And eke the heavenly portis chrystalline Full tait and trig socht bletand to their dams. SIR DAVID LYNDSAY. The celebrated Lyon King of Arms, SIR DAVID LYNDSAY of the Mount, was born, about the year 1490, at the paternal seat in the parish of Monimail, Fifeshire. He was educated at the university of St Andrews, was early employed at the court of James IV.; and in 1511-12 had a salary of forty pounds. He was in attendance on the king at the church of St Michael, Linlithgow, when a supposed apparition warned the monarch against passing to England on his fatal project of invasion-an incident graphically delineated in Scott's Marmion. Lyndsay became the usher and companion of the young prince, afterwards James V. As ane chapman bears his pack, 1 Grassy groves. 4 Whisper. About the year 1529, the king knighted Lyndsay, and appointed him Chief Herald, or Lyon King of Arms. Some years previously, the poet had married a lady, Janet Douglas, who held the office of sempstress to the king, with an annual fee or pension of ten pounds. He seems to have possessed talents for public business, as he was employed on commercial missions to Flanders and Denmark, and on various royal messages and embassies, besides representing the burgh of Cupar in parliament in 1544-46. In his latter days, he retired to his seat, the Mount, where he died some time previous to the 18th of April 1555, when his brother succeeded to the entailed estate. The antiquated dialect, prolix narrative, and frequent indelicacy of Lyndsay's writings, have thrown them into the shade; but they abound in racy pictures of the times, in humorous and burlesque description, and in keen and cutting satire. There are also passages evincing poetical fancy and elevation of feeling. He lashed the vices of the clergy even with greater boldness than Skelton, and from his public position and the openness of his satire and invective, he must materially have advanced the Reformed doctrines. He appears to have been sincerely and strongly attached to this cause, and was one of the influential Reformers who urged Knox to become a preacher. That he escaped the vengeance of the church in the early part of his career, must be attributed to the partiality entertained for him by the king, and to the broad humour and indelicacy mixed up with his satire, which could not fail to be relished by that voluptuous monarch. James also shewed some magnanimity in overlooking the satirical shafts of Lyndsay directed against his own pleasant vices' and defects. With the bulk of his countrymen, Sir David was singularly popular. His sarcastic lines and shrewd sayings passed into proverbs, and are not yet wholly banished from the firesides of the peasantry. The works of Sir David Lyndsay were edited by Mr George Chalmers, and published in three volumes (London, 1806). A new edition, revised by Mr David Laing, and somewhat curtailed, appeared in two volumes (Edinburgh, 1871). The poet's first production, The Dreme, was written about the year 1528. This was followed by The Complaynt to the King, evidently written in 1529; and The Testament and Complaynt of our Šoverane Lordis Papyngo, Kyng James the Fyft, 1530. (The papyngo or popinjay is the old English name of the parrot.) These three works consist chiefly of observations on the state and government of the kingdom during two of its dismal minorities. The other principal works of Lyndsay are: An Answer to the King's Flyting, 1536; The Deploration of the Death of Queen Magdalene, 1537; Ane Supplication directit to the Kingis Grace, in contemptioun of Syde Taillis, 1538; Kitties Confessioun (a satire on auricular confession), 1541; The Tragedie of the Cardinall (Beaton), 1546; The Historie and Testament of Squyer William Meldrum, about 1550; Ane Dialog betuix Experi ence and ane Courteour, of the miserabyll estait of the World, 1553; and Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis. This last work is a rude dramatic composition, a satire upon the whole of the three political orders-monarch, barons, and clergy-full of humour and grossness, and curiously illustrative of the taste of the times. Notwithstanding its pungency, and, what is apt to be now more surprising, notwithstanding the introduction of indecencies not fit to be described, the satire of the Three Estates was acted in presence of the court at Cupar, Linlithgow, and Edinburgh, the stage being in the open air. The performance at Linlithgow took place at the feast of Epiphany, January 6, 1539-40, in the presence of the king, queen, the ladies of the court, the bishops, and a great concourse of people of all ranks. It is probable that some of the coarser passages were written, as Chalmers supposes, for the amusement of the lower classes during the intervals, when the chief auditory had retired for refreshments. The Historie of Squyer Meldrum is perhaps the most pleasing of all Lyndsay's works. It is founded on the adventures of a well-known person in Fifeshire, William Meldrum, the laird of Cleish and Binns, who served in France during the war in 1513, and on his return to Scotland was noted for his spirit and gallantry. It is considered the last poem that in any degree partakes of the character of the old metrical romance. The Dialogue betwixt Experience and a Courtier is otherwise described as The Monarchie, and is an elaborate compendium of events