"I that in Heill wes and Gladnes", also known as "The Lament for the Makaris", is a poem in the form of a danse macabre by the Scottish poet William Dunbar. Every fourth line repeats the Latin refrain timor mortis conturbat me, a litanic phrase from the Office of the Dead. Apart from its literary quality, the poem is notable for the list ofmakars it contains, some of whom are historically attestable as poets only from Dunbar's testimony in this work. After listing Lydgate, Gower and Chaucer, the makars invoked are Scottish. All but two are cited as having died by the time of the composition. The two exceptions are the courtier, Patrick Johnston, and known poet Walter Kennedy, the latter of whom died circa 1508. From internal evidence, the lament is generally thought to have been composed c.1505. Most of the names can be traced to either the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries.
The of names in the Lament for the Makaris, all of which are from what Dunbar in the poem calls his "facultie", suggests a picture of the Scottish literary culture of the period which is wider than that otherwise handed down to us from the surviving record. In order and form of citation, the makars that Dunbar mourns in 'The Lament' are:
Patrik Johnestoun — Scottish courtier, no known works; the citation implies Johnston, who probably staged entertainments for the royal court in Dunbar's day, was still living at the time
Merseir — not identified; Dunbar praises him for 'quickness', 'terseness' and 'elevation'; some love poems extant in the Bannatyne MS are attributed to a Mersar
Quintyne Schaw — Kennedy's commissar in the Flyting; one satire extant
Gud maister Walter Kennedy — surviving works by Kennedy include The Passioun of Crist and his part in the Flyting
Dunbar offers some small tantalising details beyond customary compliments for the lost poets cited. The title of one poem is given: Clerk of Tranent's "Anteris of Gawane", an otherwise unknown work. Of Mercer, Dunbar extends his critical opinion to say that he "did in luf so lifly write,/ So schort, so quyk, of sentence ", and the reference to him as a poet of love also accords with the fact that some love poems are attributed to a "Mersar" in the Bannatyne MS. Finally, if the lines "That scorpion hes done infek,/ Maister Johne Clerk, and James Afflek,/ Fra balat making and tragidie" can be taken to impart literal information, then it might infer that some particular reputation for work with more serious themes attached to these names. At that time in Scotland "tragedy" denoted any "story, play or poem with a disastrous or sorrowful outcome".
Extract
On to the gois all estatis, Princis, prelotis, and potestatis, Baith riche and pur of al degre; Timor mortis conturbat me. He takis the knychtis in to feild, Anarmit under helme and scheild; Victour he is at all mellie; Timor mortis conturbat me.
