Sir David's complaint having brought him an office and pension, he determined to proceed in the same strain; and next year produced the "Complaint of the Papingo" or parrot. This bird having set out along with the author on a pleasure excursion into the fields, imprudently got up on a tree, and having, in spite of every warning, mounted too high, was blown over, and received a mortal wound in her fall. She then begins her dying lamentation, but, instead of her own sufferings, she dwells altogether upon the misfortunes of the kingdom and the vices of the clergy. She begins, however, with addressing some very wholesome, advices to the King.

sen the definitioun of ane king Is for to haif of pe pill governance, Addres the first, abufe all uther thing, Till put thy bodye till sic ordinance, That thy vertew, thyne honour, may

avance:

For how suld princis governe greit regionis,

That can nocht dewlie gyde thair awin personis ?

And, gif thy grace wald leif richt plesandlie,

Call thy counsall, and cast on thame the cure:

*The Bass and the Isle of May are well-known islets in the Frith of Forth. †The Lowmond hill near Falkland, in Fife.

Thair just decreitis defende, and fortifie, But gude counsall, may na prince lang indure;

Wyrk with counsall, than sall thy wark be sure:

Cheis thy counsall of the maist sapient, Without regarde to blude, ryches, or rent. Amang all uther pastyme and plesour, Now, in thy adolescent yeiris ying, Wald thow ilk day studie bot half ane hour,

The regiment of princely governing, To thy pepill, it war ane plesand thing: Thare micht thow fynd thy awin vocatioun,

How thou suld use thy sceptour, swerd,

and croun.

The Cronikillis, to knaw, I the exhort, Quhilk may be mirrour to thy majestie; Thare sail thou find baith gude, and evill report,

Of everilk prince, efter his qualitie: Thocht thay be deid, thair deidis sall nocht dee;

Traist weill thow sal be stylit, in that storie,

As thow deservis, put in memorie. Requeist that roy, quhilk rent wes on the rude.

The to defend, from deidis of defame. That na poeit report of the bot gude; For princis dayis induris bot ane drame: Sen first king Fergus bure ane dyadame, Thow art the last king of fyve score and fyve,

And all ar deid, and nane bot thow on lyve.

Of quhose noumer fyftie and fyve bene slane,

And most part, in thair awin misgovernance *:

Qubarefor, I the beseik, my soverane, Considderof thair ly vis the circumstance;

*The fact is, that few of the Scotish kings died quietly in their beds: But, it was the fault of the constitution, and not of their awin misgovernance; Lyndsay only retailed the fictitious cant of Boece, whose Chronikillis were translated by Bellendene, for the use of James V. Lidgate, and the other old English poets, had shown Lyndsay the way to instruct living kings, by raking up the misdeeds of the dead.

And

She gives the history of the calamities which had befallen Scotland under a succession of Kings, begin. ning with Robert the Third. She then proceeds to the corruption of the church, which had taken its rise from the banishment of poverty, and had now come to the greatest height. Dame Chastitie had been banished from all the convents in Scotland, except one," besouth Edinburgh on the Burrow muir, among the sisteris of the Schenis," though it is alledged, that if they were "assailzeit," they would "render" like the rest. The poem closes with the death of the Papingo.

We come now to the most remarkable of all Lyndsay's productions, the Satyre of the Three Estates. It is a morality, or dramatic composition, intended for the "commendation of verteu and vituperation of vyce."

The Satyre of Lyndsay was acted at Coupar in Fife, in 1535; at Linlith. gow, in 1539; and at Edinburgh, in 1554. We may learn, from the length of the perusal of Lyndsay's Satyre of the three Estates, that its representation must have consumed "the live-long "day, with patient expectation:" It began, about nine, in the morning, and continued, during nine hours, with little intermission, as we are told by Henry Charteris, the bookseller, who saw "this

play, playit besyde Edinburgh, in 1554, in presence of the quene regent; lestand fra nyne houris afoir none till sex houris at evin." But, the length of the English mysteries, what is this length of representation to during the persevering curiosity of an

66

tient times? In 1391, as we learn from honest Stow, a play was playde by the parish clerks of London, which continued three days together, the king, quene, and nobles of the realme, being present: And, another was plaide, in 1409, which lasted eight daies, and was worlde, whereat was present most of of matter, from the creation of the the nobilitie and gentrie of England." P. 256.

