beyond the fact, for which Mr Laing must get 
 
14 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 credit, thai; his name occurs in the old register of 
 th° University of St Andrews as one of the deter- 
 minantes, or Bachelors of Arts, in St Salvator's 
 College, in 1477, and again in 1479, as having 
 taken his degree of Arts, scarcely a single iota has 
 been added beyond what his own pen and that of 
 his poetical contemporary, Kennedy, supplies. As 
 it required three years' attendance at college before 
 a student was entitled to rank among the determi^ 
 nantes, Mr Laing concludes, on the calculation as 
 in our own times, that Dunbar must then have 
 "had at least attained fifteen or sixteen years of 
 age," thus dating his birth about 1460. But the 
 nature of his remonstrances with James IV., his 
 royal patron in after life, if they are to be viewed in 
 any other light than tolerated exaggerations, would 
 lead us to believe that he had been born several 
 years earlier. 
 
 From what Dunbar says, in " The Flyting " with 
 Kennedy, as to his making " fairar Inglis " with 
 his Lothian hips than he could " blabbar with his 
 Carrik lippis," it may be inferred that he was born 
 in Lothian ; and the supposition has been carried 
 so far as to connect him with the Dunbar s of Beill, 
 almost the only branch of the Earls of March who 
 survived the attainder of that family by James I. 
 " Magistro Willielmo de Dunbar," son of " Patrick 
 of Dunbar of Bele," appears in a deed dated 3d 
 July 1440. This Maister William was too old to 
 be the poet himself", and too young to be his father. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 15 
 
 though he may have been his uncle, or some near 
 relation. But whether he was of the Bele family 
 or not, Kennedy, in " The Flyting," is careful to 
 shew that, while a descendant of Cospatrick of 
 Dunbar, who had betrayed Scotland, he had no 
 immediate connexion with the Dunbars of West- 
 field :— 
 
 " Deulbeir hes nocht ado with ane Dunbar, 
 
 The Erie of Murray bure that surname rycht, 
 That evir trew and constant to the kingis grace war, 
 
 And of that kin cam Dunbar of Westfield, knycht ; 
 
 That successioun is hardy, wyse, and wicht, 
 And hes na thing ado now with thee, devill ; 
 But Deulbeir is thy kin, and kennis thee weith. 
 
 And hes in hell for thee ane chalmer dycht." 
 
 Thus there was no other branch of the Dunbars 
 of any note, save that of Belli, from whom the 
 poet could be descended, and possibly he was 
 descended from them ; but if Kennedy is good as 
 an authority in one way, he must be equally so in 
 another. Elsewhere, in reference to Dunbar's birth, 
 he says : — 
 
 " Wanthriven_/««//«^, that Natour made ane _>';'&." 
 
 Yrle means a dwarf; so we are to understand that 
 the poet was not only of doubtful parentage, but 
 personally of dwarfish stature. At al'l events, we 
 may conclude that, whatever branch of the Dunbars 
 he sprang from, they had by no means escaped the 
 ruin which so richly befell the traitorous house of 
 
l6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Dunbar. Although " The Flyting " is to be con- 
 sidered as a mere trial of rhyming skill in banter, 
 without enmity on either side, yet it is evident that 
 unless the statements of the parties were based on 
 something like reality, they would have fallen point- 
 less. 
 
 Of the educational progress of Dunbar, nothing 
 is known beyond the fact that he studied at St 
 Andrews, and took the degree of Master of Arts in 
 1479. That, early in life, he became a friar of the 
 order of St Francis, or Grey Friars, a branch of 
 whom, the Ohservantines, was established in Edin- 
 burgh by James I.,* we know from his own state- 
 ment, in " The Visitation of St Francis : " — 
 " Gif evir my fortoun was to be a freir 
 The dait thairof is past full mony a yeir ; 
 For in to every lusty toun and place, 
 Off all Yngland, from Berwick to Kalice, 
 I half in to thy habeit maid gud cheir. 
 
 " In freiris weid full fairly haif I fleichit, 
 In it haif I in pulpet gone and preichit 
 In Demtoun kirk, and eik in Canterberry 
 In it I past at Dover oure the ferry, 
 Throw Piccardy, and thair the peple teichit." 
 
 Dunbar had evidently no relish for the life of a 
 
 friar, having long before abandoned the garb which 
 
 his tempter, the devil, in the form of St Francis, 
 
 urged him to resume. With arch humour he says : 
 
 • The present Greyfriars' Church still keeps in memory the 
 order of St Francis. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 17 
 
 " In haly legendis haif I herd allevin, 
 Ma Sanctis of bischoppis, nor freiris, be sic savin ; 
 Off full few freiris that hes bene Sanctis I reid ; 
 Quhairfoir ga bring to me ana bischoppis weid, 
 Gife evir thow wald my saule yeid unto hevin." 
 
 It is no doubt to this period in the poet's life that 
 Kennedy alludes in " The Flyting : •'•' — 
 
 " Fra Attrik Forrest furth ward to Dumfreiss 
 Thow beggit with ane pardoun in all kirkis.'' 
 
 The fact of his having acted in the capacity of 
 a pardoner is all but admitted by Dunbar, and the 
 circumstance, although he had not himself so fre- 
 quently alluded in his poems to the poverty of his 
 position, sufficiently indicates the want of family 
 patrimony. And yet he says, in one of his remon- 
 strances to the king : — • 
 
 " I was in yowth on nureiss knee 
 Dandely ! bischop, dandely ! 
 
 And quahn that age now dois me greif, 
 Ane sampill vicar I can nocht be ;" 
 
 which would imply that the prospects of his child- 
 hood were such as to warrant the expectation of 
 promotion in the Church. The birth and parent- 
 age of Dunbar are thus involved in much mys- 
 ter)'. 
 
 It is not known for a certainty when he came to 
 be employed by the king. He is supposed to have 
 been in the embassy to France, which sailed, under 
 the Earl of Bothwell, from Berwick in 1491. An 
 
1 8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 item in the treasurer's accounts, dated i6th July of 
 that year, is believed to refer to the poet : — " Item, 
 till a prest that wrayt the instrumentis and oderis 
 letteris, that past with the imbassitouris in Frarice, 
 36s." It is very probable that Dunbar was the priest 
 referred to. Indeed, he could hardly have entered 
 the royal service at an earlier period, as James only 
 ascended the throne in 1488, and would, ia 1491, 
 be nineteen years of age. The name of the ship 
 in which the embassy sailed was, as stated in the 
 treasurer's accounts, the Katryn, and Kennedy, in 
 "The Flyting," in allusion to Dunbar's going 
 abroad, says — 
 
 " Into the Katherene thow maid ane fowl! Kahute ;" 
 
 a Strong coincidence in proof of the fact that the 
 poet actually was attached to the embassy which 
 sailed in that vessel. 
 
 It is of some importance that this point should 
 be understood, because upon it turns most of the 
 few known incidents in the life of Dunbar. It 
 would appear that, when "The Flyting" was 
 written, or at least a portion of it, he was abroad. 
 He says to Kennedy : — 
 " Or thow durst move thy mind mahtius 
 
 Thow saw the saill abone my heid updraw ; 
 But Eolus full woid, and Neptunus, 
 
 Mirk and moneless, wes met with wind and waw, 
 And mony hundreth myle hyne cowd us blaw 
 By Holland, Seland, Zetland, and Northway coist, 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I9 
 
 In desert place quhair we wer famist aw ; 
 Yet come I hame, fals baird, to lay thy boist." 
 
 Upon the strength of these statements — not 
 thoroughly understood apparently — but chiefly on 
 the coincidence of the name of the vessel, Laing at 
 first concluded that " The Flyting " must have 
 been written "a fewf years after 1491," and to 
 render this possible, he made Dunbar remain in 
 Paris after the return of the Scottish embassy, that 
 he might fulfil the commissions with which he 
 supposed him to have been intrusted, not only to 
 the court of France, but to other crowned heads. 
 It is clear from Kennedy that his opponent was 
 abroad at the time he wrote his last reply : — 
 
 " Thow hes ane tome purss, I haif steidis and takkis, 
 Thow tynt culter, I haif culter and pleuch ; 
 For substance and geir thow hes a widdy teuch 
 
 On Mont Falcone,* about thy craig to rax. 
 And yit Mont Falcone gallowis is our fair, 
 For to be fylit with sic ane frutless face ; 
 Cum hame, and hing on our gallowis of Air. 
 ****** 
 
 " Because that Scotland of thy begging irkis, 
 Thow schniDis in France to be a knycht of the feild ; 
 #-„-«*** 
 
 " Thow may nocht pass Mont Bernard for wyld beistis, 
 Nor win throw Mont Scarpy for the snaw ; 
 
 * In Paris, where criminals used to be hung. 
 
-20 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Mont Nicholace, Mont Godard thee arrestis, 
 
 Sic beis of brigand blindis thame with ane blaw. 
 In Paris with thy maister, Burreaw, 
 Abyd." .... 
 
 In France Dunbar evidently was when Kennedy 
 wrote this, but that Dunbar's last voyage to the 
 Continent occurred in 1491 is out of the question. 
 
 It is known that the Earl of Bothwell's embassy, 
 which sailed in July 149 1, returned in the end of 
 November following. Laing presumed that Dun- 
 bar was left in Paris, " for the purpose of crossing 
 the Alps in the further prosecution of ' the erandis' 
 of his royal master ; " but it is not likely that one 
 so little known at court as to be designated " a 
 prest that wrayt the instrumentis and oderis let- 
 teris," should be so hastily intrusted with the 
 king's ambassadorial business. Indeed, there was 
 hardly time, from the sailing of the Katryn in 
 July 1491 till her return in November of the same 
 year, to have experienced so much peril and fatigue, 
 and in July the weather is seldom so " mirk and 
 moneless " as Dunbar describes. According to his 
 own statement, he must have been abroad many 
 times on the " kingis erandis." In his " Com- 
 plaint to the King" he says : — 
 
 " Gif I be ane of thay my sell, 
 Throw all regiounes hes tain hard tell, 
 Of quhilk my wryting witness beiris." 
 
 And in another address to his majesty, on the often 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 21 
 
 reiterated subject of his " small reward/' he gives 
 us some notion of the various countries he had 
 visited : — 
 
 " Nocht I say this, by this countrie, 
 France, Ingland, Ireland, Almanie, 
 Bot als be Italie and Spaine, 
 Ouhilk to consider is ane paine.'' 
 
 That "The Flyting" was written at several 
 periods, with considerable intervals between, seems 
 beyond question. In reply to Kennedy's first 
 assault, Dunbar, alluding, as we have seen, to his 
 having been cast away on the northern coasts, 
 says — 
 
 " Yet coTiie I hame, fals baird, to lay thy boist." 
 
 At whatever time this voyage had taken place, he 
 had come home, and wrote his reply while in Scot- 
 land; but before Kennedy had again buckled on 
 his armour for another tilt, Dunbar had gone to 
 France upon some new mission, and was there, as 
 already shewn, when the contest was brought to a 
 close. 
 
 For these and other reasons we think " The 
 Flyting " could not be written so early as " a few 
 years after 149 1." Kennedy speaks of Dunbar's 
 sailing in the Katryn as having occurred twenty 
 years before their poetical feud : — 
 
 " The dirt cleivis till hir towis this twenty yeir ;'' 
 
 a passage which Mr Laing found necessary to 
 
32 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 explain away as meaning twenty years to come. 
 But although necessary to coincide with his then 
 theory, this is not the true reading. Were we to 
 view it in its literal sense, however, and taking it 
 for granted that the voyage referred to by Kennedy 
 actually occurred in 1491, it would bring the com- 
 position of "The Flyting" down to 151 1, which 
 we know could not be, as it was printed in 1508 ; 
 but suppose the verses to have been published soon 
 after they were finished, and their popularity seems 
 to indicate that this was the case, there would be 
 little impropriety in speaking, in 1^06 or 1507^ °f 
 a thing having lasted " this twenty yeir " which 
 originated in 1491, at least fifteen years before ; 
 . and it is evident that in passing from the previous 
 topics, as to Dunbar's shaping " in France to be a 
 knycht of the field," he drops the present for some- 
 thing that is past. 
 
 Mr James Chalmers, nephew of the author of 
 " Caledonia," to both of whom Mr Laing expresses 
 his obligations, was of opinion that " The Flyting " 
 was " not composed till between 17th March 
 1503-4, when Dunbar said his Jirst mass in the 
 king's presence, and the summer of 1505, when 
 Stobo is supposed to have died." Mr Chalmers 
 proceeded on the idea that Dunbar had not been a 
 priest for any length of time before he said his first 
 mass, and therefore the question of Kennedy — 
 
 "Ana benefice quha wald gif sic ane beist?" 
 would have been inappropriate prior to the 17th 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 33 
 
 March 1503-4. Mr Lalng, however, met this by 
 stating that he must have been in holy orders when 
 he travelled as a mendicant friar, because Dunbar 
 himself says he then preached both in England and 
 France, and that " the terms of the grant of his 
 pension, in August 1500, shew equally clearly that 
 he was qualified to accept, and that he expected 
 some benefice." This is, to some extent, true ; but 
 if " The Flyting " was written during the absence 
 of Dunbar, when on his voyage in the Katnjn, 
 the question could not have been put with so much 
 pungency as after his pension from the crown, 
 which was to continue until his promotion to a 
 benefice. 
 
 In the notes to " The Flyting," Mr Laing ex- 
 tends the supposed period of its composition to 
 between 1493 and 1497, without assigning any 
 reason for this change of opinion. It can hardly 
 be surmised that Dunbar remained abroad from the 
 sailing of the Katryn, in July 1491 to 1497, which 
 one would require to do in order to give Mr Laing's 
 argument any weight. Again, in an additional 
 note, referring to Mr Chalmers's suggestion, he 
 says, " Whether Dunbar's admission to the highest 
 order of priesthood in the Romish Church was 
 immediately preceding the date of his performing 
 mass in the king's presence, cannot be ascertained ; 
 . . . but this at least qualified him to officiate as 
 king's chaplain, when attending James in his occa- 
 sional visits to different parts of the country." In 
 
24. LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Other words, Mr Laing admits that " admission to 
 the highest order of priesthood" was a necessary- 
 qualification before being presented to a benefice, 
 and the probability is, that Dunbar was not so 
 qualified any length of time before the 17th March 
 
 1504-5- 
 But we are not left altogether to surmise in this 
 
 matter. Dunbar, after having come home to lay 
 
 his false boast, says of Kennedy : — 
 
 " In till ane glen thow hes, owt of repair, 
 Ane laithly luge that wes the lippir mennis." 
 
 Now, Walter Kennedy, the poet, was the sixth son 
 of Gilbert, first Baron Kennedy, and the ancestor of 
 the Kennedies of Glentig, in Carrick, which pro- 
 perty he acquired from John Wallace of Glentig, 
 and had a charter of the lands 8th December 1504. 
 There can be no doubt that the above lines refer 
 sarcastically to Glentig, the newly-acquired laird- 
 ship of Kennedy, otherwise there would have been 
 no point in the sarcasm ; and if so, it shews that 
 even Dunbar's principal part of "The Flyting" 
 must have been written after December 1504. It 
 is true that the pension granted to Dunbar was 
 paid very regularly twice a year, from 1500 down- 
 wards, during the reign of James IV. ; but there 
 was ample time for him to have visited not only 
 France, but other foreign countries during the in- 
 termediate periods. Nor can it be supposed that 
 all the services to the king, for which he prayed so 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 3^ 
 
 frequently for guerdon, were performed before 1500, 
 when his small pension of ^10 Scots was first 
 obtained. 
 
 Nor are we to suppose that Dunbar was so far 
 advanced in years between 1504 and 1508, when 
 " The Flyting " was printed, as to be incapable of 
 the spirit it displays. Lord Hailes spoke in igno- 
 rance of facts in his remarks on the " Lament for 
 the Makaris," written at the latest in 1507-8, for 
 the poem was printed in 1508. "We see the once 
 gay Dunbar," say his lordship, " now advanced in 
 years, deprived of his joyous companions, and pro- 
 bably jostled out of court by other wits younger and 
 more fashionable. This 'Lament' has not the spirit 
 of some of his earlier compositions. The solemn 
 burden, ' Timor mortis conturlat me,' seems to 
 shew under what impressions the aged poet com- 
 posed this general elegy. It may serve as a proper 
 introduction to his religious poems.^' The spirited 
 and beautiful poem, " The Thrissill and the Rois," 
 was written in 1503. Dunbar could hardly have 
 been so much depressed by age in 1507 — only four 
 years afterwards — as to be capable of only indulg- 
 ing in such poems as the " Lament." If born in 
 1460, as supposed by Mr Laing, he would be no 
 more than forty-seven in 1507, and therefore by no 
 means an aged person. His genius, however, was 
 capable of almost every range of feeling — the pa- 
 thetic, the lively, and the humorous ; and if he was 
 solemn in the " Lament," it was because the sub- 
 
25 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 ject was solemn, and he himself in bad health at 
 the time : — 
 
 " I that in heill wes and glaidness, 
 Am trublit now with gret seikness.'' 
 
 There can be no doubt that many of his most 
 humorous court ditties were written after this, and 
 his frequent allusions to his age and services, as in 
 his " Petition of the Grey Horse, Auld Dunbar," 
 must be taken with a caution — poetical, but not 
 strictly true. 
 
 It would be impossible to arrange the poems of 
 Dunbar in anything like chronological order. They 
 may, however, with some degree of propriety, be 
 classed under two different periods — the period be- 
 fore and after his retention at court. Though no 
 doubt frequently employed in the capacity of 
 secretary to the Scottish embassies before 1500, he 
 was not recognised as a familiar attendant in the 
 royal household until that time. Much of the 
 poetry of Dunbar — at least what of it has been 
 preserved — has reference to the court, and that por- 
 tion, of course, can easily be identified as belong- 
 ing to the second period into which we propose to 
 divide his writings. All such pieces as cannot be 
 so identified, we shall place in the first. It is very 
 clear that he had early imbibed a love for the muses. 
 He himself says, in his " Thrissill and the Rois," 
 written in 1503 : — 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 37 
 
 " Yit nocht incressis thy curage to indyt, 
 Quhois hairt sum tyme hes glaid and blisfull bene, 
 Sangis to mak undir the levis grene." 
 
 Chaucer, the father of the English language, as 
 well as of English poetry, had been studied with 
 much devotion by Dunbar. In his " Goldyn 
 Targe" he describes him as "rose of rhetoris all." 
 And in some of his earlier pieces, such as " The 
 Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo," there are 
 evident traces of imitation. But in playfulness 
 and flexibility of genius, the scholar is admitted, by 
 good judges, to have surpassed the master. In 
 pathos he alone is deficient — at least there is no 
 evidence of his having tried his powers in assailing 
 the heart. Reason and humour were the chief 
 supports upon which he leaned. 
 
 There are a number of pieces, anonymous in all 
 the MS. collections, which have been ascribed to 
 Dunbar. Amongst these the longest is " The 
 Freiris of Berwik," preserved in the Bannatyne and 
 Maitland MSS. ; an edition of it was also printed 
 at Aberdeen in 1623 ; in all of which it is given as 
 anonymous. Pinkerton, who printed it from the 
 Maitland MS. in 1786, was the first to ascribe it 
 to Dunbar; and not a few have since coincided in 
 his opinion. With all Pinkerton's ability, how- 
 ever, we have no great faith in his dictum. He 
 was too impatient and impulsive to form a calm 
 
0,8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 and correct judgment. The tale, as Mr Laing 
 observes, must have been written before the sup- 
 pression of the greater monasteries by Henry VIII. 
 in 1539, thus bringing it near the time of Dunbar. 
 It is, besides, a well told, excellent tale, illustrative 
 of the loose morality of the Romish ecclesiastics ; 
 but we must be pardoned when we say that it has 
 scarcely a single characteristic of his composition. 
 It has none of those de^riptive passages in which 
 his muse loved to revel, and the language in which 
 it is clothed is by no means from the same mint. 
 When neither Bannatyne nor Maitland were aware 
 of so popular a poem ever having been attributed 
 to Dunbar, it is presumptuous in any writer, how- 
 ever eminent, to parade his opinion in opposition 
 even to their negative authority. Errors are often 
 perpetrated in this manner, and in all cases of 
 anonymous writings, we hold it best to leave them 
 rather without paternity than run the hazard of 
 assigning them to a wrong party. Many gross 
 blunders have been committed in this way, for it 
 is not enough that an author, so many centuries 
 ago, was capable of composing certain anonymous 
 poems, nor even that they resemble his style. 
 There were several writers in the time of Dunbar, 
 as his " Lament for the Makaris " shews, capable of 
 writing such a tale as "The Freiris of Berwik." 
 Indeed, it may be questioned whether he, a priest 
 himself^ in daily expectation of a benefice, and pos- 
 sibly in possession of a bishopric before his death. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 29 
 
 would have so far played into the hands of the 
 Reformation party by penning such a tale. In- 
 deed, amongst the pieces attributed to Dunbar, 
 there are only one or two so characteristic of his 
 muse as to deserve a place amongst his works. 
 
 In arranging the poems which may be supposed 
 to have been written before the poet's connexion 
 with the court, at least, such as have no manifest 
 reference to that period, we pretend to no guide 
 save what consideration may suggest. Much the 
 greater portion of the MSS. that have been pre- 
 served, belong to that period when he had become 
 a pensioner of the king — a circumstance which 
 confirms us the more in the opinion that " The 
 Fly ting " with Kennedy did not take place till 
 after 1504, when his fame as a " makar " was 
 established. We shall give precedence to 
 
 " The Golden Targe," 
 
 a poem which, from its being so purely allegorical, 
 may savour more of the scholastic days of the poet 
 than his later productions : — 
 
 Bright as the stem * of day begoud to shine, 
 When gone to bed were Vesper and Lucinet 
 
 I raise, and by a rosary did me rest ; 
 Up sprang the golden candle matutine, 
 With clear depurit J beams crystaUine, 
 
 Gladd'ning the merry fowlis in their nest ; 
 
 * Star. + The goddess Lucina. % Purified. 
 
go LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Ere Phoebus was in purple cape revest * 
 Up raise the lark, the heaven's minstrel fine 
 In May, in tiU a morrow mirthfullest. 
 
 Full angel-like thir birdis sang their hours t 
 Within their curtains green, in to their hours, 
 
 Apparelled white and red, with blooms sweet ; 
 Enamelled was the field with all colours, 
 The pearly droppis shook in silver shours ; 
 
 While all in balm did branch and leavis fleet 
 
 To part fra Phoebus, did Aurora greet ; 
 Her crystal tears I saw hing on the flours, 
 
 Whilk he for love all drank up with his heat. 
 
 For mirth of May, with skippis and with hops, 
 The -birdis sang upon the tender crops. 
 
 With curious notes, as Venus' chapel clerks : 
 The roses young, new spreading of their knops,J 
 Were powderit bricht with heavenly beriall§ drops, 
 
 Through beams red, burning as ruby sparks ; 
 
 The skies rang for shouting of the larks. 
 The purple heaven oure scal't in silver slops 
 
 Ouregilt the trees, branches, leaves, and barks. 
 
 Doun through the ryce II a river ran with streams 
 So lustily again they likand IT lemes. 
 
 That all the lake as lamp did leme** of licht, 
 Whilk shadowit all about with twinkling gleams ; 
 That bowis bathit were in fecund beams 
 
 Through the reflex of Phoebus' visage bricht ; 
 
 * Attired. f Orisons. + Buds. § Shining. 
 
 11 Twigs or bushes. H Pleased. ** Gleam. 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 31 
 
 On every side the hedges raise on hicht, 
 The bank was green, the brook was full of bremes,* 
 The stanneris clear t as stem in frosty nicht. 
 
 The crystal air, the saphyr firmament, 
 The ruby skies of the orient, 
 
 Cast beriall beams on emerant J bowis green ; 
 The rosy garth § depaint and redolent 
 With purple, azure, gold, and goulis|| gent 
 
 Arrayed IT was, by Dame Flora the queen. 
 
 So nobilly, that joy was for to seen ; 
 The rock again the river resplendent 
 
 As low enluminit** all the leaves sheen. 
 
 What through the merry foulis harmony. 
 And through the river's soun that ran me by, 
 
 On Flora's mantle I sleepit as I lay. 
 Where soon in to my dream's fantasy 
 I saw approach again the orient sky 
 
 A sail, as white as blossom upon spray, 
 
 With mersett of gold, bricht as the stern of day; 
 Whilk tendit to the land full lustily, 
 
 As falcon swift desirous of her prey. 
 
 And hard on burdJJ unto the bloomit meads. 
 Among the green rispis §§ and the reeds, 
 
 * Rapids. t Pebbles. + Emerald. 
 
 § Garden. || Gules, red — a temi in heraldry. 
 
 ^ "Gent -arrayed," genteely arrayed. ** lUuminated. 
 
 ■j-f Merse usually means land that had once been under water. 
 Here it signifies a mast — "with mast of gold." 
 +J None of the annotators or editors of Dunbar explain the 
 meaning of burd, as here used. It must mean, "And hard on 
 bore unto," &c. §§ Coarse, jaggy grass. 
 
33 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Arrivit she, where fro anon there lands 
 Ane hundreth ladies, lusty in to weeds, 
 As fresh as flouris that in May up spreads. 
 
 In kirtles green, withouten kell* or bands 
 
 Their bricht hairs hang glittering on the strands 
 In tresses clear, wyppitf with golden threads 
 
 With pappis white, and middles small as wands. 
 
 DescriveJ I would, but who could weel indite. 
 How all the fields with their lilies white 
 
 Depaint were bricht, whilk to the heaven did glete : § 
 Nocht thou, Homer, as fair as thou could write. 
 For all thine ornate styles so perfite ; 
 
 Nor yet thou, TuUius, whose lips sweet 
 
 Of rhethoric did in till terms flete : || 
 Your aureate IT tongues both been all too lyte,** 
 
 For to compile that paradise complete. 
 
 There saw I Nature, and alsft dame Venus queen, 
 The fresh Aurora, and lady Flora sheen, 
 
 Juno, Latona,JJ and Proserpina, 
 Diana, the goddess chaste of woods green. 
 My lady Clio, that help of makaris§§ been, 
 
 Thetes, Pallas, and prudent Minerva, 
 
 Fair feynit|||| Fortune, and lemand ITIT Lucina, 
 Thir michty queens in crounis micht be seen. 
 
 With beamis blithe, bricht as Lucifera. 
 
 * Dress for a woman's head. -j- Bound. 
 
 t Describe. § Glitter. 1| Flow. 
 
 t Golden. ** Little. -M- Also. 
 
 Jt Apollo in the MS., which must be an oversight, as they 
 were all ladies. 
 
 §§ Poets. nil Feigned, deceiving. Iffl Gleaming. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 33 
 
 There saw I May, of mirthful monethis queen, 
 Betuix April and June, her sister sheen, 
 
 Within the garden walking up and doun. 
 Wham of the foulis gladdeth all bedene ; * 
 She was full tender in her yearis green. 
 
 There saw I Nature present her a goun 
 
 Rich to behold, and noble of renoun, 
 Of every hue under the heaven that been 
 
 Depaint, and braid be gude proportioun. 
 
 Full lustily thir ladies all in fere f 
 Enterit within this park of most plesere,J 
 
 Where that I lay oure helit§ with leaves rank ; 
 The merry foulis, blissfullest of cheer, 
 Salustj! Nature, me thocht, on their manere,ir 
 
 And every bloom on branche, and eke on bank, 
 
 Openit and spread their balmy leaves dank, 
 Full low enclining to their queen so clear. 
 
 Wham of their noble nourishing they thank. 
 
 Syne to dame Flora, on the samin wise, 
 
 They saluse,** and they thank a thousand syse ; 1 1 
 
 And to dame Venus, love's michty queen. 
 They sang ballads in love, as was the gyse,]:t 
 With amorous notes, lusty to devise, 
 
 As they that had love in their heartis green ; 
 
 * Quickly. + Together. 
 
 t Pronounced as the French J'/aisir. § Concealed. 
 
 II Saluted. 1 Maniire, French. ** Salute. 
 
 tt Times. %% Mode, fashion. 
 
 C 
 
34 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Their honey throats, openit fro the splene,* 
 With warbles sweet did pierce the heavenly skies, 
 While loud resownit the firmament serene. 
 
 Ane other court there saw I consequent, 
 Cupid the king, with bow in hand ybent, 
 
 And dreadful arrows grundin sharp and square ; 
 There saw I Mars, the god armypotent, 
 Awful and stern, strong and corpolent ; 
 
 There saw I crabbit Saturn, auld and haire,t 
 
 His look was like for to perturb the aire ; 
 There was Mercurius, wise and eloquent, 
 
 Of rhetoric that fand the flouris faire. 
 
 There was the god of gardens, Priapus ; 
 There was the god of wilderness, Phanus ; 
 
 And Janus, god of entry delightable ; 
 There was the god of floods, Neptunus ; 
 There was the god of windis, Eolus, 
 
 With variand look, richt like a lord unstable ; 
 
 There was Bacchus, the gladdir J of the table ; 
 There was Pluto, the elrich incubus. 
 
 In cloak of green ; this court usit no sable. 
 
 And every one of thir in green arrayit. 
 On harp or lute fuU merrily they playit. 
 
 And sang ballads with michty notis clear : 
 Ladies to dance full soberly essayit, 
 Endlang the lusty river so they may it : § 
 
 * The heart, a common expression with Dunbar, and other 
 old poets. + Hoary. 
 
 i One who makes glad. § May, a maid— maided it. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 35 
 
 Their observance richt heavenly was to hear; 
 Then crap I through the leavis, and drew near, 
 Where that I was richt suddenly affrayit, 
 All thi-ough a look, whilk I have bocht full dear. 
 
 And shortly for to speak, be lovis queen 
 I was espyit : she bad her archers keen 
 
 Go me arrest ; and they no time delayit ; 
 Than ladies fair let fall their mantlis green. 
 With bowis big in tressit* hairis sheen. 
 
 All suddenly they had a field arrayit ; 
 
 And yet richt greatly was I nocht affrayit, 
 The party was so pleasant for to seen 
 
 A wonder lusty bicker me essayit. 
 
 And first of all, with bow in hand ybrent. 
 
 Came dame Beauty, richt as she would me schent ; t 
 
 Syne followit all her damsels yfere. 
 With mony diverse awful instrument. 
 Unto the press, Fair Having with her went, 
 
 Fine Portraiture, Pleasance, and lusty Cheer. 
 
 Than come Reason, with shield of gold so clear, 
 In plate and mail, as Mars armypotent, 
 
 Defeudit me this noble chevalier. 
 
 Syne tender Youth came with her virgins ying. 
 Green Innocence, and shameful Abasing, 
 
 And quaking Dread, with humble Obedience ; 
 The Golden Targe harmit they nothing ; 
 Courage in them was nocht begun to spring ; 
 
 Full sore they dread to done a violence : 
 
 * Tressed. + Destroy. 
 
36 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Sweet Womanhood I saw cum in presence, 
 Of artilye* a warld she did in bring, 
 Servit with ladies full of reverence. 
 
 She led with her Nurture and Lowhness, 
 Continence, Patience, Gude Fame, and Steadfastness, 
 
 Discretion, Gentrise,t and Considerance, 
 Levefelll Company, and honest Business, 
 
 Benign Look, mild Cheer, and Soberness : 
 
 All thir bore ganyeis § to do me grievance ; 
 But Reason bore the Targe with sik Constance, 
 Their sharp essayes micht do no duress || 
 
 To me, for aU their awful ordinance. 
 
 Unto the press pursuit Hie Degree, 
 Her foUowit aye Estate and Dignitie, 
 
 Comparison, Honour, and Noble Array, 
 Will, Wantonness, Renoun, and Libertie, 
 Riches, Freedom, and eik Nobilitie : 
 
 Wit ye they did their banner hie display ; 
 
 A cloud of arrows as hail-shour lousit they. 
 And shot, while wastit was their artilye. 
 
 Syne went aback reboytit IT of their prey. 
 
 When Venus had perceivit this rebute, 
 Dissimulance she bad go mak pursuit, 
 
 At all power to pierce the Golden Targe : 
 And she that was of doubleness the ruit 
 Askit her choice of archers in refute. 
 
 ^'enus the best bad her go wale at large ; 
 
 *" Artilye — artillery. f Gentleness. J LeififuU — ^lawful. 
 
 g Javelins. || Injury. H Repulsed. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 37 
 
 She took Presence, plicht*. anchors of the barge, 
 And Fair Calling, that weel a flaynt could shoot, 
 And Cherishing for to complete her charge. 
 
 Dame Homeliness she took in company. 
 That hardy was, and handy in archery, 
 
 And brocht dame Beauty to the field again ; 
 With all the choice of Venus' chivalry 
 They come, and bickerit unabasitly ; 
 
 The shour of arrows rappit on as rain ; 
 
 Perilous Presence, that mony sire has slain. 
 The battle brocht ane bordour J hard us by. 
 
 The salt was all the sarer suth to sayn.§ 
 
 Thick was the shot of grundin|| dartis keen ; 
 But Reason with the Shield of Gold so sheen. 
 
 Warily defendit whosoever essayit ; 
 The awful stoure he manly did sustene. 
 While Presence cast a powder in his een, 
 
 And then, as drunken man, he all forwayit : H 
 When he was blind, the fule with him they playit ; 
 And banist him amang the bowis green ; 
 
 That sorry sicht me suddenly affrayit. 
 
 Than was I woundit to the death weel near. 
 And yoldyn** as a woful prisonnereff 
 To lady Beauty, in a moment space ; 
 Me thocht she seemit lustier of cheer, 
 
 * Pledged. + Arrow, t Jester. 
 
 § The jester's jokes were all the sorer, because it was truth he 
 spoke. 
 
 II Sharpened. t Went astray. ** Holden. 
 
 tt French, prisonnier. 
 
38 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Efter that Reason. tynt had his een clear, 
 Than of before, and lustier of face : 
 Why was thou blindit, Reason ? why, alace ! 
 
 And gert ane hell my paradise appear, 
 
 And mercy seem, where that I fand no grace. 
 
 Dissimulance was besy me to sile,* 
 And Fair Calling did oft upon me smile. 
 
 And Cherishing me fed with wordis fair ; 
 New Acquaintance embracit me a while, 
 And favourit me, while men micht go a mile. 
 
 Syne took her leave, I saw her never mair : 
 
 Than saw I Danger toward me repair, 
 I could eschew her presence be no wyle. 
 
 On side she lookit with ane fremyt fare, f 
 
 And at the last departing could her dress, 
 And me deliverit unto Heaviness 
 
 For to remain, and she in cure me took ; 
 Be this the Lord of Windis, with wodness. 
 Good Eolus, his bugle blew, I guess ; 
 
 That with the blast the leavis all to shook, 
 
 And suddenly, in the space of a look. 
 All was hyne J went, there was but wilderness, 
 
 There was no more but birdis, bank, and brook. 
 
 In twinkling of ane eye to ship they went. 
 And swith up sail unto the top they stent. 
 
 And with swift course atour the flood they frak ; § 
 They firit gunnis with powder violent, 
 
 * Circumvent + Fremyt fare — strange countenance. 
 
 X Hence. § Hurried. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 39 
 
 Till that the reik raise to the firmament, 
 The rockis all resounit with the rak, 
 For reird* it seemit that the rainbow brak; 
 
 With spirit afraid upon my feet I sprent, f 
 Amang the clewis, J so careful was the crak. 
 
 And as I did awake of my sueving, § 
 The joyful birdis merrily did sing 
 
 For mirth of Phoebus' tender beams sheen ; 
 Sweet were the vapours, soft the morrowing, 
 Halesum the vale, depaint with flouris ying ; 
 
 The air attemperit, sober and amene ;|| 
 
 In white and red was all the field beseen, 
 Through Nature's fresh enamelling. 
 
 In mirthful May, of every moneth queen. 
 
 O reverend Chaucer ! rose of rhetoris all ; 
 As in our tongue ane flower imperial. 
 
 That raise in Britain ever, who reads richt. 
 Thou bears of makars the triumph riall ; 1J 
 Thy fresh enamellit terms celical ** 
 
 This matter could illuminit have fuU bricht : 
 
 Was thou nocht of our English all the licht, 
 Surmounting every tongue terrestrial, 
 
 Als far as May's morrow does midnicht. 
 
 O moral Gower, and Lydgate laureate, 
 Your suggarit lips and tonguis aureate, 
 
 Been to our earis cause of great delite ; 
 Your angel mouthis most mellifluate, 
 
 * Noise. + Spning. J Cliffs. 
 
 § Sueving — dreaming. || Pleasant. H Royal. 
 
 ** Heavenly. 
 
40 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Our rude language has clear illuminate, 
 And fair cure gilt our speech, that imperfite 
 Stood, or your golden pennis schupe* to write; 
 
 This isle before was bare, and desolate 
 Of rhetoric, or lusty, fresh indite. 
 
 Thou little quair,t be ever obedient. 
 Humble, subject, and simple of intent, 
 
 Before the face of every cunning wicht : 
 I know what thou of rhetoric has spent ; 
 Of all her lusty roses redolent 
 
 Is none into thy garland set on hicht, 
 
 Ashame there of, and draw thee out of sicht ! 
 Rude is thy weed, disteynit,;f bare, and rent, 
 
 Weel ocht thou be afferit of the licht. 
 
 That this beautiful allegory was amongst the 
 earlier of Dunbar's productions is presumable not 
 only from the subject, but the mode in which it is 
 handled. His address to Chaucer at the close, in 
 which he loses sight of his own claims to merit, in 
 admiration of the " rose of rhetoris all," and of the 
 writings of "moral Gower, and Lydgate laureate/' 
 indicate that he had been fresh from the reading 
 of these authors, which, one would siippose, must 
 have occurred early in life. It is not to be won- 
 dered, therefore, as Warton remarks, that " the 
 discerning reader will observe that the cast of this 
 poem is tinctured with the morality and imagery 
 of the ' Romaunt of the Rose,' and the ' Floure and 
 
 * Shaped. + Book. + Distended. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 41 
 
 Leafe,' of Chaucer." Hailes was of opinion that 
 Dunbar, beHeving himself to be of Anglo-Saxon 
 origin, "was too apt to despise those who were 
 born without the English pale." The fact is, that 
 education in England and Scotland, then as now, 
 was essentially similar, hence the contempt enter- 
 tained for the common language of the people, 
 and especially whatever was of Erschery — Irish or 
 Gaelic. Yet Dunbar, notwithstanding his devo- 
 tion to Chaucer, has innumerable phrases entirely 
 Scottish, of which the great English poet never 
 could be " the lycht." At the same time, his 
 genius shines all the more brilliantly that he spares 
 not his encomiums on that of others. 
 
 There never was penned by Chaucer, or any one 
 else, so gorgeous a description of a May morning 
 as we have in " The Golden Targe, '^ while the 
 allegory is not more beautifully conceived than 
 powerfully sustained. The moral sought to be in- 
 culcated, as the reader will perceive, is, that Reason 
 is the Golden Targe in love, as well, it may be said, 
 as in all other matters. The poem was printed by 
 Chepman and Myllar in 1508, no doubt with the 
 sanction and revisal of the author. It became ex- 
 ceedingly popular. 
 
42 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 TO A LADY. 
 
 Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness, 
 Delightsome lilie of every lustiness, 
 
 Richest in bounty, and in beauty clear, 
 
 And every virtue that is most dear, 
 Except only that ye are merciless. 
 
 In to your garth* this day I did pursue, 
 There saw I floweris that fresh were of hue ; 
 Baith white and red most lusty were to seen, 
 And hailsome herbis upon stalkis green ; 
 Yet leaf nor flow'r find could I nane of rue. 
 
 I doubt that March, with his cauld blastis keen, 
 Has slain this gentle herb, that I of mean ; 
 Whose piteous death does to my heart sic pain 
 That I would mak to plant his root again. 
 So comfortand his leaves unto me been. 
 
 Pinkerton, who was the first to publish these 
 love verses, from the Maitland Collection, in 1786, 
 is warm in their praise, and no doubt they are 
 couched in a fine strain. Dunbar complains of the 
 fair one's cruelty, and, while in her garden were 
 to be found both flowers and herbs, beautiful and 
 wholesome, he could discover none of rue, which, 
 in the language of love, signifies pity, grief, or 
 lamentation — a plant so gentle, that the cold winds 
 of March may have destroyed it. But to suppose 
 that the poet himself was actually in love at the 
 * Garden. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 43 
 
 time he penned this address is perhaps taking poet- 
 ical sentiment too literally ; and to suggest, as Dr 
 Irving and others have done, that " Maestress Mus- 
 graefFe," an English lady of the court, was the 
 object of his passion, is allowing conjecture an un- 
 bridled sweep. His adoration of Mistress Mus- 
 grave was of too mature a character to inspire so 
 fine a poetical conceit, and we think the verses are 
 more likely to have been written " in life's early 
 morning, when fancy was young," before he be- 
 came so intimately acquainted with the life and 
 pastimes of the royal household. 
 
 THE MERLE AND THE NIGHTINGALE. 
 
 In May, as that Aurora did up spring, 
 With crystal ene chasing the cluds sable, 
 
 I hard a merle, with merry notes, sing 
 A sang of love, with voice richt comfortable. 
 Again the orient beams amiable. 
 
 Upon a blissful branch of lauryr* green ; 
 This was her sentence sweet and delectable, 
 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 Under this branch ran doun a river bricht, 
 Of balmy liquor, crystalline of hue, 
 
 Again the heavenly azure skies licht ; 
 Where did, upon the tother side, pursue 
 
 * LaureL 
 
44 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 A nichtingale, with suggarit notes new, 
 Whose angel feathers as the peacock shone ; 
 
 This was her song, and of a sentence true — 
 All love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 With notes glad, and glorious harmony. 
 
 This joyful merle so salust* she the day. 
 While rung the woodis of her melody. 
 
 Saying, Awauk, ye lovers of this May ; 
 
 Lo, fresh Flora has flourish'd every spray. 
 As nature has her taucht, the noble queen, 
 
 The field been clothit in a new array : 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 Never sweeter noise was heard with livin' man 
 Nor made this merry, gentle nichtingale ; 
 
 Her sound went with the river as it ran 
 
 Out throw the fresh and flourish'd lusty vale : 
 O Merle ! quoth she, O fule ! stint of thy tail, 
 
 For in thy song gude sentence is there none, 
 For both is tint, the time and the travail 
 
 Of every love but upon God alone. 
 
 Cease, quoth the Merle, thy preaching, Nichtingale : 
 Sail folk their youth spend in to holiness ? 
 
 Of young sancts growis auld feinds but fabel.t 
 Fy ! Hypocrite, in yearis tenderness. 
 Again the law of kind thou goes express, 
 
 That crookit age makes one with youth serene. 
 Whom Nature of conditions made diverse : 
 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 * Saluted. + Without fable. 
 
■WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 The Nichtingale said, Fule, remember thee, 
 That both in youth and eild, and every hour, 
 
 The love of God most dear to man sould be ; 
 That him, of nocht, wrocht like His ain figour, 
 And deit Himself fro deid him to succour ; 
 
 O whether was kythit * there true love or none ? 
 He is most true and steadfast paramour, 
 
 And love is lost but upon Him alone. 
 
 The Merle said. Why put God so great beauty 
 
 In ladies, with sic womanly having. 
 But gif He would that they sould lovit be ? 
 
 To love eik Nature gave them inclining ; 
 
 And He of Nature that worker was and king, 
 Would nothing frustirf put, nor let be seen, 
 
 In to his creature of his ain making : 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 The Nichtingale said, Not to that behoof 
 
 Put God sic beauty in a lad/s face. 
 That she sould have the thank therefor, or luve. 
 
 But He the worker, that put in her sic grace ; 
 
 Of beauty, bountie, riches, time, or space. 
 And every gudeness that been to come or gone. 
 
 The thank redounds to Him in every place: 
 All love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 O Nichtingale ! it was a story nice 
 That love sould not depend on charitie ; 
 
 And gif that virtue contrair be to vice. 
 
 Than love maun be a virtue, as thinks me ; 
 
 * Produced, manifested. f Contrary. 
 
 45 
 
46 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 For aye to love envy maun contrair be : 
 God bad eik love thy nichtbour fro the splene,* 
 
 And who than ladies sweeter nichtbours be ? 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 The Nichtingale said, Bird, why does thou rave ? 
 
 Man may tak in his lady sic delight, 
 Him to forget that her sic virtue gave, 
 
 And for his heaven receive her colour white : 
 
 Her golden tressitf hairis redomytj 
 Like to Apollo's beamis though they shone, 
 
 Sould not him blind from love that is perfyte. 
 All love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 The Merle said. Love is cause of honour aye. 
 Love makis cowards manhood to purchase. 
 
 Love makis knichtis hardy at assay, 
 Love makis wretchis full of largeness. 
 Love makis swear folkis full of business. 
 
 Love makis sluggardis fresh and well bessen. 
 Love changes Vice in Virtue's nobleness ; 
 
 A lusty life in lovis service been. 
 
 The Nichtingale said. True is the contrary ; 
 
 Sic frustir love it blindis men so far. 
 In to their minds it maks thame to vary; 
 
 In false, vain glory they so drunken are, 
 
 Thair wit is went, of woe they are not 'ware, 
 While that all worship away be fro them gone. 
 
 Fame, guids, and strength : whereforweil say I dare. 
 And love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 * Heart. + Bound. $ Decked. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 47 
 
 Then said the Merle, Mine error I confess ; 
 
 This frustir love all is but vanitie ; 
 Blind Ignorance me gave sic hardiness, 
 
 To argue so again the veritie. 
 
 Wherefor I counsel every man, that he 
 With love not in the fiendis net be tone. 
 
 But love the love that did for his love die ; 
 All love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 Than sang they both with voices loud and clear : 
 
 The Merle sang, Man, love God that has thee wrocht. 
 The Nichtingale sang, Man, love the Lord most dear. 
 
 That thee and all this warld made of nocht. 
 
 The Merle said, Love Him that thy love has socht, 
 Fra heaven to erd,* and here took flesh and bone. 
 
 The Nichtingale sang, andwith His dead thee bocht. 
 All love is lost but upon Him alone. 
 
 Then flew thir birdis oure the bowis sheen, 
 
 Singing of love amang the leavis small ; 
 Whose ythand t plead yet made my thochtis green. 
 
 Both sleeping, wauking, in rest, and in travail : 
 
 Me to recomfort most it does avail 
 Again for love, when love I can find none. 
 
 To think how sang this merle and nichtingale. 
 All love is lost but upon God alone. 
 
 This poem called in Asloane's MS. "The Dis- 
 putation between the Merle and Nichtingale," may 
 also be presumed to be one of the poet's early pro- 
 ductions, quite in keeping with his character as an 
 
 * Earth. t Diligent. 
 
48 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 ecclesiastic. The moral of the disputation is good, 
 though the arguments are rather stiff and unnatu- 
 ral ; yet there is something pretty in the idea of 
 love to God being the burden of two of our finest 
 singing birds, the merle and the nightingale. 
 
 BEST TO BE BLYTHE. 
 Full oft I muse, and has in thocht, 
 How this false warld is aye on flocht,* 
 
 Where nothing firm is nor digest ; 
 And when I have my mind all socht, 
 
 For to be blythe I think it best. 
 
 This warld ever does flicht and vary, 
 Fortune so fast her wheel does carry ; 
 
 Na time butf turning can tak rest, 
 For whose false change sould none be sary ; J 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 Would men consider in mind richt weil, 
 Ere fortune on him turn her wheel, 
 
 That erdly honour may not lest. 
 His fall less painful he sould feel ; 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 Wha with this world does warsle and strive ; 
 And does his dayis in dolour drive, 
 
 Though he in lordship be possest, 
 He livis but ane wretchit life : 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 * Flight + Without. + Sorry. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR, m 
 
 Of warldis gude and great riches, 
 What fruit has man but meriness ? 
 
 Though he this warld had east and west, 
 All were povertie but gladness : 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 Who would for tinsall * droup or die. 
 For thing that is bot vanitie ; 
 
 Sen to the hfe that ever does lest, 
 Here is but twinkling of an e'e : 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 Had I for warldis unkindness 
 In heart tane my heaviness, 
 
 Or fro my pleasanst been opprest, 
 I had been dead lang syne doubtless : 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 How ever this warld may change and vary. 
 Let us in heart never more be sary ; 
 
 But ever be ready and addrest. 
 To pass out of this frayful fary : 
 
 For to be blythe me think it best. 
 
 The muse of Dunbar was frequently of a philo- 
 sophical cast, and while we have had him instilling, 
 as in " The Golden Targe^' the necessity of keep- 
 ing reason awake, and that there is nothing lovable 
 but the Author of all good, ' we have him here 
 tendering his advice to be merry under all circum- 
 stances. But he was a man of very various moods 
 — joyous, sad, and humorous by turns. 
 
 * Loss. I + Pleasure. 
 
 D 
 
50 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 OF CONSENT. 
 Who thinks he has sufficience,' 
 And of gudes has no indigence ; 
 
 Though he have nowther land nor rent, 
 Great micht, nor hie magnificence, 
 
 He has enough that is content. 
 
 Who had the riches into Ynd,t 
 And were not satisfied in mind. 
 
 With poverty I hold him schent ;t 
 Off covatyce§ sic is the kind : 
 
 He has eneuch that is content. 
 
 Therefore I pray you, breither dear, 
 Not to delight in dainties seir ;|| 
 
 Thank God if it is to thee sent, 
 And if it gladly mak gude cheer : 
 
 He has eneuch that is content. 
 
 Defy the warld, fenyeitlT and false, 
 With gaU in heart, and hunyit** halse : 
 
 Wha maist it serves sail soonest repent : 
 Of whose subjects sour is the salse : ff 
 
 He has eneuch that is content. 
 
 Gif thou has micht, be gentle and free ; 
 And gif thou stands in povertie, 
 
 Of thine ain will to it consent ; 
 And riches sail return to thee : 
 
 He has eneuch that is content. 
 
 * Suffic-i-ence. + India. X Overpowered. 
 
 § Covetousness. || Strange. % Feigned. 
 
 ** Honeyed. ff Sauce. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. Cl 
 
 And ye and I, my breither all, 
 That in this life has lordship small, 
 
 Let languor not in us imprent ; 
 Gif we not clifnb we tak no fall : 
 
 He has eneuch that is content. 
 
 For who in warld most covetous is, 
 In warld is puirest man, I wis. 
 
 And most needy of his intent ; 
 For of all gudes no thing is his. 
 
 That of no thing can be content. 
 
 "A most excellent moral poem," says Pinker- 
 ton, "written with great neatness and brevity." 
 There is a series of pieces, in the same moral strain, 
 which cannot be identified with any particular time 
 and circumstance, and may as well follow each 
 other. 
 
 NO TREASURE AVAILS WITHOUT GLADNESS. 
 Be merry, man, and tak not sair in mind 
 
 The wavering of this wretchit warld of sorrow ; 
 To God be humble, and to thy friend be kind, 
 
 And with thy nichtbours gladly leud and borrow ; 
 
 His chance to nicht, it may be thine to-morrow ; 
 Be blythe in heart for ony aventure. 
 
 For oft with wise men it has been said aforrow,* 
 Without gladness avails no treasure. 
 
 Mak thee gude cheer of it that God thee sends, 
 For warld's wrak butf weelfare nocht availis ; 
 
 * Before. + Without 
 
^2 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Nae gude is thine, save only that thou spends, 
 Remenant all thou bruiks but with bailis : * 
 Seek to solace when sadness thee assailis ; 
 
 In dolour lang thy life may not indure, 
 Wherefore of comfort set up aU thy sailis ; 
 
 Without gladness avails no treasure. 
 
 Follow on pity, flee trouble and debate. 
 
 With famous folkis aye hald thy company ; 
 Be charitable and humble in thine estate. 
 
 For wardly honour lastis but a cry ; 
 
 For trouble in erd tak no melancholy ; 
 Be rich in patience, gif thou in gudis be puir, 
 
 Who lives merry he lives michtily ; 
 Without gladness avails no treasure. 
 
 Thou sees thir wretches set with sorrow and care, 
 To gather gudis in all their lives' space ; 
 
 And when their bags are full their selves are bare. 
 And of their riches but the keeping has : 
 While others come to spend it that has grace, 
 
 Whilk of thy winning no labour had nor cure,t 
 Tak thou example, and spend with merriness ; 
 
 Without gladness avails no treasure. 
 
 Though all the wark that ever had living wicht 
 Were only thine, no more thy part does fall. 
 
 But meat, drink, clais, and of the lave a sicht, 
 Yet to the judge thou sail give compt of all ; 
 Ane reckoning richt comes of ane ragmentj small: 
 
 * Sorrow. + Charge. J A scroll. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. ^3 
 
 Be just and joyous, and do to none injure, 
 
 And truth sail mak thee strong as ony wall ; 
 Without gladness avails no treasure. 
 
 Lord Hailes was of opinion that the moral of 
 this poem \vo\ild "not be admired; but there is 
 one expression in it which ought to be remembered, 
 as containing more good sense than some systems 
 of ethics. 
 
 ' No more thy pairt dois fall, 
 Bot meit, drink, clais, and of the laif a sicht! 
 
 In modern language Dunbar would have expressed 
 himself thus — 
 
 ' What riches give us, let us then explore ; 
 Meat, drink, and clothes ; what else ? a sight of more! ' " 
 
 This is a curious specimen of the critic's poetical 
 talents. Most readers will prefer the lines of Dun- 
 bar to that of Hailes, as the best poetry, and most 
 grammatically expressed. Dunbar's advice may 
 not sound well in the ears of those whose delioht 
 
 o 
 
 lies " in gathering geir," yet his philosophy is 
 strictly true in a sense : " When their bags are full 
 their selves are bare," and of their wealth have but 
 the keeping. Another follows in the same strain. 
 
54 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 ADVICE TO SPEND ANE's AjIN GUDE. 
 
