b There eftir i herd the rumour of rammaschea foulis ande of beystis that maid grite beir, quhilk past besyde burnise and boggis on grene bankis to seik ther sustentatione. There brutal sound did redond to the hie skyis, quhil the depe houd cauernis of cleuchis, and rotche craggis ansuert vitht ane hie not, of that samyn sound as thays beystis hed blauen. it aperit be presumyng and presuposing that blaberand eccho had beene hid in ane hou hole, cryand hyr half ansueir, quhen narcissus rycht sorye socht for his saruandis, quhen he vas in ane forrest, far fra ony tolkis, and there eftir for loue of eccho he drounit in ane drau vel. nou to tel treutht of the beystis that maid sic beir, and of the dyn that the foulis did, ther syndry soundis hed nothir temperance nor tune. for fyrst furtht on the fresche feildis, the nolti maid noyis vitht mony loud lou. baytht horse and meyris did fast nee, and the folis nechyr. the bullis began to buller, quhen the scheip began to blait, because the calfis began tyl mo,' quhen the doggis berkit. than the suyne began to quhrynem quhen thai herd the asse tair," quhilk garto the hennis kekkulp quhen the cokis creu. the chekyns began to peur quhen the gled quhissillit. the fox follouit the fed geise, and gart them cry claik. the gayslingis cryit quhilk quhilk, and the dukis cryit quaik. the ropeen of the rauynes gart the cras crope, the huddit crauis cryit varrok varrok, quhen the suannis t or of the modern edition, or of both) for Auctor or Author. It is not noticed in the list of Errata; but the editor in his Preliminary Dissertation, p. 101, quotes the title as "Monologue of the Author." a Collected. b Noise (birr). c Rivulets. d Hollow. e Rock; or, perhaps, rocky? m Imitative word for cry of swine. P Cackle. Imitative word for cry of young birds. W b murnit, be cause the gray goul" mau pronosticat ane storm. the turtil began for to greit, quhen the cuschet▾ zoulit. the titlene follouit the goilk, ande gart hyr sing guk guk. the dou2 croutit a hyr sad sang that soundit lyik sorrou. robeen and the litil vran var hamely in vyntir. the iargolyne of the suallou gart the iay iangil.c than the maueis d maid myrtht, for to mok the merle. the lauerok maid melody vp hie in the skyis. the nychtingal al the nycht sang sueit notis. the tuechitis & cryit cheuis nek" quhen the piettisi clattrit. the garruling of the stirlene gart the sparrou cheip.m the lyntquhit" sang cuntirpoint quhen the oszilo zelpit. the grene serene P sang sueit quhen the gold spynk a chantit. the rede schank cryit my fut my fut, and the oxees cryit tueit. the herrons gaif ane vyild skrech as the kyl hed bene in fier, quhilk gart the quhapis for fleyitnes " u fle far fra hame. k r t A still more ostentatious display of the wealth of his native dialogue follows, in a description of a sea scene, ending in a fight. Into this he has poured a complete dictionary of naval terms, some of which set translation or explanation at defiance, but many of which are still in Gull, ▾ Cushat-dove. Rather youlit, that is howled. The hedge-sparrow. y The cuckow. z Dove. a Imitative word for cry of the dove. d Thrush. i Magpies. 1 Starling. • Blackbird. f Lark. 8 Lapwings. h Imitative word for cry of lapwings. j Chattered. k Garrulous noise. m Make a feeble noise. n Linnet. • The ouzle, which means sometimes the thrush, sometimes the blackbird, sometimes, as here, apparently a different bird from either. P Green Siren, or Green-finch. r Fieldfare. + Curlews. q Goldfinch. • Small hedge sparrow. familiar use among the fishing population of the sea coast of Fife, from whom either Lyndsay or Inglis would be likely enough to learn them. Leyden describes them generally as in part of Norman, in part of Flemish origin. We will pass on, and select for our next extract a portion of the author's natural philosophy; and here we shall strip his clear and expressive style of the cumbrous and capricious old spelling, which makes it look as if it were all over bespattered with mud to the eye of a modern reader : Now, to speak of the generation of the dew, it is ane humid vapour, generit in the second region of the air in ane fair calm night, and sine a descends in ane temperate caldness on the green erbs in small drops. The hair↳ rime is ane cald dew, the whilk falls in misty vapours, and sine it freezes on the eird.c The mist, it is the excrement or the superfluity of the