The lives of the Scotish poets, with preliminary dissertations on the literary history of Scotland, and the early Scotish drama

lrvlnp\ Da.vidL

tt . e\ >

THE

LIVES

OF THE

SCOT!

WITH

$reiumnat$ Btortattons

ON THE

LITERARY HISTORY OF SCOTLAND,

AND THE

EARLY SCOTISH DRAMA.

BY DAVID IRVINE, L. L. D.

ii

VOLUME II. ^ "

I1

,fc

3

EDINBURGH:

i'CBLISHED BY OLIVER 8c BO YD, NETHERBOW,
1810,

PR

THE

LIFE

GAVIN DOUGLAS.

CORRECTIONS.

P. 137. 1. 19. On reconsulting Lord Hailes's catalogue, I
find that Dr Mackenzie has confounded two
persons of the name of Henry Balnaves. They
were successively distinguished by the title of
Hallhill j and may be supposed to have stood
in the relation of father and son,

1 60. 2. For Christan read Christen.

280. 19. For any read are.

298. 2. After of insert the.

309. 9. For Crawford-moor read Crawford.

311. 2. For Christiana read Christian.

353* J3* For Bellay read Bellie.

356*' *7» Instead of Camphire, Mr Good ought perhaps
to have written Campvere. He has transfi-
gured several other proper names ; and I
find that I have occasionally followed him
without a sufficient degree of circumspection,

356. last. For Wiirzbur read Wiirzburg.

365. i. For at Enzie in Fouchabers read near Foch-
abers.

365. 13. For Enzie read Fochabers.

VOL, II. 3

THK

LIFE

OF

GAVIN DOUGLAS.

1 HE life of Bishop Douglas was virtuous and
eventful. His political consequence has intro-
duced his name ^into the public annals of his
native country : and the intrinsic dignity of his
private character is commemorated in simple
terms by his official Alexander Myln a.

Gavin Douglas was the third son of Archibald
Earl of Angus, and of Elizabeth, the daughter
of Robert Lord Boyd, a nobleman who for some
time held the office of high chamberlain b. He
appears to have been born about the year one

a Alexander Myln was Canon and Official of Dunkeld, and afterwards
Abbot of Cambuskenneth, and the first President of the College of Jus-
tice. His unpublished work entitled Vita: Episcoporum Dunfaldeimum may
be found in the Advocates Library. This work is dedicated to Bishop
Douglas and the chapter of Dunkeld.
. b Crawford's Lives of the Officers of State, p. 315*

VOL. II A

thousand four hundred and seventy-four. His
education was undoubtedly suitable to his noble
birth, and to the honourable profession for which
he was destined ; but the seriiinary in which he
completed his studies has not been mentioned by
any of his biographers.

Having entered into holy orders, he was ap-
pointed Rector of Hawick0. His early residence
amid the beautiful scenes of Teviotdale must
have tended in an eminent degree to foster in his
warm imagination the genuine seeds of original
poetry. The dormant energies of the human
mind are at first awakened by external objects.

As early at least as the year 1509 he was, on
the recommendation of his sovereign, nominated
Provost of the Collegiate Church of St Giles in
Edinburgh d. This was a situation of no small
dignity and emolument : and he appears to have
enjoyed it in conjunction with his other benefice.

It was while he filled those less elevated sta-
tions that he composed the admirable works
which have perpetuated his name. His family
was afterwards exposed to many vicissitudes :
and the latter part of his life, notwithstanding
his eminent piety and learning, was rendered

c Sage, Mackenzie, and Keith, on the alleged authority of Myln, have
styled him Rector of Heriot. But on consulting the MS. I find him de-
nominated " Rector de Havich."

d Keith's Catalogue of the Bishops of Scotland, p. 57.

unquiet by the pernicious feuds which at that
time prevailed.

His father, who is commonly denominated the
Great Earl of Angus, followed the standard of
his sovereign James the Fourth when he invaded
England : but finding his prudent counsels dis-
regarded, he excused himself on account of his
advanced age, and returned towards his native
country c. His two eldest sons, George Master
of Angus, and Sir William Douglas of Glen-
bervie, with about two hundred gentlemen of
the same name, were slain in the fatal battle of
Flodden. This calamity to the nation in gene-
ral, and to his own family in particular, made so
deep an impression on his heart, that having re-
tired to St Mains in Galloway, he died there
within the space of twelve months f. His title
and estates were inherited by Archibald, the son
of the late Master of Angus. This young noble-
man, whose personal attractions stood unrivalled
in the Scotish court, had the fortune to obtain
the regard of the widowed queen ; and their
nuptials^were solemnized within a shorter period
than the rules of decorum require g. The match,

e The Earl of Angus was at. that time provost of Edinburgh. From
the Records of the Town Conncil, as quoted by Mr Sibbald, it appears
that on the thirtieth of September, 1513, his son Gavin Douglas was
chosen a burgess, " pro communi bona villse, gratis." (Chronicle of Scot-
tish Poetry, vol. i. p. 423.)

f Hume's Hist, of the House of Douglas, p. 235.

S Buchanan. Rerum Scotic. Hist. p. 255. edit. Ruddiman.
A2

4

which had been secretly concluded without the
concurrence of the nobles, excited general indig-
nation. The queen was no longer willingly ac-
knowledged as regent : the preeminence of her
husband had rendered him odious in the eyes of
the nlore powerful subjects ; and the house of
Douglas was involved in the persecutions which
his aggrandizement provoked.

Among the warlike churchmen who fell in the
battle of Flodden, was the king's natural son
Alexander Stewart, Archbishop of St Andrews,
and Abbot of Aberbrdthock. In a letter addrest
to Pope Leo the Tenth, the queen, after extolling
Gavin Douglas as second to none in learning and
virtue, earnestly requested that he might be con-
firmed in the possession of that abbacy, till his
singular merits should be rewarded by some more
ample endowment11. After the death of Stewart,
William Elphinston, Bishop of Aberdeen, had been
nominated to the vacant see of St Andrews : but
his modesty or infirmities inducing him to de-
cline this splendid station 'l, the queen afterwards
presented Douglas to the primacy. Confiding in
the royal nomination, the splendour of his fa-
mily, and his own virtue and learning, he took
possession of the archiepiscopal castle : but the
validity ^of his claims was efficaciously disputed

fc Epistolse Regum Scotorum, vol. i. p. 183.

i Boethii Aberdonensium Episcoporum Vitae, f. xxxiii. a.
Leslaeus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 356.

by two powerful rivals. These were John Hep-
burn, Prior of St Andrews, and Andrew Forman,
Bishop of Murray in Scotland, and Archbishop
of Bourges in France. The former having pre-
vailed on the canons to elect him to the see, laid
siege to the fortress ; and after some resistance,
expelled the servants of his competitor j. The
Earl of Angus, attended by a party of two hun-
dred horse, made an unsuccessful attempt to re-
gain the castle k : but it is not apparent that his
uncle had instigated him to this measure. In
the mean time, Andrew Forman, an unprincipled
ecclesiastic of address and influence, who had
formerly been employed in many important ser-
vices, found means to obtain from the pope a
grant of the archbishopric of St Andrews, the
abbacies of Dunfermline and Aberbrothock, and
the other benefices lately enjoyed by Alexander
Stewart l . It was a privilege granted by the so-
vereign pontiff, that, within the space of eight
months after a vacancy occurred, the kings of
Scotland should retain the' power of presenting
qualified persons to benefices exceeding a certain
annual value m. This right however was often
superseded : and in the present instance, his Ho-

j Buchanan. Rerum Scotic. Hist. p. 256.
K Pinkerton's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 1x4.
i Epistolze Regum Scotorum, vol. i. p. 269.
& Ibid. vol. i. p. 197.

liness was pleased to invalidate the claim of Doug-
las as well as of Hepburn.

Douglas, inspired with the genuine spirit of
Christian moderation, immediately resolved to
abandon the pursuit of an object which could on-
ly be attained by engaging in acts of unbecoming
violence. To this exemplary virtue the conduct
of his arrvbitious rivals forms a striking contrast.
Forman being afraid to proclaim the papal bull,
prevailed upon Lord Hume to undertake the sup-
port of his cause ; and by the influence of that
nobleman, was enabled to march to Edinburgh
accompanied by ten thousand men in arms.
Having there performed the ceremony, they im-
mediately directed their course towards St An-
drews in order to secure the possession of his new
dignity. Hepburn was not unprepared for his re-
ception : surrounded by his friends, tenants, and
servants, he had placed the castle in a posture of
defence ; and, not satisfied with that precaution,
had even converted the metropolitan church into
a fortress, ready to withstand the approach of a
prelate nominated by the successor of St Peter".
Forman being unwilling to hazard an attack, was
enabled by the mediation of his friends to draw
the contest to a more amicable conclusion. It
was stipulated that he should be put in quiet pos-
session of the archbishopric of St Andrews, and

n Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 191.

that his competitor should derive an annual sum
from the bishopric of Murray t and should also re-
tain the revenues which he had already levied from
the former diocese0.

Douglas was thus excluded from a participation
of the emoluments : and, to complete the measure
of his disappointments, the abbacy of Aberbro-
thock, which he had regarded as secure, was
transferred to James Beaton, Archbishop of Glas-
gow1". By these violent and unjust measures, his
hopes of immediate preferment were rendered
abortive. The death of George Brown, Bishop of
Dunkeld, presented him with new prospects, and
exposed him to new mortifications. That pre-
late dying in January, 1515, the queen nomi-
-nated Douglas to the vacant see ; and, by the in-
terposition of her brother Henry the Eighth, ob-
tained a papal bull in his favour. In the mean
time however Andrew Stewart, through the in-
fluence of his brother the Earl of Athole, had been
elected postulate bishop by the chapter : and he
manifested a determination to retain by force of
arms the precarious possession which he had thus
acquired in a clandestine manner. The enemies
of the queen eagerly embraced an opportunity of
exposing to disgrace a man so nearly related to her
husband. Douglas was summoned before his pro-
per judges, and arraigned for having, contrary to

0 Buchanan. Reruni Scotic. Hist. p. 157.

P Leslseus de Rebus Gestis Scotonun, p, 364.

the laws of the realm, procured bulls from Rome.
This practice had indeed been prohibited in se-
veral statutes ; but the existing laws were very
rarely carried into execution. The hostile faction
were however eager to grasp at every opportuni-
ty of circumscribing the influence of those who
were interested in supporting the Earl of Angus :
and as they contemplated the superior talents of
his uncle with a jealous eye, the present seemed a
favourable occasion for depriving him of the
power of exertion. Sentence of banishment was
accordingly pronounced against him : but his pu-
nishment appears to have been afterwards molli-
fied into imprisonment of an indefinite term. He
was first committed to the custody of his former
rival Hepburn, and confined in the castle of St
Andrews. Having remained there for some time,
he was removed to the castle of Edinburgh, and
afterwards to that of D unbar, whence he was
again conducted to Edinburgh.

A reconciliation having at length, taken place
between the two leading factions, he was released
after a confinement of upwards of twelve months.
He was consecrated at Glasgow by Archbishop
Beaton ; who defrayed the necessary expences
attending the ceremony. Having paid a visit to
the metropolitan city of St Andrews, he proceed-
ed towards Dunkeld. Here the clergy and laity
testified the utmost joy at his arrival, and offered
up their thanks to heaven for bestowing upon

9

them a bishop so noble, so learned, and so virtuous.
The pope's bull being with the usual solemnities
proclaimed at the high altar, he retired to the
house of the dean, where he was splendidly en-
tertained. The episcopal palace was still occu-
pied by the retainers of Andrew Stewart : they
declared that they held it in the name of the re-
gent, and would not surrender it without orders
from their master. The bishop, finding next day
that they had also garrisoned the steeple of the
cathedral, was under the necessity of performing
divine service in the house where he lodged. Here
also the customary oaths were administered to his
canons. In the afternoon he entered into a con-
sultation with the nobility, gentry, and clergy,
who attended him : but they were speedily in-
terrupted by the intelligence that Stewart was
advancing to the support of his adherents. At
the same instant a volley of -^fcnnon-shot was dis-
charged from the palace and the cathedral. This
was received as a signal for more vigorous exer-
tion. James Lord Ogilvie, David Master of Craw-
ford, Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, Thomas Greig,
Prebend of Alyth, with many others of his friends,
immediately prepared themselves for action : and
messengers being dispatched to Angus and Fife,
his party was next day strengthened by the arri-
val of a multitude of armed men. Stewart rind-
ing his force inadequate to the relief of his re-
tainers who were inclosed in the palace and ca-
VOL, II, B

10

thedral, retired into the neighbouring woods with-
out hazarding an attack. They were now sum-
moned to surrender on pain of excommunication.
On their refusing to yield, James Carmichael,
with a detachment of the bishop's adherents, ob-
tained' possession of the cathedral, partly by force
and partly by stratagem. Those who defended
the palace -being intimidated by this occurrence,
demanded that for the space of a few hours a
truce might be granted, find the sentence of ex-
communication suspended. Having obtained this
request, they still persisted in their refusal to
surrender : but at length, through the interference
of the regent V.Douglas gained possession with-
out the effusion of blood1". This circumstance
" was certainly very acceptable to the good
bishop, who in all the actions of his life discover-
ed a gentle and merciful disposition, regulating
the warlike and heroic spirit that was natural to
his family by the excellent laws of the Christian
religion8."

After these events Stewart hastened to court,
accompanied by his brother the Earl of Athole.
Douglas esteemed it prudent to follow his exam-
ple : and their cause was immediately represented
to the Duke of Albany and the Lords of the
Council. It was at length agreed that Stewart

• 1 Epistolae RegunvScotorum, vol. i. p. 221.

* Myln, Vitas Episcoporum Dunkeldensium ; MS.

* Sage's Life of Bishop Douglas, p. 7.

11

should relinquish his pretensions to the see of
Dunkeld, but should retain the revenues which
he had already collected, and be confirmed in the
possession of the churches of Alyth and C argil,
on condition of yielding to the bishop a certain
annual contribution of grain r. Such was the
mode of establishing prelates in the sixteenth cen-
tury !

Although sentence of banishment had been
pronounced against Douglas for the crime of re-
ceiving bulls from Rome, yet the regent did not
scruple to apply to the pope for a ratification of
this agreement. In a letter dated September 28,
1516, he entreats his Holiness that all defects of
law or deed may be removed, and the contract
rendered valid by his sanction11. '

Having thus obtained possession of the office,
he was soon called from the discharge of its du-
ties. In 1517, an ambassador arriving from the
court of France with a proposition for the renew-
al of the ancient league, the Duke of Albany,
Bishop Douglas, and Patrick Panther, were ap-
pointed to visit that country in the same capa-
city. The negotiation being brought to a sa-
tisfactory issue, Douglas was employed to con-
vey the earliest intelligence to Scotland v.

c Myln, Vita: Episcoporum Dunkeldensium ; MS.
u Epistolas Regum Scotorum, vol. i. p. aaz.
v Leslaeus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 367. 371.
Pipkerton's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. i6j.

B 2

His pastoral duties seem to have been again in-
terrupted during some part of the following year.
In the Cotton Library is an original letter signed
by the Earl of Angus and others, and recommend-
ing him to King Henry as a proper agent for ad-
justing certain articles in contemplation w.

Though in this manner exposed to occasional
distractions, he yet presided over his diocese with
exemplary piety and virtue. The various trou-
bles in which he was formerly involved had not
only prevented him from accumulating riches,
but had even encumbered him with debts : yet
his native benevolence of disposition prompted
him to perform many acts of charity and muni-
ficence.

In the year 1520 he was presented with ano-
ther opportunity of exercising his Christian meek-
ness. When the regent was about to visit France,
he delegated his authority to the Archbishops of
St Andrews and Glasgow, and to the Earls of
Arran, Angus, Argyle, and Huntley. The power
of Angus however excited the apprehensions or the
jealousy of his colleagues ; and they resolved with
united force to diminish the influence of so dan^
gerous a rival. On the twenty-ninth of April,
Arran with many others of the Western nobility
assembled at Edinburgh in the house of Arch-
bishop Beaton. They formed the immediate re-

w Pinkerton's List of the Scotish Poets, p. xcv«

13

solution of apprehending the Earl of Angus ;
whose power, they alleged, was so exorbitant, that
while he continued at large, the liberty of his
fellow-subjects was insecure. When he was ap-
prized of their hostile intentions, he dispatched
the Bishop of Dunkeld to endeavour to mitigate
their resentment, and persuade them to submit
the cause to legal arbitration. But this proposal
was addrest to men ferocious from their numbers,
confident of victory, and thirsting for revenge Y
He first accosted Beaton, whom he found in
Black-Friars Church ; and entreated him to per-
form his duty by assuming the character of a
peace-maker. But the dissembling and turbulent
prelate protested that he was at once ignorant of
their designs, and unable to prevent them from
being carried into execution. And sealing his
asseveration with an oath, he made a solemn ap-
peal to his conscience : but having too rashly
struck his right hand against his breast, he dis-
covered to his indignant companion that his cle-
rical habit concealed a coat of mail. " My Lord,'*
exclaimed Douglas, " I perceive your,, conscience
is not good; for I hear it clatter." He next
sought Sir Patrick Hamilton, and requested him
to interpose with his brother the Earl of Arran.
This gentleman seemed inclined to peaceable
measures : but the earl's bastard son Sir James, a

* Buchanan. Rerum Scotic, Hist. p. 261.

man of a ferocious disposition, rudely upbraided
him with cowardice. " Bastard smaik!" rejoin-
ed Sir Patrick, «« thou liest falsely : I shall fight
this day where thou dare not be seen." And
having drawn his sword, he rushed furiously into
the street, where the Earl of Angus and his re-
tainers were standing in a posture of defence.
Perceiving him advance at a considerable distance
before the rest of the assailants, the earl called
aloud to his followers to save Sir Patrick Hamil-
ton's life : but that gentleman and the Master of
Montgomery were immediately slain. A fierce
encounter now commenced. The victory at
length fell to the Earl of Angus, after seventy-
two of his antagonists had perished in the con-
test. During the action the pious bishop had re-
tired to his chamber, and continued to pour out
his soul in fervent prayer to the disposer of hu-
man events. But when the enemies of his fami-
ly were put to flight, he hastened to prevent the
wanton effusion of blood. Beaton, who appears
to have been personally engaged, had now taken
refuge behind the altar of Black Friars Church ;
but the sanctuary was without scruple violated by
his enraged pursuers. The rochet was torn from
his consecrated shoulders, and he had already be-
gun to despair of his life, when Douglas inter-
ceded so effectually in his behalf, that they with-

held, though with some reluctance, the medi-
tated blowy.

Albany returned to Scotland in 1521, after an
absence of upwards of four years. His first step
was to reduce the overgrown power of the
Douglasses. Angus and his principal adherents,
being summoned to answer for the different out-
rages which they had committed, fled for refuge
to the Kirk of Steyle. Bishop Douglas, aware of
the regent's contempt for justice, hastened to find
an asylum in England2. He had been cit-
ed to appear at Rome ; and, according to his
own declaration, he intended to obey the ponti-
fical mandate a. At the gorgeous court of Henry
the Eighth, where his poetical talents had un-
doubtedly procured him many admirers, he expe-
rienced a most gracious reception : and his emi-
nent merit, which in his native country had only
procured him envy, was here rewarded by the
grant of a liberal pension5. Various acts of mu-
nificence evinced this monarch a patron of lite-
rature : and it is with some justice that Erasmus
represents his palace as the abode of learning0.

y Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 188. — Lindsay refers this event to
the year 1515; but our other historians, with greater probability, add
five years to the number.

z Leslseus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 378.

a Pinkerton's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 194.

b Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. iii. p. 872.

c " O vere splendidam vestra Britannise regiam, sedem et arcem
cpt imonim studiorum ac virtutum ! Et vobis, mi Pacee, gratulor talem

16

But the fate of Surrey and of More, had he beerf
free from other crimes, would have been sufficient
to brand his name with everlasting infamy.

At London Douglas contracted a friendship
with Polydore Virgil, who was then engaged in
composing a history of England. The publica-
tion of Mair's history of Scotland, in which he
ventured to expose the Egyptian fables of his
predecessors, had excited the indignation of such
of his countrymen as delighted to trace their
origin to the daughter of Pharaoh. Douglas
was studious to warn his new friend against adopt-
ing the opinions of this writer ; and presented
him with a brief commentary in which he pur-
sued the fabulous line of our ancestry from
Athens to Scotland d. This tractate, which was

principem, et principi gratulor, cujus regnum tot ingeniorum luminibus
illustratur."

ERASMI Epistolx, f. ii. a. Paris. 1525, 8vo.

d u Nuper enim," says Polydore Virgil, " Gavinus Douglas Donchel-
densis episcopus, homo Scotus, virque summa nobilitate et virtute, nescio
ob quam causam, in Angliam profectus, ubi audivit dedisse me jampridem
ad historian! scribendam, nos convenit : amicitiam fecimus : postea summe
rogavit, ut ne historiam paulo ante a quodam suo Scoto divulgatam se-
querer, in rebus Scoticis explicar.di*; pollicitusque est, se intra paucosdies
missurum commentariolum de his neutiquam negligendum, id quod et
fecit." (Polydori Virgilii Anglica Historia, p. 52. edit. Basil. 1556, fol.)
This writer has inserted the substance of the historical scheme which he
received from Douglas. " Ego statim ut ista legi," he subjoins, " visus
sum videre ursam parientem, quemadmodum in proverbio est. Post h^ec,
ut solebamus, cum animi gratia una essemus, Gavinus sententiam meam
rogavit. Respondi, me de origine nihil contendere, &c. Ab hac sen-
tentia Gavinus vir sane honestus tarn minime abhorruit, ouam ratio ips*
ei visa est cum verhate maxime consentire»"

17

probably written in Latin, seems to have shared
the common fate of the writings entrusted to
Polydore ; who in order to secure the faults of
his work from the danger of detection, is said to
have destroyed many invaluable monuments of
antiquity6. Vossius affirms that Douglas wrote
a history of Scotland consisting of several books f:
but Bishop Bale, to whose authority he refers,
only mentions a single bookg; and it is evident
that the historical composition to which they, as
well as Dempster11, allude, is the identical sum-
mary quoted by Polydore Virgil.

While he was thus employed in vindicating
what he deemed the honour of his native country,
a process was in his absence instituted against
him, and an unjust sentence of prescription

Polydore Virgil was a learned Italian who came to reside in England
for the purpose of collecting the papal revenues. He was appointed
Archdeacon of Wells ; and enjoyed his preferment till the accession of
Edward the Sixth. Besides his history of England, a work of little esti-
mation, he wrote a treatise De Prodigiis, and another De Rerum Inventories,

c Peacham's Compleat Gentleman, p. 51. edit. Lond. 1634, 4to.

Bishop Nicolson remarks that " he is said to have borrowed books out of
the publick library at Oxford, without taking any care to restore them :
Upon which the university (as they had good reason) declined lending
any more, till forced to it by a mandate which he made a sL^ to procure
from the king. In other places he likewise pillaged the libraries at his
pleasure ; and, at last, sent over a whole ship-load cf manuscripts t«
J^ome." (English Historical Library, p. 70.)

f Vossius de Historicis Latinis, p. 636.

S Balei Scriptores Britannix, cent. xiv. p. 218.

h Dempster. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Sector, p. 21 r.

VOL. TT. C

18

issued in the name of the king and the three
estates. Its tenor is as follows :

" Whereas Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld,
not only without the permission and licence of
the King's Grace, his tutor the governor of the
kingdom, and the three estates of the realm, but
even contrary to the express command of the said
governor, has entered England with an intention
to remain there, and, after the declaration of war
against that nation, has devoted himself to the
service of the English monarch, for the purpose,
as may be conjectured from manifest indications,
of betraying this kingdom ; by which conduct he
has infringed the parliamentary statutes enacted
against the crime of high treason : and in order
that no indulgence may be granted to those who
by such unwarrantable proceedings render them-
selves guilty of rebellion : it is hereby enacted,
that a royal mandate be issued to the Vicar
General of St Andrews, the metropolitan see being
at this time vacant, commanding him, as ordinary
of the foresaid bishop, to sequestrate the revenues
of the cathedral of Dunkeld ; and that none of
the lieges, under pain of being held guilty of trea-
son, shffi afford the foresaid bishop pecuniary
aid, or maintain with him any correspondence
either by letters or messengers. And since the
interest of a private individual ought not to be
more prevalent with our most holy master the
pope and his sacred conclave of cardinals, than

the sincere devotion of the King's Grace, his illus-
trious tutor, and the three estates of the realm, it
is hereby decreed by the advice of the said
estates, that a letter shall be addrest to our most
holy master the pope, beseeching him that he
will not, contrary to the privileges of this realm
formerly granted by the sovereign pontiffs, nomi-
nate or recommend the traitor Gavin Douglas to
the archbishopric of St Andrews and the abbacy
of Dunfermline, or to either of those benefices.
And lest that letter should be deemed the mere
suggestion of private sentiment, another to the
same effect shall be written by the said three
estates of the realm, and delivered along with the
present proclamation under the great seal of the
King's Grace1."

Beaton, being determined at all hazards to
secure the archbishopric of St Andrews and the
abbacy of Dunfermline, each the most ample en-
dowment of its kind, reflected that in Douglas
he might experience a powerful competitor : and
in order to blast the reputation of the man who
had formerly saved his life, he, as chancellor of
the realm, addressed a letter to the King of Den-
mark, in which he besought him to represent
Douglas to the sovereign pontiff as a person alto-
gether unworthy of his favour or protection j,
The various artifices which were thus employed

i Epistolae Regura Scotorura, vol. i. p. 328. j Ibid. vol. i. p. 333.

20

against him, serve to evince that a very high opi-
nion had been formed of his personal character.
Whether he had actually presented himself as a
candidate for those vacant offices, is not suffici-
ently evident ; but it is at least certain that his
enemies dreaded the result of an application from
such a competitor*

Their ungenerous expedients were however
superfluous. In 1522, when he was probably in the
forty-eighth year of his agek, he was seized with
the plague, and soon fell a victim to its dreadful
contagion l. He died in London, and was interred
in the Savoy Church on the left side of Thomas
Halsay, Bishop of Leighlin in Ireland; whose mo-
nument also contained a short inscription of Doug-
las's name and addition"1. The character which
he left behind him was that of " a man learned,
wise, and given to all virtue and goodness"."

To the splendour of his birth and the comeliness
of his person, Douglas united every virtue and
every accomplishment which could adorn the

k According to Hume's calculation, he had reached the forty-sixth year
of his age in 1520. (Hist, of the Hcuse of Douglas, p. 246.) Several
writers have placed his death in 1521 : but this disagreement may have
arisen from their different modes of computation. At that time, the
year commenced on the twenty-fifth day of March. Others have inad-
vertently referred his death to the year 1530. (Stillingfleet's Antiquities
of the British Cburcues, p. Iv.)

1 Polydori Virgili: Anglica Historia, p. 53.
Hume's Hist, of the House of Douglas, p. 220.

1)1 Weever's Ancient Funeral Monuments, p. 446.

n Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. ior=

21

citizen or the minister of religion. In an age of
turbulence and discord, his conduct was uniformly
directed by the rules of Christian moderation.
He was connected, by the ties of interest as well
as of affection, with a powerful and factious fami-
ly which had often shaken the unstable throne
of the Stewarts : yet instead of cooperating in
their unwarrantable designs, he invariably de-
ported himself with that meekness which ought
always to distinguish the character of the man
who devotes himself to the service of the altar,
Lesley has inconsiderately charged him with
mingling in the tumults of those unhappy times.
The only commotion in which he is recorded to
have been personally engaged, was that which
attended his instalment in the bishopric of Dun-
keld ; but it is evident that on his part the con-
test was unpremeditated, and arose from the
powerful principle of self-defence. Buchanan,
with equal incorrectness, affirms that he was re-
strained by the languor of old age from interfer-
ing in the bloody encounter wfyich took place
between the Earls of Arran and Angus. At that
time he had only reached the forty-sixth year of
his age ; a period of life by no means unfavour-
able to the exertion of military prowess. With
the fortitude incident to a great mind, he sub-
mitted to the numerous disappointments and
mortifications which thwarted him in the career
of preferment. And when he at length obtained

an accession of power, he never sought to avenge
the wrengs to which he had formerly been ex-
posed. His character as a politician appears to
have commanded the reverence of his country-
men : and in the discharge of his duty as a
Christian pastor, he exhibited a model of prim-
aeval purity. By his exemplary piety and
learning, by his public and private acts of
charity and munificence, he reflected distin-
guished honour on the illustrious family from
which he descended, and on the sacred profession
to which he had devoted his honourable life.

Of the brightest character however, some stain
will always be found to tarnish the lustre. In an
evil hour he had infringed the laws of chastity0:

0 Hume informs us that he " had a base daughter, of whom the house
of Foulewood ^Semple) is descended." (Hht* of the House of Doughs,
p. aao.)

The eulogies which Lesley and Buchanan have pronounced on Douglas
are of too much importance to be overlooked by his biographer. " fiic
vir," says the learned Bishop of Ross, "si se his tumultibus non immis-
cuisset, dignus profecto fuisset propter ingenii acumen acerrimum, ac eru-
ditionem singularem, qui omnium literis ac memoria consecraretur. Nos-
tram linguam multis eruditionis suze monumentis illustravit ; in quibus illud
fuerat ingenii sui signum longe prseclarissimum, quod Virgilii ./Eneidos
nostro idiomate donavit ea dexteritate, ut singulis Latinis versibus singuli
Scotici respondeant ; eo sententiarum pondere, ut nostrjE linguae si intel-
ligas vim occultam mireris ; ea denique felicitate, ut nullam ego antiquo-,
rum poetarum lauream cum ejus in hoc genere laude facile comparem :
quippe quo videtur nostra lingua asperior, ac ab ea copia qua Latinam
commendat, aiienior, e,6 fuit Douglasii laus reliquis Latinis poetis illus-
trior, quod in Virgilio vertendo versuum suavitatem, sententiarum pon-
dera, verborum significationes, ac singulorum pene apicum vim nostf a
lingua plene enudeateque expresserit." (Lesheus De Rebus Gtsfis Scotoruta,
p. 37*.)

23

but it is to be supposed that he was not then in-
vested with the priestly habit. At the same
time let it be remembered that, according to the
sentiments of the age, transgressions of this kind
were entitled to unbounded indulgence, whether
they appeared among the clergy or the laity.
Patrick Hepburn, Bishop of Murray, had two
sons legitimated in one day, and five daughters
in another13.

Of the works of Douglas no impression is
known to have been undertaken during his own
life. His Police of Honour was printed at Lon-
don in 1553 by William Copland; and at Edin-
burgh in 1579 by John Ross for Henry Charters.
Both these editions are in quarto. It is probable
that there are others which have not hitherto
been discovered : for the Edinburgh publisher

Buchanan's testimony in favour of a Popish prelate cannot be suspect-
ed of partiality. " Is, proximo anno, dum Romam proficiscitur, Londini
peste correptus obiit, magno suae virtutis apud bonos desiderio relicto.
Prater enim natalium splendorem et corporis dignitatem, erant in eo
multae, ut illis temporibus, literae, summa temperantia, et singularis animi
moderatio, atque, in rebus turbulentis, inter adversas factiones, perpetua
fides et auctoritas. Reliquit et ingenii et doctrinae non vulgaria monu-
inenta sermone patrio conscripta." ^Buchanan. Rerum Scoticarum Hittoriat
p. 262.)

P In an assembly of the clergy in the year 1558, we find Bishop Hep-
burn pleading the cause of impurity. It was moved, says Lindsay, " that
no kirk-man should commit whoredom ; or, if he did, for the first fault
he should pay great sums of money ; for the second he should lose his
benefice. To this act opponed the Bishop of Murray, a great fornicator
and adulterer, alleging, that it was as lawful to him to keep his whore a?
to the Bishop of St Andrews." ( History of Scotland^ p. 315.)

affirms " the divers impressiones befoir imprinted
of this notabill werk to have bene altogidder
faultie and corupt, not only that quhilk has bene
imprentid at London, but also the copyis set
furth of auld amangis our selfis." This work has
lately been reprinted in the first volume of Mr
Pinkerton's Scotish Poems \ and among the Select
Works of Gawin Douglass, published at Perth in the
year 1787. To this selection the Rev. Mr Scott has
prefixed a life of the author. A quarto impres-
sion of Douglas's translation of The Thretene Bukes
of Eneados appeared at London in 1553. In the
folio edition published at Edinburgh in 1710,
the numerous errors of the former are carefully
corrected from a MS. belonging to the public
library of the university. To this edition, under-
taken at the expence of Freebairn and Symson,
an excellent glossary was contributed by Mr
Ruddiman, and an elaborate life of the translator
by the Rev. John Sageq, a man not destitute of
ingenuity or of literature. Among the principal
favourers of the design, the editor enumerates
Bishop Nicolson, Sir Robert Sibbald, Dr Pitcairne,
and Mr Urry. Douglas's King Hart was printed
for the first time among Mr Pinkerton's Ancient
Scotish Poems".

9 Chalmers, Life of Ruddiman, p. 45.

r Douglas is one of the interlocutors in a dialogue prefixed to Mair's
Commcntarii in Primum et Secundum Sententiarum. Paris. Ijipjfol. Its title
is as follows: "Dialogusde Materia Theologo Tractanda. Dialogu-"

THE works of Douglas exhibit specimens of
varied excellence. Of literary perfection how-
ever, if such a term may be adopted, our notions
are not absolute but relative. This eulogy must
therefore be understood to bear reference to a
particular scale of merit : and a comparative
estimate must be formed of the characters of dif-
ferent ages, nations, and languages. Yet after
every requisite indulgence is granted, the intrinsic
beauty of his compositions will not fail of excit-
ing the admiration of those whom a previous
knowledge of the Scotish dialect has constituted
judges. His writings present us with constant
vestiges of a prolific and even exuberant imagi-
nation ; and his very faults are those of super-
abundance rather than of deficiency. In his
descriptive poems, so admirable in many respects,
he sometimes distracts the attention by a multi-

inter duos famatos viros, Magistrum Gauuinium Douglaiseum, virum non
minus eruditum quam nobilem, Ecclesiaz Beati JEgidii Edinburgensis
Prsfectum, et Magistrum Davidem Crenstonem, in Sacra Theosophia
Bacculareum, optime meritum."— JVIair's Commentariut in Quartum Senten*
liar um is inscribed to Gavin Douglas, and to R.obert Cock burn, Bishop of
Ross.

Of David Cranston, who was perhaps related to William Cranston,
the author of a Dialectics Compendium , the following quotation contains a
brief account : " David Cranstoun, raras probitatis et felicii ' ;:enJ,dura
et exercita juventute laboriose bonas artes Lutecia; didicii, ac deinde do-
cuit magna fama. later benefactores Collegii Monti^acuti reponiturj
quod qusecunque ex honestissimo labore professionis ilii obvenerant, tes-

tamento ejusdem loci pauperibus reliquit. Ab eo vidi publicatas

Parisiis, Orationes, lib. i. Votum ad Kentigernum, lib. i. Epistolas, lib. i.'*
(Dempster. Hist. £cclesiast. Gent. Scotor. p. 187.)

VOL, II. D

plicity of objects, and is not sufficiently careful
to represent each new circumstance in a definite
and appropriate manner. His allegorical sketches
are efforts of no common ingenuity : but what
chiefly renders his works interesting, is the per-
petual occurrence of those picturesque and cha-
racteristic touches which can only be produced
by a man capable of accurate observation and
original thought. He is minute without tedious-
ness, and familiar without impertinence. We are
delighted with the writer, and become interested
in the man. The beauties of external nature he
seems to have surveyed with the eyes of a poet ;
the various aspects of human life with those of a
philosopher. Our attention is alternately attract-
ed by picturesque descriptions of material ob-
jects, and by pointed observations on the man-
ners and pursuits of mankind.

To his inherent qualifications was superadded
the necessary aid of scholastic discipline. He was
perhaps the most learned of the early Scotish
poets. The intimacy of his acquaintance with
ancient literature was in that age rarely parallel-
ed. His favourites among the heathen poets were
apparently Virgil and Ovid : and among the
Christian fathers his favourite was St Augustin,
whom he denominates the chief of clerks. Of
the Latin language his knowledge was undoubt-
edly extensive : and as he has informed us that
Lord Sinclair requested him to translate Homer.

we m,ay conclude that he was also acquainted
with Greek. At present his secular learning is
alone remembered; but Myln has informed us
that he was likewise eminently skilled in theology
and in the canon law.

His style is copious and impetuous : but his
diction may be considered as deficient hi purity.
In his translation of Virgil he professes to be
scrupulous Jn rejecting Anglicisms : and indeed
his language is generally remote from that of the
English poets. But he has imported many exo-
tic terms from another quarter ; his familiarity
with the Latin authors betrays itself in almost
every page of his writings. His verses, though
less smooth and elegant than those of D unbar,
are not unskilfully constructed. With regard to
the quantity of syllables he has not displayed the
same unbounded licentiousness as sometimes ap-
pears in the writings of our ancient poets. In
many of his lines deficiencies or redundancies
may be discovered ; but they are commonly to
be imputed to the inaccuracy of transcribers, or
to our ignorance of the true mode of pronuncia-
tion. What Mr Tyrwhitt has suggested in de-
fence of the versification of Chaucer, may with
equal propriety be applied to that of Douglas :
" The great number of verses, sounding complete
even to our ears, which is to be found in all the
least corrected copies of his works, authorizes us
to conclude, that he was not ignorant of the laws

D 2

28

of metre. Upon this conclusion it is impossible
not to ground a strong presumption, that he in-
tended to observe the same laws in many other
verses which seem to us irregular ; and if this was
really his intention, what reason can be assigned
sufficient to account for his having failed so gross-
ly and repeatedly as is generally supposed, in an
operation which every ballad-monger in our days,
man, woman, or child, is known to perform with
the most unerring exactness, and without any ex-
traordinary fatigue3?"

Douglas's King Hart, an allegorical poem of a
singular construction, exhibits a most ingenious
adumbration of the progress of human life, The
heart, being the fountain of vital motion, is per-
sonified as man himself, and conducted through a
great variety of adventures. At first the mysti-
cal king is presented to our view in all the fer-
vour of youth, and surrounded by Strength, Warw
tonness, and many other gay companions,

King Hart into his cumlie castell strang,
Closit about with craft and mcikill ure,

So seimlie wes he set his folk amang,
That he no dout had of misaventure *,
So proudlie wes he polist, plaine, and pure,

With youtheid and his lustie levis grene j
So fair, so fresche, so liklie to endure,

And als so blyth as bird in symmer schene.

s Tyrwhitt's Essay on the Language and Versification of Chaucer,

29

For wes he never yit with schouris schot,

Nor yit our run with ronk or ony rayne j
In all his lusty lecam nocht ane spot,

Na never had experience into payne,

But alway into lyking mocht to layne :
Onlie to love and verrie gentilnes

He wes inclynit cleinlie to remane,
And woun under the wyng of wantownes.

Yit was this wourthy wicht king under ward 5

For wes he nocht at fredom utterlie :
Nature had lymmit folk, for thair reward,

This gudlie king to governe and to gy ;

For so thai kest thair tyme to occupy :
In welthis for to wyne for thai him teitchit 5

All lustis for to love and underly,
So prevelie thai preis him and him preitchit.

These " inwarde ythand servitouris," are Strength,
Wantonness, Jealousy, Gentility, Freedom, Pity,
and other personages of the same motley deno-
mination. In order to defend him against treason,
five of his vassals, the senses, are placed at the
outer-works of his castle. These however are
sometimes guilty of betraying their master.

Honour arrives at the gate, and, on being de-
nied admission by these watchmen, forces his pas-
sage by means of an engine, and hastily ascends
the great tower :

Honour persewit to the kingis yet :

Thir folk said all thai wald not lat him in j

Becaus thai said the lard to feist wes set,
With all his lustle servands more and myn.

30

Eot he ane port had enterit with ane gyn,
And up he can in haist to the grit toure 5

And said he suld it perall all with syn,
And fresche delyt with money florist floure.

So strang this king him thocht his castel stude,

With mony toure and turrat crounit hie :
About the wall their ran ane water voud,

Blak, stinkand, sour, and salt as is the sey ;

That on the wallis wiskit, gre be gre,
Rolding to ryis the castell to confound :

JBot thai within maid sa grit melodic,
That for thair reird thai micht not heir the sound.

At a small distance from the castle of King
Hart stands the delightful palace of Plesance,
" the quhilk wes parald all about with pryd."
This fair queen is constantly attended by a troop
of lovely nymphs^ among whom are Beauty,
Freedom, Gentleness, Kindness, and Mirth. Hav-
ing one day ridden into the fields with all her
train, she happens to approach the habitation of
the king. Alarmed at the unusual appearance,
the day-watches hasten to inform their master.
Youth, mounted on innocence, and Delight on
benevolence, sally forth in order to reconnoitre ;
but are dazzled and confounded by Beauty, the
leader of Pleasure's vanguard. Fair-Calling seizes
their steeds by the bridle, and, having conducted
the two knights to her castle, binds them with
the bands of Venus. King Hart, impatient for

31

their return, next dispatches Love, Wantonness,
and others, on the same enterprize : but they be-
ing also seized and detained, he rises in his wrath,
and with all his comely host rushes to the war.
Pleasure marshals her troops and stands prepared
for the encounter. The forces of King Hart are
defeated ; and he himself, being taken captive,
is delivered to Beauty, in order to have the wound
drest which he has received in battle from the
hand of Queen Pleasure. But the more she ap-
plies herself to its cure, the more his malady in-
creases. The prisoners are now conducted to the
palace of the victorious queen.

King Hart his castell levit hes full waist,

And Hevenes maid capitane it to keip.
Radour ran hame, full fleyit, and forchaist,

Him for to hyde crap in the dungeoun deip.

Langour he lay upon the walls but sleip,
But meit, or drink : the watche home he blew.

Ire was the portour, that full sayr can weip ;
And Jelousy ran out j he wes never trew.

Having, under pretext of bringing tidings, fol-
lowed his master to the castle of Pleasure, Jea-
lousy there perceives Lust in fetters, and Love
lying -bound with a block suspended from his
neck. Youth walks at large,' and is always roam-
ing to and fro. Desire lies in stocks at the door
of a dungeon : Honesty possesses the power of
preserving him from harm ; but Prodigality con-
stantly attends him.

Discretioun wes as then hot young of age :

He sleipit with Lust quhairever he might him fin

And he agane wes crabbit at the page :
Ane ladill full of luif, stude him behind,
He suakit in his ene, and made him blinde.

The court of Pleasure is crowded with many
other allegorical personages whom it would be
tedious to enumerate.

Pity having at length released King Hart and
his chivalry, they assault the queen and make
themselves masters of her fortress. This enchant-
ing nymph having cast herself on his courtesy,
he is deeply smitten with her charms.

Freschlie to feist thir amouris folk, ar went :
Blythnes wes first brocht bodwart to the hall :

Dame Chastetie, that selie innocent,
For wo yeid wode, and flaw out owr the wall.

After they have rolled in ease and delight for
upwards of twenty years, an event takes place
which serves to estrange the affections of
Pleasure.

A morrowing tyde, quhen at the sone so schene

Out raschit had his bemis frome the sky,
Ane auld gude man befoir the yet was sene

Apone ane steid that raid full easalie.

He rappit at the yet, but curtaslie j
Yit at the straik the grit dungeoun can din :

In at the last he schowted fellonlie,
And bad thame rys. and said he wald cum in.

Wantonness having hailed him from the battle-
ments, this stranger replies that his name is Age ;
and that at all events he must enter the castle.
Shocked at the intelligence, Wantonness hastens
to inform the king ; who begins to murmur at
the early arrival of so unwelcome a guest. Youth
falls on his knees before him, and craves to be
dismissed with his merited reward. King Hart
is marvelously grieved at the prospect of being
finally separated from his beloved companion :

Sen thow man pas, fair Youtheid, wa is me !

Thow wes my freynd, and maid me gude service.
Fra thow be went, never so blyth to be

I mak ane vow, [al] thoch that it be nyce.

Of all blythnes thy bodie beirs the p-ryce.
To waresoun I gif the or thow ga,

This fresche visar, was payntit at devyce :
My lust alway with the se that thow ta.

Youth now warns his brethren Disport and
Wantonness to prepare for their departure. De-
lyverance, or Promptitude, starts up and offers
his services as a guide. Without taking a form-
al adieu of their former master, they rush out at
a postern. Age, attended by " fyve hunder scor"
of unlovely companions, enters the castle and
shocks the delicate feelings of Dame Pleasure.
Scarcely has he arrived, when Conscience appears
before the walls, and demands how long he is to
be kept in a state of exile. Age hearing of his

VOL. IT. K

approach, hastens to admit him. Conscience
meets Sin in the court or inclosure, and lays a
" felloun rout on his rig-bone ;" but the violence
of the blow hurts his own breast. Sadness, one
of the train of Age, interposes between these ant-
agonists. Folly and A^ice, terrified at the bold-
ness of Conscience in thus proceeding to acts of
violence in the presence of more than five hun-
dred of the king's retainers, skulk away, and con-
ceal themselves in a corner ; and their example
is speedily followed by several other wicked
counsellors. While Conscience is engaged in
chiding King Hart, Wisdom and Reason begin to
rap very loudly at the gate, and, exclaiming that
they had long been suffered to stand unregarded,
demand immediate admittance. " In good faith!"
exclaims Conscience, " this conduct is wrong:
give me the keys, and I shall now act in the ca-
pacity of porter." Having at length gained ad-
mission, Reason instantly runs to Discretion and
removes the thick films which have obscured his
sight. A conversation, in which Wisdom and
Reason occasionally interfere, now ensues between
Conscience and King Hart. After various inci-
dents, Pleasure begins to manifest the native in-
constancy of her disposition. Wisdom and Rea-
son persuade the unfortunate king to return to
his own castle. After his arrival, Decrepitude,
accompanied by a powerful host, lays siege to the
fortress, and after a fierce contest gains complete

possession. The most formidable of his warriors
are Palsy, Cough, and Head-ache. Having en-
tered the citadel, he inflicts a mortal wound on
King Hart ; who immediately prepares for death
by framing a very remarkable testament.

This composition may remind the reader of
the general plan of Phineas Fletcher's Purple
Island; a work which exhibits a striking exam-
ple of the misapplication of fine poetical talents.
Yet that Douglas and Fletcher should have adopt-
ed subjects of this kind, will not appear surpris-
ing to those who recollect that in poetical num-
bers Serenus attempted to teach the art of physic,
Rhemnius to discuss the proportions of weights
and measures, Hobbes to unfold the history of
the Christian church'.

From the many ungrammatical passages which
appear in King Hart, it has been regarded as a ju-
venile performance. But the grammar even of
the English language remained altogether unfix-
ed and imperfect for the space of nearly two cen-

1 Historia Ecclesiastica Carmine Elegiaco conciunata, authore Thoma
Jiobbio Malmesburiensi. Opus posthumum. Augustx Trinobantum,
1688, 8vo.

Hobbes is the author of another metrical work equally absurd in its
plan, ajnd equally despicable in its execution. It bears the title of Thome
Hobbesii Malmesburiensis Vita, authors seifso. Lond. 1679, 4to. This tract
is reprinted at the end of Tboma Hobbes Angli Malmesburiensis Pbilosophi
Vita. Carolopoli, 1681, 8vo. The prose life was published and chiefly
written by Robert Blackburne, M.D. ; who has only presented us with
the initials of his name. It has frequently been ascribed to Dr Ralph
Bathurst. See Mr Warton's Life of Batbunt, p. 50.

turies posterior to the age of Douglas : and in-
deed no successful attempt towards reducing it to
a regular and practical system seems to have
preceded that of Dr Lowth. For although the
learned and acute Dr Wallis, as well as other res-
pectable scholars, had investigated the genius of
the language with critical nicety, yet their spe-
culations did not lend any new precision or cor-
rectness to vernacular composition. Even among
the writers of the present aera, the rules of Eng-
lish grammar seem to be too little understood :
in the elaborate pages of Dr Blair many solecisms
may be detected. The grammar of die Scotish
language was never completely reduced to any
standard. Much therefore was always left to the
choice or caprice of the writer ; and in general it
would be difficult to determine what is gramma-
tical, and what the contrary. It would be a super-
fluous task to search for any standard of speech,
where none was acknowledged even by the best
authors. If we refer to the present rules of Eng-
lish grammar, we shall find them most grossly
violated by Buchanan, Lesley, Winzet, and others
of our ancient writers who have discovered an in-
timate acquaintance with classical learning.

Nor is it of much importance to aver that
King Hart is more ungrammatical than Douglas's
translation of Virgil. For we must always recol-
lee that the ignorance or presumption of trans-
,cribers often counteracted the author's most

scrupulous attention to correctness : and as dif-
ferent compositions of the same writer might be
obnoxious to different contingences, some might
happen to receive more material injury than
others. Douglas was himself aware of the dimi-
nution which his reputation might possibly sus-
tain from the bold innovations of transcribers :

Ze writaris al, and gentil redans elk,
Offendis not my volume, I beseik,
Bot rede lele, and tak gude tent in tyme
Ze nouthir mangil nor mismeter my ryme, x

The longest of Douglas's original compositions
is The Police of Honour, an allegorical production
which displays much versatility of fancy, and a
ready command of poetical imagery. The laws
of congruity may occasionally be violated, and
the component parts arranged without due atten-
tion to the delicacy of proportion : yet, with all
its imperfections, it is evidently the effort of a
superior mind.

Early in a morning of May, the poet enters a
most delightful garden, where he falls into a
swoon, and is presented with a remarkable vi-
sion. He fancies himself conveyed into a dreary
forest bordering on a hideous flood.

My rauist spreit on that desert terribill
Approchit near that uglie flude hprribill,
JJke til) Cochyte the river infernal^

With vile water quhilk maid a hiddious trubil,

Rinnand ouir held, blude reid, and impossibill
That it had been a riuer natural 5
With brayis bair, raif rochis like to fall,

Quhairon na gers nor herbis wer visibill,

Bot swappis brint with blastis Boriall.

This lahlilie flude rumbland as thonder routit,
In quhome the fisch yelland as eluis schoutit j

Thair yelpis wilde my heiring all fordeifit,
Thay grym inonstures my spreits abhorrit and doutit
Not throw the soyl but muskane treis sproutit

Combust, barrant, unblomit and unleifit,

Auld rottin runtis quhairin na sap was leifit,
Moch, all ivaist, widderit, with granis moutit,

A ganand den quhair murtherars men reifit.

When he finds himself in this doleful region, he
begins to complain of the cruelty of Fortune ;
but his attention is soon attracted by the arrival
of a magnificent cavalcade " of ladyis fair and
guidlie men.'* After they have past in due order,
two catives approach, the one mounted on an ass,
the other on a hideous horse. These prove to
be the arch-traitors Achitophel and Sinon. The
latter informs him that the company which he has
now beheld is Minerva with her court ; that the
.twelve dames who surround her are Sibyls ; and
that she is also attended by Solomon, Pythago-
ras, Cicero, and other sages, Jewish, Grecian,
and Roman. They are all, says Sinon, faring
towards the palace of Honour, and their journey
lies through this wilderness. On his enquiring

39

how it happens that such wretches as themselves
should be suffered to follow the court of Minerva,
Achitophel returns for answer, that they are
there permitted to make their appearance, in the
same manner as rain, thunder, and earthquakes,
are sometimes permitted to deform the face of
May.

The poet now betakes himself to a thick co-
vert, from which he discovers Actseon pursued
by his own dogs, and the court of Diana following
at a small distance. The goddess herself is mounted
on an elephant, and only attended by the pure
votaries of chastity : but the poet archly ex-
presses his surprize at the paucity of her follow-
ers. Of the fair sex however, notwithstanding this
sneer, he seems to have entertained a very fa-
vourable opinion : and on every proper occasion
he has been sufficiently careful to advance their
claims. Into the happy regions of Elysium, his
favourite poet Virgil, as Dr Jortin remarks,
" seemeth.not to have introduced one female,
though the Roman and Grecian history might
have furnished him with several who deserved
admittance as much as the best of his heroes u."

He is now attracted by the most melodious
music. Instead however of solacing himself with
these heavenly notes, he immediately enters into l

u Jortin'a Dissertations, p. 390.

4O

a disquisition relative to the conveyance of
sound :

Farther by Water folk may soundis heir,
Than be the eirth, the quhilk with poris seir

Up drinkis air that mouit is be sound,
Quhilk in compact water of ane riuier
May nocht enter, but rinnis thair and heir,

Quhill it at last be cant on the ground.

And thocht throw din be experience is found
The fische ar causit within the riuier steir,

In with the water the noyis dois not abound.

Violent din the air brekis and deris,
Sine greit motiown of the water steiris j

The water steirit, fisches for feirdness flies :
Bot out of dout na fische in water heiris,
For, as we se, richt few of thame hes eiris :

And eik forsuith bot gif wise clerkis leis,

Thair is na air in with waters nor seis j
JBut quhilk na thing may heir, as wise men leiris.

Like as but licht thair is nathing that seis.

When a man, says the poet, is deprest with me-
lancholy, pleasure itself is converted into pain :
and thus the melody which flowed in so heavenly
a strain, only tended to augment my woe. His
murmurings however are soon interrupted by the
arrival of the court of Venus ; which he describes
in very magnificent terms. Venus is seated in a
gorgeous car, attended by her son Cupid; who is
strangely represented as a man well-formed, and
of large limbs. She is accompanied by a band

of musicians, whose divine skill even surpasses
that of David, though the sounds of his harp are
said to have overcome the evil demon that tor-
mented Saul. Mars follows behind, mounted ou
a " bardit curser stout and bald :"

Euerie inuasibill wapon on him he bair 5

His luik was grym, his bodie large and squak>

His lymmis weill entailyiet to be strang 5
His neck was greit a span lenth weill or mair,
His visage braid, with crisp broun curland hair j

Of stature not ouir greit, nor yet ouir lang.

Behaldand Venus, O ye my lufe ! he sang :
And scho agane with dallyance sa fair

Hir knicht him cleipis quhair sa he ryde or gang.

Here also are seen every renowned hero and he-
roine of scriptural, classic, and romantic story.
On witnessing their disport and parade, he be-
gins to exclaim against Venus and all her re-
tinue ; but is quickly dragged from his retreat
and arraigned at the august tribunal of the god-
dess. Her assessors are Mars and Cupid. The
accusation is redd by a " clerk cleipit Varius,"
and the trial proceeds in due form. The prisoner
pleads that he is a spiritual man, and ought to be
remitted to his judge ordinary. But Venus is
enraged at this appeal, and commands Varius to
write the sentence of condemnation. In the
midst of his consternation, the cou'rt of the
VOL. II. F

Muses x makes its appearance, and relieves him
from his hopeless situation, when he has already
begun to expect immediate transformation.

Yet of my.deith I set not half ane fle,
For greit efFeer me thocht na pane to die ;

But sair I dred me for some uther jaip,
That Venus suld, throw her subtillitie,
Intill sum bysning beist transfigurat me,

As in a beir, a bair, ane oule, ane aip :

I traistit sa for till have bene mischaip,
That oft I wald my hand behald, to se

Gif it alterit, and oft my visage graip.

This new court consists of " wise digest eloquent
fathers trew, and plesand ladyis of fresche bew~
tie." Some are engaged in rehearsing Greek
and Latin histories, others in chanting to the
lyre Sapphic and elegiac verse. Homer is the
only Greek poet enumerated among the attend-
ants of the Muses ; but

x With respect to the genealogy of die Muses, ali the edition* whicfe
I have seen contain a very ludicrous error :

Thespis, the mother of Musis nine.

Douglas, undoubtedly wrote Thespia. Thespis is known to every reader
of Horace as an Athenian poet ; but Thespia, according to some of the
ancients, was the mother of the Muses. " Neque aliud," if we may
credit Natalis Comes, " est sane Memnon quam memoria, aut Thespia
quam divinatio et divina cognitio : id apertius etiam declarant nomina
illarum Musarum quae fuerunt ab Aloci filiabus cultze ; Melete scilicf '.
exercitatio, Mneme memoria, Acede cantus." (Mytbd*gia, p. 769.)

Thair was the greit Latine Virgilius,
The famous father poeit Ouidius,

Dictes, Dares, and eik the trew Lucane :
Thair was Plautus, Poggius, and Persius j
Thair was Terence, Donate, and Seruius,

Francis Petrarche, Flaccus Valeriane ;

Thair was Esope, Gato, and Allane j
Thair was Galterus and Boetius ;

Thair was also the greit Ouintilliane.

Thair was the satyr poeit Juuenall ;
Thair was the mixt and subteill Martiall j

Of Thebes bruyt thair was the poeit Stace :
Thair was Faustus, and Laurence of the Vale j
Pomponius, quhais fame of late, sans faill,

Is blawn wyde throw euerie realm and place*

Thair was the moral wyse poeit Horace,
With mony uther clerk of greit auail :

Thair was Brunnell, Claudius, and Bocchace.

Sa greit ane preis of pepill drew us neir,
The hundredth part thair names ar not heir,

Yit saw I thair of Brutus Albion,
Geffray Chaucier, as a per sc sans peir
Of his vulgare $ and morall John Goweir.

Lydgate the monk raid musing him alone.

Of this natioun I knew also anone
Greit Kennedie and Dunbar yit undeid,
And Quintine with ane huttock on his heid.

* The first edition of Pomponius Mela was published at Milan ir.
tjuarto in the year 1471 ; but his celebrity had afterwards been aug-
mented by the edition of Hermolaus Barbarus, who was cotemporary
•frith Douglas.

F 2

Some of these names are sufficiently obscure or
disfigured. By Flaccus Valeriane, Laurence of
the Vale, and Claudius, we are undoubtedly, to
understand Valerius Flaccus, Laurentius Valla,
and Claudian. The Gualterus whom he has in
view is probably Walter Burley, a celebrated
English philosopher who was born in the year
J275y. In the time of Leland many of Burley 's
philosophical works were preserved in manu-
script at Oxford and Cambridge z. His treatise
De Vitis et Moribus Philosophorum was twice
printed at a very early aera. Vossius, who had
seen both the editions, represents it as abound-
ing with errors which to us appear sufficiently
ludicrous. The writer whom Douglas has classed
with jEsop and Dionysius Cato, may be Allan of
Lynne ; who, among other works, is said to have
composed allegorical and moral expositions of
the sacred scriptures. He was a Carmelite Friar,
and flourished during the reign of Henry the
Fifth a. Of this name however there was a more
celebrated writer, Alarms de Insulis, a native of
Germany, who flourished about the year 1300.
The number of his compositions was almost infi-

y Vossius de Historicis Latlnis, p. 515.
2 Leland. de Scriptoribus Britannicis, torn. ii. p. 354.
a Balei Scriptores Britannia, cent. iii. p. 253.
Pitseus de Illustribus Angli* Scriptoribus, p. 601,

45

niteb: and the extent of his knowledge procured
him the appellation of the Universal Doctor c.
Faust us, the author of some tracts printed in the
Maxima Bibliotheca Veterum Patrum, is suffi-
ciently known as a favourer of the Semi-Pelagian
doctrines. He died about the year 480 d. Bru-
nell, it has been conjectured, was a native of
Germany, and flourished about the end of the
twelfth, or the beginning of the thirteenth cen-
tury. He composed many Latin poems which
have never been published : but his Sententia de
Ordinibus Religiosis appears in the collection of
Martene and Durand e.

The court of the Muses having thus reached
the spot where Venus is sitting in judgment,

b Among other works, he wrote a commentary on the prophecies of
Merlin. See Prophetia Anglicana et Romana ; hoc est Merlini Ambrosii
JBritanni, ex inculo dim, &c. Francofurti, 1608, 8vo.

c Lilii Gyraldi Historia Poetarum, p. 222.

d Cave, Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria, p. 366.

c Veterum Scriptorum et Monumentorum Collectio, torn. vi. — The
following extract from Brunell's poem may be acceptable to some read*
ers ; as it contains a slight contribution to ecclesiastical history.

Est et adhuc alius nuper novus ordo repertus,

Quern bene, nam bonus est, commemorate decet.
Hie apud Anglorum fines exortus, ab ipso

Nomen habet natus quo fuit ipse loco.
Symphinigram dictus, de simplicitate vocatus,

Sive per antiphrasim ordo vocatur ita.
Canonici missas tantum, reliquumque sorores

Expleut, officii deb ita jura sui.
Corpora, non voces, murus disjungit ; in unum

Psallunt directo psalmate et absque mere;

Calliope intercedes so effectually in the poet's
behalf, that his crime is pardoned on condition
that he shall compose some poem in honour of
the goddess whom he has offended. He imme-
diately pours forth an unpremeditated lay ; and
Venus declares she is satisfied. Her court then
departs, and leaves the poet with that of the
Muses* Calliope commits him to the charge of
" ane sweit nymphe maist faithfull and decoir,"
and the whole train commences a most miracu-
lous journey.

Ane hors I gat maist richelie besene,

Was harneist all with woodbind leuis grene 5

Of the same sute the trappours law doun hang,
Ouir him I straid at command of the quene :
Tho samin furth we riding all bedene

As swift as thocht, with mony a merie sang,

My nymph alwayis conuoyit me of thrang
Amid the Musis, to se quhat thay wald mene,

Quhilks sang and playit, but neuer a wreist yeid wrang.

They now roam through a great variety of re-
gions : but the poet's account of their flight
savours strongly of the incoherence of a dream,
They at length reach the Castalian fountain.

Beside that cristall well sweit and digest,
Thame to repois, thair hors refresche and rest,

Alichtit doun thir Musis cleir of hew.
The cumpanie all haillelie leist and best
Thrang to the well to drink, quhilk ran south

Throw out ane meid quhair alkin flouris grew.

Amang the laif full fast I did persew
To drink, bot sa the greit preis me opprest,
That of the water I micht not taste a drew,

Quir horsis pasturit in ane plesand plane,
Law at the fute of ane fair greene montane,

Amid ane meid schaddowit with ceder treis.
Saif fra all heit thair micht we well remain :
All kinde of herbis, flouris, frute, and greine,

With eurie growand tre thair men micht cheis.

The beryall streams, rinnand ouir stanerie greis,
Made sober noyis : the schaw dinnit agane

For birdis sang, and sounding of the beis.

The ladyis fair on diuers instruments

Went playand, singand, dansand, ouir the bentis :

Full angellik and heuinlie wras their soun.
Quhat creature amid his hart imprintis
The fresche bewetie, the gudelie representis,

The merrie speiche, fair hauing, hie renown,

Of thame, wald set a wise man half in swoun,
Thair womanlines wryithit the elementis,

Stoneist the heuin, and all the eirth adoun.

«
The warld may not considder nor descriue

The heuinlie joy the blis I saw belive,

Sa ineffable, abone my witt sa hie.
I will na mair thairon my foreheid riue,
Bot briefly furth my febill process drive.

Law in the meid an palyeon picht I se,

Maist gudliest and richest that micht be :
My governour oftner than times fiue

Unto that hald to pass commandit me,

wa finally straicht to that royall steed
In followschip with my leidar I yeid :

We enterit some, the portar was not thra,
Thair was na stopping, lang demand, nor pleid.
I kneillit law, and unheilded my held 5

And tho I saw our ladyis twa and twa

Sittand on deissis j familiars to and fra
Servand thame fast with ypocras and meid,

Delicate meitis, dainteis seir alswa.

The discourse turning on love and valour, Calliope
comm'ands Ovid, her Clerk Register, to declare
" quha war maist worthie of thair handis." The
favoured poet then recapitulates the deeds of an-
cient heroes, and also sings of transfigurations, of
the art of love, and of its remedy. He is followed
by other bards :

Uprais the greit Virgillius anone,

And playit the sportis of Daphnis and Corydone i.

Sine Terence come, and playit the comedy
Of Parmeno, Thrason, and wise Gnatone.
Juuenall like ane mowar him allone

Stude scornand euerie man as thay yeid by.

Martial was cuik, till roist, seith, farce, and fry,
.And Poggius stude with mony girne and grone,

On Laurence Valla spittand, and cryand fy !

With mirthis thus and meitis delicate
Thir ladyis feistit according thair estait,

Uprais at last, commandand till tranoynt :
Hetreit was blawn loude, and than, God waite,
Men micht have sene swift horsis haldin hait,

^chynand for sweit, as they had bene anoynt.

49

Of all that rout was neuer a prick disjoynt,
For all our tary 5 and I furth with my mait
Mbuntit on horse, raid samin in gude point.

Ouir mony gudlie plane we raid bedene,
The vaill of Hebron, the camp Damascene,

Throw Josaphat, and throw the lustie vaill j
Ouir waters wan, throw worthie woddis grene ;
And swa at last on lifting up our ene,

We se the final end of our trauail,

Amid ane plane a plesand roche to waill j
And euerie wicht, fra we that sicht had sene,

Thankand greit God, their heidis law deuaill.

With singing, lauching, merines, and play,
Unto this roche we rydand furth the way.

Now mair to write for feir tremblis my pen.
The hart may not think nor mannis toung say,
The eir nocht heir, nor yit the eye se may,

It may not be imaginit with men,

The heuinlie blis the perfite joy to ken,
Quhilk now I saw : the hundredth part all day

I micht not schaw, thocht I had toungis ten.

Thocht all my members toungis war on raw,
I war not able the thousand fauld to schaw 5

Quhairfoir I feir ocht farther mair to write :
For quhidder I this in saul or bodie saw,
That wait I nocht 5 bot he that all dois knaw,

The greit God wait, in euerie thing perfite.

Eik gif I wald this auisicun indite,
Jangleris suld it backbite and stand nane aw,

Cry out on dreimis quhilks are not worth ane mtte

VOL. II. G

The poet perceives an immense rock of a very
peculiar appearance. It seems of a slippery and
hard substance, and, like glass, reflects the rays of
the sun. Many paths wind around it, but only
one leads to the summit. The Muses and the
rest of their train immediately ascend, leaving
the poet and his attendant nymph behind. She
leads him by the hand, and encourages him to
proceed : but when they have nearly gained the
pinnacle, he observes their path crost by an
abominable ditch, burning like hell, and full of
brimstone, pitch, and boiling lead. In this are
seen floating many a ghastly wretch ; some al-
ready suffocated, others still yelling amid the
flames. The nymph informs him that these are
such as once professed to be faring towards the
palace of Honour, but in the sequel, being allured
by pleasure or sloth, have stumbled into this dis-
mal lake. She now seizes him by the locks, and
conveys him to the summit of the enchanted
rock. At her command he casts his eyes from
the eminence, and beholds the world tost in a
tempest of misery, and many perishing amid the
weltering waves. He perceives a goodly barge
labouring against the fury of the storm, and at
length bulging against a sand-bank. Some of
the crew are swallowed by the waves, others reach
the shore and begin to ascend the rock.

As we bene on this hie hill sitimt,

Luik down, quod scho, consaue in quhat estait

Thy wretchit warld thow may considder now :
At her command with meikill dreid, God wait,
Out ouir the hill, sa hiddious hie and strait,

I blent adoun and felt my body grow.

This brukill eird, sa litill till allow,
Me thocht I saw birn in ane fireie rage
Of stormic sey, quhilk micht na maner swage.

That terribill tempest, hiddeous wallis huge,
War maist grislie for to behald or judge,

Quhair nouther rest nor quiet micht appeir :
Thair was ane perrelous place, folk for to lodge :
Thair was na help, support, nor yit refuge.
Innumerabill folk I saw flotterand in feir,
Quhilk pereist on the walterand wallis weir :
And secundlie I saw a lustie barge
Ouirsett with seyis, and mony stormy charge.

This gudelie carvell taiklit traist on raw,
With blanschit saill, milk quhite as ony snaw,

Richt souer, ticht, and wonder stranglie beildit,
Was on the boldyn wallis quite ouirthraw.
Contrariouslie the busterous wind did blaw

In bubbis thick, that na schippis sail micht weild it.

Now sank scho law, now hie to heuin up heildit.
At everie part swa sey and windis draif,
Quhill on ane sand the schip did burst and claif.

It was a pieteous thing, alaik ! alaik !

To heir the dulefull cry when that scho straik j

Maist lamentabill the pereist folk to se,
Sa famist, drowkit, mait, forewrocht, and xvaik,
Sum on ane plank of fir tre, and sum of aik,

G 2

Sum hang upon a takill, sum on ane tre,
Sum fra thair grip sone waschin with die see j
Part drownit, part to the roche fleit or swam
On raipis or buirdis, sine up the hill they clarp.

Tho at my nymph breiflie I did enquire,
Quhat signifyet that feirfull wonder seir.

Yone multitude, said scho, of pepill drint
Ar faithles folk, quhilkis, quhill thay ar heir,
Misknawis God and folio wis thair pleseir ,

Quhairfoir thay sail in endlis fire be brint.

Yone lustie schip yow seis pereist and tint,
In quhome yon pepill maid ane perrelous race,
Scho frecht The Carve// of the State of Grace.

Ye bene all borne the sonnis of ire, I gues,
Sine throw baptisme gettis grace and faithfulnes,

Than in yone carvell surelie ye remane,
Oft stormested with this warldis brucklenes,
Quhill that ye fall in sin and wretchitness }

Than schip broken sail ye drown in endles pane,
Except by faith ye find the plank agane,
Be Christ working gude warkis I understand :
Remane thair with, this sail yow bring to land.

This explication of the Christian system seems to
proceed with little propriety from one of the
attendants of the Muses. The poet is guilty of
several other incongruities equally palpable.
He is now presented with a view of the
palace of Honour, the splendour and magni-
ficence of which surpasses description. With-
in the gate he beholds many stately tour-

naments and many lusty% sports. The nymph
then conveys him to a garden, where he finds
Venus seated on a gorgeous throne.

Bot straicht befoir Venus visage, but let,

Stude emeraut stages twelf, grene precious greis,
Quliairon thair grew thre curious goldin treis,
Sustentand weill, the goddes face beforne,
Ane fair mirrour be thame quently upborne.

This mirror possesses the quality of representing
?' all things gone like as thay war present." Ir*
it he beholds an adumbration of every remark-
able action recorded in history. Among other
personages of a like description, he sees

Greit Gowmacmorne and Fyn Mac Cowl, and how
Thay suld be goddis in Ireland, as thay say.

These are evidently Fingal and Gaul the son of
Morni, the renowned heroes of Ossian. As early
at least as the age in which Douglas flourished,
the exploits of Fingal were celebrated in certain
popular tales, composed either in the Scotish or
Gaelic language g.

S " Conjiciunt quidam in haec tempora Fynnanum filium Coeli, (Fya
Mak-Coul, vulgar! vocabulo^ virum, uti ferunt, immani statura (septenum
cnim cubitorum hominem fuisse narrant) Scotici sanguinis, venatoria arte
insignem, omnibusque insolita corporis mole formidolosum; circularibus
fabulis, et iis qux de Arthuro Britonum rege, passim apud nostrates legun-
tur, simillimum, magis quam eruditorum testimonio decantatum."

BOETHII Scotorum Historia, f. 128. b<

,54

In this enchanted mirror he also sees diverse
tricks of legerdemain performed by Roger Bacon
and other necromancers.

The nigromancie thair saw I eik anone
Of Benytas, Bongo, and Frier Bacone,

With mony subtill point of juglairie j
Of Flanders piis made mony precious stone,
Ane greit laid sadill of a siching bone,

Of ane nutmeg thay maid a monk in hy,

Ane paroche kirk of ane penny pye :
And Benytas of an mussell maid an aip \
With mony uther subtill mow and jaip.

The nymph* at last informs him that the mirror
possest of such wonderful properties, signifies
nothing else

Bot the greit bewtie of thir ladyis facis,
guhairin louers thinks thay behald all graces.

After he has for some time contemplated these
curious spectacles, Venus recognizes her former
prisoner, and welcomes him to this region. She
presents him with a book, which proves to be
Virgil's ./Eneid, and commands him to translate
it into his native language ; a task which it is
well known he has performed with wonderful
felicity.

The nymph now conducts him to a spot where
he has an opportunity of observing the multitude
that presses for admission into the palace. He

perceives Achitophel and Sinon endeavouring
without success to scale the walls. Cataline at-
tempts to enter by a window ; but Cicero
approaches armed with a book, and repels him
with a mighty blow. Many thousands beside
are likewise foiled in their endeavours to ascend
the lofty walls. A watchman- named Equity
appears on the battlements, and with a tremend-
ous voice denounces vengeance against covetous-
ness, envy, and falsehood. Patience, the portress
of King Honour, admits the nymph and her
ward into the palace. He enumerates at large
the various officers of this august court, and des-
cribes the endless winders which present them-
selves. He halts in amazement to contemplate
the magnificence of the palace-gate, till his guard-
ianess upbraids him for such infatuation. Having
entered the precincts, he is confounded by the
radiance of the surrounding objects.

