412 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[OCT. 



down wo sat to the reading in this dogged, 

 necessity-driven state of mind the very 

 antipodes of hope, but not perhaps the 

 worst preparative of pleasure ; and we 

 followed the dingin' down expedition with 

 a gradual accession of good humour, and 

 in the genuine no-popery spirit, till every 

 altar, statue, picture, relic, steeple, and 

 holy water to the last drop, were turned 

 over and over, and monks and abhots sent 

 scouring along for their lives to all quar- 

 ters of the compass, leaving, as the poet 

 describes them, a fragment of their holy 

 robes on every briar they scudded past. 



In suffering ourselves to be thus allured 

 by the subject and incidents of the poem, 

 we probably but fulfil the writer's own 

 desire, who appears far more intent upon 

 a felicitous representation of disasters than 

 on any effect of mere phraseology. In- 

 deed Mr. Tennant's singular merit, in the 

 present general dearth of fancy, and hu- 

 mour, and natural expression, is a vigorous 

 trampling down and keeping down of the 

 spirit of imitation, for we cannot be so 

 petty as to call by that name au occasional 

 cadence or two, that reminds us of some- 

 thing elsewhere. 



The Scotch, too the first repugnance 

 subdued soon becomes agreeable from 

 its strength, simplicity, and richness, we 

 may add, of expression. In Mr. Tennant's 

 hands it is an accession to his English 

 treasures (which he has proved how well 

 and wisely he can use) rather than a com- 

 plete substitution. 



The object of the poem is a burlesque 

 description of St. Andrew's Cathedral, in 

 1559, by the Protestants. All intention 

 of mingling principles with his narrative 

 is very needlessly disclaimed by the poet ; 

 he clearly seeks only to raise a smile, while 

 he presents to us some of the absurd points 

 necessarily concomitant on enterprizes of 

 this kind points kept out of sight by the 

 historian, and fitted only for caricature 

 since, in a narrative of facts, so much of 

 the tragic mixes with scenes of violence, 

 that the ridiculous would be over- 

 whelmed. 



A rumour of the hubbub stirring over 

 Fife reached Olympus, and disturbed Mi- 

 nerva while she was mending stockings 

 (blue) for her father. The dear cause of 

 mental regeneration is her very own. So 

 down goes stocking and down goes Mi- 

 nerva for Fife, to blow the flame of re- 

 formation. She sets Momus to work in 

 aid of the same purpose ; and a rabble- 

 rout is rapidly collected, all red-hot, to 

 level St. Andrew's with the ground. The 

 holy fathers had but just heard of the up- 

 Btir when the dinner bell rang: 

 Amid this dridder and this flurry, 

 St. Magdalen's big bell in a hurry 

 Begond to reissle hurry-scurry ; 



That jowin-j angle was the ca' 



Forth' abbey people, ane and a', 



To congregate i" th' Fratcr-ha' : 



' Twas hour o' dine o' thereabout : 



Hunger was i' their wambes nae doubt, 



But terrour, too, was round about ; 



And terrour garr'dthem loup pell-mell 



Frae senzie-house, kirk, court, and cell, 



In oinne-gatherum at that bell : 



As whan the bees some day in June 



Strayaig frae risin' sun till noon ; 



If mirky clouds in th' afternoon 

 Come stowfin' up the west, 



Hear they but anesthe tlmnner-claps, 



And in the leaves the pi outer! n'-d raps, 

 They gi'e their sma' wines sudden claps 

 And hurry hamcwarts to their scaps 



For cozy scong and rest ; 

 Sae did that abbey people a' 

 Effrey't flee to the Frater-ha', 

 Cation, and monk, and dean, and prior, 

 And batie-bum, and beggin' freir, 

 A congregation wode wi'fear 

 Though fat, in dulesome dreiry choir : 

 The porch ne'er witness'tsic a Hither ; 

 They pous'd, theyjundy'd ane anither ; 

 Their wambes afftimes were jamm'd thegitlicr ; 

 MaSr space they had i' th' ha', tho' thrang i 

 It was a dainty room and lang ; 

 (I am a man of five feet three ; 

 'Twas twenty times the length o' me ;) 

 Guid hap, their dinner then was laid 

 Upon the tables lang and braid, 

 Wi' damask napery owrspread ; 

 And gowden trunscheors like the moon, 

 Wi'correspondin' fork and spoon ; 

 A wilderness o' meat was set ; 

 Sea, soil, and sky, were here a' met ; 

 Fish, flesh, and fowl, baith cauld and net ; 

 And florentines.and pies and tarts, 

 Rang'd here and there in sundry parts. 

 And sauces, soups, and grills, and creams, 

 Up-stowfin' to the roof their stream?, 

 Wi' bonnie fruitage, ripe and red, 

 In silverised baskets spread : 

 And siller jugs and stoups divine 

 O'malvesie and claret-wine, 

 Skimmering like suns in order fine : 



. Temptation reel'd in tass and;.bicker, 

 Dancin' divinely 'mang the liquor ; 

 It wad a Nnzarite provokit 

 To break his vow and tak a bok o't, 

 Until his hail-life's drowth were slockit: 

 Had I been there that nicht.I think, 

 Though I'm a man o' little drink, 

 I wadna been sae doons per) ink, 

 Buttaen an over-loup for sport : 

 I'd gotthePaip's indulgence for't. 



Whan they were a' forgadder't there, 

 Lord Prior James got on a chair, 

 And cry'd " a truce to elrisch frichf, 

 Let's dine, my friends, and that outricht ; 

 Fu' stamach maks faintheart inair \vicht; 

 And of a' sorrows, it's confest, 

 A sorrow that is fu' 's aye best." 

 Sae down they cloytet on their seats, 

 And helter-skelter at the meat.? ; 

 As Lybian lions, that on prey 

 Licht, after danderin' monie a day, 

 llamsch skin, flesh, bane, e'n sae did they ; 



