Originally the "Scots" or Scottish tongue was Gaelic, the language of the Irish Scots who, landing in Argyll about a.d. 500, finally gave a dynasty and its existing name, to "Scot" land. When the dynasty acquired the Anglicized Lothian and much of Cumberland, it adopted the English speech, consequently the writers of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in Scotland used a form of northern English or "Ynglis," and knew not Gaelic. They called their speech "English" till the long wars with England led them to draw a distinction and patriotically1 style it "Scots" or "Scottis". Thus by 1562, Ninian Winzett upbraids2 John Knox for "knapping English" in his writings, and forgetting the "Scots" that he learned at his mother's knee. Gaelic was no longer reckoned "Scots," it was Ersch, Yrisch, or Erse. Even before the days of Edward I, the town seal of Stirling, on the Forth3, describes the Gaelic-speaking men north of Forth as Scoti bruti. The Scottish writers did not know, and therefore despised Gaelic, from which they have scarcely borrowed anything. Latin and French they knew, and enriched their tongue by borrowing from these sources.
The one verse of Scottish poetry that may have survived from the end of the thirteenth century, the lines on the death of Alexander III, are charming, but, if they were written at the time, or shortly after, they must have been modernized4, more or less, when Wyntoun, the rhyming chronicler, quoted them about 1420, twenty years after the death of Chaucer.
[Pg 130]
Barbour.
Setting aside the enigmatic Huchown already discussed, John Barbour, author of "The Brus," a history of King Robert Bruce in rhyming octosyllabic couplets, is the first poet of English speaking Scotland. He remains5 one of the most spirited and readable; the most like Sir Walter Scott, who used his book in poetry and in prose historical writing.
By 1357 Barbour was Archdeacon of Aberdeen: he was probably born at least ten years before Chaucer. In 1357 he went, with others, to study at Oxford6, probably at the Scottish college, Balliol. He also visited France, for studious purposes; he held a position in the Exchequer7, and, after finishing "The Brus" in 1376, received a pension from Bruce's grandson, Robert II: other pensions he received: he died in 1396. He had written other works, lost or disputable, and a romantic genealogy8 of the Stuarts, who were really Fitz Alans, and of ancient Breton origin, not, as was fabled9, of the old Scoto-Irish dynasty. "A Buik of Alexander" (the romance of Alexander the Great), is attributed to Barbour with much probability.
Barbour possesses, unlike most of the narrative10 poets of the Middle Ages, one supreme11 advantage. He is not telling, for the twentieth time, the Tale of Troy, of Alexander the Great, of King Arthur, or of any dim mythical12 hero. The events in the history of Scotland which his own father witnessed, make one of the best stories in the world. Bruce was far from a faultless hero, but his adventures are picturesque13 facts, not inventions: though sometimes Barbour tells the same story twice, with variations. His many defeats, his wanderings in the heather, with a little company or with a single attendant; his flight over sea; his crossings of perilous15 lochs in frail16 boats; his single combats; the desperate chivalrous17 valour of his brother Edward; his own sagacity as a strategist and tactician19; his kindness of heart; his love of the romances; the sufferings of his loyal friends, men and women; all his days of almost desperate warfare20; all his escapes when surrounded in the hills of Galloway and of Argyll, are matters of historical fact, and can often be traced in English documents of[Pg 131] the time. His "crowning mercy" Bannockburn, is as historical as Marathon or Waterloo.
When we think of the wild scenes in which Bruce warred and wandered, Loch Trool, Loch Awe21, the whole of the Lennox, the uplands of Don and Dee; when we remember the blending of English armed knights22, and of the plaided clans24 in the ranks of his enemies; his own combination of the Islesmen with "the dark impenetrable wood" of the Lowland spears; the many-hued silks of the standards; the cowled friars who prayed while the warriors26 fought; the fair ladies who shared the hero's dangers, we see that Barbour has a theme fresh, brilliant, and unique for his poem. He has a true story which is more thrilling than any invented romance.
Barbour notoriously, perhaps in the interests of poetic27 perspective, rolls up three Bruces, the grandfather, the father, and the hero himself, into one personage. Yet his statements of the numbers of the English engaged are sometimes corroborated28 by the English muster29 rolls. Before he has written three hundred lines he strikes the sonorous30 keynote of his narrative in that praise of Freedom which is worthy31 of the poet who fought at Marathon.
"Ah! freedom is a noble thing!"
In what other mediaeval romance can these lines be equalled? What wearies us in Barbour is the common defect of mediaeval poets, the occasional display of learning, references to what Cato did, or Hannibal, or Scipio, and the like, but Barbour is not tedious when, after giving a minute portrait of the good Lord James of Douglas, he compares him to Hector, though, for valour,
To Hector dare I none compare
Of all that ever in world were.