The durris and the windois all were breddit

With massie gold, quhairof the fynes scheddit.
With birneist euir baith palice and towris

War theikit weill, maist craftilie that cled it ;

For sa the quhitely blanschit bone ouirspred it,
Midlit with gold, anamalit all colouris,
Importurait of birdis and sweit flowris,

Curious knottis, and monie hie deuise,

Quhilks to behald war perfite paradice.

And to proceed my nymphe and I furth went
Straicht to the hall throwout the palice gent,

And ten stages of topas did ascend.
Schute was the door : in at a boir I blent^
Ouhair I beheld the glaidest represent

That euer in eirth a wretchit catiue kend.

Breiflie this process to conclude and end,
Me thocht the flure was all of amytist •,
Bot quhairof war the wallis I not wist.

The multitude of precious stainis seir
Thairon sa schone, my febill sicht but weir
Micht not behald thair verteous gudlines.
For all the ruif, as did to me appeir,
Hang full of plesand lowpit sapheiris cleir :
Of dyamontis and rubies, as I ges,
War all the buirdis maid of maist riches;
Of sardanis, of jasp, and smaragdane,
Traists, formis, and benkis, war poleist plane.

Baith to and fro amid the hall thay went,
Royal princes in plait and armouris quent,

Of birniest gold couchit with precious stanrs.
Enthronit sat ane god omnipotent j
On quhais glorious visage as I blent
In extasie, be his brichtness atanis
He smote me doune, and brissit all my banis.
Thair lay I still in swoun with colour blaucht,
Quhill at the last my nymphe up hes me caught.

Sine with greit pane, with womenting and cair.

In hir armis scho bair me doun the stair,
And in the clois full softlie laid me doun :

Upheld my heid to tak the hailsome airj

For of my life scho stude in greit dispair.
Me till awalk was still that lady boun,
guhilk finallie out of that deidlie swown

57

1 swyith ouircome, and up mine ene did cast :
Be merrie man, quod scho, the werst is past.

Get up, scho said j for shame ! be na cowart :

My heid in wed, thow hes ane wyfes hart,
That for a plesand sicht was sa mismaid.

Than all in anger upon my feit I start,'

And for hir wordis was sa apirsmart,

Unto the nymphe I maid a busteous braid :
Carling, quod I, quhat was yone that thow said ?

Soft yow, said scho, thay are not wyse that stryfis -7

For kirkmen war ay gentill to the wyifis.

His anger being appeased, she informs him that
those whom he has observed in the court of Ho-
nour, are such as during their lives were con-
stantly directed by the laws of equity, valour,
and liberality : in battle they were found of most
prowess with spear, sword, and dagger ; to their
promise they always adhered with the most scru-
pulous observance ; they abounded in worth, and
were illumined by liberality. Honour in these
domains differs very widely from what obtains
the same appellation among mankind : there it is
only worldly pomp and parade, and conferred
with a reference to birth or estate ; here it is
never bestowed even on princes and prelates, ex-
cept their claims be founded in virtue.

Having descanted on the rewards of virtue and
the punishment of vice, she offers to conduct him
to a delightful garden, where the Muses are cull-
ing the flowers of rhetoric, and where trees bear

VOL. IL H

precious stones instead of fruit. It is surrounded
by a deep fnoat, abounding in fish and aquatic
birds : and on the trees which adorn its banks,
fowls are seen growing in a most remarkable man-
ner. The only access to the garden is by a single
tree laid across the ditch. The nymph imme-
diately passes this slender bridge : but in attempt-
ing to follow her, the poet becomes giddy and
falls headlong into the pool. The singing of the
birds, and the agitation occasioned by this im-
mersion, at length awake him from his trance.
He composes a lay in praise of honour, and then
concludes by inscribing the work to his sovereign
James the Fourth.

The following is Mr Sage's criticism on The
Police of Honour : " The author's excellent de-
sign is, under the similitude of a vision, to repre-
sent the vanity and inconstancy of all worldly
pomp and glory ; and to shew that a constant
and inflexible course of vertue and goodness is the
only way to true honour and felicity, which he
allegorically describes as a magnificent palace,
situate on a very high mountain, of a most diffi-
cult access. He illustrates the whole with variety
of examples, not only of these noble and heroic
souls, whose eminent vertues procured them en-
trance into that blessed place, but also of those
wretched creatures, whose vicious lives have fa-
tally excluded them from it for ever, notwith-
standing of all their worldly state and grandeur.

This work is addressed to James IV. on purpose
to inspire that brave prince with just sentiments
of true honour and greatness, and incite him to
tread in the paths of vertue, which alone could
conduct him to it. And to make it more agree-
able and entertaining, he hath adorned it with
several incident adventures ; and throughout the
whole discovers a vast and comprehensive genius,
an exuberant fancy, and extraordinary learning,
for the time he lived in. He seems to have taken
the plan of it from the palace of happiness de-
scribed in the Picture of Cebes ; and it is not im-
probable that his country-man Florentius Volu-
senus had it in view, and improv'd his design, in
his admirable (but too little known) book De
Tranquillitate Animi g."

Between the description however of Cebes and
that of Douglas, it will perhaps be difficult to dis-
cover any very remarkable affinity. If it can be
evinced that a striking resemblance prevails be-
tween those two compositions and the work of
Florence Wilson, it seems more safe to con-
clude that he imitated Cebes rather than Doug-
las. Wilson's dialogue De Animi Tranquillitate
appeared in 1 543 ; whereas The Palice of Honour
was not printed till ten years afterwards. If
therefore he ever perused this poem, it must have
been previously to its publication.

S Sage's Life of Bishop Douglas, p. 15.

II ?

60

It has also been surmized that the woi
Douglas is probably founded on the Sejour
neur of St Gelais ; for no other apparent reason
than the obvious affinity of their respective titles.
If imitation must thus be so zealously inferred, it
would perhaps be more proper to fix upon Chau-
cer's House of Fame as the exemplar. But till
other arguments shall be produced, The Palice of
Honour may safely be regarded as an original com-
position.

Douglas's spirited translation of the ^Eneid has
often been highly commended, though seldom
beyond its merits. Without pronouncing it the
best version of this poem that ever was or ever
will be executed, we may at least venture to af-
firm that it is the production of a bold and ener-
getic writer, whose knowledge of the language of
his original, and prompt command of a copious
and variegated phraseology, qualified him for the
performance of so arduous a task. And whether
we consider the state of British literature at that
aera, or the rapidity with which he completed
the work, he will be found entitled to a high de-
gree of admiration11. In either of the sister Ian-
fa Dunkeld, no more the heaven-directed chaunt
Within thy sainted wall may sound again :

But thou, as once a poet's favourite haunt,
Shalt live in Douglas' pure Virgilian strain ;

While Time devours the castle's towering wall,

And roofless abbies pine, low tottering to their fall.

G, DYER.

61

guages few translations of classical authors had
hitherto been attempted ; and the rules of the
art were consequently little understood. It has
been remarked that even in English no metrical
version of a classic had yet appeared ; except of
Boethius, who scarcely merits that appellation5.
On the destruction of Troy Caxton had publish-
ed a kind of prose romance, which he professes to
have translated from the French : and the Eng-
lish reader was taught to consider this motley
composition as a version of the .ZEneid. Douglas
bestows severe castigation on Caxton for his pre^
sumptuous deviation from the classical story ; and
affirms that his work no more resembles Virgil
than the Devil resembles St Austin, He has how-
ever fallen into one error which he exposes in his
predecessor : proper names are often so disfigured
in his translation, that they are not without much
difficulty recognized. In many instances he has
been guilty of modernizing the notions of his ori-
ginal. The Sibyl, for example, is converted into
a nun, and admonishes ^Eneas, the Trojan baron,
to persist in counting his beads. This plan of
reducing every ancient notion to a modern stand-
ard has been adopted by much later writers:
many preposterous instances occur in the learned
Dr Blackwell's Memoirs of the Court of Augustus,
Of the general principles of translation how-

i Wartpn's Hist, of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. z8i.

62

ever Douglas appears to have formed no inaccu-
rate notion. For the most part his version is
neither rashly licentious nor tamely literal. In
affirming that he has always rendered one verse
by another, Lesley and Dempster have commit-
ted a mistake. This regularity of correspondence
he either did not attempt or has failed to main-
tain. Such a project would indeed have been
wild and nugatory. The verses of Virgil and
Douglas must commonly differ in length by at
least three syllables ; and they may even differ
by no fewer than seven.

The merit of such a performance cannot be as-
certained by the inspection of a few detached
passages. It may however be proper to exhibit a
brief specimen ; which the reader, without being
previously warned, will find himself disposed to
examine with due allowances.

Facilis descensus Averni :
Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis 5
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras,
' Hoc opus, hie labor est : pauci, quos aequus amavit
Jupiter, aut ardens evexit ad eethera virtus,
Dis geniti, potuere. Tenent media crania silvae,
Cocytusque sinu labens circumfluit atro.

VIRGIL.

It is richt facill and eith gate, I the tell,
For to descend and pas on doun to hell ;
The black zettis of Pluto and that dirk way
Standis euir opin and patent nycht and day :

Bot therfra to returne a'gane on hicht,

And here aboue recouir this airis licht,

That is difficill werk, thare laboure lyis.

Full few thare bene quhom heich aboue the skyis

Thare ardent vertew has rasit and vpheit,

Or zit quham equale Jupiter deify it.

Thay quhilkis bene gendrit of goddis, may thydder attane.

All the midway is wildernes vnplane,

Or wilsum forrest j and the laithlie flude

Cocytus with his dresy bosum vnrude

Flowis enuiron round about that place.

DOUGLAS.

In his prologues to the different books he
exhibits occasional specimens of his talent for
criticism. Dr Warburton himself has not ex-
tracted deeper mysteries from the description of
^Eneas' s descent to hell.

Beside this noble effort of Douglas, the early-
annals of Scotish poetry present us with no other
serious attempt at translation. Whether our
countrymen have gained or lost by this prede-
lection for their own inventions, is a queftion
which I shall not presume to decide. By avail-
ing themselves of the poetical materials accumu-
lated during the lapse of ages, they might un-
doubtedly have been enabled to rear a structure
more capacious and elegant : but by their confi-
dent reliance on native resources, they have per-
haps adorned the fabric with ornaments of a more
characteristic denomination. Among the poets of
modern Europe, no class seems so little indebted

to foreign aid as those of Scotland ; a circum-
stance which may partly be ascribed to their lo-
cal situation, and partly to the general character
of a people impatient of prescription, and de-
lighting to pursue the stream of original thought.
When we direct our view towards the ancient
English poets, we readily discover that their
works contain much stolen fire. Warton and
Tyrwhrtt have shown that the origin of a very
considerable number of Chaucer's compositions
may be traced among the writers of Italy and
France.

In ,the poems appended to his translation,
Douglas has fortunately specified the origin and
progress of the undertaking. The work, he there
informs us, was begun and finished at the re-
quest of his cousin Henry Lord Sinclair ; whom
he represents as an accomplished and liberal pa-
tron of literature. It was the labour of only six-
teen months, and completed on the twenty-
second day of July, 1513, about twelve years af-
ter he had composed his Police of Honour. This
task must be understood to comprehend, not
merely a version of the twelve books of Virgil,
but also of the supplement of Mapheus Ve-
gius j, together with the original prologues and
epilogues.

j Mapheus Vegius, a native of Italy, flourished in the year 1448,
As a poet he formerly enjoyed a high degree of reputation. Paulus Jo-

65

Hume of Godscroft, who was himself a poet,
has remarked that " in his prologues before every
book, he sheweth a natural and ample vein of
poesy, so pure, pleasant and judicious, that he
believes there is none that hath written be-
fore or since but cometh short of him. There
is not such a piece to be found as is the prologue
to the eighth book, at least in our language."

His prologues to the seventh and twelfth books
display an admirable vein of descriptive poetry.
They have been exhibited in an English dress
by Mr Fawkes. The prologue to the twelfth
book has also been modernized by Jerom Stone.
The prologue to the supplement of Vegius pre-
sents us with a poetical description of an evening
in June.

These are the only works of Douglas which
have descended to our times. In the Conclusion
of his Virgilian task, he avows a resolution to
devote his future days to the glory of God and
the service of the commonwealth. He elsewhere
hints a suspicion that he should be considered as
negligent of divine studies, and too much capti-
vated by secular learning : and, to heighten his
apprehensions, the story of St Jerom intrudes it-
self upon his mind,

vius observes, in hyperbolical terms, that he excelled almost every poet
who had flourished during the space of a thousand years. (JEkgia Vlr
i-tirum Literis Illustrliim, p. 196.)

VOL. II. I

66

Quhow he was doung and beft into his slept,
For he to Gentilis bukis gaif sic kepe.

For his consolation he might however have recol-
lected, that if Jerom was warned in a vision
against the perusal of prophane authors, Diony-
sius of Alexandria was admonished by a voice
from heaven' to study them without restriction1".
The earliest of Douglas's performances appears
to have been a translation of Ovid De Remedio
Amoris, of which no copy is known to be ex-
tant. He thus speaks of the work :

Lo thus, followand the floure of poetry,
The battellis ai:d the man translate have I,
(Juhilk zore ago in myne undantit youth
Unfructuous idilnes fleand, as I couth,
Of Ovideis Lufe the Remede did translate,
syne of hie Honour the Palice wrate.

Bale mentions another of his compositions by
the title of Aurea Narrationes1', which Sage sup-
poses to be the short commentary noticed in the
concluding address to Lord Sinclair :

k Tyrie the Jesuit was also favoured with a divine vision of the
same complexion. " Nocte quadam apparuit illi Sanctus P. N. Igna-
tius, et graviter increpitum, quod plus litteris quam pietati acquirend.ii
$e impenderet, paterne hortatus est, ut litteris quidem operam daret, sed
non tanto ardore, ut spiritus exinde maneret oppressus. Quae admoni-
tio ita infixa per tptam vitam ejus inhassit memoriae, ut magno ei sem-
per stimulo fuerit ad omnem perfectionem." (Sotvelli Bibliotheca Scriftoruvi
Sodctatis Jesu, p. 3 90. b. Romac, 1676, fol.)

« Ttylei Scriptores Britannia?, cent. xiv. p. 218,

I haue also ane schorte commend compyld,
To expone strange historiis and termes wylde :
And gif ocht lakis mare, quhen that is done,
At zoure desir it sail be writtin sone.

This comment, it is probable, was merely a brief
explication of the classical mythology, intended
for the use of his noble friend.

If we may credit Bale and Dempster m, he
likewise composed comedies : but those rhapsodi-
cal biographers delight in multiplying books as
well as authors.

m Dempster. Hist. Ecclesiast, Gent. Sector, p. aai.

THE

LIFE

OF

SIR DAVID LIN D SAT.

THE

LIFE

SIR DAVID LINDSAY.

IT is not unworthy of remark, that the votaries
of polite learning have often evinced a warm and
efficacious attachment to the cause of religious
liberty. The Reformation will be found to have
been promoted in every country of Europe by
men distinguished for their love of elegant letters.
Luther himself, if not eminent as a poet, was at
least a passionate admirer of good poetry. Cal-
vin's institution of the Christian religion has been
extolled, even by Joseph Scaliger, as exhibiting
an exquisite specimen of literary composition.
Melanchthon was a rhetorician of considerable
reputation : and in his introduction to the art %

a Melanchthonis Elementorum Rhetorices libri duo. Paris. 153^,
8vo. — It is not however certain that this is ^he first edition, I have a

he has undoubtedly displayed a more polished taste
than many of the early labourers in the same
field. Beza, by the publication of his Latin poems,
acquired no mean celebrity among the scholars
of the age. In the catalogue of the Scotish Re-
formers we discover the names of Buchanan and
Lindsay : the former has earned a reputation
which can only decay with the love of every
thing that is elegant in literature ; and the latter,
though of far inferior fame, is confessedly enti-
tled to a respectable place in the early annals of
Scotish poetry.

Sir David Lindsay, the descendant of an an-
cient family, was born during the reign of James
the Fourth, probably at his paternal seat the
Mount near Cupar in Fife. He received, says
Dr Mackenzie, his academical education in the
University of St Andrews, and afterwards travel-
led through England, France, Italy, and Germa-
ny5. With the mode in which this biographer
discovered the place of his education, I am total-
]y unacquainted : and if Lindsay has, as he al-
leges, presented us with such intelligence respect-
ing his youthful travels, I am unable to discover
the passage in which it is contained. He informs

copy of a curious edition of Melanchthon's rhetoric, accompanied with
the explications of Martinus Crusius, Professor of Greek in the Uni-
versity of Tubingen. It was printed at Bale in octavo, probably in the
year 1564; but the time of its impression is not specified. Melanchthon
also published Erotemata Rbetoriccs.

b Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 35.

73

Us in general terms, that he had travelled through
diverse countries ; and, in particular, he mentions
the appearance of the ladies in Italy : but that he
visited any of those countries during his youth,
can only be known by conjecture.

In the year 1513 we find him a special servant to
James the Fourth ; whom he attended at Linlith-
gow when a spectre forewarned the devoted mo-
narch of his imminent danger0. Of this singular
occurrence, the following simple narrative will
probably amuse the reader*

" The king," says Lindsay of Pitscottie, " came
to Linlithgow, where he happened to be for the
time at the council, very sad and dolorous, mak-
ing his devotion to God to send him good chance

c Alexander Barclay, an ancient Scotish poet, has characterized this
chivalrous monarch in the following terms. (Skip of Foolet. Lend,
fol.)

And, ye Christen princes, whosoever ye be,
If ye be destitute of a noble captayne,

Take James of Scotland for his audacitie

And proved manhode, if ye will laude attayne :
Let him have the forewarde : have ye no disdayne,

Nor indignation ; for never king was borne

That of ought of warre can shewe the unicorne.

For if that he take once his speare in hande,

Agaynst these Turkes strongly with it to ride,
None shall be able his stroke for to withstande,

Nor before his face so hardy to abide.

Yet this his manhode increaseth not his pride $
But ever sheweth he meknes and humilitie
In worde or dede to hye and lowe degree.

VOL, II. K

74

and fortune in his voyage. In this mean
there came a man clad in a blue gown in at the
kirk door, and belted about him with a roll of
linnen cloth ; a pair of brotikins on his feet, to
the great of his legs, with all other hose and
clothes conform thereto ; but he had nothing on
his head, but syde red yellow hair behind and on
his hailts, which wan down to his shoulders ; but
his forehead was bald and bare. He seemed to
be a man of two and fifty years, with a great
pyke-staff in his hand ; and came first forward
among the lords, crying and speiring for the king,
saying, * He desired to speak with him ;' while,
at the last, he came where the king was sitting in
the desk at his prayers : but when he saw the king,
he made him little reverence or salutation, but
leaned down groflings on the desk before him and
said to him on this manner as after follows : ' Sir
king ! my mother hath sent me to you, desiring
you not to pass, at this time, where thou art pur-
posed ; for, if thou does, thou wilt not fare well
in thy journey, nor none that passeth with thee.
Further, she bade thee mell with no woman, nor
use their counsel, nor let them touch thy body,
nor thou their's ; for, if thou do it, thou wilt be
confounded and brought to shame/

" By this man had spoken thir words unto the
King's Grace, the evening song was near done ;
and the king paused on thir words, studying to
give him an answer : but in the mean time, be-

fore the king's eyes, and in presence of all the
lords that were about him for the time, this man
vanished away, and could noways be seen nor
comprehended, but vanished away as he had
been a blink of the sun, or a whip of the whirl-
wind, and could no more be seen. I heard say,
Sir David Lindsay, Lyon Herald, and John Inglis,
the Marshall, who were at that time young men,
and special servants to the King's Grace, were
standing presently beside the king ; who thought
to have laid hands on this man, that they might
have speired further tidings at him : but all for
nought : they could not touch him ; for he va-
nished away betwixt them, and was no more

seend."

This ghostly visiter seems to vie with the Evil
Genius of Brutus. Some of the nobles probably
had recourse to the agency of an apparition, in order
to divert the king from his pernicious project of in-
vading England. The figure which thus enter-
ed the church must have been composed of some-
thing more substantial thai} either a spectre or a
phantasm of the brain. When Brutus fancied he
saw a hideous apparition, he was sitting alone in
his pavillion at the dead of night e, and might
easily be deluded by his own sombre imagination :
but Jaaies, it is said, was surrounded by his cour-
tiers, and the figure visible to others as well as to

A Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 172. edit. Edinb. 1778,
c Plutarchi Opera, vol. v. p. 408. edit. Reiske, |

K 2

76

himself. That such an incident actually happen-
ed at Linlithgow, cannot reasonably be disputed :
Buchanan has related it on the authority of Sir
David Lindsay, whom he extols as a man of un-
blemished integrity f .

According to Mackenzie, Sir David " was made
one of the Gentlemen of the King's Bed-chamber,
and the care of the young prince, King James
the Fifth, was committed to him, as a person well
seen in all the customs, manners, and languages,
of the nations through which he had travelled."
But as the evidence for his early travels has been
found defective, we must also receive this infor-
mation with caution. It is produced without any
authority, and therefore entitled to little credit.
From the dedication of his Dreme to King James,
it would however appear that he had enjoyed
some office in the royal household :

Quhen thow was zoung, I bure the in my arme
Full tenderlie til thow begouth to gang,

And in thy bed oft happit the full warme ;
With lute in hand sine sweitly to the sang :
Sum time in dansing feircely I flang,

And sum time playand fairsis on the flure,

And sum time on my office takand cure.

f " In iis fuit David Lindesius Montanus, homo spectatz fidei et prp-
bitatis, nee a literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totus vitae tenor longis-
sime a mentiendo aberat ; a quo nisi ego hxc, ut tradidi, pro certis ac^
cepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram."

B-UCHANAN. Rerum Scoticarum Historia, p. ajx.

77

In The Complaint direct it to the Kingi$ Grace, he
again alludes to his faithful services :

How as ane chapman beiris his pack,

I bure thy Grace vpon my back.

And sum times strydlinges on my nek,

Dansand with mony bend and bek.

The first sillabis that thow did mute,

Was Pa, Da Lyn, vpon the lute :

Than playit I twenty springis perqueir

Quhilk was greit * plesure' for to heir.

Fra play thow let me neuer rest,

Bot Gynkertoim thow luifit ay best :

And ay quhen thow come from the scule,

Than I behuiffit to play the fule 5

As I at lenth into my DREME

My sindrie seruice did expreme :

Thocht it bene better, as sayis the wise,

Hap to the court nor gude seruise.

I wait, thow luiffit me better than .

Nor now sum wife dois hir gude-inan :

Than men til vther did record,

Said Lyndesay wald be maid ane lord.

Thow hes maid lordis, Schir, be Sanct Geill !

Df sum that hes nocht seruit sa weill.

Dr Mackenzie supposes that in his dedication
of The Drerne the poet insinuates that he had en-
joyed the accumulated offices of lyon king of
arms, steward of the household, purse-master,
treasurer, usher, and gentleman of the bed-cham-
ber : " all which places," he adds, " he was de-
prived of in the year 1533, saving that of lyon

78

king at arms, which he enjoyed till his death."
In support of these assertions, he appeals to two
passages in Lindsay's works : but the interpreta-
tion of the first evidently is, that the affection of
the young prince induced him to employ Lindsay
in services of every description ; and the second
only contains a general complaint of his unre-
quited attendance at court. Mackenzie might
have discovered a more appropriate passage :

Bot I, allace ! or euer I wist,
Was trampit doun into the dust,
With heuy charge withoutin moir 5
Bot I wist neuer zit quhairfoir j
And haistely befoir my face
Ane vther slippit in my place,
Quhilk lichtelie gat his rewaird,
And stylit was the ancient laird :
That time Lmicht mak na defence,
Bot luke perforce in patience 5
Prayand to send them ane mischance
That had the court in gouernance 5
The quhilkis aganis me did malign,
Contrair the plesure o&^he king :
For weill I knew, his Gracis minde
Was euer to me treu and kinde?
And, contrair thair intentioun,
Gart- pay me weill my pensioun :
Thocht I ane quhile wantit presence,
He leit me haue na indigence.

The only preferment which it is certain that he
obtained was the office of lyon king of arms. He

79

was installed in the year I54^g : and he appa-
rently retained his situation till the time of his
death. The above expressions may therefore be
understood as referring to a temporary lapse from
the royal favour. Had he been deprived of some
office, the emolument would also have been with-
drawn.

Of James the Fifth he always speaks in terms
of affection : and although it appears from his
own works that he experienced occasional morti-
fications, yet his attachment continued without
diminution. He was one of the few courtiers who
were present at the king's premature death1'.
The enemies of whom he complains were proba-
bly found among the dignified clergy ; whom he
has satirized with unparalleled boldness, and whom
he sometimes admonished of their duty with a de-
gree of freedom which must have excited the
keenest resentment. The king being one day
surrounded by a numerous train of nobility arid
prelates, Lindsay approached him with due reve-
rence,, and began to prefer a humble petition that
he would instal him in an office which was then
vacant. " I have," said he, " servit your Grace
lang, and luik to be rewardit as others are : and
now your maister taylor, at the plesure of God,
is departit ; wherefore I wald desire of your
Grace to bestow this little benefits upon me."

% Sir David Lindsay's Blazonings; MS.
h Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 276.

80

The king replied that he was amazed at such
request from a man who could neither shape nor
sew, " Sir," rejoined the poet, " that maks nae
matter ; for you have given bishoprics and bene-
fices to mony standing here about you, and yet
they can nouther teach nor preach ; and why may
not I as weill be your taylor, thocht I can nouther
shape nor sew ; seeing teaching and preaching
are nae less requisite to their vocation than
shaping and sewing to ane taylor ?" James im-
mediately perceived the object of his petition,
and scrupled not to divert himself at the expence
of the enraged ecclesiastics1.

Lindsay's hostility to the church of Rome is
generally considered as the principal source of
his disappointments. The Reformation was now
advancing with gradual steps : and at an early
stage of its progress he had boldly avowed his at-
tachment. " The Scotch," says a celebrated writ-
er, " from that philosophical and speculative cast
which characterises their national genius, were
more zealous and early friends to a reformation
of religion than their neighbours in England.
The pomp and elegance of the catholic worship
made no impression on a people whose devotion
sought only for solid gratification ; and who had
no notion that the interposition of the senses could
with any propriety be admitted to cooperate in

« H, Charters, Preface to Lindsay's warkii.

81

, an exercise of such a nature, which appealed to
reason alone, and seemed to exclude all aids of
the imagination V

To the consummation of this glorious under-
taking, whose benignant influence we at the
present moment feel and acknowledge, the lite-
rary compositions and personal consequence of
Lindsay seem to have contributed with powerful
effect. His writings tended to prepare the public
mind for a systematic attempt towards the over-
throw of papal superstition, and the establishment
of the more rational doctrines and forms of Pro-
testantism. The Papists regarded him as an ad-
versary not less dangerous than Buchanan and
Knoxk. His learning and experience qualified
him for regulating the unsteady views of those
who possessed zeal without knowledge : and it is
probable that he assisted the Reformers in many
* of their important deliberations. He is enume-
rated among those who in j 547 counselled the
ordination of John Knox1; in whom his pene-
tration must readily have discovered that energy
of mind which qualified him for the arduous task
which he was destined to perform. Knox, it is

j Warton's Hist, of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 321.

k " Knoxii, Lindsayi, Buchanani, Villoxii, aliorum, impia scripta in-
cautorum manibus teruntur : opus erat antidote, ne latius venenum ser-
peret."

DEMPSTER. Scotia Illustrior, p. 54. Lugd. Bat, l6ao, 8vo.

1 Knox's Historic of the Reformatioun, p. 76,

VOL. II L

true, was not elevated above the frailties incident
to humanity ; but he was undoubtedly a man of
undaunted fortitude, of undeviating probity, and
of fervent piety ; a man who pursued the splendid
object in view with an ardour of mind which no
opposition could quench, and with a steadiness of
perseverance which no danger could diminish.
Of the character of an individual who had so con-
spicuously distinguished himself at the downfall
of a church, whose, unholy priests had long been
accustomed to revel amid the precious spoils of a
deluded nation, it would have been unreasonable
to expect that a disappointed faction should ex-
hibit a very favourable representation m : but when
in the present age those who aspire to the prosti-
tuted title of philosopher, begin to vie with each
other in loading a public benefactor with oppro-
brious epithets, they evince themselves to be
swayed by such prejudices as beset the most ignc-
rant of mankind. Let Knox be judged by the
maxims of his own age, and his character will be
pronounced illustrious.

In the year 1531 Lindsay had the honour to
be employed on an embasy to the Emperor
Charles the Fifth ; whom he found residing at

m James Laing, a Doctor of the Sorbonne, has drawn the character
of Knox with matchless liberality : " Vix excesserat jam ex ephebis, cum
patris sui uxorem violarat, sunm novercair. t:.t'arat, et cum ea, cui reve-

rentia potissim. urn adhiber.da f uerat, at " i urn t'ecerat. Rumor

erat impium haereticum nocturne* conventus et clandestina cblloqma cum

Brussels". This important trust affords sufficient
grounds for concluding that he was then regarded
with a more favourable eye. And in 1537, when
Mary of Guise landed in Scotland, he exercised
his ingenuity in contriving the pageants which
were displayed at St Andrews. " She was re-
ceived," says Robert Lindsay, " at the New
Abbey-gate ; upon the east side thereof there was
made to her a triumphant arch by Sir David
Lindsay of the Mount, Lyon Herald, which
caused a great cloud come out of the heavens
above the gate, and open instantly; and there
appeared a fair lady most like an angel, having
the keys of Scotland in ,her hands, and delivered
them to the queen in sign and token that all the
hearts of Scotland were open to receive her

cocodcemone, cui se totum dederat, saepenumero habuisse, ita quod ejus
meretrix forte eum interrogaret, quis asset ille niger homo cum quo nocte
superior! locutus fuerat ; quod verbum tarn iniquo animo tulit, quod ilia
proximo die esset extincta, sed quomodo id acciderat nemo intellexit.
Tamen nihiiominus vix datum fuit funus, cum ille taurus quartaj aut
quintse meretricis novo inflammatur amore. At impudei>tissimus maxim e-
que lascivus caper, cum jam gelidus totus heberet sanguis, satis etiam
tardante senecta,, nee non frigerent languid® et effoetse in corpore vires,
coepit principum et nob ilium virorum -filias quazrere, cum quibus
publice scortari posset." , Laingaeus De Vita tt IVLuribus H<£reticorumy
f. 113. b. Paris. 1581, 8vo.'; These observations are too gross to be en-
titled to a serious refutation from any writer of the present age. A simi-
lar character of Knox has been exhibited by Archibald Hamilton, in his
dialogue De Confusione Calvinante Secte afud Scotos, Paris. 15 7 7, 8vo: but
the impotent malignity of such writers is zealously exposed by Ptii.cipai
Smeton. (Ad Virulentum Hamiltonii Dlalogum Ortbodoxa Respomio* Edinb.
1579, 4to.)

n Pinkerton's Hist, of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 310.

L 2

Grace ; with certain orations and exhortations
made by the said Sir David Lindsay to the queen,
instructing her to serve her God, ohey her hus-
band, and keep her body clean, according to
God's will .md commandments0."

When the Earl of Arran was appointed regent,
hopes seem to have been entertained that he
would approve himself a steady friend to the
cause of reformation ; but the facility of his dis-
position rendered him too apt to veer from one
party to another. Lindsay is enumerated among
those who adhered to him while he continued to
act in conformity to the principles \yhich they
avowedp.

After that period he appears to have lived in
a state of dignified retirement. Spotswood in-
forms us that he " died in a good age" : but Mac-
kenzie, I know not on what authority, affirms
that he " died towards the latter end of the year
1553, being very agedq." This statement is pro-
bably erroneous. During that year Lindsay was
engaged in the composition of his dialogue, or,
as it is commonly termed, The Monarchic. Com-
puting the probable duration of the world, he
reckons, according to the vulgar calculation, live
thousand five hundred and fifty-three years from

• Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 250.

P Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 73. 97,

** Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 37.

85

the creation till the period of his writing. He
appears to have survived till the year 1567. On
the twenty-second day of February, ,1567, Sir
William Stewart was inaugurated in the office
lyon king of arms'": and Lindsay seems to have
retained the situation till the time of his decease.
In 15.13 Sir David Lindsay was a special servant
to K. James the Fourth ; and at that period must
at least have been about twenty years of age. If
he survived till the year 1567, he must according
to this computation have reached the age of
seventy-four.

His character has always been represented as
highly respectable. Archbishop Spotswood, speak-
ing of the eminent men who adorned this sera
of our history, proceeds in the folio wing manner:
" Sir David Lindsay of the Mount shall be first
named ; a man honorably descended, and greatly
favored by K. James the Fifth. Besides his
knowledge and deep judgment of heraldry
(whereof he was the chief) and in other publick
affairs, he was most religiously inclined ; but
much hated by the clergy for the liberty he used

r Birrel's Diarey, p. 14. apud Dalyell. — Stewart was undoubtedly
the immediate successor of Lindsay. In his collection of blazonings, Lind-
say has inserted his own coat of arms : and those of the four succeeding
lyon kings of arms have been subjoined by some more recent limner.
The catalogue stands thus: Sir David Lindsay of the Mount, 1542, Sir
William Stewart, 1567, Sir David Lindsay of Rathellet, 1568, Sir
David Lindsay of the Mount, 1.593, and Sir Jeremy Lindsay of Annit-
land, 1621.

in condemning the superstition of the time, and
rebuking their loose and dissolute lives. Notthe-
less, he went unchallenged, and was not brought
in question ; which shewed the, good account
wherein he was held8." To the testimony of
this venerable prelate we may subjoin that of
Dr j ohn Johnston :

Melliflui cantus Syren dulcissima, qualem

Scotigenee Aonides et recinunt et amantj

Deliciae regum, tituloque ac nomine regisj
Hoc fuerat nato quod fuit ante patri :

£)uam Musis charus, quam diis quoque regibus olim,
Tarn vera placuit religione Deo r.

Of the works of Lindsay, various editions
have appeared. " The Testament and Complaint
of our Souerane Lordis Papingo" was printed at
London by John Byddell in the year 1538. His
" Dialog of the Miserabill Estait of this Warld
betuix Experience and ane Courteour," together
with " The Papingo," " The Dreme," " The De-
ploratioun of the Deith of Quene Magdalene,"
and " The Tragedie of the Cardinal," was " im-
prentit at the command and expensis of Doctor
Macabeus in Copmanhouin" about the year
J553- " The place»" sa?s Mr Pinkerton," is false;
and the book was in all likelihood printed in
London"." That it was however actually printed

5 Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 97.
1 Johnston. Heroes Scoti, p. 27. vLudg. Bat. 1603, 4to.
u Piukerton's List of the Scotish Poets, p. civ.

at Copenhagen, is by no means improbable. It
is at least certain that Dr Macbeth or Macabeus
was not a fictitious but a real person ; and that
his religious principles were congenial with those
of Lindsay. In 1534 the persecution which pre-
vailed in Scotland compelled John Macbeth, with
Alexander Hales v and other scholars, to fly for
refuge to foreign countries w : and he is reported
to have obtained a professorship in the University
of Copenhagen x. " The Monarchic," " The Papin-
go," " The Dreme," and " The Tragedie of the
Cardinal," were " imprentit at the command and
expensis of Maister Sammuel Jascuy, in Paris" in
the year 1558. " How Lindsay's works," says
Mr Pinkerton, " so inimical to Rome, could be
printed at Paris, it is hard to imagine ; and I sus-
pect the true place was Rouen in Normandy,
a town where different Hugonot books appeared."
In an edition of these three productions, together
with " The Complaint of Schir Dauid Lyndesay,"
printed at Edinburgh by John Scot for Henry

T An account of Hales may be found in Bayle's Dictionnaire Hhtoriqut
et Critique, torn, i, p. 1 56. Bayle quotes " Jacobi Thomasii Oratio de
Alexandro Alesio," printed, together with several others, at Leipzig in
the year 1683.

w Petrie's Hist, of the Catholick Church, cent. xvi. p. 173.

* In the oration of Gilbert Gray, which Dr Mackenzie has prefixed
to his lives, he is improperly mentioned by the name of Christian Mac-
beth. Mr Petrie informs us that he was chaplain to Christian King of
Denmark. — " Sed cum bonarum literarum cultura formatus, suspiciendus
posteris vivebat Christianus Macabeus Scotus, Professor Hafniensis, qui
scripsit De Vcra et Falsa Ecclesia, &c. Floruit anno partse salutis 1558."
GRAY. Orat, de Illustribus Scotiae Scriptoribus, p. xxxi.

Charters in 1568, mention is made of " the im-
prentingis of Rowen and London ;" a circumstance
which serves to strengthen the above conjecture.
Lindsay's works, says another editor; *4 haue bene
imprentit in Rowen, bot altogidder sa corrupt and
fals, that na man can be abill to atteine the au-
thouris minde be them. They are likewise laitlie
imprentit in Londoun, with litill better succesy."
No collective London edition prior to that of
J566 has hitherto been discovered. In this the
poems are injudiciously translated into English.
Other impressions appeared at Edinburgh in 1574,
1588, 1592, and 1597. An edition of 4< TheTesta-
ment and Complaint of the Papingo," was printed
by Bassantin of Edinburgh in the year 1574 : and
during the following year an Anglicised edition of
" The Monarchic" appeared at London. " The
Historic of . ane Nobil and Walzeand Squyer,
William Meldrum, vmquhyle Laird of Cleische
and Bynnis," was inserted in the edition of his
works undertaken by Henry Charters in 1592 ;
and republished, in a separate form, in 1594 and
1602. This poem is also to be found among Mr
Pinkerton's Scotish Poems. The " Satyre of the
Thrie Estaits, in Commendatioun of Vertew and
Vituperatioun of Vyce," was printed by Robert
Charters in the year 1602, and has lately been
reedited in the above collection of Mr Pinkerton,

? H. Charters, Preface to Lindsay's Warkis.

89

All these early editions are in quarto. There
are many later impressions of little or no value :
being intended for the use of the common people,
they are generally found devested of the ancient
orthography z.

We are informed by Dr Mackenzie that vari-
ous works of Lindsay were printed at Edinburgh
in the year 1540 : but Mr Pinkerton has affirmed
that no Protestant book could be printed at
Edinburgh till 1567, the year in which Queen
Mary was deposed ; and he is therefore per-
suaded that the first genuine Scotish edition of
Lindsay's works was that which made its appear-
ance in 1568. No impression of an earlier date
can indeed be discovered : but the accuracy of
these conclusions may perhaps be disputed.
Protestant books, however obnoxious to the ex-
isting government, might in a clandestine man-
ner be printed long before the period which he
has specified. Lindsay is known to have satirized
the Catholics in a play represented before the
court by permission of the king himself* : and
the same obnoxious play was afterwards exhi-
bited before the queen regent, who was suffi-
ciently attached to the old faith5. Such was the

2 Lindsay's poetical works, with the omission of various passages, have
however been lately reprinted in a more correct form by Mr Sibbald, in
his Chronicle of Scottish Poetry. Edinb, 1802, 4 vols. 8vo.

a See the Dissertation on the Early Scotish Drama, p. 208.

b " Na les ernist and vehement," says H. Charters, " was he agania
them in his fairsis and publict playis, quhairin he was verray craftie and

VOL. II. M

power of the Reformers, that even so early as the
year 1562 they procured the imprisonment of
John Scot, a printer who had undertaken the
impression of one of the Catholic treatises of Dr
Ninian Winzet0. The compositions of Lindsay,
if not printed in Scotland before the year
1568, appear at least to have been circulated
with little reserve. In 1558 the convoca-
tion passed an act " that Sir David Lindsay's
book should be abolished and burnt d."

Bale informs us that Lindsay wrote Acta sui
Temporis* ; and the same work is likewise men-
tioned by Principal Gray f. As however it is
highly probable that such a composition never
existed, we may spare ourselves the labour of
forming conjectures with regard to its nature.
Dr Mackenzie asserts that he was the author of a
history of Scotland ; and, for this statement,
quotes the authority of Robert Lindsay of Pits-
cottieg. The only apparent foundation for such
a report is a passage in the preface ; where he
remarks that in collecting his materials, he was
•" instructed and learned, and lately informed by

excellent. Sic ane spring he gaue them in the play playit beside Edin-
burgh in presence of the Quene Regent, and ane greit part of the nobilitie,
with ane exceiding greit nowmer of pepill."

c Leslaeus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 540.

ti Lindsay's History of Scotland, p. 315.

e Balei Scriptores Britannise, cent. xiv. p. 224.

f Gray. Orat. de Illustribus Scotix Scriptoribus, p. xxx.

S Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 37.

91

thir authors as after follow ; to wit, Patrick Lord
Lindsay of the Byres, Sir William Scot of Bal-
wirie, Knight, Sir Andrew Wood of Largo,
Knight, Mr John Major, Doctor of Theology,
who wrote his chronicle hereupon, and also Sir
David Lindsay of the Mount, Knight, alias Lyon
King of Arms, with Andrew Wood of Largo,
principal and familiar servant to King James V.
Andrew Fernie of that ilk, a nobleman of recent
memory, Sir William Bruce of Earlshall, Knight,
who hath written, very justly, all the deeds since
Floddon field." But it is obvious that of these
individuals two only are to be regarded as his^o-
rians : and the anecdotes for which he was in-
debted to the rest, must have been communicated
by verbal intercourse. Dr John Mair and Sir
William Bruce are carefully distinguished as
authors of historical productions.

In the Advocates Library are two of Lindsay's
MSS. on subjects of heraldry. The one is entitled
" Collectanea Domini Dauidis Lindesay de Moun-
the, Militis, Leonis Armorum Regis ;" the other
" Injunctiounis set furth be Sir Dauid Lindsay
and his brethrene Herralds to be obseruit be the
Officiars of Armes within this Realme." The
former, notwithstanding its Latin title, is also
written in the Scotish language.

The same library contains a miscellaneous col-
lection of blazonings, apparently executed by
Lindsay's own hand. The volume has no title-

M 2

page ; but the subsequent inscription ascertains
its author : " The Armes of Sr Dauid Lindesay
of the Mont, Knycht, alias Lion King of Armes,
autor of this present buke." The blazonings are
interspersed with a few slight notices ; and are
introduced by the following verses, which may be
supposed to have been written by Lindsay :

Si spectare cupis preclara insignia regum,

Illustre heroum semideumque genus,
Et clarum exardens quos dedit ad sidera virtus,

Et quibus hac vita gloria major erat,
s Ut paucis sapias, heec sunt insignia quorum

Defensa invicto Scotia marte fuit :
Cum patriee fortes animam effudere superbam,

Talia pro meritis sunt monimenta data,
Nobilium ut moneant animos pro ingentibus actis

Premia quas exemplis postera turba colat :
Mira arte et miris, ut cernis, picta figuris,

Ordine quaeque suo versa tabella dabit.

At the bottom of the page appears this inscription
in a more recent hand : " 1630. Jacobus Balfour-
ius, Kynardiae -Miles, Leo Armorum Rex."

A letter from Lindsay to the lord secretary of
Scotland, written at Antwerp in the year 1531,
has lately been published11. Two portraits of
him, copied from the wooden vignettes prefixed
to editions of his works'1, are to be found in the
first volume of Mr Pinkerton's Scotisb Poems,

h Pinkerton's Scotish Poems, vol. i. p. xviii.
i Paris, 1558, 4to. Edinburgh, 1634, 8m

93

Lindsay's gallery in the old church of Moni-
mail was distinguished by the following inscrip-r
tion, probably written by himself:

Thy hairt prepair, thy God in Chryst ador,
Mount up by grace, and then thqu's come to glore.

The word Mount may perhaps be supposed to
bear a quibbling allusion to Lindsay's family-
seat.

WE are now arrived at an aera of Scotish lite-
'rature which was adorned by the genius of
Buchanan, Wilson, Boyce, and Mair, of Dun-
bar, Douglas, Lindsay, and Bellenden. In the
course of the sixteenth century classical and
theological learning had begun to be more gene-
rally diffused : many of our countrymen, after
having visited the continental universities, had at
length returned to disseminate the principles of
polite knowledge, as well as the new tenets which
characterized this eventful crisis.

Vernacular poetry was most assiduously culti-
vated in Scotland at a period when it seems to
have been in a great measure neglected in Eng-
land. An English critic has remarked that " the
interval between the reigns of Henry V. and
Jlenry VIII. which comprehends near a century,
Although uncommonly rich in Scotch poets of
distinguished excellence, does not furnish us with

a single name among the natives of England de-
serving of much notice j."

About the period when Lindsay began his poe-
tical career, those causes which at length pro-
duced a radical change in the national form of
worship, were operating with visible efficacy : the
secret springs of vigorous action were nearly
wound to a sufficient pitch ; and a brave people
was about to vindicate those religious rights which
can never be alienated without a total depriva-
tion of political freedom. Although a bolder
spirit of enquiry was thus promoted, yet it can-
not be affirmed that poetry derived immediate
and obvious advantages from the revolution.
The compositions of such of our poets as em-
braced the reformed religion, are generally infe-
rior to those of their Catholic predecessors. The
unostentatious genius of the Presbyterian disci-
pline is less congenial to a poetical imagination
than the pomp and parade of the Romish super-
stition. The one addresses the eternal principle
of reason ; the other takes possession of those
outer posts of intellection, the senses.

Zeal is often blind and inefficacious. The
early poets of the Reformation have exhibited
performances which can only obtain the praise
due to good intentions.

Of the more splendid beauties of poetry the
compositions of Lindsay present but few vestiges.

i Ellis, Hist. Sketch of English Poetry, vol.i. p. 312.

They are however amply replenished with good
sense, which Horace justly regards as the found-
ation of literary excellence. And to this quality,
which does not necessarily imply any unusual
powers of execution, he unites a liveliness of fancy
that often captivates the mind. His satire is
pointed and unrestrained. The freedom with
which he exposes vice, even when it attaches it-
self to royalty, has stamped his works with the.
character of intrepid sincerity. The objection
however which has been urged against Juvenal,
may with equal propriety be applied to Lindsay:
he sometimes exposes vice in the language of the
vitious.

Lindsay presents us with many curious pros-
pects of society and manners : and although his
delineations may in various instances be regarded
as somewhat coarse, they are always faithful or
picturesque. In this respect his writings are
highly valuable, and ought to be accurately in-
spected by those who direct their attention more
particularly to the civil or ecclesiastical history
of Scotland.

In almost every poem which he has composed,
we find severe but well-founded reflections on
the ignorance and immorality of the Catholic
clergy. If therefore the notion be just, that
" malevolence to the clergy is seldom at a great
distance from irreverence of religion1"," Lindsay

11 Johnson's Lives of English Poets, vol. ii. p. loa.

has perpetually exposed himself to the charge
impiety. But this position of Dr Johnson, as it
reduces good and evil to the same standard, may
safely be controverted. Among the descendants
of Abraham only was the order of priesthood
sanctioned by divine approbation : but a reli-
gious establishment in any other nation, whe^
ther, with Dr Warburton, we regard it as
voluntarily allied to the civil power, or, with
others, as a mere Appendage or necessary instru-
ment of the latter, cannot be unconditionally
venerated by the various members of the state.
The ministers of religion are subject to the com-
mon infirmities of humanity, and are only respect-
able in proportion as they are virtuous1.

That Lindsay should have found leisure to ac-
quire the varied knowledge which he evidently
possessed, cannot but excite our surprise when
we reflect that he led the unquiet life of a court-
ier. His profound skill in heraldry has often
been extolled ; and he appears to have been much
conversant in history and theology. His ac-
quaintance with Latin authors, ancient as well
as modern, was undoubtedly extensive : but to
the unpolluted fountains of Grecian literature he

1 Sed nee me oppedere coelo

Crede, nee in divos redivivam attollere Phlegram :
Namque ego sum teneris semper veneratus ab annis
Pontifices, sanctosque patres, quos Candida virtus
Reddidit seterna dignos in secula fama.

BUCHANAN.

97

s.eems never to have approached. When he
mentions a Greek writer, he speaks in the unsa-
tisfactory accents of ignorance. Overlooking
Homer, he has denominated Hesiod the sovereign
poet of Greece. His critical judgments of the
Latin writers are sometimes vague or fortuitous :
to Ennius he unhappily applies the epithet
ornate.

His versification is easy and agreeable. His
style often approaches towards elegance, but, like
that of Douglas, is overloaded with extraneous
terms. Prepotent, pulchritude, celsitude, condign,
dolent, are words which occur in the compass of
one short stanza.

" In the works of Sir David Lindsay," says
Mr Ellis, " we do not often find, either the
splendid diction of D unbar, or the prolific imagi-
nation of Gawin Douglas ; perhaps, indeed, his
Dream is the only composition which can be
cited as uniformly poetical : but his various
learning, his good sense, his perfect knowledge of
courts and of the world, the facility of his versi-
fication, and, above all, his peculiar talent of
adapting himself to readers of all denominations,
will continue to secure to him a considerable
share of that popularity, for which he was origi-
nally indebted to the opinions he professed, no
less than to his poetical merit™.

m Ellis, Hist. Sketch of English Poetry,' vol. ii. p. ai.

VOL. II. N

93

1 His Dialog of the Miser abill Estait of this Warld
is not, as it has sometimes been represented, a
tedious detail of well-known events, but a work
replete with various learning, and enlivened by
the pointed remarks of a perspicacious mind. It
appears to have been composed during his old
age, and may therefore be regarded as com-
prizing the accumulated maxims of a long life of
alternate action and contemplation. It has been
unfaithfully characterized as a meagre com-
pendium of universal history. The poet's prin-
cipal object is not to narrate events, but, by
means of the great occurrences recorded in sacred
- or prophane history, to illustrate general positions :
and although in the prosecution of this design he
may occasionally appear somewhat tedious, yet
for the most part he is so fortunate as to prevent
attention from languishing. His pages present
us with contributions to the history of manners,
with specimens of the learning which was then
cultivated, and with prospects of the deplorable
state of a tottering church.

Musing on the wretchedness and instability in-
cident to human affairs, the poet early in a sum-
mer morning enters a pleasant field, and is there
accosted by a venerable old man named Expe-
rience. He informs this reverend stranger that
he has at length resolved to abandon the court,
and to employ the remainder of his life in prepar-
ation for death ; and he expresses a wish to be in-

99

structed in the most practicable method of obtain-
ing tranquillity. The answer returned by Experi-
ence has often been found too true : Earthly happi-
ness is a shadow which no man need pursue ; and
human life is a state of warfare and tribulation.

This reflection being presented to his mind, he
begins to enquire concerning the origin of evil :
and the momentous question is discussed in the
course of their long conference. But previous
to his entering into detail, he offers a sensible
apology for writing in his native language ; and
thence takes occasion to expose the absurdity of
that maxim which prohibits the body of the
people from reading the sacred scriptures. Pearls,
say the Romanists, must not be cast before swine :
children, as well as adults, may experience the
benefits of fire and water ; and yet their parents
must be careful to guard them against those dan-
gerous elements".

Having taken a review of the most remarkable
events recorded by Moses, and of the progress of
the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman em-
pires, he next proceeds to treat of the spiritual
monarchy of the pope. Against the corruptions
of the church of Rome he inveighs with wonder-

n The decrees of popes and the sentiments of eminent Catholic writers,
relative to the expediency of permitting the scriptures to be redd in the
vulgar tongues, have been collected by Jacobus Laurentius, in his illiberal
animadversions on Grotius. (Laurentii Hugo Grotius Pafiizans, p. 194.
Amst. 1642, 8vo.)

N 2

10O

ful boldness, and in a spirit of manly indignation.
Of the downfal of the papal grandeur we meet
with the following prediction :

Appeirandlie it may be kend,
Quod he, thair gloir sail haue an end j
I raene thair temporall monarchic
Sail turne intill humilitie :
Throw Goddis word, without debait,
Thav sail turne to thair first estaite.
As Danielis prophesie appeiris,
Thairto sail nocht be mony zeiris.

Towards the conclusion of the poem, he specu-
lates on death, judgment, and celestial beatitude,
One passage is too remarkable to be overlooked:

To God alone the day bene knawin,
Quhilk neuer was to nane angell schawin ;
Howbeit, be diuers coniectouris
And principal expositouris
Of Daniell and his prophecie,
And be the sentence of Elie j
Quhilkis hes declarit, as they can.
How lang it is sen the warld began,
And for to schaw hes done thair cure
How lang thay traist it sail indure,
And als how mony ages bene,
As in thair warkis may be sene.
Bot till declair thir questiounis,
/ Thair bene diuers opiniounis.
Sum wryteris hes the warld deuydit
In ser ages, as bene decydit j

101

Jnto Fasciculus Temporum

And Cronica Cronicorum :

Bot be the sentence of Elie,

The warld deuydit is in thrie, .

As cunning Maister Carioun °

Hes maid plaine expositioun j

How Elie sayis, without weir,

The warld sail stand ser thousand zeir :

Of quhome I follow the sentence,

And lattis other buikis go hence.

From the creation of Adam

Twa thousand zeir till Abraham j

From Abraham, be this narratioun,

To Christis incarnatioun,

Richt sa lies bin twa thousand zeiris :

And be thir prophecyis appeiris,

From Christ, as they mak till us kend,

Twa thousand till the warldis end :

Of quhilkis ar by gone sickerlie

Fyue thousand fiue hundreth thre and fyftie :

And sa remanis to come, but weir,

Four hundreth with seuin and fourtie zeir j

And than the Lord omnipotent

Suld cum untill his greit Judgement p.

0 The Fasciculus Temporum is the production of Wernerus Rolewinck de
}Laer, a Carthusian monk of St Barbara at Cologne. He was a native of
Westphalia, and died in the year 1502. (Vossius De Historic** Latinis, p.
569.) The Chronica Cbronicorum of Hartmannus Schedelius was printed
at Nuremburg in 1493. Trithemius characterizes him as " ingenio prxs-
fa,n$ et clarus eloquio." For a particular account of the chronicle of Car-
rlo, consult Bayle's Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, torn. ii. p. 56.

P A similar computation may be found in Wedderburn : " I vil arme
me vith the croniklis of Master Ihone Carion, quhar he allegis the pro*
phesye of Kelie, seyand, that fra the begynnyng of the varld on to the
consummatione of it, sal be the space of sex thousand zeir," &c. (Com*
flaynt of Scotland, p. 54.)

102

The verity of this prediction cannot yet be as-
certained : but that of his countryman Napier
has failed of its accomplishment. " The day of
God's judgement," says Napier, " appeares to fall
betwixt the yeares of Christ 1688 and 1700"."

^ Napier's Plaine Discovery of the Revelation of St John, p. iz. edit.
Edinb. 1645, 4to. — This illustrious man seems to have paid some atten-
tion to the study of poetry. In his curious treatise he has versified " cer-
tain notable prophecies extract out of the books of Sibylla," which with-
out any apparent scruple he regards as genuine. His work is prefaced
fey the following address to Antichrist :

The book this bill sends to the beast.
Craving amendment notu in least.

God first to John in Pathmos me presents,
Who sent me syne the seven kirks untill.
As forth I foore with the two testaments,
God's truth to teach in witnessing his will,
Thou, bloody beast ! us cruelly did kill,
In sack of schismes syling up our sense :
Our corps unkind then stonished lay still,
Till seventy years eighteen times passed hence.
But now since come is untill audience
God's word from heaven, the voyce of verity,
Quickening these corps with true intelligence,
So long supprest by thy subtility ;
I plain proclaime and proove by prophecy,
That thou, O Rome ! rais'd up on hills seven,
City supream and seate of sodomy,
Under whose reign our Lord to death was driven,
\ And our martyrs rudely rent and riven,
Art heire and eroy to great Babylon ;
Whereby her name God hath to thee given.
Thou whore ! thou sit'st the bloody beast upon :
Thy dayes are done, thy glory now is gone : *

Burnt shalt thou be, and made a den of devils.
Flee from her then, my flock ; leave her aloue,
Lest that ye be partaker of her evills :

103

To form a copious selection of striking. and
poetical passages which occur in the four books
of The Monarchic, would be no very difficult task :
but when a late writer observes that in many in-
stances Lindsay displays a sublimity of concep-
tion which Milton probably disdained not to imi-
tate, we can only admire the boldness of the cri-
tic without acquiescing in his decision. It would
be equally rational to affirm that Milton borrow-
ed the plan of his great poem from Sir Richard
Maitland.

A Latin version of this dialogue was under-
taken by David Carnegie of Aberdeen ; but the
scheme was defeated by his premature death r.

The next poem in the order of the volume is
*s The Testament and Complaint of our Souerane
Lordis Papingo King James the Fyft, lyand sair
woundit, and may not die till everie man haue
hard quhat scho sayis ; quhairfoir, gentill reidaris,
haist zow that scho wer out of paine." The ob-
ject of this work is to admonish the king and his
courtiers, and to satirize the dissolute ecclesiast-
ics. The poet undoubtedly discovers much hu-
mour and good sense : but most of the strictures
might have proceeded from himself with more
propriety than from a parrot. The following pas-
sage may be quoted as a favourable specimen :

For doth at hand aproach the latter day

When Christ his church shall reign with him for aye.

r Gray. Orat. de Illustribus Scotise Scriptoribus, p. xxxi.

104

Dame Chastitie did steill away for schame,
Fra time scho did persaue thair puruiance,

Dame Sensuall a letter gart proclame,
And hir exylit Italic and France.
In Ingland couth scho get none ordinance.

Than to the king and court of Scotland

Scho markit her withouttin mair demand.

Traisting into that court to get comfort,
Scho maid hir humbill supplicatioun.

Schortly thay said scho suld get na support ',
But hoisted hir with blasphematioun : —
To priestis ga mak zour protestatioun ;

It is, said thay, mohy ane hundreth zeir

Sen Chastitie had ony entres heir.

Tyrit for trauell, scho to the preistis past,
And to the rewlaris of religioun.

Of hir presence schortly thay war agast j
Sayand thay thocht it hot abusioun
Hir to resaue ; sa with conclusioun,

With ane auise, decretit and gaue dome,

Thay wald resset na rebell out of Rome.

The concluding thought seems peculiarly happy.
The Dreme has been characterized by Warton
and Ellis as the most poetical of Lindsay's com-
positions.— After having spent a long winter
night without sleep, the poet rises from his bed,
and bends his course towards the sea-shore. His
description of the faded appearance of the land-
scape is finely conceived and elegantly exprest :

105

I met Dame Flora in dule weid disagysit,
Ouhilk into May was dulce and delectabill :

With stalwart stormis hir sweitnes was suprisit j
Hir heuinly hewis war turnit into sabill,
Ouhilkis vmquhill war to lufFaris amiabill.

Fled from the froist, the tender flouris I saw

Under Dame Natures mantill lurking law.

The small fowlis in flockis saw I fle j

To Nature makand lamentatioun,
Thay lichtit doun beside me on ane tre j

Of thair complaint I had compassioun j

And with ane piteous exclamatioun
Thay said, Blissit be Somer wi% his flouris !
And waryit be thow, Winter, witrrthy schouris !

Allace Aurora ! the sillie lark can cry,

Quhair hes thow left thy balmy liquour sweit,

That vs reiosit, we mounting in the sky ?
Thy siluer droppis ar turnit into sleit :
Of fair Phebus quhair is thy holsum heit ?

Ouhy tholis thow thy heuinly plesand face

With mystic vapouris to be obscurit allace f

He enters a cave, and purposes " to register in
rhyme some merry matter of antiquity;" but
finding himself opprest and languid, he wraps
himself in his cloak and is overpowered by sleep.
He fancies himself accosted by a beautiful female
named Remembrance; who conducts him to ma-
ny unknown regions. They first descend into
hell, and there perceive innumerable shoals of
popes, emperors, kings, cardinals, bishops, and ba-

VOL. II. O

106

rons. Lindsay's notions of the infernal domini
are not very unlike those of Virgil.

Having surveyed this dreary region, they as-
cend towards heaven, but in their passage visij^
the sun and the planets : and the poet thus finds
an opportunity of entering into some of the more
curious speculations of astronomy. They at length
pass through the crystalline heaven, and arrive in
the celestial kingdom. This leads to brief disqui-
sitions relative to the trinity and the nine orders
of angels.

After having contemplated the various divi-
sions of the earth, he enquires concerning the
terrestrial paradise, and is presented with a view
of its delightful boundaries.

This paradise, of all plesour repleit,

Situate I saw to the orient j
That glorious garth of euery flouris did fleit,

The lustie lilleis, the rosis redolent,

Fresche hailsum frutes indeficient j
Baith herbe and tre thair growis euer grene,
Throw vertew of the temperate air serene.

The sweit hailsum aromatike odouris
Proceding from the herbis medicinall,

The heuinly hewis of the fragrant flouris,
It was ane sicht wonder celestiall.
The perfectioun to schaw in speciall

And ioyis of the regioun deuine,

Of mankinde it excedis the mgyne.

107

And als sa hie in situatioun,

Surmounting the mid regioun of the air,

Ouhair na maner of perturbatioun

Of wedder may ascend sa hie as ' thair.'
Four rludis flowing from ane fontane fair,

As Tygris, Ganges. Euphrates, and Nyle,

Quhilk in the eist transcurris mony ane myle.

The country closit is about full richt

With wallis hie of hote and birning fyre,

And straitly keipit be ane angell bricht

Sen the departing of Adam our grandschyre,
Quhilk throw his cryme incurrit Gocidis ire,

And of that place tynt the pcssessioun

Baith from him self and his successioun.

To compare Lindsay's description of paradise with
that of Milton, may be no unpleasing task :

So on he fares, and to the border comes

Of Eden, where delicious Paradise,

NOW nearer, crowns with her inclosure green,

As with a rural mound, the champam head

Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides

With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,

Access deny'd ; and over head up grew

Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

Cedar, and pine, and fir, and branching palm,

A sylvan scene , and as the ranks ascend

Shade over shade, a woody theatre

Of stateliest view. Yet higher than their tops

The verd'rous wall of Paradise up sprung ;

Which to our general sire gave prospect large

Into this nether empire neighboring round :

108

And higher than that wall a circling row
Of goodliest trees, loaden with fairest fruit,
Blossoms and fruits at once of golden hue,
Appear'd, with gay enamel'd colours mix'd.

The difference between these two passages is al-
most beyond calculation ; and yet Lindsay's de-
scription is not entirely devoid of poetical merit.
The poet is next gratified with a distant view
of his native land. He expresses his astonishment
that a country possest of such natural advantages,
and inhabited by so ingenious a race of men,
should still continue in a hopeless state of pover-
ty. Wealth, replies his conductress, can never
enter where policy is not to be found ; and equi-
ty can only reside with peace. A nation must
of necessity be unprosperous, when those who
ought to administer justice are guilty of slumber-
ing in the tribunal. — Their attention is now at-
tracted by a very remarkable figure :

And thus as we wer talking to and fro,

We saw ane busteous beirne cum ouir the bent,

But hors, on fute, als fast as he micht go,
Ouhais raiment was al raggit reuin and rent.
With visage lene as he had fastit Lent ;

And forwart fast his wayis he did auance

With ane richt melancholious countenance 5

With scrip on hip, and pykestaff in his hand,

As he had bin purposit to pas fra hame,
Ouod I, Gude-man, I wald fane understand,

at ze plesit, to wit quhat wer zour name.

109

Quod he, My sone, of that I think greit schame i
Bot sen thow wald of my name haue ane feil,
Forsuith thay call me JGHNE THE COMMOUN-WEILL.

Schir Commoun-weill declares his resolution of
abandoning a country where he has only experi-
enced neglect or insult from people of every de-
nomination. My friends, says he, are all fled.
Policy is returned to France. My sister Juftice
is no longer able to hold the balance. Wrong
is now appointed captain of the ordinance. No
Scotishman shall again find favour with me, un-
til the realm be governed by a king who shall
delight in equity, and bring strong traitors to
condign punishment. " Wo to the realme yat hes
ouir zoung ane king." Having closed this pa-
thetic oration, he departs. Remembrance con-
ducts the poet back to the cave on the sea-shore ;
and he is speedily roused by a discharge 'of artil-
Jery from a vessel which appears under sail.

The Exhortatioun to the Kingis Grace contains
several good counsels, delivered with the utmost
freedom. The Complaint directit to the Kingis
Grace, though unadprned with many poetical or-
naments, is a valuable and interesting produc-
tion. It exhibits lively sketches of the author's
personal fortunes, of the manners of the times,
and of the early education and private character
of James the Fifth.

The plan of The Tragedie of the Cardinal is
similar to that adopted in the Myrrovr for Ma-

110

gistrates*. As the poet, after the hour of prime, is
sitting in his oratory and reading Boccace De Ca-
sibus Virorum Illustrium, he suddenly perceives a
wounded man standing before him with pale visage
and deadly cheer. His visiter, who proves to be the
ghost of Cardinal Beaton, requests him to com-
mit his story to writing, in conformity to the
narration which is about to be delivered. To
this proposal he readily assents : and the woe-
begone cardinal begins a relation of the princi-
pal events of his life ; but the tale, though suf-
ficiently moral, is not told with much elegance
or energy.

In The Deploratloun of the Delth of ®>uene Mag-
dalene many feeble passages occur. This work
however is not entirely devoid of poetical beau-
ties.' The Ansuer to the Kingis Flyting will please
such readers as can be pleased with obscenity ; a
quality which too frequently predominates in the
pages of Lindsay. Candour will be inclined to
refer this coarseness to the general character of

8 In the Advocates Library I find an English poem on the same mo-
del, inscribed with the name of-Joh.n Woodward. This neglected MS.
is entitled The Life and Tragedy of the Her olcall Lady ^ Mary late Queen?
f>f Scotts. It begins,

Baldwin awake ! thy pen hath slept to long.

A prose account of Queen Mary's execution is subjoined. The same li-
brary contains another .unpublished composition of Woodward's, entit-
led Prince Henry his Life, Dtathy and Funeralles. This biographical
sketch is in prose.

Ill

the 03 ra at which he flourished ; and he may at
least claim an indulgence which must sometimes
be granted to poets of the Augustan age.

The Complaint and Publlct Confessioun of the
Kingis Add Hound callit Basche is a production
of no very remarkable features. In his Supplica-
tioun direct to the Kingis Grace in Coniemptioun of
Syde Tail/is, he evinces himself a zealous re-
former of manners. He seems to have contem-
plated side tails and muzzled faces with an unne-
cessary degree of alarm : but, like a good Chris-
tian, he recollected that a long tail proceeds
from pride, and pride from the Devil. In the
warmth of his zeal to reform others, he has, like
many other satirists, neglected himself : several
of his expressions are rank arid gross.

Kitteis Confessioun, " compylit as is beleuit, be
S. Dauid Lyndesay," contains several happy
strokes of humour. It is a well-directed satire
against the absurd practice of auricular confes-
sion, and may safely be regarded as the composi-
tion of Lindsay. The sanctified lasciviousness of
a father confessor is depicted with no unskilful
pencil :

Ouhen scho was talkand as scho wist,
The curate Kittie wald haue kist }
But zit ane countenance be bure
Degest, devoit, dane, and demure. - - -
Ouhen scho in minde did mair reuolue.
Quod he, I can not zou absolue ;

But to my chalmer cum at ewin,

Absoluit for to be and schreuin.

Quod scho, I will pas to ane vther ;

And I met with Sir ' Androwis' brother,

Anci he full clenelie did me schriue ;

Bot he was sum thing talkatiue :

He speirlt monie strange cace j

How that my lufe did me embrace,

Quhat day, how oft, quhat sort, and quhair ? —

Quod he I wald I had bin thair.

He me absoluit for ane plak,

Thocht he with me na price wald mak j

And mekil Latine did he mummill j —

I hard na thing bot hummill bummill.

The Justing betuix James Watsoun and John
Barbour, a poem which comprises the only spe-
cimen of the heroic couplet that Lindsay has ex-
hibited, may be considered as a successful at-
tempt at ludicrous composition. The following
quotation will perhaps support this decision :

From time thay enterit war into the feild,

Full womanlie they weildit speir and scheild,

And wichtlie waiuit in the wind thair heillis,

Hobland like cadgeris rydand on thair creillis.

Bot ather ran at vther with sic haist,

Yat they culd neuer yair speir get in the raist.

Quhen gentil James trowit best with Johne to meit,

His speir did fall amang the horsis feit.

I am richt sure, gud James had bene vndone,

War not that Johne his mark tuk be the mone.

Ouod Johne, Hor.vbeit thou thinkis my leggis like roks,

My speir is guid : now keip the fra my knoks.

Tary, quod James, ane quhile : for, be my thrift.
The feind ane thing I can se hot the lift.
Na mair can I, quod Johne j be Goddis breid,
I se na thing except the stepill heid.
Zit thocht thy branis be like twa barrow trammis,
Defend the, man ! Than ran thay to like rammis.
At that rude rink, James had bin strikkin doun,
War not that Johne for feircsnes fell in swoun :
And richt sa James to Johne had done greit deir,
War not twixt his hors feit he brak his speir.
Quod James to Johne, Yit, ,for our ladeis saikis,
Let us togidder strike thre market straikis.

Squyer Mel drum displays a lively vein of de-
scription : but although the work comprehends
la narrative of considerable extent, it is not con-
structed with much attention to the general rules
of criticism. The poetical effect is not always
secured. With regard to the fate of the Irish lady
we are left in a situation of disagreeable suspense.
To her the squire pledges his faith when about to
rejoin his countrymen :

JLadie ! I say zou in certane,
Ze sail have lufe for lufe agane,
Trewlie unto my lyfis end.

Yet after his return to Scotland, he meets with
a fair paramour in Strathern, and without com-
punction abandons his former love. The most
satisfactory apology which can be offered for
Lindsay's deviation from the rules of poetical
justice, is that his invention was circumscribed

VOL. IT P

by the conformity which was due to truth. He"
professes to have derived a part of his informa-
tion from the hero of his story : and the roman-
tic adventures of William Meldrum were yet
fresh in the memory of his countrymen u.

That Lindsay wished to render his deceased
friend an object of ridicule can hardly be sup-
posed : yet several passages of Squyer Meldrum
have an appearance of intentional burlesque*
The following verses, for example, resemble the
style of Butler :

Cupido with his fyerie dart
Did peirs him so out throw the hart,
Sa all that nicht he did hot raurn it,
Sum tyme sat up, and sum tyme turnit,
Sichand with monie gant and grane,
To fair Venus makand his mane.

But in obsolete poetry, it must be recollected,
the serious cannot always be readily distinguished
from the ludicrous. Terms may be deprived of
their original dignity ; and the notions which
they express may at length be viewed in a less
favourable light. The revolutions of language
and manners it would be impossible to antici-
pate.

Like other productions of that nera, Sgvyer
Meldrum sometimes offends by its incongruities :

xt Lindsay's History, of Scotland, p. 300.

115

Christian and Pagan theology is strangely blend-
ed together ; and we are alternately regaled with
the names of Venus and the virgin Mary.

Of the notions of female delicacy which then
prevailed, this poem furnishes us with a curious
illustration. The squire arrives at a castle in
Strathern, and falls in love with its fair owner.
Being conducted to his bed-chamber, he conti-
nues to meditate on her charms, and at length
begins to vent his passion in loud ejaculations.
From her adjoining apartment the lady over-
hears the soliloquy of her accomplished and he-
roic guest, and immediately determines that his
love shall be duly rewarded.

This was the mirrie tyme of May 5
Quhen this fair ladie fresche and gay,
Start up to take the hailsum air,
With pantonis on hir feit ane pair,
Airlie into ane cleir morning,
Befoir Phoebus uprising,
Kirtill alone xvithoutin clok,
And saw the squyris dure unlok,
Scho slippit in or euer ,he wist,
And fenyeitlie past till ane kist,
And with her keyis oppinnlt the lokkis,
And maid hir to take furth ane boxe.

The rest may be left to the reader's imagina-
tion.— To the voluptuousness or indelicacy ot
Lindsay's descriptions, abundanqe of parallels may

P 2

be found. When such qualities occur, they
must either be referred to the contagion of bad
example, to the peculiar complexion of the writ-
er's mental associations, or to an unhappy union
of both those causes. When an author merely
conforms to the general taste of his cotempora-
ries, he is by no means guilty of the same impro-
priety as must be imputed to him who shocks the
moral feelings cherished by a purer age. A
religious theist has remarked, that if, on his
death-bed, Congreve could without remorse con-
template the immoral tendency of his writings,
he must have been callous to every virtuous im-
pression u.

Xl Kamcf, Elements of Criticism, vol. i. p.

THE

LIFE

OF

JOHN BELLENDEN, D.D.

THE

LIFE

OF

JOHN BELLENDEN, D. D,

ALTHOUGH the life of Bellenden lias been
written by his ingenious countryman Dr Camp-
bell, yet it still remains involved in considerable
obscurity ; and the scantiness of our biographical
materials will not permit us to hope for much
novelty of illustration.

John Bellenden, according to Dr Mackenzie,
was a man of knightly rank, and the son of Tho-
mas Bellenden of Auchinoul. It is further as-
serted that he was appointed Clerk Register du-
ring the minority of James the Fifth; that being
deprived of his office, it was restored to him in
the reign of Queen Mary ; and that during the

I2O

letter period he was also nominated a Senator of
the College of Justice a.

