About the year 1420, ANDREW WYNTOWN, prior of St. Serf's Monastery, in Lochleven, wrote a chronicle of universal history, particularly detailing that of Scotland, but with a very small infusion of poetical spirit. This work may be considered as closing the list of the rhyming chronicles. A little before the time of Wyntown, we find Scottish poets devoting their attention to the minstrel class of compositions, which had also for some time gone out of fashion in the southern part of the island. Among their productions of this kind may be mentioned the Gest of Arthur, by HUCHEON, a poem now lost-and Sir Gawain, by CLERK of Tranent, which has been preserved and printed, but appears as a very uncouth composition. The last poem of this kind seems to have been that entitled the Adventures of Sir William Wallace, composed about the year 1460, by a wandering minstrel named BLIND HARRY, and which presented the general outlines of the history of that hero, mixed up with traditionary anecdotes, and aided in part by imagination. This poem, like that of Barbour, contains some passages of great poetical effect, and no small portion of patriotic and heroical sentiment. It differs from the generality of minstrel poems, in its bearing the appearance of an unaffected narration, and in its metre, which is of the kind called epic-that is, a series of rhymed couplets, in lines of ten syllables each. The work of Blind Harry was reduced into modern popular verse, about a century ago, by Mr. Hamilton of Gilbertfield, and in that shape has ever since been a favourite book with the country people of Scotland, SECOND PERIOD. FROM 1400 To 1558. WHILE such minds as Chaucer's take shape, in some measure, from the state of learning and civilization which may prevail in their time, it is very clear that they are never altogether created or brought into exercise by such circumstances. The rise of such men is acciden JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND.-OCCLEVE. 19 tal, and whole ages may pass without producing them. From the death of Chaucer in 1400, nearly two hundred years elapsed in England, before any poet comparable to him arose, and yet those two centuries were more enlightened than the times of Chaucer. He has on this account been likened to a genial day in an English spring,' which is frequently followed by very gloomy weather. This long period, however, produced several poets not destitute of merit. The first of these was JAMES I. King of Scotland, whose mind and its productions, notwithstanding his being a native of that country, must be considered as of English growth. James had been taken prisoner in his boyhood by Henry IV. of England, and spent the nineteen years preceding 1424 in that country, where he was instructed in all the learning and polite accomplishments of the age, and appears, in particular to have carefully studied the writings of Chaucer. The only certain production of this ingenious young sovereign, is a long poem called The King's Quhair, or Book, in which he describes the circumstances of an affection which he formed while a prisoner in Windsor Castle, for a young English princess whom he saw walking in the adjacent garden.* This lady, a daughter of the Earl of Somerset, and, as it happened, a niece of Chaucer, was afterwards married to the young king, whom she accompanied to Scotland. While in possession of his kingdom, he is said to have written several poems descriptive of humorous rustic scenes; but these cannot be certainly traced to him. He was assassinated at Perth in the year 1437. About the year 1420, flourished THOMAS OCCLEVE, a lawyer, who wrote several poems of considerable merit, * His first thoughts, when this lovely vision was presented to a mind so long immured in prison, are in the highest style of poetry. Ah, swete! are ye a warldly creature, Or ar ye Cupidis owne princesse, And coming are to loose me out of band? That have depainted with your hevinly hand, 6 though now very little read. About the same time, or a little later, JOHN LYDGATE, a monk of Bury, was well known for his poetical compositions, which ranged over a great variety of styles. His muse,' says Warton in his History of English Poetry,' was of universal access; and he was not only the poet of the monastery, but of the world in general. If a disguising was intended by the company of goldsmiths, a mask before his Majesty at Eltham, a Maygame for the sheriffs and aldermen of London, a mumming before the lord mayor, a procession of pageants from the Creation for the festival of Corpus Christi, or a carol for the Coronation, Lydgate was consulted, and gave the poetry.' The principal works of this versatile writer are entitled, The History of Thebes, The Fall of Princes, and The Siege of Troy. He had travelled in France and Italy, and studied the poetry of those countries; and though his own writings contain only a few good passages, he is allowed to have improved the poetical language of the country. He at one time kept a school in his monastery, for the instruction of young persons of the upper ranks in the art of versification; a fact which proves that poetry had become a favourite study among the few who acquired any tincture of letters in that age. Not long after the time of Lydgate, our attention