as it shews the peculiar distinction antiently paid to those fathers of verse; and the high ideas which now prevailed, even in Scotland, of the improvements introduced by their writings into the British poetry, language, and literature."

O reverend CHAUCERE, rose of rethoris all,
As in oure tong ane flours imperial
That raise in Britane evir, quha reidis richt',
Thou beris of makarisn` the tryumph ryall,
Thy fresche annamilit termes celestiall :
This mater coud illuminit haif full bricht ";
Was thou noucht of our English all the licht,
Surmounting every tong terrestriall
Als fer as Mayis morrow dois midnycht.
O morale GOWER, and LYDGATE laureat,
Your sugarit* lippis y, and tongis aureat,
Bene to our eiris ? cause of grit delyte;
Your angel mouthis most mellifluate
Our rude langage hes cleir illumynat,
And fair owregilt our speche, that imperfyte
Stude, or your goldin pennis schup to wryt,
This yle befoir wes bair and dissolato

Of rethorik, or lusty fresche indyte.d This panegyric, and the poem, is closed with an apology, couched in elegant metaphors, for his own comparative humility of style. He addresses the poem, which he calls a litill quair.

I know quhat thou of rethoric has spent;
Of all hir lusty rosis redolent
Is nane into thy gerland sett on bicht.

Eschamef tharof, and draw the out of sicht! ' Other instances occur in the elder Scotch poets. See supra, vol. ii. p. 437. * Ere your golden pens were shaped one flower.

to write. * Ever rose, or sprung, in Britain, bare and desolate. whoso reads right.

elegant composition. • Thou bearest of poets.

d St. XXX. This subject would have appeared • No fresh and fragrant roses of rheto some advantage, had not, &c. toric are placed on high in thy garland. * sugared.

be ashamed.

z

to our ears.

y lips.

Rude is thy weids, desteynit, bair, and rent,
Wele aucht thou be affeirit of the licht! h

Dunbar's DauncE has very great merit in the comic style of painting. It exhibits a groupe of figures touched with the capricious but spirited pencil of Callot. On the eve of Lent, a general day of confession, the poet in a dream sees a display of heaven and hell. Mahomet', or the devil, commands a dance to be performed by a select party of fiends; particularly by those, who in the other world had never made confession to the priest, and had consequently never received absolution. Immediately the SEVEN DEADLY Sins appear; and present a mask, or mummery, with the newest gambols just imported from Francek. The first is Pride, who properly takes place of all the rest, as by that Sın fell the angels. He is described in the fashionable and gallant dress of those times: in a bonnet and gown, his hair thrown back, his cap awry, and his gown affectedly flowing to his feet in large folds.

Let sé, quoth he', now quha beginis ?
With that the fowll Deadly Sinnis

Begouth to leip attanis .
And first of all in dance was Pryd,
With hair wyld bak, bonet on syde,

Lyk to mak vaistie wanis;
And round about him as a quheill",
Hang all in rumpilliso to the heill,

His kethatp for the nanis. 9

& weed ; dress.

progress of the princess Margaret into b St. xxxi.

Scotland, we have the following passage. i Mahon. Sometimes written Ma “ The lord of Northumberland made his houn, or Mahound. See Mat. Paris. devoir, at the departynge, of gambades p. 289. ad ann. 1236. And Du Fresne, and lepps, (leaps,) as did likewise the Lat. Gloss. V. Manum. The Christians lord Scrop the father, and many others in the crusades were accustomed to bear that retorned agayne, in takyng ther conthe Saracens swear by their prophet Ma- gie." p. 281. (See Notes, supr. p. 85-86.] homet : which thence became in Europe I Mahomet. another name for the devil.

began to dance at once. * The original is garmountis. In the rumples. Memoir, cited above, concerning the nonce, designedly.

wheel.

р

casaque, cassock.

9

--

Many proud trumpour' with him trippit,
Throw skaldan s fyr ay as they skippit

They girnd with hyddous' granis. V Several holy harlots follow, attended by monks, who make great sport for the devils. w

Heilie Harlottis in hawtain wyis*,
Come in with mony sindrie gyis Y,

But yet luche nevir? Mahoun:
Quhill priestis cum with bair schevina nekks,
Than all the feynds lewches, and maid gekkso,

Black-belly, and Bawsy-brown. Black-belly and Bawsy-brown are the names of popular spirits in Scotland. The latter is perhaps our Robin GOODFELLOW, known in Scotland by the name of BROWNIE.

ANGER is drawn with great force, and his accompaniments are boldly feigned. His hand is always upon his knife, and he is followed, in pairs, by boasters, threateners, and quarrelsome persons, all armed for battle, and perpetually wounding one another."

