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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at jhttp : //books . qooqle . com/ Digitized by VjOOQ IC wtfu Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google Digitized by Google Digitized by VjOOQ IC BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY 07 EMINENT SCOTSMEN ROBERT CHAMBERS, OV* OF THE KDITOM OF "CHAXSEfttt BOUTBUROB JOVRVAX..* NEW EDITION.-REVISED AND CONTINUED TO THE PBESENT TfflE. ILLUSTRATED BY EIGHTY AUTHENTIC PORTRAITS, 4c Thb Biographical Dictionaby of Eminent Scotsmen, a New Edition of which is now offered to the public, contains authentic Biographies of all Scotsmen who have attained eminence in the literary, scientific, religious, or political world; warriors, statesmen, historians, philoso- phers, poets, theologians, and martyrs, from the days of Malcolm Canmore to the present time; each treated at a length suited to his particular merit or fame, and the whole arranged for reference in alpha- betical order. Few countries can point to an array of names equally illustrious with those which are enshrined in the annals of Scotland, and numerically so great in proportion to her total population. In the arts of war and of peace, in science, philosophy, history, poetry, and religion, in asserting civil and religious liberty, and in carrying it into practical effect, her sons' are equally famous; the names of Wallace, Bruce, Buchanan, Knox, Melville, Guthrie, Smith, Burns, Watt, Scott, and Chalmers, are each representatives of a class who have contributed to render her name renowned throughout the world. This important Work, therefore, which conveys, in a succinct and intelligible form, a good and interesting account of the struggles, principles, attainments, and actions, of such men, cannot fail to appeal powerfully to the 3 Digitized byVipOglC ; - £, -y ^ 2 sympathies not only of natives of Scotland, who may naturally be expected to feel deeply interested in the history of those of their countrymen whose names have added a fresh lustre to their native land ; but also of all who love and admire the good and great in whatever clime and in whatever land they may have been born; and at the same time it can- not fail to be eminently useful by setting before aspiring minds brilliant examples of what has been already accomplished. The Biographical Dictionary op Eminent Scotsmen was edited by Eobert Chambers, one of the editors of Chambers? 8 Edinburgh Journal, &c, whose writings are so well and favourably known, and was highly appreciated on its first publication; but many years having elapsed since that time, many eminent persons have been gathered to their fathers in the interval, rendering the Work now, to a certain extent, incomplete. In the New Edition now issued, the original Work has been carefully revised, some Biographies extended, others rendered more succinct and precise; and, in addition, a SUPPLEMENTARY VOLUME has been added, including notices of eminent individuals who have died since the Work was first published, together with such names as had then been omitted. The Scottish Biographical Dictionary will thus continue to be what it has ever been, the most complete and interesting record of the Lives of Eminent Scotsmen that has issued from the Press. CONDITIONS. The revised portion, forming what constituted the original Work, and the Supplementary Volume, will be completed in Nine Divisions, elegantly bound in cloth, at 6*. 6i. each. The whole will be illustrated with Eighty authentic Portraits^ engraved on Steel, in the first style of art ; and Five Engraved Titles, giving views of the principal Seats of learning in Scotland. BLACKIE AND SON: GLASGOW, ED INBURGH, LONDON, AND NEW YORK. Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC -■' / j/Blk Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC : -.\ K\1rV IV "iPYlf 'i -ii'Vr 'Vt! •''. v i ■ ^ v i •''■■■' ^ | | + ^^ f( K4 H I A A 1 A \ ♦ •A ■ 1 M Xf-MFiR'-uJ A^THEKTi- P'-KTHAITr' VOM-ME I T i iir r;:ivK:-.:*: I'r f ;: ir: :; M-. c(< i :. r Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google ; ,c » -** BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY EMINENT SCOTSMEN. s EDITED BY rt BOBEBT CHAMBEBS, \ OKI 07 THE SDROU OF "CHAXBIRS'S BDnrBUEOH JOUKRAL." NEW EDITION BEYISED AND .CONTINUED TO THE PRESENT TIME. WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS. DIVISION L BLACKIE AND 80S : GLA800W, EDINBURGH, AND LONDON. y^MDOGCUIIp? THE NEW Y^K PUBLIC LIBRARY _, 1687 A^ ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R 1921 L 9^9. BLACK IB AND CO., rHIRTBBA, , ■ .* . -VILLAFIFLD. Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google F I . j !/, T II F ',« F I j 1 N Al. 1 N T H ?'. 1 i T } ii P " n, F.r,:N;r. h:ii. Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Li.Ft».,x-. Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google //, t (i FRoFEo£CR CF C HEMIS TF.Y. UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW K LAC HIE * :".N, (TLA.TXW EMKliTlVm v '-,' 'NI ~N Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google Digitized by VjOOQ IC En.)-, V, 1 i V . YiiU V. nti ; l-i-'.TNA!. LN K: H. , !;.. n; Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google ,1 i k ^*J ni '■:' i.'- j u l'.. l ; Digitized by VjOOQ IC Digitized by Google BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF EMINENT SCOTSMEN. ABERCROMBY, The Honourable Alexander (Lord Abercromby), a distin- guished lawyer of the latter part of the 18th century, and an elegant occasional writer, was the youngest eon of George Abercromby of Tullibody, in Clack- mannanshire, and brother of the celebrated Sir Ralph Abercromby. He was born on the 16th of October, 1745. While his elder brothers were destined for the army, Alexander chose the profession of the law, which was more consistent with his gentle and studious character. After going through the ordinary course of classes at the university of Edinburgh, he became, in 1766, a member of the Faculty of Advocates. He was at this early period of his life the fa- vourite of all who knew him, not only for the uncommon handsomeness of his person, but for the extreme sweetness of his disposition. Being given to the gaieties of fashionable life, he had little relish for laborious employment; so that, for some years after his admission into the Faculty of Advocates, his splendid abilities were well-nigh obscured by indolence or frivolity. Roused at length to exertion, he engaged with ardour in all the duties of his profession, and soon became eminent for professional skill, and distinguished as a most eloquent pleader. His reputation and business rapidly increased, and soon raised him to the first rank at the Scottish bar. In May, 1792, he was appointed one of the judges of the Court of Session, when, in compliance with the custom of the Scottish judges, he adopted the title of Lord Abercromby; and, in December following, he was called to a seat in the Court of Justiciary. u In his judicial capacity he was distinguished by a profound knowledge of law, a patient attention,aclearness of discernment, and an unbiassed impartiality which I excited general admimtion." His literary performances and character are thus summed up by his friend, Henry Mackenzie, who, after his death, undertook the task of recording his virtues and merits for the Royal Society :—" The laborious employments of his profession did not so entirely engross him, as to preclude his indulging in the elegant amusements of polite literature. He was one of that society of gentlemen who, in 1779, set on foot the periodical paper, published at Edinburgh during that and the subsequent year, under the title of the Digitized by Google JOHN ABERCROMBY.— PATRICK ABERCROMBY. Mirror ; and who afterwards gave to the world another work of a similar kind, the Lounger, published in 1785 and 1786. To these papers he was a very valu- able contributor, being the author of ten papers in the Mirror,' and nine in the Lounger. 2 His papers are distinguished by an ease and gentlemanlike turn of expression, by a delicate and polished irony, by a strain of manly, honourable, and virtuous sentiment." Mackenzie states that they are also characterized by an unaffected tenderness, which he had displayed even in his speeches as a barrister, and adduces the following specimen: — "There is one circumstance," says Mr Abercromby, in debating whether long or short life be most desirable, " which with me is alone sufficient to decide the question. If there be anything that can compensate the unavoidable evils with which this life is attended, and the numberless calamities to which mankind are subject, it is the pleasure arising from the society of those we love and esteem. Friendship is the oordial of life. Without it, who would wish to exist an hour? But every one who arrives at extreme old age, must make his account with surviving the greater part, perhaps the whole, of his friends. He must see them fall from him by degrees, while he is left alone, single and unsupported, like a leafless trunk, exposed to every storm, and shrinking from every blast." Such was not destined to be the fate of Lord Abercromby, who, after exemplifying almost every virtue, and acting for some years in a public situation with the undivided applause of the world, was cut off by a pulmonary complaint, at Falmouth, whither he had gone for the sake of his health, on die 17th of November, 1795. ABERCROMBY, John, the author of several esteemed works on gardening, was the son of a respectable gardener near Edinburgh, where he was born about the year 1726. Having been bred by his father to his own profession, he removed to London at the early age of eighteen, and became a work- man in the gardens attached to the royal palaces. Here he distinguished himself so much by his taste in laying out grounds, that he was encouraged to write upon the subject. His first work, however, in order to give it greater weight, was published under the name of a then more eminent horticulturist, Mr Mawe, gardener to the Duke of Leeds, under the title of Mawe's Gardeners' Calendar. It soon rose into notice, and still maintains its place. The editor of a recent edition of this work says, "The general principles of gardening seem to be as correctly ascertained and clearly described by this author, as by any that have succeeded him." And further, " The style of Aber- cromby, though somewhat inelegant, and in some instances prolix, yet appears, upon the whole, to be fully as concise, and at least as correct and intelligible, as that of some of the more modern, and less original, of his successors." Aber- cromby afterwards published, under his own name, The Universal Dictionary of Gardening and Botany, in 4to. ; which was followed, in succession, by the Gardeners' Dictionary, the Gardeners' Daily Assistant, the Gardeners' Vade Meoum, the Kitchen Gardener and Hot-bed Forcer, the Hot-house Gardener, and numerous other works, most of which attained' to popularity. Aber- cromby, after a useful and virtuous life, died at London in 1806, aged about eighty years. ABERCROMBY, Patrick, historian, was the third son of Alexander Aber- cromby of Fetterneir, in Aberdeenshire, a branch of the house of Birkenbog in Banffshire, which again derived its descent from Abercromby of Abercromby i No«. 4,9, 18,45, 51,57,66, 68,87,90,104. t Noi. 3, 10, 14, 23, 80, 47, 74, 81, 91. Digitized by Google PATRICK ABERCROMBF, 3 in Fife, Frauds, the eldest son of Abercromby of Fettemeir, was created Lord Glossford in 1686 ; but as the patent* by an extraordinary restriction, was limited to lib own life only, the title did not descend to his children, Patrick Abercromby was born at Forfar in 1G5G, and was educated at the university of St Andrews, where he took the degree of Doctor in Medicine in 1685. His family being eminently loyal, the young physician is said to have changed his religion, to please James VI 1., who consequently made him one of the physicians of the court. A proceeding so adverse to all propriety, however loyal, and accordant with the temper of the times, was speedily and severely punished ; for, at the Bevolution, Abercromby was deprived of his appointment* For bo me years after he appears to have lived abroad ; but he returned to Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne, and devoted himself to the study of national anti- quities. In 1707, he published a translation of M. Beauge's very rare hook, L'Histoire de la Guerre d'Ecoase, 155U, under the title of, The History of the Compagnes 1348 and 1549] being an exact account of the Martial Expeditions performed in those days by the Scots and French on the one hand, and the English and their foreign auxiliaries on the other; done in French by Mons. ikauge, a French gentleman ; with an introductory preface by the Translator* In the preface, the ancient alliance between Scotland and France is strenuously asserted, This curious French work, which gives a complete account of the war carried on by the Popish government of Cardinal Beatoun, aided by the French, against the English under Protector Somerset, was reprinted in the original by Mr Smythe of Methven for the Bonnatyne Club, 1829, along with a preface, giving an account of Aberoromby a translation. The great work of Dr Abercromby is in two volumes, folio, entitled, The Martial Achievements of the Scots Nation, He tells us in the preface, that, not venturing to write regular history or biography, he had resolved to relate the deeds of all the great men of his country 4 in a less ambitious strain, and with a more minute attention to small facts, than is compatible with those styles of composition, lie also, with great modesty, apologises for his manner of writing, by saying, " When my reader is told that 'twas my fate to spend most part of my youth in foreign countries, to have hut viewed, en passant t the south port of Britain, and to have been conversant with Roman and French, rather than with English authors, he will not expect from me those modish turns of phrase, nor that exact propriety of words, Scotsmen, by reason of their distance from the foun- tain of custom, so seldom attain to." The first volume of the Martial Achieve- ments was published, in 1711, by Mr Robert Freeboirn, and shows a respectable list of subscribers. About one-half of it is occupied by the early fabulous history of Scotland, in which the author, like almost all men of his time, and especially the Jacob ilea, was a devout believer, It closes with the end of the reign of Robert Bruce. The second volume appeared, with a still more nume- rous and respectable list of subscribers, in 1715; it was partly printed by Freeboirn, and partly by Thomas Ruddiman, who not only corrected the manuscript, but superintended its progress through the press. This is said by Chalmers to have been the first typographical effort of Ruddimon. Aber- cromby 'a Martial Achievements is upon the whole a very creditable work for a Scottish antiquary of that period ; the author is not superior to the credulity of his age and party, but he is eminently industrious, and his narrative is written in on entertaining style. The work shows a wide range of authorities, and is liberally interspersed with controversial discussions of the points most Digitized by Google ^ SIB RALPH ABERCROMBY. contested ty antiquaries. Dr Patrick Abercromby died poor in 1716, or, as other writers say, in 1726, leaving a widow in distressed circumstances. ABERCROMBY, Sib Ralph, a distinguished general officer, under whom the British arms met their first success in the French revolutionary war, was the eldest son of George Abercromby S of Tullibody, in Clackmannanshire, a gentleman of ancient and respectable family, and of Mary, daughter of Ralph Dundas of Manor. He was born at Menstrie, in the parish of Logie, on the 7th October, 1794. His education seems to hare been regarded with more care than was usually manifested by the Scottish country gentlemen of the early and middle parts of the last century. After passing through the customary course at Rugby, he became a student, first in the university of Edinburgh, and subsequently in that of Gdttingen. He entered the army, as cornet in the 3rd dragoon guards, May 23, 1766, and became a lieutenant, in the same regi- ment, in the year 1760 ; which rank he held till April, 1762, when he ob- tained a company in the 3rd horse. In this regiment he rose, in 1770, to the rank of major, and, in 1773, to that of lieutenant-colonel. He was included in the list of brevet colonels in 1780, and, in 1781, was made colonel of the 103rd, or king's Irish infantry, a new regiment, which was broken at the peace in 1783, when Colonel Aberoromby was placed on half-pay. It may be noticed, in passing, that he represented the shire of Kinross in the British parliament from 1774 till 1780; but made no attempt to render himself conspi- cuous, either as a party-man or as a politician* In September, 1787, he was promoted to the rank of major-general, and next year obtained the command of the 69th foot. From this corps he was, in 1792, removed to the 6th mot ; from that again to the 6th ; and in November, 1796; to the 2d dragoons, or Scots Greys. On the breaking out of the French revolutionary war, Abercromby had the local rank of lieutenant-general conferred on him, and served with distinguished honour in the campaigns of 1794 and 1796, under the Duke of York. He commanded the advanced guard in the affair of Cateau (April 16V1794), in which Chapuy, the French general, was taken prisoner, and thirty-five pieces of cannon fell into the hands of the British. In the reverses that followed, the British army escaped entire destruction solely by the masterly manoeuvres of Abercromby, who was second in command. He was wounded at Nimeguen, in the month of October following; notwithstanding which, the arduous service of conducting the retreat through Holland, in the dreadfully severe winter of 1794, was devolved wholly upon him and General Dundas. Than this retreat nothing could be conceived more calamitous. The troops did all that could be expected from them in the situation in which they were placed. Oppressed by numbers, having lost all their stores, they made good their retreat in the face of the foe, amidst the rigours of a singularly severe winter, resembling more that of the arctic circle than that of the north of Germany. For the removal of the sick, nothing could be procured but open waggons, in which they were exposed to the intense severity of the weather, to drifting snows, and heavy falls of sleet and rain. The mortality, of oourse, was very great. The regiments were so scattered, marching through the snow, that no returns could be made out, and both men and horses were found in great numbers frozen to 1 He was born In 1705, called to the bar hi 1728, and died, June 8, 1800, at the advanced age of ninety-fire, being the eldest member of the college of justice. Digitized by LjOOQ IC SUl RALPH ABERCROMBY. death. " The march," says an eye-witness, ** was marked by scenes of the moat calamitous nature* We could not proceed a hundred yards without seeing the dead bodies of men, women, children, and horses, in every direction. One scene," adds the writer, " made an impression on my mind, which time will never be able to efface* Near a cart, a little further in the common, we per- ceived a stout-looking: man and a beautiful young woman, with an infant about seven months old at the breast, all three frozen dead. The mother had most certainly died in the act of suckling her child, as, with one breast exposed, she lay upon the drifted snow, the milk, to all appearance, in a stream drawn from the nipple by the babe, and instantly congealed. The infant seemed as if its lips had just then been disengaged, and it reposed its little head upon the mother's bosom, with an overflow of milk frozen as it trickled down from its mouth. Their countenances were perfectly composed and fresh, as if tbey bad only been in a sound and tranquil slumber," The British army reached De- von ter, after incredible exertion, on the 27th of January, 1705; but they were not able to maintain the position, being closely pursued by a well- appointed army, upwards of fifty thousand strong. They continued their progress, alternately fighting and retreating, till the end of March, when the main body, now reduced one-half, reached Bremen, where they were embarked for England, Nothing could exceed the vigilance, patience, and perseverance of General Abercromby during this retreat, in which he was ably seconded by General Dundas and Lord Cathcart ; nor did the troops ever hesitate, when ordered, to halt, face about, and fight, even in the moat disastrous and distress- ing circumstances. While the French were making thoae gigantic efforta at home, which con* founded all previous calculations in European warfare, they also made unex- pected struggles abroad. They repossessed themselves in the West Indies of Guadeloupe and St, Lucia, made good a landing upon several points in the island of Martinique, and made partial descents on the islands of St. Vincent, Grenada, and Marie Galanto. In these various incursions tbey plundered, in the several islands, property to the amount of one thousand eight hundred millions of livres (about £72,000,000). To put an end to these depredations, a fleet was fitted out in the autumn of the year 1795, for the purpose of con- veying a military force to the West Indies; sufficient for not only protecting what yet remained, but recovering that which had been lost. The charge of the land troops was given to Sir Ralph Abercromby, with the appointment ot commander-in-chief of the forces in the West ludies. In consequence of this appointment, he took the command, and hastened the embarkation ; and, although the equinox overtook them, and, in the squalls that usually attend it, several of the transports were lost in the Channel, the fleet made the best of its way to tb© West Indies, and by the month of March, 1796, the troops were landed and in active operation . St. Lucia was speedily captured by a detach- ment of the army under Sir John Moore, as was St. Vincent and Grenada by another under General Knox. Tbe Dutch colonies, Demernra, Essequibo, and Berbice, on the coast of Guiana, likewise fell into the hands of the British about the same time, almost without stroke of sword- The remainder of 1796 having been thus employed, Sir Ralph made preparations for attacking, early in 1797, the Spanish island of Trinidad. For this purpose, the fleet sailed with all the transports, from the island of Curacao on the morning of the 16 tb February, 1707, and next day passed through the Bams into the Gulf of Bria, Digitized by VjOOQ IC 8IB RALPH ABERCROMBY. where they found the Spanish admiral, with four sail of the line and one frigate, at anchor, under cover of the island of Gaspagrande, which was strongly forti- fied. The British squadron immediately anchored opposite, and almost within gun-shot of the Spanish ships. The frigates, with the transports, were sent to anchor higher up the hay, at the distance of about five miles from the town of Port d'Espagne. Dispositions were immediately made for attacking the town and the ships of war next morning by break of day. By two o'clock of the morning, however, the Spanish squadron was observed to be on fire. The ships burned very fast, one only escaping the conflagration, which was taken possession of by the British. The Spaniards, at the same time that they had set their ships of war on fire, evacuated the island. The troops, under Sir Ralph Abercromby, were of course landed without opposition, and the whole colony fell into the hands of the British. Sir Ralph next made an attack upon Porto Rico, in which he was unsuccessful, and shortly after he returned to Britain, and was received .with every mark of respect. He had, in his absence, been complimented with the colonelcy of the second dragoons or Scots Greys, and nominated governor of the Isle of Wight. He was now (1797) advanced to the dignity of the Bath, raised to the rank of a lieutenant-general, and in- vested with the lucrative governments of Fort George and Fort Augustus. The disturbed state of Ireland at this time calling for the utmost vigilance, Sir Ralph Abercromby was appointed to the command of the forces in that unhappy country, where he exerted himself most strenuously, though with less success than could have been wished, to preserve order where any degree of it yet remained, and to restore it where it had been violated. He was particularly anxious, by the strictest attention to discipline, to restore the reputation of the army ; for, according to his own emphatic declaration, it had become more for- midable to its friends than to its enemies. During this command he did not require to direct any military operations in person ; and the Marquis Corn walks having received the double appointment of lord-lieutenant and commander-in- chief of the forces, Sir Ralph transferred his head-quarters to Edinburgh, and, on 31st of May, assumed the command of the forces in Scotland, to which he had been appointed. In the year 1799, an expedition having been planned for Holland, for the purpose of restoring the Prince of Orange to the Stadtholdership, Sir Ralph was again selected to take the chief command. The troops destined for this service being assembled on the coast of Kent, sailed on the 13th of August, under convoy of the fleet which was commanded by Vice- Admiral Mitchell; and, after encountering heavy gales, came to anchor off the Texel, on the 22d of the month. On the 27th, the troops were disembarked to the south-west of the Holder point, without opposition. Scarcely had they begun to move, how- ever, when they were attacked by General Daendels, and a warm, but irregular, action was kept up from five o'clock in the morning till five in the afternoon, after which the enemy retired, leaving the British in possession of a ridge of sand-hills stretching along the coast from south to north. In this day's evolu- tions, the enemy lost upwards of one thousand men, and the British about half that number. Encouraged by this success, Sir Ralph Abercromby determined to seize upon the Holder next morning, when he would be in possession of a seaport, an arsenal, and a fleet The brigades of Generals Moore and Burrard were ordered to be in readiness to make the attack early in the morning; but the garrison was withdrawn through the night, leaving a considerable train of Digitized by VjOOQ IC SIR RiLFH ABERCROMBY- artillery, a naval magazine, thirteen ships of war, and three Indiaraen, which fell Into the hands of the British without opposition, Admiral Mitchell, having shipped pilots at the Helder, immediately stood down into the Tcxei, and offered battle to the Dutch fleet lying there ; the whole of which, consisting of twelve sail of the line, surrendered to the British admiral, the sailors refusing to fight, and compelling their officers to give up the ships for the service of the Prince of Orange. Taking the surrender of the fleet as the criterion of Dutch feeling, the most extravagant hopes of the success of the expedition were enter- tained hy the people of England, The sentiments of the people of Holland, generally, were not as yet in unison with those of her sailors, and every pre- caution was taken for defence. The British army, in the meantime, left the sand-hills, and took np a new position, their right extending to Fetten, on the German Ocean, and their left to Oude Slays on the Zuyder Zee. A fertile country was thus laid open to the invaders; while the canal of Zuyper, imme- diately in front, contributed to strengthen their position, enabling them to remain on the defensive, until the arrival of additional forces. At day-break of 11th September, the combined Dutch and French army attacked the centre and right of the British lines, from St Martins to Fetten, with a force of 10,000 men, which advanced in three columns; the right, com- posed of Dutch troops, commanded by General Baendels, against St. Martins ; the centre, under Do Monceau, upon Zuyper Sluya; and the left, com- posed entirely of French troops, under General Brune, upon Fetten, The attack, particularly on the left and centre, was made with the most daring intrepidity, but was repulsed by the British, and the enemy lost upwards of a thousand men. On this occasion, General Sir John Moore was opposed to General Brune, and distinguished himself by the moat masterly manoeuvres; and, had the British been sufficiently numerous to follow up their advantage, the United Provinces might have shaken off the French yoke even at this early period. The want of numbers was felt too late ; but, to remedy the evil, the Russian troops, engaged for the expedition^ were hastily embarked at the ports of Cronstadt and Revel, to the number of seventeen thousand, under the com- mand of General D 'Hermann, and were speedily upon the scene of action. The Duke of York now arrived as commander-in-chief; and his army, with the Russians and some battalions of Dutch troops, formed of deserters from the Batavian army, and volunteers from the Dutch ships, amounted to upwards of thirty-six thousand men, a force considerably superior to that under Generals Daendels and Brune* In consequence of this, the Duke of York, in concert with D*Hermann, made an immediate attack upon the enemy's position, which was on the heights of Camperdown, and along the high sand-hills, extending from the sea, in front of Petten, to the town of Bergen-op-zoom. Any defi- ciency of numbers on the part of the enemy was far more than counterbalanced hy the advantages of their position ; improved, as it was, by strong entrench- ments at the intermediate villages, and hy the nature of the ground, intersected by wet ditches and canals, whose bridges had been removed, and the roads ren- dered impassable, either by being broken up, or hy means of felled trees stuek in the earth, and placed horizontally, so as to present an almost impenetrable barrier. The attack, however, notwithstanding all disadvantages, was made with the most determined resolution, early on the morning of the 19th of September, and was successful at all points. By eight o'clock in the morning, the Russians, under D'Hermann, had made themselves masters of Bergen-op-zoom ; but they no Digitized by VjOOQ IC 8 SIR RALPH ABRRCROMBY. sooner found the place evacuated, than they flew upon the spoil, and began to plunder the citizens, whom they had professedly come to relieve. The vigilant enemy seized the opportunity to rally his broken battalions, and, being rein- forced from the garrison at Alkmaar, attacked the dispersed Russians with so much impetuosity, that the latter were driven from Bergen-op-zoom to Schorel, with the loss of Generals IVHermann and Tcherchekoff, wounded and taken prisoners. This failure of the Russians compelled the other three columns of the British army to abandon the positions they had already stormed, and return to the station they had left in the morning. For this disappointment three thousand prisoners taken in the engagement was but a poor recompense ; while the impression made upon the minds of the Dutch, by the conduct of the Rus- sians, was incalculably injurious to the objects of the expedition. The conflict was renewed on the 2d of October, by another attack on the whole line of the enemy, the troops advancing, as before, in four columns, under Generals Aber- cromby, D'Esson* Dundas, and Pulteney. The centre ascended the sand-hills at Campe, and carried the heights of Schorel ; and, after a vigorous contest, the Russians and British obtained possession of the whole range of sand-hills in the neighbourhood of Bergen-op-zoom ; but the severest conflict, and that which decided the fate of the day, was sustained by the first column under Sir Ralph Abercromby. He had marched without opposition to within a mile of Egmont- op-Zee, where a large body of cavalry and infantry waited to receive him. Here Sir John Moore led his brigade to the charge in person ; he was met by a counter-charge of the enemy, and the conflict was maintained till evening with unexampled fury. The Marquis of Huntly, who, with his regiment (the ninety-second), was eminently distinguished, received a wound by a musket- ball in the shoulder; and General Sir John Moore, after receiving two severe wounds, was reluctantly carried off the field. Sir Ralph Abercromby had two horses shot under him, but he continued to animate the troops by his example, and the most desperate efforts of the enemy were unavailing. Their loss in this day's engagement was upwards of four thousand men. During the night they abandoned their posts on the Lange Dyke and at Bergen-op-zoom, and next day the British took up the positions that had been occupied by the French at Alkmaar and Egmont-op-Zee. Brune having taken up a strong position be* tween Beverwyck and the Zuyder Zee, it was determined to dislodge him before the arrival of his daily-expected reinforcements. In the first movements made for this purpose the British met with little opposition ; but the Russians, under General D'Esson, attempting to gain a height near Buccum, were sud- denly charged by an overwhelming body of the enemy. Sir Ralph Abercromby, observing the critical situation of the Russians, hastened with his column to support them. The enemy also sent up fresh forces, and the action, undesignedly by either party, became general along the whole line, from Lemmen to the sea, and was contested on both sides with the most determined obstinacy. About two o'clock in the afternoon, the right and centre of the Anglo-Russian army began to lose ground, and retire upon Egmont • where, with the co-operation of the brigade under Major-General Coote, they succeeded in keeping the enemy in check during the remainder of the day. Evening closed over the comba- tants, darkened by deluges of rain; yet the work of mutual destruction knew no intermission. The fire of musketry, which ran in undulating lines along the hills, with the thunder-flash of the artillery, and the fiery train of the death-charged shell, lighted up with momentary and fitful blaze the whole Digitized by Google SIR BALPH ABERCROMBY. 9 horizon. About ten o'clock at night, worn out by such a lengthened period of exertion, though their mutual hostility was not in the least abated, the con- tending parties ceased fighting, and the British were left in possession of the ground upon which they had fought, with upwards of two thousand of their companions lying dead around them. General Brune was, in the course of the night or next morning, reinforced by an addition of six thousand men, and the ground he occupied was by nature, and art rendered nearly impregnable. The British lay through the night exposed to the weather, which was terrible, on the naked sand-hills ; their clothing drenched, and their arms and ammunition rendered useless by the rain. Nor was the inhoepitality of the people less than that of the elements ; the greater part being violently hostile, and the remainder sunk in supine indifference. Retreat was therefore a measure of necessity, and next night, the 7th of October, about ten o'clock, amidst a deluge of rain, the troops marched back to their former station at Petten and Alkmaar, which they reached without immediate pursuit or any serious loss. To embark, how- ever, upon such a shore, and in the face of such an enemy, without great loss, was impossible; and, to prevent the unnecessary effusion of blood, an armistice was proposed by the Duke of York, till the troops should be quietly embarked. The French general was willing to accede to the proposal, provided the Dutch fleet were restored, and all forts, dykes, &c, &c, left as they had been taken; or, if any improvements had been made upon them, in their improved state. To the first part of the proposal the duke utterly refused for a moment to listen ; and, being in possession of the principal dykes, he threatened to break them down and inundate the country. The fleet was not given up ; but in lieu thereof, eight thousand French and Dutch prisoners, that had been taken pre- vious to this campaign, were to be restored, with all that had been taken in it. the Dutch seamen excepted. The troops were instantly embarked, and safely landed in England, with the exception of the Russians, who were landed in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. Though this expedition totally failed in its main object — the liberation of Holland — it was not without advantage. The capture of the Dutch fleet, in the then state of affairs, was of very considerable importance. Nor was the impression it left upon the enemy of the superior skill of British officers, particularly of the subject of this memoir, and the daring valour of British troops, without its use in the succeeding periods of the war. Sir Ralph Abercromby, now a universal favourite, and esteemed the most skilful officer in the British service, was appointed in the month of June, 1800, to command the troops sent out upon a secret expedition to the Medi- terranean, and which were for the time quartered on the island of Minorca, where he arrived on the 22d of June. The very next day the troops were embarked for Leghorn, where they arrived on the 9th of July ; but in conse- quence of an armistice between the French and the Austrian*, they were not allowed to land. Part of them now proceeded to Malta, and the remainder sailed back to Minorca. Sir Ralph himself arrived again at that island on the 26th of July, and on the 3d of September the troops were again embarked, and on the 14th the fleet came to anchor off Europa point in the bay of Gib* raltar. On the 20th the armament sailed for the bay of Tetuan to procure water, and on the 23d returned to Gibraltar. In a few days the fleet was again ordered to rendezvous in the bay of Tetuan ; and, on the 30th of October, the whole, consisting of upwards of two hundred sail, came to anchor off Cadiz, and Digitized by Google 10 SIR RALPH ABERCROMBY. , — — — * ■■■- „ - preparations were, .made for lauding the troops without delay. On the 6th the troops got into the boats, and everything was ready for the disembarkation. In consequence of a flag of Jruce from the shore, the landing was delayed, and in the afternoon the troops returned to their respective ships. The negotiations between the commanders having failed, the order was renewed for disembarking the troops next day. This order was again countermanded about midnight ; the morning became stormy, and at break of day the signal was made for the fleet to weigh, and by the afternoon the whole fleet was again under sail. Pari of the forces were now ordered for Portugal under the command of general Sir James Pulteney, and the remainder for Malta, where they arrived about the middle of November. Than this sailing backwards and forwards, nothing was ever exhibited more strongly indicative of extreme folly and absolute imbecility in the national councils. It was now resolved by the British government to drive the French out of Egypt, and the armament, which had uselessly rolled about the Medi- terranean for so many months, was appointed for that purpose. Sir Ralph Abercromby, accordingly, embarked at Malta on the 20th of December for the bay of Marmorice, on the coast of Caramania ; where cavalry horses were to be procured, and stores collected for the expedition, which, it was cal- culated, would sail for Alexandria by the 1st of January, 1801. Many things, however, occurred to retard their preparations. Among others of a like nature, three hundred horses, purchased by order of Lord Elgin, the British ambassador at Constantinople, were found, when they arrived at Marmorice, so small and bo galled in their backs, as to be of no use, so that it was found necessary to shoot some, and to sell others at the low price of a dollar a-piece. It was believed that Lord Elgin had paid for a very different description of hones, but the per- sons to whose care they had been confided had found their account in changing them by the way. Good horses were procured by parties sent into the country for that purpose ; but the sailing of the expedition was in consequence delayed till the end of February, instead of the first of January, as had been originally intended ; and from the state of the weather, and other casualties, the landing could not be attempted before the 8th of March, on which day it was accom- plished in Aboukir Bay, in a manner that reflected the highest honour on the British troops. During this delay Bonaparte had found means to reinforce his army in Egypt, and furnish it with all necessary stores ; and the weather, pre- venting the immediate disembarkation of the troops, enabled the French to make every preparation to receive them. The sand-hills which form the coast, they had lined with numerous bodies of infantry, and every height was bristling with artillery. A most tremendous discharge of grape-shot and shells from the bat- teries, and of musketry from the infantry that lined the shore, seemed for a moment to stay the progress of the boats as they approached. But it was only for a moment. The rowers swept through the iron tempest to the beach ; the troops leaped on shore, formed as they advanced, and rushing up the slippery declivity without firing a shot, drove the enemy from their position at the point of the bayonet. Successive bodies, as they were disembarked, proceeded to the help of their precursors, and, in spite of every obstruction, the whole army was landed before night ; and Sir Ralph Abercromby advancing three miles into the country, took up a position with his right resting upon lake Madyeh or Aboukir, and his left stretching to the Mediterranean. On the 12th he moved forward to attack the French, who were most advantageously posted on a ridge of sand- Digitized by VjOOQ IC SIR RALPH ABERCROtfBT. \\ hills, their right towards the sea, and their left resting upon the canal of Alex- andria* On the morning of the 13th, the army marched in two lines by the left, to turn the right flank of the enemy. Aware of this, the French, with their whole cavalry, &a ^ a considerable body of infantry, poured down from the heights and attacked the heads of both lines, but were repulsed by the advanced guard, consisting of the 90th and 92nd regiments, with incomparable gallantry. The first line then formed into two, and advanced, while the second line turned the right of the French army, and drove it from its position. The enemy, however, made a regular retreat, and contested every inch of ground till they had reached the heights of Nicopolis, which form the principal defence of Alex- andria. Anxious to carry these heights, Sir Ralph Abercromby unfortu- nately ordered forward the reserve under Sir John Moore, and the second line under general Hutcheson, to attack (the latter the right, and the former the left) both flanks at once. Advancing into the open plain, they were exposed to the whole range of the enemy's shot, which they hod it not in their power to return; and, after all, the position was found to he commanded by the guns of the forts of Alexandria, so that it could not have been kept though they had stormed it. They were accordingly withdrawn, but with a most serious loss of men ; and the British army took up the ground from which the enemy had been driven, occupying a position with its right to the sea and its left to the canal of Alexandria; a situation of great advantage, as it cut off all communication with Alexandria, except by the way of the Desert In this action, Sir Ralph was nearly enveloped in the charge of the French cavalry, and was only saved by the intrepidity of the 00th regiment. The garrison of Aboukir surrendered on the 18th ; but to counterbalance this advantage, the French commander-in-chief, Bfenou, arrived at Alexandria from Cairo on the 20th, with a reinforcement of nine thousand men. Expecting to take the British by surprbe, Menou, next morning, March the 21st* between three and Four o'clock, attacked their position with his whole force, amounting to from eleven to twelve thousand men. The action was commenced by a false attack on the left, their main strength being directed against the right, upon which they advanced in great force and with a prodigious noise, shouting, "Vive la France I Vive la Republique 1" They wero received, however, with perfect coolness by the British troops, who not only checked the impetuosity of the infantry, but repulsed several charges of cavalry. Greater courage was perhaps never exhibited than on this occasion : the different corps of hoth nations rivalled each other in the most determined bravery, and pre- sented the extraordinary spectacle of an engagement in front, flanks, and rear, at the same time ; so much were the contending parties intermingled. Nine hundred of Bonaparte's best soldiers, and from their tried valour denominated Invincibles, succeeded in turning the right of the British, between the walls of a large ruin and a battery. Three times did they storm the battery, and three times were the successive parties exterminated- Getting at last into the rear of the reserve, the 42nd and the 28th regiments charged them with the bayonet, and drove them step hy step into the inclosure of the ruin ; where, between six and seven hundred of them being already stretched lifeless on the ground, the remainder called out for quarter, and were mode prisoners. Not one of thein returned,. Equally determined was theiT attack on the centre, and it was there repelled with equal success. A heavy column having broken through the line, the cavalry accompanying it wheeled to their left and charged the rear of the » ; but this charge was broken by the accidental state of the ground, which Digitized by VjOOQ IC 12 SIB RALPH ABKRCROMBY. had been excavated into pit-holes about three feet deep for the men to sleep in, before the arrival of their camp equipage. Over these holes they had to make their charge, and in consequence were completely routed, more than three hun- dred of them being left dead on the spot Finding all his movements frustrated, Menou at length ordered a retreat, which he was able to effect in good order ; the British having too few cavalry to pursue. His loss was supposed to be between three and four thousand men, including many officers, among whom were general Raize, commander of the cavalry, who fell in the field, and two generals who died of their wounds. The loss of the British was also heavy, upwards of seventy officers being killed, wounded, and missing. Among these was the lamented commander-in-chief. Having hastened, on the first alarm, towards the cannonading, Sir Ralph must have ridden straight among the enemy* who had already broken the front Jine and got into its rear. It was not yet day, and, being unable to distinguish friend from foe, he must have been emliar- rassed among the assailants, but he was extricated by the valour of his troops, To the first soldier that came up to him, he said, " Soldier, if you know me, don't name me," A French dragoon, at the moment, conjecturing the prize he had lost, rode up to Sir Ralph, and made a cut at him, but not being near enough, only cut through the clothes, and grazed the skin with the point of his sabre. The dragoon's horse wheeling about, brought him again to the charge, and he made a second attempt by a lounge, but the sabre passed between Sir Ralph's side and his rL'ht arm. The dragoon being at the instant shot dead, the sabre remained with the general* About the same time it was discovered that he had been wounded in the thit*h, and was entreated to have the wound examined ; but be treated it as a trifle, and would not for a moment leave the field. No sooner, however, had the enemy begun to retreat, and the excitement of feeling tinder which he had been acting to subside, than he fainted from pain and the loss of blood. His wound was now examined, and a large incision made in order to extract the hall, but it could not be found. He was then put upon a litter, and carried aboard the Foudroyant, where he languished till the 23th, when he died. His body was interred in the burial ground of the cornmandery of the Grand Master, under the walls of the castle of St Elan, near the town of Valetta in Malta* Of the character of Sir Ralph Abercromhy there can be but one opinion Bred to arms almost from his infancy, he appeared to be formed for command. His dispositions were always masterly, and his success certain. He had served in America, in the West Indies, in Ireland, in the Netherlands, in Holland, and In Egypt, and had in all of these countries gained Jumaidf great distinction. In the two latter countries, especially, he performed services that were of incalculable advantage to hb country. The battle of the 21st of March, or of Alexandria, while it decided the fate of Egypt, left an impression of British skill and of British valour upon the minds of both her friends and her enemies, that materially con- tributed to the splendid results of a contest longer in continuance, and involving interests of greater magnitude, than Britain had ever before been engaged in. The manner in which ho repressed the licentiousness of the troops in Ireland, wa* at once magnanimous and effective ; and he ended a life of dignified exertion by a death worthy of a hero. "We have sustained an irreparable loss," says his suc- cessor, ** in the person of our never enough to be lamented commander-in-chief, Sir Ralph Abercromby ; but it h some consolation to those who tenderly loved him, that, as his life was honourable, so was his death glorious. His memory Digitized by Google JOHN ABBRNETHY. 13 will be recorded in the annals of hie country, will be sacred to every British soldier, and embalmed in the recollection of a grateful posterity." 1 Sir Ralph Abercromby was married to Mary Anne, daughter of John Menzies of Fernton, Perthshire ; by whom he had issue four sons and three daughters, who survived him. On the official account reaching England of the fate of her lamented husband, his widow was elevated to the peerage, May 28, 1801, as Baroness Abercromby of Aboukir and Tullibody, with remainder to the heirs- male of the deceased general; and, on the recommendation of his majesty, the House of Commons, without one dissentient voice, granted an annuity of two thousand pounds to Lady Abercromby, and the next two succeeding male heirs of the body of Sir Ralph Abercromby, to whom the title of Baron Abercromby should descend. The House of Commons, farther, sensible of the great merits of this distinguished British commander, voted a monument to his memory, at the public expense, which was subsequently erected in St Paul's cathedral. ABERNETHY, John, an eminent writer on physiology. The birth and parentage of this gentleman were so obscure, that it is impossible to say with * certainty whether he was a native of Ireland or of Scotland. It is even affirmed that he was himself ignorant of the country of his birth. Upon the supposition that he was born in Scotland, his name is introduced in the present work. The date of his birth is given loosely as 1763-64. His parents having brought him in his infancy to London, he commenced his education at a day-school in Lothbury, where he acquired the elements of classical literature. Haying afterwards been bound apprentice to Mr Charles Blick, surgeon to St Bartholomew's Hospital, he had the advantage of attending that noble institution, where he eagerly seized every opportunity of making himself practically acquainted with his profession. He also had the advantage of attending the lectures of Mr John Hunter, at the time when that gentleman was commencing the development of those great discoveries which have made his name so famous. The curiosity which those discoveries excited in the public at large, was felt in an uncommon degree by Mr Abernethy, whose assiduity and ardour as a pupil attracted the notice of the lecturer, and rendered the latter his friend for life. While as yet a very young practitioner, his reputation procured for Mr Abernethy the situation of assistant-surgeon at St Bartholomew's, and he soon after commenced a course of lectures in the hospital, which, though not rery successful at first, became in time the most frequented of any in London, so as to lay the foundation of a medical school of the highest reputation in connection with this institution. On the death of Sir Charles Blick, his former master, Mr Abernethy, now considered as the best teacher of anatomy, physiology, and surgery in the metropolis, was elected surgeon to the hospital. The first publications of Mr Abernethy were a few Physiological Essays, and one on Lumbar Abscess, which, with some additions, formed his first volume, published 1793-97, in 8vo, under the title of "Surgical and Physiological 1 The following panegyric upon Sir Ralph in another character, was written before hia death:— "As a country gentleman, ever attentive to all within the circle of hia movement, he stands high in the estimation of hie neighbours and dependents ; and when his military glory shall have fallen into oblivion, it will be gratefully remembered that he was the friend of the destitute poor, the patron of usef al knowledge, and the promoter of education among the meanest of his cottagers: as an instance it may be mentioned, that in the village of Tullibody, on his paternal estate, a reading school, under bis immediate inspection, was established many years back."— CampbeWs Journey through Scotland, 4to, 1809; vol. ii. Digitized by VjOOQ IC U JOHN ABERNETHY. Essays." These were characterized by the same strong seme, and plain and forcible illustration, which marked everything that flowed from his tongue and pen till the end of his life. In 1804 appeared another volume, entitled, " Sur- gical Observations, containing a classification of tumours, with cases to illustrate the history of each species ; an account of Diseases," &c. ; and, in 1806, " Sur- gical Observations, Part Second, containing an account of Disorders of the Health in general, and of the digestive organs in particular, which accompany local diseases, and obstruct their cure." The fame of these treatises soon spread, not only throughout England, but over the continent of Europe; and the French surgeons, especially, did homage to the masterly spirit they evinced. Bold and successful operations, practical and lucid descriptions, original and comprehensive views, all combined to enhance the great reputation of the author, and to elevate the character of the national school of which he was so bright an ornament. In 1814* Mr Abernethy received what might be considered as the highest honour which his profession had to bestow, in being appointed anatomical lec- turer to the Royal College of Surgeons. An aneadote illustrative of his sound integrity is told in reference to this era of his life. A fellow of the college having remarked to him, that now they should have something new, Mr Aber- nethy seriously asked him what he meant. " Why," said the other, " of course you will brush up the lectures which you have, been so long delivering at St Bartholomew's Hospital, and let us have them in an improved form." "Do you take me for a fool or a knave? 1 ' rejoined Mr Abernethy, " I have always given the students at the Hospital that to which they are entitled— the best produce of my mind. If I could have made my lectures to them better, I would instantly have made them so. I will give the College of Surgeons precisely the same lectures, down to the smallest details." In the year of this honourable appointment, he published, " An Inquiry into the Probability and Rationality of Mr Hunter's Theory of Life'; being the subject of the two first lectures delivered before the Royal College of Surgeons of London." The aim of these lectures was to elucidate the doctrine previously laid down by Mr Hunter, that " life, in general, is some principle of activity added by the will of Omnipotence to organized structure, an immaterial soul being superadded, in man, to the structure and vitality which he possesses in common with other animals." Of this work, it is generally allowed that the intentions are better than the philosophy. Previously to this period, Mr Abernethy had published other treatises besides those already named. One of the most remarkable was, " Surgical Observa- tions on the Constitutional Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases, and on Aneurism," 8vo, 1809. His memorable cases of tying the iliac artery for aneurism are detailed in this volume ; cases which may almost be said to form an era in adventurous surgical experiment. Mr Abernethy also wrote works on " Diseases resembling Syphilis, and on Diseases of the Urethra;" "On Injuries of the Head, and Miscellaneous Subjects ;" and another volume of Physiological Essays, He was likewise the author of the anatomical and physiological articles in Rees*s Cyclopedia, previous to the article u Canal" Among his various accomplishments, must be ranked a considerable acquaintance with chemistry ; and one of his numerous honours is the having, in company with Mr Howard, discovered fulminating mercury. Besides his business as a lecturer, Mr Abernethy enjoyed a vast and lucrative Digitized by VjOOQ IC JOHN ABERXETHTf. 15 practice aa a surgeon. His manner in both capacities was marked by many eccentricities, but particularly in the latter* He could not endure the tedious nod confused narratives which patients are apt to lay before a consulting surgeon, and, in checking- these, was not apt to regard much the rules of good-breeding Considerable risks were thus encountered for the sake of his advice ; but this was generally so excellent, that those who required it were seldom afraid to hazard the slight offence to their feelings with which it was liable to be accom- panied. Many anecdotes of Mr Abemethy's rencounters with his patients are preserved in the profession. The two following are given in Sir James Eyre'a recent work, "The Stomach and its Difficulties :'*— u A very talkative lady, who had wearied the temper of Mr Abernethy, which was at all times impatient of gabble, was told by him, the first moment that he could get a chance of speaking, to be good enough to put out her tongue. * Now, pray, madam,' said he, playfully, 'keep it out/ The hint was taken. He rarely met with his match, but on one occasion he fairly owned that he had. He was sent for to an innkeeper, who had had a quarrel with his wife, and who had scored his f;ice with her nails, so that the poor man waa bleeding, and much disfigured, Mr Abernethy considered this an opportunity not to be lost for admonishing ihe offender, and said, * Madam, are you not ashamed of yourself to treat your husband thus; the husband, who is the head of all, your head, madam, in fact?* * Well, doctor,' fiercely retorted the virago, * and may I not scratch my own head?* Upon this her friendly adviser, after giving directions for the benefit of the patient^ turned upon his heel, and confessed himself beaten for once," But abruptness and rudeness were not his only eccentricities. He carried prac- tical benevolence to a pitch as far from the common line as any of his other peculiarities. Where poverty and disease prevented patients from waiting upon him in his own house, he was frequently known, not only to visit them con- stantly, and at inconvenient distances, without fee or reward, but generously to supply them from his own purse with what their wants required. Perhaps the most striking, out of the numerous anecdotes which have been related of him, in illustration of his eccentricities, is one descriptive of his courtship, or rather of his no -courtship, " While attending a lady for several weeks, he observed those admirable qualifications in her daughter, which he truly esteemed to be calculated to make the marriage state happy. Accordingly, on a Saturday, when taking leave of his patient, he addressed her to the following purport : — * You are now 00 well that I need not see you after Monday next, when I shall come and pay you my farewell visit. But, in the meantime, I wish you and your daughter seriously to consider the proposal I am now about to make. It is abrupt and unceremonious, I am aware ; but the excessive occupation of my time, by my professional duties, affords me no leisure to accomplish what I desire by the more ordinary course of attention and solicitation. My annual receipts amount to £ , and I can settle j£ on my wife ; my character is generally known to the public, so that you may readily ascertain what it is. I hare seen in your daughter a tender and affectionate child, an assiduous and careful nurse, and a gentle and ladylike member of a family ; such a person must be all that a husband could covet, and I offer my hand and fortune for her acceptance. On Monday, when I call, I shall expect your determination ; for I really have not time for the routine of courtship.' In this humour the lady was wooed and won, and the union proved fortunate in every respect, A hap- pier couple never existed.'