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John William Scott.
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ARTES
LIBRARY
VERITAS
SCIENTIA
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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QUR RIS PENINSULAM AMCEK
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UNIV
OF
MICH
ET DECERPTA, DABVNT ODOREM
De Rusty Abene LED THE
LANDS UMBUENATING BR
TASTRU KIMATTAIV HACUN OPORTU
Pitarum AUNG PRIMATICS Be
Ape
***
NON JING PA A
Mr Truman, MEXIZVO
To An MLP
MVSARVM DECVS HIC PATRIAQ AVLAQ DOMIQVE
ET FORIS EXEMPLAR SED NON IMITABILE HONESTI.
THE MONUMENT OF SIR ROBERT AYTON, KNIGHT
in Westminster Abbey.
1
ICONOGRAPHIA SCOTICA:
OR
PORTRAITS
O F
ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONS
O F
SCOTLAND,
ENGRAVED FROM THE MOST AUTHENTIC PAINTINGS, &c.
WITH
;
THEIR LIVES,
COMPILED FROM THE WORKS OF THE BEST INFORMED AND MODERN WRITERS
EXTANT,
MANUSCRIPT as well as PRINTED,
CONTAINING MANY CURIOUS
BIOGRAPHICAL ANECDOTES AND PARTICULARS,
NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED;
THE WHOLE AUTHENTICATED WITH
NOTES, REFERENCES, AND OBSERVATIONS,
BY JOHN SMITH,
OF THE INNER TEMPLE.
London.
Printed for ROBERT WILKINSON, No. 58, CORNHILL:
Where may be had, a Collection of Sixty-five Views in Scotland, consisting of Cities,
Towns, Castles, Cathedrals, &c.
1798

