the hare, and surrounded by a troop of his nobles. On reaching his capital, he mounted a palfrey, having placed the princess on a pillion behind him; in which honest and antique fashion, the gallant monarch rode through the good town to his palace, amid the acclamations of his subjects. On the 8th of August the marriage took place in the chapel of Holyrood. James was then in his thirty-third year, his youthful queen just fourteen; and some characteristic touches of manners may be gleaned from the "Treasurer's Accounts." In his description of the king's first interview with his bride at Dalkeith, Young, the English herald, seems to have been struck with the length of James's beard; and his young bride was probably a little annoyed at it, for on the day after the marriage we find, that the gallant monarch employed the Countess of Surrey, and her daughter Lady Gray, to clip his beard; for which service, these noble tonsors received-the first thirty-five ells of cloth of gold; and the last, fifteen ells of ⚫damask gold.** If we may judge from the expensive preparations, and the costly dresses of the nobles, as they appear in the same ancient records, the marriage must have been celebrated with uncommon pomp and magnificence: and, amidst the various presents and hymeneal offerings, which on that joyous occasion were laid at the feet of the princess, few * Item, the 9 day of August, after the marriage, for 25 eln cloth of gold to the Comitass of Surry of Ingland, quhen sche and her dochter, Lady Gray, clippit the King's berde, iiicxxxlb. Item, for xv eln of damas gold, by the King's commande to the said Lady Gray of Ingland, jexxxlb.MS. Collections by the Rev. Wm. M'Gregor Stirling. gay could be more beautiful or appropriate than Dunbar's fine allegorical vision, the "Thistle and the Rose." We have no reason to believe, however, that its author experienced any substantial instance of royal gratitude. He continued to reside at court, to share in the amusements and bear a part in the revels of his and thoughtless master; but he saw others preferred, whilst he was thrust back or neglected; and his poetry is, in many places, little else than a severe and biting commentary on the arrogance of court minions, the insolence of wardrobe keepers, deputy treasurers, and other minor officials. One of these indignant castigations is, from its humour, worthy of notice. The queen's keeper of the robe was Jamie Doig, or, as it was then probably pronounced in Scotland, Dog; who, on some occasion, had been ordered by the queen to present the poet with a velvet doublet—a command which he obeyed with so ill a grace, that Dunbar addressed this poetical complaint to the prin cess: "ON JAMES DOIG, KEEPAR OF THE QUEEN'S WARDROP. "TO THE QUEEN. "The Wardroper of Venus bowre, "When that I show to him your marks, 1obstinate or difficult. "When that I show to him your writing, Madame, ye have a dangerous Dog. His tread gars all your chambers schog: as Jamie Doig, however, appears soon after to have relented, the promised suit is delivered from the wardrobe, and the poet changes his verses easily and readily as he does his doublet. The dangerous Dog is transformed into a Lamb; and, in the lines "on the said James when he had pleased him," we learn some particulars which say little for the matrimonial felicity of the worthy wardraipair : "The wife that he had in his inns, That with the tangs 5 wad break his shins, He is na Dog-he is ane Lamb.”* Jamie Doig himself, whose strength and make were so great that his step shook the chambers of his royal mistress, is one of those whom the 1 complains bitterly. 2 dunghill cur. * Poems, vol, ii. pp. 110, 111. 3 lap-dog. 4 a smaller one. 5 tongs. treasurer is ordered to furnish with a dress of state for the marriage.* On another occasion the poet addresses the king in the character of the "Grey Horse, auld Dunbar," complaining that, when idler steeds are tenderly cared for, and clothed in gorgeous trappings, he who has done his Majesty good service, is neglected in his old age : "Thocht in the stall I be nocht clappit, "I am ane auld horse, as ye knaw,4 That evir in dule5 dois dring and draw; "I haif lang run forth in the field, On pastouris that ar plane and peil'd,s 11 useless old horse, turned into a straw-yard at Yule, or "The court has done my curage cuill,1 Whether this remonstrance was attended by any substantial or permanent benefit to the "Auld Grey Horse" is doubtful; but it is certain the king replied in the following fashion, which, as the only poetical effort of this gallant prince, is worth preservation 66 RESPONSIO REGIS. Gar howse him now aganis this Yuill, To pay quhat evir his trappouris 10 cost." A curious feature in the poetical literature of this age is to be found in that species of rhythmical invective termed Flyting or Scolding, for which Dunbar appears to have made himself especially illustrious. It is difficult to determine whether the enmity and rivalry of two poets, who gave themselves up to this coarse sort of buffoonery, was real or pretended. The probability seems to be, that it was considered, both by the authors and their audience, as a mere pastime of the imagination-a license to indulge in every kind of poetical vituperation-a kind of literary 3 trappings. 1 cool. 5 true. 4 2 over-worked mule. 6 hue. 9 indorsed. 8 mule. |