Of Deeming

Musing allone this hinder nicht

Of mirry day quhen gone was licht,

Within ane garth undir a tre,

I hard ane voce that said on hicht,

"May na man now undemit be.

"For thocht I be ane crownit king,

Yit sall I not eschew deming.

Sum callis me guid, sum sayis thai lie,

Sum cravis of God to end my ring,

So sall I not undemit be.

"Be I ane lord and not lord lyk,

Than every pelour and purspyk

Sayis, 'Land war bettir warit on me.'

Thocht he dow not to leid a tyk,

Yit can he not lat deming be.

"Be I ane lady fresche and fair,

With gentillmen makand repair,

Than will thay say, baith scho and he,

That I am jaipit, lait and air.

Thus sall I not undemit be.

"Be I ane courtman or ane knycht,

Honestly cled, that cumis me richt,

Ane prydfull man than call thay me.

Bot God send thame a widdy wicht

That cannot lat sic demyng be.

"Be I bot littill of stature,

Thay call me catyve createure,

And be I grit of quantetie,

Thay call me monstrowis of nature.

Thus can I not undemit be.

"And be I ornat in my speiche,

Than Towsy sayis I am sa streiche,

I speik not lyk thair hous menyie.

Suppois hir mowth misteris a leiche,

Yit can I not undemit be.

"Bot wist thir folkis that uthir demis

How that thair sawis to uthir semis,

Thair vicious wordis and vanité,

Thair tratling tungis that all furth temis,

Sum tyme wald lat thair demying be.

"War nocht the mater wald grow mair

To wirk vengeance on ane demair,

But dout I wald cause mony de

And mony catif end in cair,

Or sum tyme lat thair deming be.

"Gude James the Ferd, our nobill king,

Quhen that he was of yeiris ying

In sentens said full subtillie,

'Do weill, and sett not by demying,

For no man sall undemit be.'"

And so I sall, with Goddis grace,

Keip His command into that cace,

Beseiking ay the Trinitie

In hevin that I may haif ane place—

For thair sall no man demit be.

William Dunbar

WiUiam Dunbar was born, probably in East Lothian, between 1450 and 1460. He entered the University of St. Andrews in 1475, and took his full degree in 1479. In eariy life, according to his own account, he went about from Berwick to Dover, and passed over to Calais and Picardy, preaching and alms-gathering as a Franciscan noviciate ; but he became dissatisficd with this life and does not seem to have taken the vows of the order. It has been inferred from allusions in his verse that he was for some years empioyed in connection with foreign embassies. Toward tiie close of the century we find him in attendance on the Scotch Court, a poet with an established reputation, and a continual suitor for piace. In 1500 he received from the king (James IV) a pension of ^io , raised by degrees, during the next ten years to ;^8o ? then a respectable annuity; but he never obtained the Church promotion, to which on somewhat irrelevant grounds he constantly laid claim.

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A Dream Discretion in Taking [In taking sowld discretioun be] In a Secret Place [Ye brek my hart, my bony ane] Of James Dog [Madame, ye heff a dangerous dog] Rule of Oneself [He rewllis weill that weill himself can gyd]

Of Deeming

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