NIV
OF
Vandyke pinat
DAVID BEATON, CARDINAL.
Archbishop of St Andrews and Lord Chancellor of Scotland.
From an Original Picture in the Duke of Hamilton's
Apartments, in Holyrood House.
London, Published1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson N°58, Cornhill.
MICH
Reference-st.
Godfrey
1-31.44
49155
Cardinal BEATO N.
Z
DAVID
AVID BEATON was defcended from an ancient (a) family in
the Shire of Fife, in North Britain, and born in the year 1 1494, in
the reign of King James IV. of Scotland; he was fon to John Bea-
ton, Laird of Balfour, and was educated at the Univerſity of Saint
(b) Andrews, where he went through a courſe of ſtudies, and polite
literature and philofophy; he diſcovered very good parts, and applied
himſelf cloſely to the acquifition of learning; which induced his uncle,
James (c) Beaton, then Archbishop of Glafgow, and afterwards of
Saint Andrew, to fend him to the Univerfity (d) of Paris; he there
perfected himſelf in the knowledge of the Civil and Canon law, and
alfo applied himſelf to the ftudy of divinity; in order to qualify.
himſelf for the fervice of the church; and when he had attained to a,
proper age, entered into holy orders; he made a confiderable ſtay
in France, but that was no way an obftacle to his preferment, rather
the contrary, for it gave him an early opportunity of entering into the
fervice, and obtaining the favour of John Stewart, Duke of (e) Al-
bany, whom the States of Scotland; had made Regent of that king-
dom, during the minority of their king, James V. and who was then
in France; Beaton may attribute the Duke's patronage of him, to his
Grace's near relationſhip to his (f) uncle, the Archbishop, who joined
that Nobleman's party, in oppofition to that of the Earl of Angus.
In confequence of the Duke employing his relative DAVID BEA-
TON,
•
(a) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 293.
(b) M'Kenzie's, Lives of Scots Writers, III. 28.
(c) See his Article in Tow. Br. Biogr. I. 408.
(d) M'Kenzie, ut supra.
(e) Bolt. Ext. Peer. Engl. 5.
(f) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 29, calc.
TON, in feveral important affairs, and of his tranfacting them with
diligence and capacity, his Grace was pleaſed to appoint him, Refi-
dent at the Court of France, in the ftead of his Secretary Pantor, de-
ceaſed, in the year, 1519; about the ſame time his uncle the Arch-
biſhop, prefented him with the Rectory of Campfay, though he was
only in Deacon's orders; fo that he had a benefice in the church, and
was a Minifter of State, at the age of twenty (g) five.
The CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP was this year appointed Lord High
Chancellor (b) of Scotland; by this civil promotion, he came into pof-
feffion of every thing () his ambition could defire, and exercifed
all the authority of a Regent, without the envy of the name; nothing
remained to embarrass the CARDINAL, but the pretenfions of the
Earl of (k) Lennox; however, after a few weak and unfuccessful
attempts to diſturb the Regent BEATON's adminiſtration, he was
obliged to fly for fafety, to the Court of England, where Henry VIII.
gave him in marriage, his niece, the Lady Margaret Douglas, daugh-
ter to the Queen Dowager of James IV. by the Earl of (m) Angus,
her fecond huſband.
In the year 1534, his uncle being removed from the Archbishop's
See of Glaſgow, to that of Saint Andrews, he refigned the Abbacy
of Aberbrothock, in his favour, and when he returned to Scotiand, he
took his feat in Parliament, as (2) Abbot of Aberbrothock, and being
a gen-
(g) Biogr. Brit. I. 575. Gen. Dict. III. 89. 90. Biogr. Dict. II. 78. George
Neville was made Lord Chancellor of England, at the same early age. Full. Worth.
Durh. 293, ap. calc.
(b) Beats. II. 59.
(i) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 300.
(k) Matthew Stewart, Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 401, 402. This unhappy exile, the Earl
of Lennox, was, however, always destined to be the father of a race of kings; he saw
his son, Lord Darnley, mount the throne of Scotland, to the perpetual exclusion of that
rival, the Earl of Arran, who, at the time we are now speaking of, triumphed in his
ruin; and from that time, his posterity have held the sceptre in two kingdoms; by one
of which he was cast out, as a criminal, and by the other, received as a fugitive. Rob.
Hist. Scotl. I. 108. 109.
(m) Archibald Douglas, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 192.
Beats. II. 59.
(n) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 29, calc. Id. 67, Archbishop Spotswood says, that Beaton
likewise succeeded his uncle in the abbacy of Aberbrothock, but the learned Doctor
Jameson,
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OF
a gentleman of a bright and lively turn, he foon ingratiated himfelf
very much into the favour of the young king, James V.; and from
this time, he is fuppofed to have taken the lead in the Privy (0)
Council.
James the Vth of Scotland, fent the Abbot BEATON, as his (p)
Ambaſſador to Francis, King of France, and to Pope Paul the third;
in both which negotiations, he did acquit himſelf fo well, and fo
much to their ſatisfaction, that each of them, beſtowed upon him marks
of their respective favours; the monarch promoted him to the
Biſhoprick of (q) Meropois, in that kingdom, and the Pontiff honour-
ed him with the purple, in raiſing him to the dignity of (r) Cardinal,
by the title of St. Stephen, in Monte Cœlio, (s) 12 January, 1538.
A few months after, in the year 1539, his uncle, the Arch-
biſhop of Saint Andrews (t) died, upon which the CARDI-
NAL fucceeded to that (u) See, which was a Royal borough, and ce-
lebrated
Jameson, in his MS. Notes upon Bishop Spotswood's history, in the possession of Doctor
Mackenzie, shews that his uncle did not give him the Abbacy of Aberbrothock, till the
year 1534. (Original 1544, by mistake.) Reserving only to himself, half the rents;
and upon 16 July, same year, one Mr. John Gibson, Bishop of Libarna, or Libraria,
among the Infidels had a power to exercise his Episcopal office, in the diocese of Saint An-
drews, with consent of the CARDINAL, and a pension of 2001. Scots, out of the rents of
the bishoprick of Saint Andrews. M'Kenzie's Lives of Scottish Writers, III. 19.
Cardinal BEATON was the last Abbot of Aberbrothock Abbey. Penn. Scotl. III,
136.
Beats. P. I. II. 29, calc.
(0) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 294.
(p) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, III. 19, 28.
(q) Id. 19, 28. Beats. Pol. Ind. II.
(r) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 295.
(1) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 295.
29, calc.
(s) M'Kenzie, ut supra. 28.
(u) Though this See is considered, as the Ecclesiastical Primacy, in North Britain, it
seems to have been very fatal to some of the possessors; for BEATON's successor was
murdered, as well as himself, and that too very ignominiously; and also the Arch-
bishop, in the reign of Charles II. As to BEATON, it falls to our lot to particularize
his assassination, in the course of this memoir. As to his successor, John Hamilton, he
was hanged on a live tree; and the following cruel sarcasm composed on the occasion :
"Vive diu, felix arbor, semperq vireto
"Frondibus, ut nobis talia poma feras.”
M'Kenzie's Scottish Writers, III. 105, 106. Penn. Scot. III. 188, calc. Beats. Pol.
Ind. II. 30.
A lite-
lebrated (x) for it's cathedral and harbour, it was befides the Pri-
macy of all Scotland; this eminent promotion BEATON obtained by
the peculiar favour of his Sovereign; and the Pope, as a further mark
of his condeſcenſion, inveſted him with legatine (y) powers, by ap-
pointing him Legate a (z) latere.
This (a) PRELATE was no fooner promoted to the See of Saint An-
drews, than, in order to teſtify his zeal to the Roman Catholics, and
his benefactor, Pope Paul the Third, he made it his bufinefs to per-
fecute and cruſh thoſe of the Proteftant (b) religion in Scotland, and
no man among the Scotch clergy, was more ready to (c) employ thoſe
admirable and convincing arguments, fire and fword, in defence of
Popery, than DAVID BEATON.
The Reformers (d) were perfecuted with all the cruelty, which fu-
perftition inſpires a barbarous people; many were condemned to un-
dergo that dreadful death, which the Church has appointed for the
puniſhment of her enemies; but they fuffered with a ſpirit fo nearly
reſembling the patience and fortitude of the Primitive Martyrs, that
more were converted, than terrified, at ſuch ſpectacles.
About (e) the end of the month of February 1539, five Proteftants
were committed to the flames, and nine recanted, but fome made their
eſcape out of priſon, among whom was the celebrated George (f)
Buchanan, the Scottiſh hiſtorian, and it cannot be gueffed to what
lengths,
A literary and poetical friend of the present writer, has favoured him with the fol-
lowing translation:
"Blest tree! for ever live in brightest green,
"While fruit in form like this, is pendant seen."
James Sharp is the third; he was barbarously murdered by a set of fanatics, on Mag-
nus Muir, near Saint Andrews. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 30, calc. Penn. Scotl. III. 1
195,
198. Burn. Hist. O. T. II. 470, and Higg. Remarks thereon in his Hist. Works, II.
214; also "Observations" on Holliday's Life of Earl Mansfield, 83.
(x) M'Kenzie's Lives of the Scots Writers, III. 28.
(y) M'Kenzie ut supra, 19. Tow. ut supra, 300. Beats. P. I. II. 29. calc.
(a) Id. ib,
(x) M'Kenzie, as last cited.
(b) Tow. Br. Brit. I. 413, 414, 4×5.
(c) Id. II. 294, 295.
(d) Rob.H. S. I. 106.
(e) Tow. Br. Biogr. II, 295, 296.
(f) The famous Scottish Historian.
lengths, the furious CARDINAL might afterwards have proceeded in
this bloody buſineſs, as the whole was left to his management, if the
king's demife had not put a ftop to his cruel proceedings; for it is
ſaid, he had preſented to the King, a lift of three hundred and fixty
perfons, fufpected of Proteftancy, many of whom were the prime No-
bility, and moſt confiderable perfons in the kingdom.
Cardinal BEATON, who had long been confidered as Prime Mi-
niſter, claimed the office and dignity of Regent, during the minority
of the late King's daughter and fucceffor, Princeſs Mary, ſo famous
for her beauty, and her misfortunes, in the reign of our Queen Eli-
zabeth; and in fupport of his pretenfions, he produced a Will, which
he himſelf had (g) forged in the name of the late King, and, without
any other right, inftantly affumed the title of Regent; the CARDINAL
had enjoyed power too long, and had exercifed it with too much fe-
verity to be a favourite of the nation; the public voice was againſt
him, the pretended Will was (b) ſet aſide, and the Earl of (i) was de-
clared fole Regent of the kingdom, during the minority of the Queen;
and BEATON was not only mortified, by being thus excluded from
the
government, but he was alſo ſeized, and fent priſoner to the caſtle
of Blackness; but as fome (k) fay, without authority.
Cardinal (1) BEATON had found means to get out of his confine-
ment, by offering the Lord Seaton, in whoſe cuftody he was, a con-
fiderable gratification, and his conftant friendſhip, if he would per-
mit him to go to Saint Andrews, which Seaton accordingly agreed to;
he had ever been ftrongly attached to France, and of courſe an ene-
my to England; he complained loudly that Arran the Regent, had
betrayed the kingdom to it's moft inveterate enemies, and facrificed it's
honour to his own ambition; he lamented to ſee an ancient country
confenting to it's own flavery, and defcending into the ignominious
ftation
(g) M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 21. Buchan. Hist. Scotl. Lib. XV. Rob. Hist. Scot.
I. 96. 8vo. Edit. 1761. Tow. Br. Biog. II.296.
(b) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 296.
(i) James Stewart. See Lord Chancellor Thirlestane's Life, in this collection.
(k) Pinkerton, in his Collection of Scottish Poets. See Edinb. Mag. V. 425. Old
Series Edit. 1787.
(1) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 297,
ſtation of a dependent province; and, in one hour, the weakneſs and
treachery of a fingle man furrendering every thing, for which the
Scottiſh nation had ftruggled and fought during fo many ages; theſe
remonftrances of BEATON had the greateft effect upon the Scots, and
the Nobility (m) notwithſtanding the fhare they lately had in dif
gracing the CARDINAL, were now ready to applaud and to fecond
him, as the defender of the honour and liberty of his country.
The CARDINAL was made Lord Privy Seal, in the year 1542.
Doctor (2) Towers fays, this promotion was fo early as the year, 1528,
but in this he ſeems miſtaken; Mr. (0) Beatſon feems more correct
in fixing it, as we have recorded it.
Towards (p) the clofe of the year, 1545, the CARDINAL went in a
pompous manner, to vifit his dioceſe, attended by the Regent, and
other Officers of State, Prelates, and many perfons of diftinction;
when he came to Perth, ſeveral perfons were there tried before him
for Proteftancy, being indicted particulary for violating an Act of
Parliament, by which the people were forbid to argue or difpute, con-
cerning the fenfe of the holy fcriptures; they were foon found guilty,
of whom fix men were hanged, and one woman (q) drowned;
ſeveral Burgeffes were baniſhed; the Lord Ruthven, Provoſt of Perth,
was amoved from his office, as a favourer of Proteftancy; and the
CARDINAL caufed John Rogers, a black friar, who had preached the
Reformed doctrines, in Angus and Mearns, to be murdered in priſon,
at Saint (r) Andrews.
After the (s) above perfons were put to death at Perth, the CARDI-
NAL and his party applied themſelves to the overthrow of all the re-
formed univerfally; they went to Dundee; and, as themſelves gave
out, it was to puniſh ſuch as read the New Teftament; for, in thoſe
days, that was counted a moft grievous fin; and fuch was the blind-
neſs of thoſe times, that fome of the Priefts, being offended at the no-
velty
(m) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 102.
(n) Br. Biogr. II. 294.
(p) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 299.
(0) Pol. Ind. II. 67.
(9) Fox's Acts and Monuments, II. 614, 615. McKenzie's Lives of Scots Writers,
TII. 23.
r) See Knox's Church Hist.
(s) Buchan. Hist. Scot. Lib. XV.
*
velty of the title, did contend, that book was lately written by
Martin (t) Luther, and therefore they defired only the old.
The ARCHBISHOP was conſtituted, in the year 1546, Lord (u) High
Chancellor of Scotland, in the room of Gavin (x) Dunbar, Archbiſhop
of Glaſgow. Though Beatſon has claffed Beaton, next to Dunbar,
as Lord Chancellor of Scotland, in his Political Index, yet he has made
him his fucceffor fo early as the year 1528; but Doctor (y) M'Ken-
zie clears up this miſtake, by informing us, that Gavin was Chancellor
in the year, that the CARDINAL was promoted to the Archbishop's
See of Saint Andrew's, which we have feen, was in the year 1539.
The CARDINAL (z) having thus eſtabliſhed his authority as much as
ever, he refolved to begin, where he left off, in profecuting thoſe of the
Reformed Religion; from Perth the (a) CARDINAL went to Angus
and the Mearns, at which places, he likewife made a vigorous inquifi-
tion, and then returned to Edinburgh, where at (b) the Black Friars,
was held a provincial Aſſembly of the Clergy, but their proceedings
no where appear; however, it is certain, that the CARDINAL was
now very active, in bringing to the ſtake George (c) Wifeheart, one
of the moſt eminent (d) perſons, of the Proteftant party; he pro-
(1) Give account of him from Beza.
(u) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 59.
(*) See his Memoir, in M‘Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, II. 613.
(y) M‘Kenzie, ut supra, III. 20.
(a) Id. 23.
ceeded
(b) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 302.
(z) M'Kenzie, III. 22.
(c) The reader will not find the name of Wiseheart, either in Buchanan's Latin His-
tory of Scotland, or in Monsieur Rapin de Thoyras's French History of England;
the former historian describes him by the name of Sophocardium, Buch. Rer. Scot.
Hist. XV. 32, Quarto Edit. Ruddiman. 1725. This Editor has added an explanation
of the proper names, that occur in George Buchanan's History of the Affairs of Scot-
land; among which he speaks of Saphocardius thus; "Buchanan fabricated this sur-
name himself, from còqos and xapdiaí, that is, wise at heart; but it is a bad derivation,
for this is not the true etymology of that surname; in as much as it is of French ori-
gin, for what we call Witsehart or Wishart, they call Guiscard. The French historian de.
scribes Wisehart, by the name of Sephocard. See Rap. Hist. Engl. Fr. Quarto V. 459.
Hague Edit. 1724, and Sephocard, in the Index to the Tenth Volume of that Work.
(d) George Wisehart, a man of honourable birth, Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 302. Rub.
H. S. I. 112.
Buchan. Hist. Scot. Lib. XV. Sect. XL. of primitive sanctity and
exemplary
ceeded to try him upon eighteen (e) articles, though he appealed
as being the Regent's prifoner, to a temporal judicature; but he con-
demned him as an obftinate heretic, and caufed him to be (ƒ)
burnt at Saint Andrews, forbidding all perfons to pray for him, under
pain of incurring the fevereft cenfures of the church.
Thefe (g) rigorous proceedings and oppreffions of the CARDI
NAL, draw on him a general hatred and deteftation, and fo in-
cenſed thoſe who favoured the Reformation, that they refolved to
murder him; his affaffination had been in fome meaſure predicted by
Wifeheart, for he concluded his dying ſpeech, at his execution, in
theſe remarkable words, " He who now fo proudly looks down upon
me, from yonder lofty palace (pointing to the () CARDINAL) and
feeds his eyes with my torments, fhall ere long, he hung out at that
window, and be as ignominiouſly thrown down, as he now proudly (k)
lolls at his eaſe;" this prediction of Wifeheart, concerning Cardinal
BEATON, which is related by Buchannan, in his Hiftory of Scotland,
as
exemplary manners, Id. ib, who had greatly distinguished himself, by preaching with
much eloquence and zeal against Popery. Tow. Br. Biogr. ut supra. See Rob. Hist.
Scotl. I. 112. Knox's Hist. of the Reform. and How. Biogr. Scotl. 46.
(e) The answers are in Fox's Martyrology, and Mr. Knox's Church History, and
in M'Kenzie, by which the reader will comprehend all that was laid to his charge.
M'Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, III. 1
14.
(f) The circumstances of his death are related in Buchan. Hist. Scotl. Lib. XV.
40. and M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 16.
(g) M'Kenzies Lives of Scots Writers, III. 23.
(i) The window in the castle of St. Andrew's, is shewn, out of which, it is pretended,
that Cardinal BEATON leaned, to glut his eyes with the cruel martyrdom of this pious
man, burnt beneath; this is one of those relations, whose verity we should doubt, and
heartily wish there was no truth in it [Brown's Vulgar Errors] and, on enquiry, we
may console ourselves, that this is founded on puritanical bigotry, and invented out
of hatred to a persecutor sufficiently detestable, as the director of the persecution, and
the cause of the death of the above-named George Wiseheart. Penn. Scotl. 193, 194.
Who was a man of God. How. Biogr. Scot. God's Justice, &c. II. Notwithstanding
Mr. Pennant's remark, we still continue of opinion, that the fact is not inconsistent,
either with the Cardinal's character, or the general spirit of those times. Biog. Brit.
Corrigenda." Kipp. Edit.
(k) That the CARDINAL might gratify his eyes with so desirable a sight, the cushion,
were laid for him and his company to lean upon, while looking forth at the window.
How. "God's justice, &c." ap. Biog. Scot. II, 12,
as alfo by Archbishop Spotfwood, and others, has been doubted by
fome later writers; however this may be, it is certain, that the death
of Wifeheart, did, in the end, prove fatal to the CARDINAL himfelf,
who had not uſed his (1) power with moderation, equal to the pru-
dence, by which he attained it; notwithſtanding his great abilities, he
had too many of the paffions and prejudices of an angry leader of
a faction, to govern a divided people with temper; his refentment
againſt one part of the Nobility, his infolence to the reft, his
feverity towards the Reformers, and, above all, the barbarous and
illegal execution of George Wifeheart, who foretold the CARDINAL'S
downfall, as before obferved, wore out the patience of a fierce age;
and nothing but a bold hand was wanting, to gratify the public wifh,
by his deftruction.
The CARDINAL met with the reward of his cruelty, in the caftle of
Saint Andrew, for this nefarious deed; private revenge, inflamed and
ſanctified by a falfe zeal for religion, quickly found a fit inſtrument in
Norman Lefly, eldeſt fon of the Earl of Rothes: the attempt was as
bold, as it was fucceſsful, the CARDINAL at that time, perhaps in-
ftigated by his fears, was adding new ftrength to the Caftle, and, in
the opinion of the age, rendering it impregnable, fixteen perfons un-
dertook to furprize it; they entered the gates which were left open
by the workmen, early in the morning, turned out his retinue without
confufion, and forced open the door of the CARDINAL's apartment,
which he had barricaded on the firft alarm; the confpirators found
him feated in his chair; they transfixed him with their fwords, and he
expired (m) crying, "I am a Prielt, fie, fie, all is gone!"
The CARDINAL having notice of his affaffination, treated it with
great contempt, faying, ()" tufh, a fig for the fools, a button for the
bragging of heretics; is not the Lord Governor mine? witnefs his el-
deft fon with me as a pledge. Have not I the Queen at my devo-
tion? is not France my friend? what danger fhould I fear?" Lord
Mansfield upon a fimilar attack, in the anno (0) mirabili, 1780, (p)
apprehending
(1) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 112.
(m) Penn. Scotl. III. 193, 194.
(n) How. "God's Justice, &c." ap Biogr. Scot. 12.
(0) Holliday, 409.
(p) Id. 412.
apprehending no danger, therefore took no precaution; whereas
BEATON did indeed, but not fufficient.
The (1) confpirators without noife, or tumult, or violence of any
other perfon, delivered their Country, though by a moſt unjuſtifiable
action, from an ambitious man, whofe pride was infupportable to the
Nobles, as his cruelty and cunning were great checks to the Refor-
mation; his death was fatal to the Catholic religion, and to the French
intereft in Scotland.
Cardinal BEATON (r) merited his death, but the manner was (s) in-
defenfible, as is candidly admitted by his enemy, the Hiftorian and
Poet, Sir David Lindſay of the (t) Mount.
(u) As for this CARDINAL, I grant,
He was a man we well might want;
God will forgive it foon.
But of a truth the footh to fay,
Altho' the loon be well away,
The fact was foully done.
It is very horrid, but at the fame time fomewhat amuſing, to con-
fider the joy, alacrity, and plea fure, which John (x) Knox, the fa-
mous Scotch Reformer, diſcovers in his Narrative (3) of this affaffina.
tion; and it is remarkable, that in the firft Edition of his Hiſtory of
the Reformation in Scotland, thefe following words in Italic: "The
godly
(q) Rob. Hist. Scot. I. 113.
(r) Penn. Scotl. III. 194.
(s) A late Nobleman (the Earl of Orford) distinguished for literature, especially
that species of it, which forms the whole subject of this publication; has observed,
that if our King Charles the First deserved death, the executing him afterwards, was-a
mere formality. Walp. Cat. of Roy. and Nob. Auth. II. 69, First Edit. if there.
fore, BEATON merited his death, sure the action, whereby he fell, was most justifi-
able, and the manner of it, most defensible.
(t) Rob. and Penn. both ut supra.
(u) Penn. Scotl. III. 194. How. "God's justice, &c." in Biogr. Scot. 12.
(x) Knox himself had no hand in the murder of BEATON, but he afterwards joined
the assassins, and assisted them in holding out the castle. Hume, H. E. IV. 299,
n. See the Memoir of Knox the Reformer, in this publication.
(y) M'Kenzie, III. 26.
godly fall and words of James (z) Melvil" were printed on the margin
of the page; but the ſubſequent Editors retrenched (a) them.
A very fingular account of the murder in queſtion, and extremely
different from that given by all his other biographers, (b) Knox,
Buchanan, the Prefident De Though, Spotſwood, (c) Hume, Robert-
ſon, Pennant, and Doctor Towers, the original in Latin, written by (d)
Dempfter, the Scotch Biographer and Hiftorian, is preferved by Doc-
tor (e) M'Kenzie, a tranflation of which follows:
This eminent Prelate, was ftrangled in his chamber, by heretic cut-
throats, the chief of whom was named Leflie, who pd into the
mouth of the deceafed, and equipping the dead body with the CAR-
DINAL'S enfigns, hung it upon the wall, and treated it with much fa-
criligious contumely, for which God was afterwards pleaſed to re-
fent by a proper puniſhment, for all the wicked murderers came to
untimely ends, and Leflie was thrown from his horfe and killed, and
the horſe pd (ƒ) in his mouth, as he fell, which was a memorable
inftance, and certainly fhewed a degree of judgment in the Divine
vengeance; Edward Hall, Book VIII. on the union of the two fa-
milies. James Auguftus de Thou, endeavoured, in the year following
to vindicate the murderous act, in the third Book of the "Hiſtory of
his (g) own Times" but in vain, for BEATON the Cardinal fuffered
martyrdom; the blood of the flain on the ftones of the (b) window,
could never be waſhed off or defaced.
Though the year, the day of the month, and even the day of the
week, on which BEATON was ftabbed to the heart, are all minutely
mentioned; yet the exact time of his death, does not ſeem, by
any means, to be preciſely afcertained, by any of the numerous au-
thors,
(x) Knox calls James Melvill, [Hist. Reform. 65] a man most gentle, and most
modest. Hume IV. 298, n. M'Kenzie, III. 25, calc.
(a) Hume IV. 298, 299, n.
(b) Hist. Reform. 71. M'Kenzie, III. 23. n.
(c) Lib. II. 83. M'Kenzie, III. 23, 11. Id. 24. Archbishop of Saint Andrews.
Beats. P. I. II. 30. and Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Id. 60,
(d) Lib. II. 88.
M'Kenzie, III. 19. n.
(e) Lives of Scots Writers, III. 28, calc.
(ƒ) M'Kenzie III. 26. calc.
(b) M'Kenzie, III. 29.
(g) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 305. n,
thors, hiftorians, or biographers, who have wrote on the fubject of
the fad catastrophe in queftion; for they all difagree, one with the
other, in their refpective writings, as to that circumftance; one of
them (i) fays, that Cardinal BEATON was murdered at the caftle of
Saint Andrews, ift February, 1545; another (k), that the murder in
queftion, was committed about the Nones of May; others again, viz.
Pitfcott (1) records the affaffination to have been perpetrated on the
6th of May, 1546; whereas Leflie, Holinfhed, and Balfour, declare,
that it was on the 30th of that month and year; but again, (m) Spotf-
wood, Larrey, Anderfon, and (2) Knox, (o) affirm, that it happened
on (p) Friday, 28 of (q) May, others again, on (r) Saturday, 29 (s)
May, both in the fame laft mentioned year.
He lay (1) a confiderable time unburied, the murderers hung his
dead body over the window, in the caftle, according to Mr. Wife-
heart's words. Buchanan does not mention his burial, in his Hiſtory
of Scotland; Knox, in his Hiftory of the Reformation, fays, they
gave him falt enough, and a leaden cap, and ſet him in the ſea (u)
tower, to wait, what exequies his brethren, the Bishops would prepare
for him; Fox and Clark both fay, (x) he lay feven months unburied,
and then like a carrion was thrown on a dung-hill, without "Re-
quiem æternam," (y) or "Requifeat in pace," fung for his foul.
Cardinal (2) BEATON, with the fame public pomp, which is due to a
legitimate
(i) Beatson in his Pol. Ind. II. 30.
(k) Buchanan, in his Hist. Scotl. XV. 40.
(1) Id. ib. in the Notes.
(m) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scottish Writers, III.23.24.
(n) M'Kenzie, ut supra, III. 24.
(0) Buchan. ut supra.
(p) M'Kenzie, ut supra, 24.
(9) Dempster. M'Kenzie, ut supra, 29. Hume's Hist. Engl. IV. 299.
(r) Buchan. ut supra, in the Notes. M'Kenzie, ut supra, 24. Tow. Br. Biogr.
304.
(s) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 143. Tow. ut supra. M'Kenzie, ut supra, 24.
(t) How. "God's Justice, &c." ap. Biogr. Scot. 12. n.
(u) A place where many of God's children had been imprisoned before. M'Ken-
zie, III. 26.
(x) How. ut supra.
(y) M'Kenzie, ut supra,
(x) Rob. Hist. Scot. I. 146, 147.
legitimate child, celebrated the marriage of one of his fix natural chil-
dren, with the Mafter of Crawfurd, the Earl's fon; and gave with her
four thouſand marks Scots, which, in thoſe days, was a (a) vaſt for-
tune.
The CARDINAL (b) was by nature of immoderate (c) ambition; by
long experience he had acquired addrefs and refinement; and inſo-
lence grew upon him from continual fuccefs; his high ſtation in the
Church, placed him in the way of great employments; his (d) abilities
were equal to the greateſt of theſe, nor did he reckon any of them to
be above his merit; as his own eminence was founded upon the church
of Rome, he was a zealous defender of that fuperftition, and for the
fame reaſon, an avowed enemy to the doctrine of the Reformers; po-
litical motives alone determined him to fupport the one, or to oppofe
the other; his early application to public buſineſs, kept him unac-
quainted with the learning and controverfies of the age; he gave
judgment, however, upon all points in difpute, with a precipitancy,
violence, and rigour which hiftorians (e) mention with indignation;
he (f) was illuftrious for his dignity as a CARDINAL, for the fplen-
dor of his life, and the gravity of his difpofition; (g) and abfolute in
Scotland, as Wolfey was in England; he was eminently deferving of
the Catholic Religion, and of his own country; again,
He was one of the worft (b) of men, a proud, cruel unrelenting ty-
rant, and fo licentious a priest, and (i) fuperior to all decency, that if
we believe (k) Knox, he publicly continued to the end of his days, a
criminal correfpondence with Mrs. (1) Ogilvie, the mother of one of
his natural (m) children, who was a woman of rank, and was juſt gone
(a) Penn. Scotl. III. 245,
(b) Rob. Hist. Scot, I. 97,
(d) Beats. P. I. II. 30.
(c) Penn, Scot. III. 245.
out
(e) Among whom is Monsieur Rapin de Thoyras, who says, he was a violent and
cruel man, and had given many instances of his barbarous disposition towards the
Protestants. Rap. Hist. Engl. V. 425. Fr. Edit. Quarto.
(f) Dempster, ap. M'Kenzie's Scottish Writers, III. 28. calc.
(g) Penn: Scotl. III. 136.
(i) Penn. Scotl. III. 245.
(h) Beats. ut supra.
(k) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I, 147,
(1) Howie's, "God's Justice," &c. ap. Biogr. Scot. 12.
(m) Rob. Hist. Scot, ut supra,
out of (n) bed from him, on the morning his murderers entered the
caftle to affaffinate him, and which they did, in the manner above
related.
There is an head of Cardinal BEATON among the pictures, in the
apartments belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, hereditary houfe-
keeper of Holyrood Houfe; the CARDINAL'S hair is black,
fmooth face, a red callot. Penn. Scotl. III. 245.
"An Account of his own (0) Ambafies in one Book, containing his
Negotiations (p) with the French King and the Pope."
"An Account of the Supremacy of Peter, one Book, over the rest of
the Apoftles."
"Epiftles to feveral perfons, one Book."
"Some Copies of thefe Letters are faid to be preferved in the Library
of the French King."
(n) Howie, ut supra.
(0) M'Kenzie, III. 29.
(p) Tow. Br. Biogr. II. 306.
:
OF
JOHN KNOX
Engraveo from Beza's Collection 2.
London:Publishal 1 Jan, 1798, by Robert Wilkinson Nº58 Cornhill.
MICH
JOHN KNOX, the Reformer.
ALTHOUGH
HOUGH (a) the kingdoms of England and Scotland, were
formerly diftinct, as well in their boundaries, as in their kings; it may
yet be faid, that in our memory, and that of our ancestors, they were
both at firft combined againſt Chriſt, and again united to HIм by mu-
tual fervices; the principal author of the confpiracy againſt truth, was
a Roman prieſt, together with the fervants, cardinals, and falfe
bishops, and all the falfe clergy, who were totally depending on him,
as on their deity; CHRIST, every where perfuaded men, who had any
faith, by inftructing them in admirable virtue to recover his own rights;
if I was to fay, the great JoHN (6) KNOX, acted as an (c) apoftle, in
reviving
(a) Translation of the original Latin, which runs thus in English, "Theodore *
Beza's pictures, (that is) true portraits of men illustrious, as well for learning as piety,
by whose labour the study of liberal literature was partly restored, and true religion
partly revived in various regions of the Christian world, within our own memory,
as well as in that of our ancestors; to which are added their lives and an account of
their works, and the whole adorned with portraits, commonly called EMBLEMS. Ge-
nev. Edition 8vo. 1580.
(b) Beza, Moreri and Granger all spell his name thus, Cnox.
(c) The English Episcopalians agree with this writer in representing KNOX as an
apostle, adding, "who established his reputation by fire and sword, and who taught the
most seditious doctrines." Noorth. Dict. "KNOX." This rustic apostle scruples not,
in his history, to inform us, that he once treated Mary Queen of Scots, with such se-
verity, that she lost all command of temper, and dissolved in tears before him, yet so
far from being moved with youth, beauty, and royal dignity, reduced to that condition,
he persevered in his insolent reproofs; and when he relates this incident, he discovers
a visible pride and satisfaction in his own conduct. Hume's Hist. Eng. V. 50, 51.
▼
* He was a most zealous promoter, defender, and one of the principal pillars of the
Reformed Church; born at Veselai in Burgundy, 24 June, 1529, 11 Hen. VII. studied
at Orleans and Bourges, under Melchior Walmer, who brought him up a Protestant ;
he succeeded Calvin, presided in several synods, and died in the year, 1605, 3 Jac. I.
aged 86. See Noorthouck's and Jones's Dict. neither of which Biographers mentions the
work of Beza we have referred to.
reviving the Scot's worſhip of God, I ſhould ſay no more, than what
I really think, and what the following true narrative of his life will
prove; the whole of which, it manifeftly appears, was the admirable
work of GOD himfelf.
Scotland (a) had the honour of producing this great and eminent lu-
minary, who became the principal inftrument in God's hand, of effect-
ing the Reformation, in that kingdom, at a time when Papal darkneſs,
ignorance, and fuperftition, had involved the whole nation in fhades
of deeper than Egyptian night.
This KNOX, was defcended of an (e) ancient and honourable fa-
mily, and was born in the year 1505, 21 Hen. VII. at Giffard, near
Haddington, in the county, of East Lothian, in the kingdom of Scot-
land.
KNOX was educated at the feet (f) as it were, of John (g) Major,
who was one of the moſt (b) acute ſchoolmen of thoſe times, a name
(i) celebrated among the philofophers, and one of the Scottiſh (k)
hiftorians of that kingdom, and from () thence was removed to the
Univerſity of Saint Andrews, and placed under the tuition of the emi-
nent John Mair; he applied with uncommon diligence to the acade-
mical learning in vogue at that time; and by the natural ſharpneſs of
his wit, having made a very great progrefs in thefe ftudies, in a very
fhort time, he obtained the degree of Maſter of Arts, when very
young; as the bent of his inclination led him ftrongly to the church,
he turned the courſe of his ftudies early that way, and by the advan-
(d) Middle. Biogr. Evan. II. 133.
tage
(e) His father was related to the antient house of Ranferle, according to his life, in
Howies's Scots Worthies, 74. His father was not a brother's son of the house of
Ranfarlie, as Mr. David Buchannan has told us, in the life of Mr. Knox, prefixed to
the folio Edition of his History of Scotland. M'Kenzie's Scot's Writers, III. 111.
(ƒ) Beza.
(g) Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 29. It does not seem to be ascertained, whether the
name is Mair or Major, or whether he was Knox's schoolmaster, or tutor at college.
See Towers's Brit. Biogr. III. 35. Rob. Hist. Scot. I. 5. Major was Professor of
Theology, and one of the Doctors of the Sorbon at Paris, according to M'Kenzie's life
of him, in his Writers of Scotland, II. 309.
(b) Noorth. Dict.
Scotl. I. 5.
(i) Beza.
(k) Nicols. ut supra. 28. Rob. Hist.
(7) Midd. Biogr. Evan. II. 133.
tage of his tutor's inftructions, foon became remarkable for his know-
ledge in ſcholaſtic theology, infomuch, that he obtained Prieſt's orders
before the time ufually allowed by the Canons; having carefully pe-
rufed the fathers of the church, particularly the writings of St. Je-
rome, and of St. Auguftine, by them he explained (m) difficulties in
literature, and his tafte became entirely altered, whereby he not only
deſpiſed, but alſo confuted, from their own works, many matters, but
in a moſt liberal manner; and at length began himſelf to (n) teach,
with great applaufe, his beloved fcience to others; he quitted the fub
tilizing method of theories, and the ſchoolmen, and applied himſelf to
a plainer and more fimple divinity, this he did on becoming a (0)
difciple of George (p) Wifeheart.
Being ſpecially called to the royal (q) city of (r) Edinburgh, he
was obliged to take refuge at (s) Hamefton, the only afylum of the
religious; he there publiſhed a moft ingenuous confeffion of faith, in
confequence of which, he obtained the prize of David (t) Beaton,
Archbishop of St. Andrews, and alfo Cardinal and Primate of Scot-
land; fuch prize as was uſually given by theſe kind of men, to the
pious, which was condemning KNOx of herefy, and depriving him
of his priesthood, that he might be murdered, through the treachery,
by affaffins, who lay in wait for that purpoſe, and which would have
been his fate, had he not been preferved by GoD's providence, that re-
commended him to Longudrius, one of the principal of the nobility;
after
(m) Beza.
(n) Midl.
(0) Disciple, is a word often improperly used, painters term their pupils discipless
schoolmasters their scholars; but here it must have its original signification and appli-
cation, viz. followers of CHRIST; for Mair or Major seems to have been a school
master.
(p) How. Biogr. Scot. 53. 74. For the etimology of his name, and anecdotes of him,
see our article of Cardinal BEATON.
(q) Beza.
(r) Beza says KNOX buffetted, as the champion of CHRIST, Satan, who impeded his
blessed work of the reformation, by every species of stratagem, for full thirteen years,
at Edinburgh, and was not at last dejected by him; but through infirmity of body,
which in the end, put a fatal period to his existence.
(s) Beza. Moreri.
(1) For an account of this infamous Cardinal, see our article of him, in this col-
lection.
after this, followed the greateft tumults in Scotland, in which the Car-
dinal was (u) killed in his caftle of St. Andrews, upon that citidal be-
ing befieged; KNOX was alfo detained, but being fet at liberty, con-
trary to the expectation of the falfe Biſhops, he arrived at (x) Ber-
wick, a town in England, fituate on the borders of Scotland, where he
condeſcended to enter into a difpute with the falſe Biſhop of that
place, and both of them were remitted to the Supreme Parliament of
England, which was in the beginning of the reign of Edward the (y)
Sixth; KNOX, fo far prevailed on the ſide of truth, that the pretended
Biſhop was convicted of efpoufing a falfe religion, thence Knox went
to Newcaſtle, and afterwards to the King at London, where being of-
fered a bishoprick, he retired for the purpoſe of accepting it; how-
ever, upon conſideration, he refuſed and heavily inveighed againſt all
the power of Satan, becauſe it in no wife depended on the divine law,
and could not, as KNOx infifted, prevail, according to the antient
Canons.
1
The (2) inquifitive genius of the age preffed forward in queft of
truth, the diſcovery of one error opened the way to others; the down-
fal of one impoftor drew many after it; the whole fabric which igno-
rance and fuperftition had erected in times of darkneſs, began to tot-
ter; and nothing was wanting to complete it's ruin, but a daring and
active leader, to direct the attack; fuch was the famous JOHN KNOX,
who, with better qualifications of learning, and more extenfive views
than any of his predeceffors in Scotland, poffeffed a natural intrepidity
of mind, which fet him above fear.
He began his public miniftry, at St. Andrews, in Scotland, in the
year
(u) KNOX himself had no hand in the murder of Beaton; (Hume) but he afterwards
joins the assassins (M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 111.) and assisted them in holding
out the castle. (M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 132. Hume IV. 299, in the Notes.)
KNOX, whose mind was firmer and more unpolished, than that of Buchannan, the
Scottish Historian, talks of the death of Beaton, not only without censure, but with the
utmost exultation. Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 367.
(x) Tow. Brit. Biogr. III. 37. See our catalogue of Knox's writings, at the end of
these anecdotes.
(y) In 1552, KNOX was appointed Chaplain to his Majesty. Br. Biogr. III. 37.
(z) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 129, 130.
year 1547, 1 Edward VI. with that fuccefs, which always accompa-
nies bold and popular eloquence; inftead of amufing himſelf with
lopping the branches, he ftruck directly to the root of Popery, and
attacked both the doctrine and difcipline of the Eſtabliſhed Church,
with a vehemence peculiar to himſelf, but admirably fuited to the
temper and wiſhes of the age.
In the year of our Lord, 1559, 2 Eliz. our Knox arrived from
(a) Geneva, where having paffed fome years in baniſhment, he im-
bibed, from his commerce with (6) John Calvin, the higheſt fanati-
ciſm of his fect, augmented by the native ferocity of his own cha-
racter; he was invited back to Scotland, by the leaders of the Refor-
mation, and mounting the pulpit at Perth, during the then ferment of
men's minds, he declaimed with his ufual vehemence against the (c)
idolatry, and other abominations of the Church of Rome, and excited
his audience to exert their utmoſt zeal for it's fubverfion; the in-
difcretion of a prieft, who, immediately after (d) KNOX's fermon, was
preparing to celebrate mafs, and began to decorate the altar for that
purpoſe, precipitated them into immediate action, they attacked the
prieft; with tumultary but irrefiftible violence, they fell upon the
churches in that city, overturned the altars, tore the pictures, broke in
pieces the images, ſcattered about the facred vaſes, and left no imple-
ment of idolatrous worſhip, as they termed it, entire or undefaced;
they then proceeded, with additional numbers and augmented rage, to
the monafteries of the Grey and Black Friars, which they pillaged in
an inftant; the Carthufians (e) underwent the fame fate; and the po-
pulace not content with robbing and expelling the monks, vented
their fury on the buildings, which had been the receptacles of fuch
abomination,
(b) Beza
(a) Hume's Hist, Engl. V. 26.
(c) Beza speaks thus of KNOX's return from Geneva to his native country, "Reve-
rsus, incredebile est quantâ divini plané spiritûs virtute fretus, Evangelium annun-
tiarit, usque adeo vicissim ipsius pietati ac diligentiæ favente numine, ut velut ipsius
conspectum ne idolis quidem ferentibus profligata idolitaria, nan veram tantum doc-
trinam, sed etiam veram, et ad divini verbi normam exactam disciplinam, passim, tum
verbis tum reipsâ statuerit: See Hume, V. 47, 48.
(d) Rob. Hist. Scot. I. 176. Hume, ut supra.
(e) Buchan, Hist. Scotl, XVI. 28. This was one of the most costly and magnifi.
cent
abomination, and in a few hours laid thofe fumptuous buildings
almoſt level with the ground; and in a little time nothing but the
walls of thofe edifices were left ftanding; the inhabitants of Cowper
(ƒ) in Fife, ſoon after imitated the example; this riotous infurrection
was not the effect of any concert, or previous deliberation, cenfured
(g) by the Reformed Preachers, and publickly condemned by the
perſons of moſt power and credit with the party, it muſt be regarded
merely as an accidental eruption of popular (b) rage.
This rapid and aſtoniſhing ſucceſs ſeems to have encouraged (i)
the Reformers to extend their views, and to rife in their demands ;
not fatisfied with their firft claim of toleration for their religion, they
openly aimed at eſtabliſhing the Proteftant doctrine, on the ruins of
Popery; for this reaſon they determined to fix their refidence at
Edinburgh; and by their appointment, Knox and fome other preach-
ers, taking poffeffion of the pulpits, which had been abandoned by
the affrighted clergy, declaimed againſt the errors of Popery, with
fuch fervent zeal, as could not fail of gaining many profelytes.
At a convention of the whole Peers, Barons, and (k) reprefenta-
tives of boroughs, who adhered to the Proteftant party, an affem-
bly which exceeded in number, and equalled in dignity, the ufual meet-
ings of parliament; the leaders of the congregation (1) requiring their
direction with regard to the obedience of the ſubject, due to an ad-
miniſtration, ſo unjuſt and oppreffive, as that of the Queen Regent,
they
cent buildings in the kingdom of Scotland, where likewise was a very stately tomb,
erected to the memory of King James I. who founded that monastery. M'Kenzies
Scots Writers, III. 117.
(ƒ) Rap. H. E. VI. 163. calc. Quarto Fr, Edit.
(g) Rob. H. S. I. 177.
(b) The like observation may be made, as to popular rage, in the riots of the year
1780, though the Lord Chief Justice Mansfield had the same opinion of them, as the
persons of power and credit had at this time, in Scotland.
(i) Rob. H. S. I. 187.
(k) Rob. H. S. I. 204, 205.
(1) Some heads of the Reformers in Scotland, such as the Earl of Argyle, his son
Lord Lorne, the Earls of Morton and Glencairne, Erskine of Dun, and others, ob-
serving the danger to which they were exposed, and desirous to propagate, entered pri-
vately into a bond or association; and called themselves the Congregation of the Lord,
in contradistinction to the Established Church, which they denominated the Congrega-
tion of Satan, the tenor of the bond follows in Hume's H. E. V. 22.
they fubmitted to their decifion, a queftion, one of the moſt delicate
and intereſting, that could poffibly fall, under the confideration of
fubje&ts.
As the determination of the point in doubt, was conceived to be
no lefs the office of the Divines than Laymen, the former were called
to affift with their opinion; KNOx appeared for the whole order of
the Proteftant churchmen, and pronounced without heſitation, both
from the precepts and examples in fcripture, that it was lawful for
fubjects, not only to refift tyrannical princes, but to deprive them of
that authority, which, in their hands, became an inftrument for de-
ftroying thoſe, whom the Almighty ordained them to protect.
Notwithſtanding the precipitate retreat of the congregation, (m) and
the terror and confufion, which had ſeized them at Edinburgh, the
ſpirit of KNOx ftill remained undaunted, and having mounted the
pulpit, he addreffed to his deſponding hearers, an exhortation which
wonderfully animated and revived them; the heads of his difcourſe
are inſerted in his (2) hiſtory, and afford a ſtriking example of the
boldneſs and freedom of reproof, affumed by the firſt Reformers, as
well as a ſpecimen of his own ſkill in chufing the topics moft fit to
influence and roufe his audience.
In England, and elsewhere, the principal and firft caufe of all ec-
clefiaftical tyranny being removed, ecclefiaftical matters wore a very
different appearance; yet KNOx difcharged his own confcience, in
conformity to the fingular modefty of chriftianity; in theſe timest
happened that terrible ftorm, which drove Knox and many others to
Geneva, where, in the greateft commendation of all virtues, he for
fome years, together with other Engliſh refugees, communing at laſt,
in all conſultations, with John Calvin. The church of Geneva,
formed under his eye, and by his direction, was eſteemed the moſt
perfect model of ecclefiaftical polity, and KNOx during his refidence
in this city, ſtudied and admired it, and afterwards warmly recom-
mended it to the imitation of his countrymen.
The ringleader (p) in all the infults on the Majefty of Mary the
Scottiſh
(m) Rob. H. S. I. 215, 216.
of this Memoir.
(n) See the Catalogue of his Works, at the end
(p) Hume's H. E. V. 49, 50.
(0) Rob. H. S. I. 249.
Scottiſh queen, was JOHN KNOX; who poffeffed an uncontrouled au
thority in the church, and even in the civil affairs of the nation, and
who triumphed in the contumelious ufage of his fovereign; his uſual
appellation for the queen was Jezabel, and though fhe endeavoured
by the most gracious condefcenfion, to win his favour, all her in-
finuations could gain nothing on his obdurate heart; fhe promiſed him
acceſs to her, whenever he demanded it; and fhe even defired him, if
he found her blamable in any thing, to reprehend her freely in pri-
vate, rather than vilify her in the pulpit, before the whole people; but
he plainly told her, that he had a public miniftry entruſted to him;
that if ſhe would come to church, ſhe ſhould there hear the goſpel of
truth, and that it was not his buſineſs to apply to every individual,
nor had he leiſure for that occupation; the political principles of the
man, which he communicated to his brethren were as full of (9) fe-
dition, as his theological were of rage and bigotry; though he once
condeſcended ſo far as to tell the Queen, that he would ſubmit to her,
in the manner as Paul did to Nero; he remained not long in this du-
tiful difpofition; he faid to her, that "Samuel feared not to flay Agag,
the fat and delicate king of Amelek, whom king Saul had faved;
neither fpared Elias Jezabel's falfe prophets, and Baal's priefts,
though king Agag was prefent; Phincas, added he, was no magiſtrate,
yet feared he not to ftrike Cofbi and Limri in the very act of filthy
fornication; and fo, Madam, your Grace may fee, that others, than
Chief Magiftrates, may lawfully inflict punishment, on fuch crimes,
as are condemned, by the law of God."
During the reign of Mary (r) Queen of England, KNOx had writ-
ten a book against female fucceffion to the crown, intituled "The
firſt Blaft of the Trumpet againſt the Monstrous Regimen of Women,
the exceffive admiration of ancient polity (s) was the occafion of
this his famous book, concerning the government of women, wherein,
conformable to the maxims of ancient legislatures, which modern ex-
perience has proved to be ill founded, he pronounces the elevation
(9) See ante in the Notes.
(r) Hume's H.E. V. 50.
(s) Robert. Hist. Scotl. I. 182 in the Notes:
of
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of women, to the fupreme authority, to be utterly deftru&tive of good
government; his principles, authorities, and examples were all drawn
from ancient writers.
KNOX was too proud, either to recant (t) the tenets of this book,
or even to apologize for them; and his conduct fhewed, that he
thought no more civility than loyalty, due to any of the female fex.
KNOX wrote circular letters to the most confiderable zealots of
his party, and charged them all, who profeffed the true religion, or
were concerned for the preſervation of it, to appear at (u) Edinburgh,
and protect their diftreffed brethren; theſe were two of the populace
of that city, who were indicted, for breaking open the Queen's chapel,
at Holyrood Houſe, during her abfence, and committing other out-
rages; and it was intended to bring them to trial; the holy facra-
ments, he faid, were abuſed in it by profane papiſts, that (x) maſs
had been faid; and in worſhipping that (y) idol, the priests had omit-
ted no ceremony, not even the conjuring of their accurfed water,
that ever had been practifed, in the time of the greateft blindneſs,
theſe violent meaſures for oppofing juftice, were little ſhort of (x)
rebellion; and KNOX was fummoned before the Privy Council to
anfwer for his offence; the courage of the man was equal to his
infolence; he fcrupled not to tell the Queen, that the peftilent Pa-
pifts, who had inflamed her againſt theſe holy men, were the fons of
the Devil; and must therefore obey the directions of their father,
who had been a liar, and a man flayer from the beginning.
Happily for Knox, his Judges were not only zealous (a) Proteſ-
tants, but the very men, who, during the late commotions, had
openly refifted and fet at defiance, the Queen's authority; it was un-
der precedents, drawn from their own conduct, that KNOX endea-
voured to ſhelter himſelf, nor could it have been an eaſy matter for
thefe
(†) Hume ut supra.
(4) Hume, V. 53, 54.
(x) KNOX asserted in the pulpit, that one mass was more terrible, than ten thou-
sand armed men landed to invade the kingdom. Hume's H. E. V. 47, 48.
(y) See ante in the notes.
(z) To assemble the subjects without the authority of the Sovereign, was construed
to be treason. Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 303.
(a) Rob. Hist. Scotl. I. 303.
thefe (b) Counsellors to have found out a diftinction, by which they
could cenfure him, without condemning themſelves; the (c) matter.
ended with a full and unanimous acquittal of KNOX, after a long
hearing, to the no fmall diſpleaſure of the Scottish queen and thofe
of the Popish party. This trial fhews (d) the unfettled ftate of go-
vernment in that age; the low condition to which royal authority
was then funk; and the impunity with which fubjects might invade
thofe rights of the Crown, which are now held facred.
KNOX fcrupled not to tell (e) Darnley, the royal confort of Mary,
the Scottish queen, upon his reforting to the Eſtabliſhed church,
from the pulpit, that God, for puniſhment of the offences and ingra-
titude of the people, was wont to commit the rule over them, to boys
and women.
As foon as KNOx was gone upon one of his journies to Geneva, in
the year 1572, 15 Eliz. the Biſhops caufed him to be fummoned to
their Tribunal at Edinburgh, and for non-appearance, they (f)
burnt him in effigy on the crafs of that city.
The maffacre (g) of Paris, happened about three months before
KNOX's death, and he is faid to have been much affected with that
tragical event; he was at that time weak in body, however, he had
ftrength
(6) Among whom, was Sinclair, Bishop of Ross, and President of the Court of Ses-
sion, Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 76. Dalrymp. Cat. of the Lords of Session, 4. this zealous
Papist, heartily concurred with the other Counsellors in this decision. Rob. H. S. I.
303, 304. M:Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 124. He represented (in the decline of
life) to the Court, "That he was at the will and pleasure of God, troubled with in-
firmity and sickness, so that he might not goodly await daily on the Session, but danger
of his person; he therefore, (21 March, 1561,) desired the Lords, to have consideration
of his long service in the Session, for the space of these twenty-four years by past,”
the Lords consented, "That he have leave, privilege, and freedom, to come and be
absent frae the said Session, as he best pleases, and thinks expedient; and that he
bruick all privileges, immunities, and freedoms, enduring his life time, in all points,
as if he were personally present with the said Lords, except the common contribution
now instantly used, whereof none are participant but conform to their residence. Dal-
rymp. Notes on Cat. of Lords of Session, 5.
(c) Hume's H. E. V. 54.
(d) Rob. H.S. I. 304.
(e) Hume's H. E. V. 899
() M'Kenz. Lives, III. 115. How. Biogr. Seot. 77.
(g) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 51, in the notes.
ftrength enough to preach a fermon on the occafion, in which he
denounced God's vengeance againſt the King of France, for the ſhare
he had in the maffacre of the Proteftants; and he defired the French
Ambaffador might be acquainted therewith.
of
This Parifian maffacre is a moft ftriking inftance of Popifh bigotry,
and cruelty, and is fcarcely to be parellelled in the hiftory of man-
kind, either for the diffimulation which led to it, or the barbarity
with which it was put in execution; a defign having been formed to
extirpate the Proteſtants in France, the leaders of that party were
drawn to Court, by the moft folemn promifes of fafety and favour;
and though doomed to deftruction, they were received with careffes,
loaded with honours, and treated, for feven months, with every mark
of familiarity and confidence; in the midft of their fancied fecu-
rity, the warrant for murdering them, was iffued by their perfidious
Sovereign, on whofe word of protection they had relied; and in obe-
dience thereto, and to the fanguinary fpirit of the Catholic religion,
their countrymen, their fellow citizens and companions embrued their
hands in their blood; ten thouſand Proteftants, without diftinction
age, fex, or condition, were deftroyed in Paris alone; orders were
fuddenly diſpatched to all the provinces of France, for a like general
execution of the Proteftants; fo that about twenty thousand more
were murdered in the different parts of the kingdom; this deteftable
tranſaction was at that time publicly applauded in Spain; and at
Rome, folemn thankſgivings were offered to God, for its fuccefs; the
Pope's Bull for a jubilee, on account of this maffacre of the French
Proteftants, and alfo on account of fome other tranfactions, that were
fubjects of rejoicing to the Catholic church, are (b) preferved. When
KNOX heard of the murder of the good Admiral Gafper (i) Coligni,
theſe melancholy news almoſt deprived him (k). of his life. In thể
ſpace of two or three days, there were about feventy thoufand Pro-
teſtants murdered in cold blood at Paris, and other parts of France;
this maffacre was begun in the night of Saint Bartholomew's day, in the
reign
(b) See Strype's Life of Archb. Parker, 351, and Append. 108.
(i) See Sew. Anec. ÍII. 178, 179.
(*) M'Kenzies Scots Writers, I. 129. How. Biogr. Scot. 84.
reign of (1) Charles IX. of that kingdom; the King of Navarre, af-
terwards Henry the Great, narrowly escaped on that occafion, for he
was then at Paris, on account of the folemnization of his marriage
with Charles's fifter, which marriage the Papifts had contrived, in or-
der to draw as many Proteftants into the city as poffible, that they
might have them in their power. See the account of this accurſed
event at large, in Sully's Memoirs, I. 392, Edinb. Edit. (m) 1773.
JOHN KNOX was twice married, firſt to Margaret (2) Bowes, an
English woman, by her he had two fons, Nathaniel and Eliazor, who
were both educated at the Univerſity of (0) Cambridge, and admitted
in Saint John's College. Soon after their father's death the eldeſt
took his firſt Degree in Arts in 1576, 19 Eliz. and the following
year admitted Fellow of his College, he proceeded Maſter of Arts,
and died in 1608, 6 Jac. I. His fecond fon was admitted Fellow of
his College, in 1579, 22 Eliz. commenced Mafter of Arts in 1581, 24
Eliz. was appointed University Preacher in 1588, 31 Eliz. and about
the fame time proceeded Batchelor in Divinity, and was (p) made Vi-
car of Clacton Magna; he died in 1591, 34 Eliz. and was buried
in the chapel of St. John's College; by her he had alſo one daughter,
who was married to Robert Pont, Minifter of St. Cuthbert's in Edin-
burgh, and for ſome time a Lord of (9) Seffion.
Mr.
(1) After the accursed day of St. Bartholomew, Charles became wretched and me-
lancholy; he imagined that he heard continual groans and shrieks; he lost all relish
for his usual amusements; and, after a disease of a few days, died in the most horrid
manner, his blood exuding through the pores of his skin. Sew. Anec. III. 157, 158.
See Id. I. 115, 16, IV. 197.
(m) See How. Biogr. Scot. 77. n. 84. n.
(n) In the year 1573, 16 Eliz. was granted the following pension, viż. 500 marcs in
money, two chalders of weat, six chalders of beer, and four chalders of oats; this
favour is said to have been granted on account of KNOX's long and fruitful labours in
the kirk, and for the education and support of his wife and children. Tow. Brit,
Biogr. III. 53, calc. and see Catalogue of Knox's Writings, at the end of this Memoir.
(0) M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 125.
·
(p) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 53.
(q) He was Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and appointed Lord of Session, zo
O&. 1575, Dalr. Cat. 5, which last place he resigned 23 May, 1584, and was suc.
ceeded in that office, by John Graham, Lord Hallyards. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 78. Dal.
Cata
Mr. KNOX after the death of his firft wife, married Margaret Stew.
art, daughter to Andrew S. Lord (r) Ochiltree, a zealous promoter
of the Reformation, and fifter to James Hamilton, Earl of (s) Ar-
ran; by this lady he had three daughters, one of whom was married to
John (t) Welch, Miniſter of Ayre, and another to James (u) Fleming;
this lady furviving (x) Knox, was afterwards married to Sir Andrew
Ker of Pardonfide.
The following, among many other inftances, of his miraculous ef
cape from death, is very remarkable.
It (y) was his cuftom to fit at the table head in his own houſe, with
his back to the window; yet on a certain night, he would neither fit
there in his own chair, nor allow any other perſon to fit in it; but
fat in another chair with his back to the table, when a bullet was fhot
in at a window, purpoſely to kill him, but the confpirators miffed
him, and the bullet grazed on the chair in which he uſed to fit, and
lighted on the candleſtick, and made a hole in the foot of it; is yet
to be ſeen, thus was he who was with him, ftronger than they that
were (x) againſt him, and I am affured that the identical chair is now
in the hall of the truſtees of the widow's ſcheme, in Edinburgh.
The prefent writer cannot but obſerve, that the candleſtick would
have been a more curious relique, than even the chair itſelf, may I be
permitted to inſtance the cafe of a (a) finner, who efcaped to the full
as miraculouſly as the Saint.
"Charles the Second, fome years before his death, drinking more
liberally
Cat. 6. under the name of Pontanus, he wrote. "De unione insulæ Britanniæ.”
He was an eminent Clergyman and Lawyer. Nicols. Sc. Hist. Libr. 8. 84. Quarto
Edit.
(r) M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 132. His character, Id. 401, 402. Crawf. Mem.
Scotl.
324 and our article, Lord Chancellor Thirlestane. She was his Lordship's se
cond daughter, of his seven children, by his wife Agnes Cunningham, the daughter
of John Cunningham of Caprington. Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 522. b. and calc.
(s) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 330. b.
(t) See his Life at large, in Howie's, Scots Worthies, 132.
(u) See Id. 549.
(x) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 53.
(y) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 52. note (c).
(x) See Life of Charles II. in Howies "Biographia Scoticana" "Judgments,"
&c. 43.
(a) Id. 82.
&
4:
liberally than ufual, after the fatigue of riding about Windfor, retired
to the next room, and wrapped himſelf up in his cloak, fell afleep up-
on a couch; the king was but a little time come back to his company;
when a fervant belonging to one of them, lay down upon the fame
couch, in his Majefty's cloak, and was found ftabbed dead, with a
(b) poinard."
KNOX, the prime inftrument of fpreading and eſtabliſhing the re
formed religion in (c) Scotland, and propagating the goſpel in a va-
riety of places in other kingdoms and countries, by an unwearied
application to ſtudy and to buſineſs, as well as by the frequency and
fervor, of his public difcourfes, had worn out a conſtitution, naturally
ftrong; his (d) pious and facred life, was prolonged on a fick bed, at
his own houſe, during which lingering (e) illness, he difcovered the ut
moft fortitude, and met the approaches of death, with a magnanimity
infeparable from his character; he was conftantly employed in acts of
devotion, and conformed himſelf to thoſe proſpects of immortality;
which not only preſerve good men from deſponding, but fill them with
exultation in their laſt moments.
The REFORMER departed this life 27 (ƒ) Nov. 1572, 15 Eliz. at
eleven (g) o'clock at night, on finiſhing his chriftian warfare, he en-
tered into the joy of his Lord, to receive the reward of his righteouf-
nefs, prepared for him (and fuch as him) before the foundation of the
world; upon KNOXx's death, a moft upright (b) life, was, as it were,
crowned with a bleffed departure, at the clofe of fifty-ſeven years; but
whether he lived or died moft happily, will always be a queftion;
there is, however, no doubt, but that he left an exemplary inftance of
life and death, worthy the imitation of all. KNOx intended for his
fucceffor in the miniftry, John Laufone, a moſt reſpectable perſon, (¿)
as well for his learning, as for his integrity.
(b) Kenn. Hist. Eng. III. 424, b.
(d) Beza.
He
(c) Rob. H. S. ÌI. 41.
Beza says 24 Dec.
Middl. Biogr. Biogr. Evan,
(b) Beza.
(e) Rob. H. 1. II. 41.
(f) Rob. Hist. Scotl. II. 41.
II. 160.
(g) How. Biogr. Scot. 89. Middel. ut supra.
(i) Beza. How. Biogr. Scot. 85. Midl. Biogr. Evang. II. 1534
He was (k) buried with much folemnity, on Wedneſday, 26 Nov.
in the Kirk-yard of St. Giles's, (now that fquare called the Parliament
(1) Cloſe) Edinburgh, the corps being attended by feveral Lords, who
were then in that city, and particularly the Earl of (m) Morton, that
day appointed Regent.
The Earl of Morton (2) being about to receive the Regency of
Scotland, Knox thus addreffed him, "My Lord, God hath given
you many bleffings; he hath given you high honour, birth, great
riches, many good friends, and is now to prefer you to the govern-
ment of the realm; in his name, I charge you, that you will uſe
theſe bleffings better in time to come, than you have done in time.
paſt, in all your actions, ſeek first the glory of God, the furtherance
of his gofpel, the maintenance of his church and miniſtry, and then
be careful of the king, to procure his good, and the welfare of his
kingdom; if you act thus, God will be with you; if otherwiſe, he ſhall
deprive you of all theſe benefits; and your end fhall be fhameful
and ignominious; this threatening, Morton, to his melancholy expe-
rience, confeffed was literally accompliſhed; at the Earl's execution
in 1581, 24 Eliz. he called to mind the Reformer Knox's words,
and acknowledged, that in what he had ſaid to him, he had been a
true prophet.
KNOX has been variouſly characterised by the (0) learned, accord-
ing to their different inclinations to the churches of Geneva, Rome,
and England; he was like Luther, one of thofe extraordinary per-
fons, of whom (p) few, if any, are obſerved to ſpeak with fufficient
temper, all is either extravagant encomium, or fenfelefs invective.
The Engliſh (9) Epifcopalians agree with the Popish writers, in re-
prefenting
(1) How. Biogr. Scot. 89,
(k) Tow. Brit. Biogr. III. 52.
(m) James Douglas, according to the history of this Nobleman, he was very un-
worthy to attend the funeral of so pious a character, as that of the REFORMER;
KNOX's corps was attended, in the person of Douglass, by one who was an assassin, a
traitor, and a regicide; as also a violator of public treaties, cruel and incontinent in his
disposition. See Crawfurd's Mem. of Scotl. Edit. 12mo. 1767. Rob. Hist. ScotĮ.
8vo. Edit. 1761.
(n) How. Biogr. Scọt. 87.
(p) Jones's, New Biogr. Dict.
(0) McKenzie, III. 125.
(9) Noorth. Dict.
preſenting Knox as an (r) apoſtle, who eſtabliſhed his reputation by
fire and fword, and who taught the moſt feditious doctrines, but the
extravagant invectives of one party, are ſufficiently balanced by as
extravagant encomiums of the other, one of whom fays, "that ac-
cording to the opinion of all the Scots, he had a prophetical and
apoftolical fpirit.
KNOX was in his private life exemplary and irreproachable;
the reſt of this eminent REFORMER's character, we ſhall give it in the
words of that elegant and candid hiftorian, to whom we have been
frequently, and fo much indebted in the courſe of thefe anecdotes.
Zeal, (s) intrepidity, difintereſtedneſs, were virtues which he pof-
feffed in an eminent degree; he was acquainted too with the learning
cultivated in that age, and excelled in that fpecies of eloquence,
which is calculated to roufe and to inflame; his maxims however
were often too fevere, and the impetuofity of his temper exceffive;
rigid and uncomplying himſelf, he fhewed no indulgence to the infir-
mities of others; regardleſs of the diſtinction of rank and character,
he uttered his admonitions with an acrimony and vehemence, more
apt to irritate than to reclaim; this often betrayed him into indecent.
and undutiful expreffions with refpect to the (t) Queen's perſon and
conduct; thofe very qualities, however, which now render his character
leſs amiable, fitted him to be the inftrument of Providence, for ad-
vancing the Reformation, among a fierce people, and enabled him to.
face dangers, and to furmount obftacles, from which a perſon of a more
gentle fpirit, would have been apt to ſhrink back.
The Earl of (u) Morton, Regent of Scotland; pronounced his
eulogy in a few words, “He was a man, who, in his life, never (x)
feared the face of man, who hath been often threatened with dagg and
dagger, but yet hath ended his days in peace and honour," for, he had
God's providence watching over him, in an eſpecial (y) manner,
when his life was fought; this eulogium was the more honourable for
KNOX,
(r) See ante.
(s) Rob. H. S. F. 41.
(1) See ante.
(u) M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 129. See Anecdote of Douglas, Earl of Moreton, antę.
(x) Rob. Hist. Scotl. II. 42. Penn. Scotl. II. 142.
(y) See a singular instance, ante.
KNOX, as it came from one, whom he had often cenfured with (≈
peculiar ſeverity.
There is a portrait of the rough Reformer, JOHN KNOX, in Ha-
milton houfe or (a) palace; an half length of the ftern JOHN KNOX,
in the fame (b) manfion.
It cannot be expected, that we fhould enumerate all the indefa-
tigable labours, and pertinent ſpeeches, which on fundry occafions,
KNOX made to the Scottiſh Queen Regent, nor the particulars of the
oppofition he met with, in promoting the work of the Reformation ;
theſe will be found at large in the hiftory (c) of thoſe times.
It has been remarked, that Knox's (d) declamations againſt vice
and luxury, have in them every character, of that natural antipathy,
which cannot be counterfeited or diffembled.
KNOX (e) publiſhed the following (f) pieces:
1. A faithful Admonition to the true Profeffors of the Gospel of Christ,
within the kingdom of England, 1554.
2. A Letter to Mary, Queen Regent of Scotland, 1556.
3. The Appellation [or Appeal] of JOHN KNOX, from the cruel and
unjuft Sentence pronounced against him, by the falfe Bishops and Clergy
f Scotland, &c. 1558.
4. The first Blast of the Trumpet against the (g) Regimen of Women,
1558, 8vo.
5. A brief Exhortation to England, by the Speedy embracing of
Christ's Gofpel, heretofore by the Tyranny of Mary, fuppreffed and
banished, 1559.
6. A
(x) Penn. Scotl. II. 142. His faithfulness in reproving sin, in a manner, that shewed,
he was not to be awed by the fear of man, made up the most remarkable part of his
character. How. Biogr. Scot. 89. which see.
(a) Penn. Scotl. I. 256. II. 142.
(c) See the Catalogue, Post.
(b) Penn. Scotl. III. 145.
(d) Guth. H. E. III. 206. Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 52. calc:
(e) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 54.
(f) At the end of the fourth Edition of KNOX's History of the Reformation in Scot
land, printed at Edinburgh, in the year 1732, 6 Geo. II. in Folio, are subjoined the
above-mentioned Pieces. Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 54.
(g) This was re-printed with KNOX's History of the Reformation, in Scotland,
in the year, 1732. 6 Geo. II. Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 54.
6. A Sermon before the King of Scotland, Henry Darnley, 1556, to-
gether with fome controverfial Pieces.
After KNOX's death was (b) publiſhed,
7. The Hiftory of the Reformation (i) of Religion within the Realm of
Scotland, &c. in Folio.
At the end of the fourth edition of which, are fubjoined all his
other (k) works. Befides his printed (1) works, there were alſo in
1732, 6 Geo. II. fome manufcript pieces of his in the hands of Robert
(m) Woodrow, Miniſter of Eaftwood; and others are preſerved in Da-
vid (12) Calderwood's Hiftory of the Church of Scotland, and among
the Harleian (0) MSS. in the Britiſh Muſeum, are two Pieces attributed
to our author; one of which is a long confolatory letter, fuppofed
to be written by him to his (p) wife; and the other a letter, or rather
treatiſe addreſſed by him to the faithful in London, Newcaſtle and
Berwick, &c..
See M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 136, 137. Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 54.
Middl. Biogr. Evang. II. 162.
(h) Jones's New Biogr. Dict. “Knox.”
(i) See our article of John Knox, the Younger,
(1) Tow. Br. Biogr. III. 54.
(m) See our article of John Knox, the Younger.
(n) See his Life in Howies's Scots Worthies, 205.
(0) No. 416, Tow. Br. Biogr. III.
54.
:
(k) Jones, ut supra.
(p) This seems to have been his first wife, Margaret Bowes, Editor.
1
}
1