The story never drags, adventure follows adventure, and there is none of the weary exaggeration of romance. Bruce does not slay32 his thousands, like Arthur. When he, a mounted man in armour33, Ms the better of three plaided clansmen, MacNaughton, who is of the hostile party, cries
[Pg 132]
Surely, in all my time,
I never heard, in song or rhyme,
Tell of a man that so smartly
Displayed such great chivalry34.
But Bruce is soon obliged to give his horse to one of the ladies, and go on foot, like Prince Charles, living on such venison as his arrows may procure35. Barbour has to invent no fanciful dangers; he knows the racing36 tides and dangerous shoals of Argyll—
The waves wide that breaking were,
Weltered as hills, here and there.
Unlike Chaucer, Barbour has a scorn of astrology: no man ever (he says) made three correct prophecies, by knowledge of the stars! He is far from scrupulous37, and does not blame Douglas when, like Achilles, he slays38 prisoners of war: apparently39 because he could not take them with him in his retreat, and secure their ransoms40. Barbour has not, of course, the genius of Chaucer; but he has a touch of the genius of Scott, he has spirit, and a true sense of loyalty42, chivalry, and patriotism43; these, with his subject, place him beside Chaucer in so far as that he may still be read with unaffected enjoyment44.
Wyntoun.
Between Barbour and the first true Scottish disciple45 of Chaucer, James I, comes the author of a Chronicle in rhyming octosyllabic couplets "The Orygynale Cronykil". This is Andrew Wyntoun, who was a canon of St. Andrews Cathedral, and prior of St. Serfs on a little island in Loch Leven, the loch of Queen Mary's captivity46. Wyntoun appears to have been an old man when, in 1413, the first Scottish university was founded at St. Andrews, by a bull of the Anti-Pope, Pedro de la Luna. The place must, with its Augustinian canons, have been a seat of learning before 1413, but the new university was very poor, and a thing of small beginnings.
Wyntoun's book commences with Adam and Eve, and is at fifth hand and fabulous47 till the author approaches his own time.
Mythical as is his work when he approaches his own date he,[Pg 133] with Fordun, the really industrious48 author of the prose "Scotichronicon" (died about 1384), is one of our few sources of information about Scottish affairs. Wyntoun is amusing, but does not pretend to high poetic merit.
The Kingis Quhair.
To people who only know King James I of Scotland in history, his poem, "The Kingis Quhair" (book) must be rather disappointing. Fortune was his foe49, as he says in the poem, and the foe of his House.
Born in July, 1394, young James was made prisoner in March, 1405-1406, and, for about eighteen years was a captive in England, or was led with the army of Henry V against his natural ally, Charles VII, the Dauphin of Jeanne d'Arc. The ransom41 demanded from James when released, in 1423, was ruinous; of his hostages, noblemen, some died in England; he found his country full of anarchy50 and treason; the disorders51 he suppressed with illegal vigour52; he seized earldoms to which he had no right, he made powerful enemies, and, in 1437, he was slain53 by Robert Graeme and a band of Highlanders, at the Black Friars' in Perth. In England he had married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the Earl of Somerset, who lived to avenge54 him on his murderers with unheard-of cruelties.
When a man of James's intellect, character, and experiences writes a poem on his own taking at sea by faithless foes55, his own long captivity, and his own love-story, we naturally expect something of poignant56 personal interest. But we expect what his time, his taste, and his rank forbade him to give. Never was poetical57 tradition so crushing to originality58 as the tradition of the "Roman de la Rose".
For centuries each mediaeval poet aimed at saying just what his forerunners59 had said, and in much the same style: Barbour, of course, is an exception; he does not open with a sleepless60 night; a book read in bed; a dream of a May morning; a walk to a pretty river, a palace near the river, and all the rest of it. Barbour writes "like a man of this world".
But King James follows the fashion of allegory. He cannot[Pg 134] sleep; he reads Bo?thius in bed, Bo?thius "full of moralities". He lies thinking over his sorrows when (this is original), the bell for matins rings, and
Ay me thought the bell
Said to me, tell on, man, quhat the befell.
He did not think that the Voice was a real Voice, "impression of my thought causes this illusion," said he, and though he had "spent much ink and paper to little effect," he sat down, made a mark of the cross, and set to work at his tale, first comparing his life to a ship in perilous seas, and then briefly61 mentioning his capture when about three years past the age of innocence62 (which was seven, he was, when taken, four years past seven). Birds, beasts, and fishes, he says, are free, why does Fortune make me thrall63? He looks out of his window into a green garden; the nightingales sing; he sees, and describes very prettily64, a fair lady walking with her two maidens65, and falls in love. In all probability this is a mere66 imitation of the first sight of Emily by Palamon and Arcite, in Chaucer's "Knight's Tale". James would meet Jeanne in society: he was not a close prisoner, we are told that he knew many English ladies, and the course of his true love ran smooth enough. But the description is charming, as is the address to the nightingale which follows.
