It is an impression derived from the study of Dunbar's works, that they are not so much a full and adequate measure of the range and power of his genius, as an indication of what that genius was capable of accomplishing. Although it is reasonable to suppose that all that he has written has not been preserved, yet there is nothing to indicate that any of his writings have been lost that would, if preserved, have much enhanced his poetical reputation. If it could be placed beyond a doubt that he is the author of the "Friars of Berwick," it would certainly add to his already great fame; yet no one would maintain that his genius was not equal to the production of that remarkable poetical tale; indeed, one of the strongest reasons for attributing it to his authorship is the difficulty, on any other supposition, of believing that another poet, his contemporary and equal, existed in Scotland, and left no trace of his existence.

As, beyond doubt, the greatest of Scotland's ancient poets, it would have been interesting and instructive to know something more of Dunbar's life than has been discovered by the researches of almost all our literary antiquarians; yet we must rest satisfied with the few outside details that have been obtained, and supply the deficiency from his writings, which, although no poet could be less egotistical, afford ample means for estimating his character, and contain not a few incidents of his life and

surroundings. Dr David Laing, the most exhaustive editor of his works, and our best authority in reference to the investigations concerning his life, places his birth about the middle of the fifteenth century, and not later than 1460. Through a misreading by Allan Ramsay of a passage in the manuscript of the famous "Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy," supposed by Allan to refer to Dunbar's birthplace, to the village of Salton in East Lothian-until the discovery of the error-was ascribed that honour; yet the poet's own somewhat indelicate reference to his pair of "Lowthiane hippis" has been accepted as evidence of his being a native of that county.

The name Dunbar, the surname of the once powerful Earls of March, is not an obscure one in the annals of Scotland; and the poet is supposed by Dr Laing to have been a grandson of Sir Patrick Dunbar of Biel, the representative of the only branch of the family that had not suffered through the attainture of the Earl of March by James I. The first definite fact ascertained in his history, is the entry of his name in 1477 in the register of St Salvator's College, St Andrews, among the Determinantes or Bachelors of Arts, a degree which could only be claimed after three years' attendance. In 1479 his name is registered among those who had taken the degree of Master of Arts.

"Lyk to ane man that with a gaist wes marrit;"

and he was afterwards employed as an itinerant or preaching friar, in the habit of which order he says: -"I made good cheer in every flourishing town in England betwixt Berwick and Calais; in it also I have preached in the pulpit at Dernton and Canterbury, crossed the sea at Dover, and instructed the inhabitants of Picardy." Kennedy, in the "Flyting," taunts him with having travelled as a pardoner, begging in all the churches from Ettrick Forrest to Dumfries; and Dunbar himself, in reference to his life while thus employed, remarks in the poem referred to :

"Als lang as I did beir the frieris style,
In me, God wait, was mony wrink and wyle;
In me was falset with every wicht to flatter,
Whilk mycht be flemit with na haly watter;
I was ay reddy all men to begyle."

But seeing that the poem is a satire upon the incongruous arrangements of that destiny which placed him in the incompatible profession of a friar, it is not improbable that he may be overstating the case against himself.

There is no direct evidence to show when, or in what capacity, he first made his appearance at the court of James IV.; but from allusions in his poems to service in the king's interest abroad, it has been reasonably conjectured that he must have acted as

clerk of legation to one or more of the embassies which James is known to have sent to the different courts of Europe.

That most singular composition "The Flyting," or scolding match, a railing abuse of each other indulged in between Dunbar and a brother poet, Walter Kennedy, for the amusement of themselves and their friends at court, contains references to Dunbar's employments in the king's service, and appears to have been conceived when he was away on some foreign mission. It also contains several allusions to the descent and family histories of the poets, and throws some light upon the race prejudices and dislike of each other that animated the Saxon and the Celtic elements of Scottish nationality. Dunbar, as a native of Lothian, maintains the Saxon; while Kennedy, as a native of Carrick in Ayrshire, takes up the Celtic side. It would be difficult to say which of the doughty combatants has the best of it in this species of wordy tournament not yet quite extinct in its worst-the earnest form of it. The following stanza from each will serve as a specimen of the poem, and as an illustration of the race animus which had long been a source of weakness and division in the counsels of the nation.

DUNBAR TO Kennedy.

Ersche brybour baird, vyle beggar with thy brattis,

Carrybald crawdoun Kennedy, coward of kynd,

Evill farit and dryit, as Denseman on the rattis Lyk as the gleddis had on thy gule snowt dynd; Mismaid monstour, ilk mone out of thy mynd,

Renunce, rebald, thy ryming thow bot royis, Thy trechour tung hes tane ane Heland strynd; Ane Lawland erse wald mak a bettir noyis.

who appears to have been still living, though "at the point of death" when the "Lament" was written. The same conclusion may be inferred from the fact of the poet's contributions being always found together, as if they were common property, being printed as such so early as 1508, while both were probably living.

Connecting the name of the shipthe Katherine-mentioned in the "Flyting," in which Dunbar is said to have embarked for France, with an entry in the Treasurer's Accounts for July 1491, Dr Laing concludes that the piece, or pieces, was written about that date, while Dunbar was in Paris, whither he had gone in the train of the Earl of Bothwell. He does not appear to have returned with the ambassadors in November, but to have remained in France over the winter, with the purpose of crossing the Alps in spring, on some errand for his royal master.

The next notice we find of him is from the register of the Privy Seal, where, on

the 15th August 1500, it is ordained that he be paid a pension of ten pounds a year for all the days of his life, or "untill he be promoted by our sovereign Lord to a benefice of the value of forty pounds or more yearly." The reason for granting the pension is not specified.

To the entry in the Treasurer's Accounts, 20th December 1501, on which day Dunbar was paid the instalment of his pension due at Martinmas, it is added, by way of explanation of the payment being made so long after, "on his return from England." Ambassadors having been sent in October to negotiate the terms of the king's marriage with the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., Dunbar's name is entered in the safe-conduct as one of their attendants. On Christmas week they were entertained at dinner by the Lord Mayor, and Dunbar is mentioned in a contemporary chronicle as a Prothonotary of Scotland, and servant of a bishop ambassador, as having made a ballad on the occasion. The ballad referred to is "In honour of the City of London," and might pass for a translation of an ode by a poet in the suite of the Shah of Persia.

If an entry in the Privy Purse Accounts of Henry VII. of £6, 13s. 4d., on the 31st December, with a similar payment on the 7th January following, to the " Rhymer of of Scotland," refers, as is most likely, to Dunbar, he must have returned to England to witness the ceremony of affiancing the princess, which was observed with great splendour at St Paul's Cross, on 25th January 1502. His poem of "The Thistle and the Rose,"