But these statements may be suspected of in-
accuracy. Dr John Bellenden is never styled a
knight by any of our early writers. Sir John
Bellenden of Auchinoul was appointed a Lord of
Session in I554b; whereas, if we may credit
Dempster, Dr Bellenden died in 1550°. But
should Dempster's authority be rejected, we may
at least admit that as this knight is known to
have continued a member of the court for the
space of many succeeding years, the probability
of their identity is proportionably diminished.
» The arguments which Mr Sibbald has advan-
ced in corroboration of Dr Mackenzie's account,
are very far from being satisfactory. "It ap-
pears from the Catalogue published by Lord
Hailes," observes this writer, " that in 1587 a
Dean of Moray, Lord of Session, r (resigned) and
was succeeded by Mr William Melvill, Com-
mendatair of Tungland. Also, from the Notes
and Appendix to Scotstarvet's History, that Sir
John Bellenden of Auchinoul, Archdean of Mo-
ray, was (not Clerk Register, but) Justice
Clerk from 1547 to 1578. They seem all, there-

a Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. ii. p. 595.
& Hailes, Catalogue of the Lords of Session, p. 3.
e Dempster. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Scot. p. 107.

121

fore, to be one and the same person d." But, on
the contrary, it is evident that this information
cannot be combined in such a manner as to ap-
ply to the same individual. Dr Bellenden was
not Dean but Archdeacon of Murray. The Bel-
lenden who occurs in the catalogue of the Lords
of Session is neither styled Dean nor Archdea-
con of Murray, but Lord Auchinoul. Instead of
resigning in 1587, he only continued a member
of the court till 1577, the period of his decease.
The testimony of Walter Goodall, the editor of
Sir John Scot's Staggering State of the Scots
Statesmen, is of little importance ; as his prin-
cipal information is evidently derived from no
better source than the biography of Dr Mac-
kenzie, and as his statements are manifestly in-
consistent with each other e.

Bellenden's education appears to have been
uncommonly liberal f. As he took the degree of
Doctor of Divinity in the Sorbonne, it may be
supposed that he had pursued a regular course of
study in the University of Paris. Dr Campbell

d Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. ii. p. 72.

e See Scot's Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, p. 129. 183.
Edinb. 1754, lamo.

f " Interea Musarum memoriae foeliciter litabat Joannes Balantyn,
Archidiaconus Moraviensis, accuratissima sedulitate in literis a puero us-
que educatus."

GRAY. Orat. de Illustribus Scotia; Scriptoribus, p. xxx-

VOL. II. C

122

has remarked that his phraseology occasionally
savours of a French education.

As a poet he appears to have obtained early
distinction : Sir David Lindsay has mentioned
him in the following terms :

Bot now of lait is start vp haistely

Ane cunning clark quhilk writis craftely,

Ane plant of poetis callit Ballendyne,

(^uhais ornat warkis my wit can not defync :

Get he into the court authentic,

He will precell Quintin and Kennedie.

His qualifications seem indeed to have attracted
the regard of the court ; but he experienced the
common fate of those who are capable of ex-
citing the envy of courtiers. For this informa-
tion we are indebted to his Proheme of the Cosmo-
graphe.

And fyrst occurrit to my remembring
How that I wes in seruice with the kyng,

Put to his Grace in zeris tenderest,
Clerk of his comptiS) youcht I wes inding,
With hart and hand and euery othir thing

That mycht hym pleis in ony maner best,

Quhill hie inuy me from his seruice kest,
Be thaym that had the court in gouerning,

As bird but plumes heryit of the nest.

We afterwards find him on a confidential foot-
ing with James the Fifth. His History of Scot-

123

land, a free translation of the first seventeen
books of Hector Boyce, was undertaken at the
request of that monarch g ; whose ignorance of
the Latin language had probably prevented him
from acquiring a competent knowledge of the

£ This we learn from the following notice : " Heir efter followis the
History and Croniklis of Scotland compilit and newly correckit be the
reuerend and noble clerke Maister Hector Boece, Channon of Aberdene ;
translatit laitly be Maister Johne Bellenden, Archdene of Murray, Chan-
non of Ros, at the command of the richt hie, richt excellent, and noble
prince, James the V. of that name, King of Scottis ; and imprentit in
Edinburgh be Thomas Dauidson dwellyng fornens the Frere Wynd."

Thomas Davidson has prefixed an address, consisting of five stanzas,
and entitled The Excusatlon of the Prentar. It concludes thus;

And I the prentar that dois considir well
Thir sindry myndis of men in thair leuing,

Desiris nocht hot on my laubour leil

That I mycht leif, and of my just wynnyng
Mycht first pleis God, and syne our noble kyng j

And that ze reders, bousum and attent,

Wer of my laubour and besynis content.

And in this wark that I haue heir assailzeit

To bring to lycht, maist humely I exhort
Zou nobill reders, quhare that I haue failzeit

In letter, sillabe, poyntis lang or schort,

That ze will of zour gentrice it support,
And tak the sentence the best wyee ze may :
I sail do better (will Godj ane othir day.

Bellenden's work was printed in folio, and in black letter. In the public
library of the University of Edinburgh is a copy splendidly printed on
vellum. It bears this inscription; " Thomas Willson, mercator, me
Bibliothecze Edinburgense dono dedit anno Domini 1 669."

124

transactions of his remote predecessors. Into this
publication Bellenden has introduced two poems
of considerable length, entitled The Proheme of
the Cosmographe, and The Proheme of the History ;
and has closed the whole by a prose Epistil di-
reckit be ye Translators to the Kingis Grace.
From the initial words which they produce, it
would appear that this is the only epistle of his
composition with which either Bale or Tanner
was acquainted : and yet among his other works
they have thought proper to enumerate epistles
addrest to King James h.

If we may credit Dr Mackenzie, this work was
printed in the year 1536 : but his source of in-
formation it would be difficult to. discover ; for
the title-page and colophons exhibit no date.
Mr Herbert, without any apparent founda-
tion, mentions the publication of another edi-
tion in the year 1541 '.

Bellenden is reported, I know not with what
accuracy, to have continued the history of Scot-
land for one hundred years succeeding the period
at which this narrative closes j . A passage in his
Proheme of the History seems to imply that he
had at least formed such a project :

,& Balei Scriptores Britannia, cent. xiv. p. 223.

Tanner. Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, p. 66.
i Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 1474*
\ Balei Scriptores Britannia?, cent. xiv. p, 223.

125

Bring nobyll dedis of mony zeris gone

Als fresche and recent to our memorie
As thay war hot in to our dayis done,

That nobyll men may haue baith laud and glorie

For thair excellent brut of victoric.
And zit becaus my tyme hcs bene so schort,

I thynk, quhen I haue oportunite,
To ring thair bell in to ane pthir sort.

Before this period, as appears from his publica-
tion, he had been appointed Archdeacon of Mur-
ray, and one of the Canons of Ross.

He likewise translated the first five books of
Livy : and a manuscript copy of his version is
still preserved in the Advocates Library. From
a passage in The Prolong it appears that this
work was also undertaken at the suggestion of
J£ing James :

And ze, my souerane, be lyne continewall
Ay cum of kingis zour progenitouris,

And writis, in ornate stile poeticall,

Quick flowand vers of rethorik cullouris
Sa freschlie springand in zoure lusty flouris,

To ye grete comforte of all trew Scottismen,

Be now my Muse, and ledare of my pen ,

That be zoure helpe and fauoure gracius,

I may be able, as ze commandit me,
To follow ye prince of storie, Liuius,

Quhais curious ressouns tonlt ar so hie,

And euery sens sa full of maieste,
That so he passis vther stories all,
As siluer Diane dois ye sternis small.

126

He expresses an intention of executing a complete
version of Livy's Roman history ; but this for-
midable task, it is probable, was never performed.

After this period Bellenden visited Rome ;
where he closed his life in the year 1550". The
object of his voyage remains undiscovered. Dr
Campbell supposes that he was impelled to
abandon his native country by his aversion from
the principles of the Reformation. " It may with
great probability be conjectured," observes this
ingenious biographer, " that the disputes into
which he plunged himself on this subject, made
him so uneasy, that he chose to quit his native
country, to go and reside in a place where that
disposition, instead of being a hindrance, would
infallibly recommend him." It is certain that he
was a strenuous opposer of the Reformers ': but
many other reasons might induce him to visit the
seat of ecclesiastical honours.

Beside the works which have already been
mentioned, Bellenden is said to have composed a
treatise on the Pythagoric letter. Dr Mackenzie
proposes to correct Dempster by substituting De

k Dempster's words are these : " Obiit Romae anno, ut puto, 1550."
It must be remarked that this is spoken with some degree of hesitation.
Dempster and Cone have inadvertently named him James instead of John
Bellenden.

I " Jacubus Balandenus Moraviensis ecclesias Archidiaconus, in celebri
Sorbonae schola magistri laurea donatus, summo studio popularium suo-
rum animos heresi laborantes, cum scribendo turn disputando conatus est

liberare."

CONJEU.S de Duplici Statu Religionis apud Scotos, p. 167.

127

Vita, instead of De Liter a, Pythagoras™ \ but this
emendation is unnecessary. Bale also mentions
the treatise by the same title".

Vossius, whose researches were of so prodigious
an extent, that they could not always be con-
ducted with extreme accuracy, has committed a
mistake in supposing that Bellenden was the
author of any original work on cosmography0.
His Cosmographia is evidently his translation of
Boyce's preliminary description of Scotland.

Dr Campbell informs us that several of his
poems were in the possession of Mr Laurence
Dundasp, probably the Professor of Humanity in
the University of Edinburgh.

OF the compositions of a writer who discovers
so fine a vein of poetry, it cannot but be regretted
that so inconsiderable a portion has been pre-
served. His poems are the effusions of an ex-
cursive fancy and a cultivated taste. He has
been extolled as a master of every branch of
divine and human learning q: and it is at least
apparent that his literature was such as his co-
temporaries did not very frequently surpass.

m Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. ii. p. 599.

* Balei Scriptores Britanniae, cent. xiv. p. 333.

• Vossius de Scientiis Mathematicis, p. ajz.
P Biographia Britannica, vol. i. p. 573.

q Jacobus Ballantyn, S. T. D. Archidiaconus Moraviensis, laboriosa cura
et incredibili studio artes onines humanas atque etiam divinas percepit."
DEMPSTER. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent, Sector, p. 107.

128

His attainments have even extorted applause from
the zealous Bishop of Ossory, who has so frequently-
treated the Papists with unrelenting severity r.
" He was unquestionably," says Dr Campbell,
" a man of great parts, and one of the finest poets
his country had to boast. So many of his works
remain as fully prove this ; inasmuch as they are
distinguished by that noble enthusiasm which is
the very soul of poetry."

The most poetical of his works is The Prohemt
of the Cosmographe\ The principal incidents are
borrowed from the ancient allegory of the choice
of Hercules : but he has imprest his transcript
with the characteristic features of an original.

The following quotation, from the speech of
Virtue, will scarcely offend a reader whose taste
is completely modernized :

As caruell tycht fast tendyng throw the see,
Le,uis na prent amang the wallis hie 5

As birdis swift with mony besy plume
Peirsis the air and wait nocht quhair thay fie ;

* Bishop Bale has himself been treated by the Papists with equal
harshness. Bishop Gardiner classes him with (Ecolampadius, Zuing-
lius, and others of the deuils lymmes. See Gardiner's " Detection of the
Deuyls Sophistrie wherwith he robbeth the vnlearned people of the true
belefe in the moost blessed Sacrament of the aulter," f. Ixxxiiii. b. Lond.
1546, 8vo.

Ramsay has published this poem, under the title of Virtue and Vyce,
in the first volume of The Ever-Green. Edinb. 1 724, a vols. i zmo. Botr-
the prohemes occur in Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Ptxtry, vol. ii,

129

Siclik our lyfe, without actiuite,

Gyffis na frut, howbeit ane schado blume.
Quhay dois thair lyfe in to this erd consume

Without virtew, thair fame and memorie
Sail vanis soner than the reky fume.

As watter purgis and makis bodyis fair 5 ]

As fire be nature ascendis in the aire, J9

And purifyis with heitis vehement j
As floure dois smell j as frute is nurisarej
As precius balme reuertis thingis sare,

And makis thaym of rot impacient j

As spice maist swete, as ros maist redolent *?
As stern of day be mouing circulare

Chacis the nycht with bemis resplendent 5

Siclik my werk perfitis euery wycht
In feruent luf of maist excellent lycht,-

And makis man in to this erd but peir 5
And dois the saule fra all corruptioun dycht
With odoure dulce, and makis it more brycht

Than Diane full or zit Appollo cleir j

Syne rasis it vnto the hiest speir,
Immortaly to schyne in Goddis sycht

As chosin spous and creature most deir.

The following descant on nobility is extracted
from his Proheme of the History :

For nobylnes sum tyme the louyng is,

That cumis be mentis of our eldaris gone,

As Aristotyll writis in his Rethorikis :

Amang nobillis quhay castin thaym repona

VOL. II. R

130

Mon dres thalr life and dedis one be one,
To mak thaym worthy to haue memore,

For honour to thair prince or nation,
To be in glore to thair posterite.

Ane othir kynd thair is of nobylnes,

That cumis be infusion naturall,
And makis ane man sa full of gentylnes,

Sa curtes, plesand, and sa lyberall,

That euery man dois hym ane nobyll call.
The lyon is sa nobyll (as men tellis)

He can not rage aganis the bestis small,
Bot on thaym quhilkis his maieste rebellis.

The awfull churle is of ane othir strynd.

Thoucht he be borne to vilest seruitude,
Thair may na gentrice sink in to his mynd,

To help his freind or nichtbour with his gud.

The bludy wolf is of the samyn stude.
He feris gret beistis and ragis on the small,

And leiffis in slouchter tyranny and blud,
But ony mercy, quhare he may ouirthrall.

This man is born ane nobyl, thow wyll say,

And geuyn to sleuth and lust immoderat :
All that his eldaris wan he puttis away,

And fra thair virtew is degenerat.

The more his eldaris fame is eleuat,
The more thair lyfe to honour to approche,

Thair fame and louyng ay interminat,
The more is ay vnto his vice reproche.

Amang the oist of Grekis, as we hard,
Two knichtis war, Achy lies and Tersete j

That ane maist vailzeand, this othir maist coward.
Better to be (sayis Juuinall the poetel

131

Tersetis son, hauand Achylles sprete,
With manly force his purpos to fulfyll,

Than to be lord of euery land and strete,
And syne maist cowart cumyn of Achill,

Man callit ay maist nobyll creature,
Becaus his lyfe maist reason dois assay,

Ay sekand honour with his besy cure,
And is na noble quhen honour is away 5
Thairfore he is maist nobyll man, thou say,

Of all estatis, vnder reuerence,

That vailzeantly doith close the latter day,

Of natyue cuntre deand in defence.

The glore of armis and of farcy dcdis,
Quhen thay ar worthy to be memoryall,

Na les be wyt than manheid ay procedis.
As Plinius wrait in story naturall,
Ane herd of hertis is more strong at all,

Hauand ane lyon anganis the houndis soure,
Than herd of lyonis arrayit in battall,

Hauand ane hert to be thair gouernoure,

Ouhen fers Achilles was be Paris slane,

Amang the Grekis began ane subtell plede,

Quhay wes maist nobyll and prudent capitane,
In to his place and armour to succede,
Quhay couth thaym best in euery dangeir lede,

And saif thair honour, as he did afore :

The vailzeand Aiax wan not for his manhede,

Ouhen wise Ulisses bure away the glore.

Manhede but prudence is ane fury blynd,

And bringis ane man to scharce and indegence:

Prudence but manhede cumis oft behynd,
Howbeit it haue na les intelligence.
R 2

132

Of thingis to cum than gone, be sapience.
Thairfore quhen wit and manned: :curre,

Hie honour risis with magnificence :
For glore to nobilis is ane groundin spurre.

Sen thow contenis mo vailzeand men and wyse

Than euir was red in ony buke but doubt,
Gif ony churle or velane the dispyse,

Byd hence hym, harlot ! he is not of this rout ;

For heir ar kingis and mony nobillis stout,
And nane of thaym pertenand to his clan.

Thou art so full of nobylnes per tout,
I wald nane red the bot ane nobyll man.

These two poems, as well as the prologue to his
translation of Livy, bear internal evidence of hav-
ing been composed with a view to the instruction
of the young monarch.

Two copies of his unpublished prolusion on
the conception of Christ are preserved in the
Hyndford MSS. The exordium is as follows :

Quhen goldin Phebus movit fra the ram,

Into ye bull to mak his mansioun,
And hornit Diane in ye virgine cam,

With visage paill in hir ascensioun,

Approchand till hir opposicioun 5
Quhen donk Aurora with hir misty schouris,

Fleand of skyis the bricht reflexioun,
Hir siluer hewis skalit on ye flour* j

The sesoun quhen the grete Octauian

Baith erd and seis had in governance
With diademe as rov Cesn-riane

In maist excellent honor and plesaimce

133

With everye gloie yat mycht his fame avaunce
Quhen he ye croun of his tnumphe had worne,

Be ijuhais pece and riall ordinance
The furious Mars wes blawin to ye home j

The samyne tyme quhen God omnipotent

Beheld of man the grete calamitie,
And thocht ye tyme was than expedient

Man to redeme fra thrall captiuite,

And to reduce him to felicite,
With bodye and saull to be glorificate,

Quhilk wes cohdempnit in ye lyrab to be,
Fra he wes first in syn prevaricate 5

Befoir the fader Mercye than apperis,

With flude of teris ransnd fra hir ene 5
Said, Man hes bene in hell five thousand zeris,

Sen he was maid in feild of Damascene ; '

And cruell tormentis daylie dois sustene
But ony confort, cryand for mercye.

How may yi grace nocht with yi pietie mene
Off thy awne werk ye grete infirmitie t ?

r These stanzas are published from a MS. which bears the following
inscription; Heir begynis ane Ballat-bnik •u.'rittin 'in the zelr of God 155 8.
Several of the poems however are evidently written in a more modern
hand. This collection, which extends to the number of fifty-four pages,
is to be found in the volume that also contains Bannatyne's MS. A copy
of The SongoftLe Redsquare occurs in the same venerable tome.

In Mr Pinkerton's appendix to the Maitland poems, these three trans-
cripts are represented as forming the celebrated collection of George Ban-
natyne : but Mr Pinkerton's information was " furnished by a friend not
versed in such matters." '* Ane most godlie, mirrie, and lustie rapsodie,
maide be sundrie learned Scots poets, and written be George Bannatyne in
the tyme of his youth," commences at the sixty-first page of the volume.

Another copy of Bellenden's poem on the conception of Christ occurs
at the beginning of Bannatyne's MS. His Prolong apoun ye traductioun oj
Titus L;<v.:<i hes been inserted in a dissertation prefixed to the late edition
of Wedderburn's Comflaynt of Scotland, Ediub. i8oz, 8vo.

INTERMEDIATE SKETCHES.

1 HE religious zeal which about this time per-
vaded the nation, naturally operated in directing
the poet's attention towards sacred topics. Pious
verses were now produced in great abundance :
but they are generally of such a character as
cannot deeply interest the critic. Such produc-
tions as these shall not long detain us from the
more agreeable specimens of our early poetry ;
though in a work of this nature they are perhaps
entitled to some degree of notice.

THE most singular collection of Scotish poems
of this description is entitled " Ane Compendiovs
Booke of Godly and Spiritvall Songs, collectit
out of sundrie partes of the Scripture, with suri-
drie of other Ballates changed out of Prophaine
Sanges, for avoyding of Sinne and Haiiotrie."
This collection was published in the year 1597 ;
and reprinted by Andrew Hart in the year 1602 a,

a Herbert's Typographical Antiquities, vol. iii. p. 1519.

135

The last editor informs us that the spiritual songs
" have been ascribed to one Wedderburn, of
whom we know little. But there were three bro-
thers of that name, all endowed with a poetical
talent. The eldest, it has been noticed, wrote
tragedies and comedies. The second was first a
Catholic, and then turned Protestant. Being per-
secuted as an heretic by the clergy, he fled to
Germany, where he heard Luther and Melanc-
thon. He translated many of Luther's principles
into Scotish verse, and changed many obscene
songs and rhymes into hymns. After the death
of James V. he returned to Scotland. But, hav-
ing again been accused of heresy, he fled into
England, where he probably died about the year
1556. The third brother was vicar of Dundee ;
and, in learning, is said to have surpassed the
other two. He went to Paris, and there associa-
ted with the Reformers \ and, at Cardinal Beaton's
death, returned to his native country. 4 He turn-
ed the tunes and tenour of many profane ballads
into godlie songs and hymnes, which were called
the Psalmes of Dundie ; whereby he stirred up
the affections of many.' Whether this will be
esteemed decisive evidence of the author or not,
these poems were probably written merely to
serve the present occasion ; and the more litera-
ry reformers might have a share in them. In-
deed, the very same expressions are frequently to

be found in their other works. Our author ob-
serves he is in prison1'."

One of the Wedderburns was most probably
the author of The Complaynt of Scotland; a curi-
ous specimen of Scotish prose which has lately
been rep .biished.

The author of these poems, however laudable
his intentions may have been, has certainly ac-
quired very little honour by his persevering la-
bours. From the preservation of such wretched
productions, we are not however authorized to con-
clude that the general taste of the age was equal-
ly debased with that of Wedderburn. Composi-
tions hardly superior in any respect have been
published during the eighteenth century : and
yet the same period was adorned by such writ-
ers as Robertson, Hume, and Ferguson. A spe-.
cimen of this work was edited by Lord Hailes in
the year 1765 ; and it might have been expected
that his selection would satisfy the curiosity of
most antiquaries.

HENRY BALNAVES of Hallhill, one of the most
distinguished of the Reformers, appears to have
been a writer of verse as well as of prose. He
was admitted a Senator of the College of Justice
in the year 1538°. In 1546 he joined the party

b DalyelTs Remarks on ane Booke of Godly Songs, p. 35.
c Hailes, Catalogue of the Lords of Session, p. a,

i37

Which had been concerned in the murder of Car-
dinal Beaton ; and when they were besieged in
the castle of St Andrews, he was dispatched to
the court of England in order to procure a sup-
ply of money d. When the fortress at length sur-
rendered to the French, he was conducted among
others to the castle of Rouen : and during his
confinement, he composed what Knox terms " a
comfortable treatise of justification0." In 1563
he was nominated among the commissioners for
revising The Book of Discipline*. In 1568 Bu-
chanan, Balnaves, and others, accompanied the
Earl of Murray when he visited England for the
purpose of meeting Queen Mary's commissioners.
His name is on several other occasions mentioned
in the public annals of that age. He is character-
ized by Sir James Melvil as " a godly, learned,
wise, and long-experimented counsellor g." Ac-^
cording to Dr Mackenzie, he died in 1579.

A poem subscribed Balnaves, and beginning " O
gallandis all, I cry and call," has been published
in the second volume of Ramsay's collection.

'1 Burnet's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 7.

e " The Confession of Faith, conteining how the troubled man should
seeke refuge at his God, therto led by faith ; &c. Compiled by M. Hen-
ry Balnaues, of Halhill, and one of the Lords of Session and Counsell of
Scotland, being as prisoner within the old pallaice of Roane, in the yeare
of our Lord 1548. Direct to his faithfull brethren, being in like trouble
or more, and to all true professours and fauourers of the syncere worde of
God." Edinb. 1584, 8vo. — This work Dr Mackenzie has evidently split
into two. (Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 147.)

f Calderwood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 33.

•5 MelviFs Memoires, p. 17.

VOL. II. S

138

THE Earl of Glencairn, another steady partisan
of the Reformation, was also a cultivator of poe-
try. One of his productions has been preserved
by Knox, under the title of " An Epistle directed
from the Holy Hermite of Larites to his brethren
the Gray Friers V

JAMES INGLIS, Abbot of Culross, is celebrated
by Sir David Lindsay as a writer of miscellaneous
poetry :

Quha can say mair than Schir James Inglis sayis
In ballattis, farsis, and in plesand playis ?
Bot Culros bes his pen maid impotent.

Lindsay here insinuates that his advancement to
the abbacy of Culross had withdrawn his atten-
tion from poetical studies. Dr Mackenzie, whose
life of Inglis is inaccurate even to ridicule, asserts
that he was knighted in consequence of his mili-
tary distinction : but it is evident that he was
styled Sir because he was a dignified ecclesiastic.
K. James the Fourth, in a letter addrest to a Mr
James Inglis, gratefully acknowledges his polite,
ness in offering to furnish him with some rare
books of alchemy"1. The abbot was murdered by
the laird of Tulliallan in the year

b Knox's Historic of the Reformation!), p. 16.
i Epistolae Regum Scotorum, vol. i. p. 118.
j Leslseus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 413.

139

The. poem entitled A General Satyr e is by Mait-
land ascribed to Inglis ; but by Bannatyne it is
ascribed to Dunbar. To the former of these poets
no other composition is attributed in any of the
MSS.

JOHN MOFFAT, who was probably another of the
pope's knights, is the author of a pious piece of
advice To Remembir the End*. In Bannatyne's
MS. the name of Moffat is also subjoined, though
in a more modern hand, to the humorous and po-
pular ballad of The Wife of Auchtcrmuchty.

GEORGE BANNATYNE, by whose pious care the
works of so many other poets have been preseived,
is here entitled to an affectionate tribute of ap-
plause. He was himself a writer of verse ; and
several of his compositions occur in the MS.
which has so frequently been rrenticned in the
preceding pages. Of his personal history no me-
morials can perhaps be discovered. Mr Tytler,
who styles him " one of the canons of the cathed-
ral of Murray1," seems to have confounded him
with Dr John Bellenden ; who was Archdeacon
of Murray, and Canon of Ross.

His celebrated collection is prefaced by the
following address of Tfye Wryttar to the Reidaris:

te Hailes, Ancient Scottish Poems, p. 187.

I Tytler's Dissertation on the Scottish Music, p. 245.

S 2

140

Ze reverend redans, thir worlds revolving richt,
Gif ze get crymes correct thame to zour micht,

And curss na clark that cunyngly thame wrait,
Bot blame me baldly brocht this buik till licht
In tendered tyme quhen knawlege was nocht bricht j

Bot lait begun to lerne and till translait

My copeis auld, mankit, and mvtillait j
Quhais trewth as standis zit haif I, sympill wicht,

Tryd furth : thairfoir excuse sumpairt my stait.

Now ze haif heir this ilk buik so provydit,
That in fyve pairtis it is dewly devydit.

The first conteynis Gods gloir and ouire saluatioun :
The nixt are morale, grave, and als besyd it
Grund in gud counsale : the thrid, I will nocht hyd it,

Ar blyith and glaid, maid for ouire consollatioim :

The ferd of luve and thair richt reformatioun :
The fyift ar tailis and storeis weill dissydit.

Pend as ze pleis : I neid no moire narratioun.

Another address of The Wryttar to the Redare oc-
curs at the close of the volume :

Heir endis this buik, writtin in tyme of pest
Ouhen we fra labor was compeld to rest,
In to the thre last monethis of this zeir,
From oure redimaris birth, to knaw it heir,
Ane thousandth fyve hundredth threscore aucht.
Off this purpois namair it neiddis be taucht :
Swa, till conclude, God grant us all gude end,
And eftir deth eternall lyfe us send.

This transcript, completed in the space of three
months, extends to more than seven hundred
pages in folio.

141

Bannatyne's MS. appears to have been present-
ed by one Foulis to the Hon. William Carmichael;
and afterwards to have been associated with two
others in the same volume. That volume the Earl
of Hyndford presented to the Advocates Library
in the year 1772. Bannatyne's collection was in
the possession of the Foulis family about half a
century after it had been completed : at the hun-
dred and eleventh page occurs the inscription of
" Jacobus Foulis 1623."

ONE of the most persevering and most unsuc-
cessful versifiers of this period was Robert Sem-
ple; whom a late writer, who amuses himself
with perpetual conjectures, ridiculously supposes
to have been a Scotish peerm. His different poems
were published about the year 1570. If we may
credit Dempster, he died in 1595. ^^e eul°giunl
which that writer has bestowed on Semple's ge-
nius is highly extravagant, and must have been
conceived without any previous acquaintance
with his writings : he represents him as exhibit-
ing the combined excellencies of Propertius, Ti-
bullus, Ovid, and Callirnachus11. Some pieces by

m Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. iii. p. 397.

n Dempster's panegyric is too remarkable to be omitted : " Semple
claro nomine poeta, cui patrius sermo tantum debet, ut nulli plus debere
eruditi fateantur; felix in eo calor, temperatum judicium, rara inventio,
dictio pura ac Candida ; quibus dotibus Regi Jacobo charissimus fuit.
Scripsit---carmina amatoria, utPropertii sanguinem, Tibullilac, Ovidii
meJ, Callimachi sudorem aequasse plerisque doctis videatur."

DEMPSTER. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Sector, p. 601.

142

this poetaster are to be found in The Ever-Green;
and Mr Daly ell has lately republished others from
the original editions0. They are equally inde-
cent and unpoetical. The following epitaph on
the Earl of Murray is selected as a specimen of
the composition of a writer whom Dempster has
not scrupled to rank with the greatest of our
poets :

Heir lyis the corps (glide pepill) of a prince,

Quhais saule in heuin is glorifeit :
James Regent was murdreitt without offence,

Be ane false tratour, sa knawin and nctifeit,

Quha wes anis bound to naif bene justifeit.
He gaif him grace, allace, aganis all ressoun.

O Hammiltoun, it schawis weill thou wes feit
Be all that clan for to commit this tressoun.

Quhat mouit tjpe to do this insolence,

And mak that clan sa to be falsifeit,
To quhoem, God knawis, he schew his greit clemence,

Thocht thou with tressoun hes him gratifeit ?

With all gude vertewis he wes amplifeit 5
With all foul vice thou hes defylde thair maisoun.

Resetting the, now haif thay varefeit
That thay bene weill contentit of this trasoun.

Indeid, I grant that his greit patience

Aganis him self this deid hes testifeit j
For had he put zou doun with diligence,

Zour tressoun had not this bene ratifeit.

0 Dalyell's Scotish Poems of the Sixteenth Century. Edinb. 1 801,
% vols.

143

Ze wer anis all in his will signifeit
At the Langsyde, sensync in euerie sessoun.

Now with greit honour is he magnifeit,
And with greit schame ze sail thoil for this tressoun.

This epitaph is the production of a man who,
according to Mr Sibbald, " continued to profess
the Catholic religion." If Robert Lord Semple
was a Papist, he cannot very rationally be con-
sidered as the author of the poems which we are
now reviewing. The question however is of lit-
tle moment ; and may properly be left to those
who are fond of antiquarian trifles.

Non equidem hoc studeo, bullatis ut mihi nugis
Pagina turgescat, dare pondus idonea fumo.

PERSIUS.

His Legend of the Bischop of St Androis Lyfe is
a most gross and illiberal attack upon the charac-
ter of Dr Patrick Adamson ; a prelate of inge-
nuity and of erudition who has often been scan-
dalously traduced. Instead of transcribing from
the disgusting pages of Semple, I shall subjoin a
specimen of the Latin poetry of the accomplish,
ed Adamson. The following is an affecting ad-
dress to his departing soul ; an address as much
superior to that of Adrian, as Christianity is su-
perior to Paganism :

O anima ! assiduis vitae jactata procellis,
Exilii pertsesa gravis, mine lubrica tempus

144- ,

Regna tibi, et mundi invisas contemnere sordes :
Ouippe parens rerum cseco te corpora clemens
Evocat, et verb! crucifixi gratia coeli
Pandit iter, patrioque beatam limine sistet.
Progenies Jovse, quo te coelestis origo
Invitat, foelix perge, seternumque quiesce.
Exuviae carnis cognato in pulvere vocem
Angelicam expectent, sonitu quo putre cadaver
Exiliet redivivum, et totum me tibi reddet.
Ecce beata dies ! nos agni dextera ligno
Fulgentes crucis, et radiantes sanguine vivo
Excipiet : quam firma illic, quam certa capesses
Gaudia, foelices inter novus incola cives !
Alme Deus ! Deus alme ! et non effabile numen !
Ad te unum et trinum moribundo pectore anhelo p.

Two poets of the name of Stewart are mention-
ed by Sir David Lindsay. Under that signature
several pieces occur in the collections of .Lord
Hailes, Allan Ramsay, and Mr Sibbald. Gal-
breith and Kinloch, two poets mentioned by the
same writer, are only known by name. Poems
by Fethy, Fleming, and John Blyth, occur in
Lord Hailes's collection. The names of Norval
and Allan Watson also appear in Bannatyne's MS.
A dull poem, entitled The Lament atioun of Lady
Scotland, was published at St Andrews in the
year 1572 ; and many others of a similar deno-
mination were produced about the same period.

P Adamsoni Poemata Sacra, sig. V. 3-b. Lond. 1619, 4to.

THE

LIFE

SIR RICHARD MAITLAND.

THE

LIFE

SIR RICHARD MAITLAND.

SlR Richard Maitland is entitled to the remem-
brance of posterity, both as a cultivator and as a
preserver of Scotish poetry.

He was the son of William Maitland of Lething-
ton, and of Martha the daughter of George Lord
Seaton. He was born in the year one thousand
four hundred and ninety-six. Having finished
his course of literature and philosophy in the
University of St Andrews, he visited France in
order to prosecute the study of the laws*. After
his return to Scotland, he is said to have recom-
mended himself to the favour of James the

a Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, voL iii. p. 207-
T 2

148

Fifth. In the year 1554 we find him deno-
minated an Extraordinary Lord of Session.

Sir John Scot affirms that he was appointed
Lord Privy Seal during the regency of Mary of
Guise b: and from his own congratulatory poem
on her daughter's arrival in Scotland, it would
appear that he had at least borne some office :

Madame, I wes trew servand to thy mother j

And in hir favour stud ay thankfullie
Of my estait alls well as ony other :

Prayand thy Grace I may resavit be

In siclyk favour with thy Majestic,
Inclynand ay to me thy gracious eiris j

And, amang other servands, think on me. —
This last request I lernit at the freiris.

Scot's statement is not however corroborated by
the authority of any other writer.

As early at least as 1561 Maitland was de-
prived of his sight : for in his poem addrest to
Queen Mary on her arrival, an event which hap-
pened during that year, he thus speaks of his situ-
ation :

And thoch that I to serve be nocht sa abil

As I wes wont, becaus I may not see,
Yet in my hairt I sail be ferme and stabil.

His misfortune did not however incapacitate him
for business. In 1561 he was admitted an Ordinary

b Scot's Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen, p. 108.

149

Lord of Session by the title of Lethington, and in
1562 was also nominated Lord Privy Seal, and a
member of the privy council. His office as
keeper of the seal he resigned in 1567 in favour
of his second son. In 1583 the Lords of Session
had " granted him immunity and licence to
attend when he pleased, having all commodities
as if he were present : yet moved in conscience,
lest justice should be retarded by his absence,"
he in the following year resigned in favour of Sir
Lewis Ballenden0. This, says Dr Mackenzie, is
the earliest instance of a lord's being permitted
to resign in favour of another. Sir Richard died
on the twentieth of March, 1586, at the age of
ninety. His wife died on the day of his in-
terment11.

By this lady, Mary the daughter of Thomas
Cranston of Corsby, he had a numerous offspring.
An unpublished poem mentions his seven sons :
but only three of these seem to have reached the
age of maturity, or at least to have rendered
themselves in any degree conspicuous. The
eldest was Sir William, the famous secretary of
Queen Mary ; a man distinguished for the pos-
session of uncommon talents. Buchanan has
keenly exposed his character under the emblem
of a cameleon, " a certane kynd of beist engen-
derit in sic countreis as the sone hes mair strenth

c Hailes, Catalogue of the Lords of Session, notes, p. 5.
d Pinkerton'i Ancient Scotish Poems, vol. ii. p. 350. 353-

150

in than in this yle of Brettane ; the quhilk albei
it be small of corporance, noghttheless it is of ane
strange nature, the quhilk makis it to be na less
celebrat and spoken of than sum beastis of greittar
quantitieV His wavering politics at length pro-
cured his ruin : he swallowed a copious doze of
poison in order to disappoint the meditated ven-
geance of the Earl of Mortonf. His brother Sir
John, afterwards Lord Thirlstane, and chancellor
of the kingdom, was a man of an amiable charac-
ter, and possest of eminent endowments. He is
the author of a satire Aganis Sklanderous Toungis
published in Mr Pinkerton's Ancient Scotish Poems,
and of several epigrams published in the Deliticc
Poetarum Scotorum. Thomas Maitland, a younger
son of Sir Richard's, is less remembered on account
of his Latin poemsg, than as one of the interlo-
cutors in the exquisite dialogue of Buchanan Dff
Jure Regni apud Scotos.

His daughters were, Helen, married to John
Cockburn of Clerkington, Margaret, to James
Heriot of Trabroun, Mary, to Alexander Lauder
of Hatton, and Isabel, to William Douglas of
Whittingham. They all had issue h. Mary wa?

e Buchanani Opera, vol. i. edit. Ruddiman.
f Melvil's Memoires, p. 122.

Crawford's- Memoirs of Scotland, p. 304.
t Delitise Poetarum Scotorum, torn. ii.
fc Crawford's Peerage of Scotland, p. 353.

151

the partner of his studies, and herself a writer of
verses.

Sir Richard Maitland is celebrated as a man of
learning, talents, and virtue. His compositions
breathe the genuine spirit of piety and benevo-
lence. The chearfulness of his natural disposition,
and his affiance in divine aid, seem to have sup-
ported him with singular equanimity under the
pressure of blindness and old age. Knox has
charged him with consenting, for the sake of a
bribe, to the escape of Cardinal Beaton, who for
some time had been confined at Seaton'1. But
the accusation appears to be without foundation :
for we learn from Sir Ralph Sadler's letters that
the cardinal was released by order of Arran the
regent ; who afterwards charged Lord Seaton with
having liberated him frpm considerations of vena-
lity.

Cotemporary poets have extolled Maitland as
a man adorned by every virtue. The following
sonnet on his death was composed by Thomas
Hudson :

The slyding tyme so slilie slips away,

It reaves from us remembrance of our state j
And quhill we do the cair of tyme delay,

We tyne the tyde, and so lament to late.

Then, to eschew such dangerous debait,
Propone for patrene raanlie Maitland knycht :

Leirne be his lyf to leive in sembil raite,

i Knox's Historic of the Reformatioun, p. 37.

With luif to God, religion, law, and rycht.
For as he was of vertu lucent lycht,

Of ancient bluid, of nobil spreit and name,
Belov'd of God and everie gracious wycht,

So died he auld, deserving worthie fame j
A rair exempil set fqr us to sie
Ouhat we have bene, now ar, and aucht to be.

His poem On the Creation and Paradyce Li
was printed in Allan Ramsay's Ever-Green.
A considerable number of his productions are to
be found in the valuable collection of Mr Pinker-
ton j ; and many more remain unpublished. A
MS. containing The Selected Poemes of Sr. Richard,
Met ell an was presented by Drummond to the
University of Edinburgh : but it seems merely
to consist of gleanings from the two volumes de-
posited in the library of Magdalen College,
Cambridge.

Two of his unpublished works, namely a ge-
nealogical history of the family of Seaton, and
decisions of the Court of Session from 1550 till
1565, are still preserved in the Advocates Library.

j Ancient Scotish Poems, -never before in print ; but now published
from the MS. Collections of Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington,
Knight, Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, and a Senator of the College of
Justice : comprising pieces written from about 1420 till 1586 : with
large Notes and a Glossary. Prefixed are An Essay on the Origin of
Scotish Poetry, A List of all the Scotish Poets, with brief Remarks ; and
an Appendix is added, containing, among other articles, an account of
the contents of the Maitland and Bannatyne MSS, Lond. 1786,
j vols. 8ve.

153

Of the former of these works Dr Mackenzie has
exhibited an inaccurate abridgement* The first
sentence contains an erroneous statement. " Our
author observes," says he, " that there was no
surname in Scotland before Malcolm Kenmore's
timek." But in reality he observes that " it is to
be netted and known to every man, that there
WQiefew surnames in Scotland" before the pe-
riod specified l. The copy which Mackenzie re-
ceived from the Earl of Winton might however
differ from that in the Advocates Library. This
work is inscribed to George Lord Seat on, the
fifth of that name ; and the dedication presents
Maitland in a very amiable light.

MAITLAND seems to have commenced his poe-
tical career at a period of life when that of other
writers has more generally closed. It is supposed
that before he began to cultivate poetry he had
nearly attained the sixtieth year of his age m. In his

k Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 208.

1 The Historicall Genealogie of the Ancient and Noble House of Se-
'ton, written by Sir Richard Maitland of Lethington, one of the Senators
of the Colledge of Justice, in the year 1545 ; enlarged by Alexander
Viscount of Kingston, in the year 1687 ; MS.

m Menage wrote his Anii-BaiUct at the age of about seventy-eight:
and yet that work, as a very competent judge has remarked, ** est
plein d'un bout a i'autre d'une Literature exquise." Theophrastus com-

VOL. IL U

works it would therefore be improper to expect
the effervescence of a youthful imagination, or
the perpetual scintillations of a lively fancy.
They are not however incapable of exciting in-
terest ; they present us with the thoughts, serious
and gay, of an amiable old man habituated to
courts, and accurately acquainted with men and
manners.

His stanzas entitled Na Kyndnes at Court
without Siller shall be selected as a specimen of
his poetical taste :

S'umtyme to court I did repair,

Thairm sum errands for to dres,
Thinkand I had sum freindis thaif

To help fordwart my beseynes.
Bot, not the les,

I fand nathing bot doubilnes.
Auld kynnes helpis not ane hair.

To ane grit court-man I did speir,

That I trowit my friend had bene -?
Becaus we war of kyn sa rieir,

To him my mater I did menc.
Bot with disdene

He fled as I had done him tene,
And wald not byd my teill to heir.

posed the most curious of his works after he had reached the venerable
age of ninety-nine. The common reading of the passage in which he re-
presents himself as having completed that number of years, is sanctioned
by all the manuscripts which were inspected by the best of his commen-
tators. (Casaubon. Ad Tbeophrasti Charafteres Commentarinst p. 96.^

J wend that he in word and deid

For me his kynsraan sould have wrocht ;

Bot to my spieche he tuke na heid 5
Neirnes of blude he sett at nocht.

Than weill I thocht,
Quhan I for sibnes to him socht,

It wes the wrang way that I yeid,

My hand I put into my sleif,

And furthe of it ane pars I drew j ,

And said I brocht it him to geif :
Baith gold and silver I him schew.

Than he did rew
That he unkindlie me misknew j — ?

And hint the purs fest in his neif,

Fra tyme he gat the purs in hand,

He kyndlie co.usin call it me,
And baid me gar him understand

My beseynes all haillalie \
And swair that he

My trevv and faythfull freind suld be
In courte as I pies him comand.

For quhilk better it is, I trow,

Into the court to get supple,
To have ane purs of fyne gold fow,

Nor to the blast of degre
Of kyn to be.

Sa alters our nobilitie,
Grit kynrent helpis lytil now.

U 2

156

Thairfoir, my freinds, gif ye will mak
All courte-men youris as we wald,

Gude gold and silver with yow tak -7
Than to tak help ye may be bald j

For it is tauld,
'< Kyndnes of courte is coft and said:"

Neirnes of kyn na thing thai rak.

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER SCOT.

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER SCOT.

t OR the memoirs of the life of Alexander Scot,
the only materials which I have been able to dis-
cover are a few detached and unsatisfactory hints
scattered through his ingenious compositions.

He flourished about the year 1560. If he be
the poet specified in the following passage of a
sonnet of Montgomery a'ddrest to Robert Hud-
son, we may conclude that his life was prolong-
ed beyond the ordinary term, and that it was
somewhat unfortunate :

Ye knaw ill guyding genders mony gees,
And specially in poets : for example

Ye can pen out twa cuple and ye pleis,
Yourself and I, auld Scot and Robert Semple*

160

we ar dcid, that all our dayis daffis,
Let Christan Lyndesay vnyt our epitaphis.

It appears from his works that he was a lay-
man, and a rational friend to the Reformation.
The place of his residence, as we may conjecture
from his Justing, was probably Dalkeith. One of
his odes refers to his wife.

Such are the scanty notices which compose
what for the sake of uniformity I have entitled
" The Life of Alexander Scot."

A considerable number of his poems may be
found in the collections of Lord Hailes, Allan
Ramsay, and Mr Sibbald. Bannatyne's MS. con-
tains others which have never been printed.

THE productions of Scot may be classed among
the most elegant Scotish poems of the sixteenth
century. They are generally founded on sub-
jects of an amatory kind ; and discover a consi-
derable degree of fancy and harmony. His lyric
measures are chosen with sufficient skill : and his
language, when compared with that of cotempo-
rary poets, will be found to possess an uncommon
.share of terseness and precision.

He professes to have studied the female cha-
racter ; and the result of his enquiries is not very
flattering to the vanity of the sex. In his poem
Of Wemenkynd the following significant stanzas
occur:

161

I muse and mervellis in my mynd,

Ouhat way to xvryt or put in vers
The quent consaitis of wemenkynd,

Or half thair havingis to rehers :
I fynd thair haill afFectioun
So contrair thair complexioun.

For quhy ? no leid unleill thay leit,

Untrewth expressly thay expell ;
Yit thay ar planeist and repleit

Of falset and dissait thair sell :
So find I thair afFectioun
Contrair thair awin complexioun.

Thay favour no wayis fuliche men,
. And verry few of thame ar wyiss j
All gredy personis thay raisken,
And thay ar full of covettyiss :
So find I thair afFectioun
Contrair thair awin complexioun,

His unfavourable opinion of the sex in general
does not however seem to have prevented him
from placing his affections on some fair individual.
His verses In Prais of the twa fair Ene of his
Mistress may be produced as a specimen of his
talents for amatory poetry :

Thow well of vertew, floure of womanheid,
And patrone unto patiens,

Lady of lawty, baith in word and deid,
Rycht sobir, sweit, full meik o/eloquens,
Baith gude and fair ; to your magnificens

VOL. II. X

162

I me commend, as I half done befoir,
My sempill heart for now and evirmoir.

For evirmoir I sail you service mak :
Sen of befoir into ray mynd I made,

Sen first I knew ladyschip, bot lak,
Bewtie, youth of womanheid ye had,
Withouteii rest my hart couth nocht evade.

Thus am I your is, and ay sensyne haif bene

Commandit by your gudly twa fair ene.

Your twa fair ene makis me oft syis to sing,
Your twa fair ene makis me to sych also,

Your twa fair ene makis me grit comforting,
Your twa fair ene is wyt of all my wo,
Your twa fair ene may no man keip ' him' fro,

Withouttin rest that gets a sicht of thame :

Thus of all vertew weir ye now the name.

Ye beir the name of gentilness of blude,
Ye beir the name, that mony for ye deis,

Ye beir the name, ye are baith fair and gude,
Ye beir the name that farrer than yow seis,
Ye beir the name, fortune and you agreis,

Ye beir the name of lands of lenth and breid,

The well of vertew, floure of womanheid.

-This little poem is marked by a peculiarity to
which the reader must have adverted ; every
stanza commences with a repetition of some of
the concluding words of that by which it is pre-
ceded.

The following Rondel of Luve is not devoid of
what may properly be termed prettiness :

163

Lo ! quhat it is to lufe

Lerne ye that list to prufe,
Be me, I say, that no ways may

The grund of greif remuve,
Bot still decay, both nycht and day :

Lo quhat it is to lufe !

Lufe is ane fervent fyre,

Kendillit without desyre j
Schort plesour, lang displesour,

Repentance is the hyre j
Ane pure tressour without messour :

Lufe is ane fervent fyre.

To lufe and to be wyiss,

To rege with gud advyiss ;
Now thus, now than, so gois the g~me,

Incertaine is the dyiss :
Thair is no man, I say, that can

Both lufe and to be wyiss.

Fie alwayis frome the snair j

Lerne at me to beware :
It is ane pane and dowbill trane

Of endless wo and cair ;
For to refrane that denger plane,

Fie alwayis frome the snair.

The address To his Heart is remarkably smooth
and elegant :

Returne the hamewart, hairt, agane,

And byde quhair thou was wont to be ;

Thow art ane fule to suffer pane
For luve of hir that luvis not the-

Xa

My hairt, lat be sic fantesie :
Luve nane hot as thay mak the cause ,

And lat her seik ane hairt for the ;
For feind a crum of the scho fawis.

To quhat effect sould thou be thrall
But thank, sen thou hes thy fre will ?

My hairt, be nocht sa bestiall,

But knaw quha dois the guid or ill :
Remane with me and tarry still,

And se quha playis best their pawis,
And lat fillok ga fling her fill j

For feind a crum of the scho fawis.

Thocht scho be fair, I will not fenyie,

Scho is the kind of utheris ma :
For quhy ? thair is a fellone menyie

That semis gud and ar not sa.

My hairt, tak nowdir pain nor wa
For Meg, for Merjory, or yit Mawis,

Bot be thou glaid, and latt hir ga j
For feind a crum of the scho fawis.

Becaus I find scho tuk in ill,

At her departing thow mak na cair j
Bot all begyld go quhair scho will,

A schrew the hairt that mane makis mair.

My hairt be mirry lait and air j
This is the fynall end and clause ;

And let her fallow ane filly fair j
For feind a crum of the scho fawis.

The longest of Scot's productions is Ane New

rift to the £%uene, quben scbo come first bame ;

which is less valuable for its poetry, than for the

165

light that it reflects on an important aera of our
national history.

His Justing betwixt William Adamson and Johne
Syme is an imitation of Christis Kirk of the Grene ;
and although inferior to the admirable original, it
is distinguished by many happy strokes of humor-
ous description. Instead of attempting to select
particular specimens of the poet's humour, I shall
content myself with transcribing the initial stan-
zas:

The grit debate and turnament,

Of treuth no toung can tell,
Was for a lusty lady gent,

Betwix twa frelkis fell,
(For Mars the god armipotent

Was not sa ferss himsell,
Nor Hercules, that aiks uprent,

And dang the devil of hell)

Up at the Drum that day.

Doutles, was not so duchty deidis

Amangis the Dowsy Peiris j
Nor yet no clerk in story reidis

Of sa triumphand weiris 5
To se so stoutly on thair steidis

Tha stalwart knychtis steins,
Quhyle bellyes bair for brodding bleidis

With spurs as scherp as breiris,

And kene up at the Drum that day.

Up at the Drum the day was set,

And fixit was the feild,
Quhair baith thir noble chiftains met

Enarmit under schield :

166

They wer sae hasty and sae het,
That nane of them wad yeild,

But to debait or be doun bet,
And in the quarrell keild,

Or slane up at the Drum that day.

There was ane better and ane worss,

I wald that it wer wittin j
For William wichtar wes of corss

Nor Sym, and bettir knittin.
Sym said, He set nocht by his forss,

But hecht he suld be hittin,
And he micht counter Will on horss ;

For Sym was better sittin

Nor Will up at the Drum that day.

Several of the Scotish poets have exercised their
satirical powers on subjects of this kind. Scot's
Justing is undoubtedly superior to the similar at-
tempts of D unbar and Lindsay.

THE

LIFE

ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT.

1: HE

LIFE

ALEXANDER ARBUTHNOT.

W O apology need be offered for an attempt to
illustrate the personal and literary character of a
man who has obtained so distinguished a place in
the ecclesiastical annals of his native country,
and whose name Dr Campbell has thought wor-
thy of admission into the great repository of Bri-
tish biography. As a Scotish poet Arbuthnot
is hitherto but little known ; and the success of
the present effort to extend his celebrity must be
left to the impartial decision of time.

Alexander Arbuthnot was born in the year
one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight. He
descended from a respectable family, which
was afterwards ennobled by Charles the First.
His father was the baron or laird of Arbuthnot

VOL. II. Y

I/O

in the county of Kincardine : and it may be
conjectured that he himself was a younger bro-
ther.

According to Archbishop Spotswood, he stu-
died in the University of St Andrews a: but Dr
Mackenzie, whose authority is seldom entitled
to much regard, has transferred him to Aber-
deen b. He visited France in 1561 ; and for the
space of five years prosecuted the study of the
laws under the celebrated Cujaciusc. Having
taken the degree of licentiate, he returned to
Scotland with the view of following the profession
of an advocate. This plan he however relin-
quished, and afterwards directed his attention to
the study of theology. Having received ordina-
tion, he was presented to the living of Arbuthnot
and Logie-Buchan d.

The period at which he entered into the church
was highly - important. The Reformation had
been placed on no unsolid basis : but many dis-
putes with regard to doctrine and discipline

8 Spots-wood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 335.
b Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 186.

c Moreri informs us that Cujacius was successively professor at Tou-
louse, Cahors, Bourges, Valence, Turin, and again at Bourges (Diction-
tiaire Historique, torn. iii. p. 524); but he has neglected to specify the va-
rious periods of his removal from one university to another. I have also
consulted the Elogia of Papirius Masso, but with no better success.

d T. Middleton's Appendix to Spotswood, p. 24.

171

were still agitated ; and the contest between
presbytery and episcopacy was proceeding to-
wards its highest pitch of violence.

He appears to have sat in the general assembly
constituted at Edinburgh on the first of July,
1568. It being reported that Thomas Bassen-
den, a printer in that city, had published a bawdy
song at the end of the psalm-book, and that he
had also published a treatise in which the king
was denominated the head of the church, he was
commanded by the assembly to expunge the of-
fensive song, and to submit the other work to
the inspection of Arbuthnot e.

In the year 1569 the principal as well as some
other members of King's College, Aberdeen,
having been expelled by the ecclesiastical visi-
ter, Arbuthnot was promoted to the vacant of-
fice. " By his diligent teaching and dexterous
government," says Spotswood, " he not only re-
vived the study of good letters, but gained many
from the superstitions whereunto they were
given."

In 1572 his Orationes de Ongine et D'tgnitatc
Juris were published at Edinburgh in quarto.
This production was honoured with an encomi-
astic poem by Thomas Maitland ; who repre-
sents Arbuthnot as one of the brightest orna-

e Petrie's Hist, of the Catholick Church, cent. xvi. p. 359.
Y 2

172

merits of his country. The concluding verses I
shall transcribe :

Nee Cereris laudi, aut Bacchi tua gloria cedet,

Si modo jus potius frugibus atque mero est.
Quod si forte tibi sacra, Arbuthnaee, negantur,

Nomine nee niteant templa dicata tuo,
At Celebris memori tua fama sacrabitur aevo,

Factaque posteritas grata stupenda canet.
Macte igitur juris cultor doctissime, perge,

Coelicolum laudcs aequiparare tuisf.

To enhance the value of this eulogium, it must
be recollected that Maitland was a zealous Ca-
tholic.

Of the general assembly constituted at Edin-
burgh on the sixth of August, 1573, Arbuthnot
was chosen moderator g. In that of Edinburgh,
March the sixth, 1574, he was nominated among
the commissioners who were to summon before
them the chapter of Murray, accused of present-
ing a testimonial in favour of George Douglas,
bishop of that see, " without just trial and due
examination of his life, and qualification in li-
terature h." This assembly also authorized him,
with Dr John Row and others, to draw up a plan
of ecclesiastical polity for the future inspection of
the members '.

f Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum, torn. ii. p. 153.

£ Calderwood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p, 6j.

1» Ibid. p. 64.

5 Ibid. p. 65.

173

At Edinburgh on the firft of April, 1577, ne
was again chosen moderator j. During the same
year he was appointed, together with Andrew
Melvin and George Hay, to attend a council
which was expected to meet at Magdeburg for
the purpose of establishing the Augsburg Con-
fession k. The council however was not con-
vened. About this period a copy of The Book of
Discipline was presented to the Earl of Morton
as regent of the kingdom : and, ior the solution
of doubts anji the removal of difficulties, he
wus referred to Arbuthnot, Adamson, Melvin,
and other nine commissioners of inferior emi-
nence !.

The general assembly having met at Edinburgh
on the twenty-fourth of April, 1578, it was re-
solved that a copy of The Book of Discipline
should be presented to the king, and another to
his council ; and that, if a conference should be
demanded, they on their part would nominate
Arbuthnot, Melvin, and other ten delegates, to at-
tend at any appointed time m. In the assembly
which convened at Stirling on the eleventh of
June, Arbuthnot, together with Buchanan, Sir Pe-
ter Young, and others, was impowered to confer

j Calderwood, p. 76.

k Petrie's Hist, of the Catholick Church, cent, xvi, p. 392,
I Calderwood. p. 79.
ra Petrie, p. 394.

174

with several of the nobility, prelates, and gen-
try, relative to the polity of the church n.

These and other circumstances which might
be adduced, tend to evince the respectability and
importance of his character. His probity and
moderation seem to have equalled his literary at-
tainments : notwithstanding the violence of the
times, he has never been found subjected to cen-
sure °.

In the year 1583 he received a presentation to
one of the churches of St Andrews ; but the king
commanded him to remain in his college under
pain of horning. When the clergy complained
of this arbitrary exertion of the royal prerogative,
it was answered that his Majesty had issued the
order with a view to promote the general interests
of the church p. It is probable however that the
real cause of the prohibition was an apprehension
lest the removal of Arbuthnot to such a situation
might tend to the advancement of the schemes
which were then in agitation. Whatever might

n Calderwood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 83.

0 The Papists themselves seem to have revered his virtues. Nicol
Burne, who in his Admonition to the Anticlristian Ministers of the Deformit
Kirk of Scotland, written in 1581, has treated the rest of the Protest-
ant clergy with the utmost contempt, is unwilling to extenuate the me-
rits of Arbuthnot.

Bot yit, gude Lord, quha anis thy name hes kend,
May, or thay de, find for thair saulis remeid :

With thy elect Arbuthnot I commend,

Althocht the lave to Geneve haist with speid.

P Petrie's Hist, of the Catholick Church, cent. xvi. p. 438. 441.

175

be his private sentiments with regard to ecclesi-
astical polity, he seems to have adhered with suf-
ficient steadiness to the Presbyterian party : and
his personal influence must at this crisis have ren-
dered him an object of suspicion and displeasure to
the pusillanimous monarch. Dr Mackenzie con-
fidently asserts that he had become obnoxious by
printing Buchanan's history of Scotlandq: and
other authors have also supposed that he was the
identical Alexander Arbuthnot who held the
office of king's printer1". It is remarked by Mr
Ruddiman that this office was evidently incon-
sistent with his duty as principal of a college,
situated at the distance of eighty miles from the
press3. Mr Chalmers, by referring to the writ of
privy seal which denominates the king's printer
a burgess of Edinburgh, professes to have deci-
sively established the fact that he was a different
person from the celebrated principal r. This proof
is not however so decisive as the writer seems to
suppose : for, as Mr Sibbald has pertinently re-
marked, Gavin Douglas, though the son of a
powerful nobleman, and himself a dignified eccle-
siastic, was also a burgess of Edinburgh". The

* Mackenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, vol. iii. p. 192.

r Man's Censure of Ruddiman's Philological Notes on Buchanan,
p. 99. Aberdeen, 1753, *2nio.

s Ruddiman's Anticrisis, p. 26. Edinb. I754> 8vo.

* Chalmers, Life of Ruddiman, p. 72.

u Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. iii. p. 336.

176

situation of a printer was not formerly regarded
as incompatible with the dignity of the academic
life : the celebrated Adrian Turnebus, while he
held the office of king's printer, was also Professor
of Greek in the University of Paris.

Arbuthnot was soon placed beyond the reach
of kingly restraint. He died at Aberdeen on
the tenth of October, 1583, before he had com-
pleted the age of forty-five. On the twentieth of
the month his remains were interred in the Col-
lege Church.

His cotemporary James Melvin represents him
as " a man of singular gifts of learning, wisdom,
godliness, and sweetness of nature v :" and his
character has thus been delineated by the impar-
tial hand of Spotswood : " He was greatly loved
of all men, hated of none, and in such account
for his moderation with the chief men of these
parts, that without his advice they could almost
do nothing : which put him in a great fashrie,
whereof he did oft complain. Pleasant and
jocund in conversation, and in all sciences expert;
a good poet, mathematician, philosopher, theo-
logue, lawyer, and in medicine skilful ; so as in
every subject he could promptly discourse, and
to good purpose w".

T See extracts from Melvin's manuscript account of his own life, in-
serted in Man's Censure of Ruddlman, p. 99. — Melvin, perhaps with some
degree of friendly partiality, has pronounced Arbuthnot one of the mo?t
learned men of whom Europe could at that time boast.

w Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p.. 335.

177

His death appears to have been regarded as a
severe calamity to the national church, and to
the national literature. The following elegy was
composed by the celebrated Andrew Melvin,
Principal of New College, St Andrews :

Flere mihi si fas privata incommoda, si fas

Publica, nee tua mi commoda flere nefas,
Flerem ego te, raihi te ereptum, pater Arbuthnete !

Et pater, et patriae lux oculusque tuae !
Flerem ego te, superis carum caput, Arbuthnete !

Et caput, et sacri corque animusque chori.
Flerem ego j nee flenti foret aut pudor, aut modus, eheu !

Flerem ego te^ te eheu ! flerem ego perpetuo,
Deliciae human! genesis, dulcissime rerum j

Quern Musae et Charites blando aluere sinu j
Gujus in ore lepos, sapiens in pectore virtus,

Et Suadae et Sophiae vis bene juncta simul j
Cui pietas, cui prisca fides, constantia, candor,

Et pudor, et probitas, non habuere parem j
• Sacras et Themidis, medicas et Paeonis artes,

Et potis immensi pandere jura poll j
Vis animi, vis ingenii, vis vivida mentis

Et terram, et pontum, et sidera perdomuit.
Talis erat hie sevum agitans : nunc aethere summo

Celsior, et summo non procul inde Deo,
Perfrueris vera in patria cosloque Deoque

Fcelix : haee tua me commoda flere nefas x.

With respect to ecclesiastical polity Arbuth-
hot and Melvin seem to have entertained very
different sentiments : Melvin, it is well known,

* Delitise Poetarum Scotorum, torn. ii. p. 120.

VOL. II 7-

178

was a strenuous promoter of the Genevan system
of equality; while Arbuthnot is said to have
favoured the aristocratical jurisdiction of episco-

pacyy,

THREE poems have lately been published under
the name of Alexander Arbuthnot ; and various
circumstances have induced me to ascribe them
to the excellent man whose life I have now at-
tempted £o delineate. That he was a successful
cultivator of poetry, is evident from the testimony
of Archbishop Spotswood. The poems in question
appear to have been written by a clergyman.
They were written during the age of Principal
Arbuthnot. They breathe the humane and
liberal spirit which he is said to have possest.

One circumstance however seems to destroy
this hypothesis. In the colophon of 'The Miseries
of a Pure Scalar, that poem is said to have been
composed in the year 1572: Alexander Arbuth-
not was at that time Principal of King's College ;
and yet the author represents himself as languish-
ing in a state of indigence. This difficulty will
be removed if we suppose that some error has
been committed in transcription. In Mr Pinker-
ton's Ancient Scotisb Poems, this colophon has
perhaps been transferred from its proper place, in

J Spotswood, Refutatio Libelli de Regimine Ecclesias Scoticanae, p. 44.
Lond. 1620, 8v».

179

order to be appended to the last of Arbuthnot's
pieces that occurs in the series.

From the specimens which have been preserved,
Arbuthnot may be pronounced an ingenious and
pleasing poet. The Praises of Wemen is a gay
production which must have recommended him
in a very powerful manner to the favour of the
softer sex. Of that sex he appears to have enter-
tained a higher opinion than a late writer2 : and
in blazoning its merits he has displayed no in-
considerable portion of friendly zeal. The fol-
lowing stanzas are produced as a specimen of the
composition :

The wysest thing of wit

That ever Nature wrocht :
Quha can fra purpose flit,
Bot fickilnes of thocht.
Wald ye now wis ane erthlie blis,

Solace gif ye have socht j
Ane marchandyce of gritest pryce
That ever ony bocht.

The brichtest thing, bot baill,

That ever creat beinj
The lustiest and [maist] leil j

The gayest and best gain 5

z " A celebrated author who attained the utmost limits of ecclesiastical
dignity, affirms, the Scotish women were amorous; and that kisses were
less valued in Scotland than touching the hand in Italy. This might be
true. Modesty is an acquired idea : and no female bears the burden ejf
chastity, when an opportunity offers to lay it down !"

Z 2,

ISO

The thing fairest, and langest lest 5

From all canker maist clein.
The trimmest face, with gudlie grace,

That lichtlie may be sein.

The Miseries of a Pure Scalar, as Mr Pinker ton
remarks, " is a most interesting poem, and does
great honour to the heart and head of its author."
One passage I shall quote, because it contains a
contribution to literary history :

In poetrie I preis to pas the tyme,

When cairfull thochts with sorrow sailyes me ;

Bot gif I mell with meter or with ryme,
With rascal rymours I sail rakint be :
Thay sal me bourdin als with mony lie,

In charging me with that qukilk never I ment.

Quhat marvel is thoch I murne and lament ?

I wald travel ; and ydlenes I hait j

Gif I culd find sum gude vocatioun ;
Bot all for nocht : in vain lang may I wait,

Or I get honest occupatioun.

Letters are lichtliet in our natioun :
For lernyng now is nother lyf nor rent.
Quhat marvel is thoch I murne and lament ?

The Maitland MSS. preserved at Edinburgh
and Cambridge, contain several poems of Arbuth-
not which have not hitherto been published.

THE

LIFE

iOF

ALEX. MONTGOMERY

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER MONTGOMERY

JL HAT paucity of materials which we have so
frequently had occasion to regret, again awaits
us at this step of our progress. Of the life and
character of Alexander Montgomery, a poet who
has obtained his share of celebrity, no authentic
memorials have been transmitted to our times ;
and all that remains for his nominal biographer
is fruitless research or unsatisfactory conjecture.

If conjecture may be trusted, he was related
to the noble family of Eglintoun. His name
however does not occur in the peerage of Douglas
or of Crawford : and the prevalent opinion has
probably originated from Dempster's asserting
that Montgomery was of noble extraction.

From his poem entitled The Navigatioun it ap-
pears that he was born in Germany :

184.

As for my self, I am ane German borne,
Ouha ay this fasion whilk ye se hes worne,
Quhilk lenth of tym culd nevir caus me change,
Thoght I haiv bene in money cuntrey strange,
Thrugh all Europe, Afrik, and Asia,
And throu the neu-fund-out America :
All thair conditiouns I do understand,
Baith of the peple, and also of the land*.

The title-page of his works informs us that he
was a captain ; but of what denomination, is not
apparent. It seems however probable that he
followed the profession of a soldier.

According to Dempster, he was commonly
known by the name of Eques Montanus, or the
Highland Knight : but there is no evidence of
his being legally entitled to such an appellation.
Pol wart mentions him as having resided in Argyle.
The author of A Facetious Poem seems to repre-
sent him as an inhabitant of the district of Baden-
yon5. John Wilson, the author of Clyde, a des-
criptive poem, has hinted that Montgomery occa-
sionally resided at Finlayston in the county of
Renfrew :

But Finlayston demands the choicest lays ;
A generous Muse's theme in former days,

a Montgomery's Poems, p. 105. MS.

b A Facetious Poem in imitation of the Cherry and Slae, giving ar-
oount of the entertainment Love and Despair got in the Highlands of
Scotland ; revealed in a dream to one in pursuit of his stoln cows. By-
G. G, of S. Edinb. 1701, zamo.

183

When soft MONTGOMERY poured the rural lay :

Whether he sung the vermeil dawn of day,

Or in the mystic wreath, to soothe his woe,

Twin'd the red cherry with the sable s/oe,

Each charming sound resistless love inspir'd,

Soft love resistless every bosom fir'd j

Of love the waters murmur'd in their fall,

And Echo sounds of love returned to all 5

Trembling with love, the beauteous scene imprest

Its amorous image on the firth's fair breast j

The scene ennobled by the lofty dome

Where great Glencairn has fix'd his splendid home j

Whose breast the firm integrity inspires,

And scorn of slavery, that adorn M his sires.

With the writer's sources of information, as well
as the poem of which Finlayston is thus men-
tioned as the theme, I am totally unacquainted.
It appears from his own productions that his
poetical talents procured him the patronage of his
sovereign James the Sixth : and Dempster has
indeed informed us that he stood high in the
favour of that learned monarch0. Of the royal
bounty he however seems to have sustained at
least a temporary deprivation ; his poems insi-
nuate that a pension which he had enjoyed was
withheld at the secret instigation of his enemies.
He also complains of his being involved in a tedi-
ous process before the Court of Session, and
harassed with misfortunes of every denomination.

One of his poems is entitled " The Poet's Com-

i

c Dempster. Hist. Ecclesiast. Gent. Sector, p. 496.

VOL. II. A a

186

plante aganst the Unkindness of his Companions
when he vves in Prisone :" and in the following
sonnet he pathetically bewails his accumulated
misery :

If lose of guids, if gritest grudge or grief,
If povertie, imprisonment, or pane,
If for guid-will ingratitude agane,

If languishing in langour, but rtk-if,

If det, if dolour, and to become deif,
If travell tint, and labour lost in vane,
Do properlie to poets appertane,

Of all that craft my chance is to be chief.

With August Virgill waunted his reward,
And Ovid's lote als lukles as the lave j

Quhill Homer liv'd, his hap wes wery hard,
Yit, when he died, sevin cities for him stravc.

Thoght I am not lyk one of thame in arte,

I pingle thame [ J perfytlie in that parted.

In one of his sonnets addrest to Robert Hudson,
we meet with a passage which also contains bio-
graphical hints :

This is no lyfe that I leid up-a-land,
On raw rid herring reistit in the reik :
Syn I am subject som tyme to be seik,

And day lie deing of my auld diseis :
Ait bread, ill aill, and all things ar ane eik ;

This barme and blaidry buists up all my bees,

<1 Montgomery's Poems, sonn. xv, MS.

187

On the friendship of Hudson he seems to have
relied with a confidence of which he afterwards
found reason to repent. Christian Lindsay thus
upbraids Hudson with his treachery :

Oft have I hard, but efter fund it trew,

That courteours kyndnes lasts hot for a quhyle :
Fra once your turnes be sped, quhy then adevv !

Your promeist freindship passis in exyle.

Bot, Robene, faith ye did me not beguyle :
I hopit ay of you as of the lave.

If thow had wit, thow wald half mony a wyle
To mak thy self be knawin for a knaive.
Montgomrie, that sik hope did once conceave

Of thy guid-will, now finds all is forgottin :
Thocht nocht but kindness he did at the craive,

He finds thy friendship, as it rypis, is rotten.
The smeikie smeiths cairs not his passit travel,
Bot leivis him lingring deing of the gravel*.

Many of the poems of Montgomery are written
in a querulous strain : but he always speaks like
a man conscious of rectitude ; and the recollec-
tion of his own virtues, together with the exer-
cise of his poetical talents, seems to have been
his principal source of consolation under all the
calamities to which he was exposed.

The dates of his compositions cannot be ascer-
tained. The Fly ting betwixt Montgomrie and
'Polwart must have been written in or before the
year 1584; for a passage of it is quoted by King

* Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. iii. p. 504.
A a 2

188

James in his Revlis and Cautelis of Scottis Poesie,
a work which made its appearance in the course
of that year. In 1595 he published his well-
known poern The Cherie and the Slae. It was re-
printed in 1597, by Robert Waldegrave, " accord-
ing to a copie corrected be the author himselfe."
Of the edition printed by Andrew Hart in 1615,
the title page informs us that the author had re-
vised his work a short while before his death.
He appears therefore to have died between 1597
and 1615. By referring his death to the year
1591, Dempster has fallen into one of his innu-
merable errors.

Many of his compositions are to be found in
the collections of Pinkerton, Ramsay, Watson,
and Sibbald. The Ylyting was printed at Glas-
gow, in octavo, in the year 1665. Editions of
his poetical works were published at Glasgow,
by Foulis in 1751, and by Urie in 1754 : but
these, though sufficiently elegant, are incomplete
and unfaithful.

Among the books presented by Drummond to
the University of Edinburgh, is a manuscript
collection of the poems of Montgomery, consist-
ing of odes, sonnets, psalms, and epitaphs. Of
these no very considerable number has hitherto
met the public eye. Some specimens however
occur in Mr Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry.
The MS. extends to one hundred and fifty-
eight pages in quarto, and has been preserved

189

with some degree of care : but by reducing it to
the dimensions of the printed tracts together
with which it forms a volume, the bookbinder
has unfortunately shorn away several words and
•syllables.

MONTGOMERY was probably acquainted with
the writings of the Italian poets : he has left many
sonnets constructed on the Italian model ; and
his general taste in composition may perhaps be
regarded as exotic. His productions undoubt-
edly discover a considerable degree of fancy ; but
his fancy is not always sufficiently regulated by
the principles of a correct taste.

