haps have been much more difficult to Lyndesay than the Latin original, may be called fuch: yet Orofius was early translated into French and Italian'. For the ftory of Alexander the Great, our author feems to refer to Adam Davie's poem on that subject, written in the reign of Edward the fecond': a work, which I never remember to have seen cited before, and of which, although deferving to be printed, only two public manuscripts now remain, the one in the library of Lincoln's inn, and the other in the Bodleian library at Oxford.

Alexander the conqueror,

Geve thou at lenth wald reid his ring",
And of his cruell conqueffing,

In INGLIS TUNGE IN HIS GREAT BUKE,
At lenth his LYFE thare thow may luke.

He acquaints us, yet not from his own knowledge, but on the testimony of other writers, that Homer and Hefiod were the inventors in Greece, of poetry, medicine, mufic, and astronomy *.

EXPERIENCE departs from the poet, and the dialogue is ended, at the approach of the evening; which is defcribed with these circumstances.

с

Behald, quhow Phebus downwart dois difcend,
Toward his palice in the occident!—

By Philip Le Noir, Paris. 1526. fol.
By Benaccivoli, Ven. 1528. 4to.
See fupr. vol. i. p. 220.

If thou at length would read his reign. iSIGNAT. K. iii. He alfo cites Lucan for Alexander, SIGNAT. L. i. For an account of the riches of pope John, he quotes Palmerius. SIGNAT. N. i. This muft have been Mattheus Palmerius abovementioned, author of the CITTA DI Vita,

The dew now donkis' the rofis redolent:
The mariguldis, that all day wer rejoyfit
Of Phebus heit, now craftily ar clofit ".-
The cornecraick in the croft, I heir hir cry;
The bat, the howlatt", feebill of thare eis,
For thare paftyme, now in the evinning flies.
The nichtingaill with myrthfull melody

Her naturall notis, peirfit throuch the sky °.

Many other paffages in Lyndefay's poems deserve attention. Magdalene of France, married to James the fifth of Scotland', did not live to fee the magnificent preparations made for her public entry into Edinburgh. In a poem, called the DEITH OF QUENE MAGDALENE, our author, by a most striking and lively profopopeia, an expoftulation with DEATH, describes the whole order of the proceffion. I will give a few of the stanzas.

THEIEF, faw thou not the greit preparativis
Of Edinburgh, the nobill famous toun?

Thow fawe the peple labouring for thare livis,
To make tryumph with trumpe and clarioun !-

*

Thow fawe makand' rycht costly scaffolding,
Depayntyt weill with golde and asure fyne,
Reddie preparit for the upsetting,

With fountanis flowing water cleir and wyne:
Difagyfit folkis, lyke creaturis divyne,

On ilk scaffold to play ane fundrie storie':
Bot all in greitting' turnit thow that glorie.

Thow faw mony ane luftie fresche galland
Weill ordourit for refaiving of thair quene,
Ilk craftisman with bent bowe in his hand,
Ful galzeartlie in fchort clothing of grene, &c.-

*

Syne next in ordour paffing throw the toun,
Thou fuld have herd the din of inftrumentis,
Of tabrone, trumpet, fchalme, and clarioun,
With reird reboundand throw the elementis;
The heraulds with thare awfull veftimentis,
With maferis upon ather of thare handis,
To rewle the prois, with burneift filver wandis.

W

x

Thow fhuld have hard the ornate oratouris,
Makand hir hienes falutatioun,

Boith of the clergy toun and counfalouris,]

With mony notable narratioun.

Thow fuld have fene her coronation,
In the fair abbay of the holie rude,
In presence of ane myrthfull multitude.

Sic banketting, fic awfull tournamentis

On hors and fute, that tyme quhilk fuld have bene,
Sic chapell royall with fic inftrumentis,

And craftie mufick, &c.

Exclufive of this artificial and very poetical mode of introducing a description of these fplendid fpectacles, instead

of faying plainly that the queen's death prevented the superb ceremonies which would have attended her coronation, these ftanzas have another merit, that of transmitting the ideas of the times in the exhibition of a royal entertainment *.

