of the new language would neither be retarded by that jealousy, which the native English entertained of their conquerors, nor would it be checked by a struggle with the Norman, which was spoken at the courts of the English monarchs and of their nobles; whereas the dialect of the Scottish kings was the same with that of their subjects.

This at least may be inferred, from the manner in which Wyntown notices the custom of Edward I. of addressing his hearers in French, and from the care with which he records his original words, and afterwards translates them for the benefit of his readers.

When Sir Anton the Bek had done

His speak, the King him answered soon
All intill Frankish, as used he,

"Par le sang Dieu, vous avez chanté.
"By Goddis blood," he said, ye sang:
"So shall not all our gaming gang."

[Vol. II. p. 46. See also pages 76, 83, and
87, for similar instances.]

Would it be very absurd to suppose, that our common language was separately formed in the two countries, and that it has owed its identity to its being constructed of similar materials, by similar gradations, and by nations in the same state of

society? if this opinion should be thought very improbable, must we not at least admit, that the migration of our language from England into Scotland, has not yet been fully established, and that much remains for the investigation of future antiquaries?

To return to Barber. "He seems to have been "born (says Mr. Pinkerton) in 1326. In 1357 "it appears, from a pass-port published by Rymer, "dated the 13th of August in that year, that he 66 was then archdeacon of Aberdeen. This pass"port permits him to go to Oxford; there to "place three scholars to pursue their studies and "scholastic exercises. By a deed, dated the 13th "of September in the same year, also published "by Rymer, we find our author appointed by the "bishop of 'Aberdeen, one of his commissioners, "to meet at Edinburgh concerning the ransome of "David II. king of Scotland, then a prisoner in England. In 1365, Rymer gives us the title of "another pass-port for John Barber, archdeacon "of Aberdeen, to go through England, with six "knights in company, to St. Denis, near Paris. "All we find further evidenced relating to our "author is, that he died aged, in the year 1396,

66

as we learn from the chartulary of Aberdeen." Barber is to be considered in the double cha

racter of historian and poet. In the first, his authority is quoted by writers who immediately succeeded him, as the most authentic that can be adduced; and Wyntown, in his " Original Chroni'cle," either professedly transcribes, or refers to him, for the whole history of Bruce's reign. But the attentive reader will probably think the authenticity of his narrative, better established by its own internal evidence, than it can be by such external testimony. The series of events is not only related with as much attention to chronology, as was compatible with any degree of connection or interest, but is strictly conformable to the known opinions and manners of the time, and clearly illustrates the principles of policy by which Edward I. endeavoured to keep possession of Scotland; and of the system of tactics adopted by Bruce, for the purpose of weakening in detail, a power which he was unable to combat, when united.

It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons and Danes, though warlike nations, were very little versed in the art of constructing or attacking fortified places. William the Conqueror, therefore, had filled England with castles, which rendered the position of his forces impregnable; and Edward I. having over-run the whole low country of Scotland, adopted the same expedient, and appeared

to be equally secure in his usurpation. Here the poem commences, and Barber, contemplating the enslaved condition of his country, breaks out into the following animated lines on the blessings of liberty.

Ah! freedom is a noble thing!

Freedom makes man to have liking;
Freedom all solace to man gives :
He lives at ease, that freely lives!
A noble heart may have none ease,

I

Na ellys nought that may him please,

If freedom fail: for free liking
Is yearned o'er all other thing.
Na he, that aye has lived free
May not know well the properté,
The anger, na the wretched doom
That is coupled to foul thraldóm.
But, if he had essayed it,

Then all perquer 3 he should it wit,
And should think freedom more to prize

Than all the gold in world that is.
Thus contrary things evermare
Discoverings of the tother are, &c.

The misfortunes which attended Bruce during the

'Nor else.

Eagerly desired.

Perfectly; parcœur ?

first years of his reign are well known, but Barber's minute details give them a new interest. While his hero is wandering among the mountains, after the fatal defeat of Methven, indebted to the ever inventive genius of Sir James Douglas, for the scanty supply of game and fish, which was barely sufficient for the subsistence of his few adherents; obliged to separate himself from his queen and family, to traverse the whole country as an outlaw, and to seek an asylum in the unfrequented island of Ruchrin, his biographer gives a circumstantial detail of his daily difficulties, of his paternal solicitude for his little army, of his personal exploits, and of the patience with which he submitted to more than a soldier's share in the common hardships.

In this desperate situation he was relieved from utter ruin, by the death of his formidable antagonist Edward I. and the supineness of his successor. But Bruce had already faced his enemies; had formed the plan which he never afterwards abandoned; and had trained his followers to a mode of warfare, which could scarcely fail of success. Always watchful, enterprising, and invisible, he fell upon the straggling parties of his enemies by rapid and unexpected marches, and easily eluded a contest with disproportionate forces, in a country with which he was intimately acquainted, but where they were under