 Man, sen thy life is aye in weir, 
 And deid is ever drawing near, 
 Thy time unsicker and the place, 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Gif it be thine, thy self it useg, 
 Gif it be not, thee it refuses ; 
 Ane other of it the profit hes ; 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Thou may to-day have gude to spend. 
 And hastily to-morn fra it wend. 
 And leave ane other thy bags to brais ;* 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 While thou has space, see thou dispone, 
 That for thy geir, when thou art gone. 
 No wicht ane other slay nor chace ; 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Some all his days drives oure in vain. 
 Aye gathering geir with sorrow and pain. 
 And never is glad at Yule nor Pace ; 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 * Jamieson, followed by Laing, gives the meaning of this word, 
 to embrace. It would rather seem to be another form of the 
 word hrus or irusch, to force open, or the common English word 
 bruise, to crusA ;.zjid the line might be read thus — " And leave 
 ane other thy hags to empty." 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. te 
 
 Sine comes ane other glad of his sorrow, 
 That for him prayit nowther even nor morrow ; 
 And fangs it all with merriness ; 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Some great gude gathers, and aye it spares, 
 And after him there comes young heirs. 
 That his auld thrift sets on an ace ;* 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 It is all thine that thou here spends, 
 And not all that on thee depends, 
 But his to spend it that has grace ; 
 
 Thine ane gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Trust not ane other will do thee to, 
 It that thyself would never do ; 
 For gif thou does, strange is thy case ; 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 Look how the bairn does to the mother. 
 And tak example be nane other, 
 That it not after be thy case ; 
 
 Thine ain gude spend while thou has space. 
 
 * "This age," says Hailes, "is not to be told what 'settis on 
 an ace ' implies. It may be more necessary to explain the phrase 
 ' auld thrift.' It is wealth accumulated by the successive fru- 
 gality of his ancestors.'' Nevertheless, most readers will be at a 
 loss to comprehend what ace means. Jamieson tells us that in 
 Orkney the word ace signifies the smallest division of anything, a 
 single particle, a unit — hence the ace in cards does not render 
 the words of Dunbar very intelligible. To be set on the smallest 
 division of his auld thrift may be the poet's meaning; but it 
 seems somewhat doubtful. Neither Sibbald nor Laing attempts 
 to give any explanation. 
 
55 LIFE AND TPOEMS OF 
 
 Those whose good fortune it is to live upon the 
 "auld thrift" will hardly be willing to join in the 
 sentiment of Dunbar, seeing that, if their ancestors 
 had lived by his rule, they would have been com- 
 pelled to be the " authors of their own fortune." 
 Lord Hailes was puzzled with the two last verses. 
 " The sense," he says, " is probably this : Do not 
 expect that another will do for you that which you 
 would never do for yourself. The child draws milk 
 from its mother's breast, but gives nothing in re- 
 turn." Sibbald was of a different opinion : " The 
 meaning seems rather to be — as an infant subsists 
 entirely upon the milk which it draws from its 
 mother's breast, so your heir will probably spend all 
 the wealth which you leave to him, before he thinks 
 of any other means of subsistence. It will then be 
 impossible for him to make you enjoy after death 
 that which you could not enjoy while you was in 
 life." Still Sibbald does not mend the matter. 
 Whether the heir spent all the wealth left to him 
 or not, it would have been equally impossible for 
 him to make a dead man enjoy that which he 
 would not, or could not, while in life ! 
 
 NONE MAY ASSURE IN THIS "WARLD. 
 
 Whom to sail I complene my wo, 
 And kyth* my caris ane or mo ? 
 
 ♦ Expose. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. e>j 
 
 I knaw not amang rich or puir, 
 Wha is my freind, wha is my foe ; 
 For in this warld may none assure. 
 
 Lord ! how sail I my days dispone, 
 For lang service reward is none ; 
 
 And short my life may here endure ; 
 And losit is my time bygone : 
 
 In to this world may none assure. 
 
 Oft Falsett* ridis with ane rout, 
 When Truth goes on his foot about. 
 
 And lak of spending does him spur ;t 
 Thus what to do I am in doubt : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Nane here but rich men has renoun, 
 And but puir men are pluckit doun ; 
 
 And nane but just men tholes injure, 
 Sa Wit is blindit and Ressoun ; 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Virtue the Court has done despyiss ; J 
 Ane rebel to renoun does ryiss, 
 
 And carles of nobles § has the cure, 
 And bumbardsll bruiks the benfyiss : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 All Gentriceir and Nobilitie 
 Are passit out of hie degree ; 
 
 * Falsehood. + Spure or spur — scrape. 
 
 t Despite. § Clowns of nobles. || Drivellers. 
 
 ^ Honourable birth. 
 
58 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 On Freedom* is laid foirfaltour ;t 
 In Princes is there no pity ; 
 For in this warld may none assure. 
 
 Is none so armit in to plate, 
 That can fra trouble him debait ; J 
 
 May no man lang in wealth endure, 
 For wo that ever lies at the wait : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Flattery wears ane furrit goun, 
 
 And Falsett with the Lords does roun ; 
 
 And Truth stands barrit at the dure ; 
 And Honour exile is of the toun : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Fra everilk mouth fair words proceeds. 
 In every heart deception breeds, 
 
 Fra everilk e'e goes look demure, 
 But fra the hands goes few gude deeds . 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Tongues now are made of white whale-bone 
 And hearts are made of hard flint stone ; 
 
 And e'en of amiable, blythe azure. 
 And hands of adamant, laith to dispone : § 
 
 Into this world may none assure. 
 
 Yet heart, with hand and body, all 
 Maun answer Death when he does call. 
 
 * Freedom seems here spoken of in the sense of liberality. 
 f Forfeiture. + Protect himself. § Give away. 
 
59 
 
 WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 To compt before the Judge future ; 
 Sen all are deid, or than die sail, 
 Wha sould in to this warld assure ? 
 
 No thing but Death this shortly craves, 
 Where Fortune ever as foe dissaves, 
 
 With freindly smilings of ane hure. 
 Whose false behests, as wind hind waves : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Oh ! wha sail wield the wrang possession. 
 Or the gold gatherit with oppression. 
 
 When the angel blaws his bugle sture ? 
 Whilk unrestorit helps no confession : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 What help is there in lordships seven. 
 When na house is but hell and heaven, 
 
 Palace of light, or pit obscure, 
 Whair youls are heard with horrible stevin ? * 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Ubi ardentes animse. 
 Semper dicentes vae ! vse ! 
 
 Sail cry, alas ! that women them bure ; 
 O quantse sunt ist^ tenebr^ ! 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Than who sail work for warld's wrak, 
 When flood and fire sail cure it frak, + 
 
 And freely frustir J field and fure,§ 
 With tempest keen and hideous crak ? 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 Noise. t Rage. J Destroy. § Furrow. 
 
50 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Lord ! sen in time so soon to come, 
 De terra surrecterus sum, 
 
 Reward me with none erdly cure. 
 But me receive in regnum tuum : 
 
 In to this warld may none assure. 
 
 This is an admirable homily on the vanity of all 
 things — poetically, but strongly put. It would be 
 idle to indulge in suggestions as to the time of its 
 composition. It suits all times; yet we could 
 hardly suppose it so applicable to the reign of 
 James IV. as to that of his less energetic father, 
 whom his rebellious subjects slew at the battle of 
 Sauchy Burn, in 1488. If so, it must be a very 
 early production of the poet : or, referring to the 
 Queen's Regency, after Flodden, it may be one of 
 more mature age. The mingling of sentences of 
 the " Breviary," as Hailes remarks, was common 
 both in Dunbar's time and later. 
 
 ERDLY JOT RETURNS IN PAIN. 
 Of Lentren* in the first morning, 
 Early as did the day upspring. 
 Thus sang ane bird with voice up plain,t 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 O man ! have mind that thou maun pass ; 
 Remember that thou are but ass, J 
 And sail in ass return again : 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Lent. t High and unpolished. J Ashes. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 6l 
 
 Have mind that eild aye follows youth, 
 Death follows life with gaping mouth, 
 Devouring fruit and flouring grain : 
 AU Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Wealth, worldly gloir, ' and rich array, 
 Are all but thorns laid in thy way, 
 Cover'd with flowers laid in ane train : 
 AU Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Come never yet May so fresh and green. 
 But Januar come as wud and keen ; 
 Was never sic drouth but anisf come rain : 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Evermair unto this warld's joy. 
 As nearest heir succeeds noy,t 
 Therefore when joy may not remain. 
 His very§ heir succeedis pain. 
 
 Here health returns in seilaiess ; 
 And mirth returns in heaviness ; 
 Toun in desert, forest in plain : 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Treedom || returns in wretchedness. 
 And truth returns in doubleness. 
 With fenyeit words to mak men fain ! 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Virtue returnis into vice. 
 And honour into avarice ; 
 
 * Glory. f At once. J Annoyance. 
 
 § True II Liberality. 
 
63 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 With covetice is conscience slain : 
 All Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 Sen Erdly joy abidis never, 
 Work for the joy that lasts ever ; 
 For other joy is all but vain : 
 AH Erdly joy returns in pain. 
 
 OF THE WARLD S VANITY. 
 O wretch ! be ware ! this warld will wend thee fro,* 
 
 Whilk has beguilit mony great estate ; 
 Turn to thy freind, behave not in thy foe. 
 
 Sen thou maun go, be graithingt to thy gait ; 
 
 Remeid in time, and rue not all too late ; 
 Provide thy place, for thou away maun pass 
 
 Out of this vale of trouble and deceit ; 
 Vanitas Vanitatum, et omnia Vanitas. 
 
 Walk forth, Pilgrim, whUe thou has dayis licht, 
 
 Dress fro desert, draw to thy dwelling-place ; 
 Speed home, for why ? anon comis the nicht 
 
 WhUk does thee with ane ythand J chase ! 
 
 Bend up thy sail, and win thy port of grace ; 
 For and the Death ouretak thee in trespass. 
 
 Then thou may say thir wordis with alace ! 
 Vanitas Vanitatum, et omnia Vanitas. 
 
 Here nocht abides, here stands.no thing stable, 
 
 For this false warld aye flittis to and fro ; 
 Now day up bricht, now nicht as black as sable, 
 
 Will lead astray. f Preparing. f Eager. 
 
WILLTAM DUNBAR. 6^ 
 
 Now ebb, now flood, now freind, now cruel foe ; 
 
 Now glad, now sad, now weel, now into wo ; 
 Now clad in gold, dissolvit now in ass ; * 
 
 So does this warld ay transitory go : 
 Vanitas Vanitatum, et omnia Vanitas. 
 
 Little may be said of the foregoing verses, save 
 that they are only preserved in the Maitland MS., 
 and are worthy of Dunbar's moral and didactic 
 muse. We shall follow them by a still more ex- 
 quisite chime on the same subject. 
 
 OF THE CHANGES OF LIFE. 
 I seek about this warld unstable, 
 To find ane sentence conveniable ; 
 But I can not, in all my wit, 
 Sae true ane sentence find of it. 
 As say it is deceivable. 
 
 For yesterday, I did declare 
 
 How that the time was saft and fair, 
 
 Come in as fresh as peacock feddar ; 
 
 This day it stangis like ane eddar, 
 Concluding all in my contrair. 
 
 Yesterday fair up sprang the flours, 
 This day they are all slain with shours ; 
 And fouls in forest that sang clear. 
 Now weepis with ane dreary cheer. 
 Full cauld are baith their beds and hours. 
 
 * Ashes. 
 
64 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 So next to Simmer, Winter bein : * 
 Next efter comfort, caris keen ; 
 
 Next efter dark nicht, the mirthful morrow ; 
 
 Next efter joy, aye comis sorrow : 
 So is this warld, and aye has been. 
 
 Pinkerton justly remarks that " this is a piece of 
 elegant morality," and proceeds to explain the 
 simile of " as fresh as peacock feddar," which must 
 be obvious to every one. He tells from Hoveden 
 that, in 1186, "Urban III. sent Henry 11. of 
 England a crown of peacock's feathers, richly set 
 in gold, as a mark of supreme favour. This sounds 
 as odd in our ears as Dunbar's comparison." 
 Pinkerton does not seem to have been aware of the 
 old Scottish weather adage — 
 
 " March comes in hke a Hon and goes out hke a lamb : 
 April comes in like an adder and goes out like 2ipeacoclis 
 tail; " 
 
 herbs and flowers being then in flourish. The 
 fourth verse is particularly beautiful, especially the 
 last line, in reference to the cheerless condition of 
 the singing birds — 
 
 " Full cauld are baith their beds and hours." 
 
 * Exists. The poet frequently uses the preterperfect of be in 
 this eense. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 6^ 
 
 OF man's mortality. 
 
 Memento, Homo, quod cinis is ! 
 
 Think, Man, thou art but erd and ass ; * 
 Lang hear to dwell na thing thou press,t 
 
 For as thou come, so sail thou pass, 
 
 Like as ane shadow in ane glass : 
 Syne glides all thy time that hear is ; 
 
 Think, though thy body were of brass. 
 Quod tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 Worthy Hector, and Hercules, 
 
 Forcye J Achill, and strong Samson, 
 
 Alexander of great nobleness, 
 Meek David, and fair Absolon, 
 Has playit their pairts, and all are gone, 
 
 At will of God, that all thing steeris : 
 Think, Man, exception there is none ; 
 
 Sed tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 Though now thou be maist of cheer, 
 Fairest and pleasantest of port, 
 
 Yet may thou be, within ane year, 
 Ane ugsum, ugly, foul tramort : § 
 And sin, thou knaws thy time is short, 
 
 And in all hours thy life in weir is, 
 Think, Man, among all other sport, 
 
 Quod tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 Ashes. + Pursue eagerly. 
 
 Forceful § Corpse. 
 
66 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Thy lusty beauty, and thy youth, 
 
 Shall fade as does the summer flouris. 
 Syne sail thee swallow with his mouth. 
 
 The dragon Death, that all devours ; 
 
 No castle sail thee keep, nor tours, 
 But he sail seek thee with thy feirs ; 
 
 Therefore, remember at all hours, 
 Quod tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 Though all this warld thou did posseid,* 
 
 Nocht after death thou sail possess. 
 Nor with thee tak, but thy guid deed. 
 
 When thou does fro this warld thee dress : 
 
 So speed thee, Man, and thee confess. 
 With humble heart and sober teiris, 
 
 And sadly in thy heart impress, 
 Quod tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 Though thou be taklit never so sure, 
 
 Thou sail in deathis port arrive. 
 Where nocht for tempest may endure, 
 
 But fiercely all to speiris t drive ; 
 
 Thy Ransomer, with woundis five, 
 Mak thy plicht-anchor,t and thy steiris,§ 
 
 To hald thy saul with him on live. 
 Cum tu in cinerem reverteris. 
 
 This ranks among the best of Dunbar's moral 
 and religious pieces. 
 
 * Possess. + Splinters. 
 
 + Sure anchor. § Guides. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 67 
 
 OF THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST. 
 Rorate Coeli desuper ! 
 
 Heavens distil your balmy show'rs, 
 For now is risen the bricht day-ster, 
 
 Fro the Rose Mary, flow'r of flow'rs : 
 
 The clear sun, whom no cloud devours, 
 Surmounting Phoebus in the east, 
 
 Is coming of his heaVnly tow'rs ; 
 Et nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 Archangels, angels, and dompnationis,* 
 
 Tronis, potestatis, and martyrs seer, 
 And all ye heavenly operationis. 
 
 Star, planet, firmament, and sphere, 
 
 Fire, erd, air, and water clear. 
 To Him give loving, most arid lest. 
 
 That come in to so meek maniere ; 
 Et nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 Sinners, be glad, and penance do. 
 
 And thank your Makar heartfuUy ; 
 For He, that ye micht not come to, 
 
 To you is coming full trimily. 
 
 Your saulis with His bluid to by, 
 And lowse you of the Feind's arrest. 
 
 And only of His awin mercy ; 
 Pro nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 All clergy do to Him incline. 
 
 And bow unto that Bairn benyng, 
 
 * Condemned. 
 
68 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And do your observance divine, 
 To Him that is of kingis King ; 
 Incense His altar, read, and sing 
 
 In haly kirk, -wiih mind digest. 
 Him honouring attour aU thing. 
 
 Qui nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 Celestial fowlis in the air. 
 
 Sing with your notes upon hicht ; 
 
 In firthis* and in forests fair 
 Be mirthful now, at all your micht, 
 For passit is your duUyf nicht ; 
 
 Aurora has the duddis prest. 
 
 The sun is risen with gladsome licht, 
 
 Et nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 Now spring up flouris from the root. 
 
 Revert you upward naturally, 
 In honour of the blessed fruit, 
 
 That raise up fro the Rose Mary ; 
 
 Lay out your leavis lustily. 
 Fro deid tak Ufe now at the lest. 
 
 In' worship of that Prince worthy. 
 Qui nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 Sing heaven imperial, most of hicht, 
 Regions of air mak harmony ; 
 
 All Fish in flood, and Fowl of flicht. 
 Be mirthful and mak melody : 
 
 * Inclosures. f Dolly, or dowie — doleful. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 69 
 
 All GLORIA IN EXCELSIS cry, 
 Heaven, Erd, Sea, Man, Bird, and Beast, 
 
 He that is crownit above the Sky, 
 Pro nobis Puer natus est. 
 
 These spirited and highly poetical verses may 
 have been written as a Christmas carol, which was 
 by no means unknown in Scotland at an early 
 period. 
 
 ANE BALLAD OF OUR LADY. 
 Haile, steme superne ! Haile, in eteme, 
 
 In Godis sicht to schyne ! 
 Lucerne in defne, for to discerne 
 
 Be glory and grace devyne ; 
 Hodiem, modern, sempitem, 
 
 Angelicall Regyne ! 
 Our tern infeme for to dispern, 
 
 Helpe rialest rosyne. 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 Haile, fresche flour femynyne ! 
 Yeme us, gubeme. Virgin matern, 
 
 Of reuth baith rute and ryne. 
 
 Haile, yyng, benyng, fresche flurising ! 
 
 Haile, Alphais habitalde ! 
 Thy dyng of spring maid us to syng 
 
 Before his tabernakle, 
 AH thing maling we doune thring. 
 
 Be sicht of his signakle ; 
 Quhilk King us bring unto his ryng, 
 
 Fro dethis dirk umbrakle. 
 
70 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 Haile Modir and Maid but makle ! 
 Bricht sygn, gladyng our languissing, 
 Be micht of the mirakle. 
 
 Haile, bricht, be sicht, in hevyn on hicht ! 
 
 Haile, day sterne orientale ! 
 Our Ucht most richt, in clud of nycht, 
 
 Our darkness for to scale : 
 Haile, wicht, in sicht, puttar to flicht 
 
 Of fendis in battale ! 
 Haile, plicht, but sicht ! Haile, mekle of mycht ! 
 
 Haile, glorious Virgine, haile ! 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 Haile, gentill nychtingale ! 
 Way stricht, cler dicht, to wilsome wicht. 
 
 That irke bene in travale. 
 
 Haile, Quene serene ! Haile, most amene ! 
 
 Haile, hevinlie hie Empryss ! 
 Haile, schene, unseyne with camale eyne ! 
 
 Haile, Rois of Paradyss ! ' 
 Haile, clene, bedene, ay till conteyne ! 
 
 Haile, fair fresche flour-de-lyce ! 
 Haile, grene daseyne ! Haile, fro the splene, 
 
 Of Jhesu genetrice ! 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 Thow hair the Prince of Pryss ; 
 Our tryne to meyne, and go betweyne, 
 
 As humile Oratrice. 
 
 Haile, more decore, than of before, 
 And swetur be sic sevj'ne. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 7 I 
 
 Our glore, for lore, for to restore, 
 
 Sen thow art Quene of Hevyne ! 
 Memore of sore, stern in Aurore, 
 
 Louit with Angellis stevyne ; 
 Implore, adore, thow indeflore. 
 
 To mak our oddis evyne. 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 With lovingis lowde ellevyn, 
 Quhill store and hore, my youth devore, 
 
 Thy name I sail ay nevyne. 
 
 Empryre of pryce, Imperatrice, 
 
 Brycht polist precious stane ; 
 Victryce of vyce, hie genitrice 
 
 Of Jhesu, Lord soverayne : 
 Our wyse pavyse fro enemyis, 
 
 Agayne the feyndis trayne ; 
 Oratrice, Mediatrice, Salvatrice, 
 
 To God gret suffragane ! 
 Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 Haile, sterne meridiane ! 
 Spyce, flour-de-lice of Paradyse, 
 
 That bair the gloryus grayne. 
 
 Imperial wall, place palestraU, 
 
 Of peirless pulcritude ; 
 Tryumphal hall, hie trone regall 
 
 Of Godis celsitude ; 
 Hospitall riall, the Lord of all 
 
 Thy closset did include ; 
 Bricht hall, cristall, rois virginall, 
 
 Fulfillit of angell fude. 
 
72 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 y Ave Maria, gratia plena ! 
 
 Thy birth has with His blude, 
 Fra fall mortaU, original!, 
 Us ransomid on the rude. 
 
 The peculiar versification and frequently-recur- 
 ring rhyme of this poem, with its numerous obsolete 
 words, render it next to impossible, even were it 
 profitable, to attempt a modification of the spelling. 
 
 THE MANNER OF PASSING TO CONFESSION. 
 
 sinful man, thir are the forty days 
 
 That every man suld wilful penance dree ; 
 
 Our Lord Jesu, as haly writ says, 
 Fastit Himself our example to be : 
 Sin sic ane michty King and Lord as He, 
 
 To fast and pray was so obedient. 
 
 We sinful folk suld be more diligent. 
 
 1 red thee, man, of thy transgression. 
 With aU thy heart, that thou be penitent ; 
 
 Thou shrive thee clean, and male confession. 
 And see thereto that thou be diligent, 
 With all thy sins in to thy mind present. 
 That every sin be thy self beschawin,* 
 To thine confession it may be kend and knawin. 
 
 Upon the body gif thou has ane wound 
 That causes thee great pains fgr to feel, 
 
 * Shewn. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 73 
 
 There is no leech may mak thee haill and sound, 
 While it be seen, and cleansit every deil ; 
 Richt sa thy shrift, but it beschawin weel, 
 
 Thou art not able remission for to get, 
 
 Wittingly and thou suld ane sin foyet.* 
 
 Of twenty wounds, and ane he left unhealit, 
 What avails the leeching of the lave ? 
 
 Richt sa thy shrift, and there be ocht concealit. 
 It avails not thy silly saul to save ; 
 Nor yet of God remission for to have : 
 
 Of sin gin thou wald have deliverance, 
 
 Thou suld it tell with all the circumstance. 
 
 Sa that thy Confessor be wise and discreet. 
 Than can thee discharge of every doubt and weir,t 
 
 And power has of thy sins complete : 
 
 Gif thou can not shew forth thy sins perqueir, J 
 And he be blind, and can not at thee speir. 
 
 Thou may richt weel in thy mind consider 
 
 That ane bUnd man is led forth be ane ither. 
 
 And sa I hald, that ye are baith beguiled ; 
 He can not speir, nor thou can not him tell. 
 
 When, nor how, thy conscience thou has filed ; 
 Therefore, I red that thou excuse thy sell. 
 And ripe thy mind how every thing befel. 
 
 The time, the place, and how, and in what wise. 
 
 So that thy confession may thy sins price. § 
 
 * Forget + Weir, in this sense, means danger. 
 
 J Fully, or fairly. § Purchase. 
 
74 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Advise thee weel, ere thou come to the Priest, 
 Of all thy sins, and namely of the maist. 
 
 That they be ready printed in thy breast ; 
 
 Thou suld not come to shrive thee in great haste, 
 And syne sit doun abasit as ane beast' : 
 
 With humble heart and sad contrition 
 
 Thou suld come to mak thine confession. 
 
 With thine awin mouth thy sins thou suld tell ; 
 
 But sit and hear the Priest has nocht ado, 
 Wha kens thy sins better nor thy sell ? 
 
 Therefore, I red thee, tak gude tent thereto ; 
 
 Thou knaws best where binds thee thy shoe ; 
 Therefore, be wise afore ere thou there come, 
 That thou shaw forth thy sins all and sum.* 
 
 Where seldinf compt is tane, and has a heavy charge, 
 And syne is reckless in his governance, 
 
 And on his conscience he taks all too large. 
 And on the end has no rememberance. 
 That man is abillj to fall ane great mischance. 
 
 The sinful man that all the year oure sets, 
 
 Fra Pasche to Pasche,§ richt mony a thing forgets: 
 
 I red thee, man, while thou art stark and young, 
 With pith and strength into thy years green, 
 
 While thou art able baith in mind and tongue, 
 
 Repent thee, man, and keep thy conscience clean ; 
 Till bide till age has mony peril seen : 
 
 Small merit is of sins for to irk 
 
 When thou art auld, and may na virangs wyrk. 
 
 * All and whole. + Seldom. 
 
 t Fit, liable. § Easter. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 75 
 
 After the manner of the " Priest's Tale," in 
 Chaucer, Dunbar here very forcibly urges the ne- 
 cessity of full and clear confession, if it is to have 
 any useful effect. The next relates to the same 
 much-abused sacrament of the Romish Church. 
 
 THE TABLE OF CONFESSION. 
 
 To Thee, O merciful Saviour, Jesus, 
 
 My King, my Lord, and my Redeemer sweet, 
 
 Before Thy bloody figure dolorus, 
 
 I schir * me clean, with humble heart contreit, 
 That ever I did unto this hour compleit, 
 
 Baith in work, in word, and eik in intent ; 
 Falling on face, full low before Thy feet 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar t to repent. 
 
 To Thee, my meek, sweet Saviour, I me shrive, 
 
 And does me in Thy mercy maist excelling. 
 Of the wrang spending of my wittis Five, — 
 
 In Hearing, Seeing, Ousting,? Twitching, § and 
 Smelling, ■ 
 
 Ganestanding,|| grieving, offending, and rebelling, 
 Against my God and Lord Omnipotent ; 
 
 With tears of sorrow from my ene distilling, 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 * Shrive. t Leisure. J Tasting. 
 
 § Touching. || Opposition. 
 
76 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 I, wretched sinner vile, and full of vice. 
 
 Of the Seven Deidly Sins does me shrive,— 
 Of Pride, of Ire, Envy, and Covetice, 
 
 Of Lechery, Gluttony, with Sloth aye till oure 
 drive, 
 
 Exercising vices ever in all my live. 
 For whilk, alace ! I servit to be schent : * 
 
 Rue on me, Jesu, for Thy woundis five ! 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I shrive me. Lord ! that I abusit have 
 The Seven Deeds of Mercy CorporaU, — 
 
 The hungry meat, nor thirsty drink I gave, 
 
 Nor veseitf the seik, nor did redeem the thrall,i 
 Herbreit§ the wilsome, nor naked clad at all. 
 
 Nor yet the deid to bury took I tent : 
 Thou, that put mercy above Thy works all, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Lord ! I have done fuU little reverence 
 
 Unto the Sacraments Seven of great renown, — 
 
 Thy Haly Supper for my sin recompence. 
 Baptising, Penance, and Confirmation, 
 Matrimony, Order, and Extreme Uncion ; 
 
 Hereof, as far as I was neghgent, 
 With heart contrite, and tearis falling doun, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 * Destroyed. f Visited. 
 
 X Those in thraldom. 
 
 § Harboured, from herbery, an hostelry. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 77 
 
 V 
 
 Thy Ten Commands— a God for till honour, 
 Not ta'en in vain His name, na slayer to be, 
 
 Father and mother to worship at all hour, 
 To be no thief, the haly day to uphie, 
 Nichtbours to love, false witness for to flee. 
 
 To leave adultry, to covet na man's rent ; 
 In all thir, Lord ! culpable knaw I me ; 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I trow in to the blessed Haly Spreit, 
 And in the Kirk, to do as it commands, 
 
 And to Thy dome that we sail rise compleit 
 And tak our flesh again, baith feet and hands, 
 AH to be safe in state of grace that stands ; 
 
 Plain I revoke in thir where I miswent. 
 Before the Judge and Lord of sea and lands, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I sinnit. Lord ! that not being strong as wall. 
 
 In Houp, in Faith, in fervent Charitie ; 
 Not with the Four Virtueis Cardinal!, 
 
 Againis vices sure enarming me, 
 
 With Fortitude, Prudence, Temperance, thir three 
 With Justice ever in wark, word or intent ; 
 
 To Thee, Christ Jesu, casting up mine e'e, 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 The Seven Commands of the Kirk, — that is to say, 
 Thy teind to pay, and cursing to eschew, 
 
 To keep the festuall* and the fasting day. 
 The mess on Sunday, the parish Kirk pursue, 
 
 * Festival. 
 
y8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 To proper Curate to mak confession true, 
 Anis in the year to tak the sacrament ; 
 
 ^n thir points, where I ofifendit, sair I rue ; 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Of sin also against the Haly Spreit, 
 
 Of shrift postponit, of sin against nature, 
 
 Of incontrition, of confession indiscreet. 
 Of ressait* sinful of Thee, my Salvatour, 
 Of undone penance, and satisfaction sure. 
 
 Of the Seven Gifts the Haly Ghaist me sent. 
 Of Paternoster, and seven Petitions pure ; 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Not thanking Thee of gratitude nor grace. 
 That thou me wrocht, and bocht me with Thy deed ; 
 
 Of this short life remembering not the space. 
 The heaven's bliss, the hell's hideous feid,t 
 But J more trespass, my sinnis to remeid, 
 
 Concluding never all through in mine intent ; 
 O Thou, whose bluid on rude§ for men ran reid, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I kna^v me vicious, Lord, and richt culpable, 
 In aiths swearing, leising,|| and blaspheming. 
 
 Of frustrat speaking in court, in kirk, and table. 
 In words vile, in vanities expreming,ir 
 Praising my self, and evil my nichtbours deming,** 
 
 And so in idleness may days I have spent ; 
 
 * Receiving. + Enmity. J Without § Cross. 
 
 II Lying. H Expressing. ** Judging. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 79 
 
 Thou that was sent on rude for my redeming, 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I sinnit in conceiving thochts jolly, 
 Up to the heaven extoUing mine intention, 
 
 In hie exaltit aiTOgance, and folly, 
 
 Proudness, derision, scorn, and vilipention,* 
 Presumption, inobedience, and contemption, 
 
 In false vain gloir, and deidis negligent ; 
 O Thou, that deit on rude for my redemption, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 I sinned also in reif,t and in oppression, 
 In wrangous guids taking and posseding, J 
 
 Contrar gude reason, conscience, and discretion, 
 In prodigal spending, but rewth§ of puir folks needing, 
 In foul deceptions, in false inventions breeding. 
 
 To conqueiss|| honour, treasure, land, and rent, 
 In fleshly lust above measure exceeding, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Of mind dissymulat, IT Lord ! I me confess, 
 Of feud under ane friendly countenance, 
 
 Of partial judging, and perverse wilfulness, 
 Of flattering words for finding of substance, 
 Of false soliciting for wrang deliverance 
 
 At council, session, and at Parliament ; 
 Of everilk guilt, and wicked governance, 
 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 * Undervaluing. -f- Robbery — pillage. J Possessing. 
 
 § Plenty. || Acquire. 
 
 11 Given to dissemble. 
 
8o LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 I shrive me of all cursit company, 
 In all time, witting and unwitting me. 
 
 Of criminal causes, of deed of felony, 
 Of tyranny, and vengeful crueltie. 
 Of hurt or slauchter, culpable gif I be. 
 
 In ony wise, deed, counsel, or consent ; 
 
 dear Jesu ! that for me deit on tree, 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Though I have not thy precious feet to kiss. 
 
 As had the Magdaleiie, when she did mercy crave, 
 I sail as she, weep tearis for my miss. 
 
 And every morrow seek Thee at Thy grave ; 
 
 Therefore, forgive me, as Thou her forgave, 
 That sees my heart, as sinner penitent ! 
 
 Thy precious body, in breist I resaif ; 
 I cry Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Thou mak me, Jesu, on Thee to remember ! 
 
 1 ask Thy passioun* in me so to abound. 
 While nocht of me unmanyeitt be a member. 
 
 But fall in woe, with Thee, of every wound ; 
 
 And every straik mak through my heart astound. 
 That ever did strain Thy fair flesh innocent ; 
 
 Sa that no part of my body be sound. 
 But crying Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Of all thir sins that I did here expreme, 
 And als forget to Thee, Lord ! I me shrive. 
 
 Appealing fra Thy Justice Court extreme. 
 Unto Thy Court of Mercy exulyfe ; J 
 
 ♦ Su£fering. + Uiuuaimed. J As an exile. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. gl 
 
 Thou mak my ship in blessed port arrive, 
 That sailis here in stormis violent, 
 
 And save me, Jesu ! for Thy woundis five, 
 That cries Thee mercy, and lasar to repent. 
 
 Dunbar appears to have been a true Roman 
 Catholic, and had a deep insight into the venality 
 of the human heart. He calls the verses a " Table 
 of Confession/' from which any particular sinner 
 may select the particular crimes he has been guilty 
 of. As a friar he had, no doubt, experience in auri- 
 cular confession. 
 
 OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Amang thir Freirs, within a closter, 
 
 I enterit in ane oratory, 
 And kneelit doun with ane Pater-noster, 
 
 Before the michtie King of glory. 
 
 Having His Passion in memory ; 
 Syne till His mother I did incline, 
 
 Her halsing* with ane gaudee-floree ;t 
 And suddenly I sleepit syne. 
 
 Me thocht Judas, with mony a Jew, 
 Took blessit Jesus, our Salvatour, 
 
 And shot Him furth, with mony a schew,t 
 With shameful words of dishonour ; 
 
 Hailing. f Festive son!^. J Shove. 
 
 F 
 
82 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And like ane thief or ane tratour, 
 They led that heavenly Prince most hie, 
 
 With menacing attour measour, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Falsely condemnit before ane Judge, 
 
 They spittit in His visage fair ; 
 And, as lions, with awful ruge,* 
 
 In ire they harl't Him here and there, 
 
 And gave Him mony buffets fair. 
 That it was sorrow for to see ; 
 
 And of His claiths they tirvitt Him bare; 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Thae tyrants to revenge their teyne,t 
 
 For scorn they clad Him in to white ; 
 And hid His bUssful, glorious eyne. 
 
 To see whom angels had delite ; 
 
 Dispituously syne did Him smite. 
 Saying, Gif Son of God thou be, 
 
 Wha straik Thee now, thou tell us tyte ?§ 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 In teyne, they tirrit Him again, 
 And till ane piUar they Him band ; 
 
 While blood out bristit at every vain, 
 They scourgit Him baith foot and hand : 
 At every straik ran forth a strand, 
 
 Micht have ransomit warlds three ; 
 He baid in stound|| while He micht stand, 
 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 * Roughness. t Uncovered. J: Spite. 
 
 § Quickly. U Acute pain. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 83 
 
 Next all in purpour* they Him clad, 
 
 And syne with thornis sharp and keen, 
 His saikless bluid again they shed, 
 
 Piercing His head with pikis green ; 
 
 Uneist with life He micht sustene 
 That Croun, on thrung J with crueltie, 
 
 While flood 'of bluid blindit his eyne, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Ane cross that was baith great and lang. 
 
 To bear they gave that blessit Lord ; / 
 Syne furiously, as thief to hang, 
 
 They harlit him forth with raip and cord ; 
 
 With bluid and sweat was all deflored§ 
 His face, the food of angels free ; 
 
 His feet with stanes were riven and scored, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Again they tirvit Him back and side, 
 
 As brym|| as any baris wod ;ir 
 The claith that clave to His clear hide, 
 
 They rave away with ruggis rude. 
 
 While fiercely followit flesh and bluid. 
 That it was pity for to see ; 
 
 Na kind of torment He gainstood, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Unto the cross of breadth and length. 
 
 To gar His limbis larger wax. 
 They straightit Him with all their strength. 
 
 While to the end they gart Him rax ; 
 
 * Purple. f Scarcely. J Thrown on. 
 
 § Disfigured. || Fierce. H Bears mad. 
 
84 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Syne tyt* Him up with great iron tax,+ 
 And Him all nakit on a tree 
 
 They raisit on loft, be houris sax, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 When He was bendit all on breid J 
 While all His veins brist and brak, 
 
 Till gar His cruel pain exceed, 
 
 They let Him fall down with a swak, 
 While cross and corps § and all did crak ; 
 
 Again they raisit Him on hie. 
 Ready mair torment for to tak, 
 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 Betwix twa thieves the sp'rit He gave 
 
 Unto His Father most of micht ; 
 The erd did tremble, the crags raive. 
 
 The sun obscurit of his licht ; 
 
 The day wox dark as ony nicht, 
 Deid bodies raise in the citie : 
 
 God's dear Son aU thus was dicht,l| 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 In weirlT that He was yet on life, 
 They ran a rude spear in His side. 
 
 And did His precious body ryf,** 
 
 While bluid and water did furth ghde : 
 
 * Tightened, or fastened. f Nails. J Breadth. 
 
 § Body. II Handled. 
 
 H In case — in doubt. ** Wound 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 85 
 
 Thus Jesus, with His wounds wide, 
 As martyr sufiferit for to die, 
 
 And tholit to be crucified, 
 O mankind ! for the love of thee. 
 
 The above poem, descriptive of the sufferings of 
 Christ under the hands of the Jews, was probably 
 written when the author was himself a friar. 
 
 OF THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. 
 
 Done is a battle on the Dragon blaclj, 
 Our Champion Christ confoundit has his force ; 
 
 The yetts of Hell are broken with a crack, 
 The sign triumphal raist is of the Cross, 
 The Devils tremmils with hideous voice. 
 
 The sauls are borrowit,* and to the bliss can go, 
 Christ with His blood our ransoms does indoce ;t 
 
 Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. 
 
 Dungin J is the deidly dragon Lucifer, 
 The cruel serpent with the mortal stang ; 
 
 The auld keen tiger, with his teeth on char,§ 
 Whilk in a wait for us has lain so lang. 
 Thinking to grip us in his clawis Strang ; 
 
 The merciful Lord would not that it were so. 
 He made him to felye II of that fang : 
 
 Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. 
 
 * Redeemed. f Endorse. J Overthrown. 
 
 § On edge. || Fail. 
 
86 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 He for our sake that sufFerit to be slain, 
 And like a lamb in sacrifice was dicht, 
 
 Is like a lion risen up again, 
 And as gyane* has raxit Him on hicht : 
 Springin is Aurora raSius and bricht, 
 
 On loft is gone the glorious Apollo, 
 The blissful day departed fro the nicht ; 
 
 Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. 
 
 The great Victor again is risen on hicht, 
 
 That for our quarrel to the death was woundit ; 
 The sun that wox all pale now shinis bricht, 
 
 And darkness clear't, our faith is now refoundit ; 
 
 The knell of mercy fra the heaven is soundit ; 
 The Christians are deliverit of their wo. 
 
 The Jewis and their error are confoundit : 
 Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. 
 
 The foe is chas't, the battle is done ceiss,t 
 The prison broken, the jeveUours fleet and flemit ; + 
 
 The war is gone, confirmit is the peiss, 
 The fetters loosit, and the dungeon temit,§ 
 The ransom maid, the prisoners redeemit ; 
 
 The field is won, oure comin is the fo, 
 Dispulitll of the treasure that he yemit :ir 
 
 Surrexit Dominus de sepulchro. 
 
 This and the following verses may be said to 
 complete the religious pieces of Dunbar. 
 
 • Returning. + Is done and ceased, 
 
 t The jailers frightened and fled. § Emptied. 
 
 II Despoiled. t Prized. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 87 
 
 ANE ORISON, 
 
 Saviour, suppose my sensualitie, 
 
 Subject to sin, has made my saul oft syis,* 
 Some spark of licht and spiritualitie, 
 
 Waukens my wit, and reason bids me rise ; 
 
 My corrupt conscience asks, clipis t and cries. 
 First grace, syne space, for to amend my myss ; J 
 
 Substance with honour, doing nane suppryis,§ 
 Friends' prosperity, here peace, syne heaven's bliss. 
 
 OF LYFE. 
 What is this lyfe but ane straucht way to deid, 
 
 Whilk has a time to pass and nane to dwell ; 
 A sliding wheel us lent to seek remeid ; 
 
 A free choice given to Paradise or Hell ; 
 
 A prey to death, whom vain is to repell ; 
 A short torment for infinite glaidness. 
 As short ane joy for lasting heaviness. 
 
 Both of these httle pieces are good, the last ex- 
 cellent. The conception of life, as a straight road 
 to death, with only two choices, short enough for 
 the one, and long enough for the other ultimatum, 
 is not less ingenious than beautiful. It is given 
 anonymously in the Maitland, but is ascribed to 
 Dunbar in the Bannatyne MS., and there can be 
 no doubt as to the author. 
 
 '* Subject to doom, f Divulges. 
 
 t Failure. § Wrong or oppression. 
 
88 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 GUID COUNSEL. 
 
 Be ye ane lover, think ye not ye suld 
 Be weel advisit in your governing ? 
 
 Be ye not sa, it will on you be tauld ; 
 Be ware therewith for dreid of mis-demying ;* 
 Be not a wreche,t nor scarce in your spending ; 
 
 Be laith alway to do amigs or shame ; 
 Be rulit richt, and keep weel this doctring, 
 
 Be secret, true, increasing of your name. 
 
 Be ye ane liar, that is warst of aU ; 
 
 Be ane tratlar,]; that I hald as evil ; 
 Be ye ane janglar,§ and ye fra virtue fall, 
 
 Be never mair on to thir vice's thrall ; 
 
 Be now and aye the maister of your will ; 
 Be never he that leising|| sail proclaim ; 
 
 Be not of language where ye suld be still ; 
 Be secret, true, increasing of your name. 
 
 Be not abasit IT for no wicked tongue ; 
 
 Be notsa set as I have said you heir ; 
 Be not sa large unto thir sawis sung ; ** 
 
 Be not oure proud, thinking ye have no peir, 
 
 Be ye so wise that others at you leir ;tt 
 Be never he to slander nor defame ; 
 
 Be of your love no preacher as ane freir iXX 
 Be secret, true, increasing of your fame. 
 
 * Misjudging. f Niggard. J Idle talker. 
 
 § "Wrangler. || Falsehood. t Abashed. 
 
 ** Do not despise these sayings. -t-f- Learn. 
 
 Jt Be more honest as a lover than a friar as a preacher. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 89 
 
 The counsel conveyed in these Une is excellent, 
 Dut the meaning of some of the lines is obscure. 
 
 OF MEN EVIL TO PLEASE. 
 Four manner of folks are evil to please, 
 Ana is that riches has and ease, 
 Gold, silver, com, cattle, and ky, 
 And wald have part fra others by.* 
 
 Ane other is of land and rent 
 So great ane lord, and so potent. 
 That he may nouther it rule nor gy ;t 
 And yet wald have fra others by. 
 
 Ane is that has of noble bluid 
 Ane lusty lady, fair and gude, 
 Baith virtuous, wise, and womanly ; 
 And yet wald have ane other by. 
 
 Ane other does so dourly drink. 
 And ale and wine within him sink. 
 While in his wame no room be dry ; 
 And yet wald have fra others by. 
 
 In earth no wicht I can perceive. 
 Of guid so great abundance have, 
 Nor in this world so wealthful wy,J 
 Yet he wald have from others by. 
 
 • Besides. t Guide. + Person. 
 
90 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 But yet of all this gold and guid, 
 Or other cunyie,* to conclude, 
 Wha ever it have, it is not I ; 
 It goes from me to others by. 
 
 And namely at this Christ's mess, 
 Wherever Sir Gold made his regress, 
 Of him I will no largess cry ; 
 He gaed fra me tiU others by. 
 
 The custom of giving largess — a present or 
 bounty — at festivals, and especially at Christmas, is 
 well known. This poem is only attributed to Dun- 
 bar in Reidpeth's MS., but there can be no ques- 
 tion as to the author. It is characteristic of the 
 poet, both in composition and sentiment — 
 " Quha evir it haif, it is nocht I ; 
 It gois frome me to utheris by." 
 
 INCONSTANCY OF LOVE. 
 Wha will behald of Love the chance, 
 With sweet, deceiving countenance, 
 In whaise fair dissimulance,+ 
 May none assure. 
 
 Whilk is begun with inconstance, 
 And ends not but J variance ; 
 She halds with continuance. 
 No serviture.§ 
 
 * Coin. ■!• Dissemblance. J Without. 
 
 § Superiority. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 9I 
 
 Discretion and considerance 
 Are both out of her governance ; 
 Wherefore, of it the short pleasance, 
 May not endure. 
 
 She is of new acquaintance, 
 The auld gaes fra remembrance ; 
 Thus I give oure the observans 
 Of Love's cure. 
 
 It is ane point of ignorance 
 To love in sic distemperance, 
 Sen time mispendit may advance 
 No creature. 
 
 In Love to keep allegiance, 
 It war as nice ane ordinance 
 As wha wald bid ane deid man dance, 
 In sepulture. 
 
 These verses only occur in the Bannatyne MS., 
 and though possessing less of the poetical vigour of 
 the author, still they are not altogether unworthy 
 of him. 
 
 ANE HIS AIN ENEMY. 
 
 He that has gold and great riches. 
 And may be into merriness, 
 
 And does gladness fra him expel. 
 And lives in to wretchedness, 
 
 He workis sorrow to him sell. 
 
92 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 He that may be but * sturt or strife, 
 And live ane lusty pleasant life, 
 
 And syne with marriage does him mell,t 
 And binds him with ane wicked wife, 
 
 He workis sorrow to him selL 
 
 He that has for his ain genyie,t 
 
 Ane pleasant prop, bot mank or menyie,§ 
 
 And shoots syne at ane unco shell. 
 And is forfain || with the fleis of Spenyie,T 
 
 He workis sorrow to him sell. 
 
 And he that with guid life and truth. 
 But varians ** or under sleuth, 
 
 Does ever mair with ane maister dwell, 
 That never of him will have no rewth, 
 
 He workis sorrow to him sell. 
 
 Now all this time let us be merry, 
 And set nocht by this warld a cherry : 
 
 Now while there is guid wine to sell, 
 He that does on dry bread winy, 
 
 I give him to the Devil of HeU. 
 
 Here we have the muse of Dunbar in a playful 
 humour, and certainly the concluding stanza is 
 
 * Without. + Meddle. t Instrument of war. 
 
 § A prop for the gun, without defect or injury. 
 
 II Jaded. 
 
 H Cantharides. " This circumstance," says Lord Hailes, 
 "gives us an high idea of the elegance and refinement of our 
 forefathers " ! 
 
 ** Without variance. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 93 
 
 amusing enough. While there is good wine to 
 sell, he that would choke upon dry bread is only fit 
 for the lower regions, is a thoroughly Bacchanalian 
 sentiment. In ancient times, from our intimate 
 connexion with France, wine was abundant and 
 cheap in Scotland, and great care was taken that it 
 should not be adulterated. In 1482, it was en- 
 acted by parliament, that those who mixed or cor- 
 rupted wine should be punished by death. Ale and 
 wine were the chief drinks in old times. Usque- 
 liagh, or whisky, is never mentioned in any of the 
 writings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, at 
 least in so far as we have seen. If distilled in the 
 Highlands at that period, which is very doubtful, 
 it must have been gradually brought into repute as 
 the taxes on foreign liquors were increased; and 
 yet we know that the making of corn brandy, a 
 species of whisky, has been long practised by the 
 Scandinavians. 
 
 THE TWA CUMMERS.* 
 
 Richt earlie on Ash Weddinsday,t - 
 Drinking the wine sat cummers tway ; 
 
 The tane couth J to the tother complein ; 
 Siching and supping couth she say, 
 
 This lang Lentren makes me lean.§ 
 
 * Gossips. t First day of Lent. + Began. 
 
 § Every one knows that flesh meat is forbidden by the Roman 
 Catholic Chmrch during Lent. 
 
94 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 On couch, beside the fire, she sat, 
 God wait * gif she was great and fat, 
 
 Yet to be feeble she 'did her fein ; 
 And aye §he said, Let preif t of that : 
 
 This lang Lentren makis me lean. 
 
 My fair, sweet Cummer, quoth the tother. 
 Ye tak that niggirtness of your mother ; 
 
 AH wine to taste she wad disdein 
 But Mavasy,t she bad§ nane other : 
 
 This lang Lentren makis me lean. 
 
 Cummer, be glad, both even and morrow. 
 Though ye suld baith beg and borrow ; 
 
 Fra our lang fasting see you refrein, 
 And let your husband dree the sorrow : 
 
 This lang Lentren makis me lean. 
 
 Your counsel. Cummer, is guid, quoth scho,|| 
 All is to tene IF him that I do ; 
 
 In bed he is not worth a bean ; 
 FiU the cup, Cummer, and drink me to : 
 
 This lang Lentren makis me lean. 
 
 Of wine, out of ane choppin stoup, 
 They drank twa quartis, soup and soup : 
 
 Sic drouth the cummers did constrein,** 
 Be than to mend they had guid houp, 
 
 That Lentren suld not mak them lean. 
 
 * God wit. + Let taste. J Mahnsey wine. 
 
 § She iaci for no other — desired no other. 
 II She. H Anger. 
 
 *♦ There are various readings of this line. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 95 
 
 There is great humour and keen satire in these 
 verses, at the same time that, as Pinkerton says, 
 they afford " a curious picture, from the Ufe, in the 
 style of Flemish paintings.'^ 
 
 THE DEVIL S INQtreST. 
 
 This nicht in my sleep I was aghast, 
 Me thocht the Devil was tempting fast, 
 
 The people, with aiths of crueltie ;* 
 Saying, as through the mercat he past, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Me thocht, as he went through the way, 
 Ane priest sweir't braid, be God, verey,t 
 
 While at the altar received he. 
 Thou art my clerk, the Devil 'gan say, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Than swore ane courteour, meikle of pride, 
 Be Christis woundis bluidy and wide, 
 
 And be His harms X was rent on tree. 
 Than spak the Devil, hard him beside, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane merchant, his geir as he did sell, 
 Renuncit his pairt of heaven for hell. 
 
 * Grievous oaths. 
 
 + Very — pronounced verray in Aberdeenshire. 
 
 J: Who is necessary here to bring out the meaning. 
 
g6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The Devil said, Welcome mot * thou be, 
 Thou sail be merchant for my sell, 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane goldsmith said, The gold is sa fine, 
 That all the workmanship I tine ; 
 
 The fiend receive me gif I lie. 
 Think on, quoth the Devil, that thou art mine, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane tailyour said. In all this toun, 
 Be there ane better weel made goun, 
 
 I give me to the fiend all free. - 
 Gramercy, tailyour, said Mahoun, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane souter said. In guid effeck. 
 Nor I be hangit be the neck, 
 
 Gif better buits of leather may be. 
 Fy, quoth the fiend, thou sairis of blek,t 
 
 Gae cleanse thee clean, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane baxter said, I forsake God, 
 And all His warks, even and odd, 
 
 Gif fairer bread there needs to be. 
 The Devil leuch, and on him couth nod — 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 Ane flesher swore be the sacrament, 
 And be Christ's bluid maist innocent, 
 
 Never fatter flesh saw man with e'e. 
 The Devil said, Hald on thy intent, 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 *May. t Smells of blacking. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR, 57 
 
 The maltman says, I God forsake, 
 And mot the devil of hell me take, 
 
 Gif ony better malt may be. 
 And of this kill I have inlaik : * 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane browstar swore the malt was ill, 
 Baith red and reekit on the kill, 
 
 That it will be nae ale for me ; 
 Ane boll will not six gallons fill : 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Be God's bluid, quoth the tavernnier,t 
 There is sic wine in my celleir. 
 
 Has never come in this countrie. 
 Tut, quoth the Devil, thou sells oure dear: 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 The smith swore be rood and raip, 
 In till a gallows mot I gaip, 
 
 Gif I ten days wan pennies three. 
 For with that craft I cannot thraip : J 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane minstrel said. The fiend me ryfe, § 
 Gif I do ocht but drink and s wyfe ; 1 1 
 
 The Devil said. Than I counsel thee, 
 Exerse IT that craft in all thy life : 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 * Deficiency. ■)• Tavern-keeper. 
 
 + This word puzzled Lord Hailes ; but its obvious meaning is 
 thrive. 
 § Rive. II Sing or play. II Exercise. 
 
 G 
 
98 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Ane dysour* said, with words of strife, 
 The devil mot stick him with a knife 
 
 But he cast up fair syisis t three ; 
 The Devil said, Endit is thy life ; 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 Ane thief said, God that ever I chaip, J 
 Nor ane stark widdy gar me gaip. 
 
 But I in hell for geir wald be. 
 The Devil said, Welcome in a raip : 
 
 Renunce thy God, and cum to me. 
 
 The fishwives flett, § and swore with granes. 
 And to the Fiend, saul, flesh, and banes, 
 
 They gave them, with ane shout on hie. 
 The Devil said, Welcome all at anis :|| 
 
 Renunce your God, and cum to me. 
 
 The rest of craftis great aiths swair, 
 Their wark and craft had nae compair, 
 
 Ilk ane into their qualitie. 
 The Devil said, than, withouten mair : 
 
 Renunce your God, and cum to me. 
 
 This is a curious and admirable satire on the 
 times. Should we suppose Edinburgh to have 
 been the scene of the poet's vision, we have only to 
 fancy what the High Street was at a much later 
 period, to appreciate the words, " as throw the 
 mercat he past." In that haunt of most of the 
 citizens of note were to be found all and more than 
 
 * Gamester. + Sixes at dice. J Escape. 
 
 § Scolded. 11 At once. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 99 
 
 the devil held inquest upon. The satire is levelled 
 not only against the vulgar practice of swearing, 
 but against the roguery which prevailed amongst 
 tradesmen then as well as now. Nor does he omit 
 his own profession— the priesthood. Swearing was 
 made the subject of acts of parliament in Mary's 
 time, and subsequent reigns. In Sir David Lind- 
 say's " Satyre of the Three Estates," the reader 
 will find a pretty full sprinkling of the oaths then 
 prevalent. Even King James VI. was accused by 
 the Kirk of being " blottit with banning and sweir- 
 ing." In fact, it was fashionable amongst the 
 upper classes down to our own times, and this 
 in the other portions of the kingdom as well as 
 Scotland. Hailes, in his remarks on this poem, 
 observes that Dunbar seems to have had " a strange 
 antipathy at shoemakers.-" It would be difficult to 
 account for this, but certainly his satire is unusually 
 severe in reference to that craft — 
 
 " Fy, quotli the Fiend, thou sairis of blek, 
 Ga dense thee clene, and cum to me." 
 