From
an
ROBERT TRAILL
Minister of Gray-Friars Church, Edinburgh.
Original Picture painted during his Exile in Holland, and
now in the possession of the R. Hon, the Earl of Buchan.
London Published 1 Jan 1798, by Robert Wilkinson Nº58 Cornhill.
UNIV
OF
●NSTA

ONTV
OF
JOHN KNOX?
From an Original Painting in Hamilton Palace.
London: Published Jan 1798. by Robert Wilkinson Nº58 Cornhill.
Trotter sc.
MICH
JOHN KNOX, the Younger.
THE cotemporary and acquaintance of John Knox, the Reformer;
but in no ways related to him or his family, on the ſcore of conſani
guinity; however their chriftian and fur-name being the fame, as well
as the time in which they reſpectively flouriſhed, and both alſo of the
clerical profeffion, Biographers have miſtaken one for the other, and
by that means have confounded them together; it ſhall be our endea-
vour to ſeparate and diftinguiſh them, which we have no doubt we
ſhall be able to do in this Memoir, to the fatisfaction of all, but the
incredulous part of our readers. The JOHN KNOX, of whom we are
now to ſpeak, was moderator of the Synod of Merfa, in Germany,
in the (a) year 1583, 29 Eliz. alfo preacher at Rotterdam in Hol-
land, and afterwards at London; Bifhop (6) Nicolfon (c) fuppofes
our KNOX to have been the true anceſtor of Robert (d) Fleming,
and that he was the grandfon of John Knox the Reformer, for fo
he does appear to be in the account we have met with, of this
branch of the Reformer's family, which ftands thus, viz: James
Fleming, Robert Fleming's father, married one of the Reformer's
daughters, previous to his marriage with his fon's (e) mother; ſo that
the families of the Reformer and of the Flemings feem to me to have..
been not only acquainted, but alſo allied and connected in blood.
*
Our JOHN KNOx (and not the Reformer) was the tranſcriber of
the following hiftory of the reformation of Scotland, and might be
one
(6) William Nicolson was arch-
(a) Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 56. Quarto Edit.
deacon, prebend, and bishop of Carlisle, in England. Beats. Pol. Ind. I. 176. and of
Londonderry: Id. II. 146. and archbishop of Cashel. Id. 126. both the last, in the King-
dom of Ireland. Beatson mis-spells his name with an b throughout his Index.
(d) See his life at large, in Howie's Scots
(e) See Middleton's Biog. Evang. II. 162. 8vo. Edit. 1780.
(c) Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 55. 56.
Worthies. 549.
one of the affiſtants in reviſing it at the preſs; of which hiſtory of our
KNOX, there is a manuſcript copy ftill exifting, in the library at Glaſs
gow, North Britain, which bears the following title:
"The (f) Hiftory of the Reformation of Religion within the
realme of Scotland, conteening the manner and by quaht perſonnes
the light of Chrift's Evangel hes bein manifefted unto this realme,
after that horrible and univerfal defection from the truth, which hes
cum to be the meines of that Roman Antichrift."
This work was prefented (g) to the college, by the above men-
tioned Robert Fleming, who, having feveral of this JOHN KNOX's
papers in his hands, pretended to affure the college that this very book
was penned by the perſon, whoſe name it commonly bears, but that
being JOHN KNOx, without otherwiſe diftinguiſhing whether he al-
luded to John Knox the Reformer, or our JOHN KNOX, by no means
afcertained the author; but for the better proof of this matter, Mr.
Robert Fleming ſent them the preface of another book, written in the
fame hand writing, wherein are theſe words, "In nomine Domini
noftri Jefu Chrifti, &c. Septembris quarto M. Jo. KNOX, Auguſt. 18.
1581." This indeed is complete evidence, that our JOHN KNOX, and
not John Knox the famed Reformer, was the perſon here alluded to,
unleſs it can be admitted, that one who died, (as John Knox the Re-
former did, in the year 1572, 15 Eliz.) could have written a book in
the year 1581, 24 Eliz. nine years after the author's death.
The purport (for the original from which the enfuing paragraph is
tranflated into Engliſh, is in Latin) of the famous Sir Robert Gordon,
of Strologh, North Britain, his opinion of KNOX's Hiſtory of the
Reformation of Scotland, is this :-
"Whoever
(ƒ) We have had several editions of the history, which bears his name, Nicols. Scot.
Hist. Libr. 54. calc. but the bishop does not pretend to say in the name of the Refor-
mer; and as his christian name as well as that of our Knox, was John, it decides
nothing. The several editions when collected together in one point of view, seem
to be as follow: There was an edition of the work alluded to in Latin, printed at
Strasburg, in 1554. and another at Basil, in 1559. Nicols. 55. another, in Folio at
London, and another in Quarto at Edinburgh, both in the year M,DC,XLIV. and long
before either the Folio or Quarto Edition; another in Octavo or Twelves. Nicols. 54.
in notes.
(g) Nicols. 55, 56.
!
"Whoever reads archbiſhop Spotwood's (b) Hiftory of Scotland,
and compares it with Knox's, (the author of which is the diſgrace
of Hiſtorians, for he difparaged both himſelf and the times, by fuch
fort of writing) he will diſcover a great difference between them; but
the archbiſhop, after declaring himſelf aſhamed of ſo great a blemiſh
in Knox, who was otherwiſe a great man, and his name very cele-
brated in the church, denies his being the author of the work in
queſtion: John (i) Maitland however, the noble and learned Chan-
cellor of that kingdom, who jeered both Spotwood and his history, in
a very fevere and pointed (k) epigram, did not entertain the like no-
tion of KNOX's Hiftory."
There are fome paffages in the Hiftory, which do undeniably
prove, that a later perfon than the Reformer Knox, has made.
feveral (1) interpolations, which are now printed as part of the ori-
ginal Hiſtory; ſo much is unanſwerably remarked by the ingenious
writer of the Preface to "The fundamental characters of the Prefby-
terians" who juftly obferves, that he has been a thorough-paced
Prefbyterian, who framed the Hiftory as we now have it; and
that, by confequence, its authority is ftark naught for any thing in it,
that favours prefbyterianifm, or befpatters (m) prelacy.
John
(b) The passage is in archbishop Spotwood's Church History. V. 267.
and that which the learned Sir Robert Gordon refers to above, is this, "As to
the history of the Church ascribed commonly to Knox, the Reformer, the same was not
his work; but his name supposed to gain it credit; for besides the several discourses
we find in it, more fitting a comedian on a stage, than a Divine or minister, such as
Mr. Knox was, and the the spiteful malice that author expresseth against the Queen
Regent of Scotland, speaking of one of our Martyrs, he remits the reader for a further
declaration of his sufferings, to the Acts and Monuments of martyrs, set forth by
Mr. Fox, an Englishman, which came not to light some ten or twelve years after
Mr. Knox's death; a greater injury could not be done to the fame of that worthy man,
than to father upon him the ridiculous toys and malicious detractions contained in that
book." Nicols. 55. Note M'Kenzie's Scots Writers. III. 133, 134+
his article, in this our collection.
(i) See
(k) The epigram alluded to is still existing.
(1) See part of a Letter from
Nicolson's worthy friend Mr. Robert Weedrow, Library Keeper at Glasgow, giving
some account of the interpolations, and omissions, in our JOHN KNOX's Church history,
falsly ascribed to the Reformer; as published by D. Buchanan, Nicols. 109. Append.
No. VI. and where also the history is compared with the Print. Id. 55. in the notes.
Note M'Kenzie's Scots Writers. III. 135.
(m) Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 55.
John (2) Leflie, one of the Scotch Hiftorians, an adverſary of our
KNOX, who, commonly (on other occafions) writes with a great deal
of temper, gives this bitter (0) character of him, which I thus tranflate
from the original Latin, "He was a man unadorned (p) with hu-
manity, or the knowledge of the arts, or any other the endow-
ments of nature or genius, unleſs you call an unbridled audacity, and
the volubility of a virulent tongue, unexpreffive of any ingenuity,
endowments."
;
(n) See account of him in Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 31. (0) Hist. Scotl, Lib,
X 537.
(P) Nicols. Scot. Hist, Libr. 55. 56.
す
​辟
​{
犟
​1

UNIV
JOHN MAITLAND OF LETHINGTON
Lord Thirlestane and Lord High Chancellor of Scotland.
London: Published 1 Jan '1798, by Robert Wilkinson N°58 Cornhill.
Trotter
MICH
Lord Chancellor THIRLESTANE.
SIR
JOHN (4) MAITLAND, of Lethington, North Britain, was a
lawyer by deſcent, being the fecond of the three fons, of the (¿)
feven children, born to Sir Richard Maitland, of Lethington and
Thirleftane, in the fame kingdom, who was one of the Judges, or
extraordinary (c) Lords of the Court of Seffion, and Lord Privy
(d) Seal, by his wife, Mary Cranſton, daughter of Sir Thomas Cran-
fton, of Croſbie, of which children, the other two were daughters;
Sir JOHN was (e) born in the year 1545; he was a youth of excel-
lent
(a) The original name of this family was MATULANT, Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 391. a.
The Duke of Lauderdale, one of the noted Cabal in the reign of Charles II. was of this
family. Earl of Clarendon has recorded his infamy, in his Hist. Rebel. III. 124.
Penn. Scotl. III. 264. So is the present Earl of Lauderdale, one of the noted coa-
lition, in the reign of George III.
(b) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 393. b.
(c) Dalrymp. Cat. of Lords of Session, 4. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 84. The King's
(James IV. of Scotland, who was slain in 1513,) letter for exempting Sir Richard from
the attendance on and duties of his office, from the notoriety of his infirmities and great
age, is remarkable. It bears, "That Sir Richard Maitland had served his grandsire,
(or great grandfather), goodame, mother, and himself, in many public charges (for
upwards of seventy years) whereof he dutifully and honestly acquitted himself; and
having been many years a senator, he has with much sincerity and integrity served
therein, and being grown greatly debilitated through age, though nothing in spirit and
judgment; whereupon the Lords have granted him immunity and licence to attend
when he pleases, having all commodities, as if he were present," the salary was reserved
to Sir Richard, though the King "moved in conscience, lest justice should be retarded
by his abscence, appointed Sir Lewis Ballenden, his successor" Sir Richard's advice to
Queen Mary, deserves to be recorded, as the advice of a judicious and faithful Coun.
sellor, "That she must see her laws kept, or else she would get no obedience." He
was a biographical, a professional, and a poetical writer. Dalrymp. Notes on Cat. of
Lords of Session, 4, 5. Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 393.
(d) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 67. (e) Berkenhout's Biographia Literaria, 371. calc.
lent natural parts, which, by his father's care were highly improved
by a liberal (ƒ) education, in a courſe of ſtudies, in grammar and (g)
philoſophy, in (b) Scotland, he was afterwards fent to France, to ſtudy
the (i) law; on his return to his native country, he commenced (k)
Advocate.
His first promotion was the (1) Abbacy of Kelfoe in commendam,
which he afterwards exchanged with Francis Stewart, the Queen's ne-
phew, for the Priory of (m, Coldinghame.
In 1567 he was preferred to be Lord Privy (n) Seal, on his fa-
ther's (0) refignation; but (p) being inviolably attached to the Queen's
intereft, and entirely difapproving of the methods, that were ufed, to
induce her Majefty to refign her government, in favour of her infant
fon; he ſuffered many hardships, both in his perfon and fortune; his
benefice was taken from him, and given to Alexander Home, of
Manderſton.
In 1568, though then not much more than twenty-three years of
age, he became fo eminently confpicuous for abilities in his profeffion,
that he was, June 2, this year, made an ordinary (9) Lord of Seffion,
or one of the Senator's (r) of the College of juſtice (for both names
impart (s) the fame office) being then Commendator of (1) Colding-
hame, in ſucceffion to Archibald Crawfurd, Parſon of (u) Eglifhame,
ſuperſeded for his (x), inability, and divers offences committed by
him, which merited his deprivation.
(f) Dougl. ut supra, 394, a. calc.
(g) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, III. 398.
(h) Berkenh. ut supra.
(i) M'Kenzie, ut supra.
(1) Doug!. Peer. Scotl. 394, a. calc.
(k) Berkenh. ut supra.
He
(m) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 67.
(n) Dougl. 394, a. calc. · Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 67.
(p) Id. 394, a. calc.
(0) Dougl. 393, b.
(q) Dalrymp. Cat. of Lords of Session, 6. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 78.
(r) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 294, b.
(s) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, III. 145, 146, marg. and calc. Dougl. Pe^r.
Scotl. 658, b. and calc. Critical Review, XXIX, 9. Boswell's Hebrides, 99, n. 8vo.
Edit. 1786.
(†) Dalrmp. Notes on Cat. 8, Beats. II. 78.
(u) Dalrymp. Cat. 4.
Beats. II. 78.
(a) Dalrymp. Notes on Cat. 8.
He was deprived of his office of Privy Seal, by Act of Parliament
(y) in the year 1570, which was immediately beſtowed on John Bu-
channan, the hiftorian.
Being fenfible, that the (z) Regent, who then had the management
of all affairs, was no friend of his, he retired to the caftle of Edin-
burgh, where he was kindly received by Sir William Kirkaldy, the
Governor, with whom he continued, till the caftle was taken by the
Regent, with the affiftance of fome troops, he got from Queen Eliza-
beth.
Sir JOHN MAITLAND was fent prifoner to Tantallon; but the Re-
gent
fometime thereafter conſented to his enlargement, and allowed
him to be confined to Lord Somerville's houfe, and two miles round
it; but under the penalty of 10,000l. fterling, in cafe he fhould go
beyond the preſcribed limit.
He continued under this reftraint, till the Earl of Morton's 'full,
after which he was liberated by A&t of (a) Council, in the year 1578.
After he had obtained his liberty, he went to Court, in the year
1581, where his many excellent qualities foon brought him into fa-
vour with the King.
On 26 (6) April, 1581, he was again appointed an Ordinary Lord
of (c) Seffion, in the place of Archibald Douglas, Parfon of Glaf-
gow, then fuperfeded.
His Majefty, James the Sixth's (d) efteem and regard for him ftill
increaſing, he firft conferred the honour of (e) knighthood on him,
and then made him (f) Secretary of State for (g) life, in the year
1584.
(y) Dougl. 394, b.
(x) James Douglas, Earl of Morton.
(a) Id. ib.
(b) Dalrymp. Cat. of Lords of Session, 6. calc. Beats. Pol. Ind. II.
He
(c) But never President of that Court, as the late Sir David Dalrymple, Baronet,
Lord Hailes, and one of the Lords of Session [See Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 83. Dalr. Cat.
17. Europ. Mag. XXXIII. 87, 348,] has erroneously asserted, in his Notes on the Ca.
talogues of the Lords of Session, 8, Quarto Edit. MDCCXCVI.
(d) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 394, b.
(ƒ) Berkenhout and Dougl. ut supra.
Session, 8, calc. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 69.
(g) Dougl. ut supra.
(e) Dougl. ut supra.
Dalrymple's Notes to Cat. of Lords of
He was in 1586, made Vice (1) Chancellor by a moft ample com-
miffion, in which are fully narrated, his great merit, probity, and faith-
ful fervices.
He refigned (i) the judicial office of Ordinary Lord of Seffion, in
the month of March, 1587, having been on the Bench nineteen
years; and was fucceeded by James (k) Elphinstone, of Innernochtie;
and fometime thereafter he was preferred to be Lord (1) Chancellor of
the kingdom, in the room of James Stewart, Earl of (m) Arran; who
foon after his difmiffion, was (n) murdered, as he was riding over
Crawford Moor, by Lord Forthoral, natural fon to James Douglaſs,
Earl of Morton, the (0) Regent.
The Chancellor's power and (p) influence, created him many ene-
mies, among the Scotch Nobility, who made ſeveral attempts to
deftroy him, but without fuccefs.
One of which is particularly mentioned, (9) viz. an affault made on
him in the night time, at the Abbey of Holyrood Houſe, by Earl
Bothwel; in that Chancellor Maitland, being the Earl's mortal enemy,
got him imprifoned in the caftle of Edinburgh for witchcraft, &c.
but the Earl failed in his attempt.
He attended the King on his voyage (r) to Norway, where his bride,
the Princeſs of Denmark, was detained by contrary wind, the mar-
riage was immediately confummated, and they returned with the
Queen to Copenhagen, where they ſpent the enfuing winter; during
(b) Dalr. Notes to Cat. of Lords of Session, 8, calc. Dougl. 394, b.
(i) Dalrymp. Cat. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 78.
(k) Id. ib.
their
(1) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 59, calc. M'Kenzie's Lives of the Writers of Scotland, 421,
422. Camd. Brit. "Scotia," 10, Folio Edit. MDCX.
(m) He was the upstart favourite of the King, and most justly stripped of all his
honours in 1585. Beats. II. 10, and see Crawfurd's Memoirs of Scotland, 314, 324,
Edit. 12mo. MDCCLXVII.
(n) How. Biogr. Scotl. Second Part, 1718.
(0) M'Kenzie's Scotch Writers, 401, calc.
See Id. 398.
(p) Berkenhout's Biographia Literaria,” 372.
Berkenh. Biogr. Lit. Quarto 371, n.
(g) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scots Writers, III. 417, 418. Dougl. 86.
(r) Berkenh, Biogr. Lit. 372. M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 417.
their refidence in Denmark, the Chancellor became intimately ac-
quainted, with the celebrated Tycho (s) Brahe.
Whilft the CHANCELLOR was in Denmark, great contentions aroſe
between him and the Earl of (t) Marifchal; for the CHANCELLOR, by
virtue of his office, claimed the next place to his Majefty as long as
he was there; and, on the other hand, the CHANCELLOR claimed
that precedency as due to his high office; but there does not ſeem
to have been any determination on the ſubject.
Soon (1) after his Majefty's return to Scotland, with his Queen, he
conferred the honour of the Peerage of that kingdom, upon the
CHANCELLOR, for his fingular (x) wiſdom, with the title of Lord (y)
Maitland, of Thirleftane, by Letters Patent, dated 18 May, 1590, to
him and the heirs male of his body.
He was one of the Scotch Peers, who affifted at (x) the Queen's
Coronation, the fame year.
The CHANCELLOR (a) refigned his office of Secretary of State,
which the King immediately conferred on Sir Richard (6) Cockburn,
of Clerkington, the CHANCELLOR'S (c) nephew.
Towards the end of the year 1592, the (d) CHANCELLOR incur-
red the Queen's difpleafure, for refufing to relinquifh his Lordfhip
of Muffelburgh, which fhe claimed, as being a part of Dumfernling;
he abfented himſelf fome time from Court, but was at length reſtored
to favour, by means (e) of Robert Ker, of Cafsford, who had married
his niece; and in order to ingratiate himſelf the more in her good
graces, he concurred with her in her defign of taking the young
Prince from the Earl of Mar; for which he received a fevere repri-
mand from the King, which he took fo much to heart, that he fell
(s) See the Lord Chancellor's Works.
(t) M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 416, calc.
(1) Dougl. Peer. Scotl.
394, b.
(*) Camd. Brit. "Scotia," 10, Folio Edit. MDCX.
(y) Dougl. ut supra. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. II.
(z) Dougl. ut supra.
(a) Dougl. ut supra.
(6) Beats. II. 69.
(c) Dougl. ut supra.
(d) Berkenh. Biogr. Lit. 372, 373.
(e) M'Kenzie's Lives, III: 418, calc.
into
睿
​into a lingering ficknefs; during which he fent his coufin, the Secre-
tary, to the King, who remained then at Hamilton, and by him ex-
cufed his dealing in that matter, with a folemn proteftation of his
fidelity, in all his Majefty's fervices; and a fhort time before his
death, he wrote a letter to the King, recommending his wife, children,
and(ƒ) friends to his protection; to the letter his Majeſty returned a
very affectionate anſwer, and which the reader may find in Doctor (g)
Mackenzie's Lives of Scottiſh Writers; it is one of King James's
best (b) compofitions.
Notwithſtanding the King's letter was (i) wrote with his own hand,
to comfort Lord THIRLESTANE in his fickneſs; yet the ſenſe of the
King's diſpleaſure, made fo deep an impreffion on the CHANCELLOR'S
mind, that it threw him into a languiſhing diforder, which put a pe-
riod to his life on (k) 3 October, 1595, on which (1) day he was
elated with the greateft conjugal affection, and his whole time was
taken up in writing verfes to the memory of his wife's virtues, in
which he bewailed her death, in a very mournful ditty.
Lord THIRLESTANE died epileptic (m), aged (n) fifty, at (0) Law-
der, greatly regretted by the (p) King, and all who wifhed (q) well
to their country.
He lies interred at (r) Haddington, with feveral of his anceſtors.
He left behind him a confiderable eftate, viz. the lands and ba-
ronies of Blyth, Thankerton, Biggar, &c. the lands of Caftle Hill,
in the domain of Lauderdale, with the office of Bailiff, appertaining
to the fame, and of Muffelburgh; the lands of Eaft and Weſt Barns,
Newton, Ofwalden, Le Roy et Fleuris, Lochen, &c. the Baronies
of Stobo, Ethelftone, called the White Barony, &c. alfo ten chalders
(f) Berkenh. Biogr. Lit. 373. n.
(g) Vol. III. 419.
(i) Birck's Life of Prince Henry, 13.
(k) M'Kenzie's Lives, III. 419, calc.
of
(1) Translation from the original Latin of Johnst. Rer. Brit. Hist. Lib. VII. 204
ap. M'Kenzie, III. 420, ap. calc.
(m) M'Kenzie 418, calc. 420.
(n) Epitaph, M'Kenzie III. 419, calc.
(p) M'Kenzie, Id. ib.
(r) M'Kenzie, Id. ib.
Berkenh. ut supra.
(0) M'Kenzie, III. 420.
(q) Dougl. ut supra, 395, a,
of victual, yearly, out of the lands of Markhill, Traprene, &c. like-
wife the lands and barony of Leithington, &c. with the tower and
fortrefs.
He married Jane Fleming, the only daughter and heiress of James
F. Lord Fleming, Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland, in the reign
of Queen Mary, by Lady Barbara Hamilton, daughter of James,
Duke of Chattle Herault, by whom he had a fon and a daughter.
Both the following Epitaphs are inſcribed on Chancellor MAIT-
LAND'S Monument, which was erected by his fon; the firft is in
Engliſh verſe, and written by the King himſelf, and is far from being
the worst (t) of his Majefty's compofitions; it is indeed, one of the
(u) best, and was, according to the Earl of (x) Orford, no doubt
efteemed, in that age of adulation, a mark of great honour; the other
is in Latin, and cauſed to be, if not written, by the fon of the deceaſed
Lord; a tranflation of the latter is here given, and the Original fub-
ſcribed in a Note.
Thu paffenger, who ſpy'ft with gazeing (y) eyes
This fad trophie of death's triumphant dart,
Confider, when this outward tomb (y) thu fees;
How rair a man leaves here his earthly pairt.
His wifdome and his uprightnefs of heart,
His piety, his practice in our ſtate;
His pregnant wit, well verft in every pairt;
As equally not all were in debate.
Then justly has his death brought forth, of late
A heavie grief to prince and fubjects all,
Who virtue love, and vice, do truly hate,
Though vicious men be joyful at his fall ;
(1) Edinb. Mag. I. 122. Old Series, Edit. 1773.
(u) Burkenh. ut supra, 373.
But
(a) Walp. Cat. Roy. and Nob. Auth. II. 210.
(y) Every reader will perceive the grammatical licence, which the King took as thu
sees; his rhimes are broad Scotch, eyes and sees.
Edit. 1773.
Edinb. Mag. I. 122, Old Series,
•
But for himſelf, moft happy doth he (z) die
Tho' for his prince it moſt unhappy (z) be.
To (a) JOHN MAITLAND, Baron of Thirleftane, Lord High
Chancellor of Scotland, defcended of the noble ftock of the Maitlands,
and augmented the honour of that very ancient family, by a much
more celebrated title; his fincere piety, heroic mind, fingular learning,
undaunted courage, worthy the imitation of pofterity, and envied by
antiquity, were fcarcely ever equalled; his ready liberality, cheerful
and facetious vigour of wit, gained him the affections of all, both in
public and private; after he had faithfully diſcharged feveral honour-
able offices in the Commonwealth, King James, the Sixth of that
name, King of Scotland, (the wifeft of all the Kings Europe ever (b)
faw) advanced him to the high dignity of Chancellor, with the con-
fent and acclamations of the three eftates of the kingdom, in Parlia-
ment affembled; but he enjoyed that poft hardly nine years; how-
ever, he executed it with fuch prudence, integrity, and univerfal ap-
probation, that it may be ſaid of him, great was the glory of his fhort-
lived dignity. At length having attained the fiftieth year of his age, he
was
(z) Die and be, coupled together, must sound harsh to an English ear.
(a) "JOANNI METELLANO, Baroni de Thyrlstane, magno Scotia Cancellario; qui,
a nobili Metellanâ stirpe oriundus, vetustissimæ familiæ decus, celebriore titulo auxit;
cujus sincera pietas, heroica mens, eruditio singularis, gnava fortitudo, posteris æmu-
landa, invidenda antiquis, parem vix habuerunt; liberalitas exprompta, lepidusque in-
genii vigor, devixerit sibi publicé omnes, privatim singulos: Quem, post varia in Rep.
præclarè gesta munia, Jacobus, ejus nominis Sextus, Scotorum Rex, (omnium quos Eu-
ropa unquam vidit, sapientissimus) ad summum Cancellaritus fastigium, acclamantibus
tribus regni ordinibus, in Comitiis publicis evexit. Sed munus illud annos vix novem
sustinuit, cum câ tamen prudentiâ, integritate, aclaude, ut meritò affirmari possit, bre-
vis dignitatis ingentem fuisse gloriam. Tandem, annos natus quinquaginta, in medio
ferè honorum et virtutum curriculo ereptus, acerbum sui desiderium reliquit omnibus,
præcipué regi optimo; qui versibus vernaculis, suprémo huic marmori incisis, de
mortuo parentavit. Obiit Anno 1595, 5 Non. Octobris, in Arce suâ de Thyrlstane, a
se recens extructâ.
Johannes Metellanus, Lauderiæ comes, filius unigena, parenti optimo, majore pie-
tate quam imperensâ, poni curavit." The above Inscription is upon his Lord-
ship's tomb, in the Church of Haddingtoun. M'Kenzie's Lives of Scotch
Writers, III. 421, 422.
(b) Berkenh. Biogr. Lit. 373, in the Notes.

