"Albeit that you were never so stout, "Under this lyntall1 shall thou lout :2 "There is none other way beside."

IX.

For fear of this all day I droop.
No gold in chest, nor wine in coop,3
No lady's beauty, nor love's bliss,
May let me to remember this,
How glad that ever I dine or sup.

X.

6

Yet, when the night begins to short,
If does my sprite some part comfort,
Of thought oppressed with the showers.
Come lusty Summer, with thy flowers,
That I may live in some desport!

[Pinkerton, p. 125.]

It is pleasant to observe, in this fine poem, the elastic spirit of Dunbar struggling against the pressure of melancholy; indeed it appears that his morality was of the most cheerful kind. We have

Lintal is the beam over a door.

Bend, stoop, bow.

4 Prevent.

3 In cup? or barrel ?
5 Soever.

• In some respects, in some degree.

seen the description of his own feelings, and the following stanzas contain his advice to others.

No Treasure without Gladness.

I.

Be merry, man! and take not far in mind
The wavering of this wretched world of sorrow!
To God be humble, and to thy friend be kind,
And with thy neighbours gladly lend and borrow:
His chance to-night, it may be thine to-morrow.
Be blithe in heart for any aventure;

For oft with wysure1 it has been said aforrow,3
Without gladness availis no trésure.

II.

Make thee good cheer of it that God thee sends,
For worldis wrák,3 but welfare, nought avails;
No good is thine, save only but thou spends,
Remenant 4 all thou brookest but with bales.
Seek to solace when sadness thee assails.
In dolour long thy life may not endure;
Wherefore of comfort set up all thy sails;
Without gladness availis no treasure.

1 Wisdom.

3 Merchandize, treasure, &c.

A-fore, before.

Thou canst enjoy all the remainder only with bale, or

sorrow.

III.

Follow on pity; fly trouble and debate;
With famous folkis hold thy company:

Be charitable, and humble in thine estate,
For worldly honour lastis but a cry,'

For trouble in earth take no melancholy;
Be rich in patience, if thou in goods be poor:
Who lives merry, he lives mightily:

Without gladness availis no treasure.

IV.

Thou sees these wretches set, with sorrow

and

care,

To gather goods in all their livis space;
And, when their bags are full, their selves are bare,

And of their riches but the keeping has;

While others come to spend it, that has grace,

Which of thy winning no labour had nor cure.

Take thou example, and spend with merriness:
Without gladness availis no treasure.

V.

Though all the werk that ever had living wight,
Were only thine, no more thy part does fall
But meat, drink, clothes, and of the laif3 a sight!
Yet, to the judge thou shall give 'compt of all.

'No longer than a sound.

3 Remainder.

• Possessions.

A reckoning right comes of a ragment1 small. Be just, and joyous, and do to none injure, And Truth shall make thee strong as any wall: Without gladness availis no treasure.

[Lord Hailes's Anc. Scot. Poems, p. 54.]

In these specimens we see much good sense, and sound morality, expressed with force and conciseness. This indeed is Dunbar's peculiar excellence. His style, whether grave or humorous, whether simple or ornamented, is always energetic; and, though all his compositions cannot be expected to possess equal merit, we seldom find in them, a weak or redundant stanza.

But his most admired, and most truly poetical works are, the "Thistle and the Rose," and the "Golden Terge."

The first of these was composed for the marriage of James IV. of Scotland, with Margaret, eldest daughter of our Henry VII.; an event which is likely to have produced many invocations to the muses, but which probably was hailed by very few panegyrics, so delicate and ingenious as this of Dunbar. In the age of allegory and romance, when a knowledge of heraldry was a necessary accomplishment, it was natural enough to compli

ment the royal bridegroom under the character of a lion (part of the arms of Scotland), or under that of the thistle; and to describe the bride as the rose, proceeding from the joint stems of York and Lancaster: but it required considerable ingenuity, to call into action these heraldic personages. The poet has recourse to a dream, in which he supposes himself accosted by May, who desires him to celebrate, in a poem, the return of Spring. She then introduces him into a delicious garden, to which all organized beings are summoned to appear before the goddess Nature, who crowns the lion, the eagle, and the thistle, as kings of beasts, birds, and plants, recommending, at the same time to each, many important moral, and political maxims. To the protection of the thistle, she particularly consigns the rose, whom she represents as "above the lily" (the house of Valois), and whom she also invests with a crown, so brilliant as to" illumine all the land with its light:" at which joyful event, an universal song of gratulation from the birds, interrupts the progress of the poet's vision.

In this singular, but ingenious allegory, Dunbar has interwoven a number of rich and glowing descriptions, much excellent advice, and many delicate compliments, without any fulsome adulation..