After this long and excellent passage of true poetry, fashion compels the King to visit the Palace of Venus and see the lovers of old times, converse67 with Venus and with Pallas, and visit Fortune with her Wheel, and take his place on it; then he awakes not "seeing all his own mischance". A white turtle-dove brings him flowers, and a glad message in letters of gold; and he blesses birds and flowers and even his prison wall, and
the sanctis marciall
That me first causit hath this accident.
The poem ends with an invocation of the shades of his "masters dear," Gower and Chaucer.
The manuscript, of about 1488, ascribes the poem to King James, so does Major or Mair, a not too trustworthy historian.[Pg 135] The language is northern English, mixed with Scots, with many borrowings from Chaucer. The story indicated is true of James and of no one else, but the usual attempt has been made to deprive him of the authorship—wholly without success. The measure is the "rhyme royal" of Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde". The scansion is remarkably68 correct, and the lines have a melody not common in the works of Chaucer's followers69. There is a strong moral element in the reflection and discourses70.
Henryson.
Not a King like James I, nor a courtier priest, like Dunbar, his junior, but a schoolmaster of the Benedictine Abbey-school at Dunfermline, Robert Henryson had, among Scottish poets of his day, the greatest share of the spirit of their master, Chaucer. He may be the Robert Henryson who, already a Bachelor of Arts, joined the University of Glasgow in 1462, but nothing is certainly known of him. He wrote his "Morall Fabillis of Esope"
by request and precept72 of a lord,
Of whom the name it needs not record,
to he apparently had a patron destitute73 of vanity, and not ambitious of publicity74. Henryson regarded ?sop71, the mythical Greek slave, as "a noble Clerk," and made his own use of the tales of talking beasts, birds, and fishes, which are told among savages75 in most wild countries, and reached him, some of them by way of India, filtered through Latin, French, and English authors.
The animals are perfectly76 human in character, and give to Henryson, as later to Prior and La Fontaine, the opportunity to show his own wit, humour, and tolerant gentle nature. The tales are told in the seven line stanza77, rhyme royal, of Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyde". Even to-day they may be read with unfeigned pleasure, for their humorous and human studies of character, for their unostentatious pictures of nature, of the little nest of the field mouse, the moors78, the stubble fields, the warm storeroom of the burgess's house, where the town mouse has her hole, and for the unaffected sympathy with our wild kindred of fur and feather. The chatter79 of the hens, the widows of Chanticleer, when the fox,[Pg 136] who has claimed old family friendship with the cock, flatters his vanity and carries him away, is far more pleasing than Dunbar's satire80 on his revolting Widow and two married women. One hen, Pertok, makes bitter moan for the cock, the common husband of them all, but Sprutok declares her intention to sing, "Was never widow so gay"; she enumerates81 the faults of the dear deceased; Pertok comes into her way of thinking; and Toppok speaks of the faithlessness of their late Lord. Heaven has punished Chanticleer, who, after all, cheats the fox, and returns to his harem.
"The Two Mice" is especially humorous, and as sympathetic as Burns's poem "The Twa Dogs". The tale is so vivid that we feel the keenest anxiety when Gib, or Gilbert, "our Jolly Cat," pounces82 on the country mouse; the town mouse knows her hole, and has fled thither83. The horror of the town mouse when she has rural dainties placed before her by the country mouse, her mincing84 airs of patronage85, are delicately touched; in short, with the Fox's confession86 to the priestly Wolf, and the Trial of the Fox; and the strained law which the Wolf administers to the Lamb, the fables87 are animated88 and delightful89 poetry in their kind: the Morals, as when the hard lot of the poor husbandmen is described, are far from contemptible90. Had Henryson left nothing else we must recognize in him a true son of Chaucer.
His "Testament91 of Cresseyde" begins from a bitter winter night, when alone and snug92 in his warm room, he mends the fire, takes a drink, lays down his Chaucer, and ends the tale of fair false Cresseyde, whom Chaucer pitied. Chaucer was not the man to have created, like Thackeray, that other Cresseyde, Beatrix Esmond in her matchless bloom of triumphant93 beauty, and later to have drawn94 her as the old Baroness95 Bernstein. What Chaucer held his hand from,—the mediaeval tale of the punishment of false Cresseyde,—Henryson, not without a passion of pity, undertook. The gods sent on Cresseyde's beauty the plague of leprosy, a terrible malady96 scarcely known by name to the Greeks, but as common in the Middle Ages as in ancient Israel.
