Off twelf kinrykis that he wan ; And alsua, as a noble man, He waa throw bataill Fraunce all fre, And Lucius Yber wencusyt he, That then of Rome was emperour Bot yeit, for all his gret valour, Modreyt his systir son him slew, And gud men als ma than inew, Throw tresoune and throw wikkitnes ; The Broite beris thairoff wytnes."[1]
The last of the works of Barbour was his Book of Legends of Saints, which contained, as the author tells us—
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" Storyss of sere haly men That to pless God TS may kene.
The manuscript of this work (which was brought to light a few years ago by Mr Bradshaw) is preserved in the library of the university of Cambridge. The Legends are contained in a tall, narrow volume of paper, closely written in an unmistakably Scottish hand, containing a great many thousand lines in the usual verse of Barbour. This, taken in connection with certain incidental notices which the writer gives of himself, and certain stories which he tells of what happened in his time, leaves little room for doubt as to the author. The following extract from the account of a cure performed by St Ninian upon a native of Elgin may be given as a specimen of these legends:—
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" A lytil tale yit herd I tell That in to my tyme befel Of a gudman in Murefe borne In Elgyne and his kine beforne And callit vas a faithful man Vithall thame that hynie knew than And this man trastely I say For I kend hyme weile mony day Johne Balormy ves his name A man of ful gud fame And in processe of tyme tyd hymo Til haf the worme in til his lyme And wrocht sa in his schank and kne That bath ware thai lyk tyut to be."[2]
The works of Barbour are interesting in a philological point of view. At one time they were regarded as the first written in what was termed the ancient Scottish, a special language, which was supposed to have been derived directly from the Suio-Gothic, or the Mceso-Gothic of Ulphilas. The extraordinary circumstance, however, was that Barbour and other early Scottish poets, such as Wyntown, James I., and Lyndsay, speak of the language as "Inglis." In The Bruce the following passage occurs:—
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This wes the spek he maid perfay As is in Ynglis toung to say."[3]
It is now generally admitted that these poets wrote in a language founded on the Anglo-Saxon of the northern type, and nearly identical with that spoken in the northern half of England, which was general from the Trent to the Forth, and northwards on the eastern coast as far as Aberdeen. In this extensive district a Doric dialect of English was general, and in the 14th century there was no greater difference between the written language of York and of Eastern Scotland than there is now between the modern speech of Aberdeen and Edinburgh,[4]
According to Warton,[5] Barbour has adorned the Eng lish language by a strain of versification, expression, and poetical imagery, far superior to the age. Dr Nott[6] remarks that he has given his countrymen a fine example of the simple, energetic style, which resembled Chaucer s best manner, and wanted little to make it the genuine language of poetry. Simplicity may be said to be the main feature in the plan and conduct of his poems. His story is throughout his first and chief object, and he shows great anxiety lest in any point of the actual adventures he may mislead his reader. He prays that he may say " nought bot suthfast thing," and he was the first who did so with some of the graces of the fables of romance. He has, however, a heart for every kind of nobleness. His far- famed encomium on political freedom is distinguished by a manly and dignified strain of sentiment:—
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"A ! fredome is a noble thing ! Fredome mayss man to haitf liking, Fredome all solace to man giffis : He levys at ess that frely levys ! A noble hart may haiff nane ess, Ka ellys nocht that may him pless, Gyff fredome failyhe ; for fre liking Is yharnyt our all othir thing. Na he that ay hass levyt fre, May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, The angyr, na the wrechyt dome That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome : Bot gyff he had assayt it, Than all perquer he suld it wyt, And suld think fredome mar to pryss Than all the gold in warld that is."[7]
The following passage cannot be passed without par ticular notice; the annals of heroes furnish but few instances of so pleasing a nature, whether it be that heroes seldom stoop to actions of mere benevolence, or that their historians do not think it of much importance to transmit such actions to posterity:—
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" The king has hard a woman cry ; He askyt quhat that wes in hy. It is the layndar, Schyr, said ane, That her child-ill rycht now has tane, And mon leve now behind ws her ; Tharfor scho makys yone iwill cher , The king said, Certis it war pite That scho in that poynt left snld be ; For certis I trow thar is na man That he ne will rew a woman than. Hiss ost all thar arestyt he, And gert a tent sone stentit be, And gert hyr gang in hastily, And othyr wemen to be hyr by, Quhill scho wes deliuer, he baid ; And syne furth on his wayis raid : And how scho furth snld caryit be, Or euir he furth fur, ordanyt he. This wes a full gret curtasy, That swilk a king, and sa might}-, Gert his men duell on this rnaner Bot for a pouir lauender."[8]
It has been stated that Barbour presents us with but few studies of natural scenery. His description of spring is, however, worthy of his muse, and contrasts favourably with any of the poetry of the period:—
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" This wes in ver, quhen wynter tyde, With his blastis hidwyss to byde, Was our-drywyn, and byrdis smale, As turturis and the nychtyngale, Begouth rycht meraly to syng ; And for to mak in thair singyng Swete notis, and sownys ser, And melodys plesand to her ; And the treis begouth to ma Burgeons, and brycht blomys alsna, To wyn the helyng off thair hewid, That wykkyt wyntir had thaim rewid."[9]
- ↑ Harbour's Bruce, p. 20, Jamieson s ed. In one of the MSS. of Lydgate is a note " Her endis the monk and begynnys Barbour."
- ↑ National MSS. of Scotland, pt. ii. No. 75.
- ↑ Harbour s Bruce, iv. p. 252.
- ↑ For an estimate of the position of Barbour in the literature of the period, see Matzner s Altenglische Sprachprob^n, i. p. 371.
- ↑ Hist, of English Poetry, ii. p. 154.
- ↑ Diss. on English Poetry prefixed to Surrey and Wyatt s Poem-s, p. 190.
- ↑ Barbour s Bruce, p. 10, Jamieson's ed.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 320.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 89.