in sacred and profane history, in the course of which the poet inveighs against the corruptions of the church of Rome. Of the dexterity with which Lyndsay could point a satirical remark on an error of state-policy, we may judge from the following very brief passage of his early work, the Complaynt, which refers to the revolution in the Scottish government during the year 1524, when the king was twelve years of age, and the Douglases gained the ascendency. We give the lines in the original orthography, from the text of Chalmers: Imprudentlie, lyk wytles fuilis, Thay tuke that young prince frome the scuilis, I pray God, lat me never se ryng,3 In to this realme, so young ane kyng. Satire on the Syde Tails, or Long Dresses, of the Ladies. Sir, though your Grace has put great order Yet mak I supplication Till have some reformation Of ane small fault, whilk is nocht treason, Though it be contrary to reason, 1 Whole, entire. 3 Reign. Because the matter been so vile, Richt so ane queen or ane empress ; How kirk and causay they soop1 clean. May think of their syde taillis irk ;2 Gif they could speak, they wald them warie.3. . Poor claggocks clad in raploch white, I think maist pane after ane rain, To see them tuckit up again; Then when they step furth through the street, Ane other fault, sir, may be seen- 2 Merchandise or freight, and mariners, 4 Draggle-tails. 7 Slut. 5 Hatched. 8 Scolding, brawling. 3 Curse or cry out. 6 Houghs. 9 Burgh towns. Women will say, this is nae bourds,1 Quoth Lyndsay, in contempt of the syde tails, We subjoin a few passages from the Satire of the Three Estates, partly modernising the spelling. Abuses of the Clergy. Pauper. Gude man, will ye give me of your charity, And I shall declare you the black verity. My father was ane auld man and ane hoar, And was of age fourscore of years and more. And Mald, my mother, was fourscore and fifteen, And with my labour I did them baith sustein. We had ane mare that carried salt and coal, 4 And every ilk year, she brocht us hame ane foal. My father was so weak of blude and bane, That he died, wherefore my mother made great mane : Then she died, within ane day or two; And there began my poverty and woe. Our gude gray mare was battened on the field, And when the vicar heard tell how that my mother Then Meg, my wife, did mourn baith even and morrow, And when the vicar heard tell my wife was dead, 6 Their umest7 claithes, that was of raploch gray,8 Diligence. How did the parson? was he not thy friend? Pauper. The devil stick him! he cursed me for my teind,9 And halds me yet under that same process That gart me want the sacrament at Pasche.10 In gude faith, sir, though he would cut my throat, I have na gear, except ane English groat, Diligence. Thou art the daftest 11 fuil that ever I saw ; Pauper. Ane consuetude against the common weal, Should be na law, I think, by sweet Sanct Geil.12 6 Catched hold of. 7 Uppermost. 8 Coarse woollen gray cloth. 9 Tithe. 10 Easter. 12 St Giles. 11 Maddest. Here is ane relic, lang and braid, Here is ane cord, baith great and lang, Of gude hemp soft and sound; He shall never gang to hell- Wha loves their wives nocht with their heart, Has nane of you curst wicked wives Of that cummer I shall make you quit, Of relics here I have ane hunder, Why come ye nocht? This is ane wonder; I trow ye be nocht wise. The Law's Delay. Marry, I lent my gossip my mare, to fetch hame coals, And syne I gat-how call ye it ?-ad replicandum; There were several other Scottish poets of this period, one of whom, WALTER KENNEDY, has obtained some notoriety from having carried on a flyting or altercation with Dunbar in rhyme. The productions on both sides are coarse and scurrilous, though there was probably as much mirth as malice at the bottom of the affair. Most of these pieces, with several anonymous poems of no small merit, were preserved in the Maitland and Bannatyne manuscripts of the sixteenth century. The first was begun in 1555 by Sir Richard Maitland, and consists of a collection of miscellaneous poetry, in two volumes, ending with the year 1585. These precious volumes were preserved in the Pepysian Library, in Magdalene College, Cambridge. The Bannatyne manuscript contains a similar collection made by George Bannatyne, a merchant of Edinburgh, in the year 1568, when the prevalence of the plague compelled men in business to forsake their usual employments and retire to the country. In a valedictory address at the end of this compilation (containing upwards of 800 pages), Bannatyne says : Heir endis this Buik writtin in tyme of pest, A judicious selection from Bannatyne's manuscript was published by Lord Hailes in 1770, accompanied with valuable notes and a glossary. BALLAD POETRY. The early ballads of England and Scotland have justly been admired for their rude picturesque energy and simple pathos. Some of them-as those relating to King Arthur, St George of England, Sir Gawaine, &c.