Would she put on this garment gay, WILLIAM DUNBAR. WILLIAM DUNBAR, 'a poet,' says Sir Walter Scott, unrivalled by any that Scotland has ever produced,' flourished at the court of James IV., at the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth centuries. His works, with the exception of one or two pieces, were confined, for above two centuries, to an obscure manuscript, from which they were only rescued when their language had become so antiquated, as to render the world insensible in a great measure to their many excellencies. To no other circumstance can we attribute the little justice that allegorical poems are the Thistle and the Rose (a triumphant nuptial song for the union of James and the Princess Margaret), the Dance, and the Golden Terge; but allegory abounds in many others, which do not strictly fall within this class. Perhaps the most remarkable of all his poems is one of those here enumerated, the Dance. It describes a procession of the seven deadly sins in the infernal regions, and for strength and vividness of painting, would stand a comparison with any poem in the language. The most solemn and impressive of the more exclusively moral poems of Dunbar, is one in which he represents a thrush and nightingale taking opposite sides a debate on earthly and spiritual affections, the thrush ending every speech or stanza with a recommendation of 'a lusty life in Love's service,' and the nightingale with the more melodious declaration, 'All Love is lost but upon God alone.' is done by popular fame to this highly-gifted poet, There is, however, something more touching to com mon feelings in the less laboured verses in which he This wavering warld's wretchedness The sliding joy, the gladness short, The suggared mouths, with minds therefra, Evermair unto this warld's joy, His very heir, succeedés Pain. who was alike master of every kind of verse, the The poems of Dunbar may be said to be of three classes, the Allegorical, the Moral, and the Comic; besides which there is a vast number of productions composed on occasions affecting himself, and which may therefore be called personal poems. His chief He is, at the same time, by no means disposed habitually to take gloomy or desponding views of life. He has one poem, of which each stanza ends with 'For to be blyth methink it best.' In another, he advises, since life is so uncertain, that the good things of this world should be rationally enjoyed while it is yet possible. Thine awn gude spend,' says he, 'while thou has space.' There is yet another, in which these Horatian maxims are still more pointedly enforced, and from this we shall select a few stanzas: Be merry, man, and tak not sair in mind The wavering of this wretched world of sorrow; And with thy neighbours gladly lend and borrow; For oft with wise men it has been said aforow, 1 Salvation. 2 Became. 1 Delay. 2 Snare. 3 World's trash without health. 4 Injuries. ! Follow on pity, flee trouble and debate, The philosophy of these lines is excellent. Dunbar was as great in the comic as in the solemn strain, but not so pure. His Twa Married Women and the Widow is a conversational piece, in which three gay ladies discuss, in no very delicate terms, the merits of their husbands, and the means by which wives may best advance their own interests. The Friars of Berwick (not certainly his) is a clever || but licentious tale. There is one piece of peculiar humour, descriptive of an imaginary tournament between a tailor and a shoemaker, in the same low region where he places the dance of the seven deadly sins. It is in a style of the broadest farce, and full of very offensive language, yet as droll as anything in Scarron or Smollett. The Merle and Nightingale. In May, as that Aurora did upspring, Under this branch ran down a river bright, With notis glad, and glorious harmony, A lusty life in Lovis service been. Ne'er sweeter noise was heard with living man, Of every love but upon God alone. Cease, quoth the Merle, thy preaching, Nightingale: The Nightingale said, Fool, remember thee, 1 Age. And died himself, fro' dead him to succour; The Merle said, Why put God so great beauty But gif he would that they suld lovit be? The Nightingale said, Not to that behoof Of beauty, bounty, riches, time, or space, O Nightingale ! it were a story nice, The Nightingale said, Bird, why does thou rave I The Merle said, Love is cause of honour aye, The Nightingale said, True is the contrary, Then said the Merle, Mine error I confess : Then sang they both with voices loud and clear, The Merle said, Love him that thy love has sought 1 Shown. heart. Equivalent to the modern phrase, from the * Slothful. 5 Ta'en; taken. 8 Bound, encircled. Let see, quoth he, who now begins. And first in all the Dance was PRIDE, His kethat12 for the nanes.13 Then IRE came in with sturt and strife; All boden in 'feir of weir,14 In jacks, and scrips, and bonnets of steel; Some upon other with brands beft, 15 With knives that sharp could shear. Next him in Dance came COVETICE, That never could be content: Caitiffs, wretches, and ockerars, 2 Ay as they toomit them of shot, Full sleepy was his grunyie ;7 Ever lashed them on the lunyie :11 In dance they were sae slaw of feet, * And made them quicker of counyie. Then the foul monster GLUTTONY, To dance he did him dress: Nae menstrals playit to them, but doubt, And entered by brief of richt. Then cried Mahoun for a Hieland padian :16 In hell great room they took: 1 Whose close disputation yet moved my thoughts. 3 Accursed men, who had never been absolved in the other world. 5 Prepare a masque. 6 Gambols. 7 Proud. 8 Haughtily. 