Robert Henryson

HENRYSON, ROBERT (fi. 1470-1500), Scottish poet, was born probably about 1425. It has been surmised that he was con nected with the family of Henderson of Fordell, but of this there is no evidence. He is described, on the title-page of the 15 7o edition of his Fables, as "scholemaister of Dunfermeling," prob ably of the grammar school of the Benedictine abbey there. As Dunbar (q.v.) refers to him as deceased in his Lament for the Makaris, his death may be dated about 15oo.

Henryson's longest, and in many respects his most original and effective work, is his Morall Fabillis of Esope, a collection of 13 fables, chiefly based on the versions of Anonymus, Lydgate and Caxton. The outstanding merit of the work is its freshness of treatment. The old themes are retold with such vivacity, such fresh lights on human character, and with so much local "atmos phere," that they deserve the credit of original productions. They are certainly unrivalled in English fabulistic literature. The earli est available texts are the Charteris text printed by Lekpreuik in Edinburgh in 157o and the Harleian ms. No. 3,865 in the British Museum.

In the

Testament of Cresseid Henryson supplements Chaucer's tale of Troilus with the story of the tragedy of Cresseid. Here again his literary craftsmanship saves him from the disaster which must have overcome another poet in undertaking to continue the part of the story which Chaucer had intentionally left untold. The description of Cresseid's leprosy, of her meeting with Troilus, of his sorrow and charity, and of her death, give the poem a high place in writings of this genre.

The poem entitled

Orpheus and Eurydice, which is drawn from Boethius, contains some good passages, especially the lyrical la ment of Orpheus, with the refrains "Quhar art thow gane, my luf Erudices?" and "My lady quene and luf, Erudices." It is followed by a long moralitas, in the manner of the Fables.

Thirteen shorter poems have been ascribed to Henryson. Of these the pastoral dialogue "Robene and Makyne," perhaps the best known of his work, is the most successful. Its model may per haps be found in the pastourelles, but it stands safely on its own merits.

The ms. authorities for the text are the Asloan, Bannatyne, Mait land Folio, Makculloch, Gray and Riddell. The Testament of Cresseid was printed by the Cambridge University Press (1926) . The best edi tion, containing all the texts, is that of the Scottish Text Society (ed. G. Gregory Smith), the first volume of the text (vol. ii. of the work) appearing in 1906, vol. iii. in 1908, and vol. i., with an introduction, in 1914. The Poems of Robert Henryson, a revised text with notes and introduction, was edited by W. M. Metcalfe (Paisley, 1917) .