regions of fiction and imagination.

Than The

Thistle and the Rose, and The Golden Terge of the Scottish bard, there cannot be two poems of similar length which exhibit greater warmth and luxuriancy of description, or greater skill in the invention and arrangement of the allegorical imagery. They certainly rival in opulence and strength of colouring the most highly finished allegorical pictures of his great master Chaucer, for such he ever acknowledged him to be; whilst, at the same time, in all that regards preservation of character, felicity of incident, and richness of humour, where, even in the Canterbury Tales, shall we find two pieces superior to The Twa Married Women and the Widow, and the Freirs of Berwick? The latter narrative, more especially, is conducted, both as to its fable and its characters, with a thorough knowledge of human nature, with the most minute fidelity in point of description, and with a pungency and originality of humour which has seldom, if ever, been surpassed.

whom Boccaccio might borrow many of his ideas in this story, it will be easily seen, upon comparison, how far our poet has surpassed him." MATHIAS'S WORKS OF GRAY, Vol. ii. p. 66, et scg.

To these four capital pieces, Dunbar has added a multitude of minor productions, chiefly of a lyrical cast, and which are not less remarkable for their ethic and satiric vigour, than for their frequent touches of moral sublimity and bold personification, blended too, as is often the case, with strokes of genuine pathos. Of this description, amongst many others, are the poems entitled "The Daunce," "Lair is vain without Governance," "On the Warlds Instabilitie," " On Content," " No Treasure without Gladnesse," and the " Meditatioun, Written in Wynter." In depicting the passions or fiends who form the Dramatis Persona in the Daunce, the poet has introduced several features of mingled sublimity and terror, not unworthy even of the genius of Shakspeare; as, for instance, in the prosopopoeia of Anger :

Then Ire came in with sturt and strife,

His hand was ay upon his knife;

nor will the reader forbear to admire the sweet moral pathos which has given an undying charm to the beautiful stanzas on Winter.

If we now take a retrospect of our British poetry from the period of Dunbar to the commencement of the nineteenth century, excluding, however, the

drama as a separate and distinct province, and, of course, all consideration of the mighty and diversified genius of Shakspeare, where, it may be asked, shall we find such another concentration of varied talent, such a blending of satire, and humour, and characteristic delineation, with the higher faculties subservient to passion, imagination, and lofty description, as we have just pointed out in the instances of Chaucer and Dunbar ?

Where, I will venture to reply, but in the person of BURNS? who it may safely be asserted has rivalled these poets in humour, description, and moral satire, and even surpassed them in the pathetic, the ter, rible, and the sublime.

Of the merits of a poet so well known, and so deservedly popular as is Robert Burns, it would, in the present day, be altogether superfluous to enter into any formal discussion; and for the purpose which I have in view, that of a brief comparison of his character and powers as a writer, with those which have been ascribed to Chaucer and Dunbar, little more is required than a classification, under a few distinct heads, of some of his best pieces, which, vividly recollected as they must be by nearly all,

will, without any further criticism, establish the parallel intended.

In the first place, then, as productions which exhibit a great and equal portion of pathos and descriptive power, I may mention the poems entitled "A Winter Night," "Winter, a Dirge," "Despondency," " "Man was made to mourn," " The Lament," "" The Mountain Daisy," and the major part of the songs. These latter, indeed, are, for their exquisite tenderness, and the beauty of their local scenery, perfectly unrivalled. In the higher province of the pathetic and sublime, who will refuse to award a very marked distinction to "The Cotter's Saturday Night," to "The Vision," "Bruce to his Troops," and "The Song of Death," effusions warm from the heart, and instinct with all the energy, sublimity, and feeling, which patriotism, religion, and domestic affection could supply.

Of that remarkable interunion of humour with the deeper emotions of the mind and heart, which I have noticed as so strongly characterizing the muse of Burns, numerous instances might be selected; but it will suffice, as examples of humour combined with tenderness, or moral satire, or vivid

powers of description, to call to our recollection the poems entitled "The Death and Dying Words of poor Maillie," "The Auld Farmer's Salutation," "The Twa Dogs," "Halloween," "The Holy Fair," and "The Brigs of Ayr ;" and of the still rarer combination of humorous delineation with the terrible and sublime, no more striking illustrations can be required than the " Address to the Deil," and "Tam O'Shanter." Than the last, indeed, I know of no narrative which presents so masterly a display of contrasted talent; a transition so complete from scenery that would do honour to the pencil of Hogarth, to that which breathes the most awful and heart-harrowing terror.

Having drawn this parallel, in relation to the genius and talents of Chaucer, Dunbar, and Burns, in very general terms, I feel tempted, from its close affinity with the title of these volumes, to enter upon one topic of resemblance amongst these poets more at large, and that is, their peculiar attachment to, and fondness for describing, the Mornings of Spring. Chaucer appears, indeed, at no time more at home than when painting this beautiful period of the day and year, and his landscapes seem glowing as it were with all the dewy freshness of nature. He