UNIV
OF
Birrell
JOHN HAMILTON, SECOND LORD BELHAVEN, 1679-1708.
From a Drawing communicated by the Earl of Buchan.
London: Published 1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson N°58 Cornhill.
MICH
was fnatched away, almoſt in the midſt of his career of honours and
virtues; he left his heavy lofs to be lamented by all perfons, efpe-
cially by the beſt of Kings, who performed a material part of the
funeral obfequies towards the deceaſed, by writing the (c) vernacular
verſes, engraven on the top of the marble monument; he died 3 Oct.
1595, in his own Caſtle of (d) Thirleſtane, lately built by himſelf;
John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale, his only fon, caufed this Mo-
nument to be erected to the memory of the best of parents, more
out of filial piety, than oftentatious expence.
It does not feem to be (e) aſcertained whether MAITLAND, the
Lord Chancellor, excelled moft in polite literature, in the knowledge
of the Civil Law, or in the acquirements of general (ƒ) learning; his
career in life, was not equal to his favour with the Prince, for the
former was fometimes turbulent, fometimes quiet, till at laſt he be-
gan to think how much literary and intenſe application he had thrown
away on uſeleſs matters; how much diſtraction he had undergone
what ftorms, private as well as public, he had fuftained, infomuch,
that he wished to fail into a more tranquil port.
Our author was one of the beft Latin poets of his age, as his Epi-
grams, which are ftill extent, teftify.
His
(c) Dr. M'Kenzie has translated the original Latin word “Vernaculis” “ English,”
and yet gives the translation in the Scotch language.
cones.
(d) Near Lauder is Thirlestane castle, a singular old house of the Earl of Lauderdale;
the front small, bounded on each side, with a great round tower, capped with slated
Penn. Scotl. III. 264. It is in the rare plates to Slezer, 1719. See Gough's
very valuable typography. Edinb. Mag. 426, in the Notes, Old Edit. A. D. 1787.
(e) Translation of the original Latin, viz. Johnst. Rer. Brit. Hist. Lib. VII. 204, in.
serted in M'Kenzie's Scottish Writers, III. 420.
(J) James Murray, Earl Murray the Regent, who was shot to death on Saturday,
23 January, 1569, by Hamilton, of Bothwell Haugh, and deservedly, though he owed
his life to the Regent's mercy, on a former occasion, for which he is charged with ingra.
titude, but sure the cause of revenge put even gratitude itself out of the case, for the
Regent was sacrificed to the first resentment of an injured husband, whose estate had
been bestowed upon one of the Regent's favourites, and he took possession of his house,
by his orders, and not only turned Hamilton's wife out of doors, but stript her naked,
and left her in that condition, in the open fields, in a cold dark night, where, before day
next morning, she became furiously mad. The story of this cruelty, and of the Re-
gent's death, (for sure it cannot be deemed murder) are both related in Rob. Hist.
Scot. I. 511. Crawf. Mem. Scotl, 124.
His fhrewdnefs, his knowledge, and his experience, all conduced to
make him ſo remarkable for the equity of his (b) determinations, that
the celebrity of his reputation, reached pofterity; in the days of his
youth, he was expofed to many dangers; after the misfortune of his
(i) brother Ledington, he retired for fome time; in his more advanced
time of life, he gradually obtained many honours and functions in the
State; his adminiſtration of public affairs, caufed the envy of the
Nobility; which he excited by his pleaſantry; it would be invidious.
to particularize the foul language, in which he abuſed the Nobles and
his enemies; however, he always proved himself, of an exalted mind,
and was much commended for his prudence and management, even
among the adverſe factions; he left the moſt convincing proofs of his
learning,
(g) Spotswood gives him the character of a man of great learning. Berkenh. 373,
and he certainly was of rare parts, and a deep wit, and full of courage. M'Kenzie,
III. 419. The CHANCELLOR bore an high character for his talents and integrity
amongst all historians. Edinb. Mag. V. 426, a. Old Series, Edit. 1787, as a man of
genius and a scholar. Id. I. 122. Old Series Edit. 1773, see his Works.
(b) Is meritus, æquitate in rebus judicandis, solertiâ ingenii, peritiâ usuque rerum,
ut ad posteritatis memoriam fama celebris esset. In primâ juventute multis discrimini-
bus obnoxius; post calamitatem Ledingtoni fratris, aliquandiu latuit; provectâ ætate
gradatim honores et publica reipublicæ munera adeptus non sine magnâ invidiâ proce-
run administravit, quam immodicis jocis provocavit. Supervacaneum est singula male-
diéta referre, per quae in proceres inimicosque suos contumeliosus fuit. At specimen ex.
celsi animi semper editit, inter adversas factiones, magnam laudem prudentiæ industrie.
que tulit; reliquit clarissima monumenta doctrinæ suæ, Epigrammata Latino sermone
conscripta. Senescente invidiâ, quam dies mitigavit, fama ejus vario sermone vulgari ce-
lebratæ; quibusdam naturá dicacior visus, ez ne inter tempora curarum, verbis facetis
satis temperans; aliis, ubi officio satisfecit, lenis, remissus, urbanus, procùl a tristitiâ aut
severitate, jocos temperatos seriis permiscens." Rob. Johnston, Rer. Brit. His. L. VII.
204. Dalrymp. Notes on the Cat. of the Lords of Session, Quarto, 8, 9, Edit.
M.DCC.XCIV. M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 420.
(i) The misfortune was blindness, which happened to his father, not his brother, ac-
cording to Pinkerton's account of Scottish Poet's, "Sir Richard Maitland," in the
Edinb. Mag V. 422. Old Series, Edit. 1787. The son was a man of great po-
itical abilities; Berkenh. 373, he was a most faithful and loyal subject, and a firm
and steady friend to the interest of Queen Mary. Dougl. 394, a. and as no subject had
a greater share of his royal master, King James's favour, so none deserved it better, he
having always been a most faithful Minister. Dougl. 395, a. M'Kenzie's Lives of
Scottish Writers, III. 419.
:
learning, viz. (k) Epigrams written in the Latin tongue; envy died
away in proceſs of time; his character was in general, varioufly fpo-
ken of; he appeared to ſome unnaturally fevere, not lufficiently qua.
lifying the facetiouſneſs of his diſcourſe, to the hour of ſeriouſneſs ;
others, again, thought that (1) in the execution of his official duties.
he was courteous, eafy, polite, and far from being morofe or fevere,
but that he tempered, on the contrary, his jocularity with gravity.
His memory (m) was not grateful to all, for fome charged him to
have been the author of diffentions among the Nobles, and of the mur-
der of (n) Murray the Regent.
*
Again, JOHN MAITLAND, the Noble and learned Chancellor of
Scotland, was equal to any of his cotemporaries, in general informa-
tion, and furpaffed every body, in his particular knowledge of the
public tranfactions of his time.
Several of MAITLAND'S (0) cotemporary Poets wrote Verles en
him, among which are the following:
"Humida quod terræ facies, tot menfibus æther
Imbribus infeftus, fluctibus æquor erat:
Quodque Ceres mentita fidem, fat amerferat undis,
Ætheris et terræ hæc figna gementis erant.
Quippe Metellano (cujus frendente profana
Invidia, ad mundi mænia fama volat)
Jufta piis lacrymis, et pulla vefta parabant
Nec lucem in luctu fuftinuere fuo.
Sed fi mens ulla eft hominis præſaga futuri,
Nec femper vates vana referre folent
Si
(k) Regni Cancellarius, Joannes Metellanus, acri et mordace Epigramate (quod ad-
huc extat) in Knoxum et historiam ejus lusit. Nicol. Sc. Hist. Libr. 54, 55. i. e. Jolin
Maitland, the Chancellor of the kingdom, jeered Knox, the Reformer, and his history
of that event, in a very severe and pointed Epigram. See his Works.
(1) He acquitted himself, in every station of life, with honour, fidelity, and reputa-
tion. Dougl. 395, a. See Dalrym. Notes on Cat. of Lords of Session, 8, 9.
(m) Johnstone, ap. M'Kenzie, III. 420, ap. calc.
(n) See his Character in our article of John Knox, the Reformer.
* Nobilis et eruditus regni Cancellarius, JOANNES METELLANUS eorum temporum
æqualis, qui illa omnia apprimé nôrat. In the opinion of Sir Robert Gordon, of Stro-
logh, according to Nicol. Scot. Hist. Libr. 54, 55.
(0) See some account of him in our Life of Knox the Reformer.
Si Nioben flet adhuc marmor, fi candida vatum
Mater, adhuc multò Memnona rore gemit;
Multa diuque tibi lacrymarum flumina fundet
Scotia, confiliis fola reli&ta fuis."
The famous Sir Thomas (p) Craig is reputed the Author of the
above Poem.
ALIU D,
Nemo Metellano eft fuffectus, cur ita! quod par
Nemo Metellano, nemo fecundus erat.
"Ille Metellanus, cui regni inclaruit ingens
Annulus, et regis menfque manufque fui;
Cui rex incubuit, regni dum verfat habenas;
Quo duce tanta fuit pax foras atque domii
Qui, claris prognatus avis, et fanguine priſco,
Laude novâ veteres nobilitavit avos,
Hâc urna fitus in parva, tibi ſurdior aula
Intonat hoc, fi vis vivere: difce mori.”
Andrew (9) Melvil is the reputed Author of theſe Verſes.
JOANNIS (r) METELLANI, Thirl ftoni Domini, Scotia quondam Cancellarii,
Epigrammata Latina. Del. Poet. Scot,vol. II. 138. Amft. 1637, in 12mo.'
i. e.
The Latin Epigrams of JOIN MAITLAND, Lord Thirleſtane, formerly
Chancellor of Scotland. Among the Delights of the Scots Poets, Vol. II.
138. Amft. 1637, in 12mo.
In the above Collection, are fatirical, complimentary, and humour-
(p) Berkenh. Biogr. Lit. 373, n.
ous;
(q) M‘Kenzie, ut supra, 420, calc.
(r) M'Kenzie's Lives of the Scottish Writers, III. 421, and yet it is said, that Mel.
ville, who wrote the Memoirs, was his personal enemy. See Edinb. Mag. V, 426, a.
Old Series, Edit. 1787.
(r) M'Kenzie's Lives of Scotch Writers, III. 423. Berkenh. Biogr. Lit.
ous; among the former, I confider the following (s) Epigram on the
Maſter of (1) Gray:
(u) Sis Paris, an Graius dubito; pulchelle, videris
Effe Paris, formâ, marte, et amore, pari,
Fax etiam patriæ, nec fato aut omine differs
Græca tamen Graium te docet effe (x) fides.
Among the fecond, we clafs the following Epigrams:
Ad (y) TYCHONEM ipfum.
Tycho (z) naturæ tot mira atque abdita pandis,
Ut fis naturæ filius atque parens.
In effigiem (a) Tychonis Brahæ, ad pictorem,
Fac tibi dent Superi, pictas animare figuras,
Hunc tamem effigie aut arte referre nequis;
Majeftafque oris nulla eft imitabilis arte;
Nec tantum Heroem parva tabella capit.
Ad (b) EUNDEM.
Do&ta (c) quidem, fed manca tamen, nam plurima deſuut
Digna coli; virtus, mens, decor, ingenium:
(s) Dalrymp. Notes on Cat. of Lords of Session, 9.
Humanâ
(1) This was Patrick Gray, Master of Gray, and one of the Extraordinary Lords of
Session. Dalrymp. Cat. 5.
(u) Dalrymp. ut supra.
Beats. P. Ind. II. 84.
(x) R. Johnst. Rer. Brit. Hist. Lib. IV. 222.
(y) M‘Kenzie, III. 417.
(≈) This Epigram was upon Tycho Brahe's picture. Id. ib. The celebrated Danish
Astronomer, the Hipparchus of his age. Playf. Biogr. Ind. Art. “Brahe.”
(a) This was also upon his picture. M'Kenzie, ut supra.
(b) This is addressed to Brahe's Portrait Painter, as well as the last. Id. ib.
(c) Id. ib.
Humanâ hæc non arte queunt nec mente referri
Vis veram effigiem pengere, junge Deum.
Among the third and laft the following:
In (d) URANIAM.
Quod Jovis alta domus, quicquid natura vel orbis,
Alter et orbis habeat, merum opus Urania,
Eſt meritò diviſa orbi, quam non capit orbis ;
Æmula naturæ hæc, æmulus ipfe Jovi.
We have inferted the above Epigrams, in this our Memoir, in or-
der to let the reader know, what an excellent turn of wit, what a
happy genius, and what a politenefs of ftile the Lord Chancellor
MAITLAND had.
He (e) knew how to pay his Court by his Poetry; for he was fo
courteous as to make a tranſlation of the Epitaph on Sir Philip Sid-
ney, by King (ƒ) James, and of His (g) Majefty's own (b) Sonnet, his
tranflation runs thus:
Infano (i) tumida gentes coiere rumultu,
Aufæ, infigne nefas, bello (k) ultrò coiere tonantem.
Mars
(d) On Tycho Brahe's Observatory. M'Kenzie's Scots Writers, III. 417.
(e) Dalrymp. Notes on Cat. of Lords of Session, 9.
(f) See Berkenh Biogr. Lit. 393, n.
(g) Edinb. Mag. I. 122. Old Series, Edit. 1773.
(b) Dalrymp. and Edinb. Mag. ut supra.
(i) Edinb. Mag. ut supra.
(k) I doubt the CHANCELLOR has here transgressed the metrical law; I know of no
authority for the last syllable in ultro being made short.
Mars fefe accinxit; () metuenda tot agmina nunquam
Vifa ferunt; properare truces miro ordine turnæ :
Nofque mari et teriâ fævo claufere duello,
Exitium diâ que minantes ftrage ruinam:
Irrita fed trifti lugent conamina fine;
Nam laceras jecit ventus ludibria puppes,
Et merfit rapidis turgefcens montibus æquor.
Felix communi qui evafit clade fuperftes,
Dum reliquos mifero deglutit abyffus hiatu!
Qui vis tanta cadit? quis totque ftupenda peregit?
Vanos Jova facro conatus rifit Olympo.
(1) It was difficult to breathe any poetical spirit into such a prosaic lump; what could
a Translator make of a line like this
"The like whereof was never seen they say"
the CHANCELLOR has, however, made a decent hemestic out of it, which is the words
marked in Italic in the Text.

oudrs &Q
atcarto
E¹ E. ™ §. I. F. Jorge inhes, natural de escocia ministro provincial y
deingalatera Car florecio año 1412 escriuio hesos libros
He
Engraved from an
GEORGE INNES
Trotter so.
Original Picture in the Pofsefsion of the Society of Antiquaries Edinburg-
London Published Jan 1798, by Robert Wilkinson N258 Cornhill.
UNIV
OF
MIGH

UNIV
OF
C.B.Ryley sculp
SIR JOHN GILMOUR,
Prefident of the Court of Sefsions of Scotland,
From an Original Picture painted by Old Scougal, at
Inch near Edinburgh.
London Published 1 Jan 1798, by Robert Wilkinson, N58, Cornhill
MICH
Prefident GILMORE.
SIR JOHN GILMORE, of (a) Craigmillar, a Scotch Advocate, who
had, at the Reſtoration of King Charles the Second to his kingdoms,
the more (b) credit, having always favoured the King's fide; he ob-
ferved upon the Act of Parliament, which then paffed, which afferted
the King's power of the Militia, on the arming and levying the fub-
jects, that as the Act was worded, the King might require all the ſub-
jects to ſerve at their own charge, and might oblige them, in order
to the redeeming themſelves from ſerving, to pay whatever might be
fet on them; to which GILMORE made fuch an oppofition, that it
could not paſs till a provifo was added to it, that the kingdom ſhould
not be obliged to maintain any force levied by the King, otherwife than
as it ſhould be agreed to by Parliament, or in a Convention of Eſtates;
had it not been for this opportune and ſpirited oppofition of GIL-
MORE, the propofed Act of Parliament in queftion, would have
ruined the whole kingdom of Scotland.
He was appointed (c) Prefident of the Court of Seffion, (which is the
Supreme (1) Court of Juftice) immediately after the Reſtoration, viz.
1 June, 1661, 12 Car. II. Sir JOHN foon (e) after he was in poffeffion
of this high office, gave an applauded inſtance of his impartiality, in the
bold (f) ftand he was pleaſed to make, in behalf of Archibald Camp-
bell, the (g) eighth Earl, and firſt Marquis of Argyle of that name and
family,
(a) Dalrymp. Cat. of Lords of Session, 12.
(b) Burn. Hist. O. T, I 116.
(c) Dalrymp. Cat. of Lords of
(d) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 124.
(e) Id. ib.
Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 76.
Session, 12. Beats. Pol. Ind. II, 76.
St. Tr. II. 429, b.
(ƒ) Dal. ut supra.
(g) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 40, a. calc. Peer. Scotl. 30. Edit. 1767.
family, and it will always be (b) remembered to his honour; on the trial
which was for treafon, and came on in the Parliament of Scotland,
in the year (i) 1661, 13 Car. II. upon an attempt to convict the noble
priſoner of the murder of King Charles the Firft, by prefumption
and precedent, GILMORE declared, he (k) abhorred the attainting a
man upon fo remote a prefumption, as that adduced, and looked upon
it to be lefs juftifiable, than the much decried attainder of the Earl of
(1) Strafford; fo Sir JOHN undertook the argument againſt the Earl
of (m) Middleton, and had fo clearly the better of him, that although
the Parliament was fo fet againſt the Marquis, that every thing was like
to paſs, that might blacken, yet, when it was put to the vote, the noble
prifoner was acquitted, as to that, by a great majority.
GILMORE prefided at the head of the Court of Seffion ten years
with great dignity and ability, viz. until 17 January, 1671-2, 23 Car.
II. at which time he was fucceeded by Sir David (2) Dalrymple, Vif-
count (0) Stair.
His character as a pleader, is thus drawn by Sir George (p) Mac-
kenzie:
"Gilmorium fine ullo Juris Civilis auxilio doctiffimus, raro miraculo,
dici poterat; ingenioque fuo praxin Fori Scoticani Juri etiam Romano
equabat, illum Jura potius ponere, quam de Jure refpondere dixiffes:
eique (q) appropinquabant clientes tanquam judici potius quam advocato;
(b) Dalrymp. ut supra.
413, VII. 421.
(i) St. Tr. II. 413,
(k) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 124. St. Tr. II. 429, b.
(1) See St. Tr. I. 723.
(m) See Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 487.
(n) Dalrymp. Cat. ut supra, 13. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 76.
•
(0) See his article in Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 638.
quafi
(p) In his "Idea eloquentiæ Forensis." Dalrymp. Notes to Cat. of Lords of Ses
sion 21.
James Boswell, (Doctor Johnson's cee
"Characteres advocatorum” Johnson
understood very well what he tells; but
the Latin was not correct. See Bosw.
Edit. 1786.
Nicol. Scot. Hist. Libr. 113, 114.
lebrated Biographer) calls this performance,
allows Sir George power of mind, and that he
said, there was too much declamation, and that
Journa or Tour to the Hebrides, 210, 211.
(q) The Doctor finds fault with the word appropinquabant. Bosw. Journ. ut supra,
211, we have translated it " consulted.”
1
quafi alter etiam Hercules nodofâ et nullâ arte perpolitâ clavâ adverfarios
proftravit; fine rhetoricâ eloquens, fine Literis doctus; oppofuit ei Pro-
videntia Nifbetum, qui fummâ do&riná, confummatâque eloquentiâ, ut
juftitiæ fcale in æquilibrio effent; nimiâ tamen arte femper utens, artem
fuam fufpe&tam reddebat, quoties ergo conflexerunt, penes Gilmorium
GLORIA, penes Nifbetum PALMA fuit, quoniam in hoc plus artis et cultûs,
in illo plus naturæ et virium.”
GILMORE might be faid to be moft learned, though unaffifted with
the aid of the Civil law, a fingular inftance this, and as it were mira-
culous; his own natural endowments made him equally converfant in
the practice of the Scotifh judicature, as in that of the Romans; he
might be faid, rather to lay down the law, than to refolve queſtions
in it; his clients confulted him rather as a Judge, than an Advocate ;
he proftrated at his feet, as a fecond Hercules, the adverſe parties,
with his knotted club, unſmoothed by any art; he was eloquent with-
out rhetoric, learned without literature; Providence pitted him with
Nifbet (who argued caufes with immenfe learning, and confummate
eloquence) in order to make the feales of Juſtice even; but by ge-
nerally making uſe of too much art, he made it fufpicious: as often,
therefore, as they contended, GILMORE had the glory, Niſbet the
victory; from the latter having the moft art and education, the for-
mer the most natural ftrength.
It is hard to fay, according to Sir David (r) Dalrymple, what Sir
George M'Kenzie means by the (s) antithefis gloria and palma, in
the original characters of the modern (t) lawyers of Scotland, made
by Sir George M'Kenzie, the late learned Lord Advocate of that
kingdom, in part of a ſpeech delivered by him, in his famous book
of Eloquence, cited by us above, under the title of "Idea Eloquentiæ
Forenfis."
Bofwell tried (u) Johnſon with the oppofition between gloria and
palma, in the compariſon between GILMORE and Nifbet, which Lord
Hailes,
(r) Dalrym. Cat. ut supra.
(s) See the Explanation of this Rhetorical figure, in Chamb. Cyclopædia.
() Nicols. Scot. Hist. Libr. 113.
(z) Bosw. Journ. 211.
Hailes, in his Catalogue of the Lords of Seffion thinks difficult to
be underſtood; the words are, “ penes illum gloria, penes bunc palma,”
in a fhort account of the Kirk of Scotland, which Bofwell had pub-
lifhed fome years before, he applied thoſe words to the two contending
parties, and explained them thus: the popular party has moſt elo-
quence, Dr. Robertſon's party moſt influence; Boſwell was very de-
firous to hear Dr. Johnſon's explanation; the Doctor faid, that he ſaw
no difficulty-GILMORE was admired for his parts, Niſbet carried his
cauſe by his ſkill in law; palma is victory.
We take leave to offer and fubmit with great deference (as we
ought after the opinion of fuch eminent critical characters) our inter-
pretation on the fubject in queftion; which is, that though the laurels
of victory may belong to Nifbet, the honour remains with GILMORE
-to conclude his character: he was an (x) eminent lawyer, and a
man of great integrity.
(x) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 116.
i

UNIV
OF
JOHN STEWART EARL OF TRAQUIR
TREASURER OF SCOTLAND
Original Picture at Traquir.
From an Original
London: Published 1 Jan. 1798 by Robert Wilkinson V:58 Cornhill.
MICH
The EARL of TRAQUAIR.
Гонг
OHN STEWART, of Traquair in (a) Peeblefhire, North Bri
tain, was the only fon and heir of John Stewart of Caverſton, in the
fame Shire, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Andrew, maſter of
Ochiltree, both in that Kingdom, and was born in 1599; he was
liberally educated, and when a young man, repreſented the county
of Tweedale, in the Parliament of 19 Jac. 1. A.D. 1621. where he
foon diſplayed his extraordianary talents, and was knighted by King
James the Sixth of Scotland, and Firſt of England, and called to his
Privy (b) Council,
Upon the acceffion of Charles I. Sir JOHN was made Treaſurer De-
pute, and one of his Privy (c) Council, being a great favorite with this
Monarch; and on 19 April, 1628, 4 Car. 1. he was raiſed to the
peerage of (d) Scotland, by the title of Lord STEWART, of Traquair,
Lord LINTON, and CAVERSTON; and on 22 June, 1633, 9. Car. 1.
his Lordſhip was created Earl (e) of TRAQUAIR, by patent of this
date, to him and his heirs male for ever, they bearing the name and
(f) arms of Stewart.
On the trial of John Balmerino, Lord B. in Scotland, on 3 Dec.
1634. 10 Car. 1. for a libel, in the Court of Jufticiary (g) in that
kingdom, our EARL was (b) Chancellor of the affize, or, as we fay
here, foreman of the Jury; Lord B. was found (i) guilty, but par-
doned (k) through his Lordship's interceffion.
This year Earl TRAQUAIR was made Lord high (1) Treaſurer of
T
Scotland,
(b) Dougl. Peer.
(a) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 17. Dougl. Peer. Scotl, 677. b.
Scotl. 674. b.
(c) Clar. Rebel. III. 299.
(d) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 7.
(e) Dougl. Peer. Scotl. II. 674. b.
(f) Arms, Crest, Supporters and Motto
are in Dougl. 677. b. (g) St. Tr. I. 407. (b) St. Tr. I. 458. b.
(i) St. Tr.
I, 458. b. Rushw. Hist. Coll. II. 281. (k) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 25, (1) Beats.
Pol. Ind. II. 62. Burnet's Mem. Dukes of Hamilton. 148. Rushw. Hist, Coll. III. 949.
Rap. Hist. Engl. VII. 506. 507.
Scotland, viz. 12 Car. 1. and in the year 1639. 15 Car. 1. his Ma-
jefty was pleaſed, on account of the many proofs he had of this his
noble fervant's loyalty and fidelity, to conftitute him his high Com-
miffioner both to the (m) Parliament, and to the General Affembly of
the (n) Kirk of Scotland; in which exalted ſtations, TRAQUAIR
afferted the King's Prerogative, with fuch firmnefs and intrepidity,
that it occafioned him many enemies, even amongſt the moſt mode-
rate, infomuch that Charles was obliged to diſmiſs him, which he did
moft unwillingly, (0) knowing him to be a faithful miniſter.
In the Parliament of 17 Car. 1. A. D. 1641. this great Officer of
State was (p) impeached of treafon, of which he was found guilty,
but his puniſhment was fubmitted to the King, who, (q) fatisfied
that his only crime was a fteady adherence to his Majeſty's (r) in-
tereſt, ordered him a pardon under the Great Seal, wherein was fully
narrated an ample teftimony of his confummate abilities, and fingular
integrity in the diſcharge of his duty (s).
Some of the many original letters of the King, under his own hand,
attefting Earl TRAQUAIR'S attachment and uprightnefs of heart,
may be read in Douglas, which fufficiently demonftrate how unjuſtly
he was aſperſed by the factions which then prevailed; (†) even his
wife advice to the Crown, brought him under the fcandal of dupli-
city, but he was cleared from this fufpicious imputation, by the no-
ble Hiſtorian. (u)
This
(n) This was a
(m) Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 95. Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 675. a.
most villainous and rebellious assembly; they were dissolved by the King; but they
continued sitting, by their own authority, and did many of the most illegal, outrage-
ous, and unchristian things; they suppressed Episcopacy, and deprived the bishops.
of their sees and privileges; and many of them they excommunicated, merely be
cause they would not do as they prescribed to them. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 96.
(0) Dougl, 675. a. (p) A principal cause of this impeachment was, the EARL'S
having procured a Letter, which the covenanters in Scotland had written to the French
King, desiring his protection and assistance, which was treason by the Law of that
Kingdom. Burnet's Mem. of the Dukes of Hamilton. 160. Hume's Hist. Engl. VI.
345. Coke's Detect. 266.
(q) Dougl. 675. a. and see the King's Letter dated
from Newcastle, 17 Nov. 1646. to the Earl of Lanerick, in Burn. Mem. 296.
(r) His integrity to the King was without blemish; Clar. Reb. I. 108. calc. He
was invariably attached to the interest of the Royal Family, on which account he suf
ered great and many hardships, Dougl. 675. a. as may be read in the sequel of this ar
ticle. (s) Dougl. 675. a. (†) Penn, Scotl, II, 123. (z) Clar, Reb. I. 108,
This nobleman underwent many (v) viciffitudes of fortune, in his
feveral public tranſactions: after the Parliament had paffed (w) fen-
tence upon him, his eftate was fequeftrated, and himſelf (x) banifhed
his native country, North Britain; he went directly to the King in
England, by whom he was moft graciouſly received, and the cor
reſpondence above (y) alluded to, fhews, befides other letters to be
met with (*) elſewhere, that he was
ed by his Majeſty, ever after.
conftantly trufted and employ-
This year, 23 Car. 1. the EARL was permitted to come to the Par-
liament of Scotland, where he uſed all his intereft to raiſe an army for
the King's relief, then a prifoner in the Ifle of Wight, in the county
of Southampton; he levied a regiment of horſe at his own expence,
and with his fon Lord Linton, marched into England, and fought at
their head, at the battle of Preſton, in 1648, 24 Car. 1. (which year
proved fo fatal to the King) where they were both taken priſoners, the
aged EARL was, by order of the Engliſh Parliament, confined in
Warwick Caſtle for four years, at the expiration of which period,
being deprived of all his poffeffions, he led a (aa) miferable life.
Though TRAQUAIR highly diſpleaſed the King by his fubfcrip-
tion of the Covenant, yet he convinced his Majefty of the neceffity
he was under for fo (bb) doing; and befides, his impeachment; his
conviction by the popular party; his impriſonment; the fequeftration
of his eſtates; and his diſtreſsful (cc) poverty, even unto death; all
gave full, but unfortunate teftimony of his untainted (dd) loyalty.
The EARL (ee) married the Lady Catherine Carnegie, the third
daughter
(v) At one time the Lord Treasurer going to the council house at Edin-
burgh, was thrown down by the throng, his hat, cloak, and white staff taken from
him. Whitl. Mem. Engl. Aff. 26. a. and at another time all the pulpits and streets
Burn. Mem. 158.
were full of TRA QUAIR'S praises.
(w) The only ground of the heavy judgment in Parliament, against the Earl of
TRAQUAIR was, that having been the King's Commissioner in Scotland, he gave ac-
count to him, of transactions, and of the affairs of that kingdom, at the Council Table in
England. Clar. Reb. III. 299. (x) Dougl. 676.
(y) Dougl. 675-
(≈) In Burn. Mem. 296.
(aa) Dougl. 676.
(bb) Burn. Mem. 158. 160.
(cc) One Historian informs us, that he suffered
such a reverse of fortune, that he himself saw him so reduced, that he wanted bread,
and was under the sad necessity of becoming a common beggar. Burn. Hist. O. T. I.
23, 24. in the public streets of Edinburgh, in which city he had formerly lived in such
splendor and affluence.
(dd) Penn. Scotl. II. 123.
(ee) Dougl. 676. a.
·
daughter of the ten (ff) children of David Carnegie, the firſt Earl of
Southeſk, by whom he had five (gg) children, viz. a fon and four
daughters; (bb) and departed this life in the year 1659, aged fixty;
and what is grievous to add, actually of hunger: (i) the reader can-
not therefore poffibly expect any interefting particulars refpecting the
fepulchre of fuch an object of pity and charity.
The EARL was a man of extraordinary natural parts, and of great
learning, but of too much (kk) craft; he was confidered the moſt
capable man for buſineſs, and the beſt ſpeaker, in the kingdom of
Scotland; he was alſo remarked for his ſteadineſs, and for being a
complete (1) ſtateſman; and without (mm) doubt, not inferior to any
of the Scotch Nation, in wiſdom, integrity, and dexterity. (nn)
(f)Dougl. 633. 634.
(gg) For their respective marriages and issue, see Dougl.
(ii) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 24.
(mm) Dougl. 674. b.
676. a.
674. b.
(bb) Dougl. 676. b.
(11) Burn. Hist. O. T. I. 24.
(nn) Clar. Reb. I. 108, calc.
(kk) Dougl.

