order to be appended to the last of Arbuthnot's pieces that occurs in the series.

From the specimens which have been preserved, Arbuthnot may be pronounced an ingenious and pleasing poet. The Praises of Wemen is a gay production which must have recommended him in a very powerful manner to the favour of the softer sex. Of that sex he appears to have entertained a higher opinion than a late writer" and in blazoning its merits he has displayed no inconsiderable portion of friendly zeal. The following stanzas are produced as a specimen of the composition:

The wysest thing of wit

That ever Nature wrocht:
Quha can fra purpose flit,
Bot fickilnes of thocht.

Wald ye now wis ane erthlie blis,
Solace gif ye have socht;

Ane marchandyce of gritest pryce
That ever ony bocht.

The brichtest thing, bot baill,

That ever creat bein;

The lustiest and [maist] leil;

The gayest and best gain;

2 " A celebrated author who attained the utmost limits of ecclesiastical dignity, affirms, the Scotish women were amorous; and that kisses were less valued in Scotland than touching the hand in Italy. This might be true. Modesty is an acquired idea: and no female bears the burden of chastity, when an opportunity offers to lay it down!"

The thing fairest, and langest lest;
From all canker maist clein.
The trimmest face, with gudlie grace,
That lichtlie may be sein.

The Miseries of a Pure Scolar, as Mr Pinkerton remarks, "is a most interesting poem, and does great honour to the heart and head of its author." One passage I shall quote, because it contains a contribution to literary history:

In poetrie I preis to pas the tyme,

When cairfull thochts with sorrow sailyes me;
Bot gif I mell with meter or with ryme,
With rascal rymours I sall rakint be:
Thay sal me bourdin als with mony lie,
In charging me with that qukilk never I ment.
Quhat marvel is thoch I murne and lament?

I wald travel; and ydlenes I hait;
Gif I culd find sum gude vocatioun:
Bot all for nocht; in vain lang may I wait,
Or I get honest occupatioun.

Letters are lichtliet in our natioun :

For lernyng now is nother lyf nor rent.
Quhat marvel is thoch I murne and lament?

The Maitland MSS. preserved at Edinburgh and Cambridge, contain several poems of Arbuth not which have not hitherto been published.

THE

LIFE

¡OF

ALEX. MONTGOMERY,

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY.

THAT paucity of materials which we have so frequently had occasion to regret, again awaits us at this step of our progress. Of the life and character of Alexander Montgomery, a poet who has obtained his share of celebrity, no authentic memorials have been transmitted to our times: and all that remains for his nominal biographer is fruitless research or unsatisfactory conjecture.

If conjecture may be trusted, he was related to the noble family of Eglintoun. His name however does not occur in the peerage of Douglas or of Crawford: and the prevalent opinion has probably originated from Dempster's asserting that Montgomery was of noble extraction.

From his poem entitled The Navigatioun it appears that he was born in Germany :