BABBOU , JouN, an eminent Scottish poet of the 14th c., regarding whom history has not much to record beyond the production of the national epic, entitled The Truce. Nothing is known of his parentage, and of his birth it can only be conjectured to have been about 1320. The ascertained facts of his life are few. We are informed only that in his own age he was accoubted a man of great learning and worth; that lie was arch deacon of Aberdeen as early at least as 1357, and held that office till his death in 1395; that in 1357 he traveled into England, accompanied by three scholars, for the purpose of studying at Oxford; that lie repeated his visit to England for the same purpose in 1364; that in 1363, lie obtained a passport "to travel through England with six coat• pinions on horseback towards St. Denis and other sacred places;" that in 1363, lie again received permission to travel through England with two servants and two horses, on his way for scholarly purposes to France; that in 1373 he was clemk of audit of the house hold of king Hobert 11., and one of the auditors of exchequer; that in 1375 his great poem was more than half finished; that in 1377 lie had a gratuity of £10 from kin" Robert II,; that in 1378 he received from the same prince a perpetual annuity of 20.Y., which In 1380 he bequeathed to the dean and chapter of Aberdeen, under the condition that they should sing a yearly mass for the rest of his soul; that in 1381 lie had a gift from the crown of the ward of a minor, whose estate lay within the parish of which he was rector; that in 1383, and again in 1385, he was one of the auditors of exchequer; that in 1388 king Robert II. granted him a pension of £10 a year; and that he died
between Martinmas 1304 and Whitsunday 1395, probably on the 13th Mar. of the year last named, his anniversary in the cathedral of Aberdeen being celebrated on tha(day until the reformation. Besides The Bruce, B. wrote two other poems, The Brume, now lost, in which he recounted the origin and history of time royal house of Stuart, and The Book of Legends of the &bete, recently discovered in Cambridge university library. The Bruce is distinguished by great purity and clearness of style, the language and versi• fication contrasting advantaggeously with those of any contemporary F.nglisli poet, not excepting even Chaucer. his imagery is not rich, but he is seldom other titan lively, simple, and energetic. lIe has depicted, in rough but faithful outline, the life, manners, and deeds of a truly heroic time, and given to his country the first poem in her literature, I amid the earliest history of her best and greatest king. The Bruce was first printed by I)r. Jamieson in 1820; and edited bx Cosmo Ines, for the Spalding climb, in 1856. 'I'ho early English text society also published an edition eiiited by Rev, W. W. Skeat.