* Digitized by VjOOQ IC 16 ALEXANDER AD|M. After a life of great activity, and which proved of much immediate and remote service to mankind, the subject of this memoir expired, at Enfield, on the 20th of April, 1831. ADAM, Alexander, an eminent grammarian and writer on Roman antiqui- ties, was born at Coats of Bnrgie, in the parish of RafFord, and county of Moray, about the month of June, 1741. His father, John Adam, rented one of those small farms which were formerly so common in the north of Scotland. In his earlier years, like many children of his own class, and even of a class higher removed above poverty, he occasionally tended his father's cattle. Being des- tined by his parents, poor as they were, for a learned profession, he was kept at the parish school till he was thought fit to come forward as a bursar, at the university of Aberdeen. He made this attempt, but failed, and was requested by the judges to go back and study for another year at school. This incident only stimulated him to fresh exertions. He was prevented, however, from renewing his attempt at Aberdeen, by the representations of the Rev. Mr Wat- son, a minister at Edinburgh, and a relation of his mother, who induced him to try his fortune in the metropolis. He removed thither early in the year 1758; but, it appears, without any assured means of supporting himself during the progress of his studies. For a considerable time, while attending the classes at the college, the only means of subsistence he enjoyed, consisted of the small sum of one guinea per quarter, which he derived from Mr Alan Macconochie, (after- wards Lord Meadowbank), for assisting him in the capacity of a tutor. The details of his system of life at this period, as given by his biographer Mr Hen- derson, are painfully interesting. " He lodged in a small room at Restalrig, in the north-eastern suburbs ; and for this accommodation he paid fourpence a- week. All his meals, except dinner, uniformly consisted of oat-meal made into porridge, together with small beer, of which he only allowed himself half a bottle at a time. When he wished to dine, he purchased a penny loaf at the nearest baker's shop ; and, if the day was fair, he would despatch his meal in a walk to the Meadows or Hope Park, which is adjoining to the southern part of the city ; but if the weather was foul, he had recourse to some long and lonely stair, which he would climb, eating his dinner at every step. By this means all expense for cookery was avoided, and he wasted neither coal nor candles ; for, when he was chill, he used to run till his blood began to glow, and his evening studies were always prosecuted under the roof of some one or other of his companions." There are many instances, we believe, among Scottish students, of the most rigid self-denial, crowned at length by splendid success ; but there is certainly no case known in which the self-denial was so chastened, and the triumph so grand, as that of Dr Adam. In 1761, when he was exactly twenty, he stood a trial for the situation of head teacher in George Watson's Hospital, Edinburgh, and was successful. In this place he is said to have continued about three years ; during which, he was anxiously engaged in cultivating an intimacy with the classics— reading, with great care, and in a critical manner, the works of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Cicero, and Livy. His views were now directed towards the church, and ha was on the eve of being licensed as a preacher of the gospel, when suddenly a prospect opened befoie him of becoming assistant, with the hope of being eventually the successor, of Mr Matheson, rector of the High School. This appointment he obtained, and in 1771 the increased infirmities of Mr Matheson threw the whole of this charge into the hands of Mr Adam. Digitized by Google ALEXANDER ADAM. 17 The time when he assumed this respectable office was very fortunate. Every department of knowledge in Scotland was at this period adorned by higher names than had ever before graced it ; and hence the office of Master in the principal elementary school of the country presented to a man of superior qualifications a fair opportunity of distinguishing himself. This opportunity was not lost upon Mr Adam. He devoted himself with singular assiduity to his duties ; and, under his auspices, the school gradually increased in numbers and reputa- tion. Soon after his appointment, he began to compose a series of works to facilitate the study of the Latin language. His Rudiments of Latin and English Grammar were published in 1772, and, though composed in a style which appeared to the generality of teachers as a dreadful schism and heresy, met with the approbation of a discerning few, whose praise was sufficient to overbalance the censure of the multitude. His offence consisted in the novel attempt to teach the grammatical rules of Latin in English prose, instead of Latin prose or verse, which latter had been the time-honoured fashion of the schools both of England and Scotland, since the days of the Reformation. The daring innovator was assailed with a storm of abuse by numerous individuals, more especially by those of his own profession. Among those who took an active part in condemning his work, Dr Gilbert Stuart was very conspicuous. This extraordinary litterateur was a relation of Ruddiman; and, as an additional incentive to his hostility, conceived that Adam had gained the rectorship of the High School more by interest than by merit He accordingly filled the periodical works of the day with ridicule and abuse directed against the unfortunate grammar. Amongst other pasquinades, appeared an account, in Latin, of a Roman funeral, in which that work was personified as the dead body, while the chief mourner was meant to represent Mr Adam, sorrowing for the untimely fete of his best-beloved child. The other persons officiating are introduced under the technical terms in use among the ancient Romans ; and, to heighten the ridicule, and give it aid from local circumstances, the ingenious satirist placed in front of the mourners, a poor lunatic of the name of Duff, well known in Edinburgh at the time for his punctual attendance at the head of all funeral processions. While his work was still the subject of i ensure, the ingenious author was partly compensated for all his sufferings by a degree of LL.D., which was conferred upon him by the College of Edinburgh, tn 1780. Some years after, the grammar began gradually to make its way in schools, and finally he had the satisfaction of seeing it adopted in his own seminary. Among the great names which at an early period had sanctioned it with their approbation, are those of Lord Blames, Bishop Lowth, and Dr Yin- cent, Master of St Paul's school. The next work of Dr Adam is entitled, A Summary of Geography and His- tory, but the date of the first edition is not mentioned by his biographer. In 1791, he published his excellent compendium of Roman Antiquities, and in 1800 his Classical Biography ; for the copyright of the former he received £600, and for that of the latter £900. Dr Adam's last, and perhaps his most laborious work, was his Latin Dictionary, published in 1805. Towards the . beginning, his illustrations are brief, but, as he proceeds, they gradually become more copious. It was his intention to add an Engliah-and-Latin part, and to enlarge the other to a considerable extent. In this favourite plan he had made some progress at the time of his death. On the 13th of December, 1809, Dr Adam was seized in the High School with Digitized by VjOOQ l€ 18 ROBERT ADAM. on alarming indisposition, which had all the appearance of apoplexy. Having been conducted home, he was put to bed, and enjoyed a sound sleep, which appeared to have arrested the progress of the disease, for he was afterwards able to walk about his room. The apoplectic symptoms, however, returned in a few days, and he fell into a state of stupor. His last words marked the gradual darkening of the ray of life and intellect beneath this mortal disorder. He said, " It grows dark, boys — you may go — " his mind evidently wandering at that moment to the scene where he had spent the better part of his life. This twi- light soon settled down into the night of death : he expired early in the morn- ing of the 18th December, 1809. The death of the amiable and excellent Dr Adam operated, among his numerous friends and admirers, like a shock of elec- tricity. Men of all ages and denominations were loud in lamenting an event which had bereaved them of a common benefactor. The effect of the general feeling was a resolution to honour him with what is a very rare circumstance in Scotland, a public funeral. The life of Dr Adam proves, had any proof been wanting, the possibility of rising to distinction in this country from any grade of life, and through what- soever intervening difficulties. In 1758 and 1759 he was a student living at the inconceivably humble rate of four guineas a-year ; in ten years thereafter, he had qualified himself for, and attained, a situation which, in Scotland, is an object of ambition to men of considerable literary rank. The principal features of his character were, unshaken independence and integrity, ardour in the cause of public liberty, the utmost purity of manners and singleness of heart, and a most indefatigable power of application to the severest studies. " His external appear- ance was that of a scholar who dressed neatly for his own sake, but who had never incommoded himself with fashion in the cut of his coat, or in the regula- tion of his gait. Upon the street he often appeared in a studious attitude, and in winter always walked with his hands crossed, and thrust into his sleeves. His features were regular and manly, and he was above the middle size. In his well-formed proportions, and in his firm regular pace, there appeared the marks of habitual temperance. He must have been generally attractive in his early days, and, in his old age, his manners and conversation enhanced the value and interest of every qualification. When he addressed his scholars, when he com- mended excellence, or when he was seated at his own fireside with a friend on whom he could rely, it was delightful to be near him ; and no man could leave his company without declaring that he loved Dr Adam." ADAM, Robert, an eminent architect, was born at Edinburgh in the year 1728. His father, William Adam, of Maryburgh, in the county of Fife, also distinguished himself as an architect ; Hopetoun House, and the Royal Infir- mary at Edinburgh, are specimens of his abilities. Robert, the second son, inherited his father's taste, and lived in a time more favourable to its develop- ment. He was educated in the university of Edinburgh, where he enjoyed the kind attentions of Robertson, Smith, and Ferguson; all of whom were his father's friends. As he advanced in life, he was on friendly and intimate terms with Archibald Duke of Argyle, Sir Charles Townshend, and the Earl of Mansfield. About the year 1754, with a view to improve his knowledge of architecture, he travelled on the continent, and resided three years in Italy, where he surveyed the magnificent specimens of Roman architecture ; the buildings of the ancients, in his opinion, being the proper school of the architectural student. But while he beheld with much pleasure the remains of the public buildings of the Romans, Digitized by Google ROBERT ADAH. 19 lie regretted to perceive that hardly a vestige of their private houses or villas was anywhere to be found. In tracing the progress of Roman architecture, he had remarked that it had declined previous to the age of Dioclesian ; but he was also convinced that the liberality and munificence of that emperor had revived, daring his reign, a better taste, and had formed artists who were capable of imi- tating the more elegant styles of the preceding ages. He had seen this remark- ably exemplified in the public baths at Rome, which were erected by Dioclesian. The interest which he felt in this particular branch of Roman remains, and his anxiety to behold a good specimen of the private buildings of this wonderful people, induced him to undertake a voyage to Spalatro in Dalmatia, to visit and examine the palace of Dioclesian, where, after his resignation of the empire, in 305, that emperor spent the last nine years of his life. He sailed from Venice in 1754, accompanied by two experienced draughtsmen, and M. Clerisseau, a French antiquary and artist. On their arrival at Spalatro, they found that the palace had not suffered less from dilapidations by the inhabitants, to procure materials for building, than from the injuries of time; and that, in many places, the very foundations of the ancient structures were covered with modern houses. When they began their labours, the vigilant jealousy of the government was alarmed, and they were soon interrupted ; for suspecting their object was to view and make plans of the fortifications, the governor issued a peremptory order, commanding them to desist. It was only through the influence and mediation of General Graeme, the commander-in-chief of the Venetian forces (probably a Scotsman), that they were at length permitted to resume their labours; and in five weeks they finished plans and views of the remaining frag- ments, from which they afterwards executed perfect designs of the whole build- ing. Mr Adam soon after returned to England, and speedily rose to professional eminence. In 1762, he was appointed architect to their majesties, and in the year following he published, in one volume large folio, " Ruins of the Palace of the emperor Dioclesian at Spalatro, in Dalmatia." This splendid work con- tains seventy-one plates, besides letter-press descriptions. He had at this time been elected a member of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, and in 1768 he was elected to represent Kinross-shire in Parliament; which was probably owing to the local influence of his family. A seat in the House of Commons being incompatible with employment under the crown, he now resigned his office as architect to their majesties ; but continued to prosecute his professional career with increasing reputation, being much employed by the English nobility and gentry in constructing new and embellishing ancient mansions. In the year 1773, in conjunction with his brother, James Adam, who also rose to considerable reputation as an architect, he commenced " The Works in Archi- tecture of R. and J. Adam," which before 1776 had reached a fourth number, and was a work of equal splendour with the one above referred to. The four numbers contain, among other productions, Sion House, Caen Wood, Luton Park House, the Gateway of the Admiralty, and the General Register House at Edinburgh ; all of which have been admired for elegant design and correct taste ; though the present age, in its rage for a severe simplicity, might desire the absence of certain minute ornaments, with which the Adams were accustomed to fill up vacant spaces. Before this period, the two brothers had reared in London that splendid monument of their taste, the Adelphi ; which, however, was too extensive a speculation to be profitable. They were obliged, in 1774, to obtain an act of parliament to dispose of the houseai>y way of lottery. The Digitized by Google 20 HENRY ADAMSON. chief Scottish designs of Adam, besides the Register Office, were the new addi- tions to the University of Edinburgh, and the Infirmary of Glasgow. " We have also seen and admired/' says a biographer, * elegant designs executed by Mr Adam, which were intended for the South Bridge and South Bridge Street of Edinburgh ; and which, if they had been adopted, would hare added much to the decoration of that part of the town. But they were considered unsuit- able to the taste or economy of the times, and were therefore rejected. Strange incongruities," continues the same writer, "appear in some buildings which have been erected from designs by Mr Adam. But of these it must be observed, that they have been altered or mutilated in execution, according to the conve- nience or taste of the owner ; and it is well known that a slight deviation changes the character and mars the effect of the general design. A lady of rank was furnished by Mr Adam with the design of a house ; but on examining the build- ing after it was erected, he was astonished to find it out of all proportion. On inquiring the cause, he was informed that the pediment he had designed was too small to admit a piece of new sculpture which represented the arms of the family, and, by the date which it bore, incontestably proved its antiquity. It was therefore absolutely necessary to enlarge the dimensions of the pediment to receive this ancient badge of family honour, and sacrifice the beauty and proportion of the whole building. We have seen a large public building which was also designed by Mr Adam ; but when it was erected, the length was cur- tailed of the space of two windows, while the other parts remained according to the original plan. It now appears a heavy unsightly pile, instead of exhibiting that elegance of proportion and correctness of style which the faithful execu- tion of Mr Adam's design would have probably given it To the last period of his life, Mr Adam displayed the same vigour of genius and refinement of taste ; for in the space of one year immediately preceding his death, he designed eight great public works, besides twenty-five private buildings, so various in style, and beautiful in composition, that they have been allowed by the best judges to be sufficient of themselves to establish his fame as an unrivalled artist." Mr Adam died on the 3d of March, 1792, by the bursting of a blood-Teasel, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It remains only to be said that, while his works commanded the admiration of the public, his natural suavity of manners, joined to his excellent moral character, had made a deep impression upon the circle of his own private friends. His brother James, who has been referred to as associated with him in many of his works, died October 20, 1794. AD AMSON, Henry, a poet of the seventeenth century, and probably a rela- tive of the subject of the following article, was the son of James Adamson, who was dean of guild in Perth, anno 1600, when the Gowrie conspiracy took place in that city. The poet was educated for the pulpit, and appears to have made considerable progress in classical studies, as he wrote Latin poetry above medio- crity. He enjoyed the friendship and esteem of a large circle of the eminent men of that age, particularly Drummond of Hawthornden, who induced him, in 1698, to publish a poem entitled, " Mirthful Musings for the death of Mr Gall ;" being in fact a versified history of his native town, full of quaint alle- gorical allusions suitable to the taste of that age. A new edition of this curious poem, which had become exceedingly rare, was published in 1774, with illus- trative notes by Mr James Cant. The ingenious author died in 1639, the year after the publication of his poem. Digitized by LjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. 21 AD AMBON, Patrice, Archbishop of St Andrews. This prelate, whose name occupies so remarkable a place in the history of the Scottish Reformation. was born of humble parents, in the town of Perth, in the year 1543* Such is the date assigned ; but we think it may be safely carried two or three years farther back, as we find his name in the roll of the first General Assembly held by the reformed church of Scotland, in 1560, as one of those persons belonging to St Andrews who were fit for ministering and teaching ; while* only two years after, we find him minister of Ceres, in Fifeshire, with a commission to plant churches from Dee to Etham. Great as were the emergencies of the infant kirk at this time from the want of ministers, it is scarcely to be thought that it would have appointed to such important charges a youth who had not yet attained the age of twenty. Previous to this period he had studied at the university of St Andrews, where it is likely he was distinguished by those talents and literary acquirements that subsequently brought him into such notice, and, after having gone through the usual course, he graduated as Master of Arts. His name at this period was Patrick Conateane, or Constance, or Constant! ne, for in all these forms it is written indifferently ; hut how it afterwards passed into Adsmson we have no means of ascertaining. At the close of his career at college, he opened a school in Fife, and soon obtained the notice and patronage of James M/Gill of Ranked lor, one of the judges of the Court of Session, who possessed considerable political influence. He had not long been minis- ter of Ceres, when we find him impatient to quit his charge ; and accord- ingly, in 1564* he applied to the General Assembly for leave ** to pass to other countries for a time, to acquire increase of knowledge," but was inhibited to leave his charge without the Assembly's license. That license, however, he seems at length to have obtained, and probably, also, before the meeting of the Assembly in the following year, when they published such stringent decisions against those ministers who abandon their spiritual charges. Patrick Con- stance, or, as we shall henceforth call him, A damson, now appointed tutor of the son of M'GiU of Rankeillor, passed over with his young charge, who was destined for the study of the civil law, to Paris, at that time the chief school ot the distinguished jurisconsults of Europe. Adamson had not been long in Paris when such adventures befel him as might well make him sigh for the lowly obscurity of Ceres. In the course of events that had occurred in Scotland, during his absence, were the marriage of Queen Mary and Henry I>arnley, and the birth of their infant, afterwards James VI. ; and Adamson, who at this time was more of a courtier than a politician, and more of a poet than either, immediately composed a triumphant 4 * carmen" on the event, entitled, Screnissimi et nolnlissimi Scotit£ y Angliat^ Franciwt <£ IFibemito Prindpi$ t Henrici Stuarti Hlustrutimi Ueroti, ae If arias Rcoifuz amplUtimm FiUi, Genvthliaeum. The very title was a startling one, both to Fiance and England, the great political questions of which countries it at once prejudged, by giving them the Scottish queen for their lawful, indisputable sovereign. Had this poem, which was published a few days after the event, hcen produced in England, its author would scarcely have escaped an awkward examination before the Star Chamber ; but as it was, he was within the reach of Catherine de Medicis, to the full as jealous of her authority as Elizabeth herself, and far more merciless in exercising it. Adamson was therefore re* warded for his Latin poetry by a six months* imprisonment, which perhsps would hare been succeeded by a worse infliction, hod it not been for the media- Digitized by Google 22 PATRICK ADAMSON. tion of Mary herself, backed by that of some of her chief nobles. It did not at that time suit the policy of France to break with Scotland, and the poet wa» set at liberty. Having thus had a sufficient sojourn in Paris, Adamson repaired with his pupil to Bourges, where both entered themselves as students of law, a science which the Scottish ministers of the day frequently added to that oi theology. Even here, however, he was not long allowed to remain in safety. The massacre of St. Bartholomew — that foul national blot of France, and anomaly of modern history — burst out with the suddenness of a tornado across a tranquil sky ; and, amidst the ruin that followed, no Protestant, over the whole extent of France, could be assured of his life for a single hour. Adamson had his full share of the danger, and narrowly escaped its worst, by finding shelter in a lowly hostelry ; the master of which was afterwards flung from the top of his own house, and killed on the pavement below, for having given shelter to heretics. While immured in this dreary confinement, that continued for seven months, and which he fitly termed his sepulchre, Adamson appears to have consoled himself with Latin poetry upon themes suited to his condi- tion ; one attempt of this nature being the tragedy of Herod, and the other a version of the book of Job. We may notice here, that he had not been lost sight of during this protracted residence in France, by his brethren, or the church at home ; and that, in the year previous to the massacre, the General Assembly had once and again desired him to return, and resume his ministry. But to this earnest request he, in the first instance, craved leisure for careful deliberation, and after, sent a full answer, evidently in the negative, as he did not see fit to comply. But the perils in which he was afterwards involved, and the long confinement he endured, had probably brought him to a more submis- sive, or at least a safer mode of thinking; for, as soon as he was able to emerge, one of the first uses which he made of his liberty was to make preparations for returning home, and resuming those ministerial labours which he had good cause to regret he ever had abandoned. On the return of Patrick Adamson to Scotland, he seems to have been favour- ably received by his brethren, notwithstanding his previous recusancy. His reception, indeed, could scarcely have been otherwise than cordial, as he had so lately been all but a martyr for Protestantism in the midst of a terrible perse- cution. His return was at a critical period; for the archbishopric of St Andrews was at that time vacant, and, notwithstanding the Presbyterian doc- trine of parity, which had been laid down as a fundamental principle of the Scottish church, the chief prelatic offices were still continued, through the overbearing influence of those nobles who now directed the government of the country. But it was from no love of Episcopacy in the abstract that these magnates continued such charges, obnoxious though they were to the church and the people at large, but that they might derive from them a profitable revenue, as lay proprietors of the livings. In this way the Earl of Morton had acquired a claim to the revenues of the archbishopric of St Andrews, and duly needed some ecclesiastic who could wear the title, and discharge its duties, for a small percentage of the benefice. It was a degrading position for a church- man, and yet there were too many who were willing to occupy it, either from a vain-glorious love of the empty name, or an ambitious hope of converting it into a substantial reality. Among these aspirants for the primacy of Scotland, Patrick Adamson was suspected to be one ; and it was thought that he expected to succeed through the influence of his patron, M'Gill of Bankeillor. These Digitized by Google PATRICK ADAHSON. 23 surmises* his subsequent conduct but too well justified. But Morton bad already made hi a election in favour of John Douglas, who was inducted into the office, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of John Knox* The con* duct of Adamson on this occasion was long after remembered when he would have wished it to be forgot. The week after the induction, and when the greatest concourse of people was expected, he ascended the pulpit and delivered a vehement and sarcastic sermon against the Episcopal office as then exercised in Scotland. " There are three sorts of bishops/ ' he said ; " My lord Bishop, my lord's Bishop, and the Lord's Bishop. My lord Bishop was in the papistry ; my lord's Bishop is now, when my lord gets the benefice, and the bishop serves for nothing but to make his title sure ; and the Lord's Bishop is the true minister of the gospel." He saw that, for the present at least, he could not be primate of St Andrews, and therefore he turned his attention to the more humble offices of the church. And there, indeed, whatever could satisfy the wishes of a simple presbyter was within his reach ; for he was not only in general esteem among his brethren, but highly and justly valued for his scholarship^ in conse- quence of his catechism of Calvin in Latin heroic verse, which he had written in France, and was about to publish in Scotland with the approbation of the General Assembly. He now announced his willingness to resume the duties of the ministry ; but his intimation wss coupled with a request that had some- what of a secular and selfish appearance. It was, that a pension which had been granted to him by the late regent out of the teinds of the parsonage of Glasgow, should he secured to htm - and that the procurators of the Assembly should be commissioned to aid him to that effect. His request was granted, and he once more became a minister. The town of Paisley was his sphere of duty, according to the appointment of the Assembly, In addition to this, he was subsequently appointed commissioner of Galloway, an office which resembled that of a bishop as to its duties, but divested of all its pre-eminence and emolu- ment Some of the best men of the kirk had undertaken this thankless office with alacrity, and discharged its duties with diligence ; but such was not the case with Patrick A dam son ; and when his remissness as a commissioner was complained of to the General Assembly, he acknowledged the justice of the accusation, but pleaded in excuse, that no stipend was attached to the office. Of the labours of A dam son while minister of Paisley, no record has been pre- served. His time there, however, was brief, as a new sphere was opened to his ambition. The great subject of anxiety at this period in the church, was the construction of the Book of Policy, otherwise called the Second Book of Disci- pline, and procuring its ratification by the government ; hut the chief obstacle in the way was the Earl of Morton, now regent, whose principal aim, besides enriching himself with the ecclesiastical revenues, was to bring the two churches of England and Scotland into as close a conformity as possible, in order to facili- tate the future union of the two kingdoms under the reign of his young master, James VL Here it is that we find A damson busy. He became an active negotiator for the Book of Policy , and while he managed to secure the confi- dence of the leading men in the church, he ingratiated himself into the favour of the regent j so that when the latter chose him for his chaplain, the brethren seem to hare hoped that the accomplishment of their purpose would be facilitated by having such an advocate at court- But never were ecclesiastics more thoroughly disappointed in their hopes from such a quarter. The archbishopric of St Andrews had again become vacant, and Morton nominated Adamson to the Digitized by VjOOQ IC 24 PATRICK ADAMSON. eee ; who, on receiving the appointment, began even already to show that he would hold it independently of the authority of the church, by refusing to submit to the usual trial and examination of the Assembly. In this he persisted, and entered office against the acts and ordinances of the Assembly provided for such occasions. While chaplain to the regent, he had been wont, while preach- ing, and giving his glosses upon texts of Scripture, to say, "The prophet would mean this " — a phrase so usual with him on such occasions, that his hearers could not help noticing it. At length, when he became primate of Scotland, Captain Montgomery, one of the regent's officers, exclaimed, with dry humour, " I never knew what the prophet meant till now !" As Adamson's entering into the archbishopric was such an act of contravention to the authority of the church, the Assembly, at one of its meetings in 1577, resolved to institute proceedings against the offender. But even this formidable danger he was able to avert for the time with his wonted craft. He professed the utmost humility, and offered to lay down his office at the feet of the Assembly, and be ordered at their pleasure, but represented how desirable it would be to postpone all such proceedings until the Book of Policy had been finished, and ratified by the regent. The matter was thus reduced to a mere question of time, and his suggestion prevailed. The great subject now at issue was the Book of Ecclesiastical Policy, the Magna Charta of the Church of Scotland, upon the passing of which its rights and liberties as a national church were at stake. It was, as might have been expected, completely Presbyterian in its discipline, and subversive of that epis- copal rule which the court was labouring to establish. Among these enact- ments, it was decreed, that no bishop should be designated by his title, but his own name, as a brother, seeing he belonged to a church that has but one Lord, even Christ — that no bishops should thenceforth be appointed in it ; and that no minister should accept the office on pain of deprivation. Against such con- clusions it is not wonderful that Adamson demurred. But as himself and the bishop of Aberdeen constituted the entire minority in the Assembly, his oppo- sition went no farther than to procrastinate any final conclusion. But the Policy was at length concluded, and ready to be presented to the government, and for this, Adamson had reserved his master stroke. The book was to be subscribed by every member individually, but this form the archbishop opposed. " Nay," he said, " we have an honest man, our clerk, to subscribe for all, and it would derogate from his faithfulness and estimation if we should all severally subscribe.'* The difference appeared so trivial, that the brethren assented to the proposal, although some of them seem to have entertained a lurking sus- picion that all was not right ; so that Mr Andrew Hay, minister of Renfrew, could not help exclaiming, " Well, if any man comes against this, or denies it hereafter, he is not honest." He soon showed at whom his suspicions pointed, by stepping up to Adamson, and saying to him in the presence of three or four by-standers, " There is my hand, Mr Patrick ; if you come against this here- after, consenting now so thoroughly to it, I will call you a knave, were it never so publicly.'* The other accepted the challenge, and thus the matter ended for the present. The Book of Policy was to be presented to the Lords of Articles for ratification on the part of the government ; and strangely enough, Adamson was commissioned to present it. Morton and the lords asked him if he had given his assent to these enactments ; to which he answered that he hod not, and that he had refused to subscribe to them. Here was a loop-hole of Digitized by Google PATRICK ADAMSOST. 25 escape for the council : the Arch bishop of St. Andrews had withheld his assent, find they could do no lees than follow the example. The Book waa rejected, and the ministers were left to divine the cause of the refusal. But Andrew [lay, on inquiring of several members of council, who told him the particulars, and laid the whole blame of the refusal on Adamson, soon saw that he had a pledge to redeem ; and on the archhishop passing by at that instant, he griped him by the hand, looked him angrily in the face, and exclaimed, in presence of the others, "O knave, knave, I will crown thee the knave of all knaves !" It is enough to add here, that the Book of Policy, after having been delayed three years longer, w T as in 1581 thoroughly ratified and ordained in every point, and ordered to be registered in the books of the Assembly. As for Adamson, wa find him employed during this interval in preaching in St Andrews, lecturing in the college, and attending the meetings of the General Assembly, but with no greater authority than that of the ordinary brethren. But symptoms even already had occurred to show, that the court favour upon which he was willing to build, waa but a sandy foundation, for his powerful patron, the earl of Mor- ton, had been brought to the block- He forthwith prepared himself, therefore, to recognize the authority of the kirk in the doctrine of bishops, to which he had hitherto been opposed, and even ^ave his subscription to the articles of the Book of Policy, which he had hitherto withheld. This was in St Andrews, before the celebrated Andrew Melville, and a party of his friends, who were assembled with him. But all this was insufficient : he must also secure the countenance of the party in power, whatever for the time it might be ; and for this purpose he passed over to Edinburgh, and took his seat in the Convention of Estates- LI ere, however, his reception was so little to his Hking, that he found he must side wholly with the kirk. He therefore addressed himself to the ministers of Edinburgh, with professions which his subsequent conduct showed to be downright hypocrisy. He told them that he had come over to the court in the spirit of Balaam, on purpose to curse the kirk, and do evil ; but that God had so wrought with him, that his heart was wholly changed, ao that he had advocated and voted in the church's behalf— and that henceforth he would show further and further fruits of his conversion and good meaning. This self- abasing comparison of himself to Balaam must have staggered tbe unfavourable suspicious of the most sceptical ; at all events, it did so with tbe apostolic John iJurie, who rejoiced over the primate a conversion, and wrote a flattering account of it to James Melville. The latter, in consequence, visited Adamson upon his return, and told him the tidings he had received, for which he heartily thanked -God, and offered the archbishop the right hand of Christian fellowship. The other, still continuing his penitent grimace, described the change that had passed upon him at great length, which he attributed to the working of the Spirit within him, Perhaps he overacted his part, for Melville only observed in reply, " Well, that Spirit is an upright, holy, and constant Spirit, and will more and more manifest itself in effects ; but it is a fearful thing to lie against him 1" It was indeed full time for the Archbishop of St Andrews not only to recover his lost credit with the kirk, but the community at large. lie was generally accused of the vices of intemperance and gluttony; he was noted as an unfaith- ful paymaster, so that he stood upon the score of most of the shopkeepers in the town i and what was still worse, he was accused of consorting with witches, and availing himself of their unlawful power I We of the nineteenth century 1- B Digitized by VjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. can laugh at such a charge, and imagine it sufficient not only to disprove itself, but weaken all the other charges brought against him. But in the sixteenth century it was no such laughing matter ; for there were not only silly women in abundance to proclaim themselves witches, but wise men to believe them. Even the pulpits of England as well as Scotland resounded with sermons against witchcraft ; and a learned prelate, while preaching before Elizabeth, assured her Majesty, that the many people who were dying daily, in spite of all the aid of leechcraft, were thus brought to their end by spells and incantations. 1 While this was the prevalent belief, a person having recourse to such agency was wilfully and deliberately seeking help from the devil, and seeking it where he thought it could best be found. Now, Adamson, among his other offences, had fallen into this most odious and criminal predicament. He was afflicted with a painful disease, which he called a " foedity ;" and being unable to obtain relief from the regular practitioners, he had recourse to the witches of Fife, and among others, to a notable woman, who pretended to have learned the art of healing from a physician who had appeared to her after he was dead and buried ! This wretched creature, on being apprehended and convicted of sorcery, or what she meant to be such, was sentenced to suffer death, as she would have been in any other country of Europe, and was given in charge to the Archbishop for execution. But the woman made her escape, and this, it was supposed she did, through Adamson 's connivance. After this statement, it needs scarcely be won- dered at, that foremost in the accusations both from the pulpit and in church courts, the crime of seeking aid from Satan should have been specially urged against him. The man who will presumptuously attempt "to call spirits from the vasty deep," incurs the guilt of sorcery whether they come or not. While such was the evil plight to which the archbishop was reduced, and out of which he was trying to struggle as he best could, the condition of public affairs was scarcely more promising for his interests. In the Assembly held in April, 1582, he had seen Robert Montgomery, Archbishop of Glasgow, who was his constant ally in every Episcopal movement, arraigned at their bar, reduced to the most humbling confessions, and dismissed with the fear of depo- sition hanging over him. In the same year, the Raid of Ruthven had occurred, by which the royal power was coerced, and presbytery established in greater authority than ever. Dismayed by these ominous symptoms, Adamson with- drew from public notice to his castle of St Andrews, where he kept himself " like a tod in his hole," giving out that his painful " foedity" was the cause of his retirement. But at length the sky began to brighten, and the primate to venture forth after a whole year of concealment. The king emancipated him- self from his nobles of the Raid, and came to St Andrews, upon which the archbishop, flinging off his sickness like a worn-out cloak, resumed his abandoned pulpit with royalty for an auditor, and preached such sermons as were well » The preaoher was no other than the learned Bishop Jewel. " Witches and sorcerers within these last few years," he said, "ore marvellously increased within your GraeeN realm. These eyes hare seen most evident and manifest marks of their wickedness. Tour Grace's subjects pine away even unto the death : their colour fadeth, their flesh rotteth, their speech is benumbed, their senses are bereft. Wherefore your poor subjects' most humble petition to your Highness is, that the laws touching such malefactors may be put in due execution. For the shoal of them is great, their doing horrible, their malice into- lerable, their examples most miserable : and I pray God they never practise further than upon the subject." Digitized by VjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. 27 fitted to ingratiate himself into the favour of the young sovereign. They were furious declamations against the lords of the Raid, against the ministers of the kirk by whom they had been countenanced, and against all their proceedings by which the headlong will of James had been reduced within wholesome limits; and these, too, were delivered in such fashion, as, we are informed by James Melvill, " that he who often professed from the pulpit before that he had not the spirit of application, got the gift of application by inspiration of such a spirit as never spoke in the scriptures of God." Among the other effects of the Raid of Ruthven, was the banishment of the king's unworthy favourites, the Earl of Arran, and the Duke of Lennox, the former from the royal presence, and the latter from the country ; and Lennox took his exile so much to heart, that he died soon after he had arrived in France, while James continued to bewail his loss. Here then was a favourable theme for the archbishop. The chief offence alleged against Lennox was, that though outwardly a Protestant, he had not only lived, but even died a Papist ; and from this stigma it was Adamson's main effort to clear the memory of the departed. He therefore boldly asserted, in his sermon, that Lennox had died a good Protestant, and in proof of this he exhibited in the pulpit a scroll, which he called the Duke's testament It happened unluckily for the preacher, however, that an honest merchant woman, who sat near the pulpit, looked narrowly at this important document, and saw with astonishment that it was an account of her own, which she had sent to the archbishop for a debt of some four or five years' standing, but which, like other reckonings of the kind, he had left unpaid 2 Adamson's loyalty was soon rewarded, and in a way that best accorded with his wishes. He was to be employed as ambassador or envoy from the king to the court of London. What was the ostensible object of his mission does not appear ; but its real purport was, the suppression of Presby terianism in Scot- land, and the establishment of such a form of Episcopacy in its stead, as might make the union of the two countries more complete, when James should become king of both. But in such an office the messenger behoved to go wisely and warily to work, as Elizabeth was apt to take fire at every movement that pointed to a succession in her throne. Another serious difficulty interposed in the very threshold of the archbishop's departure. He had already been charged before the presbytery of St Andrews, as corrupt both in life and doctrine : the trial was removed to the synod, and was finally remitted to the General Assembly, at whose bar he must justify himself, or be deposed for non-appearance ; and he thus felt himself between the horns of a dilemma in which his compearance or absence might be equally fatal. If, however, he could only get the trial delayed until he had accomplished his mission, he might then brave it, or quash it with impunity. He therefore called sickness to his aid, and pretended that he was going to the wells of Spa, in Germany, for the recovery of his health ; and this was nothing more than reasonable, even though he should take London by the way. Forth therefore he went, unhindered and unsuspected ; and, if there is any truth in " The Legend of the Lymmar's Life," a satirical poem, written by Robert Semple, the archbishop's conduct during this embassy was anything but creditable to his employers. His chief aim, indeed, seems to have been to replenish his extenuated purse ; and, provided this was accomplished, he was by no means scrupulous about the means. Even horses, books, and gowns came into his permanent possession under the name of loans. His approach to the palace for his first> and, as it turned out, his last audience, was equally Digitized by VjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. unseemly, for he advanced to the hallowed walls of the virgin Queen with as little fastidiousness, as if he had been about to enter the dingy habitation of some Scottish baron in one of the closes of the Canongate, so that a porter, who espied him from the gate, rushed out and rebuked his indecorum with a cudgel. But, amidst all his Scapin-like tricks in the English metropolis, from which he seems to have derived for the time a comfortable revenue, Adamson was not unmindful of the real object of his journey, which he pursued with a diligence worthy of a better cause. He endeavoured to enlist the prejudices of the Queen against the ministers of Scotland, and such of the nobility as favoured them ; he consulted with the bishops upon the best means of conforming the Scottish to the English church ; and, aware of the purpose of his own court to banish or silence the best of the clergy, he wished them to send learned and able ministers to supply the pulpits of those who were to be displaced. But, not content with this, he endeavoured to bring the kirk of Scotland into dis- credit with the foreign Reformed churches of France, Geneva, and Zurich, by sending to them a list of garbled or distorted passages, as propositions extracted from the Scottish confession, and craving their opinion as to their soundness. It was a crafty device, and might have been attended with much mischief, had it not been that an antidote to the bane was at this time in England, in the person of Mr Andrew Melville, a more accomplished scholar, as well as a more able and eloquent writer, than Adamson himself. He drew up a true statement of the subjects propounded, and sent them to the foreign churches, by which the archbishop's design was speedily frustrated. But the work of mere eccle- siastical diplomacy does not seem to have been sufficient for the restless and scheming mind of Adamson, so that he was suspected of intriguing with the French and Spanish ambassadors, and connecting himself with the plot* of Throckmorton, the object of which was the liberation of Mary, and the restora- tion of Popery. It was a strange period of plots and conspiracies, where Pro- testant, Papist, and Puritan, priest and layman, foreigner and Englishman, were often mingled together as in a seething and bubbling cauldron, for the concoction of a charm by which a cure for every public evil was to be effected. It was immediately on the detection of this Throckmorton conspiracy, and the appre- hension of its author, that the archbishop secretly withdrew from England and returned home, after having been employed fully six months in these, and other such devices, in London. While Adamson had thus been occupied in England, in the establishment of Episcopacy, the government at home had not been idle ; and the worthless Earl of Arran, who, since the suppression of the Raid of Ruthven, had returned to court, and acquired a greater ascendancy over the weak mind of James than ever, proceeded to put his plan in execution of silencing, imprisoning, and banishing the best and most distinguished of the Scottish clergy. It was thus that the flocks were to be brought to helplessness, and a new order of shepherds introduced. The list of the persecuted was a large one ; but among the most illustrious of these were some of the most distinguished lights of the Scottish Reformation, such as Andrew Melville, John Davidson, Walter Balcanquhal, and James Lawson. Of these we can only particularize the last, as his closing scene was but too intimately connected with the history of Patrick Adamson. Lawson had been the friend and fellow-labourer of Knox, whom he succeeded as minister of Edinburgh ; and in this important charge, while he was closely connected with all the principal ecclesiastical movements of the period, he was Digitized by Google PATRICK ADAMSON. distinguished by his gentleness, self-denial, and piety. But these were the very qualities that now marked him out as a victim ; and the imperious Arran did not hesitate to threaten that, though his head were as big as a hay-stack, he would make it fly from his shoulders. Lawson knew that his life was aimed at, and, like several of his brethren thus circumstanced, he fled to England, and took up his residence at London, in one of the lanes leading from Cheapside. But the uncongenial climate, and, above all, the defection of many of his flock daring his absence, so heavily afflicted him, that he fell into a disease, of which he died in little more than a month. Upon his death-bed, the English who visited him were edified with his pious remarks, which they carefully treasured up for their families and acquaintances ; and his last prayers were for mercy to those who would neither enter the kingdom of God themselves, nor suffer others to enter therein. And will it be believed that Patrick Adamson, the man for whom in especial he had so prayed, conceived the idea of perverting such a death-bed to his own political purposes? But so it was. He sat down with the pen of a ready writer, and composed an elaborate testament in Lawson's name, in which the dying man was made to abjure all his Presbyterian princi- ples, to grieve over them as deadly sins, to recommend the government of the church by bishops, and enjoin implicit obedience to the king's authority. It was indeed a bold exploit in literary forgery ; but, at this period and afterwards, when the pen outran the activity of the press, and communities were so separ- ated, it was easy to make a fraud of this kind, where the locality was transferred to London, to pass current in £he streets of Edinburgh. There is no doubt that thus the archbishop had calculated ; but, like many very cunning people, he, in this instance, betrayed himself by his over-scrupulous dexterity, and wovo the web so finely, that in many places it was quite transparent. Thus, not content with making Lawson recant all the principles of his well-spent' life with a hurry that was inconceivable, and laud Episcopal rule with an unction and earnestness which the Archbishop of Canterbury himself could not have surpassed, he also made him, in exhorting his old co-presbyters, to vent a malignity of sentiment, and drolling bitterness 0/ satire, such as, whether living or dying, Lawson could not and would not have used. But it fortunately hap- pened that proof still stronger than inferential evidence was at hand, to convict this impudent forgery; for Lawson himself had written his last testament, which was witnessed with the honoured names of Andrew Melville, James Carmichael, John Davidson, and Walter Balcanquhal. After his return from England, Adamson did not lie idle ; he zealously joined the king and Arran in their persecution of the best adherents of the kirk, under which, not only the principal ministers, but also the chief of the nobility, were fugitives in England. His pen also was soon in requisition for a more dignified work, at least, than that of blackening the memory of a departed brother; it was to advocate, defend, and justify certain obnoxious measures of James and his favourite, that had passed through the parliament in 1584, and were generally unpopular, both on account of their anti-presbyterian spirit iu religion, and their despotic tendencies in civil rule. This task Adamson accom- plished, and with such plausibility and ingenuity, that his apology was not only in high favour with the king, but widely popular in England, so that it was inserted in the appendix of Holinshed's History as a true picture of the religious state of Scotland. But this was not his only reward. Although he was still a suspended presbyter, with his trial by the General Assembly hanging Digitized by Google PAT1UCK ADAMSON. over him, and accounted a very Julian the Apostate by his former brethren, yet he was now to be confirmed in his primacy, with all the high rights and immunities that could be comprised within the office. This was announced by a royal letter, under the great seal, and, as such, was indignantly termed by the ministers the King's Bull, "giving and granting to his well-beloved clerk and orator, Patrick, archbishop of St Andrews, power, authority, and jurisdiction to exercise the same archbishopric by himself, his commissioners, and deputies, in all matters ecclesiastical, within the diocese of St Andrews, and sheriffdoms which have been heretofore annexed thereto." In this way he would be able to sit as presiding moderator in that Assembly where he should have stood as a culprit, and silence the charges which he could not have answered. But this, his culminating point, was also that of his downfall. The banished lords, who had withdrawn themselves to England, now took counsel upon the oppressed state of their country, and resolved to redress it after the old Scottish fashion. They therefore approached the border, where they could communicate with their allies, and appoint musters of their retainers; and at length, all being in readiness, Angus, Mar, Glammis, and the Hamiltons entered Scotland, and rapidly marched to Stirling, at the head of eight thousand armed men, to reason with their misguided sovereign. He soon found himself, like many of his ancestors, the pupil of Force and Necessity, and was compelled to yield to their stern remonstrances; while Arran was again, and for the last time, banished into that obscurity from which he should never have been summoned. The return of the exiled lords, and the banishment of Arran from court, produced a breathing interval to the kirk ; and the ministers who had been dispersed, warded, or silenced, were enabled to resume their charges unquet- tioned. It was now time, therefore, to redress the evils that had been inflicted upon the church, and these too by members of its own, body, during the last two years of trial, if its polity and discipline were to be something more than an empty name. It was a stern duty, as Adamson was soon to feel. He had laboured for the eversion of the kirk, and the persecution of its ministers, under an unconstitutional authority against which he had protested and subscribed ; and for all this he must answer before the court to which the assise of such delinquencies pertained. The synod of St Andrews, which had been closed during the persecution, was to be re-opened, and their first work was to be the trial of their own archbishop, whom their laws recognized as a simple presbyter, and nothing more. This solemn meeting was therefore convoked in April, 1666, to which a great concourse assembled ; and thither also came the archbishop, " with a great pontificality and big countenance," for he boasted that he was in his own city, and possessed of the king's favour, and therefore needed to fear no one. He also placed himself close by the preacher, who was Mr James Melville, as if determined to outbrave the whole assembly. The discourse was a vindication of the polity of the church, and a rehearsal of the wrongs it had Buffered ; and then, " coming in particular," says Melville himself, " to our own kirk of Scotland, I turned to the bishop, sitting at my elbow, and directing my speech to him personally, I recounted to him, shortly, his life, actions, and pro- ceedings against the kirk, taking the assembly there to witness, and his own con- science before God, if he was not an evident proof and example of that doctrine ; whom, being a minister of the kirk, the Dragon had so stung with the poison and venom of avarice and ambition, that, swelling exorbitantly out of measure, threateued the wreck and destruction of the whole body, unless he were time- Digitized by VjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. 31 oualy and with courage cut off." To this formidable appeal, the archbishop endeavoured to answer, but it was only with frivolous objections, and threats of the king's displeasure, while his courage was so utterly gone that he could scarcely ait, far less stand on his feet. But the business commenced, the pro- cess was entered into, and Adamson left the meeting. He was invited to return, but he sent for answer that the synod was no judge to him, but he to it He not only persisted in refusing to appear, but sent such answers to the charges against htm as only aggravated the offence. Nothing remained but to inflict upon him the final sentence of the church, which was done accordingly. After enumerating his offences, it thus concluded : — " Therefore, and for divers other notorious slanders whereof he was to be accused, and refused to underly any lawful trial, the assembly, in the fear of God, and in the name of Christ Jesus, moved by zeal to the glory of God, and purging of His kirk, ordains the said sentence of excommunication instantly to be put into execution in the face of the assembly; and, by the mouth of Mr Andrew Hunter, minister at Carnobie, at command and appointment of the assembly, declares him to be one of those whom Christ commandeth to be holden by all and every one of the faithful as an ethnic or publican." The doom so long suspended had thus fallen at last ; but still the primate would not yield. He rallied himself for a desperate counter- movement, and penned, by his own sole authority, a sentence of excommunication against the two Melvillea, and some of his principal accusers in the synod, which he sent by a boy, accompanied by two of his jackmen ; but when this strange and most informal missive was read in the church, the audience were as little moved by it, as if he had excommunicated the stones of the building. He also sent a complaint against these proceedings to the king, with an appeal from the authority of the synod to his majesty, the estates, and the privy council. On the arrival of Sabbath, he prepared for a decisive effort, by preaching in the church in spite of the sentence. But just when he was about to ascend the pulpit, a mischievous rumour reached his ear, that several gentlemen and citizens had assembled in the New College, to take him out of the pulpit, and hang him; and terrified with the tidings, he not only called his friends and jaekmen to the rescue, but fled from the church, and took refuge in the steeple. And yet, the whole cause of the stir was nothing more than the assembling of a few gentlemen and citizens in the New College, to attend the preaching of Andrew Melville, instead of that of an excommunicated man ! The archbishop's friends followed him to the steeple, to assure him of his safety ; but so desperate was his fear, that they could scarcely drag him out by force. While he was half-led, half-carried down the High Street, and through the north gate towards his castle, an unlucky stray hare, terrified at the coming din, suddenly started up, and fled before them. Even this incident could impart some gravity to the scene. It was a popular belief at that time in Scotland that a witch, when pursued, usually assumed the form of a hare, more effectually to ensure her escape ; and the appearance of the poor animal at such a time and place, made the people declare that it was no other than the prelate's witch, abandoning her master, to make good her own safety. We have already stated that Adamson appealed against the sentence of e x oomm u nica tion, to the authority of the king. In this singular appeal, he declaimed with great learning and marvellous plausibility about the right of royalty to interpose against ecclesiastical, as well as civil tyranny ; and as he had 32 PATRICK ADAMSON. already made out, as he thought, his own case to he one of undue ecclesiastical oppression on the part of his enemies, the conclusion was plain, that the king could lawfully release him from the spiritual sentence. He wound up his reasoning with the following supposition, to which, he well knew, James would not be insensible : " Beseeching your majesty to consider and weigh with your Highness' self, nobility, and council, how dangerous a thing it is to put such a sword in such men's hands, or to suffer them to usurp further than their duty ; whereby it may come to pass, that as rashly and unorderly they have pretendedly excommunicated the first man of your majesty's parliament (albeit unworthy), so there rests nothing of their next attempt to do the same to your majesty's self." The king's pride was roused at such a thought, as well as his kingcraft for the restoration of Episcopacy, now at a stand through the jeopardy of his archbishop ; and therefore he arrogantly required the ministers to rescind their sentence, threatening them with the deprivation of their rights and stipends in the event of a refusal. The General Assembly met in May the same year, when these conditions were proposed, and the members were in sore strait how to act in such a dilemma; for most of the restored lords, after being replaced in their possessions, had left the church to shift for itself. At length* a medium course was adopted by the Assembly, and that, too, only by a small majority. It was, that the archbishop " should be holden and repute in the same case and con- dition that he was in before the holding of the Synod of St Andrews, without prejudice, decerning, or judging anything of the proceedings, process, or sentence of the said synod." It was a strange decision, by which Adamson was allowed to teach, preach, and exercise his clerical functions, excommunicated though he still was ; while the pulpits, by royal decree, were not only' to be patent to his entrance, but the students of St Andrews were commanded to attend his lectures in the Old College as heretofore. This violence, as might be expected, produced counter- violence, so that libels were thrown not only into the arch- bishop's chamber, but the pulpits in which he officiated, threatening him with death for his intrusion. And as if all this had- not been enough, he added to h is further disqualifications, by inability to pay his debts, in consequence of which he was, according to the practice 'of the Scottish law, denounced a rebel, and put to the horn. This case was brought before the Assembly of June, 1687, because many people Jiad demurred to attend his ministrations, while he laboured under such degrading disabilities: ' The Assembly, however, decided that these were of a civil, rather than an ecclesiastical character, and referred them to the Ling for adjustment. In the very same year and month, while Adamson was in this miserable plight — an excommunicated minister and an outlawed prelate— the first man in the parliament, and yet a denounced rebel because he could not pay his debts— a gleam of royal sunshine fell upon him, which was destined to be the last. The celebrated Du Bartes visited Scotland ; and James, delighted with the arrival of so distinguished a scholar and poet, received him with princely dis- tinction, and entertained him as his guest. While they were in Fife, the king was desirous that Du Bartes should see the two most accomplished scholars in Scotland — and these were incontestibly to be found at St Andrews, in Andrew Melville and Patrick Adamson. Thither accordingly the royal cortege repaired ; and the first notice which Melville had of the visit was from the king himself, who bluntly told him that he had come with the illustrious foreigner, to have a lesson from him in his class-room. Startled by such a brief warning, Melville Digitized by VjOOQ IC PATRICK ADAMSON. S3 would have excused himself, on the plea that he had already delivered his ordi- nary lecture in the forenoon. " That is all one," said the king; " I mutt hare a lesson, and be you here within an hour for that effect" In less than an hour, the professor was in readiness ; the distinguished visitors and the students were assembled; and Melville commenced such a lecture, as made the king wish him- self once more among the deer in Falkland. It was an eloquent extemporane- ous oration, in which he vindicated Christ's right of sovereignty over his own church, and refuted and exposed the acts of parliament that had been lately enacted subversive of the kirk's authority. James went home in no very pleasant mood, and remained in a fume the whole evening. On the next morn- ing it was Adamson's turn, who was not likely to trespass in the same fashion. During the interval, he had prepared a " tightened-up abridgment" of his previous year's lectures, in which he attempted to vindicate the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs, and justify the steps that had been taken for that pur- pose. Andrew Melville, who attended as an auditor, took notes of the arch- bishop's arguments; and without further study, caused the college bell to be rung after a short interval, to announce a new lecture. The king, who had not yet digested the lesson of yesterday, sent a warning to Melville to be moderate, otherwise he would discharge him ; to which the other replied, that his majesty's ear had already been abused by Adamson's errors and untruths, which he could not allow to pass unquestioned, unless his breath were stopped by death itself — but that still, he should be careful to behave himself most moderately and reverendly to his majesty in all respects. The king was satisfied with this assurance, and repaired to the class-room, where Adamson was also in attend- ance ; and he craved and obtained the royal permission to reply, should any thing be alleged against his doctrine. The two strong champions were now standing front to front in the lists— and never had king of Scotland so delighted in the hurtling together of man and horse, and the shivering of spears, as did James in the prospect of an intellectual tournament, where dexterous syllo- gisms and home-thrust arguments were the only blows in circulation. But here, Melville changed his tactics, in a way that would have puzzled the most experienced master of fence. He had no longer a controversy with Epis- copacy, but with Popery, the great common enemy of Protestantism at large ; and thus secure of the sympathy of his audience, he extracted from the works of the Popish authors the strongest arguments they had adduced in defence of their system, for the purpose of refuting them. But these arguments were the very same which Adamson had used in the forenoon, in favour of the spiritual government of kings and bishops ! There, however, they stood among the ranks of the uncircumcised ; and as such, they were attacked with an amount of scripture and learning, and a force and fervour of eloquence, as completely swept them off the field. It was now the archbishop's turn to bestir himself, but he was dumb— dumb as the bench he sat upon. At last, the king advanced to the rescue; and after making several logical distinguos, upon which he harangued for some time, he ended by commanding the students to reverence and obey his archbishop. When James departed, Du Bartes stayed behind a whole hour, conversing with Andrew Melville, after which, he mounted his horse, and rejoined his majesty. The king wished to know the opinion of the foreigner upon the two men they had heard ; to which Du Bartes replied, That they were both learned men, but that the prelate's lectures were conned and prepared, while Melville had a great and ready store of all kinds of learning I Digitized by VjOOQ IC 34 PATRICK ADAMSON. within him ; and that his spirit and courage were far above the other* In this correct estimate James completely agreed. From this period, the life of Adamson was but a brief and mournful record . After his late discomfiture, he became weary of teaching in the college, and seems to have remitted it in a great measure to his successful rival* The minis- trations of the pulpit could not console him* as the audiences either avoided him as an excommunicated man, or tarried aod listened as to the voice of an Intruder, Freeh complaints were made against him in the church courts, of having col- lated unworthy persons to benefices with! a his diocese. And, to crown all, he finally lost the favour and protection of the king, whom he had served only too well, hut who was now weary of an archbishop buried under debt and disgrace, and whose season of working seemed weli nigh over. Broken in health as well as in spirit, it might have been thought that James would at least have suffered such a faithful servant to depart in peace ; but as if his own ungrateful hand, and no other, ought to deal the final blow, he alienated from him whatever of the revenues of his diocese he was still permitted to enjoy, and bestowed them upon the young Duke of Lennox, the son of his early favourite. In 1501, A dam son was dying a heart-broken man, and unable to procure for himself and his family even the common necessaries of life. But besides hollow friends, he had generous enemies, and these last came forward in the hour of his extremity. Such especially were the two Melville*, whom he had persecuted in the season of his ascendancy, but who now supported him for several months, at their own expense. At last, he was reduced to such miserable shifts, that he entreated a charitable collection to be made for him among the brethren in the town of St Andrews ; and as an inducement, he offered to repair to the pulpit, and there make open confession of his offences. This, indeed, his sickness prevented him from accomplishing ; but he rendered an equivalent, in a distinct " Recanta- tion," which he subscribed, and sent to the synod of St Andrews. Besides thus showing how little he had cared for Episcopacy, and how much he had used it for his own aggrandizement, he evinced the force of his early and long*concealed convictions in favour of Presbyterian! &m, by the remorse which he now felt at the thought of his excommunication, and his earnestness to be absolved from the sentence ; and to this effect he sent a supplication to the presbytery of St Andrews. They deputed two of the brethren, one of whom was James Mel- ville, to examine him, and, if they judged fit, to release him. As soon as the dying man saw Melville, he rose up in bed, plucked the night-cap from his head, and exclaimed, ** Forgive, forgive me, for God's sake, good Mr James, for I have offended and done wrong to you many ways ! M Melville spoke to him of his sin against Christ and hia church, exhorted him to repentance, with the assurance of mercy from God if be repented, and forgave him with all his heart. His excommunication was then spoken of, and he was asked if he acknowledged its lawfulness. To this, his emphatic reply, which he repeated again and again, was, " Loose me, for Christ's sake !" His state and petition were fully reported to the presbytery, and he was forthwith absolved. Even yet, as appears from his " Recantation," he had hoped to struggle through this his last illness ; and he professed in it his earnest desire and purpose to commence a better life, and repair the evils he had inflicted upon religion and the church. But his new* born sincerity was not to be thus tried, and he died in the lowest depths of his humiliation and repentance. Hia character is thus strongly and briefly summed up by James Melville, who knew him well, and witnessed his career from its Digitized by Google SAINT AIDAN. height to its mournful termination : — " This man had many great gifts, but espe- cially excelled in the tongue and pen ; and yet, for abusing of the same against Christy all use of both the one and the other was taken from him, when he was in greatest misery, and had most need of them. In the latter end of his life, his nearest friends were no comfort to him, and his supposed greatest enemies, to whom indeed he offered greatest occasion of enmity, were his only friends, and recompenced good for evil, especially my uncle Andrew, but found small tokens of any spiritual comfort in him, which chiefly he would have wished to have seen at his end. Thus God delivered his kirk of a most dangerous enemy, who, if he had "been endowed with a common civil piece of honesty in his dealing and conversation, he had more means to have wrought mischief in a kirk or coun- try, than any I have known or heard of in our island." As will be surmised from the foregoing account, Patrick Adamson was both an able and a voluminous writer ; but most of his productions were merely written for the day, and have passed away with the occasions in which they originated. Some of them he never purposed to acknowledge, while others remained unpublished in manuscript. Most of these he confessed and regretted in his " Recantation," declaring, that if it should please God to restore his health, he would change his style, " as Cajetanus did at the Council of Trent. " His principal writings were collected and published, in one quarto volume, by Thomas Volusenus (Wilson) in 1619 ; but notwithstanding their undoubted excellence, it may be questioned if they are now at all known beyond the library of the antiquary. It appears, that on becoming minister of Paisley, Adamson married the daughter of a lawyer, who survived him, and by whom he had a family ; hut all record of them has passed away, so that he may be said to have been the last, as he was the first of his race. The precise date of his death has not been mentioned ; but it was in the latter part of the year 1591. Such was the career and end of the great antagonist and rival of Andrew Melville. AIDAN, Saint, Bishop of Lindisfarne in the seventh century, was originally a monk in the island of Iona, and afterwards became a missionary in England. To understand aright the history and labours of this self-devoted Christian missionary, it is necessary to glance at the condition of England, and especially of Northumbria, at the commencement of his ministry. England had been but lately converted to Christianity, through the labours of Augustin and forty monks, who had been sent to Britain, for that purpose, by Pope Gregory the Great. The conversion of the seven kingdoms of the heptarchy, into which England was divided by the Saxon conquerors, had been effected with unex- ampled rapidity, but through the simplest agency. The monks, in the first instance, addressed themselves to the sovereign of the state; and when he renounced his heathen errors, and submitted to baptism, his people implicitly followed the example^ But such sudden and wholesale conversions were extremely precarious; and it sometimes happened that, when the king apos- tatized or died, the people returned to their former worship of Thor and Odin as promptly as they had forsaken it. Such was especially the case in North* umbria, the largest kingdom of the heptarchy, and the scene of Aidan's labours. Edwin, the best and most illustrious sovereign of his day, after a life of strange peril and adventure, had won his hereditary Northumbrian crown, and been converted to Christianity by the Italian missionary Paulinus ; and, on becoming a Christian, the happiest change was soon perceptible among his hitherto un- tamable subjects. They received their sovereign's creed without murmur ox Digitized by Google 36 SAINT AIDAN. debate; "and in this time, 9 ' says the old chronicler Fabyan, "was so great peace in the kingdom of Edwin, that a woman might hare gone from one town to another without grief or noyaunce; and, for the refreshing of way-goers, this Edwin ordained, at clear wells, cups, or dishes of brass or iron, to be fas- tened to posts standing by the said wells' sides ; and no man was so hardy as to take away those cops, he kept so good justice." In short, he seems to have been the Alfred of an earlier and ruder period. But, in the height of his power and usefulness, the terrible Pjenda, king of Mercia, and great champion of the ancient paganism, came against him in arms, and Edwin was defeated and slain in a great battle, fought at Hatfield or Heathfield, near the river Trent. The consequence was, that the Northumbrians relapsed into their former barbarism so rapidly, that every trace of Christianity would soon have been effaced from among them, had it not been that Oswald, the nephew of Edwin, came forward to vindicate the liberties of his falling country. This brave young prince, who headed the Christian cause against the Pagan, advanced to give battle to Cad- wallader, king of North Wales, in whom his people had found the most relent- less of their enemies. The Christian army which Oswald headed was very small, while that of Cadwallader was numerous, and its king was an able leader and successful conqueror, Aware of the disparity, and conscious of their own weakness, Oswald and his soldiers knelt in prayer, and humbly committed themselves to the God of the Christians, after which they assailed the enemy with full confidence, near Hexham* The Welsh were completely routed, their king was slain, and the victorious prince was received as king by the two united states of Deira and Bernicia. The piety of Oswald attributed this signal success to the aid of the true God, whom he had invoked; and the first movement of his reign was to arrest the growing heathenism of his people, and recal them to the Christian faith. For this purpose he applied, however, not to the Italian monks, as his uncle had done, but to the Culdees of Iona; among whom he had been sheltered in his early youth, during the disasters of his family, and by whom he had been care- fully educated. The message was gladly received by the Culdee brethren, and Corman, a learned monk of their order, was forthwith sent to Northumbrian But the savage manners of the people appalled him, their inability to compre- hend his instructions disgusted him, so that, despairing of their conversion, he speedily returned home. While he was giving an account of his mission, and describing the Northumbrians as a race of impracticable savages, a voice of rebuke was suddenly heard in the assembly : " Brother, it seems to me that your want of success was owing to a want of condescension to your hearers. You should first have fed them with milk, according to the apostolic rule, until they were fitted to receive stronger food." All eyes were turned upon the speaker, who was Aidan. It was unanimously agreed by the assembly that he was the fittest person to attempt the conversion of the Northumbrians, and, on the charge being proposed to him, he cordially agreed. He arrived in England a.d. 634, and repaired to the court of king Oswald. And now a missionary work commenced in the Northumbrian kingdom such as missionary annals can seldom parallel, for both king and monk went hand in hand in the duty. Aidan, being a Celt, was either wholly ignorant of the Saxon language of his hearers or imperfectly acquainted with it ; but, when he preached, Oswald was ready to interpret his addresses, The happiest results attended these joint labours. The ancient idolatry was utterly thrown aside, and Christianity established Digitized by Google SAINT AID AN, 37 over Dei fa and Bernicia. Still further to confirm this change, A Mi in prevailed upon (he king to transfer the episcopal see from York to Lin diamine, or Holy bland, a bleak peninsula upon the coast of Northumberland, which probably the Culdee preferred from its resemblance to his own beloved Zona; and here, accordingly, a monastery was erected, which Aidan supplied with monks from his own country* It is to be observed, also, that the form of Christianity thus established in Northumbria was different from that which the Italian priests had established over the rest of England. It was according to the primitive institutes of Saint Columba, and therefore essentially presbyterian in its form and discipline, Aidan, although he succeeded to the metropolitan rule of the extensive archbishopric of York, was contented to continue a simple presbyter, and nothing more. He held no intercourse with the Roman pontiff, and ac- knowledged no superiority of episcopal authority. He repudiated those showy ceremonies and artificial forms which were so congenial to the Italian character, and which the foreign priests had been so careful to introduce into England* And, above all, instead of paying homage to tradition, aa an authority indepen- dent of the Word, he would receive nothing as a religious rule save that which was contained in the sacred writings. Such was the religion of the Culdees ; ind in this form it was introduced into Northumbria by Atdan and Oswald, Mm were both of them Culdees, .Rut even if these important peculiarities had been left undisturbed by the Western church, that aimed at universal conformity and universal rale, there were certain trivialities belonging to the Guldeeism of Northumberland that, sooner or later, was sure to provoke the hostility of the rest of England, The priests of the order of Columba shaved their foreheads in the form of a half-moon, after the Eastern fashion, instead of having the Western tonsure, that was meant to represent a crown of thorns. Their season also of keeping Easter was according to the Asiatic calculation, and not that of the West* These were peculiarities which every eye could detect at once, and were therefore sufficient matters for controversy among a simple people, whose views could penetrate no further; and, accordingly, the Easter and tonsure controversy became, in a few years after^ the great subject of religions debate in England, by which the Culdees were expelled from the country. These dis- turbances, however, did not occur until both king and monk had entered into their rest. After the death of Oswald, who was slain in battle, the kingdom of North- ern bria was once more parted into two sovereignties, those of Deira and Ber- ate ia ; in the former of which Oswin was appointed king, and, in the latter, Oswio. It was, however a peaceful conjunction ; and Aidan still continued, as before, to preside over the church of Northumberland, The character of Oswin appears to have fully resembled that of his amiable predecessor, and the bishop of Lindisfarne seems to have loved him with a still higher affection than even thai which he bore for Oswald, Amidst the obscurity of that remote period, and the shadowy character of its actors, Bede tells us a touching story, in which the simple manners of the times, as well as the intercourse between the king and the bishop, are brought out in strong relief. Oswin had once presented to Aidan a fine horse. It happened that one day, as the Culdee was riding forth, he met a poor man, who asked of him an alms, and Aiflan, taring no money, bestowed on htm the horse and its rich trappings. The king, on hearing of this, was "displeased, and could not refrain from expressing his resentment when Aidan next dined with him. " Why were you so lavish of my favour," ho Digitized by Google S3 WILLIAM AIKMAN. said, " as to give away my pad to a beggar ? If you must needs mount him on horseback, could you not have given him on© of less value? Or, if he wanted any other relief, you might have supplied him otherwise, and not have parted so easily with my gift.