Our author's COMPLAYNT contains a curious picture, like that in his DREME, of the miferable policy by which Scotland was governed under James the fifth. But he diverfifies and enlivens the fubject, by fuppofing the public felicity which would take place, if all corrupt ministers and evil counsellors were removed from the throne. This is described by striking and picturesque personifications.

Juftice holds her fwerd on hie,
With her ballànce of equitie.-
Dame Prudence has the by the heid,
And Temperance dois thy brydill leid.
I fee dame Force mak affiftance,
Beirand thy targe of affurance:
And lufty lady Chastitie
Has bannifchit Sensualitie.

Dame Riches takes on the fic cure,
I pray God that the long indure!
That Poverte dar nocht be fene
Into thy hous, for baith her ene:
But fra thy grace fled mony mylis
Amangis the hunteris in the ylis*.

* The curious reader may compare "The "ordynaunce of the entre of quene Ifabell "into the towne of Paris," in Froiffart. Berners's Tranfl. tom. ii. c. clvii. f. 172. b. a SIGNAT. G. i.

I here take occafion to explain the two following lines.

Als Jhone Makray, the kingis fule,
Gat dowbyll garmountis agane the zule.
That is, "The king's fool got two fuits
"of apparel, or garments doubly thick,

to wear at Christmas." SIGNAT. G.i.

Zule is Christmas. So James the first, in his declaration at an affembly of the Scotch Kirk at Edinburgh, in 1590, "The "church of Geneva keep Pafche and "YULE," that is, Eafter and CHRISTMAS. Calderwood's HIST. CH. Scот. p. 256. Our author, in The COMPLAINT OF THE PAPYNGO, fays that his bird fung well enough to be a minstrel at Christmas. SIGNAT. A. iii.

Scho micht have bene ane menftrall at the zule. Thus

Sf 2

I know not whether it be worth obferving, that playing at cards is mentioned in this poem, among the diverfions, or games, of the court.

Thar was no play but CARTIS and dice ".

And it is mentioned as an accomplishment in the character of a bishop.

Bot geve thay can play at the CAIRTIS".

Thus, in the year 1503, James the fourth of Scotland, at an interview with the princefs Margaret in the castle of Newbattle, finds her playing at cards. "The kynge came

"

СС

prively to the faid caftell, and entred within the chammer [chamber] with a fmall cumpany, whare he founde the "quene playing at the CARDES"."

Thus Robert of Brunne, in his chronicle, Speaking of King Arthur keeping Chriftmas at York.

On gole day mad he fest

With many barons of his gefte.

See Hearne's ROB. GLOUC. vol. ii. p.
678. And Leland's ITIN. vol. ii. p. 116.
In the north of England, Chriftmas to this
day is called ule, yule, or youle. Blount
"in the northern parts they have an
fays,
"old custom, after fermon or service on
"Christmas-day; the people will, even
" in the churches, cry ule, ule, as a token
❝ of rejoycing, and the common fort run
"about the streets finging,

"ULE, ULE, ULE,
"Three puddings in a pule,
"Crack nuts, and cry ULE."
DICTION. Voc. ULE. In Saxon the word
is gehul, gehol, or geol. In the Welch
rubric every faint's day is the Wyl, or Gaul,
of that faint: either from a British word
fignifying watching, or from the Latin Vi-
gilia, Vigil, taken in a more extended
fenfe. In Wales wylian or gwyliau hado-

e Leland. COLL. APPEND. iii. p. 284. ut fupr. In our author's TRAGEDIE of CARDINAL BETOUN, a foliloquy spoken by the cardinal, he is made to declare, that he played with the king for three thousand crowns of gold in one night, at cartis and dice. SIGNAT. I. ii. They are also mentioned in an old anonymous Scotch poem, Of COVETICE. ANC. Sc. P. ut fupr. p. 168. ft. iii.

Halking, hunting, and fwift horfe rynning,
Are changit all in wrangus wynning;
Thar is no play bot cartis and dyce.
Where, by the way, horfe-racing is con-
fidered among the liberal fports, fuch as

hawking,