Diomede deserts Cresseyde; she becomes the common "spoil of opportunity," and returns to her father Calchas, priest of Venus. But "into the Kirk" Cresseyde is ashamed to go. In a trance[Pg 137] she comes into the presence of Saturn97, a frozen god, and of the other old deities98. Saturn then condemns99 her. The lady awakes and sees in her glass that she is a leper. She goes to the lazar-house, she dwells and begs with the lepers: Troilus rides past, and knows her not, but, in some faint way, memory of his love for Cresseyde wakes in him, and for his lost love's sake he gives to the leper lordly alms, "a purse of gold and many a gay jewel".
And nevertheless not are are uther knew.
But another leper recognized Troilus, and Cresseyde, smitten100 to the heart, made her moan and her Testament, leaving to Troilus the royal ring and red ruby101 that he had given her long ago. So she died, and Troilus raised a tomb of marble to
Cresseid of Troyis toun,
Sumtyme countit the flour of Womanheid.
In the poem of this adventure there are but 616 lines; and it contains the poignant essence of romance; all passion and pity. Nothing in the poetry of Scotland excels, perhaps nothing but here and there the cry of a ballad102, or of Scott's "Proud Maisie," approaches in excellence103 this work of the schoolmaster of Dunfermline.
His "Robene and Makyne," or love-dialogue between a lad and lass, the girl first wooing and repulsed104; then wooed and scornful, is in a charming measure, and may have imitated some ancient French pastourelle.
The "Orpheus and Eurydice," that sad and beautiful tale—told by Maoris in New Zealand, and by Iroquois in America—of the man who seeks his dead wife in Hades, has merit in Henryson's version. The passage of Orpheus to and through Hades, where his music consoles Tantalus and Theseus, and wins the grace of Persephone, is excellent; the tragic105 close is not successfully handled, and the long Moral is tedious. A number of moral poems do not transcend107 the common course of those things, and Henryson lives by his "Fables," his "Testament of Cresseid," and "Robene and Makyne".
These, with the sympathetic kindliness108 of his unrepining[Pg 138] nature place him, if an individual opinion may be given, high above his more famous contemporary, Dunbar.
Dunbar.
William Dunbar, whom Scott declared to be the greatest poet of Scotland prior to Robert Burns, took the degree of Bachelor of Arts at St. Andrews in 1477. Much later, lads of seventeen or even of fourteen, graduated, so Dunbar may have been born (in East Lothian) so early as 1460. His language, with some southern English tincture, is that of the most Anglicized part of Scotland. The Earls of Dunbar were a great shifting power on the Border, and Dunbar's name, at least, was noble, he may have come of Cospatrick's line (Earls of March).
A favourite Scottish form of verse was the "Flyting" (scolding) or humorous raillery, and Dunbar's opponent, Walter Kennedy, represented a very old Celtic clan23 of Galloway and Ayrshire: Dunbar banters109 him on his "Irish" dress and accent. Dunbar was brought up to be a Churchman, and was a novice110 in the Order of St. Francis, "begging with a pardon in all Kirks". From 1479 to 1491, he was travelling abroad, preaching and begging in France, far from honestly, he says:—
"I wes ay reddy all men to begyle," like Chaucer's Pardoner, but perhaps Dunbar was merely copying Chaucer. He is thought to have been attached to the Scottish Embassy in Paris, and he may have read, in print, the works of the famous burglar poet, Francois Villon. His recognized Masters, however, were Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate.
From 1500 to the great defeat of Flodden (1513) and the death of James IV, Dunbar was a priest and poet at the Court of that magnificent prince, in whose days Scotland was peaceful, comparatively rich, and addicted111 to letters and the arts. Her poets, a century after Chaucer, and eighty years after their Royal leader, James I, were all Chaucerians, but were confessedly more vigorous, tuneful, more original in genius, and much less prolix112 and pedantic113 than the English Chaucerians, Lydgate, Gower, and Hawes. But what Dunbar lacks in length, he more than makes up for in breadth. He made Court poems on the Royal marriage[Pg 139] of "The Thistle and the Rose" (Margaret, the Rose, was really as prickly as the Thistle). He was but thriftily114 rewarded, and emitted many rhymed petitions for money. Benefice he got none.
Probably, like Dean Swift, he was thought no credit to his cloth, even in days far from respectable. As Chaucer was styled "Old Grizzle," so the Scot speaks of himself as "this gray horss, Auld115 Dunbar". At about 48, and in sickness, he wrote his "Lament116 for the Makaris," the dead "makers118" or poets, including Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate, with the recurring119 burden, Timor mortis conturbat me, "Fear of Death disturbeth me". In 1511 he was with the Queen at her reception in Aberdeen, which he celebrated120, as he had already made immortal121 the filth122 and stench of Edinburgh, a town famous for its dirt till after Dr. Johnson's time. His humorous poems, his satires123 on society and clergy124, are coarser than the English poetic attacks. His Three Wanton Wives, "Two Married Women and the Widow," is inspired by Chaucer's "Wife of Bath's Tale," or rather by the prologue125.