His fame chiefly rests on the merits of The
Cherrie and the Slae ; a poem which, as it still
continues to be redd, must certainly be found
possest of genuine beauty. A very acute writer
who occasionally suffers caprice to usurp the
place of judgment, has however censured it in the
following terms : " It is a very poor production •
and yet, I know not how, it has been frequently
printed, while far superior works have been ne-
glected. The stanza is good for a song ; but the
worst in the world for a long poem. The alle-
gory is weak and wire-drawn ; and the whole
piece beneath contempt. Let it then sleep f."
To sleep it does not however seem to have been

f Pinkerton's List of the Scptish Poets, p. cxviii.

190

destined. A work which has maintained its po-
pularity for the space of two hundred years, can-
not with much apparent modesty or justice be
pronounced contemptible. Popularity is for the
most part a safe criterion of literary excellence :
the power of diffusing general delight can only
reside in a writer of superior endowments.

Lord Hailes has represented Montgomery as a
man of genius g: and another of our writers has
characterized The Cherrie and the Slae as an alle-
gorical poem of no ordinary ingenuity. His
warmest admirers must however admit that the
allegory is too dark to be readily comprehended.
According to one critic, " the object of the poem
is to represent the wishes, hopes, reasonings, and
attempts of a lover, the mistress of whose passion
was, by her rank and her personal excellencies,
exalted greatly abuve. his condition :" but, ac-
cording to another, " the allegory of this poem
is, that moderate pleasures are better than high
ones." Both these interpretations cannot be ac^
curate, but they may both be erroneous. The
genuine explication of the allegory perhaps is,
that the paths of virtue, though of the most dif-
ficult access, ought to be strenuously preferred to
those of vice, however smooth and inviting the
latter may at first appear. The poet perceives
the cherry growing upon a tall tree, and that

? Hailes, Ancient Scottish Poems, p. 339.

19!

tree rising from a formidable precipice : but the
sloe, a fruit of an inferior species, is seen depend-
ing from a less dangerous height, and seems to
invite his irresolute hand.

This interpretation is apparently consonant to
the tenor of the poem ; and in support oi it,
many detached passages might here be adduced.
It will be sufficient to quote a part of the con-
cluding stanza :

Praise be to God my Lord thairfoir,
J)uha did myne helth to me restoir,

Being sae lang tyrne pynd j
And blessed be his haly name,
Quha did frae deith to lyfe reclaim

Me quha was sae unkynd.

Of Montgomery's poem a Latin paraphrase
was published by a writer, who, instead of his
name, presents us with the following chain of
initials : T.D.S.P.M.B.P.P. This paraphrast was
probably no other than the celebrated Tho-
mas Dempster. By these initials we are there-
fore to understand, Thomas Dempsterus, Scotiae
Patricius, Muresk Baro, Professor Parisiensis, or
Professor Pisanus, or Pandectarum Professor.
Of the poetry of Montgomery he was a profest
admirer; and has pronounced him the Scotish
Pindar, and a writer inferior to none of the an-
cients in elegance of taste or beauty of composi-
tion.

192

Dempster's explanation of the allegory corres-
ponds to that which has already been submit-
ted to the reader. He has entitled his work,
" opus poematicum de virtutum et vitiorum pug-
na ; sive electio statfts in adolescentia." His
prologue, which I shall here transcribe at length,
may serve as a comment on Montgomery.

Florens Juventus sseculi splendoribus
Illecta, sensus occupat rebus leves
Inanibus j florum venustis lumina
Coloribus pascens, vclucmm cantibus
Infatuat aures ; et virenti permanens
Neinore, secus fluenta limpida excubans.
Casus futures nesciens, in prosperis
Elata mens adversitatem negligit.
Cum forte blandus advolat praedam ratus
Cupido, pictas in propinquo caespite
Deponit alas, ad volandum provocat.
Commota mox est fervida Adolescentia :
Pennis et arcu Amoris armata avolat,
Sed dum repente ludicris telis agit
Praedas, Cupidini fit heu prseda ipsamet.
Vexat cruentum marte proprio pessimus
Juvenem Cupido, vulneratum, saucium :
Deridet, oppressum extasi et languoribus :
Pennis et armis spoliat, et mcestissimum
Linquens, per astra tonitruans abit statim.
Plorat cruentus, insequens procul deum,
Frustra fatigans caput et aciem luminum.
Diris Cupidinem dicat tandem omnibus.
Nunc ejulata gemitibusque angustias
Lenire conatur j sed intimus dolor
Magis magisque crescit atque exuberat.
Amoris haec solamina ex armis capit.

193

Inter dolores ac labores fortiter
Vexatus, oppressus siti, et febricitans,
Petrae appropinquat fluminique ut frigidas
Captet per umbras sobrium solatium.
Cum forte supra caput, in altitudine
Saxi, videt cerasum pulchre mitissimis
Fructibus onustam, quos siti putat suse
Aptissimos, morboque sanando fore.
Modum tamen viamque carpendi videt
Nusquam , sed in viciniori conspicit
Spina nigrantia pruna plurima. Ambigit
Durumne carpens iter, in arduo sham
Sequi juvet virtutem, et hanc (cerasus notat)
Stat anxius, vel in patentc seeculo
(Quod spinus exprimit) frui solatiis
Modico quitem tempore afferentibus,
In fine luctibus dolisque tristibus
Pleno, miserrimam ferentibus necem.
Prunum jubet Metus, Periculum quoque ut
Carpatj jubetque idem ipsa Desperatio.
Spes et Voluntas, altera cum Audacia
Pro parte disputant, volunt quoque cerasum.
Contentiosis atterunt tempus diu,
Verbisque multis expeditum fit nihil.
In fine tandem litis, accedunt graves
Sapientia, Experientia, et prudens Dea,
Peritia ac Ratio simul rebus modum
Ponunt. Voluntas exulat, suspenditur
Laqueo suo maligna Desperatio.
Caetera cohors concordibus votis petunt
Cerasa, levamen segro, et optatam parant
Prompte medelam j pariter et Prudentia

VOL. II. B b

Praeit, Peritia et Ratio monstrant viam.
Juventa desideria sic explet pia :
Dicit vale mundo, suisque noxiis
Curis, adhaerens regiae pacis viae,
Quae ducit in vitam ac beatitudinem h.
«

This explanation of the allegory, it must be
acknowledged, cannot easily be reconciled with
that which Dempster has proposed in one of his
avowed productions'. But as authors are not un-
der the necessity of retaining every opinion which
they have once adopted, we may persist, not-
withstanding this inconsistency, in regarding
him as the paraphrast of Montgomery's poem.

The amatory effusions of Montgomery are not
deficient in fancy and elegance ; but they .often
display attempts at luminous beauty which de-
viate into affectation and bombast. He thus ce-
lebrates the perfections of Lady Margaret Mont-
gomery :

The goddes Diana, in hir hevinlie throne,

Evin at the full of all hir majestic,
Quhen she belev't that danger was thair none,

Bot in her sphere ascending up maist hie,

ii Cerasum et Sylvestre Prunum, &c. edit: Edinb. 1696, lima.

i "Cerasus et Vaccinium, poema divinum quo amoressuos descripserat ;
per cerasum, amicae sublimis dignitatem, per vaccinium, contemnendo?
inferioris et fastiditae amasiae amplexus intelligens."

DEMPSTER. Hist. Ecclesiajt. Gent, Sector. p. 496,

195

Upon this nymph fra that scho cast hir ei,
Blusching for schame out of her schyne she slippis,

Thinking scho had bene Phebus verilie,
At whose depairt scho fell into th' eclippis.

The asters cleir, and torchis of the nicht,
Quhilk in the sterrie firmament were fixit,

Fid • hv y persavit Dame Phosbe los hir light,
Lyke diamonts with cristall perls mixit,
They did discend to schyne this nyrnph annixit,

Upon hir schoulders twinkling everie on :
Quhilk to depaint it wald be owr prolixit,

How thay in ordour glister on hir gown.

According to this magnificent description, Lady
Margaret in the plenitude of power could de-
range the solar system, and, with irresistible at-
traction, draw the more remote stars from their
orbits. Lady Margaret, when stript of her bor-
rowed plumage, had in all probability nothing
left to distinguish her from the crowd of courtly
beauties : but she happened to occupy an envi«
able station in the fertile fancy of an admiring
poet ; and his ardent devotion could not be satis-
fied with bestowing on its object attributes less
than divine.

The following lyric poem, which I have tran-
scribed from the Drummond MS. seems to have
been written in celebration of the same lady.

B 2

196

Quhy bene ye, Musis ! all so long

On sleep this mony a day ?
£»et not your harmony and song

In silence thus decay.
Distill by influence
Your stremis of eloquence,

That throu your heuinlie liquor sueit
My pen in rhetoric may fleit,
For till expres
The comlines
Of my maistres
With joy repleit.

To kythe hir cunning Natur wald

Indeu hir with sik grace :
My spreit rejosis to behald
Hir smyling angels face.
Lyk Phrebus in the south,
To skorne the rest of youth,

Hir curling loks lyk golden rings
About hir hevinly haffats hings 5
Quhilk to decore
Hir body more,
Quhom I adore
Above all things,

Hir brouis ar brent j lyk golden threeds,

Hir siluer-shining brees :
The bony blinks my courage feeds

Of hir tua christall ees,
Tuinkling illuminous
With beamis amorous ;

Quhairin tua naikit boyis resorts,

Ouhais countenance good hope reports \

107

For they appeir
With smyling cheir,
As thay wald speir
At me some sports.

Hir comelie cheeks, of vive colour

Of rid and whyt ymixt,
Ar lyk the sangueiie jonet-flour

Into the lillie fixt :
Hir mouth mellifluous,
Hir breathing savorous,

Hir rosie lippis most eminent,
Her teeth lyk pearle of orient,
Hir liaise more whyt
Nor I can wry t j
With that perfyt,
And sapient.

Hir vestall breist of ivorie,

Quhairon ar fixit fast
Tua twins of clene virginitie,

Lyk boullis of alabast.
Out throw hir snauie skin
jMaist cleirlie kythes within

Hir saphir veins lyk threids of silk,
Or violets in whytest milk :
If Natur sheu
Hir hevinlie heu
Jn whyt and blew,
It wes that ilk.

Hir armes ar long, hir shulders braid,
Hir middill gent and small :

The mold is lost wharin wes maid
This a per se of all.

198

„

The gods ar in debait
Concerning hir estait.
Diana keeps this Margarit,
Bot Hymen bights to mak hir meit ;
Deserve let sie
Amount from thrie.
Go, merie she,
That is so sweit.

Quha can both shoot and open loks

As can this only kie ?
Persaiv this pithie paradox,
And mark it weil in me :
Quhais beutie hes my burt ?
Quhais beutie healls my hurt ?

Quhais beutie blythnes me bereivis ?
Quhais beutie gladnes to me givis ?
Quhais beutie, lo !
Dois me undo ?
Quhais beutie to
My spreit revivis ?

A quotation from Montgomery's Echo may
serve as a specimen of a fantastic mode of com-
position which formerly prevailed.

Quhat lovers, Echo ! maks sik querimony ? Mony.

Quhat kynd of fyre doth kindle thair curage ? Rage.

Quhat medicine — O Echo ! knowis thow ony On ay.

Is best to stay this Love of his passage ? Age.

Quhat merit thay that cdd our sighs assuage ? Wage.

Ouhat wer we first in this our love profane ? Fain.

Quhair is our joy ? O Echo 1 tell agane. Gane.

199

Poetical echoes are of no modern invention ; ex-
amples of this puerile species of composition may
be found in the Anthology, in the works of Aris-
tophanes, and perhaps in those of other Greek
writers. But, in the opinion of Julius Scaliger,
it was more happily managed by the Latins1;
among whom it would seem to have been indus-
triously cultivated during the decline of classical
purity. Such laborious triflers have fallen under
the scrutiny of Martial :

Ouod nee carmine glorior supine,
Nee retro lego Sotaden cinaedum,
Nusquam Grsecula quod recantat Echo,
Nee dictat mihi luculentus Atys
Mollem debilitate galliambon,
Non sum, Classice, tam malus poeta*.

Sidonius mentions Lampridius, a rhetorician of
Bourdeaux cotemporary with himself, as a writer
of echoing elegies1.

j Scaligeri Poetice, lib. ii. cap. xxix.

k Martialis Epigrammata, lib. ii. ep. Ixxxvi. — Of the different species
of versification mentioned in this epigram, an account may be found in
the ponderous commentary of Raderus. (Ad Martialem Cur<s Tcrtia^ p.
235. Moguntiae, 1627, f°k)

1 Sidonii Opera, p. 236. — Sirmond, the very learned editor, thus ex-
plains the text : " Echoicos autem elegos ab Echo dicere videtur eos, quo-
rum principii ac finis idem est hemistichium : 's««yr*f £ KM*.*; diceret
Hermogenes. Tale est Pentadii de adventu veris integrum epigramma,
in eotjue de Echo ipsa hoc distichum:

Per cava saxa sonat pecudum mugitibus Echo,
Voxque repulsa jugis per cava saxa sonat.

200

The practice of composing on this model, after
it had been for a considerable time discontinued,
was perhaps revived by the celebrated Politian ;
who informs us that he wrote, in the Italian lan-
guage, verses of this description which had been
set to music m. Erasmus presents us with a mor-
sel of prose adapted to a similar pattern. Echo
is the respondent in one of his colloquies, and re-
turns sundry laconic and facetious answers.

A specimen of echoing poetry occurs among
the works of David Hume of Godscroft". Captain
William Mercer's English verses in commenda-
tion of Henderson, Rutherford, Baillie, and'Gil-
lespie, are written in the same wretched taste0.
Montgomery, Hume, and Mercer, are perhaps
the only Scotish poets who have fallen into this
egregious trifling.

Montgomery and Polwart seem to have been
ambitious of rivalling their predecessors Dunbar
and Kennedy : they have exhausted almost every
term of abuse which the language then afforded p.

Scio in Servii Centimetro echoicum versum definiri cujus ultima syllaba
penultimas congruit, ut est hie :

Exercet mentes fraternas gratia rara.

Sed hoc genus ad Sidonium non facit, qui artificia tractat qune in elegis
cernuntur." (Note ad SiJomum, p. 90.)

111 Politiani Miscellanea, cap. xxii.

Q Humii Daphn. Amaryllis. Lond. 1605, 4to.

0 Mercer's Angl'ia Speculum^ or England's Looking-Glasse, sig. N. 2. b.
Lond. 1646, 4to.

P If we may credit Dempster, the antagonist of Montgomery was Sir
Patpick Hume of Polwarth. (Hist. JEcdesiast. Cent. Scotyr* p. 35 8.)

201

Their Flyting, to adopt the words of Lord Hailes,
only tends to evince how poor, how very poor,
genius appears, when its compositions are debased
by the meanest prejudices of the meanest vulgar.

To the religious strains of Montgomery we lis-
ten with rrtore satisfaction. Besides composing
various poems of a pious tendency, he has versi-
fied several of the psalms in a peculiar measure,
which was perhaps adapted to the church music.
His mind seems at all times to have been imprest
with a proper sense of the importance of religious
duties.

Montgomery is almost the only Scotish poet
who has composed any considerable number
of sonnets in his native language* The Drum-
mond MS. contains no fewer than seventy poems
of this description. As they cannot but be
deemed an object of some curiosity, I have se-
lected the following six ; which are written on
different subjects, and possess different degrees of
merit.

High architectur, wondrous vautit rounds.

Huge host of hevin in restless-rolling spheers,
Firme-fixt polls whilk all the axtrie beirs,

Concordant discords, suete harmonious sounds,

Boud zodiak, circle belting Phoebus bounds,
Celestiall signis, of moneths making yeers,
Bright Titan to the tropicks that reteirs,

Quhais fyrie flammis all chaos' face confounds,

VOL. II. C c

Just-balanc'd ball amidst the hevins that hings,
Ali creaturs that Natur creat can
To ierve the use of most unthankfull man ;

Admire your maker, only king of kings :

Prais him, O man ! his mervels that remarks,
Quhais mefcyis far exceids his wondrous warks.

My plesuris past procures my present pain,
My present pain expels my plesurs past,
My languishing, alace ! is lyk to last,

My grief ay groues, my gladenes wants a grane,

My bygane joyes I can not get agane,

Bot, once imbarkit, I must byde the blast :
I can not chuse j my kinsh is not to cast :

To wish it war, my wish wald be bot vane.

Yit whill I sey my senses to dissaive,

To pleis my thoght I think a thousand things,
Quhilks to my breist bot boroude blythnes brings.

Anis hope I had, thoght nou dispair I haive,
A stratagem, thoght strange, to stay my sturt,
By apprehensioun for to heill my hurt.

Suete nichtingale ! in holene grene that han[ts],
To sporte thy self} and speciall in the spring,

Thy chivring chirls, whilks [charminglie thou chants],
Maks all the roches round about th£ ring 5
Whilk slaiks my sorow so to heir the sing,

And lights my louing langour at the leist.
Yit ttioght thou sees not, sillie saikles thing !

The neircing pykis, brods at thy bony breist,

Euin so am I by plesur lykuyis preist,

203

In gritest danger whair I most delyte.
Bot since thy song for shoring hes not ceist,

Suld feble I for feir my conqueis quyt ?
Na, na j I love the freshest phoenix fair,
In beutie, birth, in bountie, but compair.

The hevmlie furie that inspyr'd my spreit

Quhen sacred beughis war wont my brouis to bind,
With frostis of fashrie frozen is that heet 5

My garland grene is withrit with the wind.

Ye knau Occasio hes no hair behind :
The bravest spreits hes tryde it treu I trou •,

The lang-forspoken proverb true I find,
No man is man, and man is no thing now :
The cuccou flees befor the turtle-dou j

The pratling pyet matchis with the Musis 5
Pan with Apollo playis I wot not hou j

The attircops Minerva's office usis.
These be the grievis that garris Montgomrie gr[udgej.
That Mydas, not Mecenas, is our judge.

Excuse me, Plato, if I suld suppone,

That underneth the heuinlie vauted round,
Without the world, or in parts profound

By Stix inclos'd, that emptie place is none.

If watrie vauts of air be full echone, .

Then what contenis my teirs, which so abound
With sighis and sobbis, which to the hevins I sound

When Love delightis to let me mak my mone ?

C C 2

204

Suppose the solid subtilis ay restrantis,

Which is the maist, my maister, ye may mene,
Thoght all war void, yit culd they not contene

The half, let be the haill, of my complaintis.

Whair go thay then, the question wald I [craiv],
Except for ruth the hevins suld thame [recaiv] ?

So suete ,a kis yistrene fra thee I reft
In bouing doun thy body on the bed,

That evin my lyfe within thy lippis I left.

Sensyne from thee my spirit wald neuer shed :
To folou thee it from my body fled,

And left my corps als cold as ony kie.

Bot when the danger of my death I dred,

To seik my spreit I sept my harte to thee j

Bot it was so inamored with thyne ee,
With thee it myndit lykwryse to remane :

So thou hes keipit captive all the thrie,

More glaid to byd then to returne agane.
Except thy breath thare places had suppleit,
Euen in thyne armes thair doutles had I deit.

The sonnet, a native of Italy, had been trans-,
planted into the garden of English poetry by the
Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyat, writers who
adorned the court of Henry the Eighth. This
species of composition, wrhich at first seems to
have been principally cultivated by men of rank
and fashion, soon became a favourite vehicle of
amatory and moral sentiment : and the example
pf such writers as Shakespeare, Spenser, Daniel,

205

and Watson, tended strongly to recommend it to
the poets of Great Britain. But the fa' it. of a legi-
timate sonnet, however adapted to the Italian lan-
guage, is seldom reared with much propriety in
ours, which possessing a greater variety of ter-
mination, requires the rhymes to be often changedq.
Most of the little poems which, under the appella-
tion of sonnets, have lately inundated the readers of
English poetry, are by no means entitled to the
name which they assume.

9 Johnson's Lives of English Poets, vol. i. p. 236.

THE

LIFE

OF

K. JAMES THE SIXTH.

THE

LIFE

OF

KING JAMES THE SIXTH.

1 HE political character of King James, and
the public transactions of his reign, have been
detailed by writers of every denomination ; but
his literary history, notwithstanding the laudable
industry of Pr Harris, has not hitherto been in-
vestigated with that degree of accuracy which it
seems to demand. This monarch, whatever may
be alleged by those who execrate his moral
qualities, was undoubtedly possest of no con-
temptible share of learning : and he was engaged
in controversies, or connected by personal attach-
ment, with many distinguished individuals who
at that time adorned the republic of letters.

His Scotish poems, though certainly more re-
markable for their number than for their excel-
lence, are not so despicable as to exclude his name
VOL. II. D d

210

from tha present catalogue. In the progress of
the subsequent desultory narrative our attention
must be directed, almost exclusively, to his cha-
racter and conduct as a scholar : and it may per-
haps be found a somewhat amusing task to insti-
tute a comparison between his real merits, and
the hyperbolical encomiums which he received
in an age that abounded with literary sycophants.

Charles James Stewart, the son of Henry and
Mary Stewart, sovereigns of Scotland, was born
in the castle of Edinburgh on the nineteenth of
June, one thousand five hundred and sixty-six.
His father, the eldest son of Matthew Stewart,
Earl of Lennox, had been selected by the queen
on account of his superficial attractions ; but his
total deficiency in every estimable quality soon
alienated the affection which he had so easily ex-
cited. Within the space of a few months after
their nuptials, they began £0 entertain that mu-
tual disgust which at length produced such fatal
effects. Henry was murdered in the year 1567':
and there are strong reasons for believing that
Mary was not unacquainted with the machina-
tions which had been formed against his life.

In the course of the same year the queen was
imprisoned in the castle of Lochlevin, and com-
pelled to make a formal surrender of her king-
dom. Her infant son was crowned at Stirling on
the twenty-ninth of July : and during his mino-
rity the affairs of the nation were successively

211

managed by the Earls of Murray, Lennox, Mar,
and Morton. In 1568 she formed and executed
the unfortunate resolution of seeking refuge in
England ; where she was long subjected to all the
indignities and misery which a cruel and un-
principled rival could inflict.

James, soon after his birth, had been entrusted
to the care of the Earl of Mar, a nobleman of a
highly honourable and disinterested character.
When he arrived at a proper age, his education
was chiefly left to the superintendency of the
earl's brother Alexander Erskine. His principal
preceptors were George Buchanan and Sir Peter
Young ; men who appear to have been admirably
qualified for so important an office. Under their
direction, he made such a . progress in the study
of classical learning as royal pupils have seldom
equalled.

From the general state of religious opinions in.
the nation, as well as from the known character
of Buchanan, the Protestants on the continent
seem to have conceived early hopes of finding, in
the Scotish king, a powerful accession to their
cause. To him, yet in the fourteenth year of his
age, the celebrated Theodore Beza inscribed his
Icones Virorum Illustrium, in a strain sufficiently
calculated for conciliating his affections to the inte-
rests of religious liberty*.

a Bezae Icones Virorum Doctrina simul et Pietate Illustrium. Genevae,
1580, 4to..— The dedication is Confronted with a portrait of the
king.

J)d 2

212

The regent Morton, after having disgusted
nation by his conduct, found it expedient, in
1578, to resume his station as a private man.
His dexterity soon enabled him to usurp the
authority which he had lately enjoyed : but the
renewed attempts of his numerous enemies at
length effected his ruin; in the year 1581 he
.was publicly executed at Edinburgh.

The young king had now begun to act the
part of a royal pageant ; but the management of
public affairs was necessarily left to others. One
of the earliest propensities which he discovered
was an excessive attachment to favourites : and
this weakness, which ought to have been aban-
doned with the other characteristics of childhood,
continued to retain its ascendant during every
stage of his life. His early favourites were Esme
Stewart, whom he created Duke of Lennox, and
James Stewart, whom he created Earl of Arran.
His violent partiality for these men irritated the
impetuous spirit of the nobility : and in the year
1582 a powerful combination was formed for the
purpose of depriving them of their undue in-
fluence. In prosecution of their plan, the ad-
herents boldly siezed the king's person at the
Earl of Cowrie's castle of Ruthven, and retained
him in their custody for upwards of ten months.
Having at last found an opportunity to escape,
he pursued his former system of favouritism.

213

James was now about to commence his career
as a man of letters. In 1584, while he was yet
in the eighteenth year of his age, he published
The Essayes of a Prentlse In the Divine Art of
Poesie. This collection was printed in quarto by
Vautroullier. His Paraphrase vpon the Revelation
of the Apostle S. John, a work of a different
complexion, must have been composed about the
same period ; for Dr Montague affirms that " it
was written by his Majesty before he was twenty
years of age."

The melancholy catastrophe of Queen Mary
took place on the eighth of February,

b Mary was considered as a martyr to the Popish religion ; and her
fate was bewailed by several illustrious poets of the same tenets: A
poem on her death occurs among the Poesies dc M. du Perron^ p. 1 1 7. The
following verses " De Nece Reginaj Scotise" were written by axiothetf
cardinal, who was afterwards elevated to the papal dignity ;

Te quanquam immeritam ferit, O regina, securis,

Regalique tuum funus honore caret ;
Sorte tua gaude, mcerens neque Scotia ploret :

En tibi pompa, tuas quse decet exequias.
Nam tibi non paries atro velatur amictu,

Sed terras circum nox tenebrosa tegit :
Non tibi contextis lucent funalia lignis,

Sed coeli stellae : nasnia tristis abest,
Sed canit ad pheretrum superum chorus aliger; et me,

.Coelesti incipiens voce, silere jubet.

Maphxi S. R. E. Card. Barbarini nunc Urbani PP. Vllf.
Poemata, p. 213. edit. Antverp. 1634, 4to.

Mary, like her father^ her husband, and her son, was a lover of polite
literature. "The kings father," says Dr Montague, " translated Vale-
rius Maximus into English ; and the queenc his Maiesties mother wrote

Although James manifested a resolution of aveng-
ing the cruelty which had been exercised on his
mother, and the insult which had been offered to
the Scotish nation, yet he was at length soothed
by the artifices of the royal murderer, and re-
strained by the consciousness of his own weakness.
He was not endowed with any uncommon share of
natural affection : and as he had never known his
parent in the tender endearments of their mutual
relation, his principles of filial piety had more
rarely been called into exertion. He must be-
sides have been taught to regard her character in
no very favourable point of view : several of his
courtiers were the creatures of Elizabeth ; and,
in cooperation with her plans, endeavoured to in-
spire him with sentiments which it did not be-
come him as the son of an affectionate mother
to entertain. He had been instigated by the
Master of Gray to address to her, during her rigor-
ous captivity, an undutiful letter which contained
a harsh refusal to acknowledge her as Queen
of Scotland. This instance of filial ingratitude
made a deep impression on the susceptible mind
of the ill-fated princess.

a boolte of verses in French of the institution of a prince, all with her
owne hand, wrought the couer of it with her needle, and is now of his
Maiestie esteemed as a most pretious Jewell." (Preface to K. James's
Workes.) Several French poems of Mary's composition may be found in
various books. A lyric poem ascribed to Henry occurs among Lord Hailes's
Ancient Scottish Poems, puilislcd from tLs MS. of George Bannatynt, p. 220,
-Edinb. 1770, I2mo.

215

From the ignominious death of his mother
James seems to have experienced no material in-
terruption in his usual pursuits ; the year which
closed her sufferings was distinguished by several
of his literary enterprizes. His poetical and
theological studies engaged a pretty equal share
of his royal attention : and in the mean time the
affairs of the state were managed with no superior
degree of political wisdom. He was eager to
seize every opportunity of displaying his scho-
lastic attainments ; and, if we may credit certain
historians, he inspired his subjects with the highest
admiration of his erudition and sagacity. Dr
James Gordon, a learned Jesuit related to the
Earl of Huntley, had been commissioned to re-
visit his native country for the purpose of pro-
moting the papal interest. King James, as the
champion of the Protestant cause, challenged him
to a solemn conference in the palace of Holyrood
House : and although he was only in the twenty-
first year of his age, he acquitted himself with
such dexterity, that the clergy and other spec-
tators either were or pretended to be filled with
astonishment. He discussed the leading topics
of controversy between the two churches ; and,
after a confutation which completely satisfied his
auditory, dismissed in a gracious manner the
venerable old man whom all his arguments could
not convert from Popery0.

c Johnston! Rerum Britannicarum Historia, p. 125. Amst. 1655, foL

2J6

He now bore the reputation of a learned
monarch ; and in process of time acquired the
appellation of Solomon the Second. During the
same year, he added, probably from solicitation,
his contributions to the collection of verses pub-
lished by the University of Cambridge on the
lamented death of Sir Philip Sidney. The first
poem in this collection is a Scotish sonnet by his
Majesty ; which is followed by the Latin versions
of the author himself and three of his subjects.
This specimen of James's Latinity, as it is un-
noticed by our literary historians, I shall here
transcribe :

Armipotens cui jus in fortia pectora Mavors 5

Tu dea quae cerebrum perrumpere digna tonantis ;

Tuque adeo bijugae proles Latonia rupis

Gloria, deciduce cingunt quatn collibus artes j

Vos etiam hue lachrymas conferte Heliconides, istum

Plangite, quo vestri non observantior alter,

Nee fuerat vestris insignior artibus alter:

Plangite talem inquarn, quern Fata inopina tulere.

Cujus quid memorem, quid carmine persequar altum

Aut genus, aut virides annos, aut quam dederat spem ?

Exuit heu rapida mors illaetabilis ictu,

Quo Mars, quo Pallas, quoque ipsum ornavit Apollo.

Sed venerandus honos cineri superinduit umam ;

Parte etiam meliore sui super tethera vivit.

The same collection also contains a hexastich by
the royal poet :

217

Vidit lit exanimem tristis Cytheraea Philippum,
Flevit, et hunc Martera credidit esse suum ;

Eripuit digitis geramas, colloque monile,

Marti iterum nunquam ceu placitura foret.

Mortuus humana qui lusit imagine divam,
Quid faceret jam, si viveret, ille ? rogo <*.

In 1588 was published " Ane Fruitful Medita-
tion, containing ane Plaine and Facile Exposition'
of the 7, 8, 9, and 10, verses of the xx. chap, of
the Revelation, in forme of ane Sermone \ set
down by the maist Christiane king and syncier
professour and cheif defender of the faith, James
the 6th. King of Scottis." During the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, this book of sacred
scripture was a favourite subject of speculation :
expositions of the Revelation were composed by
Napier of Merchiston, Bishop Forbes, Bishop
Cowper, Dr Guild, James Durham, and other
Scotish authors.

James now began to form schemes of matri-
mony* His first proposals were made to the
eldest daughter of Frederick the Second, King of
Denmark : but as Queen Elizabeth was jealous
of his forming any alliance of this kind, she in-
duced his venal ministers to conduct the negoci-
ation in such a manner as led the Danish king
to suspect, that the object of the Scotish court
was to deceive himself and to amuse other sove-

d Academiae Cantabrigensls Lachrymse Tumulo Nobilissimi Equitis
D. Philippi Sidneii sacratae per Alexandrum Nevillum. Lond. 1587,410,

VOL. IL Ee

218

reigns. In the mean time therefore he bestowed
his daughter in marriage orl the Duke of Bruns-
wick. This mortification did not prevent James
from courting another alliance with the same
house : a splendid embassy, with the Earl Maris-
chal at its head, was dispatched to Denmark in-
vested with ample power to conclude a treaty of
marriage with the Princess Anne, the second
daughter of Frederick. The articles of marriage
were arranged without much difficulty, and his
intended bride speedily began her voyage towards
Scotland ; but the fleet which conducted her was
suddenly compelled to seek shelter under the coast
of Norway. James, irritated by this fresh disap-
pointment, determined to assume, at least once
in his life, the man of gallantry. He prepared a
squadron with secrecy and dispatch ; and, accom '
panied by Chancellor Maitland and a numerous
train of attendants, took his speedy departure
for the Danish dominions. On the twenty-second
of October, 1589, he arrived at a small haven in
the immediate neighbourhood of Upslo, where
the princess was then residing. Their nuptials
were solemnized on the twenty-fourth of Novem-
ber. They afterwards proceeded to Copenhagen,
where they spent the winter and the ensuing
spring.

The gaiety which a court is apt to assume on
such an occasion as this, did not render James
altogether unmindful of his literary character.

219

The celebrated Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe
had about this period begun to distinguish him-
self as an improver of science. The Scotish king,
attended by a train of courtiers, paid him a wel-
come visit ; and discoursed with him on various
subjects connected with the studies which he had
cultivated with such eminent success6. James
was so highly gratified with this interview, that
he not only presented him with several tokens of
his regard, but also celebrated his excellencies in
two copies of Latin verses, and granted him a
royal diploma or privilege relative to the property
of his works within the Scotish dominions. With,
respect to the merit of his Majesty's compliment-
ary verses the reader shall now be furnished with
an opportunity of exercising his own judgment.

./Ethereis bis quinque globis, queis machina mundi
Vertitur, ut celso est crustatus fornice Olympus
Ignibus, et pictus fulgentibus undique lychnis :
Pellucent vitrets domibus, vastisque planetse
Orbibus , ut geminant cursus, vi et sponte rotati,'
Ut miti, aut torvo adspectu longe ante futura
Praemonstnmt, regnisque tonans, quae fata volutet :
His tellure cupis, quae vis, quis raotus, et ordo
Cernere : sublimem deductumque sethera terrae
Tychonis pandunt operse : lege, disce, videbis
Mira j domi mundum invenies, caelumque iibello.

Gassendi Vita Tychonis Brahei, p. 122. Paris. 1654, 4to.

E e 2,

220

The other little poem is written in a different
measure.

Quam temere est ausus Phaeton, vel praestat Apollo,
Qui regit igninomos aethere anhelus equos :

Plus Tycho : cuncta astra regis ; tibi cedit Apollo ;
Gharus et Uraniae es hospes, alumnus, amor f .

.

Gassendi has published as the production of
Tycho Brahe a poem which bears the inscription,
" De Classe Hispaniae ; interpretatio carminis a
Serenissimo Rege Scotiae conscripti."

Insano tumidae gentes coiere tumultu,

Ausse, insigne nefas, bello ultro ciere tonantem :

Mars sese accinxit ; metuenda tot agmina nunquam

Visa fuerunt ; properare truces miro ordine turmse,

Nosque mari et terra ssevo clausere duello,

Exitium diraque minantes csede ruinam :

Irrita sed tristi lugent conamine fine.

Nam laceras jecit ventus ludibria puppes,

Et sparsit rapidis turgescens montibus sequor.

Felix communi qui evasit clade supersces,

Dum reliquos misero diglutit abyssus hiatu.

Cui vis tanta cadit ? quis totque stupenda peregit ?

Vanos Jova sacro ponatus risit Olympo6.

f These tvyo poems, as well as the " Privilegium Regis Scotorum,'?
which is dated in the year 1593, 1 find in Tycho Brahe's Astronomic In-
staurat* Progymnasmata, Uraniburg. 1610, 410. They must have been
inserted in some earlier edition. The poems have this colophon : " Jaco-
bus Rex f. manuque propria scripsit."

Relative to this celebrated astronomer, several curious particulars,
omitted t>y Gassendi, may be found in the excellent Huet's memoirs of
his own life. ^Huetii Commentarius de Rebus ad eum pertinentilus, lib. ii.)

5 Gassendi Vita Tychonis Brahei, P. 302.

221

This version of His Male sties owne Sonnet Dr
Montague ascribes to Lord Thirlstaneh. Gas-
sendi has however exhibited it, and without hesi-
tation, as the composition of the celebrated Dane.
It appears to have been found among his other
papers with the initials of his name affixed. The
chancellor, who accompanied James to Denmark,
might have received it from Tycho Brahe ; and
a copy, in his own hand- writing, might be found
among his manuscripts after his decease. But
the reverse of this supposition is equally pro-
bable.

James was also attentive to objects which in-
terested him in his regal capacity ; he appears,
as Mr Barrington remarks, to have spent a larger
portion of his time in the Danish courts of justice,
than in acts of gallantry or politeness towards his
consort'. Many of his hours however were pro-
bably consumed in a manner somewhat more
riotous than became a king or a scholar : one of
his letters is dated u from the castell of Crone-
burg, quhaire we are drinking and dryuing our
in the auld maner,"

The navigation of the northern seas being now
sufficiently safe, he determined to conduct his
queen to Scotland. They arrived at Leith on
the first of May, 1590, and were welcomed by

fi K. James's Workes, p. 89.

t Barrington's Observations upon the Statutes, p. 427.

222

the people with the common expressions of pub

His literary pursuits did not experience any
serious interruption. In 1591 he published a
quarto volume entitled His Maiesties Poeticall
Exercises at Vacant Houres.

' This year was marked by the death of Arch-
bishop Adamson, a learned and ingenious man
who had once been honoured with various
proofs of his sovereign's regard. James however,
unmindful of the zeal which the primate had
displayed in his service, suffered him to languish
out his latter days in extreme poverty. At an
earlier period he had composed the following
sonnet in commendation of Adamson's poetical
paraphrase of the book of Job :

In vandring vealth through burbling brooks and bewis,

Of tripping troups and flocks on fertil ground,
In cattell great of syndrie schaips and hewis,

Vith hoifes all haill or in a parted round,
In heapes of gold, and riches in all vaies,

As lob exceld all vthers micht be found
Of monarchs great or princes in his daies 5
So this translatour merites no les praise

For giftes of spreit nor he for giftes of geir j
And God in grace hath giuen such counterpoise

As his translation to the vork is peir j
He did in him his giftes so visely mel],
Whose heauenlie vealth lobs earthlie vealth doeth tell^.

i Adamsoni Poemata Sacra. Lcmd. 1619, 4to.

223

Lord Thirlstane, " a man of rare parts, and of
a deep wit, learned, full of courage, and most
faithful to his king," dying in the year 1595,
James honoured his memory with the following
epitaph :

Thou passenger that spies with gazing eyes
This trophic sad of Death's triumphant dart,

Consider when this outward tombe thou sees,
How rare a man leaves here his earthly part j
His wisdom and his uprightness of heart,

His piety, his practice of our state,

His quick engine so verst in every art,

As equally not all were in debate.

Thus justly hath his death brought forth of late
An heavy grief in prince and subjects all

That vertue love, and vice do bear at hate,
Though vitious men rejoyces at his fall.

So for himself most happy doth he die,

Though for his prince it most unhappy be fc.

His Damonologie was published in the year
1597. Of the plan and object of this well-
known production he presents his readers with
the following summary account : " The fearefull
abounding at this time in this countrey of these
detestable slaues of the Diuel, the witches or en-
chaunters, hath mooued mee (beloued reader) to
dispatch in post this following treatise of mine,
not in any wise (as I protest) to serue for a shew

•

k Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 412.

224

of my learning and ingine, but onely (moued of
conscience) to preasse threby, so farre as I can, to
resolue the doubting hearts of many ; both that
such assaults of Satan are most certainely prac-
tised, and that the instruments thereof merits
most seuerely to be punished : against the dam-
nable opinions of two principally in our aage,
whereof the one called Scot, an Englishman, is
not ashamed in publike print to deny, that
there can be such a thing as witch-craft : and so
maintaines the old errour of the Sadduces in deny-
ing of spirits ; The .other called Wierus, a Ger-
man physition, sets out a publike apologie for all
these crafts-folkes, whereby, procuring for their
impunitie, he plainely bewrayes himselfe to haue
bene one of that profession. An for to make
this treatise the more pleasant and facill, I haue
put it in forme of a dialogue, which I haue diuided
into three bookes : The first speaking of magie
in generall, and necromancie in speciall: The
second, of sorcerie and witch-craft : and the third
containes a discourse of all these kinds of spirits
and spectres that appeares and troubles persons,
together with a conclusion of the whole worke.
My intention in this labour is onely to prooue
two things, as 1 haue already said : The one, that
such diuelish artes haue bene and are : The other,
what exact triall and seuere punishment they
merit : and therefore reason I, What kinde of
things are possible to be performed in these arts,

225

and by what naturall causes they may be, not
that I touch euer/ particular thing of the Diuels
power, for that were infinite : but onely, to speake
scholastickely, (since this cannot be spoken in our
language) I reason vpon genus, leauing species and
differentia to bee comprehended therein."

The writers whom James has mentioned in
such indignant terms are entitled to a grateful
tribute of applause : they flourished at a period
when the existence of witchcraft was an estab-
lished article of belief; and strenuously endea-
voured by the force of reason to counteract the
inhuman effects which frequently resulted from
the false impression. They were the advocates
of truth and humanity; James was the abettor
of superstition and cruelty. Nor will it be con-
sidered as any disparagement to the royal author,
to affirm that the learning of Scot and of Wie-
rus was at least equal to his own *.

The opinions advanced in this production have
however subjected him to an undue degree of
contempt ; they were the current opinions of the
age in which he lived. To demonstrate the pre-
valence of extreme credulity even among men of

i Reginald Scot, Esq. published a learned work with this title :
•? The Discovery of Witchcraft ; proving the Compacts and Contracta of
Witches with Devils and all Infernal Spirits or Familiars are but Er-
roneous Novelties and Imaginary Conceptions," &c. The third edition
was published at London in folio in the year 1665. Wierus wrote a-
treatise De Lamiis, and [another De Prastigiis D&monttm. (Joannis Wieri
•^/t-rrf. Amst. 1660, 4to.)

VOL. II. F f

226

genius and erudition, a thousand examples might
be amassed : I shall however content myself with
a more moderate number. Julius Caesar Scali-
ger, a man of stupendous intellect, persuaded
himself and others that he was often visited with
prophetic dreams : and his son Joseph, the rival
of his fame, has not scrupled to record one of
his divinations m. His antagonist Cardan was
guilty of more remarkable weakness : he was
professedly addicted to the study of judicial astro-
logy : his works are replenished with stories of
devils and apparitions ; he gravely informs us
that his father had intercourse with a daemon";
he pretends that he himself received such inti-
mations from a daemon as were granted to Socra-
tes and other ancient philosophers0; and, to con-
clude the enumeration, he relates a silly story of
an omen respecting the future destiny of his
eldest sonp. During the sixteenth century, the
existence of witches was strenuously maintained
by Bodin and other authors. Even in England
it was maintained at a later period by writers of
no despicable character; by Meric Casaubon,
Joseph Glanvil, and Henry More. It was main-
tained by a Scotish lawyer who flourished during
the latter part of the seventeenth century. Of

m Josephus Justus Scaliger de Vetustate ct Splendore Gentis Scaligeruv
et J. C. Scaligeri Vita, p. 48. 53. Lugd. Bat. 1594, 4to.
11 Cardan, de Utilitate ex Adversis Capienda, p. 335.
0 Cardan, de Propria Vita, p. a6i. edit. Naudsi.
P Cardan, de Libris Propriisj p. 5.

227

the existence of witchcraft, says Sir George Mac-
kenzie, the lawyer cannot entertain any doubt ;
" seeing our law ordains it to be punished by
deathV This argument is irrefragable ! But,
whatever may be its validity, it is well known
that many inoffensive and miserable victims were
legally murdered by the statute to which it refers.
In the year 1643, upwards of thirty supposed
witches were committed to the flames in the
county of Fife within the space of a few
months1".

If James was remotely accessory to such a waste
of human blood, he can only be charged with
the sin of ignorance : and such ignorance as this
will not appear very criminal when we candidly
estimate the character of the age in which he
lived. That age received his D&monologie with
approbation. It is repeatedly quoted by the
learned Scipio Gentilis in a manner which indi-
cates his respect for the author5.

In 1598 James published "The Trew Law of
Free Monarchies ; or the Reciprok and Mvtvall
Dvetie betwixt a free King and his naturall Sub-
iects." During the following year he committed
to the press his " *MI\t*n A«€«- or his Maiesties In-

q Mackenzie's Criminal Law of Scotland, part i. tit. x.
r Baillie's Letters, vol. i. p. 379.

s " Sed earn firmat maximus et sapientissimus regum, idemque Magnz
Bfitannue primus monarcha Jacobus I. in lib. iii. Dsemonologise."

GENTILIS in Apuleii Apologiam Oommentarius, p. 162.
Hanoviae, 1607, 8vo.

F£ 2

228

strvctions to his dearest sonne, Henry the Prince.'7
Of the circumstances attending the publication
of this work, Archbishop Spotswood presents us
with a particular account : " The same year did
the king publish his Dqron Basilicon upon this
occasion. Sir James Semple, one of his Majesties
servants, (whose hand was used in transcribing
that treatise) upon an old familiarity with Mr
Andrew Melyill, did give it him to read, who
offending with some passages that touched the
ministry and present discipline, took copies there-
of, and dispersed the same among the ministers :
thereupon a libel was formed, and cast in before
the synod of St Andrews, wherein the passages
at which they excepted being first set down, it
was asked, * What censure should be inflicted
upon him that had given such instructions to the
prince, (for that treatise \yas directed to Prince
Henry); and if he could be thought well-affected
to religion, that had delivered such precepts of

government.' The rumour by this occasion

dispersed, that the king had left certain directions
to his son prejudicial to the church and religion,
he took purpose to publish the work ; which
being come abroad, and carried to England, it
cannot be said how well the same was accepted,
and what an admiration it raised in all mens
hearts of him, arid of his piety and wisdom1."

* Spotswood's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, p. 457. — James, in the
preface to his work, presents us with a different account of its publica-
tion ; but I prefer the authority of Spotswood;

229

The mysterious transaction known by the
appellation of Cowrie's conspiracy ensued in the
year 1600. An account of this conspiracy was
published by the king himself : but his state-
ments were received with no very explicit credit.
Robert Bruce, an eminent preacher, declared that
" He would reverence his Majesty's report of that
accident, but would not say he was persuaded of
the truth of it." For these bold expressions he
was banished the king's dominions".

Queen Elizabeth died in the year 1603, after
having nominated the Scotish king as her sue-
cessor. He departed from Edinburgh on the
fifth of April, and by slow journies proceeded to-
wards London. The king and queen were so-
lemnly crowned at Westminster on the twenty-
fifth of July. On this occasion James exhibited
a characteristic instance of vanity ; the money
intended for distribution among the populace, he
ordered to be struck with the inscription of'
G&sar Casarum v.

u Spots-wood's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 462. edit. Lond.
1677, fol. — With respect to this mysterious passage of history Mr
Pinkerton has lately proposed a new theory See his ingenious disserta-
tion, inserted in the first volume of Mr Laing's History of Scotland.

v " Jacques Roy d'Angleterre lors qu'il fut couronne, fit une largesse
au peuple commeon fait a la creation de roys, et fit battre une nouvelle
monnoye, ou il avoit fait mettre CtesarCtssarum, chose absurde et inoiiye:
il tasche de les faire toutes refondre ; j'en ay une piece. Le Roy d'An-
gleterre d'aujourd'huy est encore meilleur que O le pauvre roy!"

SCALIGERANA, p. Il6.

230

Among the first of his literary exploits after
his arrival, was his engaging in a conference at
Hampton Court with a deputation of the Puri-
tans. He was supported by several of the bishops :
the other party consisted of Dr Reynolds, Dr
Sparks, Mr Knewstubbs, Mr Chadderton, and
Mr Patrick Galloway. These ministers preferred
a request to his Majesty, " that the doctrine of
the church might be preserved in purity, accord-
ing to God's word ; that good pastors might be
planted in all churches to preach the same ; that
church government might be sincerely ministered,
according to God's word ; and that the book of
common prayer might be fitted to more increase
of piety w." These propositions are certainly far
from being extravagant : yet James, who acted
as the oracle of the Episcopalians, immediately
rejected them in his double capacity of a king
and a scholar. During the conference he seems
to have deported himself with much pedantry
and little moderation. We are however assured
that he " managed this discourse with such power
(which they expected not from him, and there-
fore more danted at) that Whitgift Archbishop
of Canterbury (though a holy, grave, and pious
man) highly pleased with it, with a sugred bait
(which princes are apt enough to swallow) said,

w Harris's Historical and Critical Account of the Life and Writings of
James the First, p. 90. Lond. 1753, 8vo-

231

He was verily persuaded, that the king spake by
the spirit of God x."

His accession to the throne of England seems
to have excited fresh curiosity with respect to his
literary attainments. During this year his B«<rAi*»
A«g«» was republished at London ; was translated
into French by Villiers Hotman, the son of the
well-known civilian y ; and was moreover para-
phrased in English and in Latin verse by William
Willymat7'. His exposition of the Revelation
was also reprinted at London.

Grotius, in his Inauguratio Regis Britanniarum,
has not left uncelebrated the royal scholar's early
and steady attachment to letters :

QUCE tarn docta fuit, quamvis privata, juventus ?
O decus ingenii, 6 pulsae regalibus aulis
Doctrinoe super una fides, tibi sacra suppellex
Chartarum, quascunque manus scripsere beatae,
Pro jaculis arcuque fuit : nee qurerere tantum,
Si qua Caledoniis fera palaretur in agris,
Quantum Pierios juvit lustrasse recessus.

x Wilson's Hist, of Great Britain, p. 8.

y Colomies, Bibliotheque Choisie, p. 154.

z A Princes Looking Glasse, or a Princes Direction, very requisite and
necessarie for a Christian Prince, to view and behold himselfe in, containing
sundrie wise, learned, godly, and princely precepts and instructions, ex-
cerpted and chosen out of that most Christian and vertuous Btunfaxov Augov,
or his Majesties Instructions to his dearest sonne Henrie the Prince, and
translated into Latin and English verse, (his Majesties consent and appro-
bation beeing first had and obtained thereunto) for the more delight and
pleasure of the said Prince now in his young yeares: by William Willy-
mat. Cambridge, 1603, 4to.

232

Hinc studiis rcparatus honos, et Scotica nunquam
Socraticas tellus animosior ivit in artes
y£mula naturae, palrnamque negavit Atlienis a.

In the year 1605, James, accompanied by the
queen and Prince Henry, paid a visit to the re-
nowned University of Oxford. The academics
were highly gratified by this indication of their
learned sovereign's regard; and endeavoured, by
every possible exertion, to testify their loyal at-
tachment, as well as to inspire him with an ex-
alted opinion of their scholastic attainments.
James on his part received equal pleasure : he
acted as moderator of the public disputations, and
caught their spirit with as much warmth as was
ever displayed by any professor. His ears were
soothed by the delectable orations of Dr George
Abbot the Vice-Chancellor, and those of other
officers of the university : and the students
exerted all their skill in the representation of
such learned dramas as it was then customary to
exhibit in colleges b.

The same year was distinguished by the gun-
powder treason ; which afforded James an oppor-
tunity of displaying a degree of sagacity which

a Grotii Poemata, p. 64.

b Sir Isaac Wake, at that time Public Orator, published a copious
account of the king's visit to Oxford, under the title of " Rex Platonicus ;
sive de Potentissimi Principis Jacobi Britanniarum Regis ad Ilhisrrissi-
mam Academiam Oxoniensem Adventu, Aug. 27, An, 1605." Oxoiiil-,
1607, 4to.

at least exceeded that of his council. The
danger which the king and the parliament had
so narrowly escaped, rendered them solicitous to
prevent any future machinations of the popish
party : an oath of allegiance, by which they dis-
owned the power of the pope to dethrone his
Majesty, or to alienate any part of his dominions,
was tendered to such of the British subjects as
professed that religion. This oath was taken by
the majority of the Catholics, and, among others,
by George Blackwell, Archpriest of England,
Paul the Fifth was offended by this general
compliance ; and in 1606 issued a breve, in which
he announced to the British Catholics that the
oath of allegiance could not be taken without
detriment to the faith, and to the salvation of
their own souls. To such an admonition how-
ever they paid little attention ; and were even
inclined to treat the writ as a forgery. In the
course of the following year, his Holiness issued
another breve by way of enforcing obedience to
the former : and Cardinal Bellarmin at the same
time addressed a private letter to Blackwell, in
which he laboured to place before his eyes the
glories of martyrdom* James stood forth as the
champion of his own cause, and published a work
entitled " Triplici Nodo Triplex Cimeus, or an
Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance, against the
two Breves of Pope Paulus Quintus, and the late
Letter of Cardinall Bellarmine to G. Blackwell
VOL. IL G g

the Arch-priest." In the composition of this apo-
logy, the Catholics represent him as having de-
rived very material assistance from John Barclay,
who at that time was residing in the British me-
tropolis b : but suggestions of this kind are often
false and invidious.

This publication was the prelude to a conti
versy of no vulgar denomination. The apology
was translated into Latin, and being circulated
in foreign countries, was speedily answered by
writers of almost every description. Cardinal
Bellarmin published, in 1608, a quarto volume
entitled " Responsio ad Librum cui titulus Tri-
plici Nodo Triplex Cuneus." This book, though
it appeared under the fictitious name of Matthasus
Tortus, was easily recognized as the production
of the illustrious Jesuit. James now republished
his apology, and added " A Premonition to all
most Mightie Monarches, Kings, Free Princes,
and States of Christendome." Bellarmin was an-
swered by Dr Lancelot Andrews, Dr John Gor-
don0, Dean of Salisbury, and by several other
writers. In 1610 he published his " Apologia
pro Responsione sua ad Librum Jacobi Magnse
Britanniae Regis." Bishop Andrews rejoined in
the course of the same yeard. During the follow-

b Erythrsei Pinacotheca, torn. iii. p. 77.

c Gordonii Antitortobellarminus. Lond. 1610, 4to. — This work con-
sists of an intermixture of prose and verse.

d The first work published by Bishop Andrews on this occasion is en-

235

ing year, Andreas Eudaemon-Johannes published
his " Parallel us Torti et Tortoris ejus Lancelot!
Cestrensis, sen Responsio ad Torturam Torti, pro
Roberto Bellarmino;" which was answered by Dr
Samuel Collins, Regius Professor of Divinity at
Cambridge. Dr Collins also published an English
book in vindication of Dr Andrews.

James had likewise been assailed by Father
Parsons, in a quarto volume published at St
Oncers in 1608, under the title of " The Judge-
ment of a Catholick Englishman concerning K.
James's Apology for the Oath of Allegiance."
This Jesuit was answered by Dr William Barlow,
afterwards Bishop of Lincoln. In 1610 M. Pel-
letier published " La Religion Catholique, &c.
centre le livre de Jacques I. Roy d'Angleterre."
During the same year Nicolas Coeffetau, after-
wards Bishop of Marseilles, published a " Response
a PAvertissement, addresse a tous les Princes et
Potentates de la Chretiente." This work was an-
swered by Peter du Moulin ; whose book was
printed in Latin, French, and English. In 1610,
King James, as well as Bishop Andrews, was at-
tacked by Martinus Becanus. Dr William Took-
er, Dean of Litchfield, replied in behalf of the
royal author, in his " Ceftamen curn Martino Be-

titled "Tortura Torti; sive, ad Matthau Torti Librum Responsio," Lond.

1609, 4to. ; the second, " Responsio ad Apologiam Cardinalis Bellarmini
quarn nuper edidit contra Prefationem Monitoriam Jacobi Regis." Lond.

1 6 10, 4to.

Gg 2

236

cano," printed at London during the following
year. To this publication Becanus soon rejoin-
ed ; and, about the same time, produced his book
against Andrews. His attack on the bishop was
repelled by Robert Burhill, and by Richard Har-
ris.

James Gretser, the Jesuit, published at Ingolstad
in 1610, " Bc«x<*0v A»g«, seu Commentarius Exege-
ticus in Jacobi Regis Praefationem Minitoriam, et
in ejusdem Apologiam pro Juramento Fidelitatis."
During the same year, Leonardus Cocquaeus, a
monk of the order of St Augustin, published at
Friburg, an " Examen Praefationis Apologias Ja-
cobi Regis." In 1611, Leonardus Lessius, the Je-
suit, published an octavo volume entitled " De
Antichristo et ejus Prsecursoribus Disputatio, qua
refutatur Praefatio Monitoria Jacobi Regis." Les-
sius was answered by Dr George Downame, after-
wards Bishop of Londonderry, in a work publish-
ed at London in 1620, under the title of " Papa
Anuchristus." Francis Suarez, another Jesuit of
eminence, assailed the royal author in a " De-
fensio Fidei Catholicae contra Anglicanae Secta?
Errores, una cum Responsione ad Jacobi Regis
Apologiam," printed at Coimbra in the year 1613.
The tenets of Suarez and Bellarmin were expo-
sed by Dr Robert Abbot, afterwards Bishop of
Salisbury ; who had formerly refuted, in a man-
ner so able as to excite the admiration of Joseph

237

Scaliger, the cardinal's notions relative to the
fertile subject of Antichrist6.

This violent contest was also remarkable for
the interference of Isaac Casaubon ; a scholar
greatly superior to any of those who have yet
been enumerated. After the assassination of
Henry the Fourth, which took place in the year
1610, he was invited by James, with whom he
had formerly corresponded, to fix his residence
within the British dominions. Of this invitation,
which was conveyed to him by a letter from
Archbishop Abbot, he accordingly availed him-
self. He was presented with two prebends,
of Canterbury and Westminster, and received
other marks of the royal favour ; but was not
left to that liberal and uninterrupted pursuit of his
private studies which would have rendered his
situation agreeable to himself, and honourable to
his protector. In the year 1611 he was employ-
ed to prepare a refutation of the apology which
the Jesuits had published at Paris, in vindication
of their order from the charge of having devised
the gun-powder plot. He wrote a series of ani-
madversions in the form of an epistle to Fronto

c The work to which I here allude is entitled " Antichrist! Demon-
stratio, contra Fabulas Pontificias, et ineptara Roberti Bellarmini de An-
tichristo Disputationam.-' Lond. 1603, 410. The other production of
Dr Abbot was not published till the year after his death. It bears this
title : " De Suprema Potestate Regia Exercitationes habitse in Academia
Oxoniensi, contra Rob. Bellarminum et Franciscum Suarez." Lond. 1619,
4tQ.

238

DuccEus, a learned and estimable member of
that society f. This publication produced an ela-
borate answer from Erycius Puteanus, Professor
of Humanity at Louvaing.

Before the contest was terminated, another re-
markable personage sought refuge in Britain.
This was Marcus Antonius de Dominis, Arch-
bishop of Spalato; an unquiet man of genius,
who in his old age deserted the Papists, in the
hope of being more amply rewarded by the Pro-
testants. After his arrival in London, he publish-
ed the first two volumes of his admired work De
Republica Ecclesiastic a ; prefixing to each an en-
comiastic dedication to his new patron King James.
For the further gratification of the monarch, he
appended to the second volume a tract entitled
Ostensio Errorum Francisci Suarez. His outrage-
ous zeal in the Protestant cause was rewarded
with the deanry of Windsor and the mastership
of the Savoy : but these emoluments his restless
spirit did not suffer him long to enjoy. In an
evil hour he returned to Rome ; and, after having
made a public recantation of his late heresies, was
flattered with the delusive hope of returning fa-

f Fronto Ducaeus, or Fronton le Due, is styled by Dr Geddes " the
most learned editor of the first Greek and Latin Chrysostome, and one of
the best critics of his age." The unblemished character of Ducaeus and
Schottus compelled Joseph Scaliger to own that even Jesuits might be
honest. ( Scaltgerana^ p IZO.)

£ Puteani in Is. Casauboni ad Front. Ducxum S. J. Theologum, V. C.
Epistolam Strictune, Liber Prodromus. Lovanii, i6iz, 4to. — These stric-
tures were reprinted among the author's Anuenitatts Humana.

239

vour. He died in prison, opportunely enough :
and his body was committed to the flames with
every token of pious indignation11.

Bellarmin was undoubtedly an adversary of no
despicable character ; but in Caspar Scioppius the
royal pedant found another still more formidable.
Scioppius was a German by birth, and was edu-
cated in the Protestant faith ; but like Wowerus,
Holstenius, and others of his learned countrymen,
he became a proselyte to Popery. With that in-
temperance of zeal which commonly distinguishes
converts of a certain description, he engaged
in a general and bloody war against the eminent
professors of the religion which he had abandon-
ed ; and, by the rudeness of his assaults, provoked
the vengeance of Scaliger, Casaubon, Heinsius,
and Barthius1. It was among the number of those
circumstances on which he chiefly felicitated
himself, that the death of Scaliger and of Casau-
bon was occasioned by the corrosive qualities of
his writings. These admirable scholars yielded
to the common infirmities incident to human
life : but this atrocious boast sufficiently indi-
cates the temper and disposition of their adver-

fa Wilson's Hist, of Great Britain, p. 102.

i Caspar Barthius is supposed to be the author of a work entitled Cave
Canem : de fita, Moribut) Ruins Gestis, Divinitate, Gasperis Scioppii Apostate.
Hanoviae, 1612, 8vo. This work was published under the fictitious name
of Tarrseus Hebius. The same volume includes three books of epigrams,
entitled Scioppius Excellent: in Laudem ejus et Sociorum pro Josepbo Scaligsro
:t omnibus probis.

240

sary. Scioppius now selected King James as
proper subject for the exercise of his peculiar ta-
lent ; and continued his hostilities, with encreas-
ing ardour, for the space of several years. But
his Majesty, instead of engaging in equal conflict,
commanded the obnoxious productions of his an-
tagonist to be publicly burnt. When he after-
wards visited the University of Cambridge, the
students endeavoured to gratify his vindictive pas-
sions, by exhibiting a dramatic representation of
Scioppius in the most degrading mode which
their fancy could suggest k. His vengeance, if we
may credit an enemy, was yet unsatiated : Sciop-
pius affirms that in the year 1614 he was beset at
Madrid by no fewer than eleven assassins, com-
missioned by the British ambassador ; and after
being pierced with many wounds, was abandon-
ed as dead. When they had performed this ex-
ploit, he adds, they were heard to exclaim, " Bra-
vo ! we have at length murdered this great Pa-
pist." The complexion of this tale will be suf-
ficient to vindicate James and his ambassador
from the heavy charge preferred against them :
Scioppius was anxious to advance his own repu-
tation, and to recommend himself to the patron-
age of his Catholic friends ; nor was he very scru-
pulous with regard to the mode of accomplishing
his object. He represented himself as the hero

* M. Casauboni Pietas, p. 23.

241

of the Romish church. In his enumeration of
" the talents of Christ entrusted to Caspar Sciop-
pius1," he dwells with singular complacency on
his reiterated and formidable attack on the here-
tical kingm.

Sir Henry Wotton, by the malevolence of this
professional controversialist, had nearly been in-
volved in unmerited disgrace. As he proceeded
on an embassy to Italy, he happened to make a
halt of some days at the city of Augsburg in Ger-
many : and being requested, while he was there
spending one of his evenings in a convivial man-
ner, to insert some sentence in a private album,
he wrote the following ludicrous definition of an

l Scioppius de Pxdia Humanafum ac Divinarum Literarum, p. 23.

m The following publications of Scioppius relate to the present sub-
ject: " Ecclesiasticus, Auctoritati Serenissimi D. Jacobi Magnse Britannias
Regis oppositus." Hartubergae, 1611, 4to. " Collyrium Regium, Jaco-
bo Regi Britannia:, graviter ex oculis laboranti, muneri missum." Apud
Holofernem JCreigsederium, 1611, 8vo. " Alexipharmacum Regium, Felli
Draconum et Veneno Aspidum sub Philippi Mornxi de Plessis nupera
Papatus Historia abdito, oppositum , Serenissimo D. Jacobo Mag.
Brit. Regi Strense Januarise loco muneri missum." Moguntise, 1612,
4to. " Scorpiacum ; hoc est Novum ac Praesens adversus Protestantium
Hsreses Remedium ab ipsismet Protestantibus Scorpionibus petitum, quo
adversus Serenis. D. Jacobum Mag. Brit. Regem," &c. Mogunt. 1612,
4to. " Legatus Latro ; hoc est Relatio de Latrocinio quod Regis Anglo-
rum adversus Scioppium suscepit." Ingolstadii, 1615, Svo. — Bayle sup-
poses Scioppius to be the author of an ironical panegyric on King Tames,
entitled Corona Regia, which was artfully produced as a posthumous com-
position of Isaac Casaubon.

The private character of Scioppius has been represented in a very un-
favourable light by the Protestant writers : but Joseph Castah'o, a learn
ed Catholic, pronounces him " eximise docTrinae et pietatis vir." (Obser-
•vat'ioncs in Ct'itlcvs^ p. 1 6.)

VOL. II. H h

242

ambassador : " An ambassador is an honest man
sent abroad to tell lyes for the good of his coun-
try"." Scioppius, at the distance of nearly eight
years, introduced this sentence into his Ecde-
siasticus, and endeavoured to persuade his read-
ers that it not only expressed the private senti-
ments of Wotton, but was the very essence of
the instructions delivered to him by his royal mas-
ter. The false impression was eagerly received
by the more zealous Papists : and at Venice this
sentence was industriously exhibited in several of
their windows. When King James was apprized
of these circumstances, his anger was kindled
against his jocular ambassador : and if Wotton
had not appeased his resentment by addressing a
letter to him, in vindication of his own innocence,
and another to Marcus Velserus, against Sciop-
pius0, the consequences might perhaps have prov-
ed fatal to his fortunes'1.

The publication of the Apologie for the Oath of
Allegiance, and the controversy which it excited,
had rendered James and the Catholic states less
cordial towards each other. Notwithstanding the
uniform tenor of his writings, he had long been
suspected of a secret bias towards the Popish re-
ligion : and the courts of Rome and France had

n " Legatus est vir bonus peregre missus ad mentiendum reipublicns
causa."

0 Wottoni Epittola de Gaspare Scioppio. Amber'g. 1613, 8vn.
P Walton's Life of Sir Henry Wotton, sig. C. 5,

243

even formed a project of effecting his complete
conversion. In order to compass their design,
the pope intended to propose a general Christian
league against the Turks ; trusting that by this
expedient his emissaries should find a convenient
opportunity for conciliating his attachment"1. But
the unceremonious manner in which he was ac-
costed by many of his literary antagonists, can-
not be supposed to have left a very agreeable im-
pression on his mind : and he was subjected to
the additional mortification of finding his work
either rejected or coldly received by the- Catho-
lic princes to whom it had been presented by his
ambassadors.

The violence of the controversial spirit which
now prevailed, suggested a project of a singular
nature. It was Dr Richard Bancroft, Archbishop
of Canterbury, " that first brought the king,"
says Arthur Wilson, " to begin a new collegfe by
Chelsey, wherein the choice and ablest scholars
of the kingdom, and the most pregnant wits in
matters of controversies were to be associated un-
der a provost, with a fair and ample allowance,
not exceeding three thousand pounds a year,
whose design was to answer all Popish books, or
others that vented their malignant spirit against
the Protestant religion, either the heresies of the
Papist, or the errors of those that struck at hier-,

Perronlana, p, 283,

Hh 2

244

archie, so that they should be two-edged fellow;
that would make old cutting and slashing ; am
this he forwarded with all industry during hi*
time ; and there is yet a formal act of parliament
in being for the establishment of it. But aft(
his death the king wisely considered that nothing
begets more contention than opposition, and sue]
fuellers would be apt to inflame rather thai
quench the heat which would arise from those em-
bers; — and there is only so much building stand-
ing by the Thames-side, as to shew, that what he
tended to plant, should be wreil watered"."

About this time James sought another oppor-
tunity of manifesting his zeal and learning. In,
1609 the professorship of divinity in the Univer-
sity of Ley den having become vacant by the
death of Arminius, Conrad Vorstius, an honest
German divine, was invited to the succession.
Before he could take possession of his new office,
James, who had examined two of his publications
and found them to contain sceptical doctrines,
made a formal remonstrance to the States Gene-
ral against the admission of so damnable a here-
tic. With his request however they were unwil-
ling to comply : but his persecution of the harm-
less professor, and his insolent interference in the
internal regulations of an independent republic,

r The History of Great Britain, being the Life and Reign of King
James the First, relating to what passed from his first Accesse to the
Crown, till his Death ; by Arthur Wilson, Esq. p. 53. Lond. 1653, fol.

24J

did not terminate without a farther display of his
hollow zeal. He commanded the works of Vor-
stius to be publicly burnt at London, Oxford, and
Cambridge5 ; and renewed his remonstrance with
increasing energy. Finding however that his
outrageous orthodoxy was not so warmly applaud-
ed as he could have wished, he deemed it expe-
dient to publish " A Declaration concerning the
Proceedings with the States Generall of the Unit-
ed Provinces of the Low Covntreys, in the cause
of D. Conradus Vorstiys." In this work, besides
a recapitulation of his own zeal, he exhibits a ca-
talogue of the heretical tenets of Vorstius, with
the view of procuring his dismission from the pro-
fessorship, to which he had been admitted in the
year 1611.

Vorstius, afraid of the. approaching storm, had
addrest a conciliatory letter to James, in the hope
of appeasing his hot indignation. He addressed
another to Archbishop Abbot, and a third to
Isaac Casaubon, with whom he had formerly con-
tracted an intimacy at Geneva ; entreating them
to use their endeavours in moderating the perse-
cution which their patron had commenced against
him c. All these applications proved ineffectual.
Although the States General had manifested no
small reluctance in complying with the insolent

s King James's Workes, p. 354.

f Praestantium ac Eruditorum Virorum Epxstolas Ecclesiastics? et Thea-
logicx, p. 385, a86, 287, edit. Amst. 1684, fol.

246

lan dates of the British monarch, his holy fervour
was at length gratified. The synod of Dort sus-
pended the professor from his functions : and he
was ordered to quit the territories of Holland and
West Friesland, and not to return at any future
period, under pain of being treated as a dis-
turber of the public peace u.

The Declaration, which he chose to write in
the French language, was published in the year
1612. For the purpose of more general circula-
tion it was translated into Latin, English, and
Dutch. With respect to the Latin version a cir-
cumstance is recorded which tends to reflect
some light on the literary transactions of that
period. The following passage occurs in a letter to
Dr Usher from Thomas Lydiat, the learned anta-
gonist of Joseph Scaliger : " I have sent you the
king's book in Latin against Vorstius, yet scant dry
from the press ; which Mr Norton, who hath the
matter wholly in his own hands, swore to me he
would not print, unless he might have money to
print it : a sufficient argument to make me content
with my manuscript lying still unprinted, unless he
equivocated : but see how the world is changed ;
time was when the best book-printers and sellers
would have been glad to be beholding to the mean-
est book-makers. Now, Mr Norton, not long since

^ Gnaltheri de Vita et Obitu Conradi Vorstii Oratio, sig. M. 4. b.
Fredericopoli, 1624, 4 to.

247

the meanest of many book-printers and sellers, so
talks and deals, as if he would make the noble
King James, I may well say the best book-maker
of this his own, or any kingdom under the sun,
be glad to be beholding to him : any marvel
therefore, if he think to make such a one as I
am, his vassal ? but I had rather betake myself
to another occupation v."

In this production, the royal polemic has
treated Vorstius and Ar mini us with a total want
of Christian moderation. These men were his
superiors in every intrinsic quality ; an4, even
from a king, were entitled to humanity and res-
pect. The character of Vorstius has been repre-
sented as free from reproach : and Sir Henry
Wotton, who enjoyed the personal acquaintance
of Arminius, describes him as " a man of most
rare learning, of a most strict life, and of a most
meek spirit." Meekness was not the characteristic
of James : his sublime conceptions of the divine
right of kings, and of the superiority of his own
attainments, rendered him arrogant and unfeeling.

44 To the honovr of ovr Lord and Saviovr Jesus
Christ, the eternall sonne of the eternall father,
the onely $««»%,«••*, mediatovr, and reconciler of
mankind, in signe of thankfvlnes, his most hum-
ble and most obliged servant, lames, by the
grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and

7 Usher's Letteri, p. 13.

248

[reland, Defender of the Faith, doeth dedicate
tnd consecrate this his Declaration." Dedica-
ions of this kind were once in frequent use.
Hall has inscribed a Passion Sermon, preached
in the year 1609, "To the onely honovr and
glory of God my deare and blessed Saviovr
(which hath done and suffered all these things
for my sovle.)"

In the year 1614, his Majesty, willing to de-
monstrate his affection for each of the English
Universities, paid a long-expected visit to Cam-
bridge. Here he was received by a numerous
train of graduates ; and, during his stay, was al-
ternately entertained with sermons, plays, -ora-
tions, poems, and disputations. A Latin comedy
entitled Ignoramus, the production of George
Ruggle, Fellow of Clare Hall, was twice per-
formed by the academics, to the infinite delight
of the king and his courtiers w. This drama, as
it tended to expose the ignorance and arrogance
of the common lawyers, and was supposed to
contain particular allusions to Sir Edward Coke,
was completely adapted to the royal .palate.
From the professors of the common law he en-
tertained a hearty aversion ; because if they dis-
charged their duty in an intrepid and conscien-
tious manner, his wide and unconstitutional
encroachments could not be effected with that

w Johnston. Rerum Britannicarum Hist. p. 503.