*' ** You have not carefully considered this malter,* 1 replied Aidan, "for otherwise you could not set a greater value on the son of a mare, than on a son of God/* In this way the affair ended for the present. Not long after, when the king returned from hunting, he saw the bishop, and, remembering what had lately occurred, he laid aside his sword, threw himself at the good man's feet, and aaked his forgiveness for the rude words he had uttered. Aid an, grieved to see the king in this posture, immediately raised him, and declared that the whole matter was forgot* After this interview, however, Aidan was observed to be very sad ; and, on being asked the cause by soma of his monks, he burst into tears, and replied, " How can I be otherwise than afllietetl ? I foresee that Os win's life will be short, for never have I beheld a prince so humble. His temper is too heavenly to dwell long among us, and, truly 5 the nation does not deserve the blessing of such a ruler*" This mournful prediction was soon after accomplished by the death of Oswtn, who was assas- sinated in August, 651 ; and Aidan took the matter so deeply to hearty that he died a fortnight after. Such is the little that we know of Saint Aidan, the apostle of Northumber- J tnJ, and bishop of Lindisfarne. That he was great and good, and that he accomplished much, is evident from the old chronicles, and especially from the history of venerable Be tie, from whom the foregoing account has been chiefly gathered. The Venerable has also added to his account three miracles per- formed by Aidan, one of which occurred after his death ; but with these it is unnecessary to trouble the modem reader. It is more agreeable to turn to his character, as drawn by Bede himself, who lived during the close of the same century, and knew Aidan well, not only from the testimony of his apostolic labours, but the reports of the old men, who had heard his words, and witnessed his doings ; — " These things I have written, *' he says, " tonchiug the person and actions of the man aforesaid, praising in his actions what is praiseworthy, and committing it to posterity for the behoof of those who read ; to wit, his coticeru for peace and charity, for abstinence and humility ; his utter freedom from wrath and avarice, from pride and vain- glory ; his readiness alike to obey and teach the Divine commands ; his diligence in reading and watching ; his true sacerdotal authority in checking the proud and powerful, and, at the same lime, his tenderness in comforting the afflicted, and relieving or defending the ]H>or. To say all in few words, as far as we have been informed by those who personally knew him, he took care to omit no part of his duty, but, to the utmost of his power, performed everything commanded in the writings of the evangelists, apostles, and prophets/ 1 AIKMAN, Willum, a painter, of considerable merit* of the last century, wsa bo m , i n A berdeenshi re, Oct ober 2 4, 1 82. H is fath er was W ill iam A i kma a of Cairney, a man of eminence at the Scottish bar, who educated his son to follow his own profession. But a predilection for the fine arts, and a love of poetry, which gained him the friendship of Ramsay and Thomson t induced the youth to pve up studying For the law, and turn his attention to painting. Having pro- secuted his studies in painting for a time at home under Sir John Medina, and also in England, he resolved to visit Italy, that he might complete his education as an artjst, and form his taste, by an examination of the classic models of anti- Digitized by VjOOQ IC WILLIAM AIKMAN, 39 qnity ; and accordingly, in 1707, having told his paternal estate near Arbroath, that he might leave home untrammelled, he went to Rome, where, daring a period of three years, he put himself under the tuition of the best masters. He afterwards visited Constantinople and Smyrna, where the gentlemen of the Eng- lish factory wished him to engage in the Turkey trade ; an overture which ho declined ; and returning to Rome, he there renewed his studies for a time. In 1712, he revisited his native country, and commenced practising his profession; but, though his works were admired by the discerning few, he did not meet with adequate encouragement, the public being too poor at that time to purchase ela- borate works of art, and the taste for such works being then too imperfectly formed. At this period he formed an intimacy with Allan Ramsay, whose por- trait ho afterwards painted, John, Duke oft-Argyle, who equally admired the artist and esteemed the roan, regretting that such talents should he lost, at length prevailed upon Aikman, in 172.% to move with all his family to London. There, under the auspices of his distinguished friend, he associated with the most emi- nent British painters of the age, particularly Sir Godfrey Knell er, whose studies and dispositions of mind were congenial with his own. The duke also recom- mended hitn to many people of the first rank, particularly the Earl of Bur- lington, so well known for his taste in architecture; and he was thus able to be of much service to Thomson, who came to* London soon after himself, as a literary adventurer. He introduced the poet of " The Seasons 1 * to the brilliant literary circle of the day — Pope, Swift* Gay, Arbuthnot, &c> — and, what was perhaps of more immediate service, to Sir Robert Walpole, who aimed at being thought a friend to men of genius. Among the more intimate friends of Aik- man, was William Somerville, author of "The Chase," from whom he received an elegant tribute of the muse, on his painting a full-length portrait of the poet in the decline of life, carrying him hack, by the assistance of another portrait, to his youthful days. This poem was never published in any edition of Somer- villus works, Aikman painted, for the Earl of Burlington, a large picture of the royal family of England ; all the younger branches being in the middle compartment, on a very largo canvas, and on one hand a full-length portrait of Queen Caroline; the picture of the king (George II.) — that king who never could endure ** boetry or hainting," as he styled the two arts in his broken Eng- lish — intended for the opposite side, was never finished, owing to the death of the artist. This was perhaps the last picture brought towards a close by Aikman, and it is allowed to have been in his best style ; it came into the possession of the Duke of Devonshire by a marriage alliance with the Burlington family. Some of his earlier works are in the possession of the Aigyle and Hamilton families in Scotland ; his more mature and mellow productions are chiefly to bo found in England, and a large portion at Blickling, in Norfolk, the seat of the Earl of Buckinghamshire; these are chiefly portraits of noblemen, ladies, and gentlemen, friends of the earl* He died June 4, 1731, at his house, in Leicester Fields, and, by his own desire, his body was taken to Scotland for interment ; his only son, John (by his wife Marion Lawson, daughter of Mr Lawson, of Cairnmuir, in Peeblesshire), whose death immediately preceded his own, was buried in the same grave with him, in the Grey friars' churchyard, Edinburgh, A monument was erected over the remains of Mr Aikman, with the following epitaph by Mallet, which has been long since obliterated : — Bear to the gnod and wile, dispraised by none. llera Bleep in peace the father nod the Bon. Digitized by VjOOQ IC 40 WILLIAM ATKMAN, By virtue as by nature close allied The painter's genius, but wknout the pride. Worth unambitious, wit afraid to shine, Honour's clear light, and friendship's warmth divine. The ion, fair-rising, knew too short a date; But O hew mure severe the parent's fate 1 He saw him torn nn timet j from his aide, Felt oil a father's anguish— wept, and died. The following verses, in which Thomson bewails him with all the warmth of grateful Friendship, are only partially printed in that poet'a works :— O could I draw, my friend, thy genuine mtn't, Just as the limine; forms by thee designed [ Of Raphael's figures none should fairer shine, Nor Titian's colour* longer Inst than thine. A mind in wisdom old, in lenience young, From fervid truth, whence every virtue sprung; Where all was real, modest, plain, sincere; Worth above show, and goodness unset ere* Viewed round and round, as lucid diamonds show, Still, aa you turn them, a revolving glow : So did his mind reflect with secret ray, In various virtue*, Heaven's eternal day. Whether in high discourse it soared sublime And sprung impatient o'er the bouuds of time, Or wandering nature o'er with raptured eye. Adored the hand that turned yon aaure sky ; "Whether to social joy he bent his thought, And the right poise that mingling passions sought* Gay converse blest, or, in the thoughtful grove, Bid the heart open every source of love : In varying lights, still set before our eyes The just, the good, the social, and the wise. For sueh a death who can, who would refuse, The friend a tear, a verae the mournful muse? Yet pay we must acknowledgment to Heaven, Though snatch'* I so soon, that Atrium e'er was given. Grateful from nature's banquet let us rise, Nor leave the banquet with reluctant eye* r A friend, when dead, is but removed from light, Sunk in the lustre of eternal light; And, when the parting storms of life an o'er, May yet re join ui on a happier shore. As those we love decay, we Ufa in part ; - String after string is severed from the heart ; , Till loosened life at last — but breathing clay — Without one pang is glad to fall away. Unhappy he who latest feels the blow, Whose eyes have wept o'er every friend laid low ; Dragged linger ing on from partial death to death, And, dying, all he can resign is breath. In his style of painting, Aikman seems to have aimed at imitating nature in her most simple forms ; his lights are soft, his shades mellow, and his colouring mild and harmonious. Hi 9 touch has neither the force nor the harshness of Rubens ; nor does he> like Reynolds, adorn his portraits with the elegance of adventitious graces, His compositions are distinguished hy a placid tranquillity, 11 Digitized by Google WILLIAM AITOK.— ALEXANDER ALES oa ALBSSB, 41 rather than a striking brilliancy of effect ; and his portraits may be more readily mistaken for those of Kneller than for the works of any other eminent artist A I TON, Willi am , an eminent horticulturist and hot an 1st* was horn, in 17-1], at a village in the neighbourhood of Hamilton. Having been regularly bred to I he profession of a gardener, as it was and still is practised by numbers of hfa country men* with a union of manual skill and scientific knowledge, he removed to England in 1754, and, in the year following, obtained the notice of the cele- brated Philip Miller, then superintendent of the physic garden at Chelsea, who employed him for some time as an assistant. The instructions which he received from that eminent gardener laid the foundation, it is said, of his future fortune. His industry and abilities were so conspicuous, that, in 1750, he was pointed out to the Princess- Do wager of Wales as a fit person to manage the botanical garden at Kew. His professional talents also procured him the notice of Sir Joseph Banks, and a friendship commenced which subsisted between them for Hfe, Dr Solander and Dr Dryander were also among the number of his friends. The encouragement of botanical studies was a distinguished feature of the reign of George III., who, soon after his accession, determined to render Kew a repository of all the vegetable riches of the world. Specimens were accordingly procured from every quarter of the globej and placed under the care of Mr Alton, who showed a surprising degree of skill in their arrangement. Under his superintendence, a variety of improvements took place in the plan and edi- fices of Kew gardens, till they attained an undoubted eminence over every other botanical institution. In 1783, on a vacancy occurring in the superintendence of the pleasure gardens at Kew, Mr Alton received the appointment from George IlL, but was, at the same time, permitted to retain his more important office. His labours proved that the king's favours were not ill bestowed ; for, in 1789, he published an elaborate description of the plants at Kew, under the title, u Hortus Kewensis," 3 vols. Svo, with a number of plates. In this pro- duction, Mr Aiton gave an account of no fewer than SGOO foreign plants, which had been introduced from time to time into the English gardens ; and so highly was the work esteemed, that the whole impression was sold within two years. A second and improved edition was pu bite lied by his son, William Townsend Atton, in 1810. After a life of singular activity and usefulness, distinguished, moreover, by all the domestic virtues, Mr Alton died on the 1st of February, 1793, of a schirrus in the liver, in the 63d year of his age. He lies buried in the churchyard at Kew, near the graves of his distinguished friend a, Zoffany, Meyer, and Gainsborough* He was succeeded by his son, Mr William Town- send Aiton, who was no less esteemed by George I IT. than his father had been, and who, for fifty years, ably superintended the botanical department nt Kew t besides taking charge of the extensive pleasure-grounds, and being employed in the improvement of the other royal gardens. In 1841, he retired from office, when Sir Wiliiain Jackson Hooker was appointed director of the botanic gardens Mr Aiton died at Kew, in 1840, aged 04. ALES or ALESSE, Alexander, a celebrated theologian of the sixteenth century, was bom at Edinburgh, April 23d, 1500. He is first found in the situation of a canon in the cathedral of St Andrews, where he distinguished himself by entering into the fashionable controversy of the day against Luther. His zeal for the Roman Catholic religion was staggered by the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton ; but it is not probable that his doubts w T ould have been car- ried farther, if he had not suffered persecution for the slight degree of scepticism i. F Digitized by VjOOQ IC 12 WILLIAM ALEXANDER. already manifested. Being obliged to fly from St Andrews, he retired to Ger- many^ where he became a thorough convert to the Protestant doctrines* The Reformation in England induced Ales to go to London, in 1535, where he was highly esteemed by Cranmer, Latimer, and Cromwell, who were at that time in favour with the king. Henry regarded him also with favour, and used to call him "his scholar." Upon the fall of Cromwell, he was obliged to return to Germany, where the Elector of Brandenburg appointed him professor of divinity at Frankfort-upoa-the-Oder, in 1640* As a reformer, Ales did not always maintain the most orthodox doctrines ; hence he was obliged, in 1542 to fly from his chair at Frankfort, and betake himself to Leipsic. He spent the remainder of his life in that city, as professor of divinity, and died in 1565. His works are : — 1, ** De necessitate et men to Honor um Operuin, disputatio proposita in celebri academia Leipsica, ad 29 Not, 1560." 2, " Commentarii in evaugelium Joannis, et in u tram que epistolam ad Timotheum." 3, " Expos! tio in Psalm os Davidis." 4, w De Justificatione, contra Oecandnim.* 1 5, ** De Sancta Trinitate, cum coufutatione erroris ValentinL" 6 t " Recponsio ad triginta et duos articulos theologorum Lovaniensium." The fifth in this list is the most favourable specimen of his abilities. ALEXANDER* Wiixiah, an eminent nobleman, statesman, and poet of the reign of James VI. and Charles I* The original rank of this personage was that of a small landed proprietor or laird ; but he was elevated, by dint of his various accomplishments, and through the favour of the two sovereigns above-mentioned, to the rank of an earl. His family, which possessed the small estate of Menstrie, near Stirling, is said to have derived the name Alexander from the prenomen of their ancestor, Alexander Macdonald, a high lander, who had been settled in this property by the Earl of Argyle, whose residence of Castle Campbell is in the neighbourhood. William Alexander is supposed to have first seen the light in 1580, Nature having obviously marked him for a higher destiny than that to which be was born, he received from his friends the best education which the time and place could afford, and, at a very early age, he accompanied the young Earl of Argyle upon his foreign travels, in the capacity of tutor. Previous to this period, when only fifteen years of age, he had been smit with the charms of some country beauty, *' the cynosure of neighbouring eyes;" on his return from the continent, his passion was found to have suffered no abatement. He spent some time in rural retirement, and wrote no fewer than a hundred sonnets, as a ventilation to the fervours of his breast ; but all his poetry was in vain, so far as the lady was concerned, She thought of matrimony, while he thought of love; and accordingly, on being solicited by a more aged suitor, in other respects eli- gible, did not scruple to accept his hand. The poet took a more sensible way of consoling himself for this disappointment than might have been expected ; he married another lady, the daughter and heiress of Sir William Erskine. His century of sonnets was published in London in 1(j04, under the title of *' Aurora, containing the First Fancies of the Author's Youth, by W. Alexander, of Men- strie/ 1 From the situation of Alexander's estate, near the residence of the king at Stirling, and in a vale which his majesty frequented for the pleasure of hawk- ing, be had early been introduced to royal notice ; and, accordingly, it appear* that, when James removed to London, in 1603, the poet did not remain long behind, bnt soon became a dependent upon the English court, It is honourable to Alexander that in this situation he did not, like moat court poets of that agis employ his pen in the adulation of majesty ; his works breathe a very different Digitized by Google WILLIAM ALEXANDER. 43 strain. Hating studied deeply the ancient philosophers and poets, be descanted op (.he vanity of grandeur, the value of truth, the abuse of power, and the burthen of riches. His moralizing* assumed tlie strange shape of tragedies — compositions not at all designed for the stage, but intended simply to embody the sentiments which arose in his mind upon such subjects as those we hate mentioned. His first tragedy was grounded upon the story of Darius, and appeared at Edinburgh in 1603. He afterwards republished it at London, in 1607, along- with similar compositions upon the stories of Alexander, Croesus, and Ctesar, under the title of " Monarch] ck Tragedies, by William Alexander, gentleman of the Princes' Priry Chamber*" It would thus appear that he had now obtained a place in the household of Prince Henry ; to whom he had previously addressed a poem or parrenesis, designed to show how the happiness of a sovereign depends upon his choosing such councillors as can throw off private grudges, regard public con- rems, and will not, to betray their seata, become pensioners. This poem, of which no copy of the original edition is known to exist, except one in the Uni- versity library at Edinburgh, was, after the death of Henry, addressed to Prince Charles, who then became heuvapparent ; an economy in poetical, not to speak of court business, which cannot be sufficiently admired. He was, in 1 (3 13, ap- pointed one of the gentlemen ushers of the presence to this unfortunate prince* Xing James is said to have been a warm admirer of the poems of Alexander, to bare honoured turn with his conversation, and called hi in *' my philosophical poet." He was now aspiring to the still more honourable character of a divine poet, for >n 1614, appeared at Edinburgh, his largest and perhaps his most meritorious production, entitled, " Doomsday, or the Great Day of Judgment, " which has been several times reprinted* Hitherto the career of Alexander had been chiefly that of a poet : it was henceforth entirely that of a courtier. Advanced to the age of thirty-five, the pure and amiable temperament of the poet gave way before the calculating and mercenary views of the politician ; and the future years of his life are therefore less agreeable in recital than those which are past In 1 6 1 4>, he was knighted by king James, and appointed to the situation of master of requests. In 1651, the king gave him a grant by his royal deed of the province of Nora Scotia, which as yet bad not been colon bed. Alexander designed at first to establish settlers upon this new country, and, as an inducement to the purchase of land, it was proposed that the king should confer* upon all who paid a hundred and fifty pounds for six thowand acres, the honour of a knight baronetcy. Owing to the perplexed politics of the Inst years of king James, he did not get this scheme car- ried into effect^ but Charles had no sooner acceded than he resolved upon giving it his support Alexander, in 1625, published a pamphlet, entitled, " An Encour- agement to Colonies,' 1 the object of which was to state the progress already made, to recommend the scheme to the nation, and to invite adventurers. It is also supposed that he hod a hand in " A Brief Relation of the Discovery and Planta- tion of New England, and of sundry accidents therein occurring from the year 1607 to this present 1622: together with the state thereof as it now standeth, the general form of government intended, and the division of the whole territory into counties, baronies, &&" King Charles, who probably considered the scheme in a two-fold light, as a means of establishing a new colony, and of remunerating an old servant at the expense of others, conferred upon Sir William Alexander the rank of Lieutenant of New Scotland, and founded the necessary order of knights baronets of the same territory. The number of these baronets was not to exceed a hundred and fifty, and it was ordained that the title should be hereditary — that they should take precedence of all ordinary knights and lairds, and of all other gentlemen, except Sir William Alexander, and that they Digitized by Google 44 WILLIAM ALEXANDER. should have place in all his majesty's and his successors* armies, near and about the royal standard for the defence thereof with other honourable distinctions of precedency, to them, their wires, and heirs. The ceremony of infeftment or sea- sine was decreed to take place on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh, the earth and stone of which were held, by a fiction, to represent the component particles of certain baronies and lordships on the other side of the Atlantic For the amusement of the reader, we shall give an account of the equivocal mode of pro- cedure adopted in this scheme, and of its shameful conclusion, from the fantastic pen of Sir Thomas Urquhart " It did not satisfy him," says Sir Thomas, in re- ference to Alexander, (Discovery of a most Exquisite Jewel, Ac., 8vo, 1653 J " to have a laurel from the Muses, and be esteemed a king among poets, but he must also be king of some new-found land ; and, like another Alexander, in- deed, searching after new worlds, have the sovereignty of Nova Scotia ! He was born a poet, and aimed to be a king ; therefore he would have his royal title from king James, who was born a king, and aimed to be a poet. Had he stopped there, it had been well ; but the flame of his honour must have some oil therewith to nourish it; like another Arthur he must have his knights, though nothing limited to so small a number; for how many soever, who could have looked but for one day like gentlemen, and given him but one hundred and fifty pounds sterling (without any need of a key for opening the gate to enter through the temple of virtue, which, in former times, was the only way to hon- our,) they had a scale from him whereby to ascend unto the platforms of virtue ; which they treading under their feet, did slight the ordinary passages, and to take the more sudden possession of the temple of honour, went upon obscure by- paths of their own, towards some secret angiports.and dark postern doors, which were so narrowthat few of them could get in, until they had left all their gallantry behind them: Yet such being their resolution, that in they would and be worshipful upon any terms; they misregarded all formerly used steps of promotion, accounting them but unnecessary ; and most rudely pushing into the very sanctuary, they immediately hung out the orange colours," the colour of the ribbon by which the order was suspended, " to testify their conquest of the honour of knight baronet. Their king nevertheless, not to stain his royal dignity, or to seem to merit the impu- tation of selling honour to his subjects, did, for their money, give them land, and that in so ample a measure, that every one of his knight baronets had, for his hun- dred and fifty pounds sterling, heritably disposed to him six thousand good and suffi- cient acres of Nova Scotia ground; which being at the rate of but sixpence an acre, and not to be thought very dear; considering how prettily, in the respec- tive parchments of disposition, they were bounded and designed ; fruitful corn- fields, watered with pleasant rivers, running along most excellent and spacious meadows; nor did there want abundance of oaken groves, in the midst of very fertile plains, or if it wanted anything it was the scrivener's or writer's fruit, for he" [Alexander] " gave orders, as soon as he received the three thousand Scots marks, that there should be no detect of quantity, or quality, in measure or good- ness of land, and here and there most delicious gardens and orchards ; with whatever else could, in matter of delightful ground, best content their fancies; as if they had made purchase among them of the Elysian fields or Mahomert para- dise; and although there should have happened a thousand acres more to be put into the charter, or writing of disposition, than was agreed upon at first, he cared not; naif a piece to the clerk was able to make him dispense with that But at last when he had enrolled three hundred knights, who for their hundred and fifty pieces each had purchased among them several millions of New Caledonian acres, confirmed to them and theirs for ever, under the great seal, the affixing whereof was to cost each of them but thirty pieces more ; finding that the society was not Digitized by VjOOQ IC WILLIAM ALEXANDER. 45 likely ti» become any more numerous, and thai the ancient gentry of Scotland esteemed such a whimsical dignity to be a disparagement, rather than any addi- tion to their former honour ; he bethought himself of a course more profi table to himself and the future establishment of his own state ; in prosecuting wherenj without the advice of his knights, who represented both houses of parliament. clergy and all, like an absolute king indeed* he disposed heritably to the French for a matter of live or six thousand pounds English money, both the dominion and property of the whole country of that kingdom of Nova Scotia j leaving the new baronets to search for land amongst the Seleites in the moon, or turn knights of the sun ; so dearly hare they bought their orange ribband, which, all things considered, is, and will be. more honourable to them, or their posterity, than it is or hath been profitable to either." It thus appears that Alexan- der^ Not a Scotian scheme, whatever might have been originally contemplated, degenerated at last into a mere means of raising money by the sale of titles ; a jystem too much practised in the English reign of James VI., and which gained, as it deserved, the contempt of all honourable minds. The territory of Nova Scotia afterwards fell into the hands of the French, who affected to believe that they had acquired a right to it by a treaty entered into with tlte king of Groat Britain, in 1632, in which the country of Acadia was ceded to them- In the treaty of peace transacted between tlie two countries, in lTti.'J, it was success* fully asserted by the British government that Nova Scotia was totally distinct from Acadia, and accordingly the territory reverted to Britain, along with Can* ada, Tlie country, however, having become the property of other individuals during the usurpation of the French, it appears thru the Nova Scotia baronets have very slight prospects of ever regaining the lands to which their titles were originally attached. In 1626, Sir William Alexander, was, by the farour of Charles L, made secre- tary of state for Scotland; an office to which the salary of ilDO a-year, being that of a good mercantile elerk in the present day, was then attached, tn 1630, by the further favour of his sovereign, be was raised to the peerage under the title of viscount Stirling; and in 1633, at the coronation of king Charles in Holyrood chapel, he was promoted to the rank of on earl under the same title. He held the office of secretary during fifteen years, and gained the credit of being a moderate statesman in the m.dst of many violent political scenes. It does not ap- pear, however, that he was a popular character. Such esteem as he might have gained by his poetry, seems to have been lost in consequence of the arts by which bis sovereign endeavoured to give htm riches. A permission which he acquired, probably in his character of lieutenant of Nova Scotia, to coin base money, be-* came a grievance to the community, and procured him much obloquy* He had erected a splendid mans inn at Stirling out of his ill-acquired gains, and affixed upon its front his armorial Wirings, with the motto ■* I'er Mare, per Terras." This was parodied, as we are informed by tl.e sarcastic Scott of ScotstorveL into u Per metre, per turners," in allusion to the sources of his wealth* the people be- lieving ih.it the royal favour had a reference to his lordship -s poetry, while *nr- ws, or black farthing as they were otherwise called, had been one of the Aapes in which this favour was expressed The house still remains, a monument of the taste of the poet. The earl of Stirling, in IC37, published a complete edition of his poetical works, under the general title of " Recreations with the Muses/' The work con- tained his four M Monarch] ck Tragedies," his "Doomsday," the *' Parienesis to Prince Henry/ 1 and " Jonathan, an Heroick Poem Intended, the first hook," the whole revised and very much improved by the author. He died in 1640, leav- ing three sons and two daitghters, whose posterity was supposed to have been coin- Digitized by VjOOQ IC _ 46 ALEXANDER L pletely extinct, till a claimant appeared in 1830, as descended from one of thy younger branches of the family, and who has assumed die titles of Stirling and Devon. Considered as a poet, Alexander is intilled to considerable praise. u Hi* style is certainly neither pure nor correct, which may perhaps be attributed t*> his long familiarity with the Scottish language ; but his versification is in gene* ral much superior to that of his contemporaries, and approaches nearer to Uw elegance of modern times than could have been expected from one who wrote so much. There are innumerable beauties scattered orer the whole of his works, but particularly in his songs and sonnet* ; the former are a species of irregular odes, in which the sentiment* occasionally partaking of the quaintness of his age, is more frequently new and forcibly expressed. The powers of mind displayed in his Doomsday and Parcenesis are very considerable, although we are frequently able to trace the allusions and imagery to the language of holy writ ; and he ap- pears to have been less inspired by the sublimity than by the awful importance of his. subject to rational beings. A habit of moralizing pervades all his writings ; but in the * Doomsday ' he appears deeply impressed with his subject, and more anxious to persuade the heart than to delight the imagination/ 1 — Johnson and Chalmers? Entflith Poets, edit, 1310, voL v- The Earl of Stirling was employed in his latter years in the task of revising the version of the Psalms prepared by king James, which duty was imposed upon him by the royal paraphrast himself. In a letter to his friend, Dmmmond of Hawthornden, 38th of April, 1630, Alexander says, "Brother, I received your List letter, with the psalm you sent, which I lb ink very well done : 1 had done the same long before it came ; but he [king James] prefers his own to all else ; though, perchance when you see it, you will tlunk it the worst of the three. No man must meddle with that subject, and therefore I advise you to take no more pains therein.** In consideration of the pains which the Earl had bestowed upon this subject, Charles I., on the 28th of December, IG27, granted a license to his lordship, to print the late king's version of the Psalms exclusively for thirty-one years. The first edition appeared at Oxford, in 1631, The king endeavoured to enforce the use of his father's version alone throughout liis dominions ; and, if he had been successful, the privilege would hare been a source of immense profit to the Earl of Stirling. But the royal wishes were resisted by the Scot- tish church, and were not very respectfully obeyed any where else; and ihe breaking out of the civil war soon after rendered the privilege entirely useless. l ALEXANDER L t aurnamed Acer, or the Fierce,, king of Scots from 1106 to 1 194, was the fifth son of Malcolm III. by his wife Margaret of England. Lord Hailes conjectures that his name was bestowed in honour of Pope Alexan- der II. ; a citxumstance worthy of attention, as it was (he means of introducing ihe most common and familiar christian name in Scotland. The date of Alex- ander's birth is not known ; but as his Four elder brothers were all under age in 1093, at the death of their father, he must have been in the bloom of life at his accession to the throne. He succeeded hi* brother Edgar, January 8, llOti-T, and immediately after married Sybilla, the natural daughter of Henry I. o! England, who had married bis sister Matlldis, or Maud. Such an alliance was not then considered dishonourable. Alexander was active in enforcing obedi- ence to his dominion, and in suppressing the hands of rebels or robbers with which the northern part* of the kingdom were infested ; but the chief events of his reign relate to the efforts made by the English church to assert a supremacy over that of Scotland. These efforts were resisted by the king of Scots, with 1 riie eorpse of Use Earl of Sliding: wns deposited in a leaden coffin hi the fnmily -aisle in tho church of Stirling, shore ground, and remained entire for upwards af a hundred ^ears.— - Paragraph from an old iiettfp&pLY. Digitized by Google ALEXANDER II.— ALEXANDER III. 47 steady perseverance, and ultimate success, notwithstanding that the Pope counte- nanced the claims of the English prelates It is to be presumed that this spirit would bare incited the Scottish monarch to maintain the independency of hit kingdom, had it ever been called in question during his reign, Alexander died April 27, 1124, after a reign of seventeen years and three months. As he left no issue, he was succeeded by his next and lasir-surviving brother David, so memo- rable for his bounty to the church. Alexander was also a pious monarch. Al- dred, in his genealogy of the English kings, says of him, that " he was humble and courteous to the clergy, but, to the rest of his subjects, terrible beyond mea- sure ; high-spirited, always endeavouring to compass things beyond his power ; not ignorant of letters ; zealous in establishing churches, collecting relics, and providing vestments and books for the clergy ; liberal even to profusion, and taking delight in the offices of charity to the poor**' His donations to the church were very considerable. He made a targe grant of lands to the church of St Andrews, increased the revenue of the monastery of Dunfermline, which his parents had founded, established a colony of canons regular at home, and built a monastery on Inch-cohn in the Firth of Forth, in gratitude for having been preserved from a tempest on that island ALEXANDER IL, the only legitimate son of king William, somamed the Lion, was born in 1109. He succeeded his father, December 4, 1214, in his seventeenth year, and was crowned next day at Scone. Alexander IL is cha- racterised by Pordiin as a pious, just, and brave king— as the shield of the church, the safe-guard of the people, and the friend of the miserable. He es- poused the cause of the English barons against king John, which led to mutual depredations between the two sovereigns; but on the accession of Henry 111- to the crown of England, peace was restored; and in 1231, the friendly inter- course of the two nations was established by the marriage of the king of Scot- land to Joan, eldest sister of the king of England* This princess died in 1838, without issue ; and in the following year Alexander married Mary de Couci, the scion of a French house, which, in its motto, disclaimed royalty, and rested for distinction on its own merits : Je guis ni n>|, ni prmcu am&l — Jti suis le seigntur tie Couci* During the life of Joan, the British monarchs came to no open rupture, their friendly intimacy being only occasionally interrupted by Henry discovering & deposition to revive the claim of hnnmge from the king of Scotland, which had been given up by Richard L, and by Alexander Insisting on his claim to the three northern counties of England ; but shortly after the death of Joan, na- tional jealousies broke out, and in 1214, both princes raised armies and prepared for war. By the mediation, however* of several English barons, hostilities were prevented, and a peace concluded. Much of Alexander's reign was occupied in suppressing insurrections of the Celtic inhabitants of Scotland. He died A.D- 1249, in one of the islands of the Hebrides, while engaged in subjecting Angus, the Lord of Argyle, who refused Ins homage to the Scottish sovereign, He left by his second wife one son, who is the subject of the following article. ALEXANDER III-, born at Roxburgh, September 4, 1241, succeeded his father in the eighth year of his age. He was knighted and crowned only five days after his father's death — a precipitation adopted to prevent the interference of the king of England. When only a year old, Alexander had been betrothed to Margaret eldest daughter of Henry ILL, a princess of his own age ; and in 1351, their nuptials were celebrated at York with great pomp. On the ground Digitized by VjOOQ IC 48 ALEXANDER in. of this union, Henry interested himself in the affairs of Scotland, and the ycitng prince was a frequent visitor at the court of his father-in-law. The English monarch, taking advantage of Alexander's youth and other circumstances, endea- voured to prevail upon him to do homage for his crown and kingdom of Scot- land ; hut the young king, with a fortitude and prudence beyond his yean, and which gave promise of his future decision, resisted the requisition, saying that he could not treat of affairs of state without the advice of his parliament. During Alexander's minority, the country was divided into factions, and various struggles for ascendancy took place ; but the administration was latterly com* oiitted to fifteen of the leading chiefs or barons. Alexander had reached the twenty-second year of his age, when his kingdom was invaded by one of the most formidable armaments that had ever sailed from Norway. Haco, king oi that country, with a fleet of one hundred and sixty ships, freighted with many thousand northern warriors, who carried terror to almost all the shores of Europe, sailed towards Scotland in the summer of 1963, and after making himself master of the islands of Arran and Bute, arrived in the bay of Largs, near the mouth of the Clyde, and endeavoured to effect a landing. Here a Scottish army, under Alexander, assembled to resist the invasion ; and here, on the 2d of October, after a fierce and bloody contest, the Norwegians were repulsed with great loss. A storm arising, completed the dissipation or destruction of their fleet Haco escaped with difficulty through the strait between Sky and the mainland, since called Kyle Hacken, and reaching the Orkneys, died there, as is said, of a broken heart By this defeat, all the islands of the western sea, including that of Man, but excepting those of Orkney and Shetland, submitted to Alexander. From this period to the death of Alexander, Scotland enjoyed tranquillity, only disturbed by the pretensions of the pope and the encroachments of the clergy, both of which Alexander was successful in resisting. Religious crusades were at this time the rage over Europe, and Scotland did not escape the infec- tion, as many of her bravest barons perished in Palestine. In 1274, Alexander attended the coronation of his brother-in-law, Edward L, at Westminster, and after the custom of the times did homage for the lands which he held of him in England. Six months after this, Margaret queen of Scotland died, leaving one daughter and two sons — Margaret, Alexander, and David. David died unmar- ried in 1281. Margaret was married in 1282, to Eric king of Norway, and died in the following year, after giving birth to an infant daughter, who re- ceived her own name. Alexander was married in 1283 to die daughter of Guy earl of Flanders, and died in the following year without issue. Thus, in the course of a few yean, was the unhappy king of Scotland deprived of his wife and nil his children- — (he only remaining descendant of his body being the Maiden of Norway, as alio ia billed in Scottish history, an infant grandchild re- tiding in a foreign land- In 1285, Alexander, to provide against the evils ol a disputed succession, at the request of his nobility, married Joletta, daughter of the Count do Dreux ; but shortly after his marriage, in* riding along a precipi- tous road between U runt island and Kinghom, his horse fell over a rock, and the unfortunate monarch was kilkd. This event Look place on the 1 6 th of March, 128G, in the 45lh year of his age and 37th of his reign. With Alexander III, terminated a race of kings, who, from the accession of Malcolm Geau-Mohr, had distinguished themselves by their activity in the ad- ministration of justice, and their courage in maintaining the rights and indepei - dence of their country against a powerful and ton often *n insidious foe. Few annals of a rude people, indeed, can present amors remarkable series of patriot U inonarctis than those with whom Scotland was blessed from the middle of the ele- venth to the close of the thirteenth century, whether we consider their wisdom Digitized by VjOOQ IC DAVID ALLAN. 49 and impartiality as legislators, their prudence as politicians, or their bravery as warriors, for Malcolm the Maiden and the terms upon which William the Lion effected his release from captivity must only be considered as exceptions to the general excellence of their conduct But with the death of Alexander HI., the peace and prosperity of the country was broken up ; and much as he was la- mented by the people, and gloomy as were their forebodings on his decease, no anticipation could exceed the real calamities in which the country was involved by his unhappy and untimely end. ALLAN, David, a painter of great merit, was born at Alloa, February 13th, 1744. Re was the son of Mr David Allan, shore-master at that small port The mother of Allan, whose maiden name was Gullan, brought him prematurely into the world, and died a few days after his birth. The young painter had so small a mouth that no nurse could be found in the place fitted to give him suck : at length, one being heard of, who lived at the distance of some miles, he was packed up in a basket amidst cotton, and sent off under the charge of a man who carried him on horseback, the journey being rendered additionally danger- ous by a deep snow. The horse happened to stumble, the man fell offj and the tiny wretch was ejected from the basket into the snow, receiving as he fell a severe cut upon his head. Such were the circumstances under which Mr David Allan commenced the business of existence. Even after having experienced the tender cares of his nurse, misfortune con- tinued to harass him. In the autumn of 1745, when he must have been about eighteen months old, a battery was erected at Alloa, to defend the passage of the Forth against the attempts of Prince Charles's army. While the men were firing the cannon for experiment, the maid entrusted with the charge of young Allan ran across the open space in front, at the moment when they were dis- charged, and he only escaped cfeath by a hair-breadth. His genius for designing was first developed by accident Being con- fined at home with a burnt foot, bis father one day said to him, " You idle little rogue, you are kept from school doing nothing ! come, here is a bit of chalk, draw something with it upon the floor." He took the chalk, and began to delineate figures of houses, animals, and other familiar objects ; in all of which he succeed- ed so well that the chalk was seldom afterwards out of his hand. When he was about ten years of age, his pedagogue happened to exercise his authority over some of the boys in a rather ludicrous manner : Allan immediately drew a cari- cature of the transaction upon a slate, and handed it about for the amusement of his companions. The master of the ferule, an old vain conceited person, who used to strut about the school dressed in a tartan night-cap and long tartan gown, got hold of the picture, and right soon detected that he himself was the most con- spicuous and the most ridiculous figure. The satire was so keen, and the laugh which it excited sunk so deep, that the object of it was not satisfied till he had made a complaint to old Allan, and had the boy taken from his school When questioned by his father how he had the effrontery to insult his master, by repre- senting him so ridiculously on his slate, his answer was, " I only made it like him, and it was all for fun !" The father observed the decided genius of his son, and had the good sense to offer it no resistance. At this time, the establishment of the Messrs Foulis' aca- demy of Arts at Glasgow was making some noise in the country. Allan, there- fore, resolved to apprentice his son to those gentlemen upon the terms given out in their prospectus of the institution. On the 25th of February, 1755, when exactly eleven years of age, the young draughtsman was bound apprentice to the Messrs Foulis for seven years, to attend their painting academy in the univer- sity of Glasgow. In Newhall house there is a sketch in oil, done by him, repre* I. G Digitized by — 50 DAVID ALLAN. seating the inside of the academy, with an exact portrait of Robert Foulis in the act of criticising a large picture, and giving instructions to his principal painter about it In the year 1764, some of his performances attracted the notice of lord Oath- cart, whose seat, Shaw Park, was situated in Clackmannanshire near Alloa. Lady Gathcart introduced him to the notice of lady Frances Erskine, daughter of the insurgent earl of Mar, and mother of the gentleman to whom the peerage was restored in 1824 ; as also to lady Charlotte Erskine, to Mrs Abercromby ot Tullibody, mother of Sir Ralph, and to some other personages of distinction in the neighbourhood of his birth-place. By the associated purses of these kind pa- trons, Allan was enabled to go to Italy, where he studied with unremitting appli- cation for eleven years. During his residence there, lady Cathcart used to write to him with all the care and affection of a mother. In 1773, while living at Rome, he gained the prize medal given by the academy of St Luke for the best specimen of historical composition ; being the only Scotchman who had ever reached that honour, besides Mr Gavin Hamilton. After his return in 1777, Allan resided for about two years in London; but, falling into a bad state of health, he was ordered home to Scotland for a change of air. Soon after his arrival in Edinburgh, he was appointed successor to Runci- man (deceased), as master and director of the academy established by the Board of Trustees for Manufactures and Improvements, for the purpose of diffusing a knowledge of the principles of the fine arts and elegance of design, in the vari- ous manufactures and works which required to be figured and ornamented ; a charge for which he was peculiarly well qualified, by the extensive knowledge he possessed of every branch of the art He retained the situation till his death. Allan was much admired for his talents in composition, the truth with which he delineated nature, and the characteristic humour which distinguished his pic- tures, drawings, and etchings. There are several engravings from his pictures, as, " The Origin of Fainting, or the Corinthian maid drawing the shadow of her lover," and four in aqua-tinta by Paul Sandby, from drawings made by Allan when at Rome, representing die sports diving the carnival. Several of the figures were portraits of persons well known to the English who visited Rome be- tween 1770 and 1780. There is one caricature by Allan, which is well known to Scottish collectors: it represents the interior of a church or meeting-house at Dunfermline, at the moment when an imprudent couple are rebuked by the cler- gyman. There is a drollery about the whole of this performance that never fails to amuse. The alliance of his genius to that of our national poets, led Allan, in 1788, to publish an edition of the Gentle Shepherd, with characteristic drawings. He also published a collection of the most humorous of the old Scottish songs, each illustrated by a characteristic etching. At his death, which happened on the 6th of August, 1796, he left a series of drawings designed for the poems of Burns, in an equally graphic and humorous style. There is one property which runs through all the designs of Allan, and by which his productions may be distin- guished at the most casual glance : this is a peculiar elegance of form which he always gives to the limbs of his figures — elegance to such a degree, that, in many cases, it may be pronounced out of nature. Allan, by his wife, whom he married in 1788, left one son, bearing his own name, and who was sent out as a cadet to India, and one daughter named Barbara. In person, our Scottish Hogarth, as he was called, had nothing attractive. The misfortunes attending his entrance into the world were such as nothing in after life could repair. " His figure was a bad resemblance of his humorous precursor of the English metropolis. He was under the middle size ; of a slender, feeble make ; with a long, sharp, lean, white, coarse face, much pitted by the small-pox, Digitized by Google CHARLES ALSTON, M.D. 51 and fair hair. His large prominent eyes, of a light colour, were weak, near- sighted, and not very animated. His nose was long and high, his mouth wide, and both ill-shaped. His whole exterior to strangers appeared unengaging, tri- fling, and mean; and his deportment was timid and obsequious. The pre- judices naturally excited by these disadvantages at introduction, were, how- ever, dispelled on acquaintance; and, as he became easy and pleased, gra- dually yielded to agreeable sensations ; till they insensibly vanished, and at last were not only overlooked, but, from the effect of contrast, even heightened the at- tractions by which they were so unexpectedly followed. When in company he esteemed, and which suited his taste, as restraint wore offj his eye imperceptibly became active, bright, and penetrating ; his manner and address quick, lively, and interesting — always kind, polite, and respectful ; his conversation open and gay, humorous without satire, and playfully replete with benevolence, observation, and anecdote. 1 ' — Brown's edition of the Gentle Shepherd, 1808. The author who thus forcibly delineates his external appearance, gives the fol- lowing character of his genius. " As a painter, at least in his own country, he neither excelled in drawing, composition, colouring, nor effect Like Hogarth, too, beauty, pace, and grandeur, of individual outline and form, or of style, con- stitute no part of his merit He was no Gorregio, Raphael, or Michael Angela He painted portraits as well as Hogarth, below the middle size ; but they are void of all charms of elegance, and of the claro-obscuro, and are recommended by no- thing but a strong homely resemblance. As an artist and a man of genius, his characteristic talent lay in expression, in the imitation of nature with truth and humour, especially in the representation of ludicrous scenes in low life. His eye was ever on the watch for every eccentric figure, every motley group, or ridi- culous incident, out of which his pencil or his needle could draw innocent enter- tainment and mirth." ALSTON, Charlbs, M.D. an eminent botanist, was born in 1 6 88, in Lanarkshire, and spent his early years at Hamilton palace, under the patronage of the duchess of Hamilton. Her grace wished him to study the law, but he preferred botany and medicine, and accordingly, in 1716, set out for Ley den, where those sciences were at that time taught by the illustrious Boerhaave. Here he found a great number of young Scotsmen engaged in the same pursuit, and all inspired with an uncommon degree of enthusiam in their studies, which they had caught from their master. Alston, after taking his degree as doctor of physic, returned to his native country, and began to practise in Edinburgh. He obtained the sinecure office of king's botanist, through the influence of the duke of Hamilton, heritable keeper of Holyrood-house, to which the garden was attached. This garden he enriched by large collections which he had made in Holland, where botanical science was then more highly cultivated than in any other country in Europe. In 1720, notwithstanding that a botanical class was taught in the college by a professor of eminence named Preston, he began a course of lectures in the king's garden. Preston, at length waxing old, Alston was, in 1738, chosen to succeed him, as professor of botany and materia medica united. He was exceedingly laborious in his duties as a professor, giving a course on botany every summer, and one on materia medica every winter ; and never sparing any pains which he thought could be conducive to the progress of his pupils. The celebrated Dr Fothergill, in his character of Dr Russell^ bears ample testimony to the assi- duity of Dr Alston, who had been his master ; and describes in glowing language the benefit which those who attended him had the means of reaping, his caution in speculation, and how laborious he was in experiment For the assistance of bis pupils, he published, about 1740, a list of the officinal plants cultivated in the Edinburgh medical garden. Of Linnaus's system, which was first promulgated in Digitized by Google ^^ 52 ROBERT A1VES— ADAM ANDERSON. 1736, Dr Alston, like many other philosophers of bis day, was a steady opponent. He published a paper against it, on the sexes of plants, in the first volume of M Physi- cal and Literary Essays, " a miscellany which was commenced at Edinburgh, io 1751. The controversy which took place at that period amongst naturalists hai now lost all its interest, seeing that the method of Linnaeus, after serving a useful purpose, has been superseded by the natural system, to the foundation of which Linnaeus in no small degree contributed, but which it was left to Jussieu and De Candolle to mature. Dr Alston also contributed some articles to an Edinburgh miscellany entitled ** Medical Essays ; " the most important is one on opium. In 1753, he published an introduction to Dr Patrick Blair's Index Matertit Mtdicct, a work which resembled bis own index in a considerable degree. This in- troduction was a separate work, and was entitled » Tirocinium Botanicum Edinbur$€i%se. Dr Alston, aw the contemporary of the first Monro, and prof ester of a kindred branch of science, was by no mean* unworthy of either bis time or hii place. He mutt be considered at one of those who have contributed to the exaltation of the college of Edinburgh, as a school of medical science He died cm the 22nd of November, 1760, in the seventy -seventh year of his age. ALVES, Rodsbt, a poet and miscellaneous writer, born at Elgin, in 1715, took his degrees in philosophy at Aberdeen, where he enjoyed the friendship of Dr Beattit, and afterwards, though designed for the church, settled as parish schoolm aster of Desk/or d. From this place he removed, in H73, to Banff, whence he migrated in 1770, to Edinburgh, on account of a disappointment in Iotc. In Edinburgh he subsisted by teaching such pr irate persons as chose to employ him, \a the Greek, Roman, French, and Italian classics ; like a true poet, he was not greatly solicitous about the means of subsistence* Mr Creech, in 17S2 P published a volume of mis- cellaneous poems by Aires: in 1789, appeared another, under the title of ^Edin- burgh, a Poem, in two parts, and the Weeping Bard, in sixteen cantos." In 1784, Alves commenced a laborious work entitled, "Sketched of a History of Literature/* which was in the press when he died, January 1st, 1794, and was afterwards published by Dr Alexander Chapman, at whose press it wot printed for the intended benefit of the author, This work contains lives and characters of the most eminent writers in different languages, ancient and modern, with critical remarks on their works, together with several literary essays; though miserably inaccurate in every particular, it shows an extensive acquaintance with ancient and modern learning. After his death was published, in 1801, " the Banks of Esk," and other poems, a small IZmo, vol, In a vigorously written preface he repels the aspersions and ridicule cast upon Scotland and Scotsmen, by many English literary men of the period, especially Churchill, Wilkg, Junius, and Johnson - anil in the introductory canto to " the Banks of Esk/ 1 be retaliates on them with great cleverness and vivacity. ANDERSON, An am, author of the largest British compilation upon commercial history, was a native of Scotland, born about the year 1692. Having removed to London, he was for forty years a clerk in the South Sea bouse, and at length was appointed chief clerk of the Stock and New Annuities in that establishment, in which situation be continued till his death. He was appointed one of the trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia, by charter dated June 8th, 5 Geo, IL He was ako one of the court ot assistants of the Scots Corporation in Lon- don. In 1702, he published his work, entitled, "A Historical and Chronologi- cal Deduction of the Origin of Commerce, from the earliest accounts to the pre- sent time ; containing a history of the large commercial interests of the British Empire," &c. Loud. 2 vols, folio. The elaborate character of this work, says much for the industry of the author. It was subsequently improved in a new edi- tion by Darijl iiacp hereon, 4 vols, quarto j and a manual abridgement oi the Digitized by VjOOQ IC ALEXANDER AVDERSON. 