6 ments, and the liberality of his views, were often quoted, but not more often than it to be found in the English language, has been deserves. SPEECH OF KING ROBERT.1 And quhen the gud king gan thaim se Blyth and glad, that thar fayis war Rabutyt apon sic maner; A litill quhill he held him still; 66 Syne on this wyss he said his will. I trow, and knawis it all clerly, cry; Quhill we haiff maid our countré fre!" Quhen the king had hard sa manlily Thai spak to fechting, and sa hardely, 1 Delivered on the evening before the battle of Bannockburn. In hart gret glaidschip can he ta; And has broucht her, rycht till our hand, That the powrest of yow sall be Bath rych, and mychty thar with all, That thai wyn ws opynly, Thai sall off ws haf na mercy. And, sen we knaw thair felone will, To mete thaim at thair fyrst assemble Ye ber honour, price, and richés, Ye mycht haf lewyt in to threldome: I traist, and trowis sekyrly, To haff plane wictour in this fycht. For thoucht our fayis haf mekill mycht, I wate nocht quhat mar say sall I. Bot all wate ye quhat honour is: THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY.1 (FROM THE BRUCE.2) A! fredome is a nobil thing; Fredome mayss a man to haiff liking. 1 Barbour, contemplating the enslaved condition of his country, breaks out into the following animated lines on the blessings of liberty.-George Ellis. Some readers may more readily arrive at the meaning of this fine apostrophe through the following paraphrase: Ah! freedom is a noble thing, 2 Our archdeacon was not only famous for his extensive knowledge in the philosophy and divinity of those times, but still more admired for his admirable genius for English poetry; in which he composed a history of the life and glorious actions of Robert Bruce. A work not only remarkable for a copious circumstantial detail of the exploits of that illustrious prince, and his brave companions in arms Randolff, Earl of Moray, and the Lord James Douglas, but also for the beauty of its style, which is not inferior to that of his contemporary, Chaucer.-Henry's History of Great Britain. Fredome all solace to man giffis, May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, Than all perquer he suld it wyt, Than all the gold in warld that is. ANDREW WYNTOUN. BORN 1350-DIED 1420. ANDREW WYNTOUN, or Andrew of Wyntoun, | fered to remain neg.ected for nearly four cenin point of time the third of the early Scottish poets whose works have been handed down to us, lived towards the close of the fourteenth century. Of the place or exact date of his birth nothing positive is known. He is believed to have been born about 1350. The rhyming chronicler was a canon-regular of St. Andrews, the most important religious establishment in the kingdom, and in or before the year 1395 he was elected prior of the monastery of St. Serf, in Lochleven. Of this Wyntoun gives an account in his "Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland:" "Of my defaute it is my name Be baptisme, Andrewe of Wyntoune, In the chartulary of the priory of St. Andrews Notwithstanding the great value of Wyntoun's historical poem, written at the request of "Schyr Jhone of the Wemys," it was suf turies. In 1795, however, an edition of that portion of it which relates more immediately to the affairs of Scotland was published, with very valuable notes by David Macpherson, who omitted the introductory portion of this famous "Cronykil," in which, after the fashion of Roger of Chester and other venerable historians, the author most learnedly treats of the creation and of the general history of the world before he reaches the subjects which more pertinently relate to his work, i.e. the history of Scotland. "The Chronicle of Wyntoun," says Dr. Irving, "is valuable as a picture of ancient manners, as a repository of historical anecdotes, and as a specimen of the literary attainments of our ancestors. With a perseverance of industry which had numerous difficulties to encounter, he has collected and recorded many circumstances that tend to illustrate the history of his native country; nor, rude as the composition may seem, is his work altogether incapable of interesting a reader of the present age of refinement. To those who delight to trace the progress of the human mind his unpolished production will afford a delicious entertainment." Another writer remarks "that Wyntoun's genius is certainly inferior to that of his predecessor Barbour, but that at least his versification is easy, his language pure, and his style often animated." In Wyntoun's work the student of history will find what, in the absence of more ancient records, must be now regarded as the original