249

facility at which his impetuosity aimed. Sir
Edward Coke repeatedly incurred his displeasure ;
because he asserted in one of his parliamentary
speeches, that " the king's prerogative was a great
over-grown monster ;" and because while he pre-
sided in the King's Bench, he even had the bold-
ness to insinuate that the common law of Eng-
land was in imminent danger of being perverted x.
James's controversial propensity was again gra-
tified, by the appearance of Cardinal Perron's
" Harangue faite de la part de la Chambre Eccle-
siastique en cette du Tiers Estat, sur Particle du
Serment ;" which was published at Paris in the
year 1615. The cardinal, who had formerly
corresponded with James, transmitted to him a
copy of his oration : but this instance of polite-
ness did not secure him from his Majesty's con-
troversial weapons. In answer to Perron, he
speedily composed, in the French language, a re-
monstrance for the right of kings, and the inde-
pendence of their crowns. This work was soon
translated into Latin and English. Perron re-
plied in a prodigious volume of nearly one thou-
sand pages in folio, entitled " Replique a la Re-
sponse du Serenissme Roy de la Grand Bretagne,"
Peter du Moulin declared himself the champion
of the royal author, and in due time published a
huge quarto entitled " Response au Livre de M.

x Wilson's Hist, of Great Britain, p. 95. 191,

VOL. II. I i

250

le Cardinal du Perron, intitule Replique
Response," &c.

Before this period James had been occupied in
refuting the learned dignitary on another occa-
sion. In the year 1612 Perron had published a
Lettre au Sieur Casaubon, in which he discusses
some of the topics debated between the Protest-
ant and the Romish churches. An answer was
speedily published by Casaubon ; who professes
merely to have written what \vas dictated by the
king.

This employment, for so admirable a scholar, was
sufficiently inglorious : yet the scholar who solicits
or even accepts of patronage, in its common de-
finition, is scarcely entitled to a better fate. This
excellent man seems however to have considered
himself as generously treated in the country
which he had chosen as the asylum of his age.
Here he continued to prosecute his studies with-
out much diminution of his former vigour : but
the works in which he now engaged, proved less
acceptable to the lovers of ancient literature than
those which he had produced at Geneva and at
Paris. It was after his arrival in Britain that he
executed a part of his long-meditated plan of
correcting the most material errors in the eccle-
siastical annals of Baronius. In this laudable
attempt he experienced the truth of the common
observation, that it is less easy to arrive at excel-
lence than to expose the deficiences of others :

251

for, in the opinion of competent judges, his own
work is replenished with a larger proportion of
errors than the stupendous production on which
he animadverts. Casaubon had chiefly directed
his attention to other studies ; and was therefore
in a great measure unprepared to contend with
a writer who had spent a long life in ecclesiastical
researches. These strictures on Cardinal Baro-
nius, which he dedicated to his royal patron, ex-
cited against him a myriad of enemies. He was
soon attacked in a formal manner by Heribert
Rosweyd, Julius Caesar Bullenger, and by other
strenuous defenders of the Romish faith: and
from this period the writers of that persuasion
generally viewed him with no common antipathy
or rancour. After his death, which ensued in
the year 1614, he was still pursued by the malice
of his enemies : productions of a contemptible or
invidious nature were published in his name ;
and reports levelled at his moral character were
circulated with industrious effrontery. His vin-
dication was at length undertaken with becom-
ing zeal by his son Meric Casaubon ; who after-
wards obtained preferment in the English church,
and rose to some eminence in the republic of
letters y.

y Isaac Casaubon published at London the following works against the
Papists : " Ad Frontonem Ducseum S. J. Theologum Epistola, in qua de
Apologia'disseritur, communi Jesuitarum nomine ante aliquot menses Lu-
tetia Parisiorum edita," 1611, 4to. " ,Ad Epistolain Illustr. et Reve-

I i 2

When James was on the eve of quitting
native country, he had publicly pledged himself
to return at short intervals ; but many years had
now elapsed without the performance of his pro-
mise. In 1617 he however paid a final visit to
Scotland ; where he was received with demon-
strations of joy which had the appearance of
being sincere. The men of letters vied with
each other in the extravagance of the panegyrical
tributes: the Universities of Edinburgh* and St
Andrews*, published ample collections of the
learned lumber which the loyalty of their mem-
bers had accumulated ; and almost every native
of Scotland who could write verses in Greek,
Latin, English, or Scotish, was willing to sieze so
auspicious an occasion. James, attentive to the
progress of literature, paid a formal visit to the
ancient University of St Andrews. Here he re-
sumed his character of moderator in the schools ;
and heard several theses impugned and defended

rendiss. Cardinalis Peronii Responsio." 1612, 410. " Ad Mich. Lingel-
shemium Epistola de quodam Libello Scioppii." 1612,410. " De Rebus
Sacris et Ecclesiasticis Exercitationes xvi. ad Cardinalis Baronii Prolego-
piena in Annales et primam eorum partem." 1614, fol.

Meric Casaubon published two works in defence of his father's moral
and literary character : " Merici Casauboni Pietas contra Maledicos
Patrii Nominis et Religionis Hostes." Lond. 1621, 8vo. " Vindicatio
Patris adversus Impostores quosdam." Lond. 1624, 4to-

z Ho?u$nx.' in Jacobi Regis Felicem in Scotiarn Reditum Academiaj
Edinburgensis Congratulatio. Edinb. 1617, 4to.

a Antiq. Celeber. Acad. Andreanae X«g<f»?<«* in Adventum Jacobi
Primi. Edinb. 1617, 410.

by the learned members. Dr Baron, who at that
period was only a beardless youth, disputed with
such dexterity and knowledge, that he filled the
king and the rest of the auditory with astonish-
ment b. James now revived the practice of con-
ferring academical degrees, which for some time
had been discontinued by the ill-directed zeal of
the Puritanical party. On the authority of a
mandamus, his chaplain Dr John Young created
several Doctors of Divinity ; among whom were
William Forbes, afterwards Bishop of Edinburgh,
David Lindsay, afterwards successively Bishop ot
Brechin and of Edinburgh, and John Strang,
afterwards Principal of the University of Glasgow;
men who are still remembered as the authors of
works connected with their sacred profession0.

The Edinburgh professors were invited to at-
tend their sovereign in the castle of Stirling; and,
at his request, proceeded to regale him with it
choice scholastic disputation. His Majesty, after
they concluded, was graciously pleased to com-
pliment them severally in a wretched string of
puns upon their names. And this quibbling
speech was afterwards converted into metre by
four of his dutiful subjects. With the learning

b Clementii Praef. ad Barpnii Metaphysicam.

c Vita Gulielmi Forbesii, sig. a. 4. — Dr Forbes and Dr Strang have
already been mentioned in the course of the present work. Dr Lindsay
published " A Trve Narration of all the Passages of the Proceedings in
the Generall Assembly of the Church of Scotland, holden at Perth the
35 of August, Anno Dom. 1618." Lend, 1621, 419.

254

of the professors he was so highly satisfied, tl
lie signified a desire of the college's being for the
future distinguished by his own named. That
name it still retains : but I have not been able to
discover that the institution was ever enriched by
the bounty of its nominal patron. It may how-
ever be incidentally mentioned to his honour,
that Sir James Ware has celebrated his munifi-
cence to the University of Dublin e.

The partiality which he manifestly entertained
for episcopacy, rendered his visit less acceptable
to many of his subjects. Through the persevering
energy of Andrew Melvin and other ecclesiastics
of the Genevan school, presbyterianism had been
sanctioned by the laws of the country : and, in
the year 1590, the king had solemnly promised
to adhere with inviolable fidelity to its doctrine
and discipline. This promise he soon forgot.
But although episcopacy had been reestablished,
yet as he had not hitherto found himself able to
introduce those ceremonies which he admired in
the church of England, his object was only half-
accomplished. During the visit which he now
paid, he endeavoured, though without mucjh suc-
cess, to effect these frivolous innovations.

Although he thus attempted, by no very honour-
able method, to violate the ecclesiastical consti-

d Adamson's Muses Welcome to the Kings Majestie, p. 231, Edinli.
|6i8,fol.
c Warssus de Scriptoribus Hiberuiae, p. 97.

255

tution approved by the majority of the nation,
yet some part of his conduct with respect to the
church of Scotland is not unworthy of commend-
ation. We are informed by Bishop Guthrie, a
respectable prelate, that it was " King James's
custom, when a bishopric fell void, to appoint the
archbishop of St Andrews to convene the rest,
and name three or four well qualified, so that
there could not be an error in the choice ; and
then out of that list the king pitched upon one
whom he preferred ; whereby it came to pass,
that during his time most able men were ad-
vanced, as Mr William Cowper toGallowayf, Mr

f Bishop Cowper is a theologian of considerable learning. The fol-
lowing verses " On my Lord of Galloway his learned Commentary on
the Revelation," proceeded from the pen of Dmmmond :

To this admir'd discoverer give place,

Ye who first tamed the sea, the winds out-ran,
And match 'd the day's bright coachman in your race,

Americus, Columbus, Magellan.
It is most true that your ingenious care,

And well-spent pains, another world brought forth.
For beasts, birds, trees, for gems, and metals, rare ;

Yet all being earth, was but of earthly worth.
He a more precious world to us descries,

Rich in more treasure than both Indes contain ;

Fair in more beauty than man's wit can feign ;
Whose sun not sets, whose people never dies.

Earth should your brows deck with still-verdant bays.,

But heav'ns crown his with stars' immortal rays.

See « The Workes of Mr William Cowper, late Bishop of Galloway,"
p. 816. Lond. 1619, f°l-

A poem of the same length, subscribed W. D. occurs among the epi-
taphs annexed to Godefrid vander Hagen's Miscellanea Poemata. Middeib,
1619, 410.

256

Adam Baliantine to Dunblain, Patrick Forbes ol
Corse to Aberdeen, Mr David Lindsay to Brechin,
and Mr John Guthry to Murray." The writer
proceeds to contrast this with the conduct of his
son and successor : " But King Charles followed
another way, and without any consultation had
with the bishops, preferred men by moyen at
court g."

James bade adieu to Scotland in the course of
the same year. On this occasion the poets again
presented him with their tributes of fulsome con-
ceit, and of more fulsome panegyric. Of the
various poems and orations which had been pro-
duced in honour of his arrival and departure, a
copious collection was formed by John Adamson,
afterwards Principal of the University of Edin-
burgh h.

£ Guthne's Memoirs, p. 16.

*» This collection is comprehended in a folio volume. The congratu-
lations on his Majesty's arrival, and the lamentations for his departure,
are arranged in distinct classes. Prefixed are three introductory poenls
by Adamson ; the first in English, the second in Greek, and the third in
Latin.

The Rev. John Adamson has been commemorated as one of the lite-
rary friends of Drummond ; and on that account alone is entitled to our
notice. He appears to have been a native of Perth. Mr Scott, the
editor of Henry the Minstrel, asserts that he was the brother of Henry
Adamson, and the nephew or grandson of Dr Patrick Adamson, Arch-
bishop of St Andrews. He was probably educated in the University of
St Andrews ; where he afterwards held the office of professor of philoso-
phy. (Dempster. Hist.Ecdesiast. Gent. Scotor. p. 64.) One of John Dunbar's
epigrams is addrest « Ad Joannem Adamsonum, Theolog. et olim Pre-
cept orem."

257

In the year 1616 a collective edition of his
prose compositions had been published with the
following title : " The Workes of the most High
and Mightie Prince, lames by the Grace of God
King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland,
Defender of the Faith, &c. pvblished by lames,
Bishop of Winton, and Deane of his Maiesties
Chappel Royall." This volume, which was
printed at London in folio, includes all his prose
works which have already been enumerated, ex-
cept the discourse on Cowrie's conspiracy. It
likewise contains " A Covnterblaste to Tobacco/'

Adamsone, sacri sector fidissime verbi,

Et sub quo lauri gloria parta mihi ;
Te monstrante viam, prisci monumenta Stagiri

Praebuerant animo se manifesta meo ;
Tuque mihi placidos forrriasti in pectore mores;

Per te, quicquid idest quod scio, id esse scio.

DUNBARI Epigrammata, p. 72. Lond. 1616, i6td.

In this epigram Dunbar alludes to his having taken his degree under
Adamson ; and he elsewhere mentions the University of Edinburgh as the
source of his academical honours. Adamson must therefore have taught
philosophy at Edinburgh as well as at St Andrews. In 1625 he suc-
ceeded Boyd of Trochrig as Principal of the University of Edinburgh ;
and was himself succeeded by Dr Leighton in 16.5 3. During the troubles
of those unhappy times he attached himself to the Covenanters ; but
from Principal Baillie's correspondence it would appear that he did hot
stand very high in the confidence of that party. " As for the College of
Edinburgh," says Bishop Outline, " there needed no pains to be taken, in
regard Mr John Adamson, primer thereof, was furious enough in their
cause, albeit many thought it was not from persuasion, but in policy, to
eschew their wrath." (Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 63.) Adamson published
several works. One of them is entitled " Dioptra Gloria Divinas : seu
Enarratio Psalmi xix. et in eundem Meditationes." Edinburgh In Acade»
mia Jacobi Regis, excudcbat Georgius Andersonui, 1637? 4tO«

VOL. JL Kk

258

" A Discovrse of the Maner of the Discoverie of
the Powder-Treason, joyned with the Examin;
tion of some of the Prisoners/' and five speech*
To tfcis volume an addition of several sheets w
made in the year 1620. The supplement coi
sists of " A Meditation vpon the Lords Prayer,
written by the Kings Maiestie, for the benefit
all his subjects, especially of such as follow tl
court," and " A Meditation vpon the 27. 28.
verses of the xxvii. chapter of Saint Matthew ;
or a Paterne for a Kings Inavgvration." The
editor, Dr Montague, has dedicated the volume
to Prince Charles ; and his epistle dedicatory is
followed by a very long and very absurd preface.
A collection of his Majesty's works was pub-
lished in' Latin in tfie year 1619, under the super-
intendence of the same dutiful dean of the chapel
royal1. It included all the productions which
have now been enumerated as belonging to the
English edition, except the " Paterne for a Kings
Inavgvration ;" and this was also added at a sub-
sequent period. This collection also comprehends
a speech delivered in the Scotish parliament in
the year 1617. The history of the translation
is not accurately known : but the Monitoria Pra--
fatio is the only work which James is said to have
written in Latin. This work, according to Dr
Montague, was " written both in English and
Latine bv his Maiestie." His declaration against

i Jacobi Britannia Regis Opera. Lend, 1619, fol

259

Vorstius, and his defence of the right of kings,
were originally composed in French, and with the
author's permission translated into English.

He seems to have prosecuted his studies till
the time of Jiis death ; but he did not live to pub-
lish any other works beside those which have
already been mentioned. During his latter years
he began a version of the psalms, for the use of
his grandson the young prince of Bohemia j.
This work, as we learn from his funeral sermon
preached by Bishop Williams, he only continued
to the thirty-first psalm k. Several years after
his death, a complete version was published at
Oxford, under the title of " The Psalmes of King
David translated by King lames'." Mr Ritson
informs us that " in the library of St Margins
parish, Westminster, is a MS. volume, containing

j Reliquiae Wottonianse, p. 558.

k " Hee was in hand (when God call'd him to sing psalmes with the
angels) with the translation of our church psalmes, which hee intended to
haue finished and dedicated withall to the onely saint of his deuotion, the
church of Great Britaine, and that of Ireland. This worke was staied in
the one and thirty psalme." (Great Britains Salomon ; a Sermon preached
at t/je magnificent Fitnerall of the most High and Mighty King laines^ p. 4$.
Lond. 1625, 4to.)

1 Th£ Psalmes of King David translated by King lames. Cum Pri-
' Regite Majestatis. Oxford, 1631, ismo. — The title-page, which ex-
hibits a fine portrait of the translator, is confronted with the following
privilege: " Charles R. Haueing caused this translation of the Psalmes
(whereof oure late tk-?. re father was author) to be perused, and it being
found to be exactly and truely done, wee doe hereby authorize the same
to be impnnted according to the patent graunted therevpon,and doe allow
them to be song in all the churches of oure dominiones, recommending fhem
to all oure goode subjects for that effect."

Kk 2

260

' all the kings short poems that are not printed.'
James died on the twenty-seventh of March,
1625, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. His mor-
tal disease was a fever, which had been occasion-
ed by an ague. His death however was by some
of his subjects ascribed to a very different cause ;
Dr Eglisham, one of the royal physicians, public-
ly charged the Duke of Buckingham with the
crime of having effected it by means of poison111.
This accusation, which gained very little credit
at the time, seems to have originated from the
malevolence of the accuser. Dr Eglisham had
formerly gratified his illiberal passions by disput-
ing with Buchanan the superiority in Latin poe-
try, and by representing Vorstius as an atheist
and a Mahometan. The charges which he now
preferred against the duke were probably suggest-
ed by the same intellectual gloom which had be-
wildered him on other occasions.

King James was of a middle stature, but pos-

m The Fore-Runner of Revenge: being two Petitions; the cne to the
Kings most Excellent Majesty ; the other to the most Honourable House?
of Parliament : wherein is expressed divers actions of the late Earle of
Buckingham; especially concerning the death of King lames, and the
Marquesse Hamelton, supposed by poyson : also may be observed the
inconveniences falling a state where the noble disposition of the prince is
misled by a favourite. By George Eglisham, Doctor of Physick, and one
of the Physicians to King lames of happy memory, for his Majesties per-
son above ten yeers space. London, 1642, 4to. — This edition of the
pamphlet has an appearance of being the first : but it was " published and
printed in divers languages" about the time of the king's death.
IVottoniana, p. 554-)

261

sest of none of those attractions which arise from
external elegance; his shape was without symme-
try, his deportment destitute of ease and dignity.
As his legs were hardly able to support the weight
of his body, he proceeded in his walk by a kind
of circular motion : and his hands were in the
mean time disposed in no very delicate manner.
His eyes, which were remarkably large, he was
• accustomed to fix on strangers with a broad un-
interrupted stare, which frequently compelled the
more bashful to a precipitate retreat from his pre-
sence. His skin is said to have been as soft as
sarsenet. He was of a ruddy complexion; his hair
of a light brown colour, but towards the close of
his life, interspersed with white. His beard was
thinly scattered on his chin. His tongue exceed-
ed the due proportion; a circumstance which
caused him to manage his cup in a manner suffi-
ciently disgusting. He was somewhat inclined
to corpulency ; but more in appearance than in
reality : for his extreme timidity induced him
constantly to wear a quilted doublet of stilletto-
proof. The fashion of his clothes he could not
be persuaded to vary : and it was not without
some reluctance that he ever laid aside any of his
old suits. So little subject to change was his
mode of life, that one of his courtiers was wont
to declare that if he himself were to awake after
a sleep of seven years continuance, he would un-
dertake to enumerate the whole of his Majesty's

262

occupations, and every dish which had been
placed on his table, during that interval. His
natural temperament is said to have disposed him
to moderation in eating and drinking : but, dur-
ing the last years of his life, his compliance with
Buckingham's frolicsome humour frequently im-
mersed him in riotous excess; and at an earlier
period, he is known to have been engaged in
scenes of low dissipation n. During the first visit
which his brother-in-law the King of Denmark
paid to Britain, the two monarchs continued the
banquet with such friendly emulation, that at
length they exhibited an unseemly picture of
complete ebriety. James was opportunely con-
veyed to] his bed-chamber by some of the do-
mestics ; but the royal Dane was not prevented
from degrading himself by indecent carriage to-
wards a lady of high rank. James became im-
moderately addicted to drinking; and his beve-'
rage was generally the strongest which could be
procured. This course of life rendered him at last
torpid and unwieldy : and although he still pur-
sued the amusement of hunting, of which he was
excessively fond, yet when he was trussed on
horseback, he maintained his posture like a lump

n James seems to have derived much entertainment from the recital
of drunken feats. With Peiresc, who was then residing in London, he
once requested an interview for the express purpose of learning the par-
ticulars of a drinking match, in which that grave scholar had accidentally
been engaged. (Gassendi Vita .?«>«&/, p. 51. ed. Hag. Com. i6j£, 4to.)

263

of inanimate matter. When his hat was placed on
his head, he suffered it to remain in whatever
position it happened to occupy.

These qualities and habits were but ill adapted
to impress his subjects with any high degree of
respect for his person. His intellectual and moral
attainments were also of a motley kind. He was
not entirely destitute of sagacity : but as his dis-
position was too supine for strenuous exertion, his
best notions commonly evaporated in empty spe-
culation. His conversation, which was fluent and
copious, was better calculated than his actions to
excite a favourable opinion of his capacity. It
was the frequent expression of some cotemporary
observer that King James was the wisest fool in
Christendom : he was a wise man in trivial, but
a fool in important affairs. The defective con-
stitution of his mental powers rendered him an
easy prey to a succession of favourites ; few of
whom were possest of any share of talents and
virtue. On these he lavished his favours with an
injudicious and unsparing hand; though in re-
warding genuine merit he was sufficiently parsi-
monious. Dissimulation was another prominent
feature of his character0. He is however repre-

0 Lipsius, in an epistle written in the year 1603, has mentioned James
in the following terms ; " Scribunt et legates Batavos jam appulisse, sed
animi parum \xtos, nee in rege hoc nimis sperantes. Quid sit in re, nescio:
illud bonis auctoribus habeo, ilium artificem simulandi et dissimulandi ease,
si quisquam unquam fuit." (Lipsii Efiitolie Select*, cent. v. ep. xxv-X

264

sented as a lover of honest men, provided they
discovered nothing enterprizing in their, disposi-
tion : but such was his native meanness, that no
man ever secured his attachment without having
previously been indebted to his bounty. To the
want of true generosity he added a total want of
personal courage ; insomuch that the mere sight
of a naked sword inspired him with visible appre-
hension. This pusillanimity has been ascribed,
and with apparent justice, to a cause antecedent
to his birth ; to the violent alarm which his mo-
ther experienced on witnessing, during her. preg-
nancy, the assassination of David Rizzio. He
was prone to sudden and immoderate anger; but
was sufficiently prompt in atoning for any out-
rage which he might have committed. With
the want of clemency he cannot be reproached13;
but his clemency was often injudicious, while on
the' other hand his severity was equally misap-
plied. Few of the good actions which he happen-
ed to perform, were the genuine result of virtuous
principles : passion, vanity, and prejudice, conti-
nually influenced his conduct, and exposed him
to the contempt of every ingenuous mind. Al-
though he professed the utmost zeal for religion,

P " Le Roy d'Angleterre est clement, horsmis & la chasse qu'il est cruel,
et se courrouce ne pouvant attraper la beste. Dieu, dit-il, est courrouce
centre moy, si est-ce que je 1'auray : lors qu'il 1'a, il met son bras tout
f ntier dans le ventre et les entraillcs de la beste."

SCALIGERANA, p. Jl6

265

yet the tenor of his actions exhibited a perpetual
aberration from its genuine dictates. In every
vice which suited his temperament, he indulged
with stupid presumption. His mode of palliating
the coarse blasphemy of which he was so frequent-
ly guilty, was abundantly absurd ; he expressed
his conviction that as it proceeded from passion,
God would not impute it to him as an offence.
His heart was unsusceptible of the fine emotions
of sensibility. He was capable of a violent and
childish attachment to such of his courtiers as
succeeded most dexterously in ministering to his
hyperbolical vanity : but with those qualities
which render a man estimable and interesting in
the circle of domestic life, he was scantily endow-
ed. Of natural affection he seems to have been
almost entirely destitute : the misfortunes of his
daughter the Queen of Bohemia could never in-
duce him to afford any effectual succour to her
husband ; and the death of his consort, and that
of his eldest son, were apparently regarded as
events of little moment. It was indeed a preva-
lent opinion that the death of Prince Henry had
been occasioned by poison, administered at the
command of his father : and the total unconcern
which was manifested by the king and his court-
iers, seemed to authorize the dreadful suggestion.
To James, unfeeling as he certainly was, it is not

VOL. II. L 1

266

however ray intention to impute so detestable
crime p.

The political conduct of this monarch exposed
his own character to abundance of ridicule, and
rendered Great Britain contemptible in the eyes
of other nations q. Divine right perpetually pre-
sented itself to his mind, and distorted that share
.of judgment which nature had bestowed upon
himr. His reign was indeed distinguished by the

P For-tlie more minute particulars detailed in these paragraphs, I am
principally indebted to Sir Anthony Weldon's Court and Character of K.
"James, 'published at London in the year 1650. The reader may also con-
sult a tract ascribed to Dr Heylin ; " Aulicus Coquinaria: or a Vindication
in answer to a pamphlet intituled The Court and Character of King James"
Lond. 1650, 8vo.

Mr Dalyell has inserted a character of K. James in his Fragments of
Scotish History. Edinb. 1798, 4to. This paper, which the editor supposes
to have been communicated to Sir James Balfour by one of his friends,
is a mere transcript from Weldon.

q Lord Bolingbroke is of opinion, " that this prince hath been the ori-
ginal cause of a series of misfortunes to this nation, as deplorable as a last-
ing infection of our air, of our water, or our earth, would have been."
( Dissertation upon Parties^ p. 15.)

r Oh (cry'd the goddess) for some pedant reign !

Some gentle James, to bless the land again ;

To stick the doctor's chair into the throne,

Give law to words, or war with words alone,

Senates and courts with Greek and Latin rule,

And turn the council to a grammar-school !

For sure if Dulness sees a grateful day,

Tis in the shade of arbitrary sway.

O ! if my sons may learn one earthly thing,

Teach but that one, sufficient for a king ;

That which my priests, and mine alone, maintain,

Which, as it dies or lives, we fall or reign ; \

May you, my Cam and Isis, preach it long !

" The right divine of kings to govern wrong." Pore.

267

preservation of uniform peace with foreign states :
but his domestic transactions presented a scene of
political guilt, which at length was to be so lament-
ably expiated by the blood of his deluded son.

His conduct as a patron of literature was equal-
ly ignoble. His treatment of Casaubon was far
from being liberal. He suffered Archbishop
Adamsori to languish in a state of miserable pe-
nury. Sir Walter Raleigh, a man of uncommon
talents, he subjected to various indignities, and
at length to an ignominious death. Dominicus
Baudius, who had supposed him to be possest of
generosity, confessed himself miserably disappoint-
ed when he visited Britain in the expectation of
being paid for the poetical .compliments which
he had bestowed on James and Prince Henry5. It
may be asserted without much hazard of confu-
tation, that his chief attachment to men of letters
arose from the selfish little principle of vanity.
Beneficial actions however are frequently the re-
sult of depraved motives. In various instances
the anointed pedant promoted the cause of useful
learning. It was he who assigned to Usher the
task of unfolding the antiquities of the British
churches'; a task which he was so admirably

s " Sed hac fine stetit omnis regia liberalitas, nee teruncio factus sum
propensior, ut vel^nieo exemplo liquere possit, magnos terrarum dominos
posse perdere, non donare."

BAUDII Epistolse, p. 283.

1 Usserii Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, epist. ded. Dqblin,
4to.

LI 2

268

qualified to perform11. According to Isaac Wal-
ton, it was for his Majesty's " sake principally
' that' Padre Paulo compiled that eminent history
of the remarkable council of Trent; which history
was, as fast as it was written, sent in several sheets
in letters by Sir Henry Wotton, Mr Bedel, and
others, unto King James and the then Bishop of
Canterbury, into England, and there first made
publick, both in English, and in the universal
language v."

King James's habits of life were more truly li-
terary than those of any other modern prince.

11 On Archbishop Usher's excellent production Mr Pinkerton has past
the following censure : " In his whole work there is a most remarkable
defect of understanding. All authorities are quite alike to him. Tacitus
and Hector Boethius, Beda and Geofrey of Monmouth ; historians, and
fabulists ; writers of the first century, and of the seventeenth ; are all
jumbled together in uniform confusion ; are all quoted with equal atten-
tion, and confidence." (Enquiry into ths: History of Scotland, vol. i. p. 106.)
These observations are indecent. Usher has not only displayed a vast ex-
tent and variety of erudition, but has also evinced a solid and judicious
vein of criticism, and a degree of candour to which Mr Pinkerton is un-
fortunately a stranger. His profest object is to exhibit an ample combi-
nation of all the passages in different authors wrhich seem to reflect any
light on the ecclesiastical antiquities of Britain and Ireland. If he has
occasionally quoted such writers as Geoffrey of Monmouth and Hector
Boyce, it is always with a proper degree of cautious scrutiny. Nor is
the examination of fabulous historians a mere work of supererogation : it
enables us to ascertain how far authors of a later aera have relied on such
authorities, and to what extent they have been furnished with authentic
materials from sources of a different denomination.

v Walton's Life of Sir Henry Wotton, sig. C\5 — Colomies has ascribed
the Latin version of Father Paul's history to Sir Adam Newton, a Scot-
ishmanwho was preceptor to Prince Henry. (Melanges ffutoriptet, p, 27.)
But the last two books are known to have been translated by Dr Bedell,
(Birch's Life of Henry Prince of Wales, p, 15, 373. Lond. 1760, 8vo.)

269

With many of the eminent scholars which that
age produced, he affected to maintain a friendly
intercourse : and some of his letters to Joseph
Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and other celebrated
writers, are still preservedw. His very meals seem
to have been seasoned with learning x. But it
must also be recollected that the king and the
scholar were often transfigurated into a low buf-
foon : his relaxations were for the most part of a
vulgar kind, and in many instances were utterly
despicable. Sir Anthony Weldon, who writes

™ A Latin epistle from K. James to Casaubon is prefixed to the col-
lection of Casaubon's Epiitola. Kag. Com. 1638, 4to. This epistle and
another addrest to Marcus Antonius de Dominis may also be found in a
little book published by Thomas Wykes under the title of " Bxo-tXixa.
Aupa,, sive Sylloge Epistolarum, Orationum, et Carminum Regalium, quaa
quos Britannise Monarchas Authores, quos etiam Editores antehac habu-
erint, inspicienti statim constabit." Lond. 1640, 8vo. James is said to have
written several letters to Casaubon. ( ' M. Casauboni Piefas, p. 10.) An-
other of his epistles occurs among the " Epistres Francoises des Person-
nages Illustres et Doctes a M. Joseph Juste de la Scala ; mises en lumiere
par Jaques de Reves." A Harderwyck, 1624, 8vo. He subscribes him-
self " vostre tres-affectionne amy." When Scaliger visited Scotland, he
probably became acquainted with the king. ,

In the Advocates Library is a folio MS. entitled Missives from Learnid
Men and Staitsmen to K. Ja. 6. This curious collection was probably
formed by Sir James Balfour, in whose possession it is known to have
been. (Sibbaldi Mcmoria JBalfouriana, p. 33.) The volume contains auto-
graphs of Charles the First, I. Casaubon, M. Casaubon, W. Barclay, A.
Melvin, M. A. de Dominis, and other men of eminence. Besides letters
to JC. James, it includes various papers of a miscellaneous kind ; and,
among others, a narrative of the death of M. A de Dominis.

x " Mox ut ad Serenissimum Regem accessi, inveni ipsum illam ipsam
Apologiam inter epulas legentem."

CASAUEONI Exercitationes ad Baronium, p. 44

270

from personal observation, presents us with a cu-
rious sketch of the elegant amusements which
prevailed at court after Villiers began to eclipse
the other favourites : " Then began the king to
eat abroad, who formerly used to eat in his bed-
chamber, or if by chance supped in his bed-
chamber, would come forth to see pastimes and
fooleries ; in which Sir Ed. Souch, Sir George
Goring, and Sir John Finit, were the chief and
master fools, and surely this fooling got them
more then any other's wisdom, far above them in
desert: Souch his part to sing bawdy songs, and
tell bawdy tales ; Finit to compose these songs ;
then were a set of fidlers brought up on purpose
for this fooling, and Goring was master of the
game for fooleries ; sometimes presenting David
Droman, and Archer Armstrong, the king's fool,
on the back of the other fools, to tilt one at ano-
ther, till they fell together by the ears ; some-
times antick dances ; but Sir John Millisert, who
was never known before, was commended for not-
able fooling, and sow as the best extemporary
fool of them ally." The king's love of any thing
that resembled wit or humour seems to have been
excessive. The following anecdote exhibits his
character in a more favourable point of view.
" Some years since," says Howell, *' there was a
very abusive satire in verse brought to our king ;

f Weldon's Court and Character of K. James, p. 91, edit. Lond. 1689,
8vo.

271

and as the passages were a reading before him he
often said, That if there were no more men in
England, the rogue should hang for it : at last
being come to the conclusion, which was (after
all his railing)

Now God preserve the king, the queen, the peers,
And grant the author long may wear his ears 5

this pleased his Majesty so well, that he broke
into a laughter, and said, * By my sol ! so thou
shalt for me : thou art a bitter, but thou art a
witty knave2."

IF the literary attainments of King James are
to be estimated from the panegyrics of cotempo-
rary writers, he must be regarded as a scholar of
the first magnitude. He has been mentioned in
terms of the highest applause by authors of al-
most every learned nation : and several of his en-
comiasts maintained a preeminent rank in the
republic of letters ; for among their number we
discover the names of Grotius, Bacon a, and Ca-
saubon. But the honours which he obtained
from his cotemporaries have not been perpetuated
by the sanction of impartial posterity : the dead

z Howell's Familiar Letters, p. 73.

a Lord Bacon has past a high encomium on the EatriXtnov Aapav. (Of
the Advancement of Learning^ p. 250.) Sir Henry Savile, in his dedication
of St Chrysostom to K. James, has extolled the same composition as su-
perior to any similar work which had then been produced,

author cannot participate the splendours of the
living monarch.; and his character being now
deprived of adventitious support, will not be
found possest of much intrinsic dignity. His
share of acquired knowledge was not however so
inconsiderable as it has sometimes been represent-
ed : under the tuition of Buchanan and Youngb
he undoubtedly imbibed the rudiments of classical
learning with sufficient felicity ; and his multifari-
ous productions display a pretty extensive acquaint-
ance with the favourite authors of that age of
pedantry. The style of his prose compositions,
if we consider the complexion of the general
taste, will not be pronounced contemptible.

The censure which has lately been past on his
poetical works may be regarded as too severe.
They do not indeed evince any unusual vigour of
imagination or elegance of taste : but they are
not entirely destitute of fancy ; and the versifi-
cation frequently rises above mediocrity. Fine
writing however cannot be produced without the
aid of good sense.

This department of his works comprehends
" The Lepanto," " Phoenix," " The twelf Son-
nets of Inuocations to the Goddis," " The Fu-
ries," translated from Du Bartas, " The Vranie,
or Heavenly Mvse," translated from the same

b An account of the life and character of Sir Peter Young may be
found in Dr Thomas Smith's Vltae quorundarh EruJitissimomm et Htm.
7'irorum. Lond. 1707, 4to.

273

author, " A Paraphrasticall Translation ovt of the
poete Lvcane," a version of several of the psalms,
and various little poems of a miscellaneous kind;

The Lepanto is a poem of considerable length,
written in celebration of the famous victory gain-
ed by the Christians over the Turks. For the be-
nefit of foreigners, a Latin translation was pub-
lished by Thomas Murray in the year 1604.

The poem entitled Ane Metaphorical! Invention
of a Tragedie called Phoenix may perhaps be con-
sidered as his most serious effort. This meta-
phorical invention I confess myself unable to ex-
plain. The allegory has been supposed to exhi-
bit an adumbration of the accomplishments and
misfortunes of his royal mother : but this notion
will not perhaps be found altogether satisfactory.
In the Phcenix some traces of a poetical invention
may undoubtedly be discovered : and it ought to
be recollected that the volume in which it ap-
pears was published when the author was only
about eighteen years of age. It commences with
the following stanzas :

The dyuers falls that Fortune geuis to men
By turning ouer her quheil t t cir annoy,

When I do heare them grudge, although they ken
That old blind dame delytes to let the ioy
Of all, suche is her vse, whic^ dois conuoy

Her quheill by gess, not loo ing to ihe right,

Bot still turnis vp that pairt quhilk is too light.

VOL. II. Mm

274

Thus quhen I hard so many did complaine,
Some for the losse of worldly wealth and geir,

Some death of frends, quho can not come againe,
Some losse of health, which vnto all is deir,
Some losse of fame, which still with it dois beir

Ane greif to them who mereits it indeid :

Yet for all thir appearis there some remeid.

For as to geir, lyke chance as made you want it,
Restore you may the same againe or mair.

For death of frends, although the same, I grant it,
Can noght returne, yet men are not so rair
Bot ye may get the lyke. For seiknes sair

Your health may come : or to ane better place

Ye must. For fame, good deids will mend disgrace.

Then fra I saw, as I already told,

How men complaind for things whilk might amend j

How DAUID LINDSAY did complaine of old
His papingo, her death, and sudden end,
Ane common foule whose kinde be all is kend j

All these hes moved me presently to tell

Ane tragedie, in griefs thir to cxcell.

For I complaine not of sic common cace,
Which diuersly by diuers means dois fall ;

But I lament my phoenix rare, whose race,

Whose kynde, whose kin, whose offspring, they be all
In hir alone whome I the phoenix call ;

That fowle which only at onis did liue,

Not Hues, alas ! though I her praise reviue.

275

In Arabic cald Foelix was she bredd,
This foule excelling Iris farr in hew •,

Whose body whole with purpour was owercledd,
Whose taill of coulour was celestiall blew,
With skarlat pennis that through it mixed grew *,

Her craig was like the yallowe burnisht gold j

And she her self thre hundreth yeare was old.

This mysterious fowl abandons Arabia Foelix,
and at length arrives in Scotland.

Ilk man did maruell at her forme most rare.
The winter came and storms cled all the feild j

Which storms the land of fruit and corne made bare :
Then did she flie into an housa for beild,
Which from the storms might saue her as an sheild.

There in that house she first began to tame :

I came, syne tooke her furth out of the same.

Thus being tamed and thoroughly weill acquent,
She toke delyte, as she was wount before,

What tyme that Titan with his beames vpsprent,
To take her flight, amongs the skyes to soire.
Then came to her of fowlis a woundrous store

Of diuers kinds j some simple fowlis, some ill

And rauening fowlis whilks simple onis did kill.

And euen as they do swarme about their king
The hunnie bees, that works into the hyue :

When he delyts furth of the skepps to spring,
Then all the leaue will follow him belyue,
Syne to be nixt him bisselie they striue :

So all thir fowlis did followe her with beir ;

For loue of her, fowlis rauening did no deir,

Mm?

276

Such was the loue and reuerence they her bure,
Ilk day whill euen, ay whill they shedd at night

Fra time it darkned, I was euer sure

Of her returne, remaining whill the light,
And Phoebus rysing with his garland bright :

Such was her trueth, fra time that she was tame,

She who in brightnes Titans self djd shame.

By vse of this, and hanting it, at last

She made the foules, fra time that I went out,

Aboue my head to flie, and follow fast

Her, who was chief and leader of the rout.
When it grew lait, she made them flie, but doubt

Or feare, euen in the closse with her of will j

Syne she her self perkt in my chalmer still.

When as the countreys round about did heare
Of this her byding in this countrey cold,

Which not but hills and darknes ay dois beare,
And for this cause was Scotia calld of old 5
Her lyking here when it was to them told,

And how she greind not to go backe againe,

The lo«e they bure her, turnd into disdaine.

Lo here the fruicts whilks of Inuy dois breid,
To harme them all who vertue dois imbrace :

Lo here the fruicts from her whilks dois proceid,
To harme them all that be in better cace
Then others be. So followed they the trace

Of proud Inuy thir countreyis lying neir,

That such a foule should lyke to tary heir.— -

277

Fra malice thus was rooted be Inuy,

In them as sone the awin effects did shaw ;

Which made them syne vpon ane day to spy
And wait till that, as she was wount, she flaw
Athort the skyes, syne did they neir her draw

Among the other fowlis of dyuers kynds,

Although they ware farr dissonant in mynds.

For where as they ware wount her to obey,

Their raynde farr contrair then did plaine appeare ;

For then they made her as a commoun prey
To them, of whome she looked for no deare 5
They strake at her so bitterly, whill feare

Stayde other fowlis to preis for to defend her

From thir ingrate, whilks, now had clene miskend her.

When she could finde none other saue refuge
From these their bitter straiks, she fled at last

To me, as if she wolde wishe me to iudge

The wrong they did her j yet they followed fast
Till she betuix my leggs her selfe did cast,

For sauing her from these which her opprest,

Whose hote pursute her suffred not to rest.

Bot yet at all that servd not for remeid,
Far noghttheles they spaird her not a haire.

In stede of her, yea whyles they made to bleid
My leggs, (so grew their malice mair and mair 5)
Which made her both to rage and to dispair ;

First, that but cause they did her such dishort j

Nixt, that she laked help in any^sort.

273

Then hauing tane ane dry and wethered stra,
In deip dispair and in ane lofty rage

She sprang vp heigh, outfleing euery fa ;
Syne to Panchaia came, to change her age
Vpon Apollos altar, to asswage

With outward fyre her inward raging fyre j

Which then was all her cheif and whole desyre.

Then being carefull the event to know

Of her who homeward had returnde againe

Where she was bred, where storms dois neuer blow,
N(y bitter blasts, nor winter snows, nor raine,
But sommer still 5 — that countray doeth so staine

All realmes in fairnes j there in haste I sent,

Of her to know the yssew and event.

The messenger returns and communicates the
sequel of her history, but not in very poetical
terms. The conclusion, or Uenvoy, instead of
unveiling the allegory, only serves to involve it
in new obscurity :

Apollo then, who brunt with thy reflex

Thine onely fowle, through loue that thou her bure,

Although thy fowle, (whose name doeth end in X)
Thy burning heat on nowayes could indure,
But brunt thereby 5 yet will I the procure,

Late foe to phoenix, now her fremd to be,

Reuiuing her by that which made her die.

279

Draw farr from heir, mount heigh vp through the air,
To gar thy heat and beames be law and neir j

That in this countrey, which is cold and bair,
Thy glistring beames als ardent may appeir
As they were oft in Arabic : so heir

Let them be now, to mak ane phoenix new

Euen of this worme of phoenix ashe which grew.

This if thow dois, as sure I hope thou shall,

My tragedie a comike end will haue :
Thy work thou hath begun, to end it all j

Else made ane worme, to make her out the laue.

This epitaphe then beis on phoenix graue :
" Here lyeth whom too euen be her death and end
Apollo hath a longer lyfe her send."

James's translation of the Uranie, ou Mwe
Celeste, of Du Bartas, entitles him to considerable
praise as a versifier : his couplets approach much
nearer to the elegance and compression of modern
English poetry than could have been expected
from a young Scotish writer of the sixteenth cen-
tury. Of this respectable version it will be
proper to transcribe a brief specimen :

Scarce was I yet in springtyme of my years,
When greening great for fame aboue my pears
Did make me lose my wonted chere and rest,
Essaying learned works with curious brest.
But as the pilgrim, who for lack of light,
Cumd on the parting of two wayes at night,
He stayes assone and in his mynde doeth cast
What way to take while moonlight yet doth la»t j

280

So I amongst the paths vpon that hill

Where Phoebus crowns all verses euer still

Of endles praise, with laurers always grene,

Did stay confusde, in doubt what way to mene.

I wKyles essaide the Grece in Frenche to praise,

Whyles in that toung I gaue a lusty glaise

For to descryue the Troian kings of olde,

And them that Thebes and Mycens crowns did holde :

And whiles I had the storye of Fraunce elected,

Which to the Muses I should haue directed

My holy furie, with consent of nane,

Made Frenche the Mein, and nowyse Dutche the Sein.

Whiles thought I to set foorth with flattring pen

The praise vntrewe of kings and noble men j

And that I might both golde and honours haue,

With courage basse I made my Muse a slaue.

And whyles I thought to sing the fickle boy

Of Cypris soft, and loues to-swete anoy,

To lofty sprits that any therewith made blynd j

To which discours my nature and age inclynd.

But whill I was in doubt what way to go,

With wind ambitious tossed to and fro,

A holy beuty did to mee appeare,

The thundrers daughter seeming as she weare :

Her porte was angellike, with angels face,

With comely shape, and toung of heauenly grace j

Her nynevoiced mouth resembled into sound

The daunce harmonious making heauen resound.

The subsequent passage may even boast of some-
what of the enthusiasm of genuine poetry :

So Hesiod, Line, and he whose lute, they say,
Made rocks and forrests come to heare him play,

281

.Durst well their heauenly secrets all discloes

In learned verse that softly slydes and goes.

O yfe that wolde your browes with laurel bind,

What larger feild I pray you can you find,

Then is his praise who brydles heauens most cleare,

Maks mountaines tremble, and howest hells to feare ;,

That is a home of plenty well repleat,

That is a storehouse riche, a learning seat ;

An ocean hudge, both lacking shore and ground,

Of heauenly eloquence a spring profound ?

From subjects base a base discours dois spring,

A lofty subiect of it selfe doeth bring

Graue words and weghtie, of it selfe diuine,

And makes the authors holy honour shine.

In this translation he confesses that he has not
rigidly adhered to the rules which he has himself
proposed in his treatise on Scotish poetry ; and
he suggests several apologetic reasons for his
deviation : "I must also desire you to bear
with it, albeit it be replete with innumerable and
intolerable faultes ; sic as ryming in tearmes,
and dyuers others whilkis ar forbidden in my
owne treatise of the arte of poesie, in the hin-
der end of this booke; I must, I say, praye you
for to appardone mee for three causes. First,
because that translations ar limitat. and restraind
in some things more then free inuentions are :
therefore reasoun would that it had more liber-
tie in others. Secoundlie, because I made noght
my treatise of that intention that eyther I or
any others behoued astricktly to follow it; but
that onely it should shew the perfection of poe'sie,

VOL. II. N n

282

whereunto fewe or none can attaine. Thirdlye,
because that (as I shewe alreadye) I avowe it not
for a iust translation. Besydes that I haue but
ten feete in my lyne, where he hath twelue, and
yet translates him lyne by lyne."

Two of his Majesty's sonnets have already been
quoted. The following is a Sonnet decifring the
Perfyte Poete :

Ane rype ingyne, anc quick and walkned witt,

With sommair reasons suddenlie apply it }
For euery purpose vsing reasons fitt,

With skilfulnes, where learning may be spy it ;

With pithie wordis, for to expres zow by it
His full intention in his proper leid,

The puritie quhairof weill hes he tryit ;
With memorie to keip quhat he dois reid ;
With skilfulnes and figuris quhilks proceid

From rhetorique -, with euerlasting fame,
With vthers woundring, preassing with all speict

For to atteine to merite sic a name j
All thir into the perfyte poete be.
Goddis grant I may obteine the laurell trie.

The sonnet which he has prefixed to the
contains some tolerably sonorous lines :

God giues not kings the stile of gods in vaine,
For on his throne h?s scepter doe they swey :
And as their subiects ought them to obey,
So kings should feare and serue their God againe,
If then ye would enioy a happie raigne,

'283

Observe the statutes of your heauenly king,
And from his law make all your lawes to spring :
*Since his lieutenant here ye should remaine,
Reward the iust, be stedfast, true, and plaine,
Represse the proud, maintayning aye the right,
Walke alwayes so as euer in his sight
Who guardes the godly, plaguing the prophane :
And so ye shall in princely vertues shine,
Resembling right your mightie king diuine.

It has already been hinted that the genuine-
ness of the complete version of the psalms which
bears his name, is somewhat doubtful. According
to Bishop William's, " this worke was staled in
the one and thirty psalme." King James has
not executed his task with much felicity : but this
is a task in which poets of unquestionable talents
have often failed. As a specimen of his version,
I shall transcribe the twenty-seventh psalm :

The Lord my light and safety is,

How can I frighted be ?
The Lord is of my life the strength,

And who can trouble me ?

When wicked foes, to eat my flesh,

Against me warre did make,
They straight did stumble and fell downe,

A prey for me to take.

Though even an hoast against me pitch,

No feare can taint my brest j
Though roaring warre against me rise,

In this secure I rest.

N n 2

284

This one thing aske I from the Lord,

And earnestly request,
That all the dayes I haue to liue,

I in his house may rest 5

There to contemplate and behold

The beauty of the Lord ;
And in his temple to enquire,

According to thy word.

For his pavilion mee shall hide
When trouble doth molest :

His tents derne part it shall mee hide j
He makes a rocke my rest.

He shall aboue my foes about
My head with glorie raise :

I in his tabernacle glad

Shall offer, sing, and praise.

Heare me, O Lord, when with my voice

I-otill aloud to thee :
Thy gratious favour then extend,

And yeeld thine eare to mee*

When in thy presence to repaire

Thou wilPd mee by thy grace,

My ravish'd heart did answer, Lord,
Lord, I will seeke thy face.

Hide not thy face, nor put away
Thy servant in thine yre :

Thou hast me help'd, my safeties God ;
Doe not from mee retire.

285

My father and my mother both

Though th«y doe mee forsake,
Yet thou, O Lord, even thou of mee

Wilt the protection take.

Teach thou, O Lord, thy way to mee,

And guide mee by thy grace
A straight plaine path j because of foes

That all my steps doe trace.

To satisFie my foes desires,

Doe not deliver mee :
False witnesses with malice rise,

And cruelties decree.

I fainted had, but that I hop'd

Thy goodnesse to enjoy,
Even in the land of them that Hue

As yet design'd for joy.

Doe thou vpon the Lord attend

With courage alwaies stor'd j
For he will fortifie thy heart :

Wait therefore on the Lord.

King James must also be commemorated as
the only Scotish author who has published any
critical work in his native language. The vo-
lume entitled " The Essayes of a Prentise in the
Divine Art of Poesie," includes " Ane Schort
Treatise, conteining some Revlis and Cautelis to
be obseruit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie." This
volume was published in the year 1584. The first
took of criticism written in the English language

'J86

appeared at a considerably earlier period : The
Arte of Rhetorike by Thomas Wilson, LL.D.
was published in the year 1553 b. This compo-
sition of the royal author, if we consider the no-
velty of the attempt, and the juvenile age at
which it was produced, must certainly be re-
garded as no contemptible performance.

It consists of eight short chapters ; in which
he treats of " the reulis of ryming, fete, and
flowing, and of the wordis, sentences, and phra-
sis necessair for a poete to vse in his verse."
The last chapter exhibits specimens of " the
kyndis of versis for lang historeis ; for the de-
scriptioun of heroique actis, martiall and knightly
faittis of armes; for any heich and graue suiectis,
specially drawin out of learnit authouris ; for tra-
gicall materis, complaintis, or testamentis ; for
flyting or inuectiues ; for compendious praysing
of any bukes, or the authouris thairof, or ony
argumentis of vther historeis quhair sindrie sen-
tences and change of purposis are requyrit ; and
for materis of loue." Several of these specimens
are borrowed from the works of Montgomery ;
who about that period appears to have been a fa-
vourite court-poet.

The preface is worthy of transcription : " The
cause why, docile reader, I haue not dedicat this

b The Arte of Rhetorike, for the vse of all soche as are studious of
Eloquence, sette forth in Englishe by Thomas Wilson 1553, and now
new lie sette foorthe againe, with a Prologue to the reader. Lond.ij63,4to

287

short treatise to any particular personis, as com-
mounly worlds vsis to be, is that I esteme all thais
quha hes already some beginning of knawledge
with ane earnest desyre to atteyne to farther,
alyke meit for the reading of this worke, or any
vther quhilk may help thame to the atteining to
thair foirsaid desyre. Bot as to this work, quhilk
is intitulit The Reulis and Cautelis to be obseruit
and escbewit in Scottis Poesie, ze may maruell
peraventure quhairfore I sonld haue writtin in
that mater, sen sa mony learnit men, baith of auld
and of late, hes already written thairof in dyuers
and sindry languages : I answer that nochtwith-
standing, I haue lykewayis writtin of it, for twa
caussis. The ane is, as for them that wrait of
auld, lyke as the tyme is changeit sensyne, sa is
the ordour of poesie changeit. For then they ob~
seruit not flowing, nor eschewit not ryming in
termes, besides sindrie vther thingis quhilk now
we obserue and eschew, and dois weil in sa
doing ; because that now quhen the warld is
waxit auld, we haue all their opinionis in writ
quhilk were learned before our tyme, besydes
our awin ingynis, quhair as they then did it
onlie be thair awin ingynis but help of any vther.
Thairfore quhat I speik of poesie now, I speik of
it as being come to mannis age and perfectioun,
quhair as then it was bot m the infancie and
chyldheid. The vther cause is, that as for thame
that hes written in it of late, there hes neuer

288

ane of thame written in our language. For
beit sindrie lies written of it in English, quhilk
is lykest to our language, zit we differ from thame
in sindrie reulis of poesie, as ze will find be ex-
perience. I haue lykewayis omittit dyuers figures
quhilkis are necessare to be vsit in verse, for twa
causis. The ane is, because they are vsit in all
languages, and thairfore are spokin of be Du
Bellay, and sindrie vtheris quha hes written in
this airt. Quhairfore gif I wrait of thame also,
it sould seme that I did bot repete that quhilk
thay haue written, and zit not sa weil as thay
haue done already. The vther cause is that they
are figures of rhetorique .and dialectique, quhilkis
airtis I professe nocht, and thairfore will apply
to my selfe the counsale quhilk Apelles gaue to
the shoomaker, quhen he said to him, seing him
find fait with the shankis of the image of Venus
efter that he had found fait \vith the pantoun,
Nc sutor ultra crepidam.

" I will also wish zow, docile reidar, that or
ze cummer zow with reiding thir reulis, ze may
find in zour self sic a beginning of nature, as ze
may put in practise in zour verse many of thir
foirsaidis preceptis or euer ze sie them as they are
heir set doun. For gif nature be nocht the cheif
worker in this airt, • reulis wilbe bot a band to
nature, and will mak zow within short space
weary of the haill airt ; quhair as gif nature be
cheif and bent to it, reulis will be ane help and

289

staff to nature. I will end heir, lest my preface
be langer nor my purpose and haill mater fol-
lowing ; wishing zow, docile reidar, als gude suc-
ces and great prorfeit by reiding this short treatise,
as I tuke earnnist and willing panis to blok it, as
ze sie, for zour cause. Fare weill."

The following extract exhibits a specimen of
his Majesty's critical vein : " Ze man be war like-
wayis (except necessitie compell yow) with rym-
ing in termis, quhilk is to say, that your first or
hinmest \vord in the lyne exceid not twa or thre
syllabis at the maist, vsing thrie als seindill as
ye can. The cause quhairfore ze sail not place a
lang word first in the lyne, is that all lang words
hes an syllabe in them sa verie lang, as the lenth
thairof eatis vp in the pronouncing euin the vther
syllabes quhilks ar placit lang in the same word,
and thairfore spillis the flowing of that lyne. As
for exemple, in this word, Arabia, the second
syllabe (ra) is sa lang that it eatis vp in the pro-
nouncing [#] quhilk is the hinmest syllabe of the
same word. Quhilk [#] althocht it be in a lang
place, zit it kythis not sa, because of the great
lenth of the preceding syllabe (ra). As to the
cause quhy ze sail not put a lang word hynmest
in the lyne, it is because that the lenth of the
secound syllabe (ra) eating vp the lenth of the
vther lang syllabe [#], makis it to serue hot as a
tayle vnto it, together with the short syllabe pre-
ceding. And because this tayle nather semis

VOL. JL O o

290

for cullour nor fute, as I spak before, it man
be thairfore repetit in the nixt lyne ryming vnl
it, as it is set doune in the first : quhilk makis,
that ze will scarcely get many wordis to ryme
vnto it, zea, nane at all will ze finde to ryme to
sindrie vther langer wordis. Thairfore cheifly
be warre of inserting sic lang wordis hinmest in
the lyne, for the cause quhilk I last allegit.
Besydis that nather first nor last in the lyne, it
keipis na flowing."

An entire transcript of the sixth chapter shall
close our specimens of King James's poetry and
criticism : " Ze man also be warre with compos-
ing ony thing in the same maner as hes bene
ower oft vsit of before. As in speciall, gif ze
speik of loue, be warre ze descryue zour loues
makdome or her fairnes. And siclyke that ze
descryue not the morning, and rysing of the
sunne, in the preface of zour verse : for thir
thingis are sa oft and dyuerslie writtin vpon be
poe'tis already, that gif ze do the lyke, it will
appeare ze bot imitate, and that it cummis not
of zour awin inventioun, quhilk is ane of the
cheif properteis of ane poete. Thairfore gif zour
subiect be to prayse zour loue, ze sail rather
prayse hir vther qualiteis nor her fairnes or hir
shaip : or ellis ze sail speik some lytill thing of
it, and syne say that zour wittis are sa smal and
zour vtterance sa barren, that ze can not discryue
any part of hir worthelie ; remitting alwayis to

291

the reider to iudge of hir, in respect sho matches
or rather excellis Venus, or any woman quhome
to it sail please zow to compaire her. Bot gif
zour suiect be sic as ze man speik some thing of
the morning or sunne rysing, tak heid that quhat
name ze giue to the sunne, the mone, or vther
starris, the ane tyme, gif ze happin to wryte
thairof another tyme, to change thair names.
As gif ze call the sunne Titan at a tyme, to
call him Phcebus or Apollo the vther tyme, and
siclyke the mone and vther planettis."

INTERMEDIATE SKETCHES.

-LOURING the reign of King James appeared a
multitude of poets who cultivated the Scotish,
English, and Latin languages a. Of those who

a To Mr Pinkerton's catalogue of our English versifiers who appeared
in the course of the seventeenth century, many names might be added.
I shall here introduce supplementary notices relative to Graham and
Fairley.

Simon Graham, the descendant of a respectable family, was born in
Edinburgh ; but at what particular period, is uncertain. (Dempster. H^st,
Ecclesiast. Gent, Sector, p. 328.) In his dedication of Tic Anatomie of H-v-
mors to the Earl of Montrose, he speaks of himself as a soldier and a tra-
veller : " My perigrinations enlarged my curiositie, my souldier's estate
promised to prelerre me, and the smiles of court stuffed my braines with
manie idle suppositions." He was, says Urquhart, " a great traveller
and very good scholar, as doth appear by many books of his emission ;
but being othenvays too licentious, and given over to all manner of de-
bordings, the most of the praise I will give him, will be to excuse him in
these terms of Aristotle : ' Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura demen-
tias." (Urquhart's Jewel, p. 132.) It is probable that he at length be-
came more sedate in his deportment ; for Dempster relates that by the
instigation of the Holy Spirit, he assumed the habit of Sj;. Francis. The
same writer informs us, that, as he was returning towards his native coun-
try in 1614, he died at Carpentras. According to Dempster and Urquhart,

293

wrote in their native tongue, few have displayed
any considerable portion of genius : the most
poetical versifier of that period was undoubtedly
Montgomery ; who did not however possess ta-
lents of the first order.

THOMAS HUDSON may be mentioned as a ver-
sifier of some merit. He appears to have culti-
vated Scotish poetry ; but his most considerable
work is an English translation of Du Bartas's
poem on the subject of Judith b. This version,

his publications were numerous ; but I have only been able to trace the fol-
lowing : " The Passionate Sparke of a Relenting Minde." Lond. 1604,
4to. " The Anatomie of Hvmors." Edinb. 1609, 4to. The former
of these works is a collection of poems ; the latter, which consists of
prose interspersed with verse, may possibly have suggested the original
hint of Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy," a well-known production,
first printed at Oxford in quarto in the year 1621.

Robert Fairley, who styles himself Scoto-Britannus, published several
poetical works of an indifferent character. He is the author of a Latin
poem entitled " Naulogia, sive Inventa Navis." Lond. Sine anni indicia,
4to. It is inscribed in prose and verse to Sir Robert Aytoun. He also
published " Kalendarlum Humane Fit<s : the Kalender of Mans Life."
Lond. 1638, Svo. This work consists of poems on the four seasons. His
other publication bears the title of " Lycbnocausia, j/w Moralia Facum
Embleinata : Lights Morall Emblems." Lond. 1638, Svo. This vo-
lume, as well as the last, exhibits each poem in Latin and in English.
The emblem was about that period a favourite species of composition : it
had been recommended by the example of Beza and other ingenious
•poets; and in Britain it had been attempted by Francis Quarles with u
degree of applause which certainly exceeded his intrinsic desert.

k The Historic of ludith, in forme of a Poeme ; penned in French
by the noble poet G. Salust, Lord of Barta* : Englished by The, Hud-
son. Edinb. 1584, Svo.

294

which was published in the year 1584, is gene-
rally known as an appendage to that of Joshua
Sylvester. From the dedication of his work to
King James it appears that Hudson was of the
royal household ; that he undertook the transla-
tion at his Majesty's request; and that the king
corrected it with his own hand. Hudson boasts,
like his royal patron, that in the number of his
verses he has not exceeded the original composi-
tion.

ROBERT HUDSON has already been commemo-
rated as a court-poet. To him several of Mont-
gomery's sonnets are addrest ; and in one of them
he is celebrated in magnificent terms :

Thy Homer's style, thy Petrark's high invent,
Sail vanquish Death, and live eternally,

Ouhais boasting bou, thoghfc it be alwayis bent,
Sail never hurt the sone of Memorie.

Hudson appears to have been a man of some in-
fluence ; for Montgomery requests him to whis-
per his misfortunes in the ear of royalty. His
works, with the exception of one or two son-
nets, have all perished. The following sonnet, in
celebration of King James's poetical talents, is
by no means despicable :

295

The glorious Grekis in stately style do blaise

The lawde the conqurour gaue their Homer olde
The verses Caesar song in Maroes praise

The Romanis in remembrance depe haue rolde.

Ye Thespian nymphes, that suppe the nectar colde
That from Parnassis forked topp doth fall,

What Alexander or Augustus bolde
May sound his fame whose vertewes pass them all ?
O Phoebus, for thy help heir might I call,

And on Minerue and Maias learned sonne :
But since. I know, none was, none is, nor shall,

Can rightly ring the fame that he hath wonne,
Then stay your trauels, lay your pennis adowne,
For Caesars works shall iustly Cgesar crowne0.

CHRISTIAN LINDSAY seems to be represented by
pne of his cotemporaries as a poet of some dis-
tinction : the following lines occur in a sonnet
of Montgomery addrest to Robert Hudson :

Ye knaw ill guyding genders mony gees,
And specially in poets : for example

Ye can pen out twa cuple and ye pleis,
Yourself and I, auld Scot and Robert Semple.

Quhen we ar deid, that all our dayis daffis,

Let Christen Lyndesay wryt our epitaphis.

c K. James's Essayes of a Premise in the Divine Art of Poesie.
Edinb. 15 84, 4to. — This sonnet is subscribed R. H. A sonnet by R. Hud-
son may be found in Mr Pinkerton's Ancient Scotish Poems, vol. ii. p. 351.
and another in a collection entitled Scotish Descriptive Poems, p. 231. A
sonnet subscribed T. H. is also prefixed to this work of K. James.
Another byT. Hudson is prefixed to Fowler's manuscript translation from
Petrarch ; and a third occurs in Mr Pinkertpn's collection, vol. ii,
P. 35°.

296

The only composition of Lindsay which has been
preserved is a spirited sonnet addrest to Hud-

WILLIAM FOWLER flourished about the year
1587. Two manuscript volumes of his poems
are among the books presented by Drummond to
the University of Edinburgh. In the title-page
of one of them he is styled " P. of Hawicke ;"
that is Parson or Rector of Ha wick. This vo-
lume is entitled The Tarantula of Love ; and
comprehends a series of sonnets on the Italian
model. The other manuscript is a translation
of the triumphs of Petrarch6. Specimens of
both these productions may be found in a late
injudicious collection f. Their merit is far from
being extraordinary. Fowler however may once
have been a poet of some note : King James has
written a commendatory sonnet on his transla-
tion, in return for one which Fowler wrote in
praise of The Furies.

JOHN BUREL, burgess of Edinburgh, is the
author of two insipid poems published in Wat-

d See the Life of Montgomery, p. 187.

c An English translation of the same work \v;i$ published by Anna
Hume. See " The Triumphs of Love, Chastitie, Death ; translated
out of Petrarch by Mrs Anna Hume." Edinb. 1644, 8vo.

f Scotish Descriptive Poems. Edinb. 1803, 8vp.

297

Son's collection. The one is entitled " The Pas-
sage of the Pilgremer ;" the other, " The De-
scription of the Queens Majesties maist hono-
rable Entry into the Town of Edinburgh upon
the ipth day of May, 1590." The last of these
poems has been reprinted by Sibbald s.

' JOHN ROLLAND of Dalkeith is the author of
two metrical works of a similar character. One
of them bears the title of " Ane Treatise callit
the Court of Venus , dividit into four buikis h."
The other is entitled " The Sevin Seages ; trails^
latit :out of prois into Scottis meiter ; with ane
moralitie aftir everie doctour's tale, and siklyke
after the emprice tale ; togidder with ane loving
and lawd to every doctour aftir his awin tale ; and
an exclamatioun and outcrying upon the empe-
rour's wyfe aftir hir fals contrused tale '."

ALEXANDER HUME, Rector of Logic, was the
second son of Patrick laird of Polwarth, from
whom the present family of Marchmont is li-
neally descended. From the " Epistle to Maister
Gilbert Mont-creif, jMediciner to the King's

S Sibbald's Chronicle of Scottish Poetry, vol. iii* p. 465.
h Edinburgh, 1575, 4to.
i Edinburgh, 1592, 8vo.

j " Lors que mon frere fut en Escosse," says Joseph Scaliger, " tt
n'jr avoit'qu'un medecin,qui estoit medecin de la reyne ; et demon tempe

VOL. II. P p

298

Majestie, wherein is set down the Inexperience
of Author's Youth," it appears that he was des-
tined for the bar, and that being disgusted with
the profession of a lawyer, he afterwards endea-
voured without success to obtain preferment at
court. The following extract from his epistle
contains some curious information :

Quhen that I had employd my youth and paine
Four years in France, and was returnd againe,
I langd tc* learn and curious was to knaw
The consuetudes, the custome, and the law,
Quhairby our native soil was guide aright,
And justice done to everie kind of wight.
To that effect three yea res, or near that space,
I hanted maist our highest pleading place,
And senate, quhair great causes reasoned war ;
My breast was bruisit with leaning on the bar j
My buttons brist, I partly spitted blood,
My gown was traild and trampid quhair I stood ;
My ears war deifd with maissars cryes and din,
Quhilk procutoris and parties callit in.
I daylie learnit, bot could not pleisit -be j
I saw sik things as pitie was to see j
Ane house owerlaid with process sa misguidit,
That sum to late, sum never war decydit j
The puir abusit ane hundreth divers wayes,
Postpond, differd with shifts and mere delayes,
Consumit in gudes, ourset with greif and paine .
Your advocate maun be refresht with gaine,

en Angleterre il n'y avoit gueres de medecins. En Escosse un me&ui-
sier saignoit, et 11 y avoit des barbiers qui tondoient seulement."
gcranat p.

299

Or else he faints to speake or to invent
Ane gude defence, or weightie argument.
Ye spill your cause j — ye truble him to sair,
Unless his hand anointed be with mair.

v>

Equally disgusted with the bar and with the
court, he at length directed his views towards the
church. His poems were printed by Robert Wal-
degrave in 1599, under the title of " Hy nines or
Sacred Songs, wherein the right use of poesie may
be espied : whereunto are dded the experience
of the author's youth, and certain precepts serv-
ing to the practice of sanctificationk." This col-
lection is inscribed to Elizabeth Mel\-Jl ; whom

k Some of the poems of Hume may be found in Mr Sibbald's C/jrpnide
of Scottish Poetry, vol. iii. and in a collection entitled Scotisb Descriptive
Poems.

1 This female author is by courtesy styled Lady Culross. She publish-
ed " Ane Godlie Dream, compylit in Scottish Meter by M[rs] M[elvill]
Gentelwoman in Culros." Edinb. 1603,410. There is an edition which
bears the following title : " A Godly Dream, by Elizabeth Melvill, Lady
Culros, younger. At the request of a speciall friend." Aberd:ne, imprinted
by E. Raban, laird of letters. 1644, 8vo.

This lady has repeatedly been mentioned as the mother of Colvil : but
as he flourished at the distance of nearly eighty years, their relation may
be considered as extremely dubious. Samuel Colvil's Mock Poem, or
IVbiggs Supplication, was published at London in duodecimo in the year
1 68 1. By the same writer, or at least by a writer of the same name, a
theological work had been published under the title of " The Grand Im-
postor Discovered ; or an Historical Dispute of the Papacy and Popish
Religion: parti." Edinb. 1673, 4to. S. Colvil is celebrated by Cun-
ningham as a strenuous defender of the Protestant religion. (Hist, of Great
Britain, vol. i. p. a 7.) Whatever may be his qualifications as a polemic,

Pp 2

300

he extols as a most successful cultivator of sacred
poetry.

Sir JAMES BALFOUR, Lyon King of Arms, is ce-
lebrated as a poet by his cotemporary John
Leech : and Sir Robert Sibbald informs us that
he had himself inspected a manuscript volume of
his Latin and Scotish verses111. The following
lines occur in a poem of Leech addrest to' Bal-
four :

Hunc tu carminibus constrictum, Jacobe, Latinis,
Coge tuis numeris, quos Musa Caledonia aptat,
Et natura tibi, nam tu quoque Scotica Siren.
PANTHEA nostra tua est, ita cultu loeta Britanno,
Et melior mea, si quid queat esse, puella.

Balfour enjoyed considerable celebrity during his
lifetime. He lived in habits of intimacy with
Drummond, Aytoun, and other men of letters".

his poetical talents are of a, very ordinary character. The Whiggs Suppli-
cation is evidently an imitation of Butler ; but it displays no portion of
Butler's wit or learning. Its popularity seems to have exceeded its merits:
it has been frequently reprinted ; and a neat edition was published at St
Andrews so lately as the year 1 796.

m Sibbaldi Memoria Balfouriana, p, 5. Edinb. 1699, 8vo.

n Sir Robert Aytoun has prefixed the following stanzas to his Basia
she Strtna Cal. Jan. Lond. 1605, 4to. They are addrest " To the most;
worshipful and worthy Sir James Hay, Gentleman of his Majesty's Bed"
chamber."

When Janus' keys unlocks the gates above,

And throws more age on our sublunar lands,
J sacrifice with flames of fervent love

Thesq hecatomb* of kisses to thy hands.

301

THE admirable ballad of Hardyknute was pub-
lished at Edinburgh in the year 1719, as a pro-
duction of some ancient poet. It is now univer-
sally regarded as a modern composition : and it
has been conjectured with some plausibility that

Their worth is small, but thy deserts are auch,
They'll pass in worth, if once thy shrine they touch.

Laugh but on them, and then they will compare

With all the harvest of th' Arabian fields,
With all the pride of that perfumed air

Which winged troops of musked Zephyrs yields,
When with their breath they' embalm th' Elysian plain.
And makes the flow'rs reflect those scents again.

Yea, they will be more sweet in their conceit

Than Venus' kisses spent on Adon's wounds,
Than those wherewith pale Cynthia did entreat

The lovely shepherd of the Latmian bounds,
And more than those which Jove's ambrosial mouth
Prodigalized upon the Trojan youth. |u

«
I know they cannot such acceptance find,

If rigour censure their uncourtly frame ;
But thou art courteous, and wilt call to mind

Th' excuse which shields both me and them from blame ;
My Muse was but a novice into this,
And, being virgin, scarce well taught to kiss.

A panegyrical sonnet by Aytoun occurs among " The Poeticall Essayes
cf Alexander Craige, Scotobritane," sig. F. 3. Lond. 1604, 4to. Craig,
it may be cursorily mentioned, is also the author of another work which
has escaped the researches of Mr Pinkerton : it is entitled " The Poeti-
call Recreations £»f Mr Alexander Craig of Rose-Craig, Scoto-Britan."
Aberd. 1623, 4to.

I cannot omit this opportunity, such as it is, of detecting a fugitive
sonnet by t; •€ Earl of Stirling. It is prefixed, among those of various
pther writers, to a work of Dr John Abernethy.

302

the real author is Sir John Hope Bruce of Kin-
ross. The following extract is from a letter of
Bruce to Lord Binning, who was also a writer of
verses : " To perform my promise, I send you a
true copy of the manuscript I found, some weeks
ago, in a vault at Dumferline. It is written on
vellum in a fair Gothic character ; but so much
defaced by time, as you'll find that the tenth
part is not legible." This is evidently a stale ex-
pedient. " Sir John Bruce," says Mr Pinkerton,
" forgetting his letter to Lord Binning, used Mrs
Wardlaw, it would appear, as the midwife of his
poetry, and furnished her with the stanza or two
she afterward produced ; as he did not wish his
name to be used in the story of the vault0."

Of known effects, grounds too precisely sought,

Young naturalists oft atheists old do prove ;

And some who naught, save who first moves, can move,
Scorn mediate means, as wonders still were wrought.
But temp'ring both, thou dost this difference even,

Divine physician, physical divine ,

Who souls and bodies help'st ; dost here design
From earth by reason, and by faith from heaven,
With mysteries which few can reach aright,

How heaven and earth are match'd, and work in man ;

Who wise and holy ends and cuuses scan. f

Lo true philosophy, perfection's height !