9 The names of popular spirits in Scotland. 10 Something touching puffed up manners appears to be hinted at in this obscure line. 12 Robe. 11 Large folds. 13 For the occasion. 14 Arrayed in the accoutrements of war. 15 Gave blows. * Dunbar is a poet of a high order. * * His Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins, though it would be absurd to compare it with the beauty and refinement of the celebrated Ode on the Passions, has yet an animated picturesqueness not unlike that of Collins. The effect of both pieces shows how much more potent allegorical figures become, by being made to fleet suddenly before the imagination, than by being 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." '-CAMP VLL. 1 Many contentious persons. 2 Usurers. 5 Every coinage. 8 Dirty, lazy tipplers. 11 Loins. 10 Excuse. 13 Reward. 4 Great quantity. 7 Visage. 9 Slow and sleepy drabs. 12 Circulation, as of coin. 14 A compliment, obviously, to the poetical profession. 15 Pageant. In this stanza Dunbar satirises the outlandish habits and language of the Highlanders. i " The Devil sae deavit was with their yell, That in the deepest pot of hell, He smoorit them with smook. Tidings fra the Session. [A conversation between two rustics, designed to satirise the proceedings in the supreme civil law court of Scotland.] Ane muirland man, of upland mak, I tell you under this confession, I come of Edinburgh fra the Session. Is na man there that trusts another: Of innocent folk preveens a futher :2 That has his mind all on oppression; Some, bydand the law, lays land in wed ;5 How feid and favour flemis7 discretion; Some speaks full fair, and falsely feigns: Some castis summons, and some excepts; Some is put out of his possession; Some swears, and some forsakes God, Some goes to gallows with procession; Religious men of diverse places And are unmindful of their profession, The younger at the elder leers: Sic tidings heard I at the Session. Of Discretion in Giving. To speak of gifts and almos deeds: Some gives for twice as gude again: Some gives for thank, and some for threat; That ere the gift delivered be, And for a hood-pick halden is he, Some in his giving is so large, Then vice and prodigalitie, Some to the rich gives his gear, And, though the poor for fault2 sould die, His cry not enters in his ear: In Giving sould Discretion be. And to auld servants list not see, Though all the contrair weel knaws he; Are mony sic now in thir days: In Giving sould Discretion be. Some givis parochines full wide, The people to teach and to o'ersee, Of Discretion in Taking. After Giving I speak of Taking, Some takes o'er little authoritie, Barons taks fra the tenants puir In mails and gersoms raisit o'er hie; And gars them beg fra door to door: Whispered. 7 Banishes. 2 Is advanced before a great number. 4 Armpit. 8 Fox 5 Pledge. • Hostility. 1 Appreciated. Starvation. 3 A large proportion of the strangers who visited Scotland at this early period were probably from Flanders. 4 Complain. 1 Some merchands taks unleesomel wine, Whilk maks their packs oft time full thin, By their succession, as ye may see, Some taks other mennis tacks,2 And never remembers that he maun die, Till that the gallows gars him rax :3 Some taks by sea, and some by land, And syne they gar him understand, In Taking sould Discretion be. As he has dread that God him Through heart unsatiable and greedie; Some wald tak little, and can not speed: Great men for taking and oppression, And puir takers are hangit hie, pying a prominent place in the history of his country, he died of the plague in London in the year 1522. Douglas shines as an allegorical and descriptive poet. He wants the vigorous sense, and also the graphic force, of Dunbar; while the latter is always close and nervous, Douglas is soft and verbose. The genius of Dunbar is so powerful, that manner sinks beneath it; that of Douglas is so much matter of culture, that manner is its most striking peculiarity. This manner is essentially scholarly. He employs an immense number of words derived from the Latin, as yet comparatively a novelty in English composition. And even his descriptions of nature involve many ideas, very beautiful in themselves, and very beautifully expressed, but inappropriate to the situation, and obviously introduced merely in accordance with literary fashion. The principal original composition of Douglas is a long poem, entitled The Palace of Honour. It was designed as an apologue for the conduct of a king. and therefore addressed to James IV. The poet represents himself as seeing, in a vision, a large company travelling towards the Palace of Honour. He joins them, and narrates the particulars of the pilgrimage. The well-known Pilgrim's Progress bears so strong a resemblance to this poem, that Bunyan could scarcely have been ignorant of it. King Hart, the only other long poem of Douglas, presents a metaphorical view of human life. But the most remarkable production of this author was a translation of Virgil's Eneid into Scottish verse, which he executed in the year 1513, being the first version of a Latin classic into any British tongue. It is generally allowed to be a masterly performance, though in too obsolete a language ever to regain its popularity. The original poems, styled prologues, which the translator affixes to each book, are esteemed amongst his happiest pieces. 1 Unlawful. Leases. 4 In its whole breadth. court of law. 3 Till the gallows stretches him. 1 Worthy reward. 8 Issued from. 2 Without equal. 4 Opened. 8 Glittering. 5 Purple streaks mingled with gold and azure. * Part of the prologue to the 12th book of the Æneid. |