Historically, these poems are full of matter, with their pictures of a society not more pure than that to which Piers126 Plowman preached, but they have not the gentle and humane127 wit of Chaucer. Like all the poets following Chaucer, Dunbar shines in descriptions of gardens and woods in spring, though May, in Scotland, is not always what his fancy painted it, indeed these vernal glories are borrowed from the verse of sunny France—
The sun rises fair in France,
And fair sets he,
But he has tint128 the bonny blink
He has in my ain countrie,
writes the Jacobite exile, accustomed at home, only to a "blink" or gleam of the sun through clouds. After 1520, or thereabouts, Dunbar saw no more of the sun.
Dunbar, with his satires, "flytings," Court poems, allegories of the usual kind, rhymed petitions, poems of penitence129 and faith, and the rest, was versatile130 enough, and wrote in many forms of verse, even in the old unrhymed alliterative cadences131 ("The tua[Pg 140] Mariit Wumen and the Wedo"). To his glory be it said that this, his longest piece, is only of 530 lines. He also used the heroic rhymed couplet, "Riding Rhyme," and the rhymed octosyllabic couplet, strophes of various arrangements, and even the tripping French triolet.
One allegorical poem, "The Golden Targe," full of classical mythology132 and the usual praise of May, contains the lines
O reverend Chaucere, Rose of rethoris all,
As in our tong are flour imperiall,
"rethoris," being masters of rhetoric133.
Dunbar escapes from Venus and other gods, and from a crowd of allegorical people—including Danger, of course,—at the end of 278 lines. Apparently Scotland did not love the long-winded style. The "flyting" combines with rhyme copious134 alliteration135.
For wealth of strange coarse terms of abuse Dunbar may compare with Urquhart, the translator of Rabelais. A poem to the young Queen is unspeakably nauseous. In short to be plain, it is not easy to see why Dunbar has been reckoned above James I and Henryson; while Barbour, with a chivalrous heart and a spirited story, is infinitely136 more agreeable and profitable than the Court-haunting priest of James IV. In Scotland, Dunbar at no time has been so popular as the poets already mentioned. He praises Chaucer, but the lesson of Chaucer he never fully106 learned.
Blind Harry137.
Blind Harry, or "Henry the Minstrel," is a mysterious personage. Who was Harry? John Mair or Major (1469-1550) (?) is not an accurate historian; the Antiquary, in Scott's novel, calls him "a pillar of falsehood". Major says that, in his own infancy138 (say 1480) a man blind from his birth wrote "Schir William Wallace," and supported himself by chanting it to the nobles. The manuscript is of 1488. A few entries of small sums paid to "Blind Harry" occur in the Royal accounts, ending in 1492, and Harry was dead when (1508) Dunbar printed his Lament for poets dead and gone. Harry may have become blind, but can hardly have been blind from his birth. Though he calls himself "a borel man,"[Pg 141] an unlettered man, he had some education; he was not a ballad maker117, but produced a romance of nearly 12,000 lines. He says that he had a Latin source, a narrative written by Wallace's chaplain, John Blair, of which nothing is known.
He is full of anachronisms, and tells long adventures of Wallace with Edward I and his Queen which never occurred. Tradition, already mythical, is his chief source, his Wallace is but little more historical than Grettir in the Icelandic Saga18, and like him has dealings with a ghost, that of a slain man, which appears with its head in its hand. Wallace, whose wife, it is said, was slain by the English, is a very bloodthirsty hero; his manslayings and burnings of houses are many. Harry has not too high an opinion of Bruce. His hero, Wallace, has always been, thanks mainly to Harry, the most popular of Scottish heroes. Harry tells his tale with abundant energy; he hates the English infinitely more than the chivalrous Barbour did, and he is perfectly free from the influence of the "Roman de la Rose". His verse is not wholly correct; eight consecutive139 lines have the following rhymes,—"been, keen, saw, mean, seen, raw, knaw, teir, faw," indeed some passages have a kind of stanza formation, in the Second Book (lines 260-360).
We must not look on Harry as an unlearned maker of Border ballads140. He had read Wyntoun, and Chaucer (though he does not make Chaucer his model), and he borrows from the alliterative romance of "Arthur" ascribed to the mysterious Huchown. Moreover, it has been proved, and anybody can see it, that he stole adventures of Robert Bruce from Barbour's poem, and made Wallace, not Bruce, their hero. Harry takes some of Bruce's battles and transfers them to Wallace. "Harry nearly uproots141 Barbour." Whereas Bruce, on the eve of Bannockburn, cut down Sir Henry Bohun, as he charged, with a blow of his axe142, Harry declares that Wallace dealt this very stroke on Bruce's spear and horse's neck. To Wallace he attributes the famous campaign in which Bruce drove Edward II within the walls of York (1322).[1]
Harry is, in short, a mystery, and his book, wholly worthless[Pg 142] as history, is a colossal143 perversion144 of Barbour "The Bruce," with other matter from pure fancy or from unknown legend, while great parts are played by men of Harry's own time, English in-evading knights of 1483.