For this is all that we would wish to gain,

In bodies sound that minds may sound remain.

See " A Christian and Heavenly Treatise, containing Physicke for the
Sovle ; very necessary for all that would inioy true soundnesse of minde,
and peace of conscience : newly corrected and inlarged by the author,
M, J. Abernethy, now Bishop of Cathnes." Lond. 1622, 4to.
0 Pinkerton's List of the Scotish Poets, p. cxxviii.

303

It has however been peremptorily asserted by
Mr Chalmers, the mightv decider of controver-
sies, that Hardyknute was written by Elizabeth
Hacket, the wife of Sir Henry Wardlaw, and the
sister-in-law of Sir John Bruce. " There is not
the least evidence," says this author, " that Sir
John Bruce ever wrote any poetry. It is appa-
rent, that though Sir John may have told the
truth, that he did not tell the whole truth ; that
he knew, but did not choose to tell, who was the
author ; that having given a promise^he thought
himself obliged to say something ; but, he in the
meantime consulted his wife's sister, who was the
authoress ; and who yet did not think fit to allow
him to speak out. On the other hand ; * the late
Mr Hepburn of Keith often declared, he was in
the house with Lady Wardlaw, when she wrote
Hardyknute.' — [Sir Charles Racket's letter, dated
the 2d November 1794, to Dr Stenhouse of Dum-
fermline.] Miss Elizabeth Menzies, the daughter
of James Menzies, Esq. of Woodend, in Perth-
shire, by Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Henry
Wardlaw, wrote to Sir Charles Hacket, that her
mother, who was sister-in-law to Lady Wardlaw,
told her, that Lady Wardlaw was the real author-
ess of Hardyknute ; that Mary, the wife of
Charles Wedderburn, Esq. of Gosford, told Miss
Menzies, that her mother, Lady Wardlaw, wrote
Hardyknute : both Sir Charles Hacket, and Miss
Elizabeth Menzies, concur in saying, that Lady

104

Wardlaw was a woman of elegant accomplish-
ments, who wrote other poems, and practised
drawing, and cutting paper with her scissars! and
who had much wit, and humour, with great
sweetness of temper. — [Sir Charles Racket's MS.
Account of the Wardlaw Family p.] "

A second part of Hardyknute was published by
Mr Pinkerton among his Select Scotish Ballads.
He professed to be " indebted for most of the
stanzas now recovered, to the memory of a
lady in La^rkshire :" but in a subsequent work
he acknowledges that this supplement was entire-
ly written by himself.

ALEXANDER PENNYCUIK, M.D. was born in 1652
and died in I722q. His father, who bore the same
name, and was of the same profession, purchased
the estates of New Hall and Romanno. The
younger Dr Pennycuik composed some unpoetical
rhymes, which are commonly appended to his
History of the Shire of Tweedale, printed at Edin-
burgh in quarto in, the year 1715. He rmast be
carefully distinguished from Alexander Pennycuik,
a citizen of Edinburgh, who published Streams
from Helicon and other prolusions of a similar cha-
racter.

P Chalmers, Life of Allan Ramsay, p. xxxi.
1 Edinburgh Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 257.

305

WILLIAM HAMILTON of Gilbertfield is a contri-
butor to Watson's Choice Collection of Scots Poems.
He was one of the poetical correspondents of
Allan Ramsay ; and three of his epistles occur in
the common edition of Ramsay's works. His mo-
dernized abridgement of Henry the Minstrel's
poem was published in the year 1722. This is
an injudicious and useless work; but we have
Ramsay's decided testimony in favour of his Scot-
ish poetry :

When I begoud first to cun verse,
And cou'd your Ardry whins rehearse,
Where Bonny Heck ran fast and fierce,

It warm'd my breast j
Then emulation did me pierce,

Whilk since ne'er ceast.

May I be licket xvi' a bittle,

Gin of your numbers I think little,

Ye're never rugget, shan, nor kittle,

But blyth and gabby j
And hit the spirit to a title

Of standart Habby.

Hamilton's elegy on the death of his dog is also
celebrated by John Wilson, a more recent poet :

Where late gay Hamilton's facetious lay

In rustic numbers hail'd returning May j

And bade the brakes of Ardrie long resound

The plaintive dirge that graced his favourite hound.

VOL. II.

3O6

He was the son of Hamilton of Lady lands;
an early period of life he embraced the profession
of a soldier; but a lieutenancy seems to have
been the highest preferment which he obtained.
During his latter years he resided at Letterick in
the county of Lanark; where he died in 1751 at
a very advanced age. He has sometimes been
confounded with William Hamilton of Bangour,
a poet of a more elegant taste.

THE

L I F E

A.LLAN

T H-£

LIFE

OF

ALLAN RAM SAT.

\JY the aspiring characters who among our
countrymen have emerged from the lowest sta-
•tictis of life, few will be found to have attracted a
larger portion of attention than the author of Tl)e
Gentle Shepherd.

Allan Ramsay, the son of Robert Ramsay and
of Alice Bower, was born on the fifteenth of Octo-
ber, one thousand six hundred and eighty-six. The
place of his birth was the parish of Crawford-
moor in the county of Lanark : and, according
to one of his biographers, the ruins of the house
in which he first drew breath are still pointed
out to the inquisitive traveller. His father was
employed in the management of Lord Hopetoun's
mines at Leadhill j and his grandfather, Robert

3JO

Ramsay, a writer or attorney in Edinburgh, ha
enjoyed the same trust. His great-grandfather,
Captain John Ramsay, was the son of Ramsay
of Cockpen, and the nephew of Ramsay of Dal-
housie. The poet may therefore be regarded as
the descendant of what is termed a respectable
femily. His maternal grandfather had been in-
duced to emigrate from Derbyshire, ia order ta
instruct the miners of LeadhilL

For what education he received he was in-
debted to the parish-school.. Here however he
was not long permitted to remain. His father
died in the twenty-fifth year of his age ; and his
mother, after a short interval, became the wife-
qf a Mr Crichton, the proprietor of a small por-
tion of land in Lanarkshire.. Ramsay,, who, had
now entered into the fifteenth year of his age,,
was thus reduced to the immediate necessity
Retaking himself to some mechanical employ-
rnent. In the year 1701 lie was accordingly
bound apprentice ta a wig-maker in Edinburgh.
It has generally been supposed that to this he
united the kindred trade of shaving : but these
two occupations seem during that period to have
been- distinct from each other; nor has any of
Ramsay's poetical antagonists reminded him of
Ms having "been originally a. barber.

At what time he commenced business, the-
most industrious of his biographers has not in-
formed, us ; but this circumstance may safely be

placed before the year 1712, when he married
Christiana Ross, the daughter of a writer in Edin-
burgh, In the course of the following year, his
domestic felicity was increased by the birth of a
son, who afterwards distinguished himself as a
portrait-painter.

Ramsay was not remarkable for a premature
ambition of literary distinction. The earliest of
his productions which can now be traced is an
epistle addrest " To the most happy Members of
the Easy Club" in the year 1712, Of this club,
which was composed of young men hostile to the
union, he is supposed to have been an original
member ; but as the poem contains a petition for
admittance, this supposition appears erroneous.
According to the rules of the institution, each
member was to adopt some characteristic name:
and Ramsay did not scruple to select that iof
Gavin Douglas, It was to the inspection of the
Easy Club that he submitted several of his earlier
compositions. In 1715 this convivial society chose
him for their poet-laureat ; but he did not long en-
joy this mark of distinction, for the tumults of the
ensuing rebellion put a period to their meetings.
One of their last acts was, as appears from the
minutes, to declare " that Dr Pitcaime and
Cawin Douglas, having behaved themselves three
years as good members of this club, were adjudg-
ed to be gentlemen."

About this period many of his poems were pub-

312

lished in the detached form of pamphlets. The
women of Edinburgh, it is said, were accustomed
to put a penny into the hands of their children,
and to dispatch them for " Allan Ramsay's last
piece." He afterwards complained to the ma-
gistrates that some of his works were piratically
reprinted ; and was so fortunate as to obtain their
protection for his literary property a.

Having for a considerable time exercised the
trade of a wig-maker, Ramsay at length adopted
that of a bookseller. The parish-register styles
him a wig-maker in 1716; but his second edition
of Christ's Kirk on the Green, published in 1718,
was printed for the author, at the Mercury, op-
posite to Niddry's Wynd.

His first edition of this poem appeared in 1715.
To the original work of King James he first add-
ed a second, ^nd afterwards a third canto : but
he has ventured upon a total deviation from the
primary plan ; and instead of prosecuting the
rustic squabble, has introduced the ceremony of
a wedding.

He had already published many poems in a se-
parate form ; and, in 1721, he collected these in-
to a quarto volume, which also included a few
others. By this publication, which was encou-
raged by a very respectable list of subscribers, he
is reported to have acquired four hundred guineas.

a Ramsay's Poems, vol. i. p. 70,

313

The volume is dedicated " To the most beautiful
of the Scots Ladies," is accompanied with several
copies of panegyrical verses, and with a portrait
of the author, painted by his friend Smibert. One
of his warmest panegyrists is Josiah Burchet, the
author of a History of the Navy, who sat in six
parliaments, and was for many years secretary to
the admiralty. Ramsay acknowledges his obli-
gations to this gentleman for " having done him
the honour of turning some of his pastoral poems
into English, justly and elegantly."

In his preface to the volume, Ramsay hints
that he had " been honoured with three or four
satires ;" a circumstance which evinces that he
was now of sufficient consequence to excite envy.
His principal rival was his fellow citizen Alexan-
der Penny cuik, a versifier of mean talents.

From attacks of this kind his quiet does not
appear to have been very liable to interruption.
The volume concludes with The Author's Address
to his Book, in imitation of Horace ; a poem in
which he speaks of himself with sufficient com-
placency.

Awa, sic fears ! gae spread my fame,
And fix me an immortal name :
Ages to come shall thee revive,
And gar thee with new honours live.
The future critics, I forsee,
Shall have their notes on notes on thee j

VOL. II. Rr

314:

The wits unborn shall beauties find
That never enter'd in my mind.

Now when thou tells how I vyas bred
But hough enough to a mean trade,
To balance that, pray let them ken,
My saul to higher pitch could sten :
And when ye shaw I'm scarce of gear,
Gar a' my virtues shine mair clear :
Tell, I the best and fairest please j
A little man that lo'es my ease,
And never thole these passions lang
That rudely mint to do me wrang.

This instance of self-congratulation may perhaps
be pardoned on account of its air of jocularity :
but what the author introduces in a sportive man-
ner, he may be suspected of intending as an ac-
curate expression of his deliberate sentiments,
Whatever liberties might be authorized among
the ancient poets, a modern will commonly find
it a hazardous experiment to avow his hopes of
immortality : a practice which did not tend to
excite disgust in the eotemporaries of Horace and
Ovid, might probably be deemed preposterous by
those of Allan Ramsay.

The date of his various publications it would
not be very easy or very important to trace. His
principal literary exertions may be placed be-
tween the year 1718 and the year 1730.

The specimens of song-writing which he had
presented to the public, seem to have experienced
a favourable reception ; for in the year 1724 he

315

was induced to publish the first volume of his
well-known collection The Tea-Table Miscellany.
A second volume appeared soon afr.e-- the first ;
a third in 1727 ; and a fourth after another in-
terval. It is uncertain whether the last was e^tod
by Ramsay. This work consists .£ English as
well as of Scotish songs, partly written by the
editor, partly " done by some ingenious young
gentlemen, who were so well pleased with his
undertaking, that they generously lent him their
assistance." Whatever may be the merit of the
collection, which underwent twelve impressions
in the space of a few years, its real importance
would have been greatly enhanced, if, instead of
adapting new verses to old tunes, he had content-
ed himself with an attempt to rescue from obli-
vion the genuine productions of the ancient Scot-
ish minstrels. Many beautiful songs, for which
it may now be in vain to search, might then per-
haps have been retrieved.

In the course of the same year he published
M The Ever-Green, being a collection of Scots
Poems, wrote by the Ingenious before 1600."
These two volumes were " printed by Mr Thomas
Ruddiman for the publisher, at his shop near the
Cross." A large proportion of his materials is
derived from Bannatyne's MS. ; for the use of
which he in grateful terms acknowledges his ob-
ligations to the Hon. William Carmich'dei, bro-
ther to the Earl bf Hyndford. " It was mtend-

Rr 2

316

ed," he informs us, " that an account 01
authors of the following collection should be
given ; but not being furnished with such dis-
tinct information as could be wishe.d for that end
at present, the design is delayed, until the pub-
lishing of a third or fourth succeeding volume
wherein the curious shall be satisfied, in as far
can be gathered, with relation to their lives and
characters, and the time wherein they flourished."
No sequel ever made its appearance ; nor is it
much to be regretted that the editor should thus
have failed in the performance of his promise. To
a task of this kind his literature was evidently in-
adequate ; and his absurd practice of adding or
retrenching according to his own pleasure, ren-
dered him the most unfit editor of ancient poetry
that could possibly have been found. Nor can
his selection be considered as judicious : several
of the poems inserted in The Ever -Green are high-
ly indecent ; others are not possest of any pror
perties which seem to authorize their revival.
This publication however was not without its uti-
lity ; it tended in some degree to revive among
his countrymen a taste for vernacular poetry ;
and to direct the attention of more accomplished
antiquaries to the most precious collection of
which Scotland can boast.

Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd was published in the
year 1725. In 1721 he had published a pastoral
tinder the title of Patie and Roger, which was

317

followed, in 1723, by a sequel under that of
Jenny and Meggy. These specimens were so
highly approved by his friends, that he at length
proceeded to extend them to the form of a regu-
lar drama, which is now regarded as the chief
foundation of his celebrity. The Gentle Shepherd
is inscribed to Susanna Countess of Eglintoun, a
lady who will long be remembered as a patroness
of literature. In the dedication, Ramsay again
assumes the tone of anticipation : " The bard
who fondly hopes for immortality, has a certain
praise-worthy pleasure in communicating to pos-
terity the fame of distinguished characters." —
The epistle dedicatory is followed by a poetical
address to the countess, written by Hamilton of
Bangour, an ingenious poet who appears to have
been among the number of Ramsay's patrons.

A second volume of his poems appeared in
1728 ; and was reprinted in an octavo form dur-
ing the ensuing year. His fame had now extend-
ed itself beyond the narrow limits of Scotland.
An edition of his poetical works was published by
the London booksellers in 1731 ; and another ap^
peared at Dublin in 1733. One of his pastorals
had been reprinted at London with a commen-
datory preface by Dr Sewel.

Ramsay now experienced a felicity reserved for
few individuals : by the vigour of mental exer-
tion he had gradually raised himself from his
original obscurity, and had found himself capable

318

<$f securing the reputation which attached itself
to his name ; he enjoyed the protection and
friendship of several of the more distinguished of
his fellow citizens, and was generally regarded as
a man whose genius reflected honour on his
native country. He was carest by several of
the Scotish nobility ; and lived in habits of fami-
liar intercourse with Sir John Clerk. Sir William
Bennet, and Sir Alexander Dick. He also appears
to have enjoyed the acquaintance of Colonel
James Forrester, who was considered as the
leader of fashion in the Scotish metropolis b.

His intercourse with cotemporary poets was
pretty extensive. Hamilton of Bangour and
Hamilton of Gilbertfield were among the number
of his friends. He has addrest verses to Pope,
Gay, and Somervile, arid to his countrymen
Mallet and Mitchell. Somervile, the ingeni-
ous author of The Chace, has returned his poetical
greetings in two epistles. Meston addressed a
copy of verses " To Allan Ramsay, on the Death
of Mr Hill," in which he styles the former a
" great bard c." Among the Latin poems of Sir

b This gentleman, who has obtained the appellation of Beau Forrester,
wrote a tract entitled u The Polite Philosopher ; or an Essay on that
Art which makes a Man happy in himself, and agreeable to others."
Edinb. 1734. It occurs among Dodsley's Fugitive Pieces. Walpole sup-
poses Forrester to have borrowed the original hint of his work from De
Callieres De la Science du Monde. (IValpoliana^ vol ii. p. ^^.)

c William Meston, A. M. was born in the parish of Mid-Mar and
county of Aberdeen about the year 1688. Having finished his education

319

William Scot of Thirlstane, occurs an inscription
with the title of " Effigies Allan i Ramssei, Poetse
Scoti, inter caeteras Poetarum Imagines in Tern-
plo Apollinis suspensa."

In 1726 Ramsay had removed from his shop
opposite to what is at present known by the name
of Niddry Street, to another at the east end of
the Luckenbooths. Instead of retaining his old
friend Mercury, he now ornamented his sign with

at Marischal College, he was chosen one of the masters of the High-
School of Aberdeen ; and was afterwards entertained as domestic tutor
to the two sons of the Earl MarischaJ. About the year 1714 he was
nominated Professor of Philosophy in Marischal College. This office
however he did not long enjoy ; for in the ensuing rebellion he followed
the fortunes of the noble family of Keith, and was appointed governor of
Dunotter-castle. The hopes of his party being annihilated at Sheriff-
moor, he continued to skulk among the unfrequented wilds, till his fears
were at length calmed by the act of indemnity. In his Jacobitical prin-
ciples he still remained unshaken ; and therefore could no longer hope
for preferment. By the death of the JLady Marischal, being left without
the means of subsistence, he successively opened an academy at Elgin.
TurefF, Montrose, and Perth. Soon after his last removal, he was re-
ceived in capacity of tutor into the family of Oliphant of Cask, where he
continued for several years. He now fell into a languishing state, and
retired to Peterhead, for the benefit of the mineral waters. His funds
appear to have been exhausted ; for he was supported by the Countess
of Errol, who probably admired his poetry. The remainder of his life
was spent among his relations at Aberdeen ; where he died in the year
1745-

An edition of " The Poetical Works of the ingenious and learned
William Meston, A. M." was published at Edinburgh in 1767, in one
volume duodecimo. Though the title-page bears the sixth edition, the
writer of the biographical sketch observes that " the whole was never
before collected into one volume, nor published in an uniform manner.'
Whatever opinion Meston's cotemporaries might form of his ingenuity
and learning, a reader of the present day will not derive much pleasure
from the perusal of his poetical works.

326

the heads of Drummond and Jorison. " Here,
says one of his biographers, " he sold and lent
books till a late period of his life : here the wits
of Edinburgh used to meet for amusement, and
for information. From this commodious situation,
Gay, a congenial poet, was wont to look out upon
the Exchange of Edinburgh, in order to know
persons, and to ascertain characters d." Ramsay
is said to have been the first who established a
circulating library in Scotland.

His collection of thirty fables was published in the
year 1730. After this period his literary efforts
were almost entirely discontinued. Few authors
have perhaps been found possest of the prudence
to retreat at a proper season.

A letter of Ramsay, addrest to Smibert the
painter, reflects considerable light on this period
of his history ; and although it has already been
printed in The Gentleman's Magazine and in other
publications, it may here be inserted with suf-
ficient propriety. It is dated, Edinburgh, May
10, 1736.

" My dear old friend, your health and happi-
ness are ever- ane addition to my satisfaction.
God make your life easy and pleasant ! Half a
century of years have now row'd o'er my pow,
that begins now to be lyart ; yet thanks to my
author ! I eat, drink, and sleep as sound as I did

d Chalmers, Life of Ramsay, p. xxxix.

321

twenty years syne : yes, I laugh heartily too, and
find as man s bjects to employ that faculty
upon as ever ; fools, fops, and knaves, grow as
rank as formerly, yet here and there are to be
found good and worthy men, who are ane honour
to human life. We have small hopes of seeing
you again in our old world ; then let us be vir-
tuous, and hope to meet in heaven. My good
auld wife is still my bed-fellow. My son Allan
has been pursuing your science since he was a
dozen years auld ; was with Mr Hyffidg at Lon-
don for some time, about two years ago; has
been since at home painting here like a Raphael;
sets out for the seat of the beast beyond the Alps,
within a month hence ; to be away about two
years. I'm sweer to part with him, but canna
stem the current, which flows from the advice of
his patrons and his own inclination. I have three
daughters ; one of seventeen, one of sixteen, and
one of twelve years old ; and no ae wally dragle
amang them ; all fine girls. These six or seven
years past, I have not written a line of poetry.
I e'en gave over in good time, before the coolness
of fancy that attends advanced years, should make
me risk the reputation I had acquired.

" Frae txventy-five to five and forty,
My Muse was neither sweer nor dorty j
My Pegasus wad break his tether,
E'en at the shagging of a feather,

VOL. II. S s

322

And throw ideas scour like drift,
Streaking his wings up to the lift j
Then, then, my soul was in a low
That gart my numbers safely row :
But eild and judgment 'gin to say,
Let be your sangs, and learn to pray."

In the year 1736 his enterprising spirit prompt-
ed him to build at his own expence the first
theatre of which Scotland could boast. The dra-
matic representations with which our countrymen
had formerly been entertained, were exhibited in
the open fields, or in such apartments as could be
casually procured : but Ramsay now undertook
to raise a regular structure, and to supply it with
a proper company of actors. A playhouse was
accordingly built in Carrubber?s Close. His new
character of a manager he did not however long
retain : the act for licensing the stage was past
during the ensuing year ; and the magistrates of
Edinburgh commanded him to shut the house.
As the introduction of the elegant amusements
of the theatre had excited a violent clamour
among those who were more conspicuous for zeal
than for liberality, the downfal of his establish-
ment was contemplated by a numerous class with
infinite satisfaction. The loss which he thus sus-
tained must have been very considerable. Whe-
ther he was ever so fortunate as to procure any re-
muneration, cannot now be so easily ascertained i
but it is certain that he did not fail to complain

323

of the damage to which he had been inoffensively
exposed.

He is supposed, I know not with what accu-
racy, to have relinquished his shop in the year
1755, when he had reached the age of sixty-nine.
In the latter part of his life, he had built a house
of a whimsical construction on the north side of
the Castle Hill. Here he now resided in a state
of dignified retirement. The place of his resi-
dence is still distinguished by the name of Ramsay
Garden. Much of his time was spent in the
society of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuik and Sir
Alexander Dick of Prestonfield. But his social
connections were soon to be dissolved. He had
begun to be severely afflicted with a scurvy in
his gums ; which, after having deprived him of
his teeth, and corroded one of his jaw-bones, at
length put a period to his life, when he had
completed the age of seventy-one. He died at"
Edinburgh on the seventh of January, 1758, and
was interred in the Gray-friars churchyard.

His wife, who died in 1743, had borne him
several sons and daughters. Allan, the eldest
of his children, was regularly educated to the
profession of a painter ; and, after having attained
to considerable eminence, died in the year 1784.
He had been appointed painter to his Majesty ;
and was also known as a man of letters, by the
publication of some miscellaneous essays under
the title of The Investigator. By his second wife,

SS 2

324

the eldest daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsay
Evelick, he left, besides two daughters, a male-
representative of the poet, in the person of
Lieutenant-Colonel John Ramsay of the third
regiment of foot guards. Janet, one of the
daughters of the elder Ramsay, is still alive.

In several of his poems, and particularly in his
Epistle to Mr James Arbuckle, Ramsay has fur-
nished us with various hints relative to his person
and habits. The following quotation will pre-
clude the necessity of farther enquiry :

Imprimis then, for tallness, I
Am five foot and four inches high ^
A black-a-viced snod dapper fallow,
Nor lean, nor over-laid wi' tallow j
With phiz of a Morocco cut,
Resembling a late man of wit,
Auld-gabbet Spec, wha was sae cunning
To be a dummie ten years running.

Then, for the fabric of my mind,
'Tis mair to mirth than grief inclin'd :
I rather choose to laugh at folly,
Than shew dislike by melancholy j
Well judging a sour heavy face
Is not the truest mark of grace.

I hate a drunkard or a glutton,
Yet I'm nae fae to wine and mutton :
Great tables ne'er engag'd my wishes,
When crowded with o'er mony dishes y
A healthfu' stomach sharply set
Prefers a black-sey piping het.

325

I never could imagine't vicious,
Of a fair fame to be ambitious 5
Proud to be thought a comic poet,
And let a judge of numbers know it,
I court occasion thus to shew it.

Second of thirdly, pray take heed,
Ye's get a short swatch of my creed.
To follow method negatively,
Ye ken, takes place of positively :
Well then, I'm nowther Whig nor Tory,
Nor credit give to purgatory.

However cautious Ramsay might be in avowing
his political sentiments, it is well known that he
was at heart a steady Jacobite.

His eulogium has been pronounced in the fol-
lowing simple but comprehensive terms, by a
writer who enjoyed his personal acquaintance:
He was an honest man, and of great pleasantry e.

He was one of the few poets who have been
equally successful in literature and in trade.
Even at those particular periods of his life when
poetry might have been supposed to absorb all
his thoughts, a due share of attention was always
paid to that unpoetical object the shop. The
report of his having died a bankrupt is un-
founded : his latter years were spent in ease and
in affluence ; in the enjoyment of that dignified
repose to which every literary adventurer directs
his secret wishes. He has been selected, and

e Tytler's Poeticaf Remains of K, James, p. 189.

326

with sufficient propriety, as a more pleasing ex-
amplification of The Poet's Fate:

But things may mend, and poets yet may hope,
In better times, to charm and thrive like Pope,
Or Allan Ramsay, that harmonious Scot :
Now to fare ill is but the common lot.

G. DYJ

Ramsay's works have been published in almost
every possible form ; but the best edition is that
which appeared at London in the year 1800 in
two volumes octavo. To this edition a life of
the author was contributed by Mr Chalmers, and
a critical essay on his writings by Lord Wood-
houselee.

IT has been the fortune of Ramsay to be alter-
nately the object of hyperbolical praise and of
unmerited censure : he has sometimes been repre-
sented as a writer of vigorous and original genius,
and sometimes as a versifier hardly entitled to
rank with those of the mediocre class. Between
such extremes of sentiment it is commonly safest
to follow a middle course. Such opposite deci-
sions must be ascribed to a deficiency of candour
on the one hand, and of judgment on the other.
A poet whose writings have maintained their
popularity during a series of years, must not
rashly be excluded from the praise of ingenuity ;
and yet this capability of pleasing many readers

327

,does not necessarily presuppose any high degree
of original genius.

Ramsay was undoubtedly possest of talents
above the ordinary level ; and at the same time
was not unconscious of his own strength. He
was capable of moving the gentler passions, and
of delineating ludicrous objects with no unskilful
pencil. But it cannot be concealed that the*
sense of propriety has on many occasions deserted
him ; that some of his happiest thoughts are de-
formed by his predelietion for humour of the
lowest species. In physical indelicacy, his works
must be allowed to rival those of Swift. His
faults are partly to be attributed to the peculiar
complexion of his mind, partly to adventitious
circumstances : and in a writer of his defective
education, much will be pardoned by the humane
reader.

His ambition to excel as a Scotish poet,
seems to have been excited by such models
as are exhibited in Watson's collection : he speaks
of Habby Simpson, and Hamilton's Bonny Heck, as
his standards. That he has surpast his masters,
will not be controverted.

Dryden, Pope, Young, Prior, Swift, and Gay,
seem to have been his favourites among the
English poets : and from the perusal of their
works he undoubtedly derived mach advantage ;
J)ut his attempts to write in the language and

328

style of these authors, cannot be pronounce
very successful.

The productions of Ramsay exhibit, as might
indeed have been expected, many striking in-
equalities. His songs, in particular, are of a very
motley character ; some of them distinguished by
uncommon beauties, others composed in a strain
of uninterrupted vulgarity.

The merit of his fables and tales is not very
conspicuous. Instead of exercising his own in-
vention, he has generally adopted the stories- of
other writers ; and those he has not often adorn-
ed with new beauties. The Monk and the Miller's
Wife is confessedly his most happy effort in this
department f. This tale, says Lord Woodhouselee,
" would of itself be his passport to immortality,
as a comic poet. In this capacity he might enter
the lists with Chaucer and Boccacio, with no
great risk of discomfiture. Though far their in-
ferior in acquired address, his native strength was
perhaps not widely disproportionate. Of this
admirable tale, I conceive he has the merit of the
invention ; as the story is not to be found in any
of the older writers, as Sacchetti, Boccacio, or in
the Cento Novelle antiche. In a few circum-
stances there is indeed a small resemblance to the
73d of the Cent nouvelles Nouvelles, intitled L'Oi-

f Of this tale a translation in Latin rhyme may be found in the Car-
mlnum Rariorum Macaronicorum Delectus, fasc. Ji. Edinb. l8oj, 8vo. This
version is attributed to Mr Skinner.

329

seau en la Cage, which barely affords a presump-
tion, that Ramsay may have read that story ; but
in all the material circumstances, his Monk and
the Miller's Wife is original. A story of more
festive humour could not have been devised. The
characters are sustained with consummate pro-
priety ; the manners are true to nature ; and
poetic justice is most strictly observed in the
winding up of the piece." But whatever merit
this comic tale may be allowed to possess, the
praise of its invention must not so rashly be
awarded to Ramsay : for the general plan and all
the material incidents are pilfered from The Freirs
of Beruuik. The inferiority of the modern poet
is too evident to admit of controversy.

As an imitator of Horace, it would be unjust
to deny him very considerable merit. The fol-
lowing quotation from his Ode to the Ph — in
imitation of " Vides ut alta stet nive candidum
Soracte," is entitled to unqualified commend-
ation :

Be sure ye dinna quat the grip

Of ilka joy when ye are young,
Before auld age your vitals nip,

And lay ye twafald o'er a rung.

Sweet youth's a blyth and heartsome time ;

Then, lads and lasses, while it's May,
Gae pou the gowan in its prime,

Before it wither and decay.

VOL. II. T t

330

Watch the saft minutes of delyte,

When Jenny speaks beneath her breath,

And kisses, laying a' the wyte
On you, if she kep ony skaith.

" Haith, ye're ill-bred," she'll smiling say :
" Ye'll worry me, ye greedy rook j"

Syne frae your arms she'll rin away,
And hide hersell in some dark nook.

Her laugh will lead you to the place

Where lies the happiness you want ;
And plainly tells you to your face,

Nineteen nay-says are half a grant.

The most poetical composition ascribed to
Ramsay is " The Vision ; compylit in Latin be
a most lernit Clerk in tyme of our hairship and
oppression, anno 1300, and translatit in 1524."
This poem was first printed in The Ever-Green ;
and no copy has ever been discovered in any
ancient manuscript.

That it is the production of Ramsay, has been
strenuously maintained by Mr Tytler and by his
son Lord Woodhouselee. " Lord Hailes and Dr
Beattie," says Mr Tytler, " conjecture, justly, the
Vision to have been the composition of some
friend to the cause of the house of Stuart, and
written about the aera of the rebellion 1715.
This was truly the case. I flatter myself that I
can now produce the author, wrho was no other
than the first editor of the Vision, under the sig-

331

nature of A. R. SCOT. z. e. Allan Ramsay S,cotuss."
But the simple truth is, that the poem appears
under the signature of AR. SCOT. The obvious
purport of the letters arranged in this manner, is
Archibald, Arthur, or Arnald Scot ; though it is
not indeed altogether improbable that Ramsay
might adopt such an arrangement, for the pur-
pose of disguising his own initials.

The fable of The Eagle and Robin Red-breist
appears with the same signature. These two
poems, according to Mr Tytler, " were known by
the friends of Ramsay's family to be of his com-
position, though only tacitly owrned for the above
reason. Of this fact I had a positive acknow-
ledgment from Miss Ramsay, eldest daughter of
the poet now alive, who informed me that her
father was the author of both the pieces above-
mentioned." Without conveying any personal
reflections, it may perhaps be affirmed that this
evidence is not altogether satisfactory. As these
friends of Ramsay's family are not specified, their
testimony is of a somewhat dubious nature. Miss
Ramsay's knowledge of her father's literary
affairs might originally be very imperfect ; and
the lapse of about sixty years cannot be supposed
to have improved the accuracy of her recollection.
When interrogated with respect to those two
poems, some faint and confused notions might

S Transact, of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. i. p. 396.
Tt 2

132

present themselves to her mind, and at length
begin to acquire the force of conviction. Mr
Tytler, the reporter of the evidence, cannot be
regarded as a very safe guide : though distin-
guished by many estimable qualities, he was en-
slaved by prejudices which often bewildered his
judgment.

According to Mr Boswell, the fable in question
was written by Guthrie, He informed me, says
this biographer, " that he was the author of the
beautiful little piece, The. Eagle and the Robin
Red-breast, in the collection entitled The Union,
though it is there said to be written by Archibald
Scott, before the year 1600 b." But, subjoins
Mr Chalmers, " neither Boswell, nor Guthrie,
seem to have adverted that this beautiful poem
was first published in The Ever-Green, by the
original author of it, when Guthrie must have
been a very young man : for he died on the 9th
of March 1770'." Although Guthrie died on
the ninth of March, 1770, it does not necessarily
follow that he was a very young man in the
year 1724. He was born in 1701*; and conse-
quently when The Ever-Green was first published,
he must have been in the twenty-third year of
his age. BoswelFs statement of facts however
is commonly as inaccurate as his reflections arc

& Boswell YLife of Johnson, vol. i. p. 58, 4tcr.

i Chalmers, Life of Ramsay, p. xxx.

I Biographical Dictionary, vol. vii. p. 259.

333

impertinent. In the present instance it would be
unsafe to rely < n his insulated authority : and
what tends to increase our suspicion is, that in
the third edition of his strange book this passage
is silently supprest.

Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd has already been the
subject of so much criticism, that it would now
be superfluous to enter into a fresh discussion of
its merits. Instead therefore of fatiguing the
reader with my own remarks, I shall content my-
self with collecting " the testimonies of authors."

" Ramsay," says Mr Ritson, " was a man of
strong natural parts, and a fine poetical genius, of
which his celebrated pastoral The Gentle Shepherd
will ever remain a substantial monument; and
though some of his songs may be deformed by
far-fetched allusions and pitiful conceits, The
Lass of Peattie's Mill, The lellouv-hair'd Laddie,
Farewell to Lochaber, and some others, must be
allowed equal to any, and even superior, in point
of pastoral simplicity, to most lyric productions,
either in the Scotish or any other language k."

" No attempt to naturalize pastoral poetry,"
says Dr Aikin, " appears to have succeeded better
than Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd: it has a consider-
able air of reality, and the descriptive parts, in
general, are in the genuine taste of beautiful
simplicity. Yet the sentiments and manners are

* Ritson's Hist. Essay on Scotish Song, p. Ixiii,

334

far from being entirely proper to the characters,
and while some descend so low as to be disgust-
ful, others are elevated far beyond nature. The
real character of a Scottish or English shepherd
is by much too coarse for poetry. I suspect
Ramsay gains a great advantage among us by
writing in the Scotch dialect : this not being
familiar to us, and scarcely understood, softens
the harsher parts, and gives a kind of foreign air
that eludes the critic's severity *."

" Whether the dialect of Scotland," says Mr
Roscoe, " be more favourable to attempts of this
nature, or whether we are to seek for the fact in
the character of the people, or the peculiar talents
of the writers, certain it is, that the idiom of that
country has been much more successfully em-
ployed in poetical composition, than that of any
other part of these kingdoms, and that this prac-
tice may there be traced to a very early period.
In later times, the beautiful dramatic poem of
The Gentle Shepherd has exhibited rusticity with-
out vulgarity, and elegant sentiment without
affectation m."

" The principal difficulty in pastoral poetry,'1
says Lord Woodhouselee, " when it attempts an
actual delineation of nature, (which we have seen
is too seldom its object,) lies in the association of
delicate and affecting sentiments with the ge-

1 Aikin's Essays on Song- Writing, p. 33.

m Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, vol. i. p. 296.

835

nuine manners of rustic life ; an union so diffi-
cult to be accomplished, that the chief pastoral
poets, both ancient and modern, have either en-
tirely abandoned the attempt, by choosing to
paint a fabulous and chimerical state of society ;
or have failed in their endeavour, either by in-
dulging in such refinement of sentiment as is ut-
terly inconsistent with rustic nature, or by en-
dowing their characters with such a rudeness and
vulgarity of manners as is hostile to every idea of
delicacy. It appears to me that Ramsay has most
happily avoided these extremes ; and this he could
the better do, from the singularly fortunate choice
of his subject. The principal persons of the dra-
ma, though trained from infancy in the manners
of rustic life, are of generous birth; to whom
therefore we may allow, from nature and the in-
fluence of blood, an elevation of sentiment, and
a nobler mode of thinking, than to ordinary pea-
sants. To these characters the poet has there-
fore, with perfect propriety and knowledge of
human nature, given the generous sentiments
that accord with their condition, though veiled a
little by the manners, and conveyed in the lan-
guage which suits their accidental situation. The
other characters, who are truly peasants, are
painted with fidelity from nature ; but even of
these, the situation chosen by the poet was fa-
vourable for avoiding that extreme vulgarity and
coarseness of manners which would have offend-

336

ed a good taste. The peasantry of the Pentland
hills, within six or seven miles of the metropo-
lis, with which of course they have frequent com-
munication, cannot be supposed to exhibit the
same rudeness of manners which distinguishes
those of the remote part of the country. As the
models, therefore, from which the poet drew
were cast in a finer mold than mere provincial
rustics, so their copies, as drawn by him, do not
offend by their vulgarity, nor is there any great-
er degree of rusticity than what merely distin-
guishes their mode of life and occupations11."

" I must not," says Dr Blair, " omit the men-
tion of another pastoral drama, which will bear
being brought into comparison with any compo-
sition of this kind, in any language ; that is,
Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd. It is a great
disadvantage to this beautiful poem, that it is
written in the old rustic dialect of Scotland,
which, in a short time, will probably be entire-
ly obsolete, and not intelligible ; and it is a far-
ther disadvantage, that it is so entirely formed
on the rural manners of Scotland, that none but
a native of that country can thoroughly under-
stand or relish it. But, though subject to these
local disadvantages, which confine its reputation
within narrow limits, it is full of so much natu-
ral description, and tender sentiment, as would

n Woodhouselee's Remarks on Ramsay, p.cxlviii.

337

do honour to any poet* The characters are well
drawn, the incidents affecting ; the scenery and
manners lively and just. It affords a strong proof,
both of the power which nature and simplicity
possess, to reach the heart in every sort of writ-
ing ; and of the variety of pleasing characters
and subjects with which pastoral poetry, when
properly managed, is capable of being enliven-
ed0."

" The sentiments of that piece," says Dr Beat-
tie, " are natural, the circumstances interesting ;
the characters well drawn, well distinguished,
and well contrasted ; and the fable has more pro-
bability than any other pastoral drama I am ac-
quainted with. To an Englishman who has
never conversed With the common people of Scot-
land, the language would appear only antiquated,
obscure, or unintelligible ; but to a Scotchman
' who thoroughly understands it, and is aware of
its vulgarity, it appears ludicrous ; from the con-
trast between meanness of phrase and dignity or
seriousness of sentiment. This gives a farcical air
even to the most affecting part of the poem ; and
occasions an impropriety of a peculiar kind,
which is very observable in the representation.
And accordingly, this play, with all its merit, and
with a strong national partiality in its favour, has
ilever given general satisfaction upon the stage p."

* Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric, vol. iii. p. 126.
t> Beattie's Essays, p. 382.

VOL. II, U u

338

But its indifferent success on the stage may
perhaps be in a great measure ascribed to a defi-
ciency on. the part of the actors. The British
actors are almost entirely unacquainted with dra-
mas of the pastoral kind : and their mode of pro-
nouncing the Scotish dialect is generally distort-
ed and preposterous. The number of profession-
al comedians furnished by North Britain is very
inconsiderable ; and the natives of that country
who, for their own amusement, have occasional-
ly attempted Ramsay's principal characters, must
necessarily be supposed to have laboured under
all the disadvantages incident to inexperience.

A periodical writer has remarked, that " it is
not the vulgarity of the Gentle Shepherd which
disgusts a critical judge so much as the glaring
intermixture of some English absurdly put into
the mouths of the peasants of Scotland in the
middle of the seventeenth century, when the
events are supposed to have happened. The
author should certainly have restricted himself to
the plain and genuine use of his Scotish language,
and not have interlarded it with English phrase-
ologies, and phraseologies too, occasionally of af-
fected elegance and refinement. Thus constitut-
ed, it produces the same effect as if a painter
were to finish some parts of his subject with the
highest touches of miniature, while others were
left with the rude stroke of sign-daubing. It is
not because it is written in the Scotish dialect.

339

but because it is not written in the Scotish dia-
lect, that the language of the Gentle Shepherd
becomes an object of critical censure." If how-
ever we admit the validity of these sentiments,
which seem to have been advanced with a refer-
ence to Dr Beattie's decision, the Greek writers
who have blended different dialects in the same
composition, must be subjected to a censure
equally rigid. The same canon of criticism will
also prove fatal to the reputation of Burns ; for
his most beautiful productions, though professed-
ly written in the Scotish dialect, are not only
chequered with English phraseologies, but even
with English verses. But if it be absolutely ab-
surd for a Scotish peasant to be introduced speak-
ing the English language, it must have been es-
tablished as a general rule that a dramatic per-
sonage should always employ the language of the
country to which he is supposed to belong. Ac-
cording to this hypothesis, Buchanan, Racine,
and other poets who have founded their dramas
on subjects of the same class, ought to be severe-
ly reprehended for having failed to write in He-
brew.

THE

LIFE

ALEXANDER ^OSS, A. M.

THE

LIFE

ALEXANDER ROSS, A. M.

1 HE life of Ross, though it extended beyond
the ordinary term, seems to have been distin-
guished by few events which could afford much
scope for biographical narration.

Alexander Ross was born about the year one
thousand seven hundred. His father followed
the occupation of a farmer in the parish of Kin-
cardine Oneil and county of Aberdeen.

He is represented as having attained to some
proficiency in the study of the Latin language ;
but the school where he imbibed his knowledge
has not been particularized. At a proper age he
was sent to the University of Aberdeen, and, as
the Rev. Mr Perie of Lochlee supposes, was enter-
ed a student of Marischal College. As he took

344

the degree of Master of Arts, it may be conclud-
ed that his residence amounted to at least four
years.

Having quitted the university, he was settled
as parochial schoolmaster at Birse in his native
county. About the year 1733 he removed to
the parish of Lochlee in the county of Forfar or
Angus a. Here he spent the rest of his simple
and unvariegated life in the proper discharge of
his official duties.

Ross's original intention, it may be Conjectured,
was to prepare himself for holy orders : in North
Britain the ordinary provision of a schoolmaster
is so scanty and insufficient, that few individuals
who have received a liberal education, can be
supposed to regard such a preferment as an honour-
able termination of their projects. This scheme,
if in reality he ever cherished it, was probably
frustrated by the scantiness of his resources. In
the exordium of The Fortunate Shepherdess, he
exhibits no very splendid picture of his private
fortunes :

Come, Spota, thoii tliat anes upon a day

Garr'd Allan Ramsay's hungry heart-strings play

a The passage in Mr Perie's letter to Mr Alexander Campbell is
printed thus : " His first settlement was at Birs, where he was admitted"
parochial schoolmaster, about the year 1733. He removed to Lochlee,
Forfarshire, where," &c. But unless we suppose Ross to have remained
unoccupied till he had reached about thirty-three years of age, we ought
to read, "About the year 1733, he removed to Lochlee." See Campbell's
Introduction to the History of Poetry in Scotland, -p. 285. Edinb. 1798, 4toi

345

The merriest sangs that ever yet were sung j"

Pity anes raair, for I'm outthrow as clung.

'Twas that grim gossip, chandler-chafted want,

With threed-bair claithing and an ambry scant,

Made him cry on thee, to blaw throw his pen

Wi' leed that well might help him to come ben,

And crack amo' the best o' ilka sex,

And shape his houghs to gentle bows and becks.

He wan thy heart, well wordy o't, poor man :

Take yet anither gangrell by the han' :

As gryt's my mister, an' my duds as bare,

And I as sib as he was, ilka hair :

Mak me but half as canny, there's no fear,

Tho' I be auld, but I'll yet gather gear. ,

Part of this description may perhaps be ascribed
to poetical exaggeration, though at the same
time it cannot be supposed that his comforts were
very numerous. In the course of the last fifty
years, the salaries of the parish schoolmasters have
for the most part dwindled into a pittance inade-
quate to supply the wants of a single individual ;
and when those of a numerous family are super-
added, perpetual misery can hardly fail to ensue.

Ross's pastoral tale entitled Helenore, or the For-
tunate Shepherdess, was published at Aberdeen in
the year 1768, together with a few Scotish songs.
The second edition, which appeared in 1778, he
inscribed to the Duchess of Gordon in a strain
which seems to acknowledge an antecedent obli-
gation. But this obligation, it is more than pro^
bable, was only some instance of condescension :

VOL. II. X x

346

an ingenious poet who was suffered to linger out
his life as schoolmaster at Lochlee, cannot be
supposed to have received any very substanstial
favours.

Sometime after the publication of his poetical
works, a commendatory poem, written in the
Scotish dialect, was addrest to him in the Aber-
deen Journal. This production, which appeared
under the name of Oliver Oldstyle, has been con-
fidently ascribed to Dr Beattie ; on what found-
ation, I know not.

Notwithstanding his advanced age, Ross seems
still to have prosecuted his poetical studies. Many
of his inedited compositions have, by some acci-
dent, fallen into the custody of a bookseller in
Edinburgh. They have been represented as un-
worthy of the author of The Fortunate Shepherdess.
His grandson Mr Thomson informs us that dur-
ing " the days of old age and infirmity," he com-
posed a poem entitled The Orphan, and signified
his intention of committing it to the press toge-
ther with others of his productions ; but was
prevailed upon by Dr Beattie, one of his best
friends, to relinquish a scheme that seemed to
endanger the reputation which he had already
acquired11. Unless the faults of his dramatic
composition, The Shaver, be very numerous, its
-publication would certainly gratify the lovers of
Scotish poetry.

b Campbell's Introd. to the Hist, of Poetry in Scotland, p. 285.

347

Ross died at Lochlee in the month of May,
1783. Before his removal from Birse, he had en-
tered into the matrimonial state. His wife bore
him a son and four daughters. Three of his
daughters were alive in the year 1798 ; nor have
I yet heard of their decease. His grandson the
Rev. Alexander Thomson is the present minister
of Lentrathan in the county of Forfar.

Ross has been described as a man of simple
manners ; of a religious deportment ; assiduous
in discharging the duties of his station. And this
character, concise as it may appear, will be found
to include every essential quality.

THE compositions of Ross exhibit a strange
mixture of delicacy and coarseness, of beauty and
deformity. Many detached passages are happily
written; but to that concentration of powers
which produces a finished whole, he seems to
have been a total stranger.

His songs are not devoid of merit0 : but his lite-
rary character is chiefly to be estimated from an
examination of his Fortunate Shepherdess ; a pas-
toral tale extending to about one hundred and
thirty pages. The story is conducted with very
little judgment ; but many of the incidents and

c Some of Ross's pieces have been reprinted in the late Mr Ritson's
collection of Scotlsb Songs. Lond. 1794* a vols. iamo,

XX 2

348

descriptions are imprest with the genuine beau-
ties of nature. f The general effect is not of the
most pleasing kind ; the final separation of the
two lovers, and the transference of Helehore to
a more wealthy suitor, cannot fail of leaving on
the mind a very disagreeable impression. Noy
will it be admitted as a sufficient apology for the
plan, that such representations are strictly con-
formable to real life : in the fields of poetry we
are not satisfied with a humiliating repetition of
sad realities.

The manners of the poem are neither ancient
nor modern, but an incongruous mixture of both.
After having taught us to expect a delineation
of ancient simplicity, Ross scruples not to intro-
duce such descriptive strokes as the following :

And now the priest to join the pair is come,
But first is welcomed with — a glass of rum.

Incongruity is his chief and indeed his almost
perpetual fault. The very names of his charac-
ters, and of the places where he lays the scenes
pf his different incidents, are highly exception-
able. His happiest thoughts are disfigured by
the affectation of a kind of smart and burlesque
phraseology.

That such' errors should have been committed
by a professional scholar, may be considered as

349

somewhat surprizing. Ross's pastoral tale is how-
ever one of those productions which will always
continue to delight a numerous class of readers.
The celebrated Dr Blacklock, as I have learnt
from one of his pupils, regarded it as equal to the
pastoral comedy of Ramsay.

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER G£DDES,LL.D.

THE

LIFE

OF

ALEXANDER GEDDES, LL. D.

1 HE life of Dr Geddes has been written by his
learned friend Mr Mason Good, with a copiousness
of detail which leaves but little to be supplied,
and with an impartiality of sentiment which the
enthusiasm of friendship has not very frequently
displayed.

Alexander Geddes was born in the year one
thousand seven hundred and thirty-seven. His
father, who bore the same baptismal name, rented
a small farm at Arradowl in the parish of Ruth-
ven and county of Banff. . His mother, Janet
Mitchell, was a native o£ Nether Dalachy in the.
parish of Bellay. His parents, who were of the
Romish persuasion, were distinguished by a con-
scientious discharge of the duties of their humble

VOL, IT. Yy

354

station. They were Papists without bigotry ;
they lived in poverty without being contaminated
with meanness. They were animated with that
noble ardour of literary ambition which so ho-
nourably characterizes the poor people of Scot-
land : their darling project was to procure for
their son the advantages of a liberal education ;
and notwithstanding the discouragements which
intervened, their fond anticipations of his future
eminence seem to have invested it with many al-
lurements.

He was taught to read by a village-schoolmis-
tress of the name of Sellar ; whose goodness of
heart he was frequently heard to commemorate
during the latest years of his life. This worthy
tutoress possessed a qualification of the utmost
importance in those who undertake the instruc-
tion of youth ; namely the power of appreciating
the temper and capacity of the pupils : and Dr
Geddes, at a more brilliant period of his history,
often declared that one of the earliest mental
pleasures which he experienced, arose from the
marks of distinction with which he had been ho-
noured by Dame Sellar.

His love of study discovered itself during his
very childhood ; and the first book which excited
his eager curiosity was the vulgar English bible.
His parents, as he himself informs us, taught him
to read it with attention and reverence3. Such

a Geddes's General Answer to Queries, Councils, and Criticisms, p. 2-

355

was the ardour of his infant mind, that before he
reached the eleventh year of his age, he had com-
mitted to memory all the historical parts, " Such,"
to adopt the language of Dr Johnson, " are the
accidents which, sometimes remembered, and
perhaps sometimes forgotten, produce that parti-
cular designation of mind, and propensity for
some certain science or employment, which is
commonly called genius. The true genius is a
mind of large general powers, accidentally deter-
mined to some particular direction. Sir Joshua
Reynolds, the great painter of the present age,
had the first fondness for his art excited by the
perusal of Richardson's treatise5." The future
eminence of Dr Geddes as a biblical critic may,
without any affectation of superior refinement,
be imputed to the trivial circumstance of his fa-
ther's scanty library supplying his young and ar-
dent curiosity with few books besides the com-
mon bible.

From the tuition of Dame Sellar he passed to
that of Mr Shearer, a student of Aberdeen, whom
the laird of Arradowl had engaged as the domes-
tic tutor of his two sons. This gentleman, with
a degree of liberality which is not very frequent-
ly emulated, admitted young Geddes, as well as
other two boys of the same condition, to a gra-
tuitous participation of the family discipline.

}> Johnson's Lives of English Poets, vol. i. p. 2.

Yy 2

356

One of these pupils was the cousin of the poetr
afterwards Dr John Geddes, Bishop of Marroco ;
a man who is never mentioned but in terms of
respect and approbation0.

At the age of fourteen Alexander Geddes, by
the friendly interference of the laird of Arradowl,
was admitted into the academy of Scalan, a Ca-
tholic seminary in the Highlands intended for the
reception of such young men as are afterwards
to be qualified for holy orders in some foreign
university. In this seminary his studies appear
to have been confined to the Latin language.

In the year 1758, when he had reached the
age of twenty-one, he was removed to the Uni-
versity of Paris. The ship which conveyed him
from Aberdeen, was exposed to the imminent
hazard of foundering : and on his arrival at Cam-
phire he found his strength so much impaired,
that he could not safely prosecute his journey
without some degree of repose. Arriving at Pa-
ris in the month of December, he was admitted
into the Scotish college, of which Mr Gordon was
at that time principal. To him Geddes was fur-
nished with letters of recommendation : but his
best recommendation was the strength of his ta-
lents.

c A portrait of Bishop Geddes, engraven by Scott, was published at
Edinburgh in 1796. — Dr A. Geddes' s brother John, a monk of the order
of St Bennet, resides in the Scotish monastery at Wiirzbur

357

On several of the courses of lectures delivered
in the College of Navarre, which was at that pe,
riod in 'high reputation, he was induced to com-
mence his immediate attendance. In this semi-
nary he entered on the study of rhetoric under
Professor Vicaire ; and an excellent capacity
joined to unremitting diligence soon placed him
at the head of the class. His merit was duly ap-
preciated by M. Vicaire, who afterwards honour-
ed him with his particular friendship.

Instead of entering, during the second year of
his academical course, upon the stcdy of natural
philosophy, he was induced by the advice of se-
veral friends, as well as by his own predeliction,
to apply himself to the immediate study of di-
vinity. He attended the theological lectures of
M. Bare and M. de Saurent in the College of
Navarre, and the prelections of M.T Avocat, Or-
leans Professor of Hebrew in the Sorbonne. On
the various merits of Professor P Avocat his
grateful pupil afterwards bestowed a high eulo-
gium. " He had," says Dr Geddes, " a pene-
trating genius, an astonishing memory, a cor-
rect judgment, and an exquisite taste. He was
the most universal scholar, the most pleasant
teacher, the most benevolent man, and the most
moderate theologian I ever knew d." Their
esteem was mutual ; the professor entertained so
favourable an opinion of Geddes, that he zea-

d Geddes's Prospectus, p. 120.

353

lously endeavoured to persuade him to fix his
residence in Paris, and to assist in the public la-
bours of the Scotish College. But Geddes had
formed, at an early period of his life, the laud-
able plan of attempting a new translation of the
bible for the use of British Catholics : and for
the execution of this plan Paris was not the
most convenient situation.

The study of theology did not in the mean
time engage his undivided attention. While
he remained at the university he is said to have
entered deeply into an analysis of the Greek and
Latin languages : and it was here that he also
commenced his acquaintance with several of the
modern tongues. His residence in the French
metropolis rendered him perfectly familiar with
the language of the country ; and in due time
he began to study the Italian, Spanish, German,
and Dutch. The mathematical sciences he view-
ed with some degree of aversion; but he paid
considerable attention to several branches of na-
tural and experimental philosophy.

Having continued six years at the university,
he returned to Scotland in 1 764. Soon after his
arrival in Edinburgh, he was ordered to fix his
residence at Dundee in the capacity of an offi-
ciating priest. Here however he did not long
remain; for in May, 1765, he became the do-
mestic chaplain of the Earl of Traquair. " On

359

leaving the university," says Geddes, " I was
fortunately placed in a nobleman's family, where
I had plenty of time and a tolerable library to
enable me to continue my favourite study e."
His favourite study was biblical criticism ; a
study which he pursued during every period of
his life with an enthusiastic ardour to which the
present age has not afforded many parallels.

Having remained in the hospitable mansion of
Lord Traquair for upwards of twelve months,
the pleasing tranquillity which he had hitherto
enjoyed began to be interrupted by an occurrence
of a somewhat remarkable nature. " A female
relation of the noble earl," says his learned bio-
grapher, " was at this time a coresident in the
house, and constituted a part of the family. The
merit of Mr Geddes was prominent ; her own
charms and the regard she openly professed for
him were not less so : too soon he felt himself
the prey of an impression which he well knew it
was not possible for him to indulge, and Buxtorff
wras in danger of being supplanted by Ovid. He
turned philosopher : but it was in vain ; self-
expostulation was useless ; and the well-meditated
resolutions of a day were often put to flight in a
moment. But one step remained to be taken :
he embraced it ; and, with more hardihood than
is often necessary to obtain a victory, sounded a

f- Geddes's General Answer, p. 3.

360

retreat. He had made, perhaps too hastily,
vow of religious celibacy, and its sanctity was
not to be trifled with. Of two evils he had still
the consolation to think that he had chosen
the least ; and with much reluctance of heart,
but an approving and sustaining conscience, he
abruptly broke away from the delightful shades
and the more delightful conversations of Tweed-
dale, in less than two years after his arrival there ;
and leaving behind him a beautiful but confi-
dential little poem, and as such not to be conu
municated in the present narrative, entitled The
Confessional, addressed to the fair yet innocent
author of his misfortunes, he once more took
leave of his native country, and tried to forget
himself amidst the greater varieties and volatili-
ties of Paris f."

This metropolis had never presented him with
many allurements; and the present state of
his mind rendered him incapable of fixing his
attention on any particular object. This gene-
ral dissipation of thought did not however pre-
vent him. from renewing his visits to the public
libraries, and enriching his portfolio with a va-
riety of extracts relative to biblical criticism.

After an absence of eight or nine months, he
returned to his native country in the spring of

t Good's Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Alexander
Geddes, LL.D. p. 29. LoncL 1803, 8vo, .

361

1769 ; and was now entrusted with the charge of
a congregation at Auchinhalrig in the county of
Banff. His new situation was by no means splen-
did or attractive. The parsonage-hous£ and the
chapel were verging towards a state of absolute
ruin ; and the poverty of the congregation did
not seem to insure their speedy restitution. The
number of the members, as well as their pious
zeal, was experiencing a gradual diminution :
and the peace of the community was disturbed
by the rancour which subsisted between them-
selves, and which they displayed towards their
Protestant neighbours. Such circumstances as
these might have discouraged a man of ordinary
resolution ; but they only tended to stimulate the
ardent and benevolent mind of Geddes to a pro-
per pitch of exertion. At his suggestion the
old chapel was demolished, and another erected
on the same spot ; and the parsonage-house, not-
withstanding its ruinous aspect, was at length
converted into a pleasant and commodious resi-
dence. He not only undertook the superintendence
of the various workmen employed, but even bore
a part in their labours. Geddes, although a pro-
found scholar and a sagacious critic, was at the
same time a skilful gardener arid a dexterous car-
penter: and in the execution of the plans in which
he was at present engaged, these last qualifications
were of no small importance. By his spirited
exertions he at length found himself possest of a
VOL. II, 7, 7

cottage and garden adequate to his simple and
unambitious wishes. His house, if not remark-
able for its splendour, was more solidly orna-
mented by the hospitality of the owner. The
various duties of Christian charity he practised
more religiously than most of the saints in the
Romish calendar : in judging of the character
and conduct of others, he exercised a high de-
gree of liberality ; and he was ready on all occa-
sions to relieve the indigent according to the ut-
most extent of his limited power. The affabi-
lity of the man, and the assiduity of the pas-
tor, excited sentiments of affectionate regard in
every member of his congregation. The repu-
tation which he had already acquired for exten-
sive learning, not only secured him the unre-
served confidence of his own flock, but also re-
commended him to the friendship of several in-
diduals distinguished by their rank or by their
literary eminence. The principal object to which
he endeavoured to render his increasing popula-
rity subservient, was to banish the unchristian
rancour which subsisted among his auditors, as
well as between them and their brethren of the
Protestant community. Of the gross illiberality
of party zeal his enlarged mind was altogether
incapable : a candid and attentive study of the
scriptures and of ecclesiastical antiquities had
enabled him to subdue the powerful prejudices
of education ; and he was extremely solicitous to

363

communicate the beneficial result of his exten-
sive researches to the ignorant Catholics who
composed his numerous congregation. The mum-
meries of Popery he despised as heartily as any
Presbyterian. He exhorted his auditory to study
the scriptures, and to exercise the right of pri-
vate judgment.

These manly exertions were not altogether in-
effectual : but such a tenor of conduct was so
far from recommending him to the Popish cler-
gy, that it only exposed him to their resentment.
His diocesan, one Hay, threatened to suspend
him from his clerical functions, unless he should
afterwards walk with greater circumspection, and
preserve himself uncontaminated by heretical
intercourse. The chief delinquency with which
he was charged by the titular bishop, wa f'is oc-
casional appearance in the church of his Protest-
ant friend Mr Crawford, the worthy minister of
an adjoining parish. The notification which he
thus received, produced an epistolary correspond-
ence with Hay ; in which we may readily con-
jecture that the advantage lay on the side of the
simple priest. The imprudent menaces of the
puny dignitary he treated with contempt ; and
their execution was deferred till a future occa-
sion.

While Geddes was thus employed in the con-
scientious discharge of his Christian duties, and
was thus reaping the too-common reward of in-

Z z 2

364

tcgrity, he was exposed to the additional
fication of pecuniary embarrassment. For the
different debts contracted in rebuilding the cha-
pel and in repairing the parsonage-house, he had
become personally responsible : and as he had
relied on the liberality of future contributions
with a confidence of which he afterwards found
reason to repent, he was now involved in diffi-
culties from which he could perceive but little
probability of being speedily extricated. His sti-
pend was far from being ample ; and he was ha-
rassed by the perpetual demands of the workmen
who had been employed. From these embarrass-
ments however he wras happily released by the
generosity of the late Duke of Norfolk. This
Catholic nobleman, who had been apprized of
the learning and zeal of the honest priest, and
had exprest a wish to cultivate his personal ac-
quaintance, was soon presented with an oppor-
tunity, through the friendly intervention of the
Earl of Traquair. He was no sooner aware of
the speculation in which Geddes had incautious-
ly involved himself, than he undertook to relieve
him from the difficulties by which it h^d been
followed.

The recollection of his late distress inspired
him with a temporary gust of wrorldly wisdom ;
a principle to which very few of his actions could
ever be referred. With the view of increasing
Ijis scanty income, he undertook the manage*

365

ment of a small farm at Enzie in Fouchabers.
Having been enabled to stock it by means of a
loan, he began his agricultural operations with
his accustomed ardour ; and in the sanguine anti-
cipation of his innocent mind he had already be-
come a man of opulence. As a mind of this
complexion seldom acknowledges any material
distinction between expectation and possession,
he speedily began to act as if he had realized his
golden dream. He erected, almost entirely at his
own expence, a neat and commodious chapel in
the immediate vicinity of his farm-house : and
as the distance between Enzie and Auchinhalrig
is not considerable, he himself undertook the
charge of both congregations. His agricultural
speculation did not however produce all the ad-
vantages which he had expected. It was about
the year 1775 that he entered on the possession
of his farm ; and in the year 1778 he again found
himself surrounded by many formidable difficul
ties. His harvests had brought him but a scanty
increase ; the, arrears of his debts contracted in
the erection of his chapel werestili undischarged ;
and the interest of the money which he had bor
rowed for the purpose of completing his stock,
was perpetually accumulating.

Although he might relish an occasional inter-
change of study and rural labour, yet it cannot
be supposed that a mind so enlightened as his
could stqop to the diurnal regulation of a paltry

366

farm. Instead of directing his principal atten-
tion to the schemes of a plodding agriculturist,
he was at this time deeply engaged in philologi-
cal researches, and by way of relaxation from his
severer studies, was incidentally employed in the
cultivation of his poetical talents. By his qualifi-
cations as a scholar he endeavoured to supply his
deficiencies as a farmer ; and his first experiment
was attended with a degree of success which sur-
prized no person more than himself. In the year
1779 he published " Select Satires of Horace,
translated into English Verse, and, for the most
part, adapted to the Present Times and Man-
ners." This work was punted at London in a
quarto form ; and produced him a profit of nearly
one hundred pounds. Several of the satires are
addrest to real characters ; one is inscribed to Mr
Burke, another to Dr Beattie. They are nine
in number, and written in the Hudibrastic mea-
sure. Many of his sketches are spritely and en-
tertaining ; and although his diction is sometimes
deficient in elegance, yet the versification is flow-
ing and easy.

The sum of which he thus became possest, he
immediately applied to the liquidation of his ar-
rears : and the additional aid of some of his zea-
lous friends enabled him to restore his affairs to a
proper state of arrangement.

About this period the daughter of Count Mur-
ray of Melgum had been married to Lord Find-

367

later : and Mr Geddes was easily induced to un-
dertake the task of instructing her in the English
language, with which her foreign education had
left her unacquainted. This new connection led
him to form an intimate friendship with the
Rev. Mr Buchanan, who had formerly been tutor
to Lord Findlater, and who was at this time mi-
nister of Cullen. Geddes, who found him possest
of good sense and liberality, did not hesitate oc-
casionally to attend the church in which he offi-
ciated : and this departure from the general bi-
gotry of his Catholic brethren exposed him to the
angry expostulations of Bishop Hay. The acri-
monious rebukes and menaces of this zealot he
treated with that contempt which they merited :
but the threats which had repeatedly been level-
led against him, were at length carried into exe-
cution ; he was suspended from the exercise of
his clerical functions within the limits of Bishop
'Hay's diocese.

This sentence did not occasion much regret in
the conscientious priest : for he had already form-
ed the resolution of abandoning his present situa-
tion for the prospects of a literary adventurer;
and had only been prevented from executing his
scheme by the warmth of his attachment to his
spiritual flock. The measure which he had vo-
luntarily projected, he was now compelled to
adopt. Towards the close of the year 1779 ^e
communicated his intention to each of his con-

368

gregations : they received his resignation \v
mixed sensations of affliction for the irreparable
loss which they were about to sustain, and of
indignation against the individual by whose acri-
monious zeal it was occasioned. " He took," says
Mr Good, " a most affectionate leave of them; and
such was the enthusiastic regard with which his
courteousness, his kindness, his perpetual atten-
tion to the duties of his office, and especially to
the instruction of the younger branches of his
flock, had inspired them, that, at the sale of his
household goods at Enzie, every one pressed for-
ward to testify, by an extravagant bidding, his
veneration and love, as well as to obtain posses-
sion of some monument of a man whose name
and character were so justly dear to them. I am
told, by a lady who was present upon the occa-
sion, that the most insignificant articles of furni-
ture, even cups and saucers, though imperfect or
broken, were caught at with the utmost avidity ;
and that the people appeared to prize the differ-
ent lots they were fortunate enough to procure,
rather as relics of a patron saint than as memo-
rials of a beloved pastor g."

The Catholics of Auchinhalrig and Foucha-
bers were not the only individuals who regretted
the departure of Geddes from his native country :
he had endeared himself in an equal degree to

8 Good's Life of Geddes, p. 54.

369

many persons of the Protestant community ; and
had already acquired no inconsiderable reputa-
tion as a man of learning. He had contracted a
friendship with Dr Beattie and many other mem-
bers of the University of Aberdeen ; by which
he was now honoured, in the beginning of the
year 1780, with the degree of Doctor of Laws.

He immediately proceeded to London in com-
pany with the Earl of Traquair ; through whose
friendly interference he was invited to officiate
in the chapel of the imperial ambassador. The
recommendatory letters with which he was in-
trusted, introduced him to the acquaintance of
many literary characters of distinction ; and he
also experienced no slight gratification in finding
a ready access to several public and private li*
braries. He now reverted to his early plan of a
new translation of the bible ; and a fortunate
incident soon occurred to render this plan more
practicable than it had hitherto appeared. The
Duchess of Gordon, with whom he had become
acquainted in Scotland, sent him an invitation
for the express purpose of being introduced to
Lord Petre ; a munificent nobleman who had
long regretted the want of a proper English ver-
sion for the use of his fellow Catholics. Lord
Petre was persuaded that in Dr Geddes he had
found a scholar capable of executing his favour-
ite project ; and with a generosity which ought
to be recorded to his perpetual honour, engaged
VOL. II, 3 A

370

to allow him an annual salary of two hundred
pounds, and to defray whatever expences might
be incurred in collecting a suitable apparatus of
biblical literature. Of this instance of genuine
liberality Dr Geddes afterwards expressed him-
self in the following manner : " Providence threw
me into the arms of such a patron as Origen him-
self might have been proud to boast of ; a patron
who, for these ten years past, has with a dignity
peculiar to himself, afforded me every conveni-
ency that my heart could desire towards the car-
rying on and completing of my arduous work h."

He immediately began a general survey of his
adventurous undertaking ; and before the close of
the year 1780, published his " Idea of a New Ver-
of the Holy Bible, for the Use of the English
Catholics.'* It was his present intention to trans-
late from the vulgate, and even to adopt Dr
Chaloner's edition of the Douay version as the
general basis of his own : but he afterwards
found, as he candidly acknowledges, that this was
an absurd idea ; and that by patching and piecing
what had already been pieced and patched, he
should exhibit a composition of a very motley
texture.

His connection with the imperial ambassador
closed with the present year. The service in the
chapel was discontinued at the command of the
emperor.

h Geddes's General Answer, p. 4..

371

During the ensuing summer he paid a Visit to
Scotland ; and before his return, published a
poem entitled " Linton, a Tweedale Pastoral."
The subject of this pastoral, which was printed at
Edinburgh in quarto, is the birth of Lord Tra-
quair's eldest son ; an event which took place
during the visit which Dr Geddes was now pay-
ing to his early patron. Before his return to
London, he accompanied the earl and countess in
a tour to the south of France.

About this period the fanatical part of the
nation was violently alarmed by Sir George
Savile's ' celebrated bill in favour of the Roman
Catholics : and the members of that community
were furiously attacked in many absurd and
abusive pamphlets. One John Williams had
published " A Full Detection of Popery, and
Defence of a Protestant Barrier to be preserved
by a more general Association of Protestants ;"
which drew from the formidable pen of Dr
Geddes a series of " Cursory Remarks on a late
Fanatical Publication entitled A Full Detection
of Popery, &-c. submitted to the candid perusal
of the liberal minded of every denomination."
The latter of these tracts was printed at London
in 1783.

It was in the course of this year that he be-
came acquainted with Dr Kennicott, a scholar

3 A brief sketch of the life and character of this virtuous and disinter-
ested politician may be found in Mr Wyvill's Political Pafcrtftol.iv. p. 553.

3 A 2

372

whom he has commemorated in terms of grateful
remembrance. " I had hardly made known my
design," says Geddes, " when he anticipated my
wishes to have his advice and assistance towards
the execution of it, with a degree of unreserved
frankness and friendship which I had never be-
fore experienced in a stranger. Not contented
with applauding and encouraging me himself, he
pushed me forwards from my obscurity to the notice
of others : he spoke of me to Barrington ; he in-
troduced me to Lowth. The very short time he
lived, after my acquaintance with him, and the
few opportunities I had of profiting from his
conversation, are distressing reflections : but still
I count it a happiness to have been acquainted
with a man, whose labours I have daily occasion
to bless, and whose memory I must ever revere j."
Dr Lowth suggested to him the propriety of
submitting to public inspection a copious pro-
spectus of the plan which he proposed to follow
in his translation. A work of this description he
immediately undertook; and after it was com-
pleted, he communicated his manuscript to the
bishop, accompanying it with a request that he
would mark with a black theta such passages as
might appear exceptionable. The answer which
he received was highly gratifying to his feelings
as an author : " The Bishop of London presents
his compliments to Dr Geddes, and returns, with
thanks, his Prospectus, which he has read with some

I Geddes's Prospectus, p. 143.

373

care and attention, and with the fullest approba-
tion. He finds no room for black thetas : and
he doubts not that it will give universal satisfac-
tion. He cannot help wishing that Dr Geddes
would publish it : it would not only answer his
design of introducing his work, but would really
be a useful and edifying treatise for young stu-
dents in divinity k."

In the year 1786 Dr Geddes visited the Uni-
versity of Glasgow ; where he employed himself
in collating a valuable and well-preserved Octa-
teuch l. In the mean time he was superintending
the impression of his " Prospectus of a New Trans-
lation of the Holy Bible from Corrected Texts of
the Originals, compared with the Ancient Versions :
with Various Readings, Explanatory Notes, and
Critical Observations." This excellent work was
printed at Glasgow in a quarto form ; and met,
as the author informs us, " with a reception which
could not but be flattering to an obscure indivi-
dual, whose name was hardly known in the re-
public of letters." It is inscribed to his excellent
patron Lord Petre, " as the first fruits of many
years of painful labour, in the pleasing hope of
being, one day, able to lay before him the whole
harvest." Among the eminent characters to
whom he takes occasion to acknowledge his obli-
gations for the encouragement which they had

k Geddes's Address to the Public, p. 8.
l Geddes's Prospectus, p. 39.

374

afforded his design, we find the names of his
countrymen Principal Robertson, Dr Reid, and
Bishop Douglas. To his amiable cousin Dr
John Geddes he has also offered a public tribute
of esteem : " Bp. Geddes of Edinburgh will likewise
permit me to say, that his early and warm appro-
bation of my plan made me undertake it with
more alacrity and pursue it with greater ardour.
His prudent advices and seasonable encourage-
ment have often given a new stimulus to my
spirits in the midst of my labours, and sometimes
supported me under their almost oppressive load.
I trust, from his long uninterrupted friendship,
that he will continue the same good offices, until
I shall have fairly discharged myself of the heavy
burthen ; and I foresee I shall yet stand in need
of such good offices1"."