Trolle ac
DAVID ERSKINE SECOND LORD CARDROSS.
1636.
London: Published 1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson N58 Cornhill.
NIV
OF
Hal
на

UNIV
OF
www
JOHN JOHNSTONE M.D.
From an Original Picture by Samesone in Kings College, Aberdeen.
London Published 1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson W58, Cornhill.
MICH
•
ARTHUR JOHNSTON, M. (a) D.
WAS born in the year 1641, 17 Car. I. at Cafkieben, near Aber-
deen, North Britain, the feat of his anceſtors, and probably was edu-
cated at (b) Aberdeen, as his portrait is extant in the Newton College
of Aberdeen, by Jamefone, and as he was afterwards advanced to the
higheft dignity in that Univerfity; the ftudy he chiefly applied himfelf
to was phyfic, and to improve himſelf in that ſcience, he travelled into
foreign parts; he was twice at Rome, but the chief place of his refi-
dence was Padua ; in which Univerfity the degree of M. D. was con-
ferred on him, in 1610, 8 Jac. I. as appears by a MS. copy of Verfes
in the Advocate's library at Edinburgh; after leaving Padua, he tra-
velled through the reft of Italy, and over Germany, Denmark, Eng.
land, Holland, and other countries; and at length fettled in France,
where he met with great applaufe as a Latin (c) poet; and was Lau-
reated at Paris, when he was (d) about twenty years of age; he
lived there twenty years, and by two wives had thirteen children;
after twenty-four years abſence, he returned into Scotland, in 1632,
8 Car. I. It appears by the Council books at Edinburgh, that the
DOCTOR had a fuit at law, before that Court about that time; in the
year following, it is very well known, that Charles I. went into Scot-
jand, and made Bifhop Laud, then with him, a Member of that
Council; and by this accident, it is probable, that an acquaintance
began between the DOCTOR and that Prelate, which produced his
(a) Encyclopedia Britannica, IX, 303. Grang. II. 313.
(b) Encyclo. Brit. ut supra.
(c) Grang. ut supra.
"Pfalmorum
(d) He was one of the most celebrated Latin Poets among the moderns. Grang. ut
supra.
"Pfalmorum (e) Davidis paraphrafum poeticum,"
for we find that in the fame year, the DOCTOR printed a fpecimen of
his Pfalms at London, and dedicated them to his Lordſhip.
Mr. Pope feems to have read JOHNSTON'S (f) Pfalms, but he cer-
tainly inentions him, with much lefs refpect than he deferves, fpeak-
ing of Benſon, he ſays,
On two unequal crutches propt he came,
Milton's on this, on that one JOHNSTON's name.
He proceeded to perfect (g) the whole, which took him up four
years, and the firft complete edition was publifhed at Aberdeen in
1637, 13 Car. I. and at London, the fame year; in 1641, 17 Car. I.
Doctor JOHNSTON being at Oxford on a viſit to one of his daughters,
who was married to a Divine of the Church of England, in that place
was feized with a violent diarrhea, of which he died in a few days,
aged fifty-four; not without having feen the beginning of thoſe
troubles which proved fo fatal to his patron; he was buried in the
place where he died, which gave occafion to the following lines of
his learned friend, Wedderburn, in his Sufpiria on the DOCTOR'S
death,
"Scotia mala, dole, tanti viduata fepulchro
"Vatis; in Anglinenis contigit altus bonos..
In what year the Doctor JOHNSTON was made phyfician to King
Charles I, does not appear; it is moſt likely that the Archbishop pro-
cured him that honour, on his coming into England in 1633, 9 Car. I.
at which time he tranflated Solomon's Song into Latin Elegiac Verſe,
and dedicated it to his Majefty; his Pfalms were re printed at Mid-
dleburgh,
(e) This is his capital Work. Grang. ut supra.
(ƒ) Grang. ut supra,
(g) There is a complete Edition of his Works, including his Version of the Psalms,
and the "Book of Job," his "Parerga, Epigrams, &c." Id. ib.
W
تم

11
RIGHT HONBLE GEORGE EARL MARECHAL
Founder of Marechal College Aberdeen
From an original Picture by Jamieson in the Possession
of the Earl of Kintore at Keith Hall, Aberdeenshire.
London: Published 1 Jan '1798. by Robert Wilkinson N58 Cornhill.
UNIV
OF
MICH
dleburgh, 1642, 18 Car. I. London, 1657, during the Common
wealth; Cambridge, Amfterdam, 1706; 5 Anne, Edinburgh by
William Lauder, 1739, 13 Geo. II. and laft on the plan of the
Delphin (b) Claffics, at London, 1741, 15 Geo. II. 8vo. at the ex-
pence of Auditor (i) Benſon, with (k) an' Interpretation and Notes for
his preſent Majefty, then Prince of Wales, to whom the Auditor de-
dicated them, and not to the late King George the Second, as is faid
in a very late (1) publication. Do&tor Robert Lowth, late Biſhop of
Oxford, deceaſed, in the twenty-third Prelection, "De facrâ poeſi
Hebræorum," i. e. "Of the facred poetry of the Hebrews," has in-
troduced JOHNSTON'S Verfion of the Forty-fecond Pfalm, in this man-
ner, (m) "I will recite to you, from the metaphraſe of ARTHUR
JOHNSTON, which would have been very elegantly and faithfully in-
terpreted, had he not frequently weakened the weight both of matter
and words by a kind of metre very far from the fublime, but in the
Elegiac part, he in general has fuccceded very happily." Benfon
prefixed to this Edition, Memoirs of Doctor JOHNSTON, with the tef
timonies of various learned perfons; a laboured comparifon between
the two tranflations of (1) Buchanan and JOHNSTON, was printed
the ſame year, in Engliſh, in 8vo. intituled
(b) Encylyop. Brit. ut supra.
66 A
(i) Mr. Benson, in his Dissertation, expresses a particular fondness for alliteration
in poetry; he is said to have been much pleased with these Verses on Cardinal Wolsey,
when repeated to him by Mr. Pitt, the Translator of Virgil's Æniad,
"Begot by butchers, and by Bishops bred,
"How high his honour holds his haughty head." Grang. ut supra.
(k) Grang. ut supra.
(1) Encyclop. Brit. ut supra.
(m) Recitabo eum vobis ex metaprhasi Arthuri Johnstoni, satis elegantis et fidi in.
terpretis, nisi et rerum et verborum pondera metri genere a sublimate alienenessimo
sæpe fregisset; in materiâ autem eligiacâ, ut par est, rcs ei feliciter plerumque videtur
procedere." Grang. II. 314, n.
(n) Mr. Benson also published a Dissertation on JOHNSTON's Version of the
"Psalms" in which he, without scruple, gives the preference to Buchanan's; as
the former has used the elegiac measure in all his Psalms, except the one hundred and
nineteenth, which is lyric; some of the most sublime, especially the one hundred and
fourth, appear to a disadvantage, in comparison with Buchanan's, as the pentameter
verse is anti climacterical. Grang, ut supra.
"A Prefatory Difcourfe to Doctor JOHNSTON's Pfalms, &c." and
"A Conclufion to it."
His Tranflation of the Te Deum, Creed, Decalogue, &c. were fub.
joined to the Pfalms; his other Poetical, Works are his Epigrams; his
Parerga; and his Mufa Anglicæ, or Commendatory Verſes, upon
perfons of rank, in Church and State at that time.
The famous ftatuary Ryfbrack made a buſt of this Scotch Poet in
marble, and George Vertue in brafs; it is a frontispiece to his (0)
"Pfalmi Davidici," Quarto 1741. Vandergutch engraved one in
Quarto, after the buft by Ryfbrack, but better executed than the for-
mer; there is another by Vandergutch, in Octavo: the buſt from
which Vandergutch did the heads of JOHNSTON, belonged to William
Benſon, the Auditor of the Imprefts.
(0) Walp. (Earl Orford), Anec. of Paint. II. 187. Penn. Scotl. I. 138. Edinb.
Mag. (Old Series) V. 31. a. Grang. Biogr. Engl. II. 313.

Tretter sc
SIR ROBERT GORDON of STRALOCH.
From an
Original Painting in the College of Aberdeen.
London: Published 1 Jan 1798, by Robert Wilkinson N258 Cornhill.

UNIV
OF
Birrell soulp.
ANDREW FLETCHER, LORD JUSTICE CLERK,
And Keeper of his Majefty's Signet in Scotland,
From an Original Picture painted by Aikman, in the
Collection of the R. Hon the Earl of Buchan at Dryburg Abbey
London. Published 1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson N58, Cornhill.
MICH
FLETCHER, of Saltoun.
ANDREW FLETCHER of (a) Saltoun, in Eaft (6) Lothian, of
the county of (c). Haddington, North Britain, was the eldeft (d) fon
of Sir Robert (e) Fletcher of Saltoun and Innerpeffer, and the fifth
in lineal deſcent from Sir Bernard Fletcher, in the county of (f)
York, by Catherine Bruce, daughter of Sir Henry Bruce, of Clack-
mannan, whom he married in M.DCLI. (one of the years of the
Oliverian Ufurpation.)
By his paternal defcent, he was of a family truly honourable, being
(g) defcended from Sir Barnard Fletcher, a fon of Fletcher, of Hat-
ton, in the county of Cumberland. Robert, his fon, eftablifhed him-
felf in the county of Tweedale. Andrew, the fon of Robert, was
a merchant at Dundee, in the county of Angus or Forfar. David,
the ſon of Andrew, purchaſed the eſtate of Innerpeffer in that county,
and married a daughter of Ogilvic of Pourie, and by her had three
fons, Robert, Andrew and David. Robert died 1613, 11 Jac. I.
leaving fix fons, Andrew, James, Provoſt of Dundee; Robert, Laird
of Banch; Sir George Fletcher of Reftin&t, in Angufhire; and two
others, who both died in their infancy; Andrew was knighted in the
year 1620, 18 Jac. I. he fucceeded his father, the fame year, in the
eftate of Innerpeffer; and bought the eftate of Saltoun, in Eaft Lo-
thian, in the year 1643, 19 Car. I. which had recently given title to
the
(a) Earl Buchan's Essays on the Lives and Writings of FLETCHER, of Saltoun,
and the Poet Thomson, 8vo. Edit. 1792. From this Publication, as the Reader may
observe by the references, the principal part of this Memoir is compiled; the same
references will shew what parts are taken from other books.
(b) Buch. 8, 48, 66.
(e) Id. 5.
(c) Id. 21.
(d) Id. 6
(f) Id. Ib.
(g) Id. 65.
the Lords Abernethy of Saltoun; ANDREW was one of the (b) Sena-
tors of the College of Juftice in Scotland, by the title of Lord (i)
Innerpeffer; and he was one of thofe feven truly magnanimous Scots,
who nobly diffented from, and proteſted againſt furrendering King
Charles (k) the First to the army of the English Parliament, at
Newcaſtle, with David, Lord Cardrofs, who thought the King de-
ferved to be puniſhed, but not by thofe, to whom he had entruſted
the care of his protection. Lord. Innerpeffer died (1) in M.D.CL.
(another of the years of the Oliverian Ufurpation,) and was the fa-
ther of Sir Robert Fletcher of Saltoun, who was the father of our pa-
triot, Andrew (m) FLETCHER.
By his maternal defcent, he was of the (2) Royal race of Bruce,
the patriarch of the family of Clackmannan; having been the third
fon of Robert de Bruce, Lord of Annandale, grandfather of Robert
de Bruce, king of the Scots.
ANDREW FLETCHER, the fubject of my prefent inquiry, was born
in M.DCL.III. one of the years, in the arch rebel and traitor Oliver
Cromwell's Protectorate; FLETCHER was but in his early youth,
when he had the misfortune (0) to loſe his father, by whom he was
defined, on his death bed, to the care of Dr. Gilbert Burnet, then
Rector of the parish of Saltoun, afterwards Biſhop of (p) Saliſbury,
well known by his political zeal and interefting writings; from Bur-
net he received, as might have been expected, a very pious and learn-
ed education, and was ftrongly (q) imbued with erudition and princi-
ples of a free government, which were congenial to him, as well as
to
(b) Sir Andrew Fletcher was appointed one of the Ordinary Lords of Session, 18 Dec.
1623, 21 Jac. I. in the room of John Wemyss, Laird of Craighton, deceased [Dal-
rym. Cat. 7, 8. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 79.] after having sat in this Judicature twenty
years, he was amoved in consequence of an Ordinance of Parliament, in M. DC.XLIX,
(one of the years of the said Usurpation) for what was then termed malignancy, and
was succeeded by Sir James Hope, Laird of Hopetoun. Dalrymp. Cat. 10. Notes
thereto, 15, 16. Beats. Pol. Ind. II. 80.
(i) Beats. ut supra, 79; and Dal. ut supra.
(4) Id. 6, n. (m) Id. 67.
(p) He was also Preacher at the Rolls,
(n) Id. 5.
(R) Buch. 6, n. 66, 67.
(0) Id. 6.
Beats. Pol. Ind. I. 163..
(1) Quo semel est IMBUTA recens, servabit odorem, Testa diu. Hor. Ep. I. 3.
1.69.
:
to the reſt of the family of Fletcher, and efpoufed by his mother, and
by thoſe who had with her the charge of his nurture.
When he had completed his courfe of elementary ftudies in Scot-
land, under the care of his excellent preceptor, he was fent to travel
on the Continent; he was from his infancy, of a very fiery and un-
controulable temper; but his difpofition was noble and generous; he
became firſt known, as a public fpeaker, and a man of political ener-
gy, from his being one of the Commiffioners in the Scotch Parliament,
for the fhire of Eaft Lothian, when the Duke of York, (afterwards
King, by the title of James the Second) was Lord High Commiffioner,
connecting himſelf with the Earl of (r) Argyle, in oppofition to the
Duke of (s) Lauderdale's adminiftration, and the arbitrary defigns of
the Court, which obliged him to retire, firſt into England, (†) to con-
fult with Doctor Burnet, and afterwards, by his advice into Holland;
he was fummoned to appear before the Lords of the Council at Edin.
burgh, which he not thinking it prudent for him to do, he was outlawed
and his eftate confifcated.
In the year 1683, 35 Car. II. he, with Robert (u) Baillie, of Jerviſ
wood, came into England, in order to concert meaſures, with the
friends of Freedom, in that country; and they, Earl (x) Buchan be-
lieves, were the only Scotfmen, who were admitted into William,
Lord Ruffel's Council of Six; they were likewife the only perfons,
in whom the Earl of Argyle confided in Holland, the common mea-
fures of the two countries, which were then concerted with much
fecrecy and danger, for the recovery of the Conftitution and Liberties.
of the British kingdoms.
FLETCHER managed his part of the negotiation with fo much ad.
drefs and prudence, that Adminiſtration could find no pretext for
feizing him, nor could they fix upon him any articles of Impeachment,
for which Mr. Baillie, of Jervifwood, was (y) condemned and fuffered
capital (≈) puniſhment; on FLETCHER's going back (a) to the Con-
(s) See id. ib.
His Trial in St. Tr. III. 10 11.
(y) St. Tr. III. 10, 26, b. calc.
(r) See his article in Dougl. Peer. Scot.
(u) See Dalr. Mem. I. 86.
(x) Essays, &c. 9.
(a) Buch. Essays, &c. 10.
tinent,
(1) Buch. 8.
Dalr. ib. 99.
tinent, finding no profpect of his fafe return to Britain, he dedicated
his leiſure time to foreign travel, to the ftudy of public law, and po-
litics.
In the beginning of the year 1685, 1 Jac. II. FLETCHER came to
the Hague, to affift at the deliberation of the exiles from England,
and particularly with thoſe of his own country, in order to promote
the cauſe of oppofition, to the arbitrary meaſures of that monarch;
but it does not appear, that he poffeffed much of the confidence of
the party; he was unaccommodating, and ran extravagantly on the
project of fetting up a Commonwealth in Scotland, or at leaft, a
Monarchy fo limited, as hardly to bear any refemblance to a king-
dom; his foul was fired with the recollection of the great names in
the Greek Republics; and, like all men of confummate abilities, he
wifhed for that ſtate of things which might mark the fuperiority of his
own talents, and give full exerciſe to his popular powers. Argyle's ex-
pedition, concerted at that time with Monmouth and the party, was
the moſt inviting to FLETCHER; but being diffatisfied with the plan
of operations, and his countrymen, who enjoyed Monmouth's confi-
dence, he went (b) with the Duke; and was one of the most eminent
(c) men, who attended his Grace, in his expedition to Scotland, in this
faid year, 1685, I. Jac. II. with a view to invade England, and in
whom Monmouth chiefly confided, and from which he endeavoured to
diffuade the Duke.
FLETCHER told Doctor Gilbert (d) Burnet, that Monmouth, though
a weak young man, was fenfible of the imprudence of his adventure,
and (e) befitated till he was (f) urged by the party, moſt of whom
were certainly in concert with the Prince of (g) Orange, and con-
fidered him as the only probable inftrument for dethroning King
(b) Buch. Essays, 12.
(c) Dalrymp. Mem. I. 116.
(d) Hist. O. T.—I. 631.
James
(e) Qui deliberant desciverunt, said Tacitus, i. e. Those who hesitate, revolt. Sir
Heneage Finch, when Solicitor General, in his speech, on the trial of Harrison, one
of the Regicides, St. Tr. II. 310, a. calc. gave a bloody interpretation to this expres-
sion, when he inferred, that "to doubt or hesitate, in point of allegiance, was a direct
treason and apostacy." Eden's, Princ. Pen. Law. 86.
(f) Buch. Essays, 14.
(g) Afterwards William the Third.
James the Second, and fupplanting William the Third in his views, if
the attempts were delayed till the Engliſh nation fhould become def
perate enough to overlook the doubts that Charles the Second had
confirmed, by his declaration in Council of the legitimacy of the
Duke of Monmouth.
FLETCHER Of Saltoun, had neither coolness nor fufficient political
ſubtlety to conduct himſelf with reſpect to his own private emolu.
ment; fired by the hopes of a Revolution, that, from the infignifi-
cancy of Monmouth, and the circumftances of his (b) birth, might
produce a Conſtitution of government, in which his Republican ta-
lents, might have full fcope, he at firft fell in warmly with the ſcheme
of Monmouth's landing; but afterwards fufpecting probably the in-
trigue of the Prince of Orange, he wifhed it to be laid afide; he
told Biſhop (i) Burnet, (which fupports this conjecture) that Mon-
mouth was puſhed on to it, againſt his own fenſe and reaſon, and
was piqued upon the point of honour, in hazarding his perſon with
his friends; this unfortunate Duke intended to have joined FLETCHER
with the cowardly Lord (k) Grey, in command of the cavalry.
But an unhappy (1) accident made it not convenient for the Duke
of Monmouth to keep FLETCHER longer about him; he fent him
out on another party, and not being yet furniſhed with an horſe, took
that of one who had brought him a great body of men from Taun-
ton; he was not in the way; fo FLETCHER not feeing him to afk his
leave, thought all things were to be in common among them, that
could advance the fervice; after FLETCHER had rid about, as he was
ordered, in returning the owner of the horſe he rode on, who was the
(m) Mayor of Lynn, in Norfolk; a rough and ill-bred man, re-
proached him in very injurious terms, for taking out his horfe without
his leave; FLETCHER bore this longer than could have been expect-
ed from one of his impetuous temper; but the other perfifted in giv-
ing
(b) A similar circumstance happened respecting the birth of the Prince of Wales,
son to his brother Duke of York, afterwards James II. See Buch. Ess. 13. n. and calc.
(i) Hist. O. T.—I. 631.
(k) See Bolt. Ext. Peer. Engl. 134, 135.
(m) Buch. Essays, 17, 18,
(1) Burn. H. O. T.-I. 642.
ing him contumelious (2) language, and offered a ſwitch or a cane,
upon which FLETCHER difcharged his piftol at him, and fatally fhot
the Mayor dead; this atrocious act of violence was committed againſt
the laws of (0) war, and in the fudden heat of paffion; in a ſcuffle,
according to FLETCHER'S Biographer, the Earl of (p) Buchan, who
alfo attefts, in favour of him, that the horfe in queftion was impreffed
by his party, not taken by himſelf, as the Biſhop has it; Buchan ad-
mits the act to have been unguarded, unfoldierly and unjuftifiable
and that it must have rendered (9) FLETCHER's future fervices on
the expedition of fmall confideration to Monmouth; but adds, that
the unfortunate fcuffle was not the occafion of FLETCHER's leaving
the little army; FLETCHER (r) went and gave the Duke of Mon-
mouth an account of the tranfaction, who faw it was impoffible to keep
him longer about him, without difgufting and lofing the country
people, who were coming in a body to demand juftice; fo his Grace
adviſed FLETCHER to go aboard a ſhip, and to ſail on to Spain, whither
ſhe was bound, by this means he was preſerved for that time.
The account (s) given by FLETCHER himſelf of his general con-
duct at this time, to the Earl Marifchal of Scotland, was, that he
had been induced to join the Duke of Monmouth, on principles of the
Duke's Manifefto's in England and Scotland, particularly by the laws
promiſed for the permanent fecurity of civil and political liberty, and
of the Proteftant religion, and the calling of a general Congrefs of
Delegates from the people at large, to form a free Conftitution of Go-
vernment, and not to pretend to the throne upon any claim, except
the free choice of the reprefentatives of the people; that when Mon-
mouth was proclaimed King at Taunton, he faw his deception, and re-
folved to proceed no further in his engagements, which he confidered
from that moment as treafon against the juft rights of the nation, and
treachery on the part of Monmouth; that finding himſelf no longer
capable of being uſeful, he left Taunton and embarked on board a
veffel for Spain; here the reader muſt obſerve ſome difference be-
(2) Burn. ut supra. Buchan, 18.
(0) Buch. Essays, 18.
(r) Burn. H. O. T.—I. (42.
(p) Essays, &c. 18.
(q) Id. ib.
(s) Buch. 18.
tween
tween the account of the Prelate Burnet, the Hiftorian; and Earl
Buchan, FLETCHER'S profeffed biographer; for the former tells us
that FLETCHER went aboard in the character of a felon and a mur-
derer; the latter as a patriot and a difgufted friend.
With respect (1) to FLETCHER's forfaking the Duke of Monmouth
at Taunton, the following teftimony, quoted by Echard, (u) in his
Hiſtory of England, ought (fay his noble Biographer) to be well
weighed and confidered, before FLETCHER is charged with criminal
defertion.
"The Duke of Monmouth was very fenfible of his precipitous ad-
venture into England, but fuffered himſelf to be over-ruled, contrary
to both the dictates of his judgment, and the bias of his inclination;
for could he have been allowed to have purſued his own fentiments and
refolutions, he intended to have ſpent that fummer in the Court of
Swedeland; but from this he was diverted by the importunity of the
Earl of Argyle, and prevailed upon by the advice of Lord Grey
and Mr. Wade (contrary to the defires of Mr. FLETCHER and Cap-
tain (y) Matthews) to haften to England; to which I can fay, (faith
Mr. Ferguſon) I had the leaft acceffion of any, who were about the
Duke of Monmouth; nor would the Earl of Argyle, after his own
ominous hafte fat fail for Scotland, till he forced a promiſe from the
Duke of embarking for England within fo many days after; which
the Duke, rather than fuffer his honour to be ſtained, complied with
as far as weather would permit; though he found the keeping his
word to interfere with his intereft, as well as all the principles of
prudence and difcretion." Earl (≈) Buchan's tenderneſs for the ad-
mirers of King William III. and his regard for the illuftrious houſe of
Campbell, would not allow him to expreſs what he fufpected in the
whole of this tranfaction in Holland; the defcendants of Monmouth
need not regret the cowardice and perjury of Charles the Second,
nor the failure of poor Monmouth's attempt; it is remarkable, that
the heir of Monmouth is now the eventual heir general of that very
Earl
(†) Buch. 67.
(u) III. 756.
Dalr. Mem. I. 116.
(y) Son-in-law to the unfortunate Sir Thomas Armstrong.
(2) Buch. 69.
Earl of Argyle, who precipitated the ruin of his patriarch :-but
now to return from this digreffion, and to continue FLETCHER's nar-
rative of his general conduct, to the Earl Marifchal of Scotland,
where we left off for the purpofe of making the fame.
That (a) foon after FLETCHER's landing in Spain, he was committed
to priſon [(*) as a felon and murderer, as may be prefumed] and on
application of the English Minifter at Madrid, he was ordered to be
delivered up, and conveyed to London in a Spaniſh veffel, which
was manned for that purpofe [(*) as a Scotch Traytor, Rebel and
affaffin, and not as a Patriot, as may be again prefumed.] But to proceed
in the faid narrative of FLETCHER to the Earl Marfhal: That one
morning, as he was looking penfively through the bar of his dungeon,
he was accofted by a venerable perfon, who made figns to fpeak to
him; the prifoner fearching if any paffage could be found for his ef-
cape, difcovered a door open, at which he was met by his deliverer,
with whom he paffed unmolefted through three guards of foldiers,
who were faft afleep; and without being permitted to return thanks
to his guide, he profecuted his efcape with the aid of a perfon, who
feemed to have been fent for that purpoſe, concerning whom he
never could obtain any information; that difguifed he proceeded in
fafety through Spain, where, when he found himſelf out of all ap-
parent danger, he lingered, and amuſed himſelf with the view of the
country, and with ftudy in the Conventual Libraries, and having pri-
vately obtained credit by bills upon Amfterdam, he bought many rare.
and curious books, fome of which are preferved in the Library at
Saltoun, in the county of Haddington.
That he had made feveral very narrow eſcapes of being detected
and feized, in the courfe of his peregrinations through Spain, particu-
larly in the neighbourhood (the name of which Lord Marfhal had for-
gotten) where FLETCHER intended to have paffed the night; but in
the fkirts of a wood, a few miles diftant from them, upon entering a
road to the right, he was warned by a woman of very refpectable ap-
pearance, to take the left-hand road, as there would be danger in the
other
(a) Buch. 19, 20.
(*) Editor.