 Nothing could be more cutting than this, that a 
 shoemaker was too foul even for the Fiend. Lord 
 Hailes, whom Laing copies without remark, had 
 some trouble with the reading of the third last 
 verse, beginning 
 
 " Ana thief said, God that ever I chaip,'' &c. 
 Hailes printed this line, " /// that evir I chaip," 
 
lOO LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 and, in a note, observed that "the MS., instead 
 of ill, had God. The word chaip is used for 
 escape. So that the sense is, 'I will not desist 
 from my vocation till I be hanged.' " But, with 
 all due deference to Lord Hailes, if the reader goes 
 over the verse carefully, he will read it in another 
 sense : " God though I never escape, (that is, His 
 vengeance,) nor the gallows, yet I would go to hell 
 for the sake of money, and thereupon the devil 
 welcomes him even ' in a raip.' " By this, the 
 true reading, the humour of the poet is brought 
 thoroughly out. 
 
 BEAUTY AND THE PRISONEK. 
 
 Sen that I am a Prisoneir 
 
 Till her that fairest is and best, 
 I me commend, fra yeir to yeir, 
 
 In till her bandoun * for to rest ; 
 
 I govitt on that guidUest, 
 Sa lang to luk 1 took laseir J 
 
 While I was ta'en withouten test. 
 And led forth as a Prisoneir. 
 
 Her Sweet Having, and Fresh Beautie, 
 Has woundit me but§ sword or lance ; 
 
 With her to go commandit me. 
 On till the Castle of Penance. 
 
 * Command. f Gazed. J Leisure. § Without. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. iQI 
 
 I said, Is this your governance, 
 To tak men for their loolcing here ? 
 
 Beauty sayis, Yea, sir, perchance 
 Ye be my Lady's Prisoneir. 
 
 They had me bundin to the yett, 
 
 Where Strangeness had been porter aye ; 
 And in dehverit me thereat. 
 
 And in thir tennis 'gan they say : 
 
 Do wait, and let him not away, 
 Quoth Beauty unto the porteir. 
 
 On till my Lady, I dare say. 
 Ye be too puir a Prisoneir. 
 
 They cast me in a deep dungeon. 
 And fetterit me but* lock or chain ; 
 
 The captain, hechtt Comparison, 
 
 To look on me he thocht great deign : 
 Though I was wo, I durst not plain. 
 
 For he had fetterit mony affeir ; J 
 With piteous voice thus couth I sene,§ 
 
 Wo is a woful Prisoneir ! 
 
 Languor was watch upon the wall. 
 That never sleepit, but ever woke ; 
 
 And Scorn was bourdour|| in the hall. 
 And oft on me his babble shook ; 
 Looking with many a dangerous look. 
 
 What is he yon, that methisT us near ? 
 
 * Without + Called. t Many of the same. 
 
 § Could I'say. || Jester, 
 
 U Comes within our boundary. 
 
103 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 He be too townage,* be this book, 
 To be my Lady's Prisoneir. 
 
 Guid Houp syne rounit t in my ear, 
 
 And bad me baldlie brieve a bill ;I 
 With Lawliness he suld it bear. 
 
 With Fair Service send it her till : 
 
 I woke, and writ her all my will. 
 Fair Service fure§ withouten fear, 
 
 Saying till her, with words still. 
 Have pity on your Prisoneir. 
 
 Than Lawliness to Pity went. 
 
 And said till her, in terms short. 
 Let we yon Prisoneir be schent,l| 
 
 Will no one do to us support ? 
 
 Gar lay ana siege unto yon fort. 
 Than Pity said, I sail appear. 
 
 Thocht says, I hecht,ir come I ourethort — 
 I houp to louse the Prisoneir. 
 
 Than to battle they were arrayit all. 
 
 And aye the wawart ** keepit Thocht ; 
 Lust bear the banner to the wall. 
 
 And Business the great gyn + 1 brocht. 
 
 Scorn cries out, says, Wald ye ocht ? 
 Lust says, We wald have entry here. 
 
 Comparison says, That is for nocht. 
 Ye will not win the Prisoneir. 
 
 * Townish — that is, too much of the burgher, and not enough 
 of the baron. f Whispered. 
 
 { Write a letter. § Went, or carried it || Ruined. 
 
 II Promised. ** The van. ff Ordnance 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 They therein schup * for to defend, 
 
 And they therefu-rth sailyeit t ane hour : 
 Than Business the great gyn bend, 
 
 Struck doun the top of the fore tour. 
 
 Comparison began to lour, 
 And cryit furth, I you requeir. 
 
 Soft and fair, and do favour. 
 And tak to you the Prisoneir. 
 
 They fyrit the yetts deliverly,J 
 
 Witli faggots were great and liuge ; 
 And Strangeness, where that he did he. 
 
 Was burnt into tlie porter lodge. 
 
 Lustily they lackit but a judge. 
 Sic straiks and stychling § was on steir ; 
 
 The seemliest was made assege,il 
 To whom that he was Prisoneir. 
 
 Through Scorn's nose they put a prik, 
 
 Thus he IT was banist and gat a blek ; ** 
 Comparison was erdit quik, 
 
 And Languor lap and brak his nek ; 
 
 They sailyeit fast all the fek,tt 
 Lust chasit my Lady's chalmerleir,JJ 
 
 Guid Fame was drounit in a sek ; 
 Thus ransomit they the Prisoneir. 
 
 * Shaped. f Assailed. % Quickly. 
 
 § Flying of hot embers. II A siege. 
 
 H Mr Laing says these words are a mistake for " Bissiness ;" 
 but he forgets that Bissiness was one of the assailants. 
 ** Was made black. ft Rest. 
 
104 I'lFB AND POEMS OF 
 
 Fra Slander hard Lust had undone 
 
 His enemies, him agains 
 Assembht ane seemly sort full sone, 
 
 And raise and rowttit * all the plains ; 
 
 His cusing f in the Court remains, 
 But Jalouse folks and Geangleirs,J 
 
 And false Invy that no thing lanes,§ 
 Blew out on Love's Prisoneir. 
 
 Syne Matrimony, that noble king, 
 
 Was grievit, and gatherit ane great host. 
 And all enermit,|| without leising. 
 
 Chased Sklander to the west sea coast ; 
 
 Than was he and his lineage lost, 
 And Matrimony, withouten weir, 
 
 The band of friendship has indost 
 Betwix Beauty and her Prisoneir. 
 
 Be that of eild was Guid Fame's air,l" 
 
 And coming to continuatioun. 
 And to the Court made his repair. 
 
 Where Matrimony than wore the croun ; 
 
 He gat ane confirmatioun, 
 All that his mother aucht but weir : ** 
 
 And baid still, as it was reason. 
 With Beauty and the Prisoneir. 
 
 This is another of Dunbar's allegorical pieces, 
 written in his usual felicitous style; but, as Mr 
 
 * Ranged. + Accusing. f Wrangler. 
 
 § Conceals. || Armed. 
 
 *iT By the time Good Fame's heir was of age. 
 ** All that his mother possessed without contention or doubt. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I05 
 
 Laing suggests, it may be merely a poetical version 
 of one of the pageants common at the time. He 
 fails, however, to shew any instance of this kind 
 prior to 1512, when " Le Fortresse Dangerus" was 
 exhibited before Henry VHI. Another pageant 
 was performed at a banquet given by Cardinal 
 Wolsey, in honour of the ambassadors from Charles 
 v., in 1522, more akin to Dunbar's plot. Still 
 these scenic representations, even the first men- 
 tioned, must have occurred many years after 
 "Bewty and the Prisoneir" was written. At the 
 same time, it is quite possible that the idea was 
 suggested by some one or other of the masks which 
 then formed the staple of courtly amusement. 
 There is also considerable resemblance to Gawin 
 Douglas's " King Hart," in the mode in which 
 Dame Pleasaunce and her ladies assail his castle. 
 But Douglas was contemporary with Dunbar, and 
 both might probably be indebted to the same source. 
 Be this as it may, no other poet of his age, in so 
 far as we have the means of judging, could have 
 handled the subject so well. " Lady, help your 
 Prisoneir " is mentioned in the " Complaynt of 
 Scotland," 1^49, and no doubt the same poem is 
 meant. It must thus have been popular, though it 
 is not known to have been in print before produced 
 by Mr Laing from the Bannatyne MS., in which 
 there were mistakes which he was unable to correct. 
 We have endeavoured to rectify these. 
 
I06 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The foregoing poems may be considered as hav- 
 ing been, for the most part, composed by Dunbar 
 in his younger years, while a student or a wander- 
 ing friar, or in the more exahed position of secre- 
 tary to various embassies which James IV. is known 
 to have sent to the continental courts. For his 
 services in this way, and perhaps as much on ac- 
 count of his poetical reputation, the king granted 
 him a pension of ten pounds yearly, in ijoo- The 
 gift is recorded in the Privy Seal Register, and is as 
 follows : — " A Lettre maid to Maister* Williame 
 Dunbar of the gift of ten ii of pensioune, to be pait 
 to him of our souerane Lordis cofFeris, be the The- 
 saurare, for al the dais of his life, or quhil he be 
 promovit be our souerane Lord to a benefice of 
 xl'', or above;" dated August ij, 1500. From 
 this period to the death of the king at Flodden, in 
 1513, Dunbar was intimately connected with the 
 royal househeld, and his ballads and other verses on 
 subjects incidental to the court, throw considerable 
 light on the domestic occupations and pastimes of 
 the sovereign. 
 
 Although James was elevated to the throne 
 amidst rebellion and the assassination of his father, 
 and although it is said the circumstance frequently 
 preyed upon his mind in after-life, yet his court was 
 perhaps one of the gayest that the Scottish mon- 
 archy can boast. He was himself of a sprightly 
 
 * Professional men, especially masters of art, were invariably 
 styled " Maister." 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAK. I07 
 
 and gallant disposition, too much devoted, no doubt, 
 to pleasures of an unlicensed character, yet occa- 
 sionally subjected to fits of melancholy and piety, 
 which made him a frequent and liberal donor to the 
 Church. He was, at the same time, a patron of 
 literature, and also of the arts and sciences, so far 
 as known in his day, and justice was so well admi- 
 nistered, and treason so put down, that the country 
 rose to a state of prosperity and an influence among 
 the nations altogether unknown in former times. 
 The navy of Scotland never assumed such import- 
 ance as in his reign, and commerce flourished in an 
 extraordinary degree. He built the Palace of Holy- 
 rood, and greatly enlarged those of Stirling and 
 Falkland, as appears from the Treasurer's Accounts ; 
 and he was himself one of the best jousters at the 
 numerous tournaments which he gave for the 
 amusement of the court and the foreign ambassa- 
 dors. He was, in every sense, one of the most 
 accomplished knights of his day. 
 
 The bustle and enterprise occasioned by the 
 measures of the king are thus happily described by 
 Dunbar in one of his addresses to his majesty : — 
 
 " Schir, ye have mony servitouris, 
 And officiaris of dyvers curis ; 
 Kirkmen, courtmen, and craftismen fyne ; 
 Doctouris in jure, and medicyne, 
 Divinouris, rethoris, and philosophouris, 
 Astrologis, artistis, and oratouris ; 
 
I08 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Men of armes, and vailyeand knychtis, 
 
 And mony uther gudlie wichtis ; 
 
 Musicianis, menstralis, and mirrie singaris ; 
 
 Chevalouris, callandaris, and Frensche flingaris ; 
 
 Cunyouris, carvouris, and carpentaris, 
 
 Beildaris of barkis, and ballingaris ; 
 
 Masounis, lyand upon the land, 
 
 And schip wrichtis hewand upone the strand ; 
 
 Glasing wrichtis, goldsmythis, and lapidaris, 
 
 Pryntouris, payntouris, and potingaris ; 
 
 And all of thair craft cumming, 
 
 And all at anis laboring, 
 
 Quhilk pleisand ar and honorable ; 
 
 And to your Hienes profitable ; 
 
 And richt convenient for to be, , 
 
 With your hie regale Majestic." 
 
 That the first printing press in Scotland was 
 estabhshed by James IV. is a great fact in attesta- 
 tion of his love of literature ; and there are nu- 
 merous proofs in the Treasurer's Accounts of his 
 extreme fondness for music. In 1489, the year 
 after he ascended the throne, a band of English 
 pipers came to Edinburgh, and they played at the 
 Castle gate, where his majesty heard them, and 
 rewarded them with twelve demyes.* In 1491, 
 three English pipers were heard by the king at 
 Linlithgow, and paid seven unicorns. f In his nu- 
 
 " A gold coin, equal to twelve shillings Scots. The payment 
 is dated loth July 1489. 
 
 t A gold coin, struck in the reign of James III. ; but we are 
 not informed of its precise value. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 109 
 
 merous excursions throughout the country, James 
 frequently carried instruments of music in his train. 
 In 1494-5, an organ had been sent to Stirhng; 
 and in 1497, 9s. were paid for " tursing the Kingis 
 organis betuix StriveUn and Edinburgh." In 1503, 
 John Goldsmyth, in Inverness, was indemnified 
 for his advances " for ane cais to turs the organis 
 in," 7s. 8d. ; and there was paid to "ij childer 
 that bure the organis and thair belh'sis ouir the 
 month and agane, xxviijs.'^ In 1506, John Gold- 
 smyth was again employed in packing the organ in 
 Eskdale, the opposite part of the kingdom. In 1498, 
 13s. were paid "for ane quhissil to, the king.'-" 
 The person who played on the whistles was called 
 " Quhissil Gibbon." His name first appears in 
 the Treasurer's Accounts in 1497. In 1503, there 
 was paid to William, the tahronar, " to by him 
 quhissilis, by the kingis command," 14s. ; and in 
 1503, " to the cormit, to by him quhisslis, be the 
 kingis command," 43s. In the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century, the names of various " quhissi- 
 laris" appear in the Treasurer's books; and one of 
 them, no doubt belonging to the court, had, in 
 1505, " Frenche tartane to be ane cote"* pro- 
 vided for him. A " Frensch quhlssilar " was at 
 court about that time, and, in 1506, ten French 
 crowns were given him " to pass his way." Among 
 the "musicianis, menstralis, and mirrie singaris," 
 mentioned by Dunbar, the Treasurer shews that 
 * The royal livery of James IV. was red and yeUow. 
 
no LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 there was one Nicholas Gray, who played " on 
 the dron" — the drone bagpipe. In 1505, besides 
 " Jamie Wederspune/' the fiddler, there was 
 " Jamie that playis on the drone." In 1506, the 
 royal household had four Italian schawmeris,* who 
 are sometimes styled " iiij childer chawmeris;" so 
 that they had been young persons. In that year 
 he was attended by them when landing in a boat 
 at Blackness. Julian Drummond \vas player on 
 the tuba ductilisj- in the king's household, both in 
 the reign of James IV. and James V. He is sup- 
 posed to have been descended of a branch of the 
 Hawthornden family, who had gone to Italy. The 
 Treasurer's Accounts shew that harpers of various 
 nations attended the court; and that something 
 like competitions occasionally took place between 
 the English, Irish, Highland, and Lowland harpers. 
 Frequent gratuities are entered as having been 
 given to the performers. Of the " oratouris," 
 and " Frensche flingaris," of whom Dunbar speaks, 
 many proofs could be adduced from the Treasurer's 
 Accounts. By orators the poet, no doubt, means 
 storytellers. Richard Wallace, a courier, or bearer 
 of letters, was at times a teller of tales or "geists" 
 to the king. There was also "Widderspune the 
 foulare, that tald tales and brocht foulls to the 
 king," together with " Watchod the tale tellare," 
 all of whom occur between 1496 and 1497. "Hoff 
 
 * Players on the cornet. 
 
 t An instiaiment, probably, of the nature of the trombone. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. m 
 
 the jestour," and " Thomas the jestour" are fre- 
 quently mentioned . " March 5, 1507-8. To the 
 Frenche menstralhs, that maid ane danss in the 
 Abbay,* be the kingis command, 12 French 
 crowns, ^8, 8s." These were, possibly, the 
 " Frensche flingaris" referred to by Dunbar, though 
 they are styled minstrels. It is to be regretted that 
 there is nothing in the Treasurer's Accounts to 
 indicate whether the minstrels sung, like the trou- 
 badours, as well as played. The contrary, indeed, 
 may be inferred from the distinction made between 
 singers, musicians, and orators. But there were 
 other dancers beside the French flingers ; in par- 
 ticular the morris-dancers, of whom he elsewhere 
 says : — 
 
 " Sum lait at evin bringis in the Moreis.'' 
 
 "Jan. 6, 1503-4. To Colin Campbell, and his 
 marrowis, that brocht in the moress daunss, for 
 thair expensis maid thairin, be the kingis command, 
 20 French crowns, equal to ^14 Scots." "Franche 
 Maister John," (afterwards Abbot of Tungland) 
 " Thomas Boswel," (ancestor of the Boswells of 
 Auchinleck and Balmuto) " and Gwilliam Taw- 
 broner" frequently appear among the makers of 
 dances before the king. In 151 2, (Dec. 5) Mon- 
 sieur La Mote, the French ambassador's servants, 
 
 * Is it to be supposed from this that Holyrood Palace was 
 not built, or finished, a.t this time ? It is supposed to have been 
 built about the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
Iia LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 received '' lo crowns, of wecht £<) " for dancing 
 " ane morris to the king." 
 
 His majesty was not unfrequently entertained 
 with theatrical performances, at least what were 
 called plays, especially in the earlier portion of his 
 reign. "Patrick Johnston, and the playaris of 
 Lythguou that playt to the king " occur repeatedly 
 from 1488 to 1492. 
 
 Such were the pastimes and pastime-makers of 
 the court of James IV., the patron of Dunbar. 
 And in this motley throng it was the fortune of 
 the poet to mix as one of the royal contributors of 
 amusement, though in a higher capacity. That he 
 wore the king's livery is apparent from more than 
 one entry in the Treasurer's books : — "37th Jan. 
 1506-7 : Item, to Maister William Dunbar, be 
 the Kingis command, for caus he wantit his goun 
 at Yule, vii." Again, "Jan. 33, 151 1-12 : Item, 
 to Maister William Dunbar, for his yule leveray, 
 vj elnis ane quartar Parise blak to be hyme ane 
 gowne, price eln xls. summa xij k. x^." "Item, 
 allowit to the said Maister William, attour his 
 leveray was tane at yule in anno v'=xj. [i^ii,] v. 
 quartaris scarlete, price iij". ij^. vjd." Thus we 
 have a pretty accurate idea of the position and 
 atmosphere in which moved one of the greatest 
 poets of his day. He was an ecclesiastic besides, 
 and had said his first mass before the king on the 
 17th March 1503-4, for which he had a gratuity 
 of seven French crowns, or ^4, i8s. Scots. Un- 
 
WILLIAM DyNBAR. II3 
 
 fortunately there is no portrait or figure of the 
 bard of any kind ; but we may conceive a person 
 under the medium height, if we believe Kennedy, 
 attired in the king's livery of red and yellow, over 
 which was worn a black gown, when officiating in 
 his character of chaplain. 
 
 We may fancy the character of the monarch 
 who found recreation in such curious and varied 
 forms : at one time listening to a new ballad by 
 his poet-laureate anon to the tales of his courier 
 or fowler, again delighted with the minstrels and 
 merry singers, the jesters, and, late in the evening, 
 with the morris-dancers. Again, we find him 
 busily superintending his numerous public works, 
 particularly his ship-building yards, perhaps pacing 
 the unfinished deck of the " Great Michael ; " and 
 next we see him riding over moor and fell, fre- 
 quently a hundred miles at a stretch, to some 
 distant "justice aire," to see that his judges were 
 not napping. Now we may find him at the tilting 
 ground, the most approved of men-at-arms, in the 
 highest excitement and humour; and, ere the 
 sound of revelry has passed from the royal apart- 
 ments, at midnight he may be discovered a re- 
 pentant recluse among the Ohservant Friars of 
 Stirling. And yet, notwithstanding this somewhat 
 capricious character of the sovereign, the reign of 
 James IV. may be styled the "golden age" of 
 poetry and music in Scotland. To this period we 
 are in all likelihood indebted for many of those 
 
 H 
 
1 14 LTFE AND POEMS qP 
 
 fine old airs which still survive, and which the 
 puritanism of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
 turies could not sweep away, for they were en- 
 graven on the living memory, and handed down 
 in that way from age to age. 
 
 Nor was the art of painting neglected. In 150^ 
 there occurs this entry in the Treasurer's Accounts : 
 "To David Prat, the payntour, in compleit pay- 
 ment of the altar paynting, as resting awand to 
 him, ij. li. ixs." This picture, now at Holyrood 
 Palace, was long at Hampton Court, and is sup- 
 posed, on good grounds, as shewn by Mr Laing in 
 a paper read some time ago to the Antiquarian 
 Society, to have originally formed the altar-piece 
 of Trinity Church, 
 
 James, at the same time, was not above the 
 weakness of the age in matters of science. He 
 was a believer in astrology and alchymy, and spent 
 no small portion of his means in unattainable 
 results. His principal agent in attempting to con- 
 vert the baser metals into gold was an Italian from 
 Lombardy. He had practised medicine in France, 
 and became attached, in the capacity of leech or 
 doctor, to the Scottish court. His name frequently 
 appears in the Treasurer's Accounts as " Maister 
 John, the French medicinar." Bishop Lesley says, 
 "He causit Ijhe king believe that he, be multiplyinge, 
 and utheris his inventions, wold make fine golde of 
 uther mettall, quhilk science he callit the quint- 
 assence, whereupon the king made great cost 3 but 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 "5 
 
 all in vain." Stirling appears to have been the 
 seat of his secret operations. So early as 1501-2, 
 March 3, " iiij hary nobles were sent to the Leich 
 to multiply, summa ^9." Though success did 
 not attend these foregone efforts, yet they are un- 
 derstood to have led to the commencement of the 
 gold mines at Crawford moor, which were not al- 
 together unremunerative. 
 
 As an attendant at the court, Dunbar had ample 
 leisure to "brief ballatis;" and it is to be supposed 
 that only a small portion of the workings of his 
 muse during so many years, notwithstanding the 
 industry of Bannatyne and others, has come down 
 to our time. Yet the probability is, that his 
 position — living in almost daily expectation of a 
 benefice, and feeling the irksomeness of depending 
 upon favours which a breath might blow to the 
 winds, while it was expected that, by the exercise 
 of his muse, he should contribute to the amusement 
 of the king — marred those higher flights which his 
 active mind might have engaged in under different 
 circumstances. That the small pension of ten 
 pounds — which he enjoyed without augmentation 
 from the crown till 15 10, when a considerable 
 addition was made to it — came to him through his 
 own petitioning for favour, does not appear from 
 his works. By the terms in which it was conveyed, 
 it is evident that the king meant it as a temporary 
 reward until a benefice should be given him ; and 
 thus he was kept in a continual state of "hope 
 
Il5 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 deferred," the worst possible for a poetical tem- 
 perament. There were several other literary per- 
 sons, besides Dunbar, who enjoyed similar small 
 pensions. It must be admitted, at the same time, 
 that the poet had various gratuities conferred upon 
 him at intervals, which helped to eke out his yearly 
 allowance. 
 
 Amongst the first duties of importance that fell 
 to the lot of our poet-laureate was the auspicious 
 marriage of the king with the Princess Margaret of 
 England. It is very probable that Dunbar accom- 
 panied the embassy sent to England, in October 
 1501, to conclude the negotiations for the mar- 
 riage ; but that he remained, as Mr Laing surmises, 
 to witness the affiancing, which took place, with 
 much splendour, at St Paul's Cross, on the a^*^'^ 
 January i^oa, is more than doubtful. The entry 
 in the Treasurer's Accounts, from which it is 
 known that he was in England at; all at the time, 
 proves that he did not remain. It is dated " Dec. 
 ao, (1501.) Item, to Maister William Dunbar, 
 quhilk was payit to him efter he camfurthoflng- 
 land, v4a." It is evident from this that he had 
 been in England, but just as clear that he had re- 
 turned to Scotland before or on the aoth December 
 1501 ; therefore he could not have remained in 
 England till the espousals, on the a5th January 
 1/503. Mr Laing shews, from the privy purse ex- 
 penses of Henry VIII., that "the Rhymer of Scot- 
 land received ^6, 13s. 4d., in reward from Henry 
 
WILLTAM DUNBAR. 
 
 117 
 
 VTII., on the 31st of December 1501, and a simi- 
 lar sum on the 7th of January following." Now, 
 this " Rhymer of Scotland " could not be Dunbar, 
 unless these gratuities were paid to some one of the 
 embassy on his account ; for it is clear he could not 
 be in Edinburgh on the 20th December i_5oi, and 
 again in London on the 7th January 1502. Travel- 
 ling at that time was not so expeditious as now : a 
 journey from Edinburgh then, and long afterwards, 
 was seldom performed in less than three weeks. 
 
 Be this as it may, it became the pleasant duty of 
 the bard to celebrate the marriage of the royal pair 
 in verse. The Princess Margaret did not make her 
 entrance into Edinburgh till the 7th August 1503, 
 the progress from London having occupied fully a 
 month. She was met by the king on the bound- 
 aries of his ancient dominion, and escorted to the 
 capital with the utmost gallantry and chivalric dis- 
 play. The union was celebrated at Holyrood, the 
 day after Margaret's arrival, and the Treasurer's 
 Accounts attest the magnificence of the prepara- 
 tions made for the occasion. Dunbar was then, 
 though perhaps past middle life, but a young cour- 
 tier, full of expectation, and the epithalamium which 
 he composed in honour of the auspicious event, 
 shewed that he sung with a will, and in the highest 
 strain of his muse. The royal pair were very poeti- 
 cally figured as the representatives of the national 
 emblems. 
 
Il8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 THE THISTLE AND THE ROSE. 
 
 When March was with variand windis past, 
 And Aperil* had, with her silver showers, 
 
 Tane leave at Nature with ane orient blast. 
 And lusty May, that mothir is of flowers. 
 Had made the birds to begin their hours t 
 
 Amang the tender odours red and white. 
 
 Whose harmony to hear it was delight, 
 
 In bed, at morrow, sleeping as I lay, 
 Methought Aurora, with her crystal ene. 
 
 In at the window lukit by the day, 
 And halsit J me, with visage pale and green ; 
 On whose hand a lark sang fro the spleen § — 
 
 Awauk, lovers, out of your slumbering ! 
 
 See how the lusty morrow does upspring. 
 
 Methought fresh May before my bed upstood, 
 In weed depaint of mony diverse hue. 
 
 Sober, benign, and fuU of mansuetude. 
 In bricht attire of flow'rs forgit new. 
 Heavenly of colour, white, red, brown, and blue, 
 
 Bahnit in dew, and gilt with Phoebus' beams ; 
 
 While all the house illuminit of her lemes-H 
 
 Sluggard, she said, awauk anop for shame. 
 
 And in mine honour something thou go write ; 
 The lark has done the merry day proclaim, 
 
 * So pronounced in Scotch. 
 
 + Morning orisons. From Hone, in the Missal of the Romish 
 Church, 
 X Hailed. § The heart |) Gleams. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 119 
 
 To raise up lovers with comfort and delight ; 
 
 Yet nocht increases thy courage to indite, 
 Whose heart some time has glad and blissful been, 
 Sangis to mak under the leavis green. 
 
 Whereto, quoth I, sail I uprise at morrow, 
 For in this May few birdis herd I sing ; 
 
 They have more cause to weep and plane* their 
 sorrow ; 
 Thy air it is not wholesome nor bening ; 
 Lord Eolus does in thy season ring : 
 
 So busteous t are the blastis of his horn, 
 
 Amang thy boughs to walk I have forborne ? 
 
 With that this Lady soberly did smile. 
 And said, Uprise, and do thy observance ; 
 
 Thou did promyt,J in Mayis lusty while. 
 For to descrive the ROSE, of most pleasance. 
 Go, see the birdis how they sing and dance, 
 
 Illuminit oure with orient skies bricht, 
 
 Enamelit richly with new azure licht. 
 
 When this was said, departit she, this Queen, 
 And enterit in a lusty garden gent ; § 
 
 'And then methought, fuU hastily besene,|| 
 In serk and mantle efter her I went 
 Into this garth, most dulce ^ and redolent, 
 
 Of herb and flow'r, and tender plantis sweet, 
 
 And green leavis doing of dew down fleet.** 
 
 * Complain o£ f Violent, boisterous. J Promise. 
 
 § Fine. {| Attired, or provided. H Sweet 
 
 ** Quickly dropping dew. 
 
120 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The purpour sun, with tender beams reid. 
 In orient bricht as angel did appear, 
 
 Through golden skies putting up his heid, 
 Whose gilt tressis shone so wonder clear, 
 That all the world took comfort, far and near, 
 
 To look upon his fresh and blissful face, 
 
 Doing all sable fro the heavens chase. 
 
 And, as the blissful soun' of cherarchy,* 
 
 The fowlis sung through comfort of the licht ; 
 
 The birdis did with open voices cry. 
 Oh, lovers' foe ! away, thou dully nicht. 
 And welcome day, that comforts every wicht ; 
 
 Hail May, hail Flora, hail Aurora sheen ! 
 
 Hail Princess Nature, hail Venus, love's queen ! 
 
 Dame Nature gave ane inhibition there. 
 To fierce Neptunus, and Eolus the bauld. 
 
 Not to perturb the water nor the air. 
 And that no shouris snell nor blastis cauld 
 Effrengt suld flouris nor foulis on the fold :t 
 
 * Botli.Lord Hailes and Mr Laing interpret this line as the 
 " blissful sone [sun] of cherarchy, " thanksgiving of angels. In the 
 original it is the " blissful soune of cherarchy," and should read 
 thus — 
 
 " And, as the blissful sound of cherarchy. 
 The fowlis sung through comfort of the licht." 
 
 The difference in the meaning, we think, is very obvious. 
 
 + AssaU. Flowers could not well be terrified, as iu Laing's 
 edition, by sneU showers. 
 
 X This word, in place of earth, as Laing has it, must mean in 
 the bud or blossom. We are not aware that flowers and fowls 
 are to be found anywhere else than on the earth. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 121 
 
 She bad eik Juno, goddess of the sky, 
 
 That she the heaven suld keep amene* and dry. 
 
 She ordered eik that every bird and beast, 
 
 Before her Hieness suld anon compeir, 
 And every flower of virtue, most and least, 
 
 And every herb by field far and near, 
 
 As they had wont in May, fro year to year, 
 To her, their maker, to mak obedience. 
 Full low inclining with all due reverence. 
 With that anon she send the swift Roe 
 
 To bring in beasts of all conditioun ; 
 The restless Swallow commandit she also, 
 
 To fetch all fowl of small and great renoun ; 
 
 And to gar flow'rs compeir of all fassoun,+ 
 FuU craftily conjurit she the Yarrow, J 
 Whilk did furth swirk§ as- swift as ony arrow. 
 
 All present were, in twinkling of an e'e, 
 
 Baith beast and bird, and flow'r, before the Queen ; 
 
 And first the Lion, greatest of degree, 
 Was callit there, and he, most fair to seen, 
 With a full hardy countenance and keen. 
 
 Before Dame Nature came, and did incline, 
 
 With visage bauld, and courage leonine. 
 
 This avrful beast full terrible was of cheer, 
 Piercing of look, and stout of countenance, 
 
 Richt strong of corps, of fashion fair, but feir,|| 
 Lusty of shape, licht of deliverance. 
 Red of his colour, as is the ruby glance ; 
 
 * In amenity. + Fashion. t The herb sneeswort 
 
 § Sprmg. II Without companion. 
 
122 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 On field of gold he stood full michtily, 
 With flour-de-lisis circulit lustily. 
 
 This Lady liftit up his cluvis* clear, 
 And let him listly f lean upon her knee, 
 
 And crownit him with diadem full dear. 
 Of radious stones, most royal for to see ; 
 Saying, The King of Beastis mak I thee, 
 
 And the chief protector in woods and shaws ; 
 
 Unto thy lieges go furth, and keep the laws. 
 
 Exerciet justice with mercy and conscience. 
 And let no small beast suffer skaith nor scome. 
 
 Of great beastis that bene§ of more piscence ; 
 Do law alike to apes and unicorns. 
 And let no bowgle,|| with his lusteousT horns, 
 
 The meek pleuch ox oppress, for all his pride, 
 
 But in the yoke go peaceable him beside. 
 
 When this was said, with noise and soun' of joy, 
 
 All kind of beastis into their degree. 
 At once cryit. Laud ! — ^Vive le Roy ! 
 
 And till his feet fell with humilitie ; 
 
 And all they made him homage and fewtie,** 
 And he did them receive with princely laitis,tt 
 Whose noble ire is proteir prostratis. JJ 
 
 • Hoofs. + Lightly. J Exercise. § Are. 
 
 II Wild ox. t Rough. ** Fealty. ++ Manners. 
 
 XX Lord Hailes calls this an obscure expression ; and, from a 
 hint which he supplies, Laing adopts the -wori parcere as having 
 at least an intelligible meaning. But this does not mend the 
 raziisc—farcereprostratis is next to nonsense. The word is more 
 likely to be from, protero, anA prcteir prostratis would mean that 
 the hon's ire was trampled under, or subdued. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I33 
 
 Syne crownit she the Eagle King of Fowls, 
 And as steel dertis sharpit she his pens, 
 
 And bade him be as just to apes and owls, 
 As unto peacocks, papingoes, or crens. 
 And mak a law for wicht fowls and for wrens ; 
 
 And let no fowl of ravyne * do efferay,t 
 
 Nor devour birdis but his awin prey. 
 
 Than caUit she all flouris that grew on field, 
 Discerning all their seasons and efifeirs': J 
 
 Upon the awful Thistle she beheld,§ 
 And saw him keepit with a bush of spears ; 
 Consid'ring him so able for the weirs, 
 
 A radius croun of rubies she him gave. 
 
 And said, In field, go furth and fend the lave. 
 
 And sen thou art a king, thou be discreet ; 
 Herb without virtue thou hald not of sic price 
 
 As herb of virtue, and of odour sweet ; 
 And let no nettle vile, and full of vice. 
 Her faUowll to the guidly flour-de-lis ; 
 
 Nor let no wild weed, full of churlishness. 
 
 Compare her to the lilie's nobleness : 
 
 * No ravenous fowl. f Assail — same word as affray. 
 
 J What belonged to them. 
 
 § Pinkerton remarks, in his History of Scotland, that this is the 
 first authentic appearance of the Thisde as a Scottish badge. 
 Quoting " Cleland's Collection," in reference to the marriage of 
 James IV. and the Princess of England, it is said : " Under was 
 a licome and a greyhound, that held i difference of one charden 
 florysched, and a red rose interlassed." 
 
 II Make herself equal to. 
 
124 ^^^'^ •'^ND POEMS OF 
 
 Nor hald no other flov/r in sic deuty 
 As the fresh ROSE, of colour red and white : 
 
 For gif thou does, hurt is thine honesty ; 
 Considering that no floVr is so perfite, 
 So full of virtue, pleasance, and delight, 
 
 So fuU of blissful, angelic beauty, 
 
 Imperial birth, honour and dignity.* 
 
 Than to the ROSE she tumit her visage. 
 And said, O lusty dochter, most bening. 
 
 Above the lily, iUustare t of lineage. 
 
 Fro the stock royal rising fresh and ying, 
 BotJ ony spot, or macull doing spring :§ 
 
 Come, bloom of joy, with jemis to be crown' d. 
 
 For oure the lave thy beauty is renown' d. 
 
 A costly croun, with clarified stones bricht, 
 This comely Queen did on her head inclose. 
 
 While all the land illuminit of the licht ; 
 
 Wherefore, methought, the flow'rs did rejoice. 
 Crying, at once, Hail, be thou richest Rose ! 
 
 Hail herbs' Empress, hail freshest Queen of Flow'rs, 
 
 To thee be glory and honour at aU hours. 
 
 Then all the birds sang with voice on hicht, 
 Whose mirthful soun' was marvellous to hear ; 
 
 The mavis sang, Hail, Rose, most rich and richt, 
 That does up flourish under Phoebus' sphere ; 
 
 * As Lord HaUes remarks, " This is an ingenious exhortation to 
 conjugal fidelity, drawn from the high birth, beauty, and virtues 
 o/ the Princess Margaret" 
 
 + More illustrious. J Without. 
 
 § Spot or blemish, upspringing. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 13^ 
 
 Hail, plant of youth, hail, Princess, dochter dear ; 
 Hail, blosom breaking out of the bluid royal, 
 Whose precious virtue is imperial. 
 
 The merle she sang. Hail, Rose of most delight. 
 Hail, of all floVrs queen and sovereign : 
 
 The lark she sang. Hail, Rose both red and white. 
 Most pleasant flow'r, of michty colours twane :* 
 The nichtingale sang, Hail, Nature's suffragane, 
 
 In beauty, nurture, and every nobleness, 
 
 In rich array, renown, and gentleness. 
 
 The common voice up raise of birds small, 
 Upon this wise. Oh, blessit be the hour 
 
 That thou was chosen to be our principal ; 
 Welcome to be our Princess of honour. 
 Our pearl, our pleasance, and our paramour, 
 
 Our peace, our play, our plain felicitie ; 
 
 Christ thee comfort from all adversitie. 
 
 Than all the birds sung with sic a shout. 
 
 That I anon awoke where that I lay. 
 And with a braid f I turnit me about 
 
 To see this court ; but all were went away ; 
 
 Then up I leanit, haflingis in affray. 
 And thus I writ as ye have heard to-forrow,J 
 Of lusty May upon the nynt morrow. 
 
 * In allusion, probably, to tlie houses of York and I^jincaster, 
 
 which were united in the persons of Heniy VII. and his queen. 
 
 At the same time the poet frequently uses the same expression — 
 
 " red and white " — where no such application could be intended. 
 
 t Start. + Eefore. 
 
135 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 As the author tells us in the concluding line, 
 this truly beautiful poem was written on the ninth 
 of May, while the marriage between James IV. and 
 the Princess Margaret of England did not take 
 place till the 8 th of August 1503. It was no vul- 
 gar conception to represent the royal parties in this 
 union by the national emblems of the Thistle and 
 the Rose. By so doing he judiciously avoided that 
 direct and personal flattery which a poet of less 
 imagination would have adopted, at the same time 
 that it afforded him an opportunity of inculcating 
 sound advice, both political and moral. Tlie queen 
 must have appreciated highly the compliments paid 
 to her under the designation of the Rose, and she 
 seems to have ever been, in after-life, though un- 
 stable in politics and even morals, the steady friend 
 of the bard. The poem is altogether a remarkable 
 piece of composition, both for the descriptive powers 
 which it exhibits, and the ingenious manner in 
 which the heraldic characters that constitute the 
 arms of Scotland are made to act. Lord Hailes, 
 Warton, Ellis, all are lavish in praise of the poem. 
 " Every reader," says Hailes, " will remember 
 Langhorne's encomium — 
 
 In nervous strains Dunbar's bold music flows, 
 And Time still spares the ' Thistle and the. Rose.' " 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 127 
 
 TO THE MERCHANTS OF EDINBURGH. 
 
 Why will ye, merchants of renoun, 
 Let Edinburgh, your noble town. 
 For laik of reformatioun 
 The common profit tyne and fame ? 
 
 Think ye not shame. 
 That ony other regioun ' ' 
 Sail with dishonour hurt your name ? 
 
 May nane pas through your principal gaits,* 
 For stink of haddocks and of skates ; 
 For cries of carlingsf and debates ; 
 For fensum flytings of defame : J 
 
 Think ye not shame. 
 Before strangers of aU estates, ' 
 That sic dishonour hurt your name ? 
 
 Your stinking style § that stands dirk, 
 Halds the licht fra your Parish Kirk ; 
 Your forestairs || maks your houses mirk, 
 
 * Streets. + OH women. 
 
 J Offensive scolding in defamation of one another — a practice 
 apparently hereditary among the lower class of fish-women. 
 
 § The " Stinkand Style" is described by Mr Laing as "a 
 narrow passage which extended from the north side of St Giles's 
 Church, between the Tolbootli and the houses which formed tlie 
 Krames, to the opposite side of the street, now called the 
 Luckenbooths. It long continued to be a place noted for filth, 
 robberies, and assaults." 
 
 II Stairs in front of the houses, some of which still exist. 
 
128 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Like na country but here at hame : 
 
 Think ye not shame, 
 Sae httle poHcy to wirk 
 In hurt and slander of your name ? 
 
 At your Hie Cross,* where gold and silk 
 Suld be, there is but cruds and milk ; 
 And at your Tront but cockle and wilk, 
 Panshes, puddings of Jock and Jame : J 
 
 Think ye not shame, 
 Sen as the world says that ilk 
 In hurt and slander of your name ? 
 
 Your common minstrels § have no tune. 
 But "Now the day dawis," and " Into June ;" 
 Cunninger men maun serve St Clown, 
 
 * The octagonal building called the High Cross of Edinburgh, 
 so celebrated in the annals of the city, and immortalised in 
 "Marmion, " was rebuUt in 1617, and altogether removed in 
 1756. The site is indicated by the radiated pavement ; and here 
 all public proclamations continue to be made. 
 
 + The Tron Church now occupies the site where stood the 
 Tron, or public weighing-beam. The Weigh-house, now also 
 removed, was subsequentiy built at the foot of the Castle Hill. 
 
 X Jock and Jame were names, probably local, given to certain 
 kinds of puddings, now unknown. 
 
 § What were called the common minstrels were the town 
 pipers, possessed by, at least, all the royal burghs in Scotland, 
 whose duty it was to perambulate the civic boundaries at certain 
 hours in the morning and evening, and to accompany, or rather 
 precede, the authorities on particular official occasions. If the 
 feudal chief had his piper, so had the magistrates of burghs, who, 
 whUe in office, were the superiors of all within their boundaries. 
 They were paid either from the common fund, or by the gratuity 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 129 
 
 And never to other crafts claim : 
 
 Think ye not shame, 
 To hald sic mowars* on the moon, 
 In hurt and slander of your name ? 
 
 Tailyours, soutars, and crafts vile, 
 The fairest of your streets do fyle, t 
 And merchants at the Stinking Stjle 
 Are hampered in ane honey-kaim ; 
 
 Think )'e not shame. 
 That ye have neither -wit nor will 
 To win yourself ane better name ? 
 
 Your burgh of beggars is ane nest ; 
 
 To shout thae sweyngeours X will not rest ; 
 
 All honest folk they do molest, 
 
 Sae piteously they cry and rame : 
 
 Think ye not shame. 
 That for the poor has nothing drest, § 
 In hurt and slander of your name ? 
 
 of the inhabitants. In some instances they were hardly enough 
 dealt with ; for, if they failed in their duty, unless by the in- 
 temperateness of the weather, they were "to get na meet that 
 day." It could scarcely be expected that such minstrels should 
 be of the first order ; but, according to Dunbar, the pipers of 
 Edinburgh coiild play only two tunes, "Now the day dawis," 
 and "Into June." The first of these, of ancient date, is now 
 better known as the air of " Brace's Address." "We Icnow not 
 if the latter exists mider any title. Better minstrels, Dunbar 
 asserts, were to be found in the service of "Sanct Clown," or the 
 "Merry -Andrew." The complaint that they could only play 
 two tunes would infer that there were a great many others which 
 they ought to have been master of. 
 
 * Jesters. f Defile. J Idle fellows. 
 
 § Provided. There was no poor-law in Scotland at this 
 I 
 
130 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Your profit daily does incress, 
 Your godlie workis less and less ; 
 Through streets nane may mak progress, 
 For cry of cruikit, blind, and lame : 
 
 Think ye not shame, 
 That ye sic substance do possess, 
 And will not win ane better name ? 
 
 Sen for the Court and the Sessioun,* 
 The great repair of this regioun 
 Is in your burgh, therefore be boun 
 To mend aU faults that are to blame, 
 
 And eschew shame ; 
 Gif they pass to ane other toun 
 Ye will decay, and your great name ! 
 
 Therefore strangers and lieges treat, 
 Tak not our meikle for their meat, 
 And gar your merchants be discreet. 
 
 period, though what were called hospitals were provided by 
 private behests, and by the communities, in various districts of 
 the country. Hence the meaning of Dunbar's accusation — 
 
 " Think ye not shame. 
 That for the poor has nothing drest?" 
 
 So long as there was no legal provision for the poor, Scotland 
 was overrun with beggars of all kinds — sweyngeours as well as the 
 lame and proper objects of charity ; and acts of parliament were 
 l^assed in vain to put down the nuisance. 
 
 * Edinburgh became the seat of government, and the higher 
 courts, in the course of the fifteenth century, and, consequently, 
 the city rose rapidly in importance. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I31 
 
 That na extortioners be proclaim, 
 
 Offering ane shame : 
 Keep order, and poor neibours beit,* 
 That ye may get ane better name ! 
 
 Singulart profit so does you blind, 
 The common profit goes behind : 
 I pray that Lord remeid to find 
 That deit in to Jerusalem ; 
 
 And gar you shame. 
 That some reason may you bind, 
 For to reconquest you guid name ! 
 
 We are greatly indebted to Mr Laing, who was 
 the first to print this interesting poem from the 
 Reidpeth MS. " It is the more curious," he re- 
 marks, " as we have no description of Edinburgh 
 of so early a date ; for the brief notice which occurs 
 in Froissart refers to a period when the city con- 
 sisted of houses chiefly of wood, and presented an 
 appearance which must have been totally unlike 
 what it assumed during the fifteenth, and retained 
 till the close of the last century. Even those who 
 remember the High Street and Luckenbooths, pre- 
 vious to the first alterations which took place in 
 the Parliament Square and the neighbourhood of 
 St Giles's Cathedral, and before the removal of the 
 Tolbooth, the Krames, and other adjacent build- 
 ings, will be fully sensible of the correctness of the 
 poet's description, I have ventured to suggest that 
 
 * Help, or supply. f Individual. 
 
133 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 this poem might have been composed about the 
 year 1500. Sir David Lyndsay, in a poem written 
 in 1530, thus alludes to the merchants of Edin- 
 burgh, in lines which may be contrasted with Dun- 
 bar's satire — 
 
 ' Adew, Edinburgh, thou heich tryumphand toun, 
 Within quhose boundis richt blythful have I bene ; 
 Of trew merchandis, the rute of this regioun, 
 Most reddy to ressave Court, King, and Quene, 
 Thy pohcie and justice may be sane ; 
 War, devotioun, wysedome, and honestie, 
 And credence tint, thay micht be found in thee.' 
 
 It is extremely probable that this poem was 
 written about the time suggested by Mr Laing — 
 perhaps a year or two later than 1500. Dunbar 
 may be supposed to have taken up his residence 
 permanently in Edinburgh in that year, and it is 
 written with all the spirit and vigour of a first im- 
 pression. Having travelled a good deal abroad, 
 the contrast between the cities he had seen in 
 foreign lands and the capital of his own country 
 evidently stimulated him in the powerful remon- 
 strance addressed to the merchant burgesses; and 
 it must have had a very decided effect, since, in less 
 than thirty years afterwards, another poet was en- 
 abled to address the same class in such terms of 
 laudation as Sir David Lyndsay did. Possibly both 
 poets exaggerated a little ; still, making every allow- 
 ance, the picture sketched by Dunbar is perhaps 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 133 
 
 not less graphic than true. The cries and scoldings 
 of the fishwives, the High Cross surrounded by 
 dealers in curds and milk, the Tron by the dis- 
 posers of cockles, wilks, tripe, and puddings, the 
 streets defiled by the operations of all kinds of 
 craftsmen, and the merchants confined, as in a 
 honeycomb, round the Church of St Giles's, each 
 in his own little hole, or liaim, numerous beggars 
 piteously crying and raming, and the common 
 minstrels mocking the moon in their evening per- 
 ambulations through the city, depictures a scene 
 which any artist might paint with an accuracy that 
 would shew what groups the High Street daily pre- 
 sented at the beginning of the sixteenth century. 
 
 OF SOLICITORS AT COURT. 
 
 By divers ways and operations 
 
 Men males in Court their solicitations : 
 
 Some by service and diligence ; 
 
 Some by continual residence ; 
 
 Some on his substance does abide, 
 
 While * fortune do for him provide ; 
 
 Some sings, some dances, some tell stories ; 
 
 Some late at even brings in the morris ;t 
 
 Some flirds, some fenyeis,:]: and some flatters ; 
 
 Some play the fool, and all out clatters ; 
 
 Some man, musing with the wa', 
 
 Looks as he micht not do with a' ; 
 
 * Until. t The morris-dancers. J Dissembles. 
 
134 l-IFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Some stands in to a neuk and rouns ; * 
 For covatyce t ane other near swoons ; 
 Some bears as he wald gae wud 
 For heit J desire of warld's guid ; 
 Som,e at the mass leaves all devotion, 
 And busy labours for promotion ; 
 Some has their advocates in cham'er,§ 
 And taks them self thereof no glamer. |1 
 
 My simpleness, amang the laiff,ir 
 Wait of na way, so God me save ! 
 But, with ane humble cheer and face, 
 Refers me to the king's grace : 
 Methinks his gracious countenance 
 In riches is my sufficience. 
 
 Dtmbar was evidently at this time but a young, 
 though not unobservant, courtier. As Pinkerton 
 remarks, " the poem affords a curious picture of the 
 court of James IV. ;" and the picture, as we have 
 seen, is fully substantiated by the Treasurer's Ac- 
 counts. 
 
 new-year's gift to the king. 
 My Prince ! in God gif thee guid grace, 
 Joy, gladness, comfort, and solace. 
 Play, pleasance, mirth, merrie cheer, 
 In hansel of this guid New Year. 
 
 * Whispers. + Covetousness. J High or intense. 
 
 § "Pretty wives," says Pinkerton. 
 
 II Glamour, as here used, must mean observance or sight. 
 "51 Remainder. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I35 
 
 God gif to thee ane blessed chance, 
 And of all virtue abundance, 
 And grace aye to persevere, 
 
 In hansel of this guid New Year. 
 
 God give thee guid prosperitie. 
 Fair fortune and felicitie, 
 Ever mair in earth while thou art here, 
 In hansel of this guid New Year. 
 
 The heavenly Lord his help thee send, 
 Thy realm to rule and to defend. 
 In peace and justice it to steer. 
 In hansel of this guid New Year. 
 
 God gif thee bliss quhere ever thou bouns, 
 And send thee many Fraunce crowns. 
 Hie, liberal heart, and hands not swear. 
 In hansel of this guid New Year. 
 
 Such new-year addresses were, and still are, not 
 uncommon. Buchanan is known to have offered 
 similar congratulations to Queen Mary and the 
 Regent Murray. Of course, largess was usually 
 expected, which was generally made in French 
 crowns, value 14s. each in Scottish money — hence 
 the point of the poet's wish, " And send thee many 
 Fraunce crowns." French money appears to have 
 been comparatively plentiful in Scotland in the 
 reign of James IV., brought in by traffic, or partly, 
 perhaps, by subsidies. 
 
136 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 OF THE LADIES SOLICITORS AT COURT. 
 
 Thir ladies fair, 
 
 That maks repair, 
 And in the Court are kend ; 
 
 Three days there, 
 
 They will do mair 
 Ana matter for to end. 
 
 Than their guidmen 
 
 "Will do in ten, 
 For ony craft they can ; 
 
 So weel they ken. 
 
 What time and when, 
 Their manes * they sould mak than. 
 
 With little noy 
 
 They can convoy 
 Ane matter finally, 
 
 Richt mild and moy, 
 
 And keep it coy, 
 On evens quietly ; 
 
 They do not miss. 
 
 But gif they kiss, 
 And keepis coUatioun, 
 
 What rek of this ? 
 
 Their matter is 
 Brocht to conclusioun. 
 
 Ye may wit weel. 
 They have great fieV 
 
 • Complaints. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 107 
 
 Ane matter to solist ; 
 
 Trest * as the steal, 
 
 Syne never a deal 
 When they come hame are mist. 
 
 Thir lairdis are 
 
 Me think richt far 
 Sic ladies behalden to, 
 
 That sa weel daur 
 
 Go to the bar 
 When there is ocht ado. 
 
 Therefore I read, 
 
 Gif ye have plead. 
 Or matter into pley,t 
 
 To mak remeid. 
 
 Send in your stead 
 Your ladies graithit up gay : 
 
 They can defend 
 
 Even to the end 
 Ane matter furth express ; 
 
 Suppose they spend, 
 
 It is unkend. 
 Their geir is not the less. 
 
 In quiet place. 
 
 Though they have space 
 Within less nor twa hours. 
 
 They can, percase, 
 
 Purchase some grace 
 At the compositeurs ; 
 
 * Trusty. f Plea, debate. 
 
138 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Their composition, 
 
 Without suspicion, 
 There finally is endit 
 
 With expedition. 
 
 And full remission, 
 And their seals to are pendit. 
 
 Alhail almost. 
 They mak the cost 
 With sober recompence ; 
 Richt httle lost, 
 They get indost, 
 Alhail their evidence ; 
 Sic ladies wise. 
 They are to prise, 
 To say the veritie, 
 Sae can devise. 
 And nocht surprise 
 Them, nor their honestie. 
 These satirical verses, bordering on indelicacy, 
 were no doubt fully borne out by the practices of 
 the day, as they have been at a much later period. 
 At the same time, we must not fancy that the poet, 
 while he abhorred such as "stooped to [interested] 
 folly," was insensible to the mighty claims which 
 the fair sisters of creation have on the manhood of 
 the world. Hear him 
 
 IN PRAISE OF WOMEN. 
 Now of women this I say for me, 
 Of earthly things nane may better be : 
 They should have worship and great honouring 
 Of men, above aU other earthly thing ; 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. ion 
 
 Richt great dishonour upon himself he tales 
 In word or deed wha ever women laks, 
 Sen that of women comin all are we ; 
 Women are women, and sae will end and die : 
 Wo worth the fruit would put the tree to nocht ! 
 And wo worth him richt so that sayis ocht 
 Of womanhood that may be ony lak, 
 Or sic great shame upon him for to tak ! 
 They us conceive with pain ; and be them fed, 
 Within their breasts there we boun to bed : 
 Great pain, and wo, and mourning marvellous, 
 Into their birth they suffer sair for us ; 
 Than, meat and drink to feed us got we nane. 
 But that we souk out of their breast's bane : 
 They are the comfort that we all have here ; 
 There may no man be till us half so dear : 
 They are our very nest of nourishing. 
 In lack of them, wha can say ony thing. 
 That foul his nest he fyles ! and for thy* 
 Exilit he suld be of all guid company ; 
 There suld nae wise man give audience 
 To sic ane without intelligence. 
 Christ to His father He had not ane man ; 
 See what worship women suld have than ! 
 That Son is Lord, that Son is King of kings. 
 In heaven and earth His Majesty aye rings ! 
 Sen she has borne Him in her haliness, 
 And He is well, and grund of all guidness, 
 All women of us suld have honouring. 
 Service and love above all other thing ! 
 