accounts of numerous transactions in Scottish story. Many of these the poet has related from his own knowledge or from the reports of eye-witnesses; and of the general fidelity of his narrative there is every reason to form the most favourable opinion, from the strict agreement which is to be found between him and other authorities, where there happens, on any fact, to be other authors to refer to-such as the "Foedera Angliæ, or the Fragments of the Chartulary of the Priory of St. Andrews," from which Wyntoun drew largely and literally. Of Barbour and other writers he speaks in a generous and respectful manner, and modestly avows his inability to write equal to the author of "Bruce," as in the following lines: "The Stewartis originale The Archedekyne has tretyd hal, That Wyntoun was a man of learning his poem gives evidence, as it contains quotations from Aristotle, Cicero, Josephus, Livy, and other ancient authors, and also mentions Augustin, Cato, Dionysius, Homer, Virgil, &c. In the "Chronicle" there is preserved the first of Scottish songs, which is believed by several authorities to be ninety years older than Barbour's work. Allan Cunningham deemed it too melodious and too alliterative for that early date, and as rather belonging to the same period as the rhyming chronicler himself. It is a little elegiac song on the death of Alexander III., who was accidentally killed in the year 1286: "Quhen Alysandyr oure Kyng wes dede, Of wyne and wax, of gamin and gle: Dat stad is in perplexyté." In 1872 a new edition of Wyntoun's work appeared, edited by David Laing, containing the suppressed or omitted portions of the "Chronicle," and forming nearly one-third of the entire poem. There are several manuscript copies of the "Chronicle," more or less perfect, still extant, of which the one known as the Royal MS., in the British Museum, is by general consent considered the most perfect. THE CHRONICLE OF SCOTLAND. Ande, or all this tyme wes gone, And dyntis delt rycht dowchtyly, (EXTRACT.1) Thare deyde Schyre Jhone than the Mowbray: The lave, that ware noucht tane in hand, 1 Book viii. chap. xxvi. Swa that all that cumpany The Scottis men syne, that hade dredyng, Schyre Andrew off Murrawe gud and wycht. And wyth that folk he held his way Schyre Andrew thiddyr can hym hy; For purwayd noucht at poynt war thai, HENRY THE MINSTREL BORN 1360-DIED HENRY THE MINSTREL, or Blind Harry, as he was familiarly called, who commemorated the deeds of the champion of Scottish liberty in a heroic poem entitled "Ye Actis and Deidis of ye Illuster and Vailzeand Champioun Shry William Wallace," flourished in the fifteenth century. Of his personal history we know very little-we do not even possess more than half his name; and have no means of knowing whether Henry was a Christian or surname. He is stated by Dempster to have been living in 1361; but Major, who is supposed to have been born about 1446, stated that when he was in his infancy Henry the Minstrel wrote his "Actis and Deidis." Major also informs us that the poet was blind from his birth, and that he gained his food and clothing by the recitation of histories or "gestes" before the nobles of the land. It is said by the Minstrel himself that his work was founded on a narrative of the life of Wallace written in Latin by Arnold Blair, chaplain to the Scottish hero, and which, if it ever had existence, is now lost; and from the immediate descendants of Wallace's contemporaries. rations and anachronisms, but as a poem it is simple, interesting, and exciting. As a narrative of facts it must be remembered that we have it not through the medium of the author's own pen, but through oral recitation, to the corruptions of which there are no limits. The circumstance of the poet's correctness as regards several incidents heretofore believed to be fictitious-as, for example, Wallace's expedition to France-having been recently verified by the discovery of authentic evidence, should induce us to be careful in ascribing to the Minstrel errors in which it abounds, rather than to the reciters of his work, who are much likelier to be the culprits. "That a man born blind," says George Ellis, "should excel in any science is sufficiently extraordinary, though by no means without example; but that he should become an excellent poet is almost miraculous, because the soul of poetry is description. Perhaps, therefore, it may be safely assumed that Henry was not inferior, in point of genius, to Barbour or Chaucer, nor indeed to any poet in any age or country." The praise of this eminent critic exceeds that The Wallace" abounds in evident exagge- which is justly due to Henry the Minstrel, |