53 wnrk may still be considered a want in our literature. Mr Anderson died booh niter tie bad given it to the world, January 10th. 1705, at the a<je of seven t /-three. ANDERSON, Alexander, a very eminent mathematician, born at Aberdeen, near the close of the sixteenth century. How or where he acquired his mathe- matical education is not known; he probably studied belle* lettres and philoso- phy in his native university. He comes into notice at Paris* early in the seven- teenth century, as a private teacher or professor of mathematics. In that city, between the years 1612 and 1G19, he published or edited vorio us geometrical and algebraical tracts, which are conspicuous for their ingenuity and elegance. It is doubtful whether he was ever acquainted with the famous Vieta, Master of Requests at Paris, who died in 1603 ; hut his pore taste and skill in mathemati- cal investigation pointed him out to the executors of that illustrious man, who had found leisure, in the intervals of a laborious profession, to cultivate and extend the ancient geometry, and by adopting a system of general symbols, to lay the foundation, and begin the superstructure, of algebraical science, as the person most proper for revising and publishing- his valuable manuscripts, Anderson, how- ever, did not confine himself to the doty of a mere editor; he enriched the text with learned ornaments, and gave neat demonstrations of those propositions which had been left imperfect. He afterwards produced a specimen of the application of geometrical analysis, which is distinguished by its clearness and classic elegance. The works of this eminent person amount to six thin quarto volumes, now very scarce. These are, — I. Supplementum Apollonii Redivivh sive analysis pro- Id emat is hactenus desiderati ad Apollonii Pergaei doctrinam *f£i ¥fwtw* a Marino Ghetaldo Fatritio Hegusino hnjusque non ita pridem institutam, &c Paris, I6l b 2, 4to. This tract refers to the problem of inclinations, by which, in certain cases, the application of the curve called the conchoid is supe reeded, — i 2. AmaXoyi* ; Pro Zetetico Apollonian! problematis a se jam pridem edito in fiupplemeoto Apollonii RedivivL Being an addition to the former work. Paris, 1615, 4to,— 3. The edition of the works of Vieta. Paris, 1615, 4to. — 4. Ad Angulannn Soctionem Analytica Theoremata mBoktiurttpiL^ &e» Paris, 16T5, 4to. — 5. V indicia* Archimedis, &c Paris, 1G 16, 4to.- — 6. Alexandri An- derson i Scoti Exercitatiomuu Mathematicarum Decis Prima, &c Paris, 1 til if, 4 to. All these pieces, of this excellent geometrician, are replete with the linest spe- cimens of pure geometrical exercises that have ever perhaps been produced by any authors, ancient or modern. Besides these, literary history is not aware cf any other publications by Anderson, though probably there may have been others. Indeed, from the last piece it folly appears that be had at least written, if not published, another, viz* A Treatise on the Mensuration of Solids, perhaps with a reference to gauging; as in several problems, where he critically examines the treatise of Kepler on cask-gauging, he often refers to his own work on stereo- metry. This eminent person was cousin-german to Mr David Anderson of Finshaugh, a gentleman who also possessed a singular turn for mathematical knowledge, and who could apply hia acquirements to SO many useful purposes that he was popu- larly known at Aberdeen by the name of Davie Do-a'-th i ngs. He acquired pro- digious local fame by removing a large rock, which had formerly obstructed the entrance to the harbour of Aberdeen, Mathematical genius seems to have been in some degree inherent in the whole family; for, through a daughter of Mr Da- vid Anderson, it readied the celebrated James Gregory, inventor of the reflecting telescope, who was the son of that lady, and is said to have received, from her, the elements of mathematical knowledge. From the same lady was descended the late Dr Re id of Glasgow, who was not less eminent for his acquaintance with the mathematics, than for his metaphysical writings. Digitized by VjOOQ IC 54 JAMES ANDERSON. ANDERSON, Jakes, an eminent antiquary, was the son of the Rev. Patrick Anderson, who had been ejected for non-conformity at the Restoration, and after- wards suffered imprisonment in the Bass, for preaching in a conventicle at Edin- burgh. The subject of this memoir, whose brother, Adam, has already been commemorated, was born, August 5th, 1662, and in 1077, is found studying philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, where, after finishing a scholastic edu- cation, he obtained the degree of Master of Arts, on the 97th of May, 1680. He chose the law for his profession, and, after serving an apprenticeship under Sir Hugh Faterson of Bannockburn, was admitted a member of the society of writers to the signet in 169 1. In this branch of the legal profession, the study of written antiquities in some measure forces itself upon the practitioner; and it appears that Anderson, though a diligent and able man of business, became in time too fond of the accessory employment to care much for the principal. A circumstance which occurred in 1704, decided his fate by tempting him into the field of antiquarian controversy. The question of the union of the two countries was then very keenly agitated— on the one side with much jealous assertion of the national independency — and on the other, with not only a contempt for the boasts of the Scots, but a revival of the old claims of England for a superiority or paramouncy over their country. A lawyer named Attwood, in 1704, pub- lished a pamphlet in which 'all the exploded pretensions of Edward I. were brought prominently into view, and a direct dominion in the crown of England asserted over that of Scotland. For this work, Mr Anderson, though altogether unknown to Mr Attwood, was cited as an evidence and eye-witness, to vouch some of the most important original charters and grants by the kings of Scotland, which Attwood maintained were in favour of the point he laboured to establish. Mr Anderson, in consequence of such an appeal, thought himself bound in duty to his country, to publish what he knew of the matter, and to vindicate some of the best of the Scottish kings, who were accused by Attwood of a base and vo- luntary surrender of their sovereignty. Accordingly, in 1705, he published " An Essay, showing that the crown of Scotland is imperial and independent," Edin- burgh, 8vo. which was so acceptable to his country, that, besides a reward, thanks were voted to him by parliament, to be delivered by the lord Chancellor, in pre- sence of her Majesty's high Commissioner and the Estates; at the same time that Att wood's book, like others of the same nature, was ordered to be burnt at the cross of Edinburgh by the hands of the common hangman. Mr Anderson's pub- lication is now of little value, except for the charters attached to. it in the shape of an appendix. This affair was the crisis of Anderson's fate in life. He had, in the course of his researches for the essay, collected a large mass of national papers; the study of charters was just then beginning to be appreciated by antiquaries; the enthu- siam of the nation was favourable, for the moment, to any undertaking which would show the ancient respectability of its separate system of government. Un- der all these circumstances, Anderson found it easy to secure the patronage of the Scottish estates towards a design for engraving and publishing a series of fao I similes of the royal charters, previous to die reign of James I., and of seals, me- dals, and coins, from the earliest to the present time. In November, 1706, he had a parliamentary grant of three hundred pounds towards this object He then proceeded vigorously with the work, and in March, 1707, had not only expend- ed the three hundred pounds granted by parliament; but five hundred and ninety pounds besides, which he had drawn from his own funds. A committee reported the facts; and the estates, while they approved of his conduct, recommended to the Queen to bestow upon him an additional contribution of one thousand and fifty pounds sterling. Another parliamentary act of grace — and one of the very Digitized by Google JAMES ANDERSON, D.D. 55 last proceedings pf the Scottish estates-— was to recommend him to the Queen u as a person meriting her gracious favour, in conferring any office or trust upon him, as her. Majesty in her royal wisdom, shall think fit" Quite intoxicated with this success, Anderson now gave up his profession, and, resolving to devote himself entirely to the national service as an antiquary, re- moved to London, in order to superintend the progress of his work. The event only added another proof to what is already abundantly clear — that scarcely any prospects in the precarious fields of literature, ought to tempt a man altogether to resign a professional means of subsistence. The money voted by the expiring parliament is said to have never been paid; — the British senate perhaps consider, ing itself not the proper heir of the Scottish estates, Apparently in lieu of money, he was favoured, in 1715, with the appointment of post-master general for Scotland ; but of this he was deprived in little more than two years. What progress he now made with his great work is not very clearly known. He is found, in 1718, advertising that those who might wish to encourage it " could see specimens at his house, above the post-office in Edinburgh. " As the expense of engraving must have borne hard upon his diminished resources, he would appear to have digressed for some years into an employment of a kindred nature, at- tended with greater facilities of publication. In 1727, he published the two first volumes of his well known " Collections relating to the History of Mary, Queen of Scotland, 11 Edinburgh, 4to, which was speedily completed by the addition of two other volumes. This work contains a large mass of valuable original docu- ments connected with the Marian controversy; but George Chalmers, who went over the same ground, insinuates that there is too much reason to suspect his ho- nesty as a transcriber. If the prejudices of the two men are fairly balanced against the reputations which they respectively bear as antiquaries, we must ac- knowledge that the charge may not be altogether groundless. Anderson died in 1728 of a stroke of apoplexy, leaving his great work unfin- ished. The plates were sold, in 1729, by auction, at £530, and it was not till 1737 that the work appeared, under the title of " Selectus Diplomatum et Nu- niiamytiim Scotia) Thesaurus," the whole being under the care of the celebrated Thomas Ruddiman, who added a most elaborate preface. ANDERSON, James, D.D. author of a large and useful work, entitled, " Royal Genealogies," was the brother of Adam Anderson, author of the Commercial History. He was for many years minister of the Scots presbyterian church in Swallow-street, Piccadilly, and was well known among the people of that persua- sion in London, by the nick-name # of Bishop Anderson. He was a learned but imprudent man, and lost a considerable part of his property from too deep dab- bling in the South-Sea scheme. His great work a* an author was, " Royal Genealogies, or the Genealogical Tables of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, from Adam(! ) to these Times," London, folio, 1732. The compilation of this huge work, in which he was aided by many eminent personages, whose families enter- ed into its plan, cost him, according to his own account, the labour of seven years. It is certainly the completest work of the kind in existence, though with uo pretensions to discrimination. The author says very frankly in his preface, that, " He has avoided all terms and expressions that may give offence to any nation or family, to any person or party ; having nothing to do with the national con- troversies of historians, nor with the ecclesiastical and religious debates of theolo- gians, nor with the politics of statesmen, nor with the private jangles of the cri- tics in a work of this kind, but only with facts and plain truth : so that he has let every nation enjoy its own faith; and if any find fault, he hopes they will readily excuse him, not having designed to offend them, and is willing to make satisfaction, if he lives to publish a second edition." Dr Anderson also wrote Digitized by ^ 5G JAMES ANDERSON. ** The Constitutions of the Free Masons," being the chaplain of that body in London. The dates of this worthy man's birth and death are not ascertained. He lived in a bouse opposite to St James's church, Piccadilly. ANDERSON, Jambs, an agricultural and miscellaneous writer of great merit, was the son of a farmer at Hermiston, in the county of Midlothian, where he was born in the year 1739. His father dying when he was very young, he was educated by his guardian to occupy the farm, which accordingly he began to manage at the early age of fifteen. It may be supposed that he could not hare been intrusted with so important a charge, if he had not already manifested symptoms of superior character and intellect ; much less, without such qualifica- tions, could he have discharged it, as he is said to hare done, with the approba- tion of all who had occasion to observe his operations. In reading some agri- cultural works, to qualify himself for his duties, he had observed that it would be of advantage to study chemistry: he accordingly attended the lectures given in the university of Edinburgh by Dr Cullen, who, although surprised that one so young should have formed this resolution, had soon reason to admire his pupil's laudable curiosity and good sense, and liberally afforded him every encourage- ment in his power. To chemistry he added the study of certain collateral branches of science; so that, when he entered upon his farm, he was not only able to keep up with his more aged and experienced neighbours, but adopted a number of improvements, suggested by scientific knowledge and native good Bense, which were speedily found to be of a most profitable nature. Among his improvements was the introduction of the small two*horse plough, which, since , then, has so completely banished the lumbering engine formerly drawn by a | string of cattle. Nor did the necessary business of his farm preclude all advance- , raent in knowledge. He still prosecuted his studies with great eagerness, and | soon contrived to amass an immense stock of information upon almost all sub- i jects. j His first attempts in literature appeared in the shape of Essays on Planting, , in Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine for 1771. In 1777, having previously removed | to a large farm in Aberdeenshire, he published these essays in a separate volume. In 1776, appeared his Essay on Chimneys, in which the -principle after wards ' acted on in the patent Bath stove was first explained In the same year with his i volume on Planting, appeared various pamphlets connected with rural economy, all of which were more or less calculated to gratify the increasing desire of his countrymen for scientific knowledge upon such familiar subjects. The feme of these works procured him a very extensive acquaintance with persons of emi- . nence, who wished to profit by the remarks of so able a practical farmer ; and i in 1780, the University of Aberdeen acknowledged his merit by conferring upon him the degree of LL.D. Anderson had been married in 1768; and a desire of educating a very nu- merous family, together with certain considerations as to the enjoyment of literary society, induced him, in 1783, to remove to Edinburgh, leaving the management I of his farm to persons properly qualified. A tract which he had written on the I subject of the Fisheries, though not printed, attracted the attention of the go- vernment, and he was requested in 1784 to undertake a tour of the western coast > of Scotland, for the purpose of obtaining information on this important subject He readily acquiesced, and performed the task to the high satisfaction of his i employers, who, however, never offered him any remuneration. The result of I his labours appeared in 1785, as " An Account of the present state of the He- i brides and Western Coasts of Scotland ; being the substance of a report to the i Lords of tli 9 Treasury." , Passing over some minor works of Dr Anderjon, we must make honourable Digitized by Google JAMES ANDERSON. 57 mention of a literary and scientific miscellany which he commenced in 1791, under the title of the Bee. This work was published in weekly numbers at six- pence, and, by its delightful intermixture of useful information with lighter matters of die belles lettres, was eminently calculated for the improvement of the young. It was occasionally embellished with portraits, views, and draughts of scientific objects — in, it is true, a very homely style, but still not much inferior to the taste of the age, and certainly fitted to give the work an increased merit in the eyes of its juvenile purchasers. The work ran from the 22nd of December, 1790, to the 21st of January, 1794, when it was at length reluctantly abandoned, as the ingenious editor informs us, not on account of any failure in its circula- tion, for that was considerable enough to yield a large apparent profit, but be- cause such a large proportion of the subscribers were remiss in their payments as to induce an absolute loss to the conductor. The cessation of such a meritorious little publication was the more to be regretted, as Anderson had only been able, towards its close, to bring the assistance of his numerous and distant correspon- dents into full play. The numbers published form eighteen volumes duodecimo, and throughout the whole of that space, we believe there does not occur one line which can be considered reprehensible for its moral effect Among other papers in the Bee was a series of Essays on the Political Progress of Britain. Though only written in what would now be considered a liberal strain, they appeared in the eyes of the sheriff as calculated to have an injurious tendency at that inflamed period ; and the learned Doctor was accordingly sum- moned to give up the name of the author. This Anderson refused, from peculiar notions as to literary secrecy ; he desired to he himself considered as the author. After a second and a third application, he still refused ; and when the printers were sent for, and similarly interrogated, he charged them in the face of the magistrates, to preserve his secret All this was the more singular, as his own principles were known to be eminently loyal Respect for his talents and character induced the magistrates to let the matter drop. The real author, a worthless person named Callender, being afterwards about to quit his country for America, waited upon the authorities, and insinuated that the papers were written by lord Gardenstone, a man to whom he owed many obligations. Immediately on hear- ing of this infamous conduct, Anderson came forward, and refuted the charge by avowing Callander himself to be the real author. The whole of this affair reflects great credit upon the character of Dr Anderson. About the year 1797, this ingenious person removed with his family to Lon- don, where he undertook various works connected with his favourite study of agriculture. For several years be wrote the articles on this subject in the Monthly Review ; and from 1799 to 1802, he conducted a separate miscellany under the title of " Recreations in Agriculture," which was only discontinued on account, oi some obstructions incident to such a mode of publication. From the last men- tioned date, he devoted himself almost entirely to the relaxation which advanced years and severe studies had rendered necessary, and particularly to the cultiva- tion of his garden, which became a miniature of all his past labours. In 1801, he married a second wife, who survived him. He died on the 15th of October, 1808, at the age of sixty-nine. In his younger days, Dr Anderson was remarkably handsome in his person, cf middle stature, and robust make. Extremely moderate in his living, the country exercise animated his cheek with the glow of health ; but the overstrained exer- tion of his mental powers afterwards shook his constitution, and hurried him into old age, He was a man of independent mind ; and in the relative duties of husband and father, exhibited a prudential care, mixed with affection, which commanded the admiration of his friends. 0£Dr Anderson's abilities, his works Digitized by VjOOQ IC - 58 JOHN ANDERSON, M.A. exhibit so many proofs that they may be appealed to with perfect confidence. Although a voluminous writer, there is no subject connected with his favourite pursuit, on which he has not thrown new light But his knowledge was not con- fined to one science. He exhibited, to give only one instance, very considerable powers of research, when in 1773, he published, in the first edition of the Ency- clopedia Britannica, an article under the head Monsoon. In this he clearly predicted the result of captain Cook's first voyage ; namely, that there did not exist, nor ever would be found, any continent or large island in the southern hemisphere except New Holland alone ; and this was completely verified on captain Cook's return seven months afterwards. Upon the whole, though the name of Dr Anderson is associated with no scientific or literary triumphs of great splendour, his exertions, by their eminent and uniform usefulness, have given him very considerable claims to respect A minute specification of his works is to be found in the Scots Magazine for 1 809. ANDERSON, John, M.A. an eminent Presbyterian clergyman of last century, grandfather of Professor Anderson, the subject of the next article. Of his early history very little is known, except that he received a university education, and took his degree in arts. He was afterwards preceptor to the great John Duke of Argyle, and he mentions in his letters upon the Overtures concerning Kirk Sessions and Presbyteries, that he had resided in Edinburgh for twenty-five years in early life. He seems also to have taught a school, and he is upbraided by " Curat Calder." with having been " an old pedantic dominie, teaching ha c dot a." It was not, how- ever, till after his settlement as minister of Dumbarton, that he became known as author. The earliest of his productions that has been discovered is entitled, " A Dialogue between a Curat and a Countreyman concerning the English Service, or Common-Prayer Book of England," which was printed in quarto at Glasgow, about 1710. The question relative to the form of prayer used in Scotland, im- mediately after the Reformation, was at this time keenly canvassed by the Scottish Episcopalians and Presbyterians, and the clergy of the former persuasion had very shortly before introduced the liturgy into their church service. (Carstares' Stats Papers.) Mr, afterwards Bishop, Sage endeavoured in his "Fundamental Charter of Presbytery Examined," to show that the English liturgy had been used in Scot- land for at least seven years after the establishment of the Protestant religion. In this he was opposed by Mr Anderson, who adduced many arguments to prove that it was not the English liturgy that is spoken of by the Scottish historians, but that used by the English church at Geneva. Soon afterwards Anderson published a "Second Dialogue," (dated 1711) in which, says he, "there is hardly any thing of importance which is not said in the very words of the writers of the other side," and in which South, Beveridge, Hammond, and Burnet are the Curates whose sentiments are opposed. " A Letter from a Countreyman to a Curat," followed the dialogues, and received several answers, of which we shall only mention one, written by Robert Calder, an Episcopalian clergyman, the friend of Dr Archibald Pitcairn, and printed in his " Miscellany Numbers relat- ing to the controversies about the Book of Common Prayer," &c folio, 1713. . To this attack Anderson replied in a pamphlet entitled " Curat Calder Whipt" He soon after published " A Sermon preached in the church of Ayr at the open- ing of the Synod, on Tuesday the first of April, 1712," printed at the desire o1 the Synod of Glasgow and Ayr, (quarto, price sixpence,) and in 1714, the work by which he is best known appeared It has for its title, " A Defence of the Church Government, Faith, Worship, and Spirit of the Presbyterians, in answer to a book entitled an Apology for Mr Thomas Rhind," &c. 4to, and is dedicated to Archibald Earl of Islay. About the beginning of the year 1717, Anderson informs us, " the people of Glasgow were pleased to move that I should be called to be one of the ministers of that place," (Letter to Stewart of Pardovan, p. 1.) Digitized by Google JOHN ANDERSON, M.A. 59 but the proceedings relative to this transaction strikingly illustrate die truth of Wodrow's remark in a letter to Dr Cotton Mather. 1 " We are biting and de- vouring one another/' says the venerable historian, " and like to be consumed one of another. In our neighbouring city of Glasgow, where since the Revolution, unity and harmony, and consequently vital religion flourished, now heat, and strife, and every evil work abound. The university is split and broken. The magistrates and ministers are at present in no good terms." The same author gives us some additional information relative to Mr Anderson's case in a letter to the Rev. James Hart, one of the ministers of Edinburgh in 1 7 1 8. 2 " Our Synod last week," says he, "had the Presbytery of Glasgow's reference of Mr Anderson's call before them ; the ministers' reasons of dissent and the town's answers were read, and the ministers' answers to them read, viva voce. The advice given at the close of the last Synod when the house was thin {to fall from Mr Anderson) was disliked by the Synod now when full, and it was agreed not to be recorded. The vote came to be stated, — concur with the call, and transmit it to the Presby- tery of Dumbarton, or refer to the Assembly-; and it carried, — concur 63, refer 41 ; whereon the ministers and four or five of the Presbytery appealed to the Assembly, and gave in a complaint verbally against Mr Anderson, which the Synod obliged them to bring in in write, signed, to-morrow." Mr Anderson was, however, at length settled in Glasgow in 1720, although it appears from M'Ure's History that the North-Wast Church to which he was appointed was not founded till 1731, nor finished for " a year or two thereafter." It would be difficult to explain Anderson's motives in coming to Glasgow,— -his colleagues were disgusted at a letter addressed by him to Walter Stewart of Pardovan, which was published in 1717, and contained some severe remarks upon them, and he says, in a strain of bitter irony, " I confess I was under a great temptation of being eager for a settlement in Glasgow, for what minister would not be fond of a lesser stipend and a double charge I" 8 Nor was he more fortunate in his first appearance in his new parish, for he had, according to M'Ure, a kind of conse- cration sermon, which disgusted " the stricter, or more bigotted sort of the peo- ple." In the same year in which he was appointed one of the ministers of Glasgow, " Mr Anderson's Letters upon the Overtures concerning Kirk Sessions and Presbyteries" appeared in 12mo. Of this topic he says, " I must needs con- less that it is the most melancholy subject I ever wrote upon. There was plea- sure as well as duty in contending with our prelatic adversaries ; but alas ! In civil war, to lose or gain 'b the same, To gain 's no glory, and to lose a shame." These letters extend to six, and although now little known, as they refer merely to an ephemeral subject, contain some curious historical information, and not a little satire. Mr Anderson did not long survive his call to Glasgow, — the date of his death has not been ascertained, but his successor was appointed in 1723, His controversial writings are full of valuable historical information, and show him to have been thoroughly versed in theological literature, but it cannot be too •much regretted that he so far indulged in intemperate language. We have not alluded to some of his smaller pamphlets, which refer merely to subjects of a temporary or local nature. Upon the family tomb-stone, erected by the will of Professor Anderson, over the grave of his grandfather, upon the front of the North-West Church, Glasgow, was inscribed the following memorial of Mr Anderson : — " Near this place ly the remains of the Rev. John Anderson, who was preceptor to the famous John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich, and minister of the gospel in Dumbarton in the I Wodrow's History, new edition, vol. 1. p. xxv. 8 History, vol. 1. p. xxii. * Letters on the Overtures. P. 67* Digitized by Google 60 JOHN ANDERSON, FJLS. beginning of the eighteenth century, and in this church in the year 17 30. He was the author of 'The Defence of the Chuvoh-government, Faith, Worship, and Spirit of the Pre sb y t erians,' andefaeveralotherecdea i ag ri ealandpoKthailteacti. As a pious minister and an eloquent preacher, a defender of civil and religious liberty, and a man of wit and learning, he was much esteemed ; he lived in the reign of Charles II., James II., William III., Anne, and George I. Such times, and such a man, forget not, reader, while thy ■country, liberty, and religion are dear to thee." ANDERSON, John, F. R. S. professor of natural philosophy in the university of Glasgow, and founder of the eminently useful institution, bearing his name, iu that city, was born in the parish of Roseneath in Dumbartonshire, in the year 1726. He was the eldest son of the reverend James Anderson, minister of Roseneath, who was, in his turn, the eldest son of the reverend John Anderson, preceptor to John Duke of. Argyle, afterwards minister of the gospel at Dum- barton, and whose memoir is given in the preceding article. The subject of this memoir, having the misfortune to lose his father in early life, was educated by his aunt Mrs Turner, widow of one of the ministers of the High church of Stirling. While residing at this town, where he received the rudi- ments of learning, he appeared as an officer in the burgher corps raised in February, 1746, to defend it against the forces of the young Chevalier. His conduct on this occasion was worthy of his distinguished ancestor, from whose example he appears to have derived that attachment to the principles of civil and religious liberty* which marked his character through life. The carabine and other arms which he carried on the walls of Stirling are preserved in the museum connected with his institution at Glasgow. He received the more advanced part of his education at the college of Glasgow, where, in 1756, he was appointed to be professor of oriental languages, being then in die thirtieth year of his age. It was not in this sphere that Mr Anderson was destined to shine with great- est lustre. His mind had a decided bent towards the exact sciences, and to the illustration of the arts with which they are connected. His translation, there- fore, to the chair of natural philosophy, which took place in 1760, was an even; highly agreeable to ham, and also most fortunate for the world. While he took an early opportunity after this event, to fol&l an important private duty, by re- paying his aunt for the expenses of his education, he entered upon the business of his class with an enthusiastic ardour of application, which we may safely pro- nounce to have been without example in any Scottish university. Not contented with the ordinary duty of delivering a course of lectures — though he performed that duty in a manner alone sufficient to obtain distinction — he was indefatig- able in studying and exemplifying the application of science to mechanical practice ; visiting, for this purpose, the workshops of artisans in the town, and receiving, in return for the scientific doctrine which he had to communicate, a foil equivalent of experimental knowledge. The most-estimable characteristic of profes- sor Anderson, was a liberal and diffusive benevolence in regard to the instruction of his race. Under the inspiration of this feeling, which was in that age more rare, and therefore more meritorious than it is at present, ha instituted, in ad- « dition tu his usual class, which was strictly mathematical, one for the working classes, and others tvhusu pursuits did not enable them to conform to the pre- scribed routine of academical study, illustrating his precepts by experiments, so as to render it in the highest degree attractive. He continued to teach thia ontUoga c/a**, as he called it, twice erery week, during the session, to the end of his hTc ; and k would not bo easy to estimate the aggregate of good which he (bus rendered to his fellow-creatures. As an instance of the liberal good sense by which he was governed in his eminently useful scheme, it is related that, a mechanic bavins; complained to his assistant, that he had scarcely timet after leaving Digitized by Google JOHN ANDERSON, F.R.S. 61 his work, to change his dress before coming to the class, and having suggested the propriety of the operatives being allowed to attend without such change, Mr Anderson, being apprized of the wish so expressed, at once acceded to it His was a mind too strongly bent on mere usefulness, to regard empty form. Vet, as a lecturer, he is allowed to have himself exhibited a surpassing elegance of manner. His style was easy and graceful, his command of language unlimit- ed, and the skill and success with which his manifold experiments were perform- ed, could not be surpassed. He excited the interest, and attracted the attention of his pupils, by the numerous and appropriate anecdotes with which he illustrat- ed and enlivened his lectures. Enthusiastic in his profession, his whole ambi- tion and happiness consisted in making himself useful to mankind, by the dis- semination of useful knowledge ; and nothing afforded him purer pleasure than hearing that any of his pupils had distinguished themselves in the world. The only distinct work which he published in connection with his favourite science, was a valuable one, entitled, " Institutes of Physics," which appeared in 1786, and went through five editions during the next ten years. At the commencement of those political changes in Prance, which ended in such unhappy results, Mr Anderson, as might have been predicated from his ar- dently liberal and enlightened character, was among those who sympathized most warmly with the proceedings of the emancipated people. Previous to that period, he had prosecuted a taste for the military art, and invented a species of gun, the recoil of which was stopped by the condensation of common air, within the body of the carriage. Having in vain endeavoured te attract the attention of the British government to this invention, he went to Paris, in 1791, carrying with him a model, which he presented to the national Convention. The govern- ing party in France at onco perceived the benefit which would be derived from tins invention, and ordered Mr Anderson's model to be hung up in their hall, with the following inscription over it — "The out of Senates to Liberty." Whilst he was in France, he got a six-pounder made from his model, with which be made numerous experiments in the neighbourhood of Paris, at which the famous Paul Jones, amongst others, was present; and who gave his decided approbation of the gun, as likely to prove highly useful in landing troops from boats, or firing from the round tops or poops of ships of war. Mr Anderson, at this period, took a keen interest in the transactions which passed before his eyes. He was present when Louis XVI. was brought back from Varennes; and on the 14th of July, on the top of the altar of liberty, and in the presence of half a million of Frenchmen, he sang Te Dewn with the bishop of Paris, when the king took the oath to the Constitution, amen being said to the cere* mony by the discharge of five hundred pieces of artillery. As the Emperor of Germany had drawn a military cordon around the frontiers of France, to prevent the introduction of French newspapers into Germany, he suggested the expe- dient of making small balloons of paper, varnished with boiled oil, and filled with inflammable air, to which newspapers and manifestoes might be tied. This • was accordingly practised, and when the wind was favourable for Germany, they were sent off, and descending in that country, were, with their appendages, pick- ed up by the people. They carried a small flag or streamer, of which the fol- lowing is a translation : — O'er hills and dales, and lines of hostile troops, I float majestic, Bearing the laws of God and Nature to oppressed men, And bidding them with arms their rights maintain. " Mr. Anderson died, January 13th, 1796, in the 70th year of his age, and the 41st year of his professorship, directing, by his will, dated May 7th, 1795, that the whole Digitized by Google ^ 02 EGBERT ANDERSON, M.D. . of his efiecti, of every kind, should be devoted to the establishment of an educational in st it in ion in Glasgow, to be denominated Anderson* $ University, for the use of tha unacoderoieal cluises; so that, even while he was consigned to the silent dust, ha might it ill, by means of his honourably acquired wealth, prove of service to those whom he had benefited so much, during his own life, by personal exertion. His will was carried into effect on the Oth of June following, by the magistrates granting a charter of incorporation to the proposed institution. According to the design ol the founder, there were to ha four colleges — for arts, medicine, law, and theology — besides an initiatory school. Each college was to consist of nine professors, the senior professor being the president or dean. As the funds, however, were inadequate to the plan, it was at first commenced with only a single course of lectures on natural philosophy and chemistry, by Dr Thomas Garnett, well known for his numerous scientific and medical works, and also for bis ** Tour through the Highlands mid part of the Western Isles of Scotland." This course was attended for the first year by nearly & thousand persons of both sexes. In 1798, a professor of mathe- matics and geography was appointed. The splendid apparatus and library of the founder, which were valued at L.3000, added greatly to the advantages of the infant institution. In 1730, Dr Garnett, being appointed professor in the Royal Institution ■t London, was succeeded by the eminent Dr Birbeck, who, in addition to the branches taught by his predecessor, introduced a familiar system of philosophical and mechanical information to five hundred operative mechanics, free of all expense, thus giving rise to Mechanics 1 Institutions. The Andersonian institution was placed, by the will of the founder, under the inspection and control of the Lord Provost, and many other honourable persons, as ordinary visitors, and under the more immediate Mtperintendence of eighty -one trustees, who are elected by ballot, and remain in office for life. Since the first establishment of the University, as it may very pro- perly be called, it bas gradually been extended, nearer and nearer to the original design of the founder. There are now [1852] fifteen professors, who deliver lec- tures on surgery, institutes of medicine, chemistry, practical chemistry, midwifery, practice of medicine, anatomy, uvnteria medica, pharmacy, and dietetics, medical jurisprudence and police, mathematics, natural philosophy, botany, logic, geography, modern languages, English literature, drawing, and painting, Ac. The institution now poster es handsome and commodious buildings, which belong to the corporation, and, among other additions to its means of cultivating and illustrating science, is an extensive museum of natural history and antiquities. Anderson's University must be considered a wonderful example of the amount of good which one man, of no very great material resources, may do for bis kind. The private fortune of one professor in the original college of Glasgow has here been found sufficient to produce a new fount of learning, not unworthy to rank with the old, and of very great practical utility to the public. A posthumous wtnk of professor Anderson, entitled, "Observations on Roman Antiquities between the Forth and Clyde," appeared in 1804. ANDERSON, Roefrt, M.D. the biographer of Smollett and Johnson, was born on 7th of January, I7o0* the son of a feuar in the rural village of Carnwatb in Lanarkshire. He received the earlier part of bis education in his native place, and in the adjacent village of Libber ton ; was subsequently placed under the tuition of Mr Robert Thomson, master of the grammar-school of Lanark ; and finally studied in the university of Edinburgh, where he commenced attendance upon the divinity class, with the view of becoming a clergyman. He took the degree of M.D. at St Andrews in 1778. In his early years, when pursuing his studies at Carnwatb, he could find but one congenial mind in the whole of that rural district ; this was an unfortunate youth, named James Graeme, the son of a neighbour, who, after exhibit- Digitized by Google EOBERT ANDERSON, M.B. 63 tng considerable powers as a poet, died in bis twenty-second year, and whose reiiques were afterwards included by Dr Anderson, more perhaps through the influ- ence of friendship, than deliberate taste, in his edition of the British poets. Dr Anderson first entered into practice, as surgeon to the Dispensary of Bamborough Castle in Northumberland ; he afterwards removed to Alnwick, where he married Miss Gray, daughter of Mr John Gray, a relation of the noble family of that name* The declining state of bis wife's health, which rendered a change of air necessary, induced him, in 1784, to remove to Edinburgh, where he ever afterwards resided. He bad here the misfortune to lose his amiable partner, who sank under a consump- tion, leaving him with three infant daughters. Dr Anderson having secured a small independence, practised no more after this period, but engaged in such literary avocations as he felt to be agreeable to his taste, and became the centre of an agree- able coterie, in which the talents of many a youth of genius were for the first time brought into notice. About the year 1793, he began to prepare his edition of the British Poets, which forms thirteen volumes, large octavo, and appeared between the years 1795 and 1807. To the works of each poet is prefixed a biographical memoir by Dr Anderson. In 1703, he married for his second wife, Miss Dale, daughter of Mr David Dale, schoolmaster in East Lothian. A collection of the works of Smollett, by Dr Anderson, with a memoir prefixed, has gone through eight editions. To the last edition is affixed a highly characteristic likeness of the editor. The memoir has been published repeatedly in a distinct shape, and is a very respect- able production. Dr Anderson also published a " Life of Dr Samuel Johnson, with critical observations on his works," which has passed through several editions. For several years before the end of the eighteenth century, Dr Anderson was editor of (be Edinburgh Magazine, a rival of the Scots Magazine, more varied and lively in its details, and which afforded him an opportunity of bringing forward the produc- tions of his young friends. This work commenced in the year 1784, and at the end of 1803, was incorporated with the Scots Magazine : it was much indebted to its proprietor, James Sibbald, editor of the Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, to Lord Hailes, snd other eminent literary characters. Among the publications which Dr Anderson gave to the world, must be included his edition of " The Works of John Moore, BID., with Memoirs of his Life and Writings ;" Edinburgh, 1820, 7 vols. 8?o; and an edition of the poems of Robert Blair; Edinburgh, 1820, 12mo. The great inci- dent of Dr Anderson's literary life was bis connection with the commencement of the career of Thomas Campbell. When Campbell first visited Edinburgh in 1707, being then in his twentieth year, he gained the friendship of Dr Anderson, who, on being shown a copy of elegiac verses, written by him two years before, when an obscure tutor in Mull, predicted his great success as a poet. It was through Dr Anderson, in 1798, that Campbell was introduced to the circle of his distinguished literary associates in Edinburgh ; and he it was who encouraged him by his friendly advice, and assisted him by his critical acumen, in the publication of his celebrated poem, "the Pleasures of Hope," for the high character of which he had, previously to its appearance, pledged his word to the public. In acknow- ledgment of bis friendship, the grateful poet dedicated bis work to Dr Anderson. During the later years of his life, this venerable author, though he indulged as much as ever in literary society, gave no work to the public. As a literary critic, Dr Anderson was distinguished by a warm sensibility to the beauties of poetry, and by extreme candour. His character as a man was marked by perfect probity in all bis dealings, and unshaken constancy in friendship. His manner was lively and bustling ; and from his long-continued acquaintance with the literary world, he possessed an unrivalled fund of that species of gossip and anecdote which gives so much pleasure in Boswell's Life of Johnson. Digitized by Google £4 WALTER ANDERSON, D.D. Dr Andersen died of dropsy in the ebest, February 20, 1880, in hie eighty-first year. ANDERSON, Walter, D.D. The ora of this gentleman's birth w unknown ; he died at an advanced age, July, 1800, after having been minister of the parish of Chirnside for fifty years. He m a remarkable specimen of that class of au- thors, who, without the least power of entertaining or in sfa r urt mg their fellow- creatures, yet persist in writing and puldishing books, which nobody ever reads, and still, like the man erased by the lottery, expect that the next, and the next and the next will be attended with success* Perhaps Anderson's cacoetke* tori- bendi received its first impulse from the following ludicrous craimstance. His parish comprehending the house of Ninewells, he was often entertained there, in company with the brother of the proprietor— the celebrated David Hume The conversation having turned one day on the successes of Mr Hume as an au- thor, Anderson said, " Mr David, I dare say other people might write booki too ; but you clever fellows have token up all the good subjects* When I look about me, I cannot find one unoccupied. " Hume, who liked a joke upon an un- suspecting clergyman, said, " what would you think, Mr Anderson, of a history of Croesus, king of Lydia ? — that has never yet been written." Mr Anderson was delighted with the idea, and, in short, "upon that hint he wrote." In 1755 was published, " The History of Crcesus, king of Lydia, in four parts; contain- ing observations on the ancient notion of destiny, or dreams, on the origin and credit of the oracles, and the principles upon which their oracles were defended against any attack." What is perhaps the best part of the jest, the work was honoured with the following serio-burlesque notice in. the Edinburgh. Review, then just started by Hume, Smith, Carlyle, and other wits — the article being written, we have no doubt, by die very man who incited the unhappy author te his task: — " Crtrsus king of Lydia is a prince whom we never expected to have met with, as the hero of a serious history. Mankind seem at last to feel the neces- sity of contracting rather than enlarging that period of history, which ought to be the object of their study and attention. If this sentiment be just, how unfor- tunate and ill-timed is our author's attempt to recall from oblivion the name and adventures of a monarch of such distant and dubious fame. He himself seems aware of this objection to his work ; and it is but just to hear what he can plead in his own defence. • The enthusiastic principles of ages long past, and the artificial devices then used to work upon the passions of men, may appear to some a subject of history not enough interesting in these times. But if the most essential part of knowledge, derived from history, be that of mankind, it surely cannot well be learned, without thoroughly considering the various senti- ments and opinions embraced by them in different ages of the world. Our views of human nature must be partial and confined, if they be only directed to some of its late and present appearances. By carrying our thoughts back into ancient times, we may see reason for abating much of the amazement or dislike which is apt to arise in our minds, when we read the religious or political violences marked out in modern history. 9 " If the reader shall sustain this apology for the subject, (which we by no means require him to do,) we can assure him that he will find our author neither destitute of skill in composition, nor a stranger to propriety and neatness of lan- guage. He has treated his subjects with abundance of erudition, and by his man- ner of relating it, renders an old tale somewhat tolerable. "We cannot, however, imagine our readers to be so much interested in the . Lydian monarch, as to make it necessary for us to enter into any detail of his actions. We approve of our author's choice of Herodotus rather than Xeno- Digitized by Google phoi) ; * * but at the same time, our author's history has domed, from He- rodVois, an air and character which will appear uncouth to a modern reader ; oracles, dreams, prodigies, miraculous interpositions of the gods, and no less miraculous instances of credulity and folly among men, are the objects perpetu- ally before him. The rage of reading novels, which has spread so wonderfully orer Britain, may perhaps hare accustomed the public ear to such improbabili- ties. To all true lovers of the marvellous, we therefore recommend our author's hero. His adventures, though related in a better style, are as far removed from truth, and very near as much connected with instruction, as most of those which of late years have been so diligently studied by a great part of the nation. "We conclude this article with an admonition to the author. In any future performance, we advise him either to venture into the region of pure fiction, or to confine himself within the precincts of real history. In the former, by his talents for composition, he may become an agreeable writer ; in the latter his industry may render him an instructive one." It happens that the work thus noticed in the second number of the Edinburgh Review, was also the subject of a critique in the second number of the Critical Review, which had then been just started in London by Smollett The article in the latter work bears such evident marks of the pen of the distinguished editor, and refers to such an extraordinary work, that we shall make no apology for the following extracts. After remarking that the volume has been chiefly compiled from the episodes of Herodotus, that it exhibits a miserable flatness of style, and that all the facts scattered throughout its two hundred and thirty-five pages might have" been related in three or four, the critic proceeds to say — " we are apt to believe that this is the first essay of some young historian, who has been more intent upon forming his style and displaying his learning, than careful in digesting his plan, and combining his materials ; the subject is too meagre to afford nourishment to the fancy or understanding ; and one might as well attempt to build a first-rate man of war from the wreck of a fishing-boat, as to compose a regular history from such a scanty parcel of detached observations. The compiler has been aware of this deficiency, and has filled up his blank paper with unnecessary ar- gument, and a legion of eternal truths, by way of illustration. What could be more unnecessary, for example, than a detail of reasons for doubting the divinity •r cUemoniacism of the ancient oracles ? who believes, at this time of day, that they were either inspired by the deity, or influenced by the devil? What can be more superfluous than a minute commentary and investigation of the absurdi- ties in the plea of the priestess, when she was taxed with falsehood and equivo- cation ? But we beg the author's pardon ; he wrote for readers that dwell beyond the Tweed, who have not yet renounced all commerce with those familiar spirits, which are so totally discarded from this part of the island. There is still a race of soothsayers in the Highlands, derived, if we may believe some curious antiquaries, from the Druids and Bards, that were set apart for the wor- ship of Apollo. The author of the history now before us, may, for ought we know, be one of these venerable seers ; though we rather take him to be a Presbyterian teacher, who has been used to expound apothegms that need no explanation." The history of Croesus king of Lydia, one of the most curious productions recognised in the history of literary mania, is now extremely rare— not by any means from the absorbing appreciation of the public, but rather, apparently, from the very limited extent of its first circulation. The worthy author, though perhaps daunted a little by the reception of his first attempt, in time recovered the full tone of his literary ambition ; and he Digitized by VjOOQ IC _ 06 WALTER ANDEHSON, ML next attempted a work of much larger compass, which appeared in 17fi0 in two quarto volumes, under the title of ** r J he History of France during the reigns of Francis IL and Charles IX., to which is prefixed a Review of the General History of the Monarchy from its origin to that period," 'Ilis success of this work was much like that of its predecessor; yet in 1775 the author published a continuation in one volunte, under the title, ** The History of Franco, from the commencement of the reign of Henry Ilk, and the rise of the Catholic League, to the peace of Worms and the estab- lishment of the famous edict of Nantes in the reign of Henry IV. T > In 1783, appeared two further volumes, embracing the history from the commenee- luent of the reign of Louis XI II. to the general peace of Munsler. But these continuous efforts were not drawn forth by the encouragement of the public : they were solely owing to the desperate cacoethe* of the worthy writer, which would take no hint from the world— no refusal from fame. It is said that he was solely enabled to support the expense of his unrequited labour by a set of houses belonging to himself in Dunse, (too appropriate locality I) one of which was sold for every successive quarto, till at last something like a street of good habitable tenements in that thriving town was converted into A row of unreadable rolumes in his library*. "Br Anderson," says the Gentleman's Magazine, " displays none of the essential qualities of historic writing, no research into the secret springs of action, no discrimination of character, and no industry in accumulating and examining authorities, Even as a compiler he is guided only by one set of materials which he found in the French writers, and may therefore be con- sulted by the English reader, as a collection of their opinions, while be is highly censurable in not having recourse to original papers and documents respecting the affaire of his own country. His style is uniformly tame, and defaced by col- loquial barbarisms." In a literary history of this deplorable character, it is gratifying to find that one effort was at length judged worthy of some praise* This was a work subse- quent to the above, entitled, " The Philosophy of Ancient Greece investigated, in its origin and progress, to the eras of its greatest celebrity, in the Ionian, Italic, and Athenian schools, with remarks on the delineated system of their founders." His principle in this work, according to the authority just quoted, appears to have been to supply the deficiencies in Mr Stanley's work, and to give place to remarks upon the meaning employed by the most eminent Grecian philosophers* in support of their physical, theological, and moral systems ; and to give a fuller and mure connected display of their theories and arguments, and to relieve the frigidity of (heir bare details by interspersing observations." In this work he displays much learning, and is in general both accurate and perspicuous, although he is still deficient in the graces of style. .Perhaps it would have been more successful had it not appeared at the same time with Dr Enfield** excellent abridg- ment of I trucker's History of Philosophy. One of the last attempts of Dr Anderson was a pamphlet against the principles of the French H evolution. This being not only written in his usual heavy style, but adverse to the popular sentiments, met with so little sale, that it could scarcely be said to have been ever published. I km ever, the doctor was not discouraged ; adopting rather the maxim, " cantm Qudentiar itoj* ho wrote a ponderous addi- tion or appendix to the work, which he brought with him to fcd in burgh, in order to put it to the press. Calling first upon his. friend Principal Houerison, he re- lated the whole design, which, as might be expected, elicited the mirthful surprise ef the rcnerable historian. " 1 lenity," said I)r Hobertson, " this is the maddest of all your schemes — what ] a small pamphlet is found heavy, and you propose to lighten it by making it ten times heavier! Never was such madness heard Digitized by VjOOQ IC WILLIAM ANNAND.— ALEXANDER ARBDTHNOT. 67 of ?" " Why, why," answered Dr Anderson, " did you never see a kite raised by boys?" " I have," answered the principal " Then, you must have remarked that, when you try to rube the kite by itself, there is no getting it up : hut only add a long string of papers to its tail, and up it goes like a laverock ! " lite reverend principal was completely overcome by this argument, which scarcely left him breath to reply , so heartily did he laugh at the ingenuity of the resolute author. However, we believe, he eventually dissuaded Dr Anderson from his design. ANNAND, William, an episcopal divine of the reign of Charles 11,, was the son of William Annand T minister of Ayr, where he was barn in 1(333. His father, having read the service-book at filasgow in 16" 37, was attacked by the women of that place on the streets, and with some difficulty escaped a tragical fate. He was obliged soon after to fly from Scotland, on account of his adherence to the royal cause. Young Auuand became, in lb'51, a student at University College, Oxford, and soon gave token of his being inspired with the same predilections as his father. Though placed under a presbyterian tutor, he took every oppor- tunity of hearing the episcopal divines, who preached clandestinely in and around Oxford. In 1656, being then bachelor of arts, he received hnly orders from the hands of Dr Thomas Fulwar, bishop of Ardiort or Kerry in Ireland, and was appointed preacher at Weston on the Green, near Becister in Oxfordshire. In this situation, and another to which he was preferred in Be<lfor6Uhire, he distin- guished himself by his preaching. Immediately after the Restoration, he pub- lished two treatises in favour of the episcopal style of worship, which seem to have procured him high patronage, as he was now appointed chaplain to the earl of Middleton, the king 1 ! commissioner to the Scottish Estate*. Returning to Scotland with this nobleman, he became minister successively of the Tolbooth and of the Iron Chiurches. As an episcopal clergyman, he must liave no doubt been exceedingly unpopular in his own country ; but there can be no doubt thai both his ministrations and his writings were highly creditable to him, the latter displaying much learning, In 1670, the king appointed him to be dean of Edinburgh, and in 16 8 5 he began to act as processor of divinity at 8t Andrews* On the 30th of June, 1085, be attended the Karl of Argyle, by order of the government, at his execution, and in his prayer on the scanold, had the liberality to lament the fall of that nobleman " as one of the pillars of the church," an expression which is said to have given great offence to his superiors. After a life of piety and goodness, he died in 1630, lamenting with his latest breath, and with tears in hij eyes, the overthrow of that church which he had exerted himself so much to defend and establish. He said, he never had thought to outlive the church of Scotland, but he hoped that others would live to see it restored. ARBUTHNOT, Alexander, an eminent divine of the reign of James VI., son of the laird of Arbutbnot, was born in the year 1538. Having studied languages and philosophy in the University of Aberdeen, and civil law under the famous Cujacius at Bourges in France, he took ecclesiastical orders, and became in his own country a zealous supporter of the He formation. The period of his entrance into life was 1563, when queen Mary waa in possession of the kingdom, His eminent abilities and acquirements pointed him out, young' as he was, as a Idl- ing man in the church, and accordingly he took a prominent part in several general assemblies. In that of 156*3, he was appointed by his brethren to ex- amine a work entitled " The Fall of the Homan Church," which was objected to because it styled the king the head of the church The result of his deb Dera- tions was an order to Bassandyne, the printer, not to print any more books till lie had expunged this passage, and also taken away a lewd song which he had Digitized by VjOOQ IC 68 JOHN ARBUTHNOT, M.D. published at the end of an edition of the Psalms. The assembly also ordered that henceforth no book should be published till licensed by their commission. " This," it has been remarked, " the reformed clergy, who owed their emancipa- tion to the right of private judgment, with strange inconsistency obstructed the progress of free inquiry by taking upon themselves the regulation of the press.** Arbuthnot was soon after appointed minister of the parishes of Arbuthnot and Logie-Buchan, and in 1 569 he became Principal of the University of Aberdeen. He was a member of the General Assembly held at St Andrews in 1572, in which strenuous opposition was made to a scheme of church-government, called the " Book of Policy," which was invented by certain statesmen, at the head of whom was the Regent Morton, to restore the old titles of the church, and by means of titular incumbents, retain all the temporalities among themselves. In the General Assemblies held at Edinburgh in 1573 and 1577, Arbuthnot was chosen Moderator ; and he appears to have been constantly employed, on the part of the church, in the commission for conducting the troublesome and tedious contest with the Regency concerning the plan of ecclesiastical government to be adopted in Scotland. This commission, under the name of the Congregation, at length absorbed so much power, that the Assembly was left little to do but to approve its resolutions. The part which Arbuthnot took in these affairs gave offence to James VI., and the offence was increased by the publication of Buch- anan's History, of which Arbuthnot was the editor. It was therefore resolved to restrain him by an oppressive act of arbitrary power ; and a royal order was issued, forbidding him to absent himself from his college at Aberdeen. The clergy, who saw that the design of this order was to deprive them of the benefit of Arbuthnot'8 services, remonstrated: the king, however, remained inflexible, and the clergy submitted. This persecution probably affected Arbuthnot's health and spirits; for, the next year, 1583, he fell into a gradual decline and died. Arbuthnot appears to have possessed much good sense and moderation, and to have been well qualified for public business. His knowledge was various and extensive ; he was a patron of learning ; and at the same time that he was active in promoting the interests of the Reformed church, he contributed to the revival of a taste for literature in Scotland. The only prose production which he has left, is a learned and elegant Latin work, entitled " Orationes de Origine et Dignitate Juris," — [Orations on the Origin and Dignity of the Law,] which was printed in 4to at Edinburgh in 1572. For some specimens of vernacular poetry, supposed to be his composition, we may refer to Irving's Lives of the Scottish Poets, and M'Crie's Life of Andrew Melville. His character has received a lasting eulogy, in the shape of an epitaph, from the pen of his friend Melville. See J)eliti<B Poetarum Scotorum, ii. p. 120. ARBUTHNOT, John. M. D. one of the constellation of wits in the reign of queen Anne, and the most learned man of the whole body, was the son of a Scottish clergyman, who bore a near relationship to the noble family of this name and title. He was born at Arbuthnot in Kincardineshire, soon after the Restoration, and received his education at the University of Aberdeen, where he took the degree of M.D. The father of Arbuthnot was one of those members of the church of Scotland, who, not being able to comply with the presbyterian sys- tem introduced at the Revolution, were obliged to resign their charges. He retired to a small estate, which he possessed by inheritance ; while his sons, find- ing their prospects blighted in their own country, were under the necessity of going abroad to seek their fortune. John carried his jacobitism, his talents, and his knowledge of physic, to London, where he at first subsisted as a teacher of mathematics. His first literary effort bore a reference to this science : it was an 14 Examination of Dr Woodward's Account of the Deluge," a work which had Digitized by Google JOHN ABBUTHNOT, M.D. been published in Hi 95, and which t in Dr Arbuthnofs estimation, was irrecon-* citable with just philosophical reasoning upon mathematical principles. This publication, which appeared in L6U7, laid the foundation of the author's literary reputation, ^vliu:h not long after received a large and deserved increase by Iris " Essay on the usefulness of Mathematical Learning," The favour which he ac- quired by these publications, as well as by hit agreeable manner* and learned conversation, by degrees introduced him into practice as a physician. Being at Epsom, when Prince treorge of Denmark was suddenly taken ill, he was called in, and had the good fortune to effect a cuj^e. *l"he Prince immediately became bis patron, and, in 1701), he was appointed fourth physician in ordinary to the queen, (prince Ueorga's royal consort,) in which situation he continued till her majesty's death in 1714, In 1704, I>r Arbuthnot had been elected a member of the Royal Society, in consequence of bis communicating to that body a most ingenious paper on the equality of the numbers of the sexes; a fact which he proved by tables of births from lliifl, and from winch bo deduced the reasonable inference that polygamy is a violation of the laws of nature* In 171 0, be was elected a member of the Hoyol College of Physicians. This was the happy period af Dr Arbuthnut's lile.. 