On the first of November, 1785, the Society of
the Antiquaries of Scotland had enrolled Dr Geddes
among their correspondent members n ; and on
this occasion he composed an ingenious Scotish
poem of considerable extent. The only volume
which the society has hitherto published includes

m Geddes's Prospectus, p. 145.

n Smellie's Historical Account of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scot-
land, p. 30. — Mr Good's account of Dr Geddes's connection with this
society seems to be completely erroneous. " Dr Geddes," he affirms,
" had taken a very active part in the institution, as well by his personal
attendance as by his pen." (Life of Geddes, p. 58.) But it appears from
Mr Smellie's chronological lists that Dr Geddes never was an ordinary
member.

375

" Three Scottish Poems, with a previous Disserta-
tion on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect ; by the Rev.
Alexander Geddes, LL. D." This volume was
printed at Edinburgh in 1792.

During the year 1787 he published "A Let-
ter to the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of
London ; containing Queries, Doubts, and Diffi-
culties, relative to a Vernacular Version of the
Holy Scriptures : being an Appendix to a Pro-
spectus of a New Translation," &c. Before the
close of this year he published a " Letter to the
Rev. Dr Priestley ; in which the author attempts
to prove, by one Prescriptive Argument, that the
Divinity of Jesus Christ was a Primitive Tenet
of Christianity." His " Letter to a Member of
Parliament, on the Case of the Protestant Dissent-
ers ; and the Expediency of a General Repeal
of all Penal Statutes that. regard Religious Opi-
nions," was also printed in the year 1787 : but as
he suspected that it might have a tendency to
injure the cause of the Dissenters which was at
that time impending in parliament, he delayed
its publication till the question was finally deter-
mined.

The Analytical Review commenced in the year
1788 : and as he had now attained a high degree
of celebrity, he was solicited to enlist himself as a
stated contributor. This literary journal opens with
the first part of a critique on De Rossi's Vari<r

376

Lectiones, which was written by Dr Geddes. He
also reviewed several other works of importance ;
and, among the rest, Dr Campbell's translation
of the four gospels, and Mr Wakefield's Sylva
Critica. The articles which he is known to have
contributed amount to the number of forty-seven :
and Mr Good has remarked, that *' Dr Geddes,
in his connexion with the Analytical Review,
during a period of five years and a half, accom-
panied it throughout its best days : and when the
reader learns that its success was progressive as
long as his assistance was extended to it, and that
it gradually declined from the date of his seces-
sion, he will surely allow me, without the charge
of undue panegyric, to attribute no small portion
of its fairest reputation to himself0. To other
periodical publications he was an occasional con*
tributor. Some of his shorter poems were printed
in The Monthly Magazine.

It was during this year that he published
" Proposals for Printing by Subscription a New
Translation of the Holy Bible, from Corrected
Texts of the Originals ; with Various Readings,
Explanatory Notes, and Critical Observations."

" Dr Geddes's General Answer to the Queries,
Councils, and Criticisms, that hav7e been com-
municated to him since the Publication of his
Proposals for Printing a New Translation of the

0 Good's Life of Geddes, p. 192. — Mr Good has exhibited a catalogue
of the various articles contributed by Dr Geddes.

377

Bible," appeared in 1790: and during the same
year he published " An Answer to the Bishop of
Comana's Pastoral Letter ; by a Protesting Catho-
lic ;" " A Letter to the R. R. the Archbishops
and Bishops of England ; pointing out the only
Sure Means of Preserving the Church from the
Dangers that now threaten her : by an Upper-
Graduate ;" " Carmen Saeculare pro Gallica Gen-
te Tyrannidi Aristocraticae Erepta;" and an
" Epistola Macaronica ad Fratrem, de iis qua?
gesta sunt in nupero Dissentientium Conventu."
This last work is justly regarded as the happiest
of his sportive effusions. The wit and humour
which it displays have obtained that high degree
of applause to which they are entitled. Within
a few weeks after its first appearance he pub-
lished a second edition of the Epistola Macaronica,
accompanied with an English translation, for
which he professes to be indebted to some friend.
Before the close of this busy year he likewise
printed u Carmen Secular e, &c. A Secular Ode
on the French Revolution, translated from the
original Latin."

In 1791 appeared an " Encyclical Letter of the
Bishops of Rama, Acanthos, and Centuria^, to the
Faithful Clergy and Laity of their respective
Districts ; with a continued Commentary for the
Use of the Vulgar." This commentary pro-
ceeded from the masterly pen of Dr Geddes ;
who, with his accustomed liberality of sentiment.

VOL, II. 3 B

3*78

bore a conspicuous part in the controversy whic
at this time subsisted among the English Catho-
lics. The year at which we are now arrived,
passed without any other literary exertion. He
was siezed with a dangerous fever ; and after he
had begun to recover, accepted of a friendly in-
vitation to visit Lord Petre's seat in Norfolk. In
the country he spent a great part of the summer
and autumn. About the beginning of the year
1792 he published "A Norfolk Tale; or, a
Journal from London to Norwich : with a Pro-
logue and an Epilogue p." This poem betrays
evident symptoms of hasty composition ; but it
occasionally exhibits the characteristic features of
Dr Geddes's mind.

During the same year he produced an ironical
" Apology for Slavery; or, Six Cogent Arguments
against the Immediate Abolition of the Slave-
Trade ;" a poem entitled " L'Avocat du Diable :
the Devil's Advocate ; or Satan versus Pictor :
tried before the Court of Uncommon Pleas ;" and
" The first book of the Iliad of Homer, verbally
rendered into English Verse ; being a Specimen

P The publication of this poem Mr Good has inaccurately referred to
the year 1794. &y means of the first edition, which is printed in octavo,
1 have been enabled to correct this part of his narrative. The dedica-
tion is dated January the first, 1791. For the use of this edition of the
Norfolk Tale, and for many other instances of politeness, I am indebted
to the Rev. THOMAS JERVIS of Gray's Iffn Square; who enjoyed the
personal acquaintance of Dr Geddes, and could appreciate his literary
as well as his moral attainments.

379

of a New Translation of that Poet : with Critical
Annotations." Cowper's translation of Homer
had lately made its appearance, without gratify-
ing the high expectations which had been ex-
cited. Dr Geddes, like many other readers, was
completely disgusted q ; and in a fit of undue
exasperation, says his biographer, declared that
he would himself translate Homer, and convince
the world that it was possible to preserve suffi-
cient elegance of versification, without relinquish-
ing either the order, epithets, or phraseology of
the original. This however was a wild attempt:
and after having produced the first book of the
Iliad as a specimen, he never reverted to his rash
project.

The subject of The Devil's Advocate, a poem
which displays a considerable share of humour,
was a notable action for damages, brought before
the court of King's Bench against Dr Wolcott, at
the instance of the notorious Lord Lonsdale. The
satirist had insinuated in one of his publications,

fc

q Of Cowper's original productions he however entertained a very
favourable opinion: and in his elegy on the death of Waken" eld, he has
accordingly assigned him an honourable station among the poets :

Illic sublimis spectabilis umbra Lucreti,

Magnifice scriptis jam decorata tuis :
Illic Miltonus, Popius, Drydenus, et ille

Naturae potuit qui reserare sinus,
Shaksperius ; secus ac Cowperus, fiebilis iste,

Oreo quern ante diem bills acerba dedit.

36 2

380

that Mr Fuseli, after having long been in
of a human figure which might assist his concep-
tions in sketching a picture of the Devil, at length
cast his eyes on that of the illustrious peer.

These multifarious excursions into the different
provinces of literature did not materially divert
his attention from his great plan. It was in the
year 1792 that he published the first volume of
" The Holy Bible, or the Books accounted Sacred
by Jews and Christians ; otherwise called the
Books of the Old and New Covenants ; faithfully
translated from Corrected Texts of the Originals :
with various Readings, Explanatory Notes, and
Critical Remarks."

Dr Geddes had hitherto resided in furnished
lodgings in different parts of the metropolis : but
as his library had now received many large aug-
mentations, he found it expedient to remove to a
house of his own. About this time he according-
ly engaged a house in Allsop's Buildings, New
Road, Mary-le-bone : and in preparing the neces-
sary accommodations, he vigorously resumed the
mechanical labours in which he had formerly ex-
erted his skill r. Having provided himself with a
large chest of carpenter's tools, and a proper stock
of deals and mahogany, his first care was to com-

r Various other scholars have amused themselves with mechanical
operations. Dr Whyte of Oxford is the printer of some of his own
works ; and Dr Hill of Dublin can boast of many splendid books entirely
bound by himself.

381

plete the economy of a library ; into which he
speedily transformed every apartment of the
house, except the kitchen and a chamber for the
housekeeper. His drawing-room, parlour, and
other, rooms, were adorned with hanging shelves ;
and one apartment, intended for a study, was ar-
ranged with superior assiduity. The shelves,
which he contrived to edge wi ii mahogany, were
finished with a considerable degree of elegance.
He was possest of a garden before as well as be~
hind his house ; and to its cultivation he devoted
his leisure hours after he had completed the ar-
rangement of his books. Here he is said to have
toiled with all the industry of a labourer, and with
all the zeal of a botanist. In the front of his
mansion he erected a green-house with his own
hands ; and furnished it with exotic plants from
the conservatories of his friends. During the
winter months his green-house afforded him con-
siderable amusement : for the improvement of its
internal economy, his fertile fancy was perpetually
suggesting new plans ; and their execution drew
Jiim into a salutary relaxatiqn from severer pur-
suits.

To the endearing intercourse of social life he
also devoted a due portion of his time. " No
man," says Mr Good, " was fonder of society than
himself, and excepting when under the influence
of high-wrought irritability, no man was possess-
ed of more companionable qualities. His anec-

382

dote was always ready, his wit always brilliant :
there was an originality of thought, a shrewdnes
of remark, an epigrammatic turn of expression in
almost every thing which escaped him, that was
sure to captivate his companions, and to induce
those who had once met him, notwithstanding his
habitual infirmity, to wish earnestly to meet him
again V

Dr Geddes had contemplated the progress of
the French revolution with a degree of anxious
anticipation, which a man of his unbounded bene-
volence could not fail to experience. In the year
1793 he composed other two secular odes, and
printed them with a second edition of the former,
under the title of " Carmina Saecularia Tria, pro
tribus celeberrimis Libertatis Gallicae Epochis."
But such was the political violence of the times,
that he was strenuously advised by his friends to
defer their publication till a more propitious
period. They were accordingly supprest till the
close of the late war.

His " Ver-Vert ; or the Parrot of Nevers ; a
toem in four books, freely translated from the
French of J. B. Cresset/' was published during
the same year. The title-page mentions Oxford
as the place of publication. He had completed
his version before he was aware that the poem had
already been translated by John Gilbert Cooper.

$ Good's Life of Geddes, p. 31^.

383

Both these translations are undoubtedly executed
with considerable dexterity. Cooper has perhaps
selected a more suitable measure ; and has com-
monly proceeded with greater felicity than his
successor.

" Doctor Geddes's Address to the Public,
on the Publication of the first Volume of
his New Translation of the Bible," also made its
appearance in the year 1793. This is a sensible
and manly production ; in which he repels the
many illiberal attacks that had been made on his
personal character.

The most violent animosity which he expe-
rienced in the progress of his great work, was
manifested by the British Catholics, for whose
very benefit it will be recollected that his version
was professedly undertaken. Although he had
not affixed his name to the pamphlets which he
published relative to the late application to par-
liament, he was sufficiently known to the bigotted
party as their author : and this circumstance could
not fail of increasing the malignity with which he
had already begun to be viewed. " Even before
my Prospectus appeared," says Geddes, " my very
intentions were scrutinized and suspected. What-
ever impartiality I might profess, they could not
but think that I meant to favour the cause of
Protestancy, and that my Bible (as they termed
it) would turn out to be a Protestant Bible.
They knew me to be one whose principles were
not sa'ictly orthodox; who lavished praises on

384

heretics and heresiarchs; who associated wit
Churchmen, Dissenters, Socinians ; who indulged
paradoxes ; who laughed at rosaries, scapulars,
agnus Deis, blessed medals, indulgences, obiits,
dirges, &c. ; who was an enemy to religious
orders, hostile to the pope's prerogatives, disre-
spectful of his vicars, and an open abettor of pro-
fane innovations ! Thus blending some truth
with much falsehood, they worked up a medle
of imputations, which could not fail to make
deep impression on the minds of their credulous
devotees ; who have generally no other criterion
to judge of men or books, but the au7»? <.$* of their
good directors. Here the directed seem to have
taken their lesson well. They siezed on the
wholesale cargo,, and carefully retailed it, with
some small adulterations, among their friends and
familiars : - the mouth of every devotee was con-
verted into a trumpet of defamation.

" The publication of my Prospectus seems for
a while to have blunted the shafts of slander, and
softened the fierceness of the foe. It was not, in-
deed, what they had expected ; at least, not what
they wished it to be : and, on that occasion, some
of them joined or affected to join in the general
applause. But the demon of rancour soon re-
turned to take possession of his former hold ; and,
one would think, brought along with him seven
other spirits more wicked than himself. My letters
to the Bishop of London and to Dr Priestley, the

n

r
•

385

few Critical Remarks that accompanied my Pro-
posals and specimen, and my General Answer to
my correspondents, but especially my known at-
tachment to the Catholic committee, and appro-
bation of their measures, stirred up the half-
smothered embers, and rekindled the latent sparks
of enmity into an open and running confla-
gration V

In a pastoral letter signed by Walmsley, Gib-
son, and Douglass, the respective vicars aposto-
lic of the western, northern, and London districts,
the use and reception of his translation was for-
mally prohibited to the faithful committed to
their spiritual jurisdiction. This prohibition was
evidently dictated by the malignant spirit of
party : and Dr Geddes immediately apprized
Bishop Douglass, in whose district he resided, of
his resolution to expose the futilities, false reason-
ings, and rash assertions, with which the pastoral
letter abounds. On this subject he bestows a
paragraph in his Address to the Public. He again
wrote to the prelate for the purpose of signifying
his intentions ; and at the same time communi-
cated to him the passage regarding the prohibi-
tion. The answer which he received is couched
in the following terms :

c Geddes's Address to the Public, p. 9.

VOL. II. 3 C

386

" London, June 27,' 1793.
" SIR,

" Since it is evident from your letter to
me that you adhere to and maintain the doctrines,
which were censured by the Pastoral Letter, to
which you allude ; unless you signify to me, in writ-
ing, on or before Friday the fifth day of July next,
your submission to observe the injunction contain-
ed in the 2ist page of the said Pastoral Letter, viz.
' We prohibit our clergy, in particular, from
preaching, teaching, maintaining, or supporting
any of the aforesaid condemned opinions,' I here-
by declare you suspended from the exercise of
your orders in the London district.

" JOHN DOUGLASS, Vicar Apostolic."

To this foolish epistle Dr Geddes replied with
his usual intrepidity. His letter is too remark-
able to be excluded from a place in these pages.

" June 28, 1793.
" MY LORD,

" I thank you for having so readi-
ly answered my last letter, if that may be called
an answer, which you have been pleased to re-
turn. It is certainly not the answer I expected :
however, as it is an answer, and a prompt answer,
I am satisfied : it is probably the best you could
make ; and ad impossible nemo tenetur.

387

" From your profound silence as to the main
object of my letter, I may fairly conclude that
my complaints were just, and my suspicions well
founded : so I will not press your Lordship fur-
ther on that topic. But, my Lord, I must take
the liberty to tell you, that you most grievously
mistake, when you say, that 4 it is evident, from
my letter to you, that I adhere to and maintain
the doctrines which were censured in the Pasto-
ral Letter.' This, my Lord, is not only not evi-
dent, but utterly false. — In my whole letter, I
have not said a word about those doctrines, much
less have I testified my adherence to them, and
still less yet have I maintained them. I have in-
deed called Sir John Throckmorton's work an ex-
cellent one ; and so I deem it : but has your
Lordship yet to learn, that a work may be ex-
cellent on the whole, and yet exceptionable in
some of its parts ? I think the Annals of Baro-
nius on the whole an excellent work, although
there are more than twice twelve propositions in
it which I highly disapprove. Hume's History
of England I take to be the very best work of its
kind ; but do I, for that, adhere to or maintain all
the principles of Hume ? Truly this may be lo-
gic at Rome or Valladolid ; but it will never do
in the meridian of London.

" By calling Sir John's book an excellent work,
then, I have not expressed my adherence to any
one of the propositions which you have censured

338

in it — rBut I have said, * You could not answer
his book.' — 1 say so again, my Lord ; at least I
have yet seen no answer to it : and indeed, if
you could have answered it, I hardly think you
would have had recourse to censure. My saying
then, that you could not answer it, is no evident
proof, is no proof at all, that I adhere to the doc-
trines which you have censured in it. Whether
I really do adhere to those doctrines, or not, is
another question ; which has nothing to do with
our present correspondence : I may, possibly, let
you into the secret on some other occasion : all
that I now assert, is, that there is no sort of evi-
dence before your Lordship that I adhere to or
maintain the foresaid doctrines : consequently,
my Lord, your hypothetical declaration is absurd,
abusive, and premature.

" But perhaps, my Lord, you wish to have ano-
ther occasion of exercising your episcopal autho-
rity, and of playing with censures, as children do
with a new ball. I wish your Lordship much joy
of the bauble : but, beware, my Lord, beware of
playing too often with it. — Read St Chrysostom
on ecclesiastical censures; and learn from him
a little more moderation. Permit an old priest to
tell you that it is a very great ornament in a
young bishop. — As to myself, my Lord, I am not
afraid of your censures, as long as I am conscious
that I deserve them not. I will never submit to
the injunction contained in the list page of your

389

Pastoral Letter, because I deem it a rash, ridicu-
lous, and informal injunction. If this you think
a sufficient reason for declaring me suspended from
the exercise of my orders in the London district,
much good may that declaration do you ! The
truth is, I exercise no pastoral function in your
district : I have neither taught, preached, nor ad-
ministered any sacrament in it for many years
back : I have not even said prayers in any pub-
lic chapel for six years at least. To oblige a
friend or two, I have sometimes, not often, said
private prayers at their houses : but since you
seem to envy me the pleasure of obliging a friend,
I forego that too. The chief Bishop of our souls
is always accessible ; and, through him, I can at
all times have free access to the Father ; who
will not reject me but for voluntary unrepented
crimes. In the panoply of conscious innocence,
the whole thunder of the Vatican would in vain
be levelled at my head.

" You see, my Lord, that I have not required
even the short time you grant me, to signify my
disposition to submit to the injunction in your
Pastoral Letter. Such a submission, my Lord,
will never be made by

" ALEX. GEDDES,
« A Priest of the Catholic Church."

About the beginning of the following year, the

390

answer with which he had threatened the prag-
matical prelate was published under the title of a
" Letter from the Rev. Alexander Geddes, LL. D.
to the Right Rev. John Douglass, Bishop of Centu-
riae, and Vicar Apostolic in the London District."

Notwithstanding the energy which he display-
ed in repelling this illiberal attack, the repeated
attempts of his numerous enemies were not com-
pletely ineffectual. The unmerited treatment
which he experienced did not fail to interrupt
the tranquillity of his mind : and about this pe-
riod his literary plans were prosecuted with a ma-
terial diminution of ardour. The despondency
which was superinduced sunk him into a linger-
ing illness ; from which he was not without much
difficulty retrieved by the persevering assiduity
and animating efforts of his anxious friends. It
was not till after a considerable interval that he
was able to resume his more profound studies :
the works which he produced in the mean time,
were of a light and fugitive nature.

In 1795 he published an " Ode to the Hon.
Thomas Pelham, Esq. occasioned by his Speech
in the Irish House of Commons on the Catholic
Bill ;" and, in the following year, a burlesque
paraphrase of a ridiculous sermon preached by
J)t Goulthurst on the anniversary of his Majesty's
accession. Dr Geddes's work bears the following
title : " A Sermon, preached before the University
nf Cambridge, by H. W. C 1, D. D. &c. :

391

published by request : and now, (for the sake of
freshmen and the laity,) by request translated
into English Metre, by H. W, Hopkins, A. M."
This humorous production he is said to have
finished in the space of about three days.

In 1797 he published '* The Battle of B — ng— ~ r;
or the Church's Triumph; a Comic-Heroic Poem,
in nine cantos." The subject of this poem was
suggested by the notable contest between Bishop
Warren and Mr Grindley. The author professes
to regard Boileau and Pope as his models :

The peerless prelate who, with well-aimM thrust,
Laid a presumptuous layman in the dust,
Chased from the precincts of the sacred fane
A registrar rebellious, rash, and vain,
Who dared 'gainst heav'n uplift his lawless rod,
And bid defiance to the sons of God,
I sing. Be present, Muse of Despreaux,
And make my numbers like his numbers flow ;
Or rather, still more powerful succors bring j
A greater hero, mightier deeds I sing.
And thou, sweet riymph of a more noble stock,
Who taught our bard to sing Belinda's lock,
Vouchsafe on these more humble strains to smile,
And let them live, at least a little while.

The Battle of Eangor is undoubtedly the most
finished of Dr Geddes's English poems. The ge-
neral plan is arranged with considerable skill ;
and the descriptions and images are often fanci-

392

ful and poetical. The diction however is not uni-
formly elegant.

During the same year he published the second
volume of his translation of the bible. The first
volume he had dedicated to his generous patron
Lord Petre: this he inscribed " To her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Gloucester, an early,
spontaneous, and liberal encourager of the work."

In 1798 he published " A New Year's Gift to
the Good People of England ; being a Sermon,
or something like a Sermon, in Defence of the
Present War: preached on the day of Public
Thanksgiving, by Polemophilus Brown, Curate of

P n ;" and in 1799, " A Sermon, preached on

the day of General Fast, February 27, 1799, by
Polemophilus Brown, formerly Curate, now Vicar
of P n." The object of these two publica-
tions is to expose the profligate conduct of those
profest ministers of peace who, for reasons best
known to themselves, are disposed to represent as
just and necessary every war in which the nation
happens to engage,

In 1800 appeared his " Critical Remarks on
the Hebrew Scriptures : corresponding with a
New Translation of the Bible : vol. i. containing
Remarks on the Pentateuch." At the close of
the volume occurs a copy of Latin verses addrest
to his friend Dr Disney ; in which he unfolds his
theological creed with respect to the inspiration
ef Moses^

393

The success of his great work did not complete-
ly correspond to his expectations. The freedom
with which he delivered even the most unpopu-
lar of his -opinions, exposed him to all the acri-
mony of illiberal zeal : and his plans were ren-
dered less advantageous by his total ignorance of
the vulgar arts of forcing a book upon the public
attention. In advertising the three volumes of
his biblical work it is believed that he did not ex-
pend the sum of five pounds. These volumes
were printed at his own charge ; and the specu-
lation involved him in a series of difficulties from
which he saw no probability of extricating him-
self. In this extremity however his usual good
fortune did not desert him. He at length found
himself compelled, however reluctantly, to dis-
close his increasing embarrassment to some of his
most intimate friends : and the zeal which was
manifested on this occasion, affords a strong proof
of the estimation in which his character was held.
*' It is to the credit of the age in which we live,"
says Mr Good, " that without any further appli-
cation on his own part, persons of every rank and
religious persuasion, protestants and catholics,
clergy and laity, nobility and gentry, several of
whom had never known him but by name, and
many of wHom had openly professed a dislike of
his favorite tenets, united in one charitable ef-
fort to rescue him from anxiety and distress ; nor
should it be forgotten that some part, at least, of

VOL. II. 3 D

the amount subscribed proceeded from the right
reverend bench itself"." The sum collected and
expended on his account from the commence-
ment of the year 1798 to the middle of 'the year
1800, amounted to about nine hundred pounds.
The subsequent volumes of his version his friends
now proposed to publish at their own hazard, and
to reserve for the translator such profits as might
remain after deducting the necessary expences.
His arduous undertaking he did not however live
to prosecute. The translation would have extend-
ed to six volumes in quarto ; and only two have
been published.

The generosity which was thus displayed by
his friends, immediately restored him to his wont-
ed chearfulness and vivacity. He now began to
prepare for publication an elaborate work which
he had composed so early as the year 1782, but
which the unpropitious aspect of the times had
then induced him to suppress. It was printed
in 1800 under the title of " A Modest Apology
for the Roman Catholics of Great Britain : ad-
dressed to all Moderate Protestants, particularly
to- the Members of both Houses of Parliament."
This work, which appeared without the author's
name, excited no ordinary degree of curiosity. It
was translated into the French and German lan-
guages ; and was regarded even at the Vatican

as a most valuable and elaborate performance-

/

0 Good's Life of Geddes, p. 472.

395

The notable encounter between Dr Wolcott
and Mr GifFord afforded Dr Geddes a happy sub-
ject for the exercise of his satirical powers. Be-
fore the close of this year he published " Bardo-
machia Poema Macaronico-Latinum ;" and, in a
separate form, " Bardomaclria : or the Battle of
the Bards ; translated from the original Latin."

But while he was occupied in his multifarious
pursuits, he sustained an irreparable loss by the
sudden death of his truly noble patron. Lord
Petre died on the second of July, 1801, at the
age of sixty-eight. By his last will he bequeath-
ed to Dr Geddes an annuity of one hundred
pounds : and the heir of his virtues, as well as of
his civil honours, intimated in a very polite and
friendly letter, that to this sum he proposed to
add a yearly salary of the same amount. Be-
fore Dr Geddes was apprized of this nobleman's
generous intention, Mr Timothy Brown of Chis-
well Street had very liberally engaged that the
deficiency which he was apparently to sustain by
the death of his late patron, should be supplied
by the voluntary contributions of those friends
who had exerted themselves on the recent emer-
gency, or, incase of their declining the proposition,
by an equivalent salary to be annually paid by
himself.

His income was thus left undiminished : but
in Lord Petre he had not only lost a munificent
patron, but also a warm and zealous friend. Af-

3 D 2

396

ter the first torrent of his grief had begun to subT
side, he employed himself in composing a Latin
elegy on the lamented death of his benefactor.

Dr Geddes had now entered into the sixty-fourth
year of his age ; and although he occasionally
displayed a large portion of youthful hilarity, yet
the native vigour of his constitution was nearly
exhausted. The death of Lord Petre had sub-
jected him to frequent depressions of spirit ; and
he was in the mean time labouring under violent
paroxysms of bodily pain, occasioned by a can-
cerous affection of the rectum. His energy of
mind however was not easily subdued ; he still
continued to amuse himself with those studies
which had so long exercised his powerful facul-
ties. The return of peace, a subject highly de-
lightful to his benevolent heart, awakened his
poetical talents; and, in 1801; he produced a
work entitled " Paci feliciter Keduci Ode Sap-
phica." Of this ode an English translation was
published by his friend Mr Ring.

Gilbert Wakefield died at a premature age dur-
ing the same year : and as Dr Geddes was one
of those who deeply sympathized in his fate, he
honoured his memory by an affectionate elegy
composed in the Latin language v. This elegy
he wrote during one of the intervals between his

v The elegies on Wakefield and Lord Petre were printed in Tke
Monthly Magazine. Mr Good has inserted them in his memoirs of the
author.

897

usual paroxysms of excruciating torture, It is
supposed to have been the last composition which
proceeded from his pen.

It was about the middle of the present year
that he observed the earliest symptoms of his
dreadful malady. To its progress he at first paid
but little attention ; and in consequence of this
negligence, it soon increased to an alarming
height. The extreme anxiety of his friends
induced them to consult almost every emi-
nent practitioner of physic in the metropolis :
but the aid of medicine was now ineffectual. He
expired on the twenty-sixth day of February,
1802, in the sixty-fifth year of his age. The
rites of the communion in which he had lived
were administered to him by his friend M. St
Martin, a Doctor of the Sorbonne, and Professor of
Divinity. Qn his death-bed he adhered to the
theological creed which he had formerly pro-
fest. M. St Martin, anxious to reclaim his
friend from his heretical opinions, had on tha
present occasion provided himself with a written
list of questions ; but as he found Dr Geddes
sunk into a lethargic condition, it was impossible
to introduce any minute or lengthened investiga-
tion. Some questions he did however propose.
•" You fully believe," said he, " in the scrip-
tures ?" Geddes, rousing himself from his le-
thargy, answered, " Certainly." " In the doer
trine of the trinity ?" " Certainly ; but not in

398

the manner you mean." " In the mediation of
Jesus Christ ?" " No, no, no, not as you mean :
in Jesus Christ as our Saviour ; but not in the
atonement."

These and other particulars, which Mr Good
has stated on the respectable authority of M. St
Martin himself, furnish us with a complete refu-
tation of the silly story relative to Dr Geddes's
supposed recantation. Whatever his religious
tenets may have been, he cherished them with
sincerity, and professed them with intrepidity.
They who have invented the kindred tales re-
specting the recantation of Geddes and Voltaire,
may perhaps felicitate themselves on the purity
of their intentions : but such pious frauds as those
which they have evidently committed, will always
be condemned by the liberal of every denomina-
tion w.

The Catholics were sufficiently persuaded that
Dr Geddes died in the profession of those tenets
which he had formerly avowed : and his malig-
nant enemy Bishop Douglass, actuated by the ge-
nuine spirit of persecution, expressly prohibited
the celebration of public mass for the safety of
his departed soul. But this irregular interdict

w That Voltaire, when he once supposed himself at the point of death,
had not scrupled to profess his devout adherence to the tenets of thf.
Catholic faith, is sufficiently evident from the testimony of his impudent
biographer Condorcet . (Vie de Voltaire? p. 164.) But the current tale
relative to the mode in which he spent his last moiTients, seejns to h,e
completely devoid of authenticity.

399

was very far from gratifying the more respectable
laymen of that community.

His remains, agreeably to his particular request,
were interred in Paddington church-yard. " His
funeral," says Mr Good, " was attended by a
long procession of carriages, not indecently empty,
and sent for the mere purpose of external parade,
J3ut filled with friends who were strenuously at-
tached to his person, and will long venerate his
memory; and who, though divided by different
tenets into almost every class of Christian and
even political society, here consented to forget
every nominal separation, and to unite in taking
one common and affectionate farewel of a man
who had been an honor to the generation in
which he lived." A plain marble tablet, en-
graven with an inscription selected from his own
writings, has been erected to his memory by Lord
Petre.

Mr Good presents us with the following sketch
of the general characteristics of his person and
disposition : " In his corporeal make he was slen-
der, and in the bold and formidable outlines of
his countenance not highly prepossessing on a
first interview : but never was there a face or a
form through which the soul developed itself
more completely than through his own. Every
feature, and indeed every limb, was in harmony
with the entire system, and displayed the restless
and indefatigable operations of the interior of the

400

machine. A play of cheerfulness beamed uni-
formly from his cheeks, and his animated eyes
rather darted than looked benevolence. Yet such
was the irritability of his nerves, that a slight de-
gree of opposition to his opinions, and especially
when advanced by persons whose mental powers
did not warrant such opposition, put to flight in
a moment the natural character of his counte-
nance, and cheerfulness and benevolence werd
exchanged for exacerbation and tumult. Of
this physical and irresistible impulse in his con-
stitution no man was more thoroughly sensible
than himself; and if no man ever less succeeded
in subduing it, no man ever took more pains to
obtain a victory V

The ingenious biographer's account of his first
interview with Dr Geddes is too characteristic to
be omitted : " I met him accidentally at the house
of Miss Hamilton, who has lately acquired a just
reputation for her excellent Letters on Education :
and I freely confess that at the first interview
I was by no means pleased with him. I beheld a
man of about five feet five inches high^ in a black
dress put on with uncommon negligence, and ap-
parently never fitted to his form •: his figure was
lank, his face meagre, his hair black, long and loose,
without having been sufficiently submitted to the
operations of the toilet — and his eyes, though

x Good's Life of Geddes, p. 529-

401

quick and vivid, sparkling at that time rather
with irritability than benevolence. He was dis-
puting with one of the company when I entered,
and the rapidity with which at this moment he
left his chair, and rushed, with an elevated tone
of voice and uncourtly dogmatism of manner, to-
wards his opponent, instantaneously persuaded
me that the subject upon which the debate turn-
ed was of the utmost moment. I listened with all
the attention I could command ; and in a few
minutes learned, to my astonishment, that it re-
lated to nothing more than the distance of his
own house in the New Road, Paddington, from
the place of our meeting, which was in Guild-
ford-street. The debate being at length conclud-
ed, or rather worn out, the doctor took possession
of the next chair to that in which I was seated,
and united with myself and a friend who sat on
my other side in discoursing upon the politics of
the day. On this topic we proceeded smoothly
and accordantly for some time ; till at length dis-
agreeing with us upon some point as trivial as
the former, he again rose abruptly from his seat,
traversed the room in every direction, with as in-
determinate a parallax as that of a comet, lotidjy
and with increase of voice maintaining his position
at every step he took. Not wishing to prolong the
dispute, we yielded to him without further inter-
ruption ; and in the course of a few minutes after
he had closed his harangue, he again approached
VOL. II. 3 E

402

us, retook possessor! of his chair, and was all play-
fulness, good humor, and genuine wit.

" Upon his retirement, I inquired of our ami-
able hostess whether this were a specimen of his
common disposition, or whether any thing had
particularly occurred to excite his irascibility.
From her I learned that, with one of the best and
most benevolent hearts in the world, he was na-
turally very irritable ; but that his irritability
was at the present period exacerbated by a slight
degree of fever which had for some time affected
his spirits, and which had probably been produ-
ced by a considerable degree of very unmerited
ill usage and disappointment, I instantly regard-
ed him in a different light : I sought his friend-
ship, and obtained it ; and it was not long be-
fore I myself witnessed in his actions a series of
benevolence" and charitable exertions, often be-
yond what prudence and a regard to his own li-
mited income would have dictated, that stamped
a higher esteem for him upon my heart than all
the general information and profound learning he
was universally known to possess, and which
gave him more promptitude upon every subject
that happened to be started than I ever beheld
in any other person y."

Beside the works that have already been
enumerated, Dr Geddes composed several poems,
which were printed on single sheets, or inserted

y Good's Life of Geddes, p. 300.

403

in periodical publications, or were only commu-
nicated in manuscript to his particular friends.
He left an unpublished " Epistle to the King,"
written in English iambics, and consisting of
about five hundred lines. It contains many pro-
fessions of loyal attachment to his Majesty's per-
son, but suggests the urgent expediency of a
speedy change of ministry*.

A short while before his death, he had begun
to print " A. New Translation of the Psalms, from
Corrected Texts of the Original." This incom-
plete version, which extends to the hundred and
eighteenth psalm, will soon be published.

He had devoted some portion of his time to
the study of physiognomy, with the intention of
presenting a new system to the public. About
the year 1 796 he had perfected his theory ; and
was only prevented by the expence of engrav-

*• Dr Geddes, in his ode to peace, has likewise mentioned the king in
terms sufficiently loyal:

Nee licet laudes meritas negare
Optimo regi, patriseque patri :
Cjui simultates proprias reponit

Pacis ad aram.

Proferas vitam, videasque multos
Prosperos annos, generose princeps !
Teque regenti, populus perenni

Pace fruatur.

Sperne perversos ammo ministros,
Bella queis cordi — rediviva bella !
Sunto sed cari tibi, rex ainande,

Pacis amantes-

3 E 2

404

ings, from committing it to the press. After his
death however not a single fragment of the work
could be found among his papers.

These literary plans are enumerated by Mr
Good ; but Dr Geddes has himself alluded to se-
veral others. He professes to have had long in
contemplation a comparative dictionary of the
principal oriental dialects. " As a proper intro-
duction to such a work," says Geddes, " I form-
ed many years ago, the plan of a Comparative
Grammar of the principal Oriental dialects', which,
by way of relaxation from more serious studies,
I am now compleating, and preparing for the
press3."

THE name of Dr Geddes his countrymen ought
always to mention with peculiar respect : few of
our eotemporaries have so effectually contributed
to support the reputation of Scotish literature.
His natural endowments were unquestionably of a
superior order : and a course of study which com-
menced with his childhood and only terminated
with his life, had conducted him through almost
every department of erudition. The versatility
of his talents cannot be recollected without ad-
miration.

His attainments as a biblical scholar I am not
qualified, nor is it my present task to estimate.
It will be sufficient to remark that they have

a Geddes's Prospectus, p. 73.

405

been applauded by the learned of every country
in Europe. The splendour of his reputation pro-
cured him the honour of a correspondence with se-
veral eminent scholars on the continent ; among
whom were Professor Eichhorn of Gottingen,
Professor Paulus of Jena, and Professor Timaeus
of Liineburg. His death was announced in the
foreign journals as an event disastrous to the
cause of literature. The following extract Mr
Good has translated from Ethinger's Gothaische
Gelehrte Tjeitungen : " Theological science in
England, and literature in every quarter, sustain-
ed a deep, a sensible, and in more than one re-
spect an irreparable loss by the death of the learn-
ed, honest, and highly meritorious Dr Alexander
Geddes, whose labours are well known to have
been extensively useful even to foreign countries.
He was a man of singular talents, and listened
to by the most enlightened, erudite, and sagaci-
ous theologians and philosophers in England.
The three volumes of his translation of the
bible which have already appeared, together
with his critical and philological commentary,
his numerous little pieces in Latin, English, and
French; his fugitive and fanciful publications,
which add in no trivial degree to his labours, are
the fairest monument of his clear head, of his
erudition, of his taste, and of the keen vivaci-
ous wit which, in conjunction with a soft bene-
volent heart, and an unblemished character, per-

petually endeared him to men of real worth, and
especially to all who were intimately acquainted
with him."

Some of his works are highly valuable; and all
of them are entitled to a perusal. The style of
his English prose, though not uniformly elegant,
is copious, animated, and attractive.

His poetical effusions are rather to be consi-
dered as the relaxations of a severe student, than
as the compositions of an author ambitious of
poetical distinction. They discover what he
might have effected ; but are not sufficiently ela-
borated to be classed among finished productions.

The only Scotish poems that appear with his
name are those three which occur in the first volume
of the " Transactions of the Society of the Anti-
quaries of Scotland ;" but it is not improbable
that he may have composed other fugitive pieces
which he did not think proper to avow. To him
the humorous ballad beginning " There was a
wee wifiekie," has been attributed by Mr Skinner,
one of the correspondents of Burns b.

His " Epistle to the President, Vice-Presidents,
and Members of the Scottish Society of Anti-
quaries," is alone sufficient to evince that he
could have equalled the best of our modern poets.
It contains many happy sketches ; and the ver-

*» Burns's Works, vol. ii. p. 129,

407

sift cation is spritely and flowing. The following
passage relates to Fergusson :

Whare nou the nimphs that weent to feed

Their flocks upon the banks o' Tweed ;

And sang sa mony a winsom air

About the bus abeun Traquair ?

Wa's me ! sin Ramsay disappeared,

Their tunefu1 voice is na mair hear'd :

Nor ha1 their charms sin syne been shown,

Except to Fergusson alone.

Ill-wierdet wight ! wha wu'd prefeer

A reaming bicker o' Bell's beer

To a' the nectar that distills

Fre Phoebus' munt in sucar't rills j

And loo'd Aid Reikie's boussom lasses

Mair than the maidens o' Parnassus.

Yet he had ilka art to please,

And win the dortiest ev'n of these :

His was the reed sa sweet and shill

That sang The Lass of Patios Mill;

To him belang't the wiel-strung lyre

That temper't Hammy's nati' fire 5

And Forbes' fife, sa feat and trim,

Was left, but ony doubt to him.

But nouther reed, nor lyre, nor fife,

Regarded he, but drank thro' life,

And leugh, until the cald o' death

Chill't his heart-blude, and stapt his breath.

He died, peur saul ! and xvi* him died

The relict Muse o' mither-lied.

Nor must his liberal and discriminative enco-
mium on Burns be excluded from our present
notice :

408

An' nou the Muse wi' rapture turns

To Coila's glory, self-taught Burns j

Wha mid the constant avocation

Of a laborious occupation,

Finds time to cull si'k transient flours

As bleum on Galovidean moors,

And, at the pleugh or at the team,

Glows with a pure poetic gleam.

Whether in numbers smooth and easy

He sing the dirgie of a deasy,

Or in a strain mair free and frisky

Resoun' the praise of Highland whisky,

Or with a Goldsmith's pencil trace

The virtues o' the cottage race,

G", wieldan' satire's heavy flail,

The cantan' hypocrite assail,

Or mind a patriot of his duty,

Or tune a safter pipe to beuty^

Or in a frolic wanton teen

Describe the fun of Hallow-e'en,

Tho' some few notes be harsh and hard,

Yet still we see the genuine bard.

Hale be thine heart, thou wale o' swain?

That grace the Caledonian plains :

May ilka sort o' bliss thee follow,

That suits the vot'ries of Apollo j

A merry heart, a murkless head j

A conscience pure an' void o' dread j

A weil thak't hut, an ingle clear 3

A fu' pint-stowp of reaming beer j

A daily sark, a Sunday coat j

Thy pocket ne'er without a groat ;

An' for the solace of thy life,

A bonny, braw, belovit wife.

Su'd Fortune, mair outowr, befriend thee.

An' fouth o' gowd an' gear attend thee,

409

Bewar1 of indolence an' pride,

Nor casf*thine aiten reed aside,

Bot trim an' blaw it mair an' mair,

An' court the Muses late and air : ••

Wi' critic skill explore the grain,

An' fan an' fan it owr again,

Till ne'er a bit of caff remain :

So sal thy name be handit down

With uther poets o' renown c.

Dr Geddes's affection for the Scotish nation
and language had induced him to form a serious
wish, that some future writer would undertake
an epic poem which might tend to advance the
reputation of both. He thus prosecutes his ad~
dress to Burns :

Thy rare example sal inspire
Our rising youth with rival fire ;
Wha yet may emulate the lays
Of loftiest bards of ancient days.
Then may some future Douglas sing
A Christian, not a Pagan king ;
Scots hirds may Manttfan hirds defy,
And Fergus with /Eneas vy.

I" Of all the unoccupied subjects for an epic
>oem," he subjoins in a note, " I know none more
>roper than the restoration of Fergus II. It is

c Dr Geddes's cousin the titular Bishop of Marroco seems to have been
of the patrons of Burns. A respectful and affectionate letter to
jp Geddes occurs in Burns's Works, vol. ii. p. 315.

VOL. IT. 3 F

410

sufficiently near our time to afford general facts
and dates ; and sufficiently remote to admit a
number of circumstantial embellishments. The
poem might begin with his leaving the court of
Scandinavia ; he might then be sent to Ireland,
thence to Ikolmkil, where some holy visionary
might tell him the fate of himself and his suc-
cessors down to the Union, &-c. &-c. The whole
action might be compleated in the course of one
year. The Scottish bard who would choose this
subject, might, like Homer, avail himself of all
the dialects which are used in the different coun-
ties ; purifying them as much as possible from
vulgarism, and reducing them to one uniform
system ofl orthography and grammatical ana-
logy."

His other two Scotish poems are translations
of the first eclogue of Virgil, and the first idyl
of Theocritus. In his translation from Virgil he
has chiefly imitated the Edinburgh dialect ; in
that from Theocritus he has generally adopted
the dialect of Buchan. These two versions, which i
he exhibited as illustrations of his speculations re-
lative to the Scotish language, are executed with!
uncommon felicity. A complete translation of
Theocritus by Dr Geddes would have been a va-f
luable addition to the aggregate of our vernaculai|
poetry.

THE

LIFE

ROBERT FERGUSSON,

THi:I

LIFE

OF

ROBERT FERGUSSON.

little curiosity has hitherto been discovered
with regard to the personal history of Fergusson a,
the collecting of materials for the following
jsketch has been attended with some difficulty.
In the performance of this task I have been
chiefly aided by the friendly exertions of Dr
ROBERT ANDERSON, a gentleman not more distin-
guished for his knowledge and ingenuity, than for
the amiable benevolence of his mind ; a gentle-
man to whom our national literature is more in-
debted, than, to the collective body of Scotish
nobility.

a This biographical tract, it may be proper to observe, was published
in the year 1799. ^ was reprinted in 1800 and in 1801. In the pre-
sent edition several puerilities are retrenched

414

Robert Fergusson was born at Edinburgh on
the fifth of September, one thousand seven hun-
dred and fifty. His father, William Fergusson,
who in his youth had discovered some propensity
to the study of poetry, maintained a respectable
character in the humble station in which he
found himself placed. He served an apprentice-
ship to a tradesman in Aberdeen, and about the
year 1746 came to Edinburgh in order to solicit
employment. Having been engaged as a clerk
by several masters, and those of various occupa-
tions, he at length procured the office of an ac-
countant in the British Linen Hall, which he re-
tained till the time of his death.

The poet was of a constitution so extremely
delicate, that he was incapable of attending
school till after he had reached the sixth year of
his age. He was then placed under the tuition
of a Mr Philp, who taught in Niddry's Wynd ;
and within the space of about six months, was
transferred to that of Mr Gilchrist, one of the
masters of the High School. While he continued
at this excellent seminary, the infirm state of his
health prevented him from giving the proper at-
tendance : yet by means of his superior capacity,
aided by a generous spirit of emulation, he ex-
celled most of his companions. It was during
those intervals in which the delicacy of his frame
confined him at home, that he first discovered a
relish for books. Having continued four yean

415

the grammar-school of Edinburgh, he was next
removed to that of Dundee, where he remained
two years longer.

He was originally intended for the church:
and his friends were so fortunate as to procure
him a bursary in the University of St Andrews;
where he entered as a student at the age of thir-
teen. Here he soon became distinguished as a
,youth of superior genius, and rendered himself
conspicuous as " a fellow of infinite jest, of most
excellent fancy." His ingenuity recommended
him to the favour of Dr Wilkie, who was then
professor of natural philosophy in that university.
It has been ridiculously asserted that Wilkie fre-
quently employed him to read his academical
prelections, when sickness or other casual circum-
stances prevented him from performing that duty
himself. A boy of sixteen or seventeen years of
age mounting the professorial rostrum, would
afford an exhibition of a singular kind. It is also
probable that Fergusson was more distinguished
for his poetical genius, than for his talents in in-
vestigating subjects connected with natural phi-
losophy. Certain it is however that Wilkie ho-
noured him with particular marks of distinction.
Nor were these bestowed on an ungrateful object :
upon the death of his patron, which happened on
the tenth of October, 1772, Fergusson offered a
tribute of warm affection to his memory.

416

During his residence at St Andrews, he began
to direct his attention to the study of poetry ^
and wrote many occasional verses, which attracted
the particular notice of the professors, as well as
of his fellow-students. Here he also formed
the plan of a tragedy on the story of Sir Wil-
liam Wallace; but when he had finished the
first two acts, he is said to have relinquished the
design, because he had seen another dramatic
poem on the same subject, and was apprehensive
lest his should be regarded as a mere copy b.
This seems a very singular reason.

Fergusson appears to have had another thea*
trical scheme floating in his mind: some frag-
ments of speeches written with his own hand are
to be found on the blank leaves of a book
which was formerly in his possession c.

Though he was never very remarkable for his
application to study, yet he performed, with a
sufficient share of applause, the various exercises
which the rules of his college prescribed. The
calm and even tenor however of an academic
life was but ill calculated to afford him much
satisfaction or enjoyment. His natural propen-
sity to mirth and gaiety often caused him to re-

b Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. i. p. 647.

c The book is entitled "A Defence of the Church Government,
Faith, Worship, and Spirit of the Presbyterians. By John Anderson,
M. A." Glasg. 1714, 410. — Fergusson denominates himself Student tf
Divinity*

417

lax in his exertions: he bore a^ principal part in
a thousand youthful frolics; many of which are
still remembered at St Andrews.

One of his exploits involved him in the dis-
grace of a temporary expulsion from the univer-
sity. On the evening succeeding the distribution
of the Earl of KinnouPs prizes, the successful and
the disappointed candidates having assembled in
two adjoining apartments, a fierce encounter at
length ensued between them ; and Fergusson was
particularized as one of the most distinguished
combatants. The principal aggressors were for-
mally expelled ; but in consequence of their pe-
nitential submissions, they were within the space
of a few days admitted to all the privileges which
they had formerly enjoyed. The eloquence of
Dr Wilkie was powerfully exerted in behalf of
the young poet.

The term of his bursary extended to four
years. After the expiration of that time he re-
turned to Edinburgh, and abandoned his intention
of entering into the church. As his father had
died about two years before, his prospects were
now sufficiently gloomy. He found himself
without any present employment, and without
any fixed resolution concerning his future pur-
suits ; a situation dangerous beyond all others to a
young man of a fervid imagination.

Some of his friends advised him to devote him*
self to the study of medicine ; but he declined

VOL, IL 3 G

418

following this advice, because, according to his
own account, he fancied himself afflicted with
every disease of which he redd the description.
A similar anecdote is related of John Bois, one of
the translators of the bible.

He had a maternal uncle living near Aberdeen,
a Mr John Forbes, who was in pretty affluent
circumstances. To him he paid a visit, in the
hope of procuring some suitable employment
through his influence. Mr Forbes at first treated
him with civility ; but instead of exerting himr
self to promote his interest, suffered him to re-
main six months in his house, and afterwards dis-
missed him in a manner which reflects very little
honour on his memory. His clothes were be-
ginning to assume an obsolete appearance ; and
he was therefore deemed an improper guest for
his uncle's house. Filled with indignation at
the ungenerous treatment which he had received,
he retired to a little solitary inn that stood at a
small distance ; and addressed a letter to his un-
feeling relation, couched in terms of manly re-
sentment. After his departure, Mr Forbes seems
to have relented : he dispatched a messenger to
him with a few shillings to defray his expences
on the road. He travelled to Edinburgh on foot;
and the fatigues of the journey, added to his de-
pression of mind, produced such an effect upon
his delicate constitution, that for several days he
was afflicted with a severe illness. When he

419

began to recover strength, he endeavoured to con-
sole his grief by composing a poem on The Decay
of Friendship, and another Against Repining at
Fortune.

Soon after this period he obtained an inferior
situation in the commissary-clerk's office; but
being unable to submit to the tyranny of the
deputy, he soon relinquished it. Having again
remained for a considerable time without any
occupation, he was next received into the office
of the sheriff-clerk. Here he continued daring
the rest of his life. The report of his having at-
tempted the study of law, is devoid of foundation.
Between studying law and transcribing law-papers
there is certainly a very material distinction.

Before he had reached the twentieth year of
his age, many of his little poems made their ap-
pearance in Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine. To
this publication he was a constant contributor.
The proprietor occasionally allowed him some
pecuniary compensation ; but he never wrote for
anv stipulated reward.

To trace him through the whole of his poetical
progress, would be a task productive of much
trouble to the writer, and of little entertainment
to the reader. His pieces are too multifarious
to admit of particular enumeration.

In a poem entitled An Expedition to Fife, he
happened to cast some reflections on that district,
branding it as " the most unhallowed 'midst the
3G *

420

Scotian plains." This aspersion drew a forma
challenge from a Fifeshire gentleman, who ap-
pears to have possest in an eminent degree the
true Scotish spirit of locality. Instead of accept-
ing his antagonist's invitation, Fergusson treated
it with derision.

The public immediately began to perceive the
merit of his productions ; and from the time of
their first appearance in The Weekly Magazine, he
was regarded as a poet of no ordinary talents.
As the charms of his social qualities were even
superior to those of his poetry, it is not surprizing
that his company was eagerly solicited by people
of every description. To the circles where
gaiety and humour prevailed, his conversation
recommended itself by every possible allurement ;
and where a more grave deportment was neces-
sary, he could accommodate his manners to those
of the individuals with whom he was casually
associated. Such qualities as these, without pro-
ducing any beneficial effects, tended to connect
him with unprofitable companions, who gradually
conducted him through the various stages of vice
and dissipation. From the caresses of the mo-
ment he could derive no solid advantage. Those
who have spent an ecstatic evening in the com-
pany of some man of intellectual eminence, are
often very indifferent with respect to the mode
in which he disposes of himself after the hour of
separation: the object for which they solicited

421

his company being obtained, they seldom exert
themselves in order to place him in a situation
adequate to his merit, and congenial to his
wishes.

This censure however must not be received
without limitation. Fergusson had contracted
an intimacy with a gentleman of the name
of Burnet, who afterwards settled in the East
Indies. Mr Burnet was so captivated with
his ingenuity and amiable manners, that when
he had arranged his own affairs, he resolved
to provide for his less fortunate friend. In pur-
suance of this laudable design, he sent him a cor-
dial invitation to visit India, and at the same
time remitted a draught of one hundred pounds
for defraying the expences of his voyage. But
this bounty arrived too late ; for he had then
paid the debt of nature. Although Mr Burnet's
benevolent intentions were thus frustrated by the
stroke of death, it may yet afford him a very
pleasing reflection, that of all those who were
acquainted with the merits of Fergusson, he was
the only person that stretched forth his hand to
rescue him from the uncomfortable situation in
which he spent the greater part of his life.

His latter years were wasted in perpetual
dissipation. The condition to which he had
reduced himself, prepared him for grasping
at every object which promised a temporary
alleviation of his cares : and as his funds were

422

often in an exhausted state, he at length had re-
course to mean expedients.

Associates possest of the same taste for letters,
and of the same ruinous habits of intemperance,
were not wanting d. Men of this seeming incon-
gruity of character have always abounded in the
northern as well as in the southern metropolis.

When he contemplated the high hopes from
which he had fallen, his mind was visited with
bitter remorse. But the resolutions of amend-
ment which he formed were always of short du-
ration. He was soon resubdued by the allure-
ments of vice. At one time he evinced a deter-
mination to enter upon a more sober and retired
course of life, and, in conseqence of this plan,
took lodgings at a small distance from town.
Here however he continued for a very short
season.

From an epigram to be found among his post-
humous pieces, it appears that he had conceived
the design of abandoning the scene of his follies,
and trying his fortune at sea. But this scheme
was also relinquished.

Of a spouting club which had been instituted
in Edinburgh he is reported to have been a dis-
tinguished member. His talents for mimickry
were unrivalled : the reputation which he here
acquired in exhibiting imitations of the most

d " Qvbiv y«^," says Cebes,

423

eminent actors, inspired him with distant thoughts
of mounting the stage. This ended like the rest
of his projects : he still found himself incapable
of active exertion, and unequal to the task of
emancipating himself from the domination of
vicious habits.

Notwithstanding the miserable state of dissipa-
tion into which he had plunged himself, his poe-
tical studies were never totally neglected. In
1773 he published a collection of his poems, con-
sisting of such pieces as had been printed in
Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine, with the addi-
tion of a few others.

Auld Reikie made its appearance in the course
of the same year. It is inscribed to Sir Wil-
liam Forbes, in terms of sufficient modesty and
respect : but that worthy baronet seems to have
despised

The poor ovations of a minstrePs praise.

PARK c.

This ingenious poem it v/as his intention to
extend at some future period to a much greater
length ; but what was originally offered as a first
canto, has never received any important additions.

In 1774 his friends prevailed upon him to com-
pose an elegiac poem on the death of John Gun-

e Mr Park is the author of a small volume of elegant and agreeable
poetry, which, though little known in this part of the kingdom, has ob-
tained a considerable degree of popularity in England.

424

ningham. It was published for the benefit of the
unfortunate author, who was then verging to-
wards that state of insanity in which he at length
closed his miserable existence f . As he was in-
capable of superintending the press, some of his
friends kindly undertook that office.

This was the last of his productions. His
body being now emaciated with disease, and his
mind totally unhinged, his relations began to ob-
serve in his behaviour something of an infantine
cast; he talked in an incoherent manner, and
frequently manifested an entire vacillation of
thought. Of persons in his condition some lead-
ing object generally engrosses the attention, to
the almost total exclusion of every other; the
power of judgment is superseded, and that of
imagination usurps its place. Religion presented
itself to Fergusson ; and this he made the perpe-
tual theme of his discourse.

Such of his manuscripts as were in 'his own
possession he committed indiscriminately to the
flames, and was heard to declare that he felt some
consolation in never having published any work
hostile to the interests of religion. Those studies
which had formerly been the solace of his cares
were now utterly neglected : he laid every other
book aside, and made the bible his constant com-
panion.

f Anderson's Life of Cunningham,

425

It is frequently alleged that the religious de-
sspondency which at first seized him, was unac-
companied with any symptoms of irrationality.
Of the improbability of this assertion, the follow-
ing anecdote may be regarded as a striking proof.
Mr Woods of the theatre royal, who had culti-
vated his acquaintance before it ceased to be re-
putable, chanced one day to meet him passing
under the North Bridge in a disordered manner,
and regardless of every surrounding object. Upon
his friend's accosting him, he affirmed that he had
discovered one of the reprobates who crucified
our Saviour ; and that in order to bring him
to condign punishment, he was making all
possible haste to lodge the information with
Lord Kames.

Having experienced a temporary relief from
his dreadful malady, he again began to visit his
friends ; but had one night the misfortune to fall
from a stair-case, and receive a violent contusion
on the head. When carried home, he seemed
completely insensible of the accident which had
befallen him. He at length became so outrage-
ous, that it was not without some difficulty that
the united force of several men could restrain his
violence.

As his afflicted mother was not in a condition
to command the proper attendance in her own
house, she was under the necessity of removing
him to the public asylum. Some of his most

VOL. II. 3 H

126

intimate friends having watched a proper oppor-
tunity, found means to convey him thither, by
decoying him into a chair as if he had been about
to pay an evening visit. When they reached
the place of their destination, all was wrapt in
profound silence. The poor youth entered the
dismal mansion. He cast his eyes wildly around,
and began to perceive his real situation. The
discovery awakened every feeling of his soul. He
raised a hideous shout, which being returned by
the wretched inhabitants of every cell, echoed
along the vaulted roofs, and produced in the
minds of his companions sentiments of unspeak-
able horror. They stood aghast at the dreadful
scene ; the impression which it left was too deep
for time ever to efface.

When he was afterwards visited by his mother
and elder sister, his phrenzy had almost entirely-
subsided. He had at first imagined himself a
king or some other great personage, and had
adorned his head with a crown of straw. The
delusion however was now vanished. Upon their
entrance, they found him lying in his cell, to ap-
pearance calm and collected. He told them he
was sensible of their kindness, and hoped he
should soon be in a condition to receive their
visits. He also recalled to their memory the pre-
^sentiment which he had so often exprest of his
being at length overwhelmed by this most dread-
ful of all calamities ; but endeavoured to comfort

427

them with assurances of his being humanely
treated in the asylum.

From the tenor of his behaviour upon this oc-
casion, his mother was led to entertain hopes of
his speedy recovery. A remittance from her
elder son Henry having now rendered her more
easy in her circumstances, she determined to re-
move him to her own house, and immediately
began to make the proper arrangements for his
reception. But these hopes were only delusive.
Within the space of a few days a messenger an-
nounced the melancholy tidings that her beloved
son had breathed his last. The violent exertions
of his mind had gradually ruined the animal
system ; and at length he was so much exhaust-
ed, that he expired without a groan. He died
on the sixteenth of October, 1774, after having
continued about two months in bedlam. He had
only completed the twenty-fourth year of his
age.

His remains were decently interred in the Can-
ongate church-yard ; and for a considerable time
there was no stone to mark the place of his
dust. In a late publication it has been errone-
ously asserted that " his friends erected a monu-
ment to his memory, which has since been re-
moved to make way for a larger and more ele-
gant monument by his enthusiastic admirer the
late poet Burnsg." His friends were in no con-

£ Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. i. p. 648.

428

dition to rear sepulchral fabrics ; and this " larger
and more elegant monument" is almost as plain a
stone as ever graced a country church-yard. Yet
the erection even of this frail memorial reilects
the highest honour on the sympathetic feelings
of Burns h.

Upon one side of the stone he caused the fol-
lowing epitaph of his own composition to be en-
graven :

No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay I

No storied urn, nor animated bust !
This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way,

To pour her sorrows o'er her poet's dust.

The other side bears this inscription :

By special grant of the Managers

To ROBERT BURNS, who erected this stone,

This burial place is ever to remain sacred to the memory of

ROBERT FERGUSSON.

Fergusson was of a middle stature, and of $
somewhat slender form. His countenance, which
in other respects had a slight tendency towards
effeminacy, was rendered highly animated by

& " In relating the incidents of our poet's life in Edinburgh, we ought
to have mentioned the sentiments of respect and sympathy with which
he traced out the grave of his predecessor Fergusson, over whose ashe s
in the Canongate church-yard he'obtained leave to erect an humble monu-
ment, which will be viewed by reflecting minds with no common interest ,
and which will awake in the bosom of kindred genius many a high emo--»
tiom"

CVRRIE'S Life of Burns, p. 189.

429

the expression of his large black eyes. In his ad-
dress he was genteel, and free from affectation.
From the portrait usually prefixed to his works,
no idea of his external appearance can be de-
rived ; it is entirely supposititious. That which
he mentions in his Codicil cannot now be found.
It has been asserted that he sat to Runciman for
a picture of the prodigal son ; and that the piece
in which he made so conspicuous a figure was
sold at the exhibition in London.

He has thus been characterized by one of the
correspondents of Burns : " While I recollect
with pleasure his extraordinary talents and many
amiable qualities, it affords me the greatest con-
solation, that I am honoured with the corre-
spondence of his successor in national simplicity
and genius. That Mr Burns has refined in the
art of poetry, must readily be admitted; but
notwithstanding many favourable representations,
J am yet to learn that he inherits his convivial
powers.

" There was such a richness of conversation,
$uch a plenitude of fancy and attraction in him,
that when I call the happy period of our inter-
course to my memory, I feel myself in a state of
delirium. I was then younger than him by eight
or ten years, but his manner was so felicitous,
that he enraptured every person around him, and
infused into the hearts of the young and old, the

430

spirit and animation which operated on his own
mind1."

Gentleness and humanity of disposition he pos-
sessed in an eminent degree. The impulse of
benevolence frequently prompted him to bestow
his last farthing on those who solicited his chan-
ty. His surviving relations retain a pleasing re-
membrance of his dutiful behaviour towards his
parents ; and the tender regard with which his
memory is still cherished by his numerous ac-
quaintance, fully demonstrates his value as a
friend. Till his dissipated manner of life had in a
great measure eradicated all sense of delicacy or
propriety, he always evinced a manly spirit of
independence. Let it be recorded to his honour
that he never disgraced his Muse with the ser-
vile strain of panegyric ; that he flattered no illi-
terate peer, nor sacrificed his [sincerity in order
to advance his interest.

OF the sensibility and fancy of a poet, Fer-
gusson seems to have inherited a considerable
portion. His works however are of very unequal
merit ; some of them excellent, some even below
mediocrity. It is in the composition of his "Scotish
poems that we must expect to find his efforts
most successful. To such of his pieces as are
written in English very little praise is due : they

« Burns's Works, vol. ii. p. 259,

431

occasionally discover marks of genius ; but the
greater part appear deficient in every quality
which tends to interest and captivate the mind.

Towards pastoral poetry he betrays the usual
partiality of a juvenile writer ; but his attempts
in this department are far from being successful.
Of his eclogues the numbers are sufficiently
smooth, but the sentiments trite and common.
Many passages are tautological and childish ; and
in general the reader meets with nothing that
delights his fancy or interests his feelings.

There is something in the nature of pastoral
poetry which seems in a great measure to pre-
clude all hopes of succeeding in that species of
composition. The life of a shepherd admits of
so little variety, and has so frequently afforded
materials to the poets of every nation, that the
subject is now found to be completely exhausted.
Whenever a shepherd is introduced in a modern
eclogue, we anticipate the train of his discourse
as soon as we are acquainted with his particular
situation. Nothing can be more monotonous
and insipid than the generality of such produc-
tions. f

His Expedition to Fife, Epistle to a Friend, and
other poems of the same class, are not entitled
to a larger portion of praise. The application of
blank verse to trivial or ludicrous subjects has
seldom been found to succeed. The Splendid Shil-
ling of Philips is almost the only work of this

432

description that can afford pleasure in the per-
usal. Besides the important advantage of an
original design, it possesses a kind of quaint dig-
nity peculiar to itself.

Philips was apparently the model which h<
proposed to imitate ; but his versification bears
a stronger resemblance to that of Trapp or Ros-
common. The cadence of his verses is common-
ly the same as that of the rhyming couplet.
This observation will be verified by the following
lines :

From noisy bustle, from contention free,
Far from the busy town I careless loll,
Not like swain Tityrus or the bards of old,
Under a beechen venerable shade,
But on a furzy heath where blooming broom
And thorny whins the spacious plains adorn.
Here health sits smiling on my youthful brow ;
For ere the sun, &c.

Nothing can be more fatiguing to the ear than
such verses as these : the structure of every line
naturally induces us to expect a correspondent
rhyme at the close of the next ; but as this ex-
pectation is always disappointed, we are filled
with langour and disgust.

His Last Will and the Codicil may be ranked
among the best of his English poems. Though
far from being correct, they are spritely and hu-
morous. The Epilogue spoken by Mr Wilson like-
wise rises above mediocrity. The assumed cha-
racter of an Edinburgh buck is very happily sup-
ported.

433

In poems professedly English he very fre-
quently adopts phraseologies peculiar to the
Scotish dialect. But this is an error into which
more correct writers have been betrayed ; an
error not easily to be avoided by those who have
received a genuine Scotish education^

j The hallucinations of those who have undertaken to teach us the art
of rejecting Scoticisms, are numerous and glaring. The work even of
Dr Beattie is a very unsafe guide : most of the words and phrases which
he has particularized, except such as merely belong to familiar discourse,
are genuine Anglicisms. The only book that he consulted seems to have
been Dr Johnson's dictionary; which is very far from comprehending a
complete vocabulary of the English language.

" Angry at him," is one of Dr Beattie's Scoticisms. But this phrase
is used by the great lexicographer himself: " He was therefore angry at
Swift." (Johnson's Lives of English Poets, vol. iv. p. ill.,

Relevant has been stigmatized by Dr Beattie, and irrelevant by Mr
George Mason ; with what justice, the following passage in Dryden may
serve to ascertain : " If there happen to be found an irrelevant expression."
{Preface to the Fable*.) This word Mr Sheridan has very properly in-
serted in his " Complete Dictionary of the English Language."

To notice is another phrase which belongs to Dr Beattie's list of Scoti-
cisms. It is however employed by a respectable English grammarian :
" Our great lexicographer has not noticed it." Nares, Elements of Or-
thoepy, p. 155. Lond. 1784, 8vo.) It is repeatedly used by the elegant
Mr Roscoe. If we may credit Mr George Mason, it was " imported
into English conversation from Ireland."

To restrict he also explodes as a Scoticism. " The studies at Pisa," says
Mr Roscoe, " were chiefly restricted to the Latin language." (Life of
Lorenzo de Medici, vol. ii. p. 78.)

At six years old, may be inelegant English, but it ought not to have
been inserted in a list of Scoticisms. This phrase is adopted by Lord
Orrery : " At six years old, he was sent to school at Kilkenny." (Re-
marks on the Life and Writings of S-w':ft, p. 6.)

It is astonishing that Dr Beattie should have inserted the verbs to
liberate and to narrate : they occur in such common books as the diction-
aries of Bailey and Sheridan.

VOL. II. 3 I

434

As a Scotish poet, Fergusson is to be ranke
not with Penny cuik and other writers of the same
class, but with Ramsay, Ross, Burns, and Mac-
neill. Though his mind was less comprehensive
than that of Burns, and though he is in some
measure a stranger to the delicacy which cha-
racterizes the beautiful. productions of Macneill,
yet in all the essential qualities which constitute a
poet he is equal if not superior to Ramsay and Ross.

The popularity of his Scotish poems is a strong
proof of their intrinsic merit. In that part of the
island where their beauties are properly under-
stood, few productions of a similar description
have been so universally admired. They are redd
by people of every denomination ; and their na-
tive charms are such, that they cannot be redd
without delight. They exhibit a spriteliness of
thought and a facility of expression which have
seldom been surpast. The versification is always
smooth, and on some occasions highly melodious.

The following remark of Mr George Mason discovers his usual dex-
terity : « Though this verb ft» liltrate) and its derivative noun are now
frequent in periodical publications of news, they are too modern to be
found in any dictionary." (Supplement to Johnson's English Dictionary.
Loud. 1 80 1, 4to. ;

In this supplement the writer has properly inserted the verb to adduce .-
but as its legitimacy has been questioned, he ought not to have relied on
the authority of Dr Reid, a Scotish author. It is employed by an Eng-
lish writer of high reputation ; " Murat<»i, in his treatise on the poetry
of Italy, has accordingly adduced several of the sonnets of Lorenzo as ex-
amples of elegant composition." (Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo df
vol. i. p. 277.)

435

In the selection of idioms, the principal Scot-
ish poets of modern times seem to have been
chiefly regulated by local situation. The language
of Burns and Macneill makes the nearest approach
towards the purity of English ; from which that
of Ross is farest removed. The poems of the lat-
ter, as well as those of the ingenious Robert For-
besk, are composed in the provincial tongue of
Buchan ; which is supposed to exhibit indubita-
ble traces of the language of the ancient Picts.
In the Scotish pieces of Fergussun the dialect pe-
culiar to the inhabitants of Edinburgh and its
immediate environs chiefly prevails. His phrase-
ology differs from that of Ramsay, who inter-
mingles the idiom of the metropolis and of his
native province. " It is my opinion," says Dr
Geddes, u that those who for almost a century
past have written in Scots, Allan Ramsay not ex-
cepted, have not duly discriminated the genuine
Scottish idiom from its vulgarisms. They seem to
have acted a similar part with certain pretended
imitators of Spenser and Milton, who fondly hna-

fc See a publication entitled " Ajax his Speech to the Grecian Knabbs ;
from Ovid's Metam. lib. xiii. Conscderc Juces, et iiulgi stante corona, &c. at-
tempted in broad Buchans by R. F. Gent. To which is added a Journal
to Portsmouth, and a Shop-Bill,in the same dialect; with a Key." Edinb.
1765, lamo. If we may credit Mr Chalmers, this pamphlet was first
printed in 1754. (Life of Ruddiman, p. 259.) To the edition of 1/65 the
Polema-Middinia is subjoined. The Journal to Portsmouth is written in prose.
It appears from this publication that Forbes kept a hosier's shop on
Tower-hill.

3 I s

436

gine that they are copying from those great mo-
dels, when they only mimic their antique mode
of spelling, their obsolete terms, and their irregu-
lar construction1."

Of his serious compositions several possess dis-
tinguished merit. The odes addrest to the bee
and to the gowdspink are no contemptible speci-
mens of Scotish lyric poetry. They contain a
due intermixture of picturesque description and
well-turned moral reflection ; and the versification
often possesses nuich suavity.

The Farmers Ingle is justly regarded as his most
successful effort. Of its manifest beauties Burns
seems to have been fully aware ; it undoubt-
edly suggested to him the subject of his Cotter's
Saturday Night. Each of these poems claims our
decided approbation. The merit of an original
design rests with Fergusson ; but the praise of
exciting the highest degree of interest is due to
Burns. The characters of the persons whom he
introduces are more strongly marked, and his in-
cidents are more varied and striking.

Hallow Fair is a humorous poem of very con-
siderable merit. It displays in a happy mariner
the scenes of noisy and riotous mirth in which a
relaxation from labour is so apt to engage the
lower ranks of society.

His poem entitled Leith Races is of the same
class, but of superior ingenuity. The initial

l Geddes's Dissertation on the Scoto-Saxon Dialect.

437

stanzas are picturesque and beautiful. He com-
mences in the following manner :

In July month, ae bonny morn,

Whan Nature's rokelay green
Was spread o'er ilka rigg o' corn

To charm our roving e'en ;
Glouring about I saw a quean,

The fairest 'neath the lift j
Her een were o' the siller sheen,

Her skin like snawy drift,

Sae white that cTay.

The nymph having addrest him, he thus re-
joins :

An' wha are ye, ray winsome dear,

That take the gate ^ae early ?
Whare do ye win, gin ane may spear ?

For I right mickle ferly,
That sic braw buskit laughing lass

Thir bonny blinks should gie,
An' loup like Hebe o'er the grass,

As wanton an<jl as free

Frae dule this day.

This very engaging personage proves to be no
other than Mirth ; and in a very cordial manner
they agree to proceed to the race-ground. He
seems however to have treated the laughing lass
with no great politeness : after having thus made
her appearance, she is never again presented to
our view. Expectation is excited, without being

438

gratified. The Holy Fair of Burns is liable to
the same objection : and indeed the one pro-
duction is evidently an antitype of the other.

The exordium of The Holy Fair is as follows :

•

Upon a simmer Sunday morn,

When Nature's face is fair,
I walked forth to view the corn,
» An' snuff the caller air.

The rising sun owre Galston muirs

Wi' glorious light was glintin ;
The hares were hirplin down the furs,
The lav'rocks they were chantin
Fu' sweet that day.

As lightsomely I glowr'd abroad,

To see a scene sae gay,
Three hizzies, early at the road,

Cam skelpin up the way j
Twa had manteeles o' dolefu' black,

But ane wi' lyart lining j
The third, that gaed a wee a-back,

Was in the fashion shining,

Fu' gay that day.