cluds, the whilk falls fra the air in ane sweet rain, whilk rain can nought be persavit be the sight of men. Hail stones is ane congealit rain, whilk falls on the eird be grit vehemence, and it falls rather on the day light nord on the night. The snaw is ane congealit rain, frozen and congealit in the second region of the air, and congeals in divers massive cluds, whilk stops and empeshes e the operation of the planets to exerce their natural course; than the vchemence of the planets braks thay cluds, fra the force of the whilk there comes fire, and ane grit sound, whilk is terrible to be hard, and that terrible sound is the thing that we call the thunder; but or we hear the thunder, we see first the fire, howbeit that they proceed at ane instant time. The cause that we see the fire or we hear the thunder is be reason that the sight and clearness of ony thing is mair swift towart us nor is the sound. The g evil that the thunder does on the eird, it is done or we hear the crack of it. Oft times we will see fire-slaught, how be it there be na thunder hard. The thunder slays mony beasts on the fields; and when it slays ane man that is sleepand, he sall be funden dead and his een1 apen.m The thunder is maist dangerous for man and beast, when there comes na rain with it. The fireslaught will consume the wine within ane pipe in ane deep cave, and the pipe will resave na skaith. The fire slaught slew ane man on the fields, and it meltit the gold that was in his bag, and it meltit nought the wax of ane seal that was in that samen bag. În Rome there was ane noble princess callit Martia grit with child; she was on the fields for her recreation, where that the fire-slaught straik her, and slew her nought, but yet it slew the child in her woime. There is three things that are never in danger of thunder nor fire-slaught; that is to say, the laury tree; the second is the selch ", whilk some men calls the sea wolf; the third thing is the eyrno, that flees sa high. The historiographers rehearses that Tiberius Caesar, empiror of Rome, had ever ane hat of laure tree on his head, and als he gart mak his pailyons", and tents on the fields of selch skins, to that effect that he might be furth of the danger of the thunder and fireslaught. The best remede contrar thunder and fireslaught is to men and women to pass in hou caverns under the eird, or in deep caves, be cause the thunder does maist damage till high places. It is worthy of remark, that, although we have here unquestionably the Scotish dialect, distinctly marked by various peculiarities (indeed the author, in his prologue or preface expressly and repeatedly states that he has written in Scotch, "in our Scottis langage," as he calls it), yet one chief characteristic of the modern Scotch is still wanting; the suppression of the final 7 after a vowel or diphthong; just as it is in Barbour and Blind Harry. This change, as we before remarked, is probably very modern. It has taken place in all likelihood since Scotch ceased to be generally used in writing; the principle of growth, which, after a language passes under the government of the pen, is to a great extent suspended, having recovered its activity on the dialect being abandoned again to the comparatively lawless liberty, or at least looser guardianship, of the lips ENGLISH POETS.-HAWES; BARKLAY. The English poetical literature of the first half of the sixteenth century may be fairly described as the dawn of a new day. Two poetic names of some note belong to the reign of Henry VII.-Stephen Hawes and Alexander Barklay. Hawes is the author of many pieces, but is chiefly remembered for his Pastime of Pleasure, or History of Grand Amour and La Belle Pucelle,' first printed by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1517, but written about twelve years earlier. Warton holds this performance to be almost the only effort of imagination and invention which had appeared in our poetry since Chaucer, and eulogizes it as containing no common touches of romantic and allegoric fiction. Hawes was both a scholar and a traveller, and was perfectly familiar with the French and Italian poetry as well as with that of his own country. It speaks very little, however, for his taste, that, among the preceding English poets, he has evidently made Lydgate his model, even if it should be admitted that, as Warton affirms, he has added some new graces to the |