Innumerable folk I saw flotterand1 in fear, Oureset with seas and many a stormy charge. IX. This goodly Carwell, taiklit traist on raw,* X. It was a piteous thing,-alaik, alaik! To hear the doleful cry when that she straik; XI. Tho16 at my nymph briefly I did enquire, 1 Fluttering, 4 Or caravel, a Spanish or Portuguese merchant-ship. Another form is carack, both probably connected with the word cargo. "He hath boarded a land-carack."— Shakesp. Othello. 5 Tackled trustily all along. Traist (trust) is a verb, noun, and adjective. The adjective has also the sense of bold, secure, safe. "We gave him ansuëre not traist ynouch, Astonyst with the word he backward dreuch."-Doug. Virg. Traist (Fr. tresteau, a three-legged stool) is the frame of a table; hence trestle; tress in Scotch. 6 Sure. beard. 7 Protected. Scolding, insolent, impetuous; probably from the idea attached to the verb to 9 Blasts. 12 Wearied. 10 Drave. 13 Tackling. 15 Fled, escaped. Fley in Scotch also means to affright. 17 Several 18 This relative often adds the plural sign in agreeing in number with the antece dent. 19 Lost. PROLOGUE TO ENEID. In whom yon people made ane perilous race, XII. Ye bene all born the sons of ire, I guess, Syne through baptism gets grace and faithfulness; Oft stormésted with this warld's bruckleness, By Christ working good works, I understand; 39 FROM THE PROLOGUE TO THE TWELFTH BOOK OF THE ENEID. DIONEA, night-herd and watch of day, Went under covert, for gone was the night; 12 With sanguine cape,12 the selvage12 purpurate; 1 Was called. Term in English hight; past tense and particip. of Ang.-Sax. haetan, to say, to name; behight, to promise; "And behighten to give him money," -Mark xiv. 11, Wyclif. Hence hest and behest, a command. Hecht in Scotch is used in the sense of promised. "They hecht him some fine braw ane,”-Burns, Hallowe'en. 2 Till. The planet Venus, the morning and evening star. The goddess was said to be the daughter of Jupiter and the nymph Dione. 4 See note 3, P. 27. This is a singular use of the cave of Maia on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia, where Mercury was born, and from which he derives the name Cyllenius. Withdrew. Um is here an intensive prefix, as un in unloose; um in various forms, in northern languages, means around, sometimes back.-See Jamieson's Scot. Dict. 7 Saturn, in the judicial astrology is an ill-omened planet. If this be an acknowledgment of the Copernican astronomy it is singular in a churchman of the sixteenth century. 9 The owl,-Ovid. Met. ii. 590-595. 10 The legend of Tithonus, the son of Laomedon of Troy, and Aurora, is well known. These thirteen lines contain a singular confusion of astronomy and mythology. 11 Crimson. 12 The minutiae of the tailor's art seem to have been somewhat favourite pieces of scenery with our earlier poets. Our ancestors were curious in the elaborateness of Unshut the windows of her largé hall, Beat down the skyés cloudy mantle wall. Forth of his palace royal issuèd Phoebùs, The auriate phanis, of his throne sovràn, * * * * * Welcome, the lord of light and lamp of day! 12 their apparel. Were the poets in this particular "abstract and brief chroniclers of the time?" "That turned your wit the seamy side without.' Shakesp. Othello, Act iv. Sc. 2. "There does a sable cloud 1 Upwarps is a metaphor from a portcullis. The confused yet vigorous splendour of this passage is very characteristic of a period when the poetical art was struggling into civilization. 2 Purple streaks; Ang. -Sax. spraengan, to sprinkle. 4 Barbican, fortification, outer wall. 3 Mingled. See note 1, p. 12. 7 Gleaming. Sea (Fretum, Lat.) 6 Warton has "phanis, fans or vanes of gold.", 8 Calmed; gentle. 10 Sprout, from being fed by vein-like organs.-Jamieson. 11 Shelter. 12 Husbandmen-ploughs. 13 Boughs. The English poets have been fond of the use of the verb repair as found in the Latin poetry. See Hor. Sat. ii. 5, 2. Odes, iv. 7, 13. "And yet anon repairs his drooping head."-Milton; Lycidas. "Now heaven repairs thy rural seat."-Logan. LYNDSAY. Welcome, depainter1 of the bloomit meads! 4I 66 SIR DAVID LYNDSAY. (1490?