 * That. 
 
140 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 These lines, it must be admitted, are considerably 
 below the standard of Dunbar's muse ; still, as they 
 are ascribed to him both by Bannatyne and Mait- 
 land, we have no right to say that they are not his. 
 The sentiment all must applaud ; and we heartily 
 echo the line — 
 
 " Wo worth the fruit would put the tree to nocht ! " 
 
 TIDINGS FRAE THE SESSION. 
 
 Ane muirland's man, of uplands mak 
 At hame thus to his nichtbour spak— 
 What tidings, gossip, peace or weir ?* 
 The tother rownitf in his ear, 
 
 I tell you this under confession, 
 But lately lichtit aff my mere, J 
 
 I come of Edinburgh frae the Session. 
 
 What tidings heard you there, I pray you ? 
 The tother answerit, I sail say you : 
 Keep this all secret, gentle brother, 
 Is na man there that trusts ane other : 
 
 Ane common doar of transgression, 
 Of innocent folks prevents a futher : § 
 
 Sic tidings heard I at the Session. 
 
 Some with his faIlow|| rowns him to please. 
 That wald for envy bite off his neis ; T 
 
 * War. t Whispered. + Mare. 
 
 § Prevents a fusion, or union. 
 
 II Whispers in an insinuating manner. ^ Nose. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I4I 
 
 His fae some by the oxter leads ; 
 
 Some patters with his mouth on beads,* 
 
 That has his mind all on oppression ; 
 Some becks full law, and shaws bare heads, 
 
 Wald look full heich were not the Session. 
 
 Some biding the law, lays land in wed ;t 
 Some super expendit, goes to his bed ; 
 Some speeds, for he in Court has means ; 
 Some of partiality complenes, 
 
 How feud and favour flemis J discretion ; 
 Some speaks full fair, and falsely feins : 
 
 Sic tidings heard 1 at the Session. 
 
 Some casts summons, and some excepts ; 
 Some stands beside, and skailed§ law keps ; 
 Some is continuit ; some wins ; some tynes ; 
 Some makes him merry at the wines ; 
 
 Some is put out of his possession ; 
 Some herriet,|| and on creddensH dines : 
 
 Sic tidings heard I at the Session. 
 
 Some swears, and some forsake God ; 
 Some in ane lambskin is ane tod ; 
 Some in his tongue his kindness turses ;** 
 Some cuts throats, and some picks purses ; 
 
 Some goes to gallows with procession ; 
 Some sanes the sait,tt and some them curses : 
 
 Sic tidings heard I at the Session. 
 
 * Mutters his prayers. t Mortgages his estate, 
 
 f Inflames. § Spilled. II Robbed. 
 
 H Credit. ** Bundles up. 
 ft Blesses the judges. 
 
143 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Religious men of diverse places 
 Comes there too woo, and see fair faces ; 
 Baith Carmelites and Cordilleris* 
 Comes there to gen'er and get ma friers, 
 
 And are unmindful of their profession ; 
 The younger at the elder leirs ; 
 
 Sic tidings heard I at the Session. 
 
 There comes young monks of hie complexion. 
 Of devout mind, love, and affection ; 
 And in the Court their hate-flesh dantis,+ 
 Full father-like, with pechs and pantis ;t 
 
 They are so humble of intercession. 
 All merciful women their errands grantis : 
 
 Sic tidings heard I at the Session. 
 
 This is another sarcastic poem, expository of the 
 manner in which justice was administered in the 
 time of Dunbar. It is difficult, however, as Mr 
 Laing remarks, to hazard even a guess as to which 
 of the courts the poet alludes — whether to the old 
 court, abolished March 1503-4, or to the court of 
 daily council then established. We should in- 
 cline to think that it aimed at the latter, and that, 
 consequently, the verses were written subsequently 
 to the date mentioned. 
 
 * These were the severer orders of regular clergy — hence the 
 more pungent the sarcasm. 
 
 f Subdues. J Short breathings. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 143 
 
 THE TESTAMENT OF MR ANDRO KENNEDY. 
 
 I, Maister Andro Kennedy, 
 
 Curro quando sum vocatus, 
 Gotten with sum incuby, 
 
 Or with some freir infatuatus ; 
 In faith I can nocht tell readily, 
 
 Unde aut ubi fui natus, 
 But, in truth, I trow truly. 
 
 Quod sum diabolus incamatus. 
 
 Cum nihil sit certius morte, 
 
 We maun all die, when we have done, 
 Nescimus quando, vel qua sorte, 
 
 Na, blind, alane, wait* of the mone.t 
 Ego patior in pectore, 
 
 This night I might not sleep a wink ; 
 Licet seger in corpore. 
 
 Yet wald my mouth be wet with drink. 
 
 Nunc condo testamentum meum, 
 
 I leave my saul for evermair. 
 Per omnipotentem Deum, 
 
 In to my Lordis wine cellair ; 
 
 * To wait — to know, or have knowledge. 
 •|- Mr Laing prints tills line as follows — 
 
 " Na blind Allane wait of the mone " — 
 of which it seems impossible to make sense. The way we print 
 it, it would read thus — 
 
 *' Nay, blind, alone, to know, or have knowledge of the moon." 
 This is intelligible, especially taken in connexion with the previous 
 Hnes — as to the certainty of our all dying. 
 
144 ^^^^ ^^'^ POEMS OF 
 
 Semper ibi ad remanendum 
 While doomsday, without dissever, 
 
 Bonum vinum ad bibendum. 
 With sweet Cuthbert that lovit me never. 
 
 Ipse est dulcis ad amandum. 
 
 He wad oft ban me in his breath, 
 Det mihi mode ad potandum, 
 
 And I forgive him laith and wraith : * 
 Quia in cellario cum servisia, 
 
 I had lever t lie baith air and late, 
 Nudus solus in camisia, 
 
 Na in my Lordis bed of state. 
 
 A barrel bung aye at my bosum, 
 
 Of warldis guid I had na mair ; 
 Et corpus meum ebriosum, 
 
 I leave into the toun of Air ; 
 In a draff midding for ever and aye, 
 
 Ut ibi sepeliri queam. 
 Where drink and draff may, ilka day, 
 
 Be cassyne t super faciem meam. 
 
 I leave my heart, that never was sicker. 
 
 Sed semper variabile, 
 That never mair wald flow nor flicker,§ 
 
 Consorti meo Jacobe ; 
 
 * Disgust and anger. -t- Rather. J Cast. 
 
 § It is generally understood that the circulation of the blood 
 was not discovered tiU Hen-ey did so in the reign of James I. of 
 England. Does this expression of Dunbar — that the heart of 
 Andro would "never more Jlow nor flicker" — not indicate a 
 knowledge of the movement of the heart in accordance with such 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 14J 
 
 Though I wald bind it with a wicker, 
 
 Verum Deum renui ; 
 But and I hecht* to toom a bicker, 
 
 Hoc pactum semper tenui. 
 
 Syne leave I the best auchtf I bocht, 
 
 Quod est Latinum propter caupe J 
 To head of kin, but I wait nocht 
 
 Quis est ille, then I schrew§ my scawpe : II 
 I call't my lord, my head, but hiddill,ir 
 
 Sed nuUi alii hoc dixerunt. 
 We were as sib as sieve and riddle,** 
 
 In una silvse quae creverunL 
 
 Omnia mea solatia 
 They were but leisings all and ane, 
 
 circulation ? The word flow, as applied to the heart, would be 
 unintelligible otherwise. In scientific discoveries we take many 
 things for granted that are not consistent wilh fact, and this, 
 apparently, is one of the fallacies. It is not to be supposed that 
 the aftion of the Kings and heart upon the blood should have 
 remained a secret throughout all time, down to the reign of 
 James VI. of Scotland. 
 
 * Promised. t Property. 
 
 t Caupes, or calpes, were the gifts given to the head of a clan 
 to support his dignity as chief. 
 
 § Curse. 11 Head. 
 
 H Secret. Lord Hailes reads tliis line thus: — "I privately 
 informed the Earl of Cassillis, chief of the name of Kennedy." 
 But this does not seem to be the correct reading. The word 
 htt signifies ■without ; therefore the meaning is, "I called my 
 Lord, my head, without secrecy," because he v.-as as sib with 
 him as " sieve and riddle." 
 
 ** This old proverbial saying is not yet obsolete. 
 K 
 
146 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Cum omni fraude et fallacia, 
 
 I leave the maister of Sanct Antane,* 
 
 Willelmo Gray, sine gratia, 
 
 Mine awn dear cousin, as I ween, 
 
 Qui nunquam fabricat mendacia, 
 But when the holly growls green, f 
 
 My feigning and my false winning, J 
 
 Relinquo falsis fratribus ; 
 For that is Godis awn bidding, 
 
 Dispersit, dedit pauperibus. 
 For menis saulis they say and sing, 
 
 Mentientes pro muneribus ; 
 Now God gif them ane evil ending. 
 
 Pro suis pravis operibus. 
 
 To Jock Fule, § my foUy free, 
 
 Lego post corpus sepultum ; 
 In faith I am mair fule than he. 
 
 Licet ostendit bonum vultum: 
 Of corn and cattle, gold and fee, ^ 
 
 Ipse habet valde multum, 
 And yet he bleris|| my lord's e'e 
 
 Fingendo eum fore stultum. 
 
 * The preceptor of St Anthony's Hospital. 
 
 "t" A proverbial saying of persons addicted to falsehood — mean- 
 ing that they tell lies at all times, for the holly is always green. 
 
 J He leaves his false whining to the knavish friars. 
 
 § The fool of the court of James IV. appears, from the 
 Treasurer's Accounts, to have been a person of the name of John 
 Wallace. He is sometimes styled "Daft Jok the Fule." He 
 died in 1508, when, June 19, 16s. were paid "for Jok Wallass 
 tyrment." || Blears, 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 747 
 
 To Master John Clerk* syne, 
 
 Do et lego intime, 
 God's hie malisone and mine : 
 
 Ipse est causa mortis meae. 
 Were I a dog and he a swine, 
 
 Multi mirantur super me, 
 But I suld gar that lurdane quhryne,t 
 
 Scribendo dentes sine de. 
 
 Residuum omnium bonorum, 
 
 For to dispone my lord sail have. 
 Cum tutela puerorum 
 
 Adee, Kyttee, and all the lave. 
 In faith I will na langer rave : 
 
 Pro sepultura ordino 
 On the new gys,+ sa God me save, 
 
 Non sicut more solito. 
 
 In die mese sepulture 
 
 I will none have but our awn gyng,§ 
 Et duos rusticos de rure 
 
 Bearing a barrel on a styng ;§ 
 
 * Lord Hailes's suggestion, that "Maister Johne Clerk was 
 probably an ignorant practitioner in physic," seems perfectly 
 certain from the lines which follow. Mr Laing did not think 
 the explanation satisfactory ; but it is only necessary to read the 
 verse to be satisfied. Andro Kennedy attributes his death to 
 "Maister Johne Clerk," and, in consequence, pours forth his 
 malediction upon him. Maister was only applied to the learned 
 professions, such as ecclesiastics, lawj'ers, and doctors ; and it is 
 evident that Clerk must have belonged to the lattei; class. 
 
 + That lazy fellow cry out. 
 
 X Fashion. § Gang. || A pole. 
 
T48 • LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Drinking and playing cup out even, 
 
 Sicut egomet solebam ; 
 Singing and greeting with hie stevin* 
 
 Potum meum cum fletu miscebam. 
 
 I will na priestis for me sing, 
 
 Dies ilia, Dies irae ; 
 Na yet na bellis for me ring, 
 
 Sicut semper solet fieri ; 
 But a bagpipe to play a spring, 
 
 Et unum ailwisp ante me ; 
 Instead of banners for to bring 
 
 Quatuor lagenas servisias : 
 
 Within the grave to set sic thing, 
 
 In modum crucis juxta me. 
 To flee the fiends, then hardily t sing 
 
 De terra plasmasti me. 
 
 If this is not macaronic poetry, and a very fine 
 specimen of it too, the dictionaries of the English 
 language do not rightly explain what macaronic 
 means. Octavius Gilchrist, in mentioning Theo- 
 philus Folengo of Mantua, as the supposed in- 
 ventor of that kind of verse, says, in his " Opus 
 Macoronicum," first printed in 1517, "He was 
 preceded by the laureat Skelton, whose works were 
 printed in 1513, who was himself anticipated by 
 the great genius of Scotland, Dunhar, in his ' Tes- 
 tament of Andro Kennedy,' and the last must be 
 
 * Voice or sound. f With confidetice. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 149 
 
 considered as the reviver or introducer of macaronic 
 or burlesque poetry." * 
 
 Mr Laing was of opinion that Gilchrist was 
 " not quite correct, as the mixture either of Latin 
 and English words, or in alternate lines, as used by 
 Skelton and Dunbar, does not constitute what is 
 called macaronic verse, the peculiarity of which 
 consists in the use of Latin words and of vernacu- 
 lar words with Latin terminations, usually in hexa- 
 meter verse." And he claims Drummond of 
 Hawthornden's " Polemo-middinia" as "one of 
 the earliest and most celebrated pieces of the kind 
 which is known in this country." This is surely 
 a very nice distinction. A macaronic poem, we 
 shoiild opine, is simply a mixed, burlesque produc- 
 tion, not limited to Latin and English, or vernacu- 
 lar English, but may be composed of any mixture 
 of language, Latin, English, Scotch, High Dutch 
 or Low Dutch ; and assuredly the " Testament of 
 Andro Kennedy " is a mixture of Latin and Eng- 
 lish, and a burlesque poem of great purity and 
 humour. Lord Hailes remarks of it : — " This is a 
 singular performance ; it represents the character of 
 a drunken, graceless scholar. The alternate lines are 
 composed of shreds of the Breviary, mixed wit)! what 
 we call Dog Latin, and the FrenchLatin de Cuisine." 
 
 That Andro Kennedy was no myth we may rest 
 assured from the general character of Dunbar's 
 
 * The " Testament of Andro Kennedy" was printed in 1508 — 
 hence its precedency of the works of Skelton. 
 
150 LIFE AND POEMS OP 
 
 satirical pieces. Mr Laing informs us that his 
 name repeatedly occurs in the Treasurer's Accounts 
 between 150a and 1504, as, for instance: ai Aug. 
 1^02, "for ane hors bocht to Jok Bailye,* and 
 syne was gefBn to Andro Kennedy, be the kingis 
 command, 50s." But if this is the Andro of the 
 poem, it is unaccountable how he should not have 
 been styled Maister Andro, the invariable title of 
 men of learning. How he was employed at court 
 is not understood, but that he belonged to Ayr- 
 shire, and was one of the Carrick Kennedies,t is 
 obvious from the lines — 
 
 " Et corpus meum ebriosum, 
 I leif into the toUne of Air" 
 The probability is, that Mr Andro was one of 
 the Earl of Cassillis's retainers, and that the poem 
 was composed while " my lord " and his sih adhe- 
 rent were at court. 
 
 AGAINST TREASON. 
 
 AN EPITAPH FOR DONALD OWRE. 
 
 In vice most vicious he excels 
 
 That with the vice of treason mells ; 
 
 Though he remission 
 
 Have for prodission, 
 
 Shame and suspicion aye with him dwells. 
 
 ' Bailie was one of the king's henchmen, 
 t There used to be a small clan of Kennedies in the High- 
 lands. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. ICJ 
 
 And he ever odious as ane owl, 
 
 The fault sa filthy is and foul ; 
 
 Horrible to Natour 
 
 Is ane tratour, 
 
 As fiend in fratour,* under a cowL 
 
 Wha is a traitor, or ane thief. 
 
 Upon himself turns the mischief; 
 
 His fraudful wiles 
 
 Himself beguiles, 
 
 As in the Isles is now a preif. 
 
 The fell strong traitor Donald Owre, 
 
 Mair falset t had nor other four ; 
 
 Round Isles and seas 
 
 In his suppleis, 
 
 On gaUow treis, yet does he glour. 
 
 Falset no feet has, nor defence, 
 
 Be power, practice, nor puisance, 
 
 Though it fra licht 
 
 Be smored with slicht, 
 
 God shaws the richt, with sore vengeance. 
 
 Of the false fox dissimulator, 
 
 Kind has every thief and traitor, 
 
 Efter respite 
 
 To work despite, 
 
 Mair appetite he has of nature. 
 
 * Fratour or fraterie, the hall of a monastery, where the monks 
 eat together. Hence the comparison — "As fiend in fratour, 
 under a cowl." 
 
 f Falsehood. 
 
153 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Were the fox ta'en a thousand fauld, 
 
 And grace him given aye when he wald ; 
 
 Were he on plain, 
 
 All were in vain, 
 
 From hens again micht none him hauld. 
 
 The murderer aye murder mais,* 
 And ever, while he be slain he slays ; 
 Wives thus maks mocks, 
 Spinnand on rocks. 
 Aye rins the fox while he foot has,+ 
 
 " This Donald Owre," Mr Laing tells us, " was 
 a natural son of Angus, the natural son of John, 
 Lord of the Isles ; and, having usurped that title, 
 he was, with some of his abettors, forfeited in 1503, 
 when the Western Islands became the property of 
 the Crown. The name Donald Owre, in the 
 Gaelic, signifies 'Donald, the dark-brown man.' 
 He is incidentally mentioned by this name in the 
 Treasurer's Account : 1496, April 28, ' Item, to 
 Donald Owris man, at the kingis command, i8s.' 
 1497-8, March i, 'Item, to Donald Owr, at the 
 kingis command, in the toun of Air, £%, i6s. 8d.' 
 'Item, to ane man of Donald Awris, the king send 
 away errandis, 14s.'' The king had two hensmen, 
 [henchmen] Donald and Ronald of the Isles ; and 
 Margaret of the Isles, a sister of theirs probably, 
 was also at court during the greater part of his 
 reign." 
 
 * Must. + A proverbial saying. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 ^53 
 
 DUNBAR S DIRGE TO THE KING AT STIRLING. 
 
 We that are here in heaven's glory, 
 To you that are in purgatory, 
 Commends us on our heartily wise : 
 I mean we folk in paradise. 
 In Edinburgh with all merriness, 
 To you in Strivilling in distress, 
 Where nowther pleasance nor delight is, 
 For pity thus ane apostle writis : 
 
 O ye heremits and hankersaddles,* 
 That taks your penance at your tables, 
 And eats not meat restorative. 
 Nor drinks no wine confortative, 
 But ale, and that is thin and small ; 
 With few courses in to your hall. 
 Butt company of lords or knights. 
 Or ony other guidly wichts, 
 Solitor walking your alone. 
 Seeing nothing but stock or stone ; 
 Out of your painful purgatory. 
 To bring you to the bliss of glory, 
 Of Edinburgh, the merry toun. 
 We sail begin ane careful soun ; 
 Ane dirige, devoit and meik, 
 The Lord of bliss doing beseek t 
 You to deliver out of your noy, 
 And bring you soon to Edinburgh joy. 
 For to be merry amang us ; 
 And sa the dirige begins thus : 
 
 * Anchorites. + Without. f Beseeching. 
 
154 ^IFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 LECTIO PRIMA. 
 
 The Father, the Son, and Haly Ghaist, 
 The mirthful Mary, virgin chaste, 
 Of angels all the orders nine. 
 And all the heavenly court divine, 
 Soon bring you fra the pine and wo 
 Of StriviUing, every court man's foe. 
 Again to Edinburgh's joy and bliss. 
 Where worship, wealth, and weelfare is, 
 Play, plesance, and sik honesty : 
 Say ye Amen, for charitie. 
 
 RESPONSIO. 
 
 Tak consolation in your pain. 
 
 In tribulation tak consolation, 
 
 Out of vexation come hame again, 
 
 Tak consolation in your pain. 
 Out of distress of StriviUing toun 
 To Edinburgh's bliss, God mak you boun ! 
 
 LECTIO SECUNDO. 
 
 Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles dear, 
 Confessors, virgins, and martyrs clear, 
 And all the Saitt Celestiall,* 
 Devoutly we upon them call, 
 That soon out of your pains fell, 
 , You may in heaven here with us dwell ; 
 To eat swan, cran, patrik, and plever. 
 And every fish that swims in river ; 
 
 * Heavenly Court 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I^^ 
 
 To drink with us the new fresh wine 
 That grew upon the river of Rhine ; 
 Fresh, fragrant clarets out of France, 
 Of Angiers, and of Orleans, 
 With mony ane course of grit daintie : 
 Say ye Amen, for charitie. 
 
 RESPONSIO. 
 
 God and Saint Gila* hear you convoy 
 Baith soon and weel, God and Saint Gile, 
 To soncet and seill,J solace and joy, 
 God and Saint Gile hear you convoy. 
 Out of Strivilling pains fell, 
 In Edinburgh's joy soon mot§ ye dwell ! 
 
 LECTIO TERTIO. 
 
 We pray to all the saints of heaven, 
 That are above the stars seven. 
 You to deliver out of your penance. 
 That you may soon play, sing, and dance, 
 Here in to Edinburgh, and mak guid cheer, 
 Where wealth and weelfare is but weir,|l 
 And I, that does your pains descrive, 
 Thinks for to vissy T you belive ; 
 Not in desert with you to dwell. 
 But as the angel Saint Gabriel, 
 Does go between, fra heaven's glory. 
 To them that are in purgatory, 
 
 *' Saint Giles, the patron saint of Edinburgh. 
 
 + Plenty. t Felicity. § May. 
 
 il Without war. II Visit. 
 
1^6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And in their tribulation 
 
 To give them consolation, 
 
 And shaw them when their pains are past 
 
 They saU till heaven come at last ; 
 
 And how nane deserves to have sweatness 
 
 That never tasted bitterness : 
 
 And, therefore, how suld you consider 
 
 Of Edinburgh's bliss when ye come bidder. 
 
 But gif ye tasted had before 
 
 Of Strivilling toun, the pains sore ? 
 
 And, therefore, tak in patience 
 
 Your penance, and your abstinence. 
 
 And ye sail come, or Yule begin. 
 
 In to the bliss that we are in : 
 
 ,Whilk grant the glorious Trinitie ! 
 
 Say ye Amen, for charitie. 
 
 RESPONSIO. 
 
 Come hame, and dwell no more in Strivilling, 
 From hideous hell come hame and dwell. 
 Where fish to sell is non but spriling,* 
 Come hame, and dwell no more in Strivilling. 
 
 Et ne nos in temptationem de Strivilling : 
 Sed libera nos a malo ejusdem. 
 
 Requiem Edinburgi dona eis, Domine, 
 
 Et lux ipsius luceat eis. 
 
 A porta tristitice de Strivilling, 
 
 Erue, Domine, animas et corpora eorum. 
 
 Credo gustare vinum Edinburgi, 
 
 * Sprats. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I57 
 
 In villa vinentium. 
 
 Requiescant statim in Edinburgo. Amen. 
 
 Domine, exaudi orationem meam : 
 
 Et clamor meus ad te veniat. 
 
 'OREMUS. 
 
 Deus qui justos et corde humiles ex omni eorum tri- 
 bulatione liberare dignatus es, libera famulos tuos apud 
 villam de Strivilling versantes a pcenis et tristitiis ejusdem, 
 et ad Edinburgi gaudia eos perducas. Amen. 
 
 This dirge, or mournful song, Lord Hailes deemed 
 so " lewd and profane " that no poet durst address 
 it to his sovereign, if that sovereign " retained any 
 the least appearance of devotion." But Hailes 
 thought of James V., while the poem refers to 
 James IV., a strange blunder in one so finically 
 critical. It is well known that profanity of this 
 kind was not regarded in the light we should sup- 
 pose by a priesthood who not only tolerated such 
 extravagances as the "Abbot of Unreason," but en- 
 couraged the performance of dramas which could 
 be regarded in no other light than as sacred bur- 
 lesques. The poem, apart from its profanity, in so 
 far as it is a parody of the litanies of the Romish 
 Church, is curious as illustrative of the court and 
 the private life of the king. 
 
 It is a historical statement that James IV. was 
 subject to frequent fits of morose repentance, which 
 the Treasurer's Accounts prove by his repeated visits 
 and gifts to the shrines of St Ninian, in Galloway, 
 
158 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 and of St Duthac, in Ross-shire. In moods of this 
 kind he often withdrew from the court to StirUng, 
 where he had established a convent of St Francis- 
 cans in 1494, and, in a letter to Pope Julius II., 
 declared himself to be their special patron. With 
 these monks he used to live until the qualms of 
 conscience were over, and then he would return to 
 the world and his courtly amusements with new 
 zest. It was upon one of these occasions that 
 Dunbar penned his dirge, which he no doubt 
 intended should divert the king ; and, notwith- 
 standing the profanity of the thing, as Hailes is 
 pleased to consider it, it must be admitted that the 
 poet succeeded very humorously in his parody. 
 It was no bad conception to represent the king as 
 in purgatory at Stirling, where fish were but sprats, 
 and ale " thin and small," and to set the machinery 
 of the Church in motion, with a view to transport 
 him from his place of penance to the paradise of 
 Edinburgh, there 
 
 " To eat swan, cran, patrik and plever, 
 
 And every fish that swims in river ; 
 
 To drink with us the new fresh wine 
 
 That grew upon the river of Rhine ; 
 
 Fresh, fragrant clarets out of France, 
 
 Of Angiers, and of Orleans." 
 
 Here we have a picture of court fare at the com- 
 mencement of the sixteenth century ; and are in- 
 formed that the clarets most in repute were from 
 Angiers and Orleans. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I tn 
 
 LEARNING VAIN WITHOUT GUID LYFE. 
 
 WRITTEN AT OXINFURDE. 
 
 To speak of science, craft, or sapience. 
 
 Of virtue, moral cunning, or doctrine ; 
 Of jure,* of wisdom, or intelligence ; 
 
 Of every study, lear, or discipline ; 
 
 All is but tynt,t or ready for to tyne. 
 Not using it as it should usit be ; 
 
 The crafter exerceing,! considering not the fine ; 
 Ane perilous seikness is vain prosperitie. 
 
 The curious probation logical ; 
 
 The eloquence of ornate rhethorie ; 
 The natural science philosophical ; 
 
 The dark appearance of astronomie ; 
 
 The theologis sermon ; the fables of poetrie ; 
 Without guid life all in the self does die, 
 
 As May's flours does in September dry : 
 A perilous life is vain prosperitie. 
 
 Wherefore, ye Clerks, greatest of Constance, 
 Fullest of science and of knawlegeing,§ 
 
 To us be mirrors in your governance ; 
 And in our darkness be lamps in shining : 
 Or then in frustarjl is all your lang learning ; 
 
 Gif to your sawis TT your deeds contrar be, 
 Your maist accusar sail be your awn cunning. 
 
 A perilous seikness is vain prosperitie. 
 
 * Law. + Lost. J Exercising. 
 
 § Of what belongs to knowledge. |{ In vain. 
 
 H Wise sayings. 
 
l6o LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Thert! is an Oxenford in Scotland, which once 
 gave the title of Viscount, but, as Pinkerton ob- 
 serves, "the Oxinford mentioned in the colophon 
 must be the University of Oxford ; " and Ellis sup- 
 poses that the poem was written in Dunbar's youth, 
 during his travels in England. Perhaps it might; 
 yet it has the strain of greater maturity-, and was 
 probably composed on visiting Oxford at a later 
 period of life. It is known that he was in England, 
 prior to the affiancing of the Princess Margaret, at 
 the close of 1503, and may have been there years 
 afterwards, although the Treasurer's Books bear no 
 evidence of the fact. 
 
 OF DEEMING.* 
 
 Musing alone this hinder nicht 
 
 Of merry day, when gone was hcht ; 
 
 Within ane garth under a tree, 
 I heard ane voice, that said on hicht, 
 
 May na man now undeemit be : 
 
 For though I be ane crownit King ; 
 Yet sail I not eschew deeming ; 
 
 Some calls me guid, some says they lie, 
 Some craves of God to end my sing. 
 
 So sail I not undeemit be. 
 
 * Judging. 
 
WILLTAM DUNBAR. i6t 
 
 Be I ane lord, and not lord like, 
 Than every pelour* and purse-pike t 
 
 Says, Lands were better wairt on me ; 
 Though he dow nocht to lead a tyk,J 
 
 Yet can he not let deeming be. 
 
 Be I ane lady fresh and fair, 
 With gentle men making repair, 
 
 Than will they say, baith she and he, 
 That I am jaipit § late and air : 
 
 Thus sail I not undeemit be. 
 
 Be I ane courtman, or ane knicht, 
 Honestly clad after my micht, 
 
 Ane prideful man than call they mc ; 
 But God send them a widdy wicht|| 
 
 That cannot let sic deeming be. 
 
 * Thief. + Pickpocket. 
 
 J Lord Hailes explains this line thus : — " 'Although he has 
 not the abiKties nor the spirit necessary for the meanest of all 
 jmploynaents — that of leading a dog in a string.' There is no 
 single word in modem English which corresponds with dow: 
 that which approaches the nearest to it is list, from which the 
 adjective listless. The force of the word dow is well e.xpressed 
 in a modem Scottish ballad — 
 
 * And now he gangs danderitig about the dykes, 
 And all he dtyw do is to hujid the tykes.'^ 
 
 Mr James Chalmers adds : — " The line literally means, ' Though 
 he deserves not to lead a dog ; ' or, ' Though he is not worthy of 
 leading a dog.'" And it maybe added, as the real meaning, 
 "Though he is not able to lead a dog.'' 
 § Derided. || Strong. 
 
 L 
 
l62 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Be I but little of stature, 
 They call me cative creature ; 
 
 And be I great of quantitie, 
 They call me monstrous of nature : 
 
 Thus can they not let deeming be. 
 
 And be I ornate in my speech, 
 Than Towsy says I am so streech,* 
 
 I speak not like their house menjde ;t 
 Suppose her mouth misters a leech, J 
 
 Yet can she not let deeming be. 
 
 But •wist§ thir folk that other deems, 
 How that their saws to other seems, 
 
 Their vicious words and vanitie. 
 Their tratling|| tongues that all furth teems, 
 
 Some time wald lat their deeming be. 
 
 Were nocht the matter wald grow the mair, 
 ; To work vengeance on ane deemer, 
 
 But doubt I wald cause mony die ; 
 And mony cative arid in care, 
 
 Or some time let their deeming be. 
 
 Guid James the Ferd,!! our noble king, 
 When that he was of years ying. 
 
 In sentence said full subtillie, 
 do weel, and set nocht ^y deeming, 
 
 For no man sall undeemit be.** 
 
 " Affected. f Menyie — the house men. 
 
 J Requires a surgeon to abridge its proportions. 
 § Observe. || Tattling. t Fourth. 
 
 ** From these lines, Chalmers, in his "Poetical Remains of the 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 163 
 
 And so I sail, witli God's grace, 
 Keep His command in to that cace, 
 
 Beseeking aye the Trinitie, 
 In heaven that I may have ane place, 
 
 For there sail no man deemit be. 
 
 Evil thinkers and censorious speakers were^ it 
 appears, as common in Dunbar's time as they are 
 now ; and the only way to render their shafts less 
 •harmless and annoying is to adopt Dunbar's reso- 
 lution, and pay no attention to them — " for no 
 man sail undeemit be." 
 
 ON HIS HEADACHE. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 My head did yak'^ yestemicht. 
 This day to makf that I na micht. 
 So sair the magrim does me menyie,t 
 Piercing my brow as ony ganyie,§ 
 That scant I luik may on the licht. 
 
 And now, sir, lately, after mess, 
 To dite,l| though I begouth to dress. 
 
 The sentence lay full evil till find, 
 
 Unsleepit in my head behind, 
 DuUit in dulness and distress. 
 
 Scottish Kings, '' presumed that James IV. was himself an author 
 which is very lilcely ; but there is no writing extant that can be 
 shewn to be his. 
 
 * Ache. + To write poetry. J Injure. 
 
 § Dart. II Indite. 
 
164 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Full oft at morrow I uprise, 
 When that my courage sleeping lies, 
 For mirth, for minstrelsy, and play. 
 For din, nor dancing, nor deray, 
 It will not wauken me no wise. 
 
 These verses tell their own story, and clearly 
 shew that Dunbar was retained at court as a poeti- 
 cal entertainer of the king. He apologises, on ac- 
 count of his headache, for the non-production of 
 some poetical effusion which possibly had been 
 promised. They also shew that, like most persons 
 of poetical temperament, he was occasionally sub- 
 ject to such lowness of spirits, that mirth, min- 
 strelsy, nor pastime could not elevate him. 
 
 OF A DANCE IN THE aUEEN S CHALMER. 
 Sir John Sinclair begouth to dance, 
 For he was new come out of France ; 
 For ony thing that he do micht. 
 The ana foot gaed aye unricht, 
 
 And to the tether wald not gree. 
 Quoth ane, Tak up the Queen's knicht : 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 Than cam in Maister Robert Shaw : 
 He luikit as he could learn them a' ; 
 But aye his ane foot did waver, 
 He staggered like ane strummel-aver,* 
 
 ,* Stumbling horse. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. l6^ 
 
 That hap-shakellit * abone the knee : 
 To seek fra StriviUing to Stranaver, 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 Than cam in the Maister Almaser, 
 Ane homelty-jomehy juffeller,t 
 Like a stirk staggering in the rye ; 
 His hippis gave mony hideous cry. 
 
 John Bute, the fule, said, Wa is me ! 
 He is bedirtin — Fy ! fy ! 
 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 Than cam in Dunbar the makar ; J 
 On all the floor there was nane frakar,§ 
 And there he dancit the dirrye dantoun ; 
 He hoppit like a fiUie wantoun, 
 
 For love of Musgraiffe, men tells me ; 
 He trippit, while he tint his pantoun :|| 
 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 Than cam in Mistress Musgraiffe ; 
 She micht hae learnit all the laiffe ; 1" 
 When I saw her sa trimly dance. 
 Her guid convoy** and countenance. 
 
 Than, for her sake, I wist to be 
 The greatest earl, or duke, in France : 
 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 * With the head and foot fastened to prevent the animal from 
 straying. 
 
 + A clumsy, awkward shuffler. t The Poet. 
 
 § More active. II His shoe. K The rest. 
 
 ** Carriage. 
 
l66 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Than cam in Dame Dontibour; 
 God wait* gif that she luikit sour ! 
 She made sic murgeons t with her hips, 
 For lauchter nana micht hald their lips ; 
 
 When she was dancing busihe, 
 Ane blast of wind soon fra her slips : 
 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 When there was come in five or sax, 
 The Queen's Dog J begouth to rax ; 
 And of his band he made a bred,§ 
 And to the dancing soon he him made ; 
 
 How mastive like about gaed he ! 
 He stinkit like a tyke, some said : 
 
 A merrier dance micht na man see. 
 
 We must plead guilty here to the admission of 
 what, in one or two instances, may be objected to 
 as unsuited to "ears polite." But it must be re- 
 collected that in the works of Ramsay, Burns, and 
 others, unhesitatingly admitted into the best society, 
 many expressions more rude occur ; and we could 
 not aiford to dispense with so graphic a picture of 
 the free and easy, and, it may be, gross, pastimes 
 which amused even a queen at the beginning of the 
 sixteenth century. Of course, in times past, inde- 
 licacy must be judged by the standard of the day ; 
 and, upon this principle, there was perhaps no im- 
 propriety in Queen Margaret witnessing the uncon- 
 
 * Knows. + Grumblings. 
 
 + James Doig, the queen's wardrobe-keeper. 
 § Sprung away. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 16*] 
 
 Strained, if not comical, attempts of her attendants 
 to " trip it on the light fantastic toe." 
 
 In noticing the principal persons who figure in 
 the dance, Mr Laing says he chiefly avails himself 
 of the researches of his friend Mr Chalmers. With 
 his leave, we shall also glean from the same source, 
 with as much brevity as possible, what may serve 
 our purpose. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair of Dryden was one of the 
 king's attendants or courtiers. His name occurs in 
 the Treasurer's Accounts as early as 1490; and it 
 fi-equently appears down to 1512-13. In 1503, he 
 was furnished with clothes, preparatory to the king's 
 marriage, and was one of his attendants. He pro- 
 bably afterwards became the " queen's knicht," as 
 Dunbar styles him. The king and he frequently 
 played at " rowbowlis " and " the cartis." No- 
 vember 3, 15065 he had a gratuity of jf'aS, by the 
 king's command. His wife received ,^10 as a 
 new-year's gift, 1511-12, and a similar sum next 
 January. 
 
 Maister Robert Schaiu frequently appears in the 
 Treasurer's Accounts from 1503 to 1508. He was 
 an ecclesiastic, but, as most priests were, acquainted 
 with medicine : May 38, 1504, " Item, to Maister 
 Robert Schaw, be the kingis command, quhen he 
 passit to Bothwlle to the Lady Hand seik, £']." 
 Feb. 9, 1504-5, " Item to the said William [Fou- 
 lar, potingair] for ane blude stane, and three vnce 
 other stuf for the Queue, for bleding of the ness 
 
l68 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 [nose], after a R. of Maister Robert Schaw, 22s." 
 On May 14, 1508, he performed his first mass be- 
 fore the king, when he was presented with ten 
 French crowns, or £'], a very high offering, from 
 which it may be inferred that he was much esteemed 
 by his majesty. He probably obtained some pre- 
 ferment immediately afterwards, as his name does 
 not again occur in the books. 
 
 The Maister Almaser was Doctor Babington, 
 who came from England with the queen at the 
 time of her marriage, August 1503, as her almoner, 
 and remained, with a salary of ^20 English, or 
 £']o Scottish, yearly. This sum he continued to 
 receive for three years, the last half-yearly payment 
 being made on the 8th of February 1^06. Soon 
 after he was appointed to the Deanery of Aberdeen. 
 In the Treasurer's Accounts, between August 6, 
 1506, and September 6, 1507, there is a payment 
 of ^39, " gret Flemish money, for expediting the 
 Bullis of the Denery of Aberdene to Doctor Bab- 
 ingtoun." 
 
 John Bute was one of the king's fools. His 
 name has not been met with earlier than Novem- 
 ber 1506. In December that year, for his dress he 
 received a 4octor's gown of chamlot, lined with 
 black gray, and purfellit with skins, with a hoode, 
 a doublet of fustian, hose, and a gray bonnet ; and 
 at the same time, " Spark, John Butis man," re- 
 ceived a goun of russet, doublet of fustian, and hose 
 of carsay. The names of •' John of Bute " and 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 169 
 
 his man Spark occur repeatedly in the Treasurer's 
 Accounts during the rest of James's reign ; and 
 that of " John Butis brother," September 30, 1512. 
 
 Dunbar the makar is, of course, the poet him- 
 self. In accordance with the boisterous spirit of 
 the dance, he describes himself as one of the most 
 active on the floor, tripping it with such glee that 
 he at length tripped, and lost one of his slippers. 
 And all this joyousness for the love of Mrs Mus- 
 grave, who next occupies the floor. The kind of 
 dance called the " dirrye dantoun " is not known. 
 
 Maestris Musgraeffe is supposed to have been 
 the wife of Sir John Musgrave, who came to Scot- 
 land with the queen in 1503. She seems to have 
 been the principal lady in attendance on her ma- 
 jesty, and, besides her salary, which was £^6, 13s. 
 4d. Scots yearly, she often received clothes, pre- 
 sents, and new-year's gifts. She is usually styled 
 " the Lady Maestress," and, in one instance, " Sir 
 John Musgrave's wife," a knight's wife being then 
 usually styled Maistress and not Lady. For bring- 
 ing tidings to the king of the prince's birth, Feb- 
 ruary ai, 1506-7, she received 100 unicorns, equal 
 to £^0 Scots, along with a great cup of silver, 
 which the Bishop of Murray had given to the king. 
 The names of Maistres Musgray and Agnes Mus- 
 graif often occur in the years 1511 to 1513- 
 
 Dame Dontihour, it would appear from Sir 
 David Lyndsay and John Kno.x, is a cant name for 
 a profligate woman. Singers before the king are 
 
170 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 frequently entered in the Treasurer's Books under 
 the cognomen of " wantonness," &c. 
 
 OF SIR THOMAS NORRAY. 
 
 Now lythis* of ane gentle Knicht, 
 Sir Thomas Norray, wise and wicht, 
 
 And full of chivalrie ; 
 Whase father was ane grand Keinef 
 His mother was ane fairie queen, 
 
 Gotten be sorcerie. 
 
 Ane fairer Knicht nor he was nana, 
 On ground may neither ride nor gane, 
 
 Na bear buckler nor brand ; 
 Or come in this court but J dread ; 
 He did fuU mony valiant deed 
 
 In Ross and Murray land. 
 
 Full many cathereins§ has he chaste, 
 And cummeredll many a Hieland ghaist, 
 
 Amang thae dully glens : 
 Of the Clan Chattan twenty score 
 He drave as oxen him before ;ir 
 
 This deed though na man kens. 
 
 * Listen. + Perhaps khan, a Persian lord. 
 
 J Without § Highland plunderers. || Vexed. 
 
 ^ This has been inteipreted to mean cattle ; but such is not 
 the sense of the passage. Oi the Glen or rather Clan Chattan 
 he drove twenty score as oxen (as if they had been oxen) him 
 before. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 171 
 
 At feasts and bridals up-aland,* 
 He wan the gree, and the garland ; 
 
 Dancit none so on dels : t 
 He has at warslings been ane hunder, 
 Yet lay his body never at under : 
 
 He knaws gif this be lies. 
 
 Was never weildj Robin § under bewch, 
 Nor yet Roger of'Clekkinsklevvch,|| 
 
 So bauld a bairn as he ; 
 Guy of Gysburne,ir na Adam Bell,** 
 Na Simon's sons of Whinfell,tt 
 
 At shot were never so-slie. 
 
 This anterous+J Knicht, wherever he went, 
 At jousting, or at tournament. 
 
 Ever more he wan the gree ; 
 Was never of half so great renoun 
 Sir Bewis the Knicht of South Hamptoun : §§ 
 
 I shrieve him gif I lie. 
 
 * Among the hills. 
 
 + Upper place in a hall, where the floor is raised. 
 J Free living. § Robin Hood. 
 
 II The subject, no doubt, of some of the popular ballads in 
 Dunbar's time, but now imknown. 
 
 H " Guy of Gysbume,'' or " Gisbome," is one of the Robin 
 Hood ballads, first printed in "Percy's Reliqiies." 
 ** Adam BeU, with Clym of the Cleughe and Wyllyam of 
 Cloudeslie, is celebrated in an early tale, ^printed by Ritson in 
 his "Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry." 
 
 tt The memory of these worthies, save the notice of them here, 
 is lost. 
 Jt Adventurous. 
 
 §§ This is another of the mediseval knights whose light has 
 gone out. 
 
172 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Therefore Ouhentyne* was but ane lurdane, 
 That calht him ane full plum jurdanef 
 
 This wise and worthy Knicht ; 
 He callit him fouler than ane fule, , 
 He said he was ane lecherous bull, 
 
 That crooned baith day and nicht. 
 
 He wald have made him Currie'sJ knave 
 I pray God better his honour to save, 
 
 Na to be lichtliet sua ! 
 Yet this far furth I daur him prais. 
 
 He filed never saddle in his days ; 
 
 And Currie befiled twa. 
 
 Wherefore, ever at Pasch and Yule, 
 I cry him Lord of every fule,§ 
 
 That in this region dwells ; 
 And, verily, it war great richt, 
 For, of ane hie renowned knicht. 
 
 He wants no thing but bells. 
 
 * Quintine, who probably had written some sarcastic verses 
 against Norray. 
 
 t Jourdane, a chamber convenience. 
 
 J Currie's servant. Currie, another of the king's fools, is 
 repeatedly mentioned in the Treasurer's Accounts, from ng6 to 
 1506, in which latter year he seems to have died. On the ^d 
 June of that year was paid "for the tyrment and expenses maid 
 on the furthbringing of Curry, deliverit to Sir Andro Makbrek, 
 46s. -Sd." In the same accounts Curry's mother, Daft Anne, 
 Curry's wife, Peter Curry, Curry's brother, and Law, Curry's 
 man, frequently occur. 
 
 § There were a great many fools or jesters in the king's ser- 
 vice. Besides the illustrious Sir Thomas Norray, there were 
 Curry, Law (Curry's man), John Bute, Spark (his man), John 
 WaUas, Cuddy Rig, &c. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 1 73 
 
 The subject of this very chvtrjeu d'esprit, which 
 must have been composed before 1506, was Thomas 
 Norry, one of the king's fools. He was a favourite 
 attendant of the king, and, taking due hcence of 
 his calling, seems to have been quite a Baron Mun- 
 chausen in his way. " He knaws gif this be lies" 
 is a happy explanation of his character. He occurs 
 in the Treasurer's Books, where he is sometimes 
 actually called Sir Thomas Norry, from 1503 to 
 1511-13. March 24 of that year, there is paid " to 
 Thomas Norry, falcj-'in elimose, at his passage to 
 Saint James, 56s.; " and Aug. 5, " to Schir Thomas 
 Norry, one pair schone, price i6d." Norrie is still 
 a name in Fife, and the north-east of Scotland. 
 
 COMPLAINT AGAINST MURE. 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 Sir, I complain of injuries : 
 
 A rising son of raking MURIS 
 
 Has mangelit my making,* through his malice. 
 
 And present it into your palace ; 
 
 But, sen he pleases with me to plead, 
 I sail him knawin mak hyne t to Calais, 
 
 But giff J your Hieness it remeid. 
 
 That full dismembered has my metre, 
 And poisoned it with strong saltpetre, § 
 
 * His poetry. f Hence. J Unless, 
 
 § In allusion to the curing of butcher meat with saltpetre. 
 
174 I-IFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 With richt defamous speech of lords, 
 Whilk with my colours all discords : 
 
 Whose cruel slanders servis* deid ; 
 And in my name aU leis records, 
 
 Your Grace beseek I of remeid. 
 
 He has endorsit mine inditing, 
 With verses of his ain handwriting ; 
 Wherein baith slander is and treason : 
 Of ane wud full far out of season. 
 
 He wants nocht but a roundit heid,t 
 For he has tint baith wit and reason : 
 
 Your Grace beseek I of remeid. 
 
 Punish him for his deed culpable ; 
 Or gar deliver him ane babble. 
 That Cuddy Rig, the Dumfries fule, 
 May him receive again this Yule, 
 
 All roundit into yellow and reid ; J 
 That lads may bait him like a bull : 
 
 For that to me were some remeid. 
 
 It is not known who this " rising son of raking 
 Mure's" wasj but, from the name, it is probable 
 that he was from the west country — the Mures of 
 Ayrshire or Renfrewshire. It would appear that 
 he had altered some of Dunbar's verses, and in- 
 serted some of his own, probably by way of joke ; 
 for we cannot, with Mr Laing, regard the com- 
 plaint of Dunbar as either very serious or " indig- 
 
 * Deserves. t His ears clipped ofE 
 
 J Yellow and red was the king's livery. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 17^ 
 
 nant." The punishment prayed for, that he might 
 be made to babble, and handed over to Cuddy Rig, 
 the Dumfries fool, "all rounded into yellow and 
 red," that the boys might bait him like a bull, does 
 not look as if the poet was seriously annoyed. The 
 name of " Cuddy Rig," the fool, repeatedly occurs 
 in the Treasurer's Accounts from 1504 to 15 12. 
 17th Sept. 1504, there was paid "to the crukit 
 vicar of Dumfreiss that sang to the king in Loch- 
 maben, 14s.;" and a similar sum, by the king's 
 command, to " Cuddy Rig." 
 
 OF JAMES DOIG, KEEPER OF THE UUEEn's 
 WARDROBE. 
 
 TO THE QUEEN. 
 
 The wardrober of Venus' boVr, 
 To gif a doublet* he is as doure 
 As it were of ane foot side frog : t 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! J 
 
 * It would thus appear that Dunbar had been in the habit of 
 receiving, or had been ordered on this special occasion, a doublet 
 or dress, by order of the queen, from the royal wardrobe ; but 
 the keeper, James Doig, careful of the royal interest, toolc it 
 upon him to refiise the demand, even although shewn the queen's 
 mark. 
 
 + An overcoat. 
 
 J The name of Doig is as frequently written and pronounced 
 Dog in Fife, and further north, as it is the proper way. 
 
176 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 When that I shaw to him your marks,* 
 He turns to me again and barks 
 As he were worrying ana hog : 
 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! 
 
 When that I shaw him your writing, 
 He gims that I am redf for biting ; 
 I wald he had ane heavy clog : 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! 
 
 When that I speak till him friendlike. 
 He barkis like ane midden tyke 
 Were chasing cattle through a bog : 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! 
 
 He is ane mastiff, meikle of micht, 
 To keep your wardrobe over nicht, 
 Fra the great Sowdan X Gog-ma-gog : 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! 
 
 He is cure meikle to be your messan, 
 Madam, I red you get a less ane ; 
 His gang gars all your chalmers shog : 
 Madam, ye have a dangerous Dog ! 
 
 * This, says Pinkerton, "seems to mean seal. The seal of 
 Margaret appears at many letters of hers in the Cotton Library. 
 It is a lady sitting, and either a lamb or a dog by her." 
 
 f Free, in order, provoked. J Sultan. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 177 
 
 OF THE SAID JAMES, 
 
 WHEN HE HAD PLEASED HIM [THE POET.] 
 
 gracious Princess, guid and fair ! 
 Do weel to James your wardropair ; 
 Whase faithful brother maist friend I am : 
 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 Though I in ballad did him bourd,* 
 In malice spak I never ane word, 
 But all, my Dame, to do you game : 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 Your Hieness can not get ane meter t 
 To keep your wardrobe, nor discreeter, 
 To rule your robes, and dress the same : 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 The wife that he had in this inns, J 
 That with the tangs wad break his shins, 
 
 1 wald she drownit were in a dam : 
 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 The wife that wald him cuckold mak, 
 I wald she were, baith side and bak, 
 Weel batterit with ane barrow tram : 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 He has sa weel done me obey 
 In tiU all thing, therefore I pray 
 That never dolour § mak him dram :|| 
 He is nae Dog ; he is a Lamb. 
 
 * Jest + Fitter. f Lodginj,. 
 
 § Grief. |1 Melancholy. 
 
 M 
 
178 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The subject of this biting satire was, as the poet 
 tells us, keeper of the queen's wardrobe. Of his 
 history, Mr Laing gives the following account, as 
 the result of Mr Chalmers's indefatigable re- 
 searches : — 
 
 " James Dog, or Doig, appears in the Treasurer's 
 Accounts as one of the king's domestic servants in 
 1489, and from the numerous subsequent entries 
 where his name occurs, he must have been regarded 
 as a trusty, active, and .confidential person; and he 
 was enabled by his savings to purchase the lands of 
 Duntober, in Perthshire, May 12, 1500. After the 
 king's marriage, in 1503, he was transferred to the 
 establishment of the queen's household, whom he 
 long continued to serve with fidelity. In proof of 
 this it may be noticed that, in 1^33, August 4, a 
 grant was made to the king's (James V.) ' lovit 
 servitour, James Dog,' of the ward, non-entries, 
 and relief of the lands of the late Dormond John- 
 ston of Drongy, and the marriage of his heir. 
 Though here called the king's servitour, he was, in 
 fact, still the servant of the queen-dowager, and 
 had been so for twenty years. In an autograph 
 letter from the Earl of Surrey, at Newcastle, Oc- 
 tober 34, 1523, to Cardinal Wolsey, he says, 
 ' Plesith your grace to be advertised, that this pre- 
 sent houre is come to me, James Dog, the Quene of 
 Scott's servante,' &c. His name also occurs in 
 December 1526, but how long he may have sur- 
 vived is uncertain. His son, James Dog, younger. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 1 79 
 
 was, on September 17, 1534, appointed ' yeman of 
 the king's wardrope, with leveray, clothing, busche 
 of court, and duties used and wont,' " &c. 
 
 Pinkerton, who was the first to publish the satire, 
 says, in reference to the per contra, " This is a 
 sharp satire in the piercing mode of pity, and was 
 written, as the colophon tells us, when Doig had 
 pleisit him. If so, whether was it most dangerous 
 to displease, or to please Dunbar?" 
 
 WELCOME TO THE LORD TREASURER. 
 I thocht lang while some Lord come hame, 
 Fra whom fain kindness wald I claim ; 
 His name of comfort I will declare, 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 Before all raik* of this regioun, 
 Under our Roy of most renoun. 
 Of all my micht, though it were mair, 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair. 
 
 Your noble payment I did assay. 
 And ye hechtf soon without delay, 
 Again in Edinburgh till repair ; 
 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 Ye keppit tryst so wonder weel, 
 I hald you true as ony steel ; 
 Needs nane your payment till despair ; 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 * Ranks or estates. + Promised. 
 
l8o LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Yet in a pairt I was agljast, 
 Or ye the nearest way had past 
 Fra town of Stiriing to the air : ' 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 Than had my dyt t been all in dule, 
 Had I my wage wanted till Yule ; 
 Where now I sing with heart on sair,]: 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 Welcome, my benefice, and my rent, 
 And all the lyflett§ to me lent ; 
 Welcome, my pension most preclair ;|| 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 Welcome, as heartily as I can. 
 My ain dear maister to your man ; 
 And to your servant singulair. 
 
 Welcome, my ain Lord Thesaurair ! 
 
 We learn from this " welcome " the utter de- 
 pendence of Dunbar's circumstances. The Lord 
 Treasurer, or rather his pension, was to him his 
 benefice, his rent, in short, " all the lyflett to 
 [him] lent." Which of the Lord Treasurers was 
 the object of his greeting is uncertain. It may have 
 been Sir David Beatoun of Creich, who filled the 
 office from ijoa to 1504, or James Beatoun, abbot 
 of Dunfermline, who held it from 1504 to 1509. 
 The next poem is in the same strain. 
 
 * Justice, or court of justice. , f Inditing. 
 
 X Unsair. § Means of subsistence. || Supereminent. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. l8l 
 
 TO THE LORDS OF THE KING's EXCHEOUER. 
 