'lory principles and tory ministers were now triumphant ; be was in enjoyment of a high reputation, of a lucrative practice, and a most honourable preferment. He also lived ia constant intercourse with a set of literary men, almost the greatest who had ever flourished in England, and all of whom were of his own way of thinking in regard to poli- tics. This circle included Pope, Swift, (iray, and Prior. In 1714, he engaged with Pope and Swift, in a design to write a satire on the abuse of hum .in learn- ing in every branch, which was to have been executed in the humorous manner of Cervantes, the original inventor of this species of satire, under the history oi feigned adventures. But the prosecution of this design was prevented by the queen's death, which lost Arbuthnot his situation, and proved a death-blow to all the political friends of the associated wit*. In the dejection which befell them, i Ley never went farther titan an essay, chiefly written by Arbuthnot, under the title of the First Book, of the Bletnoirs of Martimit Scriblerus, *■ Polite letters," says War burton iu his edition of Pope's works, " never lost more than in the de- feat of this scheme ; in the execution of which, each of this illustrious triumvirate would have found exercise for lus own particular talents ; besides constant em* ployiuent for those which they all had in common. Dr Arbuthnot was skilled in every tiling which related to science ; >lr Tope was a master in the line arts ; and I>r Swift excelled in a knowledge of the world. Wit they had in equal measure ; and this so large, that no age perhaps ever produced three men to whom Nature had more bounti fully bestowed it, or Art had brought it to lugher l*erfection." We are told by the same writer that the Travels of Gulliver and the Memoirs of a Parish Clerk were at first intended as a branch of the Memoirs of Seriblerus, Iu opposition to what Worburton says of the design, we may pre- sent what Johnson says of the execution. " These memoirs, " says the doctor, in his life of Popcj " extend only to the first part of a work projected in concert by Pope, Swift, and Arbuthnot Their purpose was to censure the abuses of learning by a fictitious life of an infatuated scholar. They were dispersed : the design never was completed : and War burton laments its miscarriage, as an event rery disastrous to polite letters. If the whole may be estimated by this specimen, which seems to be the production of Arbuthnot. with a few touches by Pope, the want of more h ill not be much lamented ; for the follies which the writer ridi- cules are so little practised, that they ore not known; nor can the satire be un- derstood but by the learned. He raises phantoms of absurdity, and then drives them away. He cures diseases that were never felt* For this reason, this joint Digitized by LfOOQ IC 70 JOHN ARBUTHNOT, MJ). production of three great writers has never attained any notice from mankind." With the opinion of Dr Johnson we entirely coincide, so far as the Scriblerai is concerned ; but we think that Arbuthnot was unfortunate in the part of the de sign which he selected, and that, in satirising more palpable follies, he might have been more successful The success of Swift, in ridiculing mankind in gene- ral in his Gulliver is surely a sufficient reason, if no other existed, for the lamen- tation of Warburton. At the death of the Queen, when it pleased the new government to change all the attendants of the court, the immortal suffered with the mortal ; Arbuthnot, displaced from his apartments at St James's, took a house in Dover-street, remark- ing philosophically to Swift, that he " hoped still to be able to keep a little habita- tion warm in town." His circumstances were never so prosperous or agreeable after this period. With the world at large, success makes merit — and the want of it the reverse— and it is perhaps impossible for human nature to think so high- ly of a man who has been improperly deprived of some external mark of distinc- tion and honour, as of him who wears it without so much desert. The wit, left to his own resources, and with a rising family to support, seems to have now lived in some little embarrassment. In 1717, Arbuthnot* along with Pope, gave assistance to Gay, in a farce enti- tled, " Three Hours after Marriage/ 9 which, strange to my, was condemned the first night. A rival wit wrote upon this subject :— 44 Such were the wags who boldly did adventure To dub a farce by tripartite adventure ; But let them share their dividend of praise, And wear their own fool's cap instead of bays." The failure is easily explained, and the explanation partly involves Arbuth- not's character as a literary wit The satire of the principal character was too confined, too extravagant, and too unintelligible to a general auditory to meat with success on the stage. It would thus appear that Arbuthnot, like many other similar men, had too refined a style of wit in his writings^— not that broad, open, palpable humour which flashes at once upon the conceptions of all men, but something too rich and rare to be generally appreciated. His learning led his mind to objects not generally understood or known ; and, therefore, when he wrote, he was apt to excite the sympathies of only a very limited class. In 1739, Dr Arbuthnot found it necessary for his health to indulge in a visit to Bath. He was accompanied on this occasion by a brother, who was a banker at Paris, and whose extraordinary character called forth the following striking description from Pope: " The spirit of philanthropy, so long dead to oar world, seems revived in him : he is a philosopher all fire ; so warmly, nay so wildly, in the right, that he forces all others about him to be so too, and draws them into his own vortex. He is a star that looks as if it were all on fire, but is all benignity, all gentle and beneficial influence. If there be other men in the world that would serve a friend, yet he is the only one, I believe, that could make even an enemy serve a friend." About this time, the Doctor thus described him- self in a letter to Swift : " As for your humble servant, with a great stone in hit right kidney, and a family of men and women to provide for, he is as cheerful in pttblio affairs as ever." Arbuthnot, in 1793, was chosen second censor of the Royal College of Physi- cians; in 1797, he was made an Elect, and had the honour to pronounce the Har- veian oration for the year. In 1797, also appeared his great and learned work entitled, " Tables of Ancient Coins, Weights, and Measures, explained and exem- plified in several Dissertations." He continued to practice physic with good re- putation, and diverted his leisure hours by writing papers of wit and humour. Digitized by Google 1 JOHN ARBUTHNOT, M.D. 71 Among these n»ay be mentioned one, which appeared in 1731, in ihe shape of mi epitaph upon the inftunous colonel Charter is, nnd which we shall present in this place as perhaps the most favourable specimen of Dr Arbuthnot's peculiar vein of talent &*— * ■* ili:m continueth to rot the body of Franc! v Chatteris, who, with an in fieri ble cunatancy, and inimitable uniformity of life, persisted, in spite of age and in- firmities, in the practice of every human rice; excepting prodigality and hypo- crisy; his insatiable avarice exempted him from the first, his mat<:hlett impudence from the second. Nor was he more singular in the underrating privity of his manners, than successful in accumulating wealth; for, without trade or profession, without trust of public money, and without bribe- worthy service, he acquired, or more properly created, a ministerial estate. He wnsthe only person of his time, who could cheat with the mask of honesty, retain his primeval meanness when possessed often thousand a year, and, having daily deserved the gibbet for what he did, was at lost condemned to it for what he could not do.— -O hi indignant reader! Think not his life useless to mankind! Providence connived at his e sev- erable designs, to give to after ages a conspicuous proof and example of how small estimation is exorbitant wealth in the sight of (iod, by his bestowing it on the most unworthy of all mortals. **' Arbuthnot, about this time, wrote a very entertaining paper on the " Alterca- tions or Scolding of the Ancients. 11 In 1732, he contributed towards detecting and punishing the scandalous frauds and abuses that had been carried on under the specious name of " The Giari table Corporation/ 1 In the some year, he pub- lished his " Treatise on the Nature and Choice of Aliments, 1 ' which was followed, in 1733, by his u Essay on the Effects of Air on Human Bodies.' 1 He is thought to have been led to these subjects by the consideration of his own case ; an asth- ma, which, gradually increasing with his years, became at length desperate and incurable. A little before his last publication, he had met with a severe domestic affliction in the loss of his gon T Charles, " whose life," he says in a letter to Swift, M if it had so pleased God, he would willingly have redeemed with his own." He now retired, in a state of great debility to Hampstead; from whence, in a letter to Pope, July 17th, 1734, he gives the following philosophic, and we may add, touching 1 , account of his condition : " 1 have little doubt of your concern for me, nor of that of the lady you men- tion. I hare nothing to repay my friends with at present, but prayers and good wishes. 1 have the satisfaction to find that 1 am as officiously served by my friends, as he that has thousands to leave in legacies ; besides the assurance of their sincerity* iJod Almighty had made my distress as easy as a thing of that nature can be. 1 have found some relief, at least sometimes, from the air of this place. My nights are bad, but many poor creatures hove worse. I Thin paraxon of wickedness, who was a native of Scotland, is thus described by Pops, hut. we believe, as in the epitaph Itself, with much i-xaggcrnltun, " Francis Churl oris, a man infamou* for all vices. When Liu was an ensign in the army, he was drummed out Bf the regiment for a client: he was banished Brussels, and turned out of Ghent on the same Account. After a hundred tricks at the gaming-tables, he took to lending of money, at exorbitant interest, and en great penalties} accumulating premium, Interest, and cnpiUil Into a new capital, and seizing to a minute when the payment became due-, in a word, by a constant attention to thu ticea, wants, find follies of mankind, he acquired an immense fortune, * * * * He was twice condemned for rapes ami par- doned, but the iMtllme not without imprisonment in New pate, and largo confiscations. He died in Scotland, in 17S1, aged C£. The populace, at his funeral, raised a great riot, almost tore the body out of the coffin, and cast dead dogb, &c, inw the grave along with it." We may add, that the mourners lutd to defend themselves from the mob with their swords. See Traditions of Edinburgh. One remarkable feature of Charteris* character \s not gone rally known: though n bully and a coward, he had his fighting da} 9; he would suffer himself to !■»■ Licked for refusing a challeuge one day, anil the next would accept another and kill fui ■ Digitized by VjOOQ IC JOHN ABBOTHNOT, M.D. "As for you, my good friend, I think, since our first acquaintance, there hare not been any of those little suspicions or jealousies that often affect the sincerest friendships ; I am sure not on my side. I must be so sincere as to own, that, though I could not help valuing you for those talents which the world prizes, yet they were not the foundation of my friendship ; they were quite of another sort ; nor shall I at present offend you by enumerating them ; and I make it my last request, that you will continue that noble disdain and abhorrence of rice, which you seem naturally endowed with, but still with a due regard to your own safety ; and study more to reform than to chastise, though the one cannot be effected without the other. " Lord Bathurst I hare always honoured, for every good quality that a person of his rank ought to have : pray, give my respects and kindest wishes to the fami- ly. My venison stomach is gone, but I have those about me, and often with me, who will be very glad of his present If it is left at any house, it will be trans- mitted safe to me. " A recovery in my case, and at my age, is impossible ; the kindest wish of my friends is euthanasia. Living or dying, I shall always be, — Yours, &c." In a letter about the same time to Swift, he says he came to Hampstead, not for life, but for ease. That he had gained in a slight degree from riding ; but he was " not in circumstances to live an idle country life ;" and he expected a return of the disorder in full force on his return in winter to London. He adds, "lam at present in the case of a man that was almost in harbour, but was again blown back to sea ; who has a reasonable hope of going to a good place, and an absolute certainty of leaving a very bad one. Not that I have any particulai disgust at the world, for I have as great comfort in my own family, and from the kindness of my friends, as any man ; but the world in the main displeaseth me ; and I have too true a presentiment of calamities that are like to befall my country. However, if I should have the happiness to see you before I die, you will find that I enjoy the comforts of life with my usual cheerfulness. * * * My family give you their love and service. The great loss I sustained in one of them gave me my first shock ; and the trouble I have with the rest, to bring them to a good temper, to bear the loss of a father who loves them, and whom they love, is really a most sensible affliction to roe. I am afraid, my dear friend, we shall never see one another more in this world. I shall, to the last moment, pre- serve my love and esteem for you, being well assured that you will never leave the paths of virtue and honour for all that is in the world. This world is not worth the least deviation from that way," &c In such a strain did this truly good man discourse of his own certain and immediate death, which accordingly took place, February, 1735, in his house, Cork-street, Burlington Gardens, to which he had returned from Hampstead at the approach of winter. Arbuthnot's character was given by his friend Swift in one dash : " He has more wit than we all have, and more humanity than wit" " Arbuthnot," says Dr Johnson in his life of Pope, " was a man of great comprehension, skil- ful in his profession, versed in the sciences, acquainted with ancient literature, an4 able to animate his mass of knowledge by a bright and active imagination ; a scholar with great brilliancy of wit ; a wit, who, in the crowd of life, retained and discovered a noble ardour of religious zeal." Lord Orrery has thus entered more minutely into his character. " Although he was justly celebrated for wit and learning, there was an excellence in his character more amiable than all his other qualifications, I mean the excellence of his heart He has shown himself equal to any of his contemporaries in wit and vivacity, and he was superior to most men in acts of humanity and benevolence. His very sarcasms are the sa- tirical strokes of good nature : they are like slaps in the face, given in jest, the Digitized by Google JOHN ARBUTHNOT, ALU. 73 effect* of which may rake blushes* but no blackness will appear after the blow. tie laughs as jovially as an attendant upon Bacchus, but continues ai sober and considerate as a disciple of Socrates. He is seldom serious except in his attacks upon vice ; and then his spirit rises with a manly strength, and a noble indig- nation. His epitaph upon Charter is (allowing one small alteration, the word permitted, instead of connived at,) is a complete and a masterly composition in i la kind. No man exceeded him in Lhe moral duties of life ; a merit still more to bis honour, as the ambitious powers of wit and genius are seldom submissive enough to con fine themselves within the limitations of morality. In his letter to Mr Pope, written as it were upon his death-bed, he discovers such a noble fortitude of mind at the approach of his dissolution, as could be inspired only by a clear conscience, and the calm retrospect of an uninterrupted series of virtue, "lli*,- Dean [Swift] laments the loss of hhu with a pathetic sincerity* ' The deaths of Mr Gay and Doctor/ says he to Mr Pope, l have been terrible wounds near my heart Their living would have been a great comfort to me, although I should never have seen them : like a sum of money in a bank, from which 1 should receive at least annual interest, as I do from you, and have done from Lord Bolingbroke.' n The wit, to which Swift's was only allowed the second place, was accompanied by a. guileless heart, and the most perfect simplicity of character. It is related of its possessor, that he used to write a humorous account of almost every remarka- ble event which fell under his observation, in a folio book, which lay in his par- lour ; but so careless was he about his writings after he was done with them, that, while he was writing- towards one end of this work, he would permit his children to tear out the leaves from the other, for their paper kites. This carelessness has prevented many of the works of Dr Arbuthnot from being preserved, and no correct list has ever been given. A publication in two volumes, 8vo, at Glasgow. in 175 1, professing to be his l * Miscellaneous Works," was said by his son to con- sist chiefly of the compositions of other people. He was so much in the habit of writing occasional pieces anonymously, that many fugitive articles were erro- neously attributed to him : he was at first supposed to be the author of Robinson Crusoe, lie scarcely ever spoke of his writings, or seemed to take the least in- terest in them* He was also somewhat indolent. Swift said of him, that he seemed at first sight to have no fault, but that ho could not walk. In addition to this, he hnd too much simplicity and worth to profit by the expedients of Life ; in Swift's words, * He knew his art, but nut his tradt" Swift also must be considered as insinuating a certain levity of feeling, with all his goodness, when he says, in anticipation of his own death, * Poor Pops wf U grieve a month, and Gay A week, and Arbuthnnt a day] 31 though the habitual cheerfulness of his disposition may have been all that the poet had in his eye. The only other work Ascertained as ArbuthnoCs, besides those mentioned, is the celebrated History of John Bull, a political allegory, which has had many imitations, but no equal* He also attempted poetry, though without a ay particular effort A philosophical poem of his composition, entitled, " rNfiei IEATTON," [Know Yourself] is printed in Dodsley's Miscellanies, Ho left a son, George, who was an executor in Fope^s will, and who died in the enjoyment of a lucrative situation in the Exchequer office towards the end of the last century; and a daughter, Anne, who was honoured with a legacy by Pope, His second son, Charles, who died before himself, had been educated in Christ church college, Oxford, and entered into holy orders. L & Digitized by VjOOQ IC 74 JOHN ARMSTRONG, M.D. ARMSTRONG, John, M.D. author of the well-known poem, entitled, " The Art of Preserving Health," was horn, about 1709, in the parish of Castleton, Roxburghshire, where his father and brother were successively ministers. He might almost be styled a poet by right of birth-place, for the parish of Castleton is simply the region of Liddesdale, so renowned for its heroic lays, the records of deeds performed by the border rievers, among whom the family of the poet bore a distinguished rank. The rude and predatory character of this district had, however, passed away before the commencement of the eighteenth century; and young Armstrong, though his lullabies were no doubt those fine old ballads which have since been published by Sir Walter Scott, seems to have drawn from them but little of his inspiration. It was as yet the fashion to look upon legendary verses as only fit for nurses and children ; and nothing was thought worthy of the term poetry, unless it were presented in trim artificial language, after the manner of some distinguished classic writer. It is therefore by no means surprising, that Armstrong, though born and cradled in a land full of beautiful traditionary poetry, looked upon it all, after he had become an educated man, as only Doric trash, and found his Tempo in the bower, of Twickenham instead of the lonely heaths of Liddesdale. The only allusion to his native scene is to be found in the following passage of "The Art of Preserving Health;'* a warm and elegant apostrophe, and no doubt testifying his affectionate recollection of — ^— i the echool-boy spot, We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot,— but still deficient in characteristic painting, and unpardonably so in its total si- lence as to the romantic history of the country, and its spirit-stirring ballads. But if the breathless chase o'er hill and dale Exceed your strength, a sport of less fatigue, Not less delightml, the prolific stream Affords. The chrystal rivulet that o'er A stony channel rolls its rapid surge, Swarms with the silver fry. Such, through the bounds Of pastoral Stafford, runs the brawling Trent ; Such Eden, sprung from Cumbrian mountains, such The Esk o'erhung with woods : and such the stream, On whose Arcadian banks I first drew air, Liddal, till now, except in Doric lays Tuned to her murmurs by her love-sick swains, Unknown in song : though not a purer stream, Through woods more flowery, more romantic groves, Rolls toward the western main. Hail, sacred flood ! May still thy hospitable swains be blest In rural innocence ; thy mountains still Teem with the fleecy race j thy tuneful woods For ever flourish ; and thy vales look gay With painted meadows, and the golden grain ! Oft with thy blooming sons, when life was new, Sportive and petulant, and charmed with toys, In thy transparent eddies have I laved: Oft traced with patient steps thy fairy banks, With the well-imitated fly to hook The eager trout, and with the slender line And yielding rod solicit to the shore The struggling panting prey ; while vernal clouds — And tepid gales obscured the ruffled pool, And from the deeps called forth the wanton swarms. Digitized by Google JOHN ARMSTRONG, M.D. 75 How different would have been the allusions of a Leyden or a Scott to the land of Jock o' the Side and Hobbie Noble ! Armstrong was educated for the medical profession at the university of Edin- burgh, under the elder Monro. In 1739, he took his degrees as M. D. with much reputation, the subject of his treatise being Tabes Purulenta. He had ere this period addicted himself to the composition of verses. We are inform- ed, that, to relieve the tedium of a winter spent in " a wild romantic country * —probably Liddesdale— he wrote what he intended for an imitation of Shak- speare, but which turned out to resemble rather the poem of " Winter, 1 ' then just published by Tnomson. The bard of the Seasons, hearing of this composi- tion, which so strangely and so accidentally resembled his own, procured a sight of it by means of a mutual friend, and, being much pleased with it, brought it under the notice of Mr David Mallet, Mr Aaron Hill, and Dr Young, all of whom joined with him in thinking it a work of genius. Mallet even requested the consent of the author to its publication, and undertook that duty, though he afterwards gave up the design. Armstrong was probably led by this flattering circumstance to try his fortune in London, where his countrymen Thomson and Mallet had already gained literary distinction. In 1735, he is found publishing, in that capital, a humor- ous attack upon empirics, in the manner of Lucian, entitled, " An Essay for abridging the study of physic, to which is added, A Dialogue betwixt Hygeia, Mercury, and Pluto, relating to the Practice of Physic, as it is managed by a certain illustrious Society ; and an Epistle from Usbeck the Persian to Joshua Ward, Eso." The essay, besides its sarcastic remarks on quacks and quackery, contains many allusions to the neglect of medical education among the practis- ing apothecaries ; but the author had exhausted his wit in it, and the dialogue and epistle are consequently flat and insipid. In 1737, he published a serious professional piece, styled, " A Synopsis of the History and Cure of the Venereal Disease,' 9 8vo., inscribed in an ingenious dedication to Dr Alexander Stuart, as to " a person who had an indisputable right to judge severely of the perform- ance presented to him." He probably designed the work as an introduction to practice in this branch of the medical profession ; but it was unfortunately followed by his poem, entitled, "The (Economy of Love," which, though said to have been designed as merely a burlesque upon certain didactic writers, was justly condemn- ed for its warm and alluring pictures, and its tendency to inflame the passions of youth. It appears by one of the M Cases of Literary Property," that Andrew Millar, the bookseller, paid fifty pounds for the copy-right of this poem ; a sum ill-gained, for the work greatly diminished the reputation of the author. After at had passed through many editions, he published one, in 1768, in which the youthful luxuriances that had given offence to better minds were carefully pruned. In 1744, Dr Armstrong made some amends for this indiscretion, by publish- ing " The Art of Preserving Health," a didactic poem in blank verse, extending through four books, each of which contains a particular branch of the subject This very meritorious work raised his reputation to a height which his subsequen* efforts scarcely sustained. It is written in a taste which would not now be con sidered very pure, or elegant ; but yet, when the subject and the age are con- sidered, there is amazingly little to be condemned. Dr Warton has justly remarked the refined terms in which the poet, at the end of his third book, ha* described an English plague of the fifteenth century, entitled, " The Sweating Sickness." " There is a classical correctness and closeness of style in this poem," says Dr Warton, " that are truly admirable, and the subject is raised and adorned by numberless poetical images." Dr Mackenzie, in his History of Health, be- Digitized by Google y$ JOHN ARMSTRONG, M.D. stowed similar praises on llue poem, which was indeed every where read and admired In 1741 » Armstrong solicited the [Citron rise of Dr Birch, tn be appointed physician to the fleet, then about to §aii for the West Indies ; but he does not seem to hare obtained the object of his desire. In 1 74ti, when established in reputation by his Art of Preserving Health, lie was appointed one of the physi* cm n* to the hospital for lame and sick soldiers behind Buckingham house. In 1751, he published his poem on "Benevolence,** in folio, a production which seeins to have come from the heart, and contains sentiments which could have been expressed with equal ardour only by one who felt them. His " Taste, an epifltle to a young critic, 1 * 1753, 4to, is a lively and ipirited imiLation of Pope T and the first production in wliich Armstrong began to view men and manners with a splenetic eye. His next work was less meritorious. It wai entitled *' Sketches or Essays on various subjects," and appeared under the fictitious name of Lancelot Temple, Esq. The critical examinators of Dr Armstrong's merits allow to this work the credit of exhibiting much humour and knowledge of the world* but find it de- formed by a perpetual flow of affectation, a struggle to say smart things, and, above all, a disgusting re petition of vulgar oaths and exclamations — forms of ex- pression to which the poet, it seems, was also much addicted in conversation. In some of these sketches, Armstrong is said to have had assistance from the noto- rious John Wilkes, with whom he lived in habits of intimacy ; but it is certain that the contributions of this gentleman cannot have been great, as the work is much inferior to the literary style of the demagogue of Aylesbury, who, what- ever might be bis moral tailings, is allowed to have had a chaste classical taste, and a pure rein of humour. Armstrong hud sufficient professional interest in I7l>0, tr» obtain the ap- pointment of physician to the army in Germany. From that country he wrote "Day, a poem, 17 addressed as an Epistle to John Wilkes, Esq. This lively piece, which professes to embody an account of all the proper indulgences, moral and physical, of twenty-four hours, was, it is said, published in an imperfect shape, by some clandestine editor. It was never added to the collected works ol Ur Armstrong, till Dr Anderson admitted it into his edition of the British Poet*. After the peace of 1703, Dr Armstrong returned to London, and resumed his practice, but with no eager desire of increasing the moderate competency he now enjoyed* Ho continued after this period rather to amuse than to exert himself in literary productions, chiefly spending his time in the society of men of wit and taste like himself. In 1771, he made a tour into France and Italy, in company with the celebrated Fuseli, who survived him for nearly fifty years, and always spoke highly of Dr Armstrong's amiable character. In Italy he took a tender farewell of his friend Smollett, to whom he was much attached, and who died soon after* On returning home, he published an account of his travels, under the name of Lancelot Temple. 'I he latter years of Dr Ami&trung's life were embittered by one of those quar- rels which, arising between persons formerly niuch attached, are at once the most envenomed, and the most productive of uneasiness to the parties. In his poem of Day, he had asked, among other things, 11 What cniiy scribbler reigns the present wit ?*' which the poet Churchill very properly took to himself, and resented in the fol- lowing passage iit his poem of M The Journey j" Lei tkem with Armstrong, taking leave of sense, Rend musty I natures on Benevolence ; Digitized by Google JOHJtf ARMSTRONG, M.D. 77 Or con the pages of his gaping Day, 1 Where all his farmer fame was thrown away. Where all but ban mi labour was forgot, And iho Tain stiffness of a lettered Scot ; Let th&m wJih Armstrong pass the term of light, But not one hour of darkness ; when the night Suspends this mortal coil, whan memory wakes, When for our past misdoings conscience takes A deep riftttyft when by roflectkn led She draws his curtains and looks comfort dead, Let every mu*e be gone ; in rain he turns, And tries to pray for sleep ; an iEtna burns, A more than JEtna in his coward breast, And guilt, with vengeance armed, forbids to rest ; Though soft as plumuga from young Zephyr's wiu^ H \a couch seems hard, and no relief can bring ; ingratitude hath planted daggers then", No good man can deserve, no brave man bear. We have 110 hesitation in saying that this severe satire was not justified either by the offence which called it forth, or by iho circumstances on which it wis found- ed. Wilkes, the associate of Churchill, had lent money to Armstrong on some occasion of peculiar distress. When the attacks of Wilkes upon Sent hind Led to animosities between the two friends, it was not to be expected that the recollec- tion of a former obligation was necessarily to tie up Iho natural feelings of Dr Armstrong, and induce him to submit rather to the certain charge of meanness of spirit, than the possible imputation of ingratitude* Neither could Wilkes have fairly expected that lite natural course of the quarrel was to be stayed by such a sub- mission on the part of ills former friend. It would have been equally mean for the obliged party to have tendered, and for the obliging party to have accepted such a submission. There can be no doubt, therefore, that Dr Armstrong, in giving way to resentment against Wilkes, was chargeable, properly, with no blame ex- cept that of giving way to resentment; and if it Is to bo supposed, from the character of the poet in respect of irritability, that the resentment would have taken place whether there had been a debt of kindness standing undischarged between the parties or not. we cannot really see how this contingent circumstance can enhance his offence* There is unfortunately too great reason to suppose, that, if the obligation tend- ed to increase the blame of either party, it was that of Wilkes, who, from almost incontestable evidence, appears to have made a most ungenerous use of the ad* vantage he had acquired over his former friend. Not only must he bear a por- tion of tike guilt of Churchill's satire, which could have only been written as a transcript of his feelings, and with his sanction, but he stands almost certainly guilty of a still more direct and scurrilous attack upon Dr Armstrong, which ap- peared in a much more insidious form. This was a series of articles in the well known i'ublic Advertiser, commencing with a letter signed Diat t which appeared to proceed from an enemy of the patriot, but, in the opinion of Dr Armstrong, was written by the patriot himself: " He [Wilkes]," says this writer, ** always took more delight in exposing his friends than in hurting his enemies. 1 am assured that a very worthy and in- genious friend of this impostor trusted him with a jeu <T esprit of a poem, incor- rect indeed, but which bore every mark of a true, though ungovemed genius. This poem, rough as it was, he carried to A. Miliar, Lite bookseller in the Strand, 1 This poem was full of large hiatus supplied by asterisks. Digitized by VjOOQ IC 78 JOHN ARMSTRONG, M.D. and published it in his friend's name, without his knowledge. This is a fact, Mr Printer; therefore, I think, Air W. should let alone Scotch writers." Occasion was taken in the next day's publication to give a refutation of this pretended attack, in the following terms : " Your correspondent, Sir, is pleased to appeal to a dead bookseller, I appeal to the living author, now in London. He desired the poem might be published: it was written for the public eye : he directed the bookseller to call on Mr W. for the copy. The bookseller produced his credentials, under the author's own hand, upon which Mr W. gave him the manuscript of the poem- It was after- wards published in the kindest way for the author's reputation, as a Fragment. I believe he will not choose to restore the passages, which were omitted in the first edition of 1760. When he does, the kindness, and perhaps the judgment of the editor will appear, I am told, in a very strong and favourable light The poem was not published till the bookseller had received a second positive order for that purpose, from the author, after several objections to the publication had been transmitted to him in Germany, and amendments made by himself. It was a favourite child not without merit, although scarcely so much as the fond father imagined. Mr Churchill wrote the four following lines on that poem, which were never forgiven. They are in the Journey. 4 Or con the pages of his gaping Day, Where all his former fame was thrown away, Where all but barren labour was forgot, And the vain stiffness of a lettered Scot.* Troth. ** A week after, a letter signed "Nox," in the same tone with that signed 44 Tbdth," appeared in the Public Advertiser. It is impossible to doubt that Mr Wilkes was at the bottom of the whole plot, and either wrote the letters himself or employed his friend Churchill to do so. 8 * This more particularly appears from the report of a conversation which took place on the 7th of April, between Dr Armstrong and Mr Wilkes, which appears to have been noted down on the same day by the latter, and was published in the Gentleman** Maga- zine, for 1792, thirteen years after the death of Dr Armstrong. The incensed poet entered his former friend's lodgings, in Prince's Court, and, without the least ceremonial or compliment, commenced the following dialogue — which, as a curious piece of literary history, we hare given entire :«— Dr Armstrong. Did you, Sir, write the letters in the Public Advertiser? Mr Wilkes. What letters do you mean, Doctor? There are many letters almost even' day in the Public Advertiser. Dr A. Sir, 1 mean the three letters about me, and Day, Day, Sir. Mr W, You may ask the printer, Mr Woodfall. He has my orders to name me whenever he thinks it proper, as the author of every thing I write in his paper. Dr. A. I believe you wrote all those letters. Mr. W. What all three, Doctor ? 1 am very roughly treated in one of them, in the first signed Dies. Dr. A. 1 believe you wrote that to bring on the controversy. I am almost sure of it. Mr. W. 1 hope you are truly informed in other things. I know better than to abuee myself in that manner, and I pity the author of such wretched stuff. Dr A. Did you write the other letters, Sir ? Mr W. The proper person to inquire of, is Mr Woodfall. I will not answer interroga- tories: My time would pass in a strange manner, if I was to answer every question which anygentleman chose to put to me about anonymous letters. 2>r A. Whoever has abused me, Sir, is a villain ; and your endeavours, Sir, to set Scot- land and England together are very bad. Mr W. The Scots have done that thoroughly, Doctor, by their conduct here, particularly by their own nationality and the outrages of Lord Bute to so many English families, whenever you think prope? to call upon me in particular as a gentleman, you will find me most ready to answer the call. Dr A. D— n Lord Bute! It had been better for Scotland he had never been born. He has done us infinite mischief. Mr W. And us too; but 1 suppose we are not met for a dish of politics? Dr A. No ; but 1 wish there had been no union. I am sure England is the gainer by iL Mr W. I will not make an essay on the advantages and disadvantages of the union. Digitized by Google JOHN ARMSTRONG, M.D. 7& Armstrong died at his house in Russel Street, Covent Garden, September 7, 1779, in consequence of an accidental contusion in his thigh, received while getting into a carriage. He was found, to the surprise of the world, to have saved the sum of £ 2000 out of his moderate income, which for many years had consisted of nothing more than his half-pay. Dr Armstrong was much beloved and respected by his friends for his gentle and amiable dispositions, as well as his extensive knowledge and abilities ; but a kind of morbid sensibility preyed upon his temper, and a languid listlessness too frequently interrupted his intellectual efforts. With Thomson's Castle of Dr A. \ hate politics ; but I have been ill used by you, Dr Wilkes, on the occasion. Mr W . On the contrary, Doctor, I was the injured friend Dr A. I thought you for many years the most amiable friend in the world, and loved your company the most; but you distinguished yourself by grossly abusing my country men in the North Briton — although 1 never read much of that paper. Mr W. You passed your time, I am satisfied, much better. Who told you. Doctor, what particular numbers I wrote ? It is droll, but the bitterest of these papers, which was attri - buted to me, was a description of Scotland, firet printed in the last century, on Charles I.'s return from thence in 1683. Wore you ever, Doctor, personally attacked by me ? Were you not, although a Scotsman, at the very time of the North Briton, complimented by me, in conjunction with Churchill, in the best thing I wrote, the mock * Dedication to Morti- mer? Dr A, To be praised along with such a writer, I think an abuse. Mr W. The world thinks far otherwise of that wonderful genius Churchill; but you, Doctor, have sacrificed private friendship at the altar of politics. After many years of mu- tual intercourse of good offices, you broke every tie of friendship with me on no pretence but a suspicion, for you did not ask for proof, of my having abused your country, that coun- try 1 have for years together heard you inveigh against, in the bitterest terms, for nastineu awl naiionnlity. Dr A, 1 only did it in joke, Sir ; you did it with bitterness ; but it was my country. Mr W. No man has abused England so much as Shakspeare, or France so much as Voltaire; yet they remain the favourites of two great nations, conscious of their own supe- riority. Were you, Doctor, attacked by me in any one instance? Was not the most friendly correspondence carried on with you the whole time, till you broke it off by a letter, in 1763, in which you declared to me, that you could not with honour associate with one who had distinguished himself by abusing your country, and that you remained with all due sincerity? I remember that was the strange phrase. Dr A. You never answered that letter, Sir. * Mr W. What answer could I give you, Doctor? You had put a period to the inter- course between us. 1 still continued to our common friends to speak of you in terms of respect, while you were grossly abusing me. You said to Boswell, Millar, and others, •« 1 hope there is a hell, that Wilkes may lie in it." Dr A. In a passion I might say so. People do not often speak their minds in a passion. Mr W. 1 thought they generally did, Doctor 1 Dr A. 1 was thoroughly provoked, although I still acknowledge my great pecuniary I obligations to you — although, 1 dare say, 1 would have got the money elsewhere. Mr W. 1 was always happy to render you every service in my power; and I b'ttle ima- gined a liberal mind, like yours, could have been worked up by designing men to write me such a letter in answer to an affectionate one 1 sent you, in the prospect of your return. Dr A. 1 was happier with you than any man in the world for a great many years, and complimented you not a little in the Day, and you did not write to me for a year and a half after that. Mr W. Your memory does not serve you faithfully, Doctor. In three or four months at farthest, you had two or three letters from me together, on your return to the head-quar- ters of the army. I am abused in Dies for that publication, and the manner, both of which vou approved. ' DrA. I did so. Mr W. I was abused at first, I am told, in the manuscript of Dies, for having sold the copv, and put the monev in my pocket ; but that charge was suppressed in the printed letter. Dr A. I know nothing of that, and will do you justice. Mr W. Will you call upon Mr D , our common friend, your countryman, and ask him what he thinks of your conduct to me, if it has not been wholly unjustifiable? Dr A. Have I your leave to ask Mr Woodfall in your name about the letters ? Mr W, 1 have already told you, Doctor, what directions he has from me. Take fbur- and-twenty hours to consider what you have to do, and let me know the#rt suit. Dr A. 1 am sorry to have taken up so much of your time, Sir. Mr W. It stands in no need of an apology, Doctor. 1 am glad to see you. Good mor- rcw N. B. — These minutes were taken down the same afternoon, and sent to a friend Digitized by Google 80 HUGO AKNOT. J udolence !i+ j is appropriately connected, bolli as a figure in the piece and as % contributor to the verse. The following is his portraiture ;— With him was sometimes joined in silent walk, (Profoundly silent — for they never spoke) One shyer it ill, who quite detested talk; Oft stung hy spleen, at once away he broke. To jfrfwes of pine, and brood overshadowing aak, There, Inly thrilled, he wandered all alone, And on himself his pensive fury wroke : He never uttered word, savu, when rlrsi shone The glittering star of eve — " Thank heaven ! the day is done ! "' His contributions consist of four stanzas descriptive of the diseases to which the votaries of indolence finally become martyrs. The rank of Dr Armstrong as a poet is fixed by his Art of Preserving Health, which is allowed to be among the best didactic poems in the language. It is true, this species of poetry was never considered among the highest, nor has it been able to retain its place among the tastes of a modern and more retired age, Armstrong, however, in having improved upon a mode of composition fashionable in his own time, must still be allowed considerable praise. " His style,** accord- ing to the judgment of Dr Aikin, " is distinguished by its simplicity — by a free use of words which owe their strength to their plainness — by the rejection of ambitious ornaments, and a near approach to common phraseology* His sen- tences are generally short and easy ; his sense clear and obvious. The full extent of his conceptions is taken in at the first glance ; and there are no lofty mysteries to he unravelled by a repeated perusal. What keeps bis language from being prosaic, is the vigour of his sentiments. He thinks boldly, feels strongly, and therefore expresses himself poetically. When the subject sinks, his style sinks with it ; but he has for the most part excluded topics incapable either of vivid description, or of the oratory of sentiment. He had from nature a musical ear, whence his lines are scarcely ever harsh, though apparently with- out much study to render ihcm smooth. On the whole, it may not be too much to assert, that no writer in blank verse can be found more free from stiffness and affectation, more energetic without harshness, and more dignified without formality. *' AK.NOT, Hugo, a historical and antiquarian writer of the eighteenth century, was the son of a merchant and ship-proprietor at Leith, where he was born, December 8th, 1740. His name originally was Pollock, winch he changed in early life for Aruot, on falling heir, through his mother, to the estate of Balcor- tno in Fife, As '* Hugo Arnot of Balcormo, Esq.," he is entered as a member of the Faculty of Advocates, December 5, 1772, when just about to complete his twenty-third year. Previous to this period, he had had the misfortune to lose his father. Another evil which befell him in early life was a settled asthma, the result of a severe cold which ho caught in his fifteenth year, As this disorder was always aggravated by exertion of any kind, it became a serious obstruction to his progress at the bar : some of his pleadings, nevertheless, were much ad- mired, and obtained for him the applause of the bench. Perhaps it was this interruption of his professional career which caused him to turn his attention to literature. In 1779, appeared his " History of Edinburgh," 1 voL, 4to, a work of much research, and greatly superior in a literary point of view to the gene- rality of local works. The style of the historical part is elegant and epigram- matic, with a vein of causticity highly characteristic of the author. From this elaborate work the author is said to have only realized a few pounds of profit ; a piratical impression, at less than half the price, was published almost simul* Digitized by LjOOQ IC HUGO ARNOT. 8L tineously at Dublin, and, being shipped over to Scotland in great quantities roropletely threw the author's edition out of the market. A booknikr^ xtcund edition^ as it is called r appeared after the author's death, being simply the re- mainder of the former stocky embellished with plates, and enlarged by some additions from the pen of the publisher, Mr Creech* Anothet edition was pub- lished in tivo, in 1S17, Mr Arnot seems to hare now lived on terms of literary equality with those distinguished literary and professional character* who were his fellow-townsmen and contemporaries. He did not, however, for some years publish any other considerable or acknowledged work. He devoted his mind chiedy to local subjects, and sent forth numerous pamphlets and newspaper essays, which had a considerable effect in accelerating or promoting- the erec- tion of various public works. The exertions of a man of his public spirit and enlarged mind, at a time when the capital of Scotland was undergoing such a thorough re novation and improvement, must hare been of material service to the community, both of that and of all succeeding ages. Such they were acknow- ledged to be by the magistrates, who bestowed upon him the freedom of the city. We are told that Mr Ann it, by means of his influence in local matter*, was able to retard the erection of the South Bridge of Edinburgh for ten years — not that he objected to such an obvious improvement on iu own account, but only in so far as the magistrates could devise no other method for defraying the ex- pense than by a tax upon carters ; a mode of liquidating it, which Mr Arnot thought grossly oppressive, as it fell in the first place upon the poor. He also was the means of preventing for several years the formation of the present splen* did road between Edinburgh and Lei tit, on account of the proposed plan (which was afterwards unhappily carried into effect,) of defraying the expense by c toll; being convinced, from what he knew of local authorities, that, if such an exac- tion were once established, it would always, on some pretext or other, he kept up. In 17 65, Mr Arnot published " A Collection of Celebrated Criminal Trials in Scot- land, with Historical and Critical Remarks^* I voL 4to.; a work of perhaps even greater research than his history of Edinburgh, and written in the same acutely metaphysical and epigrammatic style* In the front of this volume appears a largo list of subscribers, embracing almost all the eminent and considerable per- sons in Scotland, with many of those in England, and testifying of course to the literary and personal respectability of Mr ArnoL This work appeared without a publisher's name, probably for some reason connected with the following cir- cumstance* Owing perhaps to the unwillingness of the author to allow a suffi- cient profit to the booksellers, the whole body of that trade in Edinburgh refus- ed to let the subscription papers mid prospectuses hang in their shops ; for which reason the author announced, by means of an advertisement in the newspapers* that these articles might be seen in the coffee-houses, Mr Arnot received the sum of six hundred pounds for the copies sold of this work, from which he would have to pay the expenses of printing a thin quarto \ it thus happened that what was rather the least laborious of his two works, was the most profitable. 31 r Arnot only survived the publication of his Criminal Trials about a twelve month. The asthma had ever since his fifteenth year been making rapid advances upon him, and his person was now reduced almost to a shadow. While still young, he carried all the marks of age, and accordingly the traditionary recollections ol the historian of Edinburgh always point to a man in the extreme of life. Per- haps nothing could indicate more expressively the miserable state to which Mr Arnot was reduced by this disease, than his o\vn half-ludicrous, half-pathetic ex- clamation, on being annoyed by the bawling of a mem selling sand on the streets: "The rascal!" cried the unfortunate invalid, "he spends as much breath in a minute as would serve me for a month P* Among the portraits and Digitized by VjOOQ IC 82 HUGO ABNOT. caricatures of the well known John Kay, may be found several faithful, though somewhat exaggerated, memorials of the emaciated person of Hugo Arnot As a natural constitutional result of this disease, he was exceedingly nervous, and liable to be discomposed by the slightest annoyances : on the other hand, he possessed such ardour and intrepidity of mind, that in youth he once rode on a spirited horse to the end of the pier of Leith, while the waves were dashing over it and every beholder expected to see him washed immediately into the sea ! On another occasion, having excited some hostility by a political pamphlet, and being summoned by an anonymous foe to appear at a particular hour in a lonely part of the King's Park, in order to fight, he went and waited four hours on the spot, thus perilling his life in what might have been the ambuscade of a deadly enemy. By means of the same fortitude of character, he beheld the gradual approach of death with all the calmness of a Stoic philosopher. The magistrates of Leith had acknowledged some of his public services, by the ominous compli- ment of a piece of ground in their church-yard; and it was the recreation of the last weeks of Mr Arnot's life to go every day to observe the progress made by the workmen in preparing this place for his own reception. It is related that he even expressed considerable anxiety lest his demise should take place before the melancholy work should be completed. He died, November 30th, 1786, when on the point of completing his 37th year; that age so fatal to men of genius that it may almost be styled their climacteric. He was interred in the tomb fitted up by himself at South Leith. Besides his historical and local works, he had published, in 1777, a fanciful metaphysical treatise, entitled, " Nothing," which was originally a paper read before a well-known debating- club styled the Speculative Society; being probably suggested to him by the poem of the Earl of Rochester on the equally impalpable subject of Silence. If any disagreeable reflection can rest on Mr Arnot's memory for the free scope he has given to his mind in this little essay — a freedom sanctioned, if not excused, by the taste of the age — he must be held to have made all the amends in his power by the propriety of his deportment in later life ; when he entered hear- tily and regularly into the observances of the Scottish episcopal communion, to which he originally belonged. If Mr Arnot was any thing decidedly in poli- tics, he was a Jacobite, to which party he belonged by descent and by religion, and also perhaps by virtue of his own peculiar turn of mind. In modern poli- tics, he was quite independent, judging all men and all measures by no other standard than their respective merits. In his professional character, he was animated by a chivalrous sentiment of honour worthy of all admiration. He was so little of a casuist, that he would never undertake a case, unless he were perfectly self-satisfied as to its justice and legality. He had often occasion to refuse employment which fell beneath his own standard of honesty, though it might have been profitable, and attended by not the slightest shade of disgrace. On a case being once brought before him, of the merits of which he had an ex- ceedingly bad opinion, he said to the intending litigant, in a serious manner, " Pray, what do you suppose me to be ?" " Why," answered the client, " I un- derstand you to be a lawyer.'* " I thought, Sir," said Arnot sternly, " you took me for a scoundrel." The litigant, though he perhaps thought that the major in- cluded the minor proposition, withdrew abashed. Mr Arnot left eight children, all very young ; and the talent of the family appears to have revived in a new genera- tion, vis., in the person of his grandson, Dr David Boswell Rcid, whose " Elements of Chemistry" has taken its plane amongst the most useful treatises on the science, and who was selected by Government, on account of his practical skill, to plan and super- intend the ventilation of the new houses of parliament, in the prosecution of which object he has for several years been conducting the most costly and prolonged, if not the most successful, experiment of the kind ever made. Digitized by Google SIR ROBERT AYTON. 83 AYTON, pm) Robert, an eminent poet at the court of James VL, was a younger son of Andrew Ayton of Kinaldie, in Fife, and wai born in the year 1570. From the Registers of St Andrews University, it appears that he was incorporated or enrolled as a student in St Leonard's College, December 3, 1584, and took his master's degree, after the usual course of study, in the year 1588. Subsequently to this, he resided for some time in France ; whence, in 1603, he addressed an elegant panegyric in Latin verse, to king James, on his accession to the crown of Jfrgland, which was printed at Paris the same year ; and this panegyric had, no doubt, some influence in securing ft> the author the favour of that monarch, by whom he was successively appointed one of the gen- tlemen of the bed-chamber, and private secretary to his queen, Anne of Denmark, besides receiving the honour of knighthood. He was, at a later period of his lite, honoured with the appointment of secretary to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles L It is recorded on Ayton's funeral monument, as' a distinction, that he had been sent tie Germany as ambassador to the Emperor, with a work pub- lished by king James, which is supposed to have been his Apology for the Oath of Allegiance. If this conjecture be correct, it must have been in 1609, when his majesty acknowledged a work published anonymously three years before, and inscribed it to all the crowned heads of Europe. During Ayton's residence abroad, as well as at the court of England, he lived in intimacy with, and se- cured the esteem of the most eminent persons of his time. " He was acquainted," says Aubrey, " with all the nits of his time in England ; he was a great acquain- tance of Mr Thomas Hobbes of Mahnesbury, whom Mr Hobbes told me he made use of, together with Ben Jonson, for an Aristarohus, when he made his Epistle dedicatory, for his translation of Thucydides." To thig information, we may add, as a proof of this respect on the part of Ben Jonson, that, in his conversa- tions with Drummond of Hawthornden, he said, "Sir Robert Ayton loved him (Jonson) dearly." Sir Robert Ayton died at London, in March, 1637-8, in the 68th year of his age. He lies buried in the south aisle of the choir of Westminster Abbey, at the corner of King Henry the Fifth's Chapel, under a handsome monument of black marble, erected by his nephew, David Ayton of Kinaldie ; having his bust in brass gilt, which has been preserved, while that of Henry, the hero of Agin- court, (said to have been of a more precious metal,) has long since disappeared. The following is a copy of the inscription : M. S. Clarissimi omnigenaq. virtute et ertiditione, presertlm Poesi ornatissimi equity . Domini Roberti Aitoni, ex antiqua et illustri gente Aitona, ad Castrum Kinnadinum apud Scotos, oriundi, qui a SerenisSimo R. Jacobo in Cubicula Interiors admissus, in Germaniam ad Imperatorem, Imperiiq. Principes cum libello Regio, Regia) au- thoritatis vindice, Legatus, ac primium Anns, demum Maris, serenissimis Britannia- nun Reginis ab epistolis, consiliis et libellis supplicibus, nee non Xenodochio S* Catherine pnefectus. Anuna Creatoris Reddita, hlc depositis mortalibus exuviis se- cundum Redemptoris adventum expectat. Carolum linquens, repetit Parentem Et valedicens Marie revisit Annam et Aula! decus, alto Olympi Mutat Honore. Obiit Ccelebs in Regio AlbauJa Hoc devoti gratiq. animi Non sine maxhno Honore omnium Testimonium optimo Patruo Luctu et Mcerore, MtaL sme L XVIII. Jo. Aitonus M L P. Salut HumameM.DCXXXVIII. Musarum nncus hic, Patrubq. Aulaeo* Dohique Et Foris exemplar sed non imitabile honbsti. Digitized by Google 84 SIB ROBERT AYTON. The poems of Sir Robert Ayton, for the first time published together in the Miscellany of the Bannatyne Club, (from which we derive these particulars of the poet's life,) are few in number, but of great merit. He composed no Scottish poems, at least none that have come down to our times. He wrote in English, and was, indeed, one of the first of our countrymen who composed in that lan- guage with any degree of elegance or purity. It is unfortunate that the most of his poems are complimentary verses to the illustrious individuals with whom be was acquainted, and of course characterised only by a strain of conceited and extravagant flattery. Those, however, upon general topics, are conceived in a refined and tender strain of fancy, that reminds us more of the fairy strains of Uerrick than any thing else. John Aubrey remarks, "that Sir Robert was one of the best poets of his time," and adds the more important testimony that " Mr John Dryden has seen verses of his, some of the best of that age, printed with some other verses." According to Dempster, Ayton was also a writer of verses in Greek and French, as well as in English and Latin. Several of his Latin poems are preserved in the work called, " Delitiss Poetarum Scoto- I rum," which was printed in his lifetime (1637) at Amsterdam. One poem by Ayton, entitled, " Inconstancy Reproved," and commencing with the words, " I do confess thouVt smooth and fair," was esteemed by Burns worthy of being paraphrased into the native dialect of the author ; a process cer- tainly of a very curious nature, as it might have rather been expected that the poet of the eighteenth should have refined upon the poet of the seventeenth cen- tury. It may be safely avowed that the modern poet has not improved upon his predecessor. Perhaps the reader will be less familiar with the following equally beautiful poems by Sir Robert Ayton, than with " Inconstancy Reproved," — which, after all, is not ascertained to be his. SONG. What means this strangeness now of late, Since time must truth approve? This distance may consist with state- It cannot stand with love. 'Tis either cunning or distrust. That may such ways allow ; The first is base, the last unjust; Let neither blemish you. For if you mean to draw me on, There needs not half this art ; And if you mean to have me gone, You overact your part If kindness cross your wished content, Dismiss me with a frown, I'll give you all the love that's spent, The rest shall be my own. ON WOMAN'S INCONSTANCY. I loved thee once, I'll love no more, Thine be the grief as is the blame ; Thou art not what thou wast before. What reason I should be the same? He that can love unloved again, Hath better store of love than brain : God send me love my debts to pay, While unthrifts fool their love away. Digitized by Google SIR ROBERT AYTON. 