Though this belappit body here And mind to serve my lady at all. Yet at the least, my heart, thou sall Abide with her thou luvis best. Sen in your garth 2 the lily whyte May not remain amang the lave, Adieu the flower of haill delyte; Adieu the succour that may me save; Adieu the fragrant balmie suaif,3 And lamp of ladies lustiest! My faithfull heart she sall it have, To bide with her it luvis best. Deplore, ye ladies clear of hue, That wounded be with luvis dart; Do go with mine, with mind inwart, And bide with her thou luvis best. SIR RICHARD MAITLAND. SIR RICHARD MAITLAND of Lethington (14961586), father of the Secretary Lethington of Scottish history, relieved the duties of his situation as a judge and statesman, in advanced life, by composing some moral and conversational pieces, and collecting, into the well-known manuscript which bears his name, the best productions of his contemporaries. These literary avocations were chiefly pursued in his elegant retirement at Lethington, East Lothian, where a daughter acted as amanuensis to the aged poet. His familiar style reminds us of that of Lyndsay. Satire on the Town Ladies. And of fine silk their furrit clokis, Their wilicoats maun weel be hewit, Their collars, carcats, and hause beidis !1 Their shoon of velvet, and their muilis ! 2 And some will spend mair, I hear say, Leave, burgess men, or all be lost, Of burgess wifis though I speak plain, ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY. ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY was known as a poet in 1568; but his principal work, The Cherry and the Slae, was not published before 1597. The Cherry and the Slae is an allegorical poem, representing virtue and vice. The allegory is poorly managed; but some of Montgomery's descriptions are lively and vigorous; and the style of verse adopted in this poem was afterwards copied by Burns. Divested of some of the antique spelling, parts of the poem seem as modern, and as smoothly versified, as the Scottish poetry of a century and a half later. The cushat crouds, the corbie cries, The jargon of the jangling jays, The turtle wails on withered trees, His shadow in the well. The hart, the hind, the dae, the rae, Had trinkled mony a tear; The which like silver shakers shined, Embroidering Beauty's bed, Wherewith their heavy heads declined Some knoping, some dropping Through Phoebus' wholesome heat. ALEXANDER HUME. ALEXANDER HUME, who died, minister of Logie, in 1609, published a volume of Hymns or Sacred Songs in the year 1599. He was of the Humes of Polwarth, and, previous to turning clergyman, had studied the law, and frequented the court; but in his latter years, he was a stern and even gloomy Puritan. The most finished of his productions is a description of a summer's day, which he calls the Day Estival. The various objects of external nature, characteristic of a Scottish landscape, are painted with truth and clearness, and a calm devotional feeling is spread over the poem. It opens as follows: O perfect light, which shed away Another o'er the night; Thy glory, when the day forth flies, Nor at mid-day unto our eyes The shadow of the earth anon Removes and drawis by, Syne in the east, when it is gone, Whilk soon perceive the little larks, And tune their song like Nature's clerks, The summer day of the poet is one of unclouded splendour : The time so tranquil is and clear, That nowhere shall ye find, Save on a high and barren hill, An air of passing wind. All trees and simples, great and small, Than they were painted on a wall, The rivers fresh, the caller streams The water clear like crystal beams, The condition of the Scottish labourer would seem to have been then more comfortable than at present, and the climate of the country warmer, for Hume describes those working in the fields as stopping at mid-day, 'noon meat and sleep to take, and refreshing themselves with caller wine' in a cave, and 'sallads steeped in oil.' As the poet lived four years in France previous to his settling in Scotland, in mature life, we suspect he must have been drawing on his continental recollections for some of the features in this picture. At length 'the gloaming comes, the day is spent,' and the poet concludes in a strain of pious gratitude and delight: What pleasure, then, to walk and see The perfect form of every tree The salmon out of cruives and creels, The bells and circles on the weills O sure it were a seemly thing, Through all the land great is the gild Of bleating sheep fra they be killed, All labourers draw hame at even, Thanks to the gracious God of heaven, KING JAMES VI. In 1585, the Scottish sovereign, KING JAMES VI. ventured into the magic circle of poesy himself, and published a volume, entitled Essayes of a Prentice in the Divine Art of Poesie. Also, Ane Short Treatise