There remains, preserved by the Maitland MS., another poem, “The Bankis of Helicon,” a love lyric of great charm, which long enjoyed the reputation of being the earliest piece written in the stanza of “The Cherrie and the Slae.” Laing thought it possible that Montgomerie might be the author of this, and Dr. Cranstoun establishes the opinion with a fair amount of certainty, considering it one of the series of compositions addressed by the poet to his kinswoman, Lady Margaret Montgomerie, and pointing out the frequency with which sets of expressions and even whole lines from the other pieces of the series are repeated in it. Even if ascertained beyond doubt, however, the authorship of “The Bankis of Helicon” would add nothing to Montgomerie’s reputation, which is likely to live and die with the reputation of his greatest work, the lyrical allegory of “The Cherrie and the Slae.”
Greater in manner than in matter, Montgomerie’s verse owes its charm to finish and grace rather than to vigour and imagination, affording rather a late reflection of the early glories of the century than the glow of a new inspiration; nevertheless it has remained constantly popular, a surprising number of its lines having become household words in the shape of proverbs; it claims the credit, along with Dunbar’s work, of furnishing models both to Allan Ramsay and to Burns; and, beyond all its Scottish contemporaries, it possesses intrinsic qualities which assure it an enduring fame.
About ane bank, quhair birdis on bewis[1347] Ten thusand tymis thair notis renewis Ilke[1348] houre into the day, The merle and maueis[1349] micht be sene, The progne and the phelomene[1350], Quhilk caussit me to stay. I lay and leynit me to ane bus To heir the birdis beir[1351]; Thair mirth was sa melodius Throw nature of the yeir: Sum singing, sum springing With wingis into the sky; So trimlie and nimlie Thir birdis they flew me by.
I saw the hurcheon[1352] and the hair, Quha fed amangis the flowris fair, Wer happing to and fro. I saw the cunning[1353] and the cat, Quhais downis with the dew was wat, With mony beisties mo. The hart, the hynd, the dae, the rae, The fowmart[1354], and the foxe War skowping[1355] all fra brae to brae, Amang the water broxe; Sum feiding, sum dreiding In cais of suddain snairis: With skipping and tripping Thay hantit[1356] all in pairis.