85 Nothing could have my lore o'erthrown, If thou hadst still con tiin u'i| mine : Yea, If thou hadst remained thy own, 1 might perchance have yet been tiling Bui thou thy freedom did recall, That if thou might elsewhere enlhr&I ; And then how could 1 but disdain A captive'i captive to remain ? When new desires had conquered thee, And changed the object of thy will, It bad been Lethargy In me, Not constancy to love thee stilL Yen, it had been a sin to go And prostitute afiVction so Sin re we are taught no prayers to any To iuch as must to others pray. let do thou glory In thy choice, Thy choice of hi* good fortune boast; 111 neither grley* nor yet rejoice* To see him gain what I have lost I The height of my disdain all nil be, To laugh at him, to blush for thee; Tu love thee still, but go nu more, A begging to a beggar's door. THE ANSWER, BY THE AUTHOR, AT THE KING'S MAJESTIES COMMAND. Thou that loved once, now Lores no more, For fear to show more love than brain ; With heresy unhotch'd before, Apostasy thou dost maintain. Can he have either brain or love That dost inconstancy approve? A choice well made no change admits, AH changes argue after-wits* Say that she bad not hern the same, Should thou therefore another be? What thou in her as vice did blame, Can thou take virtue's name in thee? No f thou In this her captive was. And made thee ready by hur glow; Example led revenue astray, When true love should have kept the way. True love has no reflecting end, The object good gels it at rest, And noble- breasts will freely lend, Without expecting interest* 'Tis merchants' love, 'tis trade for gala, To barter love for love again : Tis usury, yea, worse than this, For self- idolatry it is. Then let her choice be what It will, Let constancy bo thy revenge ; If thou retribute good for HI, Bnth grief and shame bhall check her change. Digitized by Google 86 ROBERT BAILIIB. Thus may'st thou laugh when thou shall mo Remorse reclaim her home to thee; And where thou beggW of her before, She now site begging at thy door. We submit that such elegant sentiments as these, expressed in such elegant language, are an honour to their author, to his age, and country. B BAILLIE, Robert, one of the most eminent, and perhaps the most moderate, of all the Scottish presbyterian clergy during the time of the civil war, was born at Glasgow, in 1599. His father, Thomas Baillie, citizen, was descended from the Baillies of Lamington ; his mother, Helen Gibson, was of the family of Gibson of Durie ; both of which stocks are distinguished in presbyterian history. Having studied divinity in his native university, Mr Baillie, in 1622, received episcopal orders from Archbishop Law, of Glasgow, and became tutor to the son of the Earl of Eglintoune, by whom he was presented to the parish church of Kilwinning. In 1626 he was admitted a regent at the college of Glasgow, and, on taking his chair, delivered an inaugural oration, De Mente Agents. About this period he ap- pears to have prosecuted the study of the oriental languages, in which he is al- lowed to have attained no mean proficiency. For some years he lived in terms of the strictest intimacy with the noble and pious family of Eglintoune, as also with his ordinary, Archbishop Law, with whom he kept up an epistolary correspond , dence. Baillie was not only educated and ordained as an episcopalian, but he had imbibed from principal Cameron of Glasgow, the doctrine of passive resist- ance. He appears, however, to have been brought over to opposite views during the interval between 1630 and 1636, which he employed in discussing with his fellow-clergymen the doctrines of Arminianism, and the new ecclesiastical regu- lations introduced into the Scottish church by Archbishop Laud. Hence, in the year 1636, being desired by Archbishop Law to preach at Edinburgh in favour of the Canon and Service-books, he positively refused; writing, however, a re- spectful apology to his lordship. Endeared to the resisting party by this con- duct he was chosen to represent the presbytery of Irvine in the General Assem- bly of 1638, by which the royal power was braved in the name of the whole nation, and episcopacy formally dissolved. In this meeting, Baillie is said to have behaved with great moderation ; a term, however, which must be under- stood as only comparative, for the expressions used in his letter regarding the matters condemned, are not what would now be considered moderate. In the ensuing year, when it was found necessary to vindicate the proceedings of the Glasgow Assembly with the sword, Baillie entered heartily into the views of his countrymen. He accompanied the army to Dunse Law, in the capacity of preacher to the Earl of Eglintoune's regiment ; and he it was, who has handed down the well known description of that extraordinary camp. — ** It would have done you good," he remarks in one of his letters, " to have cast your eyes athort our brave and rich hills, as oil as I did, with great contentment and joy ; for I was there among the rest, being chosen preacher by the gentlemen of our shire, who came late with Lord Eglintoune, I furnished to half a dozen of good fellows, muskets and pikes, and to my boy a broad sword. I carried myself; as the fashion was, a sword, and a couple of Dutch pistols at my saddle ; but I pro- mise, for the offence of no man, except a robber in the way ; for it was our part alone to pray and preach for the encouragement of our countrymen, which I did to my power most chearfully." {Letters, vol i. p. 174.) He afterwards states, " Our soldiers grew in experience of arms, in courage, and favour, daily. Digitized by Google ROBERT BAILLIE. $7 Every one encouraged another. The sight of their nubles, and their he loved pastors, daily raised their hearts. The good itTmoris and prayers, morning and evening, under the roof of heaven , to which their drums did call them for bells ; the remonstrance very freuuent of the goodness of their cause ; of their conduct hitherto, by a hand clearly divine; Abo Leslie's skill, and pnidencet and for- tune, made litem as resolute for buttle as could be wished We were feared that emulation among out- nob leu might hare done Inrm, when they should be met in the field; but such was the wisdom and authority of that old. Little, crooked soldier, that all, with an incredible submission, from the beginning to the end, gave orer themselves to be guided by him, as if be had been great Solyman Had you lent your ear in the morning; or especially at even, and heard in the tents the sound of some singing psalms, some praying, and some reading Scrip* ture, ye would have been refreshed. True, there was swearing, and cursing, and brawling, in some quarters, whereat we were grieved ; but wo hoped, if our camp had been a little settled, to have gotten some way for these misorders ; for all of any fashion did regret, and all promised to do their best endeavours for helping all abuses. For myself, I never found my mind in better temper than it was all that time since I came from home, till my head was again homeward; for I was as a man who had taken my leave from the world, and was resolved to die in that service without return/ 1 This expedition ended in a treaty between the Scottish leaders and their sovereign, in terms of which hostilities ceased for a few months. On the renewal of the insurrectionary war next year, Baillie accom- panied the Scottish army on its march into England, and became the chronicler »f its transactions. Towards the end of the year 1610, he was selected by the Scottish leaders as a proper person to go to London, along with other commis- lioners, to prepare charges against Archbishop Land, for his innovations upon the Scottish church, which were alleged to have been the origin of the war* He had, in April, before the expedition, published a pamphlet, entitled, Ek Laden- si em ApTQuMTitKoiaif : the Cauterburian's Self-conviction \ or an Evident Demon- stration of the avowed Anninianisme, Foperie, and Tyrannie of that Faction, by their own confessions,'* which perhaps pointed him out as fit to take a lead in the prosecution of the great Antichrist of Scottish presbytery. OF this and al- most all the other proceedings of his public life, he has left a minute account in his letters and journals, which are preserved entire in the archives of the church of Scotland, and in the university of Glasgow, and of which excerpts were pi: I - lished in 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1775. These re liquet of Mr llaillie form val- uable materials of history. Not long after hh return to his native country, in 1642, he was appointed joint professor of divinity at Glasgow, along with Mr David Dickson, an equally distinguished, but less moderate divine. It anords some proof of the estimation in which he was now held, that he had the choice of this appointment in all the four universities of Scotland. He performed his duties from this period till the restoration, and at the same time attended all the General Assemblies as a member, except during an interval in lu"i3-o, when he was Absent as a delegate to the Westminster assembly of divines. In this Litter capacity, he conducted himself in an unobtrusive manner, but fully concurred in the principles and views of the more prominent men. It is observable from his let- ten, that, with the pardonable earnestness of his. age and party, he looked upon toleration as a thing fatal to religion, and strenuously asserted the divine right of the presbyterian church to be established in complete ascendancy and power as a substitute fur the church of England- From 1G-1G to 1649, he discharged his ordinary duties as a theological teacher, without taking a leading part in public affairs. But in the latter year, he was chosen by the church, as the fit- test penon to carry its homage to king Cliarles IL at the Hague, and to invite Digitized by Googk 83 ROBERT BAILLIE. thai youthful monarch to assume the government In Scotland, under the limita- tions and stipulations of the covenant This duty he executed with a degree of dignity and propriety, which could have been expected from no member of hit church, but one, who, like him had spent several years in conducting high diplo- matic affairs in England. Indeed, Mr Baillie appears in every transaction ot his life, to have been an accomplished man of the world; and yet retaining, along with habits of expediency, the most perfect sincerity in his religious views. When the necessary introduction of the malignants into the king's service, caused a strong division in the church, in 1651, Baillie, as might have been expected from hia character and former history, sided with the yielding or Resolutionist party, and soon became its principal leader. On this account he, and many other sincere men, were charged by the Protesting and less worldly party, with a declen- sion from the high principles of the covenant ; a charge to which he, at least, certainly was not liable. After the Restoration, though made Principal of his college through court patronage, he scrupulously refused to accept a bishopric, and did not hesitate to express his dissatisfaction with the re-introduction of episcopacy. His health now declining, he was visited by the new-made arch- bishop, to whom he thus freely expressed himself: '* Mr Andrew,' 1 said he, " 1 will not now call you my lord. King Charles would have made me one of these lords ; but I do not find in the New Testament that Christ has any lords in bis house." He considered this form of religion and ecclesiastical government as " inconsistent with Scripture, contrary to pure and primitive antiquity, and dia- metrically opposed to the true interest of the country." He died, July, 1668, in the 63d year of his age. Mr Baillie, besides his Letters and Journals, and a variety of controversial pamphlets, suitable to the spirit of the times, was the author of a respectable and learned work, entitled, " Opus Hifdorictan ei Chronologicvm," which was published in folio at Amsterdam. He was a man of extensive learning — under- stood no fewer than thirteen languages, among which were Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, and Ethiopic, — and wrote Latin with almost Augus- tan elegance. He left a large family : one of his daughters, becoming the wife of Walkinshaw of Barrowfield, was, by a strange chance, the ancestress of Miss Clementina Walkinshaw, well known from her connexion with the history of Prince Charles Stuart— -and also grandmother to the celebrated Henry Home, better known under the judicial designation of Lord Karnes. BAILLIE, Robert, of Jerviswood, an eminent patriot of the reign of Charles II., was the son of George Baillie of St John's kirk in Lanarkshire, cadet of the ancient family of Baillie of Lamington, who appears to have purchased the estate of Jerviswood, also in Lanarkshire, in the reign of Charles I., from a family cf the name of Livingstone. It is stated by the Jacobite, Robert Mylne, in the publication called " FountainhalTs Notes," that the first circumstance which alienated the mind of Robert Baillie from the government, was his marrying a daughter of Sir Archibald Johnston of Warristoun, who, having borne a conspi- cuous part in the civil war from its beginning, was executed after the Restora- tion. Whatever be the truth of this allegation, Baillie appears before the year 1676, to have been otherwise allied to the non-conformi6t party. The incident which first brought him forward into view as a subject of perse- cution, was one of those interferences in behalf of natural justice, where all sense of consequences is overborne by the exigency of the occasion. During the misgovernment of the Duke of Lauderdale, a wretched profligate of the name of Carstairs had bargained with Archbishop Sharpe to undertake the business of an informer upon an uncommonly large scale, having a troop of other informers under him, and enjoying a certain reward for each individual whom he could Digitized by VjOOQ IC ROBERT RA1LUK. gj) detect at the conrenticles, besides a share of the fines imposed upon them. It may be supposed that an individual who could permit himself to enter upon a profession of this kind, would not be very scrupulous as to the guilt of the peiv * -its w bom he sought to make his prey. He Accordingly appears to hare, at least in one noted instance, pounced upon an individual who was perfectly in- nocent This was Lhe Hey. Mr Kirkton, a non-conformist minister it is true, but one who had been cautious to keep strictly within the verge of the law, Kirkton was the brother-in-law of Mr Bailiie of Jerviswood, by his marriage to the sister of that gentleman, and he is eminent in Scottish literary history for a memoir of the church during his own tiuies, which was of great service in manu- script to the historian Wodrow, and was at length published hi 1#17. One day In June, lo'7o\ as *>lr Kirkton was walking along the High Street of Edinburgh, Carstairs, whoso person he did not know, accosted him in a rery civil manner, and expressed a desire to speak with him in private. Mr Kirkton, suspecting no evil, followed Carstairs to a rery mean-Looking house f near the common prison. Carstairs, who had no warrant to apprehend or detain Mr Kirk (mi, went out to get one, locking the door upon his victim. 1 The unfortunntc cler- gyman then perceived that he was in some danger, and prevailed upon a person in the house to go to seek his brother-in-law, Mr Bailiie, and apprise him of his situation. Carstairs, having in vain endeavoured to get the requisite number of privy-councillors to sign a warrant, now came back, resolved, it appears, to try at least if he could not force some money from Mr Kirkton tor his release. Just as they were about to confer upon this subject, Mr Bailiie came to the door, with sereral other persons, and called to Carstairs to open. Kirkton, hearing the voices of friends, book courage, and desired his captor either to set him lVee, or to show a warrant for his detention. Carstairs, instead of doing either, drew a pocket pistol, and Kirkton found it necessary, for his own safety, to enter into a personal struggle, and endeavour to secure the weapon of his antagonist. The gentlemen without, hearing a struggle, and cries of murder, burst open the door, and found Carstairs sitting upon Mr Kirkton, on the (lour. Bailiie drew his sword, and commanded the poltroon to come olfj asking him at the same time if he had any warrant for apprehending Mr Kirkton. Carstairs said he had a warrant for conducting him to prison, but he utterly refused to show it, though Mr Bailiie said that, if he saw any warrant against his friend, he would assist in carrying it into execution. The wretch still persisting in saying he had a warrant, but was not bound to show it, Mr Bailiie Left the place, with Mr Kirk- ton and other friends, having oflered no violence whatever io Carstairs, hut only threatened to sue him for unlawful invasion of his brother-in-law's person. It might have been expected from even a government so lost to all honour aud justice as that which now prevailed in Scotland, that it would have had at least the good $en$t to overlook this unhappy accident to one of its tools. On the contrary, it was resolved to brave the popular feeling of right, by listening to the complaints of Carstairs. Through the in due nee of Archbishop Shorpe, iv ho said that, if Carstairs was not countenanced, no one would be procured to apprehend fanatics afterwards, a majority of the council agreed to prosecute Bailiie, Kirkton, and the other persons concerned. For -this purpose, an ante- dated warrant was furnished to Carstairs, signed by nine of the councillors. The Marquis of Atholl told Bishop Burnet, that he hail been one of the nine who lent their unities to this infamous document The whole cose was therefore made out to be a tumult against the government; Bailiie was lined in six thou- sand merks, [£'3 18 sterling)' and his friends in smaller sums, and to be im- prisoned till they should render payment 1 Bui nut, WW row's account Is slightly different * Wo J row sius £5fl0 stlvrJhig* m>w edit- *. £■ p. $& Digitized by VjOOQ IC 90 ROBEBT BiiLLlB. This award waa 10 opposite, in every particular, to the principles of truth, honour, and juatioe, that, even if not directed against individuals connected with the popular cause, It could not have failed to excite general indignation. It appears that a respectable minority of the council itself was strongly opposed to the decision, and took care to let it be known at court. Mr Baillie was there- fore released at- the end of four months* in consideration of payment of one half of his fine to the creature Carstaira. Lord Hakon, however, who was at this time a kind of pro-regent under his brother Lauderdale, had interest to obtain the dismissal of his opponents from the council, namely, the Duke of Hamilton, the Earls of Morton, Dumfries, and Kincardine, and the Lords Cochrane and Primrose, whom he branded, /or their conduct on this occasion, as enemies to the church and favourers of conventicles. After this period, nothing is known of Mr Baillie till the year 1683, when he is found taking a prominent share in a scheme of emigration, agitated by a number of Scottish gentlemen, who saw no refuge but this from the tyranny of the government These gentlemen entered into a negotiation with die paten- tees of South Carolina, for permission to convey themselves thither, along with their families and dependents. While thus engaged, Mr Baillie was induced, along with several of his friends, to enter into correspondence and counsel with the heads of the Puritan party in England, who were now forming an extensive plan of insurrection, for die purpose of obtaining a change of measures in the government, though with no ulterior view. Under the pretext of the American expedition, Lord Melville, Sir John Cochrane of Ochiltree, Mr Baillie, and three others, were invited and repaired to London, to consult with the Duke of Mon- mouth, Sydney, Russell, and the rest of that party* This scheme was never pro- perly matured ; indeed, it never was any thing but a matter of talk, and had ceased to be even that, when a minor plot for assassinating the king, to which only a small number of the party were privy, burst prematurely, and involved several of the chiefs, who were totally ignorant of it, in destruction. Sydney and Russell suffered for this crime, of which they were innocent ; and Baillie and several other gentlemen were seized and sent down to be tried in Scotland. 2 The subsequent judicial proceedings were characterised by the usual violence and illegality of the time. He endured a long confinement, during which he was treated very harshly, and not permitted to have the society of his lady, though she offered to go into irons, as an assurance against any attempt at faci- litating his escape. An attempt was made to procure sufficient proof of guilt from the confessions wrought out of his nephew4n-law, the Earl of Tarras (who had been first married to the elder sister of the Duchess of Monmouth) ; hut, this being found insufficient, his prosecutors were at last obliged to adopt the unlawful expedient, too common in those distracted times, of putting him to a purgative oath. An accusation was sent to him, not in the form of an indictment, nor grounded on any law, but on a letter of the king, in which he was charged with a conspiracy to raise rebellion, and a concern in the Ryehouse Plot He was told that, if he would not clear himself of these charges by his oath, he should be held as guilty, though not as in a criminal court, but only as before the council, .who had no power to award a higher sentence than fine and im- prisonment. As he utterly refused to yield to such a demand, he was fined by s Mr Koto, in his Observations on Mr Fox's History, relates that the hope of a pardon bemg held out to him, on condition of his gWing information respecting some friends sup- posed to be engaged with him, his answer was, *' They who can make such a proposal to me neither know me nor my country;" an expression of which the latter part is amply justified by fact, for, as Lord John Russell has justly observed, in his Memoirs of Lord William Russell, " It is to the honour of Scotland, that [on this occasion] no witnesses came forward voluntarily, to accuse their associates, as had been done in England.*' Digitized by Google ROBERT BAILLIE. 91 the council in £6,000, being about the value of his whole estates. It was then supposed that the prosecution would cease, and that he would escape with the doom of a captive. For several months he continued shut up in a loathsome prison, which had such an effect upon his health that he was brought almost to the last extremity. Yet M all the while," to use the words of Bishop Burnet, 9 " he seemed so composed, and even so cheerful, that his behaviour looked like a reviving of the spirit of die noblest of the old Greeks or Romans, or rather of the primitive Christians, and first martyrs in those last days of the church." At length, on the 23rd of December, 1684, he was brought before the court of justiciary. He was now so weak as to be obliged to appear at the bar in his night-gown, and take frequent applications of cordials, which were supplied to him by his sister, the wife of Mr Ker of Graden. The only evidence that could be produced was the confessions forced from his friends by torture, one of whom, the Rev. Mr Carstairs, afterwards the distinguished Principal of the Edinburgh University, had only emitted a declaration, on an express promise that no use was to be made of it Mr Baillie solemnly denied having been accessary to any conspiracy against the king's life, or being- unfavourably dis- posed to monarchical government He complained that his friends had been forced to bring forth untrue representations against him. Indeed, there can be no doubt that the whole extent of his offence was a desire to procure gome ame- lioration of the measures, and not any change of the members of the govern- ment ; we say desire, because it never could be proved that a single step had been taken in the matter, nor is there the least probability that it would have ever been heard of, but for the trials of several innocent persons. A cavalier and contemporary writer has alleged that Mr Baillie conducted himself on his trial in a very haughty and scornful manner, — " very huffy and proud," is the expression used — but this probably is only the colour given by a political enemy to the Roman dignity, which Burnet saw in his behaviour. Af- ter the evidence had been adduced, and when the Lord Advocate had ended his charge, the following remarkable dialogue took place between him and that offi- cer: M My lord, I think it very strange that you charge me with such abominable things ; you may remember that when you came to me in person, you told me that such things were laid to my charge, but that you did not believe them, How then, my lord, did you come to lay such a stain upon me with so much- vio- lence P Are yon now convinced in your conscience that I am more guilty than before t You may remember what passed betwixt us in prison." The whole audience fixed their eyes upon the advocate, who appeared in no small confusion, and said, "Jerviswood, I own what you say. My thoughts there were as a private man ; but what I say here is by special direction of the privy council. And," pointing to Sir William Paterson, clerk, " he knows my orders." "Well," said Baillie, M if your lordship have one conscience for yourself, and another for the council, I pray God forgive you ; I do. My lords," he added, M I trouble your lordships no further." The assise was empannelled at midnight, and sat till nine in the morning of the succeeding day, when a verdict of guilty was returned against Mr Baillie, and he was sentenced to be executed that afternoon, at the cross, and his limbs to be afterwards exhibited on the Jails of four different Scottish towns. The reason for such precipitation was the fear of his judges that a natural death would disappoint the wishes of the government, which called imperatively at this 8 Bernet* being the nephew of Sir Archibald Johnstone, was cousin by marriage to Mr Digitized by — 92 MATTHEW BAILLIE, Al.D. moment for a public example to terrify it* opponents. Baillie only said, " Mj lords, the time is short, the sentence is sharp, but 1 tliank my (iod who hath made me as fit to die as you are to LVe." On returning to the prison he ex* perienced what Wodrow describes as *' a wonderful rapture of joy, from the insurance he had t that in a few hours he should be inconceivably happy/* Mr BaiiUe was attended to the scaffold by his faithful and affectionate sister, tie had prepared an address to the people ; but knowing that he might be pre- vented from delivering it T he had previously giren it to his friends in writing. It is said that the government after wards offered to give up his body for burin], if his friends would agree to suppress this document. They appear to hare re- jected the proposition. The unfortunate gentleman was so weak that he requir- ed to be assisted in mounting the ladder : he betrayed, however no symptom of moral iveakness. Just before being consigned to his fate, he said, in the sell- nccusing spirit of true excellence, " My faint zeal for the protectant religion hits brought mo to this end.* 1 His sister*! u-law f with the stern virtue of her family, waited to the last. " ■"l'lin^"' says Bishop Burnet, " a learned and worthy genUeman, after twenty months* hard usage, was brought to death, in a way so full in all the steps of it of the spirit and practice of the courts of inquisition, l hat one is templed to think that the methods taken in it were suggested by one well studied, if not practised, in them. The only excuse that ever was pretended for this infamous prosecution was, that they were sure he was guilty ; and that the whole secret of the negotiation between the two kingdoms was intrusted to him ; and that, since he would not discover it, all methods might be taken to destroy him. Not con- sidering what a precedent they made on this occasion, by which, if they were once possessed of an ill opinion of a man, they were to spore neither artifice nor violence, but to hunt him down by any means.* 7 Ih- Owen lias testified in a strong manner to the great abilities of the Scottish Sydney* Writing to a Scottish friend, he said, "You have truly men of great spirits among you ; there is, for a gentleman, Mr Baillie of Jerviswood, a person of the greatest abilities I ever almost met with," Mr HoilbVs family was completely ruined by his forfeiture. He left a son, George Baillie, who, after his execution, was obliged to take refuge in Holland, whence he oiler wards returned with the Prince of Orange, by whom he was re- stored to his estates. The wile of this gentleman was Miss 1 »rizel Hume, daugh- ter of Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, a fellow-patriot of Mr Robert Baillie. The occasion of their meeting was very remarkable. Miss Grizel, when a very young girl, was sent by her father from the country, to endeavour to convey a letter to Mr Baillie in prison, and bring bock what intelligence she could. She succeed- ed in this difficult enterprise : and having at the same time met with Mr Baillie "s son, the intimacy and friendship was formed, which was afterwards completed by their marriage. BAILiLlK, Matthrw, M.D. a distinguished modern physician and anatomist, was the son of the Rev. James Baillie, D.B. Professor of Divinity in the V niveraity of Uloagotv, He was born October 27, 17 b" 1, in the manse of Shotts, of which parish his fattier was then minister. The father of Dr Matthew Baillie was sup- posed to be descended from the family of Baillie of JemswoocL, so noted in the his- tory of Scottish freedom ; bis mother was a sister of the two celebrated anatomists, Dr William and Mr John Hunter; and one of his two sisters was Miss Joanna ■ " Thu Lndy Graden, with a moro than masculine cow ma h, attended him on the scaffold tin he was quartered, and wont with IJic hangman and saw his quarters sodden, ay led, &c" — Jfatntmn/ia/fa Notex t H7 r IIS. It is scarcely possible for an individual accustomed tc the fc t lings of modem sodrty to brieve such a statement. Digitized by VjOOQ IC MATTHEW BAILLIE, RLD. 93 Baillie T the late well known and amiable authoress of " Flays on the Passions, 1 ' After receiving t}h: rudiment* of his education under his father's immediate su- perintendence, he began his acn deiuical coune in 177 3, in the University of Ulasg ow, where he distinguished himself so highly as to be transferred, in 1778, upon Sn ell's lot nidation, to Baliol College, Oxford, Here, when he had attained the proper standing, he took his degrees in arts and physic In 1780, while still keeping his terms at Oxford, he commenced his anatomical studies at Lon- don, under the care of his uncles. He had the great advantage of residing with Dr William Hunter, and, when he became sufficiently advanced in his studies, of being employed to make the necessary preparations for the lectures, to conduct die demonstrations, and to superintend the operations of the students. On the death of Dr Hunter, March 17 83, he was found qualified to become the successor of that great man, in conjunction with Mr Cruickshank, who had previously been employed as Dr Hunter's assistant His uncle appointed him by will to hare the use of his splendid collection of anatomical preparations, so long as he should continue an anatomical lecturer, after which it was to be transferred to Glasgow College* Dr Bailb'e began to lecture in 1784, and soon acquired the highest reputation as an anatomical teacher. He was himself indefatigable in the business of forming preparations, adding, it is said, no fewer than eleven hundred articles to his uncle's museum. He possessed the valuable talent of making an abstruse and difficult subject plain ; his prelections were remarkable for that lucid order and cleitrness of expression which proceed from a perfect conception of the subject; and he never permitted any vanity of display to turn him from his great object of conveying information in the simplest and most intelligible way, and so as to become useful to his pupils. The distinctness of his elocution was also much admired, notwithstanding that he never could alto- gether shake on" the accent of his native country. In 1755, Dr. Baillie embodied the knowledge he possessed through his own observations and those of his uncle, in a small but most valuable work, entitled, " The Morbid Anatomy of some of the most important parts of the Human Body," which was immediately translated i i in French and German, and extended his name to every land where medical science was cultivated, The publication of this little treatise was, indeed, an em in the history of medical knowledge in this country. It combined all the information formerly scattered through the writings of Bonetus, Lieutaud, and Montagni, besides the immense store of observations made by the ingenious author. The knowledge of the changes produced on the human frame by disease had previously been very imperfect; but it was now so completely elucidated that, with the assistance of this little volume, any person previously acquainted with morbid symptoms, but unacquainted with the disease, could, upon an exami- nation after death, understand the whole malady. Ferhaps no production of the period, ever had so much influence on the study of medicine, or contributed •o much to correct unfounded speculations upon the nnture of disease, to excite a spirit of observation, and to lead the attention of the student to fact and ex- perience* Along with all its excellencies, it was delightful to observe the extreme modesty and total absence of pretension, with which the author, in the fulness of his immense knowledge, ushered it into the world* In 1787, Dr Baillie had been elected physician to St George's Hospital, a situation which afforded him many of those opportunities of observation upon which the success of his work on Morbid Anatomy was founded. In 17SU T having taken bis degree of M.D, at Oxford, he was admitted a candidate at the College of Physicians, and in the following year had the full privileges of fel- lowship conferred upon him* About the same time, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, to which he had contributed two essays. He served the I L±= - 94 MATTHEW BAILLIE, MJ). office of censor in the Royal College of Physicians, in 1792 and 1797, and that of commisiioner under the act of parliament for the inspection and licensing of mad-houses, in 1794 and 1795. In 1799, Dr Baillie relinquished the business of an anatomical lecturer, and in 1800 resigned his duties as physician to St George's Hospital Partly by the influence of his fame as an anatomist, and partly through the disinterested recommendations of several members of his own profession, he found himself gradually tempted into the less agreeable business of a general physician. H« was always resorted to, when more than ordinary scientific precision was re* quired. About the year 1801, when he had attained the mature age of forty, lie had become completely absorbed in practice. . As a physician, he possessed, in an eminent degree, a facility in distinguishing diseases,<*--one of the most important Qualifications in the practice of medicine ; as a want of accuracy in discriminating symptomatic from primary affections leads to the most serious errors ; whilst it may be said that, when a disease is once distinctly character- ised, and the peculiarities of the case defined, the cure is half performed. Ha- bits of attentive observation had enabled Dr Baillie to know, with great accuracy, the precise extent of the powers of medicine ; indeed, there was no class of cases more likely to fall under his observation than those in which they had been abused ; younger practitioners being apt to carry a particular system of treatment beyond its proper limits ; Dr Baillieto readiness, therefore, in seeing this abuse, rendered his opinions, in many cases, of great value. Yet he was always scrupulously anxious, through the natural benignity of his disposition, to use his knowledge with a delicate regard to the interests of those juniors whose procedure he was called upon to amend. He managed, indeed, this part of his practice with so much delicacy that he was held in the utmost affection and esteem by the younger branches of the profession. Dr Baillie was remarkahle for forming his judgment of any case before him from his own observations exclusively ; carefully guarding himself against any prepossessions from the opinions suggested by others. When he visited a pa- tient, he observed him accurately, he listened to him attentively, he put a few pointed questions— and his opinion was formed. Beneath a most natural and unassuming manner, which was the same on all occasions, was concealed an almost intuitive power of perceiving the state of his patient His mind was always quietly, but eagerly directed, to an investigation of the symptoms ; and he had so distinct and systematic a mode of putting questions, that the answers of his patients often presented a connected view of the whole case. On such occasions, he avoided technical and learned phrases ; he affected none of that sentimental tenderness, which is sometimes assumed by a physician with a view to recomme n d himself to his patient; but he expressed what he had to say in the simplest and plainest terms ; with some pleasantry, if the occasion admitted of it, and with gravity and gentleness, if they were required ; and he left bit patient, either encouraged or tranquillized, persuaded that the opinion he had received was sound and honest, whether it was unfavourable or not, and that his physician merited his confidence. In delivering or writing his opinions, he was equally remarkable for unaffected simplicity. His language was sometimes so plain, that his patients have been able to repeat to their other medical atten- dants, every word which he had uttered. In consultation, he gave his opinion concisely, and with a few grounds; those grounds being chiefly facts, rather than arguments, so that little room was left for dispute. If any difference or diffi- culty arose, his example pointed out the way of removing it, by an appeal to other facts, and by a neglect of speculative reasoning. In every relation and situation of private life, Dr Baillie was equally to be Digitized by Google MATTHEW BAILLIfi, M.D, 95 admired ; and it must be added, Lhiit the same liberal and just ideas which, on all occasions, guided his conduct as an individual, ruled him in his many public duties '. he never countenanced any measures which had the appearance of op-* pression or hostility towards the members of his profession. Men seldom act, collectively, with the same honour and integrity as they would do individually : and a member of a public body requires an unusual share of moral courage, who opposes those measures of his associates, which ho may not himself approve of; but if there was one qualification more than another, which gave Dr Baillie the public confidence he enjoyed, and raised htm to the zenith of professional dis- tinction, it was his inflexible integrity. In 1799, Dr Baillie commenced the publication of ,l A Series of Engraving*, to illustrate some parts of Morbid Anatomy," in successive fasciculi, which were completed in 1 yo*2. The drawings for this splendid work were done by Mr Glift, the Conservator of the Hunterian Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields ; and they were creditable at once to the taste and liberality of Dr Baillie, and to the state of art in that day, Dr Baillie afterwards published ** An Anatomical de- scription of the Gravid L* terns ; " and throughout the whole course of his pro- fessional life, he contributed largely to the transactions and medical collections of the time. Whan he was at the height of his popularity, he enjoyed a higher in- come than any preceding physician, and which was only inferior to the sum received by one particular contemporary. In one of his busiest years, when ho had scarcely time to take a single meal, it is said to have reached £ 1 U r GOQ. He was admitted to have the greatest consultation buttinex* of his time ; and it was known that he ivas applied to for medical advice from many distant quarters of the world. From his arduous, and to his mind, often irksome duties, he en- joyed no relaxation for many years, till at length he began to indulge in on annual retirement of a few months to the country* On one of the first of these occasions, he paid a visit to the land of his birth, which t during on absencu of thirty years, spent in busy and distracting pursuits, be had never ceased to re- gard with the most tender feelings. The love of country was, indeed, a promi- nent feature in his character ; and be was prepared on this occasion to realize many enjoyments which he had previously contemplated with enthusiasm, in the prospect of once more beholding- the land nnd friends of his youth. The result was far different from his expectations, He found most of his early companions either scattered over the world, in search, as he himself had been, of fortune* or else forgotten in untimely graves ; of those who survived, many were removed beyond his sympathies by that total alteration of feeling which a difference of worldly circumstances so invariably effects in the hearts of early friends, on the side of the depressed party as well as the elevated. Dr Baillie was introduced to the favourable notice of the royal family, in con- sequence of his treatment of the duke of Glouisester. Being subsequently joined in consultation with the king's physicians, upon bis majesty's own unhappy case, he came more prominently than ever into public view, as in some measure the principal di rector of the royal treatment. The political responsibility of this situation was so very weighty, that, if Dr Baillie had been a man of less firmness of nerve, he could scarcely have maintained himself under it. Such, however, was the public confidence in his inflexible integrity, that, amidst the hopes and fears which for a long time agitated the nation, on the subject of the king's health, the opinion of Dr Baillie ever regulated that of the public On the iirst vacancy, which occurred in 1 810, he was appointed one of the physicians to the king, with the offer of a baronetcy, which, however, bis good sense and unas- sinning disposition induced him to decline. Dr Baillie at length sunk under the weight of his practice k notwithstanding Digitized by VjOOQIC M GENERAL SIR DAVID BAlRlL that for several years he hnd taken every possible expedient to shift off tiis duties to the care of younger aspirants. At the hist quarterly mceUng of tli* Goto* of Physicians before his death, when there was * full assemblage of members, >* the midst of the affairs for the consideration of which they wkt* called together, Dr Bailie entered the room, emaciated, hectic, and with all the symptoms of approaching dissolution. Such was the effect of lm sudden and unexpected appearance, that the public business was suspended, and miry one present instantly and spontaneously rose, and remained standm* until LJr Bailie bad tsken his seat*, the incident though trivial evinces the effectionate en™ with which he was regarded. Beside the natural claim he had upon this body, trera his unapproached anatomical and medical skill, and the extraordinary benignity and worth of his character, he had entitled himself to its peculiar gratitude by leaving to it the whole of his valuable collection of preparations, together with the sum of six hundred pounds to keep it in order. Dr Baillie- died on the 23d of September, 1823. Dr Bailie had married, 5 th May, 1791, Miss Sophia Den man, second daughter ot Dr Den man of London, a distinguished physician, and sister of Mr,, subsequently Lord Den man and Lord High Chancellor of England. By her be left one ion, to whom he devoted his estate of Daniis bourne, in Gloucestershire, and one daughter. The sums and effects destined by his will, many of which were given to medical institu- tions and public charities, were sworn in the Prerogative Court at less than £80,000. Dr Bail lie is thus characterised in the Annual Ob it vary for IB 24, "He seemed to have an innate goodness of heart, a secret sympathy with the virtuous and to rejoice in their honourable and dignified conduct, as in a thing in which he had a personal interest, and as if he felt that his own character was raised by it, as well as human nature ennobled. He censured warmly what he disapproved, from a strong attachment to what is right, not to display his superiority to otheii, or to give vent to any asperity of temper ; at the same time he was indulgent to failings ; his kindness to others leading him on many occasions to overlook what was due to himself; and even in his last illness he paid gratuitous professional visits winch were above his strength, and was in danger of suddenly exhausting himself by exertions for others. His liberal disposition was well known to all acquainted with public subscriptions; the great extent to which it showed itself in private benefactions is known only to those who were nearly connected with him, and perhaps was fully known only to himself," HAIRD, (the Right Honourable, General Sir) David, a distinguished comman- der during the wars of the French Revolution, was the second surviving son of William Baird, Esq., heir, by settlement, of his second cousin Sir John Baird, of Newbyth, Bart. He entered the army, December 10, 177^, as an ensign in the 2nd foot, joined the regiment at Gibraltar, April 1773, and returned to Britain in I77(i, Having been promoted to a lieutenancy in 1778! he immediately after obtained a company in the 73rd, a regiment then just raised by I^oni Macleod, with which he sailed for India, and arrived at Madras, January 17 80, This young regiment was here at once ushered into the trying and hazardous scenes of the war against Hydcr Ally, whom the KngH&h company had provoked by a shameful breach of faith into a hostility that threatened to overwhelm it. In July 1780, while the company, exclusive of Lord Macleod's regiment, hud only about 5,001} men under arms, Hydcr burst into the Camatic with an army nf 100,000 men, disciplined and cnumiandtid by French officers, and laid alegar In A rent, the capital of the only native prince friendly to the British. Sir Hector Munro, commander-in-chief of the Company's troops, set out lo relieve this city on the 95th of August, expecting to be joined on the 30th. by a large detachment then in Uie northern drears under Colonel Baillic. On learning this Digitized by LjOOQ IC GENERAL SIR DAVID BAIRD. 97 movement, Hyder left Arcot, and threw himself in the way of Colonel Baillie. In order to favour, if possible, the approach of this officer, Sir Hector Munro, on the 5th of September, changed his position a little, and advanced two miles on the Trepassore road, which brought him within a short distance from the enemy. Hyder then detached his brother-in-law, Meer Saib, with 8,000 horse, to attack Colonel Baillie, and afterwards an additional force of 6,000 infantry, 18,000 cavalry, and 12 pieces of cannon, under his son, the celebrated Tippoo. He at the same time made demonstrations on his front, to keep up the attention of Sir Hector and the main army. Baillie, though commanding no more than 2,000 Sepoys and a few European companies, gained a complete victory over the immense force sent against him, but at the same time sent word to Sir Hector, that, unless provision were made for accomplishing a junction, he must certainly be cut off The commander-in-chief held a council of war, when it was determined at all hazards to send a reinforcement, for the purpose of achiev- ing the relief of this gallant officer. A small force was selected, consisting principally of the grenadier and infantry companies of Lord Macleod's regiment, which, having received strict injunction! as to the necessity of a secret and ex- peditious march, set off towards Colonel Baillie's position, under the command of Colonel Fletcher and Captain Baird. Hyder Ally had secret intelligence of this movement, and sent a detachment to cut it off; but Colonel Fletcher and Captain Baird, having fortunately conceived some suspicion of their guides, sud- denly altered their line of march, and were thereby enabled to gain their point Hyder was determined that Colonel Baillie, with his friends, should not advance so safely to the main army. He therefore, with the most consummate ability, and under his own personal inspection, prepared an ambuscade at a particular pass through which they would have to march. This part of the road, he had occupied and enfiladed with several batteries of cannon, behind which lay large bodies of his best foot, while he himself, with almost his whole force, was ready to support the attack. While these real dispositions were made, a cloud of irre- gular cavalry was employed in several motions on the side of Conjeveram, in order to divert the attention of the English camp. The morning of the 10th of September had scarcely dawned, when the silent and expectant enemy perceived Colonel Baillie's little army advancing into the very toils planted to receive it The ambuscade reserved their fire with admi- rable coolness and self-command, till the unhappy English were in the midst of them. The army marched in column. On a sudden, while in a narrow defile, a battery of twelve guns poured a storm of grape-shot into their right flank The English faced about ; another battery immediately opened on their rear. They had no alternative, therefore, but to advance ; other batteries met them here likewise, and in less than half an hour, 57 pieces of cannon were so" brought to bear on them as to penetrate into every part of the British line. By seven o'clock in the morning, the enemy poured down upon them in thousands, and every Englishman in the army was engaged. Captain Baird, at the head of his grenadiers, fought with the greatest heroism. Surrounded and attacked on all sides by 35,000 cavalry, by 30 regiments of Sepoy infantry, besides Hyder Ally's European corps, and a numerous artillery playing upon them from all quarters within grape-shot distance, yet this heroic column stood firm and un- daunted, alternately facing their enemies on every side of attack. The French officers in Hyder's camp beheld the scene with astonishment, which was increased, when, in the midst of all this tumult and extreme peril, they saw the British grenadiers performing their evolutions with as much precision, coolness, and steadiness, as if under the eyes of a commander on a parade. l Colonels Baillie and Fletcher, and K Captain Baird, had only ten pieces of Digitized by VjOOQ IC 08 GENERAL SIfi DAVID BAIED. cannon ; but these were so excellently ■erred, that they made great havoc amongst the enemy. At length, after a dubious contest of three hours, (from sis in the morning till nine,) victory began to declare for the English ; the flower of the Mysore cavalry, after many bloody repulses, were at length entirely de- feated with great slaughter, and the right wing, composed of Hyder 's best forces, was thrown into disorder, and began to give way, Hyder himself was about to give the orders for retreat, and the French officer who directed the artiller) began to draw it off At this moment of exultation and triumph, when British valour was just about to reap that safety which it had so well fought for, there occurred an unlucky accident, which entirely altered the fortune of the day. The tumbrils contain- ing the ammunition suddenly blew up, with tuo dreadful explosions, in the centre of the British hue. The whole face of their column was laid open, and their artillery overturned and destroyed. 1 he destruction of men was great, but the total loss of their ammunition was still more fatal to the survivors. Tippoo Saib, a worthy son of his martial father, instantly saw and seized the moment of advantage, and, without waiting for orders, fell with the utmost rapidity, at the head of the Mogul and Cam a tic horse, into the broken square, which had not yet time in any degree to recover its form and order. This attack by the ene- my's cavalry being immediately seconded by the French corps, and by the first line of infantry, determined at once the fate of our unfortunate army. After successive prodigies of valour, the brave Sepoys were almost to a mas cut to pieces. Colonels Hail lie and Fletcher made one more desperate effort ; they rallied the Europeans, and, under the fire of the whole artillery of the enemy, gained a little eminence and formed themselves into a square. In this form, did this invincible band, though totally without ammunition, the officers fighting only with their swords, and tike soldiers with their bare bayonets, resist and repulse the enemy in thirteen different attacks ; until, at length, incapable of vrithstan ris- ing the successive torrents of fresh troops which were continually pouring upon them, they were fairly borne down and trampled upon, many of them still con- tinuing to fight under the very legs of the horses and elephants. Out of about 4,000 Sepoys and BOO Europeans who had commenced this engagement, only about $00 of the latter survived. Colonel Fletcher was among the slain, and Captain Baird had wounds in four places. When he and Colonel Baillio, with other captive officers, were taken before Hyder Ally, the latter gentleman said to the barbarous chief, " Your son will inform you, that you owe the victory to our disaster, rather than to our defeat" Hyder angrily ordered the m from I lis presence, and commanded them instantly to prison. The slaugh- ter among the Mysore troops was very great, amounting, it is said, to three limes the whole British army. When Sir Hector Munroe learned the unhappy fate of his detachment, he found it necessary to retreat to Madras. Captain Baird, with the officers, remained in a dungeon in one of Hyder's forts for three days and a half; he was chained by the leg to another prisoner, as much of the slaughter in Hyder s army was attributed to the grenadiers. At length, in July 1784, he was released, and joined his regiment at Arcot In 17 97, he removed with his regiment (now styled the 7 lit) to Bombay, and re- ttimed to Madras next year, On the 5th of June 1789, he received the majo- rity of the 71st, and in October obtained leave of absence, and returned to Britain* In 1791, he returned as lieutenant-colonel of the 71st and joined the army under the marquis CornwaLUs. As commander of a brigade of Sepoys, he was present at the attack of a number of Droogs, or hibVforts, and at the siege of Seringapatam, in 1791 and 1792; and likewise at the storming of Tippoo Digitized by VjOOQ IC n GENERAL SIR BAVED BAIRD. 99 Sultauii** lilies and camps in the bland of Seringapatam, In I TIKI, he com* manded a brigade of European*, and was present at the siege of Pun di cherry. He received a colonelcy in 1795. In October 1797, he embarked at Ma- dras with hi* regiment for Europe; in December, when he arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, he was appointed Brigadier-general, and placed on that statf^ in command of a brigade. June 18, 1798, he was appointed Major-gene- ral, and returned to the stall' in India. In January 1799, he arrived at Madras, in command ef two regiments of foot, together with the drafts of the 28 th dra- goons. May 4, he commanded the storming party at that distinguished action, the assault of Seringapatam ; when, in requital of hii brilliant services, he was pre- sented by the army, through the Commander-in-chief, with the state sword of Tippoo Sultaun, and also with a dress-sword from the field-officers serving under his immediate command at the assault The eminent merit of Brigadier-general Baird was now fully known and acknowledged by the government at home. He was therefore, in 1800, ap- pointed to the command of an expedition against Batavia, but which was after- wards sent to Egypt. He landed at Coseir in June, crossed the desert, and, embarking on the Nile, descended to Grand Cairo ; whence he set oat for Alex- andria, which he reached a few days before it surrendered to General Hutchison. Next year he led the Egyptian Indian army overland to India, where he was concerned in various military transactions, Hi§ services, however, being soon after superseded by Sir Arthur Wellesley (afterwards the illustrious protector of Europe), he sailed tor Britain with his stafT, March 1803, and after a tedious voyage, during which he was taken prisoner by a French privateer, hut after- wards retaken, he arrived in England in November. Sir David Baird was received at the British court with great distinction. In December, he received the royal permission to wear the Turkish order of the Crescent. In June, 1 804, he received the honour of knighthood ; and on the 1 *lli of August following became a knight companion of the Bath* With the increased rank of lieutenant-general, he commanded an expedition which sailed in October 1805, for the Cape of Good Hope. Landing there, January 6, 1606, he attacked and beat the Dutch army, and on the 18th received the surrender of the colony. Being recalled, he arrived in Britain, April 1807, and was shifted from the colonelcy of the 5 Ith, which he had held for some years, to that of tlie 24th, and placed on the foreign staff under General Lord Cathcart He commanded a division at the siege of Copenhagen, where he wns twice slightly wounded ; and returned with the army in November, After a short period of service in Ireland, Sir David sailed in command of an armament of 10,000 men for Corunna, where he arrived in November 180*, and formed a junction with the army under General Sir John Moore, He com- manded the tirst division of that army, and in the battle of Corunna, January 16, 1809, he lost his left arm. By the death of Sir John Moore in this action, Sir David succeeded to the chief command, and had the honour of communicating intelligence of the victory to government On this occasion, he received for the fourth time in his life the thanks of parliament, and, April 13, was created a baronet, with very hon- ourable armorial bearings allusive to the transactions of his life. After this period, he never again appeared in active service. Id 1810, he married Miss Preston Campbell, of Femtower and Lochlane, Perthshire, by whom he left no issue. In 1814, he was promoted to the rank of General, and in 1819 became governor of Kinsale in Ireland, and in 1827, of Fort George in the north of Scotland. This brave veteran died at an advanced age, August 18, 1829, at his seat of Ferntower in Perthshire, His lady, who survived him till 1847, erected Digitized by VjOOQ IC 1687 A 100 WALTER BALCANQUEI* D.D. a monument to hit memory on the (op of a romantic hill, named, Tom-na- chaistel, (t. e. the hill of the castle,) in the neighbourhood of Perntower. BALCANQUEL, Walter, D.D. an eminent divine of the seventeenth century, was the son of the Rev. Walter Balcanquel, who was a minister of Edinburgh for forty-three years, and died in August, 1616. Dr Walter Balcanquel was horn at Edinburgh. It has been supposed that he was himself a minister of Edin- burgh ; but probably the writer who makes this statement only mistakes him for his lather, who bore the same name. He entered a bachelor of divinity at Pem- broke Hall, Oxford, where, September 8th, 1611, he was admitted a fellow. He appears to have enjoyed the patronage and friendship of King James, and his first preferment was to be one of the royal chaplains. In 16 17, he became Master of the Savoy in the Strand, London ; which office, however, he soon after resigned in favour of Mark Antony de Domini*, archbishop of Spalatro, who came to England on account of religion, and became a candidate for the king's favour. In 1618, Dr Balcanquel was sent to the celebrated synod of Dart, as one of the representatives of the church of Scotland. He has given an account of a considerable part of the proceedings of this grand religious council, in a series of letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, which are to be found in " The Qoldeu Remains of the ever memorable Mr John Hales of Eaton, 4to. 1673." In 1621, the Archbishop of Spalatro having resigned the mastership of the Savoy, Dr Balcanquel was re-appointed ; and on the 13th of March, 1624, being then doctor of divinity, he was installed Dean of Rochester. George Heriot, at his death, February 12th, 1624, ordained Dr Balcanquel to be one of the three executors of his last will, and to take the principal charge of the establishment of his hospital at Edinburgh. Probably, the experience which he had already acquired in the management of the Savoy Hospital might be the chief cause of his being selected for this important duty. Heriot appointed Dr Balcanquel, by his will, " to repair, with all the convenience he can, after my decease, to the town of Edinburgh," in order to conclude with the magistrates about the business of the hospital ; allowing him, for his pains, in addition to the sum of one hundred merks, which he enjoyed as an ordinary executor, one hundred pounds sterling, payable by two equal instalments — the first three months after the decease of the testator, and the second at the completion of the hospital. Dr Balcanquel is entitled to no small commendation for the able manner in which he discharged this great and onerous trust The Statutes, which, in terms of the testator's will, were drawn up by him, are dated 1627, and do great credit to his sagacity and practical good sense. 1 1 They conclude with the following adjuration to the magistrates and clergy of Edinburgh, who were designed in all time coming to be the managers of the hospital ; a piece of com- position, calculated, we should think, by its extraordinary solemnity and impressiveness, in hare all the effect which could be expected, from connecting the obligations of the trustees with the sanctions of religion :— * And now, finally, I, the unworthy servant of God, Walter Pnlcanquel,the composer of these Statutes, do onerate and charge the consciences of you, the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Ministry, and Council of the city of Edinburgh, and of all those who shall be your suc- cessors, unto the second coming of the Son of God, and that by the bowels of our Lord Jesus Christ, who one day will come to judge the quick and the dead, and take a particular account of every one of you, for this particular stewardship, wherewith you are trusted ; by the seal and honour of. our reformed religion, which by this pious work of the founder, is Illustrated and vindicated from the calumnies of the adversaries to our holy profession,by that pious respect which you, his fellow-citizens, ought to carry to the pious memory and last will of the religious founder, your worthy citizen, George Heriot. And, lastly, for the clearing ef your own consciences, and your own particular accounts in the great day of the Lord, let none of you, who read these presents, nor your successors, who in after ages shall come to read them, offer to frustrate the pious Founder of his holy Intention, either by taking; direct- ly or indirectly, from this hospital, any thing which he, in his piety, hath devoted unto it, or by altering it, or bestowing it upon any other use, though you shall conceive it to be far Digitized by Google ALEXANDER BALFOUR. 101 Dr fialcanquel's next appearance m the public concerns of his native country, was of a less happy character, in 16" 3b, when Charles I, sent down the Mar* quia of Hamilton to Scotland, to treat with the Covenanters, the Dean of Roches- ter accompanied his grace in the capacity of chaplain. What was his external behaviour on thii occasion, we do not know ; but it was afterwards surmised by the Covenanters, that he I tad been deputed by Archbishop Laud, as a spy, at once upon the Marquis, who was suspected of moderation, and the people with whom lie was dealing. It is asserted by Sir James Balfour, in his " Memorial!* of State," that Dr BaJcauquel also communicated intelligence of all that happened in Scotland, to Signor George Con, the Pope's legate, " as some of his inter- uepted letters can heare recorde, " Early in the ensuing year, was published an apologetical narrative of the court^proceedings, under the title of " Ills Majes- ties Large Declaration, concerning the Late Tumults in Scotland," which, by universal and apparently uncontradicted report, was ascribed to the pen of Dr BalcanqiieL While this work was received by the friends of the king as a triumphant vindication of his attempts upon the purity of the Scottish church, it only excited new indignation in the minds of the outraged people, who soon ifter appeared in arms at D it nee law, to defend their religious freedom with the •word. On the 14th of May, lb3tl, at the very time when the armies were about to meet on the borders, Dr Balcanquel, apparently in requital of has exer- tions, was installed Dean of Durham. He had now rendered himself a marked man to the Scottish prusbyterians, and accordingly his name is frequently alluded to in their publications as an " incendiary." Under this character he was denounced by the Scottish estates, July 29 , 1641, along with the Earl of Traquair, Sir John Hay, Clerk Register, Sir Hubert Spottiswoode r and Maxwell, Bishop nf Hoss T all of whom were regarded as the principal causes of the war between the king and his people. In the Canterburian's Self-Conviction, a pamphlet written in 1641, by the Rer. Robert Baillie, against Archbishop Laud, he is spoken of in a style of such asperity, as might hare convinced him that, in the event of a complete triumph of the preshyterian party, he would share in the proceedings which were now directed again tt that unhappy prelate. Accordingly, the very next year, when the king could no longer protect his partisans, Dr Balcanquel was forced from his mastership of the Savoy, plundered, sequestered, and obliged to Ay from London. Repairing to Oxford, he attached himself to the precarious fortunes of hts sovereign, and for several years afterwards, had to shift about from place to place, wherever he could And security for his life. At length, having taken refuge in Chirk Castle, Denbighshire, he died there in a very cold season, on Christmas day, 1045. He was buried next day in the parish church of Chirk, where some years after a splendid monument was erected to his memory by a neighbouring royalist, Sir Thomas Bliddleton of Chirk Castle. BALFOUR, Ai.kxa^deb, an esteemed miscellaneous writer, was born March 1st, 1767, in the parish of Monikie, Forfarshire* His parents belonged to the more pious or profitable ; or to go about *o oiler any of these .Statutes and Ordinances* after they shall be once delivered np unto you, completely subscribed and sealed, as you "ill answer the contrary, at the uttermost of your perils, in the day of the Lord Jesus; to whom, (being fully assured of your goodly care and zealous conscience in these particulars) with his Father, and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, but one undivided Essence of the Godhead, as for aN other their blessings, so hi particular for the great charity of t Ins most pious end re- ligious founder, bo ascribed, m Is most due, at] praise, honour, and glory, from age to age, Amen/ 1 tt Is alleged, by traditionary report, that the taste of Dr Balcanquel is conspicuous in the external architecture of Herioi'i Hospital. He is s:tid, in particular, to have directed thnt anomalous contrariety of ornamente which ts observed in the windows of the building; * blemish, however, affecting only the details, and not the general effect of the building. Digitized by VjOOQ IC 102 ALEXANDER BALFOUR. b ambler rural class. His education was very limited, and be was apprenticed at so early age to a weaver. His first attempts at composition were made when be was twelve years of age. At a somewhat maturer age be contributed verses to a newspaper named the " British Chronicle," to Dr Anderson's "Bee," and to several provincial miscellanies. At 1 twenty-six be became clerk to a manufacturing bouse in Arbroath, and married in the following year. From the Arbroath establishment, in which be bad for several years been a partner, he removed, in 1814, to Trottick near Dundee, where be formed a connection with a branch of an extensive London house. In the ensuing year, to memorable for calamity in the commercial world, the house in which tie had embarked hie fortune was suddenly involved in bankruptcy. Till some better employment should occur to him, Balfour resorted to the pen, which had never been altogether laid aside in his busiest and most prosperous days, and, in 1819, be produced a novel entitled, " Campbell, or the Scottish Probationer," which was received hy the public in a favourable manner. While the work was in progress, he accepted of a dependent situation at Balgonie in Fife, the emoluments of which were barely sufficient to maintain a family consisting of a wife, two sons, and three daughters. He was at length induced to remove to Edinburgh, where, in 1818, he obtained employment as a clerk from Air Blackwood the publisher. II is health suffered from constant confinement to the desk, and in June, IS 10, be was obliged to relinquish his employment by a threatened attack of paralysis. For ten years after the month of October, he was unable to set his foot upon the ground, and spent his days in a wheel-chair. He was, nevertheless, enabled to devote himself, with unimpaired energy, to literary labour. He edited, in 1819* the poetical works of his deceased friend, Richard Gall, adding a biographical preface ; and contributed various articles of merit, consisting of tales, sketches, and poems, descriptive of Scottish rural lite, to Constable's Edinburgh Magazine, of which he continued one of the chief literary supporters till its close, in 182G. In this magazine appeared the poetical series, entitled, " Characters omitted in Crabbe'a Parish Register," which was afterwards published in a separate volume. In 1S"20, be published a volume, under the title of " Contemplation, and other Poems/' In 1823 he began to contribute novels to the so-called Minerva Press, his first work being, " The Foundling of Olentborn, or the Smuggler's Cave," a tale in three volumes* Amidst the pangs of his disorder, Mr* Balfour continued to enjoy such good general health, that he is said to have not been absent from his family breakfast- table more than twelve times during the long period often years. He slept regularly, and generally was able to spend twelve or fourteen hours each day in study and composition. Ilia eyesight waa as good, and his intellectual powers continued as vigorous as at any period of his lite ; hut hit feelings were morbidly sensitive, and he had little command over their expression. In the year 182 f, through the intervention, it is believed, of Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P„ who presented a number of Mr Balfour's works to the premier, Mr Canning, a treasury donation of one hundred pounds was obtained for this unfortunate son of genius. The latest considerable work of Mr Balfour was a novel, entitled, " Highland Mary/' in four volumes. It is written with great simplicity and taste, and, as a storyt is replete with a mournful pathos. He continued to the last to contribute to the periodical works of the day. He enjoyed bis usual health, till the 1st of September, 1829, when an illness commenced that hurried him to the grave. For some days previous to his death, he was deprived of speech, and communicated with his friends by means of an alphabet which he had occasionally used before. He died, September 12th, 1629 f in the sixty-third year of bis age, A memoir of Balfour was written by the late Mr Moir, of Musselburgh (" Delta Jl ) f and prefixed to a posthumous volume of his remains, published under the title of Weeds and Wildtfowers. Digitized by Google SIR ANDREW BALFOUR, BART., MB 103 BALFOUR, (Sir) Andmcw, Bart MJX who iirst introduced the dissection or the human body into Scotland, and that at a very superstitious period ; who pro- jected the tirst hospital in the country, for the relief of disease and poverty at the public expense ; who was the founder of the botanic garden at Edinburgh, and almost the lather of the science in Scotland; who planned the royal college of physicians at Edinburgh ; and bequeathed to the public a museum, which at that time would have been an ornament to any university , or any me- tropolis, — was the fifth and youngest son of Sir Michael Balfour of Denmiiue in Fife, and was born at that place on the 18th of January, 1630. He prosecuted his studies in the university of St Andrews, where he took his degree of A- M- At this period his education was superintended by bis brother Sir James Balfour, the famous antiquary, and lion king at arms to Charles L, who was about thirty year* older than himself At college lie first discovered his attachment to botany, which in him is said to have led to the study of physic, instead of being, as it generally is, a handmaid to that art Quitting the university about the year 1 G 50, he removed to London, where his medical studies were chiefly directed by the celebrated Harvey, by Sir Theodore Mayeme, the distinguished physician of king James L, and various other eminent practitioners. He afterwards travelled to Rlois in France, and remained there fur some time, to see the botanic garden of the Duke of Orleans, which was then the best in Europe, and was kept by his countryman Dr Hi orison. Here he contracted a warm friendship for that great boUnist, which continued unimpaired while they lived. From Blois he went to Paris, where, for a long time, he prosecuted his medical studies with great ardour. He completed his education at the university of Caen, from which he received the degrees of bachelor and doctor of physic, on the 20th of September, L6G1. Returning to London soon afterwards, Dr Balfour was introduced to Charles 1L, who named him as the most proper person to attend the young earl of Ro- chester on his continental travels. After an absence of four years, be returned with his pupil in 1607. During their tour he endeavoured, and at that time not without some appearance of success, to recall that abandoned young noble- man to the paths of virtue, and to inspire him with the love of learning. Ro* Chester himself often acknowledged, and to Bishop Burnet, in particular, onl) three days before his death, how much ho was bound to love and honour Dr Bal four, to whom, next to his parents, he thought he owed more than to all the world. On returning to his native country, Balfour sett ted at St Andrews as a physi- cian. " He brought with hi in,* 7 says Dr Walker, in bis Essays on Natural His- tory, "the best library, especially in, medicine and natural history, that had till then appeared in Scotland ; and not only these, but a perfect knowledge of the languages in which they were written ; likewise many unpublished manuscripts of learned men, a aeries of antique medals, modern medallions, and pictures and busts, to form the painter and the architect ; the remarkable arms, vestments, and ornaments of foreign countries ; numerous mathematical, philosophical, and sur- gical instruments, which he uot only possessed, but used ■ with operations in sur~ gery, till then unknown in this country ; a complete cabinet with all the simples of the materia uicdica, and new compositions in pharmacy ; and large collections of the fossils, plants, and animals, not only of the foreign countries he traversed, but of the most distant parts of the world. 