-1555?) "THE progenitors of Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount," says Chalmers, were undoubtedly derived from the family of Lord Lyndsay of Byres, in Haddingtonshire." The Mount is an estate in Fifeshire, in the parish of Monimail. The poet was born probably about 1490. He was sent to St. Andrews University in 1505, the year of Knox's birth. After making the tour of Europe, he seems to have filled some office in the court of James IV., and was made page of honour to the prince, afterwards James V., on his birth in 1512. His poems contain allusions to his intercourse with the king during his boyhood. Though excluded from his offices about the king's person by the factions of the time, James seems to have retained a strong affection for his earliest servant and companion. Lyndsay was afterwards elevated, with knighthood, to the dignity of "Lord Lyon King at Arms," an office of more honour than emolument. During James's reign he was frequently employed by that prince in interesting and important missions. The Reformation was at that period in the fervour of its career on the Continent; and Lyndsay's masculine understanding had seized with enthusiasm on its tenets. The theory and practice of the Romish establishment, independently of the religious questions involved in its creed, had become utterly unsuited to the social condition of many of the Western States of Europe. Lyndsay lashes with unsparing severity oth the doctrinal tenets and the feudal relations of the church as the eligious establishment of the kingdom. His writings are considered to have acted as a powerful instrument in the production of the Reformation in Scotland. That he escaped persecution is remarkable. He continued to be employed in foreign missions, as Lyon King at Arms, till within a short time of his death, which took place about the year 1555 The name of Lyndsay has been cherished by the Scottish people with peculiar affection. His language is their vernacular dialect, patent to all their associations and familiar feelings. His themes, while they embrace subjects of interest to all humanity, have still an aim peculiarly and immediately Scottish. Few of his pieces boast many of the charms which we associate with the term poetry; but graphic painting, pungency of sarcasm, and shrewd reflection, are qualities which long secured popu larity to Lyndsay. His coarseness and indecency are almost incredible, but they were the vices of his age. Lyndsay's works are, as Chalmers has chronologically enumerated them, I. The "Dreme;" an exposure of the miseries of Scotland under the supremacy of the Angus Douglasses. II. The "Complaint," viz., of the poet to the king respecting the insufficient reward of his services. III. The "Complaint of the King's Papingo" (i. e., parrot or popinjay); 1 De is used intensively; so that depaint is perfectly distinct from the modern verb depict; depaint is used by James I., see p. 29. This passage of Douglas forms a good illustration of the flood of Latinised terms that overflowed the language after the revival of learning. a satire on "The Spiritualitie." IV. The "Satyre on the Three Estates;" a play constructed on the principle of the mysteries of an earlier age. Then follow a number of minor pieces; till XII. "The History of Squire Meldrum," the liveliest of Lyndsay's works, and considered the last specimen of the metrical romances. XIII. "The Monarchie;" a view of the whole history of the world from the creation, including specially Scotland, and ending with the day of judgment. FROM "THE COMPLAINT." JAMES FIFTH'S CHILDHOOD. As ane chapman1 bears his pack, FROM "THE COMPLAINT OF THE PAPINGO." THE PAPINGO'S FAREWEEL. 6 ADIEU, Edinburgh, thou hie triumphant town, Were devotion, wisdom, and honesty, And credence, tint, they might be found in thee." Adieu, fair Snawdon, with thy towers hie, 1 A pedlar. 2 Mute or moot, to articulate; connected with mouth. 3 By heart (Fr. 1. par cœur ; off hand. Chaucer writes the word par cuere. The name of some old tune. 6 Merchants. See note 4, p. 21. A noble compliment to the Edinburgh citizens. Stirling-See Scott's Lady of the Lake. "The ring within which jousts were formerly practised in the Castle park (at Stirling) is still called the round table."-See the reference in note 8. 10 Against. 11 Scott seems to refer to this passage in Lyndsay's tale, in Marmion, Canto IV. |