But of them all William Dunbar is counted the greatest.
William Dunbar was perhaps born in 1460 and began his life when James III began his reign.
Dunbar himself knew that he had no calling to be a friar or preacher.
We have nearly ninety poems of Dunbar, none of them very long.
Dunbar was the "Rhymer of Scotland," that is the poet-laureate of his day, and so, as was natural, he made a poem upon this great event.
Dunbar begins by telling us that he lay dreaming one May morning.
By the Thistle, of course, Dunbar means James IV, and by the Rose the Princess Margaret.
Thus did Dunbar sing of the wedding of the Thistle and the Rose.
After "that most dolent day"* we hear no more of Dunbar. It is thought by some that he, as many another knight, courtier and priest, laid down his life fighting for his King, and that he fell on Flodden field.
On the 5th of September, 1651, sire, the anniversary of the other battle of Dunbar, so fatal to the Scots, I was conquered.
He died on the 5th of September, 1658, a fresh anniversary of the battles of Dunbar and Worcester."
The deeds of black Agnes of
Dunbar, of Lady Salisbury and of the Countess of Montfort, were still fresh in the public minds.