 My Lords of Chacker, please you to hear 
 My compt, I sail it male you clear, 
 But* ony circumstance or sunyie ;+ 
 For left is neither corce nor cunyiej 
 Of all that I took in the year. 
 
 For reckoning of my rents and roumes, § 
 Ye need not for to tire your thoumes ; 
 Nor for to gar your counters clink, 
 Nor paper for to spend, nor ink. 
 In the receiving of my soumes. 
 
 I took fra my Lord Thesaurair, 
 Ane soume of money for to wair : 
 
 I cannot tell you how it is spendit. 
 
 But weel I wit that it is endit ; 
 And that me think ane compt oure sair ! 
 
 I trowit, in time, when that I took it. 
 That lang in burgh I sould have bruikit,|| 
 Now the remains are eithlT to turs ;** 
 I have na proof here but my purse, 
 Whilk wald not lie and it were luikit. 
 
 There is no evidence that Dunbar ever drew 
 money from the Exchequer, so that this address 
 may be regarded solely as a jocular mode of making 
 known the low condition of his finances. We have 
 
 * Without. 
 
 + Excuse. 
 
 J Cross nor coin. 
 
 § Lands. 
 
 {{ Lived, enjoyed. 
 
 t Easy. 
 
 * Pack up. 
 
 
 
l82 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 no date for these and the preceding verses, but they 
 point to a period probably soon after the king's 
 marriage, when a benefice appeared still distant, 
 and the smallness of his income rendered his posi- 
 tion irksome, and his patience less obedient. 
 
 TO A LADY. 
 
 WHEN HE LIST TO FEIGN. 
 
 My heart's treasure, and sweet, assured to, 
 The final ender of my life for ever ; 
 
 The cruel breaker of my heart in two, 
 To go to death, this I deservit never : 
 O man slayer ! while* saul and life dissever ; 
 
 Stint of your slauchter ; alace ! your man am I, 
 
 A thousand times that does you mercy cry. 
 
 Have mercy, love ! have mercy, lady bricht ! 
 
 What have I wrocht agains your womanheid, 
 That ye suld murder me, a sakeless wicht, 
 
 Trespassing never to you in word nor deed ? 
 
 That ye consent thereto, O God forbid ! 
 Leave cruelty, and save your man for shame, 
 Or through the warld quite losit is your name. 
 
 My death chases my life so busilie, 
 That weary is my ghost to flee so fast ; 
 
 Sic deadly dwaums so mischievouslie 
 Ane hundred times has my heart ourepast ; 
 Me think my spirit rins away full ghast, 
 
 * fr>5:7i?, thus used, 'must mean w;;/27. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 183 
 
 Beseeking grace, on knees you before, 
 Or that your man be lost for ever more. 
 
 Behald my wod* intolerable pain. 
 For ever more whilk sal be my damage ! 
 
 Why, under trust, your man thus have ye slain ? 
 Lo ! death is in my breast, with furious rage, 
 Whilk may no balm, nor tryacle f assuage. 
 
 But your mercy, for lack of whilk I die ; 
 
 Alace : where is your womanlie pitie ? 
 
 Behald my deadly passion dolorous ! 
 
 Behald my hideous hue, and wo, alace ! 
 Behald my mane, and mourning marvellous. 
 
 With sorrowful tears falling from my face ! 
 
 Rewth, J love, is nocht, help ye not in this case, 
 For how suld ony gentle heart endure 
 To see this sicht on ony creature ? 
 
 White Dow, where is your sober humilness ? 
 
 Sweet, gentle Turtle, where is your pitie went ? 
 Where is your rewth ? the fruit of nobleness, 
 
 Of womanheid the treasure, and the rent ; 
 
 Virtue is never put out in meek intent, 
 Nor out of gentle heart is fundin§ pitie ; 
 Sen merciless may no wicht noble be. 
 
 In to my mind I sail you mercy cry. 
 
 While that my tongue saU fail me to speak ; 
 And while that nature me in sicht deny ; 
 
 * Mai t Treacle. 
 
 t Pity. § Found. 
 
184 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And while my e'en for pain enclose and steik ; 
 And while the death my heart in sunder break ; 
 
 And while niy mind may think, and tongue may steir ; 
 
 And syne, fareweel, my heartis lady dear ! 
 The author scarcely required to mention that 
 these verses were written "when he Hst to feign." 
 They are too extravagant for sincerity, and must 
 have been the production of advanced hfe, when 
 " true love " had lost its pathos, and forgotten its 
 tones of silver sweetness. Indeed, it may have 
 been written ^br some one who was in the hopeless 
 condition described, and whose obdurate and not 
 overly-refined captivator required a strong cosmetic 
 to move her compassion. Such appeals for mercy, 
 however, were in much repute long after the time 
 of Dunbar. 
 
 THE VISITATION OF ST FRANCIS. 
 This nicht, before the dawing clear, 
 Me thocht Sanct Francis did to me appear, 
 With ane religious habit in his hand. 
 And said. In this go claith thee, my servand, 
 Refuse the warld, for thou maun be a freir. 
 
 With him and with his habit baith I skarrit,* 
 Like to ane man that with a ghaist was marrit : t 
 
 Me thocht on bed he laid it me abone ; 
 
 But on the floor deliverly J and soon 
 I lap there fra, and never wald come nar it. 
 
 Was startlei t Interrupted. + Nimbly. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 1 85 
 
 Quoth he, Why skars thou with this holy weed ? 
 
 Claith thee therein, for wear it thou must need ; 
 Thou that has lang done Venus lawis teach, 
 Sail now be freir, and in this habit preach ; 
 
 Delay it not, it maun be done but* dread. 
 
 Quoth I, Sanct Francis, loving be thee till. 
 And thankit mot t thou be of thy gude will 
 
 To me, that of thy claithis are so kind ; 
 
 But them to wear it never come in my mind ; 
 Sweet Confessor, thou tak it not in ilL 
 
 In haly legends have I heard allevin, J 
 
 Mae sancts of bishops, nor freirs, be sic seven ; 
 
 Of full few freirs that has been sancts I read ; 
 
 Wherefore, gae bring to me ane bishop's weed, 
 Gif ever thou wald my saul gaed unto heaven. 
 
 My breither of thes made thee supplications, 
 Be epistles, sermons, and relations. 
 
 To tak this habit ; but thou did postpone ; 
 
 But further process, come on therefore anon, 
 All circumstance put by, and excusations. 
 
 Gif ever my fortune was to be a freir. 
 The date thereof is past full mony a year ; 
 For into every lusty toun and place 
 Of all England, from Berwick to Calais, 
 I have into thy habit made gude cheer. 
 
 In freir's weed full fairly have I fleechit. 
 In it have I in pulpit gone and preechit 
 
 * Without t May. J Alleged. 
 
1 86 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 In Demtoun kirk, and eik in Canterberry ; 
 In it I past at Dover, oure the ferry, 
 Throw Piccardy, and there the people teachit. 
 
 As lang as I did wear the freir's style. 
 In tne, God wit, was mony a wink and wyle ; 
 In me was falset* with every wicht to flatter, 
 Whilk micht be flemit + with nae haly water ; 
 I was aye ready all men to beguile. 
 
 The freir that did Sanct Francis there appear, 
 Ane fiend he was in likeness of ane freir ; 
 
 He vanished away with stink and fiery smoke ; 
 
 With him me thocht all the house end he took, 
 And I awoke as wyj that was in weir.§ 
 
 This poem is of peculiar interest, as throwing the 
 almost only light we have on the early history of 
 Dunbar. That he was a preaching friar he plainly 
 tells us, and in that habit had travelled over Eng- 
 land and France. He is also honest enough to 
 admit that he was no better than he should be — 
 
 " In me, God wit, was mony a wink and wyle." 
 
 But we should rather think that this admission was 
 aimed more against the malpractices of the preach- 
 ing friars as a body than in exposition of his own 
 particular failings. The whole poem, indeed, is 
 satirical of the order of friars ; and his making the 
 
 * Falsehood. f Basted. 
 
 J A person, one. § War, trouble. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 1 87 
 
 arch-fiend appear in the disguise of St Francis, 
 urging him to assume the friar's habit, would imply 
 that the devil had a particular interest in recruiting 
 for a service which he found so useful. It is cer- 
 tainly surprising that Dunbar should have spoken 
 out so freely ; and still more so th^t he should have 
 escaped the censures of the Church. We do not 
 coincide with Mr Laing in thinking that these 
 verses were not written till towards the close of the 
 reign of James IV. They were probably written 
 about 1504 or 1505, when the poet was beginning 
 to get impatient of the expected benefice, yet had 
 not the boldness, as in after-years, to address the king 
 in a direct manner on the subject. If his employ- 
 ment in the king's service began, as we have reason 
 to believe, in 1491, he was quite entitled to say — 
 
 " Gif ever my fortune was to be a freir, 
 The date thereof is past full mony a year ;" 
 
 without waiting till the close of the king's reign. 
 The sarcastic humour of the poet is admirable — 
 " Of full few freirs that has been sancts I read ; 
 Wherefore gae bring to me ane bishop's weed." 
 
 THE BIRTH OF ANTICHRIST. 
 
 Lucina shining in silence of the nicht, 
 The heaven all being full of sterns bricht, 
 To bed I went ; but there I took no rest, 
 With heavy thocht so sore I was opprest, 
 That sair I langit after the day's licht. 
 
bo LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Of fortune I compleinit heavily, 
 
 That she to me stood so contrariously : 
 And at the last, when I tumit oft 
 For weariness, on me ane slumber soft 
 
 Come, with ane dreaming and a phantasy- 
 
 Me thocht dame Fortune, with ane fremmit* cheer. 
 Stood me before, and said'on this maneir : 
 Thou suffer me to work gif thdu do weel. 
 And press thee not to strive agains my wheel, 
 Whilk every warldly thing does turn and steer. 
 
 Full mony ane man I turn unto the hicht. 
 And maks as mony full low down to licht ; 
 Up on my staigs + or that thou ascend. 
 Trust weel thy trouble is near at ane end ; 
 Seeing thir tokens, wherefore thou mark them richt 
 
 Thy troublit ghaist sail ne'er more be degest,! 
 
 Nor thou into no benefice possest. 
 While that ane abbot him claith in iron's pens, 
 And flee up in the air amang the crens, 
 
 And as ane falcon fair fro east to west. 
 
 He sail ascend as ane horrible griphon, 
 Him meet sail in the air ane she dragon ; 
 
 Thir terrible monsters sail together thrist, 
 
 And in the cluds get the Antichrist, 
 While all the air infect of their pusion. 
 
 Under Saturnus' fiery region 
 
 Symon Magus sail meet them, and Mahoun ;§ 
 
 * Foreign or strange. f Young horses. J Composed. 
 
 § The devil. Lord Hailes makes it pretty clear that Mahoun 
 
■WILLIAM DUNBAR. 1 89 
 
 And Merlin, at the moon, sail him be bydand ; 
 And Janet, the widow, on ana besom rydand. 
 Of witches with ane wonder garesoun.* 
 
 And syne they sail descend with reek and fire, 
 And preach in earth the Antichrist's empire ; 
 
 Be than it sail be near this warld's end. 
 
 With that this lady soon fra me did wend : 
 Sleeping and waking was frustrate my desire. 
 
 When I awoke, my dream it was so nice, 
 
 Fra every wicht I hid it as a vice ; 
 While I heard tell, be mony southfast wy, 
 Flee wald ane abbot up in to the sky. 
 
 And all his fethreme t made was at device. 
 
 Within my heart comfdrt I took full soon, . 
 
 Adieu, quoth I, my dreary days are done : 
 FuU weel I wist to me wald never come thrift. 
 While that twa moons were seen up in the lift. 
 
 Or while an abbot flew above the moon. 
 
 This poem has reference to a very curious cir- 
 cumstance — the attempt of the abbot of Tungland 
 to fly from the ramparts of Stirling Castle. Al- 
 though put in the form of a dream, and foreshadow- 
 ing an event to come, which the poet ingeniously 
 makes subservient to his own expected rise in the 
 world, there can be no doubt that the satire was 
 
 is derived from Mahomet, and has been in use probably since the 
 days of the crusades. 
 
 * Following, body of troops. t Dress of feathers. 
 
190 LIFE AND POEMS. OF 
 
 « 
 
 written after the event, which happened in 1507. 
 The abbot, as we have elsewhere remarked, was no 
 other than " Maister John, the French medicinar," 
 whom the king found such an amusing fellow, that 
 they often played at cards together ; and he pro- 
 fessed such a knowledge of alchemy that he induced 
 his majesty to expend considerable sums in what 
 he called multiplyinge, or refining the baser metals. 
 He had the abbacy of Tungland conferred upon 
 him early in 1504? a circumstance which must 
 have weighed heavily on the mind of Dunbar. 
 That a foreigner, with perhaps no solid claims to 
 nlerit or sound sense, as his attempt to fly indi- 
 cated, should have such preference, while he, who 
 had served the king in his earlier years, and knew 
 and felt his own mental superiority, as well as edu- 
 cational fitness for a benefice, must have been gall- 
 ing indeed. Hence the origin of those numerous 
 poetical appeals to the king's sense of justice and 
 generosity, which we find addressed to him about 
 this time, or perhaps subsequently. 
 
 OF THE FENYEIT* FREIR OF TUNGLAND. 
 As young Aurora,' with her crystal hale, 
 In orient shew her visage pale, 
 
 * This is interpreted to mean feigned, or pretended ; but there 
 is another meaning, which we think it bears, and which the 
 author intended to convey, nearly expressed ia the word vxfwf; 
 so that we would read it— ' ' The Mad Freb of Tungland;. " 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I91 
 
 A swevying swyth* did me assail, 
 
 Of sons of Satan's seed ; 
 Me thocht a Turk of Tartary 
 Come out of the land of Barbary, 
 And lay forloppint in Lombardy, 
 
 Full lang in waith-man J weed : 
 
 Fra baptizing for till eschew, § 
 There a religious man he slew. 
 And clad him in his habit new, 
 
 For he could write and read.|| 
 When kend was his dissemulans, 
 And all his cursit govemans, 
 For fear he fled, and come in France, 
 
 With little of Lombard leid.lT 
 
 To be a leech he feigned him there, 
 Whilk mony a man micht rue evermair ; 
 For he left neither sick nor sair 
 Unslain, or he hyne** gaed. 
 
 * A vision suddenly. t Fugitive. J Wanderer. 
 
 § If discovered he would have been compelled to turn a 
 Christian, or become a slave. 
 
 II Because of these accomplishments he could pass as a friar. 
 U Lord Hailes interprets this passage thus: — "Either with 
 small knowledge of the Italian language, or with a littie, or a. 
 smattering of Italian literature, or with some knowledge of the 
 Lombard business of broker. " We must not forget, however, 
 that the abbot was in reality a native of Lombardy, and must 
 have knovm the Italian language, if not its literature, well ; and, 
 therefore, the probability is that Dunbar simply meant that he 
 had but little of the reputed wealth of Lombardy. 
 
 ** Thence. 
 
iga LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Vein organs he full cleanly carvit ;* 
 When of his stroke so many starvit, f 
 Dread he had gotten that he deservit, 
 
 He fled away gude speed. 
 In Scotland than, the nearest way, 
 He came, his cunning till essay, 
 To some men there it was no play 
 
 The proving of his science. 
 In potingary he wrocht great pyne,t 
 He murderit in to medicine ; 
 The jow§ was of a great ingyne. 
 
 And generit was of gyans.|| 
 In leechcraft he was homicide, 
 He wald have, for a nicht to bide, 
 Ane hackney and the hurt man's hide, IT 
 
 So meikle he was of myans. ** 
 
 * The veins he fully, cleanly carved. 
 
 •f Lord Hailes explains this obscure passage satisfactorily : — 
 " When so many died by his stroke. The word straik, or stroke, 
 Beems to confirm the notion that cupping-glasses are here meant 
 Starvit is a word still preserved in English, implying a violent 
 death by hunger. To starve of cold, is still a Scottish expression, 
 from the word storven, to die." 
 
 X As an apothecary he wrought great mischief. 
 
 § Theyi^rw, or juggler. 
 
 jl Neither Hailes nor any one else has thrown light on this 
 obscure term. Gy, amongst other meanings, signifies a hob- 
 goblin-looking fellow. This jow, or juggler, was generated of 
 hobgoblins ; or, in another sense of the word gy, of those who 
 wore masks, and acted the part oigys or gysars, 
 
 IT Lord Hailes reads this passage thus :— "His fees were so 
 exhorbitant, that one night's attendance cost a horse — the most 
 sumptuous of presents in those days — and the skin of the patient." 
 
 ** Moiens, or moyens; so great was he in expedients for making 
 money. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. ig^ 
 
 His irons were rude as ony rauchter, 
 Where he let bluid it was no lauchter ; 
 Full many instruments for slauchter' 
 Was in his gardyvians. t 
 
 He could give cure of laxative, 
 To gar a wicht horse want his life ; 
 Wha ever essay wald, man or wife, 
 
 Their hips gaed hiddy-giddy. X 
 His practicks never were put to preif, 
 But§ sudden death, or great mischief; 
 He had purgation to male a thief 
 
 To die without a widdy. 
 
 Unto no mess preissit|| the prelat, 
 
 For sound of sacrying bell nor skellat ; TT 
 
 As blacksmith bruikit** was his pellattt 
 
 For battering at the study. 
 Though he come hame a new made chanon. 
 He had dispensit with matins canon. 
 On him come nouther stole nor fanon. 
 
 * The reading of these lines is, that his surgical instruments 
 were of the rudest description. Rauchter means a beam, or the 
 couple in the roof of a house. 
 
 f Gardevyance, a cabinet. It contained many instruments 
 for slaughter — poisons, perhaps, as well as ill-made chirurgical 
 weapons. 
 
 X Hither and thither. § Without || Pressed. 
 
 Tl A small bell or rattle, stUl called a skellat. 
 ** Blackened. ff Skin. 
 
 XX The newly-made abbot was so busy with his chemical pur- 
 suits, and so begrimed with the smoke and dirt of his laboratory, 
 that he was afraid of defiling his ecclesiastical vestments, so set 
 N 
 
194 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Me thocht fair fashions he assaiht, 
 To mak the quintessence and faiht ; 
 And when he saw that nocht avaiht, 
 
 A federem' on he took : 
 And shape in Turkey for to fiee ;t 
 And when that he did mount on hie, 
 All fowls ferlit what he suld be, 
 
 That ever did on him look. 
 
 Some held he had been Dedalus,t 
 Some the Minotaur marvellous, § 
 Some Mertisll blacksmith Vulcanus, 
 
 And some Saturnus' cook. 
 And ever the cushets IT at him tuggit. 
 The rooks him rent, the ravens him druggit. 
 The hudit craws his hair furth ruggit. 
 
 The heaven he micht not bruik. 
 
 aside the ecclesiastical law, which required him to say matin >. 
 But the real meaning of the poet is, that he was so indilferent as 
 to his religious duties, that he outraged the laws of the Church 
 and the decency of his order, by contiQually absenting himself from 
 the duties of his position. Mr J. Chalmers says : — "James IV., 
 who was a, firm-built, athletic man, was fond of shewing his 
 powers by striking at the study, or anvil. There are in the 
 Treasurer's Accounts gratuities paid to blacksmiths, where the 
 king strak at the study. Sir Anthony Darcie, the French knight, 
 struck at the study with the king ; and the Abbot of Tungland 
 probably did the same, which has occasioned Dunbar's ridicule." 
 
 * Feathering. 
 
 t Prepared to fly to Turkey, of which country Dunbar makes 
 him a native. 
 
 X Dedalion, brother of Ceyx. § Half man, half horse. 
 
 II Mertis — this tenn we do not know, unless it mean Martius, 
 the month of March. 1) Wild pigeons. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 195 
 
 The mittane* and Sanct Martin's fowl,t 
 Wend J he had been the hornit owl, § 
 They set upon him with a yowl, 
 
 And gave him dint for dint. 
 The gowk, 1 1 the gormaw, IT and the gled,** 
 Befttt him with buffets till he bled ; 
 The spar J J hawk to the spring him sped§§ 
 
 As fierce as fire of flint. 
 
 The tarsal II II gave him tug for tug, 
 The stancheljlll hung in ilka lug. 
 The piet furth his pens did rug. 
 
 The stork struck aye but ITIT stint ; 
 The bissart,|||| busy but rebuke, 
 She was so clever of her cluik. 
 His .... he micht not langer bruik, 
 
 She held them at ane hint.*'* 
 
 Thick was the clud of kays and craws, 
 Of merlins, mittanes, and of maws,tt+ 
 That bickerit at his beard with blaws, 
 In battle him about : 
 
 * A kind of hawk. 
 
 "t* St Martin's fowl means the martlet. It is believed to quit 
 the country about St Martin's day, in the beginning of winter. 
 J Thought. § Great homed owl. || Cuckoo. 
 
 "S Cormorant. """ Kite. ++ Struck. 
 
 Jt Sparrow. §§ To the flight. 
 
 II II Kinds of hawks. HH "Without. 
 
 *** " Literally, " says Lord Hailes, " held them by a hold" — i.e., 
 held them fast, 
 tff Mews. 
 
196 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 They nibblit Jiim with noyis* and cry, 
 The rerd t of them raise to the sky, 
 And ever he cried on Fortune, Fy ! 
 His life was in to doubt. 
 
 The jay him skrippit with a skryke,t 
 And scornit him as it was hke ; 
 The eagle strong at him did strike. 
 
 And rawcht§ him mony a rout : 
 For fear uncunningly he cawkit,|| 
 While all his pens were drown'd and drawkit. 
 He made a hundred nolt all hawkitjIT 
 
 Beneath him with a spout. 
 
 He schewre his federem that was sheen,** 
 And slippit out of it full clean. 
 And in a myre, up to the e'en, 
 
 Amang the glaur did glide. 
 The fowls all at the federem dang, 
 As at a monster them amang, 
 While all the pens of it outsprang 
 
 In tiU the air fuU wide. 
 
 And he lay at the plunge evermair, 
 Sae lang as any raven did rair ; 
 The craws him socht, with cries of care,t+ 
 In every shaw beside. 
 
 * Annoyance. + Uproar. } Mocked with a screecli. 
 
 § Reached. || Betrayed himself. 
 
 ^ Cattle with streaks on their skin. Hawkie is a name for a 
 cow with such a skin. 
 
 ** He put off his dress of feathers that was whole. 
 "H" Chaucer uses a similar expression — 
 
 "The ravyiij and the crow with her voice of care." 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. I97 
 
 Had he revealed been to the rooks, 
 They had him riven all with their cluiks : 
 Three days in dub amang the duiks 
 He did with dirt him hide. 
 
 The air was dirkit* with the fowls 
 
 That come with yammers, and with yowls, 
 
 With skryking, skrymming, and with scowls, 
 
 To tak him in the tide. 
 I wauken'd with the noise and shout, 
 So hideous beirf was me about. 
 Sen syne I curse that canker'd rout, 
 
 Wherever I go or ride. 
 
 In none of his poems does the poet's conception 
 of the ridiculous appear to greater advantage than 
 in this. The subject in itself was no doubt absurd 
 enough ; but the position in which he places the 
 unhappy abbot — so assailed and held fast by the 
 astonished and angry fowls of the air that he never 
 got upon the wing at all — is truly laughable. How 
 the satire must have annoyed the adventurous 
 " multiplier \" Of course, it was not to be expected 
 that Dunbar would quite adhere to the facts of 
 the case ; yet he has not made any unpardonable 
 divergence from them. The story, according to 
 Bishop Leslie, is this : — In September 1507, an 
 embassy was sent by the king to France, on which 
 occasion the abbot of Tungland " tuik in hand to 
 flie v/ith wingis, and to be in Fraunce befoir the 
 
 * Darkened. t Uproar. 
 
198 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 saidis ambassadouris. And to that effect he causet 
 mak ane pair of wingis with fedderis, quhilkis 
 beand fessinit apoun him, he flew of the Castell 
 wall of Strivelling, bot shortlie he fell to the ground, 
 and brak his thee bane ; bot the wyt thairof he 
 ascryvit to that thair was sum hen fedderis in the 
 wingis quhilk yarnit and covet the mydding and 
 not the skyis. In this doinge he prei?sit [essayed] 
 to conterfute ane king of Yngland callit Bladud, 
 quha, as thair histories mentiones, decked himself 
 in fedderis, and presumed to flie in the aire as he 
 did, bot, falling on the tempell of Apollo, brak his 
 neck." Dunbar, to add to the pungency of his 
 wit, assumes that the abbot, had he succeeded in 
 his flight, never intended to return to a country 
 where his quackery and covetousness had been so 
 conspicuous. 
 
 The name of this adventurer — for he caimot be 
 considered anything else — was John Damian. 
 The research of Mr James Chalmers has enabled 
 Mr Laing to supply several interesting facts regard- 
 ing him. He appears in Scotland about 1501. 
 In the Treasurer's Accounts he is variously styled : 
 sometimes "the French Leich," "French Maister 
 John," &c. In 1501-3 he received "leveray" 
 along with other parties at court; from which it 
 would appear that he then held the position of 
 physician in the king's household. Bishop Leslie 
 says he was an Italian, and from Lombardy, 
 according to Dunbar's poem. From thence he had 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 199 
 
 gone to France, where he practised surgery, and 
 probably acquired some knowledge of the properties 
 of metals, for chemistry could not then be said to 
 have been understood as a science. He must have 
 been a person of considerable address, for he gained 
 much upon the king's feelings, and they were often 
 engaged in pastimes together. It is supposed that 
 it was from him that his majesty acquired so strong 
 a taste for alchymy. But it is somewhat rash to 
 draw such a conclusion. The dream of discovering 
 the philosopher's stone, or the power of converting 
 the baser metals into gold, was not confined to any 
 one man or class of men, but pervaded all Europe, 
 and all classes, crowned and coroneted, as well as 
 humbler heads. He seems, if there is a shadow of 
 truth in Dunbar's satire, to have been an ignorant 
 and unscrupulous bungler in his own profession, 
 and not at all above a belief in the expected results 
 of " multiplyinge." He may, therefore, have been 
 sincerely convinced of the power of the science 
 which he called " Quintessence." At the same 
 time, there can be little doubt that he was unscru- 
 pulous enough to take advantage of the king's 
 munificence in straining after an impossibility. In 
 whatever way the prosecution of the " Quint- 
 essence " science was instituted, it appears that he 
 was not long at the Scottish court until the king 
 and he were heartily engaged — the one day in 
 " multiplyinge," and the other at the card-table : 
 1501-3, " Item, the third day of Merch, send to 
 
200 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Strivelin iiij hary nobles in .... to the Leich 
 to multiply, summa £()." The 4th of the same 
 month, "Item, to the King and the French Leich 
 to play at the cartis, £^, 5s." May 39, 1503, the 
 treasurer paid to Robert Bertoun, one of the king's 
 mariners, " for certaine droggis brocht home be 
 him to the French Leich, .^31, 4s." And next 
 day he gave " to the French Liech, quhen he passit 
 his way, 300 French crowns," or ^310 Scottish 
 money. The leech at this time had gone upon 
 a temporary visit to the continent, for the pur- 
 pose of acquiring some additional knowledge of the 
 mysteries of " Quintessence." " In the Treasurer's 
 Accounts," says JVIr Chalmers, " there are nume- 
 rous payments for the ' Qiiinta Essentia,' including 
 wages to the persons employed; utensils of various 
 kinds ; coal and wood for the furnaces ; and for a 
 variety of other materials, such as quicksilver, 
 aquavite, litharge auri, fine tin, brint silver, alum, 
 salt, eggs, salpeter, salaramoniack, &c. Consider- 
 able payments were also made to several ' Potingairs, 
 for stuff of various kinds to the Quinta Essentia.' 
 On the 13th October 1507, the king's treasurer 
 paid j€'6 for a puncheon of wine to the allot of' 
 Tungland, to mak Quinta Essentia. The king 
 sometimes got gold coins from the treasurer to put 
 into the Quinta Essentia." The wine and the gold 
 coins, it is to be presumed, amalgamated some- 
 where else than in the Quinta Essentia. From 
 these gleanings by Mr Chalmers, it seems clear 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 20I 
 
 enough that the poet's character of the " Fen- 
 yeit Freh- of Tungland" can hardly be over- 
 drawn. 
 
 The rapid strides to promotion by this adven- 
 turer must have been annoying to Dunbar. That 
 a person wholly unconnected with ecclesiastical 
 matters should have had an abbacy conferred upon 
 him, in the course of two or three years' attend- 
 ance at court, while he who had conducted the na- 
 tional business as secretary in numerous embassies, 
 and celebrated the union of " The Thistle and the 
 Rose" in such inimitable strains, had difficulty 
 in eking out life upon ^lo a-year, was, in the 
 highest degree, humiliating. And yet such was the 
 fact. On the nth March 1503-4, the treasurer 
 paid " to Gareoch Pursevant, 14s. to pass to Tung- 
 land for the abbacy to French Maister John." On 
 the 1 2th of the same month, " by the king's com- 
 mand," he paid " to Bardus Altovite, Lumbard, 
 ^25, for Maister John, the French Mediciner, new 
 maid abbot of Tungland, quhilk he aucht [was in- 
 debted] to the said Bardus." This item, perhaps, 
 speaks more than all the rest as to the character of 
 John Damian. It evidently was a debt which he 
 had left unsettled in Lombardy, when he went to 
 France. In addition to this, some few days later, 
 there was given " to Maister John, the new maid 
 abbot of Tungland, ^7." There is another item, 
 characteristic of the man. July 27, 1507,^" Item, 
 lent be the kingis command to the abbot of Tung- 
 
303 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 land, and can nocht le gottin fra him, .^33? ^s. 
 8d." 
 
 The probability is that Damian was a spendthrift, 
 imposing upon the liberality of the king without 
 greatly enriching himself. The failure of his egre- 
 gious attempt to fly from the ramparts of Stirling 
 Castle brought him into universal contempt. Still 
 the king seems to have treated him with unfailing 
 kindness. Between October 1507, the time of his 
 unhappy flight, and August 1508, the Treasurer's 
 Accounts shew that the king had frequently played 
 at cards and dice with him ; but he seems to have 
 been at last fain to withdraw, probably from the 
 ridicule Dunbar had helped to produce. On the 
 8th of September 1508, "Damiane, abbot of Tung- 
 land," had a licence granted to him to pass out of 
 the kingdom for five years, to study or engage in 
 any other lawful occupation, without incurring any 
 hurt, prejudice, or skaith anent the abbey and place 
 of Tungland^ He again reappears on the 29th 
 March 1513, when he is paid ^'30 " to pas to the 
 myne at Crawfurd-moor." 
 
 TO THE KING, WHEN MONY BENEFICES VAKIT.* 
 
 Sir, at this f^ast of benefice, 
 
 Think that small parts maks great service, 
 
 * Became vacant. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 203 
 
 And equal distribution, 
 Maks them content that has reason ; 
 And wha has nane are pleasit nae wise. 
 
 Sir, whether is it alms mair, 
 
 To give him drink that thirsts sair ; 
 
 Or fill ane fou man while he brist ; 
 
 And let his fallow * die for thrist 
 Whilk wine to drink as worthy were ? 
 
 It is no glad collation 
 
 Where ane maks merrie, ane other looks down ; 
 Ane thrists, ane other plays cap out : 
 Let ance the cap go round about, 
 
 And win the covanisf bennison. 
 
 No date can be given to these verses ; but they 
 were probably amongst the first of Dunbar's direct 
 appeals to the king on the subject of a benefice. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 Sanct Salvator sent silver sorrow ; 
 It grieves me both even and morrow, 
 
 Chasing frae me all charitie ; 
 It makes me all blitheness to borrow ; 
 
 My painful purse so prickles me. 
 
 * Equal, or neighbour. 
 
 + Mr Laing guesses this to mean company ; and very likely he 
 is right. Covin-tree, in the south country, means a large tree in 
 front of the mansion, where the Laird met his visitors. 
 
304 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 When I wald blithely ballats brieve,* 
 Languor thereto gives me no leave ; 
 
 Were not guid houp my heart uphie, t 
 My very corpse for care wald cleave ; 
 
 My painful purse so prickles me. 
 
 WhAi I set me to sing or dance, 
 Or go to pleasant pastance. 
 
 Then pausing! of penuritie, 
 Reaves that frae my rememberance ; 
 
 My painful purse so prickles me. 
 
 When men that has purses in tone, 
 Passes to drink or to disjone,§ 
 
 Then maun I keep ane gravity. 
 And say that I will fast while none ;|| 
 
 My painful purse so prickles me. 
 
 My purse is made of sic ane skin, 
 There will no corses H bide it within ; 
 
 Straight as frae the fiend they flee, 
 Wha ever tine, wha ever win ; 
 
 My painful purse so prickles me. 
 
 Had I ane man of ony nation, 
 Could mak on it ane conjuration, 
 
 To gar silver aye in it be. 
 The devil suld have no domination, 
 
 With pine to gar it prickle me. 
 
 * Write. t My heart to uplift J Thinking. 
 
 § Breakfast, or other early repast. || Until noon. 
 
 iy Scots money usually had the form of the cross. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 205 
 
 I have inquired in mony a place, 
 For help and comfort in this case, 
 
 And all men says, my Lord, that ye 
 Can best remeid for this mal-ease. 
 
 That with sic pains prickles me. 
 
 Sibbald supposes " this to be one of the earhest 
 of Dunbar's addresses to James IV., as it contains 
 no request for a benefice; " and while he " was yet 
 in the practice of setting himself to sing and dance." 
 Possibly it was one of the poet's earliest addresses 
 to the king, but the reasons adduced are no guide 
 to such a conclusion. He does not mean, by 
 " setting himself to sing and dance," that he was 
 in the habit of doing so for the amusement of the 
 king, but rather for his own. He could neither 
 indite ballads, nor sing or dance, or pass to the 
 tavern, because of the " silver sorrow," or empty 
 purse, which so troubled him. Dunbar frequently 
 had money given him, in addition to his pension, 
 by order of the king. 1507-8, March 15, "Item, 
 to Maister William Dunbar, be the king's com- 
 mand, vii. And again, " Item, the xxij day of 
 Junij, to Maister William Dunbar, be the king's 
 command, iijii. xs." It is possible, therefore, that 
 the address was written about this time." 
 
3.05 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 THE DANCE OF THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. 
 
 Of Februar the fifteen nicht, 
 Full lang before the dayis licht, 
 
 I lay in till a trance ; 
 And then I saw baith Heaven and Hell : 
 Me thoucht, amangis the fiends fell, 
 
 Mahoun gart cry ane Dance 
 Of shrews that were never shriven,* 
 Agains the feast of Fastem's even,-t 
 
 To mak their observance. 
 He bad gallants gae graith a gyes, J 
 And cast up gamountis§ in the skies, 
 
 As varlets do in France. 
 
 * Such as never had made confession. 
 
 ■f- Fastem's even is the evening preceding Lent, and was a 
 festival of much jollity at the Scottish court as the Treasurer's 
 Accounts shew. Tournaments were frequently held in honour 
 of the occasion. In 1564-5, Feb. 3, Peter More, the taubroner, 
 prepared a dance, by order of the Eng : — " Item for xij cotis 
 and xij pair hois, half Scottis blak, and half quhit, to xij dansaris, 
 £13, 2S. lod." Fastem's even was much celebrated throughout 
 the country. At Kilmarnock, foot-races, and other amusements, 
 were held on that day, down tUl about twenty years ago. These 
 sports, patronised by the Magistrates and Council, had continued 
 from time immemorial ; but when the Reformed Town Coun- 
 cillors came into office, in 1833, they considered themselves too 
 wise for such puerilities, and withheld their countenance. The 
 inhabitants, however, carried them on for a few years voluntarily ; 
 but at last they were allowed to drop. 
 
 J Prepare a mask. § Gambols. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 207 
 
 Helie harlots on hawtane wise,* 
 Come in with mony sundry guise, 
 
 But yet leuch never Mahoun, 
 While priests come in with bare shaven necks ; 
 Then all the fiends leuch, and made geeks, 
 
 Black-Belly and Bawsy-Broun.f 
 
 Let see, quoth he, now wha begins, 
 With that the foul Seven Deadly Sins 
 
 Begoud to leap at anis. 
 And first of all in Dance was Pride, 
 With hair wyldj back, and bonnet on side. 
 
 Like to make vaistie wanis ;§ 
 And round about him, as a wheel, 
 Hang all in rumples to the heel 
 
 * "This is a bold line," says Hailes, " if it means, as I think 
 it does, ' Holie whores in haughtie guise.' " And Laing adds : — 
 " Heillie harlottis means proud, or haughty harlots : the epithet 
 harlot was applied indiscriminately by early writers to persons of 
 either sex." We think Hailes in the right ; because the other 
 explanation would make the line tautology, in which Dunbar 
 never indulges. By holy harlots the poet, no doubt, meant such 
 as had assumed the garb of holiness whUe in life. 
 
 "t- These were the names of certain spirits — such as Robin 
 Goodfellow in England, and Brownie in Scotland. Some lines 
 of this verse are supposed to be awantingin the MSS. 
 
 X Trained. 
 
 § This is an obscure expression, which none of the annotators 
 have attempted to explain, unless that vaistie means void, waste- 
 ful ; and wanis, a habitation. But wanis means also the jaws; 
 and the reading may be, that Pride so combed back his hair, and 
 so wore his bonnet, that he was like to leave his cheeks altogether 
 bare, or void of covering. 
 
208 LIFE AND POEMS QF 
 
 His kethat* for the nanis :t 
 Mony proud trumpour J with him trippit ; 
 Through scalding fire, aye as they skippit 
 
 They girned with hideous granis. § 
 
 Then Ire came in with sturt and strife ; 
 His hand was aye upon his knife, 
 
 He brandished Hke a beir : II < 
 Boasters, braggars, and bargainers, IT 
 After him passit in to pairs. 
 
 All bodin in feir of weir ; ** 
 In jacks, and scryppis,tt and bonnets of steel. 
 Their legs were chainit to the heel, J J 
 
 Frawart was their affeir : §§ 
 Some upon other with brands beft,|||| 
 Some jaggit others to the heft, 
 
 With knives that sharp could shear. 
 
 Next in the Dance foUowit Envy, 
 Filled full of feud and felony, 
 
 Hid malice and despite : 
 For privy hatred that traitor tremlit ; 
 Him foUowit mony freik dissemlit, 
 
 With fenyeitTTT wordis quite : 
 
 * Cassock. "t" For the nonce, for the occasion. 
 
 i From the French, trompeur — a cheat, a deceiver. 
 § Groans. || Bear. 1 Wranglers. 
 
 ** A Scottish law phrase, meaning arrayed after the manner of 
 war. 
 ■t-f Short coat of mail. %% Covered with chain armour. 
 §§ Wild was their appearance. ||l| Gave blows, 
 
 liH Feigned. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 309 
 
 And flatterers in to m^n's faces ; 
 And backbiters in secret places, 
 
 To lie that had delight ; 
 And rownaris of false lesings,* 
 Alace ! that courts of noble kings 
 
 Of them can never be quit. 
 
 Next him in Dance came Covetyce, 
 Root of all evil, and ground of vice. 
 
 That never could be content : 
 Catives, wretches, and ockeraris,+ 
 HudpikeSjJ hoarders, gatheraris, 
 
 AU with that warlock went : 
 Out of their throats they shot on other 
 Het, molten gold, me thocht, a futher § 
 
 As fire-flaucht maist fervent ; 
 Aye as they toomit them of shot, 
 Fiends filled them new up to the throat 
 
 With gold of all kind prent|| 
 
 Syne Sweamess, at the second bidding, 
 Came like a sow out of a midding, 
 
 Full sleepy was his gninyie : IT 
 Mony swear bumbard belly huddroun,** 
 Mony slut, daw, and sleepy duddroun. 
 
 Him servit aye with sonnyie ;tt 
 
 * Whisperers of false and injurious reports. 
 
 t Usurers. J Misers. 
 
 § A quantity. || Impression or device. 
 
 ly Grunsie, a vulgar phrase iorface. 
 ** Many a lazy, tun-bellied sloven. ++ With care. 
 O 
 
2IO LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 He drew them furth in till a chain, ■ 
 And Belial with a bridle rein 
 
 Ever lashed them on the lunyie : 
 In Dance they were so slaw of feet, 
 They gave them in the fire a heat. 
 
 And inade them quicker of cunyie.* 
 
 Then Lechery, that laithly corpse. 
 Came berandt like ane baggit horse,t 
 
 And Idleness did him lead ; 
 There was with him ane ugly sort. 
 And mony stinking foul tramort,§ 
 
 That had in sin been dead : 
 When they were enterit in the Dance, 
 They were full strange of countenance. 
 
 Like torches burning red ; 
 Ilk ane led other by the tarsis ;|| 
 Suppose they fylit with their 
 
 It micht be no remeid. 
 
 Then the foul monster. Gluttony, 
 Of wame insatiable and greedy. 
 
 To Dance he did him dress : 
 Him foUowit mony foul drunkart. 
 With can and coUop, cup ^nd quart, 
 
 In surfit and excess ; 
 Full mony a waistless waUy-drag,ir 
 With wames unwieldable, did furth wag, 
 
 * Of apprehension. -J- Neighing or snorting. 
 
 i An entire horse. § Dead body. 
 
 II TaUs. IT A siUy, useless person. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 211 
 
 In creesh that did incress : 
 Drink ! aye they cried, with mony a gaip, 
 The fiends gave them het lead to laip,* 
 
 Their leveray f was na less. 
 ***■«* 
 
 Nae minstrels played to them but doubt, 
 For gleemen there were halden out, 
 
 Be day, and eik by nicht ; 
 Except a minstrel that slew a man. 
 So to his heritage he wan. 
 
 And enterit by brieve of richt. J 
 
 Then cried Mahoun for a Hielan' Padyane :§ 
 Syne ran a fiend to fetch Makfadyane, 
 
 Far northwast in a neuch ; 
 Be he the coronach had done shout, 
 Ersche men so gatherit him about, 
 
 In hell great room they took : 
 Thae tarmigants, with tag and tatter. 
 Full loud in Ersche begoud to clatter. 
 
 And roup 1 1 like raven and rook. 
 The Devil sae deaved was with their yell. 
 That in the deepest pot of hell 
 
 He smorit them with smook ! 
 This is certainly the production of a master hand. 
 Lord Hailes remarks : — " The drawing of this pic- 
 
 * Lap. 
 
 ■f* Loveray, or Lejjeray, is explained to mean reward ; but this 
 cannot be the meaning here. Lord Hailes reads it tlras : — 
 "Their desire was not diminished; their thirst was insatiable." 
 
 X The breve de recto. § Padyhean, a pageant. 
 
 11 Croak. 
 
212 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 ture is bold, the figures well grouped. I do not 
 recollect ever to have seen the 'Seven Deadly 
 Sins ' painted by a more masterly pencil than that 
 of Dunbar. His designs- certainly excel the expla- 
 natory peacocks and serpents of Callot." Warton 
 is equally warm in his encomium ; and Campbell, 
 in his "Specimens of the British Poets," says — 
 " His [Dunbar's] ' Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins 
 through Hell,' though it would be absurd to com- 
 pare it with the beauty and refinement of the 
 celebrated ' Ode on the Passions,' has yet an ani- 
 mated picturesqueness not unlike that of Collins. 
 The effect of both pieces shews how much more 
 potent allegorical figures become, by being made to 
 fleet suddenly before the imagination, than by be- 
 ing detained in its view by prolonged description. 
 Dunbar conjures up the personified Sins as Collins 
 does the Passions, to rise, to strike, to disappear. 
 They ' come like shadows, so depart ! ' " 
 
 It has been calculated by Mr J. Chalmers, from 
 a hint by Lord Hailes, that the only years, in the 
 reign of James IV., when Fastern's-even fell upon 
 the i6th of February, were 1496, 1507, and 1518. 
 " It therefore appears," he says, " most probable 
 that this poem was written either in 1496 or 1507. 
 I should prefer the last ; " and in this opinion we 
 agree. 
 
 That the Seven Deadly Sins formed one of the 
 religious pageants in early times is extremely pro- 
 bable j but that any of these pageants took the 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 213 
 
 form of a dance through the infernal regions, as 
 Dunbar has so powerfully portrayed, has never been 
 alleged by any one. Hawkins, in his " Origin of 
 the English Drama," states that the people of Italy 
 are still fond of seeing the Seven Deadly Sins dance 
 a saraband with the Evil Spirit; and Spenser, in 
 his " Faerie Queene," has a " procession of the 
 Deadly Sins " from the palace of Pride ; but Dun- 
 bar's Dance seems to stand by itself in unques- 
 tioned originality. In some of our old ecclesiastical 
 buildings, such as the Cathedral of Glasgow, the 
 Seven Deadly Sins are sculptured in relief; but 
 whether after the manner of a dance our memory 
 is not so fresh on the subject as- to be positive. 
 
 Dunbar, as Lord Hailes observes, properly leads 
 off the dance with Pride, because " ly that sin foil 
 the angels ; " and he winds up the wild entertain- 
 ment by representing Mahoun as calling for a 
 Highland Padyane, and describes the Celtic uproar 
 which followed as so very terrible that even the 
 Devil was deaved with the yell. His satire is the 
 more pointed, that he selects Macfadyan to shout 
 the coronach — Macfadyan being a name detested 
 even by the Highlanders themselves. In Dunbar's 
 time, the feeling of dislike was mutual between the 
 Highlands and Lowlands, the offspring probably 
 of the great battle of the Harlaw, and the numerous 
 attempts of the Highlanders, under the Lords of 
 the Isles, to shake oif their allegiance to the Scot- 
 tish kings. 
 
ai4 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 THE JOUST BETWIXT THE TAILOR AND SOUTAR. 
 Next at a Tournament was tryit, 
 That lang before in hell was cryit, 
 
 In presence of Mahoun ; 
 Betuix a Tailor and a Soutar, 
 A pricklouse and a hobbirdoutar,* 
 
 Their barrasf was made boun. J 
 The Tailor, baith with spear and shield, 
 Convoyit was unto the field, 
 
 With mony a limmer loun ; § 
 Of seam biters, and beast gnapparis,|| 
 Of stomach stealers,ir and claith knapparis,** 
 
 A graceless garrison.ft 
 
 His banner borne was him before. 
 Wherein were clouts a hundred score, 
 
 Ilk ane of diverse hue ; 
 And all stolen out of sundry webs. 
 For, while the sea flood fills and ebbs. 
 
 Tailors wiU never be true. 
 The boothman JJ on the barras blent ;§§ 
 Alace ! he tint all hardiment, 
 
 For fear he changit hue : 
 Mahoun him comfort and made him knicht, 
 No ferlie than his heart was licht, 
 
 That to sic honour grew. 
 
 * A cobbler. + Barrier. J Prepared. 
 
 § Scoundrel. || Catchers. 
 
 H The meaning of this phrase is not at all obvious. 
 ** Stealers. +t Company. 
 
 Jt The keeper of a small stall or booth. §g Looked. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 315 
 
 He hecht* hiely before Mahoun, 
 That he suld ding the Soutar doun, 
 
 Though he were wicht as mast ;t 
 But when he on the barras blenkit, 
 The Tailor's courage a httle shrenkit, 
 
 His heart did all ourecast ; 
 And when he saw the Soutar come, 
 Of all sic wordis he was dumb, 
 
 Full sair he was aghast ; 
 For he in heart took sic a scunner, 
 A rack of wind, like ony thunner, 
 
 Went frae him blast for blast. 
 
 The Soutar to the field him drest. 
 He was convoyit out of the west. 
 
 As a defender stout : 
 Suppose he had no lusty varlot, 
 He had full mony lousy harlot. 
 
 Fast rinning him about. 
 His banner was a barkit hide, 
 Wherein Sanct GirnigaJ did glide 
 
 Before that ribbald rout : 
 FuU soutar-like he was of laits,§ 
 For aye between the harness plaits. 
 
 The oily burstit out. 
 
 Upon the Tailor when he did look, 
 His heart a little dwalming took. 
 Unease he micht upsit ; 
 
 * Promised. "t- Strong as a mast 
 
 J Saint CiTspin. § Manners. 
 
2l6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 In till his stomach was sic a steer, 
 Of all his dinner, that cost him dear. 
 
 His breast held never a bit 
 To comfort him, or he raid forder. 
 The Devil of knichthood gave him order ; 
 
 For stink then he did spit ; 
 And he about the Devil's neck. 
 Did spew again a quart of bleck. 
 
 So knichtlie he him quit. 
 
 Then forty times the Fiend cried, Fy ! 
 The Soutar furth affraitlie, 
 
 Unto the field he socht : 
 When they were servit with their spears, 
 Folk had a feile* by their efferis,t 
 
 Their hearts were baith on flocht. J 
 They spurrit upon either side, 
 The horse attour the green did glide. 
 
 And them together brocht : 
 The Tailor was no thing weal sittin. 
 He left the saddle all be , 
 
 And to the ground he socht. 
 
 His birnes§ brak and made a brattle. 
 The Soutar's horse scarred with the rattle. 
 
 And round about did reel ; 
 This beast that was afraid full evil, 
 Ran with the Soutar to the Devil, 
 
 And there rewart him weel. 
 
 * Knowledge. + Condition. 
 
 + Fluttering. § Cuirass. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 21 7 
 
 Something frae him the Fiend eschewit, 
 He trowed again to be bespewit, 
 
 So strainit he was in steel : 
 He thocht he wald again debate him, 
 He turned his back and all be him, 
 
 Quite oure frae neck to heel. 
 
 He lowsit it with sic a rerd, 
 
 Baith horse and man flew to the erd, 
 
 He with sic a feir : 
 
 Now, have I quit thee ! quoth Mahoun ; 
 The new made knicht lay into swoon, 
 
 And did all arms forswear. 
 The Devil gart them to dungeon drive, 
 And them of knichthood to deprive, 
 
 Discharging them all weir ; 
 And made them harlots again for ever, 
 Whilk style to keep they had far lever,* 
 
 Nor any armis bear. 
 
 I had mair of their warks written. 
 Had not the Soutar been be , 
 
 With Belial's — — ■ unblest ; 
 But that sae guid a bourd,t me thocht, 
 Sic solace to my heart it wrocht, 
 
 For lauchter near I brist. 
 Where through I waukenit of my trance ; 
 To put in to rememberance, 
 
 Micht no man me resist. 
 To dite how all this thing befell 
 
 * They liked better. + Joke. 
 
2l8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Before Mahoun, the heir of Hell : 
 Schirris,* trow it gif ye hst. 
 
 The Joust of the Tailor and the Soutar is a con- 
 tinuation of what the poet saw in the trance into 
 which, as he tells us, he fell on the 15th of February 
 — the night before the eve of Lent. The whole is a 
 cunningly-contrived satire on the festival of Fast- 
 ern's-e'en, as celebrated at the Scottish court, and 
 throughout Scotland generally. His Satanic ma- 
 jesty — not behind other royal personages — is repre- 
 sented as holding a sort of carnival on the occasion, 
 and, as dances were fashionable in courtly circles, 
 nothing could be more appropriate in " the dark 
 dominion " than the " Dance of the Seven Deadly 
 Sins." We have seen how that dance began and 
 ended, not in the poet's wakening up from his 
 vision, but only to enjoy a change in the per- 
 formance. Nothing seems, in his day, to have 
 been more in consonance than a dance and a tour- 
 nament; so the Devil, in imitation of his earthly 
 contemporaries, calls a tilt, which had long be- 
 fore been proclaimed throughout his sovereignty. 
 The poet selects the champions from two of the 
 most burlesqued of all the crafts in his day — the 
 tailors and the shoemakers. The weavers, who 
 came in for a pretty considerable share of ridicule 
 in later times, do not seem to have been so ob- 
 noxious in the sixteenth century — at least they are 
 
 * Sheriffs — pronounced, Shirras. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 2I9 
 
 never mentioned In Dunbar's poems ; but that they 
 existed, and from a much earlier period, must be 
 admitted. Be this as it may, a tournament seems 
 to have formed a natural incident in the Devil's 
 amusement at the celebration of Lent. The 
 humour of the poem is certainly of an unrefined 
 character, nay, altogether coarse, though not, per- 
 haps, indelicate. Yet such, it must be admitted, 
 were the jokes most relished by our unsophisticated 
 ancestors. Pinkerton says, " The flames alone can 
 cleanse the filth of this poem. But such were th6 
 standing jokes of the time. Sir Thomas More has 
 his epigrams, De ventris crepitu." Much, how- 
 ever, can be tolerated where the tendency is not 
 immoral ; and the omission of the joust would have 
 been an unwarrantable interference with those 
 illustrations of his times for which the poet will 
 ever be celebrated. " It is not improbable," as 
 Laing observes, " that Dunbar may have had some 
 personal allusions in this mock poem, as among the 
 numerous entries in the Treasurer's Accounts re- 
 garding tournaments, and jousting in the barres, or 
 barriers, is the following : — 1502, October 24, 
 " Item, to the heraldis for their compositioun of the 
 eschet of the barres, quhen Christofer Tailyour 
 faucht, £6, 13s. 4d.'" But perhaps the greatest 
 satire of the whole is what follows. 
 
220 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 AMENDS TO THE TAILORS AND THE SOUTARS. 
 Betuix twal hours and eleven, 
 I dreamed ane angel cam fra heaven, 
 With pleasant stevin,* saying on hie, 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 In heaven hie, ordained is your place, 
 
 Above all sancts in great solace, 
 Next God, greatest in dignitie : 
 Tailyeours and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 The cause to you is not unkend. 
 What God mismaks ye do amend. 
 
 Be craft and great agilitie : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 Soutars, with shoon weel made and meet, 
 Ye mend the fauts of ill-made feet ; 
 
 Wherefore to heaven your sauls wiU flee : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 Is not in all this fair a flyrok,t 
 
 That has upon his feet a wyrok,+ 
 Knowll tais,§ nor mools in no degree, 
 But ye can hide them, blest be ye ! 
 
 And Taileors, with weel-made claes, 
 Can mend the warst-made man that gaes. 
 
 And mak him seemly for to see : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 * Sound. t Is not in all this crowd an ill-made person. 
 
 Z An excrescence. § Swelled at the joints. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 231 
 
 Though God mak ane misfashioned man, 
 Ye can him all shape new again, 
 
 And fashion him better be sic three : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 Though a man have a broken back. 
 Have ye a gude crafty tailor, what rack, — 
 
 That can it cover with crafts slee ! 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 Of God great kindness may ye claim, 
 That helps his people frae crook and lame, 
 
 Supporting faults with your supplie : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 In erd ye kyth* sic miracles here. 
 In heaven ye sail be sancts full clear. 
 
