nies at home, but also to accompany the most distinguished foreign embassies. He was first sent to Antwerp, for the purpose of renewing the treaty of commerce with the Netherlands. He went afterwards to the Emperor, in order to demand in marriage some of the Princesses of his house. They were well received by that Monarch, and returned with pictures of all his nieces, that James might make his choice between them. But he, either not captivated with their beauty, or preferring the alliance of France, determined upon going thither in person, and choosing his Queen. He sent Lyndsay, how ever, some time before to conciliate the French court to this proposal, and that they might be making up an assortment of Princesses to select from. He chose Magdalene of France. The ceremonies attending her marriage and first arrival in Scotland gave full employment to the heraldic powers of our Lion King, and these were soon afterward called forth on a more melancholy occasion by the Queen's death, which happened forty days after her landing. James lost no time in procu ring another wife from France; but Sir David was not sent abroad on this occasion, though he acted a conspicuous part in the ceremonial of her reception. Sir David went also embassies to England and Denmark. He continued in favour during the whole reign of James V., and, in October 1542, obtained an increase of salary. There was settled on him, "during all the days of his life, two chalders of oats, for horse corn, out of the King's lands of Dynmure, in Fyfe."

James V. died in 1542, after which, we do not find Lyndsay's name so often mentioned, nor does he appear to have enjoyed the same favour at court. This indeed is not to be wondered at: for the reformation began about this time, of which

he was a zealous supporter. He had already sown the seeds of it, by his perpetual invectives against the dissolute lives of friars and nuns, and against the abuses that had crept into the church. And it is remarkable, that his play, in which he enlarges greatly on these subjects, was acted at court with universal applause: so much did amusement prevail over policy. Our poet does not appear to have ever been present at the meetings of the reformers, when they began to defy the established power; not probably out of fear, for he put his name to his books, even when they were most obnoxious; nor does he seem to have ever suffered any punishment, except that of a short banishment from court, to which he was soon after recalled, when his services were wanted. We cannot help thinking our auther too severe in his animadversions on this part of Lyndsay's conduct. No doubt, it proceeds from his zeal for order and good government; yet even the best things may be carried too far; and considering how much the church stood in need of reformation, we cannot but honour the memory of those who brought it about, at their own imminent danger, notwithstanding any partial violence into which they may have been hurried.

The greatest obscurity rests upon the period of our poet's death,

Whether he were alive, on the 3d of December 1557, when the congregation took a formal shape, by the signature of a bond of association, is uncertain. I believe, that he died, about that time; though there are some, who say that he lived till 1567. With all his celebrity, our poet and reformer died obscurely. Nor is there any tradition when, or where he was buried; though a very intelligent husbandman, of the age of eighty-three, who farmed the Mount for forty years, says, he has always heard, "that Sir David was a great poet and preacher, a warrior "and

"

"and scholar: and that he was killed, "either at Flodden-field (1513,) от "Pinkie (1548,) or in some other bat"tle with the English." Such is tradition! We know, however, that Sir David was alive in 1555; and that a man of his years, and character, must have died quietly in his bed. He must of course have been inhumed among his fathers, in the family vault, within the church of Ceres. Yet, as I am assured by my active and intelligent friend the reverend J. Macdonald, who made enquiries on the spot, "the fami"ly vault, at Ceres, has not a single " inscription, nor is there any legible tombstone, in this churchyard, older "than 1669." Such is the fate of sublunary things! The dwelling of Sir David is down; and his family is mingled with the undistinguishable mass.

P. 42.

Besides the life of the author, Mr Chalmers gives also, I. The chronology of his poems, 2. An account of their successive editions, 3. An enquiry who were the licensers of the press, while his works were successively printed, 4. What were the writings of Lyndsay, 5. An historical view of his character as a

writer, 6. Of the epochs of the different people who successively settled in Scotland, 7. A philologi. cal view of the Teutonic language of Scotland, from the demise of Malcolm Canmore to the age of Lyndsay, 8. An examination of the language of Lyndsay. We would strongly recommend the perusal of all these to the curious reader, tho' they abound with such a variety of facts and discussions as makes it impossible to attempt any analysis of them. We cannot forbear, however, to present our readers with the following view of the different people who have settled in Scotland; which contains the result of twelve years investigation, and the outline of what will be illustrated at greater length in Mr C.'s "Caledonia."

1. It is demonstrable, as a moral certainty, that South and North Bri

tain were originally settled by the same Gaulish tribes. The descendants of the original colonists continued to speak the Cambro-British tongue till the abdication of the Roman government in Britain: and, in topographical language, the people of Edinburgh, unconscious of the fact, speak the aboriginal British to this day. The descendants of the first colonists acquired the name of Picts, during the fourth century; enjoyed this name, at the epoch of their conquest in 843, and have even transmitted their name to the present times, though their language was early merged in a cognate tongue. 2. The middle of the fifth century may be assigned, as the epoch of the settlement of the Anglo-Saxon people on the Tweed, and the Forth. The descendants of those settlers gradually overspread the country, which, from them, acquired the name of Lothian; and

which extended from the Tweed to the Avon, and from the hills to the Forth, while proper Scotland, lying northward of the Frith, was inhabited by the Scoto-Irish conquerors of the Cambro-British Picts. The Saxon language continued to be spoken, in Lothian, from that epoch to this day, intermixed, however, with cognate Danish, from the mouths of the Danish people, who

