seen the description of his own feelings, and the following stanzas contain his advice to others. No Treasure without Gladness. I. Be merry, man! and take not far in mind For oft with wysure1 it has been said aforrow, II. Make thee good cheer of it that God thee sends, 1 Wisdom. 2 A-fore, before. 3 Merchandize, treasure, &c. ↑ Thou canst enjoy all the remainder only with bale, or sorrow. III. Follow on pity; fly trouble and debate ; Be charitable, and humble in thine estate, For trouble in earth take no melancholy; Be rich in patience, if thou in goods be poor: Without gladness availis no treasure. IV. Thou sees these wretches set, with sorrow and care, And, when their bags are full, their selves are bare, V. Though all the werk that ever had living wight, 'No longer than a sound. 3 Remainder. 2 Possessions. A reckoning right comes of a ragment1 small. Be just, and joyous, and do to none injure, And Truth shall make thee strong as any wall: Without gladness availis no treasure. [Lord Hailes's Anc. Scot. Poems, p. 54.] In these specimens we see much good sense, and sound morality, expressed with force and conciseness. This indeed is Dunbar's peculiar excellence. His style, whether grave or humorous, whether simple or ornamented, is always energetic; and, though all his compositions cannot be expected to possess equal merit, we seldom find in them, a weak or redundant stanza. But his most admired, and most truly poetical works are, the "Thistle and the Rose," and the "Golden Terge." The first of these was composed for the marriage of James IV. of Scotland, with Margaret, eldest daughter of our Henry VII.; an event which is likely to have produced many invocations to the muses, but which probably was hailed by very few panegyrics, so delicate and ingenious as this of Dunbar. In the age of allegory and romance, when a knowledge of heraldry was a necessary accomplishment, it was natural enough to compli• Accompt. ment the royal bridegroom under the character of a lion (part of the arms of Scotland), or under that of the thistle; and to describe the bride as the rose, proceeding from the joint stems of York and Lancaster: but it required considerable ingenuity, to call into action these heraldic personages. The poet has recourse to a dream, in which he supposes himself accosted by May, who desires him to celebrate, in a poem, the return of Spring, She then introduces him into a delicious garden, to which all organized beings are summoned to appear before the goddess Nature, who crowns the lion, the eagle, and the thistle, as kings of beasts, birds, and plants, recommending, at the same time to each, many important moral, and political maxims. To the protection of the thistle, she particularly consigns the rose, whom she represents as "above the lily" (the house of Valois), and whom she also invests with a crown, so brilliant as to" illumine all the land with its light:" at which joyful event, an universal song of gratulation from the birds, interrupts the progress of the poet's vision. In this singular, but ingenious allegory, Dunbar has interwoven a number of rich and glowing des scriptions, much excellent advice, and many delicate compliments, without any fulsome adulation. The "Golden Terge" is, perhaps, still superior to the Thistle and Rose; at least such seems to have been the opinion of Sir David Lindsay, who, in estimating the poetical genius of Dunbar, says, that he -"language had at large, "As may be seen intill his Golden Targe." This poem is a moral allegory, the object of which is to shew the gradual and imperceptible influence of love, which even the "golden target "of reason cannot always repell." The poet walks out in a vernal morning, which he describes much at large, and in the most glowing language: the second stanza may be taken as a good specimen of his style. I Full angel-like thir birdis sang their hours 1 • Float. |