Fergusson has not, like Montague, Erskine,
and Jenner, presented us with a series of poetical
essays under the title of Town Eclogues ; but in
lively descriptions of a town-life much of his me-
rit will be found to consist. Auld Reikie, the
longest as well as one of the best of his produc-
tions, is a profest delineation of those incidents,
customs, and manners, which to a certain extent

439

are introduced into almost all his humorous poems
in the Scotish dialect. It exhibits the general
characteristics of his more successful efforts.
The serious is blended with the gay in such a
manner as to render the effect of the whole ex-
tremely ludicrous. It displays much acuteness
of observation, and the happiest powers of humor-
ous description.

" Caller Oysters," " Caller Water," "Braid
Claith," " The Daft Days," and " The King's
Birth-Day in Edinburgh," are pieces of humour
which have always been redd with much pleasure.
The last of these poems contains the following
risible invocation :

O Muse ! be kind, an' dinna fash us
To flee awa beyont Parnassus,
Nor seek for Helicon to wash us,

That heath'nish spring 5
Wi' Highland whisky scour, our hawses,

An' gar us sing.

Begin then, dame, ye've drunk your fill ;
You woudna hae the tither gill ?
You'll trust me, mair would do you ill,

An' ding you doited :
Troth, 'twould be sair against my will

To hae the wyte o't.

When we consider the circumstances in which
he was placed, it will not appear surprising that
his poems exhibit frequent instances of inaccura-
cy of thought, and incorrectness of expression.

440

Many faults might without difficulty be detect-
ed; but his compositions ought always to be
treated with a certain degree of lenity. To ap-
ply the rigour of criticism to the unpremeditated
effusions of such an author, would evince mow
zeal than good-nature.

Carminis incompti tenuem lecture libellum,

Pone supercilium.
Seria contractis expende poemata rugis :

Nos Thymelen sequimur.

Ausoxius.

Upon a general survey of Fergusson's poetical
efforts, it will appear that he possessed quickness
of conception and facility of expression. " His
compositions are the offspring of fancy rather than
of imagination. Though they do not display
those high powers of invention which character-
ize the works of vigorous genius, they yet exhibit
such a spritely vein of poetry as will always re-
commend itself to the lovers of gaiety, humour,
and Doric simplicity. He inherited from nature'
a strong sense of the ridiculous ; his talent for
delineating humorous and ludicrous scenes has
very rarely been exceeded. In his descriptions
of the various objects and occurrences connected
with the metropolis of Scotland, he appears to
the utmost advantage: many circumstances which
a common observer would leave unregarded, he
has presented to the mind in a novel and highly
manner.

THE

LIFE

OF

ROBERT BURNS.

THE

LIFE

OF

ROJ5ERT BURNS*

AMONG the unfortunate sons of genius whom
the present age has beheld descending into an un-
timely grave, we cannot hesitate in assigning a
preeminent station to Robert Burns; a man whose
native vigour of intellect elevated him far above
the ordinary standard ; a man whose lamentable
deviations from the sober paths of life had almost
degraded him to a level with the outcasts of so-
ciety* To counterbalance his errors, he was un-
questionably possest of noble virtues : and al-
though it can never be justifiable to write an apo-
logy for vice, it may at least be deemed pardon^
able to offer some palliation for the backslidings
of a man so fatally exposed to untoward accidents.
Impartiality of judgment it can never be pre-

3K 2

444

posterous /to exercise; but rigid and unrelenting
scrutiny is not the province of those who are
aware of the general lot of humanity, and of their
individual breaches of the multifarious duties
which religion and morality impose.

Robert Burns was born on the twenty-fifth day
of January a, one thousand seven hundred and fif-
ty-nine, in a small cottage situated at the distance
of about two miles from the town of Ayr. His
father, William Burns, Burnes, or Burness, was
the son of a farmer in the county of Kincardine.
The depression of circumstances into which the
family had fallen, compelled William, together
with Robert his elder brother, to abandon the
place of his nativity, in the hope of experiencing
a better fortune in some other part of the island.
On the top of a hill in the vicinity of their native
hamlet, the two youthful .adventurers separated
from each other, in an agony of mind which the
uncertainty of their future destiny could not fail
to produce. William was then in the nineteenth
year of his age, and possest of a degree of strength
and skill sufficient to qualify him for the occupa-
tion of a gardener. Having for some time fol-
lowed this employment at Edinburgh, he remov-
ed to the county of Ayr, where he found means
to engage himself as gardener to the laird of
Fairly. In the service of this gentleman he con-

a This date has been authenticated by the parish-register of Ayr, Da
Carrie places his birth on the twenty-ninth of January.

445

tinned for the space of two years ; and was next
entertained in the same capacity by Crawford of
Doonside. From Dr Campbell, a physician in
Ayr, he afterwards took a perpetual lease of seven
acres of land ; which he proposed to convert into
a public garden and nursery. Here he built with
his own hands one of those clay edifices which the
wilds of Scotland still present in sufficient abun-
dance, and which are frequently constructed with
some degree of internal elegance. In the year
1757 he married Agnes Brown, who bore him six
children. Before he had reduced his ground to
a proper state of cultivation, he was induced to
engage himself as overseer and gardener to Mr
Ferguson, who had purchased the estate of Doon-
holm. It was while he remained in this last si-
tuation that he saw himself the father of a son
who was to reflect such distinguished lustre on
the humble annals of his family.

In the sixth year of his age Robert was sent to
a private school at Alloway Mill, situated at the
distance of about a mile from his father's cottage.
The teacher, whose name was Campbell, having
within the space of a few months been appointed
master of the work-house at Ayr, John Murdoch
was engaged, by William Burns and some other
heads of families, to .supply his place. Under his
tuition Robert and his younger brother Gilbert
learned to read English with some degree of faci-
lity and correctness. They were likewise taught

to write, and were instructed in the elements oi
grammar. To his subsequent intercourse with
Murdoch, Robert was considerably indebted. The
preceptor, although his own education had been
limited and incomplete, was a man of a liberal
spirit. He exerted himself with friendly zeal in
cherishing the opening genius of the little pea-
sant ; he supplied him with such books as his own
library contained, and superintended his studies
with unremitting assiduity. The Life of Hannibal,
, the first book which Burns perused except those
commonly redd in country schools, was kindly
furnished by Murdoch.

As he was still a very unskilful penman, his
father sent him, when about thirteen years of
age, to the parish-school of Dalrymple. Here the
two brothers continued their attendance for a
week alternately during a summer quarter. In
1772 John Murdoch, being one of five candidates,
was appointed master of the English school of
Ayr. During the following year Burns went to
board and lodge at his house, for the purpose of
being further instructed in the principles of gram-
mar. Having remained about ten days, he was
recalled to assist his father in the labours of the
harvest ; for notwithstanding his tender years, he
could already perform the part of a man. After
a short interval he returned to Ayr, and prose-'
cuted his studies for the limited term of a fort-*
night. Murdoch, who was himself engaged irt

447

learning the French language, was eager to com-
municate his recent knowledge to so interesting
a pupil : and when Burns returned home, he per-
severed in the scheme with considerable diligence
fand success. He was now imboldened to attempt
the acquisition of the Latin language without the
aid of a master : but fro;n this eriterprize he soon
desisted. A summer quarter winch he afterwards
spent at the parish-school of Kirkoswald, com-
pletes the enumeration of his scholastic educa-
tion. In his curious letter to the late Dr Moore
he thus describes the effects of his residence at
Kirkoswald: " Another circumstance in my life
which made some alteration in my mind and
manners, was, that I spent my nineteenth summer
on a smuggling coast, a good distance from home,
at a, noted school, to learn mensuration, surveying,
dialling, &c. in which I made a pretty good pro-
gress. But I made a greater progress in the
knowledge of mankind. The contraband trade
was at that time very successful, and it sometimes
happened to me to fall in with those who carried
it on. Scenes of swaggering riot and roaring dis-
sipation were till this time new to me, but I was
no enemy to social life. Here, though I learnt
to fill my glass, and to mix without fear in a
drunken squabble, yet I went on with a high
hand with my geometry ; till the sun entered
Virgo, a month which is always a carnival in my
bosom, when a charming filktte who lived next

448

door to the school, overset my trigonometry, a
set me off' at a tangent from the sphere of my
studies. —

" I returned home very considerably improved.
My reading was enlarged with the very import-
ant addition of Thomson's and Shenstone's works ;
I had seen human nature in a new phasis ; and I
engaged several of my school-fellows to keep up
a literary correspondence with me. This improved
me in composition. I had met with a collection
of letters by the wits of Queen Anne's reign, and
I pored over them most devoutly. I kept copies
of any of my own letters that pleased me, and a
comparison between them and the composition
of most of my correspondents, flattered my vanity.
I carried this whim so far, that though I had not
three farthings worth of business in the world,
yet almost every post brought me as many letters
as if I had been a broad plodding son of day-book
and ledger."

In the year 1766 William Burns had obtained
from Mr Ferguson a lease of the farm of Mount
Oliphant in the parish of Ayr. To enable him
to stock this farm, which consisted of upwards of
eighty English acres, his patron generously ad-
vanced him a loan of one hundred pounds. He
was at liberty to resign his lease at the expiration
of every sixth year. Finding, after the first arriv-
al of this term, that his farm was inadequate to
the support of his family, he made a fruitless at-

449

tempt to form a more advantageous establishment
of the same kind. At the end of the twelfth year
he removed to Lochlea, a farm in the parish of
Tarbolton. After having resided here for the
space of several years, a misunderstanding arose
between him and his landlord respecting the con-
ditions of the lease : and as these had not accord-
ing to the legal form been committed to writing,
the impendent dispute was referred to arbitra-
tors. The decision involved his affairs in ruin,
which he however did not live to witness. He
died at Lochlea on the thirteenth of February,
1784. His two sons have described him as a man
of consummate virtue : and John Murdoch like-
wise mentions him in terms of unqualified appro-
bation*, " Agnes Brown," he remarks, " had the
most thorough esteem for her husband, of any
woman I ever knew. I can by no means wonder
that she highly esteemed him ; for I myself have
always considered William Burns as by far the
best of the human race that ever I had the plea-
sure of being acquainted with — and many a wor-
thy character I have known." The following epi-
taph For the Author's Father occurs among the-
works of Burns :

O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains,
Draw near with pious rev'rence and attend !

Here lie the loving husband's dear remains,
The tender father, and the gen'rous friend )

VOL. II. 3 L

450

The pitying heart that felt for human woe ;

The dauntless heart that fear'd no human pride
The friend of man, to vice alone a foe j

" For ev'n his failings leanM to virtue's side."

This estimable member of society had long
struggled with the evils of life : and when his
sons arrived at the years of reflection, they found
themselves surrounded by many formidable dif-
ficulties. The situation of their father's affairs
rendered it necessary to inure them to habits of
hardy industry, in which it would have been for-
tunate for the elder if he had always persisted.
The family entertained no hired servant, either
male or female. At the age of thirteen Robert
had begun to assist in the operation of threshing;
and two years afterwards he was the principal
labourer on the farm. To the hard labour and
domestic sorrows of this early period of his life,
we may in some measure impute the habitual
melancholy to which he at length became sub-
ject.

His vigour however was unsubdued by these
depressing circumstances : under every disadvan-
tage he continued to cultivate the uncommon
talents of which he was conscious. Although he
still retained the character of a pious and indus-
trious young man, he had already begun to dis-
play a strong bias towards convivial pleasures.
His affections were warm and generous ; and his

451

powers of conception as well as of communica-
tion were unrivalled in the circle where he was
condemned to move. These qualifications pre-
pared him for social enjoyment, and rendered his
acquaintance highly acceptable. In the year
1780 he formed a kind of literary institution in
the village of Tarbolton, consisting of himself, his
brother Gilbert, -and other five young men of the
same condition in life. They afterwards admitted
additional members ; and, among the rest, David
Sillar, who himself published a volume of poems
in the Scotish dialect, and who is also known from
Burns's two epistles. Some fragments of the book
in which the members of the Bachelor's Club re-
corded their transactions, have fortunately been
preserved : they exhibit sketches characteristic of
the unfolding genius of Burns. The last article
of their regulations is too remarkable to be omit-
ted : " Every man proper for a member of this
society, must have a frank honest open heart,
above any thing dirty or mean ; and must be a
profest lover of one or more of the female sex.
No haughty self-conceited person, who looks up-
on himself as superior to the rest of the club, and
especially no mean-spirited worldly mortal whose
only will is to heap up money, shall upon any
pretence whatever be admitted. In short, the
proper person for this society is a chearful honest-
hearted lad ; who, if he has a friend that is true,
and a mistress that is kind, and as much wealth

452

as genteely to make both ends meet, is just as
happy as this world can make him." The meet-
ing of the club took place on the evening of
every fourth monday : and the members were
presented with an opportunity of exercising their
powers of rational disquisition, as well as of in-
dulging their social propensities. When Burns
afterwards removed to the neighbourhood of
Mauchline, he and his brother were requested to
assist in the formation of another institution of
the same nature. But the Bachelor's Club, when
deprived of its most powerful member, was not
long preserved from dissolution.

The two brothers had entered into the specula-
tion of renting from their father a small plot of
ground for the purpose of raising flax : and in or-
der to render their plan more profitable, Robert
formed the resolution of learning the trade of a
flax-dresser. In 1781 he accordingly fixed his
residence at Irvine, and carried his scheme into
execution : but after he had persevered for about
six months, the shop was accidentally set on fire
while the flax-dressers were " giving a welcome
carousal to the new year." This incident closed
his operations as a mechanic.

The death of his father soon afterwards ensued.
About this time he and his brother had taken the
farm of Mossgiel near Mauchline, at the annual
rent of ninety pounds. This spot they proposed
to convert into an asylum for the* dejected fami-

453

ly of their father. Each member lent his as*
sistance towards the management of the rural
pr domestic affairs ; and was allowed a propor-
tion of the product in the form of stipulated
wages. Robert received the annual sum of seven
pounds : and such was his frugality at this peri-
od, that he never in a single instance suffered
his expences to exceed his income. But his re-
sidence at Irvine had not contributed to increase
his reverence for virtue : here he began to asso-
ciate with companions whose manners were cal-
culated to counteract the effects of those pious les-
sons which had been instilled into his mind.
Among other intimates he numbered a young
sailor of an interesting character, but of that
laxity of moral pri-nciples which so frequently at-
taches itself to the profession. " I had pride be-
fore," says Burns, " but he taught it to flow in
proper channels. His knowledge of the world
was vastly superior to mine, and I was all atten-
tion to learn. He was the only man I ever saw
who was a greater fool than myself, where wo-
man was the presiding star ; but he spoke of il-
licit love with the levity of a sailor, which hi-,
therto I had regarded with horror. Here his
friendship did me a mischief, and the consequence
was, that soon after I resumed the plough, I
wrote" Rob the Rhymer's Welcome to his Bastard
fflild. His father, fortunately for his domestic;

454-

peace, did not live to be acquainted with the
deviation to which these expressions refer.

His susceptibility of the tender passion was
extreme ; and although occasionally the source
of many high raptures, it as frequently exposed
him to mortification and anguish. His love
however was not of the true poetical cast ; it did
not tamely confine itself to one fair object, but
ranged with somewhat of licentiousness through
the pleasures of variety. It was during his resi-
dence at Mossgiel that he formed a connection
with Jean Armour, his future wife. In the un-
restrained ardour of youthful attachment, their
intercourse became more familiar than the laws
of religion and of society authorize. The effects
of this intercourse were at length apparent.
Burns was not in a condition to form a new do-
mestic establishment ; but his generous heart
rendered him extremely solicitous to afford the
only reparation which now remained within
his reach. He accordingly presented her with
marriage-lines: and proposing to leave her in the
mean time to the protection of her parents, he
declared his resolution of exiling himself to Ja-
maica till he should be enabled to place her in
her proper station as his wife. When her parents
however were apprized of her real situation, they
expressed their strong disapprobation of the con-
nection : and in the anguish of her mind she
complied with their earnest entreaties to destroy

455

the documents of her matrimonial relation to
Burns. This circumstance filled his mind with
inexpressible agony. He avowed his willingness
to remain at home and endeavour to provide for
his family, should they prefer that measure to
his becoming an adventurer in the West Indies :
but even this proposal did not meet with the ap-
probation of her circumspect parents ; they still
cherished a hope that notwithstanding her im-
prudence of conduct, she might afterwards form
some more desirable connection. In this decision
he was therefore under the necessity of acquiesc-
ing ; but the misery occasioned by a separation
under such circumstances as these, left him lit-
tle relish for the scenes or avocations of his native
country. He immediately engaged himself as
an assistant overseer on the estate of a Dr Doug-
las in the island of Jamaica. He was not how-
ever master of a sum of money sufficient to de-
fray the expences of the voyage ; and the vessel
in which his employer was to procure him a pas-
sage, was not ready for sea. While he yet linger-
ed in his native land, he was persuaded by Mr
Gavin Hamilton of Ayr to publish by subscrip-
tion a collection of the poems with which he had
already delighted his particular friends. " I
weighed my productions," says Burns, " as im-
partially as was in my power ; I thought they
had merit ; and it was a delicious idea that I should
be called a clever fellow, even though it should

456

never reach my ears — a poor negro-driver — or per*
haps a victim to that inhospitable clime,- and gong
to the world of spirits ! I can truly say, that pauvre
inconnu as I then was, I had pretty nearly as high
an idea of myself and of my works, as I have at
this moment, when the public has decided in
their favour* It ever was my opinion that the
mistakes and blunders both in a rational and re-
ligious point of view, of which we see thousands
daily guilty, are owing to their ignorance of them-
selves. To know myself has been all along my
constant study. I weighed myself alone ; I
balanced myself with others ; I watched every
means of information, to see how much ground
I occupied as a man and as a poet : I studied as-
siduously nature's design in my formation; where
the lights and shades of my character were in-
tended. I was pretty confident my poems would
meet with some applause ; but at the worst, the
roar of the Atlantic would deafen the voice of
censure, and the novelty of .West-Indian scenes
make me forget neglect. I threw off six hundred
copies, of which I had got subscriptions for about
three hundred and fifty. My vanity was highly
gratified by the reception I met with from the
public ; and besides, I pocketed, all expences de-
ducted, nearly twenty pounds. This sum came
very seasonably, as I was thinking of indenting
myself, for want of money to procure my pas-
sage. As soon as I was master of nine guineas.

457

the price of wafting me to the torrid fcone, I
took a steerage passage in the first ship that was to
sail from the Clyde." He describes himself as
skulking at this time from covert to covert -un-
der all the terrors of a jail ; with which he was
threatened unless he should find legal security for
the maintenance of his future progeny.

The volume was published at Kilmarnock in
the year 1786, under the title of Poems chiefly
in the Scottish Dialect. The impression was very
speedily disperst ; and the work was instantly
recognized as a literary phenomenon. Arnid
his agricultural labours, Burns had cultivated his
vigorous talents with wonderful assiduity and
success : his native fire, unquenched by the chill-
ing influence of his situation, had long been
cherished in secret, and now began to blaze with
a degree of splendour which astonished even the
lettered class of his countrymen. The Rev. Dr
Lawrie of Loudon had presented a copy of the
poems to his friend Dr Blacklock ; who in ac-
knowledging the favour, expressed in very strong
terms his admiration of the rustic poet : " Many
instances have I seen of nature's force and benefi-
cence, exerted under numerous and formidable
disadvantages ; but none equal to that with which
you have been kind enough to present me. There
is a pathos and delicacy in his serious poems, a
vein of wit and humour in those of a more festive
turn, which cannot be too much admired, nor

VOL. II. 3 M

458

too warmly approved : and I think I shall never
open the book without feeling my astonishment
renewed and increased. It was my wish to have
expressed my approbation in verse ; but whether
from declining life or a temporary depression of
spirits, it is at present out of my power to ac-
complish that agreeable to my intention. It

has been told me by a gentleman, to whom I
shewed the performances, and who sought a copy
With diligence and ardour, that the whole im-
pression is already exhausted. It were therefore
much to be wished, for the sake of the young
man, that a second edition, more numerous than
the former, could immediately be printed ; as
it appears certain that its intrinsic merit, and
the exertion of the author's friends, might give
it a more universal circulation than any thing of
the kind which has been published within my
memory."

When Dr Blacklock's letter was communicat-
ed to Burns, it roused his literary ambition to a
high pitch : and although he had already taken
leave of his friends, yet he immediately aban-
doned his scheme of emigration, and proceeded
without delay to the Scotish metropolis. Travel-
ling on foot, he arrived at Edinburgh in the
month of November, 1786, Mr Mackenzie con-
tributed to procure him a favourable reception,
by publishing in Th,. LA nggf an ace -..it ci this"
Ayrshire plowman, with extracts from his poems,

459

He had already been introduced to Mr Stewart,
and to the Earl of Glencairn. Dr Lawrie had
furnished him with a letter of introduction to
Dr Blacklock, a man of a cultivated taste, and
of the most pure and active benevolence. By
the exertions of such friends as these, Burns was
speedily introduced into almost every literary or
fashionable circle : and the expectations which
he had previously excited, were invariably sur-
past on personal acquaintance. He experienc-
ed a welcome reception from Dr Robertson,
Lord Monboddo, Dr Blair, Dr Gregory, Mr
Mackenzie, Mr Fraser Tytler, and other men of
talents and learning. Of the generous friendship
of the Earl of Glencairn he always spcke in en-
thusiastic terms. At the suggestion of this noble-
man he was patronized by the members of the
Caledonian Hunt, and invited to bear a part in
their gay carousals. He expressed his sensibility
of tbeir friendship by inscribing the enlarged edi-
tion of his poems to the association. This edi-
tion was printed at Edinburgh in the year 1787;
and was circulated with uncommon rapidity.

Burns was now presented with opportunities
of surveying human nature in a variety of as-
pects ; and the solid and elastic powers of his
understanding enabled him to improve every oc-
casion which offered. Transported as he was in-
to a scene entirely new, he was led to contem-
plate every object with all the eagerness of youth-

460

ful curiosity : he exerted his deep sagacity in ap-
preciating the characters of his associates ; he
stored his imagination with a succession of fresh
images ; he found ample exercise for the warm
and generous affections of his heart. His deport-
ment, in whatever company he happened to find
himself, was manly and becoming. His unfail-
ing good sense supplied the deficiencies of edu-
cation, and prevented him from being over-
whelmed by the protuberances of artificial polite-
ness.

It is remarked by Mr Stewart in his letter to
the editor of Burns, that " the attentions he re-
ceived during his stay in town from all ranks
and descriptions of persons, were such as would
have turned any head but his own. I cannot
say that I could perceive any unfavourable effect
which they left on his mind. He retained the
same simplicity of manners and appearance which
had struck me so forcibly when I first saw him
in the country ; nor did he seem to feel any ad-
ditional self-importance from the number and
rank of his new acquaintance. His dress was
perfectly suited to his station, plain and unpre-
tending, with a sufficient attention to neatness.
If I recollect right, he always wore boots ; and
when on more than usual ceremony, buck-skin
breeches."

The profits of his works having now enabled
him to gratify his inclinations, he determined to

461

.visit some of the pastoral and classic scenes of
his native country. He accordingly left Edin-
burgh on the sixth of May, and, in company
with Mr Ainslie one of his new friends, proceed-
ed on horseback towards the banks of the Tweed.
During his excursion he was introduced to seve-
ral men of literature and fashion ; and among
the rest, to Mr Brydone the traveller, and to Dr
Somerville of Jedburgh, whom he describes as
" a man, and a gentleman, but sadly addicted
to punning.77 At Jedburgh he was presented
with the freedom of the town. Having proceed-
ed as far as Newcastle, he returned homeward
by the counties of Cumberland and Dumfries,
and rejoined his relations after an absence of six
eventful months. After halting a few days, he
revisited Edinburgh, whence he immediately
proceeded on a tour to the Highlands. Returnr
ing to Mossgiel, he spent the month of July in
the society of his friends. In August he again
visited the metropolis. Accompanied by Mr
Adair, now Dr Adair of Harrowgate, he speedily
began another excursion to the Highlands. When
they reached Dunfermline, Burns hastened to
pay his devotions at the tomb of a favourite hero.
" In the church-yard," says Dr Adair, " two broad
flag-stones mark the grave of Robert Bruce, for
whose memory Burns had more than common
veneration. He knelt and kissed the stone with
sacred fervour, and heartily (suus ut mos eraf) exr

462

ecrated the worse than Gothic neglect of the first
of Scottish heroes."

His curiosity was yet unsatisfied: in the month
of September he again set out from Edinburgh,
and returned to visit the romantic scenery of the
Highlands. The companion of his journey was
William Nicoll, one of the masters of the High
School, a man of vigorous intellect and of a
strong bias to convivial pleasures, with whom he
had contracted an intimacy which was only ter-
minated by his death. At Athole-house Burns
was hospitably entertained by the noble family.
Of his behaviour during this visit, Mr Walker
of Perth has exhibited a characteristic delinea-
tion : " My curiosity was great to see how he
would conduct himself in company so different
from what he had been accustomed to. His man-
ner was unembarrassed, plain, and firm. He ap-
peared to have compleat reliance on his own native
good sense for directing his behaviour. He seem-
ed at once to perceive and to appreciate what
\vas due to the company and to himself, and
never to forget a proper respect for the separate
species of dignity belonging to each. He did
not arrogate conversation, but, when let into it,
he spoke with ease, propriety, and manliness.
He tried to exert his abilities, because he knew
it was ability alone gave him a title to be there.
The duke's fine young family attracted much of
his admiration ; he drank their healths as honest

463

Men and bonnie lassies, an idea which was much
applauded by the company."

After a more extended excursion than he had
formerly taken, he returned to the Scotish me-
tropolis. Here he spent the greater part of the
ensuing winter : and the scenes in which he was
frequently engaged did not tend to confirm his
early habits of temperance. His company was
eagerly courted by people of every denomination.
In whatever society he mingled, he never failed
to leave a deep impression of his powerful talents.

On the last day of December he joined a se-
lect party assembled for the purpose of celebrat-
ing the birth-day of Charles Edward Stewart,
the unfortunate representative of a long series of
Scotish kings. The greater part of the mem*
bers of which this annual association was then
composed, were by no means suspected of disaf-
fection to the reigning family : they assembled to
gratify their national pride in recounting the
hardihood of their forefathers, and to indulge
their softer feelings in contemplating the fate of
those gallant men who had so strenuously sup-
ported a cause which they deemed not inglori-
ous. The character of the prince himself was
long recollected in Scotland with a degree of af-
fection which his adverse fortune had contribut-
ed to foster. Whatever might be the political
opinions of his present associates, Burns was
in reality a hearty Jacobite : and on this occa-

464

sion he voluntarily produced a lyric poem, in
which his favourite sentiments were not supprest.
In the month of February, 1788, he procured
a settlement with his bookseller in Edinburgh ;
and, after defraying all the expences which he
had lately incurred, found himself in possession
of nearly five hundred pounds. To his brother
Gilbert5, who still retained the farm of Mossgiel,
he immediately advanced a loan of two hundred:
and with the residue he now proposed to form
some permanent establishment for himself. As
he still professed to adhere to his original occu-
pation, Mr Miller of Dalswintori, ambitious of
becoming the landlord of such a tenant, had in-
vited him in the spring of 1787 to survey his
estate in Nithsdale, for the purpose of selecting
a farm adapted to his own taste and circumstan-
ces. This gentleman, with due liberality, of-
fered him the choice of any of his farms which
were not previously attached by leases ; and left
the annual rent to be appreciated by Burns and
such of his friends as he might consult. After
more than usual deliberation, he selected that of
Ellisland, situated on the banks of the river Nith,
at the distance of six miles from Dumfries. He

b This very intelligent and respectable man is now a farmer in East-
Lothian. — " My brother," says the poet, " wanted my hair-brained
imagination, as well as my social and amorous madness; but in good
sense, an<l every sober qualification, he was far my superior."

465

entered on his lease at the term of Whitsunday,

1788.

Burns, it will be recollected, had been pre-
vented from marrying Jean Armour by the pru-
dential schemes of her parents. The pains of
separation he had felt with excessive keenness :
and his mind was tormented with bitter reflec-
tions till he had accomplished his original inf n-
tion. Of the progress of his intercourse he speaks
in the following terms : " When she first found
herself ' as women wish to be who love their
lords ;' as I loved her nearly to distraction, we
took steps for a private marriage. Her parents
got the hint ; and not only forbade me her com-
pany and their house, but on my rumoured West
Indian voyage, got a warrant to put me in jail,
till 1 should find security in my about-to-be pa^
ternal relation. You know my lucky reverse of
fortune. On my eclatant return to Mauchline,
I was made very welcome to visit my girl. The
usual consequences began to betray her ; and as
I was at that time laid up a cripple in Edinburgh,
she was turned, literally turned out of doors, and
I wrote to a friend to shelter her, till my return,
when our marriage was declared, Her happiness
or misery were in my hands ; and who could
trifle with such a deposit ?

" I can readily fancy a more agreeable compa~
nion for my journey of life, but, upon my honor,
I have never seen the individual instance.'*

VOL. II. 3 N

466

He now formed the resolution of abandoning
the dissipated mode' of life in which he had lately
indulged, and of preparing himself for the stre-
nuous discharge of the duties which had devolved
upon him. His first undertaking was to rebuild
the dwelling house on his farm ; and in the pro-
gress of the work he occasionally resumed the
occupation of a labourer, without experiencing
any diminution of the strength or dexterity by
which he had formerly been distinguished. The
ardour however which he now displayed, did not
long continue to animate his exertions : his
mind had in a great measure been devested of its
early habits of adaptation ; and, whatever flatter-
ing prospects might have presented themselves
to his imagination, he soon found that agriculture
and happiness are not inseparably connected.
The attractions of his wit and social qualities ul-
timately effected his ruin. Such of his neighbours
as professed to admire that species of excellence
of which he could boast, were eager to number
him among their associates ; and the various
temptations which thus allured him, he was but
indifferently prepared to resist. The occupations
of a farmer speedily lost their charms ; and the
next speculation by which he endeavoured to
improve his condition, was still less adapted to
the delicate feelings of a poetical mind. In the
year 1786 lie had hinted an intention of request-
ing employment from the board of excise ; and

467

Sir John Whiteford, whom he commemorates as
" the first gentleman in the country whose bene-
volence and goodness of heart had been interested
for him, unsolicited and unknown," had liberally
offered his services in promoting the poet's suc-
cess in that or any other department. Mr Alex-
ander Wood, who attended him at Edinburgh
during his confinement in consequence of a frac-
ture or dislocation, had made zealous application
to the board as soon as he was apprized of his
project : and the name of Burns had immediately
been enrolled in the list of expectants c. After
his removal to Ellisland he solicited employment;
and by the intervention of Mr Graham of Fintry,
with whom he had become acquainted at Athole-
house, he was nominated for the district in which
he had fixed his residence. This was the prelude
to his subsequent misfortunes. " His farm," says
one of his biographers, " was after this, in a great
measure abandoned to servants, while he betook
himself to the duties of his new appointment.
He might indeed still be seen in the spring,
directing his plough, a labour in which he ex-
celled ; or with a white sheet containing his seed-
corn slung across his shoulders, striding with
measured steps, along his turned up furrows, and
scattering the grain in the earth. But his farm
no longer occupied the principal part of his care

c Heron's Memoir of the Life of the late Robert Barns, p. 33.
Edinb. 1797, 8vo.

3 N 2

468

or his thoughts. It was not at Ellisland that he
was now in general to be found. Mounted on
horseback, this high-minded poet was pursuing
the defaulters of the revenue, among the hills and
vales of Nithsdale, his roving eye wandering over
the charms of nature, and ' muttering his way-
ward fancies' as he moved along."

With the more adventurous part of his duty
the lofty spirit of Burns seems to have been suf-
ficiently delighted. What feats of valour he per-
formed, I know not ; but he seems to have pre-
pared him-, Jf fur dangerous exploits. When he
exclaims in one of his songs, " I hae a gude braid
sword," we are to understand him literally. In
the summer of 1791 two gentlemen who came to
visit him, found the poetical exciseman in a war-
like trim : on his head he wore a cap made of a
fox's skin ; and from a belt which served to con-
fine the wandering of a loose great-coat, depend-
ed an enormous claymore. In this garb he stood
on a rock that projects into the Nith, and amused
himself with angling.

In the mean time his poetical recreations were
not totally abandoned. Several of the* songs
which he composed about this period, were in-
serted in Johnson's Scots Poetical Museum.

These pursuits had no tendency to improve his
fortune. That part of his domestic economy
which devolved on Mrs Burns, was conducted
with singular prudence ; "but on his side there

469

were too many deficiencies. After having re-
mained at Ellisland for three years and a half, he
found it expedient to resign his farm. It was
towards the close of the year 1791 that he re-
moved to a small house in Dumfries. His hopes
of preferment were still sanguine : and in the
mean time he proposed to support himself and
his family by his emolument as a simple excise-
man ; which had lately been advanced to seventy
pounds a year.

Till he fixed his residence in Dumfries, his
irregularities, though by no means unfrequent,
had not become inveterately habitual: the tempt-
ations however to which he was now exposed,
proved too powerful for his better impressions ;
after various struggles against the stream of dissi-
pation which was gradually surrounding him, he
at length suffered himself to be rapidly carried
along by its fatal current. A large proportion of
the more genteel or more idle inhabitants of
Dumfries consists of men connected with the pro-
fession of law : and in some of these, as well
as in other inhabitants of the town arid its vici-
nity, Burns found associates from whom it was
not to be expected that he should learn sobriety.
The fame of his literary character also exposed
him to the company of every stranger who pro-
fessed a respect for poetry. As their interviews
commonly took place in taverns, his familiarity
with riotous excess was daily increasing. In the

470

midst of such distractions, it must have been im-
possible for him to discharge the duties of his
office with that regularity which is almost indis-
pensible.

His preferment was also retarded by another
circumstance. About this period the attention
of Europe was ardently roused by those astonish-
ing events that had befallen in a country to
which Britain has always directed her eyes. The
revolution in France had presented new prospects
to the friends of humanity and to the lovers of
rapine : one class of speculators hoped that the
reign of philosophy had already commenced;
another was convinced that a glorious scene of
action was opening for those who might other-
wise have lived and died in villainous obscurity.
In Britain the event was eagerly hailed by many
benevolent and enlightened men, who predicted
the happiest consequences, not only to France in
particular, but ultimately to the numerous states
of Europe. The extravagance of their first im-
pressions they have at length found themselves
compelled to moderate : they have found that of
all civilized countries, France is the least calculated
for realizing any scheme of rational liberty ; that
her professions with regard to the disinterested
promotion of the general welfare of mankind are
hollow, deceitful, and even ridiculous ; and that
the levity of the national character is so inveterate
as to leave no solid grounds of consolatory or

471

pleasing hope with respect to her own internal
regulations. They who still persit in contem-
plating France as the future parent of European
freedom, must certainly have approached the
brink of insanity.

Burns' was one of those who openly rejoiced at
the apparent emancipation of so large a propor-
tion of the human species. His feelings were
naturally violent ; and the stimulus of intoxication
inevitably increased his imprudence of speech.
They who admitted the principles and applauded
the exertions of the French politicians, were
generally led to entertain extravagant schemes of
premature reformation in the constitution of
their native country. The flame of innovation
was widely kindled ; but its lustre was obscured
by a cloud of smoke. In the administration of
the British government, Burns perceived or fan-
cied he perceived multifarious abuses ; nor did he
hesitate to declaim with unbriddled freedom con-
cerning the urgent necessity of a radical reform-
ation. But at the total overthrow of a political
constitution so beautiful in theory, and so toler-
able in practice, it cannot be supposed that hi*
wildest wishes ever aimed. In his common-place
book, which he could not expect to be perused
by others till after his decease, he has exprest
himself in the following terms: " Whatever migKt
be my sentiments of republics, ancient or modern,
as to Britain, I ever abjured the idea. A con-

472

stitution which in its original principles expe-
rience has proved to be every way fitted for our
happiness, it would be insanity to abandon for an
untried visionary theory." Surmizes however,
which he indeed had not been sufficiently careful
to prevent, were ungenerously propagated to his
disadvantage : and the board of excise deemed it
necessary to appoint a superior officer to investi-
gate his conduct. In an eloquent letter addrest
to one of their number, he exculpated himself
with becoming dignity from the charges which
had been preferred against him : and the officer
who had been commissioned to institute a formal
enquiry, could discover no substantial grounds of
accusation. Mr Graham of Fintry, in whom he
had always found a steady and zealous friend,
was ready on the present occasion to secure him
from the threatened consequences of his impru-
dence. Of imprudence he was undoubtedly
guilty : and the board, although they suffered
him to retain his present office, sent him an inti-
mation that his advancement must now be deter-
mined by his future behaviour.

These occurrences did not fail of producing
deep mortification : from this period his prospects
must have appeared sufficiently gloomy ; and his
late conduct was exaggerated with all the deco-
rations of malevolent stupidity. It was even re-
ported that he had been dismist from his office :
and in consequence of this erroneous intelligence.

473

some gentleman of great respectability proposed
a subscription for the relief of his present neces-
sities. This benevolent offer he declined with
that native dignity of mind which might have
been expected from a man of genius. In the
letter which conveyed his acknowledgments, he
also took occasion to allude to the reports which
had been industriously circulated to his prejudice.
" The partiality of my countrymen," says the
indignant bard, " has brought me forward as a
man of genius, and has given me a character to
support. In the poet I have avowed manly and
independent sentiments, which I hope have been
found in the man. Reasons of no less weight
than the support of a wife and children have
pointed out my present occupation as the only
elegible line of life within my reach. Still my
honest fame is my dearest concern, and a thousand
times have I trembled at the idea of the degrad-
ing epithets that malice or misrepresentation may
affix to my name. Often in blasting anticipation
have 1 listened to some future hackney scribbler,
with the heavy malice of savage stupidity, exult-
ingly asserting that Burns, notwithstanding the
fanfaronnade of independence to be found in his
works, and after having been held up to public
view, and to public estimation, as a man of some
genius, yet, quite destitute of resources within
himself to support his borrowed dignity, dwindled
into a paultry exciseman, and slunk out the rest
VOL. II. 3 O

474-

of his insignificant existence in the meanest pur-
suits, and among the lowest of mankind.

" In your illustrious hands, Sir, permit me to
lodge my strong disavowal of such slanderous
falsehoods. Burns was a poor man from his
birth, and an exciseman by necessity : but — I
will say it, the sterling of his honest worth pover-
ty could not debase, and his independent British
spirit oppression might bend, but could not
subdue."

In 1795 he exhibited public proofs of his
loyalty ; be enrolled himself among the Dumfries
volunteers, and by his poetical effusions endea-
voured to incite them to patriotic exertion.

Notwithstanding his increasing habits of dissi-
pation, he still devoted some of his more rational
hours to the composition of poetry : but his pro-
ductions had now begun to assume a deeper
tinge from the altered character of the author.
During this year the editor of a London news-
paper, by offering him an annual recompense of
fifty-two guineas, endeavoured to obtain from
him a weekly contribution to the poetical de-
partment. But in this proposal' he could not be
induced to acquiesce ; though such a supply
would have been found no superfluous addition
to his scanty provision.

About this period he began to present indica-
tions of declining health : and although his
appetite was still unimpaired, he seems to have

475

been aware of the gradual approach of dissolution.
Of the madness of his late career he was deeply
sensible, but was now without the power of re-
treat. His constitution was deprived of its
native energies, and could only be preserved
from overwhelming languor by the aid of stimu-
lant liquors. In this deplorable state of body as
well as of mind, he was eager to avoid the pangs
of solitary reflection, and was even incapable of
relishing domestic or rational society. He rush-
ed into the company of men whom in his purer
days he would have despised and shunned ; he de-
graded his noble faculties to so mean a level, that
many of his earlier friends became half-ashamed
of having contracted such an intimacy. From
the shelter of his domestic retreat, he was not
however expelled by the upbraidings of the still-
affectionate object of his youthful attachment :
whatever errors he might himself be conscious of
having committed, the bitterness of remorse was
not augmented by her murmurs or complaints.
Often did he acknowledge his numerous breaches
of the duties of a husband and a father: and her
promptitude to forgive his offences was undiminish-
ed by the frequency of their repetition. His pene-
tential declarations were accompanied by pro-
mises of amendment ; but the task of reformation
being still deferred till some future day, his
habits gradually became more pernicious.

476

From the month of October to that of Janu
he was confined to his house by an accidental
complaint. He had scarcely begun to venture
abroad, when with his usual imprudence he dined
at a tavern, and suffered himself to fall into in-
toxication. Returning home about three o'clock
in the ensuing morning, he found himself siezed
with a numbness, which was soon followed by an
attack of rheumatism. He now exhibited symp-
toms of the most alarming kind : and, contrary
to the hope of his friends, the return of summer
-produced no favourable change in his sinking
constitution. Towards the close of June he was
advised to try the influence of country air. His
medical biographer, who represents him as im-
patient of medical advice, and of every species of
controul, informs us that he determined for him-
self to have recourse to the simple remedy of sea-
bathing d. He accordingly hastened to the village
of Brow, situated on the shore of Solway Firth at
the distance of about ten miles from Dumfries.
His ingenious friend Mrs Riddell was at this time
residing in the immediate vicinity. When in-
formed of his arrival, she sent him an invitation
to dinner, and accompanied it with her own car-
riage to convey him over the short tract which lay

fl This assertion is however contradicted by a passage in one of his
own letters : " The medical folks tell me that my last and only chance
is bathing, and country-quarters, and riding." (Burns's Worhs> vol. il
p. 468.)

477

between them. Of their interview she soon
afterwards communicated a circumstantial ac-
count to one of her friends : and an extract from
her letter will serve to delineate the real senti-
ments of Burns during this melancholy crisis of
his life : " We had a long and serious conversation
about his present situation, and the approaching
termination of all his earthly prospects. He
spoke of his death without any of the ostentation
of philosophy, but with firmness as well as feel-
ing— as an event likely to happen very soon, and
which gave him concern chiefly from leaving his
four children so young and unprotected, and his
wife in so interesting a situation — in hourly ex-
pectation of lying in of a fifth. He mentioned,
with seeming pride and satisfaction, the promising
genius of his eldest son, and the flattering marks
of approbation he had received from his teachers,
and dwelt particularly on his hopes of that boy's
future conduct and merit. His anxiety for his
family seemed to hang heavy upon him, and the
more perhaps from the reflection that he had not
done them all the justice he was so well qualified
to do. Passing from this subject, he shewed
great concern about the care of his literary fame,
and particularly the publication of his posthumous
works. He said he was well aware that his
death would occasion some noise, and that every
scrap of his writing would be revived against him
to the injury of his future reputation ; that letters

478

and verses written with improper freedom, a
which he earnestly wished to have buried in
oblivion, would be handed about by idle vanity
or malevolence, when no dread of his resentment
would restrain them, or prevent the censures of
shrill-tongued malice, or the insidious sarcasms
of envy, from pouring forth all their venom to
blast his fame.

" He lamented that he had written many epi-
grams on persons against whom he entertained
no enmity, and whose characters he should be
sorry to wound ; and many indifferent poetical
pieces, which he feared would now, with all their
imperfections on their head, be thrust upon the
world. On this account he deeply regretted
having deferred to put his papers into a state of
arrangement, as he was now quite incapable of
the exertion."

From sea-bathing Burns derived no permanent
relief : it had indeed the effect of alleviating the
rheumatical pains which he had felt in his limbs ;
but this flattering symptom was immediately fol-
lowed by a fresh attack of fever. His misery was
increased by the state of his pecuniary affairs ;
and the horrors of a jail frequently haunted his
distempered imagination. In a letter dated July
the twelfth, 1796, he thus addresses himself to
Mr George Thomson : " After all my boasted in-
dependence, curst necessity compels me to implore
you for five pounds. A cruel ***** of a

479

haberdasher to whom I owe an account, taking-
it into his head that I am dying, has commenced
a process, and will infallibly put me into jail.
Do, for God's sake, send me that sum, and that
by return of post. Forgive me this earnestness,
but the horrors of a' jail have made me half dis-
tracted. I do not ask all this gratuitously ; for
upon returning health, I hereby promise and en-
gage to furnish you with five pounds worth of
the neatest song genius you have seen." Burns
had supplied Mr Thomson with many beautiful
songs for the collection which he was then pre-
paring to publish. This gentleman was un-
willing that his friend should labour without
recompense, and on one occasion had ventured
to send him a pecuniary present ; but the mode
in which it wasi received, had deterred him from
renewing a similar offer.

On the eighteenth of July Burns was removed
to his own house. His debility was now so much
increased, that he was unable to stand upright.
He lingered a few days longer in a state of miser-
able depression, which was occasionally succeed-
ed by phrenzy ; and at length expired on the
twenty-first day of the month. He died in the
thirty-eighth year of his age.

The glaring follies of the man were now for-
gotten, and the premature and melancholy fate
of the poet was alone remembered : his death ex-
cited the deepest regret in a very numerous class

480

of his countrymen. It only remained to discharge
the last debt of affection. The Dumfries volun-
teers resolved to inter their lamented companion
with all the mournful solemnity of military ho-
nours : the Cinque Ports cavalry together with
the Angus-shire fencibles also offered their ser-
vices on the occasion ; and the principal inhabi-
tants of the town and its vicinity determined to
join the funeral procession. On the evening of
the twenty-fifth of July his remains were convey-
ed from his own house, and lodged in the town-hall;
and on the ensuing day, were borne to the place
of interment amidst a vast concourse of spectators.
His hat and sword were placed on the coffin.
From the town-hall to the burial-ground, an ex-
tent of more than half a mile, the streets were
lined by the fencible cavalry and infantry. The
procession was commenced by a party of volun-
teers selected for performing the military duty at
the grave of their companion : around his corpse,
which was supported by some of their number,
the rest of his fellow soldiers had arranged them-
selves with due solemnity ; and the train was
closed by a promiscuous crowd of mourners. The
party in the front moved onward with their anus
reversed ; and the motion of the procession was
regulated by the thrilling tones of the dead march.
His body being committed to the earth, three
vollies were fired over his grave. The unrestrain-
ed sorrow of the numerous spectators was a noble*

481

tribute of affectionate regard for the memory of
departed genius.

The affliction of his widow may readily be con-
ceived. Her situation was rendered more inter*
esting by the circumstances in which she was
placed at this melancholy crisis : in the morning
she had been overtaken by the pains of labour ;
and during the solemn service of her husband's
funeral, she became the parent of another child.
This forlorn little stranger soon followed his fa-
ther to the grave.

The second of his surviving sons died in 1803.
The eldest, a young man of singular promise, is
a student in the University of Glasgow ; the third
has been placed in Christ's Hospital ; the young-
est is still under the immediate care of his mo-
ther. These three are the only legitimate child-
ren of Burns who now survive ; but a little im-
postor has lately made an attempt to enrol him-
self among their number. In the year 1802 a
young man, who is reported to be the son of a
taylor in Stirlirig, found means to introduce him-
self into several of the London circles as the
eldest son of the poet.

Burns, as must already have appeared, died in
extreme poverty ; but he was so fortunate as to
leave his widow unincumbered with debts. The
prudence of his wife was exemplary ; and his na-
tive independence of mind never deserted him.
" Even in the midst of distress," we are informed,

VOL. II. 3 P

482

41 he bore himself loftily to the world, and rec
ed with a jealous reluctance every offer of friend-
ly assistance." The profit of his works amount-
ed to about nine hundred pounds. For the two
hundred which he had advanced to his excellent
brother, obligations were found at the time of his
death. For the benefit of his family, a play was
performed at the Edinburgh theatre; and a sub-
scription was opened in some of the principal
towns of Great Britain. These contributions,
added to the sum arising from the final disposal
of the copy-right of his poems and letters, have
placed them in a state of comparative affluence.

The character of Burns has been drawn with
sufficient accuracy by Dr Currie ; from whom I
shall borrow what appears most material. " Burns,
as has already been mentioned, was nearly five
feet ten inches in height, and of a form that in-
dicated agility as well as strength. His well-raised
forehead shaded with black curling hair, indicated
extensive capacity. His eyes were large, dark,
full of ardour and intelligence. His face was well
formed; and his countenance uncommonly inter-
esting and expressive. His mode of dressing,
which was often slovenly, and a certain fulness
and bend in his shoulders, characteristic of his
original profession, disguised in some degree the
natural symmetry and elegance of his form. The
external appearance of Burns, was most striking-
ly indicative of the character of his mind. On a

483

first view, his physiognomy had a certain air of
coarseness, mingled however with an expression
of deep penetration, and of calm thoughtfulness
approaching to melancholy. There appeared in
his first manner and address perfect ease and self-
possession, but a stern and almost supercilious
elevation, not indeed incompatible with openness
and affability, which however bespoke a mind
conscious of superior talents. Strangers that sup-
posed themselves approaching an Ayrshire pea-
sant, who could make rhymes, and to whom their
notice was an honour, found themselves speedily
overawed by the presence of a man who bore
himself with dignity, and who possessed a singu-
lar power of correcting forwardness and of repel-
ling intrusion. But though jealous of the respect
due to himself, Burns never enforced it where he
saw it was willingly paid ; and though inaccess-
ible to the approaches of pride, he was open to
every advance of kindness and of benevolence.
His dark and haughty countenance easily relaxed
into a look of good-will, of pity, or of tenderness;
and as the various emotions succeeded each other
in his mind, assumed with equal ease the expres-
sion of the broadest humour, of the most extra-
vagant mirth, or of the most sublime emotion.
The tones of his voice happily corresponded with
the expression of his features, and with the feel-
ings of his mind. When to these endowments
were added, a rapid and distinct apprehension, a

3 P 2

484

most powerful understanding, and a happy com-
mand of language — of strength as well as brillian-
cy of expression — we shall be able to account for
the extraordinary attractions of his conversation —
for the sorcery which in his social parties he seem-
ed to exert on all around him. In the company
of women this sorcery was more especially appa-
rent. Their presence charmed the fiend of me-
lancholy in his bosom, and awoke his happiest
feelings ; it excited the powers of his fancy as
well as the tenderness of his heart ; and by re-
straining the vehemence and the exuberance of
his language, at times gave to his manners the
impression of taste, and even of elegance, which
in the company of men they seldom possessed.
This influence was doubtless reciprocal. A Scot-
tish lady, accustomed to the best society, declared
with characteristic naivete, that no man's conver-
sation ever carried her so completely off her feet as
that of Burns ; and an English lady, familiarly
acquainted with several of the most distinguished
characters of the present times, assured the editor,
that in the happiest of his social hours, there was
a charm about Burns which she had never seen
equalled. This charm arose not more from the
power than the versatility of his genius. No lan-
guor could be felt in the society of a man who
passed at pleasure from grave to gay, from the
ludicrous to the pathetic, from the simple to the
sublime ; who wielded ajl his faculties with equal

strength and case, and never failed to impress
the offspring of his fancy with the stamp of his
understanding.

" This indeed is to represent Burns in his hap-
piest phasis. In large and mixed parties, he was
often silent and dark, sometimes fierce and over-
bearing ; he was jealous of the proud man's scorn,
jealous to an extreme of the insolence of wealth,
and prone to avenge, even on its innocent pos-
sessor, the partiality of fortune. By nature kind,
brave, sincere, and in a singular degree compas-
sionate, he was on the other hand proud, irascible,
and vindictive. His virtues and his failings had
their origin in the extraordinary sensibility of his
mind, and equally partook of the chills and glows
of sentiment. His friendships were liable to in-
terruption from jealousy or disgust, and his en-
mities died away under the influence of pity or
self-accusation. His understanding was equal to
the other powers of his mind, and his deliberate
opinions were singularly < candid and just; but
like other men of great and irregular genius, the
opinions which he delivered in conversation were
often the offspring of temporary feelings, and
widely different from the calm decisions of his
judgment. This was not merely true respecting
the characters of others, but in regard to some of
the most important points of human speculation.

" On no subject did he give a more striking
proof of the strength of his understanding, than

480

in the correct estimate he formed of himself. He
knew his own failings ; he predicted their conse-
quence.; the melancholy foreboding was never
long absent from his mind ; yet his passions car-
ried him down the stream of error, and swept him
over the precipice he saw directly in his course6."

On the death of Burns many poems have been
composed, with different degrees of ability. Mr
Roscoe, a writer of merited reputation, has among
others exerted his poetical talents on this melan-
choly occasion.

In the year 1800 an edition of " The Works of
Robert Burns" was printed at Liverpool in four
volumes octavo. The first volume is occupied by
a diffuse life of Burns, written by the editor Dr
James Currie, a Scotish physician residing in that
town. The correspondence of Burns includes let-
ters to or from Dr Moore, Dr Blacklock, Dr Gre-
gory, Dr Blair, Mr Stewart, Mr Fraser Tytler,
Mr Alison, and Mr Smellie. His own letters are
not less remarkable than his poems. His prose
however is somewhat deficient in ease and sim-
plicity : he is generally too ambitious of brilliant
thoughts and expressions.

His suspicions with respect to the fate of his
posthumous works have been completely justified;
several of his compositions, unworthy of the
author, and offensive to decency, have lately been

6 Currie's Life of Burns, p. 333.

487

offered to the public. An octavo collection en-
titled " Poems ascribed to Robert Burns, the
Ayrshire Bard, not contained in any edition of
his Works hitherto published," proceeded from
the Glasgow press in the year 1801. In 1802 a
small collection of " Letters addressed to Clarinda,
by Robert Burns, the Ayrshire Poet," was pub-
lished at Glasgow in duodecimo.

BURNS was possest of a versatility and strength
of genius which might have conducted him to
eminence in any department of science or litera-
ture. His senses were acute; his affections warm
and generous : his imagination was vivid and ex-
cursive ; his judgment prompt and penetrating.
His poetry is the effusion of a vigorous and sus-
ceptible mind powerfully affected by the objects
of its contemplation. The external beauties of
nature, the pleasures and disappointments of love,
the characteristics of the peasant's fate, the ridi-
culous features of hypocrisy and superstition, fur-
nish the principal subjects on which he has ex-
ercised his bold and original talents. Most of the
occasions which awakened his poetical powers
were not fictitious but .real ; and his sentiments
and language are generally those of a man who
obeys the strong impulses of unsophisticated feel-
ing. Although he laboured under the disadvan-
tages of a very imperfect education, yet some cir>
cumstances of his early life were not altogether

488

unfavourable to the nurture of a poetical genius.
The peculiarity of his fate tended to impress every
sentiment more deeply on his mind, and to fami-
liarise him with the habits of profound medita-
tion. The lessons which his father taught him,
were those of piety, virtue, and independence ;
lessons which are scarcely of less importance to
the poet than to the man. His early years were
indeed consumed in depressing toil: but even
while the young peasant was following the plough,
his intellectual eye was fixed on immortality.
Many of his poems were composed during the
hours when he was actually engaged in manual
labour : his native energy was unsubdued by illi-
beral toil, by perpetual mortification, and by his
total seclusion from that intercourse which is
most calculated to fan the sparks of generous
emulation. " This kind of life," says Burns,
" the cheerless gloom of a hermit, with the un-
ceasing moil of a galley-slave, brought me to my
sixteenth year ; a little before which period I first
committed the sin of rhyme." Love, he informs
us, was the original source of his poetry : " I
never had the least thought or inclination of turn-
ing poet till I got once heartily in love ; and then
rhyme and song were in a manner the spontane-
ous language of my heart."

His principal models of composition were
Ramsay and Fergusson. In his letter to Dr
Moore, he remarks that he had nearly abandon^

489

fed poetry, when in his twenty-third year having
become acquainted with the works of Fergusson,
he " strung a-new his wildly-sounding lyre with
emulating vigour." Of classical learning he was
totally destitute ; and it is not apparent that he
was much indebted to his knowledge of the
French language. With the best English writers
he was however sufficiently conversant : he redd
them with avidity, and for the most part with
wonderful discernment. Nor was he altogether
unacquainted with science : he had at least stu-
died Euclid, Locke, and Smith; he redd and un-
derstood Mr Alison's Essays on the Principles of
Tasted

The most beautiful of his poems are professed-
ly written in the Scotish dialect : but in general
they are not deeply tinctured with provincial
idioms ; many of the stanzas are almost purely
English. His verses, though not very polished
or melodious, are commonly distinguished by an
air of originality which atones for every deficien-
cy. His rhymes are often imperfect, and his
expressions indelicate ; he passes from ease to
negligence, and from simplicity to coarseness.
But these peculiarities \ve may ascribe to his
early habits of association.

f The compendious euldgiunri which Scipio Gentilis has bestowed on
Philippe de Commines, is equally applicable to Burns: " Sine literis doc-
tissimus supra ipsos philosophos." (In Apuleii Afokgiam Comment 'aritif,
p. 47-;

VOL, II.

4-90

The poems of Burns, though most remarkable
for the quality of humour, exhibit various in-
stances of the true sublime : the vigour of his
imagination, and the soundness of his understand-
ing, enabled him to attain a variety of excellence
which can only be traced in the productions of
original genius. Some of his subjects are suffi-
ciently mean ; but he never fails to illumine
them with brilliant flashes of intellect. His
flights however are sudden and irregular : the
strong impulses of his mind were not sufficiently
chastened and directed by the wholesome discip-
line of the schools. His compositions, however
beautiful in detached parts, are very often defec-
tive in their general plan.

The most exquisite of his serious poems is The
Cotter's Saturday Night. The characters and in-
cidents which the poet here describes in so in-
teresting a manner, are such as his father's cot-
tage presented to his observation ; they are such
as may every where be found among the virtu-
ous and intelligent peasantry of Scotland. " 1
recollect once he told me," says Professor Stew-
art, " when I was admiring a distant prospect
in one of our morning walks, that the sight of so
many smoking cottages gave a pleasure to his
mind, which none could understand who had
not witnessed like himself, the happiness and the
worth which they contained." With such im-
presions as these upon his mind, he has succeed-

491

ed in delineating a charming picture of rural in-
nocence and felicity. The incidents are well
selected, the characters skilfully distinguished,
and the whole composition is remarkable for the
propriety and sensibility which it displays. To
transcribe every beautiful passage which the poem
contains, would be to transcribe almost every
stanza : the following may be selected on account
of its moral as well as its poetical effect :

But hark ! a rap comes gently to the door !

Jenny, wha kens the meaning o' the same,
Tells how a neebor lad cam o'er the moor,

To do some errands, and convoy her hame.

The wily mother sees the conscious flame
Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek j ]

With heart-struck anxious care, enquires his name,
While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak j
Weel pleas'd the mother hears, it's nae wild worthless rake.

Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben :

A strappan youth, he taks the mother's eye j
Blythe Jenny sees the visit's no ill ta'en j

The fatjier cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye.

The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy ,
But blate and laithfu', scarce can weel behave :

The mother, wi' a woman's wiles can spy
What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave j
Weel pleas'd to think her bairn's respected like the lave,

O happy love ! where love like this is found !

O heart-felt raptures ! bless beyond compare 1
I've paced much this weary mortal round,

And sage Experience bids me this declare ;

3 0.2

492

, •' If heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare,
One cordial in this melancholy vale,

'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair,
In others' arms breathe out the tender tale,
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the ev'ning gale."

Is there, in human form, that bears a heart —

A wretch ! a villain ! lost to love and truth !
That can with studied, sly, ensnaring art,

Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth ?

Curse on his perjur'd arts ! dissembling smooth !
Are honour, virtue, conscience, all exil'd ?

Is there no pity, no relenting ruth,
Points to the parents fondling o'er their child ?
Then paints the ruin'd maid, and their distraction wild ?

His stanzas " To a Mountain Daisy, on turn-
ing one down with the plough," have always
been acknowledged as beautiful and interesting.
His address " To a Mouse, on turning her up in
her nest with the plough," evinces the fertility
of his genius, and the unbounded benevolence of
his heart. These two poems derive additional
interest from the attitude in which the writer is
himself presented to our view ; we behold him
engaged in the labours of the field, and moving
in his humble sphere with all the dignity of
honest independence and conscious genius. The
exordium of his very poetical production entitled
The Vision is also rendered interesting by the
same circumstance ; it exhibits Burns in the re-
Inrement of his homely cottage :

493

The sun had clos'd the winter day.
The curlers quat their roaring play,
An' hunger'd maukin ta'en her way

To kail-yards green,.
While faithless snaws ilk step betray

Whare she has been.

The thresher.-s weary flingin-tree
•The lee-lang day had tired me ;
And whan the day had clos'd his e'e

Far i' the west,
Ben i' the spence, right pensively,

I gaed to rest.

There lanely by the ingle-cheek,
I sat and ey'd the spewing reek,
That fill'd wi' hoast-provoking smeek

The auld clay biggin j
An' heard the restless rattons squeak

About the riggin.

All in this mottle mistie clime,
I backward mus'd on wasted time,
How I had spent my youthfu' prime,

An' done nae-thing,
But stringin blethers up in rhyme,

For fools to sing.

Others of his serious poems are distinguished
by beauties of no vulgar kind. Many passages
rise to sublimity : and his moral reflections are
often solemn, pathetic, and perspicacious.

But it is perhaps in his humorous and satirical
poems that he appears to most advantage, Na-

494

ture had endowed him with an uncommon de-
gree of sagacity ; and his perpetual disappoint-
ments and mortifications rendered him a more
keen observer of the follies of mankind. His sa-
tire however, when he refrains from personalities,
is seldom unmerciful : his general opinion of hu-
man nature was by no means unfavourable ; and
he commonly exposes vice and folly with a kind
of gay severity.

Halloween exhibits a humorous and masterly
description of some of the remarkable supersti-
tions of his countrymen. The incidents are se-
lected and the characters discriminated with his
usual felicity. His Address to the Deil, as well
as Death and Dr Hornbook, is distinguished by an
original vein of satirical humour. The Holy Fair
is entitled to every praise except that of scrupu-
lous decency. The subsequent stanzas may serve
to discover with what efficacy Burns could wield
the shafts of ridicule :

Now a1 the congregation o'er

Is silent expectation ;
For ***** speels the holy door,

Wi' tidings o' damnation.
Should Hornie, as in ancient days,

'Mang sons o' God present him,
The very sight o' * * * * *'s face,

IVs am het hame wad send him

Wi' fright that day,

i

495

Hear how he clears the points o' faith

Wi' rattling an' wi' thumpin !
Now meekly calm, now wild in wrath,

He's stampin an' he's jumpin !
His lengthen'd chin, his turn'd up snout,

His eldritch squeel and gestures,
0 how they fire the heart devout,

Like cantharidian plasters,

On sic a day I

But, hark ! the tent has chang'd its voice

There's peace an' rest nae langer 5
For a' the real judges rise,

They canna sit for anger.
***** opens out his cauld harangues

On practice and on morals 5
An' aff the godly pour in thrangs,

To gee the jars an' barrels

A lift that day.

What signifies his barren shine

Of moral pow'rs and reason ?
His English style, an' gestures fine,

Are a' clean out o' season.
Like Socrates or Antonine,

Or some auld pagan Heathen,
The moral man he does define,

But ne'er a word o' faith in

That's right that day.

In guid time comes an antidote

Against sic poison 'd nostrum j

yor ****** *? frae the water-fit,
Ascends the holy rostrum :

496

See, up he's got the word o' God,
An' meek an' mim has view'd it,

While Common Sense has ta'en the road,
An' aff', an' up the Cowgate,

Fast, fast, that day.

The Ordination is another ecclesiastical satire,
remarkable for its wit and humour. The follow-
ing verses are pregnant with meaning :

There, try his mettle on the creed,
And bind him down wi' caution,

That stipend is a carnal weed
He taks but for the fashion.

Holy Willie's Prayer, which is excluded from
Dr Currie's edition, and the Address to the Unco
Guid, or the Rigidly Righteous, are wholesome
satires on hypocrisy ; but the former is reprehen-
sible for the extreme indecency which it occa-
sionally exhibits. The Twa Dogs, the Dream,
and the Dedication to Gavin Hamilton, Esq. may
also be classed among his happier efforts.

The tale entitled Tarn o' Shanter displays a
rich vein of humorous description, and even high
powers of invention. " I have seldom in my
life," says Lord Woodhouselee in a letter to
Burns, " tasted of higher enjoyment from any
work of genius, than I have received from this
composition ; and I am much mistaken, if this
poem alone, had you never written another syK

497

able, would not have been sufficient to have
transmitted your name doWn to posterity with
high reputation. In the introductory part where
you paint the character of your hero, and exhi-
bit him at the alehouse ingle, with his tippling
cronies, you have delineated nature with a hu-
mour and naivete that would do honour to Mat-
thew Prior : but when you describe the unfor-
tunate orgies of the witches' sabbath, and the
hellish scenery in which they are exhibited, you
display a power of Imagination that Shakespeare
himself could not have exceeded." One of the
most striking passages which the works of Burns
contain, is to be found in this production :

The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,

Fair play, he car'd na deils a boddle j

But Maggie stood right sair astonishM,

Till, by the heel and hand admonish'd,

She ventured forward on the light :

And, vow ! Tarn saw an unco sight !

Warlocks and witches in a dance ',

Nae cotillion brent new frae France,

But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels

Put life and mettle in their heels.

A winnock-bunker in the east,

There sat auld Nick, in shape o' beast 5

A towzie tyke, black, grim, and large,

To gie them music was his charge :

He screw'd the pipes and gart them skir],.

Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.

VOL. II. 3 R

498

Coffins stood round, like open presses j
That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses }
And by some devilish cantrip slight,
Each in its cauld hand held a light.
By this heroic Tam was able
To note upon the haly table,
A murderer's banes in gibbet aims ;
Twa-span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns 5
A thief, new-cutted frae a rape j
Wi' his last gasp his gab did gape j
Five tomahawks, wi' blude red-rusted ;
Five scymitars, wi' murder crusted j
A garter which a bab had strangled j
A knife, a father's throat had mangled,
Whom his ain son o' life bereft j
The grey hairs yet stack to the heft.

The songs of Burns, which are chiefly of the
pastoral and rural kind, are frequently distin-
guished by strokes of genuine poetry. The ver-
sification indeed is not always sufficiently smooth :
but the arch simplicity, the delicacy, pathos, and
even sublimity, which they so often display, leave
the author nearly without a rival in this depart-
ment of literature. The songs which I shall here
select as specimens, are written in the military
spirit. The first is entitled Robert Bruce* s Address
to his Army :

Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled j
Scots wham Bruce has aften led j
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to glorious victorie.

499

Now's the day, and now's the hour :
See the front o' battle lour ;
See approach proud Edward's power-—
Edward ! chains and slaverie !

Wha' will be a traitor knave ?
Wha can fill a coward's grave ?
Wha sae base as be a slave ?

Traitor ! coward ! turn and flee !

Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Free-man stand, or free-man fa',
Caledonian ! on wi' me !

By oppression^ woes and pains !
By your sons in servile chains !
We will drain our dearest veins,

But they shall be— shall be free 1

Lay the proud usurper low !
Tyrants fall in every foe !
Liberty's in every blow !

Forward ! let us do, or die !

The following song is supposed to be sung by
the wounded and dying of a victorious army.
It was composed during the late war with
Francer

5OO

Farewell, thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies
Now gay with the bright setting sun j

Farewell, loves and friendships, ye dear tender ties,
Our race of existence is run !

Thou grim king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe,

Go frighten the coward and slave j
Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant ! but know,

No terror hast thou to the brave !

Thou strik'st the dull peasant, he sinks in the dark,
Nor saves e'en the wreck of a name ;

Thou strik'st the young hero, a glorious mark !
He falls in the blaze of his fame 1

In the field of proud honour, our swords in our hands,

' Our king and our country to save,
While victory shines on life's last ebbing sands,
O ! who would not rest with the brave ?

The last of these specimens is sufficient to
evince that Burns could employ the English lan-
guage with considerable efficacy : but the advice
which he received from Dr Moore can hardly be
considered as altogether judicious. " It is evi-
dent," says his correspondent, " that you already
possess a great variety of expression and com-
mand of the English language ; you ought there-
fore to deal more sparingly for the future in the
provincial dialect : why should you, by using
that, limit the number of your admirers to those
who understand the Scottish, when you can ex-

501

tend it to all persons of taste who understand the
English language." The situation and studies of
Burns had prepared him for excelling in Scotish
poetry ; but it is far from being evident that he
was qualified to contend with the mighty masters
of the English lyre. It was therefore with suf-
ficient prudence that he chiefly confined himself
to a department in which he was without a rival.
His superiority to Ramsay and Fergusson is
manifest; he possesses in an infinitely higher
degree the power of captivating the heart, and of
arresting the understanding.

THE END.

INDEX

OF

SCOTISH AUTHORS,

Abernethy, Dr John, ii. 303.

Adam, i. 19.

Adamson, Dr Patrick, i. 74. 102.

103. ii. 143. a»l.
Adamson, John, ii. 256.
Affleck, James, i. 447.
Anderson, Dr Robert, ii. 413.
Anderson, Henry, i. 103.
Anderson, John, ii. 416.
ARBUTHNOT, ii. 169.
Arbuthnot, Dr John, i. 161. 165.

407.

Armstrong, i. 162.
Aytoun, i. 98. 102. ii. 300.

B

Baillie, i. 119. 143. 145.
Balfour, (Balforeus) Robert, i.

118.177.

Balfour, Sir James, ii. 300.
Balnaves, ii. 136.
Banatyne, ii. 133. 139.
BARBOUR, i. 253.
Barclay, William, LL. D. i. 86.

Barclay, William, M. D. i. 103.
Barclay, Alexander, D. D. i. 179. ii.

73-

Baron, i. 131. 135. 152. ii. 253.
J3arry, i. 34.
Bassol, i. 29.
Beattie, Dr James, i. 163. 175.

ii. 346. 433-

Beattie, James Hay, i. 163.
Bell, Thomas, i. in.
BELLENDEN, ii. 119.
Bellenden, William, i. 6. 104,
Blackwell, i. 170.
Blackwood, i. 85.
Blair, Dr Hugh, i. 174.
Blair, Robert, i. 163.
Blair, Arnald, i. 360.
Blyth, ii. 144.
Boswell, ii. 332.
Bower, Walter, i. 70.
Boyce, (Boetbiui) i. 63. 65. 72. 84.
Boyd, (Bodiui) Mark Alexander,

i. 74. 103.

Boyd, Robert, i. 103. 143.
Boyd, Zachary, i. 143.
Brown, Dr William Laurence,

504

Brown, Walter, i. 447.
Bruce, Sir John, ii. 301.
Bruce, Sir William, ii. 91.
Bruce, Robert, ii. 229.
Buchanan, i. 73. 74. 84. 22O. 440.
Burel, ii. 296.
Burne, ii. 174.
Burnet, i. 96. 127. 142.
BURNS, ii. 443.

Dickson, i. 146.

Doig, i. 299.

Donaldson, Walter, i. 130.

DOUGLAS, ii. i.

Douglas, Dr John, i. 172.

Drummond, i. 98. 407. ii. 255.

DUNBAR, i. 391.

Dunbar, Dr James, i. 168.

Dunbar, John, ii. 257.

Duncan, Dr Mark, i. 130.

Duns, i. 23.

• Calderwood, i. 127.
Callander, i. 298.
Cameron, i. 134.

Campbell, Dr George, i. 175. 184.
Chalmers, (Camerarius) Dr William,

i. 131-

Chalmers, Dr David, i. 67.
Chalmers, George, ii. 326.
Clapperton, i. 445.
Clerk of Tranent, i. 366.
Clerk, John, i. 447.
Cockburn, Mrs, i. 221.
Colvil, Samuel, ii. 299.
Colvil, John, i. 232.
Con, i. 361.
Cone, (Conaus) i. 112.
Cowper, ii. 255.
Craig, Sir Thomas, i. 103. 125.
Craig, Dr, i. 128.
Craig, John, i. 148.
Craig, Alexander, ii. 301.
Cranston, ii. 25.
Crichton, (Crttonlus} James, i. 74-

*I03.

Cricnton, George, i. 103. no.
Crichton, Dr Robert, i. n6.
Cunningham, i. 161.

Echlin, i. 103.

Eglintoun, Sir Hugh, i. 366. 447.
Eglisham, (Eglhemmius] ii. 260.
Ettrick, i. 447.

Fairley, (FarUus) -ii. 293.
Fenton, i. 268.
FERGUSSON, ii. 413.
Fergusson, David, i. 156.
Fethy, ii. 144.
Fleming, ii. 144.
Fletcher, i. 160.
Forbes, Dr John, i. 136.
Forbes, Dr William, i. 13.7.
Forbes, Patrick, i. 137. 150.
Forbes, Robert, ii. 435.
F'ordun, i. 70-
Forrest, i. 18.
Forrester, ii. 318.
Fowler, ii. 296.

Danskin, i. 103.
Dempster, i. 27. 100. 103.
176. 221. ii. 191.

107.

G. G. of S. ii. 184.
Gaibreith, ii. 144.
Garden, Dr George, i. 13 jr.
GKDDES, ii. 353. i. 38. 16;.

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