The characters are chiefly allegorical, as the moral virtues and vices, the church, the commonwealth, with a sparing mixture of real personages.

It does not the less however exhibit a correct view of the reigning style of conversation; for these imaginary characters are as homely, and as coarse in their dialect, as the lowest of the others.

We have, first, a king Humapitas, who by the arts of three noted personages, called Falset, Dissait, and Flattery, and by the allurements of a fair lady, ycleped Sensuality, is led into a course of irregular indulgence. Verity is then introduced, by which it appears that the reformed religion is understood. She attempts to obtain access to his Majesty, but is speedily driven off by his new attendants. For her farther correction the parson is sent for, who thus addresses her;

VERITIE.

FLATTRIE.

Qphat buik is that, harlot, into thyhand? Out! walloway! this is the New Test'ment,

In Englisch toung, and printit in England:

Herisie herisie! fire! fire incontinent. P. 426.

The affair ends by Veritie being put in the stocks. Chastity then appears with a similar intent, but after having applied for reception in various quarters, and been every where rejected; she finally shares the same fate. At last comes Correction, who seems to be a very potent personage; for by his sole authority he sets free Veritie and Chastitie, leads them to the king, whom he obliges to acknow. ledge his fault, to banish his vicious companions, and receive these in their stead.

One of the most striking things in this play is the gross indecency of the dialogue, such as would not now be endured in an assembly of the lowest vulgar. Yet this seems to be more a breach of taste than of morality; for the play is expressly written with a religious and moral intention, and the indecent expressions are sometimes used by persons of the most correct characters. We approve however of Mr Chalmers retaining these passages, as they shew the coarseness of that period, and to a reader of the present day are not likely to be at all seductive. The dialogue is no less distinguished by the profuse and continual use of oaths, of which Mr C. has counted about forty or fifty, and yet these foo are familiarly used by the

most

ཎྜ་ ཏ་ཉ་ཀྱི

PAUPER. My father was ane auld hoir, (hoary) And was of age fourscore of yeiris, and

moir.

The Historie of Squire Meldrum is one of the most pleasing of Lyndsay's productions. It contains the atchievements of a genuine knighterrant, brave and amorous, wandering in search of adventures, and delivering distressed ladies, who fall immediately in love with him. His longest, though as appears to us his least interesting piece, is the Monarchie, which contains a kind of general history of all things past, present, and to come, beginning at the crea tion of the world, and ending with the day of judgement. It is, in short, a kind of abridged, universal history, put into verse, and makes rather dry reading.

The modern reader who may be desirous to peruse these productions of Lyndsay is under great obligations to Mr Chalmers for the facilities he has afforded him. Besides a copious glossary at the end, every antiquated word or form of expression is explained at the foot of the page; so that, with this poetry, which would otherwise have been hardly intelligible, we go on almost as easily and smoothly as with a composition of the present day.

New Works published in EDINBURgh. TABLES of Interest, constructed

on a plan entirely new, easy, and mathematically accurate. By William Stenhouse, Accountant, F.A.S. Edinburgh, 8vo. Il. Is. Dictionary of the synonimous Words and technical Terms in the English language. By James Leslie. 8vo. 6s.

New Editions.

An Enquiry into the Rise and Progress of Parliament, chiefly in Scotland. By Alex. Wight, Esq. Advocate. A new edition, with a Supplement; including the Election Cases at large to the present period. 2 vols. 4to. 21. 128. 6d. The Lay of the last Minstrel. By

Walter Scott, Esq. Fourth Edition. 8vo. 10s. 6d.

Ferguson's Lectures, with Notes, and an Appendix by David Brewster. Second Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. and plates 4to. 11. s.