1 ' Dr Balfour's merit was too conspicuous to sutler him to remain long at St An- drews. In the year 1670, he removed to Edinburgh, where he immediately came into great practice. Here, among other improvements, he prosecuted the manufacture of paper, and was the means of introducing that valuable art into the country — though for many years it remained in a state of complete, or nearly Digitized by Google 104 SIR ANDREW BALFOUR, BART., MJ). complete dormancy ; the people deriving stationary article* of all kinds from Holland, Adjoining to his house, he had a small botanic garden, which be fur- nished by the seeds he received from his foreign correspondents ; and in this garden he raised many plants which were then first introduced into Scotland. One of his fellow-labourers in this department was Patrick Murray of Livingston, whom he had initiated into the study of natural history. This young gentleman, who enjoyed an ample fortune, formed at his seat in the country a botanic gar- den, containing one thousand species of plants, which at that period was a very large collection. He traversed the whole of France in quest of the plants of that country ; and on his way to Italy, he prematurely died of a fever. Soon after his death, Dr Balfour transferred his collection from Livingston to Edin- burgh ; and with it, joined to his own, he had the merit of laying the foundation of die public botanic garden. The necessary expense of this new institution was at first defrayed by Dr Balfour, Sir Robert Sibbald, and the Faculty of Ad- vocates. But at length the city allotted a piece of ground near Trinity College Church for a public garden, and out of the revenues of the university, allowed a certain sum for its support As the first keeper of this garden, Dr Balfour selected Mr James Sutherland; who, in 1684, published a work, entitled, Hor- tus EdinburgensU. [See Suthbrlakd.] The new institution soon became con- siderable : plants and seeds were sent from Morison at Oxford, Watts at London, Marchant at Paris, Herman at Leyden, and Spottiswood at Tangier. From the last were received many African plants, which flourished in this country. Such efforts as these, by a native Scotsman, occurring at a time when the at- tention of the country seems to have been almost exclusively devoted to contend- ing systems of church-government, are truly grateful in the contemplation. It is only to be lamented, that the spirit which presided over them, was premature in its appearance ; it found no genial field to act upon, and it was soon forgotten in the prevailing distraction of the public mind* Sir Andrew Balfour was the morning-star of science in Scotland, but he might almost be said to have set be- fore the approach of day. He was created a baronet by Charles IL, which •eems to indicate that, like most men of literary and scientific character in that age, he maintained a senti- ment of loyalty to the existing dynasty and government, which was fast decaying from the public mind at large. His interest with the ministry, and with the municipality of Edinburgh, seems to have always been considerable, and was uni- formly exerted for the public good, and for the encouragement of merit. Upon his settlement in Edinburgh, he had found the medical art taught in a very loose and irregular manner. In or^er to place it on a more respectable footing, he planned, with Sir Robert Sibbald, the royal college of physicians ; and of that respectable society his brethren elected him the first president. When the college undertook the publication of a Pharmacopeia, the whole ar- rangement of the materia medica was committed to his particular care. For such a task he was eminently qualified by his skill in natural history. This per- formance made its appearance in 1685 ; and, in the opinion of Dr Cullen, it is superior to any Pharmacopeia of thai era. Not long before his decease, his desire to promote the science of medicine in his native country, joined to the universal humanity of his disposition, led him to project the foundation of an hospital in Edinburgh. The institution was at first narrow and confined, but it survived to be expanded into full shape, as the royal infirmary, under the care of George Drummond. Sir Andrew died in 1694, in the sixty-fourth year of his age, after a severe conflict with the gout and other painful disorders ; which afforded him an opportunity of display- ing upon the approach of death; those virtues and that equanimity, which had Digitized by Google SIB JiMES BALFOUR, 105 distinguished him during his life. His person, like his mind and manners, was elegant He was possessed of a handsome figure with a pleasing and expressive countenance ; of a graceful elocution * and, by his natural disposition, as well as his long intercourse with the higher ranks in society, of a most courteous and polite demeanour. A print of him was executed at Paris ; but no copy is known to exist. His library and museum were the anxious result of fourteen years of travelling, and between twenty and thirty more of correspondence. For their accommoda lion, he had built an addition to his house when he had nearly arrived at his for* tieth year ; but after the building was completed, he found himself so infirm as to be unable to place them in that Order which he intended. After his death, his library, consisting of about three thousand volumes, besides manuscripts, was sold, we suppose, by public auction. There is a printed catalogue still extant His museum was deposited in the hail which was, till 1829, occupied as the uni- versity library. There it remained many years, use Less and neglected ; some parts of it falling to inevitable decay, and other parts being abstracted. * l Yet, eren after 1750," says Dr Walker, "it still continued a considerable collection, which I have good reason to remember, as it was the sight of it, about that time, that first inspired me with an attachment to natural history. Soon after that period," to pursue a narrative so deeply disgraceful to the age and the institu- tion referred to, (1 it was dislodged from the hall where it had been long kept ; was thrown aside, and exposed as lumber ; was further and further dilapidated, and at length almost completely demolished. In the year 1762, out of its mini and rubbish I extracted many pieces still valuable and useful* and placed them here in the best order I could* These, 1 hope, may remain lung, and be consi* d tired as so many precious relics of one of the best and greatest men this country has produced. 11 From the account that has been given of Sir Andrew Balfour, every person conversant in natural history or medicine must regret that he never appeared as an author* To his friend, Mr Murray of Livingston, be addressed a series of familiar letters, for the direction of his researches white abroad. These letters, forming the only literary relict of Balfour, were subsequently published by bis son, ia the year 1700. BALFDUK, (Sir) James, an eminent lawyer and public character of the sixteenth century, was a son of Balfour of Monqubanny, iu File, a very ancient fruuily. In youth, being designed for the church, he made considerable proficiency, not only in ordinary literature, but in the study of divinity and law; which were all alike necessary in those times for an ecclesiastic, on account cf the mixed character which the age admitted to be assumed by such individuals. Balfour, wliilc still a young man, was so unfortunate as to join with the conspirators who, after assas- sinating Cardinal Beaton , held out the castle of St. Andrews Against the governor Arran. He seems, however, not to have been a very cordial padiian of the con- spirators. John Knox, in his own vigorous and plain-spoken manner, styled him the IJ?atphemo\tM Hii T foztr 9 on account: of his having refused to communicate along with bis reforming associates, Balfour shared the fiite of his companions in being sent to tbe French galleys- and was confined in the same vessel along with Knox, from which he escaped in 1550, along with the rest, by the tacit permission of the French government. * Tha following nnecdote of Balfour in connexion with Knox is related hy Dr M'Cria ,k The gaiters returned t» Scotland in summer 1548* m near as J can collect, and continued for a consi derail I o lime on the east coast, to wnich for rJn^ltah vessels Knox's health was now greatly impoirnJ by the severity of his confinement, and he was seined with a fever, durhig which hi- lite s*u> despaired of by all in Lhe ship. Rtri even in this state, his fort}- Digitized by VjOOQ IC 106 SIR JAMES BALFOUR. Balfour items to hare afterwards joined in the proceedings of the Reformers, but only with courtier-like temperance, and without exhibiting much seal in the Protestant cause. He was preferred to the ecclesiastical appointment of official of Lothian, and afterwards became rector of Flisk, a parish in his native county. In 1668, he was appointed by Queen Mary to be a Lord of Session, the court then being composed partly of churchmen, and partly of laics. In 1564, when the Commissary court was instituted in place of the ecclesiastical tribunal, which had been dissolved at the Reformation, Balfour became one of the four commissaries, with a salary of four hundred merks, while the others had only three hundred. In July, 1565, the Queen extended the further favour of admitting him into her privy council. Balfour was one of those servants of the state, who, being advanced rather on account of merit than birth, used at all times to giro great offence to the Scottish nobility. It seems to hare never been supposed by this haughty class, that there was the least necessity for ingenious or faithful service in the officials employed by majesty ; birth and following were the only qualifications allowed by them to be of any value. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find that the same conspi- racy which overthrew the M kinless " adventurer Rhario, contemplated the destruc- tion of Balfour. He was so fortunate, however, as to escape, and even derived some advantage from the event, being promoted to the office of clerk-register, in room of Mr James Macgill, who was concerned in the conspiracy. He was also about this time made a knight, and appointed to be one of the commissioners for revising, correcting, and publishing the ancient laws and statutes of the kingdom. in the beginning of the year 1567, Sir James Balfour was appointed gover- nor of Edinburgh castle. In this important situation, he naturally became an object of great solicitude to the confederate lords, who, in the ensuing May, com- menced a successful rebellion against Queen Mary. It would appear that Sir James was not now more loyal than many other persons who had experienced the favour of Mary. He is said to have even been the means of throwing into the hands of the confederates that celebrated box of letters, upon which they en- deavoured to ground the proof of her guilt There can be no doubt that he was at this time in the way of receiving high favours from the Earl of Murray, who was the chief man opposed to the dethroned queen. He was, in September, 1567, admitted by Murray a lord of his privy council, and made commendator of the priory of Pittenweem ; and in December, a bargain was accomplished, by which he agreed to accept a pension of L.500 and the presidency of the Court of Session, in lieu of the clerk-registry, which Murray wished to be restored to his friend J^facgili Sir James continued faithful to the party which opposed Queen Mary, till the death of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some measure compelled to revert to the Queen's side, on account of a charge prefer red against him by the succeeding Regent, Lennox, who taxed him with a share in the murder of Darnley. For this accusation no proof was ever adduced, but tude of mind remained unsubdued, and he comforted his fellow-prisoners with hopes of re- lease. To their anxious desponding inquiries, natural to men in their situation, »lf he thought they would ever obtain their liberty, 1 his uniform answer was, * God will deliver us to his glory, even in this life.' While they lay on the coast between Dundee and St An- drews, Mr (afterwards Sir) James Balfour, who was confined in the same ship, desired him to look at the land and see if he knew it Though at that time very sick, he replied, ' Yes-, 1 know it well, for I see the steeple of that place where God first opened my mouth in pub- lic to his glory : and I am fully persuaded, how weak soever 1 now appear, that I shall not depart this life till that my tongue shall glorify his godly name in the same place.' This sinking reply Sir James repeated in the presence of many witnesses, a number of years before Knox returned to Scotland, and when there was very little prospect of his words be- in* verified." Life of A'nox, 1st edit. ;>. 53. Digitized by Google SIB JAMES BALFOUK. 107 even allowing Sir James to bare been guilty, it will only add another to the list of great men coneerned in the transaction, and show the more clearly how neither learning, rank, official dignity, nor any other ennobling qualification, prevented a man in those days from staining his hands with blood. Balfour outlived Lennox, and was serviceable in bringing about the pacification between the King's and Queen's party, under Morton, in 1 573. He would appear to have been encouraged by Morton in the task of revising the laws of the country, which he at length completed in a style allowed at that time to be most masterly. Mor- ton afterwards thought proper to revive the charge brought by Lennox against Sir James, who was consequently obliged to retire to France, where he lived for some years. He returned in 1580, and revenged the persecution of Morton, by producing against him, on his trial, a deed to which he had acceded, in com- mon with others of the Scottish nobility, alleging Bothwell's innocence of the King's murder, and recommending him to the Queen as a husband. Sir James died before the 14th of January, 1583-4. The Practicks of Scots Law, compiled by Sir James Balfour of Pittendreich, president of the Court of Session, continued to be used and consulted in manu- script, both by students and practitioners, till nearly a century after his decease, when it was for the first time supplanted by the Institutes of Lord Stair. Even alter that event, it was held as a curious repertory of the old practices of Scottish law, besides fulfilling certain uses not answered by the work of Lord Stair. It was therefore printed in 1754, by the Ruddimans, along with an accurate bio- graphical preface by Walter Goodal. The work was of considerable service io Dr Jamieson in his Dictionary of the Scottish language. BALFOUR, (Sib) Jambs, an eminent antiquary, herald, and annalist, was born about the close of the sixteenth century. He was the eldest son of a small Fife laird, Michael Balfour of Denmylne, who derived his descent from James, son of Sir John Balfour of Balgarvy, a cadet l of the ancient and honourable house of Balfour of Balfour in Fife. James Balfour, the ancestor of Sir Michael, had obtained £he estate of Denmylne from James II., in the four- teenth year of his reign, which corresponds with 1450-1. Michael Balfour, the father of Sir James, and also of Sir Andrew, whose life has been already com- memorated, was, in the words of Sir Robert Sibbald, " equally distinguished for military bravery and civil prudence." He bore the honourable office of Comp- troller of the Scottish Household, in the reign of Charles L, and in 1630 was knighted, at Holyrood house, by George, Viscount Dupplin, Chancellor of Scot- land, under his Majesty's special warrant This eminent personage was, by Jean Durham, daughter of James Durham of Pitkerrow, the father of Ore sons, all of whom attained to distinction in public life, besides nine daughters, who all formed honourable alliances, except two, who died unmarried. He lived to see three hundred of his own descendants ; a number which his youngest son, Sir Andrew, lived to see doubled. Sir Michael Balfour gave his eldest son an education suitable to the extended capacity which he displayed in his earliest years. This education, of which the fruits are apparent in his taste and writings, was accompanied by a thorough initiation into the duties of religion, as then professed on a presbyterian modeL The genius of the future antiquary was first exhibited in a turn for poetry, which was a favourite study among the scholars of that period, even where there was no particular aptitude to excel in its composition, but for which 1 This branch was ennobled in 1607, in the person of Michael Balfour of Balgarvy, who, having served King James in several embassies to the principal courts of Europe, was created Lord Balfour of Burleigh. This peerage was attainted in consequence of the con- cern of its occupant in the civil war of 1715. Digitized by Google 103 SIR JAME3 BALFOUR. Sir James Balfour appear* to bare had a genuine taste, Hi* jure u tie proficiency in verification is thus alluded to by the poet Leoch, or Leoctraus, in hi* Siren* f published In 1626, of which that entitled Jamu i* dedicated GtmeroMO Juvati Jacobo Balfour io Kincardio i Hiuictu carminibus const rid am* Jacobe, La tin is Coge tmn uumeri* f quo* Mu-sa Caledonia upuv, Et nalum tibi ; nam tu quoque Scotica Siren. Panthea nostra tu est ita culm ItrLa Brilanno, lit meltora tnea, *i quid queat esse* PueLla. It appeari that Balfour, who cultivated Scottish vernacular poetry, had success- fully translated Leoch's Latin poem, entitled, Panther into that ftyle of verse ; therefore the Latin 1st says — Namque ut pulchra satis, mi nut est men Panthea casta ; Quum noil puJchra minus, et tua casta magis- Sjt Robert Sibbald in form* ui that he had seen a volume containing Latin and Scottish poems by Sir James Balfour, which, however, is now lost In iti absence, the taste at least of the youthful antiquary for poetical objects of con- temp bi tion, is evinced by the following letter, extracted from a transcribed col- lection of his epistle* in the Advocate** Library at Edinburgh. It is addressed to Lord Klcho, but has do date* My Lord, Ye aske of my health and qufiat I am ahoutc- I make a ret time, by that rill issewing from the ocean of your love^ that I am now taken with the plesur of the fie 1 iles, and delyght als much in my retelred quietnes from out of the city, ats your lordship does to find a drag going cole at Cameron, 1 for as that promises you for your pain* riches, so does this to me healthful houres t mid bountiful recreations with the Muses, quhen as T often feid my eiyes with the fruitful usery of my winter labors, much rejoysiug that with healthful prosperity, you should remember your poorest fre tndes. Oulcy let me pleid for my bypast silence, since * I have nothing to wreatt but foolries, which I presume to be bot harsh umsicke for so wyse and weill tuned eares. Howsoever, quhen you are most idle, will ye be bot pleased to overlook this papefj In which, without aney mental! reservatione, I subscribe my solve, my lord, Your lo : most faithful servant, Balfour also appears, at an early period of bis life, to li.ive cultivated the society of William Dnunmond of Hawthorndeu, then by far the highest poetical name in Scotland. Probably, as none of his own pieces have escaped to poste- rity, they were such as to render their Jos* no matter of regret : be must, however, have possessed the sort of qualification which we have elsewhere* designated as passive or negative poetry, that is, a keen perception and relish of the compo- sitions of others, though perhaps destitute of the active power of creating good poetry himsel£ This seems to be evidenced by the following letters to Drum moral, which breathe strongly of that ardent affection, which we are apt to en- tertain towards distinguished literary personages whose writings have made a deep impression upon our minds. " To Hawthornden, " Sir,— That love I beare you hath mened me. with this passing bearir, to vreatt thesse few lynes, content thus in haist to salut you, in doing quhereof, altho I fulfill not the office of a frind, nevertheless I evedince the constancey of my affection. You may therfore returne something to reid : and, if necessity urge, imitat my brevity : 1 A aal field at Cameron, in Fife. * See Lift) of treorjje BannALyno, Digitized by VjOOQ IC SIR JAMES BALFOUR. 109 altho I be bewitched with the neatness of your pieces, yet, finding heir in my selve conscious, I daire hardly be bold to crave a quholl sheitt of you ; howsoever, I will be yours quhill I am " Ja : Balfoue." u TO THE SAME, " Sir, — You desyre of me quholl sheitts, I must confess a symboll of our inteirest affections. Bot I, conscious of my own imbecility, rather prove a Laconick. No wounder altho my vaine be stopt, since this longe tyme you have not lanced it, aither with the raiding of some of your pieces, or with so much as with a lyne of your hand. Whence, then, is it that you should become such a usurer to him that has not receved so long aney leamid annuity of you. Your starrie Urania, on the wings of a strong wind,' flees by us, in every ones handes : quherfor, I intreid you, wold you have me deprived of it? Have you thought me dead to the Muses, that aither I could not judge of it, or so dull that I could not praise it In so doing, you have dirogatt much from my genius, and daily conversatione. Nevertheless, in despight of your inter- dictione, I have gained a sight of it I wold conoeill my thoughts with silence. I wold be revenged, if the admiratione of your writtings did not breke all sense of injury ; and though you scatter abroad your pieces (yet ceasse not to love me,) I sail enjoy them, though by the bountifull hand of ane other. Faire ye weill." The poetical temperament of Sir James, and the courtly grace which generally is, and ever ought to be the accompaniment of that character, is further shown in the following epistle to a lady, which we consider a very elegant specimen of the English prose of the age of Charles L, and, indeed, singularly so, when the native country of the writer is considered : — " To a Lady roa a Friend, ** Madam, — You must appardone me if* after the remembring of my best love to you, I should rander you hartly thanks for your affectione, since thankes are the best knowen blossomes of the hartes strongest desyres. I never, for my pairt, doubtit of your affectione, bot persuadit myselve that so good a creature could never prove unconstant, and altho the fairest dayes may have some stormy overshadowings, yet I persuade myselve that these proceids not from heavenly thinges, bot from vapors arising from below, and though they for a tyme conte [ract] the sun's heat, yet make they that heat in the end to be more powerfulL J hope your friends sail have all the contentment that layes in my power to gif them : And, since Malice itselve can not judge of you bot noblie, I wisch that tyme make your affectione als constant, as my harte sail ever prove, and remaine loyall ; and lest I seime to weirey you more* than myselve, again I must beg pardone for all my oversights (if you think of aney) wich will be a rare perfectione of goodness in you to forgive freely, and love con- stantly him quhosse greatest happmes under heaven is always to leive and die " Your trewly affectionat servant" Sir James teems to have spent some of the years subsequent to 1626 in foreign countries, where he is said to have improved himself much by observing the man* nan of nations more polished than that to which he himself belonged, and by forming the acquaintance of eminent literary men. At the close of his conti- nental travels, he spent some time in London, and obtained the friendship of the distinguished antiquary, Sir Robert Cotton, and also of Sir William Segar, Garter King at Arms. He had now turned his attention to the study of herald* ry, and the friendship of these men, which he obtained rather through the intense sympathy produced by a common taste for rare pursuits, than by the recommendations of others, was of material service in the completion of what might be called his professional education. He also contracted a literary ac- quaintance with Roger Dodsworth, and Sir William Dugdale, to whom he com* Digitized by Google 110 SIR JAMES BALH)U!L municatad several charters and other piecet of information regarding Scottwt* ecclesiastical antiquities, which they attach to tlietr Montoticon Anghcawvn under the title, Ccenohia Scotica, and which Sir Jamas afterward* expanded into a distinct volume, under the title, Mmuuiicoa Scotiaim, though, as Bishop Nicholson ha* remarked, it looked more like an index to such a work than Uie complete work itself. The friendship of Sir William Segar appear* to have been of considerable influence in the direction of Balfour's coui*e of life. He exerted himself to conciliate to hia Scottish protegG, the respect of the college of heralds; and hia efforts were crowned with such success, that* in 1G38, that body pre- sented to Balfour the following honourable diplomat . "To all and singular to whom thir presents shall come, Greeting: Sir Wil- liam Segar, Sir Richard St George, and Sir John Barrotighe, Garter, Clarentius, and Norroy, Kings of Arms ; William Penson, Lancaster; Sir Henry St George, Richmond, etc According to the Laudable custome of nations, not to conceill that honour which is due to rerteu and learning, We doe testifie and bear* record, that James Balfour, Esq, by and attour his insicht and knowledge in diverse languages, has also singular good experience and knowledge in all antiquities and forraine histories, but especial! in these concerning the iliand of Great Bri- tain and Irland ; as also we fcestilie and does Fitness him to be ane expert and graduate herauld, in blazing of cotts and armories, in inventing of cre&ta and supporters, in searching of genealogies and discents, in marshalling of finieralls, triumphs and inaugurations, etc and in all ceremonies whatsoever pertaining to honour or armes. In witnes of the premisses, we above named, kings of armes, herauld\ and puree vants, hes to this our present testificate and approbation e, with the several cotts of our armes, affixed our manuall subscriptions, at our office of anues in the ctttie of London, Oct. 3, and Dec 4 r 1628," Besides these antiquarian friends, Balfour secured several others of a more courtly complexion, who were natives of his own country. He enjoyed the friendship of Sir Robert Ayfcoun, tlie poetical courtier, with whom he afterwards became distantly connected by marriage. He was also on the most familiar terms with another poetical attendant on the elegant court of Charles I. — the Earl of Stirling. 5 His chief patron, however, was George, Viscount Dupplin,* * We quote from hi ft correspondence in the Advocates* Library, the tire following letters to this distinguished nobleman ; — To MY LOKD VjlCOUWT QF StAEV E LI * G, FrINCIPAM, S*CaKTAaT QT SCUTLAWQ. ■ My Lord, — 1 I ova your letters, becausse ihvy bring with them still soma mat:er of glad- ness. The retribution of your innumerable favors to me, an* a few naked lynen, which, by the generosity of your noble mynd, are at* mut'h in esteeme with you w riches are te the most miserable wo rid- mongers. According to your Lordship's command, I have, by my letters, humbly rand red thanks to the Kingis MojeMie, my master, altho ordnardly (Uvea in homely ru&att, yet doubled with the best tlssgw, and full of the strong desire* of ana ardent attectione, quhllks, at the reidiiign your guodnea will extend one word of unanimiiv with rnt', and *.} iiipathire with thir grutulalions as a pat rone of iheir master: Then salt your lordship find that your favors hes heme pun up me ane quho will evar be mynrffuL of the least of them, and remains a daily beads man fur the further increase of your health arid honour. Fair Weill, my lord. Halyroodhouss, this 7 of March, 1631* To Tiir Sams, My werrev noblo good Lord, — Thii bearlr, my ftind, aa f n a eure sanctuary, easts him- solve in the nossame of your patrociney ; a man every way worthy of your respect ; by pro- fession a lover of nobility ; quhosse ingenious spirit and modest cariage betters bis stock. If jour lordship suspects my rccomineiidattono as partial J, hes obsequious cadage and wor- thy pairUi, after your trial), will make all good: So wishing your lordship all happiness, heir and for ever, I will live and die, Your lordship, J a : BALFOUfc, Ed. 12 Mail, 1631, * Afterwards created JEarl of Kiimoul,on the occasion of the coronation of King Chartei it Edinburgh in lbtt3. Sir Junva Balfour relates the following curious anecdote of Lis Digitized by VjOOQ IC SIR JAMBS BALFOUR. m who held the high and almost rice-regal office of Chancellor of Scotland. By the recommendation of this nobleman, aided by his own excellent qualifications, he wai created by Charles I., Lord Lion King at Arms, a dignified legal office in Scotland, in which resides the management of all matters connected with ar- morial honours, as also all public ceremonials. Sir Jerome Lyndsay having pre- viously resigned the office, Balfour was crowned and installed at Holyroodhouse, Jane 15, 1630, having in the preceding month been invested with the necessary honour of knighthood by the king. On this occasion, Lord Dupplin officiated as Royal Commiswoner. Sir James Balfour now settled in Scotland, in the enjoyment of his office. On the 21st of October, he was married to Anna Alton, daughter of Sir John Aiton of that Ilk, and in January, 1631, he obtained, in favour of himself and his spouse, a grant of the lands and barony of Kinnaird in Fife. In December, 1633, he was created a baronet by Charles I., probably in consequence of the able manner in which he marshalled the processions and managed the other ceremonials of the royal visit that year. At this period of peace and prosperity, a number of learned and ingenious men were beginning to exert themselves in Scotland. It was a peaceful interval between the desolating civil wars of the minority of King James, and the equally unhappy contest which was soon after incited by religious and political dissentions. Like soldiers enjoying themselves during a truce, the people were beginning to seek for and cultivate various sources of amusement in the more elegant arts. This was the era of Jamieson, the painter — of Drummond, the poet— of the geographer Pont — and the histo- rians Spottiswood, Calderwood, Johnston, and Hume. 6 Sir James Balfour, in- spired with the common spirit of these men, commenced the writing of history, with as much seal as could be expected in an age, when, the printing of a written work being a comparatively rare occurrence, literature might be said to want the greater part of its temptations. Sir James, as already mentioned, had been bred a strict Presbyterian. In this profession he continued to the last, notwithstanding that, in politics, he was an equally firm royalist In a letter to a young nobleman, [Correspondence, Advocate*' Library,'] he is found advising a perusal of " Calvine, Besa, Parens, and Whittaker," as " orthodox writers." When the introduction of the liturgy imposed by Charles I. roused Scotland from one end to the other in a fit of righteous indignation, Sir James Balfour, notwithstanding his connection with the government, joined cordially with his countrymen, and wrote an account of the tumult of the 23rd of July, under the burlesque title of " Stoneyfield Day." 6 lordship. The King, in 1086, had commanded, by a letter to his Privy Council, that the Archbishop of St Andrews should have precedence of the Chancellor. To this his lordship would never submit. * 1 remember/' says Sir James, •'that K. Charles sent me to the Ix>rd Chancellor on the day of his coronation, in the morning, to show him that it was his will and pleasure, bot onlie for that day, that he wold ceed and five way to the archbishop; but he returned by me to his Majestie a wery bruske answer, which was that he was ready in all humility to lay his office doune at his Majestie's feet ; bot since it was his royal will tie should enjoy it with the knowen privileges of the same, never a priest in Scotland should sett a foot before him, so long as his blood was hote. Quhen I had related his an- swer to the kinge, he said, * Weel, Lyone, letts goe to business; I will not medle farther with that olde cankered gootish man, at quhose hand ther is nothing to be gained bot soure words.' " Wnat makes this anecdote the more expressively illustrative of the rancour with which the secular officers and nobility beheld the newly dignified clergy is, that the Lord Chancellor had just on the preceding afternoon been raised to the rank of Earl of Kinnoul* * David Hume of GodscrofU author of the History of the House ef Douglas. • In a letter written on the 27th of July, to his friend Lord Elcho, he thus expresses him- self regarding that extraordinary exertion of popular force : — My Lord, — I know your suddain departure from this citey on Saturday was to see how they brought your light from darkness. Nather will I accuse you as privy to that Osamma our grate- heided bishope had this bypast Saboth, from the tumultuous concors in wekom- Digitized by Google 112 SIR JAMES BALFOUE. Bat, though indignant, in common with all people of his own persuasion, at the religious innovations attempted by the government, Sir James appears to have very soon adopted different feelings. Like many moderate persons, who had equally condemned the ill advised conduct of the king, he afterwards began to fear that the opposition would produce greater mischiefs than the evil which was opposed. He conceived that the people, in their indignation at the royal mea- sure*, had put themselves under a more slavish subjection to a band of ambitious nobles, who appeared determined to press upon the royal prerogative till they should leave no trace of the ancient government in die land. Thus, so early as May 1639, less than two years after the publication of " Stoneyfield Day," and while the popular leaders enjoyed an unlimited power, he is found addressing the following letter " to a noble friend." Altho, my lord, you think perhaps I might gaine muche by silence, for my part 1 will never make question in speaking, quhen I have aney thing in my head better than silence, and admonishe your lordship once again to bewarr of thosse men quho, furiously seeking to cry downe the present government, and to shake ihe tundamen- tall lawes of the kingdom, doe hot rather aim at ther owen particular advantages than redress of disorders, and since I have admonished your lordship quhat to eshew, I wold also gladly advysse you quhat were most fitting for your awen housse and the preservation of your awen family to follow. And to causae, if I could, good lawes to aryase out of evill maneris were not I think it more fitt to take tyme to deliberate upone a matter of such importance, and trewly, my lord, to speake heirin to purpose all the witt I have, joined to that of others, were no more than sufficient In confi- dence of your lordship's pardon, and in assurance that ye will remaine constant to be my werrey good lord, I will heir subscribe myself, Your lordship's most obliged servant. Falkland, 9 May, 1639. At a somewhat earlier date, he writes in the following terms to bis friend Drummond, who, it will be recollected, was also a devoted loyalist : — Sir,— By your letters, you aske how I live heir in winter, out of the capitall citey. I assure you, mured up within the royali walles, expecting the sessone of primrosses and anemonies. I am heir in a place of no curiosites. The sunne hath yet heat eneuche to dissolve our medow snowes, which all the winter fall upon the neighbouring mountains. If ye wold have me to concetll nothing from you, I must freely tell you that there is no place quhar verteu is so neir to vice as heir. Idleness in this place ing home their new devised liturgie to old St Geilles: Bot our day here began© to darken ere twelffe o'docke, (a verey short day in Julay indeid) and if we lire to tell vou, my lorde lykely to become a foule day, ver not our pryme churchmen had large breicnes ( happily} to have been safely gone I verely think that he wold have left Arminius house, and run under the keyes of the baticane— nay, he that first vented here Christ's locall discension to hell, if he might have been liberat of feare, wold have (before his tyrae) gone thither him- selve. Bot this day Is fair wether, and ane indictione set on Edinburghe, for since the precelsse peopell will not sing ther prayers, our famous clergy will not suffer them to hare aney In prosse. Our weyffes heir inveighss [envy] your lordships happines, quho may pray publickly as the primitive fathers did, and say *o be it, quheras ther gressey bellied fa- thers wold have them to sing Amen, and to usse maney vantone curtisies, bobbing*, nod- ings, and kneilings, which this roughs and uncivill multitude have not been accustomed nor arquanted with— a world of such trash and trumpries as your lordship may behold landeit in ther New Alcoran. God bless our prince and all thouse that gives him healthful! coan- saill, and as to thesse men quho only ambitiously hunts ther commodity and honor, God gif them the reward of that honorles persone, quho after he had betrayed his maker and roaster, hanged himselve, and gif your lordship many happey dayes to be assured of the treuth, by which I own myselve to be, Your lordships faithful friind and servant Digitized by Google SIR JAMES BALFOClt H3 being our honest mens ordinarey creatione, and debauches of all sortes the exercisses quherein they disscipiuie themselves. Notwithstanding if ye be yet yourselve, and by solemne vow liave forsaken the world and the vanities thereof, assure yourselve that it is in this place quher felicitie doth attend you, And being once in this place, you will esteeme ail thosse as banished persons uuhom you have Ipft [n Edin- burghe behind. Faire weill, and confidently love liim quho sail ever bir, Your treu friend and servant. Falkland, January 8, 1639. It thus appears tliat, in some disgust at the bold measures taken against the government, he had now retired to the royal hunting-palace of Falkland, where, and at his seat of Kinnaird, he devoted himself to those studies hy which the present may be forgotten in the past His annals, however, show that he still occasionally appeared in public affairs in his capacity of Lord Lion. It is also dear that his political sen tune a la must have been of no obtrusive character, as he continued in his office during the whole term of the cfril war, and was only at last deprived of it by Cromwell. During his rural retirement at Falkland and Kinnaird, he collected many manuscripts relative to heraldry, and wrote many others in his own language, of which some are preserved in the Advocates' Libra- ry* while others were either lost at the capture of Perth (1651), to which town he had conveyed them for safety, or have since been dispersed. Persevering with particular 'diligence in illustrating the History of Scotland* he had recourse to the ancient charters and diplomas of the kingdom, the archives of monasteries, and registers of cathedral churches, and in his library was a great number of chronicles of monasteries, both originals and the abridgments; but it is to be deeply regretted that many of these valuable manuscripts fell a prey to the sa- crilegious and illiterate, and were shamefully destroyed by the hands of children, or perished in the flames during the civil wars. A few only were opportunely rescued from destruction by those who were acquainted with their value, 1 he style of these monastic chro nicies was, indeed, rude and barbarous ; but they xv ere remarkable for the industry, judgment, and fidelity to truth, with nhich they were compiled* For some time after the erection of monasteries in this kingdom, these writers were almost the only, and certainly the most respectable observers in literature, as scarcely any other persons preserved in writing the me- mory of the important occurrences of the times. In these registers and chroni- cles were to be found, an accurate record of transactions with foreign powers, whether in forming alliances, contracting marriages of state, or regulating com- merce ; letters and bulls of the holy see ] answers, edicts, and statutes of kings ; church rescripts ; provincial constitutions ; acts of parliament : buttles ; deaths of end ne tit persons ; epitaphs and inscriptions \ and scmetimes the natural ap- pearances of the seasons ; the prevalent diseases ; miracles and prodigies ; the heresies that sprung up • with an account of the authors, and their punishment*, hi si H u- 1, they committed to writing every important occurrence in church and state, that any question arising in after ages might be settled by their authority, and the unanimous confirmation of their faithful and accurate chronicles. In collecting and preserving these manuscripts, I'alfnur therefore raised a mom men t to his memory which the latest posterity must revere. For he did so fmni a conviction that these old and approved authors were the only guides to the knowledge of facta, as well as to correct evidence, arrd reasoning on the remote history of Fcotlaud: and he considered them, not only of signal use to himself, but a valuable treasure to the literature of the country. He therefore persevered throughout life in collecting such manuscripts, without regard to either trouble or expense, The catalogue which he left is still extant," although many, as al* j. * iMemorla BaJftmriaita, p, 19—33, P Digitized by VjOOQ IC 114 SIR JAMES BALFOUR. ready mentioned, were lost by the depredations of the English and other < He formed with great industry, and at a considerable expense, a library of the most valuable books on every subject, particularly in the branches of Scottish history, antiquities, and heraldry. From these he extracted every assistance they could afford in the pursuit of his inquiries, and for further aid he estab- lished a correspondence with the most respectable living historians, such as Robert Maule, Henry Maule, David Buchanan, Gordon of Straloch, and, as has already been shown, Drummond of Hawthornden, all of whom he regarded through life with the warmest esteem, and with the greatest respect for their talents and accomplishments. He endeavoured to elucidate our history (which was then involved in confu- sion) from the examination of ancient medals, coins, rings, bracelets, and other relics of antiquity, of which he formed a separate collection, as an appendage to his library. Observing also from historians, that the Romans had long been •settled in Scotland, and had made desperate attempts to expel our ancestors, both Scots and Picts, he collected the inscriptions which they had left on cer- tain stone buildings, and transcribed them among his notes. In compiling the work to which he gave the title of Annals, our author was more anxious to sup- ply the deficiencies of other historians, and to bring to light obscure records, than to exhibit a continued and regular history of Scotland. He therefore care- fully extracted, from old manuscripts, the names, dignities, and offices of dis- tinguished public characters, the dates of remarkable transactions, and every other circumstance of importance, and arranged them in separate paragraphs. He was actuated by a generous disposition, to rescue from oblivion and the grave, the memory of illustrious men ; for which purpose he visited all the ca- thedral, and the principal parish churches of the kingdom, and examined their sepulchres and other monuments, from which he copied the epitaphs and inscrip- tions, carefully preserving them in a volume. He deeply interested himself in some laudable attempts to improve the geography of Scotland. The ingenious Timothy Pont traversed the whole kingdom, (an attempt which had not been made before) and from personal surveys made plans and descriptions of the different counties and islands, which he was intending to publish, when carried off by a premature death. Sir John Scott of Scotstarvet put these papers into the hands of Straloch, by whom they were published, with corrections and addi- tions, in the descriptions accompanying Bleau's maps. Sir James made also a sur- vey of Fife, his native county, examining particularly ancient monuments, and the genealogies of the principal families. He afterwards compiled a description of the whole kingdom, of which the manuscript was so useful to Bleau, that he dedicated to our author the map of Lome in his Theatrum Scotis, and embel- lished it with the arm* of Balfour. Zealous in the improvement and knowledge of heraldry, he carefully reviewed, not only the. public acts and diplomas of nobility, but the contents of ancient edifices, temples, and palaces, shields and sepulchral monuments, When it had become proper, from his years, to allow the Prince of Wales a separate estab- lishment, an inquiry was ordered concerning the revenues of the hereditary princes, as steward or lords marshall of Scotland, in which Balfour appears to have taken part, as we find among his manuscripts the following ; " Tlie true present state of the principality of Scotland, with the means how the same may be most conveniently increased and augmented ; with which is joined ane sur- vey, and brief notes from the public registers of the kingdoms, of certain inftft- ments and confirmations given to princes of Scotland ; and by them to their vassals of diverse baronies and lands of the principalitie, since the fifteenth year of the reign of Robert 1IL" Digitized by Google BOBSET BALFOUR. 115 In the history of this country, he displayed his uncommon industry in his numerous collection of manuscripts, in the great assemblage of historical works in his own library, and in his careful inspection of the various manuscripts dis- persed over the kingdom, from which he generally extracted the substance, if he did not wholly transcribe them, forming a general index to such as were useful in Scottish history. He made several abridgments of the Registers of Scone, Cam- buskenneth, and others, and from the works of Major, Boece, Leslie, and Buchan- an, which, in proper order, formed parts of his chronological works, along with relations of important transactions throughout the world. Besides this, he wrote a remarkably concise yet comprehensive history of the kings of Scotland, from Fergus I. to Charles I. He also intended to have enlarged the annals of the Scottish kings from James I. to the beginning of Charles II., of which he had finished the two first James*, on a more diffuse and extensive scale. In other works, he wrote memoirs of James IIL, IV., V., of Queen Mary, and of James VL, and the transactions of Charles L, brought down to his death. In natural history, he wrote an alphabetical list of gems, with descriptions, their names and qualities, and the places where they are produced. Another work upon the same subject, written in Latin, exhibited from various authors, an account 01 ingenious inventions or frauds, practised in counterfeiting and imitating precious stones. Sir James concluded an industrious, and, it would appear, a most blameless life, in February, 1657, when he must have been about sixty years of age. He had been four times married ; 1st, to Anna Alton, by whom he had three sons and six daughters, and who died August 26th, 1644 ; 2nd, to Jean Durham, daughter of the laird of Pitarrow, his own cousin, who died without issue only eleven months subsequent to the date of his first wife's death ; 3d, to Mar- garet Arnot, only daughter of Sir James Arnot of Fernie, by whom he had three sons and three daughters ; 4th, to Janet Auchinleck, daughter of Sir William Auchinleck of Balmanno, by whom he had two daughters. Yet his family is now extinct in the male line. The Annals and Short Passages of State, above alluded to, were, after nearly two centuries of manuscript obscurity, published, in 1824, in 4 volumes 8vo. by Mr James Haig of the Advocates' Library, in which receptacle nearly the whole of the collections of this great antiquary have found a secure resting-place. BALFOUR, Robert, a distinguished philosopher of the seventeenth century, was principal of Guyenne college, Bourdeaux, and is mentioned by Morhof as a celebrated commentator on Aristotle. According to Dempster, he was "the Phoenix of his age ; a philosopher profoundly skilled in the Greek and Latin languages ; a mathematician worthy of being compared with the ancients : and to those qualifications he joined a wonderful suavity of manners, and the utmost warmth of affection towards his countrymen." This eminent personage appears to have been one of that numerous class of Scotsmen, who, having gained all their honours in climes more genial to science than Scotland was a few centu- ries ago, are to this day better known abroad than among their own countrymen. According to the fantastic Urquhart, who wrote in the reign of Charles I., " Most of the Scottish nation, never having astricted themselves so much to the proprieties of words as to the knowledge of things, where there was one precep- tor of languages amongst them, there were above forty professors of philosophy : nay, to so high a pitch did the glory of the Scottish nation attain over all the parts of France, and for so long a time continue in that obtained height, by vir- tue of an ascendant the French conceived the Scots to have above ail nations, in matter of their subtlety in philosophical disceptations, that there hath not been, till of late, for these several ages together, any lord, gentleman, or other, in all thai Digitized by Google ^ 116 JOHN BALIOL. country, who being deairoui to have his son instructed in the principles of phil- osophy, would intrust him to the discipline of any other than a Scottish matter ; of whom they were no less proud than Philip was of Aristotle, or Tullius of Crs- tippus. And if it occurred (as very often it did,) that a pretender to a place in any French university, having, in his tenderer years, been subferulary to some other kind of schooling, should enter in competition with another aiming at the same charge and dignity, whose learning flowed from a Caledonian source, com- monly the first was rejected and the other preferred." It nevertheless appears that Robert Balfour prosecuted the study of philology, as well as that of philosophy, with considerable success. His edition of Cleomedes, published at Bourdeaux, in 1605, " hatin* versa, et perpetno commentario illustrator is spoken of in (he highest terms of praise by the erudite Barthius. Other works by Balfour sue, " Gelaaii Gyziceni Commentarius Actorum Nicauu Concilii, Roberto Balforeo in- terpret*, 1604, folio," — u Commentarius R. Balfbrei in Organum Logician Aris totalis, 16 16, 4to," — and, " R. Balforei Scoti Commentariorum in lib. Arist de Philosophia, tomus secundus, 1620, 4ta" BALIOL, Joint, king of Scotland, was the son of John de Baliol, of Bernard's Castle in the county of Durham, a man of great opulence, being poss e ss e d of thirty knights' fees, (equal to £ 19,000 of modern money,) and who was a steady adherent of Henry III., in all his civil wars. The mother of Baliol was Devor- gilla, one of the three daughters and co-heiresses of Allan, Lord of Galloway, by Margaret, eldest daughter of David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of Malcolm IV. and William the Lion, kings of Scotland. The first of the English family of Baliol was a Norman noble, proprietor of the manors of Baliol, Harcourt, Dam- pat, and Horne in France, and who, coming over with the Conqueror, left a son, Guy, whom William Ruftis appointed to be Lord of the forest of Teesdale and Marwood, giving him at the same time the lands of Middleton and Guiseford in Northumberland Guy was the father of Bernard, who built the strong castle on the Tees, called from him Bernard's Castle. Eustace, son of this noble, was the father of Hugh, who was the father of John de Baliol, 1 the father of the king of Scotland i John de Baliol has distinguish*! himself fn English literary history, by founding one of the colleges of Oxford, which still bears his name. As this institution is connected in more ways than one with Scotland, the following account of its foundation, from Chalmers* His- tory of Oxford, may he read with interest " The wealth and political consequence of John de Baliol were dignified by a love of learning, and a benevolence of disposition, which, about the year 1263 (or 1966, as Wood thinks,) induced Mm to maintain certain poor scho- lars of Oxford, in number sixteen, bv exhibitions, perhaps with a view to seme more per- manent establishment, when he should have leisure to mature a plan for tlwt purpose. On his death, in 1969, which appears from this circumstance to have been sudden, he could only recommend the objects of his bounty to his lady and his executors, but left no written deed or authority : and as what he had formerly given was from his personal estate, now in ether hands, the farther care of his scholars would in all probability have ceased, had not his lady been persuaded to fulfil his Intention in the most honourable manner, by taking upon herself the future maintenance of them. * • » • The first step which the Lady Devorgilla took, in providing for the scholars, was to have a house in Horsemoiupr Lane, afterwards called Can ditch (from Candida Fossa) in St Mary Magdalene's parish, and on the site where the present college stands ; and being supported in his design by her hus- band's executors, continued the provision winch he allotted. In 1889, she gave them statutes under her seal, and appointed Hugh de Hartipoll and William de Menyle as procurators or governors of her scholars. • * * • In 1884, the Lady Devorcilla purchased a tenement of a citisen of Oxford, called Mary's Hall, as a perpetual settlement for tin principal and scholars of the House of Baliol. This edifice, after receiving suitable repairs and additions, was called New Baliol Hall, and their former residence then began to re- ceive the name of Old Baliol Hall. The same year, she made over certain lands in the county of Northumberland, the greater part of which was afterwards lost The foundation, however, was about this time confirmed by Oliver, bishop ef Lincoln, and by the son of the founder, who was afterwards king of Scotland, and whose consent in this matter seems to entitle htm to the veneration of the society. * * * * The revenues of the col- lege were at first small, yielding only eight-pence per week to each scholar, or twenty-sev en Digitized by Google JOHN BALIOL. itf The cimunstances which led to the appearance of John Baliol in Scottish his- tory, may be thus briefly narrated. By the death of Alexander the third, the crown of Scotland devolved on the Maiden of Norway, Margaret, the only child of Alexander's daughter, late Queen of Norway. As she was only three years of age, and residing in foreign parte, the convention of estates made choice of six noblemen to be regents of the kingdom during her absence or minority ; but dissensions soon arising among them, Eric, king of Norway, interposed, and sent plenipotentiaries to treat with Edward king of England, concerning the affairs of the infant Queen and her kingdom. Edward had already formed a scheme for uniting England and Scotland, by the marriage of his eldest son with Mar- garet, and, accordingly, after holding conferences at Salisbury, he sent an em- bassy to the parliament of Scotland, on the 16th of July, 1290, with full powers to treat of this projected alliance. The views of Edward were cheerfully met by the parliament of Scotland : a treaty was drawn out honourable to both parties, in which — to guard against any danger that might arise from so strict an alli- ance with such a powerful and ambitious neighbour— -Ae freedom and indepen- dency of Scotland were fully acknowledged and secured ; and commissioners were despatched to Norway to conduct the young Queen into her dominions. But this fair hope of lasting peace and union was at once overthrown by the death of the princess on her passage to Britain ; and the crown of Scotland be- came a bone of contention between various competitors, the chief of whom were, John Baliol, lord of Galloway, Robert Bruoe, lord of Annandale, and John Has- tings, lord of Abergavenny. In order to understand the grounds of their seve- ral claims, it will be necessary to trace briefly their genealogy. On the death of the Maiden of Norway, Alexander's grandchild, the crown of Scotland devolved upon the posterity of David, earl of Huntington, younger bro- ther, as already mentioned, of the kings Malcolm and William* David left three daughters, Margaret, Isabella, and Ada. Margaret, the eldest daughter, married Allan, lord of Galloway, by whom she bad an only daughter, Devorgilla, married to John Baliol, by whom she had John Baliol, the subject of this article, who, therefore, was great-grandson to David Earl of Huntington, by his eldest daugh- ter. Isabella, the second daughter of David, married Robert Bruce, by whom she had Robert Bruoe, the competitor— who, therefore, was grandson to the Earl of Huntington, by his second daughter. Ada, youngest daughter of David, married John Hastings, by whom she had John Hastings — who, therefore, was grandson to David, by his third daughter. Hastings could have no claim to the crown, while the posterity of David's elder daughters were in being ; but he in- sisted that the kingdom should be divided into three parts, and that he should inherit one of them. As, however, the kingdom was declared indivisible, his pretensions were excluded, and the difficulty of the question lay between the two great competitors Baliol and Bruce, — whether the more remote by one degree, descended from the eldest daughter, or the nearer by one degree, descended from the second daughter, had the better title ? The divided state of the national mind as to the succession presented a fa- vourable opportunity to the ambitious monarch of England for executing a design which he had long cherished against the independence of Scotland, by renewing the unfounded claim of the feudal superiority of England over it It has been Sounds nine shillings and fourpencc for the whole per annum, which was soon found insuf- cient. A number of benefactors, however, promoted the purposes of the founder, by en- riching the establishment with gifts of land, money, and church-livings." Mr Chalmers also mentions, that in 1340 a new Fet of statutes for the college, received, amongst other confirmatory seals, that of «• Edward Baliol, king of Scotland,'' namely, the grandson of the founder. The seal attached by Devorgilla to the original statutes contains a portrait of her. She died in 1269. Digitized by Google 118 JOHN BALIGL. generally supposed, dint he was chosen arbitrator by the regents and states of Scotland in the competition for the crown ; but it appears that hU interferencii was solicited by a few only of the Scottish nobles who were in his own interest. Assuming this, however, as the call of the nation, and collecting an arniy to sop- port his iniquitous pretensions, be requested the nobility and clergy of Scotland, and the competitors for the crown, to meet him at Norham within the English territories, There, after many professions of good-will and affection to Scot- land, he claimed a right of Lord Paramount over it, and required that tliis right should be immediately recognized* The Scots were struck with amazement at this unexpected demand \ but, feeling 1 themselves entirely in his power, could only request time for the consideration of his claim. Another meeting wa* fixed upon ■ and during the interval, he employed every method to strengthen his party in Scotland, and by threats and promises to bring as many as possible to acknowledge his superiority. Ilia purpose was greatly forwarded by the mu- tual distrusts and jealousies that existed among the Soots, and by tile time-herr- ing ambition of the competitors, who were now multiplied to the number of thir- teen—some, probably, stirred up to perplex the question, and others, perhaps, prompted by vanity. On the day appointed (2d June, 1291) in a plain opposite to the castle of Noil mm, die superiority of the crown of England over the crown of Scotland was fully acknowledged by all the competitors tor the latter, as well as by many barons and prelates ; and thus Edward gained the object on which his heart had been long set, by conduct disgraceful to himself as it was to those who had the government and guardianship of Scotland in keeping. All the royal castles and places of strength in the country were put into his hands, under the security that he should make full restitution in two mo n tits from the date of his award, and with the ostensible reason that he might have a kingdom to bestow on the person to whom it should be adjudged. Having thus obtained his wish, he proceeded to take some steps towards determining the claim of the competi- tors. Commissioners were appointed to meet at Berwick; and after various deliberations, the crown was finally adjudged to John Baliol, on the I9lh of November, 1202, and next day Baliol swere fealty to Edward at Norham. Hal iol was crowned at Scone shortly after ; hut, that he might not forget his dc pendancy, Edward recalled him into Kn gland, immediately after his coronation, and made him renew his homage and fealty at Newcastle. He was soon loaded with fresh indignities. In the course of a year he received no fewer ili an six citations to appear before Edward in the English parliament, to answer private and unimportant complaints which were preferred against him by hta subjects. Although led by an insidious policy, and his own ambition, into tha most humiliating concessions, Baliol seems not to have been destitute of spirit, or to have received without resentment the indignities laid upon him. In one of the causes be tore the parliament of England, being asked for his defence — - " I am king of Scotland," 1 he said, " I dare not make answer here without the. advice of my people. " " What means this refusal,* 7 said Edward, " you are my liegeman ; you have done homage to me ; you are here in consequence of my summons f* Baliol replied with firmness, " In matters which respect my king* dom* 1 neither dare nor shall answer in this place, without the advice of my people. 1 ' Edward requested that he would ask a delay for the consideration of the question ; but Baliol, perceiving that his so doing would be construed into an acknowledgment of the jurisdiction of the English parliament, refused. In the meantime, a war breaking out between France and England, Baliol seize d upon it as a favourable opportunity for shaking off a yoke that had be- come intolerable. He negotiated a treaty with Philip, the French king, on Lhe 23d October, 12!) 