settled among the Anglo-Saxons, during the ninth and tenth centuries. 3. The commencement of the sixth century is the epoch of the arrival of the Irish settlers in Cantyre; and they overran Argyle, and the ample extent of Western-Scotland, from the Clyde to Cape Wrath'; imposing every where new names on places, in their own lan. guage, which was cognate with the original Cambro-British. 4. A new colony of Irish arrived in Galloway, towards the end of the eighth century, who overspreading the whole country to the Nith, and Clyde, every where imposed new names on places, in their own descriptive speech. 5. The year 843 is the epoch of the conquest of the Picts, by the Scots, a congenial people, who overspread the whole country, during the effluxion of two centaries, even up to the Tweed, if we may determine from the Gallic names, which may be even now traced along the Tweed, and the Merse. 6. Some of the descendants of the aboriginal Britons remained, as a distinct people, in Strathclyde, and Peebles shire, even to the twelfth century. 7. At the demise of Malcolm Ceanmore, in 1093, the common language of Scotland, with the exception of Lothian, and a corner of Cathness, was Gaelic, or Scoto-Irish, which was spoken by the descendants of those Irish emigrants, who settled in Ceantyre, at the beginning of the sixth, and Galloway, at the end of the eighth, centuries. 8. The colonization of proper Scotland, by the Anglo-Saxons, and other people of a Gothic race, who mingled with them, began at the com mencement of the twelfth century, and has not yet been quite completed.

P. 115.

The following passage throws light on a remarkable difference be tween the Scotish and English lan

guages.

One of the most remarkable varieties,

English writers of the South were de parting from the Saxon form of the words, the English people of the North, with the Scotish, retained them unchanged; and most of the dialects, both of the north of England, and of Scotland, continued to use the Saxon words, in their original forms. P. 151.

We shall now proceed to give some account of Lyudsay's poems, which are, 1. The Dreme. This was the first of his productions. It was composed, as we had occasion to observe, immediately after the king, by humbling the nobles, had established himself in secure possession of the supreme power; and Lyndsay's object seems to have been to remind his Sovereign Lord of the services he had formerly rendered him at a very early period of life. He begins by enumerating them,

and Scotish writers, was the different use of the o and a. This appears in

myne arme,

Full tenderlye, till thow begouth to gang: And in thy bed, oft happit the full

warme,

very ancient writers of the vulgar tongue. Many Saxon words, in Lye's Dictionary, are indifferently written with an a, and an o, according as the manuscripts, from which they were

With lute in hand, syne, softlye to the sang:

And sumtyme, playand farsis, on the flure,

or

And sumtyme, on myne office takand

cure:

And sumtyme, lyke ane fiend, trans

And sumtyme, lyke the grislie gaist of

or in the northern dialect; as hand, or hond; hangen, or hongen; land, lond; lang, or long. Thus, the o prevailed, in the South, while the a was used, in the North: and hence, the o is more frequent, in the writings of R. of Glo'ster, Wiclif, and Chaucer, while the a is more used in R. of Brune, and Minot. Even Chaucer writes many words with the a, in the pure Saxon form, as the same form continued to be used by Lyndsay, and other Scotish writers of his age, and by those, who wrote in the dialect of the North of England, even to the present day. On the other hand, Chaucer writes several words with o, where the Scotish speech, as well as the modern English, have retained the a, as in hong, hond, lond, sond, for hang, hand, land, sand. As the English of the South gradually substitute o, for a, in a great many words, this formed the chief point of difference, between the English, and Scottish languages, in Lyndsay's age. While the

figurate,

Gy,

Loving be to the blessit trinitie!
That sic ane wrechit worme hes maid
Till sic ane prince to be so agreabill.

He then describes himself as fall ing asleep, and, in his dream, being accosted by a fair lady, called Dame Remembrance, who desires him to get up, and “ gang anone" with her.

So, war we baith, in twinklyng of ane ee, Doun throw the erth, in middis of the center,

Or ever I wist, into the lawest hell; And to that cairfull cove, quhen we did

enter, Yowting, and yowling, we hard, with mony yell,

In flamme of fyre, richt furious, and fell,

Was cryand mony cairfull creature, Blasphemand God, and wariand nature:

Thare, sawe we divers paipis, and empriouris,

Without recover, mony cairfull kingis; Thare, sawe we mony wrangous conquerouris,

Withouttin richt, reiffaris of utheris riugis;

The men of kirk lay bundin into bingis, Thare, sawe we mony cairfull cardinall. And archebischopis, in thair pontificall;

Proude, and perverst prelatis, out of

nummer,

Pryouris, Abbattis, and fals, flatterand freiris;

To specifie thame all, it wer ane cummer;

Regulare channonis, churle monkis,
and chartereiris,
Curious clerkis, and preistis seculeiris;
Thare was sum part of ilk religioun,
In haly kirk, quhilk did abusioun.

P. 195.

own

though the ancient Apostles and
Martyrs have places of high honour,
there is no mention of any order of
churchmen subsisting in his
time. Having thus seen all the o-
ther parts of the universe, he at last
expresses a wish to be favoured with
a view of the earth, in which, his
courteous guide readily gratifies him.
Our poet then makes a copious dis-
play of his geographical knowledge,
in enumerating all the different re-
gions of the globe; though he has
strangely enough confounded the an-
cient and modern divisions. Thus,
And was in four devydit Italye,
Tuscane, Hethruria, Naplis, and Cham-
panye.
P. 226.

And France, we sawe devydit into thre,
Belgica, Celtica, and Aquitane;
And subdevydit, in Flanderis, Picardie,
Normandie, Gasconye, Burgunye, and
Britane,

P. ib.

Or quhareof dois proceid our povertie? For throw the support of your hie prudence,

Of Scotland, I persave the properteis: And als considderis, be experience, Of this cuntrie the greit commoditeis:

Ladies, (whom he treats of very amply) and in fine men of all ranks and professions. The poet is then conducted through the planets, whom he considers partly as heavenly bodies, and partly as heathen gods. At last, he mounts to the firmament itself, of which he gives elaborate though not very poetical description; but we must observe, that

an

seis,