Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/568

Rh 542 SCOTLAND Banna- Bannatyne is inseparably connected with the history of Scottish poetry, as in 1568 he too formed an extensive collection of Scottish poetry which is certainly the most valuable now extant. It was written by him at Edin- burgh in the time of the plague, when the dread of in- fection confined him closely at home. The Bannatyne MS. now preserved in the Advocates' Library extends to 800 pages folio, and includes several of Bannatyne's own poems, of which the two most considerable are of an amatory character. The works of Alexander Scott, con- sisting principally of love poems, embrace also a spirited account of a Jousting betwix Adamson and Sym at the Drum, a place a little to the south of Edinburgh. The author, who was one of the most elegant poets of this period, has sometimes been called the "Scottish Anacreon." Two poems of some merit the Praises of Wemen and the Miseries of a Puir Scolar were written by Alexander Arbuthnot, principal of King's College, Aberdeen, about 1570. A poem of considerable length, called the Sege of the Castell of Edinburgh, published in 1573, was by Robert Semple, who also wrote an attack on Archbishop Adamson, called the Legend of the Bishop of Sanct Androis Lyfe. Holland. To this period belong two poems of considerable length the Court of Venus (1575), an imitation of the Palice of Honour of Gawyn Douglas, and the romance of the Seaven Seages (1578), a Scottish version of one of the most re- markable mediaeval collections of stories belonging to the same class as the Arabian Nights, in which one single story is employed as a means of stringing together a multi- tude of subsidiary tales. These poems were written by John Holland, notary in Dalkeith. One of the best Latin Buchanan, scholars that modern Europe has produced was George BUCHANAN (q.v.), who flourished in the middle of the 16th century. He wrote several Latin tragedies and an unrivalled translation of the Psalms. His De jure regni apud Scot os was composed to instruct James VI., to whom he had been tutor, in the duties belonging to his kingly office. His last and most important labour was his History of Scotland, originally printed in 1582, of which seventeen Lyndsay editions have appeared. An excellent specimen of the of Pit- ancient vernacular language is the Chronicle of Scotland by Robert Lyndsay of Pitscottie. It includes the period from 1436 to the marriage of Mary to Darnley in 1565. Although its author was a simple-minded and credulous man, he describes events of which he was an eye-witness with circumstantiality and great prolixity of detail. An- other historical work of greater importance was the De Lesley. origine, moribus, et rebus gestis Scotorum (1578) by John Lesley, bishop of Ross. A translation of this work made by Father James Dalrymple, a religious in the Scottish cloister of Ratisbon, 1596, is in course of publication by the Rev. Father E. B. Cody for the Scottish Text Society. Lesley also wrote in Scottish a History of Scotland from the death of James I. in 1436 to the year 1561. This work, intended for the perusal of Mary while in captivity in England, is written in an elegant style. The bishop was the champion of that unfortunate queen, and in 1569 wrote a Defence of the Honour of Marie Quene of Scotland and Dowager of France, with a declaration of her right, title, and interest to the succession of the crown of England. The Reformation exerted a considerable influence on Scottish literature. Amongst the earliest Protestant writers of the country may be mentioned Alexander Ales or Alesius, a native of Edinburgh, who published several controversial works and commentaries on various parts of the Bible. Knox. But the most eminent promoter of the reform was John KNOX (q.v.), who wrote several controversial pamphlets and some religious treatises ; his great work was the History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, first printed in 1586. One of the principal opponents of Knox was Ninian Winzet, a priest of considerable ability and one familiar Winze with the scholastic learning of the age. He began life as master of Linlithgow school and subsequently became abbot of St James's at Ratisbon. He wrote several tracts in which he strenuously recommended the observance of certain popish festivals. In 1562 he published his Buk<: of Four Scoir Thrie Questions tuching Doctrine, Ordour, and Maneris proponit to the Prechouris of the J'rt,.if<nttis in Scotland and deliverit to Jhone Knox the 20th day of February 1562. The writings of James VI., who was a James man of scholarly attainments, embrace several works both VI - in poetry and prose. His earliest production, published in 1584, when he was only eighteen, was the Essayes of a Prentice in the Divine Art of Poesie. This was followed by his poetical Exercises at Vacant Houres (1591). He also wrote a great many sonnets and a translation of the Psalms. His prose works are Dsemonologie (1597), BatriXiKoi/ Aw/wv (1599), Counterblast to Tobacco, Para- phrase on Revelation, Law of Free Monarchies, etc. Among the Scottish poets who frequented his court were William Fowler, the elegant translator of the Triumphs of Petrarch, and Stewart of Baldinnies (Perth), a translator of Ariosto. Both these poets wrote other works which exist in MS., but are still unpublished. The zeal of Sir David Lyndsay Reli- and others for the reformation of the church initiated a gi us religious revival, and in 1597 was published the collection P oets - known as Ane Compendious Booke of Godly and Spiritual Sangs for avoiding of Sinne and Harlotrie. This very curious work is attributed to John and Robert Wedder- burn, the latter of whom was vicar of Dundee. A number of religious poems were written about the end of the 16th century by James Melville, minister of Anstruther, after- wards of Kilrenny, both in Fife. His Morning Vision, printed in 1598, consists of paraphrases of the Lord's Prayer, the Shorter Catechism, and the Ten Command- ments. He also wrote the Black Bastel, a lamentation over the Church of Scotland, which is dated 1611. Another religious poet was James Cockburn, a native of Lanark- shire, who wrote Gabriel's Salutation to Marie (1605), and some other poems not destitute of merit. An eminent theological writer of this era, Robert Rollock, first principal of the university of Edinburgh, wrote many commentaries on the Scriptures which show extensive learning. Most are in Latin ; but one or two are in the Scottish language. A very popular poem, the Cherrie and the Slae, first printed Mon by Waldegrave at Edinburgh in 1597, afterwards wentg m " through many editions. Its author was Alexander Mont- gomerie, who also wrote some translations of the Psalms and the Flyting betwixt Montgomerie and Polwarth, in imitation of Dunbar's Flyting with Kennedie. In 1599 was published an interesting volume of poems written by Alexander Hume, entitled Hymnes or Sacred Songs, wherein the Right Use of Poesie may be espied. One is on the defeat of the Spanish Armada. To the beginning of the 17th century belongs a comedy in rhyming stanza, the authorship of which is unknown, Ane verie Excellent and Delectabill Treatise intitulit Philotus, guhairin we may perceive the Greit Inconveniences thatfallis out in the Marriage bettiix Aige and Youth (1603). Its versification is easy and pleasant, and its plan a nearer approximation to the modern drama than the satire of Lyndsay. In the same year appeared the poems of Sir William ALEXANDER (q.v.), earl of Stirling. Sir One, called Doomsday, or the Great Day of the Lord's Judg- Wil V ment, consists of 1 1,000 verses. His Monarchicke Tragedies, ^ four in number, were not intended for representation on the stage. His exhortation or Parsenesis to Prince Henry (1604) is his best poem. He also wrote Recreations with the Muses (1637), which is of a somewhat philosophical character. One of the most distinguished writers of this era was William DRUMMOND (q.v.) of Hawthornden, who