containing some Rewlis and Cautelis to be Observit and Eschewit in Scottis Poesie. Kings are generally, as Milton has remarked, though strong in legions, but weak at arguments, and the 'rules and cautelis' of the royal author are puerile and ridiculous. His majesty's verses, considering that he was only in his nineteenth year, are more creditable to him, and we shall quote one, in the original spelling, from the volume alluded to. Ane Schort Poeme on Tyme. As I was pansing in a morning aire, And could not sleip nor nawyis take me rest, Furth for to walk, the morning was so faire, Athort the fields, it seemed to me the best. The East was cleare, whereby belyve I gest That fyrie Titan cumming was in sight, Obscuring chaste Diana by his light. Who by his rising in the azure skyes, Did dewlie helse all thame on earth do dwell. The balmie dew through birning drouth he dryis, Which made the soile to savour sweit and smell, By dew that on the night before downe fell, Which then was soukit up by the Delphienus heit Up in the aire: it was so light and weit. Whose hie ascending in his purpour chere Then woundred I to see them seik a wyle For what hath man bot tyme into this lyfe, So spedelie our selfis for to withdraw But sen that tyme is sic a precious thing, I wald we sould bestow it into that Which were most pleasour to our heavenly King. Let us employ that tyme that God hath send us, EARL OF ANCRUM-EARL OF STIRLING. Two Scottish noblemen of the court of James were devoted to letters-namely, the EARL OF ANCRUM (1578-1654) and the EARL OF STIRLING (1580-1640). The first was a younger son of Sir Andrew Ker of Ferniehurst, and he enjoyed the favour of both James and Charles I. The following sonnet by the earl was addressed to Drummond the poet in 1624. It shews how much the union of the crowns under James had led to the cultivation of the English style and language : Sonnet in Praise of a Solitary Life. Sweet solitary life! lovely, dumb joy, passages resembling parts of Shakspeare's tragedy Let Greatness of her glassy sceptres vaunt, The lines of Shakspeare will instantly be recalled: Leave not a rack behind! None of the productions of the Earl of Stirling touch the heart or entrance the imagination. He has not the humble but genuine inspiration of Alexander Hume. Yet we must allow him to have been a calm and elegant poet, with considerable fancy, and an ear for metrical harmony. The following is one of his best sonnets: I swear, Aurora, by thy starry eyes, And by those golden locks, whose lock none slips, And by the naked snows which beauty dyes; The lady whom the poet celebrated under the The court's great earthquake, the grieved truth of in Stirling, which still remains, the memorial of change, Nor none of falsehood's savoury lies dost hear; Nor knows hope's sweet disease that charms our sense, The Earl of Stirling-William Alexander of Menstrie, created a peer by Charles I.—was a more prolific poet. In 1637, he published a complete edition of his works, in one volume folio, with the title of Recreations with the Muses, consisting of tragedies, a heroic poem, a poem addressed to Prince Henry (the favourite son of King James), another heroic poem, entitled Fonathan, and a sacred poem, in twelve parts, on the Day of Judgment. One of the Earl of Stirling's tragedies is on the subject of Julius Cæsar. It was first published in 1606, and contains several a fortune so different from that of the ordinary children of the muse. An excellent edition of the works of the Earl of Stirling has been published by Maurice, Ogle, and Co. Glasgow, 1871. WILLIAM DRUMMOND. A greater poet flourished in Scotland at the same time with Stirling-namely, WILLIAM Drummond of Hawthornden (1585-1649). Familiar with classic and English poetry, and imbued with true literary taste and feeling, Drummond soared above a mere local or provincial fame, and was associated in friendship and genius with his great English contemporaries. His father, Sir John Drummond, On was gentleman-usher to King James; and the poet seems to have inherited his reverence for royalty. No author of any note, excepting, perhaps, Dryden, has been so lavish of adulation as Drummond. Having studied civil law for four years in France, the poet succeeded, in 1610, to an independent estate, and took up his residence at Hawthornden. If beautiful and romantic scenery could create or nurse the genius of a poet, Drummond was peculiarly blessed with means of inspiration. In all Scotland, there is no spot more finely varied-more rich, graceful, or luxuriant— than the cliffs, caves, and wooded banks of the river Esk, and the classic shades of Hawthornden. In the immediate neighbourhood is Roslin Chapel, one of the most interesting of ruins; and the whole course of the stream and the narrow glen is like