AND sayng after on the next nyght
Whyle they slepte at thir lodgyng place,
Came an Aungel, appearyng with grete light,
And warned them that they mought ne trace
By Herodes, but that they should pace
Withouten tarrying, in al the haste they may,
To her kyngdome by another waye.

*

*

*

The Faders voyce, as clerkes oft endyte,
Cam down to erthe that men myght here;
And lyke a dove with fayr federis whyte,
The Holy Ghoost also dyd appere,
And Crest Jesu the Faders sone entere,
This day apperyng in our mortal kynde,
Was of Saynt John baptyst as I fynde.

And for as moche as they al thre
This day were sene by sothfast apparence,
They beyng one in parfyte unyte;
Wherfour this day of moste reverence
Namyd is trewly in this sentence
Theophanos, for God in treble wyse,
Therin apperyd as ye have herde devyse.

For theos is as moche for to mene

As God in Englysshe, yf ye list to see,
And phanos, as shewyng withouten were,
ye
have herde afore rehersyd of me;
For on erthe a God in trynyte

As

This day apperyd withouten ony lye,
Ye truly may it calle Theophanye.

AND she stant naked in a wavy sea,
Environ her with goddesses three,
That be assign'd with busy attendance
To wait on her and do her observance.
And floures freshe, blue, red, and white,
Be her about, the more for to delight.
And on her heade she hath a chaplet
Of roses red full pleasantly yset,
And from the heade down unto her foot
With sundry gums and ointementes soote
She is enointe, sweeter for to smell.
And all alofte, as these poets tell,

Be doves white, fleeing, and eke sparrows,
And her beside Cupyde with his arrows.

FORTUNE.

And thus this lady, wilful and reckless,
As she that is froward and perverse,
Hath in her cellar drinkes full diverse.
For she to some, of fraud and of fallas,
Ministreth piment, bawme, and ypocras;

And suddenly, when the soote is past,
She of custome can give him a cast,
For to conclude falsely in the fine,
Of bitter eysell and of eager wine;
And corrosives that fret and pierce deep;
And narcotics that cause men to sleep.

MEDEA.

For as he sat at meat tho in that tide,
Her father next, and Jason by her side,
All suddenly her fresh and rosen hue
Full ofte-time gan changen and renew,
An hundred sithes in a little space.
For now, the bloode from her goodly face
Unto her heart unwarely gan avale:
And therewithal she waxeth dead and pale.
And eft anon (who thereto gan take heed)
Her hue returneth into goodly red:
But still among, t' embellish her colour,
The rose was meynt aye with the lily flower;
And though the rose some dele gan to pace,
Yet still the lily bideth in his place,
Till nature made them eft again to meet.

For now she brent, and now she gan to cold.
And aye the more that she gan behold
This Jason young, the more she
gan desire
To look on him; so was she set a-fire
With his beautè, and his semelyness,
And every thing she inly gan impress.

What that she sawe, both in mind and thought
She all imprinteth, and forgetteth nought.
For she considereth every circumstance,
Both of his port and his governance;
His sunnish hair, crisped like gold wire,
His knightly look, and his manly cheer.

*

14

JAMES THE FIRST.

JAMES THE FIRST, King of Scotland, was the second son of Robert the Third, and was born in 1395. In 1405, while on his way to France, the ship in which he sailed was taken by an English squadron, and the young Prince, with a numerous train of attendants, were sent to London as prisoners of war. between the two countries was concluded very soon after his capture, he was detained Notwithstanding that a peace in captivity, chiefly, it is said, in consequence of the intrigues of his uncle, the Duke of Albany, who thus held, during his life, the Regency of Scotland. Henry the Fourth, however, although he kept him in confinement, gave him every advantage it was possible for him to bestow. Under apt and skilful tutelage he became a proficient in all the accomplishments of the age, -excelling in music, oratory, jurisprudence, philosophy, and poetry, and attaining to unrivalled excellence in all manly sports. His prison became, therefore, his study; he had leisure to cultivate his mind; and gave such early proofs of its honourable bias, that King Henry is said to have exclaimed, "Happy shall be the subjects of a king who, in his tender years, shows himself to be endowed with so much wisdom." banner of England. He continued eighteen years in durance; but, during his seclusion He subsequently fought in France, under the at Windsor Castle, his thraldom was "made light" by his intimacy with the Lady Jane Beaufort, daughter of the Duke of Somerset, to whom he was subsequently married, in 1434, and in whose praise he composed his principal poem, Quair." Upon the death of his uncle, the Scottish nobility turned their attention "The King's towards their captive sovereign, and entered into serious negociations for the purchase of his liberty. A heavy ransom having been exacted, the king took possession of his throne, and after a reign of twelve years, honourable to himself and beneficial to his country, he perished by the hands of assassins, at Perth, in 1437.

Besides "The King's Quair"-(the King's Book)-James the First has left to us "Christ's Kirk on the Green," and "Pebles to the Play," the former being composed in the northern, and the latter in the southern, dialect of Scotland. "Christ's Kirk on the Green" is full of genuine wit and humour, and especially valuable as a picture of the customs and manners of the Scottish people four centuries ago. It is perhaps one of the finest pieces of rustic painting in the whole compass of our literature; the images are all vivid; the characters well relieved; and there is such a happy dance of words, as none of the northern bards, except Burns, has at all equalled. The authorship of "Pebles to the Play," however, is not a settled matter. consists of one hundred and ninety-seven stanzas; it abounds in allegorical machinery, "The King's Quair" is a record of the young monarch's life and love, and contains passages so full of strength and pathos, that it would not be derogatory to Chaucer to compare them with the happiest productions of our great English Bard, whom he acknowledges as his "master." It is at once elegant, natural, and uncommonly rich in language; the leading sentiments are eminently pure and beautiful; and there is a polish and a flow about the whole composition, surpassing any thing in our earlier poets.

Of this poem, only one manuscript is known to exist. It is a small folio, in the Bodleian Library; and it was not in print until so late as the year 1773, when Mr. Tytler, after a long and patient search, succeeded in rescuing it from oblivion. The MS. copy bears the following title,-"The Quair, maid be King James of Scotland, the first, callit the King's Quair. Maid qn his Mã was in England." The Poem is an allegory, to commemorate his love for the Lady Jane, the mistress of his heart, who is described by the historians of the time as of exceeding beauty and goodness. The Poet dreams a dream, and relates his early misfortunes, his long captivity, and the purity, constancy, and happy issue of his love, together with the incident that first called it into existence. Having heard a bell, that bids him "Tell on man, quat the befell," he at once commences, and proceeds with his task :

"His pen in hand he tuke
And made a + and thus begouth his buke."

He first relates his earlier adventures, then details the circumstances which led to his acquaintance with the Lady Jane: after which he is transported to the sphere of Love, conducted to the palace of Minerva, and goes a journey in quest of Fortune, until at length a Turtle Dove brings him "newis glad," which he reads with "hertfull gladnesse."