It was no need I wis, There might no hearts more joy receive, KING BERDOCK. DR LAING says:-"This singular fragment, preserved in George Bannatyne's well-known manuscript, has been overlooked by the different editors of early Scottish poetry, except John Leyden, who alludes to it in his interesting and learned introduction to the Complaynt of Scotland. "Although it may now be impossible to ascertain the individual work, the ludicrous nature of this fairy tale plainly intimates that it was intended as a burlesque of some 'geste' or romantic story, which may have been popular at the time of its composition." It displays nimble playfulness of fancy not often associated with the poetry of our sober latitudes; and contains some words and phrases for which we have been unable to find explanations. Kings used not to wear clothes in they And ran again, Mayok for to get. days, But yeid naked, as mine author says: He was ane stalwart man of heart and He wowit 3 the golk seven year, of Mary- Mayiola, and she was but years three, To réveiss Mayok, the golk of Maryland. Syne happened him, to come among the And as this Berdock about him could espy, kye; And in ane creill7 upon his back her kest; nest The king of Fairy her father then blew And fought Berdock all the land about, There was the kings of Pechtis and Por- The king of Naipillis, and Navern all hail, With bows and brands, with sieges they umbeset him; Some bade tak some slay, some bade bide They stealèd guns to the Killogy laith, But soon the gracious god Mercurius They trowed it was ane ghost, and they Thir fell kings, thus, Berdock would have slain Full of skait birds, and then this Berdock All this for love, loveris sufferis pain. grett 10 Boece said, of poets hat was flower PATRICK JOHNSTOUN. II. For suth it is, that every man mortall Na erdly stait aganis deid ma prevaill; This fair exampill to se quotidiane,3 THE name is almost all that is known | Als fresche, als fair, als lusty to behald; of this poet. He is one of those whom Quhan thou lukis on this suth exemplair, Dunbar mentions in his "Lament for the Off thy self, man, thou may be richt unbald. Deth of the Makers," and he is also referred to in "The Treasurer's Accounts, 1488-1492." "The Thre Deid Powis " is the only poem ascribed to him, and even it is claimed by Dr Laing and the Maitland MS. for Henryson. The Bannatyne MS., however, assigns it to Johnstoun, and is followed by Lord Hailes, Sibbald, and Dr Irving. No opinion on the point is here indicated by placing it under his name. Lord Hailes observes that "the fancy of introducing three deaths-heads is odd; and the more so because they all speak at once. The sentiments are such as the contemplation of mortality produces. If likeness inferred imitation, Shakespeare, in the scene of the grave-diggers, might be supposed to have copied from Patrick Johnstoun-an obscure versifier of whom he never heard." III. wantone yowth! als fresche as lusty May, Farest of flowris, renewit quhyt and reid, Behald our heidis, O lusty gallands gay! Full laithly thus sall ly thy lusty heid, Holkit and how, and wallowit 5 as the weid, Thy crampland hair, and eik thy cristall eine; Full cairfully conclud sall dulefull deid, MERSAR, whose Christian name is unknown, has his fame thus preserved in Dunbar's famous "Lament " "He has reft Mersar his indyte, That did in luve so lyfly wryte, So schort, so quick, of sentens hie." He is also referred to by Lindsay in the "Complaynt of the Papyngo," as one of half-a-dozen poets, who "Quod Bannatyne MS., subscribed Mersar." Dr Irvine says of it, that it is "too inconsiderable to enable us to ascertain how far he may have merited the commendation bestowed upon him by Dunbar and Lindsay." The spelling of the MS. is here retained, for the same reason as that assigned as regards the last piece. The language of both "Thoucht thay be deid, thair libellis bene poems is very much alike, and it will be observed that, apart from the language, the structure of the composition is as direct and regular poetry of the present day. It may be inferred that their authors were contemporaries. Abiding. 2 Reign. of an Irish bard, at a feast given by the peacock as Pope. The faithful son of the Church is treated in the court of his holiness in the following free fashion :— In come twa flyrand fulis with a fond fair, The tutuquheit and the gukkit gowk and HOLLAND is another of the poets | rerde and a rane roch" in the character mentioned by Dunbar and Lindsay. His poem of the "Howlat," preserved in the Bannatyne MS., is much longer than those of the two previous poets. Dr Irving calls it "a tedious performance;" yet, being written in antique language, it is much esteemed by antiquaries. It exhibits very considerable, though unsymetrical, powers of imagination, and a keen sense of humour. In its general scope it is an elaborate expansion of the fable of "The Jack-daw in Borrowed Feathers," in which all the birds are assigned civil and ecclesiastical offices. Perhaps the best specimen of its humour is the introduction of the rook "with a yede hiddie giddie smiddie Ran fast to the dur, and gaif a gret raire ; Socht watter to wesh him thairout in ane idy. The Folis feud in the flet |