The Poems of Robert Henryson • . Edited by W. M. Metcalfe,
D.D. (Paisley : A. Gardner. 7s. ed. net.)—The late Dr. Metcalfe, of Paisley, who did much useful work for Scottish history and literature, left behind him also this scholarly edition of Robert Henryson, the fifteenth- century Scottish poet whom Mr. Andre* Lang called " great," and who was unquestionably a worthy disciple of Chaucer, to whom his " Testa- ment of Cresseid " was attributed in Thynne's Chaucer of 1532. Henry- son's racy versions of Aesop in broad Scots arc distinctly amusing, and, besides his well-known " Robene and Makyne." we like his ironic verses " Aganis Haisty Credence of Titlaxis " (or Tatlers), which have some- thing in common with The Biglow Papers and convey a moral that is by no means out of date. Dr. Metcalfe took much trouble with the text, recording variants at the foot of each page, and provided also full notes and an exhaustive glossary, though the " Middle Scots " is not really more difficult than Chaucer's English.
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