the groundwork of some fairy dream. The first publication of Drummond was in 1613, Tears on the Death of Maliades, or Henry, Prince of Wales. In 1616 appeared a volume of Poems, of various kinds, but chiefly of love and sorrow. The death of a lady to whom he was betrothed affected him deeply, and he sought relief in change of scene and the excitement of foreign travel. his return, after an absence of some years, he happened to meet a young lady named Logan, who bore so strong a resemblance to the former object of his affections, that he solicited and obtained her hand in marriage. Drummond's feelings were so intense on the side of the royalists, that the execution of Charles is said to have hastened his death, which took place at the close of the same year, December 1649. Drummond was intimate with Ben Jonson and Drayton ; and his acquaintance with the former has been rendered memorable by a visit paid to him at Hawthornden, by Jonson, in the autumn or winter of 1618. On the 25th of September of that year, the magistrates of Edinburgh conferred the freedom of the city on Jonson, and on the 26th of October following he was entertained by the civic authorities to a banquet, which, as appears from the treasurer's accounts, cost £221, 6s. 4d. Scots money. During Jonson's stay at Hawthornden, the Scottish poet kept notes of the opinions expressed by the great dramatist, and chronicled some of his personal failings. For this his memory has been keenly attacked and traduced. It should be remembered that his notes were private memoranda, never published by himself; and, while their truth has been partly confirmed from other sources, there seems no malignity or meanness in recording faithfully his impressions of one of his most distinguished contemporaries. In 1617 was published Drummond's finest poem, Forth Feasting, a Panegyric to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, congratulating James on his revisiting his native country of Scotland. The poetry of Drummond has singular sweetness and harmony of versification. He was of the school of Spenser, but less ethereal in thought and imagination. He excelled in the heroic couplet, afterwards the most popular of English measures. His sonnets are of a still higher cast, have fewer conceits, and more natural feeling, elevation of sentiment, and grace of expression. Drummond wrote a number of madrigals, epigrams, and other short pieces, some of which are coarse and licentious. general purity of his language, the harmony of his verse, and the play of fancy, in all his principal The productions, are his distinguishing characteristics. With more energy and force of mind, he would have been a greater favourite with Ben Jonsonand with posterity. Drummond wrote several pieces in prose, the chief of which are The History of the Five Fameses, and A Cypress Grove-the latter not unlike the works of Jeremy Taylor in style and imagery. The River of Forth Feasting. What blustering noise now interrupts my sleeps? This golden people glancing in my sight? Am I awake, or have some dreams conspired Which with delight were wont t' amaze my brooks? When six black months are past, the sun does roll: Let mother-earth now decked with flowers be seen, And as they meet in Neptune's azure hall, To virgins, flowers; to sun-burnt earth, the rain; Epitaph on Prince Henry. Stay, passenger; see where inclosed lies Time, nature, place, could shew to mortal eyes, At least that part the earth of him could claim Spread on this stone, and wash it with your tears; To his Lute. My lute, be as thou wert when thou didst grow Each stroke a sigh, each sound draws forth a tear; Or if that any hand to touch thee deign, The Praise of a Solitary Life. Thrice happy he who, by some shady grove, But doth converse with that eternal love. To a Nightingale. Sweet bird! that sing'st away the early hours *Milton has copied this image in his Lycidas: Inwrought with figures dim, and on the edge Like to that sanguine flower, inscribed with woe. 1 Warbling (from ramage, French). What soul can be so sick which by thy songs-- Sonnets. In Mind's pure glass when I myself behold, I know that all beneath the moon decays, SIR ROBERT AYTON. SIR ROBERT AYTON, a Scottish courtier and poet (1570-1638), enjoyed, like Drummond, the advantages of foreign travel and acquaintance with English poets. The few pieces of his composition are in pure English, and evince a smoothness and delicacy of fancy that have rarely been surpassed. The poet was a native of Fifeshire, son of Ayton of Kinaldie. James I. appointed him one of the gentlemen of the bed-chamber, and private secretary to his queen, besides conferring upon him the honour of knighthood. Ben Jonson seemed proud of his friendship, for he told Drummond that Sir Robert loved him (Jonson) dearly. |