UNIV
Trotter sc
JAMES ERSKINE EARL of BUCHAN, 1615
From an
Original Painting in the possession of the Eart of Buchan.
London: Published 1 Jan1798, by Robert Wilkinson Nº58 Cornhill.
ICH
other direction; upon his arrival, he found the citizens alarmed by
the news of a ROBBERY and MURDER on the road againſt which he
had been cautioned; fome time after his eſcape, FLETCHER's active
genius lead him to ferve as a volunteer in the Hungarian war, where
he diſtinguiſhed himſelf by his gallantry and military talents; but the
glory which he might have acquired in arms, had he ferved long
enough to have obtained a command, he cheerfully facrificed to the
fafety of his country.
Perſuaded that the liberties of Britain, if not of all Europe, hung
upon the iffue of the defign, then in contemplation at the Hague, for
a Revolution in England, and having learned that it had already at-
tained a confiderable degree of maturity, he haſtened to (b) Hol-
land, where he took (c) refuge, and joined himſelf to the groupe
of his countrymen, who where attached to the interefts of the Prince
of Orange, whofe Court they (d) filled with complaints of their coun-
try's wrongs and their own; moft of whom were refugees from Eng-
land or Scotland; Lord (e) Stair, Lord (f) Melville, Sir Patrick (g)
Hume, of Polworth; Lord (b) Cardroſs, Sir Robert (1) Steuart of Col-
tnefs, Doctor Gilbert (k) Burnet, James (1) Steuart, and Alexander (11)
Cunningham;
(b) Buchan's Essays, &c. 22, calc.
(d) Dalrym. Mem. I. 68.
(c) Dalrymp. Mcm. I. 68.
(e) See an account of him in the article of John Dalrymple, the eighth Baron, and se-
cond Viscount Stair, in Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 639. a. See Buchan 48, 49 in the Notes.
(f) See Dalrymp. Mem. I. 99.
Id. 59.
(g) See Anecdotes of him in Buchan, 23, 24, in the Notes. He was most of all dis-
tinguished by his having been the friend of Pope, Swift, Atterbury, and Arbuthnot.
See Buchan, 27, in the Notes. Arbuthnot's character is among these Memoirs. See
Dalrymp. Mem. I. 99, 116.
(b) See Anecdotes of him in Buchan, 27, 28, in the Notes.
(i) Concerning Sir Robert Steuart, there is an Anecdote so historically curious,
that Earl Buchan cannot pass him over without notice, though he was a person of no ex.
traordinary merit. See the Anecdote alluded to in Buchan's Essays, 29, 30, in the
Notes; it is too prolix for insertion in this Memoir.
(k) See ante.
(1) Afterwards Lord Advocate of Scotland, Buchan, 23. See Anccdotes of him.
Id. 48, 49.
(m) The Editor of Horace. Buchan 23, and author of a Latin History of Great
Britain. Id. 23. See Id. 59, 60.
Cunningham; with theſe gentlemen FLETCHER affociated; but his
political principles were too high and refined, and his ſentiments were
too (ʼn) Roman, or rather, as I may now fay, too Gallic, and too much
of the colour of philofophical politics, to accept of the privilege
granted by James the Second's A&t of Indemnity to return to his
country and eſtate, when under the dominion of difguifed defpotifm,
fanctified by a venal Parliament; ſo that when (0) Argylc, (p) Suther-
land, Melville, and others, had recovered their reſpective inheritances,
in the year 1686, 2 Jac. II. he chofe rather to remain in exile, than to
accept of liberty as a royal favour (yet Alexander Cunningham,
before-mentioned, though a Whig and friend of FLETCHER), men-
tions this conduct, as extravagant.
FLETCHER made a manly and noble appearance in the Convention
(q) which met in Scotland, after the Revolution, for the fettlement of
the new Government; the principles (r) of FLETCHER were, that
Kings fhould have only the power of obeying the laws, made by the
people, with that of doing good; but that the power of doing mif-
chief either by prerogative or influence, ought to be taken away;
theſe were the principles of FLETCHER, principles that feemed ex-
travagant, difloyal, and impracticable in his days.
This upright (s) Patriot uſed to fay, of the cant appellation of his
time, Whigs and Tories, that they were names made uſe of, to cloak
the
(n) Perhaps too romantic may be the better reading.
(0) Sec Archibald Campbell, the ninth Earl of Argyle, in Dougl. Peer. Scotl. 41.
a. where it appears, that notwithstanding his Majesty was graciously pleased to restore
him to his father's estate, and the honours and precedency of the antient Earls of Ar-
gyle, his Grace twice committed treason; from the first he escaped, in the disguise of a
Lady's Page, and was executed for the latter, without being tried for either; it being
the opinion of the Lawyers, that as his Grace was already dead in lav, by the former
act of treason, he could not be tried again, for this second act of rebellion; the
Suppression of this Anecdote, does not redound much to the credit of FLETCHER'S
noble biographer.
(p) This seems to have been George S. the eighteenth Earl of S. See Dougl.
Peer. Scot. 665, 666.
(q) Buchan's Essays, &c. 33.
(r) Id. 35.
(s) Seward's Anec. II. 333, 334. Buchan's Essays, &c. 61.
the knaves of both parties, "Prejudice and (1) opinion (fays this ex-
cellent man) govern the world, to the great darkneſs and ruin of man
kind; and though (adds he) we daily find men ſo rational, as to
charm by the difintereſted rectitude of their fentiments in all other
things; yet when we touch upon any of their wrong opinions (with
which they have been early prepoffeffed) we find them more irra-
tional than any thing in nature, and not only not to be convinced,
but obftinately refolved not to hear any thing against them.
FLETCHER faid when he was at fome German (u) Univerfity he was
told of a perſon, who was hereditary Profeſſor of Divinity there, at
which he ſmiled; he was anſwered, Why not an hereditary Proſeſſor, as
well as an bereditary King.
Buchan relates the above anecdote thus, "Being in company with
the witty Doctor (x) Pitcairn, the converfation turned on a perſon
of learning, whoſe hiſtory was not diftin&ly known; I knew the man
well (faid FLETCHER) he was hereditary Profeffor of Divinity at
Hamburgh: hereditary Profeffor (faid Pitcairn) with a laugh of af-
toniſhment and derifion? yes, Doctor, (replied FLETCHER) beredi-
tary Profeffor of Divinity, what think (") you of an hereditary
King?
It was faid (2) of FLETCHER, that he wifhed for a Republic, in
which he himſelf fhould rule by his popular talents, but his temper
was unaccommodating; nor is there any ground for fuppofing, that
his views in any tranfaction were felfifh; he was the contriver and
mover of the Act of the Scotch Parliament, to ſtop any fettlement of
the Crown, until the Conſtitution was formed, and the rights of the
people fecured.
Sir George (4) Lockhart of Cornwath, flattered himſelf that FLETCH-
ER was a Tory, if not a Jacobite, becauſe he affociated with Tories
and Jacobites; but he did not recolle&t that the Tories and Jacobites
were
(1) Buchan, 53, 54, Seward, ut supta.
(u) Seward's Anec. II. 334,
(*) Doctor Archibald Pitcairn, see his story in Noorth. Dict.
(y) Buchan's Essays, &c. 37, 38.
(2) Id 42.
(a) See Anecdotes of him, in Nob. Protect. Cromw. II. 269.
+
were then of the country party, and that FLETCHER would hear
more from them of the dignity, independence, and intereft of his
country, and lefs about a king, that infpires a Republican with no fen-
timent but terror or diſlike; this, Earl (b) Buchan believes, was the
foundation for his being fufpected of not being a true Whig at bottom;
for (c) Whigs and Tories were in thoſe days quite diftinct, diſliking
and avoiding each other.
From the moft (d) minute examination of the records and memoirs
of the times, it fufficiently appears (e) while others, whether Whigs or
Torics, were endeavouring to turn the Revolution in Britain, to the
promoting of their own felfifh purpofe, FLETCHER neither afked nor
obtained any emolument from the Court; but that he was continually
attentive to the intereſt and honour of Scotland.
When an attempt was made in the year 1692, 4 W. and M. to bring
about a Counter Revolution, FLETCHER'S ruling principle (though
diffatisfied with King William) was the good of his country, he uſed
all his intereſt with the Duke of (f) Hamilton, to forget the cauſes
of his diſguſt, and to co-operate with the friends of a free (g) Con-
flitution.
In every propoſal for the happineſs and glory of his country,
FLETCHER was intereſted, as if it tended to his own perfonal emo.
lument and reputation; he was the firft and faft friend and patron
of that extraordinary man William (b) Paterſon, the projector of
the Dorien Company, the fhare FLETCHER had in this bufinefs,
is given by FLETCHER'S Noble Biographer, from Sir John
Dal.
rymple, to whofe merits he has done the juſtice they deferve, in his
intereſting Memoirs of Great Britain, which Earl Buchan being unable
to deſcribe, with equal fpirit and ability, hath fet forth the paffage
at large; however, we think it fufficient to be referred (i) to, upon
the prefent occafion.
(b) Buch. 44.
(c) See a Dissertation on them, in Rapin's Hist. Eng.
(d) Buch. 44.
From
(e) Id. 45.
(b) Id. 46. Tind. Contin. Rap. Hist. Eng. I. 183, a. 200. b.
(ƒ) See his Grace's Article, in Dougl. Pcer. Scotl. 335*
(g) Buch. 45.
(i) Buch. 46, 47, 48, 49.
From this (k) buſy period, till the meeting of the Union Parliament,
FLETCHER was uniform and indefatigable, in his Senatorial conduct,
continually attentive to the rights of the people, and was accordingly
(1) a ftrenuous, but an unſucceſsful advocate for a National (m)
Militia.
In the year 1703, 2 Anne, we find FLETCHER great in the Debates,
concerning the fixing the (n) fucceffion to the Crown of Scotland,
in the event of Queen Anne's dying without iffue, which he ſtrenu-
oufly and fuccefsfully urged the Parliament to determine, before they
fhould think of granting any fupplies to the Crown; it was even re-
folved, that the fucceffor to the Crown after her Majefty's demife,
fhould not be the fame perfon, who was King or Queen of England,
unless the just rights of Scotland, fhould be declared in the English Par-
liament, and fully feitled, independent of Engliſh interefts and Coun-
cils.
FLETCHER, by vindicating the liberty (0) of his country, was twice
in danger of loofing his life; and when he at laft perceived an in-
curable wound was to be inflicted on the State; and Scotland, as
it were borne to it's burial, by her own people, he became warm
in his fpeeches, he greatly inveighed againſt the Queen's Minifters,
and complained, that they did nothing, though the revenues of the
country were very confiderable; fome thought that the force of his
eloquence, even when applied againſt his enemies, was too violent, and
faid, he hurt the caufe; but what law is there against a fon's weeping
(k) Id. 49, 50.
(1) Id. 50.
(m) See the next Page and the Notes.
(1) Buch. 53.
over
(o)" Andreas Fletserus, ut qui patriam prius in libertatem vindicaret, bis se in vitæ
discrimen intulerat, nunc vulnus insanabile Reip. inferendum, et Scotiam veluti funere
per suos elatam, cernens hoc tempore extremo, in dicendo effervescit, Reginæque mi
nistros vehementér insectatur, et exagitat, nihil res domesticas, licet amplas, faciens;
sunt qui illius vim eloquentiæ, etiam in inimicitiis gerendis, virtutem nimium effer.
buisse, et causæ nocuisse dicunt; sed quid vetat filium in funere matris commveri, aut
civem fortem in efferendam funere patriam, dolore graviter inuri, præsertim is qui
Reip. commoda suis necessitutinibus semper potiora duxerat, mortemque pro patriâ
toties oppetere non dubitaverat? Buchaniæ etiam comes ejusque patruus Johannes
Erskine strenué pro patriâ contendebant, nihil pensi cum Galliæ factionis hominibus ha-
beutes." Buch. 59, 60, 61. See Id. 23, 31.
1
1
over his mother's funeral, or a ftrenuous citizen being extremely
grieved, in attending his country's burial, eſpecially that perfon,
who did not ever ſcruple to prefer the advantage of the State, to his
own neceffities, and oftentimes met even death itſelf, for the fake of
his country? The Earl of Buchan, and his uncle John Arefkine,
were both ſtrenuous for their country, having no connections with the
men of the Gallic (p) faction.
The Earl of Stair having argued (g) againſt FLETCHER'S fcheme of
Limitations in the fame year, 1703, 2 Anne he replied, "It was no
wonder the Earl oppoſed the ſcheme; for, had fuch an A&t fubfifted,
his Lordship would have been hanged for the bad counfel he had
given to King James; for the concern he had in the maffacre of
Glencoe, and for his conduct, fince the Revolution."
The time of FLETCHER's death does not appear to be mentioned,
or even hinted at, by his Noble Biographer, nor has the preſent
writer been able to meet with it, in any other cotemporary author.
FLETCHER (s) in his perfon, was of a low ftature, thin, and of a
brown complexion, with piercing eyes; and a gentle frown of keen
fenfibility, appeared often upon his countenance.
He had acquired (1) the grammatical knowledge of the Italian fo
perfectly, as to compofe and publiſh a Treatife in that language,
and yet he could not ſpeak it, as his Biographer fhews, in an Anecdote
related by him, of an interview with Prince Eugene of Saxony, in
which FLETCHER being addreffed to, in that language, by the Prince,
he could not utter a fyllable to be underſtood.
FLETCHER, (fays the anonymous Author of his (u) character, in
Thomas Rawlinfon's Library) was fteady in his principles, of nice
honour, great learning, brave as the fword he wore, a fure friend, but
an irreconcileable enemy; and would not do a baſe thing to eſcape
death.
(p) Translated from an Extract of Alexander Cunningham's Latin History of Great
Britain, in Earl Buchan's Life of FLETCHER, Octavo, 59, 60, 61.
(1) Smol. Hist. Eng. II 48.
Edit. 1792-
(s) Buch. 62.
*See ante.
(r) See an account of it, in Smol. Hist. Eng. I. 146, 147.
(1) Id. 61, 62.
(u) Id. 61.
•
death. What does his noble Biographer think of his shooting the Mayor
of Lynn, for defending his own property?
*
He was the (x) laft of the Scots, and Earl Buchan's countryman;
his religion was a divine philoſophy, in the foul, and he fet Marcus
Brutus for his pattern.
His mind (y) was inflamed with a love of public good, and all his
ideas to promote it, had a fublimity in them; he deemed fome glory
to confift in danger; although he had nothing to hope for, and no-
thing to fear, becauſe he had an ample fortune and no children, and
though he was of the country party, yet in all his ſchemes for the pub-
lic fervice, he uſed to go as readily to the King's Minifters as his own
friends; being indifferent who had the honour of doing good, pro-
vided it was done.
In (z) FLETCHER, all the powers of the foldier, orator, and ſcho-
lar, were united; and he would in ancient Rome, have been the rival
and friend of Cato.
He was a man of (a) undaunted courage, and inflexible integrity,
he profeffed Republican (b) principles, and feemed defigned by na-
ture, as a member of fome Grecian Commonwealth.
FLETCHER (c) was by far the moft nervous and correct ſpeaker in
the Parliament of Scotland, for he drew his ftyle from the pure models
of antiquity, and not from the groffer practical oratory of his cotem-
poraries, fo that his language will bear a compariſon, with the beſt
ſpeeches in the reign of Queen Anne.
The irafcibility (d) of FLETCHER's temper, and bis high ſenſe of
honour, made him impatient of the ſlighteſt tendency of an affront;
Lord Stair, when Secretary of State, having let fall fome expreffions
in (e) Parliament, that feemed to glance at FLETCHER, he feized
(x) Buch. MSS.
(≈) Dalrym. Mem. I. Ì16.
(a) Smol. Hist. Eng. I. 194.
(b) Burn. Hist. O. T.-I. 630.
(c) Buch. 57, 58.
(y) Buch. 47, 48.
Smol. Hist. Eng. II. 48.
(d) Id. 59
Lord
(e) In the month of June, 1798, there happened a Duel on such an occasion, between
Mr. P. and another Member, the Affront as well as the day, on which the Duel was
fought (viz. Sunday) both required an apology; the particulars form an anecdote of
the most curious as well as interesting nature, in the political history of this country.
Lord Stair by the robe, in his place, and gave him the reply-va-
liant; Lord Stair was called to order by the Houſe, and obliged to
afk pardon publickly.
FLETCHER alone was elevated above the age in (f) which he
lived, and ſhed a luftre towards thofe, who were to fucceed, and he
will continue to fhine more and more unto the perfect day.
Earl Buchan (g) glories in being the attireman of the character of
fuch a figurative Prince, and rejoices to think that even in that hum-
ble connection, his name may be handed down to diftant pofterity.
The Earl (b) arrogates to himſelf fome degree of merit, that he
was taught, and that he learned how to diſcriminate tinfel from gold;
he fays, FLETCHER will live for ever.
It is with regret, (fays Earl (i) Buchan) that he cannot pretend to
produce from Scotland, during the Halcyon reign of philofophy, any
great character fince the death of FLETCHER.
The ſmall volume of FLETCHER'S (k) works, though imperfectly
collected, is one of the very few claffical compofitions in the Englifh
(1) language; it confifts principally of Speeches on the confideration
(m) of the Treaty of Union, on the A&t of the Scotch Parliament, to
prevent any Settlement of the Crown, until the Conftitution was for-
med, and the rights of the people fecured; they are full of good
fenfe, and of manly claffical (n) eloquence, and never took FLETCHER
above a quarter of an hour, though filled with fo much matter, and
fuch found (0) reaſoning.
Theſe ſpeeches will bear (p) a compariſon, with the beft fpeeches
of the reign of Queen Anne, the Auguftan age of Great Britain,
far fuperior to the meretricious, inflated, metaphorical ſtyle of our
modern orators; but Earl Buchan excepts the Hon. Charles James
Fox, from this remark.
Difcourfes.
(ƒ) Buch. Introd. to Essays, XXV.
(b) ld. XXVIII.
(k) Dalrymp. Mem. I. 116.
(g) Id. XXV. XXVI.
(i) Id. XXIX. calc.
(1) FLETCHER'S Tracts are cited in Bishop Ellys's Temp. Lib. 121, n.
(m) Buch. Essays 59.
(0) Sew. Anec. II. 334, calc.
(n) See Buch. 42, 43, 52, 53.
(p) Buch. 58.
Diſcourſes on that important fubject, a National (g) Militia, written
at the time of the Union' Parliament, was not printed until the year
1698, 10 Will. III. in this Difcourfe he fays, he wishes he had a
voice loud enough to be heard over all Britain and Ireland, to rattle
in the ears of the (r) people.
Among the ſpeeches, are the following, which feem of the moft
note.
I. Speech on the queſtion, for the fettlement of the Scotifh (s)
Crown, delivered in that Parliament, in the year (1) 1703, Anne.
II. On FLETCHER's bringing into Parliament a Bill concerning
(u) Offices, &c. in (x) Scotland.
III. On his Bill for the fecurity (y) of the kingdom of Scotland.
(q) FLETCHER's Noble Biographer thinks it to be indispensably required at his
hands, to depricate, with respect to Scotland, the refusal of a MILITIA in his country,
the necessity for which is so eloquently set forth by his favourite FLETCHER. Buch.
Introd. XXXV. "A good and effective MILITIA (says FLETCHER) is of such im-
portance to a Nation, that it is the chief part of the Constitution of any free govern-
ment; for though, as to other things, the Constitution is ever so slight, a good MILI-
TIA will always preserve public Liberty; but in the best Constitution that ever was,
as to all other parts of Government, if the MILITIA be not upon a right foot, the li-
berty of the people must perish; the Swiss (says he) at this * day are the freest,
happiest, and the people of all Europe, who can best defend themselves because
they have the best MILITIA. Buch. 50, 51.
*The Swiss in the year 1798, were most injuriously attacked by the French Revolu-
tionists, and though they made after a most brave opposition, were, notwithstanding,
totally deprived of those inestimable blessings. Editor.
(r) Buch. 50.
(t) Buch. Essays, 72.
(s) Smol. Hist. Eng. I. 394.
(u) Smol. Hist. Eng. II. 48.
(x) Buch. ut supra, 73, 75, 82.
(y) Id. 88, 98, 112, 117, 120, 124, 127, 132, 136, 140. [Smol. Hist. Eng. II. 48.]
145, 155, 157.
:

NIV
OF
Engraved from
JOHN ARBUTHNOTT M.D.
a scarce Print in the Collection of S. Will Musgrave Bar.
London: Published 1 Jan.1798, by Robert Wilkinson No 58 Cornhill.
ICH
JOHN ARBUTHNOTT, M.D.
WAS born at (a) Arbuthnott, in Kincardinfhire, near Montroſe,
North Britain, the fon of an epifcopal (b) clergyman in that King-
dom, in the year 1681, 33 Car. II. and was nearly allied to the Vif-
count of his name; at a proper age, he was fent to the univerſity of
Aberdeen, to qualify himſelf for the ftudy of phyfic, in which he
afterwards took his degree; the political principles of his father not
fuffering him to comply with the Revolution, he forfeited his church
preferment, and retired, for fupport, to a fmall eftate of his own; the
fons embraced the fame principles, wherefore they were obliged to
feek their fortune at a diftance from home: the object, however, of
this our Memoir, travelled no further than London, where he was
kindly received at the houſe of William Pate, a confiderable tradeſ-
man there; foon after which he undertook the teaching of mathe-
matics, for which he was very well qualified. In the year 1697,
9 Will. III. he laid the foundation of his literary reputation, by a
letter to Doctor Woodward, refpecting his account of the deluge, &c.
concerning
(a) Biogr. Brit. Kipp. Edit. Art. “Arbuthnott, John." N.B. the Doctor him.
self spells his own name, as in the text, ARBUTHNOTT, with two TTs at the end; see
two letters from him, dated respectively 25 January, 1697-8, and 10 June, 1703, under
those years, in this biography.
(b) Memoirs of the DOCTOR's life, prefixed to his miscellaneous works, in two vó-
lumes 12mo. edit. 1770, approved by the DOCTOR's son, George Arbuthnott, Esquire,
deceased, late of the Exchequer, [see the DOCTOR's family] having read over this life,
informed the editor of the "Biographia Britannica,” that he did not know of any thing
being misrepresented in it. Biogr. Brit. Art. “ Arbuthnott." Kipp. Edit. I. 236. calc.
marg. but this approbation of the DOCTOR's son must not be extended to the “Mis
cellanies" to which it is prefixed, because his said son, upon the perusal of them hath
testified, that the greatest part of them were not written by his father. Id. 243. See
Gent, Mag. XX. 432. a.
·
concerning "An abstract of Agostino Scilla's book," on the fubject of
marine bodies dug out of the earth; which reputation the Doctor con-
fiderably encreaſed, not long afterwards, and very deſervedly, by his
“Eſſay on the uſefulneſs of mathematical learning, in a letter from a gen-
tleman in the City, to his friend at Oxford”.
ઃઃ
In the mean time, as phyfic was his profeffion, fo the practice of
it was what he principally had in view; at firſt, indeed, as is uſual
with regard to young phyficians, he met with no great encourage-
ment; but after a while, by his cloſe application to his profeffion,
it gave him competency; and by degrees his fkill in it, joined with
his pleafing wit and extenfive learning, introduced him into good ef
teem and favour, and to the notice of the polite world.
On 25 January 1697, 9 Will. III. the Doctor wrote the following
letter to an eminent character at the University of Oxford, which
was never publiſhed till very lately.
"HONOURED SIR,
"THE kind (c) meffage I had from you by Mr. Pricket the other
day, puts me in mind of a neglect of my duty, which is to wiſh you
a good new year, in all health and profperity to your felf, and fuccefs
to your defigns, for the good of a fociety, which I have many obliga
tions to know, were it not that I have hardly any thing befides to
tell you, but what I know you have from much better hands, I
ſhould be often troubleſome to you; I was in hopes of having a
good account of my friends at Oxford to night, by Doctor Gregory,
but I find by a letter of his, I am diſappointed at preſent: I do not
hear of any remarkable news about town, the Czar and Lady Mac-
clesfield make up the greateſt part of the diverfion; as for the ſtand-
ing army, we reckon, there is an end of that. I was pleaſed to fee
Mr. Alfop's Efop; Mr. Bentley fays there are three faults in the
Latin of Canis in præfepe; Mr. Charles Bernard told me, he bid him
inſtance in one, he ſaid, exteri fi quid feiaul fer fciant; Mr. Bernard
fent
(c) This is an original letter, and I believe, never appeared in print, till the year 17972
and then only in Europ. Mag. XXXI. 228. Editor.
;
fent him this verfe in Horace, fi quid componere curem, but was forry
afterwards, he did not let him publifh his criticiſm; we expect foon
fome reply to his differtation at the end of Wotton's book. This new
act of Parliament againſt correſponding with King James, lies very
heavy againſt a great many people, it is reckoned to comprehend
above twenty thouſand at leaſt, I believe I know above thirty of my
acquaintances that muſt get them gone before the day appointed; Sir
Andrew Forefter, Doctor Cockborn, and others: feveral, I am fure,
have not money to pay for their paffage to Gravefend; and which is
yet harder, they are like to be very ill received in France, where they
are putting a tax upon foreigners, fome fay, on purpoſe to diſcourage
thofe, who might leave England on this occafion; we are expecting
the Count de Tallard over here, as ambaffador, with a fplendid equi-
page; he ſtayes only at Paris, to give me Lord Portland a dinner
it is no newes to tell you, of his Highneſs the Duke of Glouceſter's
preceptors, and governor, my Lord (d) Malborough, Biſhop (e) of Sa-
liſbury, La Vaftur, a French refugee, whom you have feen at Ox-
ford; and I cannot tell how many more of one fort of people and
other; I hope at leaſt the Univerſity of Oxford, may have the in-
tereſt to have one; I have not had the good fortune to ſee Mr.
Jeffreys, fince he came home; I have made fome inquiry about him,
and expect a return before I proceed further; I fhall ufe the freedom
to give my respects to the Warden of All Souls, the Dean of Chrift,
and Doctor Wallis, I long for good weather and leiſure to ſee your.
ſelf, and the reſt of my friends at Oxford; if I ſhould be ſo happy,
as to have a line from you, pleaſe to direct it for me, at the Pine
Apple, in St. Martin's Street. Pricket faid he was going out of town,
but I fancy, not without feeing the Czar. I hope you will excufe
this trouble, and believe that I will alwayes be,
Honoured Sir,
Your moſt humble Servant,
JO. ARBUTHNOTT.
LONDON,
25 January, 1697-8.
(d) That famous General, the Duke of Marlborough. Editor.
(e) That celebrated literary character, Gilbert Burnet. Editor.
SIR,
SIR,
Pleaſe to acquaint the Dean of Chrift Church, that Mr. Pate has
brought from Italy all Choriffini's mufick.
To
*
The Reverend Doctor Charlett,
Master of University College, Oxford."
HONOURED SIR,
10 JUNE, 17030
"I RECEIVED (ƒ) yours, and thank you heartily for your ballad.
It is as not yet refolved, fo farr as I know, that her Majefty fhall go
to the Bath, but I do believe fhe will, and if ſhe does, I fancy it will
be a little fooner than last year; I can give you no newes, in return
for
yours, I have feen this day a moft impudent petition of the com-
miffion of the Kirk, to the parliament, againſt toleration in Scotland,
I think it will be of ſervice to print it, and it will fully anfwer your
occafional ballad. Affairs there feem to be in great faction and con-
fufion, by the honeft and wife management of the Queen's minifters,
as you may guefs; but the ridiculous complaifance of the Cavalier
party, is paſt all comprehenfion; for they, forfooth, out of fear for the
Queen's honour, won't ſuffer a miniſtry to be touched, that are ruin-
ing her affairs as faſt as they can; pleaſe to fhew this to Dr. Gregory,
and tell him it is the ftate of the cafe; when it comes to greater ma-
turity, I fhall give him a more particular account of it, I hope to fee
you
(f) This is another original letter, never published till this year 1797, and then only
in the Europ. Mag. XXXI. 229. Editor.
* This name being spelt so differently, seems to affect, in some measure, the au-
thenticity of the originals.
you at of time; in the mean time, wiſhing you all health and hap-
pinefs, remain,
Honoured Sir,
Your affectionate Friend,
And humble Servant,
WINDSOR,
June 8th, 1703.
For
*
JO. ARBUTHNOTT.
Indorfed,
The much-honoured Doctor Charlot,
Master of University College, Oxon.
Dr. ARBUTHOTT, Jun. 10, 1703, About an impudent petition of the
Commiffion of the Kirk, againſt Toleration, to the parliament
there.
It is certain, that the Doctor became a Fellow of the Royal Socie-
ty, fome fay he was elected to that honour this year, 1704, 3 Anne
others (g) not till the year 1709; others, again, (b) not till the month
of February, in the year 1735-6; but as the lateſt, and perhaps the
beſt authority, ſays it was on St. Andrew's (i) day, i.e. the thirtieth,
or laft day of November, 1704, that we confider to be the time of
his election to that honorary fituation, but his next promotion was not
a mere feather in his cap, becauſe it was more honourable, befides
being rather lucrative to him; for on 30th October, 1705, the Doc.
tor was fworn phyfician extrordianary to Queen Anne, by her Ma-
jeſty's fpecial command; this honour was conferred on him from the
following lucky event:-His royal highness Prince George of Den-
mark, the Queen's confort, being taken fuddenly ill at Epſom in
Surry, was recommended to Doctor ARBUTHNOTT, who fortunately
happened to be on the fpot, and His Royal Highneſs recovering by
the DOCTOR's affiftance, ever after employed him as his phyſician, in
confequence of which circumſtance, the Queen, His Royal High-
nefs's
(g) See Chamberlain's Present State of this year. (b) Chronological Diary
in Hist. Reg. XX. 14. (i) Biog. Brit. Kip. edit. I. 237.Art. “ Arbuthnott,”
nefs's confort, was graciouſly pleaſed to appoint him her phyfician;
and in the month of November this year, 1709, 8 Anne, upon the
indifpofition of Doctor Hannes, fourth phyfician in ordinary (k) to
the Queen, his fkill in the diſcharge of his truft, having been the
means of recovering Her Majeſty from a dangerous illneſs, drew from
his friend Johnny (1) Gay, the following elegant paftoral compliment:
"While thus we flood, as in a found,
And wet with tears, like dew, the ground,
Full foon, by bonfire and by bell,
We learnt our Liege was paffing well:
A fkilful leech (fo God him ſpeed)
They ſay had wrought this bleſſed deed;
This leech ARBUTIINOTT was yclept;
Who many a night not once had flept,
But watch'd our gracious Sov'reign ftill,
For who could reft when ſhe was ill?
Oh! may'ſt thou henceforth fweetly fleep!
Sheer, fwains! oh, fheer your fofteft fheep,
To fwell his couch; for well I ween,
He fav'd the realm, who fav'd the Queen."
1710, April.——————In this month ARBUTHNOTT was admitted a
Fellow of the College of Phyficians.
Lord (m) Orrery (n) fays, he ſhould have been pleafed in finding
Some of Doctor ARBUTHNOTT's letters among the collection, which
were published at the time his lordſhip wrote his "Remarks on the
Life of Doctor Jonathan Swift," feveral of those letters alluded to
have been fince made public, and none of them more curious than thofe
(k) Hawkesworth's Lett. of Dean Swift. II. 32.
Illustrations of Hogarth. 35. 36.
of
(1) See Ireland's Graphic
(m) This nobleman was John Boyle the fifth Earl of Orrery; who distinguished
himself in the literary world, in a very eminent degree, by his excellent Translation of
Pliny's Letters, as well as by the above Remarks, &c. Coll. Peer, Engl. Longm. Edit.
VII. 216.
(n) Lord Orrery's Remarks, &c, 164,
of ARBUTHNOTT's (0) literary correfpondence, addreſſed to Dean
Swift, inasmuch as they justify the character predicted of them, by this
noble member of the republic of letters; they confist of the genuine
effufions of the heart, in the full confidence of the most fincere friend-
Ship, without referve or difguife, and are replete with attic wit and
true humour; they abound, befides, with most entertaiuing anecdotes:
our inclination, therefore, was to have inferted them in detail; but
finding that wish could not be gratified, we do very reluctantly give
only, or little more, than the contents from the principal: very few
of them have been the objects of ARBUTHNOTT's preceding Biogra-
phers; they are here inferted in order of time, and taken from Doctor
Hawkefworth's edition of thofe letters, and every one of them diftin-
guished by numerals.
On 12 June, 1714, 1 Geo. I. Doctor ARBUTHNOTT, the Queen's
(p) domeftic phyfician, wrote a letter to Dean Swift, addreffed to him
by the title of Dear (q) Brother, from Saint James's, wherein he
fpeaks
(0) Among Doctor ARBUTHNOTT'S other correspondents, rank the following no.
blemen, ladies, gentlemen, and others, viz.
Duke of Shrewsbury,
Earl of Oxford,
Earl of Peterborough,
Earl of Chesterfield,
Earl Bolingbroke,
Lord Bathurst,
Earl Orrery,
Lady Masham,
Lady Mary Wortley Montague,
Bishop Burnett,
Bishop Atterbury,
Swift,
Pope,
Addison,
Archdeacon Parnell, the poet,
Congreve,
Boerhaave,
Gay,
Pultney, the famous Earl of Bath,
Charles Ford.
whereby it appears, that Doctor ARBUTHNOTT was upon the most intimate footing
with the first writers of that elegant age, who were so celebrated for their wit and
learning. Biog. Brit. III. among Corrigenda. Kipp, Edit.
(p) Hawkesw. Lett. CXIX.
(q) A company of sixteen, all men of the first class, dined once a week at the house
of each other, by rotation, and went under the general denomination of brothers: the
number was afterwards enlarged, and they dined at a tavern every Thursday; Dean
Swift was one; which accounts for the address of this letter. Hawkesw. II. 55. notes.
The following noblemen and gentlemen were some of the principal members of this
literary society: the Duke of Beaufort; the Duke of Ormond; Earl of Arran; Lord
Masham; Lord Bolingbroke; Charles Lord Butler, of Weston; Sir William Wynd-
ham; Brigadier Hill, Governor of Dunkirk; Swift; Pope; Gay; Prior.
fpeaks of Sir Robert Harley, the famous Lord Treaſurer Oxford,
under the name of (r) Dragon, and of his political adminiſtration ;
and alſo, of Harley's patronage of John Gay, after he had left the
ſervice of the Dutchefs (s) of Monmouth, to whom he had been fe-
cretary he ſpeaks likewiſe of Parnell (t) the poet, and Lady Maſham.
DOCTOR ARBUTH NOTT engaged this year, June 26, 1714, in
concert with two ingenious friends, (u) Pope and Dean Swift, in
printing feveral volumes of mifcellanies; among thofe, the moft con.
fpicuous is the memoirs of Martinus (x) Scriblerus, a fatire pro-
jected by this excellent triumvirate, on human learning, and which
they propoſed to execute in the manner of (y) Cervantes, under a
continued narrative of feign adventures, "They had obferved (fays
Mr.
(r) Lord Treasurer Oxford, so called by the Dean, by contraries; for he was the
mildest, wisest, and best minister, that ever served a prince. Hawksw. II. 53. notes
(s) She was the widow of the Duke who was beheaded. 1 Jac. II. Hawkesw. II◄
29. notes.
(t) The following verses were the conclusion of a most excellent pocm, penned by
the Dragon:
"He that cares not to rule, will be sure to obey,
When summon'd by ARBUTHNOTт, Pope, Parnell, and Gay."
Hawkesw. Lett. II. 33.
(u) A nobleman, a friend of this celebrated poet's, who wished to correct a disgust.
ing failing in him, which was, that he, like many other affectedly delicate persons, pro-
fessed to be fond of certain dishes, merely on account of their rarity; for which purpose
he made his cook dress a rabbit, trussed up as a foreign bird; to which he gave some
fine name, and seasoned it with something extremely savory: the bard ate of it very
heartily, and expressed his relish of the taste of the supposed dainty; and was not a
little displeased, when his friend told him the trick he had put upon him. Seward's
Anecdotes. II. 312. The present writer takes leave to relate a similar story of a well-
fed parson; who pretended such an exquiste taste for venison, as to tell, by the
flavour, out of what park it came; but was, however, deceived by a leg of mutton,
dressed venison fashion,
(*) The character of doctor Cornelius Scriblerus, in the memoirs of his son Marti-
nus Scriblerus, was intended for Doctor Woodward, who wrote a dissertation on an
unique shield; and doctor Carnelius is represented as having intended to place his son in
what he conceived to be an unique shield, to be christened; but which being given to
the maid, with it's venerable rust upon it, she scoured it bright, and then it appeared
to be nothing more than an old sconce, without a nozzle. Hawkesw. Lett. III. 127. n.
(y) This author wrote the celebrated romance of Don Quixotte.
William Warburton, Bishop of Glocester.
(≈) Doctor
Mr. Pope's (z) friend and editor, Doctor William Warburton, Biſhop
of Glouceſter, that thofe abufes ftill (a) kept their ground, againſt
all that the greateſt and ableſt authors could fay, to difcredit them,
they therefore concluded that all the force of ridicule was wanting to
quicken the diſgrace; and as the abuſes had been already attacked by
fober reaſoning, ridicule was here very feaſonably applied, and truth
was in no danger of fuffering by the premature uſe of ſo powerful
an inftrument.
""
But the feparation of our author and his friends, which foon after
happened, by the death of Dr. ARBUTHNOTT, and the infirmities of
Dean Swift, put a final (b) period to their defign, when they had only
drawn out an imperfect effay towards it, under the title of the first
book of the memoirs of Scriblerus.
"Moral fatire (continues the editor above mentioned) never loſt
more than in the defect of this project; in the execution of which,
each of this illuftrious triumvirate, would have found exerciſe for his
own peculiar talent; befides conftant employment for thoſe they all
had in common; Doctor ARBUTIINOTT was fkilled in every thing
which related to ſcience; Pope was maſter in the fine arts; and
Doctor Swift excelled in the knowledge of the world; wit they had
all in equal proportion, and in a portion fo large, that no age per-
haps ever produced three men, on whom nature had more bounti-
fully beſtowed it, or in whom art had brought it to higher perfection.”
A very pleaſant account of this undertaking, and of the fhare which
Dr. ARBUTHNOTT and Mr. Pope took in it, is to be found in a letter
(c) from the Doctor to Dean Swift.
"Pray remember (d) Martin, who is an innocent fellow, and will not
diſturb your folitude; the ridicule of medicine is fo copious a fub-
ject,
(a) Ruffhead's Life of Pope. 207. 208:
(c) Hawkesw. Lett. CXXII.
(b) It is said, that the demise of Queen Anne, which happened this year, prevented
the project, mentioned in the text, from being carried into execution. Biogr. Brit. Is
238. Kipp. Edit. Art. "Arbuthnott.”
(d) Martinus Scriblerus, of whom Pope, ARBUTHNOTT, and Gay, were to write
the Memoirs. (Hawksew. II. 30.) This being their joint labours, Lord Treasurer
Oxford called the authors of them, the Junto. Hawkesw. II. 22.
:
ject, that I muft only here and there touch it; I have made him
ſtudy phyfic from the phyficians or recipes on the apothecary's
file, where there is a good plentiful field for fatire upon the
prefent practice; one of his projects was by a (e) ftamp upon
bliftering plaifters and melilat by the yard, to raiſe money for the
government, and to give it to (f) Radcliff and others to farm,
but there was like to be a petition from the inhabitants of Lon-
don and Weſtminſter, who had no mind to be flead; there was a
problem, about the dofes of purging medicines, publiſhed four years
ago, fhewing, they ought to be in proportion to the bulk of the patient;
from thence Martin endeavours to determine the queftion, about the
weight of the ancient men, by the dofes of phyfic that were given them:
one of the beſt inventions was a map of diſeaſes, for the three cavities
of the body, and one for the external parts; juft like the four quar-
ters of the world: then, the great diſeaſes are like capital cities, with
their ſymptoms, all like ftreets and fuburbs, with the roads that lead to
other diſeaſes it is thicker fet with towns, than any Flanders-map you
ever faw. Radcliff is painted at the (g) corner of the map, contend-
ing for the univerfal empire of this world, and the rest of the phyficians
oppofing his ambitious defigns, with a project of a treaty, to fettle
peace.'
""
:
$
"This is an excellent fubject of ridicule, from fome of the Ger-
man phyſicians, who fet up a fentive foul, as a fort of a firft minia-
ture, to the rational; Helmont calls him Archæus; Dolaus calls him
Microcofmeter:
(e) A duty has now been some time since imposed on quack medicines, which
seems to be the object of DocTOR ARBUTHNOTT's satire in the text, although not
so mentioned by express name.
(ƒ) The famous physician of that name, and of the time spoken of, in the text; he
attended Lord Chief Justice Holt's wife, with great pleasure, in spite to her husband,
who wished her dead. Hawkesw. Lett. CCI.XIV.
(g) In one corner of Hogarth's Gate of Calais, he has drawn his own portrait, but
not, indeed, in ridicule, but on the contrary, on a most serious occasion; for he was ar
rested there, as a spy of the country; and he had a very narrow escape for his life; in
asmuch as the Governor of the place, with great politeness assured Hogarth, that had
not a Treaty of Peace between the two nations, been actually signed, he should have
been under the disagreeable necessity of hanging him up upon the ramparts. “J.
Ireland's Hogarth illustrated.” I. 287, 288.
Microcofmeter: he has under him ſeveral other genii, that refide in
the particular parts of his body, particularly prince Cordimelec in the
heart; Gaftoronex in the ftomach; and the plaſtic prince, in the or.
gans of generation: I believe, I could make you laugh, at the ex-
plication of distempers, from the wars and alliances of thofe princes,
and how the firſt minifter gets the better of his miſtreſs, anima ra-
tionalis."
"The beft is, that it is making repriſals upon the politicians, who
are fure to allegorize all the animal economy, into ftate affairs; Pope
has been collecting high flights of poetry, which are very good;
they are to be folemn nonſenſe; I thought upon the following the
other day, as I was going into my coach, the duft being trouble-
fome,
(b) The duft in fmaller particles arofe
Than thoſe, which fluid bodies do compofe;
Contraries in extremes, do often meet,
'Twas now fo dry, that you might call it wet.
"I do not give you theſe hints to divert you, but that you may
have your thoughts, and work upon them.”
10 July, 1714. (i) In this letter, Doctor ARBUTHNOTT gives Dean
Swift a ſhort account of a treaſonable piece, intituled "An Hiſtory
of the last Invafion of Scotland."
17 (k) July. The letter of this date, contains particulars of Swift's
unfucceſsful application to be appointed hiftoriographer to the Queen,
the fame being beſtowed on Thomas Maddocks, Efq. whom the (1)
Dean ſtigmatiſes as a worthlefs rogue, whom nobody knew; whereas
Mr. Maddocks bore a very fair character, and was befides perfectly
well qualified for the office, having made himſelf maſter of the antient
records of the kingdom, which appears from his curious publication,
intituled "The Hiſtory and Antiquities of the Exchequer," and
fome other works of that kind.
* Editor.
(b) Hawkesw. Lett. CXXII. (i) Hawkesw. Lett. CXXXIX.
Lett. CXXXIII. (1) Hawkesw. Lett. CCCXCV.
ARBUTHNOTT
(k) Hawkesw:
1
ARBUTHNOTT humourouſly cenfures Whiſton's proje&t of the (m)
longitude.
12 Auguſt, 1714. (1) He obferves, on the demife of queen Anne,
that it was unfortunate, that ſhe had been perfuaded, as was fuppofed
by (0) Lowndes, that it was neceffary to have her will under the
Great Seal; mention is alfo herein made of the generous difpofition
of George (p) the Ift.
2 Dec. 1714, 1 Geo. I. Subftance (9) of the Pretender's decla-
ration, on the demife of Queen Anne; in which there are words to
this purpoſe, "That the Pretender had no reafon to doubt of the
good intentions of (r) his fifter."
1717,
(m) The celebrated Gainsborough had a longitudinal brother, of whom, see an ac
count, in Thicknesse's Sketch of the Life and Paintings of Gainsborough, 57, 58, Edit.
1788.
(n) Hawkesw. Lett. CLVII,
(0) This is old Mr. Lowndes, the famous Secretary of the Treasury, in the reign of
William III. this reign, and in that of George I. who used to say, "Take care of the
pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves." By the observance of this max-
im, his two grandsons succeeded to very considerable fortunes, acquired thereby, and
which he left them. Lord Chesterfield's Lett. II. 343, Lett. CCXVI. Edit. 1787 to
this gentleman, Serjeant Selby, left a vast estate, to be enjoyed by him until his heir
(the Serjeant's) should make out a legal claim thereto; this has been attempted by
several, but they all failed; and Mr. Lowndes's family is likely to continue in possession
of it, as a fee simple.
(p) In the year 1715, the second year of his reign, he gave a remarkable instance of
the benignity of his nature, for being informed, that Earl Nithisdale, one of the
Scotch rebels, in the Tower, and who was to have been executed for Treason the next
morning, had made his escape the preceding day, in woman's apparel, furnished and
convey ed to him by his own mother, Smol. Hist. Eng. II. 388, he smilingly asked,
"And how could that unfortunate nobleman have done better?"?
(9) Hawkesw. Lett. CLXVIII.
(r) Mr. Dundas of Arniston, in his speech to the Dean and Faculty of Advocates
in Scotland, upon the Dutchess of Gordon, who was a Roman Catholick, sending
about the latter end of June, 1709, 6 Anne, to Mr. Robert Burnet, the then Dean, a
silver medal with an head on the right side, and this legend, Cujus est?. i. e. Whose is
it'? and on the reverse, the British islands, with this motto "Reddite” i. e. " Restore"
as a present to the Faculty; in this speech, Mr. Dundas said, "I think those gentlemen
of the Faculty affront Queen Anne, whom they pretend to honour, in disgracing her
brother, who is not only a Prince of the Blood, but the first thereof; and if blood can
give any right, he is our undoubted Sovereign;" again, three days after, Dundas re-
turned the most hearty thanks of the Faculty, to the Dutchess for all her Grace's fa
vours,
1717,4 Geo. I. It appears that ARBUTHNOTT had this
year, in
conjunction with Pope, a fhare in the unfuccefsful comedy of (s)
"Three Hours after Marriage" a piece, which, with fuch a combi-
nation of wit and talents to bring it forth, feems not to have had
ſtrength enough, for (i) repreſentation, nor fince to have been worthy
revival.
1718, 14 Oct. 5 Geo. I. The DOCTOR's humourous remark re-
fpecting
vours, particularly, in presenting them with a medal of their Sovereign Lord the King;
hoping, and being confident, that her Grace would very soon have the opportunity,
to compliment the Faculty, with a second medal, struck upon the restoration of the
King, and Royal Family; and the finishing Rebellion, usurping tyranny and whiggism,',
Tindall's Continuation of Rapin's History of England, I. 630, B. folio Edit. 1787.
However, the Pretender was only brother-in-law to the Queen, by James IId. wife;
and was the supposititious child, who occasioned the famous story of the warming pan,
in the reign of his father: his own mother was consequently only the foster mother of
his sisters, Anne and Mary, who both were Hydes, the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of
Clarendon's daughters by his wife, who was a tub-woman at a small-beer brewhouse.
These two daughters of James IId. and grand-daughters of the Chancellor became
successively Queen Regents, Mary, consort of William the IIId. and Queen Anne,
in the text; these are such notorious historical facts, that it is unnecessary to refer to
the authorities, for very few histories of their country, have hitherto come abroad
that do not mention them, as Rapin, Hume, &c. Robert Harley, the famous Lord
Treasurer Oxford, mentioned in these papers, by the name of Dragon, and whom
Guiscard, a foreign spy, attempted to assassinate, while he was under examination there,
was applied to by Queeu Anne, to notify to the Pretender, her wish and design that
he should be her successor; but this he declined, unless her Majesty would be pleased
to give him her signification under her own hand, which she accordingly did, and he
accordingly signified the same; some time after this transaction, though so secret, trans
pired,and became the subject of investigation at the Council Board; during which,
broad insinuations were thrown out against the Queen; her Majesty in order to screen
herself, endeavoured to lay the charge on Oxford, whereupon Harley produced the ori
ginal letter, under the Queen's own hand writing, having sent only a copy.
(s) See Eyre's Life of Pope, II. 8o. Life of Gay to his Fables, VII. Biogr. Brit.
ap. Kipp. I. 239.
(1) It seems the farce, Three Hours after Marriage, said to be written by Pope
Gay, and ARBUTHNOTT, had been acted soon after the accession of George I. with
so little success, that Cibber and Mrs. Oldfield were both severely hooted by the au
dience. One of the most unfortunate incidents in this comedy was, introducing into a
physician's house, two lovers of his wife, in the shapes of a mummy and a crocodile ;
this Colley ridiculed in his character of Bayes in the Rehearsal; which occasioned a
very serious quarrel between Pope, Cibber, and Gay. See Davies's Dram. Miscel,
III. 320, 321.
ſpecting Mifs Nelly (u) Bennet, introduced by him to the French
Court, accompanied by a copy of verfes on her by him; of whom
he ſpeaks as follows, "I had the honour of carrying an Iriſh lady
to court, who was admired beyond all the ladies in France, for
her beauty, ſhe had great reſpect fhewn her, the Huffar himſelf was
ordered to bring her the King's cat to kifs."
1718, 11 Dec. 5 Geo. I. (x) Preſcription for a (y) vertigo, or gid-
dineſs in the head, a recipe of bitters for ftrengthening the ftomach;
Mr. Rowe's death, about a mad dog; Lord Bolingbroke's Marriage,
his attainder; of the Dukes of Ormond and Brunſwick: he obſerves,
that curiofity is the beſt reaſon for wifhing to be old.
1721, 8.Geo. I. 30 Sept. By a (z) letter from Dr. ARBUTH-
NOTT (a) to Mr. Watkins, we are informed of the following curious
anecdote reſpecting the celebrated Prior:
LONDON, 30 Sept. 1721.
"Prior has had a narrow eſcape by dying; for, if he had lived,
he had married a brimſtone (b) bitch, one Beffy Cox, that keeps an
ale-houſe in Long-Acre; her huſband died about a month ago, and
Prior hath left his eftate between his fervant Jonathan (c) Drift and
Beffy Cox; Lewis got drunk with punch with Befs night before laft;
don't ſay where you had this news of Prior. I hope all my mif-
treffes's (d) minifters will not behave themſelves fo."
1722, 9 Geo. I At the Bath ſeaſon, in the latter end of this
year, Dr. ARBUTHNOTT arrived in that city, apparently for his
health, being accompanied thither by one of his brothers, who was
then lately come to England.
(u) Hawkesw. Lett. CLXXXIX,
(x) Hawkesw. Lett. CXC.
1723,
(y) Hawkesw.
Lett. CCVII, CCLXIV, CCLXXIX, and CCCLI. (2) Edinb. Mag. Old Series,
(a) This letter is no prior biography of ARBUTHNOTT.
VII. 141.
(b) This expression from such a character as the DOCTOR, seems to impeach its
genuineness.
(c) Adrian Drift. Brit. Biogr. VIII. 360.
for Ireland, Brit. Biogr. VIII. 355.
(d) Prior was Secretary of State
(e) Hawkesw. Lett. CCXX.
.
1723, 10 Geo. I. On 30 Sept. this year, the DOCTOR was elect-
ed the fecond Cenfor of the College of Phyficians.
1725, 12 Geo. I. This year he was feized with a moft unuſual
and dangerous diftemper, an impofthume in the bowels, from which
he ſpeedily and happily recovered, to the great joy of his (e) friends.
1726, April, 13 Geo. I: (f) In the beginning of this month, the
DOCTOR had the honour of the commands of her Royal Highneſs
the Princeſs of (g) Wales, to fignify her pleaſure, that he would ac-
company Dean Swift in conſequence of her invitation made to him,
by the Doctor.
1726, 20 Sept. (b) The DOCTOR herein mentions the amiable qua-
lities for which he admired and valued the Dean; he alſo ſpeaks of
the famous Excife Bill, and the equally celebrated Doctor Henry
Sacheverell.
1726, (i) 8 Nov. 13 Geo. I. Mentions a droll incident or two
on the publication of Gulliver's Travels, among which are the two
following, very fingular.
Lord Scarborough is no inventor of ftories, told Doctor ARBUTH-
NOTT, that he fell in company with the mafter of a fhip, who told
him, that he was very well acquainted with Gulliver, but that the
printer had miſtaken, that he lived in Wapping, not at Rotherhithe ;
the other is, that the Doctor lent the book to an old gentleman, who
went (k) immediately to his map, to fearch for Lilliput.
1726, 20, (1) 13 Geo. I. The DOCTOR in his letter rallies the
Dean, on his fuppofed neglect of him, and obferves that the gaf
coigne afked to ſpeak only one word with the French king, which
the Grand Monarch confining him to do, he brought a paper, faid
Signez, and not a word more; relates to the Dean the danger Pope
had been in of the hazard of his life, from a narrow eſcape of being
drowned, whereby he was much hurt.
(f) Hawkesw. Lett. CCXXII.
17272
(g) Afterwards Queen Caroline, royal con-
sort to George II. and grandmother to his present Majesty.
CCXXIX.
(i) Hawkesw. Lett. CCXXXII.
(b) Hawkesw. Lett.
(k) Hawkesw. Lett. Vol.
II. p. 244, 245.
(1) Hawkesw. Lett. CCXXIX.
1727, 1 Geo. II. On the 5th Oft. this year, he was made an
Elect of the College of Phyſicians, and on 18th fame month, he pro-
nounced the Herveian oration; during all this time, he continued
the practice of his profeffion, with great reputation; and among other
eminent perſons whom he attended, in his medical capacity, was the
celebrated Earl of Cheſterfield, who was proud to have fuch a man
for his friend, (m) as well as his phyfician; DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT
was not, however, fo deeply engaged in buſineſs, but that he could
find leiſure to write feveral pieces of wit and humour.
1728-9, 2 Geo. II. 19 March. By this letter it appears, that the
DOCTOR's unwearied endeavours recovered John Gay from the point
(n) of death.
1730, 4 Geo. II. When Curl the bookfeller, whom DOCTOR
ARBUTHNOTT termed one of the terrors of death, from his conftantly
printing every eminent perfon's life, and laft will, publifhed an adver-
tiſement of Memoirs of the Life of Congreve; he endeavoured, out
of friendſhip to the deceaſed, to prevent any impofition on the public,
in the name of Congreve, and met with impertinent abufe from the
perfon, who called himſelf the Author of Memoirs of the Life, Writ-
ings and Amours of William (0) Congreve, Efq. For more concern-
ing Curl, fee under 13th January 1732-3.
1731-2, 5 Geo. II. On Thurſday 11th February, 1731-2 5 Geó.
II. the famous bitch that played at cards, and performed many woń-
derful tricks, beat (p) DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT, two games at quadrille.
1732, 6 Geo. II. In the courfe of this year he had an opportunity
of contributing his endeavours towards detecting and puniſhing the
fcandalous frauds and abufes, which had been carried on under the
fpecious name of "The charitable Corporation."
1732-3, 13 January, 6 Geo. II. Gay (q) the poet, who departed
this life, 4 December, 1732, died univerfally lamented by almoft
every body, even by thofe who knew him only in reputation; he was
interred in Weſtminſter Abbey, as if he had been a Peer of the realm,
(n) Hawkesw. Lett. CCLXIV.
(p) Gentl. Mag. I. 451.
(m) Biogr. Brit.ap. Kipp. I. 239.
(0) Davies's Dram. Miscell. III. 362,363.
(9) Hawkesw. Lett. vol. III. 95.
and
1
and the good Duke of Queenſberry, who lamented him as a brother,
will (r) fet up a handſome monument upon him.-ARBUTHNOTT
believes the Beggar's Opera, and what he had to come upon the
Stage, will make the fum of the diverfions, for fome time to come.
Curl () has been writing letters to every body for memoirs of his
life; ARBUTHNOTT was for fending him fome, particularly an ac-
count of Gay's difgrace at Court, which he was fure might have been
made entertaining, by which the DOCTOR fays, he ſhould have attain-
ed two ends at once, publiſhed truth, and got a raſcal whipped for it;
but he was overuled in it. The prefent writer takes leave to add an-
other anecdote of Curl, he was a client of old Salkeld, an attorney,
with whom Sir Philip Yorke, the late Lord Chancellor Hardwicke,
ferved his clerkship; during which time he frequented his maſter's
houſe, and was at times lighted out by him. This impudent book feller
had an hearing in Chancery, at which time Yorke was Lord Chan-
cellor Hardwicke reſpecting ſome pirated book, in which traffic he
dealt pretty largely; Curl attended the cauſe, and took great pains by
grimaces and odd geſtures, to attract the notice of the Chancellor; at
laft Lord Hardwicke aſked him who he was? my name is Curl, pleaſe
your Honour, do you not remember, fays he, that I uſed to viſit
your maſter Salkeld, in Bell-court, and that he uſed to call out to
you, when I was going away, here Phil, take the candle, and light
Mr. Curl down ftairs. But to return from this digreffion to the letter:
mention is likewife made of a new edition of Pope's (t) Dunciad.
1733, 7 Geo. II. DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT is thought to have been
lead to his medical (u) publications, by the confideration of his own
cafe, whoſe diſorder was an afthma; which, having gradually en-
creaſed with his years, became, at length deſperate and incurable.
The DOCTOR () is faid, but at what particular period, we are not
informed, to have been fometime ſteward to the Corporation of the
Sons of the Clergy.
(r) It is now among the monuments in the Abbey, at his Grace's expence.
(s) See more of Curl, under the year 1730.
(1) Hawkesw. Lett Vol. III. 96.
at the end of this his Biography.
1734,
(4) See among the DOCTOR'S Writings,
(x) Biogr. Brit. ap. Kipp. I. 243.
1734, July 17,8 Geo. II. ARBUTHNOTT's health feems to have
been upon the decline, and at the clofe of a letter in anſwer to Mr.
Pope's (y) inquiries after him, written as it were, by the DOCTOR on
his death bed, he fays, "a recovery in my cafe, and at my age, is
impoffible, the kindeſt wiſhes of my friends is an (≈) euthanafia, that
living or dying, he fhould be Pope's.'
1734, Oct. 4, 8 Geo. II. In a letter of this date, to his other (a)
great friend Doctor Swift, he diſplays the refignation, calmness, and
piety of his mind; though he met with a temporary relief at Hamp-
ftead, and efpecially from riding, yet being fenfible that an effectual
cure of his difeafe was impoffible, he thought proper to return to
his own houſe, in Cork-ftreet, Burlington Gardens.
O&. 30.
ARBUTHNOTT's letter of this date, to Dean Swift, in the
DOCTOR's laſt illneſs, and fome few months before his deceaſe, (b)
is very affecting, and teems with expreffions of friendſhip.
1785-6,9 Geo. II. On 27th February, this year, the incſtimable