—are of great antiquity, and refer to a period before the formal institution of chivalry. Others of later date, whether embodying historical events, traditional romance, or domestic tragedies, illustrate the times in which they were composed, though often altered and vulgarised in their progress downwards by recitation. Sir Philip Sidney said the old ballad of Chevy Chase stirred him up like the sound of a trumpet; and the classic Addison devoted two papers in the Spectator to a critique on a more modern version of the same artless but heroic metrical story. The ballads on the famous outlaw, Robin Hood, fill a volume. Another, The Nut-brown Maid, was imitated by Prior, who failed to excel the simple original. Sir Lancelot du Lake, the Heir of Linne, King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid, Tak your Auld Cloak about ye, and numerous others, have enjoyed great popularity. Walter Scott drew his first and strongest poetical inspiration from the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, which he carefully collected and edited. Most of these must be assigned to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but many are older, including what Coleridge termed 'the grand old ballad' of Sir Patrick Spens. James V. of Scotland is the reputed author of two excellent ballads, describing his own roving adventures. In Shakspeare and Beaumont and Fletcher are many fragments of ballads popular in their day, most of which have been collected and published in Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. To this valuable repository and to Scott's Minstrelsy we must refer the reader. The Deaths of Douglas and Percy. Sir The ballad of Chevy Chase is supposed to have been written in the time of Henry VI. or between 1422 and 1461. The oldest MS. is in the Bodleian Library, with the name attached of 'Richard Sheale, a ballad-singer or reciter of the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth. In the following extract, we have simplified the spelling, which in the original is careless and uncouth. At last the Douglas and the Percy met, These worthy freckys1 for to fight Thereto they were full fain, Till the blood out of their basnets sprent 2 "Yield thee, Percy!' said the Douglas, 'Thou shalt have thy ransom free, I hight thee hear this thing; 'Nay,' said the Lord Percy, 'I told it thee beforn, That I would never yielded be To no man of a woman born.' With that there cam an arrow hastily It hath stricken the Earl Douglas Thorough liver and lungs baith That was: 'Fight ye, my merry men, whiles ye may, The Percy leaned on his brand, And saw the Douglas dee; 'To have saved thy life, I would have parted with My lands for years three, For a better man of heart nor of hand Was not in all the north countrie.' Of all that saw, a Scottish knight, Was called Sir Hugh the Montgomery, He never stinted nor never blane 4 He set upon the Lord Percy With a sure spear of a mighty tree Clean thorough the body he Percy bore, At the other side that a man might see As a specimen of the modernised ballad, supposed to be of the time of Elizabeth or James, we quote a few stanzas, describing the death of Douglas: the line we have printed in italics is a touch of genius not in the old ballad: With that there came an arrow keen Which struck Earl Douglas to the heart, Who never spoke more words than these- 1 Men (Ang.-Sax. freca, a man). 2 Out of their helmets spirted. 4 Ceased (Ang.-Sax. blinnan, linnan, to cease). 3 Ane, one man. Then leaving strife, Earl Percy took 'O Christ! my very heart doth bleed Sir Patrick Spens.* The king sits in Dunfermline town, 'O where shall I get a skeely skipper, To sail this ship of mine?' O up and spake an eldern knight, Our king has written a braid letter, 'To Noroway, to Noroway, The first word that Sir Patrick read, The neist1 word that Sir Patrick read, The tear blinded his e'e. 'O wha is this has done this deed, To send us out, at this time of the year, 'Be't wind or weet, be't hail or sleet, They hoysed their sails on Monenday morn, They ha'e landed in Noroway, They hadna been a week, a week, When that the lords o' Noroway 'Ye Scottishmen spend a' our king's goud, And a' our queenis fee.' 'Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud! Fu' loud I hear ye lie; 'I saw the new moon, late yestreen, Wi' the auld moon in her arm; And, if we gang to sea, master, I fear we'll come to harm.' They hadna sailed a league, a league, A league but barely three, When the lift grew dark, and the wind blew loud, The ankers brak, and the top-masts lap, And the waves cam o'er the broken ship, 'O where will I get a gude sailor, 'O here am I, a sailor gude, To take the helm in hand, He hadna gane a step, a step, A step but barely ane, When a boult flew out of our goodly ship, And the salt sea it came in. 'Gae fetch a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And wap them into our ship's side, And let nae the sea come in.' They fetched a web o' the silken claith, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, O laith, laith were our gude Scots lords And mony was the feather-bed The ladyes wrang their fingers white, O lang, lang may the ladyes sit, And lang, lang may the maidens sit, For them they'll see nae mair. Half owre, half owre to Aberdour, 'Tis fifty fathoms deep, And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens, The Nut-brown Maid. The long and interesting ballad of the Nut-brown Maid was first printed in Arnold's Chronicle about 1502, then reprinted in The Muses Mercury, 1707, and afterwards formed the groundwork of Prior's Henry and Emma. The object of the old author was to prove that the faith of woman is stronger than worldly men believe. I say not nay, but that all day It is both writ and said That woman's faith is, as who sayeth, |