The most important pieces in this volume are the Dream, addressed to king James V. and the Dialogue of the miserable Estate of this World, betwixt Experience and a Courtier, commonly called the Book of the Monarchy.

The first of these is a vision, in which an allegorical lady, called Remembrance, transports the poet to the infernal regions, situated in the centre of the earth; she then gives him a view of purgatory; opens to his view all the riches of our planet; transports him through the three elements of water, air, and fire; visits with him the seven planets; passes to the chrystalline and empyreal heavens, where he contemplates the throne of God; shews him the three quarters of the earth; and gives him a prospect of Paradise. As a contrast to these scenes of splendour, she next exhibits to him his native country, the misery of which (at that time governed in subserviency to the policy of France) the poet very feelingly describes. Remembrance then carries him back to the cavern where he had fallen asleep, and he is awakened by the noise of a ship firing a broadside.

The following few lines, extracted from the prologue, will shew that Sir David Lindsay's talents were by no means ill suited to descriptive poetry.

2

I met dame Flora in dule' weed disagysit ;
(Which, into May, was dulce and delectable,)
With stalwart 3 storms her sweetness was surprisit;
Her heavenly hues were turnit into sable,
Which, onewhile, were to lovers amiáble :
Fled from the frost the tender flowers I saw
Under dame Nature's mantle lurking law.*

But these beauties are merely incidental; the poet's principal object being to instruct the king in the philosophy of that age, and, above all, to inspire him with a just sense of his regal duties. This fine poem is preceded by an epistle, in which the author reminds his pupil of the tenderness with which he had watched over his childhood, and of the amusements with which he had blended his instruction; and the work concludes with "the ex"hortation to the king's grace," in ten stanzas, filled with excellent advice, but delivered with a freedom and severity of language, which might possibly render it rather unpalatable. The preceptor, indeed, never quite forgot his authority, as will appear from the following five lines of " the Complaint of "the Papingo," which may be considered as presenting a summary of all our author's counsels.

Mourning. 3 Violent.

2 Disguised.
4 Low.

2

Wherefore, sen thou has sic capacity
To learn to play so pleasantly, and sing,
Ride horse, run spears, with great audacity,
Shoot with hand-bow, cross-bow, and culvering,
Among the rest, sir, learn to be a kiNG!

The poem usually called the Monarchy, which comprehends more than half the volume, is a sort of abstract of universal history, in question and answer, the interlocutors being Experience and a Courtier. This fanciful mode of narration was convenient for the author's purpose, which was not so much to give an exact chronicle of facts, as to justify, by examples from sacred and profane history, the moral, political, and religious tenets, which he meant to inculcate. The work is professedly of the most popular kind

-" to colliers, carters, and to cooks,

"To Jack and Tom, my rhyme shall be directed." For this reason he often varies his metre and his style, being sometimes grave and sententious, sometimes satirical and humorous, but never losing sight of his principal object, which is the overthrow of popery. The most impressive passage in the whole work is that chapter in the fourth book which describes the day of judgment, from whence I have extracted the following lines:

"The complaynte, &c. of a Popinjay," London, 1530, 4to, reads "seeing." 2 Ed. 1530,"ryve."

Then, with one roar, the earth shall rive,
And swallow them both man and wife.
Then shall those créatures forlorn
Warie' the hour that they were born,
With many yamer, yewt,3 and yell,
From time they feel the flamis fell,
Upon their tender bodies bite;

Whose torment shall be infinite.

The earth shall close, and from their sight
Shall taken be all kind of light.

There shall be gowling, and greiting,

6

But hope of any comforting.

In that inestimable pain

Eternally they shall remain,

Burnand in furious flamys red;
Ever deand,' but never be dead.
That the small minute of one hour
To them shall be sa great doloùr,

They shall think they have done remain s
Ane thousand year into that pain.

[Fourth Book of the Mon. ad fin.]

The defence of the vulgar tongue in the first book, -the description of the confusion of tongues, the ridicule of idolatry, and the remarks on the effects of pilgrimages, in the second,-and the satire on the

I Curse.

2 Shriek-Vox a sono conficta. Rudd. Gl.

3 Scream; like the former.

s Weeping. 6 Without.

+ Howling.

7 Dying.

8 Remained.

nuns and friars, in the third,-have a different kind of merit. The following comparison, in the fourth, is such a singular attempt to explain, by human reason, one of the darkest mysteries of our religion, that I cannot forbear submitting it to the reader.

Take ane crowat,1 ane pint-stoup, and ane quart,
Ane gallon-pitcher, ane puncheon, and ane tun;
Of wine, or balm, give every one their part;
And fill them full till that they be o'er-run:
The little crowat in comparison "

2

Shall be sa full that it may hold no more :
(Of sic measures though there be twenty score

Into the tun, or in the puncheon :)

So all those vessels, in ane quality,

May hold na mair, without they be o'er-run,
Yet have they not alike in quantity.
Sa by this rude example thou may see
Though every one be not alike in glore,
Are satisfied, sa that they desire no more.

[Ibid.]

Sir David Lindsay's Play (reprinted in the second volume of Mr Pinkerton's Scotish Poems,

1 Cruet, a small vessel. The edit. 1566, reads flacket, i. e. flasket, a small flask.

2 i. e. the cruet, though little in comparison.