 Though ye be knaves in this countrie : 
 
 Tailors and Soutars, blest be ye ! 
 
 Such is the per contra, or amends to the tailors 
 and soutars. In the Maitland MS. the followinar 
 note is appended : — " Quod Dunbar quhane he 
 drank to the Dekkynnis for amendis to the bodeis 
 [members] of their craft." That the craft were 
 offended with the poet there can be httle doubt; 
 but if they were satisfied with the amends made, 
 they must have been truly simple-minded. 
 
 * Produce. 
 
233 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 HOW SALL I GOVERN ME? 
 
 How sould I rule me, or what wise, 
 I wald some wise man wald devise ; 
 
 I cannot live in no degree. 
 But some wjll my manners despise : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 Gif I be gallant, lusty, and blyth. 
 Than will they say on me fuU swyth. 
 
 That out of mind yon man is he. 
 Or some has done him comfort kyth : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 Gif I be sorrowful and sad, 
 
 Than will they say that I am mad, 
 
 I do not droop as I wald die ; 
 Thus will they say, baith man and lad : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 Be I liberal, gentle, and kind. 
 Though I it tak of noble strynd,* 
 
 Yet will they say, baith he and she, 
 Yon man is like out of his mind : 
 
 Lord God, how saU I govern me ? 
 
 Gif I be lusty in array, 
 
 Than love I paramours they say. 
 
 Or in my heart is proud and hie. 
 Or else I have it some wrang way : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 * Kindred. 
 
233 
 
 WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 Gif I be nocht weel as beseen, 
 
 Than twa and twa says them between, 
 
 That evil he guides* yon man, truelie ; 
 Lo ! be his claiths it may be seen : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 Gif I be seen in court oure lang, 
 Than will they murmur them amang. 
 
 My friends they are not worth a flee, 
 That I sae lang but guerdon t gang : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 In court reward than purchase I, J 
 Than have they malice and envy. 
 
 And secretly they on me lee. 
 And does me slander privilie : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 I wald my guiding were devisit ; 
 Gif I spend little I am despisit, 
 
 Gif I be noble, gentle, and free, 
 A prodigal man I am so prisit : 
 
 Lord God, how sail I govern me ? 
 
 Now judge they me baith guid and ill. 
 And I may no man's tongue hald still. 
 
 To do the best my mind sail be, 
 Let every man say what he will. 
 
 The gracious God mot§ govern me ! 
 
 * Evil guides him. f Without reward. 
 
 X Purchase by money is not meant. § May. 
 
224 "^^ ^^^ POEMS OF 
 
 We have no guide as to the date of this poem ; 
 but, from the allusions to Dunbar's own particular 
 position, we may presume that it was not written 
 till he had been some time at court. It is ingeni- 
 ously contrived, while complaining of the difficulty 
 of conducting one's self without censure, to stimu- 
 late his friends in procuring for him the preferment 
 wished. 
 
 " Gif I be seen in court oure lang, 
 Than will they murmur them amang, 
 
 My friends they are not worth a flee. 
 That I sae lang but guerdon gang." 
 
 dunbar's complaint to the king. 
 
 Complain I wald, wist I whom till, 
 Or unto whom direct my bill ; 
 Whether to God, that all thing steers, 
 All thing sees, and all thing hears, 
 And aU things wrocht in days seven ; 
 Or till His mother. Queen of Heaven ; 
 Or unto worldly Prince here doun, 
 That does for justice wear a crown ; 
 Of wrangis, and of great injures 
 That nobles in their days indures, 
 And men of virtue, and cunning, 
 Of wit, and wisdom in guiding. 
 That nocht can in this Court conqueis. 
 For lawtie,* love, or lang service. 
 
 * Ixjyalty. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 225 
 
 But foul, jow-jowrdane-yhedit jevels,* 
 Cowkin-kenseis,t and culrounj kevels ;§ 
 StuffetSjII strekours,*ir and stafische strummels ;** 
 Wild haschbaldsjtt haggerbalds,JJ andhummells ;§§ 
 Drunkards, dysours,|||| divours,1IT drivels,* 
 Misguidit members of the devils ; 
 Mismade mandrags,+ of mastiff strynd,^: 
 Crawdons,§ cowarts, and thieves of kind ; 
 Blait mowit blaidyeanes,|| with bledder cheeks, 
 Club-faced cluccanes, IT with cloutit breeks, 
 Chaff-midden churls, coming of cart-fiUars, 
 Great glaschew-headit gorge** millers, 
 Evil, horrible monsters, false and foul ; 
 Some causeless cleiks to him ane cowl, 
 Ane great convent fra sin to 'tice ; 
 And he himself example of vice : 
 Entering for geir and no devotion. 
 The devil is glad of his promotion ; 
 Some ramyis ane rokkattt fra the Roy, 
 And does ane dastard destroy ; 
 And some that gets ahe parsonage. 
 Thinks it ane present for a page ; 
 
 * A foul epithet for nasty fellows. 
 
 ■|- Idle beggars. J Scoundrel. 
 
 § Sony fellows. || Lackeys. 
 
 ** Stubborn stumblers. ff Gluttons. 
 JJ Coarse fee4ers. §§ Drones. 1 
 
 •i^ Bankrupts. * Drivellers. 
 
 f Mandrake. J Race. 
 
 § Base fellows. || Soft persons. 
 
 ^ Persons who seize, or deii, with violence. 
 ** Voracious, gorged. 
 
 ff By continual solicitation obtaining a sui^lice. 
 P 
 
 % Flatterers. 
 
 Gamblers. 
 
225 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And on na wise content is he, 
 My Lord while that he caUit be. 
 
 But how is he contentit, or nocht, 
 Deem ye about into your thocht ! 
 The learit* son of Earl or Lord, 
 Upon this ruffian to remord, t 
 That with all castings has him clad, 
 His errands for to rin and red ? 
 And he is master native born, 
 And all his elders him beforn ; J 
 And meikle mair cunning be sic three, 
 Has to possess ane digriitie. 
 Saying his odious ignorance, 
 Panting ane prelate's countenance, 
 Sae far abone him set at table. 
 That wont was to muck the stable : 
 Ane pyk-thank§ in ane prelate's clais, 
 With his wauldll feet, and wirroklT tais. 
 With hopper hips, ** and benches narrow ; 
 And bausie hands to bear ane barrow ; 
 With lout shoulders, and loutered back, ft 
 Whilk nature made to bear ane pack ; 
 With greedy mind, and glaschand J| gain, 
 M ell-he adit like ane mortar stane. 
 Feigning the feiris§§ of ane lord, 
 And he ane strummell, I stand ford ; |||| 
 
 * Learned. ■]- To produce remorse. 
 
 t Before. § Parasite. H Plain-soled. 
 
 H Corns, or excrescences. ** Uneven, unequal. 
 
 +t Bent shoulders and bent back. 
 tt Unsatiated. §§ Companionship. ll|| For it 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 22? 
 
 And ever more as he does rise, 
 And nobles of bluid as he does despise, 
 And helps for to hald them doun, 
 That they rise never to his renoun. 
 
 Therefore, O Prince, maist honorable ! 
 Be in this matter merciable, 
 And to thy old servants have an e'e, 
 That lang has lippenit unto thee ;* 
 Gif I be ane of thae mysell. 
 Through all regions has tein hard tell,t 
 Of whilk my writing witness bears ; 
 And yet thy danger aye me dears :t 
 But after danger comis grace, 
 As has been heard in mony place. 
 
 Pinkerton accuses Dunbar of having written this 
 poem in a passion, and that it was consequently so 
 indistinct that he could not explain many of the 
 phrases. Still we seldom find Dunbar making use 
 of expressions that were not intelligible and full of 
 
 * Tmsted thee. 
 
 ■|- Tein hard tell. The meaning of this is somewhat obscure. 
 Tein signifies anger, or it may be sorrow; but "anger," or 
 " sorrow, heard tell " does not read ; nor yet would tein, as signi- 
 fying taken. The poet evidently means, however, that through- 
 out all regions he had experienced trouble or difficulty in the 
 king's service. At the same time, there is still another way of 
 explaining it. In this poem, as well as elsewhere, the poet 
 makes a distinction between the words hard and herd, both 
 bearing the common English explanations of hard and heard 
 He may therefore mean, that in all regions he has had hard tell, 
 or hard discussions, in his ambassadorial capacity. 
 
 X Attaches him more to the sovereign. 
 
228 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 meaning. At the same time, it is quite possible 
 that it had been written when excited by the con- 
 duct of some of those ignoramuses who, by impor- 
 tunity or otherwise, had been unduly elevated. 
 It was certainly a bold complaint to lay before the 
 king, and the last four lines would almost infer 
 that his majesty had but recently escaped some 
 danger to which his good-nature, in the patronage 
 of low and designing individuals, had exposed 
 him. 
 
 Dunbar's remonstrance to the king. 
 
 Sir, ye have mony servitours, 
 And officiars of diverse cures ; 
 Kirkmen, courtmen, and craftsmen fine ; 
 Doctors in jure and medicine ; 
 Diviners, rhethors, and philosophers. 
 Astrologers, artistes, and orators. 
 Men of arms, and valiant knichts. 
 Musicians, minstrels, and merry singers ; 
 Chevaliers, callandaris,* and French flingers ; 
 Cunyers, carvours, and carpenters ; 
 Builders of barks and ballingers ;t 
 
 * We only know of two meanings which can be given to this 
 word — keepers of yearly registers, or pressers of linen. It is 
 possible that it has reference to the Kalends rather than to 
 manufactures : and it is no bar to this idea that the word occurs 
 between chevaliers and French flingers. The poet was fond of 
 such transitions. 
 
 f A particular kind of ship. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 229 
 
 Masons, lying upon the land,* 
 
 And ship-wrichts hewing upon the strand ; 
 
 Glazing wrichts, goldsmiths, and lapidaries, 
 
 Printers, painters, and polingaris ; 
 
 And all of their craft cunning, 
 
 And all at anis labouring, 
 
 Whilk pleasant is and honourable ; 
 
 And to your Hieness profitable ; 
 
 And richt convenient for to be. 
 
 With your hie regal majestie ; 
 
 Deserving of your Grace most ding,t 
 
 Baith thank, reward, and cherishing. 
 
 And though that I, amang the lave, 
 Unworthy be ane place to have, 
 Or in their number to be tald, 
 As lang in mind my wark sail hald ! 
 As hale in every circumstance. 
 In form, in matter, and substance. 
 But J wearing, or consumption. 
 Rust, canker, or corruption. 
 As ony of their warkis all, 
 Suppose that my reward be small ! 
 
 But ye sae gracious are and meek, 
 That on your Hieness follows eik 
 Ane other sort, more miserable. 
 Though they be not so profitable : 
 
 * Are we to infer from this expression — ' ' lying upon the 
 land " — that masons had a different mode of preparing stones in 
 the reign of James IV. from what is practised now ? 
 
 t Condign, worthy. + Without. 
 
330 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Fenyeors, fleechers, and flatterer? ; 
 Criers, craikers, and clatterers ;v 
 Soukars,* groukars,t gledars,* gunners ;§ 
 Monsieurs of France, gude claret cunners ; 
 Inopportune askers of Ireland kind ; IT 
 'And meet rievers,** like out of mind ; 
 ScafFers,tt and scamlersJJ in the neuk. 
 And haU hunters of drake and deuk ; 
 
 * Idlers. + Sharpers. 
 
 + Gleds, or hawks, of persons. 
 
 § James IV. introduced artillery, or the use of great guns, in 
 the Scots army. In "The Golden Targe" Dunbar speaks of 
 his allegorical personages, when they had "up-sail" and de- 
 parted, as having "fyritgunnis with powder violent." The king 
 frequently amused himself with shooting. In the Treasurer's 
 Accounts, Febi-uaiy i, 1508, L. 14, by the king's command, was 
 paid for a gun, to James Bertoun, who, no doubt, had brought 
 it from abroad. On the 4th of the same month there is, "Item, 
 to the king, quhillv he tynt on schuting with the culveryn in the 
 hall of Halyrud house, with Hannis, [or Hanse, the gunner] 
 ■28s." Next day, "Item, to the king, quhilk he tynt on schuting 
 with the culveryn, in Sir George Newton's yard, 7 French 
 crovmis, summa L.4, i8s." Holyrood House had thus been 
 finished — at least the hall — before February 1508. 
 II Tasters. 
 
 11 We are not, perhaps, to suppose that the court of James IV. 
 was troubled with what is now known at head -quarters as "the 
 brass band." Highlandmen were probably the "Ireland kind" 
 meant by Dunbar. 
 
 ** We should hardly interpret this, as Mr Laing has done, 
 " meat-pUferers ; " but rather suitable rievers, suitable to the 
 askers. Like out of mind, equally mad or impudent 
 
 +t Dishonourable gatherers of provisions. 
 
 %X An impertinent mtruder at table. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 231 
 
 Thimlers* and thristers,t as they were wud, 
 Kokens and kens,! nae man of gude ; 
 Shoulderers, and shovers, that have no shame, 
 And to no cunning that can claim ; 
 And can none other craft nor cures 
 But to mak thrang, Sir, in your doors, 
 And rush in where they counsel hear. 
 And will at nae man nurture § lear : 
 In quintessence, eik, inginors II jolly, 
 That far can multiply in foUie ; 1" 
 Fantastic fules, baith false and greedy, 
 Of tongue untrue, and hand evil-dredie :** 
 Few daur of all this last addition. 
 Come in tolbuith, without remission. 
 
 And though this noble, cunning sort. 
 Whom of before I did report, 
 Rewardit be, it were but reason. 
 Thereat suld no man mak enchesson : f f 
 But when the other fules nice. 
 That feastit at Cokelbeis gryce,JJ 
 Are all rewardit, and not I, 
 Than on this false world I cry, Fy ! 
 My heart near bursts for teyne,§§ 
 Whilk may not suffer nor sustene 
 
 * Such as press violently into a crowd. 
 
 + Thrusters. f Idle, froward fellows. 
 
 § Good breeding. || The ingenious. 
 
 ^ This is a rub at the abbot of Tungland. 
 ** Given to evil deeds. +t Exception. 
 
 J J A coarse but humorous production called "Colkelbye sow.'' 
 Gryce means a pig, hence feasted at or on Cokelbeis pig. 
 §§ Vexation. 
 
232 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 So great abusion for to see 
 Daily in court before my e'e ! 
 
 And yet mair patience wald I have, 
 Had I reward amaiig the lave ; 
 It wald me something satisfie, 
 And have less of melancholie, 
 And gar me mony fait oursee, 
 That now is braid before mine e'e : 
 My mind so far is set to flite, 
 That of nocht else I can indite ; 
 For outher maun my heart to break ; 
 Or with my pen I maun me wreak ; 
 And sen the tane must needs be, 
 Into melancholy to die, 
 Or let the venom ische* all out ; 
 Beware, anon, for it will spout, 
 Gif that the treacle f come not tytj 
 To 'suage the swalme§ of my despite. 
 
 This " Remonstrance " was, in some respects, a 
 politic corollary of the " Petition." Here we have 
 the king's patronage of industry, and the arts and 
 sciences, described in happy relief to the excessive 
 abuse of the royal privilege complained of in the 
 " Petition." And yet Dunbar does not commit 
 himself by sycophantish whining. He claims re- 
 ward as his due, and fails not to tell the king that 
 
 * Issue. 
 
 + Treacle seems, in Dunbar's time, to have been used for its 
 soothing qualities. 
 
 + To it. § Tumour. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 233 
 
 he does not consult justice in the way he confers 
 his favours. It is certainly curious that he should 
 have so ' long passed over the poet's known desire 
 for a benefice, however small ; unless, as Mr Laing 
 supposes, it was that he might have the poet as a 
 member of the royal household. 
 
 DUNBAR S DREAM. 
 
 This hinder nicht half-sleeping as I lay, 
 Methocht my chalmer in ane new array 
 Was all depaint* with many diverse hue, 
 Of all the noble stories auld and new. 
 Sen our first father formed was of clay. 
 
 Methocht the lift all bricht with lampis licht. 
 
 And therein enterit mony lustie wicht, 
 
 Some young, some old, in sindry wise arrayit, 
 Some sang, some dancit, on instruments some playit. 
 
 Some made disports with heartis glad and licht. 
 
 Than thocht I thus, this is ane feloun fary,t 
 Or else my wit richt wondrouslie does vary ; 
 
 This seems to me ane guidlie companie. 
 
 And gif it be ane friendlie fantasie. 
 Defend me Jesu, and His mother Marie ! 
 
 * Before the introduction of tapestry the walls of the higher 
 class of houses were painted in various colours and devices — a 
 fact which shews that the limner's art was not unknown in 
 Scotland at a very early period. 
 
 f Strange tumult. 
 
234 I-IPS -^ND POEMS OF 
 
 Their pleasant sang, nor yet their pleasant toun,* 
 Nor yet their joy did to my heart redoun ; 
 Methocht the drearie damiesal Distress, 
 And eik her sorry sister Heaviness, 
 Sad as the lead, in bed lay me abone. 
 
 And Languor sat up at my bed's head. 
 With instrument full lamentable and dead ; 
 She playit sangis so duleful to hear, 
 Methocht ane hourie seemit a.ye ane year ; 
 Her hew was wan and wallowit as the lead. 
 
 Than came the ladies, dancing in ane trace. 
 And Nobleness before them came ane space. 
 
 Saying, with cheer benign and womanly, 
 
 I see ane heir in bed oppressit ly. 
 My sisters go and help to get him grace. 
 
 With that anon did start out of a dance, 
 Twa sisters, callit Comfort and Pleasance, 
 And with twa harpis did begin to sing. 
 But I thereof micht tak nae rejoicing, 
 My Heaviness opprest me with sic mischance. 
 
 They saw that I nocht gladder wax't of cheer. 
 And thereof had they wonder all but weir,t 
 
 And said ane lady that Perceiving hecht,J 
 
 Of Heaviness he feelis sic a wecht. 
 Your melody he pleases not till hear. 
 
 She and Distress her sister does him grieve : 
 Quod Nobleness, How sail he them eschew ? 
 
 * Tune. t Without doubt t Named. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 235 
 
 Than spak Discretion, ane lady richt benign, 
 Work after me, and I sail gar him sing. 
 And lang or nicht gar Languor tak her leave. 
 
 And then said Wit, Gif they work not be thee, 
 But ony doubt they saU not work be me. 
 
 Discretion said, I laiaw his malady, 
 
 The stroke he feelis of melancholie. 
 And Nobleness, his leeching lies in thee. 
 
 Or ever this wicht at heart be hale and feir,* 
 Both thou and I must in the court appear ; 
 For he has lang made service there in vain : 
 With some reward we maun him quit again, 
 Now in the honour of this guid New-year. 
 
 Weel worth thee, said Considerance, 
 And I sail help for to maintene the dance. 
 Than spak ane wicht callit Blind Affection, 
 I sail before you be, with mine election. 
 Of all the court I have the governance. 
 
 Than spak ane constant wicht callit Reason, 
 And said, I grant you have been lord a session, 
 In distribution, but now the time is gone, 
 Now I may all distribute mine alone ; 
 Thy wrangous deeds did ever man enscheson.f 
 
 For time were now that this man had some thing, 
 That lang has been ane servant to the King, 
 
 Whole and stout, t Blame. 
 
236 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And all his time never flatter could nor feign, 
 But humbly into ballat wise complain. 
 And patiently endure his tormenting. 
 
 I counsel him be merry and jocund ; 
 
 Be Nobleness his help maun first be found. 
 Weel spoken, Reason, my brother, quoth Discretion, 
 To set on dais with lordis at the session. 
 
 Into this realm you were worth mony ane pound. 
 
 Then spak anon Anopportunitie, 
 
 Ye sail not all gar him speed without me, 
 
 For I stand aye before the Kingis face ; 
 
 I sail him deave, or else myself mak chase. 
 But gif that I before him servit be. 
 
 Ane busy asker sooner sail he speed, 
 Nor sail twa busy servants out of dread. 
 And he that asks not tynes^but his word, 
 But for to tyne lang service is no bourd,* 
 Yet thocht I never to do sic folly did. 
 
 Then came anon ane callit Sir John Kirkpaker, 
 Of many cures, ane michtie undertaker. 
 Quoth he, I am possest in kirkis seven, 
 And )et I think they grow sail till eleven. 
 Or he be servit in ane, yon ballat-maker. 
 
 And then Sir Bet-the-Kirk, sae mot I thrive, 
 
 I have of busy servants four or five. 
 And all directit unto sundrie steids,+ 
 Aye stiU awaiting upon kirkmen's deids,t 
 
 Frae whom my tithings § will I hear believe. 
 
 * Jest. + Places. J Deaths. § Tidings. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. ,337 
 
 Quoth Reason than, the balance goes uneven, 
 That thou, alas, to serve has kirks seven, 
 And seven as worth kirk, not having ane. 
 With greediness I see this world ouregane, 
 And sufficience dwells not but in heaven. 
 
 I have not wit thereof quoth Temperance, 
 For though I hald him evenly the balance ; 
 And, but ane cure, full even micht till him weigh, 
 Yet will he tak ane other and gar it swey ; 
 Wha best can rule wald maist have governance. 
 
 Patience to me, my friend, said Mak-gu id-cheer, 
 And on the Prince depend with heavenly fear, 
 For I full weel does knaw his noble intent : 
 He wald not, for ane bishopric's rent. 
 That you were unrewardit half ane year. 
 
 Than as ane fairy they to door did frak,* 
 And shot ane gun that did so rudely rak. 
 While all the erd did rerd,t the rainbow under, 
 On Leith sands me thocht she brak in sunder. 
 And I anon did wauken with the crak. 
 
 From what the author states, it would appear 
 that this " Dream" was composed as a New-year 
 Address to the king. It is curious to notice how 
 ingenious the writer is in his contrivances to enforce 
 his claim for past services ; and he is evidently in 
 earnest. On ten pounds a year, (Scots money,) 
 with even occasional gratuities, it is impossible that 
 
 * Move quickly. f Did resound. 
 
238 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 he could be otherwise than in needy circumstances. 
 And he even condescends to style himself, by way 
 of ridicule, " yon ballat-makar." It is not at all 
 impossible, that, in his character of poet, he was 
 looked down upon by some of the ignorant nobility 
 and the Sir John Kirkpakars of the day, as one 
 who wasted his time in idle fancies, and felt care- 
 less, or wanted the influence necessary to secure a 
 greater share in the gifts of the court. It is little 
 wonder that his importunity increased as years 
 began to steal upon him, and when he saw himself 
 so strangely neglected. 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN ASKING. 
 
 Of every asking follows nocht 
 
 Reward, but gif some cause were wrocht ; 
 
 And where cause is, men weel may see, 
 And where nane is, it will be thocht 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Ane fule, though he have cause or nane, 
 Cries aye, Gif me, into adrane ;* 
 
 And he that drones aye as ane bee 
 Sould have ane hearer duU as stane : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some asks mair than he deserves, 
 Some asks far less than he 'serves ; 
 
 * A rame, constant repetition. 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 239 
 
 Some shames to ask, and braids " of me, 
 And all without reward he sterves : 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 To ask butt service hurts guid fame. 
 To ask for service is not to blame ; 
 
 To serve and live in beggartie, 
 To man and maister is baith shame : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 He that does all his best service, 
 May spoil it all by cracks and cries, 
 
 Be foul inopportunitie ; 
 Few words may suffice the wise : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Not needful is men sould be dumb, 
 Naething is gotten but words some, 
 
 Nocht speed but diligence we see ; 
 For naething it alane will come : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Asking wald have convenient place, 
 , Convenient time, leisure, and space ; 
 
 But haste or press of great menyie,J 
 But heart abasit, but tongue reckless : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some micht have Yea, with little cure,§ 
 That has oft Nay, with great labour ; 
 
 All for that time not bide can he, 
 He tynes baith errand and honour : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Shies. t Without. J Company. § To do. 
 
240 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Suppose the servant be lang unquit, 
 The Lord some time reward will it ! 
 
 Gif he does not, what remedy ? 
 To fecht with Fortune is no wit : 
 
 In Asking sould Discretion be. 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN GIVING. 
 To speak of gifts or amous deeds : 
 Some gives for merit, and some for meeds ;* 
 
 Some wardly honour to uphie ; 
 Some gives to them that nothing needs : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives for pride and glory vain ; 
 Some gives with grudging and with pain ; 
 
 Some gives on prattikt for supplie ; 
 Some gives for twice as guid again : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives for thank, and some for threat ; 
 Some gives money, and some gives meat ; 
 
 Some gives words fair and slie ; 
 And gifts fra some may nae man treat : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some is for gift sae lang required. 
 While that the craver be so tired. 
 
 That or the gift deliver't be. 
 The thank is frustrat J and expired : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 * Praise. t Design. J Intemipted. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 24I 
 
 Some gives so little full wretchedly * 
 That all his gifts are nocht set by, 
 
 And for a hud-pyke t halden is he, 
 That all the warld cries on him, Fy ! 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some in his giving is so large. 
 That all oure-laden is his barge ; 
 
 Than vice and prodigalitie, 
 Thereof his honour does discharge : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some to the rich gives his geir, 
 That micht his gifts weel forbear ; 
 
 And though the poor for fait J sould die, 
 His cry nocht enters in his ear : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives to strangers with face new, 
 That yesterday frae Flanders flew ;§ 
 
 And to auld servants list|| not see, 
 Were they never of sae great virtue : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives to them can ask and plenyie ;!■ 
 Some gives to them can flatter and fenyie ;** 
 
 * Niggardly. f Miser. + Want. 
 
 § In allusion, probably, to some foreign " abbot of Tungland," 
 who had recently experienced the kindness of the court. It was 
 chiefly through the Netherlands that the intercourse with the 
 Continent was earned on — England being then an enemy's 
 country. || Chose not to regard. 
 
 1[ Complain. ** Feign. 
 
 a 
 
242 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Some gives to men of honestie, 
 And halds all janglars * at disdenyie : 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gets gifts and rich arrayis, 
 To swear all that his master sayis, 
 
 Though all contrar weel knaves he ; 
 Are mony sic now in thir days : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives to guid men for their thews ;t 
 Some gives to trumpours J and to shrews ; 
 
 Some gives tolinow his authoritie : 
 But in their office guid funden few is : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some gives parochins§ full wide, 
 Kirks of St Bernard and St Bride,|| 
 
 The people to teach and to ouresee, 
 Though he has nae wit them to guide : 
 
 In Giving sould Discretion be. 
 
 OF DISCRETION IN TAKING. 
 
 Efter Giving I speak of Taking, 
 But little of ony gude forsaking ;ir 
 
 * Disputatious or talkative persons. 
 
 ■f- For their good qualities. J Deceivers. § Parishes. 
 
 II Probably some personal allusion was here meant. 
 
 II "The m&ning seems to be," says Lord Hailes, "I may 
 speak of taking, but I need not say much of people's quitting any- 
 thing of value ; that is not common." 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 243 
 
 Some taks oure little authoritie, 
 And some oure meikle, and that is glaiking : * 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 The clerks taks benefices with brawls,t 
 Some of St Peter and some of St Paul's ; 
 
 Tak he the rents, no care has he, 
 Suppose the Devil tak all their sauls : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Barons taks fra the tenants poor, 
 AU fruit that growis on the feure,+ 
 
 In mails § and gersoms|| rais't oure hie, 
 And gars them beg frae door to door : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some merchants taks unleissum win, IT 
 Whilk maks their packs ofttimes fuU thin ; 
 
 Be their succession as ye may see. 
 That ill win geir 'riches not the kin : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some takis other mennis tacks. 
 And in the poor oppression maks, 
 
 And never remembers that he maun die, 
 While that the gallows gar him rax : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 * Absurd. 
 
 + Numerous examples of this occur in Scottish history. 
 J Furrow. § Rents. 
 
 II Grassum, a sum of money paid by a tenant for the renewal 
 of his lease. H Unlawful gain. 
 
244 I-I^E AND POEMS OF 
 
 Some taks be sea and some be land, 
 
 And never frae taking can hald their hand, 
 
 While he be tyit up to ane tree ; 
 And syne they gar him understand. 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some w^ld tak all his neibour's geir, 
 Had he of man as little fear 
 
 As he has dread that God him see ; 
 To tak than sould he never forbear : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Some wald tak all this warld on breid ;' 
 And yet not satisfied of their need, 
 
 Through heart insatiable and greedie ; 
 Some wald tak little, and cannot speed : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 Great men for taking and oppression, 
 Are set full famous at the session. 
 
 And poor takers are hangit hie, 
 Shamit for ever, and their succession : 
 
 In Taking sould Discretion be. 
 
 These three pieces, on Discretion in Asking, Giv- 
 ing, and Taking, were all, no doubt, intended as 
 moral lessons, and as exposures of the malpractices 
 of the times — inculcating at the same time a sound 
 advice to the king, to discourage flatterers, syco- 
 phants, impostors, and oppressors. The poet even 
 does not spare the then Court of Session — repre- 
 
 * At once. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 24^ 
 
 senting its members as the greatest oppressors and 
 appropriators of what was not their own, and the 
 merciless punishers of less guilty offender's. 
 
 MEDITATION IN WINTER. 
 
 Into thir dark and drublie* days, 
 When sable all the heaven arrays, 
 
 With mystic vapours, cluds, and skies, 
 
 Nature all courage me denies 
 Of sangs, baUats, and of plays. 
 
 When that the nicht does lengthen hours. 
 With wind, with hail, and heavie shours. 
 My dule spirit does lurk forschoir ; f 
 My heart for languor does forloir,J 
 For laik of summer with his flours. 
 
 I wauk, I turn, sleep can I nocht, 
 
 I vexit am with heavy thocht ; 
 This warld all oure I cast about. 
 And ever the mair I am in doubt. 
 
 The mair that I remeid have socht. 
 
 I am essayit on every side. 
 Despair says aye, In time provide. 
 
 And get some thing whereon to leif ; 
 
 Or with great trouble and mischief. 
 Thou sail into this court abide. 
 
 * Probably drumly, dark, gloomy. 
 
 t Forshom, desolate. + Becomes forlorn. 
 
24*5 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Than Patience says, Be nocht aghast ; 
 
 Hald Hope and Truth within thee fast : 
 And let Fortune work forth her rage, 
 When that no reason may assuage, 
 
 While that her glass be run and past. 
 
 And Prudence in my ear says aye, 
 Why wald thou hald that will away ? 
 Or crave that thou may have no space, 
 Thou tending to another place, 
 A journey going every day ? 
 
 And than says Age, My friend, come near, 
 And be not strange, I thee requeir : 
 Come, brother, by the hand me talc. 
 Remember thou has compt to mak. 
 Of aU the time thou spendit hear. 
 
 Syne Death casts up his yets wide. 
 Saying, Thir open sail ye bide ; 
 Albeit that thou were never so stout. 
 Under this lintel sail thou lout ; 
 There is nane other way beside. 
 
 For fear of this all day I droop ; 
 
 No gold in kist, nor wine in cup, 
 No ladle's beauty, nor love's bliss, 
 May let* me to remember this : 
 
 How glad that ever I dine or soup. 
 
 Yet, when the nicht begins to short. 
 It does my sp'rit some part comfort, 
 
 * Hiiider. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 247 
 
 Of thocht oppressit with the shours. 
 Come, lustie simmer ! with thy flours, 
 That I may hve in some disport. 
 
 This is altogether a very superior poem. Pin- 
 kerton says, " The addresses of the several personi- 
 fications to him [the poet] are fine ; that of Age, 
 pathetic ; and that of Death, even Sublime. Death's 
 throwing up his gates wide, and telling the poet he 
 must enter, are most grand and striking circum- 
 stances." And Ellis adds, " It is pleasant to ob- 
 serve in this fine poem the elastic spirit of Dunbar 
 struggling against the pressure of melancholy : in- 
 deed, it appears that his morality was of the most 
 cheerful kind." Dunbar was an ardent admirer of 
 nature, and "the dark and drumlie' days" of win- 
 ter were well calculated to depress a mind so sensi- 
 tive as his. That he was distressed by his peculiar 
 and unprovided-for condition, is apparent in almost 
 all his verses at this time. The cause of his des- 
 pondency forms the keynote of his meditations — 
 
 " I am essayit on every side. 
 Despair says aye. In time provide, 
 And get some thing whereon to leif ; 
 Or with great trouble and mischief. 
 Thou sail into this court abide." 
 
 The want of some provision for advancing age, and 
 the precariousness of living at court, were the can- 
 ker-worms that preyed at his heart. His complaint 
 was put forth sometimes in banter, humour, or in 
 
248 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 downright melancholy, as in the present case. Yet 
 how truly and beautifully he draws comfort, even 
 in the depth of his despair from the coming of 
 " liistie simmer, with his flours." The beauties of 
 the external world are gratifying to all, especially 
 to the more intelligent and sensitive. Amongst 
 the last enjoyments of weary age, is to draw himself 
 out into the sun, and bask for a time in his rays. 
 Mr Laing thinks rightly that this poem was "writ- 
 ten about the year 1507, or when Dunbar com- 
 posed the ' Lament for the Makars.' " 
 
 LAMENT FOR THE MAKAKS. 
 WHEN HE WAS SEIK. 
 
 I that in heil* was and glaidness, 
 Am troublit now with great seikness, 
 And feebht with infirmitie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 Our pleasance here is all vain glory, 
 This false warld is but transitory, 
 The flesh is bruckle, the Fiend is slee ; 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 The state of man does change and vary, 
 Now sound, now seik, now blyth, now sary,t 
 Now dancing merry, now like to die ; 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 * Health. + Grieved. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 249 
 
 No state in erd* here stands sicker ; 
 As with the wind waves the wicker, 
 So waves this warld's vanitie ; 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 Unto the Death goes all estates, 
 Princes, Prelates, and Potestates,t 
 Baith rich and puir of all degree : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He taks the knichts into the field, 
 AnarmitJ under helm and shield ; 
 Victor he is at all melee : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 That Strang unmerciful tyrand 
 Taks, on the mother's breast soukand, 
 The babe, full of benignitie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He taks the champion in the stour,§ 
 The captain closit in the tour,j| 
 The la(Jy in bour full of beautie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He spares no lord for his piscence,ir 
 Nor clerk for his intelligence ; 
 His awful straik may no man flee ; 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 * Earth. + Potenates. + Armed. 
 
 § Of battle. II The captain of a fortress. 
 
 U Puisance. 
 
350 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Art-magicians, and astrologys, 
 Rethors, logicians, theologys, 
 Them helps no conclusions slee : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 In medicine the most practicians, 
 Leeches, surgeons, and physicians, 
 Them self from death may not supplie ! 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 I see that makars,* amang the lave. 
 Plays here their padyanes,t syne goes to grave, 
 Sparit is not their facultie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He has done piteously devour, 
 The noble Chaucer, of makars floVr, 
 The Monk of Berry, and Gower, all three :% 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 The gude Sir Hew of Eglintoun, 
 And eik Heryot, and Wyntoun, 
 He has ta'en out of this countrie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 That scorpion fell has done infek§ 
 Maister John Clerk, and James Afflek, 
 Frae ballat-making and tragedie : |1 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 * Poets. ■)■ Pageants. 
 
 t These three English poets, Chaucer, Lydgate, and Gower, 
 were greatly admired in Scotland. 
 
 § Taken away. 
 
 II In Dunbar's time tragedy was not limited to the dramas, as 
 in our day, but meant any moral or descriptive poem. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 25I 
 
 Holland and Barbour he has berevit ; 
 Alace ! that he nocht with us leavit 
 Sir Mungo Lockhart of the Lee : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 Clerk of Tranent eik he has ta'en, 
 Th^t made the awnteris * of Gawane ; 
 Sir Gilbert Hay endit has he : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He has Blind Harry, and Sandy Traill 
 Slain with his shot of mortal hail, 
 Whilk Patrik Johnstoun micht not flee : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He has left Merseir his indite, 
 That did in love so lively write, 
 So short, so quick, of sentence hie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 He has ta'en RouU of Aberdeen, 
 And gentle Roull of Corstorphine ; 
 Two better fallows did no man see : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 In Dunfermline he has ta'en Broun, 
 With Maister Robert Henrisoun ; 
 Sir John the Ross embraced has he : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 And he has now ta'en last of aw, 
 
 Gude, gentle Stobo, and Quintine Schaw, 
 
 * Adventures. 
 
252 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Of whom all wichtis has pitie ; 
 Timor mortis conturbat me, 
 
 Gude Maister Walter Kennedy, 
 In point of deid lies verily, 
 Great ruth it were that so suld be : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 Sen he has all my brether ta'en. 
 He will not let me live alane. 
 On forse* I maun his next prey be : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 Sen for the Death remeid is none. 
 Best is that we for death dispone,t 
 After our death that live may we : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me. 
 
 This is an alFecting poem, heightened by the 
 ever-recurring and solemn burden, " Timor mortis 
 conturbat me,'^ supposed by Ritson to have been 
 suggested by one of Lydgate's poems, beginning 
 " So as I lay the other night." But this we con- 
 sider hypercritical. The same idea might hav/e 
 occurred to hundreds — and does occur to hundreds 
 unacquainted either with Lydgate or Dunbar. The 
 poem was composed, as the author tells us, "when 
 he was sick," and his thoughts naturally turned to 
 the contemplation of death. His moralising as to 
 the world's vanity, and the instability of all things, 
 is clothed in quaitit but beautiful language — 
 
 * Compulsion. -j- Dispose ourselves. 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 253 
 
 " He taks the champion in the stour, 
 The captain closit in the tour, 
 The lady in hour, full of beautie : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me." 
 
 And from generalising in this way, he is led, by a 
 fine species of ratiocination, to reflect that his own 
 class, the poets, are not exempt from the stroke of 
 the tyrant— 
 
 " I see that makars, amang the lave, 
 Plays here their padyanes, syne goes to grave." 
 
 And then he enumerates how many have been laid 
 low, until he comes to " Gude Maister Walter Ken- 
 nedy," then at the point of death, and himself, ill 
 in health and depressed in mind — 
 
 " Sen he has all my brother ta'en. 
 He will not let me live alane." 
 
 The poem,' printed at the press of Chepman and 
 Myllar, in 1508, is rendered of extreme interest be- 
 cause of this " Lament for the Makars," many of 
 whose names would otherwise have been wholly 
 lost to fame. The first mentioned are 
 
 Chaucer, Lydgate, and Gower, well-ki;iown early 
 English poets. 
 
 Sir Hew of Eglintoun is believed to have been 
 that Sir Hugh de Eglintoun of Eglintoun, in Ayr- 
 shire, who married Egidia, daughter of Walter, 
 Lord High Steward of Scotland, and who died 
 about 1381, without male issue. His only daugh- 
 ter and heiress, Elizabeth, married John Mont- 
 
254 1,1TE AND POEMS OF 
 
 gomerie of Eaglesham, from which union sprung 
 the noble house of Eglintoun. " Hucheon of the 
 Awie Ryale," (Hall Royal,) mentioned by Wyn- 
 town as the author of several poems, is supposed to 
 have been Sir Hew of Eglintoun, but upon very 
 insufficient grounds. 
 
 Henjot and Wyntoiun. Of the first of these 
 poets nothing whatever is known. The second is 
 Andrew of IVyntown, author of " The Chronicle 
 Originale," in Scottish metre, first published by 
 Macpherson, in 1795. He was Prior of Lochleven. 
 
 Maister John Clerk and James Afflek. Of the 
 former, nothing is known beyond the fact that 
 there were several Scottish poets of the same name. 
 Afflek is supposed to have been " servitour to the 
 Earl of Rosse " in 1494, and afterwards had the 
 Chantory of Caithness, which, becoming vacant on 
 the death of " Maister James Auchinleck," in 
 1497, was bestowed on Maister James Beton. Mr 
 Laing says " there is a poem entitled ' The Qair of 
 Jelousy,' preserved in the Selden MS., which has 
 at the end, ' Explicit quod Auchin ....'" The 
 poem consists of 607 lines. 
 
 Holland and Barbour. Holland was a priest, 
 and flourished in the reign of James H. He was 
 the author of a curious allegorical poem, called 
 " The Buke of the Howlat," written about 1453. 
 It is preserved in the MSS. of Asloane and Ban- 
 natyne. Hailes says, " It is a verbose work, but 
 must have merit with antiquaries, from the stanzas 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 2^5 
 
 describing ' the kyndis of instrumentis, the sportaris 
 [jugglers], the Irish bard, and the fuHs/ " John 
 Barhour wa.s Archdeacon of Aberdeen, in the reign 
 of David II., and author of the " Acts of Robert 
 the Bruce." 
 
 Sir Mungo Lokert of the Lee. Hailes supposed 
 that this person must have been an ecclesiastic, one 
 of the Pope's knights, as he could find no trace of 
 him in the family pedigree. In the Acts of Coun- 
 cil, however, 27th February 1489, occurs, " Agnes 
 Lindesay, spouse of umquhile Sir Mongo Lokart, 
 Knyct," and " Robert Lokert of the Leie, his son 
 and are." He died before 1493, in which year 
 Robert is mentioned as his successor. None of his 
 writings are known. 
 
 Clerk of Tranent, " that made the awnteris of 
 Gawane," Dunbar tells us. As " Hucheon of the 
 Awle Ryale " is said to have been the author of the 
 " Adventures of Gawane," the suggestion seems 
 probable that Hew or Hucheon was Clerk's first 
 name. This is countenanced by the fact that Dun- 
 bar does not speak of Hucheon. No doubt he 
 omits several well-known names, such as Thomas 
 the Rhymer, James I., and Gawin Douglas; still 
 as he positively states that Clerk made the " Ad- 
 ventures of Gawane," it seems extremely likely that 
 Hucheon and he were one and the same person. 
 
 Sir Gilbert Hay, chamberlain to Charles VI. of 
 France. He was the author of several translations 
 from the French. A MS. version of his, of the 
 
2^6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 French metrical romance of "Alexander the Great," 
 consisting of ao,ooo lines, is in the library of the 
 Earl of Ormelie. This translation was probably 
 completed about 1450. 
 
 Blind Harry and Sandy Traill. The former was 
 the author of " The Life and Acts of Sir William 
 Wallace." He was coexistent with Dunbar. The 
 Treasurer's Accounts shew that small gratuities 
 were occasionally given to the minstrel during the 
 reign of James IV., between the years 1489 and 
 1493. Of the latter, Sandy Traill, no traces have 
 bten found. 
 
 Patrik Johnstoun, according to the Bannatyne 
 MS., was the author of a poem called " The Three 
 Deid Powis," but which, in the Maitland MS., is 
 attributed to Robert Henryson. It is impossible, 
 therefore, to decide who has the best claim to the 
 poem. It is perhaps more in the style of Hen- 
 ryson than any other poet of the period ; but that 
 Johnston was a " makar " of some repute is evi- 
 dent. His name occurs repeatedly in the Trea- 
 surer's Accounts between 1488 and 1492. He 
 "and hisfallowis" "playt a play to the king in 
 Lythgu," in 1489. 
 
 Merseir or Merser. This poet is celebrated by 
 Lyndsay, as well as Dunbar, and yet so little is 
 known of him that even his Christian name has 
 not been ascertained. Peter, James, William, 
 and Andro Merser, all occur in the Treasurer's 
 Accounts. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 257 
 
 Roull of Aberdeen, and "gentle Roull of Cor- 
 storphine." Neither of these parties has been 
 identified. Sir John Rowl was the author of a 
 poem called " Rowlis Cursing." Perhaps he was 
 " Roull of Aberdeen," for such a production could 
 hardly be the work of "gentle Roull of Corstor- 
 phine." 
 
 Broun. Bannatyne's MS. contains two copies 
 of a poein, entitled " Judgment to Come," by, in 
 the one case, Walter Broun, and in the other. Sir 
 IVilliam Brown. But, as Laing shews, the ori- 
 ginal edition of the " Lament for the Makars," 
 printed in 1508, does not contain any such name. 
 The lines read thus — 
 
 " In Dunfermline he has doun roune 
 Gud Maister Robert Henrysoun ;" 
 
 which expression — " doun roune "■ — Sibbald inter- 
 prets to mean, " has rounded, or whispered in the 
 ear." It would have been a more direct and 
 simple explanation if he had merely modernised 
 the spelling, and said, " he has down run," that is, 
 death had run down gud Maister Henrysoun. As 
 the poem was printed under Dunbar's own eye, 
 the conclusion is obvious, that Brown was not in 
 the original version. 
 
 Maister Robert Henrisoun was preceptor in the 
 Benedictine Convent of Dunfermline, hence his 
 appellation of " Scolmaister of Dunfermling." He 
 was the author of " Robene and Makyne," one of 
 
 R 
 
258 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 the earliest pastorals in the Scottish language, 
 which has been much admired for its poetical 
 merits. He is also the author of a number of 
 fables. Many of his pieces have been printed 
 separately; but a collected edition, by Mr David 
 Laing, is now, we understand, nearly completed. 
 
 Sir John the Ross, probably another of the Pope's 
 Knights. He was the party to whom Dunbar 
 addressed the first portion of the " Flyting" with 
 Kennedy. In the Treasurer's Accounts there is 
 a payment, 8th May 1490, " Item, to John the 
 Ross, be a precept of the kingis, xx unicornis," 
 (.^18 Scots.) This may have been the party, but 
 it is impossible to identify him. 
 
 " Gentle Stoho, and Quintyne Schaw." Of 
 Stobo's writings nothing is known. He was an 
 ecclesiastic, but acted as a notary-public both in 
 the reigns of James III. and IV. His name was 
 Reid, although perhaps better known as Stobo. 
 He had a pension granted to him by James HI., of 
 ^30, in 1477-8, the words of which are — " dilecto 
 nostro familiari servitori et scribe Johanni Red 
 nuncupato Stobo." It had originally been only 
 £^. In the Treasurer's Accounts his name occurs 
 in 1505. May 6, " Item, be the kingis command, 
 to Stobo Hand seik, ^5." Again, on the a 7th of 
 the same month, " Item, to Stobo, liand seik, be 
 the kingis command, 5 French crownis, ^3, los." 
 This, no doubt, was immediately before his death, 
 for the " Lament " must have been written prior to 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 259 
 
 1508. The only known poem of Quintyne Schaw 
 is the "Advyce to a Courtier," first printed by 
 Pinkerton. He was a native of Ayrshire. Quintin 
 Schaw, son of John Schaw of Haily, had a charter 
 under the great seal, dated June ao, 1489, con- 
 firming a charter of 1475, by the Lord of Dernley, 
 to John Schaw of Haily, and the heirs male of his 
 body. There are numerous entries in the Treasurer's 
 Accounts shewing that he had a pension, and had 
 been long at court. " Item, the samyn day [July 
 8, 1504] to Quintin Schaw, in his pensioun, be 
 the kingis command, quhilk he hes ilk yeir, ^10." 
 As his name does not occur again, the probability 
 is that he did not long survive this date. 
 
 Maister Walter Kennedy, as already stated in 
 the introduction to this volume, was the sixth son 
 of Lord Kennedy of Cassillis and Duhure, in 
 Ayrshire. He was educated for the Church, and 
 Mr Laing thinks it probable that he was appointed 
 Provost of May bole, on the death of Sir David 
 Robertson, about 1494, the patronage of which 
 collegiate church continued in the Kennedy family, 
 who originally founded it. But this was not the 
 case : for although at one time an expectant of 
 Church preferment, he seems to have abandoned 
 his views in this respect. When he and Dunbar 
 wrote the " Flyting " he was Depute-Clerk of Car- 
 rick, which he held under his brother David, Earl of 
 Cassillis ; and he acquired the property of Glentig, 
 from John Wallace, in 1504. He married Chris- 
 
26o LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 tian Hynd, but of what family, is unknown, and 
 had two sons, Walter and Alexander. In 1510, 
 Walter is mentioned in a deed as parson of Dou- 
 glas. He was incorporated a member of the Col- 
 lege of Glasgow in 151 1, and appointed rector of 
 Douglas in 1517. He was chosen i-ector of the 
 University of Glasgow in 1535, at which time he 
 was provost of Maybole, and canon of Glasgow. 
 Alexander was designed of Glentig. He married 
 Janet Wallace, and had issue, William Kennedy of 
 Glentig, called in the entail of the Earl of Cassillis, 
 in 1540. William of Glentig had a daughter, 
 Janet, who is stated in a contract, dated 3d April 
 1563, between Gilbert, fourth Earl of Cassillis, and 
 her, to be the heir of Alexander Kennedy of Glen- 
 tig, Walter Kennedy, parson of Douglas, her 
 grandfather, and James Kennedy, in Kirkdomini. 
 She married William Kennedy of Gillespie. Glen- 
 tig seems to have passed from the family before the 
 end of the sixteenth century. Besides the " Flyt- 
 ing " with Dunbar, Walter Kennedy is known as 
 the author of " The Praise of Aige," " Ane Aigit 
 Man's Invective," " Ane Ballet of our Lady," 
 " The Passion of Christ," " Pious Counsale," Sec. 
 But it is presumed that much of his writing has 
 disappeared. He seems to have been a poet of very 
 considerable talent. His share of the " Flyting " 
 is by no means unworthy of his opponent. In- 
 deed, it is difficult to say which of the combatants 
 has the advantage. He is even placed, by Dou- 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 261 
 
 glas, before Dunbar, and is called, in his " Court 
 of the Muses," " Great Kennedy." Could it be 
 that a spirit of enmity existed between Dunbar and 
 Douglas ? They were contemporaries, and yet 
 Douglas is not mentioned in Dunbar's " Lament." 
 Of course, Douglas was alive at the time,* and 
 could not be lamented; still it was not proper for 
 Dunbar to say— 
 
 " Sen he has ail viy brether iane ' 
 
 He will not let 7Ke live alane" 
 
 if he recognised Douglas as a brother poet. The 
 oversight must have annoyed the worthy Bishop of 
 Dunkeld. 
 
 OF THE WARLD S INSTABILITY. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 This wavering warld's wretchedness, 
 The failing and fruitless business, 
 The misspent time, the service vain, 
 For to consider is ane pain. 
 
 The sliding joy, the gladness short, 
 The feignit love, the false comfort. 
 The sweet abayd,+ the slichtful trane,t 
 For to consider is ane pain. 
 
 The sugarit mouths, with minds therefra. 
 The figurit speech, with faces twa. 
 The pleasant tongues, with hearts unplain. 
 For to consider is ane pain. 
 
 He lived till 1522. t Delay. % Snare. 
 
2,62 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The leal labour lost, and leal service, 
 The lang avail on humble wise, 
 And the little reward again, 
 For to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Not I say all be this countrie,* 
 France, England, Ireland, Almanie, 
 But all be Italy and Spain ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 The change of warld frae weel to wo. 
 The honourable use is all ago. 
 In hall, in hour, in burgh and plain ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Belief does hope, trust does not tarry. 
 Office does flit, and courts do vary, 
 Purpose does change, as wind or rain ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Gude rule is banished oure the border. 
 And rangatf rings but J any order, 
 With rerd§ of ribalds, and of swane ;ll 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 The people so wickit are of fears. 
 The fruitless erd all witness bears, 
 The air infectit and profane ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. , 
 
 * He did not confine himself to this country. 
 
 t Tumult. t Without. § Roar. 
 
 II Probably sweyngeours, sturdy vagabonds. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 263 
 
 The temporal state to grip and gather, 
 The son disheris * wald the father, 
 And as ane divour wald him demean ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Kirkmen so halie are and gude. 
 That on their conscience, rowne and rude,t 
 May turn aucht oxen and ane wane ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 I knaw not how the Kirk is guidit, 
 But benefices are not weel dividit ; 
 Some men has seven, and I not ane ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 And some, unworthy to bniik ane stall, 
 Wald climb to be ane cardinal, 
 Ane bishopric may not him gane ; J 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Unworthy I, amang the lave, 
 Ane kirk does crave, and nane can have ; 
 Some with ane thraif§ plays passage plain ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 It comes be king, it comes be queen. 
 But aye sic space is us between, 
 
 * Disinherit. 
 
 + Mr Laing queries this expression without attempting any 
 explanation. It seems to mean, simply, that the consciences of 
 kirkmen were so round and rude, so wide, coarse, and ignorant, 
 that eight oxen and a waggon might turn upon them. 
 
 J Suffice. 
 
 § Twenty-four sheaves of com — a heap of anything. 
 
264 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 That nane can shoot it with ane flane ;* 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 It micht have comin in shorter while 
 Frae Calyecot and the new-found Isle,t 
 The parts of Transmeridiane ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 It micht be this, had it been kynd,I 
 Comin out of the deserts of Inde, 
 Oure all the great sea oceane ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 It micht have cOmin out of all airts, 
 Frae Persia and the Orient parts, 
 And frae the Isles of Africane ;§ 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 It is so lang in comin me till, 
 I dreid that it be quite gane will, 
 
 Or backward is tumit again ; 
 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 * An arrow. 
 
 •f- Calicut, a town in Hindostan, the first part visited by Euro- 
 peans. It was with the view of finding a shorter passage to 
 India that led to the discovery of America, which was at first 
 considered an island, and called the New Isle. Sebastian Cabot, 
 a native of Bristol, though of foreign parentage, discovered 
 America in 1497, whereas Columbus did not get within sight of 
 the continent till the following year. In the Privy Purse Accounts 
 of Henry VII. there is the following entry : Aug. 10, 1497, "To 
 liim that found the New Isle, L.io." 
 
 X Natural. § Isles of Africa. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 265 
 
 Upon the heid of it is hecht,* 
 Baith unicorns, and crowns of wecht,t 
 Wlien it does come all men does frane ; J 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 I wit it is for me providit, 
 But sae done tiresome it is to bide it, 
 It breaks my heart, and brists my brain ; 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 Great abbeys' graith I nill§ to gather. 
 But ane kirk scant coverit with heather ; 
 For I of little wald be fain : 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 And for my cures || in sundrie place, 
 With help. Sir, of your noble Grace, 
 My siUie saul sail never be slain ; 
 Nor for sic sin to suffer pain. 
 
 Experience does me so inspire, 
 Of this false, failing warld I tire, 
 That evermore flits like ane phane ;ir 
 Whilk to consider is ane pain. 
 
