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Bene till our eris cause of gret delyte;
Your angelic mouth most mellifluate
Our rude language has cleir illumynat,
And has owregilt our fpeiche, that imperfyte
Stude, or your goldin pennis fchup to wryt,
This yle befoir was bair and diffolat'

Of rhetorik, or lufty fresche' indyte ‘.

This panegyric, and the poem, is closed with an apology, couched in elegant metaphors, for his own comparative humility of ftyle. He addresses the poem, which he calls a litill quair.

O know quhat thou of rhetoric has spent;
Of hir lufty rofis redolent

Is nane into thy garland fett on hicht".

O fchame' thairfor, and draw thè out of ficht!
Rude is thy weid, deftitute, bair, and rent,
Weill aucht thou be affeirit of the licht!

Dunbar's DAUNCE has very great merit in the comic style of painting. It exhibits a groupe of figures touched with the capricious but fpirited pencil of Callot. On the eve of Lent, a general day of confeffion, the poet in a dream fees a display of heaven and hell. Mahomet', or the devil, commands a dance to be performed by a select party of fiends; particularly by thofe, who in the other world had never

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made confeffion to the priest, and had confequently never received absolution. Immediately the SEVEN DEADLY SINS appear; and present a mask, or mummery, with the newest gambols just imported from France. The first is PRIDE, who properly takes place of all the reft, as by that SIN fell the angels. He is defcribed 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 fe, 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 fyde,
Lyk to make vaistie wanis;
And round about him as a quheill",
Hang all in rumpillis to the heill,
His kethat for the nanis a.
Many proud trumpour' with him trippit,
Throw fkaldan fyr ay as they skippit
They girnd with hyddous 'granis ".

Several holy harlots follow, attended by monks, who make great fport for the devils".

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Heilie Harlottis in hawtain wyis *,
Come in with mony findrie gyis ',

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But yet luche nevir Mahoun:

Quhill prieftis cum with bair schevin* nekks,
That all the feynds lewche', and maid gekks,
Black-belly, and Bawfy-brown.

Black-belly and Bawfy-brown are the names of popular fpirits 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 boafters, threateners, and quarrelfome perfons, all armed for battle, and perpetually wounding one another ‘.

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Than YRE come in with fturt and ftryfe;
His hand was ay upon his knyfe,

He brandeift lyk a beir:

Boftaris, braggarifts, and barganeris,
Efter hym paffit in pairis,

All bodin in feir of weir:

In jakkis, ftryppis, and bonnettis of steil,
Thair leggis wer cheyned to the heill",
Frawart was thair affeir';

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Sum upon uder with brands beft*,

Sum jagit utheris to the heft'

With knyvis that fcheirp coud fcheir ".

ENVY is equal to the reft. Under this SIN our author takes occafion to lament, with an honeft indignation, that the courts of princes fhould ftill give admittance and encouragement to the whisperers of idle and injurious reports".

Next in the dance followit INVY,
Fild full of feid and fellony,

Hid malyce and difpyte;

For pryvie haterit that tratour trymlit,
Him followit mony freik diffymlit',
With feynit wordis quhyte.
And flattereris into mens facis,
And back-byttaris' of fundry racis,
To ley' that had delyte.

With rownaris" of fals lefingis TM :
Allace! that courtis of noble kingis

Of tham can nevir be quyte *!

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

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SLOTH does not join the dance till he is called twice: and his companions are fo flow of motion, that they cannot keep up with the reft, unless they are roufed from their lethargy by being fometimes warmed with a glimpse of hell-fire".

Syne SWIRNES, at the seccound bidding,
Come lyk a fow out of a midding",
Full flepy was his grunyie".

Mony fweir bumbard belly-huddroun‘,
Mony flute daw and flepy duddroun“,
Him fervit ay with founyie.
He drew tham forth intill a chenyie',
And Belliall, with a brydill reynie,
Evir lafcht on the lunyie ".

In daunce thay wer fo flow of feit.
Thay gaif tham in the fyre a heit

And maid tham quicker of conyie '.

LUST enters, neighing like a horfe, and is led by IDLENESS. When his affociates mingle in the dance, their vifages burn red like the turkis-stone'. The remainder of the ftanza, although highly characteristical, is too obfcene to be transcribed. But this gave no offence. Their manners were too indelicate to be fhocked at any indecency. I do not mean that thefe manners had loft their delicacy, but that they had not yet acquired the fenfibility arifing from civilifation. In one of the Scotch interludes of this age, written. by a fashionable court-poet, among other ridiculous obfcenities, the trying on of a Spanish padlock in public makes a part of theatrical representation.

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