DOCTOR departed (c) this life, at his houfe in Cork-ftreet, Burling-
ton Gardens, aged fifty-four (d).
For further particulars of the Biography of this eminent member of the
republic of letters, fee all the authorities quoted and referred to, in this
Memoir.
DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT was a married (e) man, and had fevç-
ral children, fome of both fexes, of whom he was very fond, and
rather weak (ƒ) in indulgence to them; of his fons, one died in the
year (g) 1730, 4 Geo. II. and two furvived him, (b) Charles and
George,
(y) The Letter alluded to, is of the date in the text, see Pope's Lett. 318, 319,
quarto, Lett, CLXXXVII. Edit. 1737.
(z) From the Greek word, Eulavaoid, an happy and easy death. Lexicon.
(a) Hawkesw. Lett. DCV.
(c) Gentl. Mag. V. 163. a.
(b) Hawkesw. Lett. CCCXXXIV.
(d) Playfair's Biogr. Alp. Index, ap. Chron.
(e) Biogr. Brit. I. 243. Art. “ ARRUTHNOTT" Kipp. Edit.
(ƒ) He suffered his children to tear out his Essay at one end of his great folio paper
book, for their kites, while he was writing them at the other. Ruff. Life of Pope, 209.
(g) British Biography, VIII. 349, 350.
(b) This son died 2 Dec. 1731, 5 Geo. II. at his father's house, in Cork-street, Bur-
lington Gardens. Gentl. Mag. I. 540.
George, the former was of Oxford, and in the church; the latter en-
joyed a place (i) of confiderable profit, under Government; he was
the Remembrancer's firft fecondary in the Exchequer office, as alfo
one of the clerks of the equity fide of that court, and had an ample
private fortune befides; he was one of the executors of Pope's (k) will,
and alſo a ſpecific legatee therein; the preſent writer was well acquaint-
ed with this fon, having employed him as his clerk in court, for fome
years; he was a gentleman of known and acknowledged worth and cha-
racter; he became exceeding corpulent, not leſs in ſize than the famous
Bright of Malden in Effex; he died (1) 8 Sept. 1779, aged ſeventy-
fix; of his daughters two (m) furvived him, one of them was named
Anne, and a legatee in his will, both are fince dead, and unmarried.
The delineation of DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT's character, by Earl
(2) Orrery, is univerfally known, hardly one of his biographers having
omitted it, we therefore fhall give that character of him, which is
drawn by the late (0) Doctors Wharton, Beattie, and Johnſon.
ARBUTHNOTT was the principal author, among the firft writers, in
the reign of Queen Anne, and poffeffed more wit, than either Swift or
Pope, and deeper (p) learning, than even Lord Bolingbroke, and was
more highly eſteemed for his exemplary, and amiable (q) virtues;
than any other writer of his time, Addiſon only excepted; he was al-
moſt fingular in his confummate probity and integrity, with peculiar
fweetness
(i) Biogr. Br. as above.
(k) Ruff. Life of Pope, 544, 545; 546:
(m) Biogr. Brit. Kipp. Edit.
Writings of Swift, 8vo. Edit: 164, 165.
rigenda."
(1) Gentl. Mag. XLIX. 471.3.
(*) Lord Orrery's "Remarks on the Life and
(0) Biogr. Brit. III. among the "Cor.
(p) The extent and accuracy of DoOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT's learning, is worthily ob
served upon, by one of the present Prelates, in a modern publication of great esteem.
Sec Hurd's Dialogues, Dial. III. between the Honourable Robert Digby, DOCTOR
ARBUTHNOTT, and Mr. Addison, 109, Id. Dial. IV.
(9) Pope in his Advertisement to his Epistle to DocTOR ARBUTHNOTт, says, it
was owing to the respect of the learned and candid friend, to whom it is inscribed,
that he did not make as free use of the names of his enemies, as they had done of his, and
in the Epistle itself:
"No names,---be calm-learn prudence of a friend."
ſweetneſs of temper; an excellent (r) phyfician, and equally re-
markable, for his humourous writings, in () verfe, as well as (t)
profe.
A PARTIAL CATALOGUE OF HIS WRITINGS.
"Tables of Antient Coins, Weights, and Meaſures (u) explained and
exemplified, in feveral differtations.
❝ Treatiſe concerning the nature and choice of Aliments,
"An Efay on the effects of Air on the Human Body."
"The Examination of Doctor Woodward's Account of the (x) De-
luge."
This learned Treatife, was the firft work ARBUTHNOTT engaged in,
upon his arrival in London; it appeared in the year, 1697, 9 Will.
III. and laid the foundation of the DOCTOR's (1) literary fame.
His
(†) Pope used to say, that if it had not been for DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT, he should
not have had sufficient health, to apply himself to study; so that much of Mr. Pope's
writings must be allowed, to be owing to his care of him: Ayre's Life of Pope II. 80.
(s) For his humourous Poetry, see his Verses on Miss Nelly Burnett, in Hawkesw.
Lett. II. 144; his burlesque of the lines of Durastanti or Cuzzoni; Colonel Char-
tres's Epitaph; and Verses on the Dust, under 26 June, 1714.
(1) For his humourous Prose, see his "Altercation of the Ancients," in Hawkesw.
Lett. III. 14. Biogr. Brit. I. 249. Kipp. Edit. His censure of Whiston's Project of
the Longitude, under 17 July, 1714, and the following Anecdote :
"Charles Jarvis, the painter, who affected to be a Freethinker, was one day talking
very irreverently of the scriptures, DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT maintained to him, that
he was not only a speculative, but a practical believer; Jarvis denied it; ARBUTH-
NOTT said, he would prove it, "You strictly observe the second Commandment," said
the DOCTOR, "for in your pictures you make not the likeness of any thing, that is in
the Heavens above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth." Wal-
pole, (Earl of Orford) Anec. of Paint. IV.
25. a.
(u) Gentl. Mag. XIX. 119. b. Biogr. Brit. I. 239, Kipp. Edit.
(x) Gent. Mag. XI. 392. Biogr. Brit. ap. Kipp. I• 237.
(y) S. Ireland's Graphic Illustr. of Hogarth, 35.
His (z) Epitaph on () Chartres (allowing one fmall alteration, the
word permitted instead of connives at) is a complete, and a maſterly
compofition in its kind; it fhines velut inter ignes luna minores.
"Eſſay on the uſefulneſs (b) of Mathematical Knowledge."
"Three (c) Hours after Marriage."
"Epiftolary Correspondence."
Theſe letters are incorporated, according to their reſpective dates,
in this life of the DOCTOR.
"A Sermon preached to the People, at the Mureat Crofs of Edin-
burgh, on the ſubject of the Union,” 1706 Anne.
But it is only fuppofed he wrote this anonymous work. See the
Corregenda" of the firft volume of Biog. Brit. in the third volume
of that work, Kipp. Edit.
The following lines were fung by (d) Duraftanti, when ſhe took her
leave of the Engliſh ftage; the words were, in hafte, put together by
(e) Mr. Pope, at the earneſt requeſt of the Earl of Peterborough.
Generous, gay, and gallant nation,
Bold in arms, and bright in arts;
Land fecure from all invafion,
All but Cupid's gentle darts!
From
(2) Though Lord Orrery's correction of the Epitaph is cited in the Biogr. Brit. ap.
Kipp: yet even the last editor hath not thought fit to alter the copy he has inserted in
his edition. Counsellor Holliday observes, that the Colonel's memory is perpetuated,
though not embalmed, by a monumental inscription from the pen of Dr. ARBUTH-
NOTT deeply dipped in gall; it would not have been very surprizing, if the keen sa-
tirist, in his innimitable epitaph, had availed himself of the circumstance of Chartres'
being an uusrer, by adding to the long catalogue of the colonel's other vices, that he was
a most unaccountable man, who, in order to avoid detection, as an usurer, kept no ac
counts. Holliday's Life of Earl Mansfield, 31, 32, a copy of the Epitaph alluded to,
may be read in Biog. Brit. I. 239, Kipp. Edit. Swift's Miscell. III. 53. Edit. 1732.
(a) His character in Biog. Brit. Arb. “Arbuthnott, John." (b) Id. I. 237, n.
(c) Id. I. 239, and see under the year 1717.
(d) Or Cuzzoni, Biog. Brit. Kipp. Edit. I. 243. n. and calc. Voltaire's Lett. con-
cerning the English Nations, 181.
(e) Neither of the above lines, are published in the works of either of them. Edinb.
Mag. Old Series, IV. 587.
From your charms, oh, who would run
Who would leave you for the fun?
Happy foil, adieu, adieu!
Let old charmers yield to new.
In arms, in arts, be ftill more fhining;
All your joys be ſtill increaſing;
All your taſtes be fill refining;
All your joys, for ever ceafing:
But her old charmers yield to new ;
Happy foil, adieu, adieu!
A Burleſque of the above Lines by Doctor (1) ARBUTHNOTT.
Puppies, whom I now am learning
Merry fometimes, always mad,
Who laviſh moft, when debts are craving
On fool, and farce, and maſquerade!
Who would not from fuch bubbles run,
And leave fuch bleffings for the fun?
Happy foil, and fimple crew!
Let old fharpers yield to new;
All your taſtes be ftill refining;
All your nonfenfe ftill more fhining,
Bleft in fome Berenftod or Bofchi,
He more awkward, he more huſky;
And never want, when theſe are loft'us,
Another Hudegger or Fauftus.
Happy foil, and fimple crew!
Let old fharpers yield to new!
Bubbles all, adieu! adieu!
The DOCTOR has had the Romance of Robinfon Crufoe, af
cribed to his pen, but we believe without much, if any foundation.
(f) Edinb. Mag. Old Series, IV. 588.
For
1
For an account of the DOCTOR's other writings, fee under his Cha-
racter, and Biogr. Brit. I. Art. "Arbuthnott John," Kipp. Edit.
The portrait of DOCTOR ARBUTHNOTT, may be feen in plate
III. of S. Ireland's Graphic Illuftr. of Hogarth, among the charac-
ters, who frequented Button's Coffee-Houſe, about the year 1720;
the ſketch was done by Mr. I, which, he informs us, receives addi-
tional value from the confideration, that no well authenticated portrait
of the DOCTOR, is extant; none fuch, at leaſt, has come within Mr,
I's (g) knowledge.
(g) See the Illustr. 34,
,,
་..
COLIN MACLAURIN, MATH, PROF. EDIN,
TM 32
From an Original Painting in the collection of the Earl of Buchan
London: Publisherl 1 Jan 1798 by Robert Wilkinson Nº58 Cornbill.
.
MACLAURIN, the Mathematician.
COLIN (a) MACLAURIN was originally defcended of an ancient
family, which had been long in poffeffion of the Ifiand of Terrie,
or Tirey, one of the Hebudes, Hebrides, or Weſtern Iſlands, upon
the coaſt of Argylefhire; his grandfather Daniel, removing to Inve-
rara, greatly contributed to reſtore that town, after it had been almoſt
entirely ruined in the time of the Civil Wars; and by fome Memoirs
which he wrote of his own time, appears to have been a perſon of
worth, and fuperior abilities; John the fon of Daniel, and father of
our Mathematician, was Miniſter of Glenderule, where he not only
diſtinguiſhed himſelf by all the virtues of a faithful and diligent Paf-
tor, but did leave, in the Regiftry of his Provincial Synod, lafting
monuments of his talents for bulinefs, and of his public fpirit; he
was likewife employed by that Synod, in completing the Verfion of
the Pfalms into Irifh, which is ftill uſed in thoſe parts of the country,
where divine ſervice is uſed in that language; he married a gentle-
woman of the family of Cameron, by whom he had three fons; John,
a learned and pious Divine, one of the Minifters of the City of Glaf-
gow; Daniel, who died young, after having given proofs of a moft ex-
traordinary genius; and COLIN, our Mathematician, who was born at
Kilmoddan in the month of February 1698-9, 10 Will. III. his fa-
ther died fix weeks after; but that 'lofs was in a great meaſure ſup-
>
plied
(a) The principal part of this Memoir, is taken from two ample Discourses, pro.
nounced by Alexander Monro, M. D. before the Academical Senate, on the first
meeting of the University of Edinburgh, after the death of MACLAURIN, prefixed
to the Doctor's account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries, concerning
that eminent Mathematician, which he would not allow to be printed, as they were to
serve as the basis of his life and character, which afterwards appeared in the Paper pre.
fixed to that Gentleman's account, mentioned above. See Edinb. Mag. Old Series,
I 306, Edit. 1773.
plied to the orphan family, by the affectionate care of their uncle,
Daniel Maclaurin, Minifter of Kilfennan, and by the virtue and
prudent œconomy of Mrs. Maclaurin; after ſome ſtay in Argyleſhire,
where her fifters and fhe had a ſmall patrimonial eſtate, ſhe removed
to Dumbarton, for the more convenient education of her children,
but dying in 1707, 6 Anne, the care of them devolved entirely to
their uncle.
In 1709, 8 Anne, COLIN was fent to the Univerfity of Glafgow,
and placed under the care of one of the beft men, and moft eminent
Profeffors of the age, the learned Gerſham Carmichael; here he con-
tinued five years, applying himſelf to his ftudies with that fuccefs,
which might be expected from parts like his, cultivated with the moſt
indefatigable care and diligence; Profeffor Carmichael, the celebrated
Robert Simſon, Doctor Arthur (b) Johnſtone, and ſeveral other gen.
tlemen of learning and worth, were proud of his moſt intimacy and
friendſhip, all vieing who fhould moft encourage our young philofo-
pher, by opening to him their libraries, and admitting him of their
moſt intimate acquaintance; he kept an account of every day, and
almost every hour of the day, of the beginning and fuccefs of every
particular ſtudy, enquiry or inveftigation; of his converfation with
learned men, the ſubjects of them, and the arguments on either fide;
of this Diary, fragments were found, at his deceaſe, amongſt his
oldeſt MSS. In the future progrefs of his life, however, he could not
find time to continue fo formal a regiſter of his tranfactions, but we
are affured the habit never left him, and that every hour of it, was
continually filled up with fomething which he could review with plea-
fure.
MACLAURIN'S genius for Mathematical learning, difcovered itſelf
fo early as at twelve years of age, about which period, the real
tendency of character is often diſcloſed; when meeting accidentally
in a friend's chamber with Euclid's Elements, he became mafter of
the firſt fix books, without affiſtance; and thence following his na-
tural bent, made fuch a ſurpriſing progrefs, that very foon after, we
find
(b) See his Article iu this Collection.
find him engaged in the moſt curious and difficult problems; certain
it is, that in his fixteenth year, he had already invented many of the
Propofitions afterwards publifhed.
In the fifteenth year of his age, he took his Degree of Maſter of
Arts with great applauſe, on which occafion, he compoſed and pub.
lickly defended a Thefis on the power of gravity; and after having
ſpent a year in the ſtudy of Divinity, he quitted the Univerſity, and
lived, for the moſt part, in an agreeable country retirement, at his
uncle's houſe, till near the end of the year 1717, 4 Geo. I. In this
retirement, he purſued his ftudies with the fame affiduity, as he had
done at the Univerfity, continuing his favourite reſearches in Mathe-
matics and Phylofophy, and at other times in reading the beft Claffic
authors, for which he naturally had an exceeding good taſte.
In the intervals of his ftudies, the lofty mountains amidft which he
lived, would often invite him abroad, to confider the numberless na-
tural curiofities they contain, and the infinite variety of plants that
grew on them; or to climb their tops, and enjoy the moſt exten-
five and diverfified profpects; and here, his fancy being warmed by
the grand ſcenes which prefented themſelves, he would fometimes
break out into an hymn or poetic rhapfody on the beauties of nature
and the perfections of it's author; of thefe, fome fragments ftill re-
main, and however unfit they may be for the public eye, they fhew
the progrefs they had made in the feveral parts of learning at the
time they were written.
In the autumn of the fame year 1717, 4 Geo. I. he offered himſelf
candidate for the Profefforfhip of Mathematics, in the Marifchal Col-
lege of Aberdeen, which he obtained after a comparative trial of ten
days, with a very able competitor; and being fixed in his chair, he
foon revived the tafte of Mathematical learning, and raiſed it higher
than it had ever been in that Univerfity.
During the vacations of the years 1719, 6 Geo. I. and 1721, 8
Geo. I. he went to London, with a view of improving himſelf, and of
being introduced to illuftrious men there; in his firſt journey, befides
Doctor Benjamin Hoadley, then Bishop of (d) Bangor, afterwards
fucceffively
(d) Beats. Pol. Ind. I. 118.
fucceffively of Hereford, (e) Saliſbury, and (ƒ) Wincheſter, Do&tor
Samuel Clarke, and feveral other eminent characters, he became ac-
quainted with Sir Ifaac Newton, whofe friendſhip he ever after reckon-
ed the greateſt honour and happineſs of his life.
In the year 1721, 8 Geo. I. our MACLAURIN was admitted a
Member of the Royal (g) Society; two (b) Papers of his were infert-
ed among their Tranſactions; in his fecond journey to London, he
became acquainted with Martin Folkes, Efq. then Prefident, with
whom he cultivated a moft entire and unreferved friendfhip, fre-
quently correfponding with him, and communicating all his views and
improvements in the Sciences. Andrew Mitchell, Member of Par-
liament for the Shire of Aberdeen, and the Reverend Mr. John Hill,
Chaplain to his Grace William Wake, Archbiſhop of Canterbury, in
1722, 9 Geo. I. Lord Polworth, Plenipotentiary of the King of
Great Britain to the Congress of Cambray, engaged our MACLAURIN
to go as tutor and companion to his eldeſt fon, who was then to
fet out on his travels; after a fhort ftay at Paris, and viſiting fome
other places in France, they fixed at Lorrain; where, befides the ad-
vantages of a good academy, they had that of the Converfation of one
of the moſt polite Courts in Europe; here MACLAURIN gained the
eſteem of the moſt diſtinguiſhed perfon of both fexes, and at the fame
time foon improved that eafy genteel behaviour which was natural to
him, both from the temper of his mind, and from the advantages
of a graceful perfon.
MACLAURIN and his pupil having quitted Lorrain, were got as
far on their Tour, as the Southern Provinces of France, when this
(e) Id. 163.
(ƒ) Id. 166.
hopeful
(g) Chamb. Present State, Ann. cit. It is to be found in that publication under L.
"Laurin," and not under M. "Maclaurin." The great Lord Bacon, in his History
of the New Atlantis, the most beautiful of all fictions, gave birth to a Philosphical
College. Abraham Cowley, the Poet borrowed his notion of such a College, and to
his honour, the Royal Society had it's beginning from it. See Doctor John Camp-
bell's Hermippus Redivivus, 62," and Grang. Biogr. Hist. Engl. IV. 42, in the
Notes.
"
(b) Viz. one intituled, "Of the Construction and Measure of Curves." Phil
Trans. No. 356, the other, "A new method of describing all kinds of Curves.'
No. 359.
hopeful young Nobleman was feized with a fever, and died at Mont-
pelier; this melancholy event put an end to MACLAURIN's tra-
velling, and he fet out immediately (firſt preparing all that was proper
for the funeral obfequies, of his amiable pupil, companion, and
friend) on his return to Aberdeen.
great in-
MACLAURIN being now univerfally diftinguiſhed as one of the
first literary characters of the age, fome of the Curators of the Uni-
verfity of Edinburgh, were defirous of engaging him, to ſupply the
place of James Gregory, (whofe age and infirmities had rendered
him incapable of teaching) by his affiftance: ſeveral difficulties re-
tarded this defign for fome time, particularly the competition of a
gentleman eminent for mathematical abilities, and who had
tereſt with the patrons of the Univerſity; and the want of an additional
fund for a new Profeffor; but both thefe difficulties were got over,
by the kind interpofition of Sir Ifaac Newton, who wrote to MAC-
LAURIN on the occafion, informing him, he was very glad to hear
he had a profpect of being joined to James Gregory, in the Profef-
forſhip of Mathematics at Edinburgh, not only becauſe he was his
friend, but principally on account of his abilities, he being acquainted
as well with the new improvements of Mathematics, as with the for-
mer ſtate of thofe Sciences. Sir Ifaac heartily wifhed MACLAURIN
fuccefs, and ſhould be very glad of hearing of his being elected; and
in a Letter to the then Lord Provoſt of Edinburgh, which MACLAU-
RIN knew nothing of, till fome time after; Sir Ifaac writes that he is
glad to underſtand MACLAURIN is in good repute with them, for his
fkill in Mathematics; as he thinks MACLAURIN deferves it very
well; and to fatisfy them, that he does not flatter our Mathematician,
and alſo to encourage him to accept the place of affifting Mr. Gre-
gory, in order to fucceed him, Sir Ifaac adds, that he was ready (if the
Provoſt would pleaſe to give him leave) to contribute twenty pounds
a year, towards a provifion for MACLAURIN, until Gregory's place
fhould become vacant, provided he fhould happen to live fo long;
and that he would pay it to the Provoſt's order in London.
MACLAURIN became Gregory's affiftant; his polite and eaſy man-
ners formed a general recommendation, to his being afterwards ap.
pointed
pointed fole Profeffor; him the ladies flocked to fee, and the eclipfe,
and took care to be in time, having more fcience than the French
Marquis, who when he found his fair convoy too late, faid, "Mon-
fieur Caffini eft de mes amis, il recomencera;" i. e. " Mr. Caffini is my
friend; he will begin again."
In the month of November 1725, 12 Geo. I. MACLAURIN was in-
troduced into the Univerſity, as was at the fame time his learned col-
league and intimate friend, Alexander (i) Monro, M. D. Profeſſor of
Anatomy; after this the mathematical claffes foon became very nu-
merous, there being generally upwards of one hundred gentlemen,
attending his Lectures every year, who being of different ftandings
and proficiency, MACLAURIN was obliged to divide them into four
or five claffes, in each of which he employed a full hour every day,
from 1 Nov. to 1 June.
All MACLAURIN's Lectures, were given with fuch perfpicuity of
method and language, that his demonftrations feldom required re-
petition; whenever they did however, he would endeavour to give
his pupils a better view of the fubject, by explaining it in a different
way.
In order to fupply his vaft ftudy and writing with fufficient time,
he was obliged to leffen his ordinary hours of fleep, and thus no
doubt greatly impaired his health, and accelerated his final diffolu-
tion; this accounts for thoſe immature deaths among men of ſcience,
they depriving themſelves of their natural reft, in order to purſue
all their various ftudies with equal intenfenefs, and thus in the end
cloſe their valuable lives, to the great lofs of the intellectual world,
at an early period of their exiftence; the Republic of Letters affords
not a few inftances, in juftnefs of the obfervation.
In the year 1733, Geo. II. MACLAURIN married Anne Stewart,
the daughter of Walter S. Solicitor General in Scotland.
The Reverend Doctor George Berkley, the Biſhop of Cloyne,
having taken occafion to explode the fluxionary method, and alſo to
charge Mathematicians in general with infidelity, in a Treatiſe inti-
tuled
(i) The gentleman from whose orations spoken at the first Meeting of the University
of Edinburgh, after MACLAURIN's death, the substance of this whole account is
chiefly taken.
เ
1
tuled the "Anylift" in the year 1734-5, 8 Geo. II. MACLAURIN
vindicated his favourite ftudy, and repelled an accufation, in which
the profeffion itſelf was fo unjustly attacked. His answer to the
Bishop's book, inftead of a vindicatory pamphlet, proved a complete
fyftem of fluxions.
MACLAURIN's demonftrations had been, feveral years before,
communicated to Doctor Berkley, whom our Mathematician had
reated with the greateft perfonal refpect and civility, notwithſtanding
which, the Doctor in his Treatife on Tar Water, repeats the charge.
MACLAURIN propoſed to have the plan of the Medical Society at
Edinburgh more extenfive, by including in it, the antiquities of the
country, whereupon, by his influence, ſeveral Noblemen and Gentle-
men, of the firſt rank and character, joined themſelves to the former
members; among whom the Earl of Moreton became Prefident, and
among the latter, Doctor Plumtree, Profeffor of Chymiſtry, and our
MACLAURIN were appointed Secretaries; befides feveral other gen-
tlemen of diftinction, foreigners as well as natives and Engliſh,
folicited as an honour to be admitted members.
MACLAURIN was the means of this Society being informed of
every new diſcovery or improvement in the Sciences.
He drew an elegant and well contrived plan of an Aftronomical
Obfervatory, and of a convenient fchool for experiments in the Uni-
verfity, of which he propofed the building, and employed all his
intereft for private contributions towards carrying on the fame; and
with ſuch ſucceſs, that had not the unhappy Rebellion intervened, the
intended fabrick might have been foon completed; inafmuch as the
propofal was approved, adopted, and encouraged by the liberality of
the Earls of Morton and Hoptoun, as well as of the Honourable Mr.
Charles Clarke, Puiſne (k) Baron of the Court of Exchequer in Eng-
land, Vice Prefident of the Philofophical Society.
MACLAURIN encouraged the taking accurate Maps of the Weftern
Coafts and Ifles, and the Reverend Mr. Bryce publifhed, in confe-
quence, his
map of the Coaſt of Caithneſs and Strathaver.
(k) Beats, Pol. Ind. I. 422, b. Wynn's Serj. 124.
MACLAURIN
MACLAURIN was of opinion, that no good Maps could be expe-
ed from the flaviſh copying of Map-fellers, nor from a painful col-
lection and patching together old draughts and furveys of little autho-
rity, which he thought would rather perpetuate than rectify errors.
When ſchemes for finding out a paffage from Greenland to the South
Sea, were laid before the Parliament, in the year 1744, 18 Geo. II.
the Legiſlature limited the premium to the difcovery of a North West
paffage, upon which occafion MACLAURIN regretted that the word
Weft was inferted, as he thought that paffage, if at all to be found,
could not lie far from the Pole.
MACLAURIN was among the firſt of his countrymen to roufe the
friends of our happy Conftitution, in the year 1745, 19 Geo. II. when
it was certainly known, that the Highland Rebels had got between the
city of Edinburgh, and the King's troops, and were marching South-
ward, occafioned from the unlucky fecurity they had thentofore con-
tinued in; he made plans of the walls, propofed the feveral trenches,
barricades, batteries, and fuch other defences, as he thought might be
got ready, before the arrival of the Rebels, and by which he hoped.
the city might be fecured, until the King's forces under Sir John Cope,
(which were daily expected) ſhould arrive to it's relief; MACLAU-
RIN's anxiety, fatigue, and cold to which he expofed himſelf, being
employed night as well as day, in running from place to place, in con·
triving as well as over-feeing the execution of his hafty fortifications,
affecting a conſtitution naturally weak of nerves, laid the foundation
of diſeaſe, of which he died.
How this plan came to be neglected, and in what manner the Re-
bels got poffeffion of the town, is not a proper inquiry for this place;
the Lowlanders had forgot the ufe of arms, and the capital was taken,
or yielded, as it pleaſed God; MACLAURIN was not engaged in ſolv-
ing a problem at the time, fo he flew off at a tangent, and made a
rectilinear progreſs to the of North of England, where he was kindly
received by Herring, Archbishop of York.
MACLAURIN had been too active, and diftinguifhed a volunteer, to
think he could eſcape the fevereſt treatment, if he fell to the hands.
of the Rebels, after neglecting to make the required fubmiffion: he
therefore
therefore withdrew privately into England; as foon as his Grace,
Doctor Thomas Herring, then Lord Archbishop of (1) York, who had
been Biſhop of (m) Bangor, and afterwards became Archbiſhop of (2)
Canterbury, was informed, that MACLAURIN had fled to the North of
England, he invited him in a moft friendly and polite manner, to refide
with him during his ſtay in that country, MACLAURIN readily accepted
the invitation, and lived as happy as man could do, who was ignorant
of the ſtate of his family, and faw the ruin of his own country;
MACLAURIN ever retained the higheſt fentiments of his Grace's me-
rits and goodneſs, and afterwards kept a regular correfpondence with
him; and when it was fufpected, that the Rebels might once more take
poffeffion of Edinburgh, after their retreat from England, this Prelate
invited his former gueſt again to take refuge with him.
At York, MACLAURIN had been obferved, to be more meagre
than ordinary, and with a fickly look, though not being apprehenfive
of danger at that time, he did not call in the affiftance of a phyfi-
cian, but having had a fall from his horfe on a journey fouthward,
and when the Rebel army marched into England, having on his re-
turn home, been expofed to very tempeftuous and cold weather, up
on his arrival, he complained of being very much out of order; his
diſorder was foon diſcovered to be a dropſy of the belly; to remove
which, variety of medicines, prefcribed by the moft eminent phyfi-
cians in London, as well as thofe of Edinburgh, and three tappings
were uſed without effect, or at leaft without making a cure.
MACLAURIN's behaviour during his tedious and painful diforder,
was fuch as became a philofopher and a Chriftian; calm, cheerful,
and refigned; his fenfes and judgment remaining in their full vigour,
until a few hours of his death.
Earl (0) Buchan fays, with a view of fhewing his perfect agree.
ment with MACLAURIN, in his religious, moral, and literary fenti.
ments, his Lordſhip clofes his communication with the laft words of
MACLAURIN, and the remarks made on them by his Biographer,
in the Effay prefixed to his pofthumous works.
(1) Beats. Pol. Ind. I. 174.
(m) Id. 118.
(z) Id. 114.
(0) His Lordship's Manuscript respecting MAC LAURIN,
"From
"From every Aftronomical obfervation, as well as from the ftate
of the moral world, we are induced to believe, that our prefent ftate
would be very imperfect without a fubfequent one; wherein our views
of nature, and of its GREAT AUTHOR, may be more clear and fa-
tisfactory.
"It does not appear to be fuitable to the wisdom that shines throughout
all nature, to fuppofe that we should fee fo far, and have our curiofity
fo much raifed concerning the works of GOD, only to be disappointed in the
end (p).
"As man is undoubtedly the chief being upon this globe, and this
globe may be no leſs conſiderable, in the most valuable reſpects; than
any other in the univerfe, if we fhould fuppofe that man were to
periſh without ever arriving at a more complete knowledge of nature
than the very imperfect one he can ever attain in his preſent ftate,
we might conclude, that the like defires would be fruftrated in the
inhabitants of all the other planets and fyftems; and that the beautiful
ſcheme of nature would never be unfolded to any of them, but in a
manner exceedingly imperfect.
"But this being inconfiftent with the univerfal analogy of nature,
leads us to confider our prefent ftate as only the dawn or beginning
of our existence, and as a state of preparation or probation for farther
advancement.
"Surely it is in the power of the Almighty to grant us a far greater
improvement of the faculties we already poffefs, or to endow us with
new faculties (of which at this time we have no idea,) for penetrating
farther into the ſcheme of nature and for approaching nearer and
nearer to himſelf the firſt and ſupreme intelligent cauſe.
"We know not how far it was proper, or neceffary that we ſhould
not be led into knowledge at once, but fhould advance gradually,
thatby comparing new objects, or new difcoveries, with what was known
to
(Þ) Judging by analogy, does it not appear that the insatiable appetite of cultivated
Human nature for latent and spiritual knowledge connected with sensible objects, must
have its object in infinite duration? and is there any thing unphilosophical, in believing,
that the individual man, through various changes, that are before and behind the grave,
may be prepared for its rational and perpetual fruition ?
to us before, our improvements might be more complete and regular; or
how far it may be neceſſary or advantageous, that intelligent beings Should
pass through a kind of infancy of knowledge. For new knowledge does
not confiſt ſo much in our having acceſs to a new object, as in com-
paring it with others already known, obferving its relations to them,
or difcerning what it has in common with them, and wherein their
diſparity confifts. Thus our knowledge is vastly greater than the fum of
what all its objects Separately could afford, and when a new object
comes within our reach, the addition to our knowledge is the greater, the
more we already know, fo that it increaſes, not as the new objects in-
creaſe, but in a much higher proportion ****
As the good and truly wife man was dictating theſe laſt words of
his hiſtory, his amanuenfis obſerved fome heſitation or repitition.
No pulſe could then be felt in any part of his body, and his hands and
feet were already cold. Notwithſtanding this extremely weak con-
dition, he fate in his chair, and ſpoke to his friend Dr. Monro, with
his uſual ſerenity and ftrength, defiring the Doctor to account for a
phenomenon, which he then obferved in himſelf: flaſhes of fire feem-
ing to dart from his eyes, while in the mean time his fight was failing,
fo that he could fcarce diftinguifh one object from another. In a
little time after this converſation, he defired to be laid upon his bed;
where on Saturday, the 14th of June, O. S. 1746, aged 48 years and
four months, he finiſhed his amiable life, in the arms of friendſhip and
of philofophy.
He had an eaſy paffage from this world to that ftate of bliss, of
which he had the moſt elevated ideas, and which he moſt ardently
longed to poffefs.
MACLAURIN left at the time of his deceaſe, two fons, John and
Colin, and three daughters, of his ſeven matrimonial children, to
lament his great lofs; he was buried in the Grey Friars Church-yard,
Edinburgh, North Britain, where is erected a tomb, and an (9) Epi-
taph thereon.
The life of this eminent perfon, was fpent in a courſe of laborious,
yet
(q) The present Writer was in hopes of procuring a copy, but all his endeavours
for that purpose proved vain.
yet not painful ſtudy, in continually doing good to the utmoft of his
power, in improving curious and uſeful arts; and propagating truth,
virtue and religion amongſt mankind; he was taken from us at an
age, when he was capable of doing much more; but he left an
example, which, we hope, will be long admired and imitated.
The grief for the lofs of this excellent perfon, was as general as
the eſteem which he had acquired, with all ranks of men; but thoſe
of greateſt worth, and who had moft intimately known him, were the
moft deeply affected; Doctor Alexander Monro, above-mentioned,
and on the occafion before-noticed, gives particularly, a very moving
picture of the grief the late Duncan Forbes, Lord Prefident of the
Court of Seffion, in Scotland, on his friend MACLAURIN's deceaſe;
a likeneſs of character, and a perfect harmony of fentiments and
views, had cloſely united them in their lives, in their deaths, they
were alas! too little divided; the Prefident likewife worn out in the
fervice of his country, was foon to be the fubject of a general
mourning.
Acute parts and extenfive learning were in MACLAURIN but infe-
rior qualities, as appeared in a variety of inftances; he was ftill more
nobly diſtinguiſhed from the bulk of his fellow creatures, by the
qualities of his heart, his fincere love to God, and men, his univerſal
benevolence and unaffected piety; together with a warmth and con-
ftancy in his friendſhip, that was in a manner peculiar to himſelf;
his worth was but half known, and never difclofed itfelf in it's full
luftre, until it came to fuffer the ſevere teſt of that diſtreſsful ſituation,
in which every man muſt at laſt find himſelf, and which only minds
prepared like MACLAURIN's, armed with virtue and Chriftian hope,
can bear with dignity!
PARTIAL CATALOGUE OF HIS WORKS, MANUSCRIPT AS
WELL AS PRINTED.
"An Account of Sir Ifaac Newton's Philofopibal Difcoveries."
In this excellent work, MACLAURIN proves the wiſdom, the
power, the goodneſs, and other attributes of the Deity.
Several
Several of MACLAURIN's papers read before the Medical Society,
were printed.
"Extract of a Letter from Mr. COLIN (r) MACLAURIN, Pro-
feffor of Mathematics at Edinburgh, to Sir Hans Sloane, dated from
that city, 3 Dec. 1733, containing an abridged account of the effects
of the Lightning, which broke on Melvill Houſe, in Fifeſhire, the
feat of the Earl of Leven, on 27 Oct. 1733.
"Geometria Organica."
Fragments,
"Paper, whereby MACLAURIN accounts for the Motion of the
Tides, from the Theory of Gravity."
This piece gained him the prize of the Royal Academy of Sci-
ences, in the year 1740, 14 Geo. II.
"Complete System of Fluxions."
This appeared at Edinburgh, in the year 1742, 16 Geo. II. in two
volumes Quarto.
On this great work, MACLAURIN beftowed the moſt labour, and
will for ever do him honour. See the Philofophical Tranfactions,
No. 468, 469.
Several Pieces which are among the Tranfactions of the Royal
Society.
"Treatife of Algebra."
"De Linearum Geometricarum proprietatibus generalibus."
"Tranflation of Doctor David Gregory's Practical Geometry, re-
viſed and publiſhed with Additions, in the year 1745, 19 Geo. II.
"I(s) enquired diligently for any traces or paper, or canvaſs,
that might remain to exhibit the refemblance of the countenance and
perfon of a man whofe Works and Character I fo much admired,
that I might place a copy of it in my apartment.
"In this reſearch I was almoft finally diſappointed, for I could find
only a black lead drawing done from MACLAURIN, when he was a
very young man, and a caft in wax taken from his face after he was
dead,
(r) Penn. Scot. III. 460. Append. No. XVII.
(s) Earl Buchan's MSS.
dead, in the poffeffion of the learned Earl of Morton, Prefident of the
Royal Society. With the aid of thefe I made many ſketches with my
own pencil, and put that which by the furviving ſcholars of MAC-
LUARIN was though to have the greateſt reſemblance, into the hands
of C. Metz, the Painter, who after ſeveral effays, and amendments,
painted the Portrait which I have cauſed to be engraved.
"This Painting has been often recognized in my numerous collec-
tion by the old fcholars and acquaintance of MACLAURIN, fo that
no doubt can be entertained of its recording fomewhat at leaſt of the
fabric that contained the bright and virtuous ſpirit of COLIN MAC-
LAURIN, to whofe memory I confecrate it." The Portrait in this
collection is taken from this and from a drawing in black-lead by Fer-
gufon the Aftronomer.
MACLAURIN had a star or defect in his left eye, which is preferved
in the drawing which accompanies this Memoir.
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