 The foremost hope yet that I have 
 In all this warld, sae God me save. 
 Is in your Grace, baith crop and grain, 
 Whilk is ane lessoun** of my pain. 
 
 * Promised. + Corns of different values. 
 
 + Insist, get impatient. § I care not. 
 
 II Benefice, business. II Phantom. ** Lessening. 
 
266 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The moral reflections, and the poet's earnest cry 
 for a benefice, are very curiously and ingeniously 
 blended. ' The transition, from the disparity of 
 things in general, to his own particular case is, as 
 Pinkerton remarks, arch — 
 
 " I knaw not how the Kirk is guidit, 
 But benefices are not leal dividit ; 
 Some men has seven, and I not ana." 
 
 Nor is his humour, as to the postponement of the 
 gift, less pungent. He had no doubt that his cure 
 was provided, but then it might have come from 
 Calicut or the New-found Isle; and he was afraid, 
 from the time that had elapsed, that it was on the 
 way backward. Dunbar probably speaks truly, 
 when he tells us, that on the faith of getting a 
 benefice, he had made promises of payments, both 
 in unicorns and crowns, and that his creditors were 
 getting impatient. 
 
 WELCOME TO BERNARD STEWART, 
 LORD OF AUBIGNY. 
 
 Renownit, royal, right reverend, and serene 
 Lord, hie triumphing in worship and valour. 
 
 Fro Kings down, most Christian Knight, and keen. 
 Most wise, most vahant, most laureat* hie victour, 
 
 * Laurelled. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 267 
 
 Unto the stars upheit is thine honour ; 
 In Scotland welcome be thine excellence 
 
 To king, queen, lord, clerk, knight, and servltour, 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 Welcome, in stour* most strong, incomparable knight, 
 
 The fame of armies, and flow'r of vassalage ; 
 Welcomej in weir most worthy, wise, and wight ; 
 
 Welcome, the son of Mars of most courage ; 
 
 Welcome, most lusty branch of our lineage, 
 In every realm our shield and our defence ; 
 
 Welcome, our tender blood of hie parage, f 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 Welcome, in weir the second Julius, 
 
 The prince of knighthood and flow'r of chivalry ; 
 Welcome, most valiant and victorious ; 
 
 Welcome, invincible victor most worthy ; 
 
 Welcome, our Scottish chieftain most doughty ; 
 With sound of clarion, organ, song, and sence,J 
 
 To thee at once, Lord, welcome all we cry ; 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 Welcome, our indeficient§ adjutory,|| 
 
 That ever our nation helpit in their need ; 
 
 That never saw Scot yet indigent nor sorry, 
 But thou did him support, with thy guid deed ; 
 Welcome, therefore, above all living leyd, IT 
 
 With us to live, and to make residence. 
 
 * Battle. + Parentage. J Incense. 
 
 § Not deficient. II Help. 1i Man. 
 
268 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Wliilk never sail sunyhie* for thy sake to bleed : 
 To whom be honour, laud, and reverence. 
 
 Is none of Scotland bom, faithful and kind, 
 
 But he of natural inchnation 
 Does favour thee, with all his heart and mind, 
 
 With fervent, tender, true intention ; 
 
 And wald, of inward, hie affection. 
 Butt dread of danger, die in thy defence. 
 
 Or death, or shame, were done to thy person ; 
 To whom be honour, laud, and reverence. 
 
 Welcome, thou knight, most fortunable in field ; 
 
 Welcome, in arms most aunterusj and able. 
 Under the sun that bears helm or shield ; 
 
 Welcome, thou champion, in fecht unourcumable ; 
 
 Welcome, most doughty, digne,§ and honourable. 
 And most of laud, and hie magnificencq. 
 
 Next under kings to stand incomparable ; 
 To whom be honour, laud, and reverence. 
 
 Through Scotland, England, France, and Lombardy, 
 
 Flies on wing thy fame, and thy renown ; 
 And oure all countries underneath the sky. 
 
 And oure all strands, fro the stars down ; 
 
 In every province, land, and region, 
 Proclaimit is thy name of excellence. 
 
 In every city, village, and in toun. 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 * Refuse. t Without, 
 
 f Adventurous. § Dignified. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. !i,6g 
 
 O fierce 'Achil, in furious, hie courage ! 
 
 O strong, invincible Hector, under shield ! 
 O valiant Arthur, in knightly vassalage ! 
 
 Agamemnon, in governance of field ! 
 
 Bold Hannibal, in battle to do beild.* 
 Julius, in jupert.t in wisdom and experience ! 
 
 Most fortunate chieftain, both in youth and eild, 
 To thee be honour, laud, and reverence ! 
 
 At parliament thou suld be hie renownit, 
 
 That did so mony victories obtene ; 
 Thy crystal helm with laurel suld be crownit. 
 
 And in thy hand a branch of olive grefen ; 
 
 The sword of conquest, and of knighthood keen. 
 Be bom suld hie before thee in presence. 
 
 To represent sic man as thou has been ; 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 Hie, furious Mars, the god armipotent, 
 
 Rong J in the heaven at thine nativitie ; 
 Satumus doun, with fiery e'en did blent, § 
 
 Through bloody visor, men menacing to gar die ; 
 
 On thee fresh Venus cast her amorous e'e ; 
 On thee Mercurius furthiet|| his eloquence ; 
 
 Fortuna major did turn her face on thee, 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 Prince of freedom, and flow'r of gentleness, 
 Sword of knighthood, and choice of chivalry, 
 
 This time I leave, for great proHxitness,ir 
 To tell what fields thou wan in Piccardy, 
 
 * Shelter. ■(■ Jeopardy. J Reigned. 
 
 § Glance. II Put forth. t Prolixity. 
 
270 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 In France, in Bretagne, in Naples, and Lombardy; 
 As I think after, with all my diUgence, 
 
 Or thou depart at length for to descry ;* 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 B, in thy name, betokens batalrus ; 
 
 A, able in field ; R, right renown most hie ; 
 N, nobleness ; and A, for aunterus ; 
 
 R, royal blood ; for doughtiness is D ; 
 
 V, valiantness ; S, for strenewitie ; 
 Whose knightly name, so shining in clemencie, 
 
 For worthiness in gold suld written be ; 
 With glory and honour, laud and reverence. 
 
 This poem is not preserved in any of the MS. 
 collections, but printed from the black letter of 
 Chepman and Myllar, published in 1508. The 
 last verse has been defaced. It probably contained 
 an illustration of the surname, similar to that of 
 Bernardus. The subject of the poem was a de- 
 scendant of the house of Darnley, and inherited 
 the title and estates of Aubigny, in France. He 
 vsras one of the most celebrated men of his time, 
 and called, by the French, " Le Chevalier sans 
 Reproche." He came to Scotland in 1484, as 
 ambassador from Charles VHI. of France, to renew 
 the ancient league between the two countries; and 
 next year he distinguished himself as commander 
 of the French auxiliaries of the Duke of Richmond 
 
 • Describe. 
 
" WILLIAM DUNBAR. 27 1 
 
 at the battle of Bosworth Field. He subsequently 
 performed valiant deeds, in the interest of France, 
 in the various places mentioned by the poet. . The 
 welcome was occasioned by Lord Aubigny's second 
 and last embassy to Scotland, on the 9th May 
 1508, when he came through England with a fol- 
 lowing of eighty troopers. He was then advanced 
 in years, and ill in health, so that Dunbar's pane- 
 gyric was speedily changed to an elegy, in conse- 
 quence of the death of the distinguished visitor. 
 
 ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BERNARD STEWART, 
 LORD OF AUBIGNY. 
 
 Illuster Lodovick, of France most Christian King, 
 
 Thou may complain with sighs lamentable, 
 The death of Bernard Stewart, noble and ding,* 
 
 In deed of arms most anterousf and able ; 
 
 Most michty, wise, worthy, and comfortable. 
 Thy men of weir to govern and to gy : J 
 
 Fortune, alace 1 now may thou wear the sable, 
 Sen he is gone, the FlovVr of Chivalrie. 
 
 Complain sould every noble, valiant knicht 
 The death of him that douchtie was in deed ; 
 
 That many ane fo in field has put to flicht. 
 In weirs wicht, be wisdom and manheid ; 
 To the Turk sea all land did his name dreid, 
 
 Whose force all France in fame did magnifie ; 
 
 * Worthy. f Adventurous. J Guide. 
 
272 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Of SO hie price sail nane his place posseid,* 
 For he is gone, the FloWr of Chivalrie. 
 
 O duleful Death ! O dragon dolorous ; 
 Why has thou done so dulefuUie devour 
 
 The prince of knichtheid, noble and chivalrous, 
 The wit of weirs, of- arms and honour. 
 The croptf of courage, the strength of arms in stour, 
 
 The fame of France, the fame of Lombardy, 
 , The choice of chieftains, most awful in armour. 
 
 The charbuckell + chief of every chivalrie ? 
 
 Pray now for him, all that him lovit here ! 
 
 And for his saul male intercession 
 Unto the Lord, that has him bocht so dear, 
 
 To give him mercy and remission : 
 
 And, namelie, we of Scottish nation, 
 IntiU his life whom most he did affy,§ 
 
 Forget we never into our orison 
 To pray for him, the Flow'r of Chivalrie. 
 
 Lord Aubigny died' at the seat of Forrester of 
 Corstorphine, in the beginning of July, about a 
 month after his arrival in Scotland. His last 
 will and testament, the inventory of his effects, 
 taken after his decease, is dated 8th June 1508. 
 On the 15th of that month, the treasurer gave 14s. 
 "as the kingis offerand at my Lord Aubigne's 
 saule mess." His body is said to have been in- - 
 terred in the south aisle of Corstorphine church, 
 
 * Possess. f Top. 
 
 J The most brilliant amongst gems. § Esteem. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 273 
 
 where his tomb, with a recumbent figure in armour, 
 is still pointed out; but this is extremely doubtful, 
 because, in his will, he expressly desired to be 
 buried in the church of the Black Friars of Edin- 
 burgh, which was burned down in 1528. The 
 arms on the monument at Corstorphine are those 
 of Forrester. 
 
 The reader will remark that both the " Welcome" 
 and the " Elegy " are strained, as if the poet had 
 tasked himself beyond the requirements of the sub- 
 ject. It is very probable, as Mr Laing remarks, 
 that Dunbar had experienced the liberality of Lord 
 Aubigny when he was abroad, and gratitude, as 
 well as admiration, prompted him to exceed even 
 himself in the earnestness of his welcome. 
 
 OF ANE BLACKAMOOR.* 
 
 Lang have I madef of ladies white, 
 Now of ana black I will indite, 
 
 That landit furth of the last ships ; 
 Who fain wald I descrive perfite. 
 
 My Ladie with the meikle hps. 
 
 How she is tute mowit J like an ape. 
 And like a gangarel§ unto graip ;|| 
 
 * Negro. + Written, 
 
 t The under jaw jutting out. § Stroller. 
 
 11 "And like a gangarel unto graip,'' is very obscure. To 
 graip in the Scottish language is to grope. In no manner can 
 S 
 
274 LI'^^ ^^^ POEMS OF 
 
 And how her short cat nose up-skips ; 
 And how she shines like ony saip ; 
 My Ladie with the meikle hps. 
 
 When she is clad in rich apparel, 
 She blinks as bricht as ane tar barrel ; 
 
 When she was born the sun tholit 'clips, 
 The nicht he fain faucht in her quarrel : 
 
 My Ladie ■{vith the meikle lips. 
 
 Wha for her sake, with spear and shield. 
 Proves maist michtilie in the field. 
 
 Sail kiss, and with her go in grips ; 
 And fra thence furth her love sail wield : 
 
 My Ladie with the meikle lips. 
 
 And wha in field receivis shame. 
 And tynes there his knichtlie name. 
 
 Sail come behind and kiss her hips ; 
 And never to other comfort claim : 
 
 My Ladie with the meikle lips. 
 
 This is a graphic delineation from nature. As 
 the poet tells us, it is the first time he ever indited 
 anything about black ladies. She had just "landit 
 furth of the last ships." The Bertrams — well 
 known as adventurous seamen in the reign of James 
 IV. — had letters of marque from the king against 
 the Portuguese, whose vessels they often captured 
 on the return of the latter from their settlements in 
 
 this be twisted to make sense, unless in a far-off way, that she 
 was like a wanderer going to darkness. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 275 
 
 Africa and India. Blackamoors were consequently 
 not unknown in Scotland before Dunbar cele- 
 brated this dark beauty. Mr Laing observes that, 
 in 1501, one of the king's minstrels was " Peter the 
 Moryen," or Moor ; but moryen simply means 
 swarthy, so that Peter was perhaps not an African. 
 In 1504, two blackamoor girls arrived, and were 
 educated at court, where they waited on the queen. 
 They were baptized Elen and Margaret. In June 
 1507, a tournament was held in honour of the 
 queen^s black lady, Elen More, which was con- 
 ducted with great splendour. But neither of these 
 ,o;irls could have stood for the picture by Dunbar. 
 His subject must have been a fully-matured and 
 genuine specimen of African produce. A number 
 of return ships were captured from the Portuguese 
 in 1509, and brought into the Scottish ports. It 
 is probable that some of these were the last ships 
 meant by the poet. Although he joked of a tour- 
 nament in her honour, it is not necessary that such 
 an affair should actually have taken place. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 Of benefice, sir, at every feast, 
 
 Wha moniest has maks maist request : 
 
 Get they not all, they think ye wrang them ; 
 Aye is the oure-word of the guest, 
 
 Gif them the pelf to part amang them- 
 
376 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Some swaillis * swan, some swaillis deuk, 
 And I stand fasting in a neuk, 
 
 While the effect of all they fang them : 
 But, Lord ! how piteously I look. 
 
 When aU the pelf they part amang them. 
 
 Of sic hie feasts of sancts in glory, 
 Baith of common and proper story. 
 
 Where lords were patrons, oft I sang them 
 Caritas pro Dei amore ;t 
 
 And yet I gat naething amang them. 
 
 This blind warld ever so pays his debt, 
 Rich before poor spreads aye their net. 
 
 To fish all waters does belang them : 
 Wha naething has can naething get. 
 
 But aye as cipher set amang them. 
 
 Sa some the kirk had in their cure. 
 They forsj but little how it fure,§ 
 
 Nor of the bulks, nor bells wha rang them : 
 They panse|| not of the parochin puir. 
 
 Had they the pelf to part amang them. 
 
 So variant is this warld's rent, 
 That men of it are never content ; 
 
 Of death while IT that the dragon stang them, 
 Wha maist has than sail maist repent. 
 
 And has maist compt to part amang them. 
 
 * Devours. t Part of the Litany. J Care. 
 
 § Fared. i Think. t Until. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAK. 277 
 
 Pinkerton was of opinion that this poem was 
 written about the same time that Dunbar addressed 
 the king when many benefices became vacant. It 
 is impossible, however, to fix the date of either the 
 one or the other ; and it could hardly be that all 
 his verses "To the King" immediately followed 
 one another. This would not have been politic, 
 but rather a violation of his own ideas of " discre- 
 tion in asking." 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 
 Sir, yet remember, as of before, 
 How that my youth is done forlore,* 
 
 In your service, with pain and grief, 
 Gude conscience cries, Reward therefore ! 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief 
 
 Your clerks are servit all about, 
 And I do like ane red hawk shout. 
 
 To come to lure that has no leif,t 
 While my plumes begin to break out : J 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 Forgot is aye the falcon's kind ; 
 But ever the mittane is hard in mind, 
 Of whom the gled does prectikis§ preif ; 
 
 * Utterly wasted. 
 
 ■j- Who is not permitted to come to lure, a term in falconry. 
 
 J His plumage begins to get into disorder. 
 
 § Stratagems or tricks. 
 
278 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The gentle goshawk goes unkind : 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 The pyet, with her pretty coat, 
 Feigns to sing the nichtingale's note ; 
 
 But she can never the crochet cleif, 
 For harshness of her carhch* throat : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 Aye fairest feathers has fairest fowls ; 
 Suppose they have no sang but yowls, 
 
 In silver cages they sit at chief ; 
 Kind native nest does deck but owls : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief t 
 
 O gentle Eagle,J how may this be. 
 That of all fowls does hiest flee ! 
 
 Your lieges why wiU ye not relief, 
 And cherish after their degree ? 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief 
 
 When servit is all other man. 
 Gentle and semple of every clan, 
 
 Kin of Rauf Colyear, and John the Reif, § 
 Naething I get, nor conqueis can : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief 
 
 * Coarse, vulgar. 
 
 + This is a hit at the King's preference of foreigners. 
 
 + The King. 
 
 § Two ballads, popular in Dunbar's day. An edition of 
 " Rauf Colyear, with the thrawin brow," was printed by Robert 
 Lekprewik, at St Andrews, in 1572. We are not aware that 
 any copy of " Johne the Reif" has been discovered. The poet 
 meant that, when people of the class of these two worthies had 
 all been served, he could obtain nothing. 
 
WILLTAM DUNBAR. 279 
 
 Though I in court be made refuse, 
 And have few virtues for to roose ; 
 
 Yet am I comin of Adam and Eif ; 
 And fain wald hve as others does : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief, 
 
 Or I suld hve in sic mischance, 
 Gif it to God were no grievance. 
 
 To be a pyk-thank * I wald preif, 
 For they in warld want no pleasance : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 In some part on myself I plenyie ;t 
 When other folks does flatter and fenyie, 
 
 Alace ! I can but balla"ds brief ;+ 
 Sic bairnhood bids my bridle renye :§ 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 I grant my service is but licht ; 
 Therefore of mercy, and not of richt, 
 
 I ask you, sir, no man to grief. 
 Some medicine give that ye micht : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 May nane remeid my malady 
 Sae weel as ye, sir, verily ; 
 
 For with a benefice ye may preif, 
 And gif I mend not hastily : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 I was ill youth, on nurse's knee, 
 Dandely ! Bishop, dandely ! 
 
 * A spy, or informer. f Complain. 
 
 J Ballads write. § Curb. 
 
28o LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And when that age now does me grief, 
 Ane simple vicar I cannot be : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 Jock that was wont to keep the stirks, 
 Can now draw him ane cleik of kirks, 
 
 With ane false card into his sleif,* 
 Worth all my ballads under the birks : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 Twa cures or three has Upolandst Michell, 
 With dispensations bund in a knitcheU ; J 
 
 Though he fra nolt had new ta'en leif, 
 He plays with totum, and I with nichell ! § 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 How suld I live that is not landit, || 
 Nor yet with benefice am I blandit, 
 
 I say not, sir, you to repreif ; 
 But doubtless I gae richt near hand it : 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 As saul is here in purgatory. 
 Living in pain and houp of glory ; 
 
 So is myself, ye may belief, 
 In houp, sir, of your adjutory : TI 
 
 Excess of thocht does me mischief. 
 
 * Perhaps, as Lord Hailes suggests, the poet does not mean 
 false play at cards, but secret calumny and false suggestion. But 
 it is by no means improbable that benefices were staked and won 
 at the card table. 
 
 t Hills or muirlands. + A bundle. 
 
 § He plays with Te-totum, and I with nothing. 
 
 II Had no landed property. U Intercessor. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. SSl 
 
 We have here another evidence^ in the poet's 
 own statement, that he was wholly without patri- 
 mony, and entirely dependent on the king. How 
 could he live, he asks, not being possessed of land ? 
 Land or a benefice was then the great stoop of a 
 comfortable existence. 
 
 THAT HE WERE JOHN THOMSON'S MAN. 
 
 Sir, for your grace, baith nicht and day, 
 Richt heartily on my knees I pray, 
 With all devotion that I can, 
 
 God gif ye were John Thomson's man ! 
 
 For, were it so, than weel were me. 
 But* benefice I wald not be ; 
 My hard fortune were endit than : 
 
 God gif ye were John Thomson's man ! 
 
 For it micht hurt in no degree, 
 That one, so fair and gude as she. 
 Through her virtue sic worship wan. 
 As you to mak John Thomson's man ! 
 
 I wald give all that ever I have, 
 To that condition, so God me save, 
 That ye had vowit to the swan,t 
 Ane year to be John Thomson's man ! 
 
 * Without. 
 
 ■t" This was a vow well understood in chivalry. The knights 
 used to make vows to God over a roasted swan or other fowl. 
 
282 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The mercy of that sweet, meek Rose, 
 Suld soft you, Thistle, I suppose, 
 Whose pikes through me so ruthless ran ; 
 God gif ye were John Thomson's man ! 
 
 My advocate, baith fair and sweet, 
 The hale rejoicing of my sp'rit, 
 Wald speed into my errands than ; 
 
 And ye were anis John Thomson's man ! 
 
 Ever when I think you hard or dour. 
 Or merciless in my succour, 
 Than pray I God, and sweet Sandt Ann, 
 Gif that ye were John Thomson's man ! 
 
 This is a happy play of humour in furtherance 
 of the poet's hint for a benefice. He was a fa- 
 vourite with the queen, and his prayer is, that the 
 king should become " John Thomson's man," were 
 it only for a twelvemonth. The phrase is pro- 
 verbial for a person who is ruled by his wife ; and 
 probably the name originally was Joan in place of 
 John. Were the king a henpecked husband, even 
 for a year, Dunbar was confident that his benefice 
 would be immediately realised. 
 
 TO THE KING. 
 THE PETITION OF THE GRAY HORSE, AULD DUNBAR. 
 
 Now lovers come with largess loud. 
 Why sould not palfreys than be proud. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 283 
 
 When gillets will be schourd and schroud,* 
 That ridden are baith with lord and lad ? 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald !t 
 
 When I was young and into ply, 
 
 And wald cast gambols to the sky, 
 
 I had been bocht in realms by. 
 
 Had I consentit to be sauld. 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald. 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 With gentle horse when I wald knyp,]: 
 Than is there laid on me ane whip. 
 To colleveris§ than mauri I skip, 
 That scabbit are, has cruik and cauld. 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tauld, 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 Though in the stall I be not clappit, 
 As coursers that in silk been trappit, 
 
 * The meaning of this line is, that at this season, why should 
 not palfreys be proud when gillets (young horses) will be schourd, 
 clipped, and schroud, covered or decorated. 
 
 \ Yule's yald oxyaud. Yald or yaud means a worn-out horse. 
 It was a superstition amongst the peasantry, not yet wholly 
 extinct, that whatever work was in hand should be finished 
 before Yule, or, in later times, when Christmas ceased to be 
 observed in Scotland, t?ie New-year, otherwise nothing would 
 go well with them throughout the incoming twelvemonth. The 
 meaning of the poet, therefore, is, that the king should not let 
 it be said that he was a Yule^s yaud, an old horse that had not 
 finished his task and been provided for, otherwise reward was 
 not likely to come in the year following. 
 
 X Kip, or nibble grass. 
 
 § Coal-avers, coal-horses ; Laing explains it coal-heavers. 
 
284 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 With ane new house I wald be happit, 
 Agains this Christmas for the calA 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 Suppose I were an auld yaid aver,* 
 Shot furth oure cleuchs to puU the claver,+ 
 And had the strength of all Stranaver,J 
 I wald at Yule be housit and stall' d. 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 I am ane auld horse, as ye knaw, 
 
 That ever in dule does dring§ and draw ; 
 
 Great court horse puts me frae the staw, 
 
 To fang II the fog be frith and fald. 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 I have run lang furth in the field. 
 On pastures that are plain and peild ; 
 I micht be now ta'en in for eild. 
 My beiksir are spruning** hie and bauld. 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald. 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 My mane is turnit into white. 
 And thereof ye have all the wyte,1'+ 
 
 " A worn-out cari-horse. Sibbald explains it to mean simply 
 a worn-out horse. 
 + Clover. { A district in Sutherlandshire. 
 
 § Drag. II Endure. 
 
 H Beiks, or boks — comer teeth. ** Rising. ++ Blame. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 285 
 
 When other horse had bran to bite 
 I gat but grass, nip if I wald. 
 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 I was never dautit into stable, 
 
 My life has been so miserable, 
 
 My hide to offer I am able 
 
 For evil shorn strae* that I reive wald. 
 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald, 
 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 And yet, suppose my thrift be thine, 
 Gif that I die your aucht within, 
 Let never the soutars have my skin, 
 With ugly gums to be knawin. 
 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald. 
 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 The court has done my courage euil, 
 And made me ane foriddent mule ; 
 Yet, to wear trappours J at this Yule, 
 I wald be spurrit at every speld.§ 
 
 Sir, let it never in toun be tald. 
 
 That I sould be ane Yule's yald ! 
 
 RESPONSIO REGIS. 
 
 After our writings, Thesaurar, 
 
 Tak in this gray horse, auld Dunbar, 
 
 * lU shorn straw. f Over-ridden, 
 
 i Trappings. § In every limb. 
 
285 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Whilk in my aucht, with service true, 
 In lyart changit is his hue ; 
 Gar house him now agains this Yule, 
 And busk him like ane bishop's mule : 
 For, with my hand, I have indost 
 To pay what ever his trappours cost. 
 
 This, it must be admitted, ^was a very dexterous 
 and happy turn the poet gave to his often-repeated 
 remonstrances and prayers on the subject of a be- 
 nefice. The time, the approach of Yule, with its 
 festivities, the dead of winter, and his unprovided- 
 for condition, are all most humorously and pithily 
 blended for the furtherance of his one great object. 
 Nor are we to suppose that it altogether failed of 
 its purpose. In the " Responsio Regisj" or response 
 of the king, we have the royal mandate that the 
 petition should be complied with. That these lines 
 were the genuine production of James IV. has been 
 assumed by Chalmers, who gives them as such in 
 his " Poetical Remains of the Scottish Kings," 
 printed in 1824; and Mr Laing is so undecided in 
 his opinion that he leaves the question to the 
 reader.- It appears to us, however, not to admit of 
 a doubt, that they were written by Dunbar himselfj 
 as a jocular mode of exciting the king's attention. 
 
 Whether resulting from this, the sort of crown- 
 ing supplication of the poet, no judgment can be 
 hazarded ; but it is true that Dunbar had his pen- 
 sion augmented from ^10 to ^20, in 1507 — the 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 287 
 
 "new eik" having been paid on the 12th Novem- 
 ber of that year; and on the 26th August 1510, a 
 letter passed the " Privy Seal Register," enlarging 
 his pension to ^So yearly. It is as follows : — 
 
 " A Lettre maid to Maister William Dunbar, of 
 the gift of ane yeirly pensioun of iiij''^''- to be pait 
 to him at Mertymes and Witsonday, of the kingis 
 cofferis, be the Thesaurar that now is, and beis 
 for the tyme, or quhill he be promouit to bene- 
 fice of j"*'- or abone . . . ; with command to the 
 said Thesaurar to pay the samyn, and to the audi- 
 touris of chekker to allow it . . . At Edinbrugh, 
 the xxvj day of August, the yere forsaid [anno regni 
 Regis xxiij, 1510]." 
 
 This letter contains the same condition as to a 
 benefice as that granted in 1500 — differing, how- 
 ever, in the amount of income, the one being ^40, 
 and the other ^100. Whether Dunbar still con- 
 tinued to be as solicitous for a benefice after this 
 second eik to his pension as he was before it, can- 
 not be satisfactorily asserted. It appears to us that 
 his numerous hints and addresses to the king on 
 the subject of his neglected claims, were v/ritten 
 before his pension was augmented to j^ 80, as all of 
 them, either expressly or by implication, refer to a 
 state of poverty and destitution which he could 
 not with propriety allege afterwards. If he could 
 exist at all upon ^10 a year, his position must 
 have been vastly enhanced upon ^80. We have 
 therefore printed the whole of these appeals, as if 
 
a88 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 they had been written prior to the 25th August 
 1510. 
 
 THE aUEEN's RECEPTION AT ABERDEEN. 
 Blithe Aberdeen, thou beriall* of all tounis, 
 
 The lamp of beauty, bounty, and blitheness ; 
 Unto the heaven ascendit thy renoun is, 
 
 Of virtue, wisdom, and of worthiness ; 
 
 Hie noted is thy name of nobleness, 
 Into the coming of our lusty Queen, 
 
 The wale of wealth, guid cheer, and merriness : 
 Be blithe and bhssful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 And first her met the burgess of the toun. 
 
 Richly arrayit as become them to be. 
 Of whom they choysit four men of renoun, 
 
 In gouns of velvet, young, able, and lustie, 
 
 To bear the pall of velvet cramasie 
 Aboon her head, as the custom has been ; 
 
 Great was the sound of the artillerie : t 
 Be blithe and bhssful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 Ana fair procession met her at th^ Port, 
 In a cap of gold and silk, full pleasantlie. 
 
 Syne at her entry, with many fair disport, 
 Receivit her on streets lustilie ; 
 
 * Brightest, from beryl, a precious stone. 
 
 + The practice in artillery was brought to considerable perfec- 
 tion in the reign of James IV. , although, at the battle of Flod- 
 den, probably from the excess of chivahic feeling on his part, the 
 artillery which accompanied his army was not brought into play. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 289 
 
 Where first the salutation honourably 
 Of the sweet Virgin, guidly micht be seen ; 
 
 The sound of minstrels blawing to the skies : 
 Be blithe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 And syne thou gart the Orient Kings three, 
 
 Offer to Christ, with benign reverence, 
 Gold, sence,* myrrh, with all humilitie. 
 
 Shewing him King, with most magnificence ; 
 
 Syne how the angel, with sword of violence, 
 Furth of the joy of Paradise put clean 
 
 Adam and Eve for inobedience : 
 Be blithe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 And syne the Bruce, that ever was bold in stour, 
 
 Thou gart as Roy come riding under croun, 
 Richt a\vful, strong, and large of portratour, f 
 
 As noble, dreadful, michty champion . 
 
 The noble Stewarts syne, of great renown. 
 Thou gart upspring, with branches new and green, 
 
 Sae gloriously, while gladedj all the toun : 
 Be blithe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 Syne came there four-and-twenty maidens ying,§ 
 All clad in green, of marvellous beautie, 
 
 With hair detressit,|| as threads of gold did hing, 
 With white hats all broident richt bravelie. 
 Playing on timbrels, and singing richt sweetlie ; 
 
 That seemly sort, in order weel beseen, 
 
 Did meet the Queen, her saluandlT reverentlie : 
 
 Be blithe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 * Incense. + Visage. J Delighted. 
 
 § Young. II Hanging in tresses. H Saluting. 
 
 T 
 
290 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 The streets were all hung with tapestrie,* 
 Great was the press of people dwelt about, 
 
 And pleasant padyheanest playit prethhe ; 
 The lieges all did to their lady lout,J 
 Wha was convoyed with ana royal rout 
 
 Of great baroness' and lusty ladies sheen ; 
 Welcome, our Queen ! the commons gave ane shout : 
 
 Be blithe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 At her coming great was the mirth and joy. 
 For at their Cross abundantly ran wine ; 
 
 Until her lodging the toun did her convoy ; 
 Her for to treat they set their whole ingine,§ 
 Ane rich present they did to her propine ; 
 
 Ane costly cup that large thing wald contene, 
 Coverit and full of cunyeit|| gold richt fine : 
 
 Be bhthe and blissful, burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 O potent Princess ! pleasant, and preclair,ir 
 Great cause thou has to thank this noble toun. 
 
 That for to do thee honour, did not spare 
 Their geir, riches, substance, and persoun, 
 
 * This practice was fashionable ; but it must not be presumed 
 that the streets were wholly decorated. It was merely the stairs 
 of the principal street — which jutted out as in other old towns — 
 that were so decorated. The magistrates enacted that the inha- 
 bitants were "to fumys and graith the staris of the forgait with 
 arress werk daily, as efferis, for the ressauing of our Souerane 
 Lady the Quene." 
 
 t Pageants. + Bow. § Ingenuity. 
 
 II Coined. iy Superemiuent. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 291 
 
 Thee to receive on maist fair fashoun ; 
 Thee for to please they sought all way and mean ; 
 
 Therefore, sae lang as queen thou bearis croun, 
 Be thankful to this burgh of Aberdeen. 
 
 The visit of the queen to Aberdeen occurred in 
 May 151 1- Dunbar was no doubt in her suit, for 
 the very minute, though poetical, and interesting 
 account which he gives of her reception, could 
 hardly have been penned by any one save an eye- 
 witness. She was met by a procession, well con- 
 ceived and executed, while pageants, music, and 
 wine, kept the dense crowd in a joyous state of 
 excitement. From Kennedy's " Annals of Aber- 
 deen," we learn that great preparations had been 
 made in April for the queen's coming, and that 
 the "rich present they did to her propine," con- 
 sisted of j^aoo. 
 
 A GENERAL SATIRE. 
 Devourit with dream, devising in my slum'er, 
 How that this realm, with nobles out of num'er, 
 
 Guidit, providit, sae mony years has been ; 
 And now sic hunger, sic cowarts, and sic cummer, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sic pride with prelates, so few till preach and pray,* 
 Sic haunt of harlots with them, baith nicht and day,t 
 
 * In explanation, Hailes refers to the preface to Archbishop 
 Hamilton's Catechism. 
 
 •|- Numerous illustrations of this could be given from the 
 ecclesiastical history of the times. 
 
2g2i LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 That sould have aye God before their e'en, 
 So nice array, so strange to their abbey, 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 So mony priests clad up in secular weed. 
 
 With blazing breasts casting their claiths on breed,* 
 
 It is no need to tell of whom I mean. 
 So when the Psalms and Testament to read, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 So mony maisters, so mony gukkit clerks,t 
 So mony wasters, to God and all his werks, 
 
 So fiery sparks of despite fro the spleen,+ 
 Sic losin sarkis§ so mony glengoir merks, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony lordis, sae mony natural fules, 
 
 That better accordis to play them at the trules|| 
 
 * Breadth. 
 
 f So many masters of arts, yet so many foolish clerks. 
 
 X From the heart, so overbearing. 
 
 § Lord Hailes made out this to mean "so many lost shirts," 
 but he was not satisfied with the explanation ; and Mr Laing con- 
 tented himself with referring to an unexplained quotation from 
 the Aberdeen Register, in Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary : "ane 
 new sark /osin with blak velvet." Losin, we apprehend, signi- 
 fies lozenged—aSler the manner of glass "windows in old times. 
 " Sic losin sarks " would therefore mean "■ s,\icii lozenged shirts," 
 (lozenged with black velvet, or otherwise, ) which seems to have 
 been the top of the fashion at the time — a fasliion in some 
 measure revived in our own day, for we have now shirts printed 
 and wrought into various patterns, checked, lozenged, and 
 flowered. 
 
 11 Jamieson says truKs is a kind of game. No doubt it is ; but 
 of what kmd? Hailes guessed it to be Te-totum, or the cap;l>y- 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 293 
 
 Nor sees the dules* that commons does sustene, 
 New ta'en frae scules, sae mony anis and mules,t 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae meikle treason, sae mony partial saws,J 
 Sae little reason, to help the common cause, 
 
 That all the laws are not set by ane prein ; 
 Sic fenyeit flaws,§ sae mony wastit waws, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony thieves and murderers weel kend, 
 Sae great relevis of lords them to defend, 
 
 Because they spend the pelf them between, 
 Sae few till wend II this mischief, till amend, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 This to correct, they schoir IT with mony cracks,** 
 But little effect of spear or battle-ax. 
 
 When courage lacks the corpsett that sould mak 
 keen ; 
 Sae mony jacks and brats on beggar's backs. 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sic vaunt of woustours J J with hearts in sinful statures, 
 Sic brawlers, boasters, degenerate frae their natures. 
 
 hole ; and Jamieson thought it might be a game of the nature of 
 bowls. But may it not mean the pastime of trindle-hoop, so 
 much in use amongst boys, and even girls, of juvenile years? ■ 
 
 * Sorrows. + Asses and mules. 
 
 J Partial decisions, perhaps, as Hailes suggests. 
 
 § Sic feigned objections. || Ward. °\\ Threaten. 
 
 ** Big words. +t Body. 
 
294 LIFE -*^ND POEMS OF 
 
 And sic segratours,* the puir men to prevene ; 
 Sae mony traitours, sae mony sebeatours,t 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony judges and lords now made of late,t 
 Sae small refuges § the puir man to debate ; 
 
 Sae mony estate, for common weel sae quhene|| 
 Oure aU the gait, sae mony theaves sae tait,ir 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony ane sentence retreitit,** for to win 
 Geir and acquaintance, or kindness of their kin ; 
 
 They think no sin, where profit comes between ; 
 Sae mony ane gin,tt to haste them to the pin,Jt 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sic knaves and crakkars,§§ to play at carts and dice. 
 Sic haUand-schekkarSjIIII whilk at Cokkilbeis gryce,irir 
 
 Are halden of price, when limmers* does convene; 
 Sic store of vice, sae mony wits unwise. 
 
 Within this land were never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony merchants, sae mony are menswom, 
 Sic puir tenants, sic coursing even and morn, 
 
 * ForestaUers. + Abaters. 
 
 J The Lords of Daily Council, if this refers to such lords at 
 all, were instituted in 1503. 
 
 § HaUes explains this, " such little quirks to lay the poor man 
 low. Refuge, in Cotgrave, is said to be demurrer.'" 
 
 II So few. H Active. ** Reversed. 
 
 •H- Device. XX Point. §§ Boasters. 
 
 II II Hallanshakers, sturdy beggars. 
 HH The feast of Cockelby's pig. 
 
 * Worthless persons. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 295 
 
 Whilk slays the corn, and fruit that growis green ; 
 Sic skaith and scorn, sae mony paitlatts* worn, 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony rakketts,t sae mony ketche-pillars,J 
 Sic balls, sic knacketts,§ and sic tutivillars,|| 
 
 And sic evil-willars to speak of king and queen ; 
 Sic pudding-fiUars, descending doun from miliars, 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sic fartingaills IT on flaggs** as fat as whals, 
 Facit like fules with hats that little avails ; 1 1 
 
 And sic foul tails JJ to sweep the causey clean ; 
 The dust upskails, mony fiUok §§ with fuk sails. 
 
 Within this land was never heard nor seen. 
 
 Sae mony ane Kittie, drest up with golden chenyie, 
 Sae few witty, that weel can fables fenyie. 
 
 With apill renieis|||| aye shawing her golden chain. 
 Of Satan's seinyie, sure sic an unsall menyielfir 
 
 Within this land wa^ never heard nor seen. 
 
 * A woman's ruff. 
 
 ■!• Racket, the bat which strikes the ball at tennis. 
 X Pillars in the game of ketche or caiche. This game is often 
 mentioned in the Treasurer's Accounts. 
 
 § From nacquet, in French, a lad who marks at tennis. 
 II Fiends. 1 Farthingales, hoop-petticoats. 
 
 ** Flanks. ++ Hats of censurable fonn. 
 
 XX Long trains. Acts of parliament were made to regulate 
 these and sundry other sumptuaiy matters. 
 §§ A giddy young woman. 
 
 II II "Apill renye is a rein, string, or necklace of beads." — Hailes. 
 1111 Of Satan's synod, or company, such an unhallo\Yed number. 
 
2g6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 In the Bannatyne MS. this poem is ascribed to 
 Dunbar, and in the Maitland, to Sir James Inglis. 
 There was a person of this name, abbot of Culross. 
 Of his fame as. a poet, nothing more is known than 
 v/hat is conveyed in the following lines by Lynd- 
 say — 
 
 " Quha can say mair than Schir James Inglis sayis 
 In ballatis, farsis, and in plesand playis ? 
 Bot Culross haith his pen maid impotent." 
 
 That is, the benefice of Culross had cooled his pur- 
 suit of the Muse. The abbot, for some cause not 
 mentioned, was slain on the 1st of March 1531, bv 
 the Baron of Tulialane and his followers. We 
 have no doubt whatever that the Bannatyne MS. 
 is correct. The verses bear all the characteristics 
 of Dunbar's muse. From the line, 
 
 " Sae mony judges and lordis noiv made o/late" 
 
 it is supposed that the poet must either refer to 
 i5°35 when the Lords of Daily Council were 
 appointed, or 1532, when the College of Justice 
 was instituted. If the latter, the verses could be 
 written by neither Dunbar nor Inglis ; and if to 
 the former, they must have been written by Dun- 
 bar, it is said, soon after 1503. But this could 
 hardly have been the case. Such a satire he would 
 not be inclined to write, even although such na- 
 tional corruption had prevailed, so immediately 
 after inditing the "Thistle and the Rose," and 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 297 
 
 when the hopes and feelings of the people were in 
 agreeable buoyancy. And because he speaks of 
 evil-willers to " king and queen," it has been held 
 that the poem was composed prior to the death of 
 James IV. at Flodden, in 1513. It certainly would 
 have been improper in Dunbar to have used that 
 phrase, after the death of James, even figuratively. 
 We are inclined, therefore, to think that the 
 " general satire " was written in the lifetime of 
 James — perhaps between 1510 and 1513. The 
 expression, " now made of late," in reference to 
 " so many judges and lords," would as obviously be 
 improper, if the institution of the Lords of Coun- 
 cil in 1503 was meant; but this can hardly be the 
 true interpretation of "judges and lords," because 
 the Lords of Council were all lords and all judges. 
 The poet, on the contrary, seems to allude to some 
 late addition to the judges, probably provincial; 
 and the creation of a new batch of barons, m lords, 
 all of whom would have jurisdiction in their own 
 baronies. The only thing certain is, that the 
 poem must have been written before the death of 
 James, in 1513- 
 
 TO THE QUEEN-DOWAGER. 
 O lusty flow'r of youth, benign and sweet, 
 
 Fresh bloom of beauty, blitheful, bricht, and sheen ; 
 Fair, lovesome lady, gentle, and discreet. 
 
 Young breaking blosom, yet on the stalks green, 
 
298 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Delightsome lily, lusty for to be seen, 
 Be glad in heart, and expel heaviness ; 
 
 Though bare of bliss, that ever so blithe has been, 
 Devoid languor, and live in lustiness. 
 
 Bricht Sterne* at morrow that does the nichthynf chase, 
 Of love's lightsome day the life and guide, 
 
 Let no dark cloud absent from us thy face. 
 Nor let no sable from us thy beauty hide, 
 That has no comfort where that we go or ride 
 
 But to behold the beam of thy brichtness ; 
 Banish all baill,5 and into bliss abide ; 
 
 Devoid languor, and live in lustiness. 
 
 Art thou pleasant, lusty, yourg and fair ; 
 
 Full of all virtue and guid^ condition, 
 Richt noble of blood, richt wise and debonair, § 
 
 Honourable, gentle, and faithful of renoun. 
 
 Liberal, lovesome, and lusty persoun. 
 Why sould thou than let sadness thee oppress ? 
 
 In heart be blithe and lay all dolour doun ; 
 Devoid languor, and leif in lustiness. 
 
 I me commend with all humilitie 
 
 Unto thy beauty, blissful and benign. 
 To whom I am, and sail aye servant be. 
 
 With steadfast heart, and faithful true meaning, 
 
 Unto the death, without ere departing ; 
 For whose sake I sail my pen address, 
 
 Sangis to mak for thy recomforting, 
 That thou may live in joy and lustiness 
 
 Star. t Back. + Sorrow. § Gentle, easy. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 299 
 
 O fair, sweet blossom, now in beauty's flow'r, 
 
 Unfadit baith of colour and. virtue, 
 Thy noble lord that died has done devoir, 
 
 Fade not with weeping thy visage fair of hue ; 
 
 O lovesome, lusty lady, wise and true. 
 Cast out all care, and comfort do incress, 
 
 Exile all sighing, on thy servant rew ! * 
 Devoid all languor, and live in lustiness. 
 
 This poem, in Baimatyne's MS., has no title, 
 nor is the author mentioned. But there can be no 
 doubt that the verses are by Dunbar, and Mr Laing 
 did right in addressing them to the queen-dowager, 
 \\ho was only twenty-five years of age when the 
 king was slain at Flodden, 9th September 1513. 
 
 ANE ORISON WHEN THE GOVERNOUR PAST INTO 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Thou that in heaven, for our salvation, 
 
 Made justice, mercy, and piety to agree ; 
 And Gabriel sent with salutation 
 
 On to the Maid of maist humilitie ; 
 
 And made Thy Son to tak humanitie, 
 For our demerits to be of Mary boirn ; 
 
 Have of us pity, and our protector be ! 
 For, butt Thy help, this KynrickJ is forlorn. 
 
 * Banish all sorrow, and on thy servant have pity. 
 
 + Without. J Kingdom. 
 
300 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 O hie supernal Father of sapience, 
 
 Whilk of Thy virtue does every folly chase, 
 Ane spark of Thy hie excellent prudence, 
 
 Give us, that nouther wit nor reason has ! 
 
 In whase hearts no prudence can tak place. 
 Example, nor experience of beforn ; * 
 
 To us, sinners, ane drop send of Thy grace ! 
 For, but Thy help, our Kynrick is forlorn. 
 
 We are so'beastly, dull, and ignorant. 
 
 Our rudeness may not lichtly be correctit ; 
 
 But Thou, that art of mercy militant. 
 
 Thy vengeance seize on us to sin subjectit. 
 And gar Thy justice be with reuth+ connectit ; 
 
 For quite away so wild frae us is worn, 
 And in folly we are so far infectit. 
 
 That, but Thy help, this Kynrick is forlorn. 
 
 Thou, that on rudej: us ransomit and redeemit, 
 Rew§ on our sin, before your sicht decidit ; 
 
 Spare our trespass, whilk may not be expreemit,|| 
 For breifir of justice, for we may not abide it. 
 Help this puir realm, in parties all dividit ! 
 
 Us succour send, that wore the crown of thorn. 
 That with the gift of grace it may be guidit ! 
 
 For, but thy help, this Kynrick is forlorn. 
 
 Lord ! hold Thy hand, that strucken has so sore ; 
 Have of us pity, after our punition ;** 
 
 * Before. t Pity. t The cross. 
 
 § Pity. II Expressed. 
 
 H Writ. ** Punishing. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 30I 
 
 And^ive us grace Thee for to grieve no more, 
 And gar us mend with penance and contrition ; 
 And to Thy vengeance mak non addition, 
 
 As Thou that of michtis may to morn,* 
 Fra care to comfort Thou mak restitution : 
 
 For, but Thy help, this Kynrick is forlorn. 
 
 There is little difficulty in fixing the date of this 
 poem. The queen acted as regent for some time 
 after the death of the king, but the country was 
 dissatisfied, and John, Duke of Albany, who re- 
 sided chiefly in France, on his estates there, was 
 chosen as regent. He arrived in Scotland on the 
 15th of May i^i^' ^'^'^ "^^s gladly welcomed by 
 the people. Party divisions, however, ran so high, 
 that Angus — who married the widowed queen, at 
 the head of the English influence, in opposition to 
 the governor and the national cause — even although 
 his policy had been carried out with a stronger 
 hand, could hardly have expected success. But 
 he bent so far to the storm that he three times 
 abandoned his trust, and retired to France, in the 
 hope, perhaps, that his absence would shew the ne- 
 cessity of greater union. His first return to France 
 occurred in 1517; and that the poet^s "Orison" 
 was composed on this occasion there can be no 
 doubt. Dunbar must have been deeply affected by 
 the death of the king, and the distracted state into 
 which the country was thrown by its party dissen- 
 
 * To-morrow. 
 
302 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 sions; and his anguish must have been heightened 
 by the manner in which his patroness, the dowager 
 queen, whom he had so often celebrated for her 
 beauty and virtues, joined in these cabals, and de- 
 graded herself by her conduct otherwise. At the 
 time he wrote his " Orison," no one could see how 
 the kingdom was to be kept from falling to pieces 
 by its own dissensions, even although there had 
 been no danger of invasion from England. 
 
 How long Dunbar survived this period there is 
 no means of ascertaining. On the 14th May 15 13, 
 the Treasurer's Accounts shew that he was paid 
 Ivjs. to account of his pension. From August 8 
 1513, to June 1515, these accounts have not been 
 preserved, and his name does not occur in them at 
 a subsequent date. But that he was living in 1517, 
 is proved by the foregoing poem ; and it has been 
 surmised that his pension may have been transferred 
 to some other department of the public revenue, or 
 on the breaking up of the court, consequent on the 
 death of James, the queen may have conferred a 
 benefice upon him. All this is probable, although 
 it is curious that there is no trace of such a thing ; 
 but it is to be hoped he was not neglected. His 
 address " To the Queen-Dowager" shews that he 
 had no misgivings on the score of provision for old 
 
 " To whom I am, and sail aye servant be, 
 
 With steadfast heart, and faithful true meaning.'' 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 303 
 
 In such circumstances, it is not improbable that the 
 following verses — conveying a fine moral — were 
 amongst the last of his productions. At all events 
 they come in very appropriately here. 
 
 OF LOVE, ERDLY* AND DIVINE. 
 
 Now coolit is Dame Venus' brand ; 
 
 True love's fire is aye kindiland, 
 
 And I begin to understand, 
 
 In fenj'ett love what folly been ; 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen.]: 
 
 ^^'hile§ Venus' fire be dead and cauld. 
 True love's fire never burnis bauld ; 
 So as the tae love waxes auld, 
 The other does increase Inair keen : 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 No man has courage for to write, 
 
 What pleasance is in love perfite. 
 
 That has in fen yet love delight : 
 
 Their kindness is so contrar clean : 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Full weel is him that may imprent. 
 Or ony ways his heart consent, 
 
 "■ Earthly. f Feigned. J From the heart. § UntiL 
 
304 LTFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 To turn to true love his intent, 
 
 And still the quarrel to sustain : 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 I have experience by mysell ; 
 
 In love's court anis did I dwell ; 
 
 But where I of a joy could tell, 
 
 I could of trouble tell fifteen : 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Before, where that I was in dread, 
 
 Now have I comfort for to speed ; 
 
 Where I had maugr6 to my meed,* 
 
 I trust reward and thanks between : 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Where love was wont me to displease. 
 Now find I into love great ease ; 
 Where I had danger and disease, 
 My breast all comfort does contein': 
 / Now comis age where yo^th has been. 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Where I was hurt with jealousy, ^ 
 
 And wald no lover were but I ; 
 Now where I love I wald all wy t 
 As weel as I lovit I ween : 
 
 * ' ' Where, instead of being rewarded, I met with discourage- 
 ment. " — Hailes. 
 \ Every person. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 305 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Before where I durst not for shame 
 My love descrive,* nor teU her name, 
 Now think I worship were and fame, ~ 
 To all the warld that it were seen : 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been. 
 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Before no wicht I did complein. 
 So did her danger me derene ;t 
 And now I set not by a bean 
 Her beauty, nor her twa fair e'en : 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 I have a love fairer of face. 
 Whom in no danger may have place, « 
 Whilk will me guerdon give and grace, 
 And mercy aye when I me mein : J 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Unquiet I do no thing nor sane,§ 
 Nor wares a lovis thought in vain ; 
 I sail be as weel lovit again, 
 There may no j angler me prevene : || 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been. 
 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 ± Lament. 
 
 Describe. 
 
 f Disorder. 
 
 Say. 
 
 II Prevent. 
 
 
 H 
 
3C6 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Ane love so fair, so gude, so sweet, 
 So rich, so rewtliful* and discreet. 
 And for the kind of man so meet, 
 ' Never more sail be, nor yet 'has been : 
 
 Now comis age where youth has been, 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Is none so true a love as He, 
 
 That for true love of us did die ; 
 
 He sould be lovit again, think me, 
 
 That wald so fain our love obtein : 
 Now comis age where youth has been. 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 Is none butf the grace of God I wis, 
 
 That can in youth consider this ; 
 
 This false, deceiving warld's bliss, 
 
 So guides man in flouris green : 
 Now comis age where youth has been. 
 And true love rises fro the spleen. 
 
 That Dunbar was w^ell advanced in life when 
 this contrast between "love earthly and divine" 
 was written, can hardly be doubted. Almost all 
 his productions were prompted by some reality of 
 circumstance or circumstances which communicated 
 a corresponding reality of influence on his feelings. 
 And here we have him exponing the salutary change 
 which age had effected upon himself, in withdraw- 
 ing his afl^ections from the things of the world to 
 those of heaven. 
 
 * So full of pity. t Without 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 307 
 
 Dunbar differed from most of his contemporaries 
 of whose works we have any knowledge, in this, 
 that his muse laid hold of the things around him, 
 rather than soar, as others did, upon abstract or 
 mere sentimental flights. No doubt he so far 
 yielded to the prevaihng taste for allegory, and in 
 so doing shewed that his fancy was fully equal 
 to whatever task he undertook. His "Golden 
 Targe," the most purely ideal of all his writings, 
 will ever remain a golden proof of the power with 
 which his genius could revel in the regions of 
 fancy. But the great body of his writmgs — at least 
 what portion of them has been preserved — hold him 
 up as a man of the times — one who, though a 
 poet, had an eye to what was going on around 
 him — ready to applaud what he deemed right, 
 or denounce, satirise, and ridicule what he con- 
 ceived to be wrong. Nor did he spare the high 
 more than the low. Even the king, his patron, 
 did not escape his censure — 
 
 " I say nocht, sir, you to repreif ! 
 But doubtless I gae richt near hand it" — 
 
 while the barons, the judges, the clcrgv, all came 
 in for a share of his keen and cutting reproof. In 
 this way he has left a living picture of the domestic 
 state of Scotland, and especially of its courtly habits 
 and pastimes during. the reign of James IV., with 
 which no historian of the times should be unac- 
 quainted. In this I'espect he may well be styled 
 
308 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 the Burns of his day. His didactic powers are 
 great, and his humour and sarcasm, notwithstanding 
 the antiquated idiom in which his thoughts are 
 conceived and expressed, are of the highest descrip- 
 tion, while his sense of the ridiculous is beyond 
 that of any poet we are acquainted with. As Burns 
 has done in later times, Dunbar mixed himself 
 up, in numerous and amusing instances, with his 
 subject, as in " The Visitation of St Francis," the 
 " Dance in the Queen's Chalmer," the " Petition 
 of the Auld Grey Horse, Dunbar," Sec. Nor did 
 he refrain from those admissions of his own delin- 
 quency which have given to Burns a peculiar 
 position amongst modern poets. Much might 
 be said as to the character of both the author 
 and his poems, for there can be no doubt that his 
 writings had no small influence on the times. 
 Though himself in holy orders, no one could be 
 more effective in exposing and denouncing the 
 foul hypocrisy of the priesthood, the effect of which 
 upon public opinion must have been thoroughly 
 awakening. It is remarkable that he should have 
 escaped censure ; but this may to some extent be 
 accounted for by his position at court. 
 
 It is deeply to be regretted that so little, or 
 rather nothing, is known of the latter days of 
 one whose writings reflect so much lustre on the 
 early literature of his country. His death is guessed 
 by Mr Laing to have occurred about 1520, and 
 this only by inference. In a poem by Lynd- 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 3O9 
 
 say of the mount, written in 1530, the author 
 
 savs : — 
 
 " Or quha can now the warkis counterfait 
 Off Kennedie with termes aureait ? 
 Or off Dunbar, quha language had at large, 
 As may be seen intill his ' Golden Targe.' " 
 
 " From these words," says Mr Laing, " and from 
 the manner in which Lyndsay laments Bishop 
 Douglas, who died in 153a, it may be inferred that 
 our author's decease was previous to that of the 
 prelate ; wherefore we cannot greatly err in sup- 
 posing that he died about the year 1520, when he 
 had attained at least sixty years of age." The 
 probability is, if we may judge from the strain of 
 various of his poems, that he was considerably 
 older. 
 
 There is an address by " The Lords of Scotland 
 to the Governor in France," urging his speedy 
 return in consequence of the distracted state of 
 the country. It also says — 
 
 " Grit weir and wandrecht * hes bene us amang, 
 Sen thy departing, and yit approchis mair; 
 Thy tardatioun caussis us to think lang. 
 
 For of thy cuming we haif richt grit dispair." 
 
 This refers to the inroads of the English, and shews 
 that the verses could not have been written before 
 
 * Misfortune, 
 
310 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 1519 or 15:10. They have been attributed to 
 Dunbar, and are printed in Mr Laing's edition ; 
 upon the strength of which, apparently, the writer 
 of the article "Dunbar," in thfe last issue of the 
 "Encyclopaedia Britannica," comes to the conclu- 
 sion that nothing is certain as to the poet's death, 
 but that he died before 1530. This may be true ; 
 but if the assertion rests upon the idea that Dun- 
 bar wrote the address referred to in 1519 or 1520, 
 it seems utterly fallacious, for it must be obvious 
 that there is nothing of Dunbar in the verses ex- 
 cept a very weak and prosaic imitation of his style. 
 Amongst the pieces known to be truly Dunbar's, 
 besides " The Tua Maryit Wemen and the Wedo," 
 of which some account is given at the commence- 
 ment of this volume, we have found it necessary 
 to exclude "The Tod and the Lamb," a poem 
 composed upon some intrigue, now unknown, of 
 his royal patron. It has no claim to particular 
 merit, and is exceptional jjoth in point of subject 
 and language. Also an address " To the Queue," 
 beginning — ' 
 
 " Madame, )'our men said thai wald ryd, 
 And latt this Fastrennis evin ower slyd." 
 
 It is meant as a joke, but the wit of the thing is 
 lost to modern readers, because of the obscurity of 
 the allusions. Enough, however, is obvious to shew 
 that ladies, including queens, in the poet's time, 
 were much less squeamish than in our day ; other- 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 3II 
 
 wise such verses could not have been presented, 
 even by way of amusement, to any lady whatever. 
 Nor was Queen Margaret alone in this respect. 
 Her contemporaries of England, from whence she 
 came, were equally free from restraint. It may be 
 said, and truly enough, no doubt, as the statistics 
 of Scotland and the Divorce Courts of England 
 shew, that since Dunbar's day we have only made 
 a reformation in ivords, not deeds ; still even that 
 little is a step towards accomplishing more solid 
 results. 
 
 Amongst the poems attributed to Dunbar, we 
 can only admit of " A General Satyre,^^ which, 
 endorsed by the authority of Bannatyne, as well as 
 from its own internal evidence, cannot be ques- 
 tioned ; and his address "To the Quene-Dovvager," 
 which also plainly proclaims its author. " The 
 Droichis Part of the Play : an Interlude," may or 
 may not be Dunbar's. We have his own authority 
 for saying that he did write plays as well as ballads, 
 but there is nothing to guide us in attributing this 
 particular piece to the poet, and it may have 
 undergone many emendations by others, as was the 
 case with all such pieces, every performer eking or 
 paring as he thought proper. Besides, it is ex- 
 tremely indelicate. "A Brash of Wowing" bears 
 the imquestionable stamp of Dunbar's genius, but 
 it is inadmissible. "The Freiris of Berwik," though 
 a well-told story, does not at all bear the same 
 stamp, albeit Pinkerton thought so. 
 
31 a LIFE AND POEMS, ETC. 
 
 Such anonymous pieces, of acknowledged merit, 
 might be collected into a volume or volumes by 
 themselves, with suggestions as to the probable 
 authors, but conjectures of this kind ought not to 
 be carried further. 
 
THE FLYTING OF DUNBAR 
 AND KENNEDY. 
 
 DUNBAR TO SIR JOHN THE ROSS. 
 
 Sir John the Ross, ane thing there is compiht 
 
 In general be Kennedy and Quiniing,* 
 Whilk has them self above the stemis stylit ; 
 
 But had they made of menace any minting 
 
 In special, sic strife sould rise but t stinting ; 
 Howbeit with boast their breasts were as bendit 
 As Lucifer, that frae the heaven descendit. 
 
 Hell sould not hide their harnes frae harmis hinting. J 
 
 The erd sould trem'le, the firmament sould shake, 
 And all the air in venomous sudden stink, 
 
 And all the devils in hell for redour§ quake. 
 To hear what J sould write, with pen and ink ; 
 For and I flyte some sege|| for shame sould sink, 
 
 The sea sould brim, the moon sould thole eclippis. 
 
 * What this compilation, in common between Kennedy and 
 Quintine, was, is not known. For Qidntine Schaw, see " La- 
 ment for the Makars, " p. 248. + Without. 
 
 X Being laid hold of. § Terror, 1| Men. 
 
314 T-IFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Rockis sould rive, the warld sould hald no grippis, 
 Sae loud of care the common bell sould clink. 
 
 But wonder laith were I to be ane bard, 
 Flyting to use, for greatly I eschame ;'' 
 
 For it is nowther winning nor reward, 
 But tinsal baith of honour and of fame. 
 Increase sorrow, slander, and evil name ; 
 
 Yet micht they be sae bald, in their backbiting. 
 
 To gar me rhyme, and raise the fiend with Flyting, 
 And through all countries, and kinriks t them pro- 
 claim. 
 
 KENMEDY TO DUN BAH. 
 
 Dirtin Dunbar, whom on blawis thou thy boast ? 
 
 Pretending thee to write sic scaldit skrowis ;% 
 Ramowd rebald,§ thou fall doun at the roast, 
 
 My laureatll letters at thee and I lowis ; 
 
 Mandrag, IT mymmerkin,** made maister but in 
 mowis,tt 
 Thrice-shield trumpir,3:+ with ane thread-bare gown, 
 Say, " Deo mercy," or I cry thee down. 
 
 And leave thy rhyming, rebald, and thy rowis.§§ 
 
 * I would be ashamed. ■!• Kingdoms. 
 
 X Disconnected scrolls. § Raw -mouthed vagabond. 
 
 II Laurelled. 1 Mandrake. 
 
 ** Expressive of diminutive stature. As already shewn, Dun- 
 bar probably was of low stature. 
 +-t" Made master of arts but in jest. 
 
 |.J Thrice-hidden deceiver. §§ Rolls, or writings. 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 
 
 315 
 
 Dreid, dirtfast dearch,* that thou has disobeyit 
 My cousin Ouintin and my Commissar ; 
 
 Fantastic fule, trust weel thou sail be fleyit,t 
 Ignorant elf, ape, owl irregular, 
 Skaldit skaitbird,J and common skamelar,§ 
 
 Wanthriven funling, that Nature made ane yrle,l| 
 
 Baith John the Ross and thou sail squeel and skirl, 
 And ever I hear ocht of your making mair. 
 
 Here I put silence to thee in all partis. 
 Obey, and cease the play that thou pretendis ; 
 
 Weak \validrag,"r and varlot of the cartis,** 
 See soon thou male my Commissar amendis. 
 And let him lay six leeches on thy lendis,tt 
 
 Meekly in recompensing of thy scorn, 
 
 Or thou sail ban the time that thou was bom. 
 For Kennedy to thee this schedule sendis. 
 
 DUNBAR TO KENNEDY. 
 
 Ersche brybour JJ bard, vile beggar with thy brattis,§§ 
 Carrybald crawdoun|||| Kennedy, coward of kind. 
 
 * Dwarf. t Put to flight. 
 
 t Arctic gull. § Frequenter of the shambles. 
 
 II Dwarf. H Useless person. 
 
 ** Cards. +t Loins. t+ Irish thief. 
 
 §§ Children. This is another evidence of what we adduced as 
 to this poetic encounter having taken place after Kennedy had 
 acquired Glentig, and settled down in marriage as a small pro- 
 prietor. II II Scurvy coward. 
 
31 5 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Evil farit and dryit, as Danesmen on the rattis,* 
 Like as the gleds had on thy gulet snout dined ; 
 Mismade monster, ilk moon out of thy mind, 
 
 Renounce, rebald, thy rhyming, thou but royis,J 
 Thy trechour § tongue has tane ana Hieland 
 stryndjll 
 
 Ane Lawland wald mak a better noise. 
 
 Raven, raggit rook, and full of ribaldrie, 
 
 ScarthTT frae scorpion, scaldit** in scurrilitie, 
 
 I see thee halting in thy harlotrie. 
 And in to other science no thing slie. 
 Of every virtue void, as men may sie ; 
 
 Quitclaim clergy, and cleek to thee ane club,tt 
 Ane bard blasphemer, in bribery aye to be ; 
 
 For wit and wisdom ane wisp frae thee may rub. 
 
 Thou speiris, dastard, gif I daur with thee fecht ? 
 Ye dagoneJt dowbart,§§ thereof have thou no 
 doubt!. 
 
 Whenever we meet thereto, my hand I hechtl||l 
 To red thy ribald rhjining with a rout : 
 Through all Britain it sail be blawin out. 
 
 How that thou, poisonit pelour,irir gat thy paiks ; 
 
 * Supposed to allude to the practice, in Denmark, of exposing 
 the dead bodies of criminals upon wheels raised above the 
 ground. 
 
 + Red, a term in heraldry. + Raves. 
 
 § Deceitful. || Strain. H Puny creature. 
 
 ** Scalded. +t Take a staff and go a-begging. 
 
 +J A minced oath still in use, especially among boys. 
 §§ DuU fellow. 11 II Promise. liH Thie£ 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 317 
 
 With ane dog leech I shape to 'gar thee shout, 
 And nouthir to thee tak knife, sword, nor aix. 
 
 Thou crop and root of traitors treasonable, 
 
 The father and mother of murder and mischief. 
 Deceitful tyrant, with serpent's tongue, unstable ; 
 
 Cuckold, crawdoun* cowart, and common thief; 
 
 Thou purpos't for to undo our Lordis chief 
 In Paisley, with ane poison that was fell,t 
 
 For whilk, bribour, yet sail thou thole a brief ;t 
 Pelour, on thee I sail it prove mysell. 
 
 Though I wald lie, thy frawart§ phisnomy 
 Does manifest thy mahce to all men ; 
 
 Fy ! traitor thief; fy ! glengoir loun, f y ! f y ! 
 Fy ! fiendly front, far fouler than ane fen, 
 My friendis thou reprovit with thy pen ? 
 
 Thou leis, traitor ! whilk 1 sail on thee preif, 
 Suppose thy heid were armit times ten. 
 
 Thou sail recryatjl or thy croun sail cleif. 
 
 Or thou durst move thy mind malicious. 
 Thou saw the sail above my heid up draw ; 
 
 * Base. 
 
 + This refers to some attempt upon the king's life, prior, per- 
 haps, to his accession to the throne. It is not likeiy that 
 Kennedy was personally concerned in this affair, otherwise 
 Dunbar would not have wounded his feelings by alluding to it ; 
 but the Kennedies were on the side of James III., and the party 
 with whom they coalesced may have made some unrecorded 
 effort to destroy the heir to the throne, wlio was associated with 
 the disaffected party. J Undergo a legal charge. 
 
 § Contrary. || Retract 
 
3l8 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 But Eolus' full wud, and Neptunus, 
 
 Mirk and moonless, was wet with wind and waw,* 
 And mony hundred mile hyne cowdt us blaw 
 
 By Holland, Zeland, Zetland, and Northway coast. 
 In desert place where we were famist aw ;t 
 
 Yet come I hame, false bard, to lay thy boast. 
 
 Thou calls thee Rethory, with thy golden lips : 
 
 Na, glouring, gaping fule, thou art beguiled. 
 Thou art but Glunscoch,§ with thy gilten hips, 
 
 That for thy lounry mony a leech has filed ; 
 
 Wan-visaged widdiefu', out of thy Aiit gane wild, 
 Laithly and lousy, as lathand|| as ane leek, 
 
 Sen thou with worship wald sae fain be stiled. 
 Hail, sovereign senior ! thy — ; — hangs through thy 
 breek. 
 
 ForworthinlT fule, of all the warld refuse, 
 
 What ferly is though thou rejoice to fly^e. 
 Sic eloquence as they in Erschery use. 
 
 In sic is set thy thrawart appetite ; 
 
 Thou has full little feile ** of fair indite : 
 I tak on me ane pair of Lothian hips 
 
 Sail fairer English mak, and mair perfite, 
 Than thou can blabber with thy Carrick lips. 
 
 Better thou gangs to lead ane dog to skomer,-i-t 
 
 PynitJt pyk-piirse pelour,§§ than vith thy maister 
 pingle.llil 
 
 * Wave. 
 
 + Hence begoud. 
 
 t All famished. 
 
 § Glunscoch, 
 
 a sour-looking person. 
 
 II Thin. 
 
 ^ Execrable. 
 
 ** Knowledge. 
 
 +t Vomit. 
 
 It Shrivelled. 
 
 §§ Pick-purse thief. 
 
 nil Contend. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 319 
 
 Thou lay full prideless in the pease this somer, 
 And fain at even for to bring hame ane single,* 
 Syne rub it at ane other auld wife's ingle ; 
 
 But now, in winter, for puirtith thou art traikit ;t 
 
 Thou has nae break to let thy gingle ; 
 
 Beg thee ane cloak, for. Bard, thou sail go nakit. 
 
 Lean larber,* lounger, baith lousy in lisk and lunyie ;§ 
 Fy ! skoldert || skin, thou art but skyre '^i and 
 skrumple ; ** 
 
 For he that roasted Lawrence had thy grunyie,t+ 
 And he that hid St John's e'en with ane wimple, JJ 
 And he that dang St Augustine with ane rumple,§§ 
 
 Thy foul front had, and he that Bartilmo|||| flaid -,11 
 The gallows gapes after thy graceless gruntle,* 
 
 As thou wald for ane haggis, hungry gled. 
 
 Commervvald craudoun,+ nae man counts thee aae 
 kerse,t 
 Sweer, swappit s\vanky,§ swine-keeper aye for swaits ;|| 
 
 * Handful of gleaned corn. + Fatigued. 
 
 J Ghost, or worn-out person. § Loin. 
 
 II Scorched. "ii Indurated skin. ** Wrinkle. 
 
 +f Countenance. tt Fold. §§ Tail, 
 
 nil Bartholomew. %^l Skinned. * Snout. 
 
 + Henpecked coward. 
 
 J It is difficult to guess the poet's meaning. Kerses means 
 cresses, but we can hardly fancy such an expression as "na man 
 counts thee ane eress." He might be too barren to be esteemed 
 a carse, a rich, level piece of land. Or it may be ane curse. It 
 is, perhaps, but too common an e.xpression to say, "I do not 
 give, or care, a curse for thee ! " 
 
 § An unwilling, drawn-together, lean person. II Small beer. 
 
320 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Thy Commissar, Quintine, bids thee cum kiss his , 
 
 He loves not sic ana forlane loun of laits ;* 
 
 He says, Thou scaffst and begs mair beir and aits 
 
 Nor ony cripple in Carrick land about ; 
 Other puir beggars and thou are at debates. 
 
 Decrepit carlings on Kennedy cries out. 
 
 Matter enough I have, I bid not fenyie,!]: 
 Though thou, foul trumpour,§ thus upon me leid ; 
 
 Corrupt carrion, hie sail I cry thy senyie ; || 
 Thinks thou not how thou come in great need, 
 Greeting in Galloway, like to ane gallow breed,ir 
 
 Raming and rolping,** begging ky and ox ; 
 I saw thee there, in to thy watheman's weed,tt 
 
 Whilk was not worth ane pair of auld grey fox. 
 
 Ersche cateran, with thy polk, breek and rilling,JJ 
 Thou and thy queen, as greedy gleds, ye gang 
 
 With polks to mill, and begs baith meal and shilling ; 
 There is but lice and lang nails you amang : 
 Foul haggerbald,§§ for hens thus will ye hang. 
 
 Thou has ane perilous face to play with lambs ; 
 Ane thousand kids, were they in faulds full Strang, 
 
 Thy limmerfulllll look waldfleyiriT them and their dams. 
 
 * Importunate loun, witliout manners. 
 
 t Collects. J Feign. § Deceiver. 
 
 II Progeny. H Race. 
 
 ** Incessant repetition, and crying with a hoarse voice, 
 tt Wanderer's weed. 
 ++ Shoes made of undressed hides. 
 §§ Coarse feeder. Ij || Scoundrelh'. HI Frighten. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 32I 
 
 In till ane glen thou has, out of repair, 
 Ane laithly* lodge that was the Upper men's ; 
 
 With thee ane soutar's wife, of bliss as bare, 
 And like twa stalkers steals in cocks and hens, 
 Thou plucks the poultry, and she pulls off the pens ; 
 
 All Carrick cries, God gif this dowsyt was drown'd ; 
 And when thou hears ane goose cry in the glens. 
 
 Thou thinks it sweeter than sacred bell of sound. 
 
 Thou Lazarus, thou laithly, lean tramort.J 
 
 To all the world thou may example be ; 
 To look upon thy grizzly, piteous port. 
 
 For hideous, howe, and houkit is thine e'e ; 
 
 Thy cheek bane bare, and blackenit is thy blee ;§ 
 Thy chop, thy choll,|| gars men for to live chaste ; 
 
 Thy ganelT it gars us think that we maun die : 
 I conjure thee, thou hungert Hieland ghaist. 
 
 The larbar** looks of thy lang, lean crag. 
 
 Thy puir pynitft throat, peelit and out of ply,tt 
 
 Thy skolderit§§ skin, hued like ane saffron bag, 
 Gai'S men despitej||| their flesh, thou spirit of Gy : 
 Fy ! fiendly front ; fy ! tyke's face, fy ! f y ! 
 
 Aye lounging, like ane loikmanlTIT on ane ledder ; 
 Thy ghaistly look fleys folk that pass thee by. 
 
 Like to ane stark thief glouring in ane tedder. 
 
 * Loathsome. + Dull, stupid person. 
 
 X Dead body. § Complexion. || Jowls, or jaws. 
 
 t Face. ** Ghastly. tt Wasted. 
 
 Xi Condition. §§ Scorched. ,|||| Dislike. 
 
 liH Public executioner. 
 
 X 
 
333 
 
 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Nyse nagus,* nipcaik,t with thy shoulders narrow, 
 
 Thou lookis lousy, loun of lounis aw ; 
 Hard hurcheon,J hitpling, hippit as ane harrow, 
 
 Thy rigbane§ rattles, and thy ribs on raw,|| 
 
 Thy haunches hurkles,ir with hukebanes harth and , 
 haw,** 
 Thy laithly limbs are lean as ony trees ; 
 
 Obey, thief bard, or I sail break thy gaw. 
 Foul carrybald, cry mercy on thy knees. 
 
 Thou puir, hippit,tt ugly averill,tJ 
 
 With hurkling banes, houking through thy hide, 
 Reistit and crynit§§ as hangit man on hill, 
 
 And oft beswakkitllll with ane oure hie tide, 
 
 Whilk brewis meikle barret TTIT to thy bride ; 
 Her care is all to cleanse thy cabroch hows,* 
 
 Where thou lies saucy in saffron, back and side, 
 Powderit with primrose, savouring all with clows.t 
 
 Forworthin wirling,J I warn thee it is wittin,§ 
 How, skittering skarth,|| thou has the hurl behind ; 
 
 * This epithet is difficult to explain. Nyse means to pommel, 
 or beat down ; and nagus may be from Neccus, Old Nick. Nyse 
 nagus would thus Si^gcHy fighting Devil. 
 
 f One who eats small portions of a cake stealthily. 
 
 X Hedgehog. § Backbone. 
 
 li Row. 1i Hurkles, draw together. 
 
 ** With haunchbones sharp and hoUow. 
 ++ Pained in the back or loins. 
 Xt Tlie diminutive of aver, a horse of burden. 
 §§ Dried and shrunk. || || Immersed. 
 
 T*;! Contention. * Lean, meagre limbs. 
 
 t Cloves. X Unworthy, rickety person. 
 
 § Known. I Cormorant 
 
"WILLIAM DUNBAR. 323 
 
 Wan, wraigling* wasp, mae worms has thow beshittin, 
 Nor there is gers on grund, or leave on Hnd ;t 
 Though thou did first sic folly to me find, 
 
 Thou sail again with mae witness than I ; 
 Thy gulsoch ganej does on thy back it bind. 
 
 Thy hosting hips lets never thy hose gang dry. 
 
 Thou held the burgh lang with ane borrowit goun, 
 And ane caprowsy§ barkit all with sweat. 
 
 And when the lads saw thee sae like a loun, 
 They bickerit thee with mony a bae and bleet : II 
 Now up-a-land thou lives on rubbit wheat. 
 
 Oft for ane cause thy buirdclaithlT needs no spreading, 
 For thou has nqwther for to drink nor eat. 
 
 But like ane beardless bard that had no bedding. 
 
 Strait Gibbon's air,** that never ourestredft ane horse, 
 Blae, barefoot bairn, in bare time was thou bom ; 
 
 Thou brings the Carrick clay to Edinburgh corse. 
 Upon thy botings,H hobbling, hard as horn ; 
 Strae wisps hings out, where that the watts §§ are worn : 
 
 Come thou again to scar us with thy straes. 
 
 * Unsteady in motion. + Lime-tree. 
 
 J Jaundiced face. § Short cloak with a hood. 
 
 II The cry of a calf and sheep. U Tablecloth. 
 
 ** Strait Gibbon occurs in the Treasurer's accounts. ^ He has, 
 
 6tli July 1503, r4S. given him by the king's command. Nothing 
 
 is known of him ; but he was probably some odd character about 
 
 the Court. ++ Rode. t+ Buskins. 
 
 §§ Wattis, or wais. No explanation of this word has been 
 given by any of the annotators, nor is it to be found in Jamieson ; 
 but, from the context, it probably means that protection between 
 
334 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 We sail gar scail our scules, all thee to scorn, 
 And stane thee up the causey where thou gaes. 
 
 Of Edinburgh, the boys as bees out thrawis,* 
 And cries out aye. Here comes our ain queer clerk ! 
 
 Than flees thou, like ane howlet chased with crawis, 
 While all the bitches at thy botings bark : 
 Than carlings cries, Keep curches in the inerk,t 
 
 Our gallows gapes ; lo ! where ane graceless gaes.J 
 Ane other says, I see him want ane sark, 
 
 I red you, cummer, tak in your linen claes. 
 
 Than rins thou down the gait, with gild§ of boys, 
 And all the toun tykes hinging on thy heels ; 
 
 Of lads and louns there rises sic ane noise, 
 While runsysll rins away with cart and wheels, 
 And cadger avers IT casts baith coals and creels. 
 
 For rerd** of thee, and rattling of thy buits ; 
 
 Fishwives cries, Fy ! and casts down skillis and skeils : tt 
 
 Some clashes thee, some clods thee on the cuits. 
 
 Loun-like !Mahoun, be boun me to obey. 
 Thief, or in grief mischief sail thee betide ; 
 
 the back and the burden which porters in our own day some- 
 times wear. Kennedy is represented, very .grotesquely, as bring- 
 ing his Carrick clay to Edinburgh, hobbling in his half-boots, 
 hard as horn, and straw wisps hanging out where the waitis 
 should be, namely, below his back -load of clay. In other words, 
 hiswats, so called because the j kept the body dry, were made 
 of straw, in place of the usual material, whatever that might be. 
 * Out-thrangs. f Pay attention to your head-dress, 
 
 + One without grace. § Clamour. || Cart-horses. 
 
 II Horses. ** Noise. 
 
 tt Baskets and scales. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 335 
 
 Cry grace, tyke's face, or I thee chase and slay ; 
 
 Owl, rair and yowl, I sail defoul thy pride ; 
 
 Peilit gled, baith fed and bred of bitch's side. 
 And like ane tyke, purspyk, what man sets by thee ! 
 
 Forflittin,* bittin, beshittin, barkit hide, 
 Climb ledder, file tedder, foul edder, I defy thee ! 
 
 Mauch muttoiijt byle buttoun,t peelit glutton, heir to 
 Hilhouse,§ 
 Rank beggar, oyster-dregar, foul fleggar,|| in the flet ;ir 
 Chittir-lilling,** ruch-rilling,tt lick-shilling in the mill- 
 house ; ' 
 Bard rehator,JJ thief of nature, false traitor, fiend's get ; 
 FiUing of tauch,§§ rak sauch,|||| cry crauch,111T thou 
 art oure set ; 
 Mutton-driver, gimall-rlver,* yad swyvar,t foul fell thee ; 
 
 Heretic, lunatic, purspyk, carling's pet. 
 Rotten crok,* dirtin cok, cry cok,§ or 1 sail quell thee. 
 
 * Severely scolded. t Full of maggots. 
 
 X This phrase is not understood. Byle, in old Swedish, sig- 
 nifies a habitation. § See Kennedy's reply, p. 338. 
 
 II A proclaimer of falsehoods. 
 
 II Flet, one story of a house, a mat of straw. 
 ** Jamieson supposes this opprobrious term to be the same as 
 chitterlin, signifying, in English, the intestines. 
 +t Shoes made of undressed hides. 
 J+ Uncertain. §§ Tallow. 
 
 II II Rak sauch, a willow or stick for twisting ropes. 
 1^ Cry crauch, acknowledge you are beat. 
 
 * Granary reaver. + An old horse-driver. 
 X Crok, an old ewe. 
 
 § Cry cok, admit you are vanquished. 
 
326 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 KENNEDY TO DUNBAR. 
 
 Dachan* devil's son, and dragon dispiteous, 
 
 Abiromis birth, and bred with Behal ; 
 Wud war wolf, worm, and scorpion venomous, 
 
 Lucifer's lad, foul fiend's face infernal ; 
 
 Saracen, syphareit,t fra sancts celestial, 
 Put I not silence to thee, shepherd knave. 
 And thou of new begins to rhjrme and rave. 
 
 Thou sail be made blate, blear e'et, bestial. 
 
 How thy forbears come, I have a feil,5, 
 At Cockbumspath,§ the writ maks me war. 
 
 Generate betuix ane she bear and a deil ; 
 Sae was he call't Dewlbear, and not Dunbar : 
 This Dewlbear, generate of a mare of Mar, 
 
 Was Corspatrick, Earl of March ; and, be illusion, 
 
 The first that ever put Scotland to confusion. 
 Was that false traitor, hardly say I daur. 
 
 When Bruce and Baliol differed for the croun, 
 
 Scots lords could not obey the English laws ; 
 This Corspatrick betrayit Berwick toun, 
 
 And slew seven thousand Scotsmen within thae waws ; 
 
 The battle syne of Spottismuir he gart cause. 
 And come with Edward Langshanks to the field. 
 Where twelve thousand true Scottismen were killed, 
 
 And Wallace chased, as the Chronicle shaws. 
 
 * A dwarfish creature. f Pertaining to a cipher. 
 
 + Knowledge. 
 
 § An ancient fortress belonging to the Dunbars, which com- 
 manded the ravine where the Peese-Bridge is now built. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 327 
 
 Scottish lords, chieftains, he gart hald and chessone,* 
 
 In firmance t fast, while | all the field was done. 
 Within Dunbar, that auld spelunk§ of treason; 
 
 Sae English tykes in Scotland was abone. 
 
 Than spulyeit|| they the Haly Stane of Scone, 
 The Cross of Halyrudhouse, and other jowells. 
 He burns in hell, body, banes, and bowels. 
 
 This Corspatrick that Scotland has undone. 
 
 Wallace gart cry ane counsel in to Perth, 
 And callit Corspatrick, traitor, be his style; 
 
 That damnit dragon drew him in diserth,1I 
 And said, he kenned but Wallace, King in Kyle:** 
 Out of Dunbar that thief he made exile 
 
 Unto Edward, and English ground again : 
 
 Tigers, serpents, and taids will remain 
 
 In Dunbar walls, tods, wolfs, and beasts vile. 
 
 Nae fowls of effect amangis thae binksff 
 Bigs, nor abides, for no thing that may be ; 
 
 Thae stanes of treason, as the brunstane stinks. 
 Dewlbear's mother, casten in be the sea. 
 The warietJJ apple of the forbidden tree. 
 
 That Adam eat, when he tint Paradise, 
 
 " Chessoun, accuse. f Prison. t Until. 
 
 § Den. II Carried off. 
 
 "A Desertion; he deserted the national cause or opposed it. 
 *' The fact that the Earl of Dunbar refused to attend the sum- 
 mons, contemptuously saying he owed no fealty to ' ' Wallace, 
 King of Kyle, " is borne out by the Tower Records. Patrick, 
 Earl of Dunbar, was Edward's captain, " citra mare Scotiae," on 
 the south side of the Forth, in November 1297. 
 ft Benches or seats, or hives. ++ Accursed. 
 
328 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 She eat, invenomit, like a cockatrice, 
 Syne married with the Devil for dignitie. 
 
 Yet of new treason I can tell thee tales. 
 
 That comes on nicht in vision in my sleep ; 
 Archibald Dunbar betrayed the house of Hailes,* 
 
 Because the young lord had Dunbar to keep ; 
 
 Pretending through that to their rowms to creep,t 
 Richt cruelly his castle he pursuit, 
 Brocht him furth bounden, and the place rescuit,j: 
 
 Set him in fetters in ane dungeon deep. 
 
 It were against baith nature and guid reason. 
 That Dewlbear's bairns were true to God or man ; 
 
 Whilks were baith gotten, born, and bred with treason, 
 Belzebub's oys, and curst Corspatrick's clan : 
 Thou was priestit and ordaint he Sathan 
 
 For to be born to do thy kin defame, 
 
 And gar me shaw thy antecessors' shame ; 
 Thy kin that lives may wary§ thee and ban. 
 
 Sen thou on me ihus, limmer, leis an trattles,(| 
 
 And finds sentence foundit of envy. 
 Thy elders' banes ilk nicht rises and rattles. 
 
 And on thy corpse, Vengeance, vengeance ! they cry. 
 
 * Pitscottie relates that, about 1446, Archibald Dunbar sur- 
 prised in the night, and took the castle of Hailes, in Hadding- 
 tonshire, putting all to the sword. He was afterwards taken by 
 James Douglas, into whose will he put himself and estates. 
 
 + To get possession of Hailes's property. 
 
 J Rather captured the place. 
 
 § Be aware. || Tells tales. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 329 
 
 Thou art the cause they may not rest nor he ; 
 Thou says for them few psalters, psalms, or creeds. 
 But gars me tell their trentals* and misdeeds. 
 
 And their auld sin with new shame certify. 
 
 Insensuate sow, cease false Eustace Air ! 
 
 And knaw, keen scald, I hald of Alathia, 
 And cause me not the cause lang to declare 
 
 Of thy curst kin, Dewlbear and his AUia: 
 
 Come to the Cross, on knees, and mak a cria ; 
 Confess thy crime, hald Kennedy thy King, 
 And with ane hawthorn scourge thyself and ding ; 
 
 Thus dree thy penance with " Deliquisti quia." 
 
 Pass to thy Commissar, and be confest, 
 
 . Cour before him on knees, and come in will ; 
 And syne gar Stobof for thy life protest; 
 
 Renounce thy rhymes, baith ban and burn thy bill ; 
 
 Heave to the heaven thy hands, and hald thee stiU : 
 Do thou not thus, brigand, thou sail be brint, 
 With pike, fire, tar, gun powder, and lint. 
 
 On Arthur's Seat, or on ane higher hill. 
 
 I perambulate of Pamasso the mountain, 
 Inspirit with Mercury frae his golden sphere ; 
 
 And dulcely t drank of eloquence the fountain, 
 When it was purifit with frost, and flowit clear : 
 And thou come, fule ! in March or Februeir, 
 
 There till ane pool, and drank the puddock rude, § 
 
 * Service of thirty masses for the dead. 
 
 t See "Lament for the Makars," p. 248. 
 
 t Sweetly. § Spawn. 
 
^^O LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 That gars thee rhyme in to thy terms glude, * 
 And blabbers that noyist men's ears to hear. 
 
 Thou loves nane Erische, elf, I understand, 
 But it sould be all true Scottish men's leid ; 
 
 It was the guid language of this land. 
 And Scota it caust to multiply and spread, 
 While Corspatrick, that we of treason read, 
 
 Thy forefather, made Ersche and Erschemen thin ; 
 
 Through his treason brocht English rumples t: in. 
 So wald thy self, micht thou to him succeed. 
 
 Ignorant fule ! in to thy mows and mocks,§ 
 
 It may be verifit thy wit is thin ; 
 Where thou writes Danesmen driet on the racks, 
 
 Danesmen of Denmark are of the King's kin. 
 
 The wit thou sould have had was casten in 
 Even at thine — — , backward, with ane staff flung. 
 Herefore, false harlot, hurcheon, hald thy tongue : 
 
 Dewlbear! thou deaves the Devil, thy eme, with din. 
 
 Where as thou said, I stole hens and lambs, 
 
 I let thee wit, I have lands, store, and stacks. 
 Thou wald be fain to gnaw, lad, with thy gams. 
 
 Under my buird, smoch|| banes behind dogs' backs; 
 
 Thou has ane toom purse, I have steeds and tacks. 
 Thou tint culter, I have culter and pleuch ; 
 For substance and geir thou has a widdy teuch 
 
 On Mont Falcon, IT about thy craig to rax. 
 
 * Dirty, or miry. f Annoys. 
 
 X UngaiiJy, disorderly persons. 
 
 § Jests and jeers. || Smoked, or broken. 
 
 11 Montfaupon, in the suburbs of Paris, where criminals were 
 
WIJLLIAM DUNBAR. 33 T 
 
 And yet Mont Falcon gallows is oure fair, 
 
 For to be filit with sic ane fruitless face ; 
 Come hame, and hing on our gallows of Air, 
 
 To erd thee under it I sail purchase grace ; 
 
 To eat thy flesh the dogs sail have no space. 
 The ravens sail rive nae thing but thy tongue ruits, 
 For thou sic malice of thy maister moots,* 
 
 It is weel set that thou sic barret f brace. 
 
 Small finance amang thy friends thou beggit, 
 
 To staunch thy storne,J with haly mulds § thou lost ; 
 Thou salliet to get a douker|| for to dreg it, 
 
 It lies closit in ane clout on Norway coast; 
 
 Sic rewU IT gars thee be servit with cauld roast, 
 And sit onsoupit ** oft beyond the sea, ft 
 Crying at doors, "Caritas amore Dei," 
 
 Barefoot, breekless, and aU in duds updost.JJ 
 
 Dewlbear has nocht ado with ane Dunbar, 
 The EarLof Murray §§ bore that surname richt, 
 
 executed. Dunbar was in Paris, it is to be presumed, at the 
 time. ' Indicates. f Trouble. 
 
 + Store. § Relics. [| Diver. 
 
 H Mishaps. ** Without soup. 
 
 -H" This corroborates the statement of Dunbar, that he had 
 frequently been abroad on the Ring's errands. 
 
 t+ Dressed. 
 
 §§ "Lady Agnes Randolph, the heroic daughter of the noble 
 Regent, having married Patrick, ninth Earl of Dunbar and 
 March, on the death of her brother, 1347, assumed the title of 
 Coxmtess of Moray, and her husband, in her right, that of Earl, 
 and entered into possession of the extensive property of the family, 
 the Earldom of Murray." — Wood's Peerage. The Earl died 
 
332 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 That ever true and constant to the King's grace war, 
 And of that kin cam Dunbar of Westfield knicht ;* 
 That succession is hardy, wise, and wicht. 
 And hes nae tiling ado now with thee, deil : 
 But Dewlbear is thy kin, and kens thee weel. 
 And has in hell for thee ane chalmer dicht. 
 
 Curst croapandt craw, I sail gar crop thy tongue, 
 And thou sail cry " Cor mundum," on thy knees ; > 
 
 DuerchjJ I sail ding thee, while thou baith and — — , 
 
 And thou sail lick thy lips, and swear thou leis : 
 I sail degrade thee, graceless, of thy 'grees ; 
 
 Scale§ thee for scorn, and scar thee of the scule, 
 
 Gar round thy head transform thee as a fule. 
 And syne with treason trone II thee on the trees. 
 
 Raw mowit rebald, rannegald rehatour,!" 
 
 My lineage and forbears were aye leal : 
 It comes thee of kind to be ane traitor. 
 
 To ride on nicht, to rug, to reif, to steal. 
 
 When thou puts poison to me, I appeal 
 Thee in that part, and prove it on thy person ; 
 Claim not to clergy, for I defy thee, garson. 
 
 Thou sail buy it dear, with me, duerch, and thou deal. 
 
 about 1369, leaving two sons, Geo7-ge, tenth Earl of Dunbar, 
 and yohii. Earl of Murray. The latter title became extinct 
 during the fifteenth century. 
 
 * Sir Alexander Dunbar, Sheriff of Murray, son of James 
 Earl of Murray, by Isabel, daughter of Sir William Innes, was 
 the founder of this branch of the Dunbar family. 
 
 t Croaking. J Dwarf. 
 
 § Leave the place. || Put thyself in the pillory. 
 
 II Raw-moUthed, worthless, impudent, faithless fellow. 
 
WIllLIAM DUNBAR. 330 
 
 In England, owl, sould be thy habitation, 
 Homage to Edward Langshanks made thy kin. 
 
 In Dunbar received him thy false nation,* 
 They sould be exiled Scotland mair and myn.f 
 Ane stark gallows, ane widdy, and ane pin, 
 
 The head point of thy elders' arms ane ; 
 
 Written in poesie abone " Hang Dunbar, 
 
 Quarter and draw, and mak that surname thin." 
 
 I am the King's bluid,J his true special clerk,§ 
 
 That never yet imagin't his offence. 
 Constant in mind, in thocht, word and werk, 
 
 Only dependent upon his excellence ; 
 
 Trusting to have of his magnificence 
 Guerdon, reward, and benefice bedene ; 
 ■Wfien that the ravens sail rive out baitli thy een, 
 
 And on the racks sail be thy residence. 
 
 Frae Ettrick Forrest furthward to Dumfries, 
 Thou beggit with ane pardon in all kirks, 
 
 CoUops, cruds, meal, groats, gryce,|| and geese. 
 And under nicht whiles thou stole staigs and stirks. 
 Because that Scotland of thy begging irks. 
 
 Thou shapes in France to be a knicht of the field ; 
 
 * Or race. 
 
 + Great and small. 
 
 J His claim to "the King's bliiid" was well-founded — his 
 grandfather, James, son of " Sir Gilbert Kennedy of Dunure and 
 Agnes Maxwell his wife," having married the Princess ;\Iaiy 
 Stewart, daughter of Robert III. 
 
 § He was Depute-Baillie of Carrick. || Pigs. 
 
334 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Thou has thy clamschells,* and thy burdounf keild,t 
 Unhonest ways all, wolroun,§ that tjiou wirks. 
 
 Thou may not pass Mont Bernard for wild beasts, 
 
 Nor win through Mont Savoy for the snaw ; 
 Mont Nicholas, Mont Godard thee arreists. 
 
 Sic bees of brigand blinds them with ane blaw. 
 
 In Paris with thy maister, Burreau,ll 
 Abide, and be his 'prentice near the bank. 
 And help to hang, the piece for half ane frank. 
 
 And, at the last, thy self maun thole the law. 
 
 Halting harlot, the devil a guid thou hes ! 
 
 For fault of puissance, pelour, thou maun pack thee ; 
 Thou drank thy thrift,ir and als** wadset thy claes, 
 
 There is nae lord in service wald tak thee. 
 
 Ane pack of flea-skins, finance for to mak thee, 
 Thou sail receive, in Danskyn,tt of my tailyie;+J 
 With " De profundis'' set thee, and that felyie,§§ 
 
 And I sail send the black Devil for to back thee. 
 
 Into the Katherinellll thou made ane foul kahute,irir 
 For thou her, doun frae stem to steir;* 
 
 * Scallop shells worn by pilgrims. 
 
 + Burdoun, pilgrim's stafi'. 
 
 X Chalked with ruddle — "cauk and keil." 
 
 § Useless feUow. || The hangman. 
 
 H Savings. ** Also. fr Denmark. 
 
 tt Tailyie here evidently means tailor. A pack of flea-skins 
 he would receive from Kennedy's tailor, by way of raising money. 
 The humour is excellent. §§ Fail. ■ 
 
 nil The vpssel in which Dunbar is supposed to have sailed 
 iu 1491- 11 A ship 
 
 "■ From the bow to the helm. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAR. 00 C 
 
 Upon her sides was seen that thou could shoot, 
 
 The dirt cleaves till her tows this twenty year: 
 
 The firmament nor firth was never clear, 
 While thou, devil's birth, Dewlbear, was on the sea; 
 The sauls had sunken through the sin of thee. 
 
 Were not the people made sic great prayeir. 
 When that the ship was saynit,* and under sail, 
 
 Foul brow,-]- in hole thou purpost for to pass. 
 Thou shot, and was not sicker of thy tail, 
 
 Be the steir, the compass, and the glass ; 
 
 The skipper bad, gar land thee at the Bass : 
 Thou spewit, and cast out mony a laithly lump. 
 Faster nor all the mariners could pump ; 
 
 And yet thy wame is waur nor ever it wa§. 
 Had they been so providit of shot of gun, 
 
 Be men of weir but J peril they had past ; 
 As thou was lous, and ready of thy bun, 
 
 They micht hae ta'en nae tollum§ at the last ; 
 
 For thou wald cook ane cartful at the cast ; 
 There is no ship that thee will now receive ; 
 Thou fiht faster nor fifteensum micht lave. 
 
 And mirit them with thy muck to the midmast 
 
 Through England, thief, and tak thee to thy foot, 
 
 And boun to have with thee ane false botwand ;|| 
 Ane horse mercheUIT thou call thee at the mute,** 
 
 * Blessed. + Synonymous with "ill-brow." + Without. 
 
 § Toll, or impost || Baton, or rod of power. 
 
 H The groom in charge of horses. The ' ' Ingliss hors Mars- 
 chael" often occurs in the Treasurer's Accounts : 1498, April 22, 
 " Item, giffin be the Kingis command to the Ingliss hors Mer- 
 chael, to hele the broun geldin, i8s." ** The meeting. 
 
33^ LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 And with that craft convoy thee through the land : 
 Be nae thing arch, tak ferely on hand,' 
 Happen thou to be hangit in Northumber, 
 Than all thy kin are weel quit of thy cumber, 
 For that maun be thy doom, I understand. 
 
 Hie sovereign Lord ! let never this sinful sot 
 
 Do shame, frae hame, unto your nation ! 
 That never nana, sic ane, be callit Scot, 
 
 Ane rotten crok, lous of the dock, there doun. 
 
 Frae honest folk devoid this laithly loun : 
 On some desert, where there is no repair, 
 For filing and infecting of the air, 
 
 Cause carry this cankert, corruptit carrioun. 
 
 Thou was conceivit in the great ecclips, 
 Ane maister made be great Mercurius ; 
 
 Na, hald again, nor poof is at thy hips, 
 Infortunate, foul, false, and furious, 
 Evil shriven, wanthriven, not clean nor curious ; 
 
 Ane myting,* fule of flyting, the flirdom maist like, 
 
 Ane crabbit, scabbit, evil-faced messan tike ; 
 Ane , but wit, skirvit and injurious. 
 
 Great in the glaiks, guid jNIaister William guks,§ 
 
 Oure imperfite in poetry or in prose, 
 All close under clud of nicht thou cuks. 
 
 Rhymes thou of me, of Rethory the Rose, 
 
 * Be not waggish, but take truly on hand. 
 
 + Coupling. J Mittane, probably a hawk. 
 
 § Great in self-conceited folly, guid Maister William exults. 
 
WILLIAM DUXBAR. 337 
 
 Lunatic, limmer, luschbald,* louse thy hose, 
 That I may twitch thy tone with tribulation, 
 In recompensing of thy conspiration, 
 
 Or turs thee out of Scotland : tak thy choice. 
 
 Ana benefice wha wald give sic ane beast, 
 
 But gift it were to jingle Judas' bells ; 
 Tak thee ane fiddle, or a flute, to jeist, 
 
 UndochtjJ thou art ordanit to nocht else ! 
 
 Thy cloutit cloak, thy scrip, and thj- clamshells, 
 Cleek on thy cross, and fair on into France, 
 And come thou never again but ane mischance ; 
 
 The fiend fare with thee, forward oure the fells.§ 
 
 * Lazy fellow. •\- Unless. J Puny creature. 
 
 § Mr Laing is of opinion that this and the previous verse 
 belonged to Kennedy's first reply, and that tliey have been trans- 
 posed. His reason for thinking so is, that the "epithet" of 
 " Rethory the Rose, " noticed by Dunbar as having been assumed 
 by Kennedy, occurs in them, and that he speaks of Airsiiig Dun- 
 bar out of Scotland, that he may fare on into France, although 
 the poet is imderstood to have been in Paris at the time. There 
 is some appearance of reason in this ; yet the firet reply of Ken- 
 nedy will not admit of these two verses. It is complete in itself. 
 Besides, "The Flyting," be it observed, begins with "Dunbar 
 to Sir John the Ross," in which he speaks of " ane thing" com- 
 piled -by Kennedy and Quintin. We have not that " ane tiling" 
 in the correspondence, and the probability is, that in it Kennedy 
 first assumed the epithet of " Rethory the Rose,'' and his allu- 
 sion to it again in his second epistle comes in naturally enough ; 
 and this is rendered still more probable by the words of Dunbar 
 — "Thou callis thee Rethory the Rose with thy gold in lippis." 
 Now, Kennedy says nothing about his "goldin lippis" in his 
 second reply, whatever he may have done in that " ane thing" 
 which we have not seen. Nor is it inconsistent to speak of turs- 
 ing Dunbar out of Scotland that he might sojourn in France, 
 
338 LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Canker't Cain, tryit trowane,* tutevillous,t 
 Marmadin,! myinmerkin,§ monster of all men, 
 
 I sail gar bak thee to the Laird of Hilhouse,|| 
 To swallow thee in stead of a puUit hen.lT 
 Foumart, fazart,** foster't in filth and fen, 
 
 Foul felon, fiend tt fule, upon thy phisnom fy ! 
 
 Thy dok aye drips of dirt, and will not dry, 
 To toom thy tone it wald tire carlings ten. 
 
 Conspirator, cursit cockatrice, hell's ka, 
 Turk, trumpour, traitor, tyrant intemperat ; 
 
 because his absence in Paris was only temporary. But whether 
 the verses are transposed or not, there is assuredly no room for 
 them in the first reply of Kennedy. 
 
 * Perhaps truant; but trow, in Orkney, signifies a devil. 
 
 + Fiend J Myrmidon. 
 
 § Apparently from mini, demure, affected, conveying the idea 
 of diminutiveness. 
 
 II From the allusion of Dunbar to this personage, "peelit 
 glutton, heir to Hilhouse," and Kennedy's backing the poet to 
 the same party, that he might be devoured like a chicken, it 
 would appear that "the Laird of Hilhouse" was famous as a 
 gourmand. Like Dtigald Dalgetty, he seems to have been a 
 campaigner, and knew how to store provender. At all events, 
 a party styled "the Laird of Hilhouss," frequently occurs in the 
 Treasurer's Accounts. In 1494, he receives cloth for a gown, 
 and doublet and hose. In 1496, September 11 — "Item, giffin 
 to the Lard of Hilhouss, to remaue upon the artailyery, [artil- 
 lery,] and to helpe to gyde it, L.3." Again, in 1497, July 31, 
 — "Item, to the Lard of Hilhouss, for his expenss cummand 
 hame for Mons, 9s." This alludes to the celebrated piece of 
 ordnance, Mons Meg. His name is mentioned for the last time 
 in 1501, December 8 — "Item, to the Lard of Hilhouss, that 
 com furfh of Ingland from the Lordis, be the Kingis command, 
 28s." That this was the party meant in "The Flyting," there 
 can be httle doubt. H Chicken. ** Dastard. ff Fled. 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAK. 339 
 
 Thou ireful atter-cap, Pilot apostata, 
 
 Judas, Jow,* juggler, LoUard laureat ; 
 
 Saracen, Symonite, proud Pagan pronunceat, 
 Maliomet, mansworn, rebald abominable. 
 Devil, damnit dog, in evil unsatiable. 
 
 With Gog and Magog great glorificat. 
 
 Nero thy nevoy, Golias thy grandsire, 
 
 Pharaoh thy father, Egipya thy dame, 
 Dewlbear, thir are the causes that I conspire, 1 
 
 Termigantis temptis and Vespasius thy eme ; 
 
 Belzebub, thy full brother, wilL claim 
 To be thy heir, and Cayphas thy fector ; 
 Pluto the head of thy kin, and protector, 
 
 To lead thee to hell, of licht day and leme.t 
 
 Herod thy other eme, and great jEgeus, 
 
 Marcian, Mahomet, and Maxentius, 
 Thy true kinsmen, Antenor and ^neas. 
 
 Throp thy near niece, and austere 01ibrius,J 
 
 Puttidew, Baal, and Eyobulus ; 
 Thir friends are the flov/r of thy four branches, 
 Steering the pots of hell, and never stenches. 
 
 Doubt not, Dewlbear, Tu es Diabolus. 
 
 Dewlbear, thy spear of weir, but fear, thou yield, 
 Hangit, mangit, eddir stangit, stryndit stultorum. 
 
 To me, maist hie Kennedie, and flee the field, 
 Pickit, wickit, stickit, convickit, lamp Lollardorum. 
 
 * Jew. t Shining, 
 
 t Austerjte Olibriits figures in the metrical legend of St Mar- 
 garet, preserved in the Auchinleck library. 
 
34° LIFE AND POEMS OF 
 
 Defamit, shamit, blamit, Primus Paganorum. 
 Out ! out ! I shout, upon thut snout that snivels, — 
 Tale-teller, rebeller, indweller with the devils, 
 
 Spink, sink with stink ad Tartara Termagorum. 
 
 As "The Flyting " is a joint production, we 
 print it apart from the body of Dunbar's poems. 
 It was certainly a curious conceit to fall foul of 
 each other in so scurrilous a. manner; yet it may 
 have been suggested not only by the invectives of 
 certain ancient writers, and the practice of the 
 Athenian women, but of the Edinburgh fish- 
 wives — who retain the reputation of having been 
 capital scolds in former times. The Highland 
 bards used to indulge in similar sarcasms; and 
 it would appear to have been a pretty general as 
 well as early mode of exercising the intellectual 
 powers. It is wonderful that any one could have 
 conceived that the two poets were in earnest; yet 
 such is the fact, for Mr Laing gravely gives' Lord 
 Hailes the credit of having been the first to con- 
 jecture that such was not the fact ; and Dr Irving 
 thought his opinion was " rendered somewhat plau- 
 sible by the correspondent history of the altercation 
 which subsisted between Luigi Pulci and Matteo 
 Franco. Although, for the amusement of their 
 readers, those authors loaded each other with 'the 
 grossest abuse, yet the intimacy of their friendship 
 is said to have continued without interruption." 
 It is evident that Dunbar and Kennedy were on 
 
WILLIAM DUNBAK. 34I 
 
 the best terms. His affectionate reference to him in 
 the "Lament for the Makars" is a proof of this : — 
 
 " Gud Maister Walter Kennedy, 
 In poynt of dede lyis veraly, 
 Gret reuth it were that so suld be : 
 Timor mortis conturbat me." 
 
 The object seems wholly to have been who should 
 excel in banter or scurrility, and they are so 
 well matched that it is difficult to say which 
 carries away the palm. The scolding — and its 
 coarseness must be overlooked, as in no way out- 
 raging the jocular freedom of the times — is inter- 
 esting, as furnishing not only certain incidents in 
 the history of both poets, that might otherwise 
 have been overlooked, but individual pictures of 
 each other. Making due allowance for exaggera- 
 tion, it would seem that Kennedy was tall and 
 gaunt, and the portrait of him coming to Edin- 
 burgh with his Carrick clay for sale, hobbling in 
 buskins, hard as horn, with straw wisps dang- 
 ling from under his load, is extremely picturesque. 
 Nor is Kennedy less humorous with his dwarf of 
 an opponent. His liberality in offering to supply 
 the little man, after he had "drank his thrifV 
 with "ane pak of flea-skynis," which he would 
 receive from his tailor in Danskyn, is extremely 
 good ; and if all failed — 
 
 " I sail gar bak thee to the Laird of Hilhouss, 
 To swelly thee in steid of ane puUit hen." 
 
342 LIFE AND POEMS, ETC. 
 
 Had Dunbar not been really of small stature, this 
 eminently sarcastic allusion would have passed 
 without effect. 
 
 " The Flyting" aifords a graphic specimen of the 
 range of the Scottish language for broad humour 
 and scurrility. Indeed, the meaning of many of 
 the terms can now be only guessed at ; and we 
 look in vain for them in any glossary or dictionary 
 of the Scottish language. We have endeavoured 
 to supply this deficiency in as far as possible ; still 
 there are a few terms which may be inadequately 
 explained, and perhaps one or two not at all. 
 "The Flyting" was printed in 1508, in the life- 
 time of Dunbar, and no doubt became very popu- 
 lar. It has had many imitators, the most success- 
 ful of whom were Alexander Montgomerie, author 
 of "The Cherrie and the Slae," and -Sir Patrick 
 Hume of Polwart. 
 
 Of Walter Kennedy, some particulars will be 
 found at p. 259. 
 
 The End. 
 
 Ballantyne and Company, Printers, Edinburgh. 
 
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