The Buke of the Howlat.
Sir Richard Holland, or de Holand, a cleric, and a partisan145 of the House of Douglas during its encounters with the Crown, and its fall under James II, wrote, to please his patroness, the Countess of Moray, and to flatter the Douglas, "The Buke of the Howlat," the Owl25. The poem, in stanzas146 of thirteen lines, rhyming and alliterative, begins with the usual dream and leads up to a kind of allegorical "Parliament of Fowls147". The allegory is entangled148, the poet's real desire is to glorify149 his patrons with their motto,
O Dowglas, O Dowglas,
Tendir and Trewe!
"Trewe" they had been, to Bruce and to Scotland, but they became the allies, against king and country, of Edward IV and Henry VIII, while "tender" the Douglases never were. The most interesting passage describes the voyage of the good Lord James towards the Holy Land, with the heart of Bruce. In Spain he meets the Saracens in battle, and throws among them the Heart, in its jewelled case—
Amang the hethin men the hert hardely he slang,
Said, "Wend on as thou was wont150,
Throw the batell in front,
Ay formost in the front,
Thy foes amang."
There fell the Douglas, above the heart of his king, that was rescued by Logan and Lockhart, and brought back to Scotland; a noble feat14 of chivalry, nobly told. Here Holland "stirs the blood like the sound of a trumpet151".
It may be said of these Scottish poets that while, in initiative and in models they owe almost all to England, their long and desperate war with that country gives them a martial152 fire and spirit to which the English poetry of the time furnishes no rival. Laurence Minot does not stir the blood!
[Pg 143]
Gawain Douglas.
Gawain Douglas was of the family of the Red Douglases, Earls of Angus, who rose on the ruin of the turbulent Black Douglases, of the House of Bruce's good Lord James, when they failed in their alliance with England against the Crown of Scotland. The Red Douglases also rose high, and had their own feud153 with the Crown and alliance with or servitude to Henry VIII and the Protestant cause. Gawain was a younger son of the Earl of Angus called Bell the Cat, who hanged the artistic154 favourites of James III. As an old man he was present at Flodden (1513) where James IV died so gallantly155, and his grandson, now Earl of Angus, married Dunbar's "Rose," Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV. Gawain himself, born about 1473 or 1474, was educated at St. Andrews University, took orders, and, being of a powerful House, received rapid clerical promotion156.
His poems were written in the peaceful and prosperous years of James IV, between 1501 and 1513, the date of Flodden and of the completion of Gawain's translation of the "?neid" of Virgil. His earlier works "The Palice of Honour" and "King Hart," are merely rhymed allegories after the manner of the unceasing "Roman de la Rose," and have no special interest. What is true about one of these belated last allegories is true of another: they are no longer to be read for mere literary pleasure. In his "?neid," Douglas introduces original prologues157 to the books of the "?neid," rather in the manner of Scott's poetical epistles between the cantos of "Marmion". He describes winter, spring, and summer in Scotland. He criticizes, not unfavourably, the theology of Virgil, whom the Middle Ages regarded, now as a magician (like Ovid among the Italian peasantry to this day), and now as an inspired prophet of the coming of Our Lord. He attacks Caxton for printing a translation of Virgil, not from the original Latin, but from a French version. His criticism of Caxton is full of detail, and severe. He himself is "bound to Virgil's text," and he does not treat it, as a rule, with the licence of Chapman when rendering158 Homer into English verse; but Gawain remarks,[Pg 144] truly, that sometimes of one word he must make three, must occasionally expand in exposition, and add, in colouring.
Sum tyme I follow the text als neir I may,
Sum tyme I am constreinit are uther way.
His remarks on the task of the translator show considerable reflection. On comparing the poem with the Latin it seems more close in sense to the great untranslatable original than might have been expected in an uncritical age and country. It is the first attempt in our language at the rendering of a great ancient classic, and, as such, looks forward to the new times, and to the Renaissance159 which, in Scotland, was mainly confined to Biblical criticism.
After Flodden, Gawain was immersed in politics, and in a long and futile160 struggle to obtain, through English influence, the Archbishopric of St. Andrews. For this he fought a triangular161 duel162 (nor were the weapons of the flesh unused), with Hepburn, the Prior, and Forman, a clerical diplomatist, who was successful. Gawain obtained the petty Bishopric of Dunkeld, on the Tay, and died when on a political mission to London (1522). Gawain is almost the only Scottish example of a nobleman and a Churchman, in his age, distinguished163 for devotion to literary scholarship. There are a number of Scots poems, of this date, such as "Christ's Kirk on the Green" and "Peebles at the Play" (the best of them), which show much command of lively metre and rude descriptive powers where rustic164 merriment and horseplay are to be painted. But their dialect is usually uncouth165, and they are only appreciated by special students.
