28 MEMORIAL S OF EDlNB UR GH.
ings of red and blue, with a canopy of state, of cloth of gold. “ Ther wer also in the sum
chmmr a rich 6ed of astat, and the Lord Gray served the King with water for to wash,
and the Earle of Huntley berred the towalle ! ” The commons testified their sympathy
by bonfires and other tokens of public rejoicing, while dancing, music, and feasting, with
coursing, joustings, and the like pastimes of the age, were continued thereafter during
many days, “ and that done, every man went his way,” the Earl of Surrey,with the chivalry
of England, to bide their second meeting on the field of Flodden.
This propitious alliance-which, notwithstanding the disastrous period that intervened,
ultimately led to the permanent union of the two kingdoms-was celebrated by Dunbar in
his beautiful allegory of “ The Thrissil and the %is,’’ a poem, notwithstanding its obsolete
language, scarcely surpassed in beauty by anything written since. “ At this time,”
says its excellent biographer, ‘‘ Dunbar appears to have lived on terms of great familiarity
with the King, and to have participated freely in all the gaieties and amusements of
the Scottish Court; his sole occupation being that of writing ballads on any passing
event, and thus contributing to the entertainment of his royal master.’ From several of
his writings, as well as from “ The Flyting ” with his poetic rival Walter Remedy, many
curious local allusions may be gleaned. One satirical poem, an “ Address to the Merchants
of Edinburgh,” is particularly interesting for our present object, conveying a most graphic,
though somewhat highly-coloured picture of the Scottish capital at this period.’ ‘‘ The
principal streets crowded with stalls-the confused state of the different markets-the
noise and cries of the fishwomen, and of -other persons retailing their wares round the
cross-the booths of trade& crowded together ‘ like a honeycomb,’ near the church of St
Giles, which was then, and continued till within a very recent period, to be disfigured
with mean md paltry buildings, stuck round the buttresses of the church-the outer stairs
of the houses projecting into the street-the swarm of beggars-the common minatrek,
whose skill was confined to one or two hackneyed tunes-all together form the subject
of a highly graphic and interesting delineation.”
TO THE MERCHANTS OF EDINBURGH.
Quhy will ye, Meqchauta of renoun,
Let Edinburgh, your noble bun,
For lak of reformation
The common profit tyne and fame 1
That ony other region
Sal1 with dishonour hurt your name!
Think ye nocht schame,
May nane pass throw your principal gates,
For stink of haddocks and of scatea ;
For cries of carlings and debates ;
For sensum flyttinga of defame :
Think ye nocht schame,
Before strangers of all estates
That sic dishonour hurt your name !
Dunbar, by D. Laing, 1834, vol. i. p. 23. 8 Ibid, p. 32.
