and na uther wear broderie, pearle, or bulzion ;

bot array them at their awin list, in all other 6 honest arraiements, as serpes, belts, broches, ⚫ and cheinzies.'After all, it is obvious, from the circumstances and history of the times, which later writers seem not to have attended to, that civilization of manners, a remarkable change in the mode of living, and a degree of luxury and of expence, both in the economy of the table and in dress, amongst the nobility and gentry of Scotland, beyond what was ever known before, must necessarily have taken place in the reign of James I. It is said above, that, at this era, France was the theatre of glory, on which the Scots had eminently figured, where, for their gallant behaviour, they had been rewarded with distinguished honours and estates. Upon their return to Scotland, must not, of course, part of the French manners, the refinements of living, and expence of dress, have come in their train? Scotland, at that era, we may readily allow, was far behind her neighbours of England and France in these respects; but can it be doubted that King James, educated, and residing so many years in the two most polished courts in Europe; that the Earl of Buchan, constable of France; the Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine, and his son Lord Wigton, both

marischals of France, and numbers of the Scottish nobility and gentry, endowed with ample revenues in France, and possessed of extended territorial estates at home, on returning to their own country, would import part of the French luxury, both in dress, and in the entertainment of the table? The stately remains of the old castles and venerable abbeys, those august monuments of ancient grandeur, still extant; Borthwick Castle, Craigmiller, Roslin, the abbeys of Holyrood, Aberbrothock, Dunfermline, &c. impress the mind, at this day, with a just idea of the splendour and hospitality of the nobles and dignified churchmen in ancient times, who held their residence in those stately edifices.

Honest Hector Boece, indeed, seldom fails to dress his countrymen in their holiday clothes: our modern critics, on the other extreme, in their overstrained zeal for truth, seem, with reluctance, to yield to their ancestors those blessings which benignant Nature had bestowed upon them. To speak of Scotland as wealthy and opulent, according to the common phrase, would be absurd. The wealth of Scotland consisted in her population, the certain criterion of plenty. She has been productive, at all times, of a hardy, vigorous, and brave

*

race of men, supplied at home with every necessary article of life, strenuous assertors of their liberty and independence against every foreign invader: their mountains covered with sheep and beeves, their vallies fertile in grain, and their seas and rivers teeming with fish. Such was the opulence of Scotland, in ages of the earliest antiquity. At the above remarkable era, the age of James I. from the virtue, spirit, and genius of that Prince, with the concurring circumstances of the time, it is beyond a doubt, that a remarkable change and reformation, in the manners, and mode of living of the Scots, must, of course, have taken place. To return to our subject.

Thus, while this worthy and patriot King was, by every exertion, promoting the good and happiness of his people, he was, on the 13th of February, 1436-7, basely murdered at the monastery of the Dominicans at Perth, by his detestable uncle the Earl of Athol; an event universally and deeply regretted; for James was beloved and honoured by his people; and his memory is still revered, as that of one of the best of Princes that ever reigned in Scotland.

* Witness the numbers drawn from the mountains of Scotland, in the late and present war, to fight the battles of Britain!

To such worthies as have been eminent for similar virtues, the Mantuan poet, in those noble strains, has allotted the chief seats in Elysium. Asi a poet, patriot, and lawgiver, and the civilizer of the manners of his people, no Prince in history deserves more to be revered by his country than James I, King of Scotland.

Hic manus ob patriam pugnando vulnera passi
Quique pii vates, et Phoebo digna locuti,
Inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes.

It remains now to take notice of the works of King James I.

Joannes Major mentions some of his compositions, particularly a poem upon Jane, afterwards his Queen; and he gives the names of some of his musical pieces of Scottish songs (Cantilena Scotica) composed by him, which Major says were much esteemed in his time. Dempster mentions some other pieces of James I. Scripsit, says this author, Rythmos Latinos, et de musica.

Of all his works, those which now only remain, or at least can with certainty be distinguished as his, are the two following pieces, Christ's Kirk of

the Green, and the poem on Queen Jane, called the King's Quair. Of his musical compositions, I have treated by themselves, in a dissertation on the Ancient Scottish Songs.

Of Christ's Kirk of the Green.

THIS ancient poem has, by men of taste, always been esteemed a valuable relique of the old Scottish poetry. For the poetical language of the time, the ludicrous descriptions, and the free vein of genuine wit and humour which runs through it, it is, even at this day, read with pleasure. It must be valuable, were its only merit that of being descriptive of the humour and manners of the country 350 years ago.

I am aware, that the generality of late writers have attributed this poem to that gallant Prince James V. who was also a poet. I shall examine this point; and I hope I shall be able, notwithstanding many great authorities to the contrary, to make it evident, that James I. was the author of Christ's Kirk of the Green.