5, hy which it was agreed to assist one another against their Digitized by VjOOQ IC JOHN BALIOL. ,,„ common enemy the king of England, and not to conclude any separate peace. M the same time, Baliol solemnly renounced his allegiance to Edward, and re* ceived from tbe Pope an absolution from the oaths of tealty which he had sworn. The grounds of his renunciation were these — That Edward had wantonly and upon «light suggestions summoned him to Jus courts; — that he bad seized his English estates, his goods, and the goods of his subjects ; — that he had forcibly carried off and still retained certain natives of Scotland ; — and that, when remon- strances were made, instead of redressing, he bad continually aggravated these injuries. Edward is said to have received Bailors renunciation with more con- tempt than anger. "The foolish traitor," he exclaimed, "since he will not come to us, we will go to him." He accordingly raised a large army ; and, sending his brother into France, resolved himself, in person, to make a total con- quest of Scotland. While Edward advanced towards Berwick, a small army of Scots broke into Northumberland and Cumberland, and plundered the country* The castle of Werk was taken ; and a thousand men, whom Edward sent to preserve it, falling into an ambush, were slain. An English squadron, also, which blocked up Ber- wick by sea, was defeated, and sixteen of their ships sunk But these partial successes were toll owed by fatal losses. The king of England was a brave and skilful general ; he conducted a powerful army against a weak and dispirited nation, headed by an unpopular prince, and distracted by party animosities. His eventual success was, therefore, as complete as might have been anticipated, He crossed the Tweed at Coldstream, took Berwick, and put all the garrboD and inhabitants to the sword. The castle of Roxburgh was delivered into his bands ; and be hastened Ware tine Earl of Surrey forward to besiege Dunbar, n arenne was there met by the Scots army, who, abandoning the advantage or their situation, poured down tumultuously on the English, and were repulsed with terrible slaughter* After this defeat, the castles of Dunbar, Edinburgh, and Stirling, fell into Edward's hands, and he was soon in possession of the whole of the south of Scotland. Baliol, who had retired beyond the river Tay, with the shattered remains of his army, despairing of making any effectual resistance, sent messengers to im- plore the mercy of Edward. The haughty Plantagenet communicated the hard terms upon which alone he might hope for what he asked ; namely , an unqua- lified acknowledgment of his * l unjust and wicked rebellion," and an unconditional surrender of himself and his kingdom into tbe hands of his master, Baliol, whose hfe presents a strange variety of magnanimous efforts and humiliating selfahaseuients. consented to these conditions; and the ceremony of his degra- dation accordingly took place, July 2, 12Q6, in the church-yard of Stracathro, a village near Montrose. Led by force and in fear of his life, into the presence of the Bishop of Durham and the English nobles, mounted on a sorry hone, he was first commanded to dismount ; and his treason being proclaimed, they pro- ceeded to strip him of his royal ornaments, The crown was snatched from his head ; the ermine torn from his mantle, I he sceptre wrested from his hand, and every thing removed from him belonging to the state and dignity of a king. Dressed only in his shirt and drawers, and holding a white rod in his hand, after the fashion of penitents, he confessed that, by evil and false counsel, and through his own simplicity, he had grievously offended his liege lord, recapitu- lated all the late transactions, and acknowledged himself to be deservedly de- prived of his kingdom* He then absolved his people front their allegiance, and signed a deed resigning his sovereignty over ihem into the hands of king EdW ward, giving his eldest son as a hostage for his fidelity. The acknowledgment of an English parainountcy has at all times been so dis- Digitized by VjOOQ 120 JOHN BALIOL. agreeable to the Scottish people, and the circumstances of this renunciation of the kingdom are so extremely humiliating to national pride, that John Baliol nas been ever since held in hatred and contempt, and is scarcely- allowed a place in the ordinary rolls of the Scottish monarchs. It must be said, however, in his defence, that his first acknowledgment of the pararaountcy was no more than what his rival Bruce and the greater part of the nobles of the kingdom were also guilty of; while he is certainly entitled to some credit lor his efforts to shake off the yoke, however inadequate his means were for doing* so, or whatever ill fortune he experienced in the attempt In his deposition, notwith- standing some equivocal circumstances in his subsequent history, be must be looked upon as only the victim of an overwhelming force. The history of John Baliol alter his deposition is not in general treated with much minuteness by the Scottish historians, all of whom seem to have wished to close their eyes as much as possible to the whole affair of the resignation, and endeavoured to forget that the principal personage concerned in it had ever been king of Scotland, This history, however, is curious. The discrowned monarch and his son were immediately transmitted, along with the stone of Scone, the records of the kingdom, and all other memorials of the national in- dependence to London, where the two unfortunate princes were committed to a kind of honourable captivity in the Tower. Though the country was reduced by the English army, several insurrections which broke out in the subsequent year showed that the hearts of the people were as yet unsubdued. These insur- gents invariably rose in the name of the deposed king John, and avowed a resolution to submit to no other authority. It is also worth remarking', as a circumstance favourable to the claims and character of Baliol, that he was still acknowledged by the Pope, the King of France, and other continental princes. When Wallace rose to unite all the discontented spirits of the kingdom in one grand effort against the English yoke, he avowed himself as only (he governor of the kingdom in name of King John, and there is a charter still extant, to which the hero appended the seal of Baliol, which seems, by some chance, to have fallen into his hands. The illustrious knight of Elderslie, throughout the whole of his career, acknowledged no other sovereign than Baliol; and, what is perhaps more remarkable, the father of Robert Bruce, who had formerly asserted a superior title to the crown, and whose son afterwards displaced the Baliol dynasty, appeared in arms against Edward in favour of King John, and in his name concluded several truces with the English officers. There is extant a deed executed on the 13th of November, 1299, by William, Bishop of St Andrews, Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick, and John Comyn the younger, styling themselves guardians of the kingdom of Scotland ; in which they petition King Edward for a cessation of hostilities, in order, as they afterwards expressed themselves, that' they might live as peaceable subjects under their sovereign King John. There Is, however, no reason to suppose, that these proceedings were in ac- cordance with any secret instructions from Baliol, who, if not glad to get quit of his uneasy sovereignty, at the time he resigned it, at *least seems to have afterwards entertained no wish for its recovery. A considerable time be- fore his insurgent representatives made the above declaration in his behalf, he is found executing a deed of the following tenor : " In the name of God, Amen. In the year 1298, on the 1st of April, in the house of the reverend father, Anthony, Bishop of Durham, without London. The said Bishop discoursing of the state and condition of the kingdom of Scotland, and of the inhabitants of the said kingdom, before the noble lord John Baliol ; the said John, of his own proper motion, in the presence of us, the Notary, and the subscribing witnesses, amoi gst other things, said and delivered in the French tongue to this effect, that Digitized by Google JbJDWAKD BAJWUL. 121 is to gay, that while he, the said realm of Scotland, as King and Lord thereof, held and governed, he had found in the people of the said kingdom so much malice, fraud, treason, and deceit, that, for their malignity, wickedness, treachery, and other detestable facts, and for that, as he had thoroughly understood, they had, while their prince, contrived to poison him, it was his intention never to go or enter into the said kingdom of Scotland for the future, or with the said king- dom or its concerns, either by himself or others, to intermeddle, nor for the rea- sons aforesaid, and many others, to have any thing to do with the Scots. At the same time, the said John desired the said Bishop of Durham, that he would acquaint the most magnificent prince, and his Lord, Edward, the most illustrious king of England, with his intention, will, and firm resolution in this respect This act was signed and sealed by the public notary, in the presence of the Bishop of Durham aforesaid, and of Ralph de Sandwich, constable of the Tower of London, and others, who heard this discourse." 1 We regret for the honour of Scotland, that, excepting the date of this shame- ful libel, there is no other reason for supposing it to be dictated in an insincere spirit Baliol now appears to have really entertained no higher wish than to regain his personal liberty, and be permitted to spend the rest of his days in retirement Accordingly, having at last convinced King Edward of his sinceri- ty, he and his son were delivered, on the 20th of July, 1299, to the Pope's le- gate, the Bishop of Vicenza, by whom they were transported to France. The unfortunate Baliol lived there upon his ample estates, till the year 1314, when he died at his seat of Castle Galliard, aged about fifty-five years. Though thus by no means advanced in life, he is said to have been afflicted with many of the infirmities of old age, among which was an entire deprivation of sight Baliol, Edward. King John Baliol had two sons, Edward and Henry. The former seems entitled to some notice in this work, on account of his vigo- rous, though eventually unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown lost by his fa- ther. When King John entered into the treaty with the King of France, in 1295, it was stipulated in the first article that his son Edward should marry the daughter of Charles of Valois, niece to the French monarch, receiving with her twenty-five thousand livres de Tournois current money, and assigning to her, as a dowry, one thousand five hundred pounds sterling of yearly rent, of which one thousand should be paid out of King John's lands of Baliol, Dampier, Helicourt, and de Hornay, in France, and five hundred out of those of Lanark, Cadiou, Cunningham, 8 Haddington, and the Castle of Dundee, in Scotland. This young prince accompanied his father in his captivity in the Tower, and was subse- quently carried with him to France. After the death of John Baliol, Edward quietly succeeded to the French family estates, upon which he lived unno- ticed till 1324, when Edward II. commanded that he should be brought over to England, apparently for the purpose of being held up as a rival to Robert Bruce. Whether lie now visited England or not is uncertain ; but it would rather appear that he did not, as, in 1326, he was invited by Edward III. for the same purpose. At this time, the English monarch was endeavouring to secure a peace with the King of Scots, but at the same time held himself pre- pared for war by mustering his barons at Newcastle. He seems to have thought that a threat of taking Baliol under his patronage was apt to quicken the de- sires of the Scots for an accommodation. Nevertheless, in the summer of this » Prynne's Collections, iii. 665. » " John Baliol is known to have possessed in Cunningham the following lands : Lam, Noddesdale, Southannan. Dairy, Giffin, Cumsheuch, Dreghorn, the great barony of Kil- marnock, together with Bondinton and Hartshaw ; extending in all to about L9.900 Scots of valued rent, or about LI 6, 000 real rent at present. ''—Robertson'* Ayrdnrt Families. Digitized by Google 122 EDWARD BALIOL. year, the Scots made a bold and successful incursion into England, under Ran- dolph and Douglas, and King Edward was obliged, April 1398, to consent to the treaty of Northampton, which acknowledged at once the independency of the Scottish crown, and the right of Robert Bruce to wear it No more is 'heard of Edward Baliol, till after the death of Brace, when he was tempted by the apparent weakness of Scotland under the minority of David II. to attempt the recovery of his birth-righL Two English barons, Henry de Beaumont and Thomas Lord 'Wake, claimed certain estates in Scotland, which had been declared their property by the treaty of Northampton ; Randolph, the Scot- tish regent, distrusting the sincerity of the English in regard to other articles of this treaty, refused to restore those estates ; and the two barons accord- ingly joined with Baliol in his design. That the English king might not be supposed accessory to so gross a breach of the treaty, he issued a proclama- tion against their expedition ; but they easily contrived to ship four hundred men at arms and three thousand infantry at Holderness, all of whom were safely landed on the coast of Fife, July 31, 1332. Only eleven days before this event, the Scottish people had been bereft of their brave regent, Randolph Earl of Moray, who was almost the last of those worthies by whom the kingdom of Bruce had been won and maintained. The regency fell into the hands of Don- ald, Earl of Afar, in every respect a feebler man. Baliol, having beat back some forces which opposed his landing, moved forward to Forteviot, near Perth ; where the Earl of Mar appeared with an army to dispute his farther progress. As the Scottish forces were, much superior in number and position to- the English,*Baliol found himself in a situation of great jeopardy, and would willingly have re- treated to his ships, had that been possible. Finding, however, no other re- source than to fight, he led his forces at midnight across the Erne, surprised the Scottish camp in a state of the most disgraceful negligence, and put the whole to the route. This action, fought on the 12th of August, was called the battle of Dupplin. The conqueror entered Perth, and for some time found no resistance to his assumed authority. On the 94th of September, he was solemnly crowned at Scone. The friends of the line of Bruce, though unable to ofler a formal opposition, appointed Andrew Moray of Both we 11 to be regent in the room of the Earl of Mar, who had fallen at Dupplin. At Roxburgh, on the 33rd ef November, Baliol solemnly acknowledged Edward of England for his liege lord, and surrendered to him the town and castle of Berwick, " en account of the great honour and emoluments which he had procured through the good will of the English king, and the powerfal and acceptable aid contributed by his peo- ple." The two princes also engaged on this occasion to aid each other in all their respective wars. Many of the Scottish chiefs now submitted to Baliol, and it does not appear improbable that he might have altogether retrieved a king- dom which was certainly his by the laws of hereditary succession. But on the 1 5th of December, the adherents of the opposite dynasty surprised him in his turn at Annan, overpowered - his host, and having slain his brother Henry, and many other distinguished men, obliged him to fly, almost naked, and with har\Uy a single attendant, to England. His subsequent effort*, though not so easily counteracted, were of the same desultory character. He returned into Scotland in March, and lay for some time at Roxburgh, with a small force. In May, 1333, he joined forces with King Edward, and reduced the town of Berwick. The Scottish regent being overthrown at Halidon Hill, July 19, for a time all resistance to the claims of Baliol ceased. In a parliament held at Edinburgh in February, he ratified the former treaty with King Edward, and soon after sur- rendered to that monarch the whole of the counties on the frontier, together with the province of Lothian, as part of the kingdom of England. His power. Digitized by Google JOHN BALLANTYNE. 123 however, was solely supported by foreign influence, and, upon the rite of a few of the opposite hostile baron*, in November, 1334, he again fled to England. In July, 1335, Edward IIL enabled him to return under the protection of an army. But, notwithstanding the personal presence and exertions of no less a warrior than the rioter of Creasy, the Soots new could altogether be brought under the sway of this rassal king. For two or three years, Edward Baliol held a nominal sway at Perth, while the greater part of die country was in a state of rebellion against him. The regent Andrew Moray, dying in July, 1338, was succeeded by Robert Stewart, the grandson of Bruce, and nephew of David II. who having threatened to besiege Baliol in Perth, obliged him to retreat once more to England. The greater part of the country speedily fell under the do- minion of the regent, nor was Edward III. now able to retrieve it, being fully engaged in his French wars. The Scots having made an incursion, in 1344, into England, Baliol, with the forces of the northern counties, was appointed to oppose them. Two years after this period, when- the fatal battle of Durham, and the capture of David II. had again reduced the strength of Scotland, Baliol raised an insurrection in Galloway, where his family connections gave him great in- fluence, and speedily penetrated to the central parts of the kingdom. He gained, however, no permanent footing. For soma years after this period, Scotland maintained a noble struggle, under its regent Robert Stewart, against both the pretension of this adventurer, and the power of the King of England, till at length, in 1355-6, wearied out with an unavailing contest, and feeling the ap- proach of old age, Baliol resigned all his claims into the hands of Edward 111. An* the consideration of five thousand mevka, and a yearly pension of two thou- sand pounds. After this surrender, which was transacted at Roxburgh, and included his personal estates, as well as his kingdom, this unfortunate prince retired to England. "The fate of Edward Baliol," says Lord Hailes, " was singular. In his invasion of Scotland during the minority of David Bruce, he displayed a bold spirit of enterprise, and a courage superior to all difficulties. By the victory at Dupplin, he won a crown ; some few weeks after, he was sur- prised at Annan and lest it The overthrow of the Scots at Halidon, to which he signally contributed, availed not to his re-establishment Year after year, he saw his partisans mil away, and range themselves under the banner of bis com- petitor. He became the pensioner of Edward IIL and the tool of his policy, assumed or laid aside at pleasure : and, at last, by his surrender at Roxburgh, he did what in him lay to entail the calamities of war upon the Scottish nation, a nation already miserable through the consequences of a regal succession dis- puted lor th reesco re years. The remainder of his days was spent in obscurity ; and the historians of that kingdom where he once reigned, know not the time of his death." It may further be mentioned, that neither these historians nor the Scottish people at large, ever acknowledged Edward Baliol as one of the line of Scottish monarch*. The right of the family of Bruce, though inferior in a hereditary point of view, having been confirmed by parliament on account of the merit of King Robert, this shadowy intruder, though occasionally dominant through the sword, could never be considered the legitimate monarch, more especially as he degraded himself and his country by a professed surrender of its independence, and even of a part of its territory, to a foreign enemy. He died childless, and, it would also appear, unmarried, in 1363, when he must have bean advanced to at least the age of seventy. BALLANTYNE, John. Of all the remarkable men, by whom this name, in its various orthographical appearances, has been borne, not the least worthy of no- tice is John Ballantyne, who died on the 16 th of June, 1821, about the age of forty-five years. This gentleman was the son of a merchant at Kelso, where he Digitized by Google 124 JOHN BALLBNTYNE (oe BBLLENDEN). was born and educate;]. In his youth, he displayed such an extraordinary quick, ness of mind, as sufficiently betokened the general ability by which he was to be distinguished in after life. While still a young man, his mind was turned to literary concerns by the establishment of a provincial newspaper, the KeUo Mail, which was begun by his elder brother James. The distinction acquired by his brother in consequence of some improvements in printing, by which there issued from a Scottish provincial press a series of books rivalling, in elegance and accurate taste, the productions of a Bensley or a Baskerville, caused the removal of both to Edinburgh about the beginning of the present century. But the active intellect of John Ballantyne was not to be confined to the dusky shades of the printing-house. He embarked largely in the bookselling trade, and subsequently in the profession of an auctioneer of works of art, libraries, &c The connection which he and his brother had established at Kelso with Sir Walter Scott, whose Border Minstrelsy was printed by them, continued in this more extensive scene, and accordingly during the earlier and more interesting years of the career of the author of Waverley, John Ballantyne acted as the confi- dant of that mysterious writer, and managed all the business of the communication of his works to the public Some of these works were published by John Ballan- tyne, who also issued two different periodical works, written chiefly by Sir Wal- ter Scott, entitled respectively the Visionary and the Sale-room, of which the latter had a reference to one branch of Mr Ballantyne's trade. It is also wor- thy of notice, that the large edition of the works of Beaumont and Fletcher, which appeared under the name of Mr Henry Weber as editor, and which, we may pre* sume to say, reflects no inconsiderable credit upon the Scottish press, was an en- enterprise undertaken at the suggestion and risk of this spirited publisher. Mr Ballantyne himself made one incursion into the field of letters: he was the author of a tolerably sprightly novel in two thin duodecimos, styled, " The Widow's Lodgings," which reached a second edition, and by which, as he used to boast in a jocular manner, he made no less a sum than thirty pound* ! . It was not, however, as an author that Mr Ballantyne chiefly shone— his forte was story-telling. As a conteitr, he was allowed to be unrivalled by any known contemporary. Possessing an infinite fund of ludicrous and charac- teristic anecdote, which he could set off with a humour endless in the variety of its shades and tones, he was entirely one of those beings who seem to have been designed by nature for the task, now abrogated, of enlivening the formalities and alleviating the cares of a court : he was Yorick revived. After pursuing a la- borious and successful business for several years, declining health obliged him to travel upon the continent, and finally to retire to a seat in the neighbourhood ot Melrose. He had been married, at an early age, to Miss Parker, a beautiful young lady, a relative of Dr Rutherford, author of the View of Ancient His- tory and other esteemed works. This union was not blessed with any children. In his Melrose rustication, he commenced the publication of a large and beautiful edition of the British Novelists, as an easy occupation to divert the languor of illness, and fill up those vacancies in time, which were apt to contrast disagree- ably with the former habits of busy life. The works of the various novelists were here amassed into large volumes, to which Sir Walter Scott furnished bio- graphical prefaces. But the trial was brie£ While flattering himself with the hope that his frame was invigorated by change of air and exercise, death stepped in, and reft the world of as joyous a spirit as ever brightened its sphere. The Novelist's Library was afterwards completed by the friendly attention of Sir Wal- ter Scott BALLENTYNE, (or Belj,em)kn,) John,— otherwise spelt Ballanden and Bal- ientyn — an eminent poet of the reign of James V., and the translator of Boece's JJ Digitized by VjOOQ IC JOHN BALLENTYNE (oa BELLENDEN). 125 Latin History, and of the first fire books of Livy, into the vernacular language of his time, was a native of Lothian, and appears to have been born towards the close of the 15th century. He studied at the university of St Andrews, wheie his name is thus entered in the records : ." 1508, Jo. Ballet yn nac. Lew [rfontVe]." It is probable that he remained there for several years, which was necessary before he could be laureated. His education was afterwards completed at the univer- sity of Paris, where he took the degree of Doctor of Divinity ; and as has been remarked by his biographer, [Works of Bellenden, L, zzxvii,] " the effects of hie residence upon the continent may be traced both in his idiom and language. " He returned to Scotland during the minority of James V., and became attach- ed to the establishment of that monarch as " Clerk of his Comptis." This ap- pears from " the Proheme of the Cosmographe," prefixed to his translation of Boece, in which he says : — And first occurrit lo my remembering; How that 1 wes in service with the king ; But to his grace in yeris tendereat, Clerk of his compta, thoucht I wes indf gn [unworthy, j With hart and hant and every other thing That micht him pleis in my maner best ; Quhill hie invy me from his service kest, Be thame that had the court in governing; As bird but plumes heryit of the nest The biographer of Ballentyne, above quoted, supposes that he must have been the " Maister Johnne Ballentyne," who, in 1528, was " secretar and servitour " to Archibald Earl of Angus, and in that capacity appeared before parliament to state his master's reasons for not answering the summons of treason which had been issued against him. We can scarcely, however, reconcile the circumstance of his being then a " Douglas's man," with the favour he is found to have enjoyed a few years after with James V., whose antipathy to that family was so great as probably to extend to all its connections. However this may be, Ballentyne is thus celebrated, in 1530, as a court poet, by Sir David Lyndsay, who had been in youth his fellow-student at St Andrews, and was afterwards his fellow-servant in the household of the king : But now of late has start up heastily A cunning clerk that writeth craftily ; A plant of poets, called Battanten, Whose ornat writs my wit cannot defyne ; Get he into the court authority, He will precel Quhitin and Kenedy, In 1530 and 1531, Ballentyne was employed, by command of the king, in translating Boece 's History, which had been published at Paris in 1526. The object of this translation was to introduce the king and others who had " missed their Latin," to a knowledge of the history of their country. In the epistle to the king at the conclusion of this work, Ballenden passes a deserved compliment upon his majesty, for having " dantit this region and brocht the same to sicken rest, gud peace and tranquility ; howbeit the same could nocht be done be your gret baronis during your tender age ;" and also says, without much flattery, 14 Your nobill and worthy deidis proceeds mair be naturall inclination and active curage, than ony gudly persuasioun of assisteris." He also attests his own sin- cerity, by a lecture to the king on the difference between tyrannical and just government ; which, as a curious specimen of the prose composition of that time, Digitized by Google 126 JOHN BALLBNTYNB (ob BELLENDEN). and also a testimony to the enlightened and upright character of Bailentyne, we shall extract into theae pages : " As Seneca says in his tragedeis, all ar nocht kingis fhat bene clothit with pur- pure and dredoure, but only they that sekis na singulare proflfct, in danunage of the conunonweill ; and sa vigilant that the life of their subdetis is mair deir and precious to them than thair awin life. Ane tyrane sekis riches ; ane king sekis honour, conquest be virtew. Ane tyrane governi* his realmis be slauchter, dre- doure, and faket; ane king gidis his realme be prudence, integrite, and favour. Ane tyrane suspeckis all them that hes riches, gret dominioun, auctorite, or gret rentis ; ane king haldis sic men for his maist helply friendis. ' Ane tyrane luffis nane bot vane fleschourisj vicious and wicket lymmaris, be quhais oounsall he rages in slauchter and tyranny ; ane king luffis men of wisdom, gravite, and science ; knawing weill that his gret materia maybe weill dressit be thair pru- dence. Treuth is that kingis and tyrannis hes mony handis, mony ene, and mony mo memberis. Ane tyrane sets him to be dred ; ane king to be luflet Ane tyrane rejoises to mak his pepill pure ; ane king to mak thame riche. Ane tyrane draws his pepill to sindry factiones, discord, and hatrent ; ane king maks peace, tranquiUite, and concord ; knawing nothing sa dammagious as di- vision amang his subdittis. Ane tyrane confounds all divine and hummane lawis ; ane king observis thaime, and rejoises in eouite and justice. All thir pro- perteis sal be patent, in reding the Uvis of gud and evil kingis, in the history precedent " To have spoken in this way to an absolute prince shows Bailentyne to have been not altogether a courtier. He afterwards adds, in a finely impassioned strain : — " Quhat thing maybe mair plesand than to se in this present volume, as in ane cleir mirroure aH the variance of tyme bygane ; the sindry chancis of fourtoun ; the bludy fechting and terrible berganis sa mony years oonttnuit, in the defence of your realm and liberie ; quhilk is fallen to your hieness with gret felidto. howbeit the samin has aftimes been ransomit with maist nobill blude of your antecessoris. Quhat is he that wil nocht rejoise to heir the knychtly afaris of thay forcy campions, King Robert Bruce and William Wallace ? The first, be innative desyre to re- cover his realme, wes brocht to sic calamite, that mony dayis he durst nocht appeir in sicht of pepill ; but amang desertis, levand on rates and herbis, in esperance of better fortoun ; bot at last, be bis singulare manheid, he come to sic preeminent glore, that now he is reput the maist valyeant prince that was eftir or before his empire. This other, of small beginning, be feris curage and corporall strength, not only put Englishmen out of Scotland, but als, be feir of his awful visage, put Edward king of England to flicht ; and held all the bor- ders fornence Scotland waist" Bailentyne delivered a manuscript copy of bis work to the king, in the sum- mer of 1533, and about the same time he appears to have been engaged in a translation of Livy. The following entries in Hie treasurer's book give a cari- ous view of the prices of literary labour, in the court of a king of those days. " To Maister John Bailentyne, be the kingis precept, for his translating of the Chronykill, £30. " 1531, Oct 4th. To Maister John Ballantyne, be the kingis precept, for his translating of the Chroniclis, £30. " Item, Thairefter to the said Maister Johne, be the kingis command, £6. " 1533, July 90. To Maister John Bailentyne, for ane new Chronikle germ to the kingis grace, £l 3. " Item, To him in part payment of the translation of Titus Livius, £8. Digitized by Google HSNBY BALNAVES. J27 •* Aug. 94. To Maister John Ballentyne, in part payment of the second buke of Titus Livius, £8. " Not. 30. To Maister John Ballentyne, he the kingis precept, for his Uboris dune in translating of Livie, £20. The literary labours of Ballentyne were still further rewarded by his royal master, with an appointment to the archdeanery of Moray, and the escheated property and rents of two individuals, who became subject to the pains of trea- son for having used influence with the Pope to obtain the same benefice, against the king's privilege. He subsequently got a racant prebendaryship in the cathedral of Boss. His translation of Boece was printed in 1536, by Thomas I Davidson, and had become in later times almost unique, till a new edition was published in a remarkably elegant style, in 1831, by Messrs Tait, Edinburgh. At the same time appeared the translation of the first two books of Livy, which had never before been printed. The latter work seems to have been carried no further by the translator. » Ballentyne seems to have lived happily in the sunshine of court favour during toe remainder of the reign of James V. The opposition which he afterwards presented to the reformation, brought him into such odium, that he retired from his country in disgust, and died at Rome, about the year 1 550. The translations of Ballentyne are characterised by a striking felicity of lan- guage, and also by a freedom that shows bis profound acquaintance with the learned language upon which he wrought His Chronicle, which closes with the reign of James I., is rather a paraphrase than a literal translation of Boece, and possesses in several respects the character of an original work. Many of the historical errors of the latter are corrected — not a few of his redundancies re* trenched — and his more glaring omissions supplied. Several passages in the work are highly elegant, and some descriptions of particular incidents reach to something nearly akin to the sublime. Many of the works of Ballenden are lost — among others a tract on the Pythagoric letter, and a discourse upon Vir- tue and Pleasure. He also wrote many political pieces, the most of which are lost Those which have reached us are principally Proems prefixed to his prose works, a species of composition not apt to bring out the better qualities of a poet ; yet they exhibit the workings of a rich and luxuriant fancy, and abound in lively sallies of the imagination. They are generally allegorical, and distin- guished rather by incidental beauties, than by the skilful structure of the fable. The story, indeed, is often dull, the allusions obscure, and the general scope of the piece unintelligible. These faults, however, are pretty general characteris- tics of allegorical poets, and they are atoned for, in him, by the striking thoughts and the charming descriptions in which he abounds, and which, " like threds of gold, the rich arras, beautify his works quite thorow." BALNAVES, Hssby, of Halhill, an eminent lay reformer, and also a prose- writer of some eminence, was born of poor parents in the town of Kirkaldy. After an academical course at St Andrews, he travelled to the continent, and, hearing of a free school in Cologne, procured admission to it, and received a li I beral education, together with instruction in protestant principles. Returning to his native country, he applied himself to the study of law, and acted for some time as a procurator at St Andrews. In the year 1538, he was appointed by James V. a senator of the college of Justice, a court only instituted &f% years be- fore. Notwithstanding the jealousy of the clergy, who hated him on account of his religious sentiments, he was employed on important embassies by James V., and subsequently by the governor Arran, during the first part of whose regency he acted as secretary of state. Having at length made an open profession of the Protestant religion, he was, at the instigation of Arran's brother, the Abbot of Digitized by Google 128 HENRY BALNAVES. Paisley, dismissed from that situation. He now appears to hare entered into the interests of the English party against the governor, and accordingly, with the Earl of Rothes and Lord Gray, was thrown into Blackness Castle (November 1 543), where he probably remained till relieved next year, on the appearance of the English fleet in the Firth of Forth. There is much reason to believe that this sincere and pious man was privy to the conspiracy formed against the life of Car- dinal Beaton ; an action certainly not the brightest in the page of Scottish his- tory, but of which it is not too much to say, that it might have been less defensi- ble if its motive had not been an irregular kind of patriotism. Balnaves, though he did not appear among the actual perpetrators of the assassination, soon after joined them in the castle of St Andrews, which they held out against the gover- nor. He was consequently declared a traitor and excommunicated. His prin- cipal employment in the service of the conspirators seems to have been that of an ambassador to the English court In February 1546-7, he obtained from Henry VIII. a subsidy of £1180, besides a quantity of provisions, for his com- patriots, and a pension of £125 to himself, which was to run from the 25th of March. On the 15th of this latter month, he had become bound along with his friends, to deliver up Queen Mary, and also the castle of St Andrews, into the hands of the English ; and, in May, he obtained a further sum of £300. While residing in the castle, he was instrumental, along with Mr John Rough and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, in prevailing upon John Knox to preach publicly in St Andrews — the first regular ministration in the reformed religion in Scotland. When the defenders of the castle surrendered in August, Balnaves shared in their fate, along with Knox, and many other eminent persons. He was conveyed to the castle of Rouen in France, and there committed to close confinement Yet he still found occasional opportunities to communicate with his friend Knox. Having employed himself, during his solitary hours, in composing a Treatise on Justification, he conveyed it to the reformer, who was so much pleased with it, that he divided it into chapters, added some marginal notes and a concise epi- tome of its contents, and prefixed a commendatory dedication, intending that it should be published in Scotland as soon as opportunity offered. This work fell aside for some years, but, after Knox's death, was discovered in the house of Or- miston by Richard Bannatyne, and was published at Edinburgh, in 1584, under the title of "The Confession of Faith, containing, how the troubled man should seek refuge at his God, thereto led by Faith ; fcc., Compiled by M. Henrie Bal- naves of Halhill, one of the Lords of Session and counsell of Scotland, being as prisoner within the old pallaice of Roane, in the year of our Lord, 1548. Di- rect to his faithful brethren being in like trouble or more, and to all true profes- sors and favourers of the syncere worde of God." Dr M'Crie has given some extracts from this work in his Life of John Knox. After his return from ban- ishment, Balnaves took a bold and conspicuous part in the contest carried on by the lords of the congregation against the Regent Mary. He was one of the commissioners, who, in February, 1559-60, settled the treaty at Berwick, between the former insurgent body and the Queen of England, in consequence of which the Scottish reformation was finally established, through aid from a country al- ways heretofore the bitterest enemy of Scotland. In 1563, he was re-appointed to the bench, and also nominated as one of the commissioners for revising the Book of Discipline. He acted some years later, along with Buchanan and others, as counsellors to the Earl of Murray, in the celebrated inquiry by English and Scottish commissioners into the alleged guilt of Queen Mary. He died, accord- ing to Mackenzie, in 1 579. " In his Treatise upon Justification," says the latter authority, " lie affirms that Digitized by Google GJSOBGJB BANNATYNB. 129 £?« w JU,tlfi . c " t,0 » ^ &«* "«*». whid, St Jame. .peak, of, only Li fie. u. befow n«n ; but the jurtification by faith, which St Paul .peak. J ££. j Jl^"/^ Ma 5 konz »' *** *»««> Jacobite aanaum, « whaterer may be in thi. doctrine of our author'., I think we may grunt to him that the mo* of all hi. action, which he rallied himself upon, and reckoned good work*, wre r*allv great and heinous tint before God, tor no food man will jurtify rebellion and murder." ^S^STFS-**?!* conteOT « ni * inrol «d »y thk pr»po.ition, either a. to the death of Cardinal Beaton, or the accuaation. again* Queen Mary, we may content ounelre* with quoting the opinion entertained of Balnare. by the good and moderate Melnlle; he wa«, according to this writer, "a godly, learned rae, and long experimented counsellor." ' A poem' by Balnavea, entitled! An adnce to headtfrong Youth," i. elected from Bannatyne'. manuscript into toe Evergreen. r BANNATYNE, George, takes his title to a place in this work from a source of lame participated by no other individual within the range of Scottish biogra- phy ; it is to this person that we are indebted for the preservation of nearly all the productions of the Scottish poets of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Though die services he has thus rendered to his country were in some measure (he result of accident, yet it is also evident that, if he had not been a person of eminent literary taste, and also partly a poet himself, we should never have had to celebrate him as a collector of poetry. The compound claim which he has thus established to our notice, and (he curious antique picture which is presented to our eye by even the little that is known regarding his character and pursuits, will, it is hoped, amply justify his admission into this gallery of eminent Scotsmen. George Bannatyne was born in an elevated rank of society. His father, James Bannatyne, of the Kirktown of Newtyle, in the county of Forfar, was a writer in Edinburgh, at a time when that profession must have been one of some distinction and rarity; and he was probably the person alluded to by Robert Semple, in " The Defens of Grissell Sandylands :" * For men of law I wait not quhair to luke : James Bannatyne was anis a man of skill.'* h also appears that James Bannatyne held the office of Tabular to the Lords of Session, in which office his eldest son (afterwards a Lord of Council and Session) was conjoined with him as successor, by royal precept dated May 2, 1583. James Bannatyne is further ascertained to have been connected with the very ancient and respectable family of Bannachtyne, or Bannatyne of Camys, [now Karnes] in the island of Bute. He was the father, by his wife Katharine Tail- liefer, of twenty-three children, nine of whom, who survived at the time of his leath, in 1583, were " weill, and sufficiently provydit be him, under God." George Bannatyne, the seventh child of his parents, was born on the 22nd day of February, 1545, and was bred up to trade. 1 It is, however, quite unoer- ■ In a memoir of George Baniratyne, by Sir Walter Scott, prefixed to a collection of me- merabina regarding him, which has been printed for the Bannatyne Club, it is supposed that he was not early engaged in business. But £is supposition seems only to rest on an uncertain inference from a passage in George Bannatyne's " Memoriall Bulk" where it is mentioned that Katharine Tailliefer, at her death in 1570, left behind her eleven children, of whom eight were as vet "unput to profleit" On a careful inspection of the family no- tices in this « memoriall bulk" ft appears as likely that George himself was one of those already • put to proffeit " as otherwise, more especially considering that he was then twentv- five years of age. i. a J Digitized by Google 230 GEORGE BANNATYNE. tain at what time he began to be engaged in business on his own account, or whether he spent his youth in business or not. Judging, however, as the world is apt to judge, we should suppose, from his taste for poetry, and his haying been a writer of verses himself that he was at least no zealous applicant to any com- mercial pursuit Two poems of his, written before the age of twenty-three, are full of ardent though conceited affection towards some fair mistress, whom he describes in the most extravagantly complimentary terms. It is also to be sup- posed that, at this age, even though obliged to seek some amusement during a time of necessary seclusion, he could not have found the means to collect, or the taste to execute, such a mass of poetry as that which bears his name, if he had not previously been almost entirely abandoned to this particular pur- suit At the same time, there is some reason to suppose that he was not alto- gether an idle young man, given up to vain fancies, from the two first lines of his valedictory address at the end of his collection : * Heir endis this Bulk writtin in tyme of pest, Quhen vwefra labor was compel'd to rest." Of the transaction on which the whole fame of George Bannatyne rests, we give the following interesting account from the Memoir just quoted : — " It is seldom that the toils of the amanuensis are in themselves interesting or that, even while enjoying the advantages of the poor scribe's labour, we are disposed to allow him the merit of more than mere mechanical drudgery. But in the compilation of George Bannatyne's manuscript, there are particulars which rivet our attention on the writer, and raise him from a humble copyist into a national benefactor. "Bannatyne's Manuscript is in a folio form, containing upwards of eight hundred pages, very neatly and closely written, and designed, as has been sup- posed, to be sent to the press. The labour of compiling so rich a collection was undertaken by the author during the time of pestilence, in the year 1568, when the dread of infection compelled men to forsake their usual employments, which could not be conducted without admitting the ordinary promiscuous inter- course between man and his kindred men. " In this dreadful period, when hundreds, finding themselves surrounded by danger and death, renounced all care save that of selfish precaution for their own safety, and all thoughts save apprehensions of infection, George Bannatyne had the courageous energy to form and execute the plan of saving the literature of a whole nation ; and, undisturbed by the universal mourning for the dead, and general fears of the living, to devote himself to the task of collecting and recording the triumphs of human genius; — thus, amid the wreck of all that wis mortal, employing himself in preserving the lays by which immortality is at once given to others, and obtained for the writer himself. His task, he informs us, had its difficulties ; for he complains that he had, even in his time, to contend with the disadvantage of copies old, maimed, and mutilated, and which long before our day must, but for this faithful transcriber, have perished entirely. The very labour of procuring the originals of the works which he transcribed, must have been attended with much trouble and some risk, at a time when all the usual intercourse of life was suspended, and when we can conceive that even so simple a circumstance as the borrowing and lending a book of ballads, was accompanied with some doubt and apprehension, and that probably the suspected volume was subjected to fumigation, tond the precautions used in quarantine.* s With deference to Sir Walter, we would suggest that the suspicion under which books are always held at a time of pestilence, as a means of conveying the infection, gives great reason to suppose that George Bannatyne had previously collected his original manuscripts, and only took this opportunity of transcribing them The writing of eight hundred folio Digitized by Google GEORGE BANNATYNE. 131 " In the reign of James IV. and V., the fine arts, as' they awakened in other countries, made some progress in Scotland also. Architecture and music were encouraged by both of those accomplished sovereigns ; and poetry above all, seems to hare been highly valued at the Scottish court The King of Scotland, who, in point of power, seems to hare been little more than the first baron of his kingdom, held a free and merry court, in which poetry and satire seem to have had unlimited range, even where their shafts glanced on royalty itself. The consequence of this general encouragement was the production of much poetry of various kinds, and concerning various persons, which the narrow exer- tions of the Scottish press could not convey to the public, or which, if printed at all, existed only in limited editions, which soon sunk to the rarity of manu- scripts. There was therefore an ample mine out of which Bannatyne made his compilation, with the intention, doubtless, of putting the Lays of the Makers out of the reach of oblivion, by subjecting the collection to the press. But the bloody wars of Queen Mary's time s made that no period for literary adventure ; and the tendency of the subsequent age to polemical discussion, discouraged lighter and gayer studies. There is, therefore, little doubt, that had Bannatyne lived later than he did, or had he been a man of less taste in selecting his materials, a great proportion of the poetry contained in his volume must have been lost to posterity ; and, if the stock of northern literature had been diminished only by the loss of such of Dunbar's pieces as Bannatyne's Manuscript contains, the da- mage to posterity would have been infinite." The pestilence which caused Bannatyne to go into retirement, commenced at Edinburgh upon the 8th of September, 1568, being introduced by a merchant of the name of Dalgleish. We have, however, no evidence to prove that Ban- natyne resided at tjiis time in the capital. We know, from his own informa- tion, that he wrote his manuscript during the subsequent months of October, November, and December ; which might almost seem to imply that he had lived in some other town, to which the pestilence only extended at the end of the month in which it appeared in Edinburgh. Leaving this in uncertainty, it is not perhaps too much to suppose that he might have adopted this means of spending his time of seclusion, from the fictitious example held out by Boccacio, who represents the tales of his Decameron as having been told for mutual amuse- ment; by a company of persons who had retired to the country to escape the plague. A person so eminently acquainted with the poetry of his own county, might well be familiar with the kindred work of that illustrious Italian. The few remaining facts of George Bannatyne's life, which have been gathered up by the industry of Sir Walter Scott, may be briefly related. In 1 572, he was provided with a tenement in the town of Leith, by a gift from his father. This would seem to imply that he was henceforward, at least, engaged in busi- ness, and resided either in Edinburgh or at its neighbouring port It was not, how- ever, till the 27th of October, 1587, that, being then in his forty-third year, he was admitted in due and competent form to the privileges of a merchant and guild-brother of the city of Edinburgh. " We have no means of knowing what branch of traffic George Bannatyne chiefly exercised ; it is probable that, as usual in a Scottish burgh, his commerce was general and miscellaneous. We paces in the careful and intricate style of caligraphy then practised, appears a sufficient task in itself for three months, without supposing that any part of the time was spent in collect- ing manuscripts. And hence we see the greater reason for supposing that a large part of the attention of George Bannatyne before his twenty-third year was devoted to Scottish ' The accomplished writer should rather have said, the minority of James VI., whose reign had commenced before the manuscript was written. Digitized by Google 132 GBORGJB BANNATYNE. have reason to know that it was successful, as we find him in a few years pos- sessed of a considerable capital, the time being considered, which he employed to advantage in various money-lending transactions. It must not be forgot that the penal laws of the Catholic period pronounced all direct taking of interest upon money, to be usurious and illegal These denunciations did not deoease the desire of the wealthy to derive some profit from their capital, or diminish the necessity of the embarrassed land-holder who wished to borrow money. The mutual interest of the parties suggested various evasions of the law, of which the most common was, that the capitalist advanced to his debtor the sum wanted, as the price of a corresponding annuity, payable out of the lands and tenements of the debtor, which annuity was rendered redeemable upon the said debtor repay- ing the sura advanced. The moneyed man of those days, therefore, imitated the conduct imputed to the Jewish patriarch by Shylock. They did not take interest— not as you would say Directly interest, but they retained payment of an annuity as long as the debtor retained the use of their capital, which came to much the same thing, A species of transaction was contrived, as affording a convenient mode of securing the lender's money. Our researches have discovered that George Bannatyne had sufficient funds to enter into various transactions of this kind, in the capacity of lender ; and, as we have no reason to suppose that he profited unfairly by the necessities of the other party, he cannot be blamed for having recourse to the ordinary expedi- ents, to avoid the penalty of an absurd law, and accomplish a fair transaction, dictated by mutual expediency." Bannatyne, about the same time that he became a burgess of Edinburgh, ap- pears to have married his spouse, Isobel Mawchan [apparently identical with the modern name Maughan], who was the relict of Bailie William Nisbett, and must have been about forty years of age at the time of her second nuptials, supposing 1586 to be the date of that event, which is only probable from the succeeding year having produced her first child by Bannatyne. This child was a daughter, by name Janet, or Jonet; she was born on the 3rd of May, 1587. A son, James, born on the 6th of September, 1589, and who died young, completes the sum of Bannatyne's family. The father of Bannatyne died in the year 1583, and was succeeded in his estate of Newtyle, by his eldest living son, Thomas, who became one of the Lords of Session by that designation, an appointment which forms an additional voucher for the general respectability of the family. George Bannatyne was, on the 27th of August, 1603, deprived of his affectionate helpmate, Isobel Mawchan, at the age of fifty-seven, She had lived, according to her husband's " Memorial]," " a godly, honourable, and virtuous life ; was a wise, honest, and true matron, and departed in the Lord, in a peaceful and godly manner. " George Bannatyne himself deceased previous to the year 1608, leaving onl) one child, Janet, who had, in 1603, been married to George Foulis of WoodhaU and Ravelstone, second son of James Foulis of Colingtoun. His valuable col- lection of Scottish poetry was preserved in his daughter's family till 1712, when his great-grandson, William Foulis of Woodhall, bestowed it upon the Honourable William Carmichael of Skirling, advocate, brother to the Earl of Hyndford, a gentleman who appears to have had an eminent taste for such monuments of antiquity. While in the possession of Mr Carmichael, it was borrowed by Allan Ramsay, who selected from its pages the materials of his popular collection, styled, " The Evergreen. " Lord Hailes, in 1770, published a second and more correct selection from die Bannatyne Manuscript; and the venerable tome was, J Digitized by Google JOHN BARBOUR. 133 in 1772, by the liberality of John, third Earl of Hyndlbnt, depoiited in the Advocate* 1 Library at Edinburgh, where it still remains. We bare already alluded to George Bannatyne as a poet ; and it remains to be shown in what decree he was entitled to that designation. To tell the truth, hi* Terse* display little, in thought or imagery, that could be expected to interest the present generation ; neither was he perhaps a versifier of great repute, even in his own time. He seems to here belonged to a rhss very numerous in pri- vate life, who are eminently capable of enjoying poetry, and possess, to appear- ance, all the sensibilities which are necessary to its production ; but, wanting the acti re or creative power, rarely yield to the temptation of writing verse T without a signal defeat Such persons, of whom fveorge Bannatyne was certainly one, may be said to have negative, but not positive poetry. As it seems but lair. however, that he who has done so murJi to bring the poetry of others before the world, should not hare his own altogether confined to the solitude of manuscript, or the un obvious print of hii own bibliographical society, we subjoin a specimen (rom one of the very few pieces which have come down to our own time. The verses which follow are the quaint, but characteristic conclusion of a sonnet to his mistress* eyebrow. It is ludicrous to observe theology pressed by the ve- nerable rhymester into the service of love* 14 Nu thing of rycht I ask. my Lady fair, Ho: of fre wiU and mercy me to sajf j Your will is your awin, as reaaoun wnld it ware, Thairfoir of grace, and uocht of rycht I ciaif Of you mercy, as ye wold mercy hiiif Off God our Lord, quh>^ ntercyls itifbnelt Gels bofoire till his workls, we may persnlf, To thamo quhots hand la with mjrcy ar repleit. Now to conclude with word is compendious ; Wald God my ton 5 waid to my will roapnnd, Ami tfik my spuich was so facundioujj That 1 was full of retaoxtt teruiys jocund ! Than suid my lufe at raotr length bo expound, Than my cunnylng can to you hdr declair ; Forthfa my style Enoruetly compmd, Kschangs my pen your elrb to truble main Gn to my di W with humm'll reverence, Thou buny bill, buth rude and imperfeyte ; Go, nocht wiU forgh flattery to her presence, As Is of falset the cu^tome use and ryte ; Causa me tiocht Bam that evir I the Indytc Na ttwe my travell, turning aJlln Tat**? ; Bot wiLh one faithful hairt, in word and wryte, Dedair my mind and bring me joy agaric My name quha list to knavr, let him tak tent Vrwo this litlill verse nixt presedenu" It only remains to be mentioned that the name of George Bansatyne hat boon appropriately adopted by a company of Scottbh literary antiquaries, interested, like him, in the pre se r v a tion' of each curious memorial* of the taste of past ages, as well as such monuments of history, as might otherwise run the hazard of total perdition. BARBOUR, Jomf , a name of which Scotland has just occasion to be proud, was Archdeacon of Aberdeen in the later part of the fourteenth century. There Digitized by Google 134 JOHN BARBOUR. hat been much idle co n t r over sy as to the date of his birth ; while all that is known with historic certainty, may be related in a single sentence. As he was an archdeacon in 1357, and as, by the canon law, no man, without a dispensa- tion, can attain that rank under the age of twenty-fire, he was probably born be- fore the year 1332. There is considerable probability that he was above the age of twenty-fire in 1 357, for not only is that date not mentioned as the year of his attaining the rank of archdeacon, but in the same year he is found exer- cising a very important political trust, which we can scarcely suppose to hare been confided to a man of slender age, or scanty experience. This was the duty of a commissioner from the Bishop of Aberdeen, to meet with other commissioners at Edinburgh, concerning the ransom of David IL, who was then a prisoner in England. As to the parentage or birth-place of Barbour, we have only similar conjec- tures. Besides the probability of his baring been a native of the district in which he afterwards obtained high clerical rank, it can be shown that there were individuals of his name, in and about the town of Aberdeen, who might have been his father. Thus, in 1309, Robert Bruce granted a charter to Robert Bar- bour, " of the lands of Craigie, within the shirefdom of Forfar, quhilk sumtyme were Joannis de Baliolo." There is also mention, in the Index of Charters, of a tenement in the Castle-street of Aberdeen, which, at a period remotely antecedent to 1360, belonged to Andrew Barbour. The name, which appears to have been one of that numerous class derived from trades, is also found in per- sons of the same era, who were connected with the southern parts of Scotland. In attempting the biography of an individual who lived four or five centuries ago, and whose life was commemorated by no contemporary, all that can be ex- pected is a few unconnected, and perhaps not very interesting facts. It is already established that Barbour, in 1357, was Archdeacon of the cathedral of Aberdeen, and fulfilled a high trust imposed upon him by his bishop. It is equally ascertained that, in the same year, he travelled, with three scholars in his company, to Oxford, for purposes connected with study. A safe-conduct granted to him by Edward IIL, August 23d, at the request of David II., conveys this information in the following terms : " Veniendo, cum tribus scholaribus in comitiva sua, in regnum nostrum Angliae, causa studendi in unirersitate Oxonis et ibidem actus scholasticos exercendo, morando, exinde in Scotiam ad propria redeundo." It might have been supposed that Barbour only officiated in this expedition as tutor to the three scholars ; but that he was himself bent on study at the university, is proved by a second safe-conduct, granted by the same mon- arch, November 6th, 1364, in the following terms : "To Master John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, with four knights (equite*), coming from Scotland, by land or sea, into England, to study at Oxford, or elsewhere, as he may think proper." As also from a third, bearing date November 30th, 1368, " To Master John Barbour, with two valets and two horses, to come into Eng- land, and travel through the same, to the other dominions of the king, versus Franciam, cauta Hudiendi, and of returning again." It would thus appear that Barbour, even after that he had attained a high ecclesiastical dignity, found it agreeable or necessary to spend several winters at Oxford in study. When we recollect that at this time there was no university in Scotland, and that a man of such literary habits as Barbour could not fail to find himself at a loss even for the use of a library in his native country, we are not to wonder at his occasional pilgrimages to the illustrious shrine of learning on the banks of the Isis. Or the 16th of October, 1635, be received another safe-conduct from Edward IIL, peimitting him " to come into England and travel throughout that kingdom, cum sex sociis suis equitibus, usque Sanctum Dionisium ;" i. e. with six knights Digitized by Google JOHN BARBOUR. 135 in company, to St Denis in France. Such slight notices suggest curious and in- teresting views of the manners of that early time. We are to understand from them, that Barbour always travelled in a very dignified manner, being sometimes attended by four knights and sometimes by no fewer than six, or at least, by two mounted servants. A man accustomed to such state might be the better able to compose a chivalrous epic like " the Bruce." There is no other authentic document regarding Barbour till the year 1373, when his name appears in the list of Auditors of Exchequer for that year, being then described as " Clericus Probationis domus domini nostri Regis ;" t. c ap- parently-— Auditor of the comptroller's accounts for the royal household. This, however, is too obscure and solitary an authority to enable us to conclude that be bore an orhce under the king. Hume of Godscroft, speaking of " the Brace's book," says : " As I am informed, the book was penned by a man of good know- ledge and learning, named Master John Barbour, Archdeacon of Aberdeene, foi which work he had a yearly pension out of the exchequer during his life, which he gave to the hospitall of that towne, and to which it is allowed and paid still in our dayes*" 1 This fact, that a pension was given him for writing his book, is authenticated by an unquestionable document In the Rotuli Ballivorum Bur- gi de Aberdonia for 1471, the entry of the discharge for this royal donation bears that it was expressly given " for the compilation of the book of the Deeds of King Robert the First," referring to a prior statement of this circumstance in the more ancient rolls : — " Et Decano et Capitulo Abirdonensi percipienti an- nuatim viginti solidos pro anniversario quondam Magistri Johannis Barberi, pro compilatione libri gestorum Regis Roberti "primi, ut patet in antiquis Rotulis de anno Compoti, xx. a." The first notice we have of Barbour receiving a pension is dated February 18th, 1390 ; and although this period was only about two months before the death of Robert the Second, it appears from the rolls that to that monarch the poet was indebted for the favour. In the roll for April 26th, 1398, this language occurs: — " Quam recolendie memorie quondam dominus Robertas secundus, rex Scottorum, dedit, concessit, et carta sua connxmavit quon- dam Johanni Barbere archediacono Aberdonensi," &c — In the roll dated June 3d, 1424, the words are these : — " Decano et capitulo ecclesias cathedrals Aber- donensis percipientibus annuatim viginti solidos de firmis dicti burgi pr\> anni- versario quondam magistri Johannis Barbar pro compilatione libri degestis Regis Roberti Brwise, ex concessione regis Roberti secundi, in plenam solucionem dicte pensionis," &c Barbour's pension consisted of £10 Scots from the cus- toms of Aberdeen, and of 20 shillings from the rente or burrow-mails of the same city. The first sum was limited to " the life of Barbour ;" the other to " his assignees whomsoever, although he should have assigned it in the way of mortification." Hume of Godscroft and others are in a mistake in supposing that he appropriated this sum to an hospital (for it appears from the accounts •f the great chamberlain that he left it to the chapter of the cathedral church of Aberdeen, for the express purpose of having mass said for his soul annually after his decease : " That the dean and canons of Aberdeen, for the time being, also the chapter and other ministers officiating at the same time in the said church, shall annually for ever solemnly celebrate once in the year an anniver- sary for the soul of the said umquhile John." Barbour's anniversary, it is supposed continued till the reformation ; and then the sum allowed for it reverted to the crown. All that is further known of Barbour is, that he died towards the close of 1395. I This appears from the Chartulary of Aberdeen, and it is the last year in which the payment of his pension of JClO stands on the record. > History of the Dougla Digitized by Google 135 JOHN BARBOUR. "The Bruce/' which Barbour himself informs us he wrote in the year 1875, it a metrical history of Robert the First — his exertions and achievements fertile recovery of the independence of Scotland, and the principal transactions of his reign. As Barbour flourished in the age immediately following that of his hero, he must have enjoyed the advantage of hearing from eye-witnesses narratives of the war of liberty. As a history, his work is of good authority ; he himself boasts of its toothfaHness ; and the simple and straight-forward way in which the story is told goes to indicate its general veracity. Although, however, the object of the author was mainly to give a toothfart history of the life and tran- sactions of Robert the Bruce, the work is far from being destitute of poetical feeling or rhythmical sweetness and harmony. The lofty sentiments and vivid descriptions with which it abounds, prove the author to have been fitted by feeling and by principle, as well as by situation, for the task which he undertook. Hh genius has lent truth all the charms that are usually supposed to belong to fiction The horrors of war are softened by strokes of tenderness that make us equally in love with the hero and the poet In battle painting, Barbour as eminent : the battle of Bannockburn is described with a minuteness, spirit, and fervency, worthy of the day. The following is a part of the description of that noble en- gagement, and presents a striking picture of a mortal combat before the intro- duction of gunpowder made warfare less a matter of brute force. with wapynys stalwart of stele They dang upon, with all thalr myeht Their feyls resawyt wele, Ik hycht, With swerdis, sports, and with mate The battaiU thair sa feloun was, And ewa rycht spilling of b1ud 9 That on the erd the sloussls stud. The Scottsmen sa weill thaim bar, And swa gret slauchter maid thai thar, And fra sa fele the lyvis rewyt, That all the feld Mudy was lewyt. That tyme thir thre bataiOs wer, All syd be syd, fechtand weill ner, Thar myeht men her mony dint, And wapynys apon armars stym, And se tumble knychts and steds, And mony rych and reale weds. Defoullyt foully undre fete, Sum held on loft; sum tynt the snet. A lang quhill thus fechtand thai war ; That men na noyis myeht her thair; Men hard noucht, but granys, and dynts That flew fyr, as men flayls on flynta. Thai faucht iikano sa egrely, That thai maid na noyis na cry, But dang on othyr at thair myeht, With wapnys that war burnyst brycht • • ♦ Whar myeht men se men felly fycht, And men, that worthy war and wychtt Do mony worthy wassellage. Whai faucht as thai war in a rage. For quhen the Scotts archery Saw thair fayis sa sturdely Digitized by Google JOHN BABBOUB. 137 Stand into bdtafll them agayne ; With all thair mycht, and all thair mayne, Thai layid on, as men out off wyL And quhar thai, with full strak, mycht hyt, Thar mycht na armur stynt thair strak. Thai to fruchyt that thai mycht ourtak. And with axys such dusches gave, That thai helmys, and heds, clave. And thair fayls rycht bardely Met thaim, and dung on them douchtely. With wapyngs that war styth off stele. Thar wes the bataill strekyt weilL Sa gret dyn that wes off dynts, As wapyngs apon armur stynts; And off spers sa gret bresting ; And sic thrang, and sic thrysting ; Sic gyrning, granyng ; and sa gret A noyis, as thai gan othyr beit: And ensenyeys on ilka aid ; Gewand, and takand, wounds wid ; That it wes hidwyss for to her.— Book xiii. I. 14 & 1S8. The apostrophe to Freedom, after the painful description of the slavery te which Scotland was reduced by Edward, is in a style of poetical feeling very uncommon in that and many subsequent ages, and has been quoted with high praise by the most distinguished Scottish historians and critics : — A ! fredome is a nobill thing ! Fredome mayse man to haiff.likingl Fredome all solace to man gifts: He levys at ese that frely levys! A noble hart may haiff nane ese, Na ellys nocht that may him plese, Gyff fredome failythe : for fre liking Is yearnyt our all othir thing Na he, that ay base levyt fre. May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, The angyr, na the wrechyt dome, That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome. Bot gyff he had assayit it, Than all perquer he suld it wyt ; And suld think fredome mar to pryse Than all the gold in warld that is.i— Book !. 1. 285. i Some readers may perhaps arrive at the sense of this fine passage more readily through the medium of the following paraphrase :— Ah, Freedom is a noble thing, And can to life a relish bring. Freedom all solace to man elves ; He lives at ease that freely lives. A noble heart may have no ease, Nor aught beside that may it please, If freedom foil— for 'tis the choice, More than the chosen, man enjoys. Ah, he that ne'er yet lived in thrall, Knows not the weary pains which gall The limbs, the soul, of him who 'plains In slavery's foul and festering chains! If these he knew, 1 ween right soon He would seek back the precious boon Of freedom, which he then would prize More than all wealth beneath the akJes. Digitized by Google. 138 JOHN BARBOUiL " Barbour, n says an eminent critic in Scottish