RESPONSIO REGIS.

[The King's Answer.]

After our writings, Thesaurar,
Tak in this gray horse, auld Dunbar,
Whilk in my aucht,' with service true,
In lyart2 changèd is his hue;

Gar house him now agains this Yule,
And busk him like ane bishop's mule :
For, with my hand, I have indost
To pay whatever his trappours 3 cost.

TO A LADY.

I.

Sweet Rose of virtue and of gentleness; Delightsome Lily of every lustiness, Richest in bounty, and in beauty clear, And every virtue that is held most dear, Except only that ye are merciless.

II.

Into your garthe 5 this day I did pursue, There saw I flowris that fresh were of hue; Both white and red most lusty were to seen, And halesome herbis upon stalkis green; Yet leaf nor flower find could I none of rue.

III.

4 Goodness

6 Fear.

2 Gray.

characteristic of Dunbar, this poem has a historical literary interest as a retrospective list of Scottish poets from the author's time, and preserves some names otherwise unknown. Its omission of James I. and Thomas the Rhymer are unaccountable.]

I.

I that in heal 3 was and glaidness,
Am troubled now with great sickness,
And feebled with infirmity:

Timor mortis conturbat me.4

I Feather.

2 Stings. 3 Health.

4 The fear of death dis

quiets me: used by Lydgate.

Till priests come in with bare shaven necks; Then all the fiends leuch, and made gecks,1 | Black-Belly and Bawsy-Broun."

III.

Let see, quoth he, now wha begins,
With that the foul Seven Deadly Sins

Begoud to leap at anes.

And first of all in dance was Pride,
With hair wyld 3 back, and bonnet on side,

Like to make vaistie wanis ;4
And round about him, as a wheel,
Hang all in rumples to the heel

His kethat 5 for the nanis :6 Mony proud trumpour with him trippèd; Through scalding fire, aye as they skipped They girned with hideous granis.7

IV.

Then Ire came in with sturt and strife; His hand was aye upon his knife,

He brandished like a beir :

Boasters, braggers, and bargainers,8

After him passit into pairs,

All bodin in feir of weir ;9

With feigned wordis quite : And flatterers in to men's faces; And backbiters in secret places,

To lie that had delight; And rownaris of false lesings,1 Alace! that courts of noble kings Of them can never be quit.

VI.

Next him in dance came Covetyce,
Root of all evil, and ground of vice,
That never could be content:
Catives, wretches, and ockeraris,2
Hudpikes, 3 hoarders, gatheraris,

All with that warlock went :
Out of their throats they shot on other
Hot, molten gold, me thought, a fudder +
As fire-flaucht 5 maist fervent ;

Aye as they toomed them of shot,
Fiends filled them new, up to the throat,
With gold of all kind prent.

VII.

steel,

Full sleepy was his grunyie :7 Mony swear bumbard belly huddroun, Mony slut, daw, and sleepy duddroun, Him served aye with sounyie ;8 He drew them forth in till a chain, And Belial with a bridle rein

Ever lashed them on the lunyie : 9 In dance they were so slow of feet, They gave them in the fire a heat,

And made them quicker of cunyie.10

As the rival of Dunbar in the famous "Flyting," an interest has attached to the name of Walter Kennedy which none of the few other poems that are ascribed to him serve to increase. His share of the "Flyting "-about twothirds of the whole piece-may be said to be quite equal to that of Dunbar, and is the best test that we possess of his skill in the use of his poetic weapons. By their contemporary, Gavin Douglas, and their successor Lindsay, Kennedy is ranked at least equal to, if not higher

5 The sixth son of Lord Kennedy, of Cassillis and Dunure.-Paterson's Life and Poems of Dunbar, 1860.