JAMES THE IRSK OF SCOTLAND. From an criginal Picture in the Collection of the No. 4. JAMES I. OF SCOTLAND. From an original Picture in the Collection of Lord Dartmouth. JAMES THE FIRST, of Scotland, is represented as a child. The likeness prefixed to his poems is beyond measure stiff and uninteresting. He is built up like a wall; and appears to stand up on a mechanical principle. Here, the artist has at least chosen better; for he has drawn him in his childhood, having a hawk on his wrist, and has thrown into his face something of the intellect which distinguished him in his maturer life. James, no doubt, stood out from his age as a graceful poet; but we cannot altogether subscribe to the opinion of his countrymen with respect to his merit. They say that " it might be imputed to national prejudice" were they to rank the Scottish prince as the rival of Chaucer: and we think so too. The principal poem of James is called "The King's Quair," and was composed by him when he was a prisoner at Windsor: and there is also another attributed to him, called "The Gaberlunzie man," which has very considerable merit. He is said to have played Haroun al Raschid, or rather Henri Quatre, occasionally, in his good kingdom of Scotland; and the "Gaberlunzie man" is a record of one of his achievements. |