Fame, honour, praising, infinite thanks
to you and your sweet-sounding ornate fresh style,
most reverend Virgil, prince of Latin poets,
gem of genius and flood of eloquence.
Thou peerless pearl, patron of poetry,
rose, chronicler, palm of victory, worthy of receiving laurels and all glory,
choice garnet, chief flower and cedar tree,
lantern, lode-star, mirror and paragon,
master of all masters, sweet source and flowing well,
far and wide and everywhere thine heavenly bell is rung;
I mean your skilfully crafted works,
so pithy, vigorous and full of life,
pleasing, perfect and felt in every way,
as something that is held before your very eyes;
in every volume that it pleases you to write,
far surpassing all other styles,
like to the rose in June with her sweet scent
the marigold or daisy does excell.
Lawd, honour, praysyngis, thankis infynyte
To the and thy dulce ornat fresch endyte,
Maist reuerend Virgill, of Latyn poetis prynce,
Gem of engyne and flude of eloquens.
Thou peirles perle, patroun of poetry,
Roys, regester, palm, lawrer, and glory,
Chosyn charbukkill, chief flour, and cedyr tre,
Lantarn, laid stern, myrrour and A per se,
Maister of masteris, sweit sours and spryngand well,
Wyde quhar our all rung is thyne hevynly bell;
I meyn thy crafty warkis curyus,
Sa quyk, lusty, and maist sentencyus,
Plesand, perfyte, and feilabill in all degree,
As quha the mater beheld tofor thar E;
In every volume quhilk the lyst do wryte,
Surmontyng fer all other maner endyte,
Lyke as the roys in June with her sweit smell
The mary guld or dasy doith excel.
perle - Pearl. Natural Scottish pearls have been sought after for centuries due to their lustre and colours (grey, cream, white, lilac and pink). British pearls were mentioned by Roman writers, as well as Scottish writers and poets throughout the 12th to the 17th centuries. The Crown of Scotland features 68 freshwater pearls around the rim at the base.
roys - Rose. There's no indication of the type of rose Douglas is referring to, other than its 'sweit smell', but I like to think that he was referencing the tangling roses that can be found in hedgerows and old railway cuttings across Scotland, with flowers in white, palest blush, or deep pink. They appear in May through June, and seem to last only for the briefest moment, just enough to scent the air, and then drop their petals in the breeze. It's the sort of scent you want to bottle, and is appreciated all the more for having such a short season. When Douglas compares Virgil's works to the rose, marigold and daisy, he is saying that the rose is better because these other two flowers grow for more months of the year. We are so used to having flowers available all year round, that sometimes it's easy to forget that in the past, everything had a season. Douglas also calls on a tradition of the rose in poetry; his fellow poet, William Dunbar, writes of "the fresche Ros of cullour reid and quhyt" where all nature acclaims the rose. Shakespeare describes Titania's bower being draped with the wild rose, eglantine, and Robert Burns speaks of the "red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June..."
charbukkill - Carbuncle. "Early 13c., 'fiery jewel,' from Old North French 'carbuncle'...literally 'little coal'. Originally of rubies, garnets, and other red jewels." A jewel that gleams as bright as a glowing ember. I chose garnet over carbuncle for the obvious reason that 'carbuncle' today has negative connotations, bringing to mind tumours and boils and hideous buildings, rather than a mysterious stone of ancient heritage.
laid stern - The Pole Star. This one gave me so much trouble. For ages, I thought that the 'laid stern' corresponded to the 'lantarn' in the first part of the line, and then got mixed up with lights being laid on the stern of boats...Eventually, I realised that it actually meant lodestar, and thus 'a leading light', which would fit in with the lantern and mirror of the rest of the line. Sailors in the past would navigate by fixing their position using the horizon and the pole star.
A per se - Back to your schoolbooks, my children! In the dim and distant past, when learning was by rote and Latin ruled supreme, children reciting the alphabet would include 'per se' ('by itself') after single letters that could stand as words on their own (A, I, O). They would also recite the 27th letter of the alphabet, the &. This would sound like 'and per se and', which over time, got corrupted into 'ampersand'. Because 'A per se a' came before the rest of the alphabet, in the 15th and 16th centuries, this came to mean something or someone who was pre-eminent.
feilabill - Perceptible. Literally 'feelable', able to be felt. Due to the use of the long 's', I accidentally mixed this up with 'sellabil' (also a genuine Scots word!) and spent quite some time debating the relative merits of 'able to be felt' and 'worthy of price'. Of course, I could have just looked it up, but that would have been too simple...
mary guld - Marigold. These were one of the flowers associated with the Virgin Mary. It was commonly found in fields and gardens, and the petals were used in cooking and in medicine. The dried petals were sometimes used as a substitute for saffron.
dasy - Daisy. Daisies are one of the first flowers that we learn to recognise, stringing them in crowns, necklaces, or lengthy garlands. The name comes from Old English daeges eage, "day's eye" - referring to the way the petals open in the daytime and close over in the evening.
Bibliography
The Book of Prefaces - Alasdair Gray