Sir David Lyndsay.
The most popular of the old Scottish poets was not so poetical as Henryson, but gave pleasure by his genial166 character, his extremely coarse humour, and his attacks on the Churchmen and on abuses in the State. This author, Sir David Lyndsay, was born, perhaps at his family place, the Mount, in Fife, about 1490. His name "Da. Lyndsay" (if it be his) appears in the register of St. Andrews University besides that of the man whom[Pg 145] he hated so much, and attacked in verse after his murder, the great Cardinal167 Beaton. By 1511, Lyndsay was a page at Court, and acted in a play at Holyrood. In 1512, Lyndsay was Master of the Household, or chief attendant of the infant Prince, later James V. He was present when the apparition168 described in "Marmion" gave a warning, in church, to James IV, just before Flodden, and told Lyndsay of Pitscottie, the amusing chronicler, that he tried to arrest the figure "but he vanished away as if he had been a blink of the sun or a whiz of the whirlwind". Till 1522 his chief business was to teach and amuse the boy, James V;
I bore thee in mine arm
Full tenderly,
and, later, told him fairy tales such as the story of the Red Etin, or disguised himself as "the grisly ghost of Guy".
About 1528 Lyndsay wrote "The Dreame" (the usual allegorical dream), in 1529 he was made chief herald169, "Lord Lyon King of Arms," and as such went on many foreign embassies. In 1539-1540 his great play, "The Satire of the Three Estates," was acted before the Court; it is the only early Scottish drama that survives. There are two Parts, and three interludes full of matter wonderfully coarse. The play is all in favour of reforms, and is full of the satire of the Churchmen and pleadings for the poor which ensured its popularity. There are some seventy characters, most of them allegorical personages. The King delighted in the satire, and as Lyndsay attacked the vices170 of the clergy and the Pardoners, not the doctrines171 of the Church, he ran no risk of martyrdom. The verse is in many forms and different sorts of stanzas, in rhyming couplets of eight syllables172, or of ten or more.
After James's death and the murder of Cardinal Beaton, Lyndsay wrote a poem, "The Tragedy of the Cardinal" in which his ghost accuses himself of many sins and crimes, and is sure that Boccaccio would write "my tragedie," if Boccaccio were still alive. Lyndsay died early in 1555. His most popular poem, probably, was a good-humoured romance, "Squire173 Meldrum," about the fighting adventures, at home and abroad, of a young Fife laird of the period. He wrote many other things, humorous or grave,[Pg 146] admonitions to the King, and a reply to a "Flyting" or scolding, of the King against him, in verse; unluckily the Royal lampoon174 is lost. A Lament for James's first wife who died young; a very humorous set of verses on the King's dog; and a "Dialogue between Experience and a Courtier," with shorter pieces, grave or gay, make up Lyndsay's contribution to the literature of his country. They are full of historical hints, but, merely as poetry, are now seldom read, as Henryson may be read, for pleasure. The Reformation, breaking out in 1559, distracted men's minds from secular175 literature, to which, for more than a century, Scotland contributed nothing of real importance except the "History of the Reformation" by John Knox, the Reformer. This work is written in such English (not Scots) as Knox could command, for in origin it was meant to be read in England, and to justify176 the proceedings177 of the Reformers. It is partly derived178 from memory of the events and the memory is sometimes strangely inaccurate179. Public documents are inserted at full length, in one case with some lack of candour, and actions are denied which, later, were acknowledged. The book, as history, needs to be cautiously studied, but as a picture of the men and women of the age, especially of Knox himself and Queen Mary, it is most vivacious180, and may be read with interest and amusement. Knox's other works, theological, epistolary, and political, were written to meet the needs of the moment, and are of little value except to historians and students of the career and character of the author.
[1] See proofs by Mr. George Neilson, in Blind Harry's "Wallace," "Essays and Studies," by Members of the English Association, 1910.