SCOTTISH Literary Intelligence. A New edition is now printing of

the

the Travels of the celebrated William Lithgow, performed during space of 19 years, thro' various parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa: containing, in particular, a Description of Jerusalem and various parts of the Holy Land. His narrative of the tortures which were inflicted on him by the Spanish Inquisition, is particularly interesting. This writer has been a good deal suspected of fiction and exaggeration; but, like others in the same predicament, time, which is the only sure criterion, seems to have determined the question in his favour; and his travels are now generally regarded as equally curious and authentic.To this edition will be added his other works, viz. Present Surveigh of London and England's state, 1643. Experimental and exact Re lation of the Siege of Newcastle, 1645. Extract of Pilgrim's farewell to his native country, and from the Gushing tears of Godly sorrow. It is well known that the Hindostance is the language most generally used among the natives of India. Its acquisition must therefore be of essential importance to our sumerous adventurers in that quarter of · the world and a Gentleman of this town has, with this view, pro-duced a number of useful publications upon it. But as these are voluminous and expensive, he has thought it advisable to compress the information they contain into` two portable volumes, which will be speedily published. "They will bring the reader acquainted not on

Ty

ly with the language, but also with the manners and customs of those countries.

The Poems of Ossian, in the original Gaelic, with a literal Latin translation by the late Mr M'Farlan, will speedily make their appearance. This work will be enriched with a preliminary dissertation by Sir John Sinclair, whose active patrio. tism has induced him to undertake the superintendence of the whole publication. In this dissertation In this dissertation Sir John will give not only a summary of former evidence, but also a variety of new proofs, which he conceives must place the authenticity of the poems beyond a doubt. A celebrated Italian poet, Cesarotti, having not only translated Ossian's Poems in a very superior manner, but written an essay on their au thenticity and beauties, which is not generally accessible to English readers, it has been thought proper to annex a translation of that essay, which was executed by John M'Arthur, Esq. together with some additional Notes and Observations by the Translator.

A translation of the first book of Fingal, by the Rev. Mr Ross, will also be included in the Preliminary Dissertation, which furnishes the most satisfactory evidence, that a new version is necessary, to give the English reader a just conception of the sublime effusions of the Celtic Bard. The Committee of the Highland Society, deeply impressed with that idea, propose to have a new translation of the whole of the Poems, into English, executed with as little delay as possible.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE, ENGLISH and FOREIGN.

EARL Stanhope has just printed at

the stereotype office, for private circulation among his friends, a small work entitled, Principles of the Science of tuning Instruments with fixed tones.

A great work on our national cattle, will be shortly published by Messrs. Boydell and Co., dedicated by permis. the superintendence of Lord Somersion to his Majesty, and prepared under ville. It will be published in numbers, in imperial quarto size, each containing two or more prints, from pictures painted by Mr James Ward. The history and descriptions, uses, merits, and defects of the cattle, with their adaptation to various sorts and situations, will be written by Mr John Lawrence.

The first fasciculus of the long-expec ted Flora Græca of the late Professor Sibthorp, edited by Dr Smith, will make its appearance in a few days. It will consist of 50 plates, beautifully coThis splendid work will form, when loured, with descriptive letter-press.completed, ten volumes in folio, containing one thousand figures, executed by Sowerby from the masterly drawings

of Mr Ferdinand Bauer.

Dr. Gregory's compendious Cyclo. pedia proceeds according to its original design, accompanied by a degree of public support almost without example. The first volume is completed, and contains 71 fine engravings; and the second will be finished by the beginning of the year: forming, in two large volumes quarto, one of the completest and most useful works in the English Jan. guage.

Mr P. Kelly, the eminent master of the commercial academy in Finsburysquare, is preparing with great laboura new and accurate work on exchanges, to be published in one large volume quarto, under the title of the Universal Cambist. He takes for his foundation the work of Kruse, entitled the Hamburgh Contorist, which he has modernized, adapted to the English standard, and considerably enlarged from unquestionable living authorities. Among other numerous and important additions, are new assays of the principal current coins by which the intrinsic par of exchange is determined. The price will not exceed three guineas; and the charge to subscribers will be half-a-guinea less than to the public.

The Rev. J. Robinson, master of the grammar school at Ravenstondale, a gentleman deeply read in Roman and Grecian literature and antiquities, is, we understand, engaged in a new and com

plete