is called to another prose writer of eminence, SIR JOHN FORTESCUE, Chief Justice of the King's Bench under Henry VI., and a constant adherent of the fortunes of that monarch. Besides several Latin tracts, Chief Justice Fortescue wrote one in the common language, entitled, The Difference between an Absolute and Limited Monarchy, as it more particularly regards the English Constitution. In this work he draws a striking, though perhaps exaggerated contrast between the condition of the French under an arbitrary monarch, and that of his own countrymen, who even then possessed considerable privileges as subjects. The next writer of note was WILLIAM CAXTON, the celebrated printer; a man of plain understanding, but great enthusiasm in the cause of literature. While acting as an agent for English merchants in Holland, he made himself master of the art of printing, then recently introduced on the Continent, and hav ing translated a French book styled, The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye, he printed it at Ghent, in 1471, being the first book in the English Language ever put to the press. Afterwards he established a printing-office at Westminster, and in 1474, produced The Game of Chess, which was the first work printed in Britain. Caxton translated or wrote about sixty different books, all of which went through his own press before his death in 1491. As a specimen of his manner of writing, and of the literary language of this age, a passage is extracted below, in modern spelling, from the conclusion of his Book of the Order of Chivalry.† The reigns of Edward IV., Richard III., and Henry VII., extending between the years 1461 and 1509, were barren of true poetry, though there was no want of obscure versifiers. *We may name John Skelton, however, who, though but little remarkable for his rhymes, had a genius which was suited to satire and burlesque, and a spirit which ventured to attack not obscure individuals only, but men of eminence. His poems consist of satires and sonnets, and similar productions, which are unhappily characterized by licentiousness. He flourished partly in the reign of Henry VIII.* It is remarkable that this period produced in Scotland a race of genuine poets, who, in the words of Mr. Warton, 'displayed a degree of sentiment and spirit, a command of phraseology, and a fertility of imagination, not to be found in any English poet since Chaucer and Lydgate.' Perhaps the explanation of this seeming mystery is, that the influences which operated upon Chaucer a century + Alas! what do ye but sleep and take ease, and are all disordered from chivalry. How many knights ben there now in England that have the use and exercise of a knight. That is to wit, that he knoweth his horse, and his horse him? That is to say, that he being ready at a point, to have all thing that longeth to a knight; an horse that is according and broken after his hand; his armours and harness meet and fitting and so forth? I suppose, an a due search should be made, there should be many found that lack. The more the pity is. I would it pleased our sovereign lord, that twice or thrice in a year, or at least once, he would do cry Justes of Pees, to the end that every knight should have horse and harness, and also the use and craft of a knight, and also to tourney one against one, or two against two, and the best to have a prize, a diamond or jewel, such as should please the prince. This should cause gentlemen to resort to the ancient customs of chivalry, to great fame and renown, &c. * AM. ED. before, were only now coming with their full force upon the less favourably situated nation which dwelt north of the Tweed. Overlooking some obscurer names, those of Henryson, Dunbar, and Douglas, are to be mentioned with peculiar respect. ROBERT HENRYSON, School-master of Dunfermline, wrote a series of fables in verse, and a few miscellaneous poems, chiefly of a moral nature.* WILLIAM DUNBAR, a man of higher and more varied genius, was a clergyman, and flourished at the Scottish court from about the year 1500 to 1530. Some of his poems are humorous, and refer to humble life; others are allegorical, and full of beautiful natural imagery; a third kind are moral and instructive; and he is equally happy in all. His principal allegorical poems are styled The Golden Terge, The Dance, and The Thistle and Rose. The last was written in 1503, in honour of the nuptials of King James IV. with the Princess Margaret of England. The Dance describes a procession of the Seven Deadly Sins, two of which are described in the striking verses quoted below.† *One of his fables is the common story of the Town Mouse and Country Mouse; and in the moral with which he concludes it, occurs the following verse, which will convey an idea of his didactic style:Blissit be simple life, withouten dreid; Blissit be sober feist in quieté; Wha has eneuch of no more has he neid, Grit habowndance, and blind prosperiti, + Then IRE came in with sturt* and strife; He brandeist like a beir;t All boden in feir of weir,t In jacks, stir'ps, and bonnets of steel, Some upon other with brandis beft,¶ With knives that sharp could shear. *Bloody fighting. Covered with chains. † Bear; +Arrayed in warlike manner. Forward was their manner. Struck with swords. |