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1
patriotically
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| 爱国地；忧国地 | |
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upbraids
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| v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的第三人称单数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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modernized
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| 使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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exchequer
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| n.财政部；国库 | |
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genealogy
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| n.家系，宗谱 | |
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fabled
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| adj.寓言中的，虚构的 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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17
chivalrous
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| adj.武士精神的；对女人彬彬有礼的 | |
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18
saga
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| n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇 | |
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19
tactician
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| n. 战术家, 策士 | |
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20
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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21
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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knights
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| 骑士； （中古时代的）武士( knight的名词复数 )； 骑士； 爵士； （国际象棋中）马 | |
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23
clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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clans
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| 宗族( clan的名词复数 )； 氏族； 庞大的家族； 宗派 | |
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owl
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| n.猫头鹰，枭 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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28
corroborated
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的过去式 ) | |
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29
muster
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| v.集合，收集，鼓起，激起；n.集合，检阅，集合人员，点名册 | |
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30
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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31
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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32
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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33
armour
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| （=armor）n.盔甲；装甲部队 | |
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34
chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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35
procure
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| vt.获得，取得，促成；vi.拉皮条 | |
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36
racing
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| n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的 | |
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37
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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38
slays
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的第三人称单数 ) | |
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39
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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40
ransoms
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| 付赎金救人，赎金( ransom的名词复数 ) | |
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41
ransom
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| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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42
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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43
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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44
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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45
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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46
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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47
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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48
industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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49
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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50
anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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51
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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52
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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53
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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54
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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55
foes
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| 敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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56
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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57
poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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58
originality
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| n.创造力，独创性；新颖 | |
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59
forerunners
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| n.先驱( forerunner的名词复数 )；开路人；先兆；前兆 | |
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60
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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61
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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62
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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63
thrall
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| n.奴隶；奴隶制 | |
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64
prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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65
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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66
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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67
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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69
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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70
discourses
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| 论文( discourse的名词复数 )； 演说； 讲道； 话语 | |
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71
sop
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| n.湿透的东西，懦夫；v.浸，泡，浸湿 | |
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72
precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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73
destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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75
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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stanza
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| n.（诗）节，段 | |
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78
moors
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| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
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chatter
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| vi.／n.喋喋不休；短促尖叫；(牙齿)打战 | |
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80
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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81
enumerates
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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82
pounces
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的第三人称单数 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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83
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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84
mincing
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| adj.矫饰的；v.切碎；切碎 | |
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85
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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86
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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87
fables
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| n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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89
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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90
contemptible
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| adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的 | |
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91
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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92
snug
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| adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房 | |
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93
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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94
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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95
baroness
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| n.男爵夫人，女男爵 | |
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96
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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97
Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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98
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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99
condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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100
smitten
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| 猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去分词 ) | |
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101
ruby
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| n.红宝石，红宝石色 | |
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102
ballad
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| n.歌谣，民谣，流行爱情歌曲 | |
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103
excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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104
repulsed
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| v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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105
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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106
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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107
transcend
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| vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围 | |
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108
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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109
banters
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| n.玩笑，逗乐( banter的名词复数 )v.开玩笑，说笑，逗乐( banter的第三人称单数 )；（善意地）取笑，逗弄 | |
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110
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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111
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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112
prolix
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| adj.罗嗦的；冗长的 | |
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113
pedantic
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| adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的 | |
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114
thriftily
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| 节俭地； 繁茂地； 繁荣的 | |
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115
auld
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| adj.老的，旧的 | |
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116
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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117
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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118
makers
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| n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式） | |
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119
recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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120
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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121
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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122
filth
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| n.肮脏，污物，污秽；淫猥 | |
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123
satires
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| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
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124
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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125
prologue
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| n.开场白，序言；开端，序幕 | |
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126
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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127
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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128
tint
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| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
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129
penitence
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| n.忏悔，赎罪；悔过 | |
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130
versatile
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| adj.通用的，万用的；多才多艺的，多方面的 | |
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131
cadences
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| n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子 | |
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132
mythology
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| n.神话，神话学，神话集 | |
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133
rhetoric
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| n.修辞学，浮夸之言语 | |
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134
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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135
alliteration
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| n.（诗歌的）头韵 | |
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136
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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137
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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138
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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139
consecutive
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| adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的 | |
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140
ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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141
uproots
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的第三人称单数 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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142
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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143
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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144
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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145
partisan
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| adj.党派性的；游击队的；n.游击队员；党徒 | |
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146
stanzas
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| 节，段( stanza的名词复数 ) | |
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fowls
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| 鸟( fowl的名词复数 )； 禽肉； 既不是这； 非驴非马 | |
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148
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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149
glorify
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| vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化 | |
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150
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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151
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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152
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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153
feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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154
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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155
gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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156
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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157
prologues
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| n.序言，开场白( prologue的名词复数 ) | |
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158
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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159
renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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160
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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161
triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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162
duel
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| n./v.决斗；(双方的)斗争 | |
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163
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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164
rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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165
uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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166
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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167
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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168
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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169
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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170
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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171
doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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172
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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173
squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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174
lampoon
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| n.讽刺文章；v.讽刺 | |
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175
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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176
justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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177
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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178
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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179
inaccurate
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| adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的 | |
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180
vivacious
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| adj.活泼的，快活的 | |
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