Pinkerton has declared that this is the only fable of Henryson's worthy of preservation; a clear proof that he had little feeling for true poetry. The "Lion and the Mous" completely refutes his tasteless criticism. It commences with that sweet picture of the rural delights of the leafy month June, which we have already quoted; and, besides the truth and spirit with which the story is given, is curious, from its evident allusion to that treasonable combination of the nobles, which cost James III. his crown and his life :

"Thir cruel men that stentit has the net,1

In which the lion suddenly was tane,
Waited allway that they amends might get

:

For hurt men write with steel in marble stane.
Mair till expone as now I let alane;

But king and lord may well wote what I mean,
The figure hereof aftymes has been seen.

"When this was said, quoth Easop, My fair child,
Persuade the Kirkmen eyedentlie to pray

That treason fra this cuntrie be exil'd;

That justice ring and nobles keep their fay
Unto their sovereign lord baith night and day:
And with that word he vanish'd, and I woke,
Sine thro the schaw hameward my journey toke."

WILLIAM DUNBAR.

Or this great genius, who has enriched the poetry of his country with a strain of versification superior in power, originality, and sweetness to any of his predecessors, we have to repeat, alas! the same story of unavailing regret, that little is known; and that little, founded on very imperfect evidence. Pinkerton, relying upon a stanza in "Kennedy's Flyting (or Railing) against Dunbar," conjectures that he was born at Salton, a village on the delightful coast of the Forth, in East Lothian; but, unfortunately, the acuteness of a future antiquary discovered that the true reading of the passage was Mount Falcon; a circumstance which gave rise to a new hypothesis, equally vague and unsatisfactory. It seems not improbable, however, that he first saw the light somewhere in Lothian, about the year 1465; and, from his own works a few circumstances may be gleaned, which illustrate his individual history.

He was educated for the church, and, undoubtedly, travelled over England and a part of the Continent, as a noviciate of the order of St. Francis. This is evident from his satirical poem, entitled "The Visitation of St. Francis." The

saint appears to the poet in a vision, shortly before the dawn, and, holding in his hand the habit of his order, commands him to renounce the world and become his servant. Dunbar excuses himself, observing, that he has read of many bishops, but exceeding few friars, who had been admitted to the honour of canonization; but he allows that, in his early years, he had worn the habit:

"Gif ever my fortoun1 wes to be a frier,2
The date thereof is past full mony a year;
For into every lusty town and place
Of all Ingland, fro Berwick to Cales,
I haif into thy habit maid gude cheir.3
"In freiris weid full sairly haif I fleichit;5
In it haif I in pulpit gone and prechit;

In Derneton Kirk and eke in Canterbury;
In it I past at Dover oure the ferry,
Thro Picardy, and there the pepil teichet.
"As lang as I did bear the freiris style,
In me, God wit, wes mony wink and wile;
In me wes falset with ilk wight to flatter,
Whilk might be flemit with na haly water;
I wes ay reddy all men to beguile."*

Where he received his education it is impossible to discover; but from the colophon of one of his poems, it is presumable that he had studied at Oxford; and we may conclude, from his address "To the Lordes of the King's Chekkar," that he was in the receipt of an annual pension, which was scarcely sufficient to supply his ordinary wants. "Ye need not," says he to these grave personages,

1 fortune.

2 friar.
3 cheer.
5 entreated.
6 washed away.
*Poems, vol. i. p. 28.

4

earnestly.

66

spend your time or tire your thumbs, or consume your ink and paper in the reckoning up my rents or annuities. It is a short story: I got a sum of money from my lord-treasurer, which is all gone. Is not that a sad enough tale, without more labour?"

66

My Lordis of Chacker, pleis yow to heir
My compt, I sall it mak yow cleir

But ony circumstance or sonyie;1
For left is neither cors nor cunyie2
Of all that I tuik in the yeir.

"For rekkyning of my rentis and roumes
Ye need not for to tyre your thowmes; 3
Na for to gar your countaris clink,
Nor paper for to spend nor ink
In the ressaving of my soumes.4

"I tuik fra my Lord Thesaurair
Ane soume of money for to wair;

I can nocht tell yow how it is spendit,
But weill I wat that it is endit:
And that methink ane compt our sair.5

"I trowit in time whain that I tuik it
That lang in burgh I suld haif bruikit,
Now the remaines are eith6 to turss:
I haiff no preif heir but my purss,
Quhilk wald noch lie an it war lukit."

Even when thrown into a modern dress, the spirit does not wholly evaporate:—

My Lords of Chequer, please you hear

My compt-the which I'll make full clear
Sans circumstance or theft;

Nor cross nor copper is there left

Of all I had within the year.

66

'Spend not grave looks, with haws and hums,
Nor paper waste, nor tire your thumbs

And bid your counters clink;
Or drain your reservoirs of ink
In reckoning up my sums.
"My Lord the Treasurer gave me,
Some certain monies for my fee;

66

I cannot tell how far they went,
But well I know, the gear is spent,
Whilst I myself am sorely shent.
And this without more words, I trow,
Is a summation sad enow.

Why should I entries more rehearse?
My Lords, inquire ye of my purse,
And look into its empty maw,

It will you tell the selfsame saw."

In the privy seal we find, under the date of August 15, 1500, a grant by King James IV. to Master William Dunbar, of an annual pension of ten pounds, until he be provided with a benefice of forty pounds or more yearly; and from this period the poet became an attendant upon the court of this gay and gallant monarch. James was devoted to his pleasures; and, if we may judge from the account books of the lord high treasurer, which present, in their various items, a curious picture of the manners of the times, large sums of money were lavished, with indiscriminate prodigality, upon idle amusements and unworthy objects. The character of the king, indeed, was inconsistent and almost contradictory. He had many great points about him, which made him deservedly beloved. His anxiety for the due administration of justice, and the indefatigable activity with which he visited the most remote portions of his kingdom; his attention to