Than Yre come in with sturto and stryfe;
His hand was ay upon his knyfe,

He brandeist lyk a beir:
Bostaris, braggarists, and barganeris,
Efter hym passit in pairis,

All bodin in feir of weirf :

с

deceiver, See Spenser's Sur Trom signs of derision. PART. Or perhaps an empty fellow, a

St. iv. rattle. Or Trompour may be trumpeter,

e disturbance; affray. as in Chaucer's KNIGHT's Tale, v. 2673. f Literally, “ All arrayed in feature of See Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES, with war.” Bodin, and feir of war, are in the the Notes of the very judicious and in- Scotch statute book. Sir David Lyndegenious editor. Lond. 1775. vol. iv, say thus speaks of the state of Scotland

scalding. during the minority of James the Fifth. they grinned hideously, Sr. ii. COMPLAYNT OF THE Papyngo. Signat. * Sr. ii.

haughty guise. B. ii. edit. ut infr. gambols, (a mask. ] never laughed.

Oppressioun did sa loud his bougill blaw, a while priests came with bare-shaven.

That none durst ride but into

feir of weir. laughed.

That is, without being armed for battle.

P. 231.

t

у

z

b

In jakkis, stryppis, and bonnettis of steil 8,
Thair leggis wer cheyned to the heill",

Frawart was thair affeiri;
Sum upon uder with brands beft,
Sum jagit utheris to the heft!

With knyvis that scheirp coud scheirm.
Envy is equal to the rest. Under this Sin our author takes
occasion to lament, with an honest indignation, that the courts
of princes should still give admittance and encouragement to
the whisperers of idle and injurious reports. "

Next in the dance followit Invy,
Fild full of feido and fellony,

Hid malyce and dispyte ;
For pryvie hateritP that tratour trymlit",
Him followit mony freik dissymlit',

With feynit wordis quhyte.
And flattereris into mens facis,
And back-byttariss of sundry racis,

To ley' that had delyte.
With rownaris u of fals lesingis w:
Allace! that courtis of noble kingis

Of tham can nevir be quyte * !

Avarice is ushered in by a troop of extortioners, and other miscreants, patronised by the magician Warloch *, or the demon of the covetous; who vomit on each other torrents of melted

o

9

ilye.

* free.

8 In short jackets, plates, or slips, and enmity:

P hatred. bonnets of steel. Short coats of mail trembled. dissembling gallant. and helmets.

'backbiters. " Either, chained together. Or, their " Rounders, whisperers. To round legs armed with iron, perhaps iron net- in the ear, or simply to round, was to work, down to the heel.

whisper in the ear. i Their business was untoward. Or, falsities. else their look froward, fierce. Feir is * [The original reads : feature..

Next him in dance cam Cuvatyce * Some struck others, their compa

Catyvis, wrechis, and ockeraris,nions, with swords.

All with that warlo went. I Wounded others to the quick, to 'the haft.

Where warlo means a wicked person. 1 cut sharp.

A.S. wær-loga iniquus.-Edit.)

gold, blazing like wild-fire: and as they are emptied at every discharge, the devils replenish their throats with fresh supplies of the same liquefied metal. Y

Sloth does not join the dance till he is called twice: and his companions are so slow of motion, that they cannot keep up with the rest, unless they are roused from their lethargy by being sometimes warmed with a glimpse of hell-fire. 2

Syne SWEIRNES, at the secound bidding,
Come lyk a sow out of a midding",

Full slepy was his grunyie.
Mony sweir bumbard belly-huddroun“,
Mony slute daw and slepy duddround,

Him servit ay with sounyie.
He drew tham forth intill a chenyie',
And Belliall, with a brydill reynie,

Evir lascht thame on the lunyie h.
In daunce thay wer so slow of feit
Thay gaif tham in the fyre a heit

And maid tham quicker of conyie'. Lust enters, neighing like a horsek, and is led by IDLENESS. When his associates mingle in the dance, their visages burn red like the turkis-stone. The remainder of the stanza, although highly characteristical, is too obscene to be transcribed. But this gave no offence. Their manners were too indelicate to be shocked at any indecency. I do not mean that these manners had lost their delicacy, but that they had not yet acquired the sensibility arising from civilisation.: . In one of the Scotch interludes of this age, written by a fashionable court-poet, among other ridiculous obscenities, the trying on of a Spanish padlock in public makes a part of theatrical representation. 2 Sr. vii.

dunghill. b a bridle-rein; thong of leather. şnout, visage, (grunt.]

hlashed them on the loins. lazy, drunken sloven, Iglutton.) apprehension. d slothful, idle spectre, (sluggard.) * Berand like a bagit horse.". The attended on hiin with care.

French baguette need not be explained. into a chain.

I St. viii.

y Sr. vi.

a

i