DUNBAR, WILLIAM, is supposed to have been a grandson of Sir Patrick Dunbar, of Pell, In the shire of Iltvidington. This Sir Patrick Dunbar was a younger eon of Coot go, teeth earl of March. lie was thus also a younger brother of George, eleventh earl, who was attainted in an arbitrary manner, and had his possessions forfeited by king James I. In the parliament hell at Perth on the 10th of January 1131.35; and It appears that Dunbar, being involved in the common ruin of the house, lived In a state of great dependence with out any patrimonial Inheritance. From his earliest years Dauber Was destined for the church. Lr 1475 he wee sent to the University of St. Andrewa, re he passed Bachelor of Arts, in St. Salvator'a Col lege there, in 1477, and in 1479 Master of Arts lie afterwards entered the monastic order of St. Francis; nod in the habit of a friar travelled throughout the south of Scotland, into Englaud, and on the continent. From his writings we learn that he was frequently employed nbroad in the king's service, probably as a ' clerk' in some of the numerous missions despatched by king James IV. to foreign courts. Of his own fidelity to his royal master on these occasions he entertained a tolerably high opinion; and few opportunities escaped of his reminding the king of the nature and extent of his services, with not merely distant hints, but direct intimations of the propriety of a recompense. On the 15th of August 1500, ho had a grant from the king of an annual provision of 101. during his life, or until he should be promoted to a benefice of the value of 401. or more yearly.
In 1501 he was again in England, probably in the train of the ambassadera who were sent thither to conclude the negoeiations for the king's marriage. The preparations for this marriage began on the 4th of May 1503; and upon the 9th of that month Dunbar composal his poem of 'The Thistle and the Roe,' an elegant allegory in cele bration of the union. On the 7th of Marais folio wing he said maws for the first time in the royal presence, and received a liberal gift as the king's offering on the occasion. In 1505 he also received a sum from the king in addition to his stated pension; and both that year and the next a sum equal each time to his half-yearly allowance in lieu of his 'yule gown.' In 1507 his pension was doubled; and besides occa elonal marks of the royal bounty, he had a letter under the privy seal in August 1510, increasing the sum to fourscore pounds a year, and until be should be promoted to a benefice of 1001. or upwards. This
allowance he continued to receive, with other gifts, till the time of the king's death at Flodden in September 1513, after which we find uo farther mention of Dunbar's name in the treasurer's account, or other like records. He is supposed to have died about 1520.
Whether he at last obtained a benefice, the great object of his desires, does not appear. His remaining works do not show that he ever did. On the contrary, they contain many supplications for a benefice, and many lamentations for the want of one ; and the various forms and character of three pieces display not a little of that fertility of invention by which Dunbar is distinguished. Ile seizes every occasion and seems to exhaust every expedient to rouse the king to bestow upon him the long-cherished wish of his heart, Dunbar'e writings now extant are not numerous, but they exhibit a remarkable versatility of genius, from grave to gay, from witty to severe. At one time we find him the sober moralist; at another, indulging in all the immodesty of licentiousness. But it is in descrip tion that he shows his various powers most conspicuously. Thus, in his Golden Terge,' as in 'The Thistle and the Rose,' we have imagery brilliant and dazzling. In the 'Dance of the Deadly Sins in 11011,' the same creative hand appears. 'The Feigned Friar of Tungland' and The Juste between the Taylor and the Souter,' display a like power of vividly portraying character, miuglel with bitter sarcasm and biting satire. And in the doggerel lines ' On James Doig' we eeo the burly wardrobe-keeper pass before us.
The existence of Dunbar'', werka is a signal proof of the ftnmer tality of real merit. Wo know not at what precise time he horn, nor when he died; his very name, it has been remarked, is, with one solitary exception, not to be met with in the whole compass of our literature for 200 years; and it is only after the !epee of three centuries that his poems have been collected and published; and yet ho now once more stands forth as, in the opinion of his countrymen, one of the greatest of Scotland's pools.