Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

He brandished like a bear:

Boasters, braggers, and bargainérs,

After him passed in in pairs,

All clad in garb of weir;10

In jacks, and mail, and bonnets of steel,

They were in armour to the heel,

Full froward was their air;

Some upon other with brands beft,11

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

THE LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS1

WHEN HE WAS SICK

I that in health was and gladnéss,
Am troubled now with great sickness,
And feeble with infirmity;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Our pleasunce here is all vain glory,
This false warld is but transitory,
The flesh is bruckle, the Fiend is slee;3
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

The state of man does change and vary,
Now sound, now sick, now blithe, now sary, 10
Now dancing merry, now like to dee;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

No state on earth stands fast, I find;
As osiers light wave in the wind,
So waveth this warld's vanity;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Down unto death go all estates,
Prelates, and kings, and potentates,
Baith rich and poor of all degree;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Death strikes the knichts up on the field,
Full armoured, under helm and shield,
Victor in every fight is he;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Misers, hoarders, gatherers,

[blocks in formation]

That strong, unmerciful tyránd

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

15

20

20

25

17 Breve of Recto, a writ which in feudal Scotland established a right to succession.

18 In Dunbar's time and for long after, the Highlanders were regarded with a feeling of mingled dread and contempt by the more settled and prosperous people of the South. Cf. the attitude of Baillie Nichol Jarvie in Scott's Rob Roy.

19 An opponent of Wallace, the Scotch patriot. After swearing allegiance to Edward Ist, Makfadyane fled to a cave, where he was surprised and killed. Hence the assertion that he was fetched from a "nook" in the "northwest."

[blocks in formation]

85

He taks the champion in the stour,?
The captain closed in the tour,
The lady in bour ful of beautie;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

He spares no lord for his puissance,
No clerk for his intelligence;
His awful stroke may no man flee;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Masters of magic and astrology,
Of rhetoric, logic or theology,
Are helped by no conclusions slee;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

In medecine the best practiciáns,
Of leeches, surgeons, and physicians,
Themselves from death may not supplie;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

8

I see that Makers, amang the lave,9
Play here their pageants, then go to grave;
Death does not spare their facultie;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

30

35

40

45

[blocks in formation]

He hath ta'en out of this countree;

55

He has ta'en Roull of Aberdeen, And gentle Roull of Corstorphine; Two better fellows did not man see; Timor Mortis conturbat me.

In Dumferline he has doun roun14 Gude Maister Robert Henrysoun; Sir John the Ross embraced has he; Timor Mortis conturbat me.

And he has now ta'en, last of a',
Gude gentle Stobo and Quintin Schaw,
For whom all mortals feel pitie!
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Gude Maister Walter Kennedy
At point of death lies verilly,
Great ruth it is that this should be;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Since he has all my brethren ta'en, He will not let me live alane; Perforce I must his next prey be; Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Since then for death remeid 15 is none, Best is that we for death dispone, 16 After our death that live may we; Timor Mortis conturbat me.

[blocks in formation]

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

He hath restrained (that scorpion dark) Maister James Afflek and John Clerk Frae ballad-making and tragedy;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Holland and Barbour he has bereft;
Alas, he has not with us left

Sir Mungo Lockhart of the Lea!
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

Clerk of Tranent eke he has ta'en,
That made th' adventures of Gawain,
Sir Gilbert Hay ended has he;

Timor Mortis conturbat me.

He has blind Harry and Sandy Traill
Slain with his shot of mortal hail,
Which Patrick Johnstoun micht not flee;
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

He has reft Merseir his endite,
That did of luve so lively write,

So short, so quick, of sentence hie;13
Timor Mortis conturbat me.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

10 Among the twenty-four poets celebrated by Dunbar, Chaucer alone remains a living power in literature. Barbour, Gower, Lydgate and Henryson hold a secure and honorable place; while a few others, as Blind Harry and Walter Kennedy, although less known, are still nominally remembered. Some of the remainder are more or less securely established on the right side of oblivion, while others, in Sir T. Browne's phrase, "Subsist under naked nominations, without deserts and noble acts, which are the balsam of our memories.'

[blocks in formation]

Gawain Douglas

c. 1474-1522

WELCOME TO THE SUMMER SUN

(From the Prologue to the Eneid,1 Bk. XII) Welcome, the lord of licht, and lamp of day, Welcome, fost'rer of tender herbés green, Welcome, quick'ner of blooming blossoms sheen,

Welcome, support of every root and vein,
Welcome, comfórt of all-kind fruit and grain, 5
Welcome, the birdės bield upon the brere,3
Welcome, maistér and ruler of the year,
Welcome, welfare of farmers at the ploughs,
Welcome, repairer of woods, trees, and boughs,
Welcome, depainter of the blooming meads, 10
Welcome, the life of everything that spredes,
Welcome, the strength of all-kind bestial,
Welcome be thy bricht beamés gladding all,
Welcome, celestial mirror and aspy,5
Arresting all that practise sluggardy.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

575

Writ not in Caldie language, nor in Grew;
Nor yet writ in the language Saracene;
Nor in the natural language of Hebrew;
But in the Roman tongue, as may be seen,
Whilk was their proper language, as I ween,
When Romans ranked domínators, indeed,
The ornate Latin was their proper leid. . . . 579

The Monarchy, or Ane Dialog betwix Experience and ane Courteour, Lyndsay's last poem, is a lengthy survey of the history of the world, with a prophecy of the millenium, when all things shall be made new.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

LEAVE ME NOT
(Psalm XXVII, 9)

Ah! my Lord, leave me not,
Leave me not, leave me not,
Ah! my Lord, leave me not,
Thus mine alone:

With ane burden on my back
I may not bear, I am so weak,
Lord, this burden from me tak,
Or else I am gone.

With sins I am laden sair,1
Leave me not, leave me not,
With sins I am laden sair,
Leave me not alone:
I pray thee, Lord, therefore,
Keep not my sins in store;
Loose me, or I am forlore,2

And hear thou my moan.

With Thy hands Thou hast me wrought, Leave me not, leave me not,

With Thy hands Thou hast me wrought,
Leave me not alone:

I was sold and Thou me bought,
With Thy blood Thou hast me coft;3
Now am I hither sought

To Thee, Lord, alone.

I cry and call to Thee,

To leave me not, to leave me not, I cry and call to Thee,

To leave me not